Chapter 0548: Black Knight Again

Weng!

The black lance shot out like a ballista bolt, blasting through Li Luo's body as if it were a frail stick of bamboo, and impaling itself on the silver tree.

"Hmm?"

Li Luo's body faded away, to the black knight's surprise.

"An illusion?" His eyes narrowed. "Sneaky, little rat."

He roared once, unleashing a blast of sound that shook the entire chamber.

Bang!

The illusion was shattered and two bodies were thrown backwards, slamming heavily against the tree.

Li Luo and Lu Ming.

Li Luo wiped blood from his mouth. The black knight's attack had been too sudden. If not for the precaution that they had taken just in case, they would not have had time to build an illusion when he showed up, and Li Luo would have been skewered for real.

"Thanks," he coughed.

Lu Ming had her slender sword in hand, and she faced the black knight. "Never mind that now. What's with this guy? Why would there be other people here?"

"Just like elder Ling Yu said, the Blackwind Empire's Other Disaster might have been caused by people. If my guess is right, this black knight belongs to one of those nasty organizations. Perhaps they were the ones who sabotaged the Thunderpeal Tree in the first place," Li Luo said.

"How does causing an Other Disaster help them?" Lu Ming asked, appalled.

She too had seen the devastation that the Other Disaster had caused across the land.

"You ask me, I ask who?" Li Luo muttered.

"I recognize your little, rodent face, rat. I didn't manage to kill you back at Riverguard City, but now you've come calling again I see." The black knight closed his fist, and the lance flew obediently back from the tree wall to his hand. He pointed it menacingly at Li Luo.

"Ah, it's you again," Li Luo said blandly. He could feel a familiarity in the signature of this person's power. It was the same black knight that he had faced at Riverguard City.

"The other time someone saved you. You won't be so lucky this time," the black knight hissed viciously.

He charged his power again, pulsing powerful waves of energy that blew towards them like a hurricane. They could barely stand straight before any attack even came their way.

The disparity was just too huge.

"Ah, Li Luo. I knew following you was going to be trouble." Lu Ming's hand was already reaching for her spirit mirror.

Two Resonant Masters were not going to be of any use against an Earth Fiend expert.

"Don't panic," Li Luo said calmly. The black knight before them was probably at the Fiend Palace Tier. It was frightening, but not impossible to overcome.

He looked down at the crimson ring on his wrist. It was about time to use it, after holding it for emergencies for so long.

Lu Ming shivered a little at his fearlessness. “Is he insane? Or does he really have something to deal with an Earth Fiend Stage expert?”

"You don't frighten me," the black knight sneered. His black lance thundered out again, roaring like an angry dragon.

This time, the lance seemed to swim towards them, fluid as liquid mercury, where it was stiff before.

There should have been no way that Li Luo and Lu Ming could deal with an attack of this level.

Lu Ming's hand tightened on her spirit mirror.

Li Luo's hand tightened on his crimson bracelet, resonant power bubbling.

Boom!

Just as both were about to act, a screeching burst of lightning crashed into the lance from above, sending it skittering across the ground.

Li Luo and Lu Ming blinked in amazement.

The tree was rapidly growing thorns of its own, aiming them at the black knight.

"This..." Lu Ming was stunned.

"The tree's saving us," Li Luo exclaimed in wonder. "Looks like the healing just now gave it some strength back!" he cheered.

He put his crimson bracelet down.

The Thunderpeal Tree joining the fray was an unexpected boon.

Weng!

Lightning cracked out at the black knight from all sides, whipping him with sizzling bolts of energy.

The black knight was forced on the defensive, creating whirlpools of resonant power that absorbed the lightning and turned it to dust.

"Hmph, Thunderpeal Tree, you're just acting tough. If you were at full power, I would not have dared to stay. But if you think this little bit of leftover power can defeat me, then you're even more naive than I thought."

Each time his lance swirled, he created a new whirlpool of power, and soon he was getting used to the lightning attacks.

"Your power's running out, tree!" the black knight hooted. "And then I will crush the rats. You will never escape the Great One's power!"

The silver tree seemed to be straining to draw on its power now. The black thorns buried in its body glinted maliciously.

"Li Luo, it can't hold out much longer. Can we help?" Lu Ming asked urgently.

"The black knight is not spending all of his energy on defense. He's kept some reserved for us. If we charge in recklessly, that'll be exactly what he hopes for," Li Luo warned her.

He thought for a moment, then pulled out his bow.

He charged an arrow of light and fired it out at the black knight.

Ding!

It was stopped by the black knight's armor, a clear pealing sound as the arrow of light scattered like a sunbeam.

The black armor was completely unscratched.

Li Luo cringed in embarrassment.

This guy was just too strong, and his black armor was clearly no ordinary equipment either. When put on such a strong opponent, it was like giving a tiger wings.

But it was just like the black knight had said. The Thunderpeal Tree was running out of energy here, and its attacks were getting weaker.

It would not last for too long.

And then they would be back in danger soon.

Just as Li Luo was thinking about how he could best cause problems for the black knight, a silver tree branch grew out of the ground beside them. It cracked to reveal a coarse, wooden arrow, silver in color. They marveled at its beauty.

It looked old and was free of any runic markings and power augmentations, but the silver color was extremely pure. Li Luo could feel that it had extremely pure lightning energy inside.

"The power inside is amazing," Lu Ming marveled. As a lightning resonance user, she was clearer than he was about the deadliness of this arrow.

Li Luo took it up, delighted. The Thunderpeal Tree was entrusting this one to him to finish off the black knight.

What a clever tree this was.