The sudden change in weather naturally drew attention from those on the battlefield, and feeling the frightening destructive power contained within those clouds made even the strongest among them wary.
But not many had the leisure to watch the clouds for too long. Those normal geniuses were far too preoccupied with the mindless hoard that continued charging them without paying any heed to distractions.
As for Feng Qing'er and that mysterious girl, they weren't focused on the clouds either, rather, they were trying to find the source of the weather change.
The obvious scent of mana that riddled the storm made it clear that it wasn't formed naturally, and the color of the lightning even more so. They wanted to determine whether the attack was from friend or foe, but they didn't even have time to think before massive beams of black light fell to the ground.
With each beam, hundreds of abominations were annihilated. With tens of them striking down at the same time, the hoard of abominations was cut down to a frightening degree.
The captains surrounding Feng Qing'er and the mysterious girl were momentarily dazed. In that moment, bright orange flames lit up the otherwise dark atmosphere, descending upon the dazed captains.
Before they even had a chance to recover their wits, those 20 captains were bathed in a sea of flames. As if that wasn't enough damage already, Feng Qing'er never stopped sending out Phoenix phantoms and glimmering flame blades into the midst.
Even though these captains were bonafide 3rd class existences, how could they even show their faces in front of her? She was the Flame Queen, ranked 3rd in the entire 3000 Beast Mountain Range.
If bugs like them were qualified to even look at her feet, then she had done her reputation dirty.
The mysterious black-haired girl didn't miss the opportunity either. Sensing that the time to play around had finished, she sighed in dejection
"But I wanted 5 more minutes!" She said in an exasperated voice.
Much to the confusion of the captains who surrounded her, she lowered her blades and took a relaxed posture as if she was done fighting.
The captains moved as one, wanting to take their revenge on the girl who had been toying with them all this time, but as they moved, they felt a strange sense of incongruity with their bodies
They had moved forward, yet they didn't feel the impact of their feet hitting the ground. Looking down, they saw an odd yet terrifying sight.
Their bodies had indeed moved forward as they intended, it was just that their legs were still remaining where they once stood.
Thump!
A series of thumps soon followed as the upload bodies of those captains hit the ground. Only then did they finally realize they had been cut in half. But it was far too late to notice.
Just like that, 30 of the 50 captains present on the battlefield had been ruthlessly slain, and with the continuous effort of those geniuses as well as the support of the storm clouds above, the number of abominations had become negligible.
The once crowded battlefield had become surprisingly empty, and the atmosphere descended into silence. The citizens of Astoria could barely even fathom what was happening in front of their eyes.
All of a sudden, the trumpeting of elephants blasted away the silent atmosphere, causing everyone's attention to be drawn to the 4 palanquins that had remained silent even while their forces were being slaughtered. They were in formation, with one in the forefront and three others behind it.
From the foremost palanquin, a soft white hand brushed past the curtains, moving them to the side and revealing the scene within. And truly, it was breathtaking
A beautiful woman of seemingly Asian descent, her black hair flowing down her waist and her green eyes shining lightly. Her sitting position was relaxed and lazy, giving her a seductive air.
Her half-closed eyes brushed past the geniuses in front of her, stopping briefly on Feng Qing'er and that mysterious girl before once again returning to surveilling the surroundings. Yet, after a minute passed her face showed a disappointed expression.
"Hey~ such a beautiful woman is earnestly seeking you, yet you remain hidden? How uncourteous!"
Her voice was smooth and ethereal, causing some of those with weaker minds to fall into a daze. Feng Qing'er noticed this and made no move to hide the disgust evident on her face as she looked at them.
"Hahaha," a sudden bout of laughter rang out from the void. "Although I've never counted myself as someone who would reject the invitation of such a beautiful lady, I'm not a fan of picking thorny roses."
But despite his words, the man in question stepped out of the void and revealed himself to the world. His glistening black hair, those silver streaks within it, his shapely face and mystical eyes. His presence wasn't the slightest bit less stunning than the woman he was responding to.
But his eyes weren't looking at the woman as a person. No, any observant individual could see the sharp glint that was flashing through then.
"Oh my~ oh my~! I never expected you to be so handsome! Say, how about you come spend a night with this big sister?"
Uncaring of his demeanor, the woman continued flirtatiously.
The man smiled in response. "Indeed, spending a night with you sounds like a great idea. I have many questions that need answering, you see."
The woman's eyes suddenly lost a bit of their playfulness as he continued speaking.
"And what kind of questions might those be?"
"Ah, well I ran into some bugs on the way here and learned a few interesting facts. But as you know, bugs will be bugs. It might not be by much, but you're at least somewhat better than a bug, right? So I don't think it'd be a waste to ask you instead."
"What did you just say?" A cold killing intent unfitting of the personality the woman had previously been showing leaked from her body.
"Hm? Did I speak any lies? Bugs will be bugs regardless. And aren't you one of them? What is the use of putting up such pretenses anyway? You know as well as I do that today will be your death date."
A fierce grin crept up Damien's face. He had felt the urge to entertain this woman simply because of how different she was from any other Nox being he had met before.
They were all grotesque, and even though the captains were relatively humanoid, their features were still somewhat morphed. This woman, however, was truly a beauty. And he could tell very easily that it wasn't just some illusion.
But he didn't care about her beauty at all. Even when he met Ruyue for the first time, he hadn't been enthralled by her stunning beauty. Hell, he hadn't even noticed it until he consciously checked her out later.
And besides the aspect of beauty, there was no way Damien would be attracted to someone who had sold their soul to the Nox. The raging inky black mana around her was enough for him to confirm that.
And to him, a Nox was a Nox regardless of the form it took. From the start, he never saw a woman in front of him. The only thing he saw was a target.
A target that he wanted to interrogate properly before killing.
