As Violet and the little dragon stepped into the teleportation array, they were indeed transported to another unknown location through spatial magic.
It was still a cave, but it was clearly different from before.
“Here... Whoa!”
As soon as they arrived, Miss Violet was greeted with a little surprise.
Two humans wearing simple leather armor, probably guards or something similar, had been decapitated with the same method as in the underground black market. Their headless bodies lay on the ground, blood splattered everywhere. Just as the priestess stepped out of the teleportation array, she accidentally kicked one unlucky guy’s rolling head on the ground.
“Ah, goodness... I can’t stand it! If you’re going to kill, at least clean up the bodies before you leave. It’s quite graceful, isn’t it...”
She casually cast Holy Flame, burning the two unseeing heads rolling around her feet into ashes. Then Violet turned her gaze to the only exit of the cave ahead.
Clearly, this was a well-established base inside. The cave with the teleportation array not only had a single opening but also had torches burning on both sides of the road for illumination.
Passing over the bodies of the two headless guards on the ground, the two women continued forward along the passage.
This place was quite complex. The pathways branched out like an anthill, and a faint scent of blood lingered nearby, refusing to dissipate. Obviously, not only the cave with the teleportation array had experienced a fierce battle, but other places had suffered equally brutal conflicts.
Although they didn’t know the way, with every step they took, Violet could see many bodies with the Ghost Thief Group emblem on them, indicating they were heading in the right direction following the direction of the bloody scent.
These people weren’t all beheaded. Many died in various messy ways, pierced through the heart, necks twisted, and a few looked even more peculiar, as if they were killed by internal conflicts among themselves?
It seems that there are quite a few invaders, both in number and in methods.
Tracking the traces of battle, Violet had been wandering through the labyrinthine caves for quite some time. She had already seen the bodies of at least hundreds of Ghost Thief Group members. These guys showed no mercy, all the hunters they encountered along the way were thoroughly dead.
At this moment, Violet’s ears twitched slightly, and she turned her head to look towards a particularly strong-smelling passage deep in the cave.
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There were many dense footsteps, rapidly approaching them.
“Master, the scent is very chaotic. Should we strike first?”
Also catching onto this movement, the little dragon took the initiative to step forward in front of Violet. Her sharp golden vertical pupils were on guard in the dimly lit passage, where the torches cast a somewhat obscure glow, seemingly ready to strike at any moment.
“No rush, let’s observe first. Let’s see what’s going on.”
“Understood.”
*Patter, patter, patter...*
The sound of running became clearer, and what concerned Violet was that the sound was very chaotic and heavy. It seemed like they had no idea how to control their balance or posture properly. Moreover, many of the footsteps sounded closer to being barefoot, directly touching the ground, the kind of sound associated with not wearing shoes.
Thinking about this, the black-haired girl couldn’t help but glance at the golden-haired girl in front of her, who had her feet exposed and only wrapped in semi-transparent ribbons like ornaments.
Xiao Guang didn’t wear shoes because dragons themselves didn’t have that habit. She also didn’t like the feeling of her feet being completely wrapped up by something.
With her invisible protection made of dragon scales, it didn’t matter, but for ordinary creatures, doing so could easily injure their soft soles. Moreover, all the Ghost Thief Group members they had seen earlier were wearing boots.
In other words, could it be that these...
At this moment, the figures rushing towards them at not particularly fast speeds finally emerged from the dim tunnel and appeared before Violet.
“Whoa!”
Accompanied by a series of timid gasps, the girls wrapped in thin fabric, many without even shoes, relying on their delicate feet to run on the stone path, stopped hastily about a dozen meters away from the two women, all wearing expressions of fear and confusion.
Indeed...
They were the creatures caught by the Ghost Thief Group.
These girls had all sorts of strange appearances. Some had horns like cows on their heads and hooves for feet, some had four slender arms, while others had wings and antennae like butterflies. Some parts of their bodies even had traces resembling fish scales, with teardrop-shaped patterns at the corners of their eyes.
There were even those whose entire bodies were translucent pale blue, flowing slowly like liquid, yet they had the strange form of humans.
But regardless of their appearances, according to human aesthetic standards, they were all very beautiful.
As Violet observed these nonhuman girls, they also clearly stared timidly at the two suddenly appearing beautiful girls standing in the middle of the road. Although there was an obvious difference in numbers, the side with more seemed to be at a disadvantage.
After staring at each other for a while, it was ultimately a girl with pink butterfly wings and long pink hair who stood out from among the monsters, gathering the courage to speak up.
“Are you two also the Demon Generals sent by the Mountain?”
Demon Generals?
Violet was momentarily puzzled, then remembered that this seemed to be another term used by monsters to refer to humans. After all, humans might think that monsters evolved into such forms to mimic them, but in reality, it was a kind of evolution ingrained in their instincts, striving for higher forms.
The true origin of the demonic form, Miss Priestess, who knows quite a bit of the inside story, could probably guess that it is related to the initial gods such as Sethlin, the progenitor of all things, or rather, a specific deity.
Since this little butterfly mentioned the Demon Generals, it seems that the ones who broke into the Ghost Thief Group’s lair earlier are undoubtedly the demons from the Ten Thousand Demons Mountains.
Although the best choice at this time is certainly to cooperate and try to gather more information, Violet didn’t feel it was necessary, especially since she had been curious about something for some time now.
“How did you figure out that we are not human? Humanoid butterflies... do you know about Tiyelu?”
“Tiyelu? Eh! Y-you, no no no! Are you referring to Lord Holy Ancestor? Has even Lord Holy Ancestor’s companion intervened this time?”
For some reason, the pink-haired butterfly girl became very excited when she heard this name, as if the name Tiyelu was a very sacred and noble existence in her mind.
Even though it was just a somewhat arrogant and childish silver butterfly...
“You haven’t answered my question yet.”
It seemed that the name Tiyelu had hit the mark, becoming a very useful icebreaker.
The fear and hesitation on the little butterfly’s face instantly diminished by half. Leading the group of various nonhuman girls, numbering at least close to a hundred, she cautiously approached, scratching her head with embarrassment when it seemed there was no danger, then nervously scratching the two short antennae-like appendages hanging down from her head.
“Well, it’s not a big deal, really. Our Spirit Butterfly Clan’s Holy Ancestor is indeed the Lord Tiyelu you just mentioned. It is said that he once followed the great deity of monsters, Her Majesty, and after being enlightened by him, all descendants of our Spirit Butterfly Clan have gained the talent called 【Soul Search】.”
“This ability allows us Spirit Butterflies to roughly sense the goodwill or malice of the target, as well as the essence of their race. Although I am still immature, I can still sense that the two of you are not human at least...”
“【Soul Search】, huh...”
Violet nodded understandingly. No wonder that little butterfly named Tiyelu was so certain that they were not human. It turns out they possess this peculiar talent. How interesting.
But this little pink butterfly didn’t stop to think that if the priestess was indeed who she thought she was, a companion of Tiyelu, how could she not know about the 【Soul Search】 ability? Normal people would have figured it out by now when asked like that.
It feels a bit silly and naive. Perhaps there’s a reason why they got caught by the poachers after all.