316: Night raid on the dungeon

He leaned closer and said enticingly, "Take my advice: being jealous is not a good habit. Men should play when it's time to play."

"The taste of an elf... I guarantee that once Master Shadow Erosion tries it, he'll never forget it. Come, I'll take you to the dungeon to open your eyes, and while we're at it, I'll teach you how to train those arrogant long-ears."

"When the time comes, you'll be the top lover... If you want to play, it's not out of the question..." As he spoke, Mordecai actually stood up, his skeletal claw reaching out to grab Chen Yu's arm.

The White-Haired Loli's scalp tingled, and her stomach churned.

She really wanted to blast this old bone-bag, whose head was full of nothing but filth, with a bolt of Yin Lightning.

But if she had a falling out now, Her Majesty's plan would go down the drain.

Enduring the nausea, she was pondering how to escape when the skeleton sent to fetch the goods returned, carrying several heavy bone boxes.

"Lord Priest, the materials are all here," the skeleton said respectfully.

Chen Yu felt as if she had been granted a grand amnesty. She snatched the bone boxes and held them in her arms, pretending they were so heavy that her small frame wobbled.

"Thank you for your generous gift, Lord Priest. My teacher is pressing for these, so I'll be heading back now." She spoke rapidly, turning around to slip away.

"Hey, little apprentice, don't leave yet!" Mordecai wasn't giving up and tried to stop her.

Chen Yu's feet were swift as the wind as she threw back a sentence without looking: "Next time! I'll definitely learn from the Lord Priest next time!"

Before her voice had even faded, she had already rushed far away with the boxes, leaving behind only a faint, fishy breeze.

Mordecai watched the apprentice's fleeing back, scratching his bald skull with a skeletal claw. The soulfire in his eye sockets showed a hint of regret and confusion.

"Tsk, is Master Shadow Erosion's apprentice a jealous one? She even rejected the elven girl on her teacher's behalf. What a waste of good stock."

He shook his head and slumped back into his bone chair, returning to his heartache over the mostly empty warehouse ledgers.

Inside the alchemy room, Shang Wan Ning was guiding a bone-white furnace fire to smelt a piece of Void Stone.

The bone door was slammed open with a "clatter."

Chen Yu, carrying several large bone boxes, dropped them onto the floor with a "heave-ho," kicking up a cloud of dust.

She pulled off her hood, her small face flushed red—it was unclear whether it was from exhaustion or anger.

"Your Majesty, the items are all here." Chen Yu panted, then gritted her teeth and said, "That old pervert Mordecai actually tried to drag me to solicit elves. He even said something about 'teaching me how to train long-ears.'"

"Pah! This Old Lady almost couldn't hold back from dismantling those old bones of his to use as firewood."

Upon hearing this, You Yu and Tudor looked over with strange expressions.

Shang Wan Ning's hand controlling the furnace fire was as steady as a rock, her hood didn't even move, and only her raspy, broken-gong voice slowly sounded: "Oh? Elves? They are quite rare in the Gray Mist Territory."

"Rare my foot!" Chen Yu jumped in anger. "That old bag of bones said there's 'fresh stock' that just arrived in the dungeon. He even hinted that I shouldn't be jealous of you. Jealous of him? In his dreams!"

"Jealous?"

Shang Wan Ning's withered hand paused slightly, and the furnace fire flickered.

Chen Yu choked, her face turning even redder as she stammered, "He... he was talking nonsense, saying a skeletal attendant saw me in your arms this morning..."

You Yu and Tudor exchanged a glance and tactfully formed hand seals to seal their own hearing.

"Enough."

Shang Wan Ning, fearing the White-Haired Loli's loose tongue would spill even the details of their intimacy, quickly interrupted her.

With a wave of her withered hand, the bone boxes on the floor opened automatically, and chaos crystalss and Bone-Corroding Vine juice flew into the furnace.

"As long as the items are in hand. Just remember Mordecai's filthy thoughts. When the time comes for the final reckoning, he won't be forgotten."

Seeing that Her Majesty didn't want to discuss it further, Chen Yu's anger deflated like a punctured balloon.

She curled her lip and resignedly squatted in a corner to start sorting the materials.

[Drawing circles to curse that pervert!]

Late at night, in the meditation room at the top of the spire.

Chen Yu tossed and turned, Mordecai's skeletal face and his crude words about "elven girls" spinning in her head.

She grabbed a handful of her silver hair and sat up.

"Can't sleep?"

Shang Wan Ning's voice rang out unexpectedly, giving Chen Yu a start. The Empress had opened her eyes at some unknown point, her dark gold pupils locking onto her in the gloom.

"Your Majesty, you weren't cultivating?" Chen Yu shrunk her neck.

Shang Wan Ning's hand pulled back the beast-hide blanket as she rose, her black robes automatically wrapping tight. "Since Mordecai has sent such a 'grand gift,' it would be a waste of his 'kindness' if we didn't go take a look."

Chen Yu's eyes instantly went wide. "The dungeon? We're really going?"

"Mm~"

Shang Wan Ning tapped the air, and the aura and appearance of both of them twisted and blurred. They merged into the shadows of the tower, becoming more hidden than the deepest night.

"Follow me."

Those two words dropped into Chen Yu's ears.

She quickly threw on her black robe and scurried after the figure that had merged into the darkness.

The internal passages of the spire were intricate and complex, the flesh-mats slippery and damp.

Shang Wan Ning quietly avoided all the patrolling bone-armored guards and the monitoring sarcomas wriggling in the shadows.

Chen Yu held her breath and followed closely. The further down they went, the fainter the smell of sulfur became, replaced by a stale, bloody scent.

The air was cold and damp, clinging uncomfortably to the skin.

At the end of the passage, a bone door sealed by crossed ribs blocked their path.

Runes to suppress magic were carved onto the door, and two eyeless, great-axe-wielding guards stood on either side, their bodies radiating a fierce aura.

Shang Wan Ning secretly formed a seal within her sleeve. A strand of extremely faint, deep-blue soulfire split into two wisps, silently entering the guards' seas of consciousness.

The guards' bodies stiffened for a moment, then returned to their original state as if nothing had happened.

[Mental suggestion? Her Majesty is getting better and better at playing dirty.]

Chen Yu muttered to herself as her index finger pressed an inconspicuous sarcoma on the bone door.

The sarcoma sank, and the rib-door slid inward soundlessly. A strong stench of rot mixed with a faint fragrance of vegetation rushed toward them, making her almost cough out loud.

The scene behind the door was even more oppressive than the passage.

The space was not large; the walls were writhing flesh-walls oozing dark green slime. The floor was covered in a sticky fungal mat that made a squelching sound when stepped on.

Several glowing sarcomas were embedded in the ceiling, providing illumination.

Hundreds of crude "cells" were embedded in the flesh-walls, their bars made of thick spinal bones.

Most were empty, with only the innermost ones containing something.

Area B, No. 124—a figure was curled up in a corner.

Long silver-white hair had long since lost its former luster, tangled into dirty clumps of matted mess. It was stained with unidentifiable filth and mixed with several dried, blackened blood scabs, a shocking sight.

The pair of pointed ears unique to elves drooped limply, devoid of any spiritual energy, their edges covered in abrasions of varying depths.

Even the exquisite facial features inherent to elves were now left with only pale exhaustion.

The leather armor on her body had long since rotted beyond recognition, barely hanging on and failing to cover much.

On her exposed skin, layers of new and old whip marks and purple bruises were stacked upon each other.

Even the rusty metal shackles on her ankles were deeply embedded into her flesh, leaving rings of red marks on the bone.

The light sound of the door hinges turning had just faded when the elf suddenly raised her head.

Her green eyes were filled with hatred as she stared intently at the two blurred shadows at the entrance.