Chapter 1145: 132. Thick Skin and Tough Flesh

Muen was not truly some stubborn, obsessive person either.

He would also be afraid, also be cowardly, also retreat.

But no matter who he faced, no matter what kind of dangerous situation it was, before confirming the result, he always had to try, right?

This world seemed to have many principles. Good and evil, right and wrong. But in Muen’s view, before personally confirming them... all those principles were worth less than dog shit.

Otherwise, he, this yellow-haired small-fry villain who, in the original story, was destined to end with a pitiful conclusion, should have already miserably died in some stinking gutter long ago, shouldn’t he?

So-called destined fate—he did not believe in it.

What he believed in more was the ending he had walked out step by step himself.

No matter whether that ending was good or bad.

Pfft.

Black flames rose in Muen’s palm.

Miss Dragon’s expression finally changed slightly. After all, this was a special existence that came from an Evil God, an absolute burning and devouring that acted on the lowest level of the world’s rules. Even she would feel surprise and fear toward this strange black flame.

It was like a brat wildly swinging an unmatched divine sword. She was not afraid of the brat, but in the end, she still had to give the “unmatched divine sword” a little respect.

Therefore, although the gap brought about by that wariness lasted only an instant, it was already enough to give Muen room to act.

Taking advantage of the weakened force of that jade-like foot, his figure flashed and vanished from where he stood at high speed.

Time Slow activated again, and was raised to an unprecedented degree. The alchemy core on Muen’s back grew so scorching hot it seemed as though it would directly burn up, faint blood vapor beginning to seep from his pores. Every millisecond, his fleshly body endured pressure that was nearly enough to make him collapse outright.

Just like that, carrying blood vapor that belonged entirely to himself, as if shrouded in a mist of blood, he flickered behind Hamreign. His twin blades slid into his palms and crossed each other.

Two hundredfold.

Scorching Wave.

Slash—

Under the power of time, the world was so slow it seemed frozen in place, yet Muen, within that extreme slowing, also raised his own speed to the limit. An unprecedented two hundred layers of stacked force gathered on the blade, combined with the unsheathing method he had learned from Ariel.

In an instant, bones wailed, flesh split open, and a faint pitch-black color appeared along the edge of the pure white blade, as if even space itself could not withstand the weight of this slash.

And before the blade’s edge were the black flames suddenly pouncing toward Hamreign. At such a close distance, all the black flames Muen could mobilize were drawn out, completely sealing off every path of retreat for Hamreign. At the same time, the black flames swept forward, rapidly devouring the invisible protection around Hamreign’s body.

Devouring required a process, so the black flames still could not touch Hamreign’s physical body, but this was already enough. Muen’s eyes became pitch-black and deep. From the black flame’s perspective, the protection around Hamreign’s body was naturally torn open with a gap, and his blade edge also slashed precisely into that gap.

This was Muen’s strongest slash, combined with the black flames’ lockdown and defense-breaking, and Elizabeth’s ability to cut through anything. Even if you were a fucking calamity, you still—

Ding.

Muen’s crazed expression froze.

Within the encirclement of flowing black flames, facing Muen’s slashing blade, the giant dragon bearing the name of calamity still showed not the slightest change in expression. She merely casually raised her hand again, casually moved her fingers...

And then two slender fingers casually shattered Muen’s blade light and flicked the blade away.

Buzz...

Elizabeth let out a mournful cry.

The living sacred artifact born from the Holy Sword had, for the first time in a direct collision, been utterly defeated.

“Are you performing some kind of play?”

Hamreign raised her eyes and looked at him.

“Not bad as a little trick. You almost made me laugh.”

“...”

Muen’s cheek twitched.

Fuck.

Was there no logic anymore?

Even if, in your eyes, my attack was only a little trick, at least...

Clap!

Muen gritted his teeth, temporarily put Elizabeth away, and turned his palm toward Hamreign.

“It seems I have no choice but to use my ultimate move.”

“Ultimate move?”

Hamreign raised a brow.

To dare call something an ultimate move in front of her, this human truly had no idea how high the sky was or how deep the earth was...

“I rarely use my ultimate move. Miss Dragon, be careful!”

Buzz!

In an instant, endless, boundless light surged out from Muen’s palm!

It was an unimaginable brightness. In the blink of an eye, the entire world was covered in absolute light. Under the contrast of this radiance, even the sun in the sky became dim and lightless at this moment.

Forbidden Secret Art: Demon-Piercing Light-Killing Illumination Spell, Modified!

Maximum output!

Blue veins bulged on Muen’s forehead. He poured almost all the magic he could currently mobilize into this move. The gathered light was already making his palm feel scorching hot, and the purpose of doing this was only to win a brief opportunity to attack.

As expected, even the mighty Dragon of Calamity had completely failed to imagine that Muen’s ultimate move would actually be Illumination Spell. Caught off guard, her eyes were dazzled, and her eyelids lowered...

Muen would not let this opportunity slip. The black flames wandering around Hamreign suddenly rolled up and rushed toward her body.

At present, the only thing he had that could injure Hamreign was the black flames. So at this moment, Muen was also praying that the black flames could...

“Ugh!”

Unfortunately, before the prayer could be completed, it was completely ended.

Within the endless light, Muen cried out in pain, his pupils, transformed into pure black, suddenly shrinking.

Because he saw that Hamreign’s eyes had only lowered for an instant... her eyelids had not even fully closed before they opened again.

Those molten-gold eyes were brighter than at any other time, incomparably clear even within this grand radiance.

At the center of those eyes, the pitch-black vertical pupils... condensed into a single line.

Damn it...

Muen’s mind went blank for a moment.

Even Illumination Spell was no use?

“Are you done playing?”

She stared at Muen.

With faint anger.

She flicked her finger.

The light came to an abrupt stop. The world recovered its original colors, and Muen once again turned into a cannonball, flying backward.

This time, he flew from one end of the valley to the other.

A distance of several thousand meters, a speed hard to see with the naked eye, already enough to turn a meteorite from beyond the sky into dust.

Muen’s flesh-and-blood body slammed into a towering mountain ridge, cracking the entire cliff face and leaving it in complete ruin.

The long dress hung with layers of thorn-patterned decorations swayed.

The fiery red figure lightly stepped forward with her jade-like foot.

Still one step.

From several thousand meters away, she arrived in the blink of an eye.

Hamreign lowered her head and leisurely admired Muen’s current appearance.

Who knew how many bones were broken.

His flesh and blood were a blur, only barely allowing one to make out a human shape.

His aura was weak. Other than the faint beating of his heart proving that he was still alive, everything else was basically no different from a dead person.

But... she had to admit that this weak human, at his current age and strength, being able to do this much was already worthy of praise.

Unfortunately...

“A thousand years truly is a very long time.”

Hamreign said softly.

“So long that... just by living, you can see many, many people who, in each individual era, could be called extraordinary.”

Kings high above all others.

Heroes who charged forward without turning back.

Merciful and kind Saintesses.

Ordinary people who dared to struggle against heaven.

All kinds of people had all kinds of stories.

Some of these people turned into a handful of yellow earth in the blink of an eye, yet left behind legends that later generations could speak of with relish. Some... could even leave a few faint impressions on her, leaving clear traces in the long river of history.

But so what?

Over a thousand years, she had seen too many such people. Even in that incomparably brilliant era, people more genius than geniuses, more heroic than heroes—she had also seen far, far too many.

“In this long stretch of time, how many powerful people, how many special existences, like you, also tried to fight for a chance of survival for those pitiful people?”

Too many to count.

But what was the result?

“Useless. Completely useless.”

No matter how much they struggled, no matter how startlingly talented they were, and no matter what kind of sacrifices they paid, the final result... was always failure.

The self-righteous kindness of people with no self-awareness at all brought only an even more miserable ending.

And... a complete mess left behind.

“Just like the way you look now.”

Hamreign bent down and said mockingly:

“You clearly only needed to watch. You did not need to dirty your hands, nor did you need to be this miserable. Those people have no relation to you at all. You fundamentally do not need to feel any guilt over their deaths.

No one will accuse you, and no one will hate you. They will only hate me for being cruel and heartless.

A calamity, after all, is born for destruction. I do not care.

But what about you?

In the end, this matter essentially has not much to do with you, you yellow-haired brat. You still do not have the qualifications to face all this directly. You should be staying in that greenhouse personally built by the Church and those other few little ones.

But you are so laughable.

So laughable that you actually want to challenge me... for the sake of these people?”

Saying this, Hamreign still found it somewhat unbelievable.

A brat who was not even Crowned, trying to challenge the famous strongest calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom?

If something like this spread out, it would probably become the continent’s best joke of the year.

“However, this stubbornness and naivety of yours does make you rather similar to that teacher of yours.”

Hamreign hooked the corner of her mouth.

“No wonder she chose you.”

The setting sun sank westward, casting a huge shadow beneath the mountain ridge, enveloping Muen within it, like a coffin whose lid had been sealed.

He looked as if he had completely lost the ability to fight again, yet in the end, he had not even injured a single strand of Hamreign’s hair.

“Lie here, brat. It is good for you to learn a lesson. I will not kill you. You are still useful. I am only making you remember that before me, you do not have the qualifications to make a second choice.”

Hamreign prepared to turn and leave, continuing her work.

The sun was about to set. She did not want to waste too much time in a place like this.

Andri was only one of those fish that had slipped through the net. After resolving this place, she still had to hurry and...

“...”

A faint sound came from behind her.

Hamreign’s steps paused.

“What did you say?”

She turned her head, looking doubtfully toward Muen on the ground.

“I said...”

Within that terrible crack, Muen, who had almost already turned into a puddle of meat paste, moved his lips.

Unfortunately, because his voice was pitifully quiet, even Hamreign did not hear clearly for a moment.

Out of curiosity toward what this fellow, who at this moment physically only had his mouth left, was saying, she slowly bent down again and turned her ear toward him...

“Before... was before.”

“Now... is now.”

“Using before... to talk about now, Miss Dragon... don’t you think... you are also very laughable?”

Hamreign’s expression froze. Unimaginable fury once again surfaced on that blurred face.

However, this was not over yet.

Muen, who looked like he had only a mouth left, suddenly grinned.

“Could it be... that the mighty calamity... is this afraid... of letting me try?”

“...”

Hamreign lowered her head and began thinking about exactly what this human was made of...

To be this resistant to beating?