Chương 703: Swift Strike!

Liu Shu stopped what she was doing and focused on Ceperet. The reason? Today was the day Luniere's kidnapping was going to happen. Flor and the others had discussed among themselves for a while. After all, the planning for the temporary kidnapping would only happen during the eight months since their arrival. This gave them enough time to prepare. While preparing, they naturally made sure not to alert Virelya's spies while also keeping Luniere in the dark.

The reason was not that they didn't trust Luniere, but that, with Virelya's level of information gathering, it would be too obvious if Luniere were to know about it. Therefore, leaving her to act as always would be the best way to camouflage their uncovering of the ploy. Flor sat on Ignatia's shoulder, her eyes looking down from the canopy of the Town Hall.

"Do you think they will truly dare?" Ignatia's insectoid eyes were looking down below with a terrifying chill. After all, whoever dared target her family would only deserve her wrath.

"If they dare, it's perfect. That information merchant was starting to get on my nerves. The number of spies that had infiltrated my ant kingdom below is not few. If it weren't because I didn't want to cause friction with them, I would've already fed those spies to my children." Flor looked at Ignatia and smiled softly, kissing her temple.

"Alright. You'll be able to vent now. Not to mention, Luniere is not weak… Hm?" As she spoke, she looked down with confusion.

"Why is Sylvia with her today? Shouldn't she be coming alone?"

Down at the gate, Sylvia used the roots of her lower flower half and followed Luniere while hugging her arm. Her very large eyes looked at Luniere with the same infatuation as several decades ago.

"Luniere, can I come with you today?" Luniere looked at Sylvia softly. They had already had over 10 children, one of them being a Sylvan. She, like Sylvia, was completely enamored by the soft, gentle, and loving little wife. Honestly, she disdained everyone who recoiled because of the Sylphaith's appearances. Each and every single Sylphaith Luniere had met was extremely gentle and soft in personality, naturally loyal, and an excellent mother.

'Among the four Alraune species Mother-in-law gives birth to, they are probably the best.' Luniere's thoughts were extremely biased. However, who could fault her? After all, she was the number one little fan of her own wife!

"Why do you want to come with me today, love? Aren't you tired from last night, hm?" Luniere smiled seductively, her peerless facial features making Sylvia squirm and blush.

'Why is my wife so beautiful, ah!' Thankfully, she had gained some resistance over the years of teasing. So, she buried her face in her shoulder and muttered.

"I just… I have a bad premonition. So, I wanted to accompany you." Luniere paused, hugging the soft body between her arms. Her eyebrows, hidden from Sylvia's gaze, furrowed faintly.

'A bad omen?' Her gaze turned toward her buffs, and it stopped in the <Fatebrushing Blessing>.

'Previously, I might've dismissed it as Sylvia being clingy. However…' Among the many blessings this <Temple> gave, there was the following: Once per day, you may nudge fate to slightly alter a single outcome in your favor, converting a failure into a partial success or mitigating a disastrous result. (The alteration fails if it would affect a comparatively higher existence.) So, Luniere, trusting her wife's strange bad omen, used it without any regrets.

While she had planned on using it later for a project, she decided otherwise. After all, if she didn't trust the love of her life, who should she trust? Still, knowing that things might get complicated, Luniere lowered her head to kiss Sylvia's large eyes.

"Love, wait for me inside, alright? Don't worry. Nothing can happen to me. Haven't I reached Level 142 a little while ago? Moreover, you know my strength, right?" Sylvia hesitated, but seeing Luniere's confident and gorgeous face, she also decided to trust her and nodded.

"Alright, then I'll go back and open the flower shop. You must come back before lunch, though! Otherwise, I'll go find you to feed you myself!" Luniere hugged Sylvia tightly, feeling blessed.

"Having you as my wife is my greatest fortune. I love you." Sylvia hugged her back, nuzzling her face against Luniere's neck before separating. After a few more intimate exchanges, Luniere left toward the Town Hall. Once outside, her smiling face became extremely cold, her gorgeous phoenix eyes looking around her from time to time.

'Someone wants to cause trouble in Mother-in-law's domain? Heh.' Her alluring lips arched in answer.

'Whoever you are, please try us. My sisters-in-law have been somewhat hungry lately because there are not many criminals to feed them.' You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. In the shadows around Luniere and Sylvia's shop, around 30 people moved together with extreme expertise. Even Flor and the others, who were attentive, couldn't perceive them at all.

The reason was their set of skills, which made their presence so faint that even a mosquito would cause more ripples than them. They were, after all, talents specially selected by someone from a powerful empire to complete this kind of kidnapping action.

"Remember the plan. Do not harm her. We take her, disappear, and leave her in the location hidden from the Big Lady. Understood? No words, no mocking. I want swift, decisive action."

"Understood, captain." As Luniere moved through her usual path, she turned the corner around a <Lignfied House> where there was a hidden corner. This corner was extremely inconspicuous, as it was in plain sight but hidden by some shadows right at the hour Luniere walked by. However, as Luniere was turning, something unexpected happened. A child's loud cry exploded to the side, making Luniere pause and look over. As she squinted, she noticed that she knew this child.

It was one of the classmates of Luniere's 9th child. She turned and walked over, her eyebrows slightly furrowed in worry.

"What is happening, Dural? Why are you crying here all alone?" The boy sniffled and looked up. Seeing Luniere's beautiful face, he instantly recognized her.

"Sniff, Farla's mommy?" Luniere smiled.

"Yes, I am Farla's mommy." She crouched down, her face showing a smile.

"Why are you crying? Did you get lost?" Dural sniffled and nodded, his eyes watering again.

"I saw a pretty butterfly and followed it… Now, I can't see Mommy and Daddy." The child's eyes glimmered slightly.

"That butterfly was so strange! It suddenly started glowing!" While Luniere and Dural spoke, the group of thirty almost cursed. While their methods were almost infallible, that was if the objective was within 10 meters of distance. However, if things continued as they were, Luniere would certainly accompany the child to a nearby office, deviating from her usual route. The captain cursed.

'What a great coincidence. Shit!'

"Captain, what do we do?" Looking around, the captain spoke.

"Target is currently 59 meters away. If we act swiftly, we can take her with us in 0. 4 seconds. She should be unable to properly react."

"What about the child?" The captain spoke indifferently.

"Our movement shockwave will send the child tumbling. He might get injured, but it won't be lethal. Proceed." One kidnapper used a skill.

"<Shadow Elongation>." The darkness in the corner suddenly surged, covering the distance between Luniere and them in a single instant. Luniere, while she had been soothing the child, never lost her edge. After all, there was a chance that this child was set up here on purpose. So, the second she felt the Aether Mana ripple behind her, Luniere reacted, her eyes cold.

'There you are.'

"<Crystal Tower Wall>." A massive wall over 40 meters tall manifested behind her, blocking the shadow. The next happened in less than one second. As the wall soared, the thirty kidnappers knew that their estimate would be wrong. Still, among them, over 10 of them were Level 150+. Their strength was not something the current Luniere could easily resist alone.

Five of them released a coordinated attack, slashing the crystal wall into chunks, while three of them used acceleration spells to blast through the broken wall and appeared past Luniere. Luniere observed those three that appeared in front of her, but her eyes swept behind her. With a thought, the crystal chunks moved toward her, even faster than the last two Sixth Energy Cycle powerhouses, and reformed another shield around her body.

This made the faces of the kidnappers twist, not expecting such sublime and powerful control from the woman. BANG! They all slammed into the wall, crumbling it down as Luniere hugged the child in her arms and prepared to flee. The second passed, and reinforcements arrived. Descending from the sky like a goddess of war, enveloped in flames, Ignatia crashed into the street. Flor's energy was even faster, enveloping Luniere and Dural in an extremely sturdy Aether Mana Shield.

The Captain knew that they had failed, even when a little over a second had passed.

'The enemy was prepared!'

"RETREAT! <Shadow—""As if I'd let you!" Ignatia moved like a raging meteor, her fist tearing through the air with massive sonic booms as she punched the captain's face. BOOM! [-8, 400, 000, 000] (84, 000) (0. 8) A terrifying damage number appeared on top of the captain, slicing over 20% of his total <Phoer>. His body, unable to bear the Ant Queen's horrifying physical might, became a shooting star, hurling toward a nearby <Lignified House>.

The <Lignified House> would naturally not allow anything to disturb those living within her, so its aura exploded with pure violence as her Level 150 might covered her. Then, a massive branch lashed down, light energy covering it for advanced speed. BANG! [-5, 300, 000, 000] (53, 000) (0. 5) The captain spat a mouthful of blood, his trajectory sharply twisting downward as he cratered onto the ground. The rest of the kidnapper group was not doing much better.

Flor had become an elemental catastrophe, using her wind aether to push everyone innocent away from the battlefield while creating fire, water, lightning, space, light, ice, and many other elemental phenomena around her small body. Yet, small as it was, it made every single kidnapper feel a pressure equal to that of an average World Tree.

"You people dare target my granddaughter-in-law in my child's domain? Death will be something you'll be begging for when we are done with you! <Elemental Aurora>!" All elements descended like rain on the group of kidnappers as Flor opened her arms, multicolored light enveloping her figure. [-358, 420, 000]! (3, 712)! [-379, 850, 000]! (3, 801)! [-351, 990, 000]! (3, 544)! [-384, 120, 000]! (3, 838)! [-369, 775, 000]! (3, 602)! [-347, 950, 000]! (3, 479)! [-382, 430, 000]! (3, 756)! ….

Smaller damage numbers, but in numbers far surpassing anything else, covered the entire space. [Congratulations! You've defeated <Level 143 Umbra Human (B Tier)>. You've gained 27, 042 Experience Points!] [Congratulations! You've defeated… [Congratulations! You've defeated … The captain barely managed to stand up, only to see thousands of ants swarming the place together with many other experts. His face turned extremely ugly as he saw Ignatia walk toward him with a cold smile and elegantly swaying hips." Now, little rat, you've fallen into my hands. I wonder how your master will feel?"