Chapter 547: Princess Iris of the Kingdom
A childish shout summoned divine lightning from the sky through incantation.
Golden thunderbolts transformed into spears piercing heaven and earth, descending one after another at dazzling speeds, instantly turning ogres and white wolves into charred remains!
"So strong!"
The youth in samurai attire gasped, his eyes filled with astonishment.
"She wiped out several blessed monsters in an instant—her strength surpasses all of ours, doesn't it? How could there be such a powerful adventurer in the royal capital?"
"How come we've never heard of her before?"
His two companions were equally dumbfounded.
"You haven't been in the capital for long, so you've never seen Her Highness the Princess in action, have you?"
The Knight Commander approached the trio with evident delight, his face now devoid of any panic, as though certain of victory in this battle.
"Her Highness the Princess?"
The three of them froze at his words.
"Everyone, do not panic!"
Just then, a sharp voice suddenly rang out.
"In place of the absent King and Crown Prince, Her Highness the Princess has now arrived on the battlefield! She will surely bring victory to the kingdom!"
The herald's voice resounded loudly across the field.
"Ooooh!"
The knights, who had been fleeing in disarray, halted in their tracks. Their ashen faces regained vitality as they raised thunderous cheers under the herald's lead.
"The princess?"
Eiji's expression hardened.
His gaze shifted momentarily from the witch, turning toward the direction of the voice.
On a distant hill stood several graceful figures.
Yet Eiji's eyes completely ignored the two attendants flanking the center, focusing solely on the young girl standing between them.
To call her a "young girl" might be an overstatement—she appeared no older than eleven or twelve.
Her golden hair cascaded like smooth, silken sand, while her sharp emerald-green eyes narrowed slightly. Though her features were still youthful, they bore the promise of breathtaking beauty in the years to come.
She wore an exquisite silver-white set of light armor, and in her hands was a golden holy sword that commanded attention.
The golden blade still crackled with residual lightning, exuding an overwhelmingly fearsome aura.
"That is…"
Eiji's gaze fixed on the golden-haired girl.
"Princess Iris?"
The trio of reincarnated cheaters exchanged bewildered glances.
"So she isn't just a pretty face?"
"Even though we're the reincarnators, we can't even compare to a little girl?"
"How embarrassing!"
The samurai youth's lips twitched, while the other two covered their faces in shame.
"Still, even with the princess here, this situation won't be easily resolved…"
On the distant snowy plains, the ogres had been completely annihilated, but the white wolf pack continued their ferocious howls.
Numbering over fifty, the white wolves obeyed only their alpha. Unless the alpha fell, they would never retreat, relentlessly charging to tear out their enemies' throats.
"Your Highness, it's unwise to overuse the holy sword's power now!"
This warning came from a white-haired girl in a pristine white suit.
Standing beside Princess Iris like a loyal retainer, she offered her counsel with utmost deference.
"The Demon King's daughter has the ability to empower any monster. No matter how many we kill, it's futile. As long as there are monsters remaining, we can't repel the enemy. The top priority now should be to locate the Demon King's daughter and defeat her!"
On the battlefield.
As if echoing her words, after eight enhanced monsters were slain, another eight roared to life, their bodies shrouded in black mist as their power surged.
No matter how many they killed, as long as monsters remained, they couldn't win!
"Your Highness?"
The girl in the white suit looked at the princess with confusion.
"Did I say something strange?"
Princess Iris gently shook her head, her delicate brows still tightly furrowed.
"No, Claire, you're absolutely right."
The slightly youthful girl fell into thought, murmuring her doubts.
"It's just a bit odd. I've fought the Demon King's daughter before—she should be capable of enhancing over fifty monsters to executive-level strength all at once. Why is she empowering them in small batches this time?"
The Demon King's daughter's monster empowerment ability was terrifying.
She could create dozens of executive-level monsters in an instant, capable of flattening a city in moments. Without sufficiently powerful adventurers to stop her, the world's destruction would only be a matter of time.
"If she enhanced all the monsters at once, even I would struggle. So why hasn't she done so?"
Princess Iris's face was filled with bewilderment.
"This..."
Claire also hesitated, falling into puzzled silence.
Meanwhile.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Airi Yasaka glared fiercely at Eiji.
"What, you think I secretly empowered those monsters before the battle?"
"Exactly."
"So in your eyes, that's the kind of person I am?"
"Isn't it?"
Airi threw a merciless punch, which Eiji easily blocked.
"You guessed right. If I had the chance, I wouldn't hold back!"
She shot Eiji a venomous glare.
"That's what I thought too."
Eiji nodded, as if it were the most natural conclusion.
"But this time, it really wasn't you."
His tone then shifted.
Just as Princess Iris had noticed, with Airi Yasaka's empowerment ability, there was no need to enhance monsters in batches.
Empowering them a few at a time was inefficient for her. Rather than having some special purpose, it seemed more like her enhancement limit was capped at this number.
At this point, the identity of the Demon Lord Army's commander on the other side was already clear.
"Hmph."
Airi snorted coldly, neither confirming nor denying.
As the two bickered, the battlefield shifted again.
A horde of kobolds charged into the fray, joining the enhanced white wolves as they rushed toward the knights.
The knights had no choice but to turn and engage, with the three reincarnators joining the fight.
But under the ferocious assault of the empowered white wolves, the knights quickly found themselves in dire straits. Watching from the hill, Princess Iris had no choice but to raise her holy sword.
"Sacred Lightning Blare—!"
Her youthful voice once again summoned divine thunder, golden lightning descending like spears from the sky, obliterating several enhanced white wolves on the spot.
"Are they trying to exhaust Princess Iris to death?"
Eiji quickly grasped the enemy's strategy after a brief moment of thought.
"So far, the Demon Lord Army has only been driving wild monsters toward us, enhancing them to attack the knights, but their main forces haven't shown any signs of appearing… They're probably waiting until Princess Iris's strength is nearly depleted before launching their real assault!"