The dark sky still hung low, scattered starlight blocked by layers of clouds, with only a few thin rays of moonlight seeping through the gaps.
The forest was filled with the damp smell of grass and trees.
Night wind swept over the treetops, and the leaves rustled.
Deep in the forest under this night sky, one light stood out clearly.
On the watchtower, a telescope was casually placed against the wooden railing.
The bandit lookout leaned back, yawning, his face full of drowsiness.
He didn’t seem to care much about keeping watch.
Further in was the main stronghold, enclosed by fences and traps.
Torches crackled inside, casting light on a few bandits sitting around gambling with dice.
The winner jumped up excitedly, knocking over his wooden stool, while the loser hung his head, spat and cursed under his breath.
The onlookers cheered, making quite a lively scene.
Just as the bandits were getting into the fun, a deep voice roared from behind the crowd.
“You idiots! All you ever do is gamble here every day! Why aren’t you back at your posts?!”
A tall man, two meters high, with a face full of muscle, walked over from behind.
He had one arm bared, with a black dragon tattooed on it.
His name was Guan Xin, the stronghold leader.
Actually, he wasn’t the leader at first—just an ordinary petty thief.
But because of his extraordinary strength, reaching a full Level 35, he was highly valued by the previous stronghold leader.
However, that value did not make Guan Xin serve his predecessor honestly.
Instead, it fueled his greater ambition.
Not long after arriving at the stronghold, he began secretly building connections and gathering power.
When the time was ripe a few years ago, he staged a swift rebellion, beheaded the previous leader for all to see, and thoroughly purged his loyalists.
Those who remained were either newcomers or people who had already submitted to Guan Xin.
“B-Boss… there’s nothing to do on the mountain anyway. We’re just playing a little…”
“Fools! The heat is on lately. If those damn adventurers or the Kingdom’s army discover the stronghold’s location, who’s going to take responsibility?! Get back to your posts immediately! Kill anyone you see outside the stronghold without mercy!”
“Yes, yes! Boss, we’re going right now!”
Seeing the boss so furious, the bandits around the gambling table scattered at once, rushing back to their positions.
Several bandits assigned to patrol hurried out of the stronghold, weapons in hand, and began patrolling the mountain paths.
“…Pfft! What a ungrateful bastard! Ever since that dog became the leader, our lives have gotten worse and worse!”
After walking a distance from the stronghold, the few patrolling bandits finally slowed down.
They strolled leisurely while cursing Guan Xin behind his back.
“Exactly! He won’t even let us gamble to relax. And besides, if the boss didn’t take the biggest share every time we split the loot, we wouldn’t need to gamble! We’d be living the good life!” another bandit chimed in.
Even though they were wanted by the Kingdom, the stolen money wasn’t completely useless.
In their free time, they could disguise themselves and visit nearby small towns to spend the loot.
Sometimes they could even hire a few prostitutes to serve them.
But Guan Xin took most of their money.
Now, even just going to a nearby town to have fun required saving up for a long time.
“Wait, what’s that?”
While the others were still cursing Guan Xin’s deeds, one bandit suddenly noticed something ahead.
In the darkness, two small figures seemed to be walking toward them.
From their silhouettes, they appeared to be two girls.
Moonlight filtered through the dense branches and leaves, shining beside those figures.
In the darkness, their faces couldn’t be seen clearly, but from their facial features and figures, these two girls were absolute beauties.
“Shh! Quiet!”
The bandit in front immediately signaled his companions to keep silent.
They hadn’t brought torches on patrol to stay hidden.
Seeing how defenseless the girls looked, all the bandits knew they had hit the jackpot.
If they brought these two beauties back to the stronghold, Guan Xin would surely take them as his playthings.
There would be no chance for the rest of them.
So why not enjoy them thoroughly right now, then bring them back to the stronghold?
That way, they’d have their fun and also claim credit with Guan Xin.
But the bandit who first spotted them felt an inexplicable chill.
In the moonlight, he thought he saw the girl’s silver-white hair.
And was it his imagination, or did her eyes glow with a crimson light?
“Let’s circle around from both sides and grab them together.”
The bandit gestured and quietly arranged the others’ actions.
“W-Wait… I have a bad feeling about these two… Would ordinary little girls come up this high mountain alone? And… her eyes are red. They look strange.”
“Tch, what’s strange? You’re just scaring yourself. You don’t want to go? Then when we catch them, don’t you dare have a turn either!”
“Hss… fine, fine, I’ll do it!”
The bandit thought it over and finally pushed those concerns aside.
Getting his own pleasure was more important than this.
“What are you discussing? Planning to catch those two girls just now? Want me to help?”
“Sure, we won’t leave you out…”
The bandit answered instinctively, then realized halfway that the voice coming from behind was so soft and sweet.
This unfamiliar voice didn’t belong to anyone in the stronghold.
The bandits spun around at once.
The small figure they had been watching had somehow appeared behind them.
What terrified them even more was that a pair of black wings had grown from her back, and her jade-like hands were covered in sharp claws, glinting coldly.
“Your voices were too loud. I could hear you from far away.”
Squelch!
As the words fell, a pair of claws sank into the chests of the two bandits in front.
The other bandits’ bodies were pierced by blood thorns in the next instant.
In a moment, five or six bandits lost their lives.
Rip!
Liyakade leisurely withdrew her claws from the bandits’ chests.
She shook her hand lightly, flicking off the blood.
The blood thorns retracted as well.
The bandits’ faces still wore expressions of terror.
Several bloody holes had opened in their bodies, and dark red blood slowly oozed out.
Liyakade had no mood to torture these bandits any further.
If she played with every one of them to death like before, it would take too much time.
Besides, that would get boring.
Liyakade looked toward the direction from which the bandits had come.
Her crimson pupils glowed faintly in the night.
The powerful vision granted by her demon bloodline pierced the darkness, revealing the outline of the stronghold’s wooden fence and the flickering torchlight on the watchtower.
The pale moonlight smeared across the winding mountain paths and the still-warm corpses of the bandits, reflecting the dark blood slowly flowing from their bodies.
“Sister Liyakade.”
Mi La softly called Liyakade’s name, pressing close behind her, holding her breath.
Her clenched fists trembled with the thrill of revenge.
“You… who… who are you…”
Liyakade had deliberately left alive the bandit who had led the others to attack her and Mi La.
That was a request from Mi La.
If Liyakade did everything herself, how could Mi La take revenge for her parents with her own hands?
“I’ve come for revenge. Regret everything you’ve done, and then… with that regret, repent in hell!”
In an instant, the bandit felt his breathing grow difficult.
His mouth and nose were filled with the cold water element.
His face turned cyan, then slowly purple.
He twisted on the ground, until finally he had no breath left, as if he had drowned.
No, he had drowned—drowned in the water element Mi La controlled.
It wasn’t for some grand reason like justice.
It was just… for revenge.