Alex, with his blond hair, gazed at the distant forest and suddenly asked, “Mr. Bole, when you went last time, did you see Freese’s younger sister, Lady Pegg? Does she look like Freese?”
The owl moved its claws, “I did not see her. I was very careful and did not alert her. I only saw that poor little girl, Meili. Oh, her temper is not bad, only it’s a pity her looks are not as good as Lady Freese’s, she doesn’t have red hair and green eyes…”
“What a pity.” Alex shrugged and took off the sapphire necklace wrapped around his hand.
As soon as the necklace left his hand, his eyes could no longer see the light from the other side of the forest, so he wrapped the necklace back around his hand again.
The sapphire light wrapped around his hand dimmed, and at the same time his eyes grew brighter, able to see sights that ordinary people could not see.
He idly played with the sapphire necklace to pass the time.
Suddenly, the street below grew noisy, the commotion drifting all the way upstairs.
“…a witch… monster…”
“…go… call Bruce and the others…”
Alex put away the sapphire necklace and leaned out to listen for a while. When the noise below faded, he turned back with a brilliant smile and said to the owl, “Mr. Bole, we arrived just in time. These people have discovered that Lady Pegg, and now it seems they are preparing to go cause her trouble.”
“In that case, we can wait here. When they ruin Lady Pegg’s affairs, we won’t be late to take over and handle it.”
After speaking, he seemed to think his idea was excellent, and he let out a loud whistle.
The owl sighed, sounding a bit worried, “Alex, if she succeeds, Lady Freese will be angry. Although Lady Pegg is in a hurry, her time is almost up. These ordinary people are not capable of stopping her.”
“All right.” Alex stood up and stretched, “Looks like we can’t just stay here watching the fun.”
As he spoke, he stepped onto the window, shouted loudly, and grabbed the window frame to jump down from the third floor.
Using the window frame and protruding bricks, Alex successfully made his way down to the first floor. He stood up, straightened his shirt collar, and kicked open the inn’s front door with his toe, “Guys, finished eating? It’s time for us to set off.”
A winding line of torches surged out from the marketplace toward the path leading to the forest.
Not long after, over a dozen knights, leading their horses, chased after them from behind.
Lady Pegg threw Meili onto the ground, chanting a string of muffled incantations, and Meili only felt a sharp pain inside her skull. Those shriveled fairy corpses hanging in the basement like specimens suddenly flew over, nails piercing into her limbs, pinning her to the ground.
Meili could not move and could only let out a few suppressed groans.
Her neck was pierced by nails, leaving bloody holes. Lady Pegg wiped a finger around the wounds, sniffed the scent of blood, then ignored her, letting her struggle on the ground.
“Although it’s not quite the most suitable time, it’s about enough.” Lady Pegg said, walking over to Hesha, opening up her curled-up body so she looked like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
After chanting in an unknown language, countless golden light points gathered from all directions, falling into Lady Pegg’s hands, finally condensing into a short blade cast from gold.
She pressed the short blade to Hesha’s chest.
Hesha’s eyes widened, full of fear like a little deer.
“No, don’t— save me—”
Caught between life and death, she finally found her voice again, but her plea was weak, and only tears kept falling.
Lady Pegg’s expression was cold, completely ignoring her pain. The tip of the blade pressed harder, about to stab down.
“Get away!”
The force that suddenly struck her from behind caught Lady Pegg off guard. She staggered, and the golden blade in her hand only sliced through a patch of fabric on Hesha’s chest.
Turning her head, she saw Meili, wrists pouring blood, dragging her blood-soaked legs, clutching several shriveled fairy specimens in her hands, pouncing forward with a ferocious look.
Lady Pegg had not expected her to break through the magical restraints. Shocked, she was pressed down to the ground by Meili.
Her mouth opened — Meili didn’t know whether she was going to curse or chant another spell — so she stuffed one of the fairy corpses straight into her mouth.
Lady Pegg: “……!”
“Hesha! Get up! Run!” Meili pinned down Lady Pegg, shouting as she reached to grab the golden blade in her hand.
Hesha, terrified stiff, crawled up while clutching her chest. Jerked back to awareness by that shout, Lady Pegg shook with fury, her red hair nearly exploding.
She tightened her grip, and the golden blade instantly dissolved. Her hand seized Meili’s neck once again.
Before Meili could react, wind roared past her ears. Her entire body was slammed against the ground, her head hitting the floor with a ringing buzz.
“You really think I won’t kill you? All I want is this body of yours… No, this isn’t your body. You are just a wild ghost who somehow possessed this body and ruined my first resurrection…”
“I could have let you live a little longer.”
After finishing, Lady Pegg began chanting. Her voice overlapped and echoed, dizzying.
Meili lay on the floor and slowly felt her body grow lighter, her entire being rising upward involuntarily.
Her soul seemed to turn into a balloon, drifting away from her body.
The incomprehensible incantation grew faster and faster, and the floating, dizzy sensation intensified. Through a layer of blurred vision, Meili saw a smile appear on Lady Pegg’s face.
Meili forced herself to stay conscious, cursing furiously in her heart — What the hell are you smiling at! Tch, I’m living just fine right now. I just found a boyfriend. Try to mess with me? Dream on!
Perhaps her willpower was too strong, that dizzy detachment weakened. Her body and Lady Pegg’s hand formed a subtle tug-of-war.
In this strange state, everything suddenly froze. Dust stirred up by her struggle hung motionless in the air. She saw a black cat approach with elegant steps.
It was the black cat, Feicui!
This black cat who never let her touch it walked as though through a gap no one else could see, its tail brushing lightly across her face.
In an instant, Meili felt herself heavily fall back to the ground. The black cat vanished, and Lady Pegg’s incantation scattered apart, unable to form a chain of words.
Meili was still in shock, but Lady Pegg looked on the verge of going mad, her expression twisted as she tightened her grip around Meili’s neck and yelled, “Why! Why is it still impossible to separate you from this body!”
“This body belongs to me!”
“My power… I need more power!”
She whipped her head toward Hesha. Hesha was already running toward the stairs, trying to escape.
Lady Pegg stretched out her hand, muttering at Hesha’s fleeing back.
In an instant, the stairs leading upward vanished. Hesha screamed, stumbled back, and fell to the ground.
Meili saw clearly — each time Lady Pegg used a spell, the red color of her hair faded a shade, and her body grew weaker.
She steeled herself as well. Seeing Lady Pegg about to get up and kill Hesha, she grabbed Lady Pegg’s hand which could practically be called a weapon and refused to let go.
I’ll just wear you down to death!
Meili ignored the wounds on her own hands, even bursting forth with a strength that made Lady Pegg unable to break free for the moment.
Hesha turned back and saw this, her expression even more terrified and helpless. She wanted to run, but the stairs had disappeared — she didn’t know where to escape.
Meili shouted again to warn her, “The stairs are still there, go up!”
Hesha couldn’t see them, but Meili could — the stairs that Lady Pegg made disappear were clearly still in place.
Dragged back again and again, Lady Pegg impatiently flung her off once more. Her hair flared as she lunged toward Hesha, “Give me your heart!”
Hesha screamed, looked at the empty space before her, shut her eyes, and lifted her foot to step forward.
Just as Lady Pegg’s hand was about to grasp Hesha’s back, the basement suddenly began to shake.
The tremors were too violent. Murky mud seeped down slowly from the ceiling, dripping right at Lady Pegg’s feet.
She realized something, her pupils widening slightly as she looked up, “How is this possible!”
There was a fairy’s blessing circle magic inside this house, the swamp monster was not allowed to enter without her permission!
The shaking overhead grew even stronger, the noise as though the entire house was collapsing. Lady Pegg stared as a section of the basement ceiling split open, revealing the swamp monster’s face. Regret filled her heart.
She should have imprisoned that thing occupying Meili’s body inside the house. She shouldn’t have let her run around making trouble. To think she brought back such a huge disaster!
She had underestimated her!
Who knew this swamp monster could go this far for her.
Meili lay on the ground, her head throbbing fiercely. Fresh blood still flowed from the torn wounds on her wrists and ankles where she had broken free from the fairies’ control, staining her skirt red.
She couldn’t get up for the moment — but suddenly, her nose, filled with the stench of blood in the basement, caught the scent of rain and fresh grass.
That scent broke through the stagnant air of the basement and came right to her side.
A hand appeared in front of her.
It was the swamp monster’s hand — except it looked like it was melting, gray mud dripping continuously, the shape becoming distorted.
The grass ring she had put on him earlier was still stuck on his finger, the loosely woven dried grass being swallowed by the dissolving mud.
Without hesitation, she grabbed his hand. “Cute…”
Having torn open the house, nearly turning the entire building into a swamp, the swamp monster first reached down a hand. Soon, with his half-melted body, he squeezed entirely into the basement. He fell like a lump of mud, splashing droplets everywhere.
With his arrival, the entire basement began slowly transforming into a quagmire.
Through the hole he had broken, the outside could be seen — most of the house destroyed, and the pitch-black night sky above.
The swamp monster’s thin, lanky body rose, leaning close to Meili.
Only then did Meili clearly see — his face was deforming and melting, and his body had already liquefied halfway, half his chest completely gone.
But he did not care at all. Those gray eyes looked at her for a moment, then he reached out both hands to lift her up, as though wanting to carry her.
Meili struggled to sit up, then threw herself into his arms, hugging his mud-covered body.
Seeing the swamp monster was about to take her away, Lady Pegg could no longer bother with Hesha. She could always find someone else later to take a heart and temporarily maintain her power, but there was only one Meili. If she escaped, there would never be another chance.
She took out an emerald necklace from her collar and held it tightly while quickly chanting.
The white round stones spread across the basement emitted moonlight as she chanted.
Many half-transparent moon-night fairy shadows grew out from the stones. They held hands, forming circles — circles of different sizes, layer upon layer, trapping the swamp monster and Meili inside, almost like chains binding them in place.
