The Pearl and the Invaders

In that instant, everyone present turned their attention to Lulune's hands.

There, a sphere so large it takes two hands to hold lay quietly.

The sphere is entirely green, with an outer shell that is like a transparent film, allowing one to clearly see the interior. Inside the shell, liquid seems to float. It's neither particularly beautiful nor ugly.

However, inside this sphere, which is neither particularly beautiful nor ugly, floats a strange fetus.

That's right, it's a fetus.

It has a small, round body, limbs that are not fully developed, and even long hair at the back of its head, symbolizing femaleness. The curves from its head to the front of its spine make it look extremely eerie.

Even more bizarrely, the fetus had unusually large eyes, which were completely out of proportion to its underdeveloped body. The large eyeballs moved up and down, as if consciously looking at the people outside, filled with a hostility and malice that others could not understand.

"----What's this?"

Ais's voice had become hoarse at some point.

Her eyes met the baby's eyes, and as if they resonated with some unknown force, her heartbeat and blood flow accelerated.

She didn't know what this thing was; she only knew that her blood, her instincts, and even her very existence were resisting it, to the point that a sharp tinnitus rang deep in her eardrums, and she felt as if worms were crawling all over her skin, giving rise to a feeling of nausea that surged violently into her throat.

As a result, her head became even more dizzy, her breathing became severely erratic, all her strength was draining away, and her delicate body swayed, almost falling to the ground.

"[Sword Princess]?!"

Lulune was startled by Ais's sudden and intense reaction and hurriedly spoke up.

"What's wrong? Are you sick? Or injured?"

Clearly, Lulune didn't have the same inexplicable reaction or feeling as Ais.

This seemed to be something only Ais could feel. Not to mention Lulune, even Leo, who was also staring into the fetus's big eyes like her, was perfectly fine, only feeling physically uncomfortable no matter how he looked at it.

Of course, this wasn't Leo's primary concern.

Leo had been watching Ais even before the fetus appeared, and he was alarmed by Ais's intense reaction.

But when Ais swayed and almost fell to the ground, he didn't rush to the girl's side to help her up immediately. Instead, he suddenly turned around and drew the Dragon Fang Sword that he had been holding at his waist.

Almost simultaneously, a figure, like a ghost, silently darted out from behind.

The figure moved with incredible speed, almost as if it were teleporting, closing in on Leo the instant he turned around.

"Leo ----!"

Ais finally caught her breath from her discomfort and saw what was happening, letting out a gasp of surprise.

Before she could even cry out in alarm, a longsword, with the force of thunder, slashed down heavily towards Leo from above.

"Clang!!!"

The sound of metal clanging rang out, both jarring and abrupt.

The sound was louder than a bell, causing sparks to fly wildly, illuminating the somewhat dim alley and the two faces locked in a standoff between weapons.

Just as the longsword came crashing down, Leo managed to block it with his Dragon Fang Sword, causing the two weapons to clash violently together.

A tremendous force was transmitted from the opponent's sword, almost causing Leo to drop the Dragon Fang Sword from his hand.

"Whispering sound----"

Seeing their seemingly sure-fire attack blocked, the opponent let out a blatant click of their tongue.

66

Annoying adventurers.

A loud, clear, and icy voice rang out from the other party, only to be met with a merciless kick from Leo.

"Bang!"

The sudden kick missed the attacker's body and was blocked by the attacker's raised hand.

The two weapons, which had been rubbing together violently, separated with the force of the attack, and Leo and the attacker were thrown back, creating some distance between them.

"Are you alright, Leo?"

Ais, disregarding her own discomfort, flashed to Leo's side and gently supported him.

"Fine."

Leo shook his head, but his gaze remained fixed on the attacker.

His hand holding the sword was still trembling slightly, feeling extremely numb.

The force unleashed by that strike was so great that it made one wonder if it was a force that a human could possess.

"Who... who are you?!"

Holding the green gem in her hand Lulune hid behind Leo and Ais and spoke up in a panic.

Only then did everyone get a clear look at the attacker.

It was a male adventurer whose hands, feet, and chest were all covered in heavy black armor, with a tattered scarf around his neck, a helmet on his head, and light-skinned. Half of his face was wrapped in bandages, revealing only his left eye.

"Male?"

Ais and Lulune both somewhat taken aback.

There was no way around it; that loud, clear, and icy voice that the other party had just spoken was clearly a woman's voice.

Ais and Lulune initially thought the attacker was a woman, but when they saw a man instead, they were taken aback.

Only Leo stared at the other person expressionlessly and spoke calmly.

That's not her real face; it's just a disguise.

As soon as Leo finished speaking, the other party made an annoyed sound.

"It's really stuffy moving around like this."

His voice remained high-pitched, loud, and cold, completely at odds with his masculine appearance.

Immediately, the opponent began to remove the armor he was wearing.

She first violently crushed the breastplate, then easily destroyed the other parts of the armor, throwing the fragments to the ground before revealing her full, fair neck and supple limbs, which were covered by her shirt.

The bandages wrapped around his face were also torn off, revealing a male face that Leo and Ais had never seen before.

"That's the deliveryman who delivered the goods to me!"

Lulune let out a scream, which made Ais instantly understand what was going on.

The Amazon seller at the recycling center has already said that the head of the man killed in the town of Rivira was crushed.

In other words, the killer had worked on the victim's head.

However, instead of completely destroying the other person's head, she peeled off the skin from the head, stuck it on her own face, and disguised herself as a man.

This guess was confirmed after the other party ripped off their mask, revealing a cold, female face.

"I feel much better now."

The mysterious woman, who spoke these words without any emotion, raised her head and stared at Leo and his companions in light attire, wearing only a helmet, knee pads, and arm armor.

The aura emanating from her was chilling; she didn't seem like a living human being, but rather like a ferocious beast, creating an extraordinary sense of oppression.

The way she looked at Leo, Ais, and Lulune wasn't like she was looking at her own kind, but more like she was looking at a group of inferior beings—cold and ruthless. Only when she saw the green gem lying in Lulune's hand did her gaze change.

"Hand that thing over."

The mysterious woman spoke coldly.

That was an unquestionable declaration.

That was an announcement that could not be refused.

There were no warnings, no advice; it was as if they were unilaterally telling others that they had no right to refuse, and they had already taken the first step forward as soon as they spoke.

The woman vanished in the next second.

!"

Leo's expression changed drastically, his pupils contracted sharply, and almost without thinking, he pushed Lulune away from behind him.

"Danger!"

"Ah!"

Leo's shout and Lulune's exclamation rang out at the same time, causing one of them to lose their balance and fall to the side, while the other stumbled and fell to the ground in a sorry state.

"Whoosh!"

A long sword slashed past the spot where Lulune had been a second before with lightning speed, landing in empty space.

Just now, if Leo hadn't pushed Lulune away in time, she would definitely have been cut in half by now.

Lulune on the ground, realized this, and cold sweat poured down her back. The green gem in her hand rolled to the side as she fell.

The mysterious woman who had slashed down with the sword, flying at an astonishing speed, was about to turn around to pick it up when she was forced back by a silver military knife.

Don't even think about it!

Ais finally drew her sword, and seemed to have recovered her strength, unleashing a strike as sharp as ever, forcing the mysterious woman to leap back.

A silver sword flashed past like a streak of light, nearly striking her body, causing the mysterious woman who had jumped back to gasp in astonishment once more.

"Didn't I say—it's in the way?"

The mysterious woman attacked Ais.

She was still incredibly fast, disappearing from her spot as if she were teleporting. Even Leo could only catch a blurry afterimage, Lulune couldn't see anything at all.

Only Ais managed to capture the other person's figure completely, and even met them at a speed that was almost as fast as theirs.

"Clang!"

The saber and longsword clashed in the dimly lit alley, sending up a burst of blinding sparks.

"Clang-clang-clang-clang"

The next moment, the sound of metal clashing resounded incessantly, instantly turning the entire alley into a battlefield.

Ais and the mysterious woman engaged in a high-speed melee combat right in front of Leo and Lulune. Their figures flashed past each other, their weapons slicing through the air with cold arcs of light, clashing dozens of times in an instant, sending sparks flying one after another through the alley.

"So... so strong!"

Lulune, at Lulune 3, was completely stunned, her whole body trembling.

She had never seen such a fierce battle, much less such an intense sword fight. She felt that Ais and that mysterious woman were beings she could not comprehend at all.

"If you don't want to die, you'd better stay hidden and not wander off."

Leo warned Lulune, then ignored her and drew the Emerald Staff from his left hip, lighting up the jewels on it.

"[Light of Heaven, Sword of Stars.]"

Without hesitation, he chanted a spell, unleashing a Starlight magic circle and shooting out several thick meteors.

The mysterious woman, who was engaged in a fierce battle with Ais, noticed this phenomenon. Without lingering, she slashed Ais back with her sword, then quickly retreated, dodging the incoming meteor. Her skill was undeniably agile.

But she didn't know that Leo's magic wasn't so easy to dodge.

The meteors she had dodged suddenly veered off course, as if controlled by an unseen hand, and caught up with her retreating figure one after another.

-What?"

The mysterious woman's expression changed.

"Bang bang bang bang bang----!"

At that moment, a shooting star mercilessly struck her, exploding repeatedly on her delicate body as she hastily raised her arms.

A dazzling starburst suddenly appeared in the alley, causing the airflow to become chaotic and the shockwave, along with the surging air currents, to shake the surrounding buildings.

"You bastard—!"

With her arms outstretched and her skin charred black from the explosion, the mysterious woman was thrown backward from the blast. She barely managed to regain her balance and landed on the ground, her cold voice and face turning furious.

Little did people know, her performance was what was truly surprising.

"He actually withstood Leo's magic head-on?!"

Ais couldn't help but be surprised.

Others might not know, but didn't she know just how outrageous Leo's magical firepower was?

That's the kind of firepower that could injure the floor master at Lv.2, and rival a Lv.5 Mage at Lv.3. It could even pierce through the notoriously tough Black Rhino on the 51st Floor with a single blow, and even make that female-sized monster howl in pain!

Now that Leo is already at Lv.4, his firepower has become even more terrifying, yet even such firepower only managed to char the mysterious woman's skin?

She still has the energy to move around and even swear?

Judging from his appearance, he doesn't seem to have suffered any particularly serious injuries.

This is simply not the kind of defensive capability a human should have!

Let alone the fact that the opponent appears to be just a human, even a level 6 dwarf warrior like Gareth wouldn't necessarily suffer this level of injury if hit head-on by Leo's magic, right?

"Who are you? Why would you kill someone for something like that?"

Ais asked aloud.

Without a doubt, the mysterious woman before them was the one who murdered the recipient and had her eye on the green gem.

"And what is that thing?"

Ais continued to question the woman, but received no response.

The woman only seemed to grow increasingly irritable and impatient.

"Since things have become so complicated, don't blame me for making a scene."

The woman coldly reached out and took out a grass flute from her bosom.

Upon seeing this, Leo immediately spoke up loudly from behind.

"Ais! Stop her!"

Completely trusting Leo, Ais immediately unleashed her fastest speed and charged towards him without a word.

Come out.

"

The mysterious woman, however, calmly and deliberately stepped back, creating distance between herself and Ais, while simultaneously playing her grass flute.

The grass flute emitted a sharp, whistling sound that echoed over the town.

The Under Resort descended into chaos.