The grasslands outside of Wolf City were engulfed in flames from the battle as the demonic army rushed in like floodwaters. The skies were covered with so many flying-type demonic beings that they basically turned day into night.
As the city did not have any defensive structures, the demonic beings’ advance into the city was exceptionally smooth-sailing. The Wolf Tribe had not recovered from their loss of more than a million soldiers and thus there were only about three hundred thousand troops stationed to guard Wolf City.
In the face of millions of demonic beings, the Wolfmen were practically helpless. Other than the Wolfmen soldiers, the common Wolfmen began to flee for their lives as the aura that emanated from the demonic beings was far too terrifying. The sound of their footsteps alone caused the ground to tremble constantly.
Bella and Lisha rode on their Bone White Warhorses and advanced into the Wolf City while being escorted by a large team of Death Knights. Wolf City was actually Bella’s nickname for the city. Since she did not understand the Beastman language and the official name of the city was written in their language, Bella had no choice but to call it Wolf City for conveniences’ sake.
“Lisha, you’re finally back…”
“Older Sister, what do you mean I’m finally back… she and I share the same memories. I realized that ever since I came to your duchy, our memories have begun to sync up.”
Every so often, a golden flicker would flash across Lisha’s blue irises, causing her to look like the Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha. She was currently wearing the Dark Dragon Knight’s armor, which looked exactly like a Dragon Knight’s armor except for the ornamental black dragon on it.
These were all demonic beings, and there was nothing wrong with wearing a Dragon Knight’s armor. Since Lisha, unlike President Maria and the others, did not share the same morals, she did not mind blending in. Bella did not wear the Holy Knight’s armor and instead chose to wear a Death Knight’s designated armor. To differentiate herself from the other Death Knights, Bella specially wore a crown and did not put on a helmet.
“Hmm… if that’s the case, Lisha, will Alisha be able to feel it when I kiss you in the future? Also…”
“Older Sister Bella… get your mind out of the gutter. Don’t get ahead of yourself. If you really wish to find out, then ask her yourself!”
Lisha pouted, a little too embarrassed to look at Bella. The Demonic Dragon Emperor Alisha must have been truly aroused. Otherwise, their memories would not have synced. To prevent Bella from going too far, Lisha did not tell her about this. Instead, she planned to let Bella ask Alisha directly.
Bella knew her limits and did not continue to question Lisha. She still did not fully understand the theory behind why her dorm mates would be able to turn dark and decided to simply stop at teasing.
Suddenly, a few arrows flew in Bella’s direction. It was no wonder that they would target her, with that ostentatious crown on her head. However, the arrows that the Wolfmen had were of poor quality and Bella’s Death Knight’s armor could only be damaged by weapons that had been enhanced by radiant magic.
Those few arrows barely made a single scratch on the armor before bouncing off it. At the sight of their Demon King being attacked, the demonic beings were uncharacteristically furious and charged in the direction which the arrows came from without even waiting for Bella’s orders.
The Beastmen that had attacked Bella had been taking aim from atop a watchtower that was immediately turned to rubble when Bella’s Death Knights unleashed their fury on it. In addition, the demonic beings continued to shoot various arrows at the towers in a maddened frenzy not unlike a swarm of angry wasps.
The watchtower could not withstand the vicious attack and collapsed almost immediately, killing most of the attackers. Out of the corner of her eye, the ever-observant Bella saw a familiar figure with hair as white as snow. It could not have been anyone else.
“Your Majesty, your servant deserves to die. We shall destroy every single high rise building in sight!”
“It’s fine. Do as you wish. By the way, find me a change of clothes.”
The Death Knights surrounding Bella were about to plead for their Demon King’s forgiveness. Instead, she did not take it to heart at all and simply requested for a set of new clothes.
“Older Sister Bella, didn’t you wear this the last time… don’t tell me that you’re thinking of doing something naughty again.”
“Younger Sister Lisha, what kind of look is that? After all, I am a demon king and it is perfectly natural for me to do immoral things!”
“That makes sense. Alright then, you naughty older sister, I will take command of your army in the meantime.”
“No need for that. I will still be here to lead my troops. I have other plans for her.”
Bella simply brushed off Lisha’s look of suspicion. No matter what, she would not truly despise Bella. At most Lisha would only feel ridiculed.
Bella put on her new black clothes and continued to command her army in battle. She had already sent her experts to follow Tania instead.
The White Wolf Princess Tania moved gingerly among the rubble as poisonous arrows had pierced into her right forearm and leg. She had been part of the Wolfman strike team that attacked Bella earlier.
As she was rather far away, Tania could not tell that Bella was a human girl. All she could see was that there was a leader within the Death Knights that wore a unique crown. In the beginning, she had thought that her target was merely a team leader who was wearing the crown for the sake of having fun.
Little did she know that it was the head of the entire army and this last attack had cost Tania her entire team. Tania tried to ignore the searing pain in her forearm and leg as she began to make her way back to guard Wolf City’s grand hall with her life.
The arrows used by the demonic beings were extremely toxic. Unless given the appropriate treatment in time, once shot, the injured would likely end up losing their limbs. However, this was a wartime emergency and Tania could care less. She gritted her teeth and continued to move slowly towards the palace.
As Tania still had the dark ring on her finger, the demonic beings around her did not attack her at all. She desperately wished to help her fellow soldiers as they were being mercilessly slaughtered by the demonic beings, but she was already in such severe pain that she could barely move. She was in no position to even save herself, let alone anyone else!
Before Tania could reach the palace, she realized that the palace gates were slowly closing. Wolf City had its own defense mechanisms set in place within the infrastructure. A shallow moat had been dug around the palace and the palace gate was designed with a drawbridge.
“No way, they’re closing the gates already? What about the soldiers fighting outside?”
The oldest son of the Wolf Tribe’s leader, Harrington, had ordered for the gates to be closed. He would rather sacrifice the safety of his fellow soldiers outside who were still fighting a bloody battle than to allow the demonic beings to infiltrate and attack the palace. The soldiers outside would be left as cannon fodder.
Harrington had even planned to give up on Tania. Although he was her older brother, he did not have a sister complex. The Beastmen’s preference of males over females was even more prominent than the humans. Furthermore, there was the problem of the perception of beauty. In Harrington’s eyes, Tania was clearly an ugly female, which lowered the value of saving her even more.
“Harrington… Older Brother, don’t pull up the doors just yet. There are still so many of our people left out here!”
Tania did not care about her tiff with Harrington anymore and had even called him her older brother, despite her unwillingness. There were still many other Wolfman soldiers behind her that were still retreating towards the palace. If Harrington were to close the gates, they would have nowhere to go.
The fact that his younger sister, who always had a bone to pick with him, had finally called him brother, triggered a little compassion in Harrington’s heart and filled him with an inexplicable warmth. Just as he was about to retract his order and lower the drawbridge, a large group of black shadows speeding towards the palace immediately destroyed any thoughts of saving his younger sister.
With the Wolf King’s palace as their target, a large team of Death Knights was charging towards it from a distance. Based on their estimated speed, if the gates were to be lowered, they would rush right into the palace. Taking his safety into consideration, Harrington turned to leave, abandoning Tania in his wake.
“You coward. I was wrong about you…”
As Tania turned around, she paled at the sight of thousands of Death Knights charging towards her. Many Wolfman soldiers had been knocked to the ground and trampled to death by the stampede of Death Knights.
The charging knights were basically all-consuming. In this critical moment, Tania forgot that she actually still had the mysterious black ring and the demonic beings would not touch her at all. Being shot by the poisonous arrows was simply a fluke.
“Vanessa, I’m so sorry. I’m not able to rescue you. I have to go now.”
Tania was unwilling to be trampled to death. Since there were no weapons nearby that she could use to kill herself and she was pressed for time, she jumped right into the moat in an attempt to take her own life. There were all sorts of metal spikes at the bottom of the moat and anyone who dropped to the bottom would meet with certain death.
In her haste to jump, she missed an important detail. When she jumped, part of the water in the moat was a different color and was much deeper than the other areas. Tania landed into the water with barely a plop.
The Wolf Tribe’s moat was a joke. They had not considered the most crucial thing. The entire city was now under the demonic beings’ control, which meant that locking down the palace was practically useless. Before long, the flying type demonic beings swooped down from the skies and had taken over the palace walls.
After a round of fighting, the closed drawbridge was broken down. This time, credit for bringing down the drawbridge should be given to the flying type demonic beings that belonged to the Scourge of the Skies, Grisbane. The Beastmen that were guarding the palace gates had all been killed. When the gates opened once again, the Death Knights simply used the drawbridge and charged right into the palace.
Wolf City was lost before dusk. The Wolf Tribe’s flags that had been hanging above the palace for the past few thousand years were shredded into pieces by the demonic beings. Those flags were then replaced by the flag of the Octavia Empire. To anyone who was not in the know, they would have thought that the city had been taken over by the human coalition.
Bella entered the Wolf King Springhall’s grand hall with a group of demon guards in tow. Lisha was the only one of Bella’s girlfriends in this group since the other girls were currently occupied with removing all opposition forces in the vicinity.
The palace was a complete mess. It was obvious that the Beastmen within the palace were scrambling to make their escape. In their haste, they did not manage to remove many of their documents and abandoned files could be seen everywhere. As Bella could not understand any of the Beastman script, she could only collect the files and wait until she returned home to find a translator.
Bella found a golden sword hanging above the Wolf King Springhall’s throne. This sword had the ornate golden carvings and ornaments that represented the Octavia Empire’s royal family. Even after three thousand years, the golden sword had withstood the test of time and every single detail was as intricate as when it was first made.
“Older Sister, this was Richard the Third’s personal sword – the Sword of Glory. Anyone who holds the sword will at least be conferred the title of an Imperial Duke. Of course, Older Sister is a princess and this sword is probably of no use to you.”
Bella retrieved the Sword of Glory from above the throne as a gesture to reclaim what the late emperor had left behind. Her only regret was that the Wolf King Springhall had gotten away from her again. In addition, his heir, Harrington, had escaped as well. She was sure that there were secret passageways hidden within the palace. Bella had thought that the Wolf King Springhall would fight till the end this time. Little did she know that Springhall would slip through her grasp again.
Bella finally understood why Richard the Third did not manage to capture the Wolf King. The current Wolf King was practically an expert who had mastered the art of escaping from sticky situations. Since the Wolf King would run as soon as he knew that the fight was not favorable towards him, it made locating him extremely difficult.
“Older Sister Bella, where has that that fellow Slime run off too? I thought that I saw it while we were attacking the city, but it was nowhere to be seen after that.”
“Lisha, that is a secret. You’ll find out later.”
That night, the Demon King’s coalition temporarily set up camp at Wolf City. Bella knew that it would not take long for the news of a demonic army taking over the Wolf City to spread throughout the continent. Most of the Wolfmen in the city had already fled back into the grasslands. Only around a hundred thousand troops had died guarding Wolf City.
The White Wolf Princess Tania woke up in the middle of the night. The sharp pains shooting up and down her body had awakened her soon after she fell asleep.
“This place is… is this hell? It’s so cold, and it smells like blood.”
Stiffly, Princess Tania tried to climb up and found that she was lying on a patch of grass. This must be some part of the grasslands on the outskirts of Wolf City. She found herself in the woods and could see a bonfire that was currently burning.
The flames of the bonfire were an eerie blue ghost fire which was not meant to bring warmth. Instead, it made anyone nearby feel even colder. A girl dressed in black witches’ robes was seated by the bonfire. Based on her posture, it seemed like she was meditating.
A small stream ran across the forest. Tania had a vague memory of this stream. If she remembered correctly, this stream was a branch of the moat that went around the Wolf King’s palace.
“Princess Tania, you’re awake.”
“This voice… it’s you, from back then… you’re that bad…”
“Bad what, Princess Tania? Don’t stop in the middle of the sentence. I hate it when people do not complete their sentences when speaking to me.”
“Nevermind, thank you for saving me, Mistress Witch.”
As Bella was wearing a witch’s mask, Princess Tania could not see her true appearance. However, she could never forget those sky blue irises. This black robed witch was the one that had teased her back in Nolan City.
Bella secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to face Tania and silently gestured with the hand behind her back. The few shadow demonic beings who had been observing under the cover of the forest left quietly after seeing Bella’s gestures. Since Princess Tania did not sense that anything was wrong, they did not need to interfere.
After a round of coaxing, Tania easily believed everything that Bella had told her, hook, line, and sinker. According to Bella, Tania did not die after jumping into the moat and had drifted along the stream and arrived here. Bella had saved her when she was traveling along the stream.
“Mistress Witch, what happened to my clothes? Why have they become transparent? I remember that they were not like this when I was wearing them earlier!”
“Well, I don’t know either. I found them that way when I fished you out of the stream! Initially, I had thought that you Wolfmen were into such sensual clothing!”
Glumly, Tania realized that her clothes were sopping wet and were practically see-through. Strangely enough, there was an odd sticky feeling to her clothes, which should not have happened if she had just fallen into water.
Bella stifled a smile and tried her best to put on a serious face. Even though she was wearing a mask, she could not laugh audibly. Otherwise, it would easily arouse Tania’s suspicions.
The strange circumstances of Tania’s clothes were caused by one of the Abyss Demonic Kings, Slime. This gentry demonic being had been lying in ambush inside the moat and had saved Tania when she jumped in. Of course, it was all part of Bella’s plan that Tania’s clothes would turn out this way.
“By the way, Tania, I have not removed the arrowheads in your body. However, I have already suppressed the toxins using my special methods.”
“If that’s the case, could I trouble you to remove the arrowheads for me? They’re still causing me some pain.”
Bella had only cut off the shaft of the arrow that had pierced through Tania’s right forearm and leg and did not remove the arrowheads. Even though quite some time had passed since the injury, Tania still felt quite a bit of discomfort from the throbbing pain.
“Sure, no problem. It’s just that, you see, your clothes are preventing me from starting my treatment. Could you take them all off instead?”
“Well… Mistress Witch, why didn’t you do it while I was unconscious…”
“Tania, I’m a decent person! How would I have the audacity to strip you bare without your permission? Even though we’re both girls, we can’t fool around like this!”
Deep within, Tania could somehow feel that there was something fishy about Bella’s explanation. However, she could not figure out what was wrong. Since Bella was the only one around, in Tania’s subconscious, she had already decided to trust her.
“Mistress Witch, can I trust you? Can you help me to save Vanessa? She’s the fox girl that you saw previously!”
“Of course, I guarantee you this as Master Kenneth’s subordinate, I will help you.”
