Volume 5 chapter 275: The Danger Surrounding The Banks Of The Ryder River
Translator: The Light
Edits by Kenny
In the vicinity of the small church near the Ryder River that ran along the outskirts of Andorra Town, in the region close to Angus City at the central region of the Aldridge Empire. Bella and her group, who had just escaped from the small church, were moving towards a new hiding place to teleport.
When Bella tried to summon the Demon World Princess Diaz earlier, she somehow managed to attract even more abyss demonic beings in the process. However, she did not expect this to happen. For demonic beings, those from the Demon World were much easier targets to kill than their counterparts from the abyss.
This time, Bella knew that she could not summon her demon familiar, the Demon World Princess Diaz, without running the risk of being attacked by the hordes of abyss demonic beings. She led the slightly weary girls to a small forest near the Ryder River.
Other than Bella, Kriss, and Lisha, the other girls from the Olsylvia Academy, Listabel Academy, and the Dimiost Academy, were all mainly from the Mage Profession. Since they were unable to use magic to fly, the mages were not physically strong enough. Furthermore, girls typically had less stamina than boys. By the time they arrived at the banks of the Ryder River, many of the girls were too exhausted to walk any further.
“Bella, we can’t go on like this. We can barely move... must rest for a while here...”
Bella glanced at the girls around her. Even the stronger mages and witches like the Chief President Angelia, President Alephia, and President Gladdis were drenched in perspiration, let alone the other girls. Many of the girls looked a little pale and clammy. If not for the support from their individual student union presidents, they would have collapsed by now.
Judging at their current state, Bella was hesitant to rush them on their way. They still had a long way to go on foot to walk out of the region surrounding Angus City. Looking at Kurus City in the distance, there was no way that these girls would be able to get there without using their flight magic.
At this point, Kurus City should be on a citywide alert. When the Rofsky Camp fell, the Aldridge Empire must have sent heavy reinforcements to prevent the situation from escalating as they knew that this could not be kept under wraps any further.
Princess Effie tugged on Bella’s hand and whispered something in her ear. It seemed that this region was beginning to transform into an abyss. Other than the dark type humans and mages that dealt with departed spirits and curses, everyone else would be suppressed by the dark aura in this area. This would gradually drain their energy over time, and excessive exposure would lead to serious fatigue.
Bella, Lisha, and Kriss were fine as they were “dark” inside. Ent.i.ties similar to Demon Kings could not be negatively affected by the abyss region. In fact, the dark aura would act as a boost instead.
“What! Princess Effie, your suggestion is too... can’t we keep a couple of pieces?”
“We are all girls, it’s fine. Furthermore, these clothes aren’t in good condition anymore, it’s not too much of a loss to discard them. I can detect an extremely powerful abyss aura around us. If we continue to hesitate, all of us will...”
Princess Effie suggested that they hide along the banks of the Ryder River and wait for reinforcements from the Kurus City. As she was a Dark Mage, Princess Effie knew of an evil invisibility magic that would prevent the abyss demonic beings from finding them. It would only be effective if they removed everything that had been tainted by the abyss demonic beings and hid inside the water where she had cast the magic on.
Effie was clearly extremely skilled at dark magic. She simply made a few adjustments to the dark summoning magic that was typically used to transform a drowned corpse into a zombie warrior to allow living humans to be disguised as corpses. If it were successful, Bella and the others would appear as “drowned corpses” to the abyss demonic beings.
Since most of the abyss demonic beings were not interested in dead human corpses and disliked being in the water, the group would be able to make it through the night.
Princess Effie’s suggestion was a good one. However, it would require every single girl to remove all their clothes as they were covered with remnants of the Crypt Spider’s toxins. The disguise magic would not be able to work if there were toxins present. Furthermore, all the girls, including Bella and Princess Effie herself, had been tainted with the abyss demonic beings’ scent during the battle earlier on. Therefore, they had no choice but to take everything off, and no exceptions could be made.
Although there were no males around, it was still broad daylight. If they were to take off all their clothes like this, it would be no different from hosting a nudist party in public. The worst part was that the girls would not be able to wear the discarded clothes later on. None of the girls had brought a change of clothes as they never expected that they would be in such an awkward situation.
Chief President Angelia was reluctant to take a stand and shot a look at President Alephia and President Gladdis. Both of them were a little hesitant. Before, they would have agreed without a second thought. However, after that night of intimacy with Bella, they were all a little shy. Also, they were afraid that Bella would take advantage of this opportunity to do strange things to them again.
“I’m telling you, stop dawdling and follow Princess Effie’s instructions! I will be happy to take care of any girl who is unwilling to take her clothes off.”
Bella said it with a straight face, but in her heart, she was absolutely ecstatic. She had no idea if Princess Effie were secretly helping her, but this was such a rare opportunity to enjoy some eye candy. There were a little more than thirty girls in total here, which was about the size of a small cla.s.s. These were all beautiful girls who were students of the Mage profession. Furthermore, none of them were poor, which meant that they were well brought up and had a natural advantage when it came to looks.
“Princess Effie, this is your suggestion after all. You should take the lead!”
“Wait a moment, I can do this myself. Bella, don’t you come over. Just stand over there... don’t...”
Bella grabbed onto Princess Effie and stripped her of her clothes within seconds. By the time she carried her over to the side of the Ryder River, the other girls did not hesitate before they followed suit and took off their clothes. They did not wish to be stripped naked in public like Princess Effie did.
Bella was simply following Effie’s instructions. Lisha and Kriss did not say anything further before taking off their clothes as well. Bella and the other girls found a shallow pond inside the forest by the Ryder River. Once they ensured that there was nothing wrong with the water, they entered the pond and hid inside it. Their clothes and everything else had been dumped in the bushes in the distance.
Bella sat in between Lisha and Kriss, and they held onto her left and right hands, respectively, preventing her from trying to tease any of the other beautiful girls. Princess Effie sat in front of Bella, her face was slightly flushed. At the moment, she was too embarra.s.sed to look Bella in the eyes after she stripped her in public.
Chief President Angelia appeared to be the most at ease. She was leaning against a large rock as though she was simply taking a bath. On the other hand, President Alephia and President Gladdis, who were seated next to her, had crossed their arms in front of their chests in an attempt to cover-up. They seemed to be trying to avoid the invasive stares that were coming from someone.
“Senior Gladdis, Senior Alephia, is there something wrong with your chests? Don’t cover them like that. Let me take a look, I have a little bit of medical knowledge...”
Gladdis and Alephia stared indignantly at Bella. She was too shameless. All of this was her fault. If they were not in the middle of a crisis, their chast.i.ty would have been in danger as well.
Soon after the girls took cover in the pond, countless abyss demonic beings began to appear. Swarms of Crypt Spiders crept past the pond, and the skies were filled with Demonic Poison Bees that were the size of the venomous wasps that Bella had seen in her previous world. Each of those poison bees had an extremely long sting at the end of their abdomens. The sight of those terrifying creatures was spine chilling.
The clothes that Bella and the other girls abandoned earlier and had already met with a frenzied attack by the abyss demonic beings who mistook the clothes for the girls. As she watched the clothes get turned into shreds, Bella did not know if she should feel impressed. Some of the girls were so frightened that they nearly screamed out loud. Fortunately, Bella had the foresight to give each girl a square-shaped sponge that they could choose to bite on in case they felt like screaming. This would prevent them from accidentally revealing their position to the enemy.
Bella had been tempted to give them each a ball gag instead. However, as her girlfriend Kriss was around, she chose to resist so that she could maintain her image. Along with Lisha, Kriss had snuggled deeper into Bella’s embrace, supposedly in fear.
Bella did not believe that they were frightened at all. Their real motive was to get closer to her. Due to the proximity of the abyss demonic beings that were pa.s.sing by, Bella could only resist the urge to take care of Kriss and Lisha.
The abyss demonic beings did not pay any attention to the girls inside the pond and continued to search aimlessly for them. It seemed like Princess Effie’s secret magic was effective in covering their tracks.
Bella and the other girls waited for the abyss demonic beings to leave and only went ash.o.r.e once they were sure that the coast was clear. Many of the girls were so scared that their legs had gone numb. Enthusiastically, Bella carried each of them out of the water and placed them gently on the gra.s.s. Of course, as a reward, Bella managed to feel up every single girl that she had carried in her arms.
“Bella, I have decided to abandon this mission. It’s far too dangerous. I cannot gamble the lives of our students in exchange for thirty points.”
After some serious deliberation, Chief President Angelia decided to give up. Even if the mission were worth one hundred points, it was far too risky. President Alephia and President Gladdis, who were standing at the side, nodded in agreement. However, they did not seem optimistic.
Although they managed to escape the abyss demonic beings, their clothes were all gone, and there was no way they could walk out like that. It would be extremely awkward if they b.u.mped into any outsiders. It was too conspicuous for them to teleport while naked like this, and it would be too easy to attract unwanted attention.
“Bella, don’t you specialize in designing clothes... Do you have anything on hand for us to use?”
“I didn’t bring any spares. However, I think I do have some undergarments, but I doubt that you would appreciate the design.”
“Well, it’s still better than nothing! Bella, take them out, we will make do.”
Actually, Bella did have some regular undergarments in her storage ring, but she decided to play some tricks and not give them to Princess Effie and the other girls.
When they saw the undergarments that Bella retrieved from her storage ring, every single girl turned red with embarra.s.sment except for Kriss and Lisha, who kept a straight face. The designs of those undergarments were so out there that it basically looked like they were not wearing anything at all.
Bella had taken out the band-aid style undergarments, which only covered specific points. Two band-aids could be used as stickers that barely covered the two pink nubs on their chests. This was even more enticing than being completely naked.
Initially, Bella had designed these band-aid style undergarments with the Dark Elf Princesses Camille and Milia, as well as their Chief Guard Kelly in mind. She never expected that the first people to try out the first batch would be these beautiful human Mages.
Bella’s designs were all based on race. These undergarments were specifically made for the Dark Elf race who had a higher threshold for shame. She did not know how it would feel like for the proud human ladies of the Mage profession to wear them instead.
Lisha and Kriss pinched Bella’s arm in reproach. Although they had no idea what this female devil intended to do, they were sure that she was up to no good. Why didn’t she wait until they returned to the room to reveal such erotic undergarments? If Bella wanted a show, Lisha and Kriss would have been happy to give it to her.
“This... isn’t this the same as not wearing anything? Bella, do you have anything else...”
“If a man were to see me in this manner, I... I don’t think I would be able to get married anymore.”
“Senior Alephia, Senior Gladdis, if you continue to dawdle, there’s a chance that you might not even get the band-aids...”
“Hey, when did you girls put this on...”
While President Alephia and President Gladdis were hesitating, the other girls had picked up the embarra.s.sing erotic undergarments and put them on without a second thought. In the end, the two presidents had no choice but to go with the flow. Chief President Angelia and Princess Effie had given in much earlier. If they were too late and did not manage to get any of the band-aids, they would have to go naked.
Back at home, those proud female Mages and Witches were respectable young mistresses. This was the first time that they experienced being barely clothed like this. Fortunately, there was safety in numbers, and their student union presidents were taking the lead. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for them to accept Bella’s undergarments.
“It’s not realistic to wait for reinforcements from Kurus City. We have no idea if they would be able to hold down the fort! Chief President Angelia, are there any more students who will be arriving? It would be perfect if they were all female.”
“If I’m not wrong, it should be the Frederica Academy. My close friend, President Caroline, is the leader of their team. However, her brother, Chairman Carlos, seemed to be on bad terms with you!”
“It’s fine, I know her very well, Chief President Angelia. You do not have to worry.”
President Caroline of the Frederica Academy Student Union was the younger sister of Chairman Carlos of the Golden Legend Society. Back then, Caroline and a large group of beauties from the Frederica Academy had been captured and imprisoned inside the Two Headed Ogre Nelson’s castle on the New Moon Island. Their level of exposure was similar to the girl’s situation right now. In the end, Bella had saved them from the ogre’s clutches.
President Caroline was on Bella’s side. Once Bella knew that Caroline’s team from the Frederica Academy had already arrived in Kurus City, she secretly sent out a communication type demonic being to meet with her. This was to arrange for some necessities for Bella and the other girls and, if possible, someone to help them as well.
Chief President Angelia’s worries were unnecessary. President Caroline, along with many of the girls around her who were belles from the Frederica Academy, had already acknowledged Bella as their mistress.
The Ryder River was filled with the corpses of the abyss demonic beings. The ruins of the small church had already gone up in flames. If Bella and the other girls had left a little later, most of them would have been roasted alive. Along with the burning church, the Andorra Town in the distance was ablaze as well and it could be seen, even from a distance.
It seemed like they could only hide along the Ryder River for now. Those abyss demonic beings were far too immoral. Other than killing each other, they even made use of that destructive momentum and set the Andorra Town on fire. If they did find not any shelter that night, Bella could not guarantee that all the girls would be able to make it through the night. Even with the communication demonic being, it would take some time before the reinforcements sent by President Caroline would arrive. Bella guessed that they would only arrive the next morning.
While Bella was contemplating her options, she saw many figures on the opposite bank that seemed to be covered in blood. She quickly hid behind a large rock to observe them to determine if they were humans or abyss demonic beings.
“Boss Scott, do you think this will work? Can we pa.s.s as zombies if we cover our bodies in blood?”
“I’m right. Come on, let’s move quickly. Didn’t you want Chief President Angelia to see you in a different light? You will definitely be handsomely rewarded when you return to school after rescuing them.”
Bella finally figured out that the group of men on the other side was the G.o.d Chosen Knight Scott, who was one of the Olsylvia Academy’s male Saviors, and a group of his followers. They had left for this mission much earlier. Their initial plan was to take a shortcut and land into Angus City from the air. However, as Scott was unfamiliar with the geography surrounding Angus City, the group had made a wrong turn and landed near Kurus City instead.
When they arrived in Kurus City, the city was already on full security lockdown. The Forest Giant Eagle that Scott and his group took had been confiscated by the guards there as there was a flight ban during this time. Unwilling to be content with leaving empty-handed, Scott could only lead his band of followers on horseback in pursuit of the girls.
That Savior must have seen too many Western films before he traveled here! Bella was speechless. If smearing blood on their bodies could allow them to impersonate zombies, Bella’s stealth clothes would have been rendered useless. Bella gripped her Knight’s sword tightly in her hand. It would be great if Scott and his band of male followers did not cross the Ryder River.
Bella would never allow them to cross the river. Chief President Angelia and the other girls were practically naked now. Scott and his followers must not have the opportunity to see them like this, especially Scott himself. That fellow was well known within the Olsylvia Academy for his charming and flirtatious ways. If Bella had not made the first move and turned the Top Ten Academy Belles “the other way,” they would have fallen prey to someone like him.
Scott and his followers had gotten off easy. As the Crypt Spiders and Demonic Poison Bees had gone on a killing spree that caused them to slaughter each other, they did not meet any abyss demonic beings along their way. Scott and his men were walking in Bella’s direction. She had been careless earlier. When they were setting up camp, she did not get rid of their tracks along the river. It was easy for Scott to see that someone had come ash.o.r.e there.
While Bella was contemplating if she should attack the group that was about to cross the Ryder River, a giant abyss demonic being descended from the skies and helped her to make her decision. The giant abyss demonic being was attracted by the smoke from the flames and knocked directly into the Savior Scott and his band of followers.