The Paladin in the Abyss

Lancelot quickly took off the dimensional bag from his waist and tossed it on the ground, instructing crisply:

"No more than 5 minutes, grab the valuable ones first, no gold! Hurry up!"

Everyone cheered and rushed in frantically.

Lancelot, relying on his sensitivity to Spiritual Energy, immediately picked out the gemstones equivalent to Upper Grade Spirit Stones. Bruto's eyes turned red as he lunged at the most valuable jewels, while Alamir carefully placed the delicate artworks into his dimensional belt.

Kalalin was the only one who didn't scurry around the piles of gold like a dung beetle on the scent. He pulled out the necklace from around his neck, murmured a spell softly and activated the Detect Magic spell embedded in the necklace.

In his eyes, the world initially lost its color rapidly, then the items containing Magical Power lit up one by one, emitting their own Magic Aura.

Under the effect of Detect Magic, the caster could determine the type of magic by the color of the Spiritual Light and the strength of the magic by the intensity of the light. Read exclusive adventures at empire

Magic was roughly divided into eight Arcane schools: Energy Sculpting, Protection, Curse, Transformation, Illusion Technique, Charm Control, Necromancers, and Prophecy, with the corresponding Spiritual Lights being crimson, dark red, orange, light blue, deep green, deep blue, deep purple, and yellow-green respectively.

The intensity of the light ranged from dim to blindingly bright, and it was said that the light from a Divine Artifact could even rival the midday sun.

Kalalin effortlessly identified several of the most powerful magical items, including a staff wrapped in dragon scales, a great sword that could sing, shoes that seemed alive, a helmet decorated with wings made of numerous small swords, a slippery snake-shaped belt which was nearly impossible to pick up, and various other peculiar outfits, all of which he stowed one by one into the dimensional bag.

These treasures, earned with the lives and blood of slaves like Alamir, had lain quietly in the master's treasure room for many years. The four intruders took what they pleased and quickly filled the dimensional bag, even though they had only taken less than a tenth of the treasures in the room (of course, the most precious tenth).

Lancelot pulled out his enormous Giant Sword Glacier, tossed the large iron ball he took earlier from a halfling cook's foot, successfully clearing a bit of space, but soon it was packed again.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"That's about enough, don't crush our halfling friend," Lancelot cheerfully said. This loot was quite the haul, as he had found more than twenty gemstones of Upper Grade Spirit Stone level, making his mood exceptionally good.

"Oh, believe me, that's the death a halfling dreams of," Bruto laughed and replied, grabbing another handful of gemstones to stuff in the dimensional bag.

Lancelot was about to say something more, but suddenly his expression changed, sensing a familiar magical fluctuation—the prelude to the Teleportation Magic that Tijana had used several times before.

Without time to react further, the Succubus Knight swiftly picked up the Giant Sword Glacier that was planted on a pile of gold coins and slashed towards the area with the most intense magical fluctuations.

Lancelot's action of striking at the air baffled everyone, but the next moment, no one was laughing anymore.

An orange magic glow suddenly streaked through the empty air, and a nearly naked female figure appeared mid-air, her back adorned with several tentacles as thick as arms, and a beautifully scenic manor faintly visible behind her.

It was indeed a Succubus, and it seemed that Lancelot and his companions had likely triggered some unknown alarm, inadvertently drawing this guardian of the treasury to them.

The greeting she received was the light of a sword swung by Lancelot. Despite being ambushed and just having escaped from teleportation, the Succubus's tentacles met the Great Sword's edge with an unbelievable agility.

With a booming sound, the just-appeared Succubus was struck and sent flying. Although she managed to block temporarily with her tentacle's stinger, she sustained a fearful wound on her waist, but ultimately she avoided a fatal blow.

"Despicable thieves!" The Succubus roared in anger and pain, having been attacked by what turned out to be another Succubus. She glanced around and immediately noticed many precious items were gone, and a large hole had unexpectedly appeared on the wall, fuelling her fury even further.

Lancelot didn't waste any words and charged directly at the Succubus for close combat. While the Succubus was exceptional in hand-to-hand combat, her incessant Quasi-Divine Arts were the real trouble.

"Cowardly scum!" Facing Lancelot's aggressive attacks, the Succubus secretly marveled inside. Every Succubus once desired power due to their detest of their intrinsic weakness as a Succubus and hence chose to transform; yet, here was this Succubus daring to engage her in melee combat!

But with just a swipe of her claw colliding with Lancelot's incoming Great Sword, she knew her enemy was not a mere Succubus.

The weight of the Great Sword exceeded her expectations, its power overwhelming for her to handle. What was more mysterious was the eerie blue glow on the blade, causing a small notch to appear on her claw, as tough as mithril, which frightened her from intercepting his attacks any further.

"I know who you are now!" The Succubus said as she skillfully dodged Lancelot's attacks using her agile movements, while her four lightning-fast tentacles continually slapped the sword, causing Lancelot's attacks to skew, "Take off your mask, Tijana!"

Lancelot maintained his rhythm of attacks and slightly shook his head, letting the face mask fall aside. It wouldn't be good to let Tijana take the blame if this enemy had some bizarre means of escaping, as it might lead the Queen of the Succubus's wrath to him instead. Compared to this, Lansna was indeed a more suitable scapegoat.

"Hmph, who is Tijana? Another Succubus?" Lancelot ostensibly asked while striking with his sword, "And who are you then, wanting to snatch the treasure we discovered here?"

"I am Samantha, the Enforcer of the Fifth Execution Squad!" The Succubus screeched in rage, "Cease immediately, this all belongs to the majestic Queen of the Succubus!"

"Oh, that's too bad." Lancelot said impassively, as his swordplay suddenly changed.

He had realized he could barely gain the upper hand in the fight against the Succubus, yet he couldn't breach her tentacle's defenses. He could unleash his full strength without reserve, but if he couldn't ensure a one-strike kill and the enemy had some tricks up her sleeve, his teammates might be in danger.

At that, he shifted his focus toward those tentacles as his targets. He raised his hands and executed a downward chop, seemingly no different from his previous moves, but only his right hand grasped the sword handle, while his left hand swiftly grasped the hilt of Frostslash on his shoulder.