At the very center of the battlefield stood the high-ranking warrior Siegfried and the two-headed ogre chieftain.
But Siegfried was drenched in blood, his warhorse long since gone, and a massive wound gaped on his thigh. He could only keep himself standing by leaning on his silvery-white longsword against the ground.
The two-headed ogre facing him, on the other hand, merely looked somewhat disheveled with no gaping wounds, though the heaving of his chest betrayed the heavy toll the battle had taken — and he might well have sustained hidden injuries. Several ogre shamans and ordinary ogre warriors had closed in around them.
Clearly, the outcome had been decided, and the high-ranking warrior's life hung in the balance — unless someone was willing to intervene on his behalf, or he happened to possess some high-powered magical scroll.
"Hah… hah… so, this is where I die?"
Siegfried's vision blurred as the two-headed ogre drew ever closer, yet his limbs felt as though they were filled with lead, utterly devoid of strength.
"Rena, I'm coming to join you!"
Scene after scene from his life flashed through Siegfried's mind, finally lingering on the moment the black-robed female mage had smiled at him.
Then he saw the enormous warhammer descending toward his head.
Had things gone as expected, the next instant would have seen Siegfried's skull burst apart like a pumpkin — but the goddess of fortune seemed to smile upon him in this moment.
The massive warhammer froze in midair, the two-headed ogre's face frozen in a mask of shock and fury, as the tip of a blood-red dagger emerged from his chest.
"What's happening?"
A flash of confusion crossed Siegfried's face before his body began rising involuntarily.
A young man with dragon wings had seized his arm and was soaring through the sky at tremendous speed. The fierce wind buffeting his face stung like a slap, and behind them came the ogre's furious roars along with several fireballs and lightning bolts that fell harmlessly short.
"【Hold Person】! And a 【Dragon Flight】 spell! Was I saved by a passing mage?"
A surge of hope for life blossomed in Siegfried's heart.
At that moment, the mage executed a graceful aerial turn to evade the pursuing ogre shamans below, then pointed his right hand downward. A terrifying cloud of black, decaying miasma descended directly, shrouding the ogre forces' line of sight.
【Cloudkill】!
With no further worries, Lin Lei flapped his wings and carried Siegfried away from the battlefield.
After a dizzying spin, Siegfried collapsed directly onto the ground. The fresh scent of soil and fragrant grass drifted around him, prompting him to greedily draw in a couple more breaths.
Only then did he have the chance to examine the mage who had just saved him.
"Young! He's quite young, but that magical power is far beyond Rena's..."
Siegfried bowed his head respectfully. He knew many spells had youth-preserving effects. This young-looking mage before him could easily be one of those capricious old monsters.
"Though... his face does look somewhat familiar. Wait!"
Siegfried struggled to rise: "You're the warrior who was with that high-ranking Knight girl... Lei Lin?"
"You actually remember me?" Lin Lei glanced at him, somewhat surprised.
"Regardless, thank you for saving me!" Siegfried thanked him sincerely, and wisely refrained from asking any questions about Lin Lei.
"No need to thank me! I just couldn't bear to waste it!"
"Waste it???" In that instant, Siegfried felt an unprecedented sense of danger, but gravely injured, he had no strength to resist.
In his final moments, all he saw was a blood-red dagger slashing across his throat.
"If he wanted to kill me... why save me first?"
Siegfried closed his eyes with that question lingering, while Lin Lei felt the massive power flowing into him through the Devil's Blood Dagger.
A two-headed ogre overlord plus a high-ranking warrior had left him feeling slightly overstuffed.
At that moment, the Chip's notifications constantly sounded within Lin Lei's mind.
【Ding! Host has activated Devil's Blood Dagger enhancement twice! Total converted attributes: Strength 2.5, Agility 1, Constitution 2.65, Spirit 0.001!】
A massive surge of heat flowed from the dagger into every part of his body, greedily absorbed by the cells there.
Lin Lei raised his right hand. This slender palm now contained power no less than an ogre's, and afterimages flickered as he moved it.
"So close... I'm very close to full attributes of 10, to the initial stage of gene refinement completion..."
Lin Lei murmured, gazing at his attribute panel, which had already changed: