“You scoundrel!? What the hell are you doing? Hurry up and let me go!” The troll third brother was furious, as he ruthlessly used his spiked club to incessantly hammer and stab Huo Lei’s back.
Blood seeped out from the corners of Huo Lei’s mouth, yet his eyes remained as unwavering as ever.
“Little sister Sha, take good care of my brother!” With a furious roar, Huo Lei firmly grasped onto the third troll brother’s legs. Exerting all the strength from his body, he began to drag his opponent towards the edge of the stone bridge.
“Die!” Without a trace of hesitation, he leaped down from the edge while dragging the third troll brother with him.
“Uncle Huo Lei!”
“Ahhhhh! You vile traitor, don’t drag me to death with you!…” The third troll brother held onto the edge of the stone bridge as if his life depended on it.
“Crack…” Several cracks appeared on the surface of the stone slabs.
“B-Big brother! Hurry up and save me!”
“Don’t move!” The troll commander narrowed his eyes. Tossing the axe in his hand, he sent it smashing towards Huo Lei’s arm which was still holding onto the third troll brother’s legs.
“Whoosh!” Even though Huo Lei had managed to endure the painful shock caused by the axe’s collision, his grip loosened. Taking advantage of his weakness, the third troll brother placed a foot on his head and incessantly stomped on his face.
“Get lost! Get lost from here!”
Being trampled on to the point that his eyes were bleeding, Huo Lei’s consciousness turned hazy as he gradually lost control over his fingers…
“Plop!” A massive spray of water rose up in a loud splash. Huo Lei had fallen into the river and was being swept away by the rapid currents.
“Give me your hand!” The eldest brother of the troll, the troll commander, grabbed onto the hand of his third brother and forcibly lifted him upwards.
“Huff, huff, huff… Thank you, big brother.” Having been freed from danger, the third troll brother strenuously took in large breaths of air as he looked towards the troll commander with gratitude in his eyes.
“What is there to thank me for? Why are you still treating me as an outsider when we are brothers?” The troll commander patted the shoulders of his third brother.
“Heh heh, you’re right. We are brothers!” The troll third brother grasped the commander’s hand, while the corners of his lip parted into a smile. However, within it, an additional trace of chilliness took form.
“In that case, big brother, you should help out your young brother one last time for his future!” Before the third brother had finished speaking, a dazzling dagger had already pierced the troll commander’s heart, causing him to feel nothing but pain in his chest.
“Third brother, you!?” The unsuspecting troll commander revealed a face full of disbelief. Just when he was planning to make some sort of response, a rupturing sharp pain towards his chest, causing darkness to gradually seep into his consciousness.
The dagger, which had been crafted with profound metal, had been covered with a type of vicious venom.
“Hahahaha!! …This way, the credit of capturing the Asiatic cat princess will completely be mine, hahaha!” The troll manically looked up and howled with laughter. He then used his foot to kick the troll commander, who had fallen into a daze from the effect of the poison, off the stone bridge.
To have the plan that he mulled over for such a long time succeed this easily was definitely something he didn’t expect.
With every one of his sworn brothers being dead, he could push every blame on them and they wouldn’t be able to refute it. What’s more, he had managed to capture the Asiatic cat princess, who the chief had been actively trying to catch…
Hardly concealing the base desire in his eyes, the third troll brother turned his sinister gaze towards Lil’ Sha.
“You, …you killed your own tribesman?” Said Lil’ Sha with a face full of disbelief.
“That’s right? So what! I don’t care, as long as I’m not the one who’s dying.” The third troll brother nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.
“B-But he is your sworn brother, and he even saved you earlier! You…”
“Sigh, after so many years of wandering, the naive little princess hasn’t learned a single piece of worldly wisdom.” The troll third brother smirked as he walked towards her.
“There’s an apt saying of the human race: Heaven destroys those who don’t look out for themselves. This world, which runs on the law of the jungle, is just like that. If I don’t use someone as a stepping stone, I’ll eventually become their stepping stone instead!” The troll third brother pulled on Lil’ Sha’s collar and brought her before him.
“You truly are a vicious, ungrateful-…!”
“Thanks for the praise… You should take this lesson to heart. Although, you’ll no longer have the chance to put it to practice. If the little princess still has anything she needs to be taken care of, you should hurry up and say it. After all, this could possibly be your last chance to see the outside world.”
“M-My mom and sister, are they…” As she stared at the large wrinkle-filled face that was almost within reach of herself, Lil’ Sha asked after gathering her courage and shakily swallowing down her saliva.
“Indeed, it’s this question.” The third troll brother laughed raucously.
“Well, on account of how pitiful the little princess is, I shall take on the difficult task of answering your question. But… Are you sure you want to hear the answer?”
“…” Lil’ Sha bit her lips as she stared at the third troll brother with an unwavering gaze.
“Hahaha, Your humble self truly finds it hard to reject – especially when the little princess is requesting it… Speaking of which, little princess, as a member of the royal family, do you know how much potential and [Magic] the bloodline inside your body is hiding?…” The troll third brother narrowed his eyes.
“Do you think we started the war because we took a fancy to those little spots of territory you had? Hehe, how wrong you are…”
“I’ll tell you the truth: Our chief has found a surviving scroll in a historical artifact. Ascribed within it was a method to extract the [primordial vein] from a royal member of another race, and, how to use it to enrich the richness of one’s own …”
The pupils of Lil’ Sha gradually turned larger as she listened on.
“This method has its limitations. The caster must be a male, while the target of the extraction must be a female… I don’t know the specific details, but if we’re talking about the main procedure, hehe… After I have said this much, do you understand now?” The corners of the third troll brother’s lips revealed a flash of a cruel smile.
“Only when the target dies will the process stop…”
“No, that’s not possible…”
“Sigh, what a shame that I didn’t have the right to sample such national beauties like your sister and mother. After all, I’m not the clan leader…”
Lil’ Sha was ashen as she lowered her head, her body shivered uncontrollably.
“However, while I didn’t get to taste the meat, I still managed to get a bit of its broth. After all, our clan leader is really generous; He knows that corpses are useless and would be better served given off to his subordinates…”
“You dirty scumbag!! Maggot! Bastard with no conscience!” Carrying a sobbing tone, Lil’ Sha lost control of her emotions as she indignantly insulted him.
“Pah!” A loud and clear slap resounded.
“You’d better listen to your daddy and recognize the situation you’re in! Do you truly think yourself some sort of princess after I showed you some humility!? You’re merely a prisoner, MY spoil of war! If it weren’t for the fact that the clan leader wanted you to be prim and untouched, your daddy, I, would have already done you in! Understood?”
The small Lil’ Sha was nearly knocked out by the slap. A sharp pain arose in her throat, causing her to cough out several splashes of blood.
“Well, well. Your appearance is truly similar to that pair of innocent wh*res. You’ll probably cause another disaster once you grow up… Such a shame that I’ll have no share in it.”
Cursing, the third troll brother grabbed Lil’ Sha’s small arm with his hand.
“That’s enough, now follow me!”
“Pow.” A hand clad in leather glove landed on the wrist of the third troll brother.
“Cough, cough… Did you forget about me?” Ji Bai coughed roughly, his calm tone carrying a trace of weakness.
“Obscene middle-aged man! Y-You didn’t die? When did you wake up?”
“When?” The iron helmet tilted sideways.
“Roughly at the moment when he was introducing that something-something method.”
“You…”
“…Where is that guy, Huo Lei?” Ji Bai’s gaze wandered around.
“Uncle Huo Lei… H-He has been beaten down into the canal by this guy here!” Lil’ Sha resisted her tears as she pointed towards the third troll brother that still was very close to her.