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“Useless! Why am I even keeping you alive?!”

I angrily stomped on the Assassin leader’s veiled face, causing her to fall over right away like a punching bag. Yet that wasn’t enough to satisfy the anger I felt towards this woman who had threatened my life just moments ago. All that talk about not letting me go until everyone was dead -I hadn’t forgotten about that.

Oh, how the tables have turned. Go on, let’s see if I care about you letting me go now. Go on! Hmph, and you even dared to bully our resident timid girl, don’t you know how timid she is?!

Even though I desperately wanted to execute this darned wretch, I knew better than to do that now. Instead, I turned around to face the Dryders who were still worshipping me and exclaimed, “I want those Minotaurs dead!”

“Ssshhhhhh.”

The Dryders immediately charged into battle upon receiving the order, their hisses echoing behind them in a cloud of dust.

It had to be said at this point that these weren’t your run-of-the-mill Dryders. Amongst those present, there were at least ten Eight-stars and three at the peak of Eight-star.

With their aid, the battle quickly turned in our favor. Unlike the Murlocs, these were bonafide elite monsters that wouldn’t lose to a Minotaur at the same Star level. Furthermore, their methods were varied and their speeds blinding. With their unpredictability, it would be hard for an ordinary Minotaur to win against them in a fair fight. Especially not when the Dryders who came this time were all exceptionally powerful. Even the weakest amongst them was a Six-star; definitely more than a match for the Minotaurs. The Harpies, on the other hand, were still a little troublesome…

“Your holiness, with your leave, I will head over to the battlefield right now. Ending this battle is of utmost priority.” Zurnalin hastily told me before rushing off herself. Even though the speed at which the situation changed was a little dizzying for her. She quickly recovered and upon making sure that I was safe, left to fight.

“Mhm. You may go, and be careful.” As I said that, Zurnalin turned around to give me a passionate gaze but I wasn’t paying attention to her right now. My focus was entirely directed to the dejected Assassin leader on the ground. I unhappily kicked her a couple of times before asking, “So, who are you? Which clan do you come from?”

“The Ghostface…Clan… I’m the… daughter… of the Matriarch…Lersina…” She took a good long while to stammer out a reply amidst her coughing.

“Lersina, huh?” I nodded before asking, “So what’s up with those Harpies?”

“The Harpies?” She stared blankly for a moment as if processing the name in her head. She then looked up at the circling Harpies before lifelessly answering, “We captured their leader not too long ago… and had her secretly executed… We lied to them… telling them to cooperate if they wanted her back…”

“Oh? Aren’t you a cunning one.” I curled my lips to the side as I mumbled to myself, so that’s why the Harpies aren’t giving their all right now. I remember the Harpies I met in the Prison of the Dead were all fearless warriors… It makes sense now!

I turned my attention to the Minotaur army on the verge of collapse. “And the Minotaurs? What are your motives for invading the territory of the Shadowhunter Clan?”

Now that the interrogation was in full swing, Lersina herself was already accustomed to answering my questions. “Our territories have always been plagued by Minotaurs. In order to gain a greater share of the resources, we have been fighting with them for ages. Not too long ago, my mother and the head of the Minotaurs came to an agreement: the Minotaurs would help us attack the Shadowhunter Clan and we promised to give them more territory once the fight was over…”

Give them land after the war is over? Are those Minotaurs stupid? You can’t trust anything coming out of the mouth of a Dark Elf.

“A lie?”

“No.” Lersina shook head. “We meant it.”

You guys meant it? I guess even you guys are self-aware of the duplicity of the Dark Elves… but for their promise to actually be true… Holy fudgecakes, are pigs going to fly now? I guess it might be possible, but these nutjobs aren’t even the kind to keep a promise made to my godmother! There’s no way they would just hand over a territory after this whole farce is over!

“Where’s the territory in question?”

“Here…” She looked at her feet at that point.

In that instant, everything made sense in my head.

First, they fed the Harpies lies to make them cannon fodder for this war. Next, they came to an agreement with the Minotaurs because the Minotaurs were too powerful to be kept in check through trickery. By using their need for more living space, the Dark Elves had the Minotaurs invade the lands of the Shadowhunter Clan.

As for why they were giving away this plot of land, that was because they didn’t want to enter into an all-out war with the Shadowhunter Clan.

Being one of the thirteen great clans of the Dark Elves, the Shadowhunter Clan wasn’t just something the Ghostface Clan could swallow on a whim. In other words, this was a war to weaken the clan. And this was just the first step of a convoluted plan to destroy their foes!

By using the otherwise impossible alliance of the Harpies and Minotaurs, the Ghostface Clan knew that the Shadowhunter Clan would end up sending their most elite forces to reinforce the territory due to the absurdity of this alliance.

At that point, Lersina’s mission would be to ambush these reinforcements along with the Dryders. The idea was to massacre the troops, or at least cause enough losses to anger the Shadowhunter Clan.

Once their mission was completed, they would disappear without a trace, leaving an open plot of land for the Minotaurs and the Harpies to occupy. The Minotaurs would naturally choose to stay behind and defend their hard-won territory. As for the Harpies, they would most likely be forced to stay behind if they wanted their leader back.

Yet with their reinforcements wiped out and their lands occupied by monsters, the Shadowhunter Clan wouldn’t take such a slight lying down. An army would no doubt be sent out shortly to try and retake the lands from the Minotuars. In order to defend their new lands, the Minotaurs would have to dispatch a new army as well. Just like that, a new feud would be created, one that would leave both sides sorely battered. At that point, the Ghostface Clan would appear to reap the rewards…

It was a brilliant plan, I had to admit. Even if the Ghostface Clan’s involvement was revealed, the fact of the matter was that the Minotaurs were the ones holding the territory. The Shadowhunter Clan would have to first deal with these Minotaurs before they could consider taking on the Ghostface Clan.

A scheme that didn’t require any form of obfuscation… one you couldn’t escape from no matter what.

Unfortunately, all that talk was made without considering my existence, and we all know how that ended. Heh heh heh… I bet you guys never expected the Dryders to betray you, did you?

Honestly, I never expected much as well. All my godmother gave me was a mark on my soul… a passive ability of sorts. But thanks to this deceptively underwhelming ability, arachnids would never oppose me, because they could sense Lolthe’s aura in me. As for why the Dryders did not initially rush to my aid, there was a very simple reason for that: the distance.

Now… how to deal with those Harpies. Their leader is gone, but they do not know that yet. Perhaps I can make use of my connection to Numila to convince them? I have an engagement pact with Numila so her mark should be on me as well. If I were to get close enough, they should be able to sense the aura of a Harpy Witch on me…

I flapped my purple wings and fearlessly took to the sky, releasing my aura in every direction as I did so. Seeing someone invade their territory so, the Harpies promptly flew over as a flock to meet me. They circled around me for a moment then squawked in their Harpy tongue. While I might not have understood what they were saying, I could tell that they had recognised my right to lead them. A fact which surprised me, to be perfectly honest.

I had never expected to settle the Harpy problem so easily, but upon reflecting back on what happened with Numila, it was only to be expected. It was precisely because of my connection to Numila that Eugenia and Elena were willing to be my allies as well. In a lot of ways, I was half a Harpy Witch, not to mention the fact that I actually had wings now.

At the same time that I dealt with the Harpies, the battle below had ended as well. With the addition of the Dryders, the fight had turned into a one-sided massacre. The strongest amongst them, the Alpha Minotaur, wasn’t even an Overlord yet. Naturally, he wouldn’t stand a chance against three peak Eight-stars. With no way to run and no way to beat them, he ended up as a captive…

With their strongest fighter captured, the morale of the entire Minotaur army crumbled as well. Those who could, fled. Those who couldn’t either died or were captured.

Just like that, what was ordinarily supposed to be a sure victory for the Ghostface Clan ended up being foiled by little old me…

Shameless Self-promotion

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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.