Chapter 45: Since I Can’t Solve the Problem

Dailina stared at the silver-haired, golden-eyed girl before her, momentarily stunned.

When she was little, the maids often told her fairy tales before bed.

When an evil demon was about to harm a girl, a silver figure descended from the sky and saved the girl.

The girl asked who that figure was, and the figure told the girl that she was Yin Hui Jian Ji.

The demon was eliminated, and Yin Hui Jian Ji departed.

From then on, the girl gazed at the night sky every night, hoping for Yin Hui Jian Ji’s return.

This was her favorite fairy tale from childhood.

Back then, she thought Yin Hui Jian Ji only existed in stories.

It wasn’t until she grew up and discovered portraits of Yin Hui Jian Ji hanging in the Royal Capital’s library, the palace corridors, and her father’s study, and even a statue in the academy’s square, that she realized Lady Sword Maiden truly existed.

Now, that silver figure really did descend from the sky, and the scene from the fairy tale was replaying before her eyes.

But she knew that ten years ago, Lady Sword Maiden sacrificed herself to seal the last Demon God.

The tragic news spread throughout the Sorn Empire, and people mourned for three whole days.

Lady Sword Maiden was long gone.

So, this was probably just her dying fantasy…

Duoluolisi swung her sword and shattered the last few Blood Spears, then turned to look at Dailina, her brow relaxing.

“Phew, made it in time.”

Not long ago, a Blood Eagle had cornered her at the cave entrance.

Duoluolisi had planned to take it down as quickly as possible and rush back to protect Dailina, but it was different from those Blood Fowl.

It was a high-level Blood Beast, not only three times their size, with wings large enough to block the entire cave entrance, but it could also use Blood Magic to attack her with Blood Blades.

She and the Blood Eagle had fought from inside the cave to outside.

Every time she was about to hit it, the Blood Eagle would soar high into the sky and harass her from range with Blood Blades, never engaging her head-on.

It was like fighting a certain emperor—the opponent kept shooting projectiles from afar, and she couldn’t even touch them.

Frustrating as hell.

Duoluolisi knew she couldn’t waste any more time on it.

So when the Blood Eagle rose into the air again, she hit it with a Flash.

While it was blinded, she turned and ran.

But the Blood Eagle recovered faster than she expected.

It quickly caught up, sending Blood Blades at her from behind one after another.

She dodged left and right, constantly changing direction, but still couldn’t shake it off.

Seeing this, Duoluolisi came up with a plan.

She pretended to be exhausted and deliberately slowed down.

The Blood Eagle fell for it.

It dove down, claws aimed at her back, but in the end, she turned around and finished it with a single strike.

After dealing with the Blood Eagle, Duoluolisi intended to return to the village, but then she sensed the presence of Holy Magic nearby.

She had a faint feeling that Dailina was there, so without a second thought, she ran in that direction.

Fortunately, her intuition was correct, and she found Dailina here.

If she had hesitated even for a second, Dailina would have been in danger.

“Dailina, are you hurt?”

Duoluolisi asked with concern, but saw that Dailina was still frozen, as if her brain hadn’t responded.

“Lady… Sword Maiden?”

Dailina muttered quietly, and Duoluolisi was completely stunned.

‘Huh? What did she call me? Lady Sword Maiden?’

‘Could she have mistaken me for Yin Hui Jian Ji?’

“Hey, kid, quite the hero saving a beauty, huh~”

“She’s already taken you for that stinky white-haired one. Aren’t you going to say something?”

Meiluodi’s voice echoed in her mind again.

Duoluolisi had no intention of acknowledging her.

This Meiluodi had been yapping the whole time during her fight with the Blood Eagle, and when she didn’t have time to reply, Meiluodi thought she was scared and kept taunting her about not even being able to touch a Blood Beast, which annoyed her to no end.

Forget it, she’d just ignore her.

She’d settle down on her own eventually.

Duoluolisi completely ignored Meiluodi and focused back on Dailina.

“Huh? Huh, huh, huh?”

Dailina seemed to have snapped out of it.

“Sorry, it’s you, Duoluolisi. I accidentally mistook you for Lady Sword Maiden. You really look just like her…”

Dailina was flustered, a blush coloring her cheeks without her realizing.

She instinctively raised a hand, lightly touching her reddened cheek, her eyes darting away in panic, unable to meet Duoluolisi’s gaze.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“You’re welcome.”

Duoluolisi looked at the flustered Dailina and didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Dailina, why did you run from the village…”

She realized that as Duoluolisi, she shouldn’t know that Dailina had come from the village, so she quickly stopped.

“Ahem… I mean, why are you alone in the woods? It’s dangerous here.”

She cleared her throat and rephrased.

Dailina was still lost in her fluster, not really listening.

After a few seconds, she suddenly replied:

“Ah! Sorry, what did you say? I didn’t catch it…”

Duoluolisi let out a sigh of relief.

Good thing Dailina hadn’t heard.

She roughly guessed that Dailina had come out looking for her.

She hadn’t expected that slipping away would still get her caught by Dailina.

“It’s nothing. Let’s not talk now. Hide behind me, and I’ll deal with him.”

Duoluolisi shielded Dailina behind her and turned to face the man.

The man was still standing there, not taking the opportunity to ambush them while they talked.

His gaze was locked on Duoluolisi, but there was no anger in his eyes at having his plans ruined.

“Perfect, absolutely perfect!”

The man’s voice trembled, as if he was suppressing excitement.

Then he took a deep breath, as if inhaling some intoxicating scent.

“Holy Power this pure—ninety percent? No, even higher than ninety percent. I’ve never seen such a perfect Sacrifice!”

“Hahaha! Wei Luo, you’re so lucky!”

Duoluolisi felt a chill down her spine under his gaze.

‘Why is this vampire targeting me?’

But then she reconsidered: she really did fit the conditions of a Sacrifice perfectly.

“Miss,” the man returned to a normal demeanor, his tone becoming calm, “you want to save the little girl behind you, don’t you?”

Duoluolisi didn’t speak, only shielding Dailina further behind her.

“I can let her go, but you have to stay and become the Sacrifice in her place.”

The man spoke unhurriedly, taking a step closer.

“Oh? And why should I?”

Duoluolisi raised an eyebrow.

“Look, that little girl can barely walk anymore. Do you really think you can escape from me with her?”

The man spread his hands, his tone growing smug.

“If you agree to stay as the Sacrifice, I guarantee she’ll leave safely.”

Duoluolisi fell silent.

He was right—Dailina looked in terrible shape.

There was no way she could escape while carrying her.

If she followed the vampire’s suggestion, she could let Dailina get to safety and then kill the vampire herself.

But she didn’t think this vampire would give her a chance to strike, nor did she trust him to keep his word.

Duoluolisi let go of the hand shielding Dailina and looked the man straight in the eyes.

‘Since I can’t solve the problem, I’ll solve the one who posed it.’

“Sir, you’re right. I really can’t manage to escape from you while carrying her. The conditions you proposed are indeed the best choice.”

“Good. Come over here, and I’ll let her go.”

The man smiled smugly, thinking she had given in.

Duoluolisi took two steps forward, then stopped.

She raised her sword, pointing it directly at the man’s throat.

“But I choose to eliminate you.”