Chapter 204: Greatest Trump card

"I think it is actually the exact other way around," Juliana stated calmly, resting her chin on her hand.

?"....?!"

?Everyone in the compound turned their attention toward her, completely stunned and utterly confused.

?"A standard viper is no match for a true cobra... Take a King Cobra for instance—it easily reaches up to twenty feet in length, whereas an adult viper maxes out at a mere six feet. In terms of sheer scale and biological advantage, a viper is completely outmatched."

?’How on earth did a tense confrontation over business extortion suddenly devolve into a biological seminar on reptiles?’ Kelly thought to herself, blinking in bewilderment.

?’Juliana truly never changes, no matter the situation,’ Sara thought, a soft, amused smile touching her lips.

?’Is she actively sabotaging her own security captain’s psychological momentum right before a firefight?’ Mr. Brook thought, dumbfounded beyond words.

?"...?!"

?Even Viper was left momentarily speechless, standing frozen in her stance.

?"Did you all hear that?! Cobras are unequivocally the apex predators of the snake kingdom!!" Cobra roared, his face flushing crimson with offended pride.

?"Huh? Are you seriously this stupid?"

?".....?!"

?Juliana’s blunt, unbothered question stopped him dead in his tracks.

?"Huh?"

?The entire Blood Guild stared at her, completely lost on how to process the insult.

?"I was discussing actual serpents in the wild... Are you claiming to be a literal snake?" Juliana tilted her head innocently.

?".....?!!"

?Everyone present was completely flabbergasted by the sheer audacity, while Juliana pressed forward without missing a beat:

?"Are you truly this lacking in basic cognitive function? You are merely an SS-Rank thug—even if your little nickname is ’Cobra,’ do you honestly believe you’re a venomous reptile? Why on earth are there such profoundly foolish people walking around this world... I honestly feel a deep, lingering sense of pity for your parents." She shook her head with genuine sorrow.

?"....?!"

?"...?!!"

?The thugs stared blankly, entirely paralyzed by the rhetorical crossfire.

?What in the world were they supposed to do with this?

?"Um... Vice Guild Leader?"

?One of the junior assassins cautiously tapped Cobra on the shoulder, trying to snap him out of his cognitive freefall.

?"You! How dare you continuously insult me to my face!!" Cobra shrieked, veins bulging on his forehead as he pointed a trembling finger directly at Juliana.

?"I insulted you? Weren’t you the one who loudly compared yourself to a reptile just a second ago? So not only are you profoundly foolish, but you’re also acting as the executive coordinator for a traveling clown show. I would genuinely love to take partial credit for your magnificent stupidity, but honestly, achieving that level of organic, uninterrupted self-destruction takes years of dedicated, unyielding practice."

?"You... You little bitch!!!"

?"What about me?! Your remaining brain cells are currently fighting a desperate battle just to secure third place in a two-man race, and yet you still possess the absolute audacity to speak out loud in public. Go sit quietly in a dark corner somewhere and let the grown-ups handle the conversation."

?PIFF!

?Cobra’s eyes rolled backward, and he violently vomited a thick mouthful of dark blood from sheer, unfiltered rage before collapsing backward onto the dirt.

?"Vice Guild Leader?!"

?His nine elite assassins shouted out in synchronized panic, rushing forward to catch his falling body.

?"...?!"

?Everyone else blinked in unison, snapping their heads back toward Juliana:

?’Did she seriously just verbally assault an SS-Rank Guild boss so hard that he spontaneously vomited blood and passed out from sheer insult?!’

?They all thought in absolute, synchronized disbelief.

?"Why are you all staring at me like that? He couldn’t even handle a simple, casual conversation? He was the one who practically insulted his own intelligence to begin with," Juliana said with a mild, innocent shrug.

?"Get her!! Someone rip her tongue out and shut her mouth permanently!!" Cobra shrieked from the ground, pointing a shaking, blood-stained finger toward Juliana.

?"Should we...?"

?All nine assassins turned their nervous gazes toward Viper, who stood planted like an unyielding monolith directly before them. Juliana’s absurd distraction aside, they remembered the reality of the situation: a wild viper might be vulnerable to a king cobra, but the Viper standing in their path operated on an entirely different dimensional plane of power.

?"Swallow that thing—use that thing right now!" Cobra screamed, coughing up more blood as he dragged himself back to his feet.

?’What on earth is "that thing"?’

?The four women watched closely, maintaining their defensive postures.

?Without a single second of hesitation, all ten members of the Blood Guild reached into their pockets, pulled out small, pulsing crimson pills, and shoved them down their throats.

?BOOOOM!!

?A tidal wave of volatile, corrupted energy violently erupted from all ten assassins, expanding outward with such ferocious pressure that it physically forced Mr. Brook and the guards several steps back.

?"What in the hell is this aura?!" Viper muttered, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the terrifying transformation overtaking the thugs.

?"Nine SS-Rank awakenings... and one freshly pushed SSS-Rank leader?! What sort of forbidden alchemy or illicit pill produces a jump like that?!" She demanded, her voice hardening.

?"Any pill designed to forcibly artificially boost your combat power by breaking natural limits is guaranteed to carry catastrophic drawbacks," Kelly noted analytically, her arms crossed.

?"Indeed... We are literally burning away our life force and sacrificing our blood vitality to wield this divine power!" Cobra cackled maniacally, his eyes turning bloodshot and wild.

?"Wow... That is objectively the most idiotic combat strategy I’ve ever heard of. It genuinely seems I was entirely correct in calling you stupid," Juliana remarked with a dry frown.

?"Who gives a damn about drawbacks!! As long as we butcher Viper right here and now, we get to do whatever we want with you three pretty little toys!! No one in this desolate city can stop us anymore!" He roared at the top of his lungs.

?"Take me down?"

?Viper stepped one steady pace forward, casually reaching up to untie the clasp of her dark shadow-cloak and letting the heavy fabric drop silently onto the dirt:

?"The higher you artificially force your power to climb, the faster and harder you’re going to crash into the dirt," she pointed a single finger directly at their chests:

?"All of you... come at me together." She gestured with a cool, mocking wave.

?"How dare you look down on us this thoroughly?!"

?The enraged leader roared at the top of his lungs: "Tear her apart into ribbons!! We don’t need to capture her alive anymore!"

?"YES, SIR!!"

?The nine assassins behind him instantly whipped out their poisoned daggers and vanished into thin air, executing the advanced spatial stealth skill.

?"Our Blood Guild managed to get our hands on an ancient, forbidden artifact through pure luck... Soon, the entire underworld of Vaeloria will bow to our absolute supremacy!" Cobra boasted, his voice echoing in the clearing.

?"Stealth? An Earth-Tier concealment skill... You lot are truly, profoundly underestimating what a real predator looks like," Viper smirked coldly. She shifted her weight and forcefully stomped her right boot down into the hard earth.

?BOOOOM!!

?A localized shockwave of dense, crushing spiritual energy burst outward in a three-hundred-degree radius, violently slamming straight into the nine invisible assassins hiding in the spatial fold.

?PIFF!

?"Argh!"

?All nine men were blasted violently out of stealth, hurled backward through the air like discarded dolls before crashing heavily onto the gravel and vomiting dark blood in unison.

?’Even without actively activating my soul-siphoning ability, my physical baseline is more than enough to crush trash like this... Still, if he’s resorting to desperate measures, I shouldn’t drag this out.’ Viper thought, just as she noticed Cobra pulling something horrifying out of his inner vest—a human skull no larger than a newborn infant’s head.

?"Wait... is that...?" Viper’s eyes went wide in genuine shock.

?"Heh... Heheheh! Yes, this is the cursed skull of an innocent infant sacrificed in blood! It is now our guild’s absolute greatest trump card!" Cobra shrieked hysterically, crushing the bone artifact directly in his bare grip until it splintered into fine ash.

?Dark, crimson waves of demonic energy erupted instantly from the ashes, violently surging straight into his nose, eyes, and open mouth.

?"AHHHGHHH-RAGH!!!"

?A towering, suffocating pillar of terrifying demonic pressure burst from his frame, instantly overriding and crushing Viper’s aura and stunning every single person in the compound into breathless silence.

?".....?!"