Chapter 41: Please Enter the Jar

After making a verbal agreement, Miss Vilyric didn’t immediately give her bodily fluids to the other party; it would be far too awkward to spit in front of over a hundred girls, and this wasn’t the right place for an evolution, either.

Since she didn’t have a name, she decided to name the Slime Daughter. Keeping it simple, since it was a blue jelly… uh, slime, she called it Xiao Lan.

She gave the other party a homemade Light Element Crystal to easily find Xiao Lan later and then let her companions, who had finally calmed down from the dragon’s might, leave first.

Though she received little information, based on the name that Xiao Lan inadvertently mentioned, the leader of the magical beasts attacking the Ghost Thieves base should be a fellow named Nan Dao, which indeed matched what they had seen along their way.

Furthermore, that “little prince” was most likely the Moonshadow Royal Family Youngling abducted by humans. If they could find it directly, that would be fantastic.

Following the route taken by Xiao Lan and the others, Miss Vilyric and her companion continued onward, naturally stumbling upon several scattered bodies of Ghost Thieves guards along the way.

There seemed to be a significant gap in power between the two sides. Throughout, the Priestess had not seen any magical beast corpses. It was unclear just how many living forces had come to the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons this time.

As they passed a certain area, Miss Vilyric noticed an exceptionally large cavern, filled with many specially-made dark iron cages, seemingly exhibiting a specific anti-magic effect. This was probably where that group of captured Magical Beasts Girls had been held.

The magical beasts in the underground black market were basically all trained, having lost their will to resist, and were ready to be sold as slaves. However, Xiao Lan and her group looked full of energy and appeared to have only recently been captured.

Continuing along the traces of the battle, it wasn’t long before Miss Vilyric spotted an exceptionally massive and thick stone door. However, the door had been cleaved into several pieces by some sharp weapon and was messily stacked like building blocks. The guards lay scattered on the ground, looking like they had just recently met their demise.

“Master, there are biological signatures ahead. Many mixed together with humans, at least close to a hundred. This seems to be the place.”

“Yeah, we finally caught up. Almost missed out on the main event. These guys are pretty quick, considering they only left a bit earlier than us. Is the Ghost Thieves’ resistance that weak?”

Joking around, the two stepped over the bodies of the fallen guards and entered the chamber.

What awaited them inside was a much broader inner room than any other cavern, equipped with magic lamps for illumination, stocked with plenty of living supplies, and lit by several campfires, brimming with the aura of life.

To prevent the ceiling from collapsing, they even erected stone pillars as supports, and in many areas, thin curtains and drapes distinguished different spaces. The level of construction was impressively high, spanning at least ten thousand square meters.

Previously, Miss Vilyric had used an SP small-range probe here when no one was around, and it appeared to be situated inside a sprawling mountain range, rather than within the Demon Town. Although she wasn’t entirely sure where precisely, creating such a place within a mountain clearly demonstrated that the Ghost Thieves indeed had some skill.

However, here…

Miss Vilyric glanced at her feet, her brow slightly furrowed, but she expressed nothing and merely shifted her gaze back to the battlefield ahead.

It was apparent that the battle was overwhelmingly one-sided.

On the surface, both sides appeared to be human groups, but the side with only around a dozen members showed a visible gulf in combat strength compared to the group clearly made up of Ghost Thieves. Their fighting methods diverged greatly from normal martial skills and magic.

The one who seemed the strongest, radiating an aura nearing legendary peaks, was a brown-haired man wielding a large cleaver, adorned with a spiraled horn on his head. He wasn’t too unusual, yet his method of decapitating enemies with a single swing confirmed that this guy was none other than Nan Dao.

Beside him, two other magical beasts were worth mentioning; though not as strong as Nan Dao, their demonstrated abilities had already reached legendary standards.

The Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons sent not one but at least three comparable to legendary warriors, highlighting their significant concern for the Moonshadow Youngling.

Combined, these three magical beasts might still not match the three legendary adventurers of the City of Courage, but they were certainly strong enough to dominate in the Demon Town. Coupled with other elite magical beasts, it was no wonder humans had been futilely pursuing them for so long.

The other two legendary magical beasts included a female with blue-gray short hair who transformed her hands into sharp claws during combat, often dropping to all fours and attacking with incredible speed, akin to a hunting dog.

Well, saying hunting dog… should be more like a wolf, right? And with blue-gray hair…

No doubt, this must be a Moonshadow, a grown-up Great Magical Wolf level Moonshadow.

Many magical beasts lacked the detailed classification regarding strength found in the United Kingdom and similar nations. In the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, it seemed there were only three categories: regular magical beasts, magical generals, and great magical generals.

The first two groups had varying powers and were unremarkable, while the great magical general was essentially equivalent to a legendary human.

As for the Moonshadow species, it was simply a special kind of magical wolf, not the werewolves of beastmen but true wolves. Their young remained in wolf form for a long period after birth, transitioning to humanoid once they evolved to a certain strength, becoming magical beings or generals, ultimately evolving into great magical generals like this woman.

Moonshadow is just a shorthand; the full name should be Moonshadow Magical Wolf.

The other legendary magical beast, Miss Vilyric couldn’t yet discern its true form, but its fighting style was quite peculiar. It didn’t engage but merely danced elegantly in place, causing the surrounding Ghost Thieves members to inexplicably turn on one another.

However, while ordinary people might fail to see it, Miss Vilyric easily recognized the underlying mystery.

It was thread. Many almost imperceptible transparent threads extended from the fingers of that white-haired woman, connecting her to those Ghost Thieves members. Her seemingly idle dance was actually manipulating the threads, controlling the enemies’ movements.

Was it a Thread Manipulation or Puppet Control ability? The methods of magical beasts were indeed varied.

The other magical beasts exhibited considerable strength as well, averaging out to a level between earth and sky, with nearly half being Moonshadow humanoid magical wolves, which was quite reasonable.

When Miss Vilyric and her companion arrived, the battle wasn’t over, but it was evidently lacking suspense. Although the remaining Ghost Thieves were still vastly outnumbered by the magical beasts, for reasons unknown, their resistance was terribly weak and they had already crumbled.

Noticing this, the Priestess couldn’t help but frown.

If before she merely felt something was off, now that they were at the apparent last stronghold of the Ghost Thieves, she could fully confirm it.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

These humans, whether in strength or fighting will, were far too weak. If the guard force at such an important location, where the Ghost Thieves held a mythical youngling, was at this level, it was hard to imagine how this organization had managed to repeatedly capture various magical beasts from the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons and gained its current status in the underground of the Demon Town.

Something strange always brings trouble.

…Is this a trap?

If there was something amiss here, then the teleportation circle in the underground black market was likely also set up to lure in magical beasts.

Wait a minute, if that’s the case, would the Ghost Thieves really let Xiao Lan and her group of magical beasts leave so easily?

“Xiao Guang…”

“What is it, Master?”

“…Never mind, it’s nothing.”

No need to be so anxious. Even if they were actually captured, they shouldn’t be in immediate mortal danger. Moreover, the crystal she left for Xiao Lan might provide an opportunity this time… Hmm, it’s better to handle the immediate problem first.

Changes were coming even faster than Miss Vilyric had imagined.

Before the battle had declared its end, not long after the Priestess and her companions entered the cavern, the entire stone cave erupted with a rumbling, unsettling hum.