“It’s all gone! All of it is gone!”
The Grand Elder slumped onto the ground, her withered hands pointing at the thoroughly plundered treasury. She was so furious that she coughed up two thin streaks of blood.
“The secret scrolls, the high-grade magic stones, the divine weapons passed down through generations... they’re all gone! Even the two backup little Sacred Spirits we spent so much effort cultivating using the Mother Tree’s remaining nutrients are gone! That bandit... she didn’t even leave a single spark for our tribe’s survival!”
“Even the little Sacred Spirits are gone?”
“Are you kidding me? That was our last hope!”
A commotion erupted among the crowd.
Countless furious gazes stabbed toward Qimeng.
To be precise, they were focused on the oversized bundle on Qimeng’s back, which had already swollen to the size of a small hill.
In this ruined tribe, that massive bundle seemed to mock all the Wood Elves.
“Yinzhi! Do you still intend to protect this monster girl even now? Get out of the way!” the Chief barked sharply.
The next second, the tribe’s offensive spell array forcibly lit up in midair.
Gritting their teeth, hundreds of armed hunters and over a dozen Elders joined forces to cast a grand spell array, magic lines sealing off the collapsed area.
The mechanical creaks of the magic ballistas echoed in unison as they were wound tight.
In this man-eating Great Black Magic Forest, there was never any room for saintly behavior.
The Wood Elves had survived to this day by relying on their own sharp fangs as well.
“No! Chief, it’s not what you think! Please let me explain! Lady Qimeng, she... she’s actually...”
Seeing this, Yinzhi spread her arms and shielded Qimeng, tears streaming down her face in sheer panic.
Protected behind her, Qimeng merely glanced outside the pit.
My, they’re quite energetic.
Clearly, Yinzhi’s prestige as the former Spirit Maiden still held some weight.
Because she clung to Qimeng like a mother hen protecting her chick, the Wood Elves hesitated to strike for fear of hitting her, their aims intentionally or unintentionally drifting wide.
While Yinzhi acted as a meat shield, Qimeng took stock of her spoils from last night in her mind.
Wandering around in the middle of the night, she had pretty much swiped every treasure she could lay her hands on, and she had even devoured the two little Sacred Spirits and the Mother Tree’s remains.
Yes, this was undoubtedly a sweeping, victorious loot.
As for just now, she had effortlessly insta-killed the three small fry who had suddenly barged in to interrupt her meal. Not only did she perfectly shift the blame, but she had also disposed of the evidence by turning them into a decent breakfast.
Yes, this battle was undoubtedly an easy and pleasant wrap.
The looting was done, and the fighting was finished.
Next, it was time to prepare for her retreat.
With her current strength, she wasn’t afraid in the slightest of these Wood Elves, whose strongest was only at the High-tier Novice rank.
Even if they planned to fight to the death as a tribe, the residual energy in the black magic stone was more than enough for her to make an elegant exit with Yinzhi.
Whenever she found a quiet corner, she could use the intermediate magic stones she had pilfered from the secret room to cast the Hidden Gate spell, retreating directly to her Root Domain, which was her home turf.
Only...
She had eaten their food, stolen their treasures, and even raided their entire treasury.
Looking at it this way, her actions last night resembled those of a major villain boss in a web novel.
No, no, no, she couldn’t be blamed for this.
She was originally a wild, selfish monster, wasn’t she?
During her time buried underground as a tree seed, she had already made up her mind: to live a peaceful, leisurely life of slacking off, she had to become a powerful, self-serving monster.
These Wood Elves weren’t her subordinates; there was absolutely no reason to pity them.
In the Great Black Magic Forest, only the eternal law of the jungle applied.
If she were the one who lacked strength today, and the Wood Elves happened to set their eyes on a six-layer Sacred Spirit in her territory, would they refrain from stealing it out of pity?
No, absolutely not.
They would only shout “For the tribe!”
And then mobilize the entire tribe to seize it. That was the correct way to operate in the Great Black Magic Forest.
Just like the betrayal of the human Knight Order before her Reincarnation, how could she be naive enough to think an otherworldly monster tribe would be kind?
In the face of survival and power, one had to fight for what they needed.
However, just as she was about to pull out her magic stones to break the array, the shouting match ahead suddenly interrupted her casting.
“Yinzhi, snap out of it!!”
The Chief stood at the edge of the magic array, her cowlick trembling with rage.
“That black-haired monster even took our backup Sacred Spirits! How could someone like that ever take responsibility for our tribe?! A vile monster that eats and plunders like this has never once considered what kind of devastating fate our tribe will face next!!”
“That’s not true! She will! She will absolutely take responsibility!!”
Yinzhi’s small face flushed red as she screamed back at the top of her lungs.
“Lady Qimeng is definitely not the kind of terrible monster who plunders without reason! Didn’t she just easily eliminate the demon spies for us?! Isn’t that the best proof?!”
“That’s because those demons interrupted her looting!!”
The Chief roared, hitting the nail right on the head.
“No, it’s not...”
Listening to the heated argument ahead, and seeing Yinzhi defend her so fiercely, her tiny body stubbornly standing against her entire tribe.
Qimeng’s fingers, which were about to retrieve the magic stones to make a forced escape, suddenly froze.
What a blindingly pure girl.
Compared to her, Qimeng’s current actions made her look like an utter scumbag.
Ah, speaking of which.
The mindless advanced magical beast she had encountered in her territory the other day—the Stone Giant.
Even that brainless stone monster, after eating the ores in her territory, would instinctively bury precious Earth Amber as payment for its meal.
How similar the situation was now, except she had become the Stone Giant.
Even though she wanted to be a selfish, bad woman in this life, she apparently couldn’t bring herself to be a complete freeloader.
Sigh, damn these memories of my past life, damn this knightly spirit, and damn that Stone Giant.
Qimeng rubbed her temples in irritation.
She miserably realized that the tiny remnant of her soul belonging to a human knight ultimately prevented her from fully regressing into a heartless, wild monster.
Oh well. If she wanted to become an unspeakable, eldritch existence, she had to undergo some strange trials anyway.
She would just treat this as handing out some early employee benefits to these prospective subjects of hers, as their future ruler of the forest.
With this thought, Qimeng was just about to speak up to bail Yinzhi out.
“That black-haired monster is beyond forgiveness! Disregard Yinzhi and attack with everything you’ve got!”
Suddenly, the Chief’s gaze turned fierce, and she directly issued a cold command.
Boom!
Instantly, a rain of magical light filled the sky, crashing down with a deafening roar.
“Wait! Stop!!”
Yinzhi screamed in desperation.
She had been heavily injured by the previous trio of thieves, but now, as if completely disregarding her own life, she forcibly squeezed out the last drops of magic power in her body.
“Block them! Emerald Aegis!!”
Countless translucent emerald vines erupted from the ground, weaving into a net that desperately blocked the way in front of Qimeng.
The violent magical shockwaves slammed brutally against the vines.
Yinzhi’s tiny body trembled uncontrollably.
“Pfft...!”
She coughed up a mouthful of blood, instantly staining the ground before her bright red.
When Qimeng saw that splash of blood, her originally listless eyes turned ice-cold.
Tap.
A pale hand rested gently on Yinzhi’s shoulder.
“Step back.”
“Don't worry, I won't hurt them. I'm just going to reason with them.”
Rate on N.U.
