Volume 3, Chapter 22 – The Cruel Attacker

In the suburbs of Clavino, at President Lakbi’s home. A lively birthday dinner party was being held in full swing.

At this moment, the crystal chandelier cast a warm golden glow from the domed ceiling as thirteen-year-old Mili stood on tiptoe to place the final star-shaped candle on her birthday cake. The aroma of caramel apple pie wafted from the kitchen, while her uncle adjusted a holographic fireworks projector that displayed various adorable spirit beasts dancing across the wallpaper. Her cousins and children of other relatives and friends played games on the living room carpet.

“Surprise! Hahaha!” Her uncle suddenly popped a clown doll wearing a party hat out of a gift box, showering Mili with colorful confetti that left her both startled and excited. Nearby, her mother Annie smiled as she used a handkerchief to wipe the glittering paper bits from her daughter’s beautiful hair. For a moment, the entire villa was immersed in an atmosphere of harmony and perfect happiness.

“Mom, when will Dad come home?” asked Mili, the birthday girl, curiously to her mother. Hearing this, Annie’s radiant smile faltered slightly, a barely perceptible trace of bitterness flashing through her eyes. As a wife, she certainly knew how busy her husband had been recently. Due to the Kingdom of Qingyun’s major defeat, Lakbi had been overwhelmed for days, and was probably still dealing with the issue of sending Covenant reinforcements northward.

“Dad is still busy. But don’t worry, Mili, he’ll definitely be back before midnight to celebrate your birthday.” “Before midnight? Really?” The girl asked, somewhat unhappily. Annie smiled helplessly at this.

However, just as the mother was about to further reassure her daughter, a nauseating stench of decay suddenly came from the entrance hall.

“What is that smell?” Annie and her daughter frowned, quickly covering their noses with their hands. Not just them, but the other relatives and Covenant officials nearby also wore expressions of disgust.

This odor—how to describe it? Like the putrid stench of a beached, dead whale mixed with the moldy smell of fishing nets, utterly unbearable.

At that moment, the intelligent service robots in the house bizarrely malfunctioned, crashing into walls. The spirit beast projections distorted into strange tentacle shapes, and the crystal lights began to flicker, seemingly due to unstable voltage.

In this increasingly strange atmosphere, Mrs. Annie pinched her nose and turned toward the source of the smell—the entrance hall.

“Hmm? W-who’s there?!”

At this moment, under the vigilant gaze of Annie and the others, a black figure had somehow appeared in the entrance hall.

The viscous liquid dripping from the hem of this uninvited guest’s black robe pooled on the floor, making a sizzling sound of corrosion with each drop.

The tin box he carried was covered with barnacles and shellfish, with strange purple liquid seeping from the cracks. When Mili anxiously stepped back, accidentally kicking a rolling orange, the metal box suddenly emitted a dull impact sound, as if something alive was scratching at the walls from inside.

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More importantly, this hunched-over man emanated a suffocating odor that made everyone instantly tense.

“What are the guards doing?” Annie frowned, glancing at the butler nearby.

The butler simply shook his head. “I don’t know.” While shaking his head, the butler pressed the communication device in his hand, trying to contact the security personnel who should have been guarding outside the villa. Unfortunately, no matter how many times he pressed it, there was no response.

An uneasy atmosphere began to spread.

After taking a deep breath, Annie, as the highest-ranking woman in the house, shielded her daughter behind her while looking sternly at the dripping wet uninvited guest.

“Who are you?”

Faced with this question, the man in black robes did not reply directly, but instead said with a raspy laugh: “Mrs. Annie, your husband, President Lakbi, has really done something significant.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ordering troops to attack Gaia Lobir. That’s a big deal… Your husband is so brave. I admire him. Our Abyssal Lord also admires him… so, the Abyssal Lord asked me to bring you all a gift.”

“A gift?”

Hearing these words, Annie felt increasingly uneasy. She carefully gripped the hilt of a light sword under the dining table, as spiritual energy began to surge within her body.

“Yes, a gift. I wonder, do you all like seafood feasts?”

As he spoke, the man slowly raised the box in his hand.

The next moment, under everyone’s solemn gaze, this box emanating a cold, evil aura suddenly developed numerous cracks. Then, one after another, monstrous fish ten times larger than the box tore through the cracks, defying logic as they continuously emerged from inside.

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“Gak-gak-gak-gak-gak!!”

Strange howling sounds instantly echoed throughout the hall.

These creatures were covered with fluorescent green scales, with bulging eyeballs occupying half their heads, and enormous mouths split to their gill slits filled with spiral-shaped fangs. Their leaping posture resembled some kind of distorted frog, and their sucker-covered webbed claws easily tore through the walls.

Looking at the creepy appearance of these strange fish and feeling the evil aura emanating from them, everyone’s expression changed dramatically.

“Corrupted Beasts!! Quick!! Sound the alarm!!” After gasping in shock, Annie shouted desperately to the butler nearby.

However, just as the butler was about to act, one of the monstrous fish pounced on him, pinning him to the ground and frantically tearing at him. Its spiral jaws, working like a meat grinder, reduced the butler’s body to minced flesh.

Meanwhile, the other monstrous fish also swarmed forward, launching attacks against everyone in the hall.

Most of those present were Covenant officials and merchants, not frontline warriors who regularly faced Corrupted Beasts. Therefore, caught completely unprepared, they had no time to respond appropriately when confronted with these attacks.

Within moments they were completely overwhelmed and pinned to the ground by the monstrous fish, which savagely tore at them.

Blood spurted and splattered everywhere.

The birthday party that had been filled with happiness just minutes ago had instantly transformed into a living hell. Screams and wails rose and fell… With the monstrous fish surrounding everyone, these people had no chance to escape and could only be devoured one by one amidst their agonized cries.

“Quick! To the basement!” Mili’s uncle roared.

At the same time, he pulled out a gun and pressed it forcefully against the gill of one of the fish, then frantically pulled the trigger.

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Unfortunately, the bullets melted upon contact with the scales, turning into molten iron. Faced with the uncle’s attack, the fish let out a terrifying roar, and its splashing blue saliva instantly corroded his head into a honeycomb of holes.

Fresh blood mixed with brain matter slowly oozed from the cavities.

Seeing her uncle fall and be torn to pieces by the swarming fish, endless terror welled up in Mili’s eyes. The girl collapsed with a scream: —”Nooooo!”—

In contrast to the terror-consumed presidential family members, the black-robed man standing at the entrance, who had been silently watching the spectacle, let out waves of joyful yet creepy laughter.

“Only the Abyssal Lord can approach the sister of our Abyssal Lord… anyone else who interferes will face these consequences… heh, heh heh, heh heh heh…”

Meanwhile, in the Tianyin Grand Hall in central Clavino, after a strange energy fluctuation entered her mind, Miss Bai Lianyue, who had been dozing in the VIP seats for quite some time, slowly opened her eyes. Rubbing them, she smacked her lips in confusion.

It must be my imagination… I thought I sensed an unpleasant energy fluctuation.

“Mom, you’re awake?” Seeing Bai Lianyue open her eyes with a strange expression, little Ailiya who sat beside her asked with concern. “Is something wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No, nothing.” Bai Lianyue yawned and scratched her head, trying to dispel her drowsiness.

Since she had been quite averse to the social activities before the auction began, Bai Lianyue had leaned on Ailiya’s shoulder for a short nap. After all, the Malevolence lady was completely ignorant of the Westivian Covenant’s high-level social circles, and could do nothing but smile awkwardly.

Besides, their visit to the capital this time was a secret one. Therefore, socializing naturally had nothing to do with the Malevolence lady.

As her mind cleared a bit, Lianyue curiously asked: “Mmm… hasn’t the auction started yet?”

Faced with Lianyue’s adorable inquiry, Ailiya affectionately patted the blue-haired girl’s head. “It’s about to start.”

“Oh.”

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As the mother and daughter conversed, Greemir, who was seated next to them in the same box, gazed somewhat excitedly at the center stage not far away.

“Ah, I wonder if the Bai Ling Determination will be part of this Alabaster Sovereign’s Legacy auction… if so, that would be really, hehe~”

Greemir rubbed his hands together in excitement.

Like most people who had come to the auction, Greemir was also here for the draw of the ‘Bai Ling Determination.’

That was the basic cultivation technique used by the Alabaster Sovereign, reportedly a special spiritual energy circulation method developed by the Alabaster Sovereign together with the Elven race, and the foundation of the Alabaster Sovereign’s power.

If he could get his hands on the Bai Ling Determination! His strength would surely skyrocket! Then defeating that bastard Luo Fei might not be impossible!

Greemir clenched his fist, muttering to himself. “Bai Ling Determination! I must have it!”

Taking out more than a dozen black cards he had prepared in advance, Greemir said fiercely.

Watching Greemir like this, Lianyue adorably raised her eyebrows. “Don’t waste so much money… if you want to learn it, I can teach you.”

Hearing this, Greemir was stunned for a few seconds, then smiled rather helplessly.

How to put it… Lianna seems quite cute sometimes now.

“Haha, Lianna is actually making jokes now, that’s really rare, haha~”

Bai Lianyue: =-=