Chapter 194: Told you

"I am not your master, little Diao"

"S… sorry"

When General Diao realized what he just blurted out, he almost wanted to tear his long beard off of his face. Did he just call Matriarch Yinji… baby?

It has been almost a century since he last laid eyes on Matriarch Yinji. He had a painting of her in his bedroom. And whenever he comes across it, he always calls it baby. General Diao could not help but slowly turn his eyes towards Yinji's face, whose frown could not be hidden.

"Father!"

Once again, Diao Chan's voice entered General Diao's ears as she rushed towards him and hugged him. General Diao was about to say something, but another hug came for him.

"Little Mei?", he muttered. He was already filled with shock when he saw Yinji and his daughter in this place, but to think that his granddaughter was here as well. It would seem that his granddaughter's fiance, Lu Xun, tagged along with them as well and was already helping the other soldiers stave off the monsters.

"Why… are both of you here?", General Diao could not help but blink numerous times as he could not believe his eyes.

"We traveled as soon as we saw your letter!", Diao Chan yelped, "So… it is true, the city is surrounded by 3 dungeons"

"...Yes", General Diao could not help but let out a deep breath. He then turned his attention back to Yinji, who was casually swatting away monsters, "M… Matriarch Yinji. Why are you with my family?", he muttered.

"A friend was in need of help", Yinji slightly glanced at General Diao, "And so I came"

"A friend?", General Diao could not help but raise his eyebrows.

"It's Viel, father", Diao Chan was the one to answer him.

"Viel!?", General Diao's body quickly stood up straight as soon as he heard his daughter's words. It has been a long time since he has heard that name, but the memory that the boy left was still too fresh in his mind, "Where is that little rascal!?", he burst out in laughter.

"He and his friend went to check on the portals"

"Oho. Quite as active as ever", General Diao stroke his beard, finally having a moment to rest since Yinji was here, "We actually already have someone dealing with the portal. Someone who little Mei knows pretty well", he said as he patted his granddaughter's head.

"W… who?", Diao Mei could not help but tilt her head as she looked up.

***

Viel and Sofia were now in front of one of the portals. The one that was spewing worm-like monsters that had blades for teeth.

"There really are three portals…", Sofia could not help but place her hand on her chin as she casually cast different spells to kill the monsters that dared to approach her, "...Interesting". Based on the knowledge that she has gathered so far, this is the first time this has ever happened, at least in Choryu.

The portal on the Spirit Ocean's belly was also a first occurrence as far as she was aware of. But this… for all of the Portals to be facing the city… something is definitely wrong here.

"Vi, do you feel anything odd about the three portals?", Sofia then looked towards Viel, who seemed like his whole body was flickering.

"Like what?", Viel said as he killed the countless monsters that were trying to run away, his body covered in golden lightning. He missed using Lu Yi's skills, so he was using every chance to use them now.

"The three portals…", Sofia muttered, "You mentioned before that you can feel the presence of the portals, right?"

"Ah, not me", Viel stopped fighting as he suddenly appeared in front of Sofia, "It's Mr. Voice"

"...", Sofia could not help but squint her eyes, "Is Mr. Voice saying anything about the portals?"

"Hmmm…", Viel paused for a while before answering, "No", he then said as he shook his head.

"I… see", Sofia fixed her spectacles, "Let's go in for now. The others could handle the rest"

"Hm", Viel nodded as he walked towards the portal. But before his foot could even go inside the portal, he felt someone bump into him from the front.

"Ancient titties!", Viel could not help but shout as his butt hit the ground. His eyes quickly glowed red but instantly dissipated when he realized that it was a human that fell on top of him.

"So--", the one that fell on top of Viel was about to get up, but as soon as she saw Viel's face, she could not help but squint her eyes. And after a few seconds, her eyes opened wide.

"Y… you?", she whispered, stuttering. And without even saying another word, she suddenly hugged Viel. Viel could not help but raise his eyebrows as he scoured his mind for any memories of the girl who just hugged him.

Jet-black hair, but the front part is filled with strands of silver. There was only one person that fit this description in Viel's mind. "Miss… Violet?"

"Viel!", Violet could not help but tighten her embrace as the words that the boy said all but confirmed his identity.

It was then that other people came stepping out of the portal. And as soon as they saw Violet pinning someone on the ground, they quickly raised their weapons.

"Violet, are you alright!?", one of the men said as he pointed his spear towards Viel. Seeing this, Sofia quickly summoned countless icicles, all floating and pointing towards the party that just came out of the portal.

"Put down your weapons!", Violet shouted as she stood up, "This is my friend!"

The man who had his spear pointed at Viel, turned his head towards the rest of the group, and nodded before putting away his spear. Sofia, however, did not remove the icicles as her eyes remained vigilant.

"P�� please", Violet quickly looked towards Sofia, "We had no intention of doing any harm"

"My name is Violet", she curtsied.

"Hm", after a few seconds of scanning Violet, Sofia removed the icicles and responded with a curtsy of her own, "Sofia", she breathed.

Seeing the elegance in Sofia's movement, Violet's party all looked at each other. They then also stared at Viel, who was currently patting her pants clean. They quickly noticed his long golden hair that waved even with the tiniest of wind.

Are they nobles? Was the collective thought of Violet's group. The man, who previously had his spear pointed towards Viel, bowed. "I apologize for my rudeness earlier", he said as he lightly scratched his bald head. "My name is Rudolf, your lordship"

The others also bowed towards Viel. Violet was about to stop them, but before she could do so, Viel waved his hand.

"It is alright, children", he said, "Violet's friends are a friend mine"

"Pft", Violet almost choked. It would seem that Viel has not changed even one bit with his antics.

"Did the two of you do all this?", one of the women from Violet's party of 5 stepped forward, her eyes scanning the dead worms that littered everywhere. Sure, their party also cleared out some of the monsters before they came in. But the number of corpses that were now sprawled everywhere was… almost countless.

Hearing the woman's words, Viel only shrugged his shoulders, "I guess".

"This…", the woman could not help but lightly gasp, "...Amazing".

"It truly is a wonderful surprise to see you again, Viel", Violet then interrupted the two as she wiped the tear that was forming from her eye. But after a few seconds, her expression turned serious as she looked at her party members. "Let's meet again after this is over, Viel. Don't go anywhere!"

She then ran towards the next portal that was positioned on the east of the city. Her party members also swiftly followed her after bowing towards Viel and Sofia. But before they could go far, Viel's shout reached their ears.

"We will clear the last one then!"

Violet's party members could not help but look at each other. "With just the two of them?", the woman that talked to Viel asked, "Will they be alright?"

Hearing her party member's words, Violet could not help but smirk, "You don't have to worry about them, Pam", Violet hummed as they continued to approach the portal that spewed skeleton monsters, "Viel… is incredibly strong"

"...No matter how strong he could be. There's only two of them", Pam replied as she slammed her hammer towards the four-legged skeleton in front of her.

"There's no time to be worrying about someone else, Pam", Rudolf hummed, "This next dungeon seems to be trickier than the last one we cleared"

They have been cleaving away countless skeletons, but after a few seconds, they always get back up, their bones assembling themselves once again.

"Let's just go inside", Violet muttered, "It won't ever end if we don't clear the dungeon as soon as possible"

The party members all nodded in agreement as soon as they heard Violet's words. They were about to step inside, but before they could do so, Pam screamed.

"What's wrong, Pam!?", one of the members quickly turned his attention towards Pam.

"T… the other portal", Pam stuttered as she pointed to the direction of the other portal, "I… It's gone!"

"What!? Impossible!", all of them looked to where Pam was pointing, and to their surprise, the portal, which was supposed to be there, was gone.

"Well…", Violet could not help but slightly giggle.

"I told you… Viel is unbelievably strong"