Vol 4. Chapter 71: Dodgeball Game

Eastern Great Winter Forest,

on an open patch of ground not far from the villa.

Now that Mother Yumo had started working,

the children, reunited after such a long time, brought their new little sister Yuan’er along and secretly began causing trouble~

Strictly speaking, it was not easy for these little Demon King-class ancestors to all gather in one place.

In the past, aside from the three little ones who had always stayed in the Great Winter Forest, Piere, as the older brother, and Karina, as the older sister, were often away from home because they had to go into the human world to carry out so-called ‘training’ missions.

Especially over the last few decades, the number of times Piere and Karina had returned to the forest could practically be counted on one hand.

On the other hand, although all three little ones lived inside the forest, because of Shuoyue’s racial characteristics, this Demon King-class existence known as the Nightmare often slept in the central lake region.

So strictly speaking, for most of the time, only the two sisters Limo and Liyu kept each other company inside the forest.

Well,

since Mother Yumo was there, the two sisters never felt lonely anyway~

But no matter what,

now, aside from Second Brother... and that eldest sister they had never once met,

the sisters had practically all gathered at the villa.

On top of that, their big family had even gained an adorable new little sister.

And so, while Mother Yumo seriously entered ‘seclusion’ to forge armor, Liyu and Limo, who had nothing to do, decided to throw a party for the first time in ages,

have a proper reunion, and officially celebrate their new little sister joining the family while they were at it.

Naturally, Karina, Shuoyue, and Yuan’er had no objections to the proposal.

And so the sisters happily ran around playing near the mansion and the barrier.

Upon seeing this scene, Xiao and the other members of the Black Rose Family very consciously hid themselves somewhere safe...

At first,

everything was still perfectly normal.

For example~

the sisters bathed together,

the sisters had a picnic together,

the sisters went for a walk together,

or, in order to help Yuan’er familiarize herself with the situation inside the forest as quickly as possible, everyone conveniently went to pay a friendly ‘visit’ to some of the other good neighbors living in the forest~

...

Everything still looked perfectly normal.

Until the little ones started playing dodgeball near the mansion~

Dodgeball was a small game with a long history in the Great Winter Forest.

As everyone knew, there had been very little entertainment in the Winter Forest in the past. Aside from listening to Mother Yumo tell stories, there had basically been nothing else to do.

And so, in order to pass the time, the Demon King-class children designed a new game based on their mother’s description.

That game was ‘dodgeball’~

A small game that tested strength, speed, and endurance~

Everything about it was fine.

There was only one problem.

Enmm,

it was a little violent...

...

“Aaaaaah! Take this!”

Suddenly assuming a throwing stance, little Liyu, who had already fallen behind by dozens of points, let out an enraged roar.

Then, surrounded by howling winds and powerful emerald Shadow of Silence Power, Liyu violently hurled the enormous iron ball forged from black iron in her hands toward the red-haired woman hovering in midair not far away!

In order to ‘defeat’ the powerful Big Sister Karina, she had teamed up with Limo, Shuoyue, and little Yuan’er!

The moment she remembered that her team had four people against one and they were still behind by such a huge margin, Liyu’s little face immediately puffed up in anger.

“Take this! Big Sister Karina!”

In an instant,

a terrifying aura rapidly spread outward with Liyu at its center, and horrifying energy fluctuations swept through everything around her.

Enhanced by the violent wind and familiar Shadow of Silence Power, the iron ball seemed to carry unstoppable momentum.

But if she wanted to hit Karina and score a point,

it was clearly still not enough.

Although Karina was the oldest among all the Demon King-class little ancestors present, she had absolutely no intention of going easy on her younger sisters.

She had always been fiercely competitive, and she certainly was not going to hold back merely because her opponents in the game were her own adorable little sisters.

Facing the iron ball hurtling toward her, Karina smiled.

Then, just as the iron ball was about to slam into her abdomen, Karina turned sideways and dodged Liyu’s attack at the very last instant.

The iron ball wrapped in Shadow of Silence Power disappeared into the horizon just like that.

Of course, the fact that the iron ball once again collapsed the Frost Dragons’ nest was another matter entirely...

Wait.

Why did I say again?

...

Glancing at the panting Liyu, Karina smiled faintly.

“Still not enough, little Liyu~”

“Wuuuuuu! Big Sister Karina is bullying me!”

Seeing her attack once again effortlessly dodged by the red-haired woman, Liyu could not help but complain pitifully while also marveling at just how powerful Big Sister Karina was.

Even faint tears appeared in her emerald eyes.

“Alright, alright. Could you stop looking like you’re about to cry?”

Seeing the ripples of tears in Liyu’s eyes, Karina froze slightly.

Although she was competitive, Karina still loved her little sisters.

Seeing her younger sister’s pitiful expression inevitably caused her heart to tremble.

Had she been taking this too seriously?

There was nothing wrong with letting her sisters score a few points, right?

Karina reflected slightly on her behavior, then slowly descended from the air, planning to pull her nearly crying little sister into her arms and comfort her properly.

However,

just as Karina descended and gradually approached Liyu,

the corners of the gray-haired girl’s mouth quietly curled upward.

“Hmm?”

Karina frowned when she noticed it.

But,

before she could react, the aggrieved look in Liyu’s eyes abruptly vanished without a trace.

In its place appeared an indescribably smug look, and a strange smile gradually spread across the little girl’s face.

The next moment, Liyu planted one hand on her hip and, imitating her older brother, raised her other hand and pointed arrogantly at Karina.

“Quick! Now! Do it, Big Sister Limo!!”

“Hmm?”

The next instant—

“Awooooooo!!!” (Let me show you how strong I am!)

Accompanied by an earth-shaking roar, the ground violently trembled.

After a burst of collapsing earth and exploding stone, rubble flew in every direction as a gigantic snow-white wolf suddenly burst out from beneath the ground and charged toward Karina in midair!

And this snow-white giant wolf that had suddenly appeared was none other than little Limo, who had previously been knocked unconscious by one of Karina’s iron balls.

At this moment,

Limo had completely shaken off her earlier miserable state.

She suddenly opened her enormous bloody maw.

Dense crimson Shadow of Silence Power erupted outward, instantly sweeping across everything nearby.

Driven forward by the Nihility Cannon, the iron ball held inside Limo’s mouth instantly shot toward Karina with overwhelming, unstoppable force!

“Oh?”

Seeing this, Karina narrowed her crimson eyes slightly, realization immediately flashing through them.

She understood.

Little Liyu had only been pretending to cry and act cute, trying to fool her with those pitiful little eyes.

Meanwhile, Limo had taken advantage of the moment Karina’s attention was distracted to launch a sneak attack?

Enmm,

not a bad idea~

Karina generously praised her younger sisters in her heart.

However, upon seeing the expectant looks in their eyes, Karina helplessly shook her head.

“You thought this would be enough to score a point against me? Far too naive, my adorable little sisters~”

Even as the iron ball rapidly enlarged in her vision, Karina remained completely calm.

Unlike her little sisters, who had basically spent all their lives in the Great Winter Forest under Mother’s protection, Karina had fought against countless powerful opponents.

Her combat experience was unbelievably rich.

A straightforward attack like this was supposed to hit her?

That was still a little too much of a fantasy~

Although she had briefly considered letting her sisters score a few points to comfort them, the always-strict Karina ultimately rejected that idea.

First,

she had to teach them that such a simple trick was not useful in actual combat.

Second,

she had to let those two bratty girls know that their big sister was not someone they could fool so easily~

...

With the intention of educating her younger sisters,

under Limo and Liyu’s unwilling and disappointed gazes, Karina’s slender body suddenly twisted into an unbelievable position under the propulsion of blazing flames, directly evading Limo’s powerful attack.

Then, Shadow of Silence Power abruptly erupted from the red-haired girl’s body.

A scorching pressure instantly spread in every direction, shattering the auras surrounding Limo and Liyu in the blink of an eye.

“Little girls, the game is over now~”

As she spoke,

Karina raised the gigantic iron ball in her right hand.

A mass of blazing fire instantly engulfed it, transforming it into a death meteor that seemed capable of annihilating everything in existence.

Clearly, Karina intended to use this strike to properly discipline her disobedient little sisters.

However,

just as Karina was about to make her move, the red-haired woman who had been completely immersed in interacting with her sisters and playing dodgeball suddenly shuddered.

Her orange-red pupils abruptly contracted.

At that moment, Karina’s consciousness was suddenly pulled out of the game and dragged back into reality.

After finally letting herself cut loose and have fun for once, she instantly returned to her usual state of mind.

Wait?!

The direction that brat Limo attacked just now...

seemed a little wrong?

...

...

In an instant, Karina’s face turned deathly pale as she hurriedly looked behind her.

Toward the place where the iron ball had just flown.

That place

was not some irrelevant mountain range, snowfield, swamp, monster settlement, or anything like that.

It was their adorable little villa...

“Th-This is bad!!!”

At that moment, Karina remembered a very serious problem.

Mother seemed to be inside the villa right now, forging some kind of armor, and she had specifically told them not to disturb her...

At a time like this,

what did it mean for a gigantic iron ball to come smashing straight toward the villa?

As Mother’s obedient daughter, how could Karina possibly not understand?

...

Seeing the iron ball rapidly approaching the villa and knowing she was already powerless to salvage the situation, Karina could only instinctively begin thinking about another important question concerning life and death.

Enmm,

let me think.

In a situation like this,

“...How do I dump the blame on Second Brother...?”

(Ten thousand li away, a certain purple figure suddenly shuddered for no apparent reason~)