The Paladin in the Abyss

As the sandstorm had just started to subside, Lancelot and Bruto plunged into the sea of sand.

Strictly speaking, within a few days, these grains of sand would have become the excrement of sandworms, but who could ignore the treasures buried within? This wasn't the time to be squeamish.

Describing their current state as wading through a 'sea of fecal maggots' was not an exaggeration. Lancelot, with his sensitivity to spiritual energy, could pinpoint and retrieve a crystal stone with each try. Bruto, on the other hand, leveraged a Dwarf's innate sensing (or perhaps obsession?) for gemstones, frantically digging in the sand, which allowed him to find quite a lot as well.

Lancelot grasped a mountain crystal and with a thought, the spiritual energy within the crystal stone was absorbed into his body, quickly restoring much of the True Qi he had expended in the recent battle.

Absorbing the spiritual energy from crystal stones could replenish his strength, but it couldn't exceed his original limits; to improve his level of cultivation, he still needed to practice assiduously. However, confirming that these mountain crystals could be used as spirit stones greatly exhilarated Lancelot. This made many actions that required spirit stones now feasible.

Once they had thoroughly sifted through the sand dunes, the two huddled together, exhausted, counting their spoils of war.

Lancelot had found a large number of what Bruto called mountain crystals—crystal stones emanating rich spiritual energy, which a sensitive Spiritual Cultivator would find hard to miss.

Bruto, on the other hand, had collected various gemstones and pure ores. Sandworms were not picky eaters when it came to feeding; sometimes, they would even consume an entire vein of ore. Those raw ores would be refined in their stomachs, leaving behind just a small, undigested part of pure ore, which was an exceptionally precious forging material.

The young Dwarf looked at the vast treasure scattered on the ground with eager eyes, painfully yet firmly pushed them towards Lancelot, saying,

"These are your spoils of war, Lancelot. They do not belong to me. It was you who killed that monstrous worm and you also saved me. If it weren't for you, I might be with these gemstones right now—inside the belly of a sandworm."

Lancelot chuckled, patted Bruto,

"Those mountain crystals are indeed useful to me, but if it weren't for you, I might have missed them. How about this, you pick three of your favorite gemstones from here as a reward for discovering the treasure."

"I think one would suffice for the merit I contributed," Bruto said seriously as he picked up the largest and most beautiful ruby.

"Are you sure? Don't you want to take more?" Lancelot asked politely.

"Lancelot! Are you a Demon? Resisting temptation is really difficult!" Bruto roared in anger.

"Uh, you were also quite scared today, so consider it a consolation for your emotional distress,"

"That makes sense," Bruto's expression changed as he quickly grabbed a lump of pure iron ore. "This thing is not of much use to you; we Dwarves are satisfied as long as we can work with such precious material. Later, if you want a new weapon or armor, just let me know."

"Haha, I'll be waiting for your blacksmith shop to open. I'm looking forward to updating my equipment."

"Lancelot, I want to discuss something with you," Bruto started hesitantly.

"What's up? You want to take a few more pieces?"

"No, not that. Really? No, no... I mean, could I possibly join you on your adventures in the future?" Bruto's face turned slightly red.

"Why would you want that? You've seen what happened today. Becoming an adventurer probably means that such incidents will become routine," Lancelot didn't want to overly dampen Bruto's enthusiasm but felt obliged to offer a gentle reminder.

"Two reasons, I suppose. First, I might never become as excellent a blacksmith as my father; I don't have the talent. You might not quite understand, but realizing this fact really sapped my motivation," Bruto explained, spreading his hands. "In that fight for freedom, I found that I preferred wielding weapons over forging them, and it seems I actually have a talent for it. Not to mention, in the Abyssal Plane, this might be our only hope of getting out of here."

"Sounds reasonable," Lancelot nodded. "What's the other reason?"

Bruto laughed and pointed at Lancelot:

"Because of you."

"Me?" Lancelot touched his nose, puzzled.

"What's the most important thing on an adventure? Of course, it's a trustworthy partner," Bruto said, answering his own question.

"Wow." Lancelot was moved and asked, "Are you saying that I'm a partner you can trust?"

"We Dwarves find it very hard to trust others. The old man always says that by the time you truly consider a human a friend, they are usually old and about to die," Bruto said with a serious and sincere expression, "but you managed to win my trust in just three days. You've saved me twice, twice! My life is yours to give, so from now on, I am willing to give you my back unreservedly, will you accept my trust?"

Overwhelmed with emotion, Lancelot blurted out:

"I am willing!"

As these three words were spoken, the atmosphere suddenly turned very peculiar, and both fell silent.

"I mean, from now on, we are an adventuring team," Lancelot was the first to speak, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Of course, of course, haha," Bruto seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Right, then let's pack up and head out. Your fathers must be getting anxious waiting."

Their skis had been destroyed in the fight, but they were not far from their target. Lancelot cast a spell to summon his warhorse, first helped Bruto mount it, then he too leapt onto the horse and they rode towards their originally intended destination of the crazy mountain descent.

After riding for about half an hour, they met Barrend and the others, who were anxiously waiting in place. On the road, Lancelot had already agreed with Bruto not to disclose all their gains, for even if these Dwarves had no ill intentions, letting even a little information slip could attract more trouble than they could handle.

The final explanation they gave was that they had been chased off course by a sandworm and their skis were broken, so they were delayed for such a long time.

Barrend was still a bit skeptical; all of them had heard the earth-shattering scream which had come from the direction Bruto and Lancelot were coming. However, seeing his son unharmed, he lost the interest to probe further.

After the group joined up, they continued on toward Twin Bridges Town, and finally, as the round, blood-red sun was about to completely disappear from the horizon, they reached one of the two arch bridges that spanned the Stygian River, the entrance to Twin Bridges Town.

A humanoid figure with huge bat wings was giving instructions to a pair of Berserk Demons guarding the bridgehead. On hearing someone approaching, she turned around.

Lancelot felt as if his heart had skipped a beat.

This was a shockingly beautiful female Demon. She wore a leather outfit that barely covered anything, her proud figure seeming as if it would burst free from its confines. Two straight horns extended from amidst her black hair on top of her head, and behind her were a pair of large bat wings and a tail with an arrow-shaped tip.

This was a Succubus, rumored to be born directly from mortals' fantasies and desires for beauty and sex. Countless facts proved they were the perfect embodiment of the word 'licentious.'

The Succubus smiled at them enticingly and greeted:

"Good evening, gentlemen, my name is Tijana, welcome to my town. Are you here for business or pleasure?"