Chapter 87: A Divine (?) Weapon Descends from the Heavens

Demon Tribe Camp.

General Xijiao Yan Po had just finished breakfast, his massive body sprawled across a stone chair, while The Vice Captain beside him fanned him with a large fan.

“General, can I ask something? Just one question, may I? If it’s okay, then I’ll just ask, I—”

“Enough. You’re too talkative.”

The Vice Captain shut his mouth and continued fanning diligently.

A few minutes later, he couldn’t help but open his mouth again: “General, I—”

“If you have something to say, just spit it out. Stop wasting words!”

“General, I just want to know, that girl who came a few days ago—who is she to you? You were so polite to her, and you even told us to follow her orders to the letter.”

The Vice Captain finally worked up the courage to ask the question that had been stuck in his mind for days.

It wasn’t just his own curiosity; everyone in the camp wanted to know.

Yan Po’s bull-like eyes glared at him.

This was a tough question to answer.

Demon King had ordered secrecy, and told them all to address her as Lady Ayla from now on.

But keeping her true identity secret made it hard to convince everyone.

If he called her his superior, it would seem like she was parachuted in from nowhere.

If he called her his lord, it would be too obvious. If he called her his master, it would be too ambiguous…

So the question was, what kind of identity would make everyone follow her orders without question?

Yan Po thought for a long while, then finally said, “Just think of her as my mother.”

“Huh? Your mother?!”

“Not the kind who gave birth to me—it’s… it’s another kind of mother. She gave me the grace of rebirth.”

That answer was safe enough.

Yan Po felt like he’d been muddling through life for the first half of it, but ever since he heard Demon King’s speech at the tavern and joined the Second Tavern Uprising, his life finally had purpose and direction.

How could that not count as the grace of rebirth?

The Vice Captain seemed to get it, but also seemed not to.

He mulled it over carefully—so the General acknowledged her as his mother, right?

But that Miss really was both beautiful and powerful, wielding sinister Necromancy, and breaking into the camp as if no one was there. Many of the brothers admired her.

“I’m telling you, don’t get too caught up in formalities. Lady Ayla has pointed us toward a bright future. We won’t have to live on the mountain anymore. Don’t you want a good life in the city?”

“I do.”

“That’s right, then. Listen to Lady Ayla. The good days are still ahead. I’m telling you—”

“General! General!”

“Don’t interrupt. Listen to what I’m saying—”

“General!”

The Vice Captain excitedly threw down the fan.

“That signal you mentioned before—I think I heard it!”

To avoid missing Ayla’s signal, on the day she went down the mountain, Yan Po had notified everyone in the camp to keep an ear out for any strange, eerie sounds—the kind of mournful, lingering voices, as if a deceased loved one was whispering in your ear.

“Did you really hear it?”

Yan Po quieted down, holding his breath and focusing.

“I heard it. I heard it too,” he said.

“It was like hearing my great-grandma’s voice.”

The Vice Captain was stunned: “Lady Ayla’s grandma?”

“My own mother’s grandma!”

Yan Po slapped the stone chair and jumped to his feet.

“Notify everyone—take your positions! Full army, move out!”

***

When the people on the docks heard the Naga’s declaration, there was a brief silence, followed by bursts of laughter.

“Did I hear that right? It’s going to kill us?”

“With just those Fishman behind it?”

“A few days ago, when Miss Ayla was preaching in the market, I even fought with those guys.”

The crowd chatted and laughed, the dock filled with a cheerful atmosphere, until one after another, strange things began crawling out of the sea.

A fish’s head, shrimp’s antennae, amphibian limbs, all kinds of stitched parts—just the sight of them was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“What are those monsters?”

Their answer was a series of twisted, frenzied howls.

The Stitched Monsters had powerful limbs, leaping over the Siren in mere seconds and pouncing on the crowd.

In less than half a minute, people didn’t even have time to react and run.

Rip—!

Blood splattered across the faces of those nearby, finally snapping the dazed crowd back to their senses.

“There’s killing!”

Because of the distance, it was a while before Celes received word of the massacre on the docks.

She saw the crowds fleeing for their lives, chased by the Desecrators hot on their heels.

“Leah, save them!”

As she spoke, she drew her sword, a beam of moonlight slashing down behind the fleeing crowd.

Any Desecrator that rushed forward was instantly cut in half.

But that only stopped the pursuers on this road.

As far as Celes could see, every street and alley in the city was filled with fleeing people and rampaging Siren.

After checking the wounded, Leah shook her head at her.

“Most of them were killed in a single blow. There’s no time to save them.”

Those Stitched Monsters were covered in lethal weapons—even a single fin was razor sharp. Human bodies were so fragile before them.

Celes’ heart tightened.

They hadn’t expected the Siren to tear off their mask so suddenly, nor did they know about the Desecrator army.

These monsters had never appeared before.

The Hero Squad wasn’t afraid of them, but for the civilians of Harbor City, as long as they were caught, there was almost no way to resist.

And their numbers—just a glance showed at least several thousand.

“What do we do?”

Leah looked at her.

“Just the few of us can’t possibly clean them all up.”

They could win, given enough time, the Hero Squad could kill them all, but the city’s civilians couldn’t wait.

People were dying to the Desecrators every moment.

Celes looked around.

Zero had already vanished into the shadows—maybe off hunting freely.

When there was nothing she could do, the only thought left in the girl’s confused heart was—Where is Ayla?

“Celes!”

Leah suddenly called out.

“Look at the sky!”

The sky?

The girl looked up.

The fleeing people looked up too.

Even the Desecrators, their eyes filled with madness, lifted their gaze.

From the eastern mountains, a cloud of black mist drifted up.

When it hovered in midair, it turned into a giant skull, like a massive dark cloud drifting closer.

With the black cloud came over a thousand towering, fully armored warriors.

“Kill!”

“Good! Good! Good!”

Vina clapped her little hands, bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Amazing! This is exactly what I wanted to see!”

Ayla stood beside her and quietly rolled her eyes.

All you know is fighting and killing—what’s the use? War needs strategy and political goals.

All you care about is the spectacle, not realizing this city is about to become Demon King’s prize.

Watching the Demon Army charge at the Desecrators, she couldn’t help but put her hands on her hips, a surge of heroic pride swelling in her heart.

This was her army—her own dominion!

Clang—!

The Demon Army averaged nearly two meters tall, all muscle and sinew, their bodies powerful and clad in full armor.

The Desecrators, though twisted and grotesque like biological weapons, were still flesh and blood.

Some chitinous shells couldn’t compare to the edge of steel blades.

Not to mention the Little Witch’s Meteor Strike for support.

The Meteor smashed down in front, blasting the Desecrators in the formation into scattered pieces.

The Demon Army followed right after, mercilessly cutting down any survivors.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

Vina admired her handiwork, unable to stop herself from bursting into laughter.

Ayla knew the Little Witch hadn’t meant to coordinate so perfectly—it was just a coincidence that her attack acted like a cover barrage.

But that was enough. If she kept going unchecked, there might even be friendly fire.

“Vina, let’s head down the mountain too. Let’s find Celes and the others first, so our own people don’t end up fighting each other.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know! Don’t worry. The city is just ahead—I wouldn’t drop a Meteor inside the city, would I?”