156 Blue-Winged Demon Bat

Theresa was feeling rather depressed when she suddenly felt her body lighten, and immediately afterwards, she found herself being placed onto a warm and broad back—Lambert had hoisted her onto his shoulders.

Before she could fully process what was happening, Theresa was overcome by a sense of helplessness. She felt Lambert take her hands and press them against his own neck, while he chuckled and said, "To prevent you from genuinely being flown away like a kite, I suppose I'll have to trouble myself to carry you for a stretch—hold on tight and don't let go."

Without giving Theresa a chance to react, Lambert carried her straight into the wildly raging hurricane zone. The immense force of the wind caused Theresa's body to lean sideways involuntarily, but whatever Lambert did, the wind pressure abruptly shifted its vector, moving from her left side to directly facing Theresa's back. In this way, not only did it fail to blow her away, but it pressed her firmly against Lambert's body, which conveniently saved him a fraction of his effort.

Lambert moved at an astonishing speed, as if the fierce hurricane had no significant impact on him whatsoever. Within moments, he and Theresa caught up with the others who had gone ahead. This time, because he was carrying Theresa on his back, Lambert did not walk at the head of the formation to lead the way; instead, he took a position in the middle of the group, flanked by tall, robust orcs before and behind.

The gale was so fierce that Theresa could not expose her head at all; she had no choice but to hug Lambert's neck tightly while burying her face in the side of his neck. Instantly, a faint, masculine scent filled Theresa's nasal passages, bearing a subtle resemblance to the "Thousand-Petal Velvet" that Lambert had once gifted her in the Netherworld...

At this thought, Theresa's fingers twitched instinctively. The ability of the "Thousand-Petal Velvet" to calm the soul and spirit was practically a universal talisman for an alchemist. Therefore, ever since she acquired them, Theresa had kept them close to her body at all times, never parting with them even when bathing.

Whether it was the "Thousand-Petal Velvet" stirring Theresa's thoughts, or simply the numbing boredom of being carried on Lambert's back with nothing else to do in the face of such adversity, her mind began to drift amidst this harsh environment—

Throughout the dozen or so years of Theresa Bourget's life, and even within that other lifetime experience that did not belong to Theresa yet somehow did, she seemed to have had exceedingly few opportunities to have such close physical contact with a male... In this lifetime, it was partly due to her background and partly because of her tender age, while in her previous life, apart from her father and brothers, no other man had ever carried her on his back...

Before her thoughts could drift too far, they were interrupted by an unusual whistling sound in the air. Theresa jerked her head up... Under the force of this sudden movement, she realized that the wind around them had now subsided into a gentle breeze—at least a gentle breeze mild enough for her to move and clearly observe her surroundings.

By the flickering light of a magical illumination source, she saw that the group was traveling along a recessed crevice in a cliff face. About ten meters outward from the cliff, the wind was still raging fiercely, even more violently than the gales Theresa had experienced earlier. If a hurricane capable of lifting and shattering giant boulders like that were to strike here, probably even someone as formidable as Lambert would find it difficult to resist...

Amidst the subsiding wind, a dozen or so figures emitting a faint blue glow stood out remarkably. The strange whistling sound that had disturbed Theresa was the combat noise generated by two orcs fiercely fighting against these small creatures.

"Those are Blue-Winged Demon Bats, Tier 5 social magical beasts. Their sonic attacks are rather annoying, but otherwise they're manageable," Lambert's voice explained, sounding as if it were right next to her ear. Reflexively, Theresa stiffened her body and loosened her grip, intending to climb down from Lambert's back—since the wind was no longer strong, there was no need for her to cling to him like a parasite.

To her surprise, before she could make any further movement, she found herself seemingly glued to Lambert's body, completely unable to get down.

"We'll be entering another wind belt further ahead. You surely don't want to play the kite again, do you?" Lambert's lazy, smiling voice echoed in front of her once more. Hearing this, Theresa fell silent for a moment, and ultimately decided to simply stay put. She constantly consoled herself in her heart, thinking that her young body was only fourteen or fifteen years old, so there was nothing ambiguous about it. She might as well just hitch a ride; after all, the one doing the heavy lifting wasn't her...

Hypnotizing herself with these thoughts, Theresa settled back onto Lambert's shoulders and turned her head to watch the tail end of the battle.

The Blue-Winged Demon Bats in the air had already been forced to reveal their true forms, losing the ability to move at high speeds. Their two nearly transparent bat wings continuously shed a pale blue-gray powder during the struggle. Whenever this powder touched the two orcs, their movements would slow down by a beat. It was only by seizing these brief windows of opportunity that the Blue-Winged Demon Bats had managed to drag things out until now.

However, no matter how stubbornly they resisted, they could not overcome the vast disparity in strength. Ultimately, beneath the heavy club of one of the orcs, two Blue-Winged Demon Bats let out a miserable screech, plummeted from the sky to the ground, twitched twice, and lay still.

While Theresa was pondering the powder on the Blue-Winged Demon Bats that instantly sluggishized the orcs, she suddenly sensed a stirring in her upper arms—the little sprite and the little fox seemed unable to restrain themselves any longer.

With some hesitation, Theresa undid the restraining bands on her arms. In an instant, two streaks of red light burst through her clothing and dashed straight toward the orcs' feet!

This sudden movement startled the two orcs greatly. Immediately, one of them diverted his attention, swinging his club toward the little sprite and the little fox. Having experienced numerous battles, the two little fellows were not so easily injured; with a nimble dodge, they evaded the attack, then hovered high in the air, baring their teeth and brandishing their claws at the orc.

At that moment, Lambert uttered a very brief phrase in the Orcish language. The orc, who had been on guard against the sprite and the fox, turned back around and focused his attention on the remaining Blue-Winged Demon Bats. Meanwhile, the two cunning little creatures hovered in the air for a few seconds and then, as if having reached some kind of agreement, one flew toward the corpses of the Blue-Winged Demon Bats while the other darted into the flock of bats still hovering in the air.

The little sprite, tasked with gathering the corpses, used its claws to grab the dead Blue-Winged Demon Bats one by one, dragging them far away and piling them up beneath itself. It sat atop the heap, guarding the spoils like a treasured hoard, with an expression that clearly said it was terrified someone (or some beast) might come to steal them. Meanwhile, the little fox, responsible for dealing with the living bats, flew into the flock and engaged in hit-and-run harassment at super-high speed. It would strike and instantly relocate, delivering a scratch here and a swipe of its tail there, thoroughly bullying the bat flock whose energy had already been mostly worn down.

With the addition of the little fox, the mortality rate of the Blue-Winged Demon Bats skyrocketed instantly. Within five minutes, all combat had ceased. Naturally, by that time, all the bat carcasses had been dragged together by the little sprite into a massive pile, upon which it sat triumphantly, playing the role of a miserly treasure guard to perfection.

Seeing this from afar, Theresa covered her face and sighed in despair—Good heavens, these two little rascals have no shame at all! Even if they wanted to claim the "fruits of labor" of others, they shouldn't be so utterly blatant about it. It was simply too embarrassing, too humiliating, too shameful...

Just as she was consumed by mortification, she heard Lambert chuckle from in front of her and praise, "These two little sprite-foxes are really honestly adorable."

The more Theresa heard, the more she felt speechless before the heavens... (To be continued)