Reincarnated as a Tabby Cat: Daily Life with the School Beauty Empress

Chapter 50 Ambush

The white light from the teleportation array dissipated, and I found myself standing on hard, solid stone ground.

The air suddenly smelled different.

The air in the capital city carries a faint sweet scent from the burning of spirit stone energy. The air here is dry and cold, carrying the smell of rotting vegetation and a faint sulfurous odor.

Su Qianxue opened her eyes and saw a gray-brown wasteland before her.

The teleportation node was located in a half-collapsed guard post. Only three of the stone walls remained; the fourth wall had completely collapsed, revealing the sunlight outside.

Outside the sentry post, a gravel road stretched into the distance, ending in a dense, dark forest.

Black Rock Forest.

The largest primeval forest on the southern border of the Dragon Empire is named for the black igneous rocks that are scattered throughout it. These black rocks have been soaked in spiritual energy for thousands of years, and a layer of dark green moss has grown on their surface. From a distance, the entire forest appears as a mixture of black and green, creating a suffocating and oppressive atmosphere.

Murong Hui stepped off the teleportation array, looked around, and took a breath: "How desolate."

"The quest description says the fortress is deep in the Blackrock Forest, about fifty miles away." Su Qianxue put away her staff. "Let's go."

The two followed the gravel path into the forest.

The further you go, the dimmer the light becomes. The tree canopy completely blocks out the sky, leaving only scattered patches of light on the ground. The sound of your footsteps is absorbed completely as you walk on the thick layer of fallen leaves.

Yichen squatted on Su Qianxue's shoulder, his ears perked up and constantly turning in different directions.

The perception range of a seventh-order Emperor-level being covers an area of ​​two hundred meters, and no abnormal fluctuations in spiritual energy can escape his detection.

After walking for about twenty minutes, the first strange beast appeared.

It was a grey-backed armored lizard, about the size of a buffalo, its entire body covered in iron-grey plates. Tier 4, Common.

It darted out from behind the bushes, its mouth agape, and pounced on the two of them.

Su Qianxue raised her staff, and a blade of light slashed down.

The armored lizard's head was cut in half, and its two body parts fell to the left and right sides respectively. It twitched a few times and then remained still.

"A fourth-tier weakling." Murong Hui kicked the lizard's corpse. "This kind of thing is probably the weakest in an S-rank mission area."

On the rest of the journey, they encountered three more strange beasts.

A fifth-tier rock python was severed seven inches by Murong Hui's sword.

The two fourth-tier Shadow Wolves were dealt with in one go by Su Qianxue's Blade of Light.

After clearing away the swarms of enemies blocking their way, the two arrived at their destination around 2 p.m.

The fortress appeared at the bottom of a black rocky cliff.

It was less a fortress and more a pile of ruins. Only a section of the city wall remained, less than three meters high, covered with dark green moss and unknown vines. The city gate was long gone, with only two crooked gateposts still standing there, their stone surfaces etched with faint dragon reliefs.

Inside the city gate, a passageway leads underground.

Air rushed out from the tunnel entrance, carrying a somber, ancient atmosphere.

Su Qianxue and Murong Hui exchanged a glance.

"Get out of here."

The steps of the passageway were carved from a single block of black stone, their edges polished smooth, and they echoed when stepped on. The temperature dropped as you went down. Every dozen or so steps, a fist-sized luminous stone was embedded in the wall, emitting a pale light that barely illuminated the path beneath your feet.

After climbing about two hundred steps, the space suddenly opened up.

A huge underground palace appeared before the two of them.

The dome of the hall is five stories high, and the four walls are covered with intricately carved reliefs.

The entire piece features dragons, in all shapes and postures: flying, coiled, fire-breathing, and roaring. The relief carving is so exquisite that every single scale is clearly discernible.

"An ancient dragon clan's architecture." Murong Hui's voice was very low. When walking in such a place, one would instinctively not dare to speak loudly.

In the very center of the hall stands a three-meter-high stone tablet.

The monument faces the two people and is covered with densely packed text.

It is not the script commonly used by the Dragon Empire; its strokes are more complex, and its structure is more archaic, resembling some kind of lost language system.

The stone tablet emitted visible energy fluctuations, and pale blue light seeped out from the gaps in the characters on the tablet, spreading in circles. This was the source of the energy reaction reported by the scouts.

"Dragon Clan Secrets." Su Qianxue walked to the monument, her eyes quickly scanning the text on the surface.

In her previous life, she had come into contact with the Dragon Clan's documents and could recognize some of the symbols.

"This stele records—a diagram of a sealing array? No, it's a piece of history. 'Our clan's final battle, the sky stained with blood, the thirteen kings fell—'" Her brows furrowed. "I can't recognize the rest of the words. But this stele is at least ten thousand years old."

"Ten thousand years?" Murong Hui's eyes widened.

"Never mind that for now, Murong Hui. Leave the video footage here, and we'll consider our mission complete."

"Okay," Murong Hui said, taking out a recorder and starting to record.

But not long after, the ground shook.

Then came the second, then the third. Rhythmic, heavy, like the footsteps of some large creature.

From the darkness deep within the hall, two crimson eyes lit up.

A sharp roar echoed beneath the dome, shaking even the luminous stone.

A velociraptor burst out of the darkness.

It was a size larger than the three-headed hellhound, and its entire body was covered with dark gray scales, each scale edged with a metallic sheen.

Its hind legs are as thick as two pillars, and its forelimbs are short but have sharp claws.

The most horrifying thing was the head, with a gaping mouth that took up almost half of its length. It was filled with sharp, interlocking teeth, and saliva dripped from between them, sizzling and steaming on the stone slab.

Eighth Rank, Emperor Level!

A strange beast guarding the stone tablet.

Both of them felt a sudden jolt in their hearts!

"Scatter!" Su Qianxue shouted, and dodged to the left.

Murong Hui rolled to the right, drew her Crimson Flame Sword, and a streak of fire pierced the darkness of the hall.

The velociraptor was incredibly fast for its size. With a powerful push from its hind legs, it shot out like a cannonball, hurtling straight at Su Qianxue.

Yi Chen sprang up from Su Qianxue's shoulder and immediately tensed up!

One hundred and twenty times the force of gravity, full power output.

The velociraptor suddenly lowered its running posture and its speed decreased sharply, but it did not lie down.

With its eighth-order Emperor-level physique, it withstood the suppression of the gravitational field. It gritted its teeth and continued to rush forward, only its speed dropped from "cannonball" to "bulldozer".

The few seconds of deceleration gave Su Qianxue time to react.

The staff tip lit up, and a shield of light unfolded in front of him. The velociraptor's head crashed into the shield, shattering it, but most of the impact was dissipated.

Using the recoil, Su Qianxue slid back five meters. The moment she landed, she raised her staff again, unleashing the Blade of Light!

A golden blade of light struck the velociraptor's shoulder scales, slicing off three scales but not damaging the flesh.

The scales are too hard.

Murong Hui attacked from the side.

The Crimson Flame Sword was brimming with fire-elemental spiritual power, and all the inscriptions on its blade lit up, making it look like a burning stick. She aimed at the exposed skin of the velociraptor where the scales had been sheared off by the Blade of Light, and thrust it with all her might, the tip of the sword penetrating two inches.

The velociraptor, gripped by pain, lashed out with its tail. Murong Hui, unable to draw her sword in time, abandoned it and leaped back. The tail grazed her abdomen, leaving a trail of blood.

"Be careful!"

"I'm fine, just a superficial wound!" Murong Hui somersaulted and landed, then reached out and summoned the Crimson Flame Sword from the velociraptor's wound back into her hand, trailing a string of dark red blood beads.

What follows is a tough battle.

Velociraptors have a simple and brutal attack pattern: ramming, biting, and tail sweeping.

However, with the power and speed of an eighth-tier Emperor, three basic attacks are enough.

The tabby cat is responsible for applying gravity.

Su Qianxue is responsible for restraint and long-range output.

The staff continuously unleashed blades of light, targeting the already damaged scales and enlarging the wounds bit by bit. Yi Chen maintained the pressure of gravity, slowing down the velociraptor's speed.

Murong Hui is responsible for close-range combat and advancing.

She summoned the Fire Phoenix, and bluish-white flames poured down from the sky, scorching the velociraptor's eyes and nostrils, forcing it to expose an opening. Each time an opening appeared, Murong Hui rushed forward to deliver a finishing blow.

Fifteen minutes later, the velociraptor had more than a dozen sword wounds, the deepest of which ran from its neck to its chest. Its movements became sluggish, and its roars weakened.

Su Qianxue seized the opportunity.

The staff was raised above the head, and the crescent-shaped crown at the top of the staff was fully activated. The spiritual power of light condensed at the top of the staff into a ball of light the size of a fist, the Judgment of Light.

She knew this move was still unstable and the direction could be off. But the velociraptor was already pinned to the spot by the gravitational force, less than ten meters away. At such a close distance, it couldn't possibly go off by much.

The ball of light was emitted.

A dazzling golden beam pierced through the velociraptor's throat.

The velociraptor's three roars were stuck in its throat; its massive body swayed twice before crashing to the ground. A layer of dust was kicked up from the ground.

They both gasped for breath.

Murong Hui leaned on her sword, her forehead covered in sweat: "Good heavens, an eighth-tier Emperor-level weapon, it's really tough. If it weren't for the gravity space created by your cat constantly pressing down on me, I wouldn't have lasted five minutes chasing after this thing."

Su Qianxue walked to the velociraptor's corpse and took out the spirit core from its skull. It was a fist-sized, dark gray crystal with a dim light flowing inside.

An eighth-tier Emperor-level spirit core is worth a lot of money.

"I'll write down the information from the Dragon Stele again and organize it when I get back. You can keep the Spirit Core." Su Qianxue handed the Spirit Core to Murong Hui.

"That won't do, you should keep it. Although it's valuable, I have plenty at home."

"Alright, then I won't be polite." Su Qianxue nodded.

Su Qianxue walked back to the stone tablet, tapped her staff on the surface, and used her spiritual power to make a copy of the Dragon Clan's secret message.

"Let's go back," she said, her words caught in her throat.

Yichen's shoulder fur stood on end.

Its golden fur stood on end in an instant, its tail swelled to twice its usual thickness, and the claws on all four paws popped out.

Two powerful auras pressed in from the direction of the hall's entrance.

Heavy, deep, and filled with murderous intent.

Two black figures walked in from the entrance of the passageway.

He was dressed in black, with a mask covering his mouth and nose, leaving only his eyes visible.

Su Qianxue's pupils contracted slightly.

Her senses told her a very important fact: the spiritual energy fluctuations of these two people far exceeded her tolerance.

Tenth Rank, Martial King!

two!