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Taking advantage of their momentary distraction, our party successfully made it out of the castle. Even though Meisian was still hot on our tails riding her Elemental Segregation Platform, its speed wasn’t comparable to ours at all. There were a few cats here and there who got in our way when they heard Meisian’s calls, but they were all promptly smacked away by Sasani and Sinmosa.

On average, the Purgatory Shadowcats were at the level of Two-stars to Three-stars. Four-stars was an elite, while five was a captain’s level. Once they reached Six-stars, they became an elder. Spearheading our escape were two Five-star Cerberuses, barring any interference from their Elders’ Consortium, nothing could really stand in our way.

For the most part, that held true all the way till we made it to the city gates. It was at that point that we finally met with the advance party of the Elders’ Consortium. There were two elders blocking our exit, along with seven other elders who surrounded us. These elders were roughly the size of a wolf dog, but based on the aura they emitted, those Five-stars we met before were nothing compared to them.

Besides their sizes being roughly equal, there was also another similarity shared by these nine cats, and that was the hand of black cards floating beside each of them. These cards were all completely black, made of a material that seemed neither like wood nor like stone. Even though their material wasn’t exactly clear, it was still obvious to the casual observer that they were hefty.

In the meantime, those dozen or so guardcats who were previously distracted by the Vengeful Soul finally caught up to us under the guidance of that larger guardcat captain.

“Esteemed Overlord, we’re here…” They casually greeted Meisian but were immediately snapped at by a moody Meisian. “What took you all so long?! Bunch of useless cats! What am I even feeding you all for?!”

One of the guardcats quietly mumbled to himself, “It’s not like the Ashen Fur Mice we eat are raised by you. Our Meowberries aren’t grown by you either…”

“What did you say?”

Hearing as sharp as her pointy ears, Meisian picked up on that poor guardcat’s griping. “I dare you to say that again!”

“…” With nowhere else to hide from her withering gaze, the guilty cat lowered his head and answered, “We were just saying, your Highness, the great Cat King, is absolutely right, we are all just a bunch of good-for-nothings…”

‘I completely understand if you look down on yourself, but why did you drag your companions down with you as well…’

The other guardcats immediately glared at him. “I mean I’m the good-for-nothing, I’m the useless one. My colleagues have nothing to do with this…”

“All useless! I swear you all will be the death of me!” Meisian immediately fired off a barrage of angry stares before praising the elders. “You lot should learn from the elders over there, one swipe of their cat paws and the enemy is caught!”

“I say, didn’t I tell you not to disturb us unless there’s something important, little Meisian?” As if he didn’t hear that praise at all, one of the elders blocking the exit plopped himself on the ground and gave Meisian a rueful stare. Then with a nod of his head, he sent one of the black cards flying down onto the ground. “A nine!”

“A nine right from the start! Do you even know how to play?” His companion rolled his eyes at him before eyeing his own cards. “Pass.” He sighed.

“A nine from the start…that’s definitely a bad hand…I’ll pass as well.” One of the elders surrounding us five meters away said, equally as exasperated by that cat’s opening move.

“Pass.”

“Pass.”

The next two elders passed their turn as well.

“A one.” The elder who threw down the one card sneered at the cat who threw down a nine. “Let’s see you throw out that cat card to beat my one!”

“There’s no need to wait for Masrow to throw out the card, I have a cat card that can beat you… None of you plan on throwing out another card, right? In that case, I’ll throw out a pair of threes, and if no one has a pair of fours…”

“Hold it.” The cat who threw out the nine at the start, also known as Masrow, interrupted his companion and said, “I have three eights here.” As he said that, three of the cards above him immediately flew down onto the ground, revealing the number eight carved in Devil language on each of them.

Having made sure the other cats had no moves to make, he threw out a straight of four, five and six. Then, with a happy wag of his tail, he declared, fully confident that victory was in paw, “I declare single!”

Declaring single meant that he only had one card left.

“Hey, whoever can answer that, better answer it now or the game’s over.”

“That’s right, that’s right. If you have a five six seven, you’d better play it now. Even a triple is fine, just stop Masrow. I swear it’s like he cheats every round, blast it.”

“He only has one card, if anyone can play right now, do it. There’s no way he can make a move after.”

With defeat so dangerously close to fur, the remaining elders erupted in debate, each calling for the other to play their cards right now and stop Masrow from winning.

Unfortunately, while the logic was sound, reality had a way of disagreeing. The remaining elders had no cards to play against his straight. Thus, with no one else to stop him confirmed, Masrow played his final card.

“Hahaha. If you don’t mind, gentlecats, I dare say that was an excellent game.” The moment that black card touched the ground, his victory was decided.

“Mama, are those big kitties alright in the head?”

“Daddy doesn’t know as well, sweetie…Daddy doesn’t know as well…”

Even though these cats clearly had us surrounded, none of them had any intention of attacking, instead continuing on with their game of cards in what had to be the strangest sight ever. While Mo Na wasn’t exactly very polite there, who even plays cards while surrounding an opponent?

“Elders, help us catch those Devils, quick!” The little cat, Meisian, used her dainty paw to point at us as she continued yelling, “The card games can wait, help us catch them first!”

Still lying listlessly on the platform, Anmi promptly chimed in as well, “Elders, please catch them!”

“We’ve already helped you surround them, just wait for us to finish another round first.” Without even batting an eyelid, Masrow proudly swept his eyes over the other elders. “So who had the most cards just now? Go shuffle the cards, come on now. Also, you better remember how many times you’ve lost to me. Don’t even think about getting out of this debt!”

‘Gamblers…these cats are all hardcore gamblers, I swear…’

“Meisian, since your elders aren’t in the mood to catch us, how about you let us go.” I diplomatically broached the subject once more. “We did help out you in the past, is it really alright just to flip out on us like that?”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Meisian vehemently glared at me. “I know you helped me out in the past, but you actually want my blood…there’s no way I’m giving that to you!”

“If that’s all he wants, just give it to him. He did help you, after all. Don’t be so stingy.” Masrow chided her in a matter-of-fact tone, then loudly declared with a flourish, “A pair of fives!”

‘Why do I get the feeling that the only reason he thinks she is stingy is because she interrupted their game…no wonder people always say not to mess with gamblers.’

“Grand Elder! If it’s just a bit of blood, who wouldn’t give it to him? But what he wants is all my blood…I’ll be dead if I give it to him!”

“Yes, but you still shouldn’t call us out for that. We’re busy.” Masrow yelled back without lifting his head. “A cat. If no one has a card to play, I’ll play a one.”

“What do you mean busy? Are you saying that my safety isn’t as important as your card game?!” Meisian was on the verge of exploding right now. Her eyes practically spat fire as she continued grilling Masrow. Unfortunately, he didn’t give two meowberries about her anger, instead fully directing his attention to his current game.

‘Really, can these cats be any less unreliable? Even their Overlord can’t control them, so what good are they? I swear, I’m starting to feel a little sorry for Meisian myself…’

Though I thought that, wasn’t I actually the pitiful one here? Being the one that was surrounded.

I continued speaking. “I never said I wanted all your blood. I just said I needed an entire Shadowcat’s worth of blood-”

“And how is that any different?!”

Finally, in what had to be my most exasperated voice ever, “I don’t have to draw it all at once, or I can just find your brothers for some blood.”

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

“Because you never gave me the chance to do so…”

‘I…if you won’t give me the chance to say my piece, then don’t blame me for being rough later.’

“Meisian, this is the last time I’m saying this, we only want to leave. If you will let us go, we can still have some amicable relationships in the future. But if you won’t… I just hope you won’t regret it.”

We were already at the city gates anyway and my golems were all waiting right outside. As long as I gave the order, they would immediately break through those gates and rescue us. Even if all the elders made their move, I could still summon my Devil King Idol and defend myself.
These golems of mine were definitely more powerful than those cats could imagine. Putting aside those 102 Winged Abyssal Golems, even my 625 Abyssal Golems were enough for her to drown on.

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.