Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Sometimes, being too decisive isn’t a good thing!”

Having acknowledged Yuan Shan, Fu Qian looked at the ground and let out a heartfelt sigh.

Yuan Shan had clearly gone for the kill. The previously arrogant old man Ambor was now completely unrecognizable, riddled with holes and tightly bound by black bands.

In truth, even at his worst, he still possessed his demigod status and shouldn’t have been taken down so easily.

His mistake lay in being entirely too decisive.

Upon realizing that his status was plummeting and his authority was gone, his first reaction had been to flee. He sought to tear open the cage Yuan Shan had laid down as quickly as possible, uncaring if he suffered injuries in the process.

This was actually a very normal reaction, fully worthy of his millennium of life experience.

Unfortunately for him, his luck was poor; he ran into Classmate Su Gao.

With her extraordinary attack speed and invincible, piercing lethality, she gifted the old man with yet another piece of life experience.

Severely wounded by Su Gao’s blade, Ambor instinctively resorted to the Blood Clan’s escape methods. His body scattered into a swarm of bats, only to crash headlong into Chief Yuan, who had been slightly slower to react.Although she lacked Su Gao’s killer instinct, her abilities were perfectly tailored for the job.

In an instant, dozens, if not hundreds, of black spears erupted from all directions, skewering and instantly killing the bats in clusters.

Even though the fragmented bats converged and old man Ambor soon reappeared, his form could hardly be called human anymore.

Aside from his head, the rest of him was just grotesque, deformed bats clinging and tangling together to barely form the shape of a torso and limbs. His entire body could only be described as a grotesque lump.

At this moment, Chief Yuan didn’t even give Ambor the chance to voice any final thoughts. With a crook of her finger, his head was instantly sliced to pieces.

Amid an invisible wail, a peerless demigod fell just like that.

Never expecting Yuan Shan to be so decisive and ruthless, Grantham, who had originally intended to say something, froze in place once again, his mind racing.

Things had changed far too quickly. Ambor was insufferably arrogant just a moment ago, only to be instantly obliterated in the blink of an eye. Whatever had happened in between was entirely beyond his comprehension.

But regardless, given his previous stance, it was clear he had lost the gamble.

The fate the Gulade Family would face next was truly not something to be optimistic about.

On the other hand, not many people had been hurt throughout the entire incident, and Ambor had already paid the price with his death. To some extent, it could be said that the Gulade Family had learned its lesson.

Either outcome was plausible; the final decision on how to handle the scale of the punishment still rested with the Night Watchers.

That’s right, Ambor just tried to kill Serana. If she stepped forward and cut ties with him, things might turn out better...

While these thoughts were still spinning in his head, Grantham was surprised to see Serana shift before shakily standing up.

Though she had been heavily wounded, without Ambor’s suppression, her condition was rapidly recovering. The vitality of the Blood Clan was no joke.

For a moment, Grantham stared eagerly at Serana, hoping she would say something.

Unfortunately, Serana was completely oblivious to Grantham’s earnest anticipation.

She first looked at the gradually dissipating red moonlight without a word, then turned her gaze to Fu Qian, remaining silent for a long time.

Others might not understand, but Fu Qian knew exactly what she was thinking.

Ambor’s abnormal behavior just now inevitably made her think of the fall of the Progenitor.

The next moment, without even acknowledging Yuan Shan, she stepped directly toward the door.

Yuan Shan didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of stopping her, leaving Grantham alone with a look of despair.

...

”Now that I think about it, I really should have listened to you earlier.”

Watching Serana leave, Yuan Shan turned back to look at the two fighters she had invited to help, filled with emotion.

”If I had just killed this guy right at the start, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble later.”

”Not true, not true. Even if you did it all over again, you would still make the exact same choice.”

Fu Qian smiled and shook his head. He adopted the posture of one strategizing within the command tent; the only thing he was missing was a feather fan to wave around.

”Everyone has their limits. If you want to break through those limitations, you need to introduce enough variables.”

”Actually, that’s what I’m curious about. What exactly was the variable you mentioned earlier? How did Ambor’s status drop so drastically all of a sudden?”

Though Fu Qian’s words had momentarily silenced her, since he had actively brought the subject up, Yuan Shan didn’t hesitate in striking the snake and climbing up the stick to ask further.

Even though she had used every method she could think of just now, she hadn’t been very optimistic about the outcome.

Who could have imagined that at the critical moment, Ambor would suddenly display an unstable state of power, leading to him being slashed and injured by Su Gao?

The way things developed was so surreal it felt unrealistic, akin to a mastermind tripping over a rock and knocking themselves silly.

Then again, during the Ariel incident last time, the incredibly grim situation had also ended silently.

And this guy was present back then, too.

For a moment, Yuan Shan stared fixedly at Fu Qian, her eyes burning bright.

”It’s actually very simple.”

Fu Qian replied casually, his expression revealing no flaws.

For safety reasons, it was impossible to reveal the encounter he had just experienced.

Even though the omnipresent ravings had stopped, Fu Qian believed that a special connection had already been formed due to his previous response.

The Night Watchers clearly held many secrets, especially concerning ancient Deities, and Fu Qian didn’t want to be dragged off and sliced up for research.

Fortunately, he had already thought of an answer to Yuan Shan’s question.

”To sum it up, it was just the art of language.”

”...You aren’t trying to say you were scaring him, are you?”

Yuan Shan’s expression clearly showed her disbelief.

”Why not? As the saying goes, attacking the heart is paramount.”

Fu Qian looked utterly innocent.

”In a situation where it’s obvious we couldn’t pin him down, there’s no harm in making an empty show of strength.”

”But even I didn’t expect the effect to be so good that he’d actually drop a level from sheer fright. It’s possible he just leveled up and his state wasn’t stable yet.”

...

After Fu Qian finished speaking, Yuan Shan was speechless for a moment. She really wanted to say that his excuse was far too ridiculous.

Unfortunately, there was a problem with that. Unlike the Ariel incident, she had been watching the entire process this time, and Fu Qian truly hadn’t done anything other than say that sentence.

Did she really have to attribute the cause to an unstable state?

”It might sound incredible, but have you considered that Ambor might not be the only one who’s unstable?”

Taking in her reaction, Fu Qian pointed out the window and spoke at the perfect moment.

”Doesn’t a Progenitor who has been inactive for several centuries suddenly issuing a revelation seem a little off in itself?”

Although he couldn’t expose himself, it would be a shame not to take advantage of the Night Watchers, who held so many secrets.

Fu Qian was very much looking forward to how the Night Watchers would explain this to Yuan Shan once he threw the theory out there.

...

There’s a problem with the Progenitor of the Blood Clan...

Understanding what Fu Qian meant, Yuan Shan fell silent for a moment.

If the source of his power itself was flawed, then things actually made some sense.

Of course, the most important thing was that she finally had a decent hypothesis she could write into her report.

As for whether it was true or not, she would let that group of people slowly debate it.

Thinking of this, Yuan Shan let out a breath.

”Anyway, I have to thank you for this time, or else who knows how much trouble would have been caused. The same goes for Su Gao.”

Yuan Shan’s tone was incredibly sincere as she looked at Su Gao beside her.

The latter had long since sheathed her sword and appeared relaxed, showing absolutely no sign that she had just slashed an over eight-hundred-year-old man.

In truth, she had indeed been quite relaxed; from start to finish, she had only struck twice.

Just like Fu Qian, she had perfectly displayed the posture of someone merely holding the line.

”It was an effortless favor. Now that the matter here is settled, I, Fang, shall retire to my hometown.”

After casually offering a few modest remarks, Fu Qian chose to walk straight out, leaving Yuan Shan staring after him in bewilderment.

”Balance is hard to maintain.”

As he walked past Grantham, Fu Qian even casually sighed out a remark that left the man’s face the color of dirt.

Seeing this, Su Gao gave a slight nod to Yuan Shan and followed after him.

...

”Chief Yuan!”

Watching the two of them leave, and seeing Yuan Shan remain silent, Grantham braced himself and stepped forward, hoping to have a brief conversation.

Unfortunately, snapping out of her thoughts, Yuan Shan merely shot him a frigid glance. After giving him a look that made his hair stand on end, she too walked straight out without a single word.