Chapter 2: The Slaughter Begins

After receiving her orders, Avril swiftly departed from the castle.

Taking advantage of the time, Xia Er needed to learn more about his situation — specifically, what exactly this Witch contract was all about.

He logged onto the forum and, after a bit of searching, a post from the official studio appeared before him.

[Western Continent Background Story.]

[After the War of the Gods came to an end, the Qiyuan Era began. The malice of the "Primordial Sin" transformed into seven Witches, who scattered themselves across the Western Continent.]

[Using power as temptation, they signed Soul Contracts with Domain Lords, plunging the entire Western Continent into a demonic nation, steadily encroaching upon humanity's last bastion of hope...]

The post wasn't long, and it included a layered map. After reading through it, Xia Er had a rough grasp of his situation.

The entire Western Continent had essentially been divided up among the seven Witches. His location fell within the territory of the "Witch of Pride," and the Soul Contract had apparently been signed with her.

But...

There was nothing in the post about how to break the contract, and searching for related keywords turned up no threads on the matter either.

Clearly, players didn't care about the lives of NPCs — they just wanted NPCs dead.

Closing the forum, Xia Er looked out beyond the castle walls. One of his lieutenants had already arrived.

The lieutenant's name was [Tienu]. His build was enormous — he looked roughly like the Incredible Hulk — with muscles bulging out all over, veins crisscrossing his skin, and a massive iron hammer resting on his shoulder. He radiated an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Though his head was a bit... pointy.

Behind him, the other two lieutenants followed close — one male, one female.

The male looked extremely gaunt. There wasn't a scrap of flesh on his cheeks; his skin clung tightly to his bones, his eye sockets sunken deep, as if he might pass out at any moment. His ID was [Edward].

The female was a very small girl with a head of white hair, deathly pale skin, and a pair of dark-red pupils. Her ID was [Little Ghost].

"One Arnold, one walking corpse, and one little squirt."

"So these are the carefully selected generals of my vast domain, huh..."

After a quick inspection of the group, Xia Er had a clear picture of the domain's overall power level.

All of these lieutenants were around the same level — roughly level twenty. Add in himself, a level thirty boss, and the whole picture was unmistakably that of a starter village.

"Lord Xia Er!"

"You called for us — what are your orders?"

Tienu was the first to speak, breaking the silence with a voice that rumbled like a hollow drum.

Xia Er replied, "Our domain has been attacked by a large number of adventurers — roughly fifty of them."

"What?!"

Tienu looked genuinely surprised. "Something like that actually happened?"

"Lord Xia Er, please wait here a moment. I'll go over and slaughter those adventurers right now!"

Xia Er: ……

Truly worthy of being a starter-village small-time boss.

How could someone's level of reasoning be this low?

Even if the players hadn't leveled up much yet, a few dozen of them taking you seriously would be more than enough to deal with a muscle-brained brute like you.

They could kite you to death without breaking a sweat.

Xia Er waved his hand and stopped him. "These adventurers are a bit different from the usual ones. We can't afford to be careless."

"I'll be going with you."

At those words, all three lieutenants exchanged glances of surprise — Avril most of all.

As the lieutenant closest to him, Avril knew this Domain Lord better than anyone.

The most problematic person in the entire domain was him.

Ever since he had signed the contract with the Witch and become a Domain Lord, he had been completely absorbed in pleasure and leisure. If a lieutenant could handle something, he would never lift a finger himself. He paid no attention to the development of the domain, which was why, after all these years, nothing had changed.

Why had he suddenly had a change of character today?

Of course, as a subordinate, seeing one's superior improve was nothing but welcome news.

Under the surprised gazes of his four lieutenants, Xia Er rose first and strode out of the castle, looking decisive and sharp.

A short while later.

He slowly turned back around, clearing his throat. "Ahem... hey, uh, whoever..."

"Would someone kindly show the Domain Lord the way?"

Avril: ...

......

......

* * *

Meanwhile, in the western part of the Undead Territory.

Thanks to a certain forum post, a large number of players preparing for their job advancement had gathered here, steadily clearing out the Undead Soldiers stationed in the domain.

Swoosh!

A player with the ID "Li Shen" suddenly swung his greatsword in a wide arc. A faint crimson halo bloomed along the blade; with a twist, the edge swept through and instantly cleaved three Undead Mages clean in half at the waist.

"Holy shit, that's insane, Li Shen."

"Warriors are so satisfying to play — I should've gone Warrior instead of Mage... Hey, was that just now a [combat skill]?"

A wave of exclamations came through the party channel. Li Shen nodded. "Yeah, it's the Warrior skill [Charged Slash]. It's really effective against fragile enemies like these."

Unlike the vast majority of players in this area, Li Shen was a closed beta player, so his progress was well ahead of the curve — he had already completed his Warrior job advancement.

By all rights, he shouldn't have been here. After all, this was a spot for Mages farming items, and it offered him nothing useful — if anything, it was slowing him down.

But...

What could he do when a rich lady was paying him to carry her party?

"Li Shen, how much farther to the destination?"

A cool, clear voice reached his ear. Li Shen quickly turned around and spotted a female player with the ID [Qiu Shui].

The rich lady herself.

Aside from her obvious wealth, she was also strikingly beautiful — an oval face, a straight nose, delicate brows and eyes — wearing a loose, flowing wizard's robe that still couldn't conceal her impressive figure.

Snapping out of his daze, Li Shen cleared his throat. "Almost there. I farmed this spot with friends during the closed beta."

"When I was gathering players, I specifically chose the western area. This zone is under the jurisdiction of the domain lieutenant — [Little Ghost]. For some reason, her Pure Soul drop rate is one hundred percent."

"A lieutenant, huh — she's gotta be at least level 20, right? Can we actually win?"

Li Shen was confident in his own abilities. "Hard to say about the boss, but taking out a small-time lieutenant is definitely no problem."

The words had barely left his mouth when, in the distance, a petite figure slowly approached from afar.

"Speak of the devil."

Eyeing the health bar above her head — several times longer than those of the ordinary mobs — Li Shen immediately tensed up. "This one's a vampire. When you're dealing damage, make sure to dodge her skills."

His words landed, and the players understood instinctively. They spread out at once, unleashing attacks of every color and variety directly at her.

Individually, each player's damage wasn't high, but this party had over a dozen people. The accumulated damage was quite considerable, and within just a few seconds, a chunk of her health bar had been carved away. She staggered to a halt for a moment.

"Now's our chance!"

Li Shen recognized her current state immediately.

She'd been staggered!

He instantly grabbed his greatsword, activated his combat skill, and coated the blade in a layer of white light.

If he could capitalize on this stagger window, the damage from this single strike alone would be enough to shave off nearly half her remaining health!

Without another moment's hesitation, he dashed forward in a burst of speed and swung his greatsword in a powerful horizontal slash aimed straight at her neck.

Just as the attack was about to connect!

A massive figure suddenly came charging in at an unimaginable speed, swinging the giant hammer in its hand and slamming it straight into Li Shen.

Crack!

His body flew through the air like a kite with a snapped string, crashing into the ground — his health bar instantly dropping by half.

Li Shen struggled to his feet, staring at the monster before him with its massive hammer and the health bar floating above its head. For a moment, he was completely stunned.

"Tienu?"

"Why is there another lieutenant here?"

"Did they secretly change things after the official launch?!"