Chapter 617 - Exposed
"What's going on here?!" Lilith's thundered as soon as she arrived outside.
Although she did not possess a mighty voice that could be easily heard by the rioting crowd, her voice was quickly recognized by those who were close enough to hear.
"Your Highness, you're back! Please administer justice for us! Lord Naargoc is too much!" A regular clansman spouted as several clansmen's eyes lit up at the Desolate Crow Princess's arrival.
Considering the Desolate Crow Princess allowed everyone to drink from the fountain, she would definitely stand on their side.
"Tell me what happened first," Lilith said with a frown before adding, "I will decide after I hear the details."
"Yes, Your Highness. After Lord Naargoc and the aristocrats arrived, they laid claims to the Holy Water Fountain and wanted to make us leave, depriving us of our only hope for survival. You must do something about this, Your Highness!"
"Yes, Your Highness! Please administer justice for us! No, even more than that, please punish Lord Naargoc! He wants to capture the miracle doctor and offer him up to Lord Bahlzacs!"
"Right! Lord Naargoc is no longer worthy of being a member of the Desolate Crow Clan! He is totally trying to suck up to Lord Bahlzacs and get on the good side of the Desolate Netherbird Second Prince!"
As the clansmen spoke, more and more clansmen overheard them, and before long, it quickly spread throughout the crowd until everyone realized that the Desolate Crow Princess came back.
"Please punish Lord Naargoc, Your Highness!"
"Please punish Lord Naargoc, Your Highness!"
The crowd eventually shouted in unison as they made a clear path between Lilith and Lord Naargoc at the water fountain.
"Is it true what they say, Lord Naargoc? Please confirm," Lilith questioned with a firm stance that demanded complete honesty, although she knew that it was most likely true.
After all, there was no smoke without fire.
However, Lord Naargoc did not answer Lilith's question but studied her appearance silently with a sharp gaze.
Shortly after, he opened his mouth and spoke with doubt, "Are you really the same Desolate Crow Princess that ran away from the clan a few months ago?"
"That's right! Have you forgotten who I am already?! Or do you know want to recognize this princess now that you have decided to switch side?" Lilith narrowed her eyes with a frown.
"If you are the Desolate Crow Princess, then where are your wings?!"
Once the question was raised, the crowd immediately broke into discussions as the clansmen whispered to each other with doubt.
"I suspect you are an imposter!" Lord Naargoc accused before barking, "Servants! Capture this fake princess for me! I want to see who this person truly is!"
"Yes, Lord Naargoc!"
The nearby servants of Lord Naargoc quickly made their way over Lilith's side before she sprouted her single black-feathered wing and thundered, "Who dares?!"
The servants immediately froze.
"I may have lost a wing, but the fact that I am the Desolate Crow Princess will not change! Not now, not ever! The blood of Desolate Crow flows in my veins, hmph!" Lilith snorted.
But at the same time, she was frowning inside her heart with hidden concerns. Lord Naargoc was a Mid-Rank 1 Transcendent while she was still far from the Transcendent Realm.
Even worse, she had no one strong to support her except Leon and Duna.
However, Duna had headed to god knows where much earlier while Leon was busy studying the variant disease plaguing the Desolate Crow Clan.
"Bahaha! It's fine if you were an imposter, but it's even better if you are the real deal! Capture her! Lord Bahlzacs will be most pleased to know about the Desolate Crow Princess's return!" Lord Naargoc stated.
"This… Are we really going to betray the Desolate Crow Clan?" One of the servants asked with hesitation.
At the same time, the other servants of Lord Naargoc also showed similar signs of hesitation, causing Lord Naargoc to become very displeased.
"What are you waiting for?! Capture her!" Lord Naargoc barked before adding, "If you are not going to do what I ask, then what do I still need you for?! I will kill you all and do it myself!"
The servants trembled before their gazes flickered with decisiveness.
"Sorry, Your Highness. Please don't think badly of us," The servants apologized before they surrounded Lilith.
Just as they were about to reach out their hands and capture Lilith, a beam of darkness suddenly shot down from above and forced all the servants to retreat in alarm.
The darkness quickly coiled around Lilith's body like a giant serpent—but without coming into contact with her body as if protecting her.
"Do you need help?" Duna casually asked as she descended.
Her arrival was so silent and ghostly that she was unnoticed by everyone until her voice finally captured their attention.
Nevertheless, Lilith was very excited to see Duna's appearance.
"You're back, Duna! That's great! Your timing could not have been more perfect!" Lilith sighed with relief and expressed her joy.
Shortly after, she sincerely requested, "Please help me kill Lord Naargoc, the Mid-Rank 1 Transcendent. He has defected and become an enemy of the Desolate Crow Clan."
"Sure." Duna gave Lord Naargoc a casual glance before she nodded, "Just a small matter. I was getting bored anyway. Who knew that it would become so lively here after I left?"
"Do you want to kill yourself, or shall I do it for you?" Duna asked the black-winged aristocrat shortly after.
'A Transcendent?'
At the same time, Lord Naargoc gazed back at Duna solemnly with a frown, sensing a dangerous vibe about her, but he could not pinpoint the cause.
"Who are you? No, what are you?" Lord Naargoc inquired cautiously with a solemn look.
The woman's aura seemed to be around the Early-Rank 1 Transcendent level. However, he was getting a dreadful feeling that she was much stronger than that.
Nevertheless, Duna nonchalantly stated, "Dead men do not need to know."
In the next moment, she waved her hand, sending out a wave of destruction that shot towards Lord Naargoc quickly.
Lord Naargoc's danger instincts spiked in that instance, causing his expression to turn aghast as he retreated in fear.
"What kind of power is this?!"
…
Back in the Desolate Crow Clan's main palace, Lord Bahlzacs continued to lie in bed with a lackadaisical expression when he suddenly sensed a powerful aura surging in the clan.
His expression changed immediately as he shot to his feet in alarm, "A Transcendent Awakener!?"
"There shouldn't be any Awakeners in the clan! Looks like the warrior lied to me and secretly brought outsiders in the clan, hmph!" Lord Bahlzacs snorted coldly.
Boom!
The bedchamber walls immediately shattered under Lord Bahlzacs's might at the Mid-Rank 2 Transcendent Realm!
Jorn did not exit the palace and reunite with the other beastkin warriors for long when he suddenly saw Lord Bahlzacs burst out of the palace.
"I will deal with all of you later!" Lord Bahlzacs spouted coldly before shooting off into the direction of the source to investigate.
At the same time, Jorn and the other beastkin warriors' expression turned grave.
"What happened? Why was Lord Bahlzacs so mad? I thought you handled everything well, Brother Jorn?" One of the beastkin warriors asked.
Jorn frowned for a moment before he realized, "Lord Bahlzacs must have sensed something from that surge of aura in the distance just now!"
"Dammit!"
He cursed shortly after.
He tried to buy time, but his effort was all in vain.
He knew that a battle with Lord Bahlzacs was inevitable. However, he did not expect it to happen so soon!
"Come, let us head over quickly as well! Something big must have happened over there!" Jorn immediately urged the Transcendent-level beastkin warriors.
"Yes, Brother Jorn!"
...
Back at the location of the water fountain, a commotion broke out in the area—but under a different reason as the crowd gazed at Duna with wide eyes, shocked.
"Oh, my lord! Who exactly is this lady?! She's so powerful!"
"Lord Naargoc was a Mid-rank 1 Transcendent, but to think he would die so easily under that lady's attack!"
As the crowd commented with shock, astonishment, and awe, Duna held up Lord Naargoc's lifeless body with her hand stuck in his chest.
Lord Naargoc was cornered in just three moves before she penetrated the person's heart and destroyed his innards with the Destruction Law!
Shortly after withdrawing her bloodstained hand from the person's chest, Duna drank the dripping blood before her expression abruptly changed to disgust.
"Ptui! Disgusting!"
Duna immediately spat out the blood before tossing the body to the side.
At the same time, the crowd was taken aback by the sight of Duna's attempt at drinking blood. Was she a monster or a beast in human skin?
"Thank you, Duna. I owe you one for this," Lilith approached while expressing her gratitude for Duna's help.
However, Duna suddenly barked at her, "Stay back! Something is coming!"
Boom!
A blurred shadow shot down at Duna's location with lightning-fast speed before the ground ruptured immediately!
"Duna!" Lilith cried as Duna's figure disappeared inside of an obscuring cloud of dust.