Chapter Sixty-Six: The Presaged Disaster

With the genuine royalty of Mona present, Vilyric’s playful status as a wanted criminal hardly mattered, so she decided to stick with the little princess for the time being.

Of course, tonight’s operation was far from over.

If simply taking out a few poachers could resolve things here, Vilyric would have acted long ago; there was no reason to wait until now.

Currently, there were two main issues at hand.

First, not all poachers in this city could be holed up in the underground black market; this was merely the largest hub.

Since they were already in action, they needed to find their hideouts as quickly as possible before the poaching groups could react, truly eradicating them at the root, and rescuing the remaining stolen alien slaves.

Whether it was simultaneous assaults on multiple hideouts or safeguarding those slaves, who numbered even more than the poachers, it required a massive amount of manpower and resources, and everything needed to happen quickly.

After all, crafty rabbits have three burrows; those who thrive in the underworld are undoubtedly very sly. Once they catch wind of trouble, they will scatter at once. If they manage to slip out of Demon Town and into the kingdom, the difficulty of capturing them would skyrocket.

If things went wrong, those innocent alien slaves could be retaliated against and killed due to being impossible to transport.

The second, even more pressing issue was the largest poaching group here—the Ghost Thieves—and the young Moonshadow Royal Family youngling they had captured, which served as the trigger for the current situation.

From Mona, Vilyric finally learned the little one’s name—Noviya Moonshadow.

By the same token, since they were already in action, they had to find and rescue her as swiftly as possible to prevent the Ghost Thieves from moving her again.

However, Mona seemed to have already made plans for both of these points. Despite her youth, this little princess acted with remarkable composure and reliability.

Thinking it over, Vilyric still didn’t disclose Noviya’s true nature as the Source of Magic and her potential threat to Mona. Whether or not she knew was another matter; it was, after all, a secret within the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, and since Vilyric had already gotten involved personally, she felt secure enough.

On their way to the main battlefield, the Priestess was casually chatting with the little princess they had not seen in a long time.

“Speaking of which, how did Liliya come up with the idea to send you on such a dangerous mission? She’s really something, isn’t she?”

At this, Mona smiled gently and playfully stuck out her adorable little tongue.

“I volunteered to come here and handle this matter; you know, my age is my best cover. Some folks around the queen have their eyes on her close confidants but would never suspect a naïve little girl like me.

“But after this, I guess that won’t work anymore, considering I’m almost 14.”

“Besides, Miss Vilyric should have received Rebecca’s warning, right? Back then, the ‘Revelation’ revealed two huge disasters to me, occurring in the south and north of the kingdom, though the latter was a bit hazy. Since the Abyssal War is something you’re dealing with, I can’t just sit idle here…”

“But I didn’t expect you to resolve the Abyssal problem so quickly and show up here in such a short time. Truly deserving of being called the miraculous ‘Descendant,’ my lady!”

Vilyric could only smile wryly at the princess’s unabashed flattery and praise.

“It’s nothing special. Even if I weren’t here, other strong individuals hidden in some nook or cranny would definitely step in to handle these kinds of matters. Disasters might occur, but the world isn’t going to end so casually.”

“Heh, you speak as if it’s all too easy.”

“Not at all… By the way, since you foresaw the disaster here, what kind of scene does it entail? A magical beast war?”

At these words, Mona instinctively paused, looking around before leaning closer to whisper, making sure others were at a safe distance.

“It’s not a war but a scene I still can’t comprehend. The land and buildings are eroded by some special power, becoming bizarre and strange. The living howl in pain, their bodies mutated and twisted. Terrifying monsters descend from the Void, not only in Demon Town… ugh…”

At this point, the girl suddenly turned pale, staggering slightly as if she were about to lose her footing, causing her speech to trail off.

Vilyric swiftly reached out to support Mona, while four figures from the ‘Grim Reaper’s Scythe’ group hurried forward, all showing concern.

“Mona, is everything alright? You’re still young and haven’t trained in martial arts. It’s best not to push yourself like this. The deployment is complete, so let the Shadow People escort you back to rest, and leave this to us…”

The one speaking was the young man who appeared to be the leader of the four-member team. Though the team was called ‘Grim Reaper’s Scythe,’ it seemed no one wielded a scythe as a weapon.

After waving his hand to indicate she was fine, Mona gave Vilyric an apologetic glance before turning back to smile gently at the four-member team.

“It’s alright; I just felt a bit dizzy for a moment. I’m fine now. Everyone’s been preparing for a long time, and tonight is the critical moment to round up the thieves; as the queen’s envoy, how can I falter at this time?”

“Enough of that; let me introduce you. This is Miss Vilyric, and her companion, Miss Xiao Guang. They are both incredibly skilled and reliable, and are closely connected with the king, so you can trust them completely.”

“Pleasure to meet you.”

With curious gazes, the four members bowed slightly towards the Priestess, while Vilyric also nodded and began to scan the legendary adventurer team she had heard so much about but was finally encountering in person.

“This is the leader of ‘Grim Reaper’s Scythe,’ Mr. Soul. He is a powerful swordsman, one of the strongest in Demon Town and the entire United Kingdom, serving as both the vanguard and commander of the team.”

“Mona, you flatter me; I still have a long way to go compared to true strong individuals.”

The young man, dressed in a plain gray robe, shook his head humbly. His humble demeanor surprised Vilyric somewhat.

‘Soul’ was clearly a title just like ‘Fiery Blossom’ or ‘Lightning Flash’; many high-level adventurers seemed to have similar titles, and some even registered their names directly as their titles, which wasn’t against the rules.

This ‘Soul’ indeed appeared to be a swordsman, as he had seven swords hung at his waist, fixed together in a peculiar manner, which was quite unique.

And his demeanor and attire gave the Priestess a strange sense of familiarity, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint why—it made her wonder if it was just an illusion.

Mona pointed to the man behind Mr. Soul, who wore a black poncho, a conical hat, and held a long pole.

“This is Mr. Ferryman, the backbone of the team, responsible for support and coordination. Although he isn’t a priest, he possesses quite remarkable healing abilities.”

The Ferryman seemed rather indifferent; even when introduced, he merely nodded slightly at Vilyric and her companion, and he hadn’t opened his mouth the entire time.

Lastly, there were two other young and beautiful girls, each covering one eye with their bangs, making Vilyric suspect they would get along very well with a certain short-haired fellow.

“Miss Dark Lotus and Miss Dark Spirit are a pair of twin assassins, taking on intelligence gathering and primary attacking roles in the team. Despite their cold appearances, they’re actually very cute and gentle girls!”

“Lady Envoy, you’re saying strange things again. What do you mean by ‘good girls’? We’re clearly a few years older than you.”

The girl referred to as Dark Lotus, covering her left eye with bangs, expressionlessly retorted, while the other twin, Dark Spirit, who looked almost identical apart from her bangs, nodded in agreement with a serious expression. Clearly, the relations between these three girls were actually quite good.

Among the four, aside from the Ferryman, who seemed older, having likely crossed the threshold of unknowing years, the other three were young.

The captain, Soul, looked to be in his early thirties, while Dark Lotus and Dark Spirit appeared even younger, likely just in their twenties. Moreover, all four sported hair that was rare in the kingdom—gray.

Naturally, unlike the withered goddess’s deathly gray hair, this seemed to merely be a color rather than anything significant; at least Vilyric sensed no aura related to the ‘Withering’ authority from them.

Interestingly, while the reports stated that there was only one true legendary individual within ‘Grim Reaper’s Scythe,’ currently, Vilyric sensed that the aura strength emanating from all four team members was indeed above the legendary tier.

   

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