The Paladin in the Abyss

Dong Quan was a child from Aira who lived in Androlina. If you considered his age, he would no longer be a child, but due to the accursed Mother of Demons, his body had been forever trapped at the age when he arrived in this plane, preventing his mind from maturing further.

This didn't mean he was dumb, of course not; Dong Quan learned things very quickly! However, he just couldn't exhibit the mature and composed qualities that those adults who came to protect them could when facing problems.

Dong Quan never thought there was anything wrong with this or rather, he enjoyed feeling like a child and was certain that only in this way could one discover all the joys of life.

But he thought it would be a great idea to have a big adventure with his best friend Lilu! What's worse, they had specifically chosen to go from the rarely visited east side because how could it be an adventure if they went to a place they knew well?

At first, they indeed had a lot of fun; they saw many landscapes they had never seen before, and the two children chased each other across the endless meadows, drifting along streams. They were having so much fun that they didn't even notice the stream had flowed into the Hoffenstan River. After the two Aira children rushed ashore, they were still unaware that they had entered enemy-controlled territory and continued to wander aimlessly.

Suddenly, a bunch of ugly, stinking monsters appeared, and his best friend Lilu was captured right away!

Although Dong Quan managed to escape in time, having never experienced such a thing, he was thrown into complete panic. He knew he had messed up badly. In the past, other children had also been captured by monsters and had never been seen again. Although the Protectors never said anything, the children could feel the sorrow in the hearts of those around them, and they knew that these missing friends had most likely been killed.

Dong Quan wanted to kill himself out of remorse to atone for his mistake, yet he could never gather the courage. At other times, he wanted to go back and seek rescue from the Protectors, but he didn't dare face their disappointed and critical eyes.

What was most important was that he feared the time taken back and forth was too long, and Lilu would be in grave danger—he had already guessed where he had run to. This was Miasma Swamp, said to be home to a terrifying monster named Valasti! This monster loved eating their kind, and those stinking Trolls were definitely its minions!

So Dong Quan made another decision that he would regret even more, he actually tried to track those ugly Trolls to see if there was any chance to rescue his friend. But he was just a terrible tracker, and there was no doubt about his fate: being captured by another group of Trolls—why had he not thought of this before?

As he was dragged by his hair by a monster's dirty, stinking hand, with another monster beating him beside, Dong Quan finally no longer thought having a childlike mind was a good thing. It wasn't because of the misfortune he might suffer—he wasn't afraid! It was because by being this way, not only had he harmed his best friend Lilu, but he would also make others sad because of their disappearance; he couldn't bear this at all!

Dong Quan had given up all hope of being rescued, as they had never told anyone about their big adventure plan. Even if people noticed that the two little ones were missing, they wouldn't know where to start looking, and by the time they realized something was wrong and began to act, poor Dong Quan and Lilu would have probably already been eaten.

But just as he had lost all hope, a miracle occurred! He watched with wide eyes as a stone-like object suddenly flew from behind, only realizing it was a Dwarf when it got very close. For a moment, Dong Quan thought he was going to be killed by this Dwarf, but the Dwarf slammed harshly into the Troll that was pulling his hair, and the hand holding him immediately let go.

Dong Quan, having regained his freedom, hurriedly tried to get up and flee, but the pain in his body rendered him immobile. At that moment, another troll charged towards him, its ferocious expression clearly indicating its intent to kill him outright!

Just as the helpless Aira child awaited death in despair, a beautiful figure with wings stepped in front of him. The weapon in the figure's hand emitted a holy and bright golden light, cleaving the dreadful troll in two with a single stroke.
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"An angel! It must be an angel who has come to save me!"

Filled with hope from this sudden rescue, Dong Quan turned his head and saw a group of strangers fighting the enemies that had captured him. Among these people were humans, a dwarf, elves, and even a cute halfling and a floating skull!

The angel, with a shield in one hand and a shimmering longsword in the other, stood guard by his side, swiftly taking care of the opponents in front of her without rejoining the battle; the dwarf he had first mistaken for a rock swung his hammer, determinedly knocking down the headless troll again and again; the human dressed as a knight, holding a longsword that flickered with green light, effortlessly chopped the monstrous creatures into piles of debris; in the distance, other allies occasionally sent fireballs and acid onto the severed limbs of the trolls, suppressing the monsters' incredible regenerative abilities.

In just the blink of an eye, all the trolls had been dispatched. Lancelot cleaned the troll blood off his sword blade, then slung the weapon back onto his back. He then looked towards the child who had just been rescued and saw him staring, mouth agape, as if he had not yet grasped the turn of events.

"Are you alright?" Lancelot greeted him while waving his hand in front of the child's face.

The child finally snapped back to reality. He tried to rise from the ground but immediately stopped, a pained expression crossing his face.

"Don't move, you're hurt." A pleasant voice sounded from behind Dong Quan; it was the 'angel' who had just saved him! He felt a gentle hand gently touch his shoulder and suddenly, a surge of powerful life energy flowed into his body, healing him instantly.

A look of surprise appeared on Lancelot's face. As his injuries healed, the unusual features on the child's body became more pronounced — most notably the two pairs of dragonfly-like transparent wings on his back and the elf-like slender, long ears. Undoubtedly, this child was indeed an Aira!

After he was completely healed, Dong Quan scrambled up from the ground, turned around eagerly, and said to Elothysia,

"Thank you for saving my life, beautiful angel sister!"