Chapter 225: What's Wrong

Of course, the tip-off to Todd's superiors wasn't done through official means.

The preparatory paperwork required to run a search for prohibited articles like this investigation was not an easy task if done through official means.

Just obtaining a search warrant alone required multiple levels of approval as well as all sorts of verification. Moreover, with a backlog of higher-priority tasks that needed dealing with, it would take at least a week for such a warrant to be approved.

Launching an official investigation of a casual tip-off was just impossible.

The Official Knight by the name of Francis that Tod spoke of, together with his companions, were all from Todd's grandfather's faction and took orders from his grandfather's subordinates.

Simply put, while they were Todd's superiors on the surface, in truth, they were just the lackeys of Todd, a third generation knight.

Now, the grandson of his superior's superior had asked him for a small favor.

—— Seizing a bookstore owned by an ordinary person whom no one had ever heard of was a piece of cake for transcendent beings like them. The case would naturally be closed as long as they completed the subsequent formalities and kept the bookstore owner's mouth shut.

The higher-ups of Secret Rite Tower were busy people. As long as this was done quickly and cleanly without making a scene, nobody would care.

Furthermore, their direct superior was part of Secret Rite Tower's higher management. It was much easier to do stuff with his shielding.

Of course, they were duty-bound and had to take the lead.

When called into action, they managed to find the bookstore's address at once and immediately prepared to head over to seize and close it down.

Todd prided himself on his insightfulness, his capabilities in acquiring intelligence as well as his ability to strategize.

Though inferior to the girl before him who had made crazy tremendous progress recently, he had at the very least completely defeated her in terms of intellect this time round!

While Melissa was still unaware, he had already found out much about this through Selena, Melissa's only relatively close friend, managing to get something on her, and thus took the opportunity to take action.

Todd believed that Melissa must be hiding some forbidden spell scrolls in that bookstore.

Hiding the scrolls among similar-looking books in a seemingly ordinary bookstore wouldn't be that out of place. Hmph, I still have to give her some credit for that.

And it was those scrolls that enabled her to make such rapid progress.

It was just unfortunate that she had to encounter the witty Todd, and she was going to pay for it!

Todd couldn't help laughing maniacally like a typical villain in a comic book as he watched Melissa's pale face.

But considering that such a laughter was similar to a side bit-part character that often ended up dead, he decided to restrain himself.

"What's wrong, finally afraid?" sneered Todd with arms folded. "Apologize for that kick you gave me three days ago and I'll consider recalling them back."

Three days ago, as she always did, Melissa had chosen Todd and challenged him to an arm-wrestling match.

Todd, being the man he was, agreed.

Little did he imagine that all that happened next would be one of the greatest humiliations he had ever experienced in his life.

One second! The match lasted for just one second!

Todd didn't even have time to react when his arm crashed against the table. His body was pulled sideways, and all he saw was Melissa's disparaging look as if he were a piece of trash.

It was the same result for the following two rounds.

He had lost to a lady three times in succession and it had been in front of others. Overwhelmed by anger, Todd started a fight. Then, he got kicked down in one strike... and was completely stunned at that moment.

After spending three days to calm down, he plotted this 'revenge.'

"You... You guys..."

Melissa was genuinely frightened by them and even her voice was shaking.

She stared at Todd and others in disbelief.

She couldn't believe they had actually done something this stupid. An analogy for this was like voluntarily jumping into a meat grinder and claiming proudly that it was a massager. In time, everyone would see what sort of massage this meat grinder would give.

Going to seize the bookstore was as ridiculous as an ant saying it wanted to lift up an elephant.

This was simply the actions of a crazed person.

At the same time, she also felt sad that Selena had let slip her secret.

Melissa knew that it was extremely hard for Selena to join Secret Rite Tower being a mediocre citizen with no extraordinary talent. Against Todd who was literally a third generation of Secret Rite Tower, she could only cede.

But Selena had been the only one she had spoken about the bookstore with. At that time, she had only just returned from the bookstore, and the confidentiality of the bookstore hadn't been raised to this level yet. Moreover, back then, she hadn't understood what the bookstore meant.

Melissa treated Selena like a real friend, but now she felt betrayed.

Besides sadness, Melissa was even more terrified. "Stop! Recall them!" Melissa snapped, shaking slightly as she raised her sword.

She really couldn't imagine what would happen if Boss Lin got angry...

Boss Lin would surely know who caused this. And once the cause and effect is clear, I might also be blamed.

But it's even worse now. They are going to do something to the bookstore...

Whether it's seizing the bookstore or shutting it down... No, even a search is just a downright terrifying idea!!

If Boss Lin were to get mad, wouldn't Secret Rite Tower be destroyed?!

Todd assumed Melissa was finally afraid and chuckled. "Then beg me. If you beg..."

"Beg my *ss!"

In fear and remorse, Melissa could no longer bear to stand this smart-alec third generation knight. She condensed her aether into her raised sword and flew toward Todd at high speed, like a loosed arrow.

Todd was taken aback. However, he had learned his lesson after getting the short end of the stick previously.

An invisible shield of aether suddenly appeared before him, which blocked Melissa's sword.

He heaved a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he had come with a transcendental object called the "Shield of Protection."

Todd laughed and said, "It's useless! This shield can resist attack below Destructive-rank. There's no way that you can break through it!"

But Melissa didn't let up, retreating and attacking at high speed. Burst of aether sputtered out continuously as she kept striking against his shield.

What seemed like a flow of data appeared in her eyes, and suddenly, the shield seemed full of flaws.

"Door Key·Origins!"

The cornerstone of all things! A master key that could open anything.

Now, in Melissa's eyes, that shield could no longer even withstand a single blow.

And finally.

Crack.

The shield was broken.

As Todd looked on in fright, Melissa flew toward him at high speed and struck his belly with her fist. Then, she raised her foot and kicked him in the face.

Baam!

With a loud crash, Todd's face was planted into the ground.

——

Francis was a Pandemonium-rank Official Knight. According to the rank system in Secret Rite Tower, the Official Knight title was higher than an Apprentice Knight, which was in turn higher than a Knight Trainee.

Of course, a knight's grade wasn't a good representation of their strength. There were also many Pandemonium-rank Knight Trainees, and as for Official Knights... Any authorized personnel of Secret Rite Tower not appointed as a Great Radiant Knight was an Official Knight.

At this moment, he was 'on a mission.'

Francis led his men into an ordinary bookstore, ready to seize it immediately, to give the Great Radiant Knight's son the perfect end he desired.