“Stop marveling! Hurry up and reinforce the protective array!”
Gaia bellowed, his body erupting with demonic energy. He was terrified that some ten-thousand-year-old monster might shatter the void and crash through—a catastrophe even he wouldn't be able to withstand.
Qimeng, however, was thrilled!
If she could somehow form a contract with just one of these ancient monsters, wouldn't she be able to head straight back to the Tree Court, lie around, and live the leisurely life she had always dreamed of ahead of schedule?!
Unfortunately, plans never kept up with reality.
Amidst the sky-blotting anomalies and the chaotic brawl among the ancient monsters, the thing that finally tore through the array and descended in response to the summon... was actually a black-bound book.
Thud.
The pitch-black book, exuding an ancient aura, drifted down onto the center of the array. Instantly, all the world-destroying anomalies around them vanished.
Everyone widened their eyes and held their breath.
“Huh?”
Astonished, Qimeng walked over and picked up the black book.
“I did read quite a few novels in my past life, but surely my reading addiction wasn't that bad? Why did I summon a book? I'm not some little bookworm!”
Elise analyzed, “According to summoning principles, whatever managed to push aside ten-thousand-year-old liches and ancient magical beasts to answer the summon... must have defeated all the other competitors! It is definitely the existence most suited for Master!”
“But what on earth is this?” Qimeng looked toward the two native demons.
Gaia scratched his head. “This subordinate has never seen such an object in the Demon Realm.”
Baikui's eyes rolled around. After recalling for a moment, he said, “There are no relevant records in the original host's memories. I suspect it is some kind of destructive divine weapon.”
“How is a book a weapon? Do you throw it at people?” Qimeng complained.
“Maybe it's an evil magic grimoire?” Elise whispered. “Our family's ancient records mention that dangerous summoning books can seal and summon magical beasts, or they could be heretical books that require blood sacrifices to awaken forbidden powers...”
“Is that so? Let me try.” Qimeng dripped a drop of blood onto it. There was no reaction.
She channeled her mana into it, but there was still no movement.
Flipping open the pages, she found they were completely black. There wasn't a single word.
“Gaia, give it a hard punch with all your might.” Qimeng threw the book onto the ground.
Gaia swallowed hard, trembling with fear. “M-Master, do I really have to strike it? That's an ancient existence...”
“If I tell you to hit it, hit it!”
“Understood!”
Gaia unleashed a colossal punch packed with Dominator Rank power, slamming his fist directly onto the book's cover!
Boom! The resulting shockwave was so violent it forced the waterfall to flow backward!
Yet, as the dust cleared, the black book lay quietly on the ground. Forget being damaged, it didn't even have a speck of dust on it.
“Whatever. Since it's my summon, I'll keep it for now.”
Qimeng rolled her eyes. She wanted to toss the wordless black book into her Space Fruit, only to discover that this thing actually couldn't be stored in a sub-space.
Left with no choice, she casually stuffed it into her tunic.
Fortunately, the summoning ritual hadn't caused any actual danger. It was just a false alarm.
Having finished their task, the four of them packed up quickly and continued on their way.
Before long, they arrived in front of the gates of the Black Bone camp.
Elise and Gaia had both put on hooded cloaks and face masks.
After all, they had nearly beaten the Black Bone Demon Marquis to death earlier. Fortunately, in the chaotic demon territories, this kind of face-concealing attire was extremely popular.
Almost everyone had blood on their hands and enemies to avoid, so wearing a mask outdoors was completely normal and wouldn't arouse any suspicion.
Under their new names, the two naturally acted as the powerful bodyguards newly recruited by the Thirteenth Young Master, Baikui.
Following Baikui, the group strutted openly into a forest camp under the jurisdiction of the Black Bone Territory.
Rather than a camp, it was more like a walled fortress.
The person in charge was General Longge, the Bone Fiend, one of the three great generals under the Black Bone Demon Marquis.
This ruthless figure, who possessed Dominator Rank strength, was also a favored male concubine of the Third Miss of the Black Bone Territory.
This Third Miss had countless male concubines under her wing and was one of the hot contenders to inherit the position of Demon Marquis in the future.
Because of this, Longge was only polite to Baikui, this parasitic Demon Prince, on the surface, but completely looked down on him in secret.
According to the procedure, Qimeng had to present her proof to the logistics officer to cancel the Wanted Poster for the Wood Elves and claim her reward at the same time.
The advanced magic stones were distributed smoothly. However, when it came to the crucial step of issuing the Baron's insignia, things ground to a halt.
The clerk sat with his legs crossed, filing his nails, and gave a bizarre, mocking laugh.
“Thirteenth Young Master, although the bounty process is complete, this Baron's insignia cannot be handed over just like that. General Longge left instructions—the Third Miss happens to be in the camp right now.”
“Your losses this time weren't small, were they? Word has already spread among the demon bounty hunters. We heard that the one who claimed the bounty is a capable new face. The Third Miss is highly interested in this newly appointed Baron. Surely... he must be a powerful and sensible warrior, right?”
Hearing this, Baikui's eyes rolled slightly.
Poaching his people, was she?
That woman, the Third Miss, wasn't satisfied with having so many male concubines; she actually dared to stretch her hands over to his head.
“Thirteenth Young Master, look...”
The clerk shook his leg, tapping the table pretentiously.
“How about you take your person to the Third Miss's tent first? If you please the Third Miss, let alone a Baron, even granting this demon the title of Viscount would be a matter of a single word from her.”
However, Baikui couldn't be bothered to waste another word on this idiot.
To these fools obsessed with factional infighting, the whole world was a game of political scheming.
But for the current him, his core had long since been replaced. With his Master backing him up, who would bother playing this garbage drama with them?
“No need,” Baikui spoke, devoid of any emotion.
“Huh? Thirteenth Young Master, don't reject our goodwill—”
Slash!
A cold, pitch-black bloody light erupted out of thin air!
Before the clerk could even pull back the sneer on his face, his entire head flew high into the air along with a geyser of blood, crashing onto the registration desk!
Baikui flicked the blood off his blade, pulled the engraved insignia from the headless corpse's clothes, then turned around, dropped to one knee, and respectfully offered it with both hands.
“Master, the title registration is complete. Please take the insignia. As for the small fry we need to deal with next... leave them to me and these two.”
Qimeng casually took the insignia. Hearing the approaching footsteps outside, she revealed a pleasant smile.
“Well done. I wish you all a fun time, then.”
“Hehe, please rest assured, Master.”
Baikui exchanged a glance with Gaia behind him.
Cruel, murderous intent flared in both of their eyes simultaneously.
“With these two around... I think the Black Bone Territory is about to get very lively.”
Crash!!
Just as Qimeng planned to slip out of the fortress amidst the chaos and head home, the Guillotine Gate ahead suddenly slammed down, kicking up a cloud of dust!
Rapid, rain-like footsteps echoed throughout the fortress.
Thousands of demon soldiers packed the fortress square to the brim, their blades drawn and pointed directly at Baikui and his group.
“Oh my, my dear Thirteenth Brother~”
A seductive, coquettish laugh drifted down from a high platform.
A voluptuous, long-haired woman wearing daring, backless tight leather armor, with poison daggers strapped to her black-stockinged thighs, stepped out gracefully in high heels.
Rate on N.U.
