Failure is not enough

The underground palace was blasted with a large hole leading straight to the ground. Before Lin Feng and his companions could figure out what was happening, they saw a rope dangling from the large hole, and then a familiar figure appeared before them.

A tall, slender man, with a sharp and competent demeanor, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. Who else could it be if not Nangong? He was still carrying his black suitcase, with a delicate crossbow hanging from his waist, and leisurely descended from the rope as if descending from the sky.

Lin Feng immediately guessed the culprit behind the explosions that occurred earlier on the ceiling. It turned out to be this... um, this self-proclaimed demon hunter! He suddenly felt the urge to confront him, and if the timing had been right, he would have gone up with a brick in hand!

Meanwhile, as Nangong appeared, Vivian and Muyun also temporarily returned to their human forms. Despite the presence of many undead armors around them, their strength allowed them to handle them as humans for a short period. Now the important thing was to understand the sudden appearance of Nangong! So he didn't leave with the other enthusiasts of the supernatural, but stayed in the castle?

At this moment, Nangong had successfully landed. He agilely jumped a few times in a pile of rubble to find a flat ground. Only then did he look up and see the three familiar faces standing before him, his expression exaggeratedly surprised: "Hey... you three?! What are you doing here!?"

"How come you're here?!" Muyun exclaimed almost simultaneously.

"This is what I do for a living." Nangong was momentarily stunned, then explained, "I was trapped in the underground passage above. I wanted to blast a way to the surface, but I didn't expect the floor to collapse as well. There's space down here, so I came down to check..."

Goodness, how much explosives did he use! Blasting through the underground palace with explosives, this half-hearted demon hunter must be tired of ordinary methods of risking his life, so he's trying something new?

"Now is not the time for this!" Lin Feng suddenly exclaimed. In the few seconds that Nangong spoke, the iron cans around them had recovered from their brief confusion. Now, with hundreds of empty armored suits swaying towards the center of the hall, it seemed they were gathering. The demonic chamber prohibition engraved on their bodies should still have some residual effect, so these armors moved slowly and hesitantly, but the red light behind their faceplates was getting brighter, indicating they were about to completely lose control—this was not the time for small talk!

Nangong only noticed the situation around him at this moment. Seeing countless undead knights emitting red light, he was immediately shocked: "Undead knights?! What's going on with this scale!?"

Lin Feng was thinking about how to explain to himself why he and his companions, three "ordinary people," were in the underground palace, when Nangong swiftly took action. He quickly pulled out his small crossbow from his waist, while using his other hand to throw his suitcase on the ground and open it with one hand. From a small compartment inside, he took out a small vial and forcefully smashed it towards one of the approaching undead armors. At the same time, his crossbow aimed in another direction, with a loud twang, a silver-white arrow shot out.

The vial smashed onto the first armor, shattering it and releasing a large amount of white-silver dust that seemed to have some magical properties. Instead of dispersing, it quickly covered the entire body of the armor, seeping into its crevices. Meanwhile, the silver arrow accurately hit the face of the second armor, bursting into silver light and piercing through its helmet.

"Quick, hide behind these slabs of stone!" Nangong quickly loaded the second arrow onto his crossbow, aiming at the third enemy while shouting urgently, "I'll cover the front. These things are not fast, so you guys find a chance to run later! Don't worry about me!"

Lin Feng was just considering how to vent his frustration on this "demon hunter" for causing trouble when he suddenly paused: although he fell short in some aspects, this Nangong seemed alright? He was different from those demon hunters who disregarded human lives as mentioned by Vivian, wasn't he?

While Nangong continued his rapid attacks, Lin Feng and his companions followed his instructions, hiding behind another slab of stone. Now that the underground palace had been blasted open, those slow-moving armors couldn't detain vampires who could fly or werewolves who could climb walls. However, they didn't want to reveal themselves in front of Nangong just yet, because... this seemingly mediocre demon hunter actually possessed genuine equipment! Even though he was just a mortal, the fact that he could acquire such equipment indicated some daunting questions.

Lin Feng decided to observe the situation. If things didn't improve, he would let Vivian and Muyun take action. Revealing their identities was better than being beaten. But if Nangong truly had genuine skills, then of course, it would be easier and less troublesome.

After a series of attacks, Nangong took a breath and then took out a piece of hard paper from his suitcase. The paper was painted with complex symbols in red paint, and Lin Feng, with just a glance, was shocked to find that they were Leyta runes.

Although ordinary people could use Leyta runes, there were requirements for these "ordinary people." Besides demon hunters, only those with strong spirits like ascetic monks could withstand the mental impact of Leyta runes. Who exactly was this Nangong?

"Don't show yourselves, these mindless things will attack the most active targets." Nangong turned his head to glance at Lin Feng and his companions' position, "I'll deal with these things. You guys relax. I'm an expert in demon hunting—Demon Exorcist!"

With a single utterance of the word "expert," the paper with the runes immediately burst into flames without any external ignition. But it seemed Nangong got it wrong—the one on fire was the end he was holding.

"Oh, f***..." Nangong jumped up in pain as he got burned, and the rune card fell to the ground extinguishing the flames. He frantically picked up the paper and blew off the dirt, then shouted again, "Demon Exorcist! Demon Exorcist! Demon... f***, the ignition rune burned out."

Lin Feng, who was planning how to deal with this troublesome "demon hunter" and had just seen Nangong hurriedly pull out a lighter from his pocket while re-igniting the rune card, couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This is a mess."

The rune card was thrown towards the group of armors, erupting into a dazzling red light, and then... nothing happened.

Finally, Vivian couldn't help but remind him from the side, "Um, Mr. Demon Hunter—after you finish attacking, don't you want to check your results?"

Nangong looked up and found that the four armors he had attacked with his crossbow and demon-expelling powder had already staggered to their feet. The magical powder and silver arrows only made these iron cans dizzy for a few seconds, and they didn't suffer any damage at all.

Lin Feng couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. This demon hunter had just descended from the sky and was shooting on the move, displaying both magic and martial arts, looking majestic and formidable. It seemed that from start to finish, his performance was just for show...

"What's going on..." Nangong immediately jumped back a few steps, looking down at his equipment, "This shouldn't be happening. This thing has always worked well... Don't panic, I still have a trick up my sleeve!"

With that, he bent down and took out a bunch of miscellaneous items from his suitcase, then assembled them into a strange-looking large crossbow with a faint silver light floating above it. It seemed to be reflecting the moonlight that was falling from the hole in the ceiling. Lin Feng's twitching eyes finally calmed down: this half-hearted guy had finally taken out something powerful.

"Hmph, the power of this thing is not to be trifled with." Nangong smiled faintly, raised the large crossbow, aimed at the enemy, and said, "Let's see the silver explosive arrows of the demon hunter... Damn it, I forgot to bring arrows!"

Vivian slapped herself on the forehead, "Idiot, prepare to fight. This guy is useless."

"Wait!" Lin Feng saw Vivian and Muyun about to transform and hurriedly whispered, then looked at Nangong, who was jumping up and down not far away, doing nothing useful. He always felt that this guy was trouble, even if he was only half-hearted, he was still trouble.

Lin Feng wanted to deal with this trouble, at least not to let the genuine demon hunter behind him jump out.

He carefully ran to Nangong's back, grasping a hard object, and then smashed it on the back of his head!

At the same time, a sharp voice echoed in his mind: "The system believes you absolutely have not read the instruction manual! Your method of use is definitely wrong!"