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Chapter 102: The Redemption of the Box (Additional Update)

“Your Highness!”

The shadow guards protecting the Princess were infuriated, their eyes bulging. The enemy’s speed was too swift; they didn’t even have time to intervene, only able to angrily swing their blades at the traitor who ambushed the Princess.

Emily delivered her strike, and without entangling herself with them, immediately released the bloodied hilt from the girl’s body and nimbly retreated.

“Hahaha… Wow!”

As Emily ran, she burst into uncontrollable laughter, but just as she began to gloat, an arrow shot toward her, roaring with intense rage and transforming into a dark red fire dragon in the night sky, aimed directly at her life!

The Third of the Six Red Lotus Techniques—Flame of Judgment.

This was a fire that incinerated all sins and evils, an unstoppable flame that could not be evaded; the only method of resistance was to counter it with even greater strength.

“Liliya!!!”

Fiery Blossom tightened her grip on her short bow and dashed recklessly toward the Princess, who was slowly collapsing, even ignoring the burden brought on by forcibly activating the flame—the blood blooms bursting from her fingertips.

Emily seemed to understand the power of this technique as well. Gritting her teeth, she split off a phantom to roll sideways while her main body faced the surging fire dragon head-on!

Boom!

The flames instantly engulfed her flesh, resulting in a terrible explosion that impacted over a dozen traitorous soldiers nearby. The betrayer left no remains, disintegrating into ashes amidst Fiery Blossom’s fury.

But Miss Hua had no time to dwell on that.

“Liliya! Liliya, are you okay?! Wake up, don’t scare me!”

Protected in the center by several shadow guards, the Princess, with her eyes tightly closed, was being held carefully by another vice-captain, her back continuously leaking crimson blood, unresponsive to her friend’s calls.

Hua trembled as she administered a healing potion, not daring to check for her breathing, afraid of facing the heartbreaking truth.

“Hehe, don’t dream; I’ve never missed my mark! That knife has pierced the Princess’s heart, it’s an absolute fatal wound for inferior species like you!”

In the chaotic battlefield, suddenly Emily’s mocking voice echoed again; beside her charred remains, another Emily emerged, wearing the same shadow guard uniform as before.

“You’re not Emily! Who are you?!”

Blocking Liliya behind her, Fiery Blossom aimed her short bow at the enemy with red-rimmed eyes.

Emily was just an ordinary human being; there was no way she could survive the legendary-grade Flame of Judgment, meaning this character had been impersonated from the beginning.

No wonder she suddenly directed her blade against her master. But this disguise was too intricate; even the legendary Hua couldn’t pinpoint any flaws.

“Hehe, at this point, it doesn’t matter to tell you. I’m the Ninth Seat of the Throne of Immortality, the Shape-Shifting Phantom—Chromans. Your dear Princess has ruined my home, so…”

Stab.

A sharp claw pierced through her chest, and Chromans’s voice cut off abruptly as her eyes lost their brilliance, collapsing to the ground.

Strangely, not a soul could tell who had struck her down until that mere three-inch claw vanished into the air.

Even stranger…

The lifeless “Emily” on the ground turned into a black shadow, merging with the earth, and in the blink of an eye, a new, identical “Emily” emerged.

“Hehe, Plakaka, you really betrayed us. Lord Dimos did say you were weak-minded and untrustworthy, and he was spot on.”

A response came from nowhere, laced with relentless rebuttal from the ratman assassin.

“Better than you, a grotesque who dares not show its true face and spends all day stealing others’ shadows. Right now, I’m following a being a million times more powerful than some lousy Eternal Mage, you fool.”

Chromans, disguised as Emily, stiffened, evidently hit a sore spot but quickly laughed even louder.

“Hahaha! So what? The target you couldn’t kill, I took care of, and you failed to protect the Princess. Your new master will surely be furious with you. What if she decides to chop you up?”

“Hehe… you really are foolish.”

Only the sound of disdainful laughter filled the air.

“You’re the fool!”

At this, Chromans lost her composure, angrily throwing the short dagger she had just conjured towards the voice’s last position, but unfortunately, Plakaka was already gone.

It seemed she couldn’t track this elusive ratman assassin.

“Plakaka, what do you mean!! You don’t seriously think that Liliya could survive being stabbed by me? She’s not an immortal like you and me!”

“Shut it, don’t lump me together with your kind! I’ve already been reborn, while you so-called immortals are merely frogs in a well, never able to understand what true strength is.”

After saying this, Plakaka fell silent again. There were too many eyes around, and it wasn’t appropriate for it to exhibit too much presence.

Chromans, however, still wore a face full of discontent.

“Huh? You say you m…”

“Cough cough cough!”

At that moment, the Princess, who had been with her eyes shut, suddenly coughed violently a few times, sitting up abruptly from the shadow guard’s arms, startling Chromans into swallowing her next words.

“How is this possible?! I clearly…”

“Liliya!”

Fiery Blossom quickly turned around, and the other returning shadow guards also displayed expressions of joy.

Before they could ask, the Princess shook her head and discreetly pointed to a small pendant exposed on her chest.

“It’s all right; luckily, her blade wasn’t poisoned.”

Though she said this, Liliya felt a twinge of dread inside.

True powerhouses, especially those above the legend level, rarely play with poison unless they walked that path. They preferred to rely on their abilities for things that could backfire.

Just like the Chromans right before her.

You saved my life again, Miss Vilyric…

Feeling the small box pressing against her skin, the Princess thought silently.

Even with preparations, she had no absolute confidence in withstanding a full strength legendary strike, especially since she had been ambushed from behind.

Even Plakaka, who was also a legend, had not reacted immediately, indicating how swift Chromans’s strike had been, a strike that would surely succeed; their opponent’s confidence was not unfounded.

“Where is Emily?”

Drawing her long sword from her waist, Liliya prepared for battle.

“Tch… Hah, who knows? After all, I’ve been impersonating this identity for so long; she’s probably been taken away by some wild dog in a corner somewhere.”

Chromans clicked her tongue in frustration and suddenly laughed sinisterly as she casually said this.

“Liar! The time you took over Emily’s identity was the same night the incident happened, while I had sent her to investigate the situation.”

Earlier, when Emily reported, Liliya had picked up on some discrepancies from her speech habits and minor details, but given the urgency, most of her attention had been on the capital’s status.

Looking back now, that intuition turned out to be right after all.

Liliya easily pierced the lady’s lie, especially after seeing the shift in her expression, she confirmed her suspicions completely.

This meant that Emily was very likely still alive.

Then, let’s settle this quickly!