The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix’s Novels Also Desires Happiness

Chapter 42, An Unexpected Crisis

“Dong.”

“Dong.”

“Dong.”

Ailuka also heard the strange sound.

“Dong.”

“Dong.”

“Dong.”

The sound grew closer, and Ailuka could hear it more clearly.

It was a heartbeat, like the beating of war drums.

“Heartbeat…”

Ailuka’s pupils constricted suddenly.

Her hearing was different from others, even better than that of the warrior Rod.

But this was on the stormy surface of the lake.

For her to hear the heartbeat so clearly, it must be incredibly powerful.

And the owner of that heartbeat must be enormous.

“Not good…”

“Run!”

Ailuka shouted hoarsely to Rod and Tia, who were standing on the corpse of the lake master:

“Be careful down…!”

The final word “面” was drowned out by the sound of the wave crashing.

In an instant, the mist covering the lake was torn open, and a massive dark monster leapt from the water, its crimson eyes showing its fury, with jagged scales and bone spines flashing with blinding lightning.

“Lake master…”

“Another one…”

“How is this possible…”

Rod and Tia couldn’t help but widen their eyes at the sight of this even larger black fish before them.

But there was no time to be stunned.

Rod immediately gripped his longsword tightly, with fighting spirit coiling around it, and then unleashed his martial skill, Lion’s Roar, accompanied by visible shockwaves as he boldly charged forward.

In the lake, there was no possibility of escape, so they could only face it head-on!

The shockwave collided with the lightning, instantly stirring up towering waves in the lake!

“Dammit… this thing is so powerful…”

Rod was being pushed back step by step by the giant beast, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.

In just a brief exchange, Rod found himself completely at a disadvantage.

After all, he had been ambushed, and the target of the ambush was a nearly thirty-meter-tall giant beast!

“I’ll help you.”

Fortunately, Tia by his side was no mere decoration, but a genuine third-tier mage.

“Burn, Flame Magic!”

Once again, it was a spell cast without the incantation process, a quick-fire magic. A massive pillar of fire surged forward with intense heat, violently charging at the unsuspecting lake master.

If it hit, even if it couldn’t inflict serious injury, it would surely force it back.

But…

In the lake, the pair of eyes that were nothing like a human’s flashed with a mocking, almost human-like amusement.

In Tia’s terrified gaze, it suddenly raised its broad fish tail and struck the surface of the lake with a mighty slap!

Torrential waves erupted, like a wall blocking hope, crashing into the pillar of fire in an instant.

Hiss.

The high temperature evaporated the lake water, and as the pillar of fire extinguished, a large amount of steam was generated, instantly shrouding the surroundings in a thick fog, visibility reduced to a pitiful level.

The new lake master sank back into the depths, disappearing once more.

“I was just about to say, in this kind of environment, we shouldn’t use fire magic!”

Ailuka, who was floating safely in the air rather than on the corpse of the fallen lake master, couldn’t help but interject while using wind magic to disperse the steam:

“Isn’t this just creating trouble for ourselves?”

“You… can you just shut up?”

Tia retorted sharply:

“You weren’t in my dangerous position, how do you know what magic I should have used at that moment for the best outcome?”

“Using fire magic on the lake surface is inherently problematic, okay?”

“But it was my fire magic that just killed the previous lake master, right? And what did Ailuka do? What right do you have to criticize me?”

“I was just pointing out the mistake…”

“I’m not wrong!”

“Alright, alright, everyone just say a little less.”

Rod interjected between the two, but his tone was quite conciliatory:

“Save some strength; we’re still in a fight.”

“Hmph.”

Tia let out a cold snort, crossing her arms:

“Out of respect for Rod, I won’t stoop to arguing with this country bumpkin.”

“Country bumpkin…”

Click.

This was the second time today that Eluka nearly broke her wand.

So what if she was a bit prettier and had a bigger chest?

Why call her a country bumpkin?

Didn’t she know that the Rod she was so obsessed with was from the same village as this so-called country bumpkin?

“Indeed, I shouldn’t have agreed to let her join our team from the start…”

If it weren’t for seeing how hard Rod was working, would she have allowed someone to intrude on their little world?

…

So annoying.

…

But after all, they were still in the midst of battle, and her persona was that of a soft, cute, kind girl; she couldn’t afford to get too entangled in this moment.

Eluka pulled her thoughts back, focusing on finding the lake master.

“Due to territorial instincts, two apex-level magical beasts cannot coexist.”

“Unless, they are one male and one female.”

Eluka glanced at the corpse of the lake master beneath Rod’s feet:

“From its appearance, the one attacking us now should be the female.”

For most magical beasts, the female is often significantly larger than the male.

And size means power.

“The intelligence of apex-level magical beasts is already quite high; what would it do in this situation?”

As Eluka pondered, her gaze gradually settled on that corpse.

Rod still stood atop it, for a warrior like him, being grounded was always more effective than floating in the air.

“If it were me, what would I do?”

Eluka thought to herself, then suddenly… her eyes widened.

If she were that lake master, she would definitely…

“Rod!”

“Tia!”

“Don’t move!”

The three years of adventurer experience had made Eluka’s actions always faster than her thoughts.

So when she came to her senses, her wand was already waving, and a continuous Levitation spell had been cast on Rod and Tia.

“Eh? What are you doing all of a sudden?”

The Levitation spell cast by oneself feels completely different from one cast by another. This sensation of being lifted by someone else creates a very uncomfortable illusion.

Tia thought Eluka was retaliating against her, so she was still considering reporting to Rod.

But in the next moment, the words of complaint were forcefully swallowed back down.

Because she saw the enormous lake master corpse, where she and Rod had just been standing, suddenly sink!

The sinking was so sudden that it almost created waves strong enough to knock them down from their floating position.

“Sure enough, the first thing it wants to do is reclaim its partner’s corpse, because how could a magical beast allow its partner to be trampled by humans?”

“And then the second thing is…”

The lake surface, which had just been tumultuous, suddenly calmed down, like a mirror reflecting the dark clouds above and the two of them.

Then the water rippled, and a whirlpool began to gradually take shape, expanding.

It was as if an invisible hand was stirring the surface of the lake.

The lake master poked its head out from the center of the whirlpool.

Dazzling lightning gathered on its menacing horn.

With an angry gaze, it fixed its stare on the two humans who had just stepped on its partner.

“As I expected, it will launch a full-scale attack to avenge its partner.”

“But…”

Looking at the lightning gradually brewing on the lake master’s horn, Eluka muttered in astonishment.

“Long-range attack?”