Published at 25th of August 2026 9:08 am

Volume 8, Chapter 80: Daughters Taking Up the Mantle

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

As the couple raced back from the far-northern border toward the Red Flame Dragon Clan, the various clans across the continent of Samael were also fighting hard to quell the riots sparked by the awakening of near-ancient peril-forms. At the Silver Dragon Sanctuary, Anna led the guard corps and the maids on the front line; the rear was entrusted to Sherry’s special squad, as well as...

“Second sister, back-left behind you—throw the spell, don’t hesitate!”

“Muse, cover second sister’s right—yes, there—count four beats in your head, then strike!”

“Xiaoxue, torches! Torches! Don’t let these stinking crows snuff them out! We need the torches for light!”

The girls were facing a gregarious near-ancient peril-form—the Wraith Night-Crow.

These night-crows were somewhat larger than ordinary crows, their plumage a deeper black, their movements far more agile, and their coordination extremely strong.

Especially at night with the sun guttering out, the heavy darkness became their perfect cover. The little dragon girls and Xiaoxue could only sense the night-crows’ strikes when they were very close. That, inevitably, meant paying a price. After several exchanges, the girls had all picked up minor wounds here and there.

With no choice, they pressed shoulder to shoulder and huddled up to discuss a plan.

“If Sherry can’t break free on her side, she can’t look after us here.”

Aurora wiped a scratch on her cheek, ears pricked as she listened for the night-crows’ movements around them, and said:

“And their numbers keep growing; some are getting almost invisible. Even if I can see portions of future timelines, I can’t precisely lock every crow’s position.”

Aurora bit her lip and asked in a taut whisper:

“Any bright ideas, girls?”

“Uh... yes, Aurora, I’ve got one!”

Moon thought for three seconds and gave a very confident answer.

Aurora’s eyes lit up. She turned her head, catching Moon with the corner of her eye, and asked expectantly:

“What’s the idea, second sister?”

“Call me ‘big sister.’” Moon’s face was dead serious.

“...”

Aurora pressed her lips together. “If I could get through to big sister, I would. But she went with Anna to the territorial border to hold off the large peril-forms.”

With Leon and Rosvisser away from home, Noa was currently the Silver Dragon Sanctuary’s strongest fighter. She had to take the most dangerous battlefield first. Of course she worried about her sisters, but if she slipped, the Silver Dragon Sanctuary being swallowed by the surging near-ancient peril-forms would only be a matter of time.

Faced with this kind of dilemma, Noa tasted for the first time what their parents once felt.

Fortunately, the Melkvey daughters—adopted daughters included—were not freeloaders.

Even ambushed under cover of night by the Wraith Night-Crows, they reacted at once and struck back. It was just that these near-ancient peril-forms were far stronger than their usual exam calibrations; even Sherry, fighting on the other side of the Sanctuary, could at most hold a while. What’s more, none of the girls had come in a true war footing in mind under these sudden conditions. After a hard fight, they were forced to “huddle up and hold the tower.”

“The torches are almost out,” Xiaoxue said. “If we lose torchlight, we won’t see the crows’ attack vectors at all, and then we’ll be even more passive.”

Aurora clenched her fist. “Not being able to see the enemy is a pain...”

“Can’t see them.”

Muse kneaded Aurora’s words, a notion flashing through her little head.

“Right—third sister, if you have a way to fix each night-crow’s position, can you transmit those positions accurately to us?”

Little Muse’s spoken delivery wasn’t great; she didn’t have the bandwidth to both use heart-voice to locate the crows and also call the positions out precisely. So she asked Aurora this.

Aurora’s eyes moved; she nodded.

“I can. You don’t need to say it aloud, but you must have the intent to ‘call it out.’ Then I can see the timeline where you report each position yourself. Do you get me, Muse?”

Muse couldn’t do all that at once, but Aurora could watch many developing events in the web of time. The prerequisite for spinning that Time-Web was that Muse, for a split second, had the thought to report the position.

“Got it, third sister.”

Muse slowly lowered her fighting stance and closed her eyes.

“I understand—you’ll use heart-voice to help us lock the night-crow swarm. From here on, it’s up to you, third sister.”

“Okay. Leave it to me.”

This wasn’t Muse’s first time using echolocation; during an outdoor exam she had already used “echo sources” as her sound-element magic. She had trained diligently ever since and could now employ it skillfully.

Muse calmed herself and, centered on her body, released invisible sound waves in all directions. When those waves touched the Wraith Night-Crows, they reflected back, and Muse captured them precisely.

Then, as third sister had said, she stirred the thought to “report positions”.

“Second sister, two at your crown!”

“On it!”

Moon trusted Aurora’s “spot calls” absolutely. Without even looking, she raised both hands; fire and thunder fell from the sky and blasted the two crows to pieces.

“Xiaoxue, behind you—three—fast—strike immediately!”

“Understood!”

Xiaoxue didn’t hesitate. She swept a long leg backward, cleanly taking one crow, then followed with an ice spell behind her, dropping the other two with precision.

Seeing this, Aurora smiled in delight.

“It’s really working! Great job, sisters—keep it up!”

The team now had what they needed: intel-spotting, command calling, mage slot, and battle-caster slot all in place. Their “tower hold” was looking very solid.

But just as they steamrolled forward with the tactic, the unexpected arrived—right on cue.

“Rooaar!!—”

The night-crow swarm exploded apart under a single bellow, scattering in panic. Moon and Muse clapped hands over their ears in time, but the roar still rattled their little heads.

“Another heavyweight?”

With her skull still humming, Aurora looked toward the distance. A giant black shape was bearing down at speed. It was huge yet unnervingly nimble, smashing through trees, brush, and every bird and beast in its path. Only when it drew close did Aurora make out a peril-form in the shape of a leopard.

“This is bad.”

For all their trouble, the night-crows weren’t unmanageable; the girls could at least play to each one’s strengths and dance them around. But this leopard-form was different. Just that earth-shaking roar had scattered the crow swarm. That alone said enough about how powerful it was.

The girls fell briefly into a line and edged backward.

“It’s not in the books...” Aurora said.

“Aurora, maybe hold the lecture for later...”

Aurora drew a quiet breath, just about to say more—then her expression shifted. She grabbed Muse at once and said:

“Second sister, we can’t handle this leopard. Time to use your method.”

“My method?... Oh. Got it.”

Moon nodded, then stepped straight toward the leopard-form peril.

That actually made the creature stare.

Leopard: ?

What did this little thing mean by that? Had she been scared stupid? Moon stood before the leopard with cool indifference, not a flicker of fear on her face.

One hand on her hip, the other pointing at the leopard—despite the difference in size, her aura didn’t dip at all.

“It’s this one! Big sister!”

The leopard still looked puzzled.

A few seconds passed—and something happened. It stopped observing. With a low snarl, it raised a massive paw and brought it down on Moon—

Boom!!

But the instant it lifted its paw, a small black shadow dropped from the sky and slammed onto its NvIight (Original source) head. The massive body crashed to the ground, throwing up a thick cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, Noa was standing on the leopard’s skull, the evening wind lifting her silver-black hair. Her little face wore its signature cool indifference. The crown princess spoke softly:

“Sorry, Moon. Big sister is late.”

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