Chapter 182 - 18: Returning to an Old Place

Chapter 182: Chapter 18: Returning to an Old Place

The light quickly dissipated.

The man, dressed in pitch-black clothing, hovered in the air above the fence. He looked down condescendingly at the now-empty ground.

A long while later, the gentle breeze carried a soft sigh. "I’ll wait for you... wait for you to come back and kill me."

The world spun wildly.

When Lilia opened her eyes again, all she saw was a starless, moonless sky. Dense raindrops plummeted from above, smashing against her face like fine needles. They carried a bone-chilling, piercing cold.

It never rained in the Spirit Realm. There, only a single bright moon hung suspended forever, as if the sky itself had died.

Therefore, this was the Human World.

Her plan had succeeded.

Realizing this, Lilia gently closed her eyes. She wasn’t resting; she was sensing the flow of Magic Power.

...Total silence.

That guy really hadn’t chased after her. Lilia silently breathed a sigh of relief.

As early as their first clash, Lilia had realized that she had absolutely no chance of winning. Even then, she was already thinking of an escape route.

The power of a High-level Demon was usually comprehensive—Constitution, speed, strength, Magic... Lilia knew that if he was dead set on killing her, she would never be able to hide as long as she remained in the Spirit Realm.

Of course, she could load her save file. However, because the development of her territory had gone so smoothly recently, she hadn’t felt the need to save. As a result, her save file was still stuck on the day she was just born. Loading the save meant starting all over again from scratch. It was an option, but Lilia felt it was better kept as a last resort, to be used only when she was truly pushed to a dead end.

With the time-travel option temporarily ruled out, and no safe havens left in the Spirit Realm, she had to find another way. That left only spatial crossing as a viable choice.

A long, long time ago, before the Red River Territory was even established, Lilia had heard from Ronan that there were passages in the Spirit Realm leading to the Human World. Lilia had enacted a strict law absolutely forbidding the torture and slaughter of humans. To enforce this, she naturally had to seize control of all the passages within her territory. That was also why fences had been erected around the passage.

That Demon Lord named Gersas was strong—so strong that it was beyond Lilia’s imagination.

Relying on her [Monarch] talent, Lilia’s growth rate was incredibly fast. In just half a year, she had surpassed the years of hard work she had put into her previous playthrough. If she went to the Mage Association for certification, Lilia felt she could easily obtain the qualifications of a High-level Mage.

Yet, even she was completely powerless to resist when facing that Demon Lord.

If such a character were to appear in the Human World, Lilia could hardly imagine anyone who could defeat him. He might even be able to unify the four great kingdoms and turn humanity into captive livestock. But the truth was, humanity hadn’t been affected much at all.

Lilia guessed that either there were some restrictions on the passage—such as preventing overly powerful Demons from passing through—or the Lord himself had some sort of taboo binding him, rendering him unable to come to the Human Realm. There was also the possibility that there were no restrictions or taboos whatsoever. Maybe he didn’t come simply because he didn’t want to, or because he felt there was no need to.

If that was the case, Lilia could only consider herself unlucky and load her save file to restart.

Fortunately, the Goddess of Luck was on her side after all. She had won the bet.

The Demonic Qi inside her body circulated slowly, repairing the fatal wound on her chest. Lilia could clearly feel that in the Human World, the speed and efficiency of her Demonic Qi circulation were noticeably inferior to when she was in the Spirit Realm. Furthermore, because it couldn’t be replenished, she soon began to feel hungry.

Even her power seemed to have been suppressed. Lilia wasn’t sure how it was for other Demons, but at least for her, her strength seemed to be directly linked to her physical appearance. She had gone through so much trouble to grow from 1.2 meters to 1.5 meters tall. She really didn’t want to regress back to being a pipsqueak...

Lilia let her thoughts race aimlessly. Once her injuries were mostly healed and she had recovered some of her strength, she tried to pick herself up from the ground to figure out her next steps.

Going straight back was definitely out of the question.

Lilia didn’t think the Lord would be idle enough to guard the Red River Territory indefinitely, but at his level, crossing thousands of miles of space was probably as effortless as walking from one side of a room to the other. Unless she gained enough strength or found a way to deal with him, Lilia would likely be stuck in the Human Realm for the rest of her life.

She didn’t mind that too much, but... the territory she had worked so hard to build was probably going to fall into someone else’s hands. She wondered how ministers of the former regime, like Ronan, would be dealt with.

Since she couldn’t go back, should she just stay here?

With her current strength and the knowledge and experience accumulated from her first two playthroughs, she was confident that she could live very well in the Mortal World. The only issue was her current identity as a Demon. She wondered if that would cause any complications.

And...

Lilia stood up and looked around, trying to figure out exactly where she was. Before she could spot any landmark buildings to pinpoint her location, a sudden chill ran down her spine. The sharp intuition of a Demon made her whip her head around to look behind her.

There was nothing in sight, but she was certain of one thing. Someone had just used an investigative Magic on her. Moreover, the person who cast the Magic... was incredibly strong.

Lilia’s nerves instantly tensed up.

As a monstrous outsider, if humans ever discovered her existence, the only thing waiting for her would be...

Her pupils shrank as she swiftly dodged to the side. Almost the very second she moved, a brilliant burst of Magic exploded right where she had been standing. It was an unhesitating, lethal strike aimed at killing her on the spot!

In the distant night, several silhouettes flickered into view through the curtain of rain. They wore standard-issue robes, completely unaffected by the torrential downpour. Their pure white hems snapped fiercely in the wind, screaming with cold, murderous intent.

Without even getting a clear look at how many there were, Lilia quickly darted into the shadows. She had very little Magic Power left in her body, and it was obvious at a glance that those guys were a group of High-level Mages. Without even needing to fight them, she knew for a fact she was no match for them in her current state.

Run!

Without any hesitation, Lilia turned and fled under the cover of the shadows. She moved extremely fast, and the surrounding environment was a complex maze. Both the darkness of the night and the heavy rain were her best allies in hiding her tracks.

However, Lilia’s escape plan didn’t go as smoothly as she had imagined. Even after crossing over a dozen streets in succession, those guys behind her were still in hot pursuit.

Lilia furrowed her brows, realizing the problem. The aura of a Demon was simply too conspicuous in the Mortal World. Even from miles away, it remained distinctly recognizable to High-level Mages with their sharp senses. Due to the disparity in their strength, the distance between them was continuously shrinking.

If this kept up... she was dead for sure.

What should she do?

She couldn’t outrun them, and there was nowhere to hide. In the Mortal World, being a Demon made her stand out like a solitary firefly in the dark of night. To shake off her pursuers, she first needed to find a place capable of masking her Demonic Qi.

But... how could there possibly be a place in the Mortal World capable of concealing Demonic Qi?

Just as this thought flashed through Lilia’s mind, she suddenly caught a whiff of a familiar scent.

Ahead of her was a broad road wide enough for four carriages to travel side by side. At the end of that road, a large mansion stood in absolute silence. The perfectly straight street, the immensely grand gates, and the flowerbeds inside, meticulously tended by countless maids and gardeners... Everything was exactly as she remembered it.

That place was... the Beaumont Earl Mansion.