Though the King of the Mountain Whales provided a somewhat soft landing, the Fishman was still rattled after crashing, his body reeling with pain and fatigue, and suffering visible fractures. However, he was fortunate enough not to have sustained any life-threatening injuries.

As he fell, his mind was awash with confusion. He landed atop the back of a regular Mountain Whale and was left groggy and disoriented. At this moment, he still failed to comprehend what had struck him; he even suspected he had been ambushed by some hidden, powerful entity. Otherwise, how could he have been knocked off balance with no means of retaliation?

Who was it?!

Who attacked me?

This was the Mechanical Clan’s territory—could it be that powerful magical automatons were lurking here?

He struggled to sit up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. His gaze first fell on the silver-haired girl below—she still stood there with a blank expression, motionless like a statue, without any unfamiliar helpers appearing beside her.

Then he raised his head to the King of the Mountain Whales above. To his surprise, the Purple Commander remained standing there, silent, with no orders for an attack. He squinted slightly, his expression neutral, as rainwater streamed down his crab-like shell.

The Fishman felt astonished. As an old subordinate, he understood well that this was the expression the Purple Commander only displayed when faced with trouble.

But who was the source of that trouble?

That silver-haired girl of equal standing?

Was that attack just now truly hers?

…

Given that the Fishman Lord had essentially been instantaneously dispatched, the aggressive momentum of their aberrant army seemed to halt abruptly, leaving an eerie silence in the valley. The only sound was the persistent rain echoing in the vast gray sky above, reminiscent of tender buds pushing through the earth.

However, inside the valley, tension prevailed. The dolls of the kingdom couldn’t decipher who was stronger or weaker; they merely sensed an impending battle, with the kingdom hanging in the balance.

“Is everyone prepared?” Copper Skin, grasping a steel fork, crouched in the corner, peering at the pod of whales outside while glancing back at the others.

“We’re ready!” the dolls responded in unison, brandishing makeshift weapons like shovels, saws, and sticks, their tones serious.

They weren’t sure why the aberrant forces from Kux had suddenly come to their doorstep or if it was related to Miss Yvette, but one thing was certain: after nine years living together, they had come to view Yvette, Ice Rain, and Dugrabi as family. If family was in danger, they must help, or it would betray their purpose of human cultivation.

Even the children from the adventurer team were involved: Little Jasmine wielded a broken metal mop, Roller held a homemade slingshot, and Soap was picking up stones with his tweezer-like fingers as makeshift ammunition.

But clearly, many of the dolls were trembling slightly in fear, visibly anxious about the oncoming whales.

…

In contrast to the kingdom’s members, on the other side of the valley, the atmosphere in Dugrabi’s makeshift cave, where Ice Rain and Dugrabi were resting, was somewhat calmer.

“Do you think the kind-hearted miss can deal with them?” Ice Rain asked, her initial tension eased by Dugrabi’s calm demeanor.

“Is my teacher afraid of them? It would be easier to call in a lord of the aberrations!” Dugrabi scoffed.

“Really?” Ice Rain was skeptical. While she knew the kind-hearted miss was formidable, facing such a frightening array of aberrant creatures, not to mention a fearsome humanoid aberration like a boss-level figure, did not seem like a challenge any single person could manage.

Even Divine Benefactors from the Sanctum would struggle, given that some had already fallen in Kux in the past. Could the kind-hearted miss really be stronger than those legendary figures?

…

After an unknown length of time, the Purple Commander, still atop the King of the Mountain Whales, finally spoke again, “Who are you?”

Perhaps shaken by the earlier shock, his speech became progressively clearer, less muddled than before. Although the accent remained, it was still barely comprehensible.

“A Commander.” Yvette replied.

Commander… The Purple Commander stroked the tendrils on his chin, his expression growing solemn.

Due to years of harassment from Abella, in his view, this silver-haired girl should definitely be a lord. But now she was suddenly identifying herself as a fellow commander, which changed everything.

In a battle between equals, it was unlikely he could easily subdue or kill her, and if she managed to escape, as a subordinate of the King of the Ocean Depths, the ramifications of crossing into the Black Tide Continent to steal nutrients would be significant.

If a native lord were to be born in the Black Tide Continent, they could easily report this incident to the Goddess, leading to repercussions for his position with the King of the Ocean Depths.

Of course, the King of the Ocean Depths wouldn’t take any action over such an incident; ultimately, the one who would suffer would be his subordinate. After all, who could explain that this was not entirely the Purple Commander’s doing?

But now that he was here, there was no going back. He at least had to establish the girl’s strength. If she turned out to be among the weaker ranks of her level, then it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to silence her… Latest content published on novęlfire.net

Thinking this, the light in the Purple Commander’s eyes flickered. In an instant, a blue runic circle illuminated, and dozens of crescent-shaped water blades surged toward the silver-haired girl.

This was clearly a test. Even the speed at which the rune circle was activated was quite slow, providing ample warning.

Yvette immediately retaliated with her silver strands, and the two sides’ attacks precisely clashed in mid-air, bursting into brilliant particles, akin to flashing blue fireworks.

As the elemental torrents dispersed, the water blades dissolved into nothingness, but several silver strands were shredded into fragments, fluttering down from the sky.

Yvette frowned slightly. Her hardened tendrils were certainly not invulnerable; the black magic of the Spider Witch could erode many things, but it required time.

However, the Purple Commander’s magical attack was astounding; it had directly severed her hardened tendrils. Did this mean that once a conflict erupted, the Commander had the ability to penetrate her strongest defense and inflict fatal damage on her?

That was a top-notch military-level spell, wasn’t it?

She couldn’t help but wonder how the runes were arranged… If given the opportunity, she hoped to capture one for further study to unlock potential insights into her own rune compilation.

…

While Yvette silently marveled at the talents of the Commander-level spell, the Purple Commander atop the Mountain Whale was no less astonished, perhaps even more so.

That string of water blades seemed like a simple, unassuming spell, yet he had secretly infused it with a special element.

In other words, it merely appeared straightforward; in truth, it had been a carefully executed sneak attack. If the silver-haired girl had made the slightest mistake, it could have critically injured her.

But how could it be so easily intercepted? It was as effortless as blowing away a leaf floating beside him.

This girl, was she a top-tier expert among the commanders?

Yet, if such an expert stood before him, why was she lingering around Kux and continuing to bother them?

Surely she didn’t have interest in Abella, did she?