Chapter 199: Repeating crossbow

"What are you doing lying here? Something on your mind?"

Phield lifted the blanket and unexpectedly dragged out Rosalia, who had been hiding underneath.

Seeing the bright smile on her face, Phield smirked teasingly and patted her shoulder. "Miss, don’t tell me it’s that time of the season again and you’re acting up?"

"Hmph. After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you treat me when I’m in trouble?"

Rosalia didn’t understand what "acting up" meant, but she caught the playful tone. She stretched out her leg and nearly kicked Phield off the bed.

"Of course not. Go on, I’ll do everything I can to help."

Phield knew exactly what she was up to and handed her a pillow.

"You really are different from others. Even my mother was never this gentle with me."

"Ahem, no ’mom’ stuff." Phield flicked her forehead. "Spit it out. It’s late."

"I’m hungry. I want to eat."

Rosalia crossed her arms, trying to maintain her aloof expression. But seeing Phield’s confusion, her tone softened, turning slightly aggrieved. "Everyone else gets to eat, but everything tastes like nothing to me. Use that brain of yours blessed by the Goddess of Wisdom and figure something out."

"Well... the root of the problem isn’t easy to solve."

Phield rubbed his temples. For corrupted beings, ordinary food had no taste, which made them instinctively reject it.

She had watched everyone else eating and drinking earlier—she had been envious the entire time.

Sympathy aside, he couldn’t exactly find someone for her to... eat.

"Forget whether it smells good or bad—everything’s just ’meat’ to you anyway. Maybe try something humans can’t normally eat. It might taste surprisingly good."

"Like what?"

"Organic matter." Phield said coldly.

"What’s that? Wings?" Rosalia asked, confused, curling into her blanket, her tone oddly sweet.

"You really have no idea, huh. It’s—"

Ignoring her rare display of cuteness, Phield leaned in and whispered an explanation of what "organic matter" meant.

"You devil! Venomous snake!" Rosalia nearly fainted from anger. "You’re telling me to eat that? Are you trying to die?!"

"Alright, alright. I do have something—you’ll definitely be able to taste it. Just... not something I can explain out loud."

Rosalia’s star-like eyes lit up with excitement. "Really? Then give me some. I knew you were reliable."

"...You said that yourself."

Seeing the innocent, almost childlike expression on her face, Phield hesitated slightly. There was always a faint sense of guilt in defiling something so pristine.

Still, he leaned closer and whispered something.

"You’re too much! I was having a serious conversation with you!"

Rosalia’s face flushed slightly. Her toes curled, and her voice dropped to a whisper. Her long, fair legs trembled faintly. "I... I’m not eating anything anymore. Who would even eat that?"

"That’s not up to you anymore."

Phield didn’t hold back. He reached out and gathered her silky hair.

"H-Hey?! I don’t like my hair tied up—stop it."

Rosalia’s pupils trembled in shock.

Slowly, she bent forward and lowered her head.

...

Forty minutes later.

Rosalia glanced around guiltily. No matter what, she was a noble lady—when had she ever endured such humiliation? If anything, it should have been the lord kneeling at her feet.

Even a lowly slave would have resisted like that, right?

"And yet I accepted it... and even felt... happy? Does that mean I’m lowly? But my mouth is so sore—especially my tongue..."

"You’re ridiculous," Phield said weakly, but bluntly. "But I won’t deny—it was quite enjoyable."

Staring at her hands in disbelief, Rosalia huffed angrily. "N-No, you’re the slave. If you dare offend me again, I’ll kill you."

"Sure, sure. I’m the slave." Phield sighed helplessly.

"Does this count as eating a person?"

Phield raised a hand weakly and gestured vaguely. "Enough. I’m not discussing this. I’m going to sleep. Please leave."

"Does it count or not?"

"What kind of nonsense are you talking about? I’m sleeping. You’re like some kind of demon."

Phield nearly choked. How was he supposed to know?

A second-tier Divine Chosen was just too strong. In half an hour, he couldn’t even handle the overwhelming force.

Rolling over, Phield silently swore to himself: I need to get stronger.

Rosalia licked her lips, went out to wash up, then returned to find Phield already asleep.

"Good night."

She lay quietly beside him, keeping a small distance, lost in her thoughts.

The night passed in silence.

The next day at noon, from the north of Nightfall Domain, the roars of corrupted corpses echoed continuously.

One corpse burst out of the gray mist, then two, three—soon, a massive tide surged forward like a filthy flood, rushing southward.

"Graaah—!"

Grotesque heads howled as they charged toward the manor walls.

They had no intelligence, no thoughts—only an instinct etched into their bones: to kill all living things.

Yet to the soldiers on the walls, such numbers meant nothing. No one trembled in fear. No one glanced around nervously.

The squads responsible for supervision even seemed idle.

"Dragonflame!"

Ashina moved along the right flank of the horde. At her command, Drakewolf opened its jaws, unleashing a sweep of ghostly blue flames. Swathes of corrupted corpses were engulfed, flailing blindly before turning to ash.

With continuous bursts of flame, Ashina rapidly thinned their numbers.

"Gogris, try overloading the defensive ballista."

Standing atop the widened wooden platform of the wall, Phield patted the little fox beside him, curious about her defensive capabilities.

"Mm!"

Gogris pushed both hands forward, channeling divine power into the siege ballista before her.

With a series of crisp mechanical sounds, the massive weapon disassembled into fragments.

"Divine Skill: Arcane Mechanism Overload!"

Her divine artifact dissolved into light, merging with the ballista’s components.

In the next moment, a silver mechanical construct the size of an off-road vehicle slammed into place, its massive supports anchoring into the wall. A bowstring formed of pure divine energy snapped taut.

"Bzzz—!"

Five streaks of light shot out simultaneously, roaring like thunder as they slammed straight into the densest cluster of enemies.

In an instant, flesh and blood exploded. Large swathes of corpses vanished outright. Deep trenches were carved into the ground, and fragments scattered everywhere. A single attack wiped out over a hundred enemies.

"Holy—!"

The soldiers on the wall were completely stunned, their eyelids twitching.

None of them had ever seen this little girl before. When the lord brought her up onto the wall, they thought she was just there to observe.

They hadn’t expected something this terrifying.