Volume 1, Chapter 28

Deep within Deepwinter Forest,

A scene that would leave countless people utterly bewildered was quietly unfolding.

At this moment,

Amidst the giant trees, a black-haired girl with bare feet and thin clothing was slowly walking across the snowy ground, seemingly unaffected by the freezing cold. In her hand, she held the hand of another, seemingly very delicate, little girl.

Additionally, following behind them was a pitiful-looking small white wolf…

Surrounding them were dozens of massive, ferocious-looking black monsters. However, these Abyssal Demons, typically bloodthirsty and murderous, showed not a trace of violence now. Like dutiful guards, they silently protected the two girls, driving away any unwary magical beasts in the vicinity.

Abyssal Demons protecting human girls? If witnessed, this scene would likely cause an uproar.

However,

These girls were not human.

In a sense, they were monsters wearing human skin.

Under the escort of several Abyssal Demons,

Yumo quietly held Li Yu’s small hand, walking slowly across the snow-covered land. Li Mo trailed behind them, dejected and listless, like an abandoned, homeless puppy.

She kept pouting, constantly complaining internally,

‘Mother is biased, Li Yu is a bad liar…’

Li Yu:…

Although her silly older sister didn’t voice her complaints aloud, after years of living together day and night, Li Yu could easily discern Li Mo’s thoughts and knew she was complaining.

However, Li Yu had no intention of pleading on her sister’s behalf to their mother.

Her silly older sister needed to learn to behave and become smarter on her own.

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Besides, for beings of their demon king tier, going without food for a year was no issue, let alone a mere week.

Curbing her sister’s gluttonous habits was also important~

Thus,

Li Yu chose to ignore her silly older sister’s resentful gaze and turned her attention back to Yumo beside her. Meanwhile, Yumo, while silently strolling deeper into the forest, was thoughtfully examining the exquisite silver sword in her hand.

This sword was the weapon previously used by the Hero, Pix.

After cleaning up the scene, Yumo had collected all the relatively intact weapons and spatial rings from the Hero’s party. Since she had acted against them, she might as well maximize their remaining value.

Coincidentally, Yumo wanted to understand the level of equipment currently used by Hero parties and whether there had been any improvements compared to centuries ago.

Seeing Yumo continuously examining the weapon in her hand instead of speaking to her, Li Yu pouted unhappily. However, compared to Li Mo, who constantly revealed her true nature, Li Yu was better at concealing her emotions. She quickly suppressed the slight displeasure on her face,

Maintaining her well-behaved, obedient child demeanor.

Then, the gray-haired little girl shook Yumo’s hand playfully, pointing at the symbol on the sword’s hilt, and asked like a curious child,

“Mother, what does this golden writing on the sword hilt mean?”

“Hmm? This? It’s the ancient numeral ‘8’.”

“‘8’? Why put an ‘8’ on a sword?”

Yumo smiled gently at the little girl’s question.

“The Hero’s sequence~”

“Hero sequence? What’s that?”

“Ummm, it’s roughly equivalent to a strength ranking. The Ashurmos Church’s so-called ten ‘Earth Apostles’ are what we commonly call Heroes. They’re ranked from 1 to 10 based on strength. The smaller the number, the stronger they are.”

“Oh, I see. So the Hero my sister and I eliminated was only ranked eighth. Seems he wasn’t very strong.”

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Li Yu replied softly,

However, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flickered in her emerald-green eyes.

“Yeah, eighth, relatively low in the ranking.”

Yumo murmured.

But speaking of strength, there were some things Yumo was quite curious about.

“Little Yu,”

“Yes, Mother?”

“How did you feel about this Hero’s strength during your earlier fight? Compared to those Heroes who came to our doorstep back then, was he stronger or weaker?”

“Ummm, about that…”

Li Yu’s little face showed a hint of conflict.

“Sorry, Mother. He died too quickly. My sister finished him off in one move, so I didn’t really see him fight. I genuinely couldn’t tell.”

“Ah, died too fast~ I see. Never mind then.” Yumo shook her head slightly, somewhat disappointed.

“What’s wrong, Mother?”

“Nothing, just wanted to get a general idea of the current Heroes’ strength levels.”

As she spoke, Yumo’s crimson eyes narrowed slightly.

As predicted earlier,

The ‘female lead’ would likely still become the Ashurmos Church’s Saintess. Eventually, those so-called ten Earth Apostles, three Heavenly Apostles, Holy Knight Order, and such would all become forces for the ‘female lead’ to use against the Abyssal Demons.

For the trial to proceed smoothly, the Abyssal Demons initially sent out must be opponents they can handle. Otherwise, sending a few demon king tier beings against the Church’s Earth Heroes would just wipe them out…

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Sending Abyssal Demons too strong might annihilate the opposition,

Too weak, and it might make them overconfident?

‘It really is a complicated task.’

To provide suitable ‘experience monsters’, Yumo believed it was necessary to thoroughly understand the Church’s current combat capabilities.

Of course,

Yumo herself was quite curious about the current strength of this continent’s top church. Whether she could be successfully eliminated depended heavily on this church.

Of course, not just the church,

She needed to understand the combat capabilities of the entire Ancheka Continent’s regular armies. As the saying goes, ‘Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.’

Coincidentally, she now had a humanoid form and could personally go investigate.

But where to go?

‘Ummm, I remember the place closest to the eastern forest is probably the Snownight Empire’s Windward City, right? I heard there are many fortresses on the outskirts, garrisoned with elite troops. Elites? Seems something to look forward to…’

While murmuring to herself internally, Yumo thoughtfully gazed toward the southeast direction.

She hoped,

That place,

At the very least, wouldn’t disappoint her like this broken sword~

Thinking this, Yumo glanced somewhat irritably at the silver blade in her hand. An involuntary snort of disdain escaped the girl’s lips.

A weapon forged from source steel ore?

‘Tch, weapon forging techniques also need improvement.’

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The next moment,

The girl’s delicate, seemingly boneless hand gripping the sword’s blade tightened slightly.

“Kaca~”

With a crisp sound,

This silver blade, hailed as capable of slaying demon king tier Abyssal Demons, was effortlessly crushed into countless silver fragments in the black-haired girl’s hand, scattering across the snowy ground.

Putting aside other aspects,

This sword couldn’t even cut a single strand of her hair…

Meanwhile, at the Ashurmos Church headquarters in the Red Lotus Leaf Empire,

Inside the Holy Capital Hall,

Beneath the goddess statue at the hall’s center, discussions about the new demon king tier being in the eastern part of Deepwinter Forest were in full swing.

Right at this moment, Archbishop Nick, who was passionately delivering a speech to inspire the masses, suddenly widened his eyes. A special soul signal rushed into his mind, and shock and astonishment immediately appeared on his aged face.

The next moment,

Under the bewildered gazes of countless church members, Archbishop Nick’s speech abruptly stopped. Without looking back, he rushed out of the hall, leaving a crowd of confused church members standing there, unsure what to do.

Leaving the hall, Nick immediately accelerated toward the Hall of Heroes without a word.

His fists clenched tightly involuntarily.

“Pix? How… how did his soul signal suddenly cut off?!”

Could it be… could he be dead??