He spun around abruptly, only to see Tulia standing there with elegance, as if she had never moved at all. She was wiping her fingertips with a pristine handkerchief, muttering under her breath, “Tsk, tough hide, thick flesh, hurts my feet.”
“Scoundrel!”
Balza was utterly enraged. He had dominated Northport for decades—when had he ever been so humiliated?
With a furious roar, he lunged once more, fists howling through the air, every strike meant to kill!
But Tulia’s figure was like a phantom, always dissolving into blood the moment his attacks were about to land, then reforming at angles he never expected.
She even had time to pull out a little mirror from who-knows-where, using the wall to adjust her hair, humming a tuneless ditty, treating this life-and-death battle as nothing more than a dull, teasing game.
“Alright, alright, old man, your stamina just isn’t what it used to be. How many rounds has it been already?” Tulia finally seemed to lose interest, letting out a small yawn. “I’m done playing with you.”
Suspended high above the Conference Hall, the enormous blood orb formed from the burly man’s blood suddenly began to boil and split apart!
In the blink of an eye, hundreds, thousands of blood-colored blades—thin as a cicada’s wing, their edges gleaming with deadly cold—shot out like an enraged swarm of bees, whistling through the air from all directions toward Balza!
Balza’s face changed drastically. With a roar, he pushed his Protective Dou Qi to the limit, his fists spinning like a whirlwind, forming an impenetrable shield!
“Clang! Clang! Clang—!”
The sound of countless collisions rang out like rain. The Blood Blades shattered, reformed, and attacked again in an unending onslaught.
Balza managed to hold on, but was completely suppressed, barely able to withstand the storm.
As he focused all his attention on the endless barrage before him, a complex and ancient Array silently appeared in the space behind him, radiating a chilling magical pulse without a sound or warning!
The next second, a Pure White Magic Beam, condensed to the extreme and radiating a destructive aura, shot forth from the center of the Array like a spear of judgment!
“Splurt—!”
The beam pierced straight through the Dou Qi shield Balza had poured his all into, shot through his back, exited his chest, and left a bowl-sized, charred hole!
Balza froze mid-lunge. He looked down in disbelief at the gaping hole in his chest, then snapped his head up to glare at Tulia, his eyes full of utter shock and incredulity:
“No… impossible! You’re a Vampire! How… how can you use human… magic?!”
He howled, his Life Force draining rapidly with his blood through the hole, yet he was still desperate to understand before dying:
“Who are you?! When… when did we offend someone like… you?!”
Tulia looked at his dying madness, an expression of “explaining to you is such a pain” on her face. The traits of the Vampire around her—crimson eyes, pale skin, the faint aura of darkness—faded like the tide. In an instant, she looked no different from an ordinary human girl with white hair, save for that breathtaking beauty that still stunned the soul.
She stepped in front of Balza, bent slightly, and asked in a “think carefully now” tone:
“Hey, old man, open your eyes and look closely… Still don’t remember? That little white-haired girl you sold decades ago? The one you all found so rare that you didn’t even want to cut her up for parts!”
Balza’s fading gaze locked onto her face. Suddenly, memories from decades past surged up—back then, he’d only been a lowly thug, and with his boss, he’d captured a rare girl with silver hair and blue eyes. Her looks had stirred his most twisted desires to dismember her, but the boss had strictly forbidden it and instead sold her at a high price to a mysterious buyer…
“It… it’s you?! That… that girl?!” Balza seemed struck by lightning, his eyes nearly popping from their sockets, making ragged, bellows-like sounds. “Impossible! You… you were human then!!”
Tulia straightened, dusting off her hands as if ridding herself of some filth.
“Correct! Too bad there’s no prize.” She said lightly, and at that moment, the magic beam through Balza’s body erupted in blinding light!
“No——!!!”
In Balza’s final, desperate wail, his body was devoured in an instant by light and heat, vaporized like ice tossed into a furnace, not even a speck of ash remaining—utterly erased from this world.
Tulia exhaled gently, savoring the thick Life Force in the air, condensed from Balza and the other guards’ blood. Spreading her arms slightly, the energy was drawn to her as if by an invisible field, streams of crimson light flowing continuously into her body.
That long-lost, full-to-bursting sensation of power coursed through her limbs, sending shivers of blissful satisfaction through her. She squinted, smacking her lips, “Mmm… complex flavor, a bit chewy like old cured meat, but I’ll give it a seven out of ten.”
As for the others in this hall? Every last one of them was guilty. Tonight, the core of the Northport Slave Traders Guild had been uprooted by her, down to the roots.
After purging the Conference Hall, Tulia turned her gaze to the true heart of the guild—the Underground Vault.
Piles of Coin gleamed temptingly like little mountains. Jewels, Magic Crystals, and precious Magic Beast Materials were stacked on special racks.
There were even many powerful Magic Items sealed in crystal display cases.
Tulia showed no restraint, acting like the most efficient cleaner, sweeping up everything.
She prioritized the most portable and valuable gems and magic materials.
But the number of Coin was simply too vast—even with her superhuman strength, she couldn’t carry it all.
As she was feeling a bit regretful, her fingers brushed a nondescript Silk Pouch she had taken from Balza’s shriveled corpse.
The pouch felt feather-light, as if it were empty. Curious, she reached inside, only to discover that the interior was far deeper than it appeared—a bottomless abyss!
“Wow!” Tulia’s eyes lit up, almost whistling aloud. “The legendary Dimensional Pouch? And an Infinite Refill Version at that? The old guy actually had style!”
Dumping Coin in and out, she measured out a stable extra space of about ten cubic meters!
“Excellent! Five stars, must rate five stars!” She broke into a wide grin. This would solve all her problems.
Without hesitation, she began pouring piles of Coin into the Space Bag like a torrent, easily fitting over ten thousand coins!
As for the treasures she truly couldn’t carry, she couldn’t be bothered anymore.
“The rest, let those Fortune’s Darlings see if they have the guts to come grab, and the luck to survive it.”
She didn’t care much—after all, on a chaotic Northport night, escaped slaves loaded with riches were the most tempting prey of all.
Having finished, she patted the now-heavy Space Bag, satisfied, and pushed open the thick vault door, ready to leave this place about to be plunged into even deeper chaos.
Yet, as soon as the door opened, an unexpected figure appeared before her.
It was the golden-haired girl Tulia had casually released from the dungeon earlier. Now she sat slumped on the ground not far from the door, back against the cold wall, hands clamped over her mouth, emerald eyes wide with sheer terror.
She stared, unblinking, toward the Conference Hall—where the air was still thick with blood, and the grisly scene of mangled limbs and corpses had yet to dissipate.
Her face was ashen, lips tinged with blue, clearly terrified by the massacre she had witnessed, unable to speak, her body trembling faintly.
Tulia looked at the girl, curled up like a frightened puppy, those pure green eyes reminding her, inexplicably, of her own helpless, desperate self from long ago, locked in a cage.
Something soft stirred deep in her heart.
“Tsk…” She clicked her tongue, barely audible, paused her steps, and scratched her head. “Customer service is such a pain…”
Without another word, she flipped her wrist and tossed a few freshly stolen, still-cold Coin onto the carpet in front of the girl with a clear, ringing “ding.”
“Here, compensation for your trauma. And travel and food expenses.” Tulia’s voice remained flat, though a bit quicker. “Take it. Leave Northport, as far as you can. Go find some place with mountains and clear water and buy yourself some candy.”
With that, she didn’t linger. Her figure melted into the night wind without a backward glance, leaving behind only a muttered complaint drifting on the breeze: “…Next time I won’t pick up stray animals so easily. Too expensive…”
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