Roar~
At the entrance to the Demon King’s Castle, shortly after two pure white teleportation lights flickered, a roar rang out. An ink-black bone dragon, its body pitch black, spat out a fireball as large as a small mountain.
Wherever the fireball passed, several massive beasts that had been raising their heads in intimidation let out series of agonized howls. Realizing the enemy’s power, they instinctively began to retreat. The lush vegetation that couldn’t move was reduced to a sea of flames.
Gulp~
Seeing these two powerful beasts, the members of the Night Butterfly Squad—an S-Rank team just like the Hero Party—couldn’t help but swallow nervously.
Although the brownish-black bear monster and the pitch-black ancient dragon showed strength and destructive power still a considerable distance from the Golden Dragon the Hero Party had encountered, the Night Butterfly Squad members, after a rough estimate of both sides’ capabilities, concluded that if it were just one beast, victory wouldn’t be too difficult. But if the two worked together, their side might well suffer casualties.
As the Night Butterfly adventurers studied the two monsters with probing eyes, hoping to find weaknesses in these uniquely styled black beasts, the black flames spread. With no targets left, the fleeing beasts scattered.
The pitch-black ancient dragon and the Iron-toothed Giant Bear exchanged a look, as if reaching some decision. They began to explore the Fourth Layer, one to the left and one to the right.
Roar~ Hegah~
Their strength was considerable even by Fourth Layer standards, and wherever they went, chaos erupted. From time to time, huge sounds of battle rang out.
“What are they doing?” the priestess of the Night Butterfly Squad asked, frowning in confusion as the two beasts split up.
Professor Yang Ming, the Holy Ruins Expert, didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Captain Lin Huo and said, “Captain Lin, those two beasts just came through the teleportation array. There might be more coming. If we continue our original exploration plan, we’ll likely repeat the situation with the Canger Beast. I think we need to change our plan—switch from investigating the Demon King’s Castle’s teleportation array to tracking the black beasts’ movement patterns.”
Hearing Professor Yang Ming’s revised plan, Lin Huo thought for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement. After all, this mission was originally to escort Professor Yang Ming in his research on the Demon King’s Castle. Since the new plan was safer and stayed true to their original purpose, he naturally consented.
Rustle rustle~
As an S-Rank monster hunting squad, the Night Butterfly Squad was no less capable than the Hero Party. Having done many hunting missions before, trailing the Iron-toothed Giant Bear without losing it from a distance wasn’t difficult.
With the Iron-toothed Giant Bear clearing the way and absorbing attacks from the Fourth Layer’s native beasts, the human squad of the Night Butterfly Squad, thanks to their smaller size, was largely ignored by the monsters. Their movement was surprisingly easy.
But this ease didn’t last long. As Professor Yang Ming, the Holy Ruins Expert, continuously compared the Iron-toothed Giant Bear’s movement route on the map, he soon made a startling discovery: “This bear is no simple creature. Its route is, in a way, almost identical to how adventurers explore and map the Saint Ruins.”
When this conclusion was announced, the Night Butterfly Squad members couldn’t help but shiver violently.
Because if the Iron-toothed Giant Bear and the pitch-black ancient dragon were exploring the map, then didn’t that mean the Demon King in the Fifth Plane might be a high-level monster with human-like intelligence? And why was the Demon King exploring the Saint Ruins now? Could it be planning a monster siege?
Just as everyone realized this bad news and nervously hurried back to the Adventurers’ Guild, Su Qi and Mo Yu, those two beautiful girls, were also somewhat nervous.
Tilting her little head up, Su Qi held the adorable little Su Xixi in her arms and saw the community sign above her head that read “Lily Home.”
Back when she was still a boy, facing this community sign belonging to her good brother’s home, Su Qi had simply thought it sounded nice, with a touch of artistic flair. But now that she had actually become a girl, thinking about how tonight she was going to tell A Yu about the Little Red Eye Feeding Plan, and naturally they would cuddle and become a real yuri couple, looking at the community name now made Su Qi feel embarrassed, as if her little secret had been exposed.
Unlike Su Qi’s shyness, Mo Yu, who was walking with her toward Lily Home, had flushed cheeks for a different reason. It was because of Su Qi’s parting words back at the Su family: “Older Sister, I’ll be staying overnight at A Yu’s tonight. You and Xixi don’t need to wait up for me.”
A Qi was going to stay at her house tonight? Did that mean they would be studying together all night?
Remembering the last time when she and A Qi drank Sister Fufu’s grape juice and then got drunk and… well, even though she didn’t remember most of it, waking up the next morning with A Qi’s scent all over her made her feel like a lot of interesting things had happened. And now that she and A Qi had confirmed their relationship, they probably wouldn’t need Sister Fufu’s alcohol. This time, she could openly cuddle with A Qi.
And after cuddling, she could hold Little Red Pupil, that soft daughter, and sleep as a family of three. It felt super satisfying in every way!
With a joyful heart, Mo Yu’s pale white hand slightly sweated as she took out her keys.
Click~
The door unlocked. Perhaps sensing Mo Yu’s living presence, Little Red Pupil happily hopped inside. Like most babies who love cute little pets, her big eyes almost instantly locked onto an adorable target—Mo Yu’s pet, the cute cat, Little White.
Because Little White had eaten a Shuxi Bento before, its fur had become even whiter since the last time it met Su Qi, and its tail had grown longer. As a heterochromatic Ragdoll cat, the color of its left pupil was exactly the same as Little Red Pupil’s.
Seeing such a soft, cute, feline creature with eyes the same color as hers, Little Red Pupil instinctively wanted to get close to Little White.
“Ning ning~”
Children were doers. Thinking it, doing it. As soon as she entered the room, Little Red Pupil stretched out her chubby hands, giggling, wanting to cuddle with Little White.
“Meow~”
Little White had been excited to see Su Qi again. After all, eating her bento last time had felt wonderful. But now this human baby was charging at it. Little Red Pupil might be cute and carry the same scent as Su Qi and its owner, but Little White, now a three-year-old cat, was a bit disdainful. Based on its cat experience, human babies were super troublesome—they clung to cats, just as hard to deal with as that big-breasted two-legged creature (Ye Fufu) who always teased it.
Just as Little White instinctively jumped onto Mo Yu’s shoulder to avoid Little Red Pupil’s hug, pretending to be scared like it always did when Ye Fufu came, hanging on its owner for protection, the next second, something shocking happened.
Its usual foolproof pity act failed this time. Not only did it fail, but it failed spectacularly.
“Little White, play with Little Red Pupil for a while. Don’t scratch her, okay?” a gentle girl’s voice rang out in the room.
“Little Red Pupil, you need to be gentle too. Don’t use too much force!”
The next moment, the Ragdoll cat Little White was shocked to find that its beloved owner had actually handed it over to the human baby.
Wah!
What’s going on?
Wuwu, Mistress, don’t you love me anymore? Meow~