Neither Lucian, nor Gary, nor Correa heard the sounds of a fight, of screaming, or of anyone running away.
Hausen — tall, robust, taciturn, and possessed of formidable strength as a High-level Knight Squire — had simply vanished without a trace?!
A chill surged upward from the soles of his feet and spread through his entire body. Lucian's breathing grew slightly heavier.
Gripping the Sword of Radiance tightly, Lucian quickly turned his head to look behind him.
On the wall of the opposite sewer tunnel, the bluish-green moss glowed with a faint light, but Hausen's complete disappearance made it all look deeply unsettling.
Suddenly, a scream rang out. Lucian had just turned his head and was already on edge; instinctively, his gaze snapped toward the sound.
A rat as large as a grown man had already pounced on Correa, slamming him to the ground. Its razor-sharp claws sank into his shoulder, slicing through the hard chainmail. Blood flowed out, staining the silvery-grey plates red. Its glowing crimson eyes held a strange, almost mocking glint.
But its gaping maw — and the row of teeth that would make anyone recoil in horror — had clamped down on Correa's longsword, which he had managed to swing across just in time.
As a High-level Knight Squire, Correa had saved his own life at the most critical moment with a perfectly executed sword technique. At the same time, the shield in his left hand lashed out and smashed into the giant rat's abdomen.
Fear of something already seen was far less than fear of the unknown — at least for Lucian. A red-eyed giant rat the size of an ordinary human, moving in utter silence, was far easier to accept than a "mysterious disappearance."
Lucian drew a breath, wasted no time, and swung the glowing blade in his hand at the red-eyed giant rat to rescue Correa.
But at that moment, a low, beast-like growl sounded from behind him.
"Gary's in trouble too?!" The instant the thought struck Lucian that Gary was standing behind him, a sharp knight's longsword slammed into his back.
The pale white radiance of the Sacred Light Shield flickered violently and dimmed considerably. At the same time, the tremendous impact threw Lucian off his feet, sending him stumbling several steps forward and to the side.
The knight's longsword pressed its assault, striking again and again. In the chaos, Lucian couldn't regain his balance at all, couldn't even swing the Sword of Radiance, let alone focus his mind, feel the Emblem of Truth, and chant a spell to invoke Divine Arts.
Lucian dodged in a panic, his mind a mix of alarm and bewilderment: "Why is Gary attacking me?!"
The attacks from the knight's longsword were coming from behind. If it wasn't Gary, then there was only one other possibility — Gary was already dead!
The rhythm of the knight's longsword was expertly controlled, never giving Lucian a chance to steady himself, driving him stumbling toward the sealed chamber.
But after being struck several times in succession, Lucian realized he hadn't actually taken any damage. His panic gradually subsided. He had the Sacred Light Shield — why was he still trying to regain his footing and fight hand-to-hand?
The thought flashed through his mind. When the knight's longsword came swinging again, Lucian simply let himself fall to the ground, rolled, and — already prepared — his left hand closed around the Emblem of Truth.
At last, Lucian could see clearly who was attacking him.
It was indeed Gary — steady, reserved Gary.
But the muscles on his face were twisted, his eyes glowed red, and his gaze was pure, naked wildness.
"Could it be that the poison in those red-eyed rats wasn't fully neutralized, and it can strip people of their reason and turn them into bloodthirsty beasts?" The moment Lucian saw Gary's state, his mind jumped to this possibility. "But why am I fine? Why haven't I felt anything wrong at all?!"
Lucian had no time to dwell on these questions and oddities. He focused his mind, and his left hand found the cross on the Emblem of Truth, about to speak the incantation.
The iron-rimmed round shield smashed into him again, striking the Sacred Light Shield and sending it wavering.
Though the shield blow didn't break the Sacred Light Shield, the vibrations and impact transmitted through it tightened Lucian's chest and made it hard to breathe. The half-formed incantation caught in his throat.
Blow after blow from the shield disrupted Lucian's breathing rhythm again and again, and he could no longer gather enough concentration.
As a squire with the potential to become a true knight, Gary had received solid, formal training in disrupting spellcasting.
Of course, any priest, mage, or other spellcaster who saw Lucian in this state would shake their head and sigh. Only someone who hadn't even learned the most basic casting focus could be interrupted by a knight's squire. Replace him with any apprentice priest or Magic Apprentice, equipped with a first-tier Emblem of Truth and an active Sacred Light Shield, and Gary would have been dead long ago.
When facing an opponent of equal rank, a spellcaster always held an absolute advantage!
Lucian was tormented by his inability to focus and invoke Divine Arts, while over on the other side, Correa was growing more desperate by the moment. His sword arm seemed to be losing strength, his right hand — still gripping the longsword — was being pressed firmly against his chest, and a faint, almost imperceptible tremor had begun in his wrist.
Fortunately, the humanoid rat grappling with him also appeared to be losing steam, no longer as ferocious as before.
Unable to chant the incantation, Lucian simply raised the Sword of Radiance in his right hand and slashed upward, no longer fixating on invoking Divine Arts.
After fighting through the swarm of red-eyed rats, Lucian already had a good sense of just how sharp this summoned light blade was — it was far superior to the knight's longsword in Gary's hand.