It wasn’t that her aim was off, but rather that the noble lady’s bodyguard…
Actually managed to react to her sneak attack and knocked away her crossbow bolt with precision.
This…isn’t something an ordinary person could do.
Because……
The orange-red, single-ponytailed girl lowered her head and glanced at the crossbow at her waist.
The crossbow was entirely black, looking rather ordinary, almost like a simple wooden crossbow.
But on closer inspection, one could spot many twisted runes etched into the body, and above the mechanism, there was an emerald-green gem.
All of these proved—it was a magical weapon!
Though somewhat crude, this crossbow did imbue the bolt with a certain amount of wind power the moment it was fired, greatly increasing its speed!
At least…more than double that of a normal crossbow bolt!
At such a speed, ordinary people would have almost no time to react…
The girl had tested this on countless targets.
Because of her flawless accuracy, coupled with the power of her magical crossbow, she’d earned the title “Wind Veiler”.
In the underworld, she was known as [Wind Veiler] Erika Reid.
“I think…that bodyguard who blocked my attack is probably a Transcendent.”
Erika said as she gazed at her beloved crossbow, speaking to the man beside her.
And for someone to have a Transcendent as a bodyguard…no matter how you look at it, they’re not someone to be trifled with.
This time…she might have really hit an Iron Plate.
Maybe she should persuade the boss to withdraw from this so-called alliance—better to quit while they’re ahead…
But…after waiting for over ten seconds, the man didn’t respond.
Hm?
She was a little taken aback.
The guy was usually so talkative, so why…
She tugged the reins of her mount, something on her head shifting, and her eyes slowly drifted to the side…
Pfft…
On the wind…a droplet of blood splattered onto her face!
“Eh?!”
Reflected in her eyes at that moment was the sight of her companion’s back…and a pitch-black humanoid creature clinging to him!
And a sharp Deboning Knife, at some point, had already been plunged deep into the man’s throat…
The black figure’s other hand was clamped tightly over the man’s mouth, making sure he couldn’t utter a sound.
Mmph!?
Realizing they were under attack, Erika’s scalp tingled instantly, and she reached for the Wind Crossbow at her waist—but in the next second!
Squelch…
The Deboning Knife was pulled from the man’s throat, spun half a turn in the air, and then was hurled sideways right at her!
It might sound slow in the telling…but Erika had absolutely no time to dodge!
She could only watch helplessly as the black handle of the knife drew closer and closer to her temple!
Bang!
“De..”
With a dull thud and a wave of searing pain, her consciousness…sank into darkness.
Thud!
At the same time, over at Ireya’s camp.
It wasn’t exactly safe here, but the piles of mangled limbs and flesh were still quite intimidating.
Not only did they deter the bandits who’d attacked them, but even the other fleeing nobles didn’t dare come any closer.
“Thank you so much…truly, thank you, beautiful young lady……”
“Your lifesaving grace…we’ll never forget it!”
“Um…may I ask, what is your name……”
At this moment, the few nobles who had just escaped surrounded the young lady with fawning expressions of gratitude.
“You can just call me Miss Dingzhen. Now all of you—get lost! Get far away…Don’t crowd around me.”
Ireya frowned and waved her hand, her red eyes sweeping across the group.
“Uh…ahaha……”
Faced with such a blunt young lady, the nobles could only force awkward laughs and back away.
After all…that armored giant still stood by her side, and none of them wanted to end up as a puddle on the ground…
But…aside from her dislike of being crowded, there was another reason Ireya told them to scram.
That was, the scattered corpses ahead were deeply attracting the young lady’s attention.
First, let it be said—she wasn’t some pervert who enjoyed mutilating bodies.
It was just…the deathly aura emanating from over there was incredibly tempting.
This was, perhaps, one of the few ways—besides cuddling with Veil—that she could recover a bit of magic power.
Creatures that had just died…seemed to have this effect.
Moreover…
Ireya had observed carefully just now.
After these people died, their souls didn’t immediately vanish, and since it was daytime, they could only linger in their bodies, enduring the agony of severed limbs, letting out silent screams.
This further confirmed that there was no “Kingdom of the Dead” here.
Since that was the case…she might as well help herself to these fresh souls~
“Let’s go…have a look~”
Tap tap tap………
As Ireya moved, the armored giant and a somewhat reluctant Veil followed behind her.
Jenny, after a moment’s hesitation, decisively chose to keep up with the young lady!
As for the others, they chose to stay put and watch from a distance…none of them dared approach.
“Ugh~ This stench of blood…it’s so gross…”
The Goddess Young Lady, whose senses were sharper than most, gagged the moment she got close.
“If I want to make the most out of these corpses, what should I do?”
Ireya asked expressionlessly, turning to Veil.
“Uh…turn them into Stitched Undead?”
The Goddess Young Lady pinched her nose, her voice muffled.
Stitched Undead?
Never heard of it…
And besides…
“Do you think I have the means to do that right now?”
Ireya said as she pinched Veil’s soft, fair cheek.
“Uuuh! T-then just use [Revival of the Dead] and turn them all into disposable fodder!”
Revival of the Dead, this was a basic spell for necromancers.
The kind Ireya used earlier was an improved, advanced version of this spell.
This magic…only required a corpse and a bit of soul power to awaken the lowest-tier zombies or skeletons.
That’s right—awaken, not create.
The spell could last for a dozen hours or so; once the soul power dissipated…these low-tier undead would fall back into “death”.
Of course, if you wanted to keep “refilling the cup”, that was possible too.
Hmm…not a bad idea.
But still.
Just as Ireya was pondering this, her shadow at her feet suddenly began to squirm.
“Young Lady.”
Amisa’s voice sounded in her ear.
“Hm?”
Ireya blinked, then looked down at her own shadow…
Gurgle, at that moment her shadow looked like a pool of bubbling black spring water, and faintly, one could see a blurry humanoid shape within….
In the next second, the black figure stepped out from Ireya’s shadow as if climbing a step, and under her arm was someone who seemed unconscious.
“Huh? This place…”
Seeing the scene before her and smelling the blood in the air, the newly arrived Amisa was momentarily bewildered.
This…was a bit too tragic.
“Well? Is this the one who attacked me earlier?”
Ireya raised an eyebrow, looking at the orange-red-haired girl Amisa had brought back.
“Yes, Young Lady, she’s the one who fired the crossbow bolt just now.”
As she spoke, the maid pulled the magical crossbow from Erika’s waist and handed it to Ireya.
“Oh? A magical weapon?”
The young lady took the black crossbow and examined it up and down.
This crossbow…though magical, didn’t seem to be in the same league as her own Lightning Baton.
You could tell just from the runes on the surface.
These runes were crudely carved, nothing like the twisted yet strangely beautiful ones on the Lightning Baton.
“Doesn’t look like much…”
Ireya muttered.
“It really is pretty rough.”
Amisa nodded in agreement.
Hey, hey…this is a magical weapon, how can you call it rough?
If you put this thing on the market…it’d easily fetch a thousand…no, during a bidding frenzy, it might even go for ten thousand gold coins!
Jenny’s big eyes blinked as she mentally ranted.
“Boring, you keep it for self-defense~”
Ireya pursed her lips, lost interest in the crossbow, and tossed it to Jenny.
“Eh?”
Jenny caught it in a fluster, staring blankly at the thing in her hands.
T…
As expected of the Young Lady (>3<)O!!