Chapter 217: The Cursed Bloodline

A violent explosion suddenly erupted overhead.

Rosalia rushed down at once. "My lord, the dolls have grown—they’re attacking the city."

"...What?"

A question mark slowly formed in Phield’s mind. What the hell was going on now?

When he returned to the surface, he saw plush dolls waddling out from the storage rooms of the lord’s palace. Then a strange black force coiled around them, stretching and enlarging their bodies until they became towering puppet monsters over ten meters tall.

Wind Orchid City’s fifth-tier knight, Quirion, led the remaining military forces in a counterattack.

The puppet monsters were made of flesh and some unknown material. They looked like massive wooden puppets wrapped in human skin—grotesque beyond belief. Every movement they made carried terrifying power.

Even with his fifth-tier magic fully unleashed, Quirion could barely wound a single one.

"Roar... tasty."

One monster scooped up a group of soldiers and civilians in its claw and swallowed them whole. Blood splattered everywhere.

The surrounding citizens screamed in terror. The entire city was drowning in death.

"What are those things? Why did they suddenly start slaughtering everything?"

Phield was stunned. "Could this be Adrian’s contingency plan? No... if it were his trump card, he would’ve used it long ago."

"My children played in the garden. A strange doll came. It ate one, and three remained. Oh, how unfortunate... three children played in the garden."

A faint nursery rhyme drifted into his ears. Frowning, Phield followed the sound and saw a twisted doll stitched together from multiple limbs, singing in a stiff, unnatural voice.

"What the hell..."

A powerful sense of dread surged through him, as if some ancient monster had locked onto him.

"My lord, be careful. This thing is too strange—there’s no energy fluctuation at all, yet it can move."

Ashina drew her blade and immediately stepped in front of Phield.

The doll smiled eerily. "All who bear the cursed bloodline will descend into hell. You are no exception, Phield. The Scarlet Curse is already close to you. I don’t need to kill you today—you will soon die in nightmares."

Suppressing his unease, Phield patted Ashina’s shoulder to reassure her.

After a brief pause of thought, he asked, "Who are you?"

"Do you want to know the curse of the Ross family? Come to the sealed ancient castle of your family and find me."

"Just when I thought one threat was dealt with, an even stranger one appears."

Phield felt his scalp tingle. "I just want to enjoy my life in peace."

After delivering its message, the doll convulsed and collapsed. Then, like a spider, it scuttled rapidly toward the basement. It moved so fast that even Ashina couldn’t react.

"Shit—Adrian’s still down there ’having fun.’"

Phield’s expression changed. He immediately led his people back into the basement.

They saw the doll knock back the guards at the dungeon and pry open the cell.

Adrian had already completely lost his mind, his body covered in wounds and filth. A strange black light flickered in the doll’s eyes. As if witnessing something unspeakably horrifying, Adrian let out a shrill scream, clearly subjected to even greater torment.

The next second, his head exploded like a watermelon.

"Damn it! I wasn’t done with him yet—and you steal my kill?"

Phield roared in anger. His figure flashed forward, and his sword pierced straight into the doll, erupting in a blinding burst of light.

"So it’s some kind of evil entity after all."

Ashina and Rosalia immediately joined in, tearing the doll apart.

"...What is going on?"

Rosalia muttered, "My mother never mentioned anything like this about the Ross family."

The Starnight family and the Ross family were bound by marriage.

"It’s definitely strange. But more importantly..." Phield crushed the doll’s remains under his foot. "It killed Adrian just like that. That really pisses me off."

He had originally planned for the "Judgment of Joy" to last at least three days.

"My lord, is there really a curse? I’m worried."

Ashina grabbed Phield’s wrist, her eyes reddening with concern. "Do you feel anything unusual?"

"No. Don’t scare yourself. If that thing were truly that powerful, why isn’t it the emperor of the empire? Just a rat hiding in the gutter. We’ll go back, build up our strength, and then deal with it."

"Exactly! We corrupted beings aren’t easy targets either."

Rosalia put her hands on her hips, looking completely confident. "Let’s go back and capture ten or eight corrupted female sla—uh, I mean, ten or eight corrupted Divine Chosen. What’s a mere curse compared to that?"

Even as she said that, a trace of worry lingered in her expression. She simply didn’t want Phield to panic.

"Mm. Rosalia’s right."

Phield smiled calmly, stabilizing morale—but inwardly, he remained cautious.

His gaze drifted to the corpse of the girl the original host had once liked. A strange thought surfaced in his mind.

Something’s not right... how did the original host really die? Was it truly just illness?

"Whatever it is, we strengthen ourselves first."

With a wave of his hand, Phield ordered, "Pack up all the manuals and take them."

He then returned to the surface once more.

By now, the entire city was being ravaged by the puppet monsters.

"I get it now—this is the advancement method of an evil Divine Chosen."

Phield slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot about this."

Based on the information available, Divine Chosen were broadly divided into two categories:

Righteous and Evil.

Their advancement methods differed—one through building cities, the other through destroying them.

In other words, that doll was the agent of some evil Divine Chosen.

Phield gritted his teeth. "Shameless. We fought to take this city, and now they’re stealing the fruits of our labor—and still acting all high and mighty."

"So what do we do now? Those puppet monsters look terrifying. Luckily, they’re not attacking us."

Ashina was clearly shaken by the mention of the curse, her usual composure gone.

"Don’t panic. If you can’t hit the brakes... then step on the gas."

With his hands behind his back, Phield wore a profound expression.

"...Huh?"

The two Divine Chosen looked completely confused. They didn’t understand a word.

Phield cleared his throat and said coldly, "If you can’t beat them, join them. Since the enemy is harvesting this city’s life nodes, then we’ll loot as well. Rosalia, I’ll leave the rest to you."

"I think Wind Orchid City... is still too civilized."

He hadn’t targeted ordinary civilians before because he believed that after Adrian’s death, the city would likely become his territory.

After all, with such a vast family domain, imperial law would surely grant him a share.

But now, it seemed to prove one thing:

If you can’t have it—then destroy it.