That damn Hermit Demon, always ordering me to do bizarre things.
Ariel had gotten up early, originally planning to make herself a hearty breakfast, but just as she set the plates and was about to eat, Truth’s command reached her ears:
“You, follow the guidance to help a little cat retrieve her pendant. My requirements are as follows:”
Forced by the demon’s tyranny, Ariel had no choice but to act immediately. According to the former’s request, she staged an encounter with Wilona…
By the campfire, Ariel, somewhat resentful, was flashing a very stiff smile at Wilona, which only made the latter more wary.
“Who are you, nya?”
“Hehe, prepare to be amazed! You know the Ninth Saintess Truth, right? Well, I’m her aunt’s friend’s relative’s downstairs neighbor’s long-lost biological child’s teacher’s teaching assistant!”
Ariel was too familiar, which made Wilona even more wary, afraid she was another con artist.
“Aunt? Friend? Uh…” Wilona was completely stumped by Ariel’s long, convoluted sentence, so she skipped it and asked:
“So you know Truth, nya?”
“Of course! She and I are very close friends. Every time she’s in trouble, I help her without any compensation!”
‘I don’t believe it, unless you prove it right now. Otherwise, don’t come near me, hey.’
“Um…” Ariel quickly called out to Truth, who was watching from somewhere, in her mind, asking how to prove it. After a moment, Ariel replied confidently:
“Actually, you’re a catfolk, right?”
“What? How do you know, hey?!” Wilona had been wearing a hood the whole time, and her tail was hidden well, so how did this person discover it?
“Hehe, last night Truth kept boasting to me that she had made a very cute catfolk friend. She said the little cat’s way of speaking was especially fun, always adding a ‘nya’ at the end of her sentences!”
“And didn’t you just yell ‘Hate it, nya’? I happened to be nearby collecting herbs, and when I heard your cry, I got curious and came to check. And sure enough, it was you… Your name is Wilona, right?”
With just a few short sentences, Ariel immediately gained Wilona’s trust…
Meanwhile, at the back gate of the Royal Magic Academy in Snowveil City.
Suna slipped out from a very hidden alley and sneaked back into the academy.
Last night, she had lied to Gadelia, saying she wanted to go back to the dormitory to study, but actually she had secretly gone out to fool around all night, only returning to the academy after dawn.
But Gadelia saw all of this.
“Reporting to Your Majesty the Empress, Suna has returned.”
At the top of the clock tower of the Royal Magic Academy, Gadelia, who had been tailing Suna all night, reported to Vira, the Empress of the Northern Empire.
The next second, a gentle breeze swept by, and Vira appeared beside Gadelia:
“Did you find any traces of demons on her?”
“Yes, in the Pleasure District. Suna must have received an invitation to attend a secret gathering there. Our people have also confirmed that two demons under a second-tier wanted notice were also at that gathering. They haven’t left yet.”
“Heh, it seems this Suna is quite something indeed. Good, continue tailing Suna. She’ll certainly lure bigger fish later. And Gadelia, go now and notify the people of the Church of the Goddess of Life. They’ve recently started punishing evil again. Tell them to raze that secret gathering.”
In truth, Vira could have simply arrested Suna and interrogated her secretly—after all, the crime of “consorting with demons” alone would be enough to kill her several times over.
But Vira had a small concern: besides the smell of demons on Suna, she also faintly sensed a trace of the Heavenfire Lord’s aura…
“Understood!”
So, twenty minutes later, an elite Demon Hunter squad, led by an Eighth-rank Demon Hunter with an average strength of Seventh Rank, filed out from the largest Church of the Goddess of Life in Snowveil City.
They destroyed the demons’ long-hidden secret lair with the force of thunder, killing three Intermediate Rank demons on the spot and capturing two Low Rank…
“Huh? How did the demon I sent to meet Suna die again?!”
In the Ruined Hell of the Land of Chaotic Abyss, Mary looked confused. She had clearly told Suna to leave the dangerous academy and meet up with her underling.
Although this time the contact was successful and she had successfully given Suna a task, shortly after, her underling kicked the bucket again!
So whose fault was this?
“Sorry, my fault. Because I was just tricked by those three adventurers, so I was a bit cautious with you, nya…”
In the Mist, Wilona was walking side by side with Ariel, explaining. She had almost hissed at Ariel earlier, but luckily Ariel explained quickly.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I would’ve done the same in your place. It’s only human nature.”
Ariel acted like a reliable, understanding older sister, leading Wilona through the Mist to search for the three adventurers who had stolen the pendant.
The Mist would fairly make everyone lose their way, so the three adventurers wouldn’t be able to leave the Mist anytime soon.
Normally, it would also be very hard for Ariel and Wilona to find them. Wilona expressed her doubt:
“Senior Ariel, do you really have a way to take me to find those three bad guys, nya?”
“Yes, yes. Oh, I forgot to tell you—I’m a Seven-rank mage! If I want, I can completely disperse a large area of Mist with Flame Blast!” Ariel proudly fiddled with her magic staff.
“Really, nya?!” Wilona’s eyes sparkled. She didn’t expect Senior Ariel to be a Seven-rank mage.
“Can you show me now, nya? Use Flame Blast to disperse the Mist… try it and we’ll see.”
Ariel hadn’t forgotten how she had been caught in the Mist herself. So she gave an awkward cough and replied:
“That won’t do. This is the Mist’s free exploration area. There are many precious materials and treasure chests around here that are very valuable to First and Second Rank adventurers. Unless absolutely necessary, I won’t disturb a single blade of grass in the Mist. Just think about it—if we don’t take care of the Mist, where would you and the new adventurers go for training and to earn a living? …”
Wilona’s opinion of Ariel rose another notch. She didn’t expect this mage senior to have such a broad view of consideration for others. No wonder she could be Truth’s good friend!
“Then Senior Ariel, what method are you using now to find those three adventurers, nya?” Wilona asked again.
“This… you’ll understand when you reach Seventh Rank. You still have too little experience. Even if I explained, you wouldn’t be able to comprehend, so you have to keep working hard. Come, this way…”
Ariel brushed it off and led Wilona forward.
In fact, the way she found the three adventurers was very simple.
When they came, Truth had already marked the real-time location of the pendant in front of her eyes.
Now she was just following the pendant’s direction.
‘I can’t just tell the little cat that I secretly used cheats, right?’
Soon, ten minutes later, the two were very lucky not to be harassed by any monsters. They peacefully arrived at a secluded pond. Then, two male voices reached their ears:
“Luo Er hasn’t come back with the firewood yet. Going from here to the nearest campsite and back should only take about twenty minutes, but it’s been half an hour and there’s no sign of him.”
“Probably the marks on the way went wrong. Let’s wait another twenty minutes.”
Though they were habitual thieves often stealing things in the Mist, every time they retreated, they would get disoriented by the Mist’s lost mechanism.
To save energy, the three of them would take turns scouting ahead and leaving marks, then slowly leave the Mist along the campsite.
But this time they encountered a situation they had never faced before—they ran into their victim again during the retreat…
And the victim was furious!
“Got you, nya!” Wilona gritted her teeth, pushing off the ground with both palms, going from two-legged to four-legged stance.
Then with an arched back, she instantly charged forward, while in her left and right hands, a dagger staff each erupted with intense magic fluctuations!
The warrior adventurer closest to Wilona heard the noise and instinctively turned his head back. The first thing he saw was the blue light in Wilona’s hands…
Under the enchantment of the blue light, the two dagger staves in Wilona’s hands greatly increased their armor-piercing ability in a short time.
Her right hand unhesitatingly slashed across the warrior adventurer’s chest.
As the blade light traced a perfect arc, the next second, the warrior adventurer’s breastplate was directly cut open.
A few seconds later, blood began to pour out from the cut in the armor!
The warrior adventurer’s face turned ashen. Despite his injury, he immediately tried to grab his nearby weapon to defend himself.
But unfortunately, Wilona didn’t give him that chance. After the attack with the right-hand dagger staff, the blade light from the left hand also followed seamlessly:
“Cut into a thousand pieces, nya!”
Wilona used Demon Frenzy on the warrior adventurer. Each blade light was accompanied by a gush of blood, and the latter’s screams were unending.
Behind Wilona, seeing this bloody scene, Ariel felt a bit chilled.
She never expected that while Wilona looked cute, when she fought, she was just as ferocious as Ariel’s stereotype of beastmen.
‘It seems no matter how cute a beastman is, they’re still a beastman. Hmm, just like that Hermit—both have a contrast, both are cute on the surface but don’t hesitate to draw blood in a fight,’ Ariel sighed…
“It’s you?!”
By the pond, a Second Rank knight who had picked up his weapon was about to go support his teammate.
But after recognizing Wilona and witnessing her extremely violent attack method, the Second Rank knight decisively abandoned his teammate, who was about to be minced, and turned to flee without hesitation!
‘I can find another teammate, but this Space Pendant on me is unique!’
“Don’t even think about running, nya!”
Wilona gathered magic, shooting two arcs of light from her dagger staves directly at the Second Rank knight’s legs just as they were about to step forward.
The entire motion was smooth and seamless.
The latter lost his balance and fell face-first into the mud, and with the weight of his armor, the Second Rank knight couldn’t get up for a while.
After confirming that the Second Rank knight’s teammate had breathed his last, Wilona stepped over the former’s corpse and walked toward the Second Rank knight with an arched back, a low growl coming from her mouth…
“I’ll give it to you, I’ll return it to you, alright!”
To save his life, in desperation, the Second Rank knight pulled out the Space Pendant from his pocket and threw it with all his strength into the pond. This made Wilona panic:
“My pendant, nya!”
Even though she couldn’t swim, Wilona still jumped into the pond without hesitation, thrashing about. The Second Rank knight took the opportunity to escape…
“Ah, so he threw it directly into the pond. This seems to have deviated from the Hermit’s expectations, right?”
Not far away, Ariel, who had been watching everything, frowned.
Earlier, Truth had told her that the three adventurers would definitely throw the pendant into the Mist to buy time to escape. But now the pendant had fallen into the pond…
This might affect the Hermit’s subsequent scheming.
“Whatever. My task is done anyway. The Hermit… uh, the Hermit will definitely find a way to solve the rest!”
After saying that, Ariel disappeared near the pond. She was going back to eat breakfast.
“What do I do, what do I do? The pendant sank to the bottom, and I’ve made the pond all muddy, nya!”
After choking on several mouthfuls of water, Wilona swam back to the shore in a sorry state.
“Senior Ariel, my pendant sank to the… nya? Senior Ariel?”
Wilona looked around and found that Ariel had disappeared. Had she gotten lost by accident, or had she gone to help chase after that Second Rank knight?
“Sigh…” Wilona turned back to look at the muddy pond.
“Looks like I’ll have to figure this out on my own…”
Maybe she could wait for the pond to clear and then dive in to search? Or perhaps directly drain the entire pond?
Wilona thought of several methods but found them all time-consuming and laborious…
But just then, a change occurred!
Just as Wilona was about to get ashore and take off her soaked coat and hood, she suddenly noticed the surrounding Mist gradually gathering, forming above the pond a strange misty creature that looked a bit like a feline.
Then, the misty creature spoke:
“Young kitten, it seems you’ve dropped something in my pond.”
The misty creature opened its large misty hand, displaying three pendants in midair in front of Wilona:
“Did you drop this gold pendant, this silver pendant, or this… silver pendant?”
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