Chapter 144: Flexible Stance

Shiluer Xiaoluofen, caught in the act, was stunned.

As the third daughter of the third family, she had grown weary of her arrogant mother and her three foolish adoptive fathers.

Of course, the most despised was always the eldest sister—both arrogant and foolish.

Her elder sister, Lushil Xiaoluofen, though powerful (High-Rank Warrior and High-Rank Priestess), was the epitome of stupidity.

Especially after recently purchasing a foolish young dragon through some channel, she had become utterly conceited.

Within the family, many fawned over her, feeding her swelling ego.

As if her already scarce brain matter had been entirely sucked dry by an intellect devourer, she looked down her nose at everyone—even began to disdain the matriarch.

As a powerless third daughter, what should she do when her dominant sister and mother clashed?

"Sister, you're truly incredible—you've tamed a black dragon, a proud creature. The continent hasn't had a Dragon Knight in ages."

What else could she do? Of course, obey and flatter her.

And what she said was the plain truth: true dragons with the Dragon lineage looked down on other races and rarely submitted.

Even with a companion pact, only a few good dragons permitted brief rides.

Was such simple, direct flattery effective? Of course it was—if Lushil Xiaoluofen had any accurate self-awareness, she wouldn't have swollen to the point of being loathed by all.

This time, the first family specifically summoned you for a mission—do you really think they value your strength? In the dark elf world, being targeted by a superior often means death, yet Lushil remains utterly oblivious.

She's even reached the point where no confidant dares warn her. There were some once—but after she bullied them under the excuse of "you're jealous of me," they vanished entirely.

And that unfortunate victim? Yes, it's now the third daughter, Shiluer Xiaoluofen, preparing to murder her own sister.

If the eldest dies, she becomes the second daughter; if the second dies, she becomes the eldest.

This is the normal dynamic among dark elf sisters, rooted in racial customs and history, but ultimately a relic of the "Luo Si" era.

Unlike other races, dark elves practice pure theocratic rule—priestesses are "high-ranking bureaucrats," and all power and wealth rest in their hands.

Their divine favor and strength are directly tied to their social status.

The result? One position, one person. To rise—or advance further on the priestly path—piety and devotion mean nothing, as they do among priests of other races.

The key is to kill your superiors and competitive peers.

Even after Luo Si's fall, this toxic "racial culture" shows no sign of fading—it's the foundation of their societal structure.

The new dark elf deities are Luo Si's children and grandchildren; they too were raised in this system and see nothing wrong with it.

The goddess sisters are anomalies—but from another angle, perhaps their sisterly bond could flourish only because they were never rivals to begin with.

In other families, all sisters are competitors—deadly ones. Even the eldest's position isn't fixed.

Victornia despised this culture, so she left the system and became a low-status local mage. If she had remained a priestess and entered the system, she'd have had to follow—or master—its rules, or die mysteriously sooner or later.

"Eliminate the first eldest daughter for me. When I ascend, I'll help lift the bounty on your Beast Cult."

A dark elf's promise? Not even a dog believes it.

But the Great Horn Priest of the Beast Cult seems to have no other choice.

He and the Beast Cult need dark elf allies—at least to understand why the betrayal occurred. He had seen the controlled Beast Prince, but the dark elf betrayal happened before that!

"Should we help you eliminate your second sister? She should be with your eldest sister, right?"

"She's been kind to me," Shiluer Xiaoluofen sighed. Her second sister was a rare "good elf."

Since Luo Si's departure, dark elves have increasingly interacted with other races—and "good dark elves" who don't actively harm others have become more common.

"Give her a quick death." But after her sorrow, Shiluer Xiaoluofen spoke with finality.

She was kind to me, and didn't harm others—so what? She stood in my way.

This is the essence of the dark elf (theocratic bureaucratic) society.

The negotiation was nearly complete; the Great Horn Priest didn't expect the dark elf to honor any future pact.

They simply needed a dark elf ally under conditions of insufficient intelligence and inadequate logistics.

They were already the top wanted fugitives on the surface; if the Undercity added its bounty too, becoming vermin was acceptable—but failing to serve the "Beast" was utterly unacceptable.

"Heh, let's toast to the first eldest daughter in advance."

But just as both sides had agreed and were about to go their separate ways—

"Clap."

Another group arrived, crossing the web bridge.

This was an open space on the web—no cover at all. The three parties collided directly.

Both original groups were stunned. Wasn't this an abandoned cliffside village? How could outsiders be here? Had the other side lured them?

"You—you betrayed me!!" The Great Horn Priest looked up, recognized the newcomers, and roared in fury.

Shiluer Xiaoluofen turned around, saw the mixed dark elf and surface-dweller group, and froze.

Aren't these the Lord Mayor's people? How did this leak happen?

"Li En Sudar!" The Great Horn Priest instantly spotted the knight leading the group—his presence had exposed their entire layout in Huicheng ahead of schedule!

Were they being baited again?

The Great Horn Priest's body swelled violently, beginning his transformation—ready to fight to the death.

Shiluer's mind raced. She knew this surface-dweller was close to the goddess sisters of the first family, and that this group included a noblewoman from the second family—she—

"Yes! Ha! You fools, you fell for it! You're surrounded! Criminals, surrender now! Li En Sudar, we've successfully trapped them—hurry over and assist!"

The object of their attention—the bewildered outsiders—were equally stunned by how rapidly the situation had twisted.

"Man, that's a lot of drama."

Honestly, the acting was terrible. One moment you were negotiating, the next you turned on us the moment we arrived? If we leave now, will you go back to being allies?

But Li En had no need to expose them.

"Mm-hmm, you hold the line—we're coming to help."

Li En casually shoved them forward: go ahead and fight—I'll be right there. Come on, let's add some buffs, drink some water, eat some rations.

Behind him, he heard Victornia's quiet inquiry.

"That's the third daughter of the Xiaoluofen family (Third). She's allied with these Beast worshippers—likely to kill her sister. What do we do? She'll spread chaos when she returns."

If they acted themselves and failed, the consequences would be endless. Hiring assassins—even if they failed and betrayed you—could be denied afterward. This was basic dark elf common sense; Victornia saw it instantly.

Victornia didn't yet understand Li En's nature, which was why she asked.

Li En smiled, whispering his reply.

"Kill them all. A pack of evil. Why overthink it?"

—

While Li En unexpectedly encountered "allies," another group moved through the wilderness of the Underworld.

They were nearing the region of the intellect devourer's hive-mind; patrols of intellect devourers had grown more frequent and stronger.

But this time, they faced a terrifying opponent.

"Boom!"

With a burst of magic, a white flash swept the ground, vaporizing the unlucky intellect devourers outright.

The mental attacks they launched dissolved into nothingness.

Their target seemed to have no mind at all.

"Bai" lowered her staff, silently observing the slaves lying dead around her.

"Hummm!"

But as spatial rifts tore open, high-rank intellect devourers stepped out.

The intellect devourer ambush meant to hunt surface-dweller hunter teams had met an unexpected foe.

"Boom!" In response came a wave of transforming "little beasts," and "Bai" gathering magic for a blast.

The Beast Cult, accompanied by the magical girl, was even more insane than their foes! They had waited for this "opportunity" for years—only for the intellect devourers to ruin it.

"Damn squid-heads!"

"Release the Prince!"

The Beast and the dark elves had no blood feud—but now, the Beast and the intellect devourers were mortal enemies!

Another Beast Prince still lay under the hive-mind's corruption.

Without hesitation, both sides plunged into brutal combat.

Similar battles erupted across the Underworld. From the surface-dwellers' and Li En's perspective, enemies naturally fought each other across every region.

(End of Chapter)