Edward grew up in a noble family.
He attended the Noble School.
He studied Noble Magic.
He fought in Noble Duels.
He had never—truly never—experienced such a despicable attack!
A thin and sharp “Sharp Tool” suddenly pierced through his shoe and sock, stabbing into the gap of his big toe, then pried hard for several seconds before violently flicking, sending the entire toenail flying.
In that moment, the piercing pain made even Edward shed tears.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
With an angry shout, he poured magic into his lower body, muscles surging with explosive strength, forcibly withstanding the pressure transmitted by countless Pupu and stomping toward the “Pupu Assassin”.
But just as he lifted his heel, the Rock Pupu near the “Pupu Assassin” released its hardening, and the insidious Pupu took the opportunity to squeeze away, vanishing into the Pupu Sea.
Seeing this, Edward forced himself to endure the pain and calmed down.
Such a clever and opportunistic tactic absolutely wasn’t something a group of Pupu could pull off on their own—there had to be a schemer commanding them from behind!
Most likely another one of those resonance-sequence old foxes hiding behind their Contract Beasts…
Beastmaster? Dollmaster? Summoner? Fairy Binder?
None of those quite fit either.
The real issue was, who would even contract with a bunch of Pupu! The cost was just way too high!
“Argh argh argh argh——”
Edward sucked in a cold breath again, screaming in pain without any dignity.
Because just now!
That assassin Pupu had sneaked over again and launched a stealthy attack at his little…dangler!
He almost transformed from Edward to Alice on the spot!
What kind of dirty tactics were these!
Edward, beside himself with rage, reached out again, but this time the Pupu Assassin nimbly shrank back and fled like a cunning ghost.
“Damn it! Where are you? Where exactly are you? Where are you hiding and watching me from?”
Fury burning through him, Edward roared in frustration, only to have his wounded big toe stabbed again mid-shout.
If not for the Rock Pupu blocking him, he would have curled up into a boiled shrimpy mess.
“Ahhhhhhh where are you, you bastard! If you’ve got guts, stand out and duel me face-to-face!”
Edward no longer cared about anything else.
He infused magic into his body, physical abilities surging, and in a flash, the longsword crackling with electric arcs was drawn.
He kicked aside his carefully cultivated “sacrificial boy”, gripped the longsword, and began swinging wildly, venting his raging fury.
Hardened Rock Pupu were tough, but under the blade of an Enchanted Thunder Sword, they weren’t invincible.
“Dragon’s Breath Slash!”
Edward unleashed his strongest Magic Sword Technique.
A thunder dragon formed from massive elemental power roared along the blade, sweeping in a circle and instantly clearing a wide area of Pupu.
Yet the more Pupu swarmed in, the more endless they seemed.
Worse, Edward still hadn’t found the shadowy Summoner pulling strings in the dark.
“Bastard! Bastard!”
Edward raged helplessly, constantly on guard for the evil black Pupu that would pop up to jab him out of nowhere.
He cast Healing Magic to mend the wounds stabbed into his flesh.
After healing, he couldn’t help but sneer.
“Idiot! All these dirty tricks, and it’s still useless? What’s a little wound like this? You stab me, I just stop and heal. My Healing Spell Class rating is ‘excellent’!”
“I’d like to see—will your Contract Beast die first, or will I run out of magic first!”
—
Meanwhile, Lia had transformed into liquid, hiding in the gaps among the Pupu.
She shifted her position through flowing, simultaneously observing the battle and directing the Pupu’s attacks.
As for Edward’s taunts, Lia simply ignored them.
As for being called insidious or underhanded, demonfolk only cared about results, not pointless arguments.
Only the winner deserved elegance; the loser became a dafen.
Besides, with only a few combat Pupu, no matter how skillfully she operated, it was nearly impossible to kill a battle mage of noble blood—a simple, irrefutable fact.
Even if she could break through his defense, she couldn’t outlast him.
But from the very start…the method of killing she’d considered was never the Pupu, but other outside factors.
Thus, the battle of ambush and counter-ambush dragged on, with Edward never managing to catch the cunning black Pupu—the opponent was simply too steady, never falling for bait, prioritizing safety over attack.
No matter how many Pupu he killed, under the constant effects of Healing Magic, Edward wasn’t really injured.
Just as Edward thought this stalemate would go on forever, a sudden wave of “headache and nausea” hit him, growing steadily worse as his breathing grew more rapid.
At first, he assumed he was exhausted from swinging his sword and cutting down Pupu as tough as reeking stones, but when he tried to rest, the dizziness and breathlessness only intensified.
Suddenly, a bolt of realization struck through his mind.
He wasn’t tired—he was running out of “Qi” Element!
He vaguely remembered the Magic Theory Professor’s lesson: humans constantly consume Qi Element to live.
A surplus fills you with vitality; depletion leads to dizziness, suffocation, and eventual death.
This swarm of Pupu had blocked every vent in the room, squeezing out most of the “Qi”, and his continued attacks and healing only sped up the depletion of the chamber’s Qi Element.
They—were trying to suffocate him to death!
Edward no longer cared about traps or Ambush Troops outside.
He had only one thought: escape, escape, escape—get out of this chamber!
But with his body long deprived of oxygen, each step felt like dragging a mountain.
At that moment, the Pupu seemed to sense his intent and closed in from all sides, unleashing every trick they had.
That insidious assassin Pupu even began targeting his foot tendons and knees, forcing him to stop and heal.
Yet, by sheer force of magic and a powerful body, Edward endured the pressure of countless Pupu, step by step, until he reached the chamber’s door mechanism.
He reached out with trembling hand, just centimeters from the dawn of survival, muscles burning, throat gasping like a broken bellows, vision filled with hallucinations of his father beckoning him onward…
“Ahhhhhh——!”
Agonizing numbness exploded at his ultimate weak spot, as if his weakness had been pummeled by a fist.
A torrent of high-voltage shock followed, wave after wave.
Edward screamed in torment—the last trial before dawn shattered his will.
His eyelids grew heavy.
At last, he collapsed before the door mechanism, losing consciousness completely.
As the carousel of life flickered before his eyes, Edward saw a deep yellow Pupu, wreathed in electric arcs and wielding a Thunder Greatsword—so different from the other electric Pupu—smashing his weakness with its weapon.
This was the final thought lingering in Edward’s mind.
“Pa.”
The enemy fell.
Lia remained motionless, even her two Pupu Generals at her side refraining from moving in.
She suspected he might be playing dead—in her younger days, she’d been tricked by such tactics and suffered greatly.
Since then, she’d developed the good habit of “always finish with a final strike” and “never relax until the dust settles.”
After waiting a long time and confirming Edward hadn’t breathed for five minutes, Lia finally relaxed.
Her liquid body slowly flowed, reforming into human shape.
The Pupu parted to form a path for her.
Lia, face aglow with joy, approached the two boxes of magic crystals.
One on the left, one on the right, the petite pink young girl clutched them and planted two fierce “mua~” kisses.
“Yay! I’m rich!”