Chapter 279 | Paladin Class: Awakening the Strongest Demon System

He spoke:

“The 4th-Rank early stage. Your foundation is quite solid. Taking the step from the 3rd-Rank peak to the 4th-Rank wasn't fast, but it is exceptionally stable. There are no signs of a forced breakthrough; you took it one step at a time.”

The Bishop rested his fingers on the armrest, not tapping, just resting them casually.

“The first phase after becoming an official candidate can be considered a smooth success. Next, there is a task I can assign to you. It should help you adapt to the working pace of an official member more quickly.”

“Please speak, Lord Bishop.”

“Some news has come in recently.”

The Bishop did not describe the source of the news.

“There is an abandoned mine on the northern side of the Ash Mountains, which falls under the church's jurisdiction. The managers there recently discovered unidentified individuals active around the outer perimeter of the mine.

“The church is short on manpower and cannot dispatch anyone to station there permanently. Since you have just broken through, you happen to need an opportunity to gain experience. Take a few people with you, scout out the situation around the mine's perimeter, and if there are intruders, eliminate them...”

The Bishop's voice was neither high nor low.

“That mine was once a place where the church held prisoners. The terrain is rather complex, and not everyone can adapt to it. However, you have already experienced border missions, so you won't be easily stumped by the terrain.”

Jiang Lin lowered his eyes and acknowledged the words.

The Bishop said nothing more, waving his hand to dismiss him.

Jiang Lin turned and walked out of the room, heading back along the corridor he had come from. His footsteps on the stone floor were as steady as ever.

That mine.

He had previously seen it marked on the map, located in a branch range on the northern side of the Ash Mountains. Withered Bone was right there.

...

The next morning, Jiang Lin set off.

He did not bring many people.

The gray-robed deacon had assigned three low-rank cultists to him. All of them were young believers native to Shadow City, with strengths around the 2nd-Rank. Rather than being helpers, they were more like fillers to make up the numbers.

The three were named Nick, Turing, and Phil. None of them were even twenty years old, and their eyes held a mix of nervousness and excitement typical of those embarking on their first mission.

Jiang Lin did not chat with them much. He simply explained the route and mission objectives briefly, then led the three out of the north gate, walking along a gravel road that stretched to the north.

The northern branch of the Ash Mountains was about a two-day walk from Shadow City. The route was mostly barren hills and sparse shrubbery, with occasional sightings of abandoned villages and farmlands.

The further north they went, the colder and drier the air became, and the ground gradually transitioned from soft soil to hard gravel and rock.

At dusk, the four of them set up camp under a windward rock ledge.

The three low-rank cultists built a bonfire and sat around it, chatting in low voices.

Jiang Lin sat alone on a flat rock at the edge of the camp. He unfolded the map he had bought in Silver Oak City, using the twilight to examine the markings around the mine.

The location of the abandoned mine on the map was on the southeastern side of a northern branch of the Ash Mountains, marked with the words “Old Mine Shaft.” Next to it was a line of small characters that had been worn down and blurred.

Jiang Lin studied it for a moment by the light of the bonfire, committing the terrain features of the area to memory.

Before noon on the second day, the four of them arrived at the area marked on the map.

The entrance to the mine was even more hidden than expected, tucked beneath a weathered and eroded rock wall. The opening was mostly blocked by half-collapsed gravel and dead shrubs; if one weren't looking for it specifically, it would be easy to overlook.

Some faded, dark traces remained on the rock wall around the entrance, though it was impossible to tell when they had been left.

The three low-rank cultists stood outside the entrance, exchanging glances, clearly intimidated by the atmosphere of the abandoned mine.

“Lord Drake, are we going straight in?” the young man named Nick asked in a lowered voice.

“No rush,” Jiang Lin said, squatting down to brush away the gravel at the entrance with his hand, observing the traces on the ground.

The soil beneath the gravel was somewhat loose, looking as though someone had trodden on it recently.

He raised his head to look into the depths of the entrance. His Space Perception silently spread inward.

The tunnels inside the mine were more winding than expected. He probed along the main path. After about two hundred steps, his perception was slightly blocked by a natural, high-concentration mineral layer, but it managed to extend further, as if entering a much larger space.

In that space, he captured the presence of living creatures.

At least three. Their presence was cold and carried a familiar characteristic—they were demons.

He withdrew his perception and stood up.

“There is something inside. You three guard the entrance. Do not go in, but don't wander too far either.

“If I go in and don't return after more than one shichen, head back to Shadow City along the same route and report to the Bishop. Understood?”

The three looked at each other. Nick was the first to nod, and the other two followed suit.

Jiang Lin did not explain further, bending down to slip through the entrance.

The interior of the mine was drier than he had expected. The rock walls on both sides of the tunnel were covered in fine chisel marks, showing that it had once been manually widened.

The ground beneath his feet was covered in a thick layer of dust, making almost no sound when stepped on.

The further in he went, the more obvious the cold chill in the air became, mixed with a faint scent of sulfur.

He walked along the main tunnel for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and the space ahead suddenly opened up, leading into a naturally formed domed chamber.

The dome hung high above, with several thick stalactites dangling from the ceiling. The ground was relatively flat, looking as though it had once been used as some sort of assembly ground.

Deep within the domed chamber, three demons sat around a dark bonfire that had not yet gone out.

Their skin was a deep, dark red, their joints covered in a fine keratinous layer, and short, blunt horns grew from their heads.

One of them appeared to be the leader, with a curved short blade hanging from his waist. The other two were relatively thin and small, looking like ordinary demon scouts.

The light of the bonfire cast flickering shadows across their faces. The three were speaking in low, rapid voices in a demonic dialect that Jiang Lin could not quite understand.

He concealed his aura, moving a few steps to the side along the shadows of the rock wall to observe the layout of the entire space from another angle.

The domed chamber had three forks: one led deeper inside, while the other two were noticeably shallower, appearing to be abandoned shafts.

The three demons were positioned near the central bonfire. There were no warning runes set up around them, nor were there any obvious defensive measures.

Jiang Lin did not hesitate for long.

He stepped silently out of the shadows. Activating Instant Light Flash, his figure vanished from several zhang away, appearing behind the leading demon in the next split second.

The moment the platinum blade of the Eight Extremities Holy Sword lit up, it pierced the back of the opponent's neck. The blade slipped through the gaps in the vertebrae without making any excess noise.

The demon's body froze in place. The clay bowl he was about to raise hung suspended in mid-air before slipping from his loosening fingers, smashing against the ground with a dull, sharp crack.

The other two demons turned around at the same time. Before they could even stand, Jiang Lin raised his left hand, and a Spatial Shockwave spread silently from the center of his palm.

The shockwave struck the two demons just as they were rising. Their bodies shook violently, their movements stalling for half a breath.

Jiang Lin gave them no time to recover.

He lunged forward. A Holy Light Warhammer condensed in his right hand, its head as large as a human skull, its surface burning with pale golden flames.

He swung the hammer. The face of the hammer slammed into the chest of the demon on the left, sending him flying backward to crash against the rock wall with a dull thud. He slid to the ground, curling up and remaining motionless.

Before the remaining demon could draw his weapon, Jiang Lin was already in front of him, driving his left knee into the demon's abdomen and striking the side of his neck with his right palm.

This palm strike carried ice soul power. The chill seeped through the skin and into the meridians. The demon's pupils contracted sharply, his body stiffening for an instant before collapsing limply to the ground.

The entire process took less than ten breaths.

The domed chamber fell silent, with only a few remaining pieces of wood in the bonfire making soft crackling sounds.

Jiang Lin sheathed his sword and glanced at the three demons on the ground. The leader was at the 4th-Rank early stage, and the other two were at the 3rd-Rank mid-stage—all of them weaklings.

This mission could only be described as slightly challenging for a Holy Son candidate who had just reached the 4th-Rank early stage, but for him, with his 7th-Rank combat power, it was absolute child's play.

These demons weren't even worth building an altar to sacrifice.

However, taking advantage of this trip, he could go ask around for news about Withered Bone.

Jiang Lin stood in the domed chamber for a moment. After confirming that the three demons on the ground had completely lost all signs of life, he withdrew the Eight Extremities Holy Sword back into his body.

He walked over to the dark bonfire and nudged the ashes with the toe of his boot. Buried beneath the ashes were several half-burnt bones. Judging by their shape, they did not look like livestock, but rather human bones.

He did not linger, turning to go deeper along the main tunnel on the inner side of the domed chamber.

The mine shaft grew narrower as he went. The rough chisel marks on the rock walls on both sides gradually gave way to smooth, natural stone. The smell of sulfur in the air grew fainter, replaced by a stale odor, like air that hadn't circulated in a long time.

The ground beneath his feet also changed from gravel to fine sand, making almost no sound when stepped on.

After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the tunnel turned a corner, and a half-closed stone door appeared ahead.

The stone door was constructed from thick gray stone, its surface carved with the twisted runes unique to the secret cult. However, most of the lines of the runes had been worn away, with only a scattered few still showing their original paths.

An extremely faint, dark light seeped through the crack in the door, as if something were burning behind it.

Jiang Lin stopped before the stone door and extended his Space Perception through the crack.

Behind the door was a small stone chamber, about two zhang square, with a low ceiling and smooth walls.

In the center of the stone chamber's floor was a small altar pattern. The lines were finer than the ones he had set up in Anvil Town, with more nested layers, and several dimmed dark crystals were embedded along the edges.

A few miscellaneous items were scattered next to the altar: a broken short blade, a roll of yellowed parchment, and half a burnt-out candle.

Jiang Lin pushed open the stone door, walked in, squatted down, and picked up the roll of parchment to unfold it.

The handwriting on the paper was messy and dense, recording a variant process of the secret cult's sacrificial ritual, leaning toward undead-type sacrifices.

He folded the parchment and stored it in his spatial ring, then checked the crystals.

The interior of the crystals was completely dark, with no residual energy left.

There was no sign of Withered Bone.

It seemed this mine was not Withered Bone's outpost, but rather just a temporary resting place for a few demons.

But since he was already here, he could take this opportunity to put the hunt for Withered Bone on his agenda.

He walked out of the stone chamber, heading back along the tunnel he had come from, and turned into a shallower, abandoned mine shaft at the fork.

The shaft wasn't long. He reached the end in less than a hundred steps. At the end was a collapsed rock wall, with gravel piled waist-high and a narrow crack above letting in the daylight.

Stepping on the gravel, he climbed up to the crack and squeezed out through a natural crevice on the side of the mine.

Outside was a weathered and eroded slope covered in dry grass and low shrubs.

The afternoon sun shone diagonally through the gaps in the clouds, painting the grayish-brown rock wall in warm tones.

He stood on the slope for a moment, brushing the dust off his robes. Then, he walked down the slope a bit and sat on a protruding rock that overlooked the surrounding terrain, pulling out the map to unfold it once more.

The abandoned mine marked on the map wasn't the only one.

According to the information from the Bishop, the mine where Withered Bone was stationed was further west, near the intersection of the main Ash Mountains and the northern branch, about a half-day's journey from his current position.

He packed away the map, in no hurry to set off.

It was still early. He needed to go back first and dismiss the three low-rank cultists, otherwise bringing them along to hunt Withered Bone would only get in the way.

When he returned to the mine entrance along the same path, the three young men were still squatting in the shade outside.

Seeing him emerge, Nick was the first to stand, a clear look of relief on his face.

“Lord Drake, how is the situation inside?”

“A few demons. They've been dealt with.” Jiang Lin patted the dust off his hands. “There are no other threats in the mine for now. You three return to Shadow City to report back. Tell the deacon exactly what happened. I still need to look around the perimeter to ensure nothing was missed.”

Nick froze for a moment, clearly not expecting to be sent away first.

“You're staying alone, Lord?”

“Yes. Your strength is insufficient; staying won't be of any help.

“Be careful on the road. Do not travel at night. Find a place to stay before it gets dark.”

Jiang Lin's tone was flat, carrying a decisiveness that brooked no argument.

Nick said nothing more. He exchanged a glance with the other two, and they departed together back the way they had come.

Their figures gradually shrank in the afternoon sun, finally disappearing among the rolling hills.

Jiang Lin waited until the three figures were completely out of sight before turning to walk a lap around the perimeter of the mine entrance. He found a concealed spot beneath a windward rock wall and sat down cross-legged.