345 C345. Intruder
To be honest, Tyler wasn’t expecting to experience social discrimination based on his appearance alone. Even though his outfit was quite simple, it was still something that could easily be considered stylish and quite fashionable.
Not to mention, ridiculously expensive thanks to the many enhancements from Ragdek and the other dwarves. At this point, every single one of his attire was basically a national treasure with a large number of magic runes and enhancements used on them.
While he was dressed similarly to the last time he was here, his outfit this time was leagues apart from the first in terms of quality.
He wore an intricate designed dark red hooded coat, whose edges were masterfully designed with white threads that engraved intermediate runes along the edge. To complement the coat was a black buttoned shirt and black pants.
A red and white half boot laced with high-grade Duranium and enchanted with Magic capped off the outfit. The long coat was also equipped with exquisite leather vambraces and his hands were protected with ominous black gloves that gave off an indescribable feeling as though they would swallow the world whole into the endless abyss.
Nadine’s outfit was also on par with his as her dark brown cloak was made of the hides of Wyverns, and anyone with keen eyesight could easily distinguish the vast disparity between hers and a normal cloak.
The armor she wore underneath, while lightweight and revealing, was nothing to scoff at. They had specifically upgraded their gears after the last transaction with the Merchant Guild.
The reason for such unnecessary spending (according to Tyler) had nothing to do with his image as the Demon Lord of the Darknar region. Rather, his reputation as a VIP merchant.
As it turns out, Tyler’s persona as the VIP merchant known as Lix, was more important than he had originally intended as it did more than provide them with the necessary resources their family needed to survive until they completed a trade route deal with other regions.
.....
According to Z’s understanding of his non-existent plans, Lix would one day serve a very important role in the survival of the Darknar family so all he needed to do right now was established a favorable reputation amongst the high-class faction of the demon continent.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for the wisdom of Uriel, Tyler wouldn’t have been able to comprehend what Z had been hinting at and would be at a complete loss on what to do.
‘Sigh...’
Putting those issues aside for a moment, Lix ignored the female receptionist’s abrupt change of attitude towards them as she hurriedly sent for another one of the hotel’s employees that escorted them to their room.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAlthough Tyler already felt irritated by the high and mighty attitude of a noble-run facility, he still couldn’t help but be impressed with the suite he was given.
This was the first time he was in something comparable to a Presidential suite back on earth so he could barely contain his expression from being stunned. The room was a whole apartment with an incredible view of the city, several baths, bedrooms, and a kitchen.
There was something comparable to a jacuzzi, as well as a physical training facility and a potential reading orb to the side.
Of course, the only reason this room was larger than the Demon’s king’s chambers was that it had been built to be a suite and not a single room or chamber. It contained a living room, three bedrooms, a kitchen, three bathrooms, and the said training room, all interconnected together.
Still, with all its extravagance and decor, the place still paled if compared to the almost completely emptied-out Demon king’s chambers even though the stolen decor was slowly being restored.
Having checked into his room, Lix gave the hotel employee a rather generous tip as a gentleman and immediately asked him to leave. He wasn’t in a hurry to enjoy his time here but he didn’t see the point of wasting any more time pretending not to have noticed.
Using Uriel’s algorithm to encrypt a simple thought communication spell, he conveyed his instructions to Nadine and she subtlely nodded.
Tyler then walked over to one of the luxurious sofas in the living room and took a seat, a moment later, Nadine completely disappeared from sight and in another corner of the room, a loud impact was heard.
*Clank!
The resounding sound of metal striking metal with enough force causes the hand holding the metal on the receiving end to grow numb and vibrate.
Nadine had suddenly appeared on the other side of the room with her Bo-Staff drawn and a cheeky smile on her face. A few meters in front of her, the lights in a concentrated area suddenly but slowly saturated as a slender figure clad in all black appeared there in a defensive stance.
Her brows creased with tension as she glared daggers at the cheeky Nadine which only made her smirk mockingly back at her. A hint of surprise laced those intense glares.
‘I think Nadine may have been taking too many lessons from Rain.’
The glistening purple eyes of the figure narrowed at the smiling Lilith before shifting to the apparently surprised Lix as she slowly corrected the gap in her stance after being knocked out of her ‘Ghost’ state by the beastgirl before her.
Her skill, ?Phantom Incarnate? was a unique skill created by Aika herself and partially taught to the rest of the Ghost Legion. To those that had learned the incomplete version from her, the skill could be classified as a Normal Tier skill but to her, it could even surpass an Advance Tier skill.
So, for someone to see true it so easily, she had really underestimated the beast girl’s capabilities. Seeing as the male demon looked surprised, Aika felt the only one capable of bypassing her most valuable stealth skill was the incredibly agile beastkin.
With that, the parameters of her mission had immediately shifted as she could not permit the existence of someone that could so easily defy the essence of her Legion while not being a demigod.
It was a shame because she hadn’t come here to fight and would be ignoring her true master’s intentions in doing this. However, now that the male demon wasn’t making a move, it was the perfect and most likely the only opportunity she would have to rid herself of her biggest threat even if that would cost her the chance of any negotiations.
Grumbling to herself internally after being forced to make such a drastic decision, Aika adjusted her posture and was about to speak in compromise when the girl in front of her suddenly disappeared once more.
‘Shit.’
In only the split second she had hesitated in her attempt to speak, the beastgirl had taken advantage of that to close the distance between them, instantly appearing to her left already swinging her staff diagonally towards her neck as she swirled around in mid-air.
In such an awkward angle and with so little time to react, she couldn’t equip any weapons to defend herself much less move her body out of the way. Even casting a spell would take a second, and that was one second too long to do anything.
However —
*Clang!
With the resounding sound of metal striking metal, Aika was forced back yet again, however, Lilith’s weapon had failed to make any contact with her.
Seeing this, Lilith narrowed her eyes and completely forgo her defenses as she kicked off the floor and charged at the Ghost girl.
A barrage of attacks assaulted Aika but her strikes had completely failed to reach her person, yet the air was filled with the reverberating sounds of metals colliding at high speeds. To the point at which sparks were all that could be seen by the naked eye.
At the same time, Lilith’s beastman senses warned her of danger from all around her even though there was nothing there and she was the only one on the offense. Yet, she choose to rely on her senses as her body instinctively and nimbly avoided a torrent of invisible attacks that seem to come out of nowhere and from every direction.
However, despite their speed and sudden nature, Lilith managed to stay a step ahead as she narrowly avoided almost all of the attacks with only one of them managing to nick her cheek, barely drawing a drip of blood.
“Tck... invisible threads Huh? Well, I guess they’re not actually invisible.”
Finally catching a glimpse of the incredibly sharp metal threads that had been laced with a stealth skill to make it almost impossible to see, Nadine’s smile widened as she folded back her Bo-staff and returned it to the strap on her waist before proceeding to wipe the aloof look off her face.
Her eyes suddenly began to glow Golden-yellow as her hair suddenly grew longer and thick and shiny furs grew on her lower legs and forearms.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmRazor-sharp claws protruded from her fingers, dyed in a dangerous hue as her aura suddenly began to skyrocket.
Full Transformation?
“I planned on going easy on you but It’d be easier just to tear those things apart. Don’t blame me if you’re dismembered along the way.”
In an instant, the situation seem to get even more dangerous for Aika as she had a bad feeling that those claws may actually be sharp enough to tear through her almost unbearable metal strings.
With that, this young girl became an even bigger threat to the Ghost Legion yet her plans to eliminate her had instantly become an almost impossible task.
Noticing how she hadn’t even been given the time to explain herself the first time, Aika promptly decided to make a hasty retreat and think of another way to approach this pair. If she was already having trouble with one of them, she didn’t want to find out what the both of them working together would look like.
In the next moment, as Nadine was about to make her move, the lights in the room suddenly began to saturate as her figure slowly began to disappear.
However, as though throwing a glass at a brick wall, Aika’s skill suddenly shattered like glass as her figure was forcibly revealed once more.
Her eyes widened but before she could even comprehend what had happened, Nadine was already in the air in front of her, her hands wide open as her claws flashed with a red hue, before crashing down on her.
Thread Cage?
Instinctively, Aika subconsciously weaved a thick cage of solid metal threads around her and continuously infused them with her energy, constantly augmenting the metal’s durability and at this point, each string in the cage was harder than diamonds.
However, like a hot knife through butter, Nadine’s claws easily cleaved through the thick metal cage as they continued on their trajectory toward her neck.
With her greatest defense completely useless, and her mind too overwhelmed to even think properly, Aika was unable to activate even her most useful life-saving skill and could only just dumbly accept her imminent doom.
*Clap!
“That’s enough for now.”
With those words alone, the bloodthirsty claws that sought after her delicate neck came to an abrupt halt with one of them already an inch into her neck and if it had been stopped even only a millisecond late, she didn’t think her head would still be attached to her body.
“Phewww...”
Letting out a deep breath to calm herself down, Nadine’s claw retracted back into her fingernails and her eyes and body returned to normal. It was rare for a beastman to retain such high levels of control over themselves while using their true forms but she had managed that splendidly.
Nadine was by nature, a very competitive soul so when she learned Jarret had received the same boost she had from her master Ty, she immediately felt an immense hunger to grow stronger and received guidance from Albert who had achieved mastery over his demon Transaction.
In less than two weeks, she had already Attained some levels of mastery over her own power that transcended her current Tier. Truly, she was more talented than most.