Chapter 455: The Perspicacious Dragon Maiden

Milo stood in the shadow of the tall tower, his face as gloomy as the sea before a storm.

His Majesty not showing up was supposed to be a good thing. It meant his plan had worked, successfully diverting the Empire's attention to the western front.

By now, His Majesty should be holding the western defense line, facing off against the demons.

But the appearance of this strange creature instead stirred a vague sense of unease.

His eyes fixed on the slender figure gliding through the clouds.

Could the Empire have a second Legendary?

He instinctively thought it impossible.

An empire that had risen from the swamp in less than two years, possessing even one Legendary was already a miracle among miracles. How could there possibly be a second?

But... he couldn't rule it out.

He was silent for a few seconds, then made a decision born of caution.

He quietly retreated two steps, completely vanishing into the shadow of the tower.

If anything went wrong, he would immediately flee through the secret passage, board the fast ship docked at the hidden pier, and seek refuge with the old nobles who had fled the Merchant Alliance before him.

Those old bastards might not have much ability, but at least they'd built up considerable connections in the Coral City-States.

Still, he remained confident about the battle.

Because his trump cards weren't just the ones visible on the surface.

As long as nothing went wrong here, and His Majesty fell to those demons in the west, the entire Empire would collapse overnight.

Without their core, the slimes would be nothing but scattered sand, and the human territories would eventually return to the hands of nobles like himself.

As for those Dawn mages...

Even if they guessed his intentions, he wasn't particularly worried.

From his understanding of these old fossils, they carried the inherent arrogance of mages in their bones, lofty and above it all, disdainful of involving themselves in power games.

Instead, what they lacked was a convenient servant to handle those "trivial but necessary" matters.

He could easily become the Dawn mages' agent here.

Of course, all of this was predicated on the Empire and the Council being at odds.

As long as the two sides fought, he could play both ends against the middle.

Milo was very confident about this.

He believed the Council could never trust a nation built by magical creatures, just like him.

A bunch of slimes that crawled out of the swamp, why should they earn human trust?

Besides, his family had secretly funded quite a few mages in the south.

These people, holding the Fletcher Family's gold coins, lobbied at various Council functions, spreading negative rumors about the Slime Empire.

Surely there should be results by now.

But what if His Majesty actually survived the demons' encirclement?

He had never even considered that question.

Others didn't understand, but he knew very well how enormous the force behind these demons was.

To facilitate this cooperation, he had touched only the tip of the iceberg of those existences.

Just that tip alone was enough to make the Empire, the Dawn Council, and even the Ancient Tree Council tremble.

Because this secretly involved some far more ancient beings.

Long before the age of the gods, they were already there.

This newborn empire before them was nothing but a castle built of sand, crumbling at the slightest touch.

With this thought, the unease in his heart quietly settled once more.

...

On the battlefield, the Fear Demon holding its chain saw Olivia soaring through the sky and was momentarily stunned.

A dragon without wings, what in the world was that?

Then it grinned wide, unleashing its Fear Aura.

Whatever it was, the taste of fear should be delicious.

It pulled out the chain blade strapped to its waist, bent its legs to gather strength, and launched itself into the air like a cannonball, swinging its chain as it hurtled straight toward Olivia.

On the ground, the slimes let out gasps of shock, instinctively shrinking their gel bodies.

A few young slimes were so frightened they squeezed their eyes shut, their entire gel bodies compressing into hard little balls, trembling slightly on the ground.

But the next second, Olivia simply swayed her slender form and met the howling chain blade head-on with a collision.

"THUD——!"

The Fear Demon felt as if it had been slammed into by a mountain. The chain blade flew from its grip, smashing through two low walls before coming to a stop amidst rubble and dust.

The slimes cautiously opened their eyes and blinked.

A few seconds later, they finally reacted, hopping and bouncing with excitement.

"Wow!!"

"Lady Olivia! Lady Olivia!"

"Our Giant Dragon Lord has returned!!"

In midair, Olivia's body was enveloped in silver light, her form gradually contracting as she transformed into a slender human figure, landing lightly on the ground.

Gawain Slime crouched behind the collapsed stone wall, carefully feeding metal fragments to the injured Big Brother Slime.

It looked up and happened to catch the moment Olivia landed.

It remembered that when it had visited the castle before, Lady Olivia hadn't looked like this.

Gawain Slime couldn't put it into words, but just looking at her figure, its mood inexplicably settled.

Olivia turned around, her gaze sweeping over the slime guards who were nervously watching the battlefield, and gave a slight nod.

"Good work, little ones."

"Leave this place to me now."

The moment she finished speaking, a sound came from the rubble behind her.

The Fear Demon shook its head as it crawled out of the crater, cursing and muttering in incomprehensible demon language.

It grabbed the fallen chain again, gave it a sharp snap, and the chain blade shot toward Olivia with a whistling tear through the air.

Olivia simply tilted her head.

The chain blade grazed past the silver strands by her ear, and with a "clink," embedded itself in the wall behind her.

Taking advantage of the moment the chain drew her attention, the Fear Demon had already closed the distance, its claws raised high, descending with a howl that tore through the air.

The claw was nearly larger than Olivia's entire body.

But Olivia simply extended her slender arm to meet it.

A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, blasting rubble and dust outward in a cloud of smoke.

The demon's claw hung frozen in midair, caught by a palm that looked like it would snap with the slightest pressure. No matter how much strength it poured in, its muscles bulging and trembling, the claw could not descend another inch.

"Gyaaah!!"

The demon let out a furious roar, swinging its other claw as well.

Olivia extended her left hand and caught that claw with equal ease, then chuckled: "A contest of strength? You've picked the wrong dragon for that."

She gripped both massive claws tightly and executed a shoulder throw that was decidedly unladylike.

The towering Fear Demon was swung around by her, then slammed into the ground behind her with a thunderous "BOOM."

The demon was completely stunned by the throw.

It lay in the crater, its crimson eyes staring blankly at the night sky, its head ringing.

It simply couldn't understand how that slender body could unleash such absurd strength.

Inside the inn, several mages stood by the window, having witnessed the brief exchange, and couldn't help murmuring among themselves.

"That strength attribute is just ridiculous."

"This isn't something an ordinary dragon could do."

Agrel stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, deep in thought.

This strength indeed wasn't something an ordinary dragon could manage, but one thing was certain, this woman was a dragon.

Yet he had never seen a dragon of this form. No known dragon species had this slender, wingless shape.

But all of this... seemed to be connected to silver dragons.

Sabrina clearly had the same thought.

She exchanged a glance with Agrel, then both of them turned their gaze to Oros, who sat in the corner of the room, leisurely sipping tea.

The old silver dragon noticed their stares, looked up, and put on a bewildered expression.

"What are you looking at me for? I'm just an old dragon. I don't know anything, I don't understand anything."

Sabrina helplessly pressed her hand to her forehead.

The more this old man played dumb, the more it confirmed their suspicion that this mysterious dragon lady indeed had a special connection to the silver dragon clan.

And not just a simple half-breed subdrake, but something more like a fusion of silver dragon and some kind of divine bloodline.

"Do you think she might be the descendant of some demigod entity?"

Agrel didn't answer, but he didn't deny the speculation either.

He suddenly spoke: "My spells have detected the presence of another demon."

"Should we inform the lady?" a young mage asked.

Oros in the corner shook his head and spoke up: "No need."

"Letting her taste the cunning of demons is also a good thing. Young people need experience to grow."

With the Fear Demon's defeat, the tide of battle began to reverse rapidly.

The Merchant Alliance's armed legions arrived belatedly.

Soldiers armed with spears and shields advanced in formation at the end of the street, launching a counterattack alongside the slimes.

The undead tide began to collapse under the pincer attack, and the shadow creatures let out shrill screeches under the illumination of Holy Light, retreating into the darkness.

Olivia kicked the Fear Demon in the chest.

Its entire body went flying again, smashing through the wall of a residential building, bursting out through the opposite wall, and tumbling to the end of the street before finally coming to a stop.

The Fear Demon struggled to climb out of the rubble, but this time it didn't rush forward again like before.

It shook its head, its breathing growing heavy, its crimson eyes watching Olivia warily from a distance, then took a step back.

As it retreated, its gaze swept left and right, as if observing something.

What surprised it was that the woman across from it simply stood in place, watching its subtle little movements with great interest, showing no intention of pursuing.

Its crude scheme had been seen through.

But they no longer had time to hesitate.

In that instant, time seemed to freeze.

From the shadow behind Olivia, a silhouette that almost merged perfectly with the darkness emerged.

The dagger in the shadow's hand fell, thrusting straight at the back of Olivia's neck.

However, Olivia's Divine Sense had already detected the hidden demon rogue the moment he appeared.

His Majesty was right, this Divine Sense thing was really handy.

She sighed in admiration inwardly.

The next moment, her sea of consciousness erupted with dazzling light, like a silver sea of stars cascading down from the sky.

A perfectly round Dragon Pearl flew out from her sea of consciousness, slamming directly into the demon rogue who was about to strike.

"What the?!"

The rogue was startled, instinctively trying to phase into mist to dodge, but the Dragon Pearl had already collided with him.

The pearl struck his chest, blasting him out of his phasing state, sending him crashing through a pile of wooden crates before he came to a stop amidst the mess.

Olivia recalled the Dragon Pearl, the silver-white orb hovering and spinning in her palm, radiating a gentle glow that added an aura of divine grace to her entire being.

"Damn it!"

Milo, watching from the tower, gritted his teeth and cursed, but he understood that things were heading in the worst possible direction.

Without hesitation, he made the same wise decision as those old nobles, leaving the tower and preparing to escape through the secret passage.

His ship was docked at a hidden pier in the harbor, the captain and crew all servants he had raised with heavy expense. As long as he got on board and sailed with the wind, he could be out of Empire waters within a single night.

...

On the battlefield, the rogue whose ambush had failed crawled out from the woodpile, his body wavering slightly before dissolving into a wisp of black smoke and vanishing, re-entering stealth.

Seeing this, the Fear Demon also tightened its grip on its chain, letting out a low growl as it charged head-on at Olivia.

The rogue lurked in the shadows, waiting for an opening, while the Fear Demon engaged in frontal combat, diverting Olivia's attention.

The chain whistled through the night sky, forcing her to keep moving, trying to drive her into the rogue's ambush zone.

But the Dragon Pearl in Olivia's hand seemed to have a will of its own.

It hovered and spun around her, sometimes darting out to knock away chain blades attacking from the flank, sometimes spinning to block poisoned daggers thrusting from blind spots.

Olivia, meanwhile, condensed a sword of frost and met the Fear Demon's chain blade head-on.

"CLANG!!"

The clash of ice and iron exploded across the night sky, sparks and ice shards flying in all directions.

The Fear Demon was pushed back by her strength, forced to retreat and dodge in frustration.

The battle spread from the shattered streets, through burning buildings, all the way to the harbor district.

Olivia sidestepped a howling chain blade, her sword sweeping upward in a follow-up strike, leaving a trail of frost across the Fear Demon's chest.

Cold air seeped from the frost wound, spreading rapidly along the gaps in the demon's scales, freezing the muscles around the injury.

The demon roared in pain and swept its chain in a wide arc.

She ducked, the heavy chain blade grazing past her hair, cleaving the watchtower behind her clean in two.

The collapsing tower crashed into the sea, sending up a spray of water.

The Fear Demon stomped its foot, terrifying force channeling into the ground. The entire dock cracked and collapsed with a thunderous roar, massive stone blocks plunging into the sea, churning up gray waves.

Olivia twisted her body in the moment of weightlessness, skimmed across the surface of the sea, and drifted to land on the mast tip of a merchant ship anchored in the distance.

The cold sea wind whipped around her, rustling her skirt and ribbons, standing there like a fairy under the moonlight.

Unfortunately, demons had no appreciation for such aesthetics.

The Fear Demon roared, bending its legs before launching itself from the crumbling dock remains, its massive body plummeting like a meteor toward the ship Olivia stood on.

Olivia lightly leaped away from the mast.

The demon crashed onto the deck, the merchant ship tilting violently under its weight, the mast snapping, sails tearing, and the vessel sinking into the sea.

Taking advantage of the moment, Olivia swung her sword in midair. The frost sword qi sliced through the night sky, freezing the sinking ship beneath the demon in place.

The seawater froze solid upon contact with the sword qi, locking the demon's legs firmly in ice.

As she descended, she lightly touched the sea surface, and the water beneath her feet instantly condensed into a sheet of ice, supporting her form.

The demon rogue struck again and was dispatched with a single sword stroke.

Before Divine Sense, any stealthy assassin who revealed even the faintest trace would be discovered.

Facing Olivia, this rogue also tasted the bitterness of humiliation.

Half the harbor had already been reduced to ruins in this battle. Docks collapsed, piers snapped, and several anchored merchant ships were either frozen into ice sculptures or shattered into pieces.

The two demons gasped for breath.

Even as stupid as they were, they had come to realize that they had become targets for Olivia to sharpen her skills.

"Cyrus, let's go." The Fear Demon shouted hoarsely, turning and sprinting toward the slowly widening Abyss fissure.

Olivia stood on the sea surface, glancing at their panicked retreating figures.

"Unfortunately, I only learned your names now."

"Since you've come, stay."

She exhaled a breath of white mist.

While the human body couldn't use most giant dragon spells, the Great Dao she commanded was more than enough to keep these two demons here.

She closed her eyes, then opened them.

[All-Through Dao]

In an instant, the air around them seemed to solidify.

Both fleeing demons simultaneously felt as if a pair of black pupils were gazing down at them from the heavens.

Those eyes were as deep as the Abyss itself, causing their souls to tremble instinctively.

Terrifying pressure bore down like a physical force, their bodies freezing completely in that instant, like insects sealed in amber.

Then the pressure transformed into countless tiny invisible swords, piercing into the depths of their souls, tormenting them nearly to the point of madness.

The Fear Demon let out a miserable screech, while the rogue curled up on the ground, trembling all over, unable even to phase away.

Before they could recover, Olivia held the pearl in her left hand and raised the frost sword in her right.

[Yuhanxiao Sword Dao]

The world changed color in an instant.

The clear night sky was swallowed by leaden gray storm clouds within seconds, thunder and lightning churning within the cloud layers.

Rain poured down without warning, heavy droplets pounding the sea surface, raising dense sprays.

The sea began to churn, waves rising higher and higher, as if the entire ocean was trembling in anticipation of the sword stroke about to descend.

The Fear Demon struggled to unleash its last reserve of power, evaporating the seawater around it. It swung its chain, the chain blade spinning through the rainstorm, and let out a desperate roar as it charged at Olivia one final time.

She ignored the Fear Demon's attack and swung her sword down.

A blade of ice, condensed to its purest form, swept across the sea surface.

Everything the sword light touched froze solid in an instant.

The ice spread at a visible rate, freezing surging waves into still ice sculptures, and even the rain froze into suspended beads of ice hanging in midair.

The Fear Demon's movements grew slower and slower.

White frost began to form on its legs, then its arms, then its chest, until finally it solidified completely into an ice sculpture.

The entire shallow sea was frozen by the residual force of the sword light. A white iceberg rose from the Fear Demon's position, covering hundreds of meters of ocean.

The rainstorm turned into a blizzard in the blink of an eye.

Bitter cold wind howled through the city, large snowflakes drifting down, blanketing the ruined streets in a layer of silver white.

Olivia shifted her gaze, glancing at the rogue fleeing into the distance.

She watched him plunge without hesitation into the fissure, which sealed completely behind him.

But he had forgotten, dragons lived in the Astral Realm year-round. For them, locating a fissure's position was as easy as drinking water or eating.

Olivia didn't even spare it a second glance.

She simply swung her sword once more.

The sword light tore through the void, cutting open a fissure and striking into it.

A moment later, frost surged out from the fissure, and the rogue's figure tumbled out, frozen into an ice sculpture.

With that, the crisis at Misty Bay Harbor was resolved.

When she floated back to the harbor, the slimes bounced over, shouting her title.

"Wow!"

"Lady Olivia! Lady Olivia!"

Gawain Slime saw this and collapsed in the ruins, blowing a bubble as it let out a sigh of relief.

"Hero, we won."

"Mmm."

Big Brother Slime nodded beside it, its little eyes looking at Olivia, then at its own round golden body, sinking into deep contemplation.

Back in the inn, Agrel slowly withdrew his gaze.

He didn't know whether he should be surprised or curious.

Because he couldn't see through the magic this dragon lady used at all.

He even suspected it wasn't magic at all.

He could already imagine the uproar this news would cause when it reached the southern city of Dawn.

Olivia put away her ice sword, lightly brushed off dust that wasn't actually there, and her expression relaxed.

"That should be enough to report to His Majesty."

She muttered to herself, then looked up at the sky.

Come to think of it, she seemed to have missed something called Slumber Days.

She'd heard there was supposed to be a grand celebration, with delicious food, performances...

So this was the travel His Majesty talked about.

She sighed, deciding she'd make it up to herself later.

She slowly rose into the air, drifting toward the direction of the inn.

She had an old man who stood by and did nothing to go settle accounts with first.

As for the western front...

Perhaps that was the least of her worries.