Chapter 677: Evil (Bonus for the Golden Alliance, Still Adding)

In a few steps, Ryaa sprinted behind the slaves, raised her right foot, and kicked out hard.

With a thud, the slave pinning the half-breed maid was kicked flying, crashing into the shrubs along the garden's edge.

The other three spun around instantly, staring at Ryaa.

Before they could even make out their attacker, Ryaa's spinning kick swept another one off his feet.

The remaining two stared at Ryaa, torn between greedy desire and terror for a second, then turned and ran toward other parts of the estate.

Ryaa retracted her left foot, coldly watching the two slaves struggling to rise, raised her hunting bow, and nocked an arrow.

The two slaves simultaneously licked their lips, reluctant yet fearful, flipping quickly over the shrubs and fleeing into the garden.

Only then did Ryaa lower her head, looking at the half-breed maid whose face still bore tears and confusion, and asked:

"Are you alright?"

The half-breed maid shook her head rapidly, hastily pulled her half-undone dress back into place, and snatched up a dagger lying beside her.

Seeing this, Ryaa didn't waste words and said directly:

"Find a corner no one can see, and hide there until dawn."

After giving the order, Ryaa turned and prepared to run back toward Louis Berry and Galm and the others standing by the main house's entrance.

At that moment, the half-breed maid rose to her feet, her expression dark and grim, raised the dagger in her hand, and stabbed fiercely at Ryaa's back.

Galm saw this and shouted a warning:

"Watch out!"

Though Ryaa hadn't sensed what was happening, she reacted instinctively to Galm's cry.

She dropped forward and rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the dagger behind her.

As she rolled, Ryaa turned her body and saw her attacker.

Her eyes hardened instantly; instinctively, she raised her bow and aimed it at the half-breed maid.

The half-breed maid, dagger raised, screamed in Intis with hatred:

"Why are we both from the Southern Continent, yet you join the Patrol and I'm forced to be a maid?"

"Why? I have Intis blood too!"

Before she finished speaking, a crimson-white fire raven flew in from nowhere and slammed into the steel dagger.

With a clang, the dagger grew searing hot, exploding with force that tore it from the maid's grip and sent it flying several meters away to the ground.

The half-breed maid froze, fear replacing her hatred.

Lumian, black-haired with green eyes, stood on the main house's entrance steps, one hand in his pocket, and called out casually:

"Where is Miss Amandina?"

Uh… Galm immediately felt ashamed.

He'd rushed to save Miss Amandina so urgently, he'd acted unprofessionally!

He'd visited Palm Estate before, but had clearly never been invited upstairs to Amandina's room, so he had no idea which floor or which room to search for her.

Searching floor by floor in this chaos would mean encountering countless obstacles.

The half-breed maid's expression shifted several times, revealing clear longing and anticipation:

"She's asleep in her room, third floor, second room facing the rubber forest."

"Hurry up—she's beautiful, she smells sweet, she's clean, her figure is perfect, her skin is smooth, nothing like us. Many gentlemen dream of her. Hurry!"

By the end, the half-breed maid's voice turned bitter, her eyes burning with an illusory, desperate flame—as if yearning to witness something.

Lu Jianuo's hair stood on end, his spine chilled—he felt unmasked human evil.

Clap, clap, clap—Lumian laughed, shook his head, and began clapping.

Ryaa fell silent for two seconds, then rose and stepped away from the area.

She walked a few steps, paused, turned her body toward the half-breed maid, and repeated her earlier words in a low, rapid voice:

"Find a corner no one can see, and hide there until dawn."

After speaking, Ryaa no longer looked at the half-breed maid and took two steps back to the entrance steps of the main house.

Lumian withdrew his gaze and walked first toward the open brown double doors.

As soon as he entered, he and Galm and the others saw a middle-aged woman in a disheveled nightgown, half-naked, black hair streaming, seated astride a sturdy native slave, moving violently, expression rapt, shouting and cursing obscenities—while the native slave likewise reveled, cooperating eagerly.

Near the staircase, five or six servants and slaves held rifles, shotguns, and other weapons, firing intermittently into the staircase, while the second-floor area occasionally fired back.

Seeing this, Galm froze, his gaze locked on the middle-aged woman's flushed, still-charming face.

"Do you know her?" Lumian asked with a smile.

It was Ryaa who answered:

"She's Lady Simona, wife of Sir Petit, Amandina's mother."

"I never thought she'd be like this…" Galm said in a low voice.

Lumian smiled and clapped again:

"Can't you let loose in a dream?"

"For the 'Dream Festival,' this is exactly the behavior we should encourage—no one forced anyone. How good, how harmless."

Galm found himself unable to refute.

Lumian then turned to Ryaa:

"During the 'Dream Festival,' the people you save are probably also bad ones—and they'll attack you too."

Ryaa fell silent for several seconds, then spoke softly:

"If I encounter something like that again, I'll still save them."

Lumian didn't press the topic further, instead turning to Galm:

"Are you prepared to see another side of Miss Amandina?"

"She might…"

Lumian left the rest unsaid, only casting a meaningful glance at the fierce, foul-mouthed Lady Simona.

Galm exhaled slowly:

"I'm here to save her—no matter if she's good or evil, kind or cruel, chaste or indulgent."

"Hide her somewhere safe, let her wait until dawn, then we'll go to the house in Tewanaco."

I'm here to save her—no matter if she's good or evil… Lumian silently repeated the first half, smiled, and looked toward the servants and slaves attempting to storm the staircase, then called out loudly:

"Have any of you seen Miss Amandina? Has she come down?"

The servants and slaves instantly turned toward Lumian and the others.

They immediately swung their weapons around as well.

Lumian calmly extended his right hand and reached forward.

As he did, crimson-white flames ignited in the air, like a curtain he tore from the void.

He pulled, then shoved—the blazing curtain split instantly into dozens of firebirds, slamming into the unaimed rifles, shotguns, and revolvers.

With low, muffled explosions—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—all the guns were blasted from their owners' hands, landing on the floor, ruined.

The servants and slaves suffered only minor burns, their grip on the weapons momentarily stunned.

After ascending to the "Harvester," Lumian's control over flames had improved further—even without wearing the "Lies" earring, he could achieve this.

And he hadn't even used his full strength; to minimize harm, he'd avoided creating white-hot flames.

"Now can we talk properly?" Lumian smiled at the servants and slaves.

Behind him, dozens of crimson-white fire ravens coalesced, poised and ready.

A high-ranking Intis male servant, unable to hide his fear, replied:

"Amandina hasn't come down—if she had…"

Here, he couldn't help licking his lips.

"Who are you shooting at?" Lumian added.

"Petit—that bastard who belongs in hell—and his whip-wielding butler!" A dark-skinned slave picked up a fallen gun, like the others discovering his weapon was ruined.

They planned to search other first-floor rooms for more guns, but dared not move yet.

"I see," Lumian realized. "Keep going."

He turned, leading Galm and the others as the dozen or so fire ravens slowly faded, and said:

"We climb to the third floor from the side."

He didn't want to use "Teleport" for this short distance—he'd already used it four times.

Of course, since becoming a "Harvester," Lumian could now perform eleven or twelve "Soul-Realm Transits" without relying on the spiritual energy stored by his "Penitent" ability—far more than before.

Galm and the others didn't object. Lu Jianuo trembled as he asked:

"H-how do I climb?"

He waved his remaining half-arm.

Lumian glanced at him and said:

"Galm will help you."

Me? Galm blinked in surprise, then assessed his own agility—he thought he could manage.

Soon, the four of them scaled the exterior wall using statues, decorations, metal pipes, and side balconies to reach the third floor.

As soon as they pushed open the door to the corridor, Galm saw a figure.

It was an Intis maid in a white cotton nightgown—Amandina's personal maid.

Now, the young maid stood in the dim moonlight's darkness, holding a blood-dripping dagger, her expression indistinct.

Drip. Drip. The crimson blood from the dagger fell onto the corridor's carpet.

Gaimu's heart tightened:

"What did you do?"

The maid offered a satisfied, relieved smile:

"I killed it—I've hated it for ages!"

"It"? In Intis, "she" and "it" are entirely distinct words. Gaimu froze in shock, then followed the dripping blood to the doorway of the side room, where lay Amandina's favorite pet dog.

Phew… Gaimu exhaled, his voice low:

"Where is Miss Amandina?"

The maid's expression turned bitter:

"I'm looking for her too!"

"She left an hour ago!"

An hour ago… before the "Dream Festival" began? Gaimu pressed:

"Where did she go?"

The maid, still clutching the dripping dagger, replied with a twisted face:

"She went on a date with my Robert!"

Gaimu fell silent.

Lu Mi shook his head. Under the maid's gaze—she who longed to kill but felt powerless against so many—he and Ruiya and the others swiftly searched the entire third floor, finding no trace of Amandina.

"Let's go," Lu Mi said, looking at Gaimu.

Gaimu had no choice but to give up.

The four immediately "teleported" outside the house belonging to Xisuo.

Lu Mi was about to move forward when he suddenly sensed something, lifting his head to gaze upward at the third floor.

At a third-floor window, a face emerged.

The face had a straight, elegant nose, deep blue eyes, thick black hair tied simply at the crown, and a youthful energy radiating from its brows.

Amandina!

Amandina, who was supposedly on a date with her fiancé Robert!

P. .: Extra chapter added for Golden Alliance's Zhuri Rengu!

(End of Chapter)