Chapter 167 : Marinated Thoroughly
Chapter 167: Marinated Thoroughly
Lilia had originally planned to leave after watching this “good show.”
But that sinister green-haired turtle Vivian had thrown her here, claiming there was an “anomaly.”
At first, Lilia thought the “anomaly” referred to this mutated sludge monster.
But now it seemed the real “anomaly” might be this “Hero squad” that shouldn’t have appeared here at all.
Information.
These two words popped into Lilia’s mind.
She had stayed in the Demon Realm for too long and was practically cut off from news of the human world.
If she could pry some information out of these two survivors—like whether there had been any major moves against the Demon Realm recently—
That would be far better than blindly searching like a headless fly.
She glanced at the struggling female mage, then at the priest girl whose heart had already gone cold.
Someone like that mage was obviously a spoiled noble lady. She probably wouldn’t speak a single truthful word, and people like her could fabricate anything just to survive—bringing her back would only be trouble.
On the other hand, that priest…
Though she was just a village girl, she hadn’t abandoned her teammate at the moment of life and death (at least until her leg was blown off). This kind of stubbornly honest person was actually the best interrogation target.
“Lucky you.”
Lilia let out a sigh.
It was unclear whether she was speaking about the priest or lamenting her own miserable fate.
At that moment, the female mage, who was being lifted into the air by the tentacle, suddenly spotted Lilia on the nearby rock.
Like a drowning person grabbing onto their last straw, a shocking light burst out of her despairing eyes.
“Hey! You there with the silver hair! Save me! As long as you save me, I’ll give you endless wealth! I can grant you a title! Give you land! Hurry up! Are you dead or what?!”
Even at a time like this, she was still speaking in a commanding tone.
Lilia was so irritated she laughed.
Tilting her head, a look of pure disdain appeared in her crimson eyes as she looked at her like an idiot.
“I’m from the Demon Race. Are you people this wild nowadays?”
The female mage froze for a moment, as if only just realizing the unsettling Abyssal aura emanating from her.
But quickly, her desire to live overwhelmed everything.
“Demon Race? Lackey? No—so long as I can live… I can give you money! A lot of money! This staff of mine…”
She frantically waved the slightly deformed magic staff in her hand.
“Oh? It does look quite valuable.”
Lilia nodded, as if persuaded.
With a light step, her entire figure vanished like a ghost.
A trace of wild joy appeared on the female mage’s face.
But the next second, her smile froze.
Because Lilia didn’t rush toward the tentacle holding her—instead, she appeared directly… beside her hand.
A flash of cold light.
“Ah——!!!”
The female mage let out a pig-slaughtering scream.
Lilia’s dagger precisely severed the finger she used to hold the staff.
The staff embedded with a large ruby fell lightly into Lilia’s hand.
“Thanks. Since you’re being so generous, I’ll take this as a meeting gift.”
Lilia casually tossed the staff into her system inventory, her movements smooth and practiced—clearly a habitual practitioner of something called “zero-cost acquisition.”
“As for saving you…”
Standing midair on a slab of stone that had just been flung up, Lilia looked down at the woman whose face was filled with terror and resentment.
“You should leave that to your god. After all—”
Lilia pointed at the bleeding priest girl below.
“I may not have much morality, but I really hate trash that stabs others in the back.”
“Y-you demon! You’ll go to hell!!” the female mage screamed in despair.
“Thanks for the blessing. My home is right there.”
Lilia shrugged, then leapt back lightly, landing in front of Lucy.
The moment she landed, the sludge monster finally lost its last bit of patience.
Its massive jaws snapped shut.
“Crunch.”
A bone-chilling chewing sound rang out.
All the curses, promises, and threats vanished into silence in that instant.
Only the nauseating sound of swallowing echoed through the mist-covered swamp.
Lucy’s body trembled.
She raised her head, her unfocused eyes looking at the silver-haired girl who had suddenly appeared before her.
The girl stood with her back to the terrifying monster that was feeding, her long silver hair fluttering in the miasma-filled wind. Not a trace of mud stained her body—instead, she carried a faint, pleasant cold fragrance.
Was that the scent of death?
Lucy wondered.
“Hey, village girl.”
Lilia crouched down and tapped Lucy’s still-bleeding cheek with the back of her dagger, her tone carrying a hint of casual malice.
Lucy stared at her blankly, seemingly still unable to recover from the shock.
“If you understand, blink. If you don’t, I’ll toss you in there to keep that idiot company.” Lilia pointed at the monster feasting behind her.
Lucy blinked once. Tears slid down her eyelashes, carving two clean streaks across her mud-covered face.
“Good.”
Lilia nodded in satisfaction.
Just as she finished speaking, a massive shadow suddenly loomed over them. Foul-smelling slime dripped down like rain onto the stone at Lilia’s feet, sizzling with white smoke.
It was the drool flowing from the abyssal maw of the sludge monster.
“Grrrk…”
A muffled, clogged-throat sound came from the monster.
It was clearly not full.
That half-eaten mage had only been an appetizer. The tender, delicate silver-haired girl before it—radiating alluring magic—was the true main course.
Lilia could even count the strands of red hair stuck between its teeth.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s kind of creepy.”
The sludge monster had had enough of this prey’s chatter.
In its understanding, food should scream, run, and then be slowly chewed apart—not stand there talking to it.
The wind howled.
Corrosive sludge surged forward.
Lilia tightened her grip on the dagger, preparing to activate 【Shadow Step】 to forcibly evade.
However—
At the moment the tentacle was less than ten centimeters from Lilia’s nose—
It stopped.
As if someone had pressed a pause button.
The tentacle, which had been writhing wildly and dripping slime, now hung stiffly in midair like a frozen popsicle, even trembling slightly.
Lilia blinked.
She hadn’t activated 【Time Stop】.
What was going on?
She looked up in confusion and met the murky eyes—wherever they were located—of the monster.
In those eyes, once filled with brutality and greed, there was now an emotion called fear.
No—terror.
The sludge monster recoiled as if electrocuted, yanking its tentacle back. Its massive body retreated, kicking up waves of mud.
“Roar…?”
It let out a low growl filled with confusion and fear, like a drenched dog with its tail tucked.
It had smelled it.
Why did this girl carry the scent of that lord?!
And so strong!
As if… she had just crawled out of that lord’s bed, marinated inside and out!