“Put me down this instant! What kind of behavior is this?”
“You walk too slowly. This is faster. Shut up and stop moving.” Annabell found the Royal Family’s princess to be a spoiled, difficult brat. She impatiently tossed out those words and carried her toward the opposite bank of the swamp.
Victoria also knew that being inside the magic array was no time for her to throw a princess tantrum or act willfully.
Under the white veil, her face instantly flushed with an extremely alluring blush. Victoria could only grit her teeth and silently accept the princess-carry method of crossing the single-log bridge…
But the close contact couldn’t help but make her heartbeat speed up.
Even though they were both girls, why did Annabell have an aura that firmly attracted her?
It was completely inexplicable.
With no hindrance dragging her down, Annabell’s pace became several times faster.
Along the way, over a dozen corpses that didn’t know any better suddenly burst out from the swamp, trying to grab them.
But without exception, all were instantly burned into nothingness by Annabell’s void black flame, unable to even get within 0.5 meters of them.
Such thrilling ambushes happened no less than twenty times along that short path!
As a Souls player, Annabell was long used to this. This wasn’t even that hellish, not at all!
Victoria looked at Annabell’s pretty face, but an extremely strange feeling rose in her heart.
All along, as the pride of the Royal Family, she had always been the one charging to the front to protect the weak… Was she… being protected with someone’s life by this infamous young Miss?
This absolute sense of security from being domineeringly sheltered under someone’s wing actually made her feel a faint, inexplicable flutter.
However, just thinking about being held in her arms made Victoria blush and her heart race again, even the base of her neck turning pink.
‘Wait, you’re both girls! What are you thinking?! Don’t let your mind wander! You have normal orientation!’
She comforted herself like that, but her gaze kept falling on Annabell’s face from time to time.
And being in her arms, this feeling of peace was quite nice!
Finally, the two safely crossed the swamp and arrived at the place with the heaviest resentment.
It was a lonely high ground in the very center of the swamp, surrounded by mud that emitted poisonous gas, with no way back.
But just as Victoria was set down from Annabell’s arms, the high ground beneath them suddenly let out an extremely piercing roar, and streaks of scarlet blood light gushed out from underground!
At the same time, the path they had taken to come here instantly vanished completely in the red light!
As if it had never existed!
“Damn! We’ve been tricked!”
If Victoria couldn’t realize it at this point, she wouldn’t deserve to be called the Empire’s prodigy.
This was a carefully laid trap by that High-tier Banshee to lure the enemy!
The calm swamp around them suddenly seemed to boil, with several huge poisonous bubbles popping.
One dried corpse after another was lifted by an invisible force from the bottom of the swamp, slowly floating to the surface. Then, under the manipulation of dark magic, these corpses actually all “came alive.”
They stiffly twisted their necks, making a grating sound of bones rubbing together, like zombies out of a cage, madly surging toward the two on the central high ground!
The corpse horde was dense, numbering in the thousands.
What was even more despairing was that every Walking Corpse emitted a mana fluctuation no less than level three!
Even in the deepest part of the horde, there were no shortage of level five to six Corpse Kings hidden!
Victoria’s face instantly turned as white as paper.
The level could be handled, but this number multiplied by dozens or even hundreds was a joke.
‘We’re doomed.’
‘She had been careless!’
The strength and vicious methods of this mastermind Banshee far exceeded her imagination!
Just when Victoria was in utter despair—
“Leave these small fry to me. You focus on finding the core of the magic array.”
Suddenly, a sentence spoken as casually as discussing what to eat tonight sounded in her ear.
Victoria turned her head in surprise and looked at Annabell beside her.
She saw that on the silver-haired girl’s stunning face, there was not a single trace of panic or fear, only extreme calm and pride.
In that instant, Victoria’s wildly beating heart miraculously calmed down.
“I understand, Annabell.”
In the spacious meeting hall of the station.
The Imperial Royal Knights and the elite mages of Sky College were lined up on both sides, listening to the Fifth Princess Victoria’s personal maid explain the second operation plan for tonight.
The maid pointed at the map drawn on the parchment scroll on the table, her voice clear: “Her Highness will personally preside over the magic array and activate water mirror magic to trace back the truth of Gram Town.”
“Meanwhile, we Royal Knights and the academy members will establish a defensive line on the perimeter to protect Her Highness the Princess and resist those Abyssal Evil Creatures hidden in the dark… So, this is the overall arrangement for this operation. Does anyone have any objections?”
The students of Sky College looked at each other, then all turned their gazes to the silver-haired girl, waiting for her instructions.
Annabell lazily leaned back in her chair, her long legs crossed, and her heterochromatic red and blue eyes casually glanced over: “How confident are you that you’ll come back alive?”
Her oppressive peripheral vision swept over the Royal Knights present, and a mocking sneer curled at the corner of her mouth: “Don’t forget, in that High-tier Banshee’s piercing wail, few of you here can withstand that damn mental pollution.”
“With your half-baked strength, going there is not much different from throwing your lives away.” Annabell mercilessly mocked, “You’re just too weak. Having you here as meat shields makes no difference at all, and you might even become a burden to me.”
Last night, quite a few Royal Knights were instantly killed by the Banshee.
If this so-called defensive magic array didn’t work, more people would be going to their deaths tonight.
As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the Imperial Royal Knights instantly turned livid.
“Miss Annabell, what do you mean by that?!”
A Knight Commander couldn’t hold back his anger and stepped forward to protest loudly, “We are the elite who have sworn loyalty to the Empire! Even if we die on the battlefield, even if our bodies are shattered, we will protect Her Highness the Princess’s absolute safety!”
“That’s right! This is our honor as knights!”
“It is our duty to protect the Princess with our lives. It’s not up to some academy person to boss us around!”
Just as the two sides were about to draw swords, Victoria slightly raised her hand and restrained her indignant subordinates.
A gentle smile appeared on her stunning face hidden under the white veil, and she softly soothed: “All right, stand down. Miss Annabell is actually just worried about your safety. Her words are sharp, but her heart is in the right place.”
Annabell: “???”
‘Are you out of your mind? I was purely mocking you bunch of weaklings!’
‘Where on earth did you hear that I care about you?’
‘Does this princess not only have persecution delusions but also a severe comprehension disorder?’
‘I might as well say everyone here is trash! But I already used that on your brother Charles, and using it again is a bit tiresome.’
Victoria turned her head and explained to Annabell with a smile: “These are the palace’s top experts sent by my Imperial Brother to protect me. Last night, the incident happened suddenly, and the Banshee’s ambush was too bizarre for them to react immediately.”
“But they are all elites who have reached high-tier level. Maintaining the magic array also requires enough people to inject mana, so they must go as well.”
Annabell rolled her eyes and said coldly: “Suit yourselves. If you die, don’t expect me to collect your corpses.”
After the overall plan was set, Victoria had everyone go back to prepare, and specifically instructed the knights and mages to prepare more light element scrolls and holy water of exorcism, which were highly effective against undead and Abyssal Demons.
Victoria returned to her room.
Not long after, the little maid she had secretly sent to gather information on Sky College pushed the door open and entered.
The maid’s face was rosy, and her expression was mysterious, like a kitten that had discovered some shocking treasure.
Already familiar with the girl’s temperament, Victoria smiled slightly and put down the ancient magic tome in her hand: “Why that expression? Did you discover some incredible secret?”
The little maid hurriedly leaned close to Victoria’s ear and said in a low, excited voice: “Your Highness, it turns out… it turns out the rumors about Miss Annabell outside are all false! They are all malicious slander!”
Victoria lightly tapped her forehead with a slender finger: “Don’t keep me in suspense. Speak clearly.”
As she spoke, she personally poured a cup of flower tea for the little maid.
The little maid, flattered, took a few sips and then said mysteriously: “Your Highness, didn’t you tell me to inquire about Annabell?”
“I contacted several female students of Sky College stationed at the station, and by beating around the bush, I finally dug out an extremely shocking inside story from them!”
Victoria became interested: “Oh? Tell me.”
The little maid gestured in surprise: “It turns out Annabell is not the cold-blooded, merciless, killing demon as rumored!”
“Those mage sisters from the academy all say that she is actually very protective of her people, and deep down she is very gentle and innocent… She’s just not good at expressing herself.”
“Also, several senior sisters secretly told me that others don’t know how much effort Senior Annabell has silently put in behind the scenes… Those nobles who are jealous of her beauty and talent are all slandering her behind her back!”
“The reason she is always cold to people is simply because… she is a textbook-level tsundere!”
“I heard that when she is angry or serious, her heterochromatic red and blue truth magic eyes shine with a captivating starlight, and when she is happy, she tilts her chin up 40 degrees. It’s absolutely enchanting…”
“Being unsmiling definitely doesn’t mean she’s angry, and being cold doesn’t mean she hates you. Those are just protective colors to hide her inner shyness!”
As she spoke, the little maid clasped her hands to her chest, stars practically sparkling in her eyes, having completely transformed into a fanatical fangirl of Annabell.
Victoria looked at her little maid, who was about to defect, with extremely complicated eyes: “From which Sky College students did you get these absurd remarks?”
The little maid was stunned for a moment, then said as a matter of course: “It’s those female students from Sky College! Every senior sister speaks so nicely and looks so pretty.”
“I love chatting with them. Oh, right, they also said they are core members of an internal academy group called the ‘Annabell Research Group.’ I don’t know what that does, but it sounds impressive!”
Victoria didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Her own simple little maid had been completely converted by that group of fanatics, hadn’t she?
However, being cold doesn’t mean she hates you…
Recalling Annabell’s caustic mockery tonight, there did seem to be a bit of tsundere flavor in it.
“It seems I need to prepare a proper thank-you gift.” Victoria murmured thoughtfully.
The little maid asked curiously: “What gift does Your Highness plan to give?”
Victoria smiled: “Naturally, a gift to repay a favor. Last night, Annabell saved my life from the Banshee’s claws. As an Imperial Princess, I must properly thank her.”
The little maid scratched her head and said troubledly: “What should we give? She is the Duke Trandy’s daughter, rich enough to rival a nation. She seems to lack nothing.”
Victoria nodded: “True. This kind of tsundere young Miss is the hardest to please. Let me think carefully.”
As she thought, her cheeks became a little red.
***
Meanwhile, on the other side, in the camp of the Sky College group.
“What did you just say to that little maid by the Princess’s side?” A male student from the inner court curiously came over and asked.
The female mage Luna, who had twin tails, snorted proudly: “I merely educated her on the daily research quotes of the sisters in our ‘An Sect’ club.”
The male student’s face was full of dark lines, thinking: ‘Can those fanatical delusions about Lady Annabell from your club really be trusted?’
The female mage held her burning cheeks and said coyly: “I think it’s pretty much on point! Senior Annabell… the back view of her saving the Princess was really beautiful!”
“Even though we’re girls too, we were all thrilled. Any girl with any sense of aesthetics couldn’t possibly be indifferent to such a Flower on High Peak!”
The male student recalled Annabell’s stunning, inviolable posture like an ice queen, and couldn’t help but swallow, muttering: “Actually… guys would be thrilled too…”
The female mage glared at him fiercely: “Shut up! During this operation, you are not allowed to get too close to Senior Annabell. You will stand at the very outer perimeter and be cannon fodder!”
The male student was shocked: “Ah? Why?!”
The female mage sneered: “No reason. Men only slow down Senior’s casting speed!”
Several female students exchanged a knowing glance and instantly reached a strategic consensus to “protect the world’s best Senior Annabell from the harassment of stinky men at all costs.”
Night fell, and the blood moon rose.
The procession grandly arrived at the entrance of Gram Town.
Everyone gripped their staffs and longswords tightly, nervously sizing up this legendary cursed, deathly silent town.
The pale moonlight fell on the abandoned wooden houses, the pale streets, everything pale… even the air was filled with a nauseating stench of rot.
Just as the group was about to step into the town, Annabell, who was at the very front, suddenly stopped everyone.
“Miss Annabell, what are you trying to do? Don’t tell me you want to back out at the last minute?” A Royal Knight nervously gripped his sword hilt and questioned angrily.
Annabell couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to such a small fry who only knew how to bark. Her red and blue dual pupils lit up with an eerie glow in the night, staring fixedly at the village for a long time.
Victoria stepped forward and asked softly: “Annabell, did you discover something with your truth magic eye?”
Annabell pinched her snow-white chin and nodded: “The evil creatures in this town not only possess extremely high intelligence, but they have also laid an enormous black magic formation beneath the entire Gram Town.”
“The formation’s range covers every inch of land. As soon as we step inside, we will instantly become prey within the magic array.”
In Annabell’s truth magic eye, this seemingly calm town was already shrouded in a thick, almost tangible layer of Abyssal black qi.
The formation patterns hidden underground were already interwoven, laying a net from which there was no escape. From this, she concluded that the High-tier Banshee had set up its layout here one step ahead of them.
Victoria gazed at the pitch-black town, thought for a while, and said resolutely: “No matter what, we must enter this town tonight.”
Annabell shrugged helplessly: “In that case, we’ll just have to force our way through this black magic formation.”
Victoria smiled slightly: “I do know a thing or two about magic arrays. If this magic array doesn’t separate the two of us after activation, with your truth magic eye that sees through illusions, I am confident I can completely unravel it.”
Annabell gave her a speechless look.
‘Big sister, you’re an Imperial Princess. Setting up this classic “as long as we don’t split up, we win” Flag at a time like this—are you really that eager for us to die faster?’
“After entering this black magic formation, life and death are uncertain. If anyone feels fear and wishes to withdraw, you may still leave now. I, the Princess, will not blame you.” Victoria turned around and said understandingly to the people behind her.
The cold wind howled, but not a single person in the group was willing to take half a step back.
The Royal Knights bore the imperial command; protecting the Princess was their duty, and disobeying was a capital crime.
And the inner court students of Sky College were all proud and arrogant. Moreover, the Chief Student was standing right there. No one was willing to be the first coward to tuck their tail and run.
“Since no one is withdrawing, we shall enter.”
Victoria was also quite decisive. She walked directly to Annabell’s side and stood shoulder to shoulder with her. After all, breaking the magic array later would rely on this Duke’s Daughter’s truth magic eye.
Everyone took a deep breath and stepped into the area of Gram Town.
They felt a sudden darkness before their eyes, as if passing through a layer of icy cold membrane.
When Annabell opened her eyes again, the surrounding scene was still the dilapidated village entrance of Gram Town.
Victoria’s voice, slightly relieved, came from beside her: “It seems the gods still favor us. We are very lucky.”
Annabell frowned and scanned the surroundings.
Sure enough, the Flag came true. The dozens of Royal Knights and elite mages from the academy behind them had all vanished without a trace.
In the empty dead town, only she and the Fifth Princess beside her, wearing a faint smile, remained.
Victoria tilted her head, and a playful smile appeared on her face hidden by the white veil: “Next, I’ll be counting on you, Miss Annabell.”
Annabell continued to pretend to be expressionless, and complex golden magic runes instantly flowed in her heterochromatic red and blue eyes.
Looking at her icy, unromantic demeanor, Victoria sighed inwardly: ‘The rumors were right. This peerless genius is, in some ways, nothing but a cold-blooded block of wood.’
In Annabell’s eyes, with her truth magic eye activated, the disguise of the entire Gram Town was instantly torn apart, revealing its extremely horrifying true face.
The previously ordinary-looking dilapidated wooden houses now turned into uneven, stinking mass graves. On several grave mounds not far away, there were even half-exposed white skeletal hands, struggling to dig through the soil, trying to climb out from underground.
If one turned off the truth magic eye, an ordinary person would only see: in a seemingly cozy house, a kindly old village chief slowly pushed open the wooden door and walked out, cracked open his mouth full of yellow teeth, and warmly waved to them:
“Honored guests from afar, the night is deep and the dew is heavy. Would you like to come inside and have a cup of red tea to warm yourselves…”
“Shut up, demon! I can tell at a glance that you’re not human!”
Before the words finished, Annabell didn’t even use a staff, directly high-speed chanting. A pure ball of [void black flame] instantly crossed space and precisely landed on that “old village chief.”
Accompanied by an extremely shrill, inhuman scream, the old man was instantly burned in the black flame until not even ashes remained.
“This is a low-level illusion within the magic array, specifically used to confuse the mind. Don’t be fooled.” Annabell explained to Victoria.
Victoria was actually startled by Annabell’s sudden move. She had just thought that was really a surviving villager from the town…
Looking at Annabell’s heterochromatic eye emitting divine light, Victoria couldn’t help but secretly marvel: ‘The truth magic eye truly lives up to its name! It can see through all illusions in the world at a glance.’
However, the other team members who had been forced to separate from them and enter the magic array probably weren’t so lucky. Perhaps some unlucky fool was already bewitched by the illusion, foolishly walking into a grave to drink that deadly cup of “sleeping black tea”…
“What should we do next?” Victoria collected her thoughts and asked seriously, “Since you can see through the essence of the magic array, can you see the flow of the hidden resentment in the air?”
“Those murderous demons and Dark Mages generally feed on dark emotions like despair and resentment. The direction with the thickest resentment is very likely where the Banshee is hiding, or the core of this magic array.”
Annabell nodded: “I can.”
Her red and blue dual pupils changed again, like the Milky Way reversing, eerie and beautiful.
“There are three obvious traces of mana around. Among them, the resentment in the northwest direction is the thickest, almost condensing into a solid form.”
Victoria immediately made a decision: “Then we’ll head northwest!”
Along the way, the two encountered many illusion traps similar to the “kindly old man” crawling out of graves.
But without exception, before these illusions could even get close, before they could even finish their lines, they were mercilessly blasted into ashes by Annabell.
The two arrived at their destination in the northwest very smoothly.
What met their eyes was a giant swamp floating with dense, pale corpses. The surface of the swamp bubbled with green poisonous bubbles, a chilling sight that inspired a soul-deep fear.
“The space above is filled with intricate magic words. This is an absolute no-fly zone.” Annabell glanced up and said coldly.
This meant they could not use levitation or flight magic, and could only walk on foot across the muddy path in the center of the swamp that allowed only one person to pass.
However, on both sides of that less than 0.5-meter-wide path, beneath the muddy water of the swamp, countless pale, bloated corpses were densely stacked.
These corpses seemed to still retain the pain of their deaths, and at any moment could stretch out pale, rotting hands from the mud to drag anyone walking on the path into the endless Abyss…
‘Mmm, the scene really has a Souls-like feel! If two poise-monster elites jump out later and pincer us, it’ll be very Miyazaki.’
“This swamp is filled with desperate resentment. If your steps are too heavy and wake the corpse horde below… if you get dragged down…”
Just one look down at that bizarre scene made of countless corpses made Victoria’s stomach churn and her whole body go cold. As a princess of the Royal Family, she had never seen such a hellish painting like purgatory.
But now there was no way back. She could only grit her teeth and push on!
Victoria took a deep breath and stepped onto the muddy path with a trembling heart.
But the more her eyes uncontrollably stared at the corpses below that had died with their eyes open, the more her fear was magnified infinitely. Every step seemed extremely difficult, afraid of slipping.
Suddenly, a startled cry: “Ah!”
Victoria’s foot slipped, stepping on a moss-covered slippery stone. Her body instantly lost balance and she fell straight toward the swamp full of corpses!
The foul-smelling muddy water and several pale ghost hands already reaching out from the surface were getting closer…
A slightly cool small hand grabbed her arm with extreme precision, and with a sudden pull, yanked her back from the brink of death.
“The resentment at the bottom of the swamp really has a mind-confusing illusion effect, infinitely magnifying your inner fear. Close your eyes and don’t look down.”
Victoria, still shaken, fell into an embrace with a cold fragrance. She turned her head and saw it was the calm-faced Annabell.
Their eyes met, and she couldn’t help but turn her face away.
“Thank you… Actually, I’ve always had a natural fear of disgusting ghosts and monsters like this.”
Victoria smiled bitterly to hide her embarrassment, her cheeks under the white veil burning, “Since I was little, whenever I see these things, I get so scared I can’t move…”
“In other words, in your current state, it’s difficult for you to walk this path alone?” Annabell mercilessly interrupted the princess’s fragile reminiscence.
Victoria was stunned for a moment, then bit her lip stubbornly: “Actually, if I just close my eyes a little, I can still endure it…”
Before she could finish, she felt her vision turn upside down!
Her body was suddenly lifted by an irresistible force, and then she found herself in Annabell’s arms.
Victoria’s face immediately turned red. “W-what are you doing?!”
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