[Vol. 9] Chapter 114: Don’t Look Down on Us!
Violet glanced at the ice demon girl beside her and gave her a look, signaling her to calm down. Only then did the latter take a deep breath and manage to steady herself a little, though the worry on her face was still plain to see. Watching her like this, the priestess couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
The dragon girl had stayed in the camp this whole time. With her strength, if it had been an ordinary enemy attack, even by a god-level being, it would be nearly impossible to take away over a hundred living people right under Xiao Guang’s nose. So that could almost be ruled out completely.
That meant there was only one possibility, those people had left on their own in some special way. Xiao Guang hadn’t failed to notice, rather, she probably saw what was happening but couldn’t find a clear target to strike at, so she deliberately let it happen. And as for her rushing out this morning, that clearly meant the “bait” she had set had caught something, and the Dragon God herself had gone to follow the lead.
After all these years of growth and training, the young dragon’s mind had matured a lot. She had learned many things from Violet, so making such a “fishing-style” move wasn’t impossible at all.
Realizing this, the priestess finally felt a bit relieved. She had originally planned to meet up with Xiao Guang first and then use the clues they already had to track down the source of the incident. But since things had changed, and her dragon had already taken the first step, they might as well follow the trail from here and dig deeper.
Just like back in the Austre Empire, when Little Light had used herself as bait to help them destroy the headquarters of the Church of Truth, no matter how strange the situation was, there would always be traces to follow. As long as there was a clue, it could be solved.
“What’s the situation in the camp now?”
Tina shook her head.
“Not good. So many people disappearing all at once, it’s impossible not to cause panic. We barely managed to calm everyone down and keep order, but people are still scared. And a few of them… somehow… seem to have gone crazy.”
“Crazy?”
Tina nodded, confirming Veranica’s shocked question. They might not understand why, but Violet suddenly remembered something, something Gladys had mentioned to her earlier.
“…Where are those crazy people now?”
“Uh, I was afraid they’d spread panic, so I locked them all in one tent and had someone watch them…”
“Take us there!”
“W-Whoa! O-okay!”
………………………………
The appearance of Violet and especially Veranica, the leader of the Scavenger Gang, lifted the gloomy mood in the camp quite a bit. Violet quickly told her to go reassure her subordinates, while she and Alexia followed Tina toward a large tent deep inside the camp.
More than a dozen elite Silver Claw mercenaries stood guard around the tent with weapons in hand, but their expressions were full of fatigue and unease. Seeing this, the priestess raised an eyebrow, her gaze sharp, then turned to Tina and ordered calmly.
“Tell them to step back. Also, until this is resolved, don’t let anyone unrelated come near this area.”
“Ah?”
The young woman froze for a second, visibly confused. But with Violet’s authority, even if her orders sounded strange, Tina didn’t dare object. She quickly dismissed the uneasy guards and ordered them to seal off the area around the tent.
Seeing this, the priestess finally nodded in satisfaction and led the two women inside after lifting the tent flap.
The tent was dim, even though it was daytime. No lights were lit, and the air inside felt heavy. About seven or eight people, men, women, young, and old, were tied up with hemp ropes reinforced with iron wires. There didn’t seem to be anything special or unusual about their appearances.
Perhaps to stop them from hurting themselves, Tina had already given them medicine that kept them asleep for now. Standing by the entrance, Violet’s silver-blue eyes flickered with faint black and white light. No one could tell what she was seeing, but her expression turned thoughtful. Before long, she casually picked one young woman and stepped forward.
She raised her hand, and a few golden sparks of light appeared at her fingertips. The magic quickly broke the effects of the sleeping drug on the woman.
Watching the woman start to stir, her fingers twitching slightly, Tina swallowed nervously, her face tense. It looked like she already guessed what was going to happen next.
Sure enough, the moment the woman’s eyes opened, before the confusion even faded from her gaze, she suddenly let out a piercing scream!
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
She’s insane!
The scream was so sharp and loud that it almost burst everyone’s eardrums. Tina, looking helpless, had just started to raise her hands to cover her ears when Violet moved faster than lightning, she grabbed the woman’s face in one swift motion!
That seemingly soft and delicate hand clamped down like an iron vise, instantly cutting the high-pitched scream down to muffled whimpers.
Gone was the priestess’s usual teasing smile. The black-and-white glow in her silver-blue eyes swirled like a deep, mysterious abyss as she stared coldly at the struggling woman, who couldn’t move at all under both Violet’s grip and the ropes binding her. Her voice was calm but icy.
“Listen. I don’t care who you are or why you took over this body. Answer my questions honestly. Don’t think hiding in someone else’s body means I can’t deal with you.”
After saying that, Violet looked at her twice more, then released her grip. But the moment the woman could speak again, she burst into wild laughter.
“Heh… hehehehe… hahahahaha! It’s useless! Useless! No matter how strong you are, you can’t stop what’s coming! Ice and snow can’t bury the true master! This world belongs to us! The creations of the false usurper are destined to crumble before the returning tide!”
“Cry! Laugh! Use everything you have to perform your last struggle! The Primordial Light will return from the depths of time! Hahahahahaha!”
“Be careful! She’s going to blow herself up!”
Sensing the sudden, swelling energy from the woman’s body, Alexia’s expression changed sharply. She quickly moved to raise a shield, but before she could, the priestess snorted coldly. Black and white light burst from Violet’s palm like a spring, completely wrapping the woman in its glow.
Even though the energy hidden inside that body was strong enough to make even the blue dragon girl react too slowly to stop it, the black-and-white radiance erased it effortlessly. The explosion’s power was stripped apart as if from another dimension, then reversed in an unbelievable way. In just a blink, everything returned to normal.
Whoosh!
Violet raised her hand and made a grasping motion. A gray shadow was pulled out of the woman’s body, floating like a ghost in the air, bound tightly by golden chains that had appeared from nowhere.
“Well, well…” Violet said with a smirk. “You really looked down on me, didn’t you? You didn’t actually think all that talk earlier was just for show, right?”