Chapter 52 Ring Domain Allocation (1) He was being stubborn

"Okay, I'll tell you the truth," Xia Ying confessed weakly. "The whole thing started when Fafnir suddenly broke into our house..."

She extended a finger and pointed at the Crowned King, whose face showed absolutely no remorse.

"At first, I just thought that Fafnir and Cer would run into a troublesome situation, so I wanted to handle it on my own without anyone noticing. I never expected that it would become the beginning of chaos and mistakes."

Xia Ying said numbly.

"Intrusions occurred one after another. Although we tried to distract Ker, a conflict could not be avoided, and the bathroom was also vandalized by the two people there..."

"Then I uncovered the mastermind, the king of ruthless feasters who has no conscience or moral bottom line..."

The Taotie that was mentioned looked as if it had received some kind of praise, and it showed a happy expression.

"After I beat him up, he said he could trick the King of the Tomb Keepers into coming over to help me fix the bathroom."

"What?!" Qilin exclaimed in surprise, "So we're going to have to reconvene the Ring Domain Conference?!"

"...You're only realizing this now?" Xia Ying said. "As everyone can see, the King of the Tomb Keepers is a complete idiot, which is why this plan actually succeeded."

Amidst the background noise of Qilin's shocked and furious cries of "What disrespect!!" and "Who's the idiot?!", Xia Ying, already exuding a faint aura of death, continued speaking.

"And then you came back, right when the chaos had reached its peak." A look of grief and indignation began to appear on her face. "Haven't we solved anything?! What about all my previous efforts? It makes me look like a clown!"

“We’ll talk about whether he’s a clown or not later,” Cerberus asked, frowning. “Then what about him?”

"Excuse me, Lord Demon Lord, may I interrupt?" she said, staring at him intently. "The snack you're eating, isn't it something Kelp bought for me?"

“That’s right. Although ‘Poisonous Icing’ has only been around for a short time and lacks the necessary foundation and experience, its craftsmanship is still far from top-notch,” the Demon Lord commented with great pride. “But its advantage lies in its flavor full of demonic characteristics and its bold and daring choice of ingredients, making it passable as an occasional afternoon tea treat.”

"..." Xia Ying asked, "I'll be frank, what's the reason you suddenly came here?"

"To be precise, I'm not here to see you. I'm here to see the King of the Ring Realm." The six-winged demon politely wiped the cream from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, then raised his face to look at the powerful abyssal creatures gathered together.

The atmosphere surrounding him suddenly changed, and a powerful, evil, and dark magical field gripped the breath of every living being present like a giant hand.

A terrifying sense of oppression spread instantly, and the invisible fear placed on the back of her neck forced Xia Ying to lower her head and look at the tip of the black scepter in his hand, so as to avoid looking directly at the face of the Demon Lord.

"The first thing is that I have a premonition that the 'virus' is gathering an army, intending to launch an unprecedented attack on Cocytus, and we need to be prepared for that before that happens."

The parchment containing the defense proposal appeared in the hands of the Demon Lord. He made a final decision by simply tracing a few lines on the paper with his fingertips, and the four names that signed it emitted a faint light.

The kings of the ring remained silent; the contract had already taken effect.

The parchment vanished from his hand, and the Demon Lord grasped the scepter once more.

"In addition, the [Circular Domain Internship] assessments have all concluded, which means that the first semester for this group of freshmen is about to come to an end, and the time is ripe for the Circular Domain assignments."

He tapped the ground lightly with the tip of his staff, and a massive magic circle that encompassed the entire residence suddenly unfolded.

"Since everyone is gathered here, let's not delay and start preparing immediately."

The magic circle emitted a bright light, and one by one, the kings of the ring began to disappear from their temporary residences.

Xia Ying waited a while longer, but the Demon Lord did not leave, and the heavy energy field he brought had not yet faded.

Despite the repulsive force, she still struggled to lift her head and look into Tartarus's enigmatic, divine diamond-shaped pupils.

“I have a question,” she asked the Demon Lord, “How exactly is it determined which ring abyssal creature belongs to?”

"It wasn't that some method 'determined' where they went, but rather that they finally 'realized' where they belonged."

The Demon Lord was not angered by her overstepping of authority, but answered tolerantly.

“All abyssal creatures accepted by Cocytus yearn for Cocytus. This yearning has led them here and will also tell them where to go in the future, without exception.”

He suddenly raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

Xia Ying's expression suddenly changed. Cerberus, who had been listening quietly, suddenly raised his head and stood in front of Xia Ying, his body tense, extremely vigilant for any possible harm.

“Your actions suggest an attempt to deceive me, and I certainly have every reason to be angry,” the Demon Lord smiled. “However, given that you have already paid a heavy price for this, I reserve the right to pursue the matter further.”

Xia Ying grasped Cerberus's hand, calming his pent-up hostility, then shook her head at him, signaling him to return to the rear.

Cerberus relaxed slightly, but remained wary of the Demon Lord, and reluctantly retreated to Xia Ying's side.

This brought the situation back to a direct confrontation between Xia Ying and the Demon Lord.

“I didn’t mean to deceive or offend you,” she said earnestly, “but I have no other choice but to achieve my goal.”

"In other words, even though you've anticipated the worst outcome, you still insist on doing it," Cocytus's master asked. "Xia Ying, why?"

She fell silent for a moment.

"The truth," she finally replied, "the truth I'm looking for can only be found in the abyss."

The Demon Lord lowered his gaze, his expression a mixture of mockery and pity.

He leaned slightly forward, his magnificent wings folding around Xia Ying, and whispered something in her ear.

Cerberus did not hear what he said; the enormous feathered mask blocked the hound's view, which only fueled his anxiety.

Fortunately, the Demon Lord soon spread his wings again, and black feathers rose without wind, flying towards the two and taking them to another scene.

Cerberus instinctively pulled Xia Ying into his arms. The human girl was stunned for a moment in his arms before slowly raising her head.

She saw a familiar, magnificent building, with murals and reliefs on its six walls vividly depicting the lives and hunting of creatures from the abyss.

"This is... the auditorium from the opening ceremony?" Xia Ying looked away, still shaken. "It was so scary just now, I thought I was really going to die."

Cerberus gazed at her, his eyes filled with the same wavering as the night before he embarked on his journey to another world.

"Xia Ying." After a long silence, he finally spoke, "Can't we really leave Cocytus?"

“I’m sorry, Ker, but you know my answer.” Xia Ying met his gaze calmly. “Anyway, we’ve gotten here. Actually, things are going more smoothly than we thought, aren’t they?”

“I know, I just…” he squeezed his eyes shut, “feeling very uneasy.”

Cerberus suddenly felt a weight on his body. He opened his eyes and found that Xia Ying had wrapped her arms around his neck.

Cerberus unconsciously raised his voice: "Really!"

"It's true!" Xia Ying rubbed her ears, which had been jolted by the shock. "How come you seem to like the human world even more than I do..."

The demon dog struggled to control the corners of its mouth from turning up: "No way! But once we get back, no random abyssal creatures will break into our house."

Xia Ying couldn't help but laugh and said, "That's true."

During the conversation, Cerberus suddenly pricked up his ears, frowned, turned his head to look in a certain direction, and let out a low threatening sound from his throat.

Xia Ying looked in the direction of his gaze, puzzled, and saw familiar faces in the increasingly crowded auditorium. She waved to them.

"Ah! Qiongqi and Fenrir!"

Cerberus then made an unfriendly "tsk" sound of dissatisfaction: "How come I can't shake you two off anywhere?"

Qiongqi retorted, "That's what I wanted to say. Dogs that don't know their place will be abandoned sooner or later."

"What did you say?!"

"Alright, alright, I won't abandon Kernel." Xia Ying skillfully separated the two. "How did your internship assessment go? Did it go smoothly?"

"It went relatively smoothly." Qiongqi pointed to Fenrir, who had a cold expression. "Fenrir and I wiped out all the abyssal creatures from the opposing faction at the beginning, and then, by some twist of fate, we met the conditions for clearing the level. Before a winner was decided, the mission was declared over."

Fenrir suddenly spoke up and asked, "Where are you and Cerberus?"

Xia Ying revealed a smug expression and nudged Cerberus with her elbow: "I won that one, right, Cerberus?"

"..." The demon dog turned its face away, "It's just a mission assessment, it doesn't count."

Xia Ying's lips practically formed a Nike logo: "He's being stubborn."

Fenrir watched the two interact intimately and fell silent once more.