Mythical Creatures Strategy Guide

Arthur did not use the main entrance.

The main gate was reserved for imperial envoys. By the time she reached the visitor passage on the side of the monarch's palace, the sun was already setting.

The architecture of Cat Territory was different from what she was used to in the Empire; the Cat People's craftsmen clearly preferred to spend their efforts elsewhere.

The eaves curve like a cat stretching its back, and the steps are half an inch higher than human buildings, just enough to match the cat-like figure's gait as it walks and jumps.

She identified herself at the visitor registration desk. Arthur, Imperial Knights, there to congratulate the new king of Cat Territory on his ascension to the throne.

The receptionist was a tortoiseshell cat-woman: "Lord Arthur, His Majesty is in the Sunlight Hall today. Please follow me."

As Arthur followed the lady-in-waiting through a covered walkway lined with catnip, several cat-people servants were squatting by the flowerbeds pruning the branches, but they were clearly distracted by the catnip.

At the end of the corridor was a double carved wooden door, the handle shaped like a cat's paw. The tortoiseshell cat-woman pushed open the door and stepped aside.

The name "Sunlight Hall" is quite fitting. The dome of the entire hall is designed to be semi-transparent, allowing sunlight to shine through and transform into countless beams of light of various shapes that fall onto the wooden floor.

Two rows of cat-human servants stood on either side of the hall, their fur of various colors and their tails hanging down behind them. At the far end of the hall, on the steps, sat a cat-human in a high-backed chair.

Pure white fur, broad shoulders and long legs, sitting in a lazy and casual posture, with one hand resting on the armrest.

With fur color exactly like Audrey's, this must be the brother Audrey mentioned back then, Levi Paladin.

But Audrey's pupils were a lighter blue, while the monarch's blue was a deeper, unfathomable blue.

Arthur placed his right hand on his left chest, performing the salute of an Imperial Knight: "Imperial Knights, Arthur Brunhilde Beowulf, congratulate the new ruler of Cat Territory on his ascension to the throne."

The cat-man on the throne leaned forward slightly when he heard the surname "Beowulf".

"The Paladin family appreciates the Imperial Knights' generosity," Levi said warmly. "No need for formalities, Miss Knight, you've come a long way; thank you for your hard work."

Everything that followed proceeded according to procedure: pleasantries, being offered seats, and tea.

The tea was Snow Bud, grown in the northern part of Snow Wolf Territory. When hot water was poured in, the tea leaves slowly rose up at the bottom of the cup, like a group of little people in green dresses dancing. The cat-woman official used a pair of silver tweezers to place two sugar cubes on the rim of Arthur's cup.

This is a tea ceremony from the Cat Clan. Placing sugar on the rim of the cup indicates that the guest can help themselves, while placing it inside the cup means that the monarch has decided on the sweetness level for you.

Arthur picked up his cup and took a sip, but his ahoge (cowlick) twitched almost imperceptibly.

It wasn't because there was anything wrong with the tea, but because of the holy light that filled her body.

The holy light within her began to stir the moment she stepped into the Sunlight Hall. At first, she thought the Sunlight Hall had some kind of suppressive effect on the holy light, but when she entered, she secretly rubbed a wisp of holy light between her fingertips, and that wisp of holy light flowed very steadily on her fingers.

It's not a problem with the Sunlight Hall, but rather with a certain entity within the Sunlight Hall itself.

Arthur lowered her eyes, but her gaze subtly drifted towards Levi. Levi was speaking quietly to a servant beside her, his face turned towards her.

Arthur deliberately placed the teacup back into the saucer very gently, almost without making a sound.

Cat-people have very keen hearing, and the servant heard the soft sound instantly, turning his cat ears in this direction.

But Levy didn't.

Levi's ears remained erect, but after less than a second, he seemed to realize something and stiffly turned them around.

Arthur's ahoge (cowlick) twitched alertly.

Levi noticed, his gaze casually sweeping over Arthur's ahoge (cowlick): "Miss Knight, is the tea not to your liking?"

The holy light within Arthur instantly surged!

The holy light is warning us!

Arthur put down his teacup. "The tea is very good. I just remembered something; I encountered a thief on the way here."

Levi's expression remained unchanged as he rose from his throne: "The Empire need not concern itself with the matter of the thief. The Paladin family will take good care of its people, all its people."

He walked down the steps slowly, stopping on the third step.

"Miss Knight." His head tilted strangely, at an angle that a normal neck could not achieve. "The holy light within you is very bright."

Arthur's ahoge (cowlick) had completely stood up.

Levi looked at her, and then it smiled.

This time, the smile stretched all the way to both sides of his face.

Arthur drew his sword.

The greatsword was drawn from its sheath, its blade radiating a holy light brighter than the sunlight in the sunlit hall: "You are not a Paladin!"

It did not answer; its face began to change as Arthur drew his sword, fading like an oil painting washed by water, revealing a chaotic, twisted, gelatinous substance.

Shapeshifter.

Arthur's heart sank.

These undead creatures, long extinct in the empire, possess at least a fourth-tier strength.

The battle has begun.

Arthur floated into the air, rapidly chanting a prayer, and the holy light bombarded down without reservation!

We cannot hold back; we must act swiftly and decisively!

Shapeshifters adapt to the attack methods of other races through combat, eventually even learning them and completely transforming into them, replacing them.

"boom!!!!!"

The dome of the Sunlight Hall shattered instantly, and the servants screamed and scattered in all directions. Some rushed out of the door, while others huddled behind the pillars of the hall, hissing in terror.

The spot where the holy light struck was scorched with a charred path, and Levi, no, the shapeshifter, had vanished without a trace.

It dodged, moving directly from its previous position to ten steps away, as if the process of moving in between had been omitted.

Arthur did not give it a second chance to move.

The greatsword was raised high, and holy light extended from its blade. This time, it was no longer a band of light, but a blade shape compressed to its extreme.

She decisively switched to her combat stance. The light band was for ranged attacks, while the light blade was for melee attacks. In a speed contest, the light band, with its long wind-up, was completely ineffective.

Arthur swung his sword faster and faster, so fast that the holy light trailing from the blade didn't even have time to dissipate in the air, layering upon layer, weaving a net of light around her.

The temperature in the sunlit hall rose sharply under the holy light, and the shattered glass melted into liquid, flowing around the two of them.

But the shapeshifter was clearly faster. Before Arthur could even swing his sword, its body had already begun moving in the opposite direction of its intended strike point.

Arthur's sword shattered the throne, severed the pillars, and pierced through the carved wooden wall on one side of the Sunlight Hall, but not a single blade touched its body.

It moved within the net woven of holy light, its posture remaining composed. At first, its dodging movements mimicked the cat-man's physique, but as Arthur's sword grew faster and faster, it gradually stopped trying to imitate it.

It is performing a displacement without any unnecessary movements.

Or rather, teleportation.

Arthur didn't know which race it had learned this from, but she was certain she couldn't keep up.

Just then, the shapeshifter seemed to tire of hiding.

It made its first move.