Everything had to be ended before the miracle erupted.
To figure out exactly what had happened, she would have to personally visit the royal city.
Without a moment to lose, Sevia stood up immediately. She offered her thanks to the old woman and the lord and was about to leave when the old woman called out to her. Turning around, she saw a look of complexity and heaviness in the other woman's eyes.
"Young lady, could you please do me a favor?"
The hope in the old woman's eyes made Sevia's expression shift slightly.
"My daughter is sick. I think you have a way to help her."
"I..." Sevia started to speak, but then she reconsidered. Perhaps it was because she had been seen using vitality magic earlier that the old woman chose to approach her.
She had just received kindness from others, so there was no reason to refuse.
"I will do my best."
The wrinkles on the old woman's face softened a bit as she turned and walked toward the back of the tavern.
"Follow me. She is in the basement."
Sevia followed quickly, walking through a long corridor in silence.
Upon entering the second-to-last storage room, she watched as the old woman walked to the center of the room, knelt down, and pulled back a rug on the floor. After brushing away the dust, a locked cellar door was revealed before Sevia.
The old woman quickly found the key on her keyring. Sevia wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but as the dusty cellar door was slowly opened, it wasn't just a cold wind that rushed out; there was also the faint, eerie sound of a woman's weeping coming from the depths of the cellar.
Sevia shook her head and followed the old woman down the stairs, passing through a cramped passage built of brick and stone until they reached a basement room.
In the dim light, a figure sat hunched in a corner with her back to them. Her hair was disheveled, and she occasionally let out shrill, giggling sounds.
"Hehe..."
"Hehehe..."
It seemed to be a woman.
However, as Sevia drew closer, the woman's back appeared larger and larger in her eyes. As she stood up from her crouch, her head nearly hit the basement ceiling, completely blocking the light from the small window. She stood before her like a massive, sturdy mountain, her shoulders shaking incessantly with shrill giggles.
Sevia saw that the woman's severely withered legs were pressed into layers of bloated, fatty folds on her abdomen. Her bare back was covered in coarse, dirty hair, and her spine was curved like that of a rodent, with the bones protruding sharply.
At the same time, the stench of a sewer and the heavy smell of blood wafted from the woman, stinging Sevia's nostrils.
As the figure moved, the iron chains binding her clattered and jingled. The woman's equally regressed hands reached into a wooden bucket nearby and grabbed a slimy, clumpy mass, bringing it to her mouth. Her exceptionally long arms didn't look human at all.
In the darkness, the unsettling sound of chewing echoed. "Hehehe..."
"Hehe..."
Sevia finally saw it clearly.
What the woman held in her hands was clearly a handful of bloody flesh. Countless pale human bones were scattered beneath her, an incredibly piercing sight.
The monster seemed to sense something. Its snout twitched as it sniffed the air and turned around. On her chest and abdomen, Sevia saw...
Six prominent, glowing rat teats.
Sevia suddenly turned her head, only to see the old woman staring at her with a terrifying smile. The old woman stepped back into the shadows while a long, slender hand reached out from behind to grab Sevia's shoulder.
"Hehehe..."
"Hehe..."
...
Oasis, Mist Village Harbor.
"Gnawing Tooth Pendant. It adds twenty points to agility and three points to strength. Does anyone need it?" A youth with a flat-top haircut, Gaoshou Xiaobei, held up the pendant and asked the group.
"The smell is so bad. A pendant made of rat teeth? I definitely don't want it," the cleric, Ruomeng Mao, said while pinching her nose.
"Just thinking about wearing something like that around my neck gives me goosebumps. I won't fight you for it," the sniper, Suosuo, added.
"If Suosuo doesn't want it, then I don't want it either," Xixi said, raising her hand energetically.
"Having agility on equipment is a disgrace for us melee fighters," Tyrant Bear said with his arms crossed.
Nearby, Golden Beetle's mouth twitched. He thought that if they actually played in the league, every commander would have strict agility requirements for the support roles. Otherwise, in a sudden situation, if an enemy guerrilla took out the commander or the buffer before the support even arrived, everything would already be over.
"As an analyst, I don't need to arm myself," a man in glasses said while adjusting them.
"Yeah, it's an agility-primary item. Even though the stats are higher than my Ice Soul Pendant, it's just a common white-grade item without any passive effects. I won't fight you for it," Shadow Weaver Poem said with a shrug.
Just as the members of Light-Chaser Garden were peacefully rolling for the dropped equipment, an uninvited guest arrived.
BANG— A massive gunshot tore through the night.
Before the cleric Ruomeng Mao could react, blood blossomed from her chest. Her health bar was instantly emptied. Her pupils shrank violently as she fell limply to the ground, dissipating into light.
"Sister Ruomeng Mao!" Shadow Weaver Poem's eyes went wide with rage.
"Oh no, we're under attack!"
Golden Beetle roared, raising his shield and applying the Steel Bastion effect to everyone present.
As a red aiming line appeared on Xixi's forehead, the other guild members snapped out of it, forming a defensive circle around the ranged classes.
"Come out if you have the guts!"
"Which guild are you from? Do you only know how to launch sneak attacks?"
"Don't go after the girls! Come at me!"
While the guild members warily scanned their surroundings for the attacker, the culprit swaggered out. He wore a purple half-ponytail, and his sharp teeth bit down on a shell casing cigar. His feminine features made it hard to tell his gender.
To be precise, nearly sixty players were emerging from the shadows of nearby buildings, bushes, and trees.
They were closing in, surrounding them.
Seeing the shocked expressions of the group, the feminine man chuckled sinisterly. He blew away the white smoke coming from the barrel of his sniper rifle and loaded a shell casing cigar into the chamber. He circled the group like he was inspecting prey, his eyes full of contempt.
"Let me introduce myself," the feminine man said, deliberately drawing out his words. "My name is Purple Skeleton, the supreme commander of the Five-Guild Alliance."
"As you can see, behind me are Red Killer, White Apostle, and Purple Devil. Sss, what were the other two guilds? I forgot. Doesn't matter."
"Exactly sixty people, plus another forty currently heading this way. An alliance totaling one hundred people."
"Hahaha." As Purple Skeleton spoke, he seemed to think of something funny and began to laugh, holding his forehead.
"I really have to thank you. If it weren't for you, taking down this village would have definitely taken a lot of effort. Just thinking about it is such a hassle."
"Bah! Shameless! You're just taking advantage of numbers to bully us," Xixi shouted in anger. Suosuo reached out to pull at the hem of her clothes, shrinking behind the girl with a hesitant look.
But Xixi was currently in a fit of rage and couldn't care less. "We're clearly the ones who conquered this place first!"
"Exactly! All you do is steal other people's things. Why don't I see you dare to steal outposts from the major guilds?"
"You don't even dare to have a fair fight. You sneakily attacked Ruomeng Mao. Is doing this kind of underhanded business all you're capable of?"
Purple Skeleton's face was full of disdain. "I'll just say we had our eyes on this place first. Who gave you permission to occupy Mist Village Harbor without my consent?"
"I'm just taking back what's mine."
The group was so angry they were speechless. Seeing them like this, Purple Skeleton's tone grew even more triumphant.
"Besides, the weak are prey for the strong. It's the way of the world. Who told you to join such a pathetic guild?"
"Boss, why keep talking to them? Just kill them all, take all their stuff, and this outpost will be ours!" someone nearby said, rubbing their hands in excitement.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just clear them out. I can't wait to tear them all apart!" someone else added with a lewd smile. "Tsk, this trash guild doesn't have many people, but there sure are a lot of girls. Don't worry, I'll be gentle and take good care of you."
"Kill them!"
"Tell you what." Purple Skeleton narrowed his eyes and held up two fingers. "I'll give you two choices."
"One, honestly hand over the loot and get the hell out of here with some compensation for your hard work."
"Two, get slaughtered until not a single one is left. And you'd better hope I don't see you on any other maps in the future. Which one is the guild leader? Step out and make a choice."
The group was clearly stifled with rage by this overbearing and unreasonable behavior. No one spoke for a long time. Just as Purple Skeleton was becoming impatient, someone leaned in and whispered in his ear.
"Boss, something's not right. They look like members of Light-Chaser Garden."
"What the hell is Light-Chaser Garden? Never heard of it," Purple Skeleton said, waving him off.
"Boss, you don't know?" the man beside him asked in surprise.
"Light-Chaser Garden isn't important. What's important is the master behind this guild. It's... it's Dark Gold Rose!" The lackey swallowed hard.
"Do we really want to provoke someone like that? Not long ago, she killed the recruiter for Silent Sequence right in front of everyone in Oasis City."
Purple Skeleton suddenly fell silent.
He hadn't expected to be so unlucky. He had picked a soft persimmon to squeeze in the wild, only to be told that this persimmon was hiding such troublesome thorns.
No matter how arrogant he was on a normal day, he understood the weight a luminous prism grade fixer held in Oasis. He knew what kind of price one might pay for provoking such an existence.
Should they retreat?
He felt the countless bloodthirsty, restless gazes behind him. For a moment, Purple Skeleton was caught in a brainstorm.
No, they absolutely could not retreat just like that.
He had two reasons why he couldn't withdraw the troops.
First, he needed to establish his authority as the supreme commander as quickly as possible.
Purple Skeleton knew very well what kind of ruthless characters were in this alliance. they were all itching for a slaughter. There were plenty of people who wanted his position as supreme commander. If he didn't handle this well, those lunatics might turn their blades on him instead.
Second, for the sake of the future league, he needed to present a token of loyalty to Silent Sequence so that Smiling Jazz would see his sincerity.
Dark Gold Rose had openly killed a Silent Sequence recruiter not long ago, which was no different from a slap to the face for Silent Sequence. Based on what he knew of those people, Smiling Jazz would never let that slide. It was only due to the current situation that they hadn't directly gone after Dark Gold Rose for trouble.
Ultimately, Dark Gold Rose was currently just an ordinary grade 3 fixer in Oasis. With over a hundred people on his side, no matter how capable she was, could she really kill them all?
They could drown that crazy woman just by spitting on her.
Dark Gold Rose had a big name, but personal influence and leadership ability were two different things. Just as everyone feared Deep Blue Tide, no one ever thought that lunatic could manage a large guild well.
As long as he could vent this anger for Silent Sequence and present a token of loyalty, Smiling Jazz certainly wouldn't mistreat him once the league truly began. Even if he didn't get a share of the Sovereign Key of the Omniscient, he could still rise through the ranks and have a bright future.
Thinking of this, the corners of Purple Skeleton's mouth curled up as he raised his voice.
"Where is that Dark Gold Rose person?"
"Is she hiding away in fear?"
Purple Skeleton spread his arms.
"Tsk, tsk."
"How pitiful. She's so afraid of losing face that she only dares to hide in a corner, watching her guild members get bullied."
"I thought Dark Gold Rose was so capable, but in Oasis, she's nothing more than a turtle hiding in its shell!"
"Lin Lu!"
Hearing that name, the veins on Purple Skeleton's forehead bulged. His narrowed eyes relaxed, revealing a cold, snake-like gaze.
"I hate it when people call me by my name."
At that moment, a girl in Light-Chaser Garden mustered her courage and stepped forward. "As expected, you're as detestable as ever. The guild leader won't let you get away with this."
"Then where is she, my dear little Suo?"
Purple Skeleton's feminine face was filled with malice as he asked loudly.
"She has already abandoned you. Don't you understand yet?"
"Do you think she would lose face in a place like this for your sake? Wake up. She can't lower herself to do that!"
"Ah~ I was wondering where little Suo went after leaving the guild. What terrible taste. Leaving our Red Killer only to come to a dump like this."
At the same time, a seductive woman in a red dress stepped out from behind him. Her high heels clicked on the grass as she swung the whip in her hand. As the long whip cracked against the ground, Xixi felt Suosuo, who was hiding behind her, tremble. Her face turned pale as she bit her lip.
"It's okay, Wanwan. I've always been patient with you." The woman licked her crimson lips. "Be a good girl. Come back to your Queen mommy. I'll take good care of you, just like before."
Countless fanatical and suppressed gazes followed the woman's every move. She pursed her red lips, her seductive voice tugging at everyone's ears.
"Kill these idiots. Oh, right, leave little Suo for me. I'll let her know that leaving the cage without the master's permission carries a penalty."
Suosuo hid behind Xixi in fear, lowering her head as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Don't be afraid, Suosuo. I'll protect you." Xixi swallowed hard, standing in front of the girl against the predatory gazes. "The guild leader definitely won't abandon us..."
"Why are you still talking so much to them!"
"Kill them and take their items!"
"Tear these idiots apart, skin them all, and seize this outpost!"
"Give the order, Lin Lu!" someone roared in excitement.
But soon, the excitement in the eyes of those restless lunatics faded, replaced by boundless terror.
A golden-haired girl had appeared in their very center at some unknown point. The previously shouting Purple Skeleton was now being held in her hand. At this moment, he was collapsed at the girl's feet like a dead dog, trembling so hard he couldn't speak. The deep bloody gash on his neck shocked everyone present.
Xu Xiaoyou looked up and smiled. The long whip whistled as it lashed out to the side, ending the youth's life as a flurry of blood splattered across her cheek.
In those amber eyes, only silence remained. She exhaled a breath of cold air.
Everyone was pale with fright, backed away by the near-physical killing intent radiating from Xu Xiaoyou. It was as if the girl alone was standing in their center, surrounding an entire army.
"Come at me together. I'm in a hurry."
Rate on N.U.
