It really was Gary Miller, the calm and reserved Gary Miller.

But the muscles on his face were already contorted, his eyes glowing red, radiating a naked wildness.

“Could it be that the toxin from that red-eyed rat hasn’t been completely eliminated, and can even make people lose their reason, turning them into bloodthirsty beasts?” The moment Logan Bennett saw Gary Miller like this, he thought of this possibility. “But why am I fine, not feeling anything unusual?!”

Logan Bennett didn’t have time to ponder this confusion and strangeness. He focused his mind, reached with his left hand for the cross on his holy emblem, and was about to recite an incantation.

The round shield wrapped in iron was swung fiercely, striking the shield of holy light and making it wobble unsteadily.

Although this shield bash didn’t break the shield of holy light, the transmitted shaking and impact made Logan Bennett’s chest tighten, his breathing labored, and the half-spoken incantation stuck in his throat.

Repeated heavy blows from the shield kept disrupting Logan Bennett’s breathing rhythm, making it impossible for him to concentrate.

As a squire with the potential to become a true knight, Gary Miller had received solid, formal training in interrupting spellcasting.

Of course, whether priest, mage, or any other spellcaster, seeing Logan Bennett like this, they would all shake their heads and sigh. Only someone who hadn’t even learned the most basic spellcasting focus would have their casting interrupted by a knight’s squire. If it were any apprentice priest or magic apprentice, with a first-tier emblem of truth and an already activated shield of holy light, Gary Miller should have died long ago.

When facing someone of the same rank, spellcasters always hold an absolute advantage!

Logan Bennett was frustrated at being unable to concentrate and activate divine magic, while over there, Corey Allen was in increasing danger, seemingly growing weak and powerless. His right hand gripping the longsword was pressed tightly against his chest, his wrist trembling almost imperceptibly.

Fortunately, the humanoid giant rat entangling him also seemed to be running out of strength, no longer as ferocious as before.

Unable to recite the incantation, Logan Bennett simply swung the sword of radiance in his right hand upward, no longer obsessing over activating divine magic.

After battling the red-eyed rats, Logan Bennett had gained some understanding of the sharpness of this summoned sword of light—it was definitely far superior to the knight’s longsword in Gary Miller’s hand.

Under the heavy blows of Gary Miller’s shield, Logan Bennett’s sword strike seemed wild and uncontrolled, unable to stay steady or aim at Gary Miller’s vital points.

Yet, when facing this sun-like longsword, Gary Miller didn’t act like a mindless beast. Instead, he hurriedly raised his knight’s longsword to block.

He seemed unwilling to dodge. Once he put distance between himself and Logan Bennett, facing a first-circle divine spell, even a formal knight who had awakened his bloodline power would be in great danger—one misstep could mean serious injury or even death.

The sword of radiance struck the knight’s longsword, but there was no crisp metallic clang.

Silently, the knight’s longsword broke in two like a piece of wood. But at this moment, Gary Miller had already pulled his round shield back in front of him.

A deep gash appeared on the round shield, almost splitting it in two.

Logan Bennett was about to seize the opportunity to counterattack, but the sword of radiance—already much dimmer—suddenly shattered, fragments of light scattering in all directions.

Ever since it had cut through the wall with the magical trap, the sword of radiance had been losing power. Now, it had finally exhausted everything and could no longer be maintained.

Logan Bennett froze for a moment, and Gary Miller seized the chance, swinging the round shield hard and smashing it against the now thin and dim shield of holy light. Shield fragments flew everywhere, and after a flicker and a shake, the shield of holy light vanished completely.

Logan Bennett’s greatest reliance, the shield of holy light, was utterly destroyed after withstanding the relentless attacks.

There was no time to reflect on all the mistakes he’d made due to lack of combat experience or insufficient composure. Logan Bennett rubbed the cross on his holy emblem, desperately focused his mind, and began to recite an incantation.

“Ss... cough, cough.”

He had barely uttered half a syllable when Gary Miller, already prepared, punched Logan Bennett hard in the abdomen, making him curl up like a shrimp, a strong sourness rising in his throat.

Interrupting Logan Bennett’s incantation, Gary Miller’s other hand came over and suddenly gripped Logan Bennett’s neck, squeezing tightly.

Logan Bennett used his right hand to pry at Gary Miller’s fingers, but as a high-level knight’s squire, even after such a long fight and severe exhaustion, Gary Miller still had a huge strength advantage over an ordinary person like Logan Bennett.

Breathing grew more and more difficult, his neck hurt terribly, and Logan Bennett’s vision darkened in waves. His left hand, holding the holy emblem, was pinned to his chest by Gary Miller’s other hand, which also firmly pressed down Logan Bennett’s entire body.

The beastly panting sounded in Logan Bennett’s ear, the cold touch of the iron gauntlet transmitted from his skin to his mind, and in his increasingly blurred consciousness, Logan Bennett suddenly became a little clearer.

His soul seemed to drift, giving him a strange sense of detachment. Logan Bennett’s will to survive erupted, his spirit breaking through some boundary, spreading out like the sea.