The noble hunting grounds on the outskirts of Lancaster.
As a hunting ground built especially for nobles, apart from the rich variety of game, there was naturally a small sturdy wooden hut that served as a place to rest.
Since the environment was good and the scenery was beautiful, along with the patrols that ensured that there were no magical creatures in the hunting grounds, some nobles would bring their families to this place for a stroll even outside of hunting season.
There was only one door to the wooden hut, and it was convenient for the guards to stand guard and keep watch. But it was clearly a different situation now.
"Mom, I'm scared …"
The little girl was huddled in her mother's embrace, trembling.
"Don't be afraid, Gwendolyn. Your grandfather would definitely send someone to save you." The gentle noblewoman softly caressed her daughter's head, comforting her over and over again.
And now, a massive head was stuffed into the wooden hut where the door used to be.
It was a frightening head that had features of both a fish and a human face.
The noblewoman had been educated as a noble since she was young, and was familiar with the illustrations of magical creatures written by the Lancaster folklore scholars. As such, she knew a thing or two about the magical creatures around Lancaster. But she never knew that such a monster existed nearby.
The eyes on the human-faced fish's head bulged out like light bulbs and could move 360 degrees at will, and were now staring fixedly at the few people left in the hut.
Some of the soldiers had thought that it had lost its ability to move when they saw it stuck on the door frame, and tried to use the opportunity to blind the monster's eyes and cut off its head to kill it instead. But the monster spat out a stream of water and sucked the soldier directly into its mouth.
The heavy armor that was so tough that it could easily defend against sharp blades was no different from jelly beans in the mouth of this monster that had human-like teeth. The poor soldier could only let out a blood-curdling scream before he was chewed up and turned into a pile of minced meat mixed with pieces of iron. Not long after, he was swallowed whole by the monster.
Several of the soldiers broke down under the tremendous pressure of the monster's gaze. They believed that they were going to die, and even wanted to have a taste of the noblewoman and the rightful heir of Lancaster in her arms before they died. In the end, they were killed by the noblewoman's two maids who were skilled in swordsmanship and became food for the monster.
After that, the atmosphere in the wooden hut became even more desperate.
Although it was indeed very sturdy and exquisite, because no one would spend the night here, there was not enough food and water in the hut.
What was more troublesome was that there wasn't only one human-faced fish around.
When they escaped into the small wooden hut, there were at least six or seven such huge and scary fish around!
The noblewoman didn't know how these strange fish attacked, but judging from their teeth, they were probably omnivores. The noblewoman could even hear the sound of fish gnawing on the wooden wall outside.
To be honest, the so-called 'sturdy wooden wall' was not enough to make people feel at ease.
Coupled with the fact that the last exit of the wooden house was blocked by the monster, it was almost a hopeless situation.
At the same time, the noblewoman was well aware that Mayor Corinth of Lancaster was in dire need of manpower. If that wasn't the case, Corinth wouldn't have risked offending the major churches and forced them to send their sacred corps to clear out the swamp fishmen nearby.
'Even if I die here, I would at least let Gwendolyn escape …'
At that thought, the noblewoman once again felt a deep hatred for the wooden hut that didn't even have a secret escape route.
"Divide the food and water among yourselves." The noblewoman watched as Gwendolyn fell asleep, exhausted from crying, and only then told her two maidservants. "Rest and recover your strength after eating. Break the wall later and run in a direction where there aren't any fish monsters! "
"What about you?" One of the maidservants asked worriedly when she noticed that the noblewoman didn't mention her.
"I'm too slow, and I'd just be a burden to you … it's better that I draw their attention, and you just have to save Gwendolyn!" The noblewoman made up her mind.
Corinth's father, Gwendolyn's son, had died on a woman's belly due to his lust. Still, he was clearly flawed in a certain aspect due to his countless nights of flings, so much so that he didn't have any children apart from Gwendolyn.
Old Corinth, on the other hand, had only married one woman in his entire life, and had only one child, his son.
That was why if Gwendolyn died here, Lancaster would fall completely into the hands of the Valla Empire's imperial family.
"But …" The maidservant clearly didn't want to abandon her master.
That was when the fish monsters' cries could be heard from outside.
The noblewoman's expression changed. She had a deep impression of that sound — it was the sound of excitement when the fish monsters found their prey.
Could Lancaster's reinforcements have really arrived?
No, they didn't send a distress signal, and Lancaster wouldn't know what happened here.
Moreover, this was a hunting ground for nobles stationed here, which was why Lancaster's army sweeping away the swamp fishmen and the messy sacred corps wouldn't appear here.
Those who were discovered by the fish monsters were probably normal people who didn't know the way and stumbled into this place. The noblewoman quickly came to that conclusion.
I'm sorry, but we can't save you now that we can't even protect ourselves. She said quietly in her mind.
"Mother?" Gwendolyn, jolted awake, glanced at her mother.
"Don't be afraid, Gwendolyn." The noblewoman did her best to comfort her. "Don't be afraid, it'll be over soon."
Even so, the fish monsters' cries didn't calm down as she expected, and instead became louder and louder.
Soon, the sounds of battle could be heard from outside as well, as if someone was fighting their way here from the distance.
There were the piercing sounds of metal clashing as blades cut down on the fish monsters' bodies, as well as violent explosions caused by divine or magical spells. The fish monsters' furious cries and human curses mixed in, making the battle feel extraordinarily intense.
The two maidservants were about to join the fight as well, but the fish head blocking the door had a death stare on them.
At the same time, the situation outside was very unclear, and they were afraid that the fish monsters would come to devour the noblewoman and Gwendolyn once they broke out of the wall.
After some time, the outside finally quieted down again.
"Who won?" The maidservant asked her companion.
"It should be the fish monsters." The other maidservant's expression was grim. "You know how terrifying those fish monsters are … Almost five hundred garrison troops in the hunting grounds were wiped out before they could even send a distress signal, and the elite city guards who followed Master were all killed without a chance to fight back …"
Not only were the fish monsters extremely powerful, but their scales were like iron armor, and normal attacks couldn't even break through their defenses.
She paused for a moment before continuing, "To be able to fight the fish monsters for so long, it must be an elite army of more than two hundred people."
"Can't it be a group of Extraordinaires?" The maidservant couldn't help but ask.
"Surely you haven't come into contact with Extraordinaires? A group of those inhuman monsters is very frightening, and they should be able to finish off those monsters faster and not fight for so long. " The maidservant who was asked shook her head and sighed. "There should be cheers if the elite army won … But it's quiet outside, so the fish monsters must have won."
Her words were reasonable and convincing, and even the noblewoman couldn't help but nod, thinking that her guess was right, and that she could only rely on herself to escape.
Suddenly, the fish head blocking the door opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing hiss.
The sudden turn of events startled everyone in the house.
Just as they thought that the fish monster was going to force its way into the wooden hut, a large amount of liquid splattered out of its eyes and mouth, and its terrifying lightbulb-like eyes gradually turned turbid. Its head shook for a while, crushing the wooden hut's door frame into a pile of sawdust, and finally dropped to the ground as if exhausted, lifeless.
The two maidservants looked at each other, not quite sure what had happened.
But before they could step forward to test whether the fish monster was pretending to be dead or if something strange had really happened, the fish monster's body gradually became transparent. Then, its entire head and body disappeared, leaving only four pitch-black organs that looked like claws that evolved from the fins remained in place …
"What's going on?" It wasn't just the maidservants — even the rather knowledgeable noblewoman had never seen such a thing and was at a loss for what to do.
That was when a boy who was slightly older than Gwendolyn ran in from outside. He did a double take when he saw the four of them, before rushing out, yelling as he ran. "Uncle Mufasa! There's someone in the hut! "
Then, a deep and steady male voice asked. "Who is it? Is it the hunting grounds? "
"I don't know. It's a girl!" The boy replied.
"What color is that?"
"Yellow!"
The four in the hut looked at each other.
They couldn't help studying each other, their minds filled with the same question: What was yellow about them?
However, they didn't have much time to think as the adult man outside walked in.
The noblewoman's body tensed the moment she saw him.
She had seen this face on an investigation report when she was cleaning up Castellan Corinth's desk!
That was the murderer who had killed Baron Nigelania after the painstaking investigation of the city's captains!
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Chapter 169:
The Incident at the Hunting Grounds
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