Chapter 104: Bai Ya Claims She Played a Key Role

Actually, one could hardly blame Bai Ya; she had reasons that forced her to take the opportunity to flee.

The only leverage she had to command a Golden-grade powerhouse like Courant was that firelock, but the weapon was already useless. Bai Ya had realized this the moment she stripped off her inner layers.

Despite taking protective measures before going out to adjust the Magic Guide Cannon, the attempt to rely on fabric for waterproofing had ultimately failed. The rain had soaked through and permeated the cloth, coming into contact with the firelock wrapped inside. The single remaining charge of gunpowder was, most unfortunately, drenched.

Bai Ya had assessed her own strength and formulated the best plan of action. She had to find a way to slip away before Courant noticed the state of her weapon, and now she had succeeded.

The key to defeating a Golden-grade Ogre was the ability [Choral Theater: Salvation Saint]. The more people who trusted her, the greater the power she received. Now that she had parted ways with the fighters, the power she could draw within the area covered by her ability was quite limited.

According to the ability she had inexplicably obtained to view setting panels, her Strength was a 4, with potential increases of only 2 or 3 points. However, Courant’s Strength was 10,000. A simple comparison made it clear that running away was the only rational choice.

If she could find a functional firelock, Bai Ya might consider turning back for a counterattack.

But she decided to forget that for now. Bai Ya was heading toward the central town, which served as both the noble residential district and the trade zone. For her, the most urgent task was to find a Hermit’s Chain for herself.

According to the data in her memory, if a Slave Girl did not wear a Hermit’s Chain, her mortality rate was almost one hundred percent. The Hermit’s Chain could mask the exotic aura of a Slave Girl, preventing her from being detected by other races.

Other races loathed Slave Girls and desired nothing more than to tear them apart and eat them alive. In fact, these races possessed an uncontrollable, terrifying appetite for Slave Girls. A Slave Girl without a Hermit’s Chain walking through an area frequented by other races was guaranteed to attract thousands of attackers.

Driven by an appetite triggered by a Slave Girl, these races would hunt their target frantically until the scent dissipated with distance or until they caught and devoured her. Otherwise, even if exhausted to the point of collapse, they would continue to crawl in pursuit.

By reading the historical events stored in her mind, Bai Ya learned that many Slave Girls had been ruined this way. As a newly ascended Slave Girl, she had to learn from these lessons, avoid the mistakes of her predecessors, and honestly keep a Hermit’s Chain on her person at all times, day and night.

There were originally three Slave Girls on the transport ship: Number 004 [Lord of Life and Death] Rinne Tenki, Number 053 [Shadow Spider] Mei-yo Orito, and Number 066 [Cursed Doll] Gouka Keirei. They were certainly wearing Hermit’s Chains. Bai Ya’s plan was to scavenge the noble estates—particularly the castles of Arthur and Lumion—to see if she could find one or two spare Hermit’s Chains.

When she reached her destination, the streets before her eyes were littered with bodies lying in various states. By identifying their clothing, she could guess their identities; most were guards, a few were nobles who had been too unlucky to escape in time, and some slaves were mixed in as well.

Many buildings bore scorch marks. Thanks to the heavy rain, the fires had been extinguished before they could burn everything to ash, and even the blood had been washed clean. In this regard, Bai Ya was quite satisfied.

Not knowing if the pirates had left any scraps for her, Bai Ya took a gambling chance and pushed open a half-destroyed door that had been smashed. She was about to step inside to begin her search for items.

At that moment, the sky turned somber. Her already dim field of vision suddenly plunged into darkness. Knowing that it was barely past noon, Bai Ya didn’t consider the possibility of the sun setting.

She soon learned the answer to this anomaly, as a border emitting a golden glow appeared before her eyes, manifesting rows of golden text.

“Oh my, I even have an analysis ability. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Excellent!”

Bai Ya gave a thumbs-up to the empty air and then, without further hesitation, slipped into the house to search.

Regarding this abnormal darkness and the events occurring outside, Bai Ya could roughly guess what was happening through her own knowledge and analysis.

She had, after all, grasped the plot of Chapter Two. If she couldn’t interpret some valuable information from it, Bai Ya wouldn’t forgive her own incompetence. She was the strongest player, after all! This level of difficulty couldn’t stop her!

There were several key pieces of information in the first half of [SLAVE] Chapter Two: Elegy of the Ocean. The pirates arrived, the transport ship was split in two by a tsunami, and Bai Ya became a pirate.

The first and last pieces of information were just the general plot direction. However, the bit about the transport ship being split in two by a tsunami contained much more information.

As for her ability to view settings, Bai Ya had experimented with it many times and discovered two activation conditions. First, a high-level being above the human race must be within two meters of her. Second, she must speak their name.

“Molly Shingya.” While reviewing the plot of Chapter Two, Bai Ya had subconsciously uttered the name of the main heroine. Consequently, a setting border written in golden text appeared before her, displaying Molly’s personal information.

Molly Shingya, formerly a Slave Girl of Amidal, Number 013 [Deep Sea Evil Dragon Emperor]. Her racial talent was “King of the Seas Sacred Beast,” granting her the power to manipulate the ocean.

Bai Ya could now confirm that the incoming massive tsunami was indeed Molly’s handiwork. Otherwise, she was simply too unlucky, having encountered a disaster that appeared only once in a thousand years.

Estimating the destructive power of the tsunami, Bai Ya was certain that if it truly hit, she and the transport ship would both be finished. However, in the plot of Chapter Two, she was still very much alive, and the transport ship was merely split open, not submerged.

Both were bad outcomes, yet there was a massive difference: the damage sustained in the latter was significantly reduced.

“The rain stopped.” While scavenging in the attic, Bai Ya looked up out of the window. The rain had stopped at some unknown point, and sunlight was streaming through the glass, casting its light upon her.

The sun coming out after the rain was also an anomaly, because judging by the intensity of the storm earlier, it should have taken at least two or three hours to stop.

“Quite capable. Accomplishing this isn’t easy. She’s someone to look up to—as expected of a Slave Girl with ‘Unknown’ combat power.”

Bai Ya recalled the ability settings she had seen before entering the house. It recorded a racial talent called [Law of Life and Death], and the wielder was Rinne Tenki.

Bai Ya pushed the window open and stretched her arms forward to relieve her body’s fatigue. Humming a light tune, she looked at the scenery outside; it was a stretch of exceptionally pure, azure sky.

The logic was simple. If pirates invaded, the nobles had to resist. With a major threat like Molly present, the Slave Girls would inevitably be sent into battle. Amidal’s numbering was related to the strength of their abilities—the closer to a single digit, the stronger they were. According to this logic, the ghost girl (Shadow Spider · Mei-yo Orito) and the explosive girl (Cursed Doll · Gouka Keirei) were no match for Molly.

The only one who could threaten Molly was the top-tier Slave Girl, Rinne Tenki. Bai Ya had also verified the fact that Molly and Rinne Tenki were at war. It was a pity she hadn’t been able to witness that clash of the gods at the arena.

Once she understood that Molly and Rinne Tenki were fighting, other things became clear. The tsunami was triggered by Molly, but why would she do it? The scale of the tsunami was too massive; even Molly’s own fleet would be caught in it. If she had any shred of sanity, she would understand that she shouldn’t make such a nearly suicidal mistake.

Describing Molly’s actions as “madness” was quite fitting. If nothing unexpected happened, once that tsunami hit, everyone except her would perish at the bottom of the sea.

But an accident did happen. The tsunami had vanished. Bai Ya knew it had nothing to do with the Magic Cannon “Galaxy Skybreak Earthrend.” While that main cannon was powerful, it hadn’t reached the point of causing a total collapse of the tsunami. However, this was indeed a man-made intervention.

The person who calmed the tsunami was Molly’s opponent, Rinne Tenki.

Rinne Tenki was Number 004, while Molly was Number 013. In theory, Rinne Tenki was stronger than Molly. If one followed this logic—Molly, having been defeated by Rinne Tenki, launched a large-scale destructive skill in a rage, and the naturally stronger Rinne Tenki stepped in to calm the tsunami—it seemed to make sense.

Bai Ya always had one hundred percent confidence in her own deductions. Even if she were wrong, it didn’t matter; she would consider every possibility.

At least for now, she hadn’t found any flaws in her reasoning.

If there was one thing that still couldn’t be explained, it was probably the fact that the transport ship had been split open.

The fact that the tsunami vanished had not occurred.

Could this be related to her? Had she changed the future? Bai Ya sighed helplessly; she couldn’t master all the information.

***

Meanwhile, Rinne Tenki breathed a sigh of relief. If she had the chance, she would thank the person who fired the Magic Cannon at the tsunami.

Thanks to the Magic Cannon, the momentum of the tsunami had stalled, buying her time. She hadn’t been forced to activate the full power of her [Law of Life and Death] ability, which would have inevitably led to oversights.

She wouldn’t have been able to “kill” the tsunami completely. If even a sliver of that level of tsunami power remained, it would have been terrifyingly potent, with a high probability of killing her.

After the tsunami subsided, many pirate ships also rushed toward the vicinity of the transport ship. This time, the pirates had suffered immense losses. Aside from the slight relief of not being completely wiped out, the survivors were all sullen, and their dissatisfaction with Molly had reached its peak.

They knew perfectly well that the tsunami had been triggered by Molly. Such an attack that failed to distinguish between friend and foe had already destroyed their alliance with her. Some pirates had begun showing hostility toward Molly’s crew, though they remained silent out of fear of the Diamond-grade powerhouse, Pengpeng.

“Where is Lord Lumion.”

While the pirates were divided into factions—those for the alliance and those for Molly—a petite figure stepped onto the deck, her wings unfolding with a contradictory image.

One wing was as holy as an angel’s; the other was as deadly as a specter’s. Rinne Tenki had approached the pirate ship on a lifeboat, prepared to rescue Lumion.