999 A Variant Monster

Thus, the two members of this secret organisation baffled the Citadel Guards by their audacity to have a snack break in the middle of their sacred stairs trial. No one in their right mind would have done that and quite likely these two were the first to be this shameless.

Alas, the trial stated that unless the challengers of the trial came into physical contact with the guards, the challengers were not to be harmed during the trial period. Somehow Qiu Yue had a feeling things would go this way and so they took their time to eat the chips while also enjoying the sight of the grey skies and scenery the Inner Citadel had to offer. Even if they were to brandish their swords and spears, Qiu Yue believed that the two of them could them on all of them easily despite the odd difficulty of the Trial for Meomi.

Although the guards were boiling inside that this group did not take their trial seriously, they were forced to tolerate this shameless behaviour. Once the five minutes were up, the inner gates were indeed shut off while the guards stance changed.

"Looks like we failed your trial. Can we go now?!" Qiu Yue shouted at the front gates guards as they reluctantly opened the outer gates.

"Do you think we will get assassinated?" Meomi asked as she licked her fingers.

"What? For sitting right here? That would have to be the silliest reason to get assassinated. Death to you for sitting at the stairs!" Qiu Yue joked as she threw her own bag with half eaten chips into her storage ring while swiping her hands a little before standing up.

"Meh, they are southerners. As long as money exchanges hands they would do it. And you never know how these guards might say things like 'I will kill you for disrespecting our leader! kind of stuff', ya know?" Meomi argued before she asked whether she could finish that pack of chips. It appeared that munching on food kept the werecat's temper in check. As they walked by the Citadel guards, both of the girls could clearly feel the anger emanating from the guards but Qiu Yue still cheekily waved goodbye to them.

Just as they walked further into the streets and Qiu Yue informed Meomi about some of the plans that Jin had in store for the Grand Operation, until the werecat felt a familiar presence behind her. As she turned her head casually, she felt that familiar presence turns into a sharp pointed aura of bloodlust, aiming at her and only her.

"Oh hey, Nightingale." Meomi waved at her with caution, only to realise that the crowd around them started to thin out slowly with people in black cloaks starting to close off their perimeter.

"Hmph… a mix of both? Nightingale did seem to mention something about their Stairs Trial being sacred. Sorry I wasn't listening too carefully. From what I can recall it had to do something along the lines of losers will all eventually die. Still, she hoped I would clear the trial. But judging from the thinning of the crowd, she is not alone, probably sent to track us down instead. I have full confidence she won't pull the blade on me. To you, not sure."

"Heh, she might be commanded to do both! Then you won't be in for a surprise since she can catch you off guards because of your relationship. Not to mention, we are foreigners and they expect the foreigners to complete the trial without giving any information on it? That's kind of rude on their part. Considering how much we had taken care of them, that is outright insulting." Qiu Yue said as the crowd in that particular street finally disappeared. 

Only the Southern Stars Mercenaries were left as well as the offenders. It was as if they knew what would happen to them, so they immediately scattered. Even the shopkeepers and merchants in the vicinity walked away from their stores and left without seemingly caring for their wares. They'd rather keep their lives intact than getting implicated for a possible crime.

"Leader Leopardo was amused by the way you handled the trial," Nightingale informed them with a disgruntled tone. She honestly thought that Meomi could clear the trial easily.

"Is this supposed to be a way to entice us to try again? Because if it is, I'm totally not interested." Qiu Yue replied and suddenly there was a bit of chuckling at the back of a street alley.

"I can see how 'slightly' different they are from normal people. Especially the representative from this secret organisation you spoke of." He lowered his black cloak and showed himself.

"Oh, you want to talk to me now? I thought you won't bother since we've miserably failed your trial." Qiu Yue pointed out sharply. 

"So you'd rather fight this cripple instead of my guards?" Leonardo questioned which she nodded her head nonchalantly. 

"From what I gather from your culture, fighting seems to be part of your way of life. So, why should I bother myself with the weakest when I can directly fight with the strongest? Also please, let's not pretend you are a cripple. You may have lost an arm, but you seem to still be quite active." Qiu Yue commented before using her chi to judge her opponent. "Probably need some warming up though."

"Fine, I won't pretend, however, if you think you can take me you might have overestimated yourself, Lady Qiu Yue. Aren't you afraid of death?" Leopardo asked as he unsheathed his sword. Akin to his name, there was a leopard monster carved on his crossguard.

"No, I don't think so. Perhaps you should be afraid of me who isn't afraid of death." Qiu Yue now picked up her Ice Katana from her storage ring and most of them were surprised that her sword magically appeared from thin air while not sensing any magic powers.

"Hahaha! Such bravado. Now I am more interested in you. But apologies Lady Qiu Yue, it seems the trial I intend for you is more ...difficult than the fight against me. Especially now that I know you wish to fight the strongest of them all." Leopardo said while putting down his weapon. Qiu Yue noticed that suddenly more cloaked figures appeared through the shadows.

"Infighting among yourselves?" Qiu Yue deduced and Leopardo burst out in laughter. 

"Your imagination is something else. No, but that was a good guess." Leopardo said as the winds in the air changed a little. The cold dry breeze slowly became warm. Not only that, there were distant screeches from afar and Qiu Yue sighed.

"Oh... You have some top class monsters coming your way." Qiu Yue asked and Leopardo nodded his way with a grin.

"Is there any better way to learn about our allies? My reports have stated that you were able to defend the Town of Wecha within minutes." Leopardo was betting, hoping that this mysterious organisation would be able to help his people the same way they did for Wecha.

"You seem awfully sure that we are going to help you? Do you think that we are philanthropic in nature?" Qiu Yue's words, however, were different from her actions as she quickly jumped towards the high ground to check up on the incoming monsters. She immediately requested for the Sub System or the System to give her whatever information they had of whatever was causing these. All she knew was that she never really encountered any animalistic life forms other than the Demon Rats in the Northern Region.

At that point, she also relayed the view to the Farming World Scholars in hopes that they knew something too but she did not expect for Gold to suddenly scream and shout through the System Intercoms.

"Unbelievable!!!! Is that really- *cough*" Gold cleared his throat due to the excitement. "Is that really THE Phoenix!?! The Seven Oceans Phoenix?!!" Gold exclaimed and the System instantly verified that what Qiu Yue saw was indeed it. The Bird monster with the colour hue of seven oceans combined. Its majestic feathers were blooming with magic and it brought the taste of sea into the dry white desert.

"Wait a minute...so that phoenix is the one whose dung you were so excited about previously?" Qiu Yue asked and Gold was beyond delight.

"How dare you degrade such a miracle fertiliser? With enough of it, it would be a breeze to literally grow those plants that Jin wants me to inscribe! The plants, like the Phoenix, will rise up almost instantly!" Gold was giddied from the exhilarating sight of seeing the Phoenix...until the System apologised via the System Channel.

"Upon closer inspection, what Sub System User Qiu Yue saw is not exactly the Seven Oceans Phoenix, but apparently a variant. The Seven Oceans Phoenix should only have seven tails, yet this particular individual has nine." The System corrected itself. "But judging from its magical powers, it is no doubt the signature energy of the Seven Oceans Phoenix although it is many times stronger. Thus, the System shall name it the Nine Oceans Phoenix for easier reference."

"So what? It's like a legendary class monster or something? I don't even know the power grade of this particular monster. Is it normal for such a monster to appear in the Southern Capital? I recalled Gold saying that it's aversion to humans makes it hard to find. Isn't that the reason it's crap is so rare?" Qiu Yue'' questioned only then Meomi turned to Leopardo.

"Did any of your men capture that monster's chicks or something? Maybe an egg? Or did you kill any monster at all recently which might have had any relation to it?" Meomi shouted and that caused Leopardo to squint his eyes. 

"We do not keep track of most of the monster slain because it's our daily source of food. I can, however, get my man to trace it, assuming we verified what monster that is. All we know is that my mages found a giant source of energy coming towards the capital. And we've already begun evacuating the citizens." Leopardo said. "With your help, we might be able to stop it."

"So time is of the essence and you still opted to conduct that stupid trial thing before outright asking us for help? What are you? Sick in the head or something?" Qiu Yue shook her head. Her interrogating tone made the black cloaks take their weapons out immediately and they pointed them at Qiu Yue for saying something so offensive to their leader.

"You are right, that's my fault. It was meant as a measure of strength. You've passed the moment you managed to walk up the stairs with ease. While your companion Meomi did not satisfy such a condition, I would say that not many could even walk the first few steps up. So she's considered above average and perhaps on par with our rookies in the Southern Stars." Leopardo exclaimed.

"Nevertheless, it seems that the both of you know what sort of monster that is, judging by the way you've asked if we capture its younglings." Leopardo commented and Qiu Yue did not hesitate to tell them.

"A variant of the Seven Oceans Phoenix? Nine Oceans Phoenix?" Leopardo repeated and his eyes left his usual look of confidence. it seemed as if he understood the actual severity of the problem at hand now that he had identified the monster.

"That is our conjecture but until it releases its attacks, we won't know whether it's a variant or another creature entirely." Qiu Yue added.

"Save our capital and I promise you, you shall gain the South's favour. We shall consider your proposal to the best of our ability." Leopardo requested of her.

"Huh? Just 'consider'? You're asking us to help you take down a possibly Legendary creature and yet you still continue to be on the pedestal even when asking us for that kind of help, eh? That's rather arrogant of you... Sorry, but I believe we will manage just fine without your help. Who knows how many lives it might cost to help you. If that Nine Oceans Phoenix ever comes to disturb us in the North, we shall deal with it then." Qiu Yue answered as she requested a portal right in front of her, seeing that the black cloaks were ready to cut them into pieces.

It was not until Leopardo lifted his hand up.

"Please wait, you misunderstood me. I can only promise you that it will be 'consider' because I am not the leader of the Southern Region for I am but an interim one. When our real leader is back from his expedition, only then can he make that choice. It's not for me to decide but him." Leopardo explained. 

"But I can promise you at least this. As one of the biggest mercenary guilds in the Southern Region, should you be able to avert this crisis with us. We will lend you our aid and that I can guarantee."

"For free?" Qiu Yue asked shamelessly and Leopardo felt a major dilemma. Bargaining even at death's door? This Lady was a true blue businesswoman.

"Forgive me, but I have many mouths to feed too. We can negotiate a favourable deal for your side, but only upon clearing this particular threat?" Leopardo was trying to be realistic as the coffers would definitely be drained from the extended campaign. They might be rich and have one of the largest networks of mercenaries but their families still needed to eat.

"No, that doesn't sound good enough.." Qiu Yue did not hesitate to move out into the portal whilst grabbing Meomi. They teleported away, leaving Leopardo and his Southern Star comrades in a lurch. Nightingale was shocked as she did not expect such an answer by Meomi and her superior. But seeing the negotiations had broken down, the Southerners could only do what had been trained their entire life for.

To fight.