Another flare of magic light flashed from deep within the Level 17 entrance.
Then a savage blast of scorching wind roared out of the passage.
BOOM!!
It came out of nowhere—no gap, no warning.
Leon and the blond knight, still fighting in front of the tunnel, were both caught by the heat gale and thrown backward uncontrollably.
The wind pressure was enormous—comparable to the lingering shockwave of an intermediate wind spell.
This was where Leon's agility—40, higher than most third-tiers—finally showed its value.
He rolled once in midair, stabilizing his balance.
Then, even as he was about to collide with the rock wall, he planted both feet sideways against it and braced himself there, resisting the gale on the vertical wall for four or five seconds. When the wind weakened, he sprang down lightly, landing with ease.
He'd still been burned by the fierce heat in the wind and lost 2 HP—
but overall he remained steady.
On the other side, the blond knight—already compromised by the Sighing Faerie's possession—had poorer reaction speed and agility.
Even with the extra dozens of pounds from full plate armor weighing him down, the gale still slammed him straight into the wall, cracking the rock in a spiderweb pattern.
As for Iris, since she never canceled the defensive barrier in front of them, she was fine—though she did lose a few extra points of mana for maintaining it.
After landing, Leon first checked the Level 17 tunnel to see whether more magical aftershocks were coming.
When he confirmed there weren't, he turned back to the blond knight—and his expression changed.
The knight was clearly badly damaged, like he might die at any moment.
Leon instantly felt alarmed.
If the blond knight died, they'd have no choice but to run!
That was why Leon hadn't used any offensive techniques or spells before—he'd been using low-impact, controlled strikes to rattle the plate armor and stun the Sighing Faerie hiding inside.
If he kept doing it—slow-boiling the frog—the Sighing Faerie would eventually be knocked out and become easy to capture.
But that only worked if the blond knight was still alive—if he hadn't been completely drained.
Because once the host was fully drained, or the host truly died, the Sighing Faerie would immediately leave the body and release its charm skill.
And even if the host was frozen or burned, as long as the freezing or burning wasn't instantaneous—snap-freeze, snap-incineration—the faerie would still detach at once.
That was all based on Leon's past-life game experience.
Sighing Faeries were infamous monsters in the Sword, Magic, and the Holy Land series.
Their seductive looks, wicked aura, palm-sized tiny bodies, special charm skills, and "suck it dry and leave nothing" temperament had caused multiple heroines across the games to suffer at their hands. Their reputation was vile.
So Leon had plenty of experience dealing with them.
But the key point remained the same: the host had to stay alive.
A Sighing Faerie that wasn't in a parasitic state was the most terrifying version.
Because one slip, and the attacker could be charmed and become the next host—losing all ability to resist.
Only Leon—who carried the memories of countless clears—knew these details.
Ordinary people still hadn't discovered the Sighing Faerie's weakness.
Because when most people encountered one, they either ran, or fought the controlled host—then either died to the host, or accidentally killed the fragile host and became the next parasitic target.
In this era, the mainstream method to kill a Sighing Faerie was simple: use overwhelming force to instantly destroy the host's body, killing the faerie along with it.
Anyone who could do that was at least fifth-tier.
Even intermediate spells often couldn't instantly destroy an extraordinary's body—there was usually margin for survival.
Fortunately—
after observing for a moment, Leon saw the blond knight was still alive, just breathing shorter and harsher.
Leon relaxed, knowing he still had room to maneuver.
In this state, he could still deliver a few more jolt—armor-shock strikes to knock the faerie out.
He rushed forward, sword raised.
The blond knight staggered and finally began to push himself up.
Leon arrived and swung five times in quick succession at the unguarded knight.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Five strikes in a row—each with controlled "smart force," keeping the impact at a stable intensity, pounding different thick plate sections and generating repeated shock through the armor.
Finally, on the fifth hit, the knight went thud and collapsed completely.
Leon watched closely for a moment, confirming the knight still had a trace of breath—then added one more shock-infused chopping strike.
With a low clang, the plate armor vibrated deeply.
"Iris, stay alert," Leon said. "I'm going to remove this knight's plate armor, so my attention will be split."
Iris stared, dumbfounded at Leon's rapid sequence of actions. Only when Leon called her did she snap back, hurrying behind him with her staff raised to guard.
She still didn't understand why the knight had been brought down and yet the Sighing Faerie hadn't revealed itself or used charm attacks.
But at this point, what else could she do?
Of course—follow Leon's instructions and keep watch.
"Understood. Leave your back to me!"
She might be suspicious of Leon, but in combat she never dropped the ball.
Also, that sudden explosive heat wind was extremely suspicious—most likely an intermediate explosive spell, probably fire-element.
If whoever cast it had bad intentions, things could get dangerous.
So right now, vigilance was everything.
Leon began removing the armor.
It was his first time dismantling full plate.
He'd coveted a second-tier full-body defensive set like this for a long time.
With something like this, his survival rate in battle would undoubtedly rise.
If not for how the weight would suppress his greatest strength—agility—Leon would have considered buying a set once he earned enough money.
But Leon didn't waste time admiring the plate. The Sighing Faerie could wake at any moment—he wasn't going to play with fire.
Full plate was generally removed from the back first.
When Leon forcibly dragged the gaunt blond knight out of the half-removed armor, a palm-sized Sighing Faerie with black-scaled wings fell to the ground along with him.
Seeing it, Iris's eyes widened—yes, it really did resemble an elf.
The Sighing Faerie had the same beautiful features and pale skin as a pure-blood elf.
But its overall aura was unmistakably wicked.
Even unconscious, it felt predatory—as if it might violate someone at any moment.
Though it was third-tier, it had poured everything into charm, possession, and draining skills.
Without those, it had little direct killing power.
So Leon took out the red spider silk he'd collected earlier and wrapped the faerie in layers and layers.
To prevent it from waking and charming from a distance, Leon also puffed some sleep powder onto it.
A short while later, Iris said to Leon:
"Maybe you're the first person who's ever successfully captured a Sighing Faerie. You'd probably gain a dual merit—both exploration and demon-suppression. That's incredible."
Her words reminded Leon of something. He pondered and said:
"True. By your reasoning, it does count as a dual merit. But whether I'm actually the first person to capture one… I'll need to investigate after we get out. And even if it is merit, it's probably only a minor merit."
A "dual merit" meant accomplishing one act that granted two types of merit.
Merit like that—one action, multiple outcomes—also meant that when Leon eventually advanced to sixth tier and obtained his personal saga, he could receive a stronger blessing.
Of course, at this stage Leon still couldn't be certain whether this would count as merit.
It required a certain level of being sung of—triggering a "world echo"—before it could be confirmed.
If no one actively spread the story, then when someone advanced to sixth tier, the world would echo automatically and forcibly count qualifying events as that person's merit.
That was why, when people accomplished great deeds, they often hired bards to publicize them.
Otherwise, before reaching sixth tier, it was almost impossible to know whether what you did would count.
"Either way," Iris smiled, "it's something worth spreading, isn't it?"
She felt as though she was slowly letting go of some of her wariness toward Leon.
"Let's talk after we get out," Leon said. "Our goal this time is still the 25th floor."
Leon's eyes flickered—clearly, Iris's vigilance toward him had dropped noticeably.
"Oh, right," Iris asked, "now that you've captured a Sighing Faerie, what are you going to do with it?"
"Before that," Leon said, "shouldn't we wake up this court knight and get some information? We'll need your Light Healing, Iris."