Driven into a corner, the beast lashed out in a mad, desperate struggle. Yet the hunter's threads had already coiled silently around its limbs. Just as it lost its footing in frantic disarray, the butcher's blade came crashing down with crushing force.
Miracle: Water-Born Line! Miracle: Evil Light Slash!
Precise and elegant, brutal yet efficient. The head of the first overlord creature Yaxiu's trio encountered—a Great Dire Wolf-Dragon—was split open like a ripe watermelon. It had boasted glossy black hair that looked fresh out of a salon and a massive body like a dump truck, but now it was destined to dissolve into motes of light, mingling with the reverse golden rain as it sank into the soil to become nourishment.
Several sorcery spirits seized the chance to flee, only to be casually caught by the three of them.
"Not much different from an ordinary pack of monsters."
Sonia sheathed her sword. Interlacing her fingers in front of her, she cracked her knuckles and stretched her joints to relax, critiquing like a gourmet: "Still, that Great Dire Wolf-Dragon at the end had some merits. Scales: two out of five. Movements: three. Meat quality: four. But I'll give its cranium a five—crisp and snappy, just like potato chips—"
"That comment just took potato chips off my menu for at least five days. My body fat thanks you," Yaxiu said dryly. "All jokes aside, this Great Dire Wolf-Dragon wasn't any weaker than other large creatures. Plus, it could command the rest of the dire wolf-dragons. It almost severely injured you three times just now."
"Well, wasn't there you?" Sonia glanced at Yaxiu. Suddenly, a remarkably adorable girl popped into her field of view. Her wide eyes seemed full of anticipation, and a proud tuft of red hair stood upright on her head, practically begging to be smoothed down.
Resigned, Sonia reached out and ruffled Diya's head. "Besides, I have the super-formidable Lady Witch at my side! How could a mere Great Dire Wolf-Dragon ever escape our brilliant teamwork?"
"That's right!" Diya planted her hands on her hips with pride. "As long as the Sword Princess is with me, even ten more wouldn't stand a chance!"
"If you two can draw the aggro of ten Great Dire Wolf-Dragons as firmly as a capitalist holds the hatred of his wage workers, I certainly wouldn't mind your enthusiasm." Yaxiu clapped his hands. "Alright, time to collect our commission bonuses. Let's see what surprises these dire wolf-dragons have prepared for us."
The dire wolf-dragons' den was the third resource point they had located tonight, and their first overlord resource point—home not only to thirteen dire wolf-dragons, but also to an overlord creature: the Great Dire Wolf-Dragon.
Naturally, the battle hadn't been as easy as these three cheaters playing co-op in a single-player game made it sound. An overlord creature possessed combat power comparable to large creatures, with the added ability to command pack animals in coordinated assaults. They fought with zero regard for martial honor.
While the boss attacked, the minions would shamelessly launch sneak attacks. Even a combat sorcerer specializing in area-of-effect attacks facing such a mob would feel as helpless as a student discovering on the final day of summer vacation that they still had homework to finish.
Fortunately, Yaxiu's trio was equally shameless. Finding a relatively narrow passage wasn't enough; they had hacked down the walls on either side, shrinking the path until it barely left room for two young maidens to maneuver. Yaxiu had then stood behind them, repeatedly thrusting his Heart Sword forward. Before long, they whittled down all the Great Dire Wolf-Dragon's lackeys. The rest of the show had simply been the Great Dire Wolf-Dragon taking on all three of them in a 'one-on-three duel.'
Having expended so much effort to conquer this resource point, the rewards were naturally bountiful. The den yielded three resources currently being produced: lumber, mercury, and sulfur.
Among them, lumber and ore were the cheapest resources—the first two resource points they found tonight had been lumber and ore—but mercury and sulfur were rare finds.
"Red sulfur" was the finest fuel for Fire and Gunplay sorcery spirits, while "rock flow silver" served as a universal lubricant for sorcery spirits of the Poison, Water, and Mechanical factions.
The rarer the material, the broader the range of sorcery spirits it could nurture and the stronger the effects. In contrast, sorcery spirits were exceedingly picky with common lumber and ore, which yielded poor nurturing results anyway.
Sometimes Yaxiu even wondered whether he was actually the servant and the sorcery spirits were the masters. How else could he explain painstakingly risking life and limb just to procure cultivation resources for them?
All in all, the Great Dire Wolf-Dragon's den was likely their best haul of the night.
However...
Yaxiu looked at the pool of mercury before him. Beside it stood a machine that seemed crude yet somewhat intricate, like an inimitable piece of art an orc had hammered together out of spare parts while dead drunk.
Yet this contraption, which rightfully belonged in a museum, had long been driven by the dire wolf-dragons' sorcery spirits to pump mercury from the pool, refining it into precious mercury materials such as "rock flow silver" and "rock milk silver."
Yaxiu looked up and glanced around. The Great Dire Wolf-Dragon's den was a cavern overgrown with wild, sprawling vines. Add to that the fact that dire wolf-dragons had never planned to install a sewer system, their droppings and urine lent the place an overwhelmingly potent scent of nature.
Yet the square, angular edges exposed on the ceiling, the shattered pillars in the hall where only pedestals remained, and the fixture in the corner—once a brazier, now repurposed by the dire wolf-dragons into a urinal—all proved that the Great Dire Wolf-Dragon was merely a tenant here, not the landlord.
Of course, it was also possible that the landlords had degenerated into dire wolf-dragons; shared origins between enemies and allies were nothing new. But given that the Sword Princess had just compared their craniums to potato chips, Yaxiu decided to abandon such pointless speculation—he really hoped he could still enjoy cucumber-flavored potato chips six days from now.
"Watcher, Watcher!"
The Witch ran up to him, holding out her hands. "Here's wind-cleaving wood, and this purple sulfur—you can use both of them!"
"Thanks."
"You're welcome!" With that, the Witch scurried off like a wisp of smoke to loot other resources.
As Yaxiu's gaze followed her retreating figure, Sonia crept up beside him at some point: "Today's Witch... is a little strange."
Naturally, Yaxiu had noticed as well—it was impossible not to. Today, the Witch had black hair and a black dress that reached her knees, unlike yesterday's white mini-skirt that put her absolute territory on display. The change was enormous.
During combat, she no longer transformed entirely into a fiery-red warrior either. Instead, only her gossamer gloves shifted to a rosy hue, while her hair appeared streaked with crimson, like a blend of black and red.
Of course, Sonia wasn't referring to her outfit, but her personality.
Unlike the calm and composed Witch of the previous night, tonight's Witch was as bouncy and bubbly as whipped cream on a cake, and incredibly easy to fool. After just two battles, Sonia had effortlessly learned all of the Witch's sorcery spirits, miracles, and preferred combat style. Their relationship had progressed by leaps and bounds.
If this were the real world, they would already be at the level of holding hands to go to the bathroom together.
Moreover, after the first battle, when Sonia saw the crimson cowlick sticking up from the Witch's head, she hadn't been able to resist petting her under the pretext of praise. Little did she expect the Witch to get completely out of hand; after every battle without fail, she would pop into Sonia's line of sight, using that expressive cowlick to urge Sonia to praise her.
What kind of environment could foster such a personality?
Even in Jialesi, surely there were no young girls this easily duped?
None of that was the main point, however. The main point was that the Witch was currying favor with both the Watcher and herself in an exceedingly clumsy manner. And because Sonia had shown a friendly attitude, the Witch assumed that side was already secure and didn't need much further maintenance, so she kept scurrying over to the Watcher.
Bringing materials to the Watcher, asking him what colors he liked, complimenting him on how nice his clothes looked today... It was toe-curlingly awkward.
Yet such an adorably clumsy Witch made Sonia feel she was even harder to deal with.
Had it been the composed Witch from last night, Sonia could have brought all her skills and cunning to bear in playing the game against her.
Although Sonia was now at the top of the social ladder at Sword and Rose Sorcerer University, back when she first enrolled, she had experienced every single faction rivalry, class politics, dormitory pecking order, and female clique without missing a beat. Just a month ago, she and Lois had still been giving each other grief.
If 'dealing with scheming girls' were classified as a sorcery faction, Sonia felt she would be more than qualified to earn a Gold rank in it.
Sonia had originally suspected that the Witch was playing the 'ditzy and cute' card to win favor. After all, the sweet and naive archetype always had a huge market; even Daidalos had starred in several dramas about overbearing princes falling for sweet, innocent girls. Besides, Sonia herself had walked that very path during the first semester of her freshman year to boost her campus popularity, so she naturally understood just how lethal such worldly ignorance and innocence could be.
A feigned act was especially deadly. A truly naive girl might fail to judge boundaries, whereas a practiced routine was calibrated just right to avoid annoying anyone.
Yet Sonia discovered that the Witch was genuinely naive.
It was as though the Witch had torn off the defensive werewolf mask she wore last night to reveal the harmless, innocent face of a lamb. She seemed to have almost no experience interacting with peers her own age. Her way of socializing was to rip out her own heart and hold it out, shouting, 'Look, look!' Even country kids had more cunning than her.
Sonia was an expert at acting pure and innocent; if even she couldn't spot a flaw, it definitely wasn't an act. But if it wasn't an act, what had been up with the White Witch from last night?
Yaxiu had actually guessed a bit of the truth. After all, he knew the Witch's innate talent was Personality Fission; the Witch from last night and the Witch tonight were clearly not the same personality.
Still, should he tell this information to the Sword Princess?
Or rather, was he the one who ought to tell her?
"I suggest you ask her directly. After all, this should be considered her privacy."
"If you know, just tell me."
"Then if the Witch asks about your privacy, should I answer honestly too?"
Before Sonia could retort, Yaxiu waved his hand as if swatting away an annoying fly. "I know what you want to say—yes, feelings carry weight because of their depth, and relationships feel intimate because of closeness. You deserve more privileges with me than the Witch does, like gossiping about her behind her back.
"I enjoy gossip as much as the next person, but only when it's about people who won't be colleagues I see every day. In the foreseeable future, the three of us will be comrades risking life and limb together. Whispering a little snark about a third party once in a while doesn't matter much, but we can't make a habit of gossiping about teammates behind their backs—otherwise, Sword Princess, the moment you see me standing with the Witch, you'll be convinced we're whispering about your secrets."
Sonia instantly retorted, "I'm not that sensitive!"
"I think the only thing in this world more sensitive than you is secret poison," Yaxiu quipped irritably. "Granted, if our team grows larger in the future, dividing into cliques and subgroups will probably be inevitable. But right now there are only three of us. I'd prefer we keep the atmosphere at the level of a student club for as long as possible before diving into the filthy adult world of gossiping about coworkers all day."
"Actually, there's a question I've wanted to ask you for a long time—what does 'gossip' even mean?"
"You didn't understand it?"
"From the context, I could roughly guess it means speaking ill of others."
"It basically means rehashing drama."
"And what does 'drama' mean?"
"Are you picking a fight on purpose?!" Yaxiu snapped, losing his patience. "If you want to know the Witch's secrets, just go ask her yourself!"
"But abruptly asking about someone else's secrets makes people think you have low emotional intelligence..."
"Then I'll help you. To be honest, I'm pretty curious too."
Without another word, Yaxiu grabbed Sonia's hand and pulled her over toward Diya. Sonia was startled by how unhesitatingly he took her hand—in truth, this wasn't the first time they had held hands; their fingers had even interlocked while soaring across the Sea of Knowledge, and they supported each other during battles. But to have such casual physical contact in a routine moment like this was a first.
Chapter 235