Chapter 433

Chapter 433: The Stealth Ant Joins the Battle

“Ah hahahaha, this is exhilarating! Truly exhilarating!”

Inside the royal capital, an imperial soldier, his eyes bloodshot, twisted his face into a cruel grin as he drove a longsword into the chest of a man dressed in common clothes.

*Thud—*

With the sound of the longsword piercing flesh, the man’s eyes gradually glazed over, his resisting hands fell limp, and blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth.

“No!!”

In the room, a woman screamed in anguish and rushed toward the imperial soldier, but the moment she reached him, the soldier kicked her away, leaving her unable to rise for some time.

“Hahaha, no need to rush.”

The imperial soldier leered at the young woman a few more times, his eyes glinting with malice.

He kicked the body of the man, now lying in a pool of blood, aside, then strode toward the woman slumped against the wall, unbuckling his belt as he walked.

“No… no… Demons! You monsters!”

The woman struggled to crawl toward the man’s body but was kicked over once more by the soldier.

After knocking the woman down, the soldier grinned cruelly and straddled her, reaching out to tear her outer clothes apart with little effort.

Just then, a noise came from the wardrobe.

A small girl burst out of the wardrobe, clutching a dagger and wailing as she charged forward.

“Hehe…”

But the soldier seemed to have long noticed her hiding place. He gave a cold, unsurprised laugh and reached out, easily catching the little girl’s wrist as she ran.

With a slight squeeze, the girl cried out in pain, her grip on the dagger failing, sending it clattering to the ground.

“Little one, wouldn’t it be better to stay hidden in the wardrobe? Uncle here would have come for you after finishing up. Why rush to your death?”

The soldier released her wrist and instead grabbed her slender neck. Her cries cut off abruptly, replaced by choked, muffled sounds. A gentle squeeze would easily crush her throat.

And just as the soldier smirked in triumph, the girl writhed in agony, and the woman sobbed, begging for her daughter’s life…

A flash of blade light suddenly swept through the room…

The soldier’s cruel laughter ceased instantly. A thin line of blood beads appeared on his neck, then his head slid from his shoulders… landing with a heavy *thud* on the floor.

The soldier was slain by a sudden attack, dying without understanding what had transpired. Even as his head rolled, his face remained frozen in a vicious grin.

Only after the soldier fell did the attacker reveal herself to the mother and daughter.

Standing beside the fallen soldier was a woman of slender build, clad in black robes with a black veil covering her face, her eyes icy cold.

Her exposed, snow-white hand held a dagger the length of her forearm, its tip still dripping blood.

As the soldier collapsed, his grip on the girl’s neck slackened. The woman swiftly caught the falling child in her arms.

“Who… who are you?”

“Protect your mother.”

The woman showed no inclination for further talk. Setting the girl down, she dissolved into a shadow and vanished from the room.

After leaving, the agonized cries of the mother and daughter reached her from the distant house.

The woman named Stealth 3001 is one of the tens of thousands of Stealth Ants today. Before the army of the Principality of Reba and the monsters began hunting down the scattered Imperial Army, these Stealth Ants hidden within the royal capital had already initiated their operation.

Although numerous Stealth Ants existed, only about a thousand were currently in the royal capital. The others were dispersed across various regions of the continent, monitoring nearly the entire landmass.

Naturally, these thousand Stealth Ants in the capital couldn’t all concentrate near the city gates. Thus, only just over two hundred were presently hunting Imperial soldiers.

The remaining Stealth Ants in the capital were rushing toward this area, but during their approach, many civilians would likely perish or be wounded beneath the blades of the Imperial Army.

As for locating these rampaging Imperial soldiers…

Imperial soldiers were scattered throughout the capital slaughtering civilians. Ordinary people stood no chance against these well-trained troops, so screams now echoed everywhere in the capital. The simplest method was to follow these cries.

Stealth 3001 had heard a man’s scream from that building, leading her to investigate.

“Ah, you’re here! That means you’ve dealt with the soldiers inside, right?”

Just then, another shadow arrived, seemingly drawn by the weeping sounds of a mother and daughter.

“Stealth 3000.”

The woman recognized the voice’s owner.

“Correct. I eliminated one soldier.”

“Tsk, you beat me to it.”

“Beat you?”

“Didn’t you hear? The sister who kills the most Imperial soldiers this time will receive a reward from Mother.”

Stealth 3000 and Stealth 3001 knew each other well. As they hurried toward the nearest “scream site” together, Stealth 3000 leaned close and whispered into her ear.

“Oh…”

The woman felt little desire to engage with this sister—born simultaneously yet bearing an earlier, easier-to-pronounce name.

And… a reward? While tempting, this must be another rumor she’d picked up somewhere.

“Huh? Quite the reaction? This isn’t a rumor, you know! Don’t believe me and you’ll regret it later! Hehe, I’m taking the lead!”

Stealth 3000’s figure flickered several times before vanishing from sight.

Not a rumor? She always said that—undoubtedly another deception this time.

Despite her thoughts, her eyes flickered briefly before she subtly increased her speed…

After the Ant Clan’s numbers swelled past a million, daughters born later rarely even glimpsed Lin Yu, much less grew close to her or received rewards.

Thus, whether the rumor held truth or not, neither Stealth 3000 nor Stealth 3001 would pass up this chance.

…

Afterward.

Imperial soldiers causing chaos in the capital were eliminated one by one…

The “Mark” granted them a second life and a slight post-resurrection power boost—challenges for the Kingdom’s soldiers, yet insignificant to the capital’s Stealth Ants who had reached Class B’s maximum level.

Though soldiers of the Principality of Reba and monsters joined the Imperial soldier hunt under Darkling Stalker’s command, most only discovered corpses.

Soldiers of the Principality sighed in relief—none wished to battle “undying” foes.

The monsters, meanwhile, were simply restrained from participating in the Kingdom’s army pursuit. As monsters, their involvement risked collateral harm to civilians.