Chapter 276: The Sitting Duck

[She is going out.]

'With whom?'

[Not with anybody. She is going out of the tavern.]

[Expect an ambush or a session of seduction.]

D reminded Lee Shen of the plentiful assets of the demon. Though her skin was slightly reddish, her assets were still an eye-candy to men. She had a particularly charming look on her face that kept the surrounding men silent around her.

[As expected, she is waiting for you outside the tavern.]

The Essence was the purest form of energy and from it formed both Mana and Qi. The Tubians, as otherworldy souls with a second chance to live, consumed this purest form of energy to live. The deviant forms like Mana and Qi were not fit for their consumption nor could they nurture them.

Then their last resort was to feed on the Essence from nature.

But the Essence in the wild proved dissatisfactory for the Tubians. The flora and fauna presented raw Essence without any or little flavouring of souls.

Then the Tubians turned to the civilised world. They observed humans, demons, goblins, orcs, dwarves, elves and many other races and found their Essence to their liking.

Though the Tubians could not identify what made the difference in taste between the wild fauna and mainstream races, they enjoyed Essence as much as they liked.

And due to this limitation in sources of Essence consumption, some Tubians began to form religions and begun their lives as gods. They silently fed off of their believer's Essence which was just enough for them to be alive and active. This long-term plan worked efficiently and flawlessly.

Soon the Tubians discovered that they could morph their physique and visible characteristics to that of the mainstream races they have fed from. But this was a permanent change and irreversible. Thus their body could be morphed to resemble a mainstream race while their race remained as Tubian.

---

Lee Shen could see the darkening sky through the windows of the tavern. With a careless set of steps, he passed through the door and excited the Blue Stag Tavern. 

As he skimmed his eyes around, he could see the figure of the demon standing with her back to the wall of the building. The attempt of dispersing more than 17,000 Essence bore fruit.

Lee Shen acted as if he did not see the woman and started to walk forward. He walked leisurely and footsteps were gentle.

But before he could take the fourth step, something hit his back of the neck and Lee Shen fell unconscious.

----

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7 PM.

5,977,500 Essence harvested.

=====

----

Quite a time had passed after the hourly notification came up.

Though his eyes were closed, Lee Shen saw the time displayed on the panel. The screen lit up the darkness which formed when he closed his eyes.

*Ugh*

The Serenity imbued Mana coupled did not directly dissolve the alcohol in his body. But it enabled his mind to keep him sane and alert about his surroundings.

The drowsiness of the alcohol was still in effect when Lee Shem tried to open his eyes. But he was unable to succeed.

At once, a severe pain bloomed at the back of his neck which made him twitch in pain!

Lee Shen admitted that he thoroughly underestimated the strength of the Tubian.

[While you were out, I was able to take a peek at her stats when she lowered her guard.]

=====

Name: ---

Race: Tubian

Age: +33 Millennia

-----

Health: 195,500

Power: 880,000

Dexterity: 608,000

Intelligence: 9,760

=====

A smile spread upon Lee Shen's face when he saw the screen.

'So she will be the most powerful opponent I am facing till now.'

Lee Shen tried to open up his eyes but felt as if they were forcefully shut against his will.

'Wait...why can I not sense anything?'

[It is possible to assume that this Tubian is more capable than erasing the trails.]

'What is on the Map?'

[Blank. The Map is completely blank.]

'That means?'

[We are in a place or space completely under the control of the demon Tubian.]

'Let me take a look.'

[No, don't!]

Hudson tried to warn Lee Shen but he had already begun his attempt to open his eyes.

*crack*

'Not good!'

Lee heard the sound of his bones breaking as he tried to open his eyes.

[How did my right arm's forearm bone break?'

The result from the unexpected event was quite enormous that Lee Shen struggled to bit down the pain. He collapsed on the ground, but he failed to detect ground under his legs.

'Hudson, D, any attempt to decode my current situation is appreciated.'

[We too are clueless as you.]

The silence that followed the conversation was eerie. It conveyed a sense of despair and horror.

No matter how hard he tried, Lee Shen was literally a sitting duck in the deep ocean waters.

----

=====

8 PM.

5,977,490 Essence harvested.

=====

----

Another notification came up and Lee Shen was updated regarding the time. Other than the system interface, he was unable to sense anything around him. He assumed the this has to be related to the Tubian's affinity.

'Hudson, create a spatial tear to enter the System Space.'

[Already attempted multiple times, and failed consistently. The spatial tear cannot be formed without stable coordinates and we don't know where we are.]

Lee Shen knew about the importance of a stable footing before opening a spatial tear. Using the Affinity Soul of the Space element, he was able to easily travel between the System Space and reality.

'Any irregularities detected?'

[Irregularities? Hell, we can't even detect any regularity!]

Hudson's voice conveyed his defeat in detecting any fluctuations around Lee Shen. He thoroughly checked for any anomalies but met a dead end.

[Something is happening.]

D notified both Husson and Lee, and they could detect extremely feeble ripples sweeping past them. It grew powerful by each passing moment and so transformed into a giant and continuous ripple!

Then, Lee sensed something.

[Yes, the demon Tubian is in the vicinity.]