Chapter 1158: 145. Clinging to a Thigh

The magical array constructed from powerful magic sealed off all of Annabawei.

From this moment on, whether it was evil believers, Pollution, or anything else, none of it could leave Annabawei. It had been completely locked inside, far more thoroughly than even that Fog Wall.

Naturally, that also included the ordinary people here.

They could do nothing. They could only wait for the slaughter in ignorant confusion.

And upon that false divine throne, the fiery-red figure slowly rose once again. The moment she moved, the night sky wailed, and the entire Annabawei trembled.

“Priscilla, if you are using these filthy things to provoke me, then very well. I accept your provocation.”

Hamreign lowered her head. She did not look particularly angry, but those majestic golden pupils seemed ready to pierce directly through the entire night!

What situation?

What on the verge of collapse?

She did not care.

The premise of the agreement she had just made with that human was that the entire state of affairs would not worsen any further. But now, looking at it... that was basically impossible.

In the end, she still had to act.

“Big Sister Dragon, you are mistaken.”

Grandma Meg was still smiling, not frightened in the slightest by this pressure. “This is not provocation. This is a challenge. Eight hundred years ago, we lost. All of Tars was slaughtered by you to the last. So I want to do it again, to see this time who loses and who wins.”

“No matter how many times you do it again, the result will be the same. No matter how many times you ghosts of Tars revive, I will kill you that many times, until you can no longer revive at all.”

Hamreign’s slender brows lifted little by little. Terrifying pressure gathered once more. Behind her, there seemed to appear the illusory image of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. That sharp killing intent made even Muen, who had likewise experienced no one knew how much slaughter and death, change color in horror.

It was difficult to imagine just how many people this calamity had killed over these thousand years.

Hundreds of thousands?

Millions?

Tens of millions?

With a span of a thousand years, that number simply could not be calculated. Perhaps even Hamreign herself could not give an approximate figure.

But there was one point that was certain. Just as she had said, even if Grandma Meg truly turned all the people of Annabawei into pitiful polluted flesh bombs, to her, it would have no meaning whatsoever.

No matter how many people needed to be killed, she would not show mercy.

Mercy had long since ceased to exist within her heart.

“Come, then!”

Seeing this, Grandma Meg did not resist. Instead, the corners of her mouth gradually pulled wider, almost stretching all the way to her ears.

Because what she had been waiting for... had always been this moment.

Whether it was infiltrating Annabawei or helping Muen, this outsider, the purpose of everything she had done was to wait for Hamreign, who was certain to come here.

And then... offer up this carefully crafted bait and let her eat it.

That was right.

This was poisonous bait she had carefully prepared after lying hidden for so long. Although it was not enough to shake the “invincible” figure of this Dragon of Calamity, it was still enough to plant an important foreshadowing for the plan afterward.

This was the beginning of everything, and also the end of everything.

Therefore, come! Hamreign, eat this poisonous bait carefully prepared for you!

Let this long story enter into... Eh?

Wait. What was that yellow-haired one doing?

Grandma Meg’s smile suddenly stiffened.

...Because this time, Hamreign still failed to successfully go on a killing spree. She had not even taken a single step before her movements froze little by little.

She had been stopped by someone.

In a way no one had expected.

So much so that after the atmosphere fell into an eerie silence for several breaths, she finally lowered her head stiffly, with a trace of confusion.

The majestic golden pupils flickered with incomprehension as they looked toward... a certain yellow-haired man who, with extremely practiced movements, was tightly hugging her thigh.

Yes, hugging her thigh.

—It was equally difficult to imagine just how many women’s thighs this fellow had hugged for him to be able to hug the thigh of a dignified calamity while even she had not reacted.

And to hug it so precisely, so elegantly, with such skill.

Aside from the target of the hug being somewhat world-shaking and horrifying, there was practically not the slightest flaw to be found. Even with Hamreign’s thousand years of lifespan and experience, she had never seen anyone surpass him in this regard.

But...

Why did he dare?

This fellow... was he truly not afraid of death? This thought once again flashed briefly through the great calamity’s mind.

Inhale—exhale—

The anger at being provoked was gradually covered by the anger of having been offended. Naturally, Grandma Meg was temporarily thrown to the back of her mind. The dragon, who had never been treated with such disrespect before, slowly breathed, silently telling herself several times that he was still useful... this human was still useful. Only then did she extinguish the impulse to crush this damned yellow-haired man to death with one hand.

“What are you doing?” Hamreign’s gaze was terrifyingly cold.

“I know my current behavior is a bit low, but I am trying to make you calm down,” Muen said with a completely serious expression while hugging this long, firm thigh that he could feel even through the hem of her skirt.

He would never allow Miss Dragon to start slaughtering in all directions. Leaving other aspects aside for now, if that really happened... wouldn’t the beating he had just taken be for nothing?

Only, when the gap in strength was too great, sometimes the proper path did not work, and one had to open up a new path.

Fortunately, he was also rather good at opening up new paths.

Even Her Majesty the Empress would give him a like for this point.

“Are you certain you are not pushing your luck?” Before, he had only dared touch her hand. Now he was directly hugging her leg? What about afterward? What else would he dare do?

“Absolutely not. This is only a method of admonishment!” Muen insisted in one breath, not the slightest distracting thought visible on his resolute face. “We just agreed.”

“Hmph. Before was before. Now is now!”

“Even if you put my words to flexible use, I will not let go!”

“Inhale... exhale...”

Endure it.

Endure it.

He was still useful. He really was still useful.

“I am very calm.” Hamreign finally made her tone a little steadier. “Let go of me.”

“You are about to start killing. What kind of calm is that?”

“Of course I am going to calmly kill them.”

“No!”

Muen said, “Grandma Meg... no, that fellow you call Priscilla is obviously doing this on purpose. Have you not noticed?”

“I know,” Hamreign said. “But so what?”

“There is a conspiracy here!”

“So what if there is a conspiracy?”

“Since you know the other side has a conspiracy, isn’t going along with their wishes too stupid?”

“It is a little stupid.”

“Right...” Muen let out a breath of relief. It seemed that getting thoroughly ravaged earlier was not entirely a bad thing. At least Miss Dragon could listen to his words a little now.

“Do not worry. I will also very intelligently kill them,” Hamreign said word by word. “Very intelligently. I absolutely will not leave behind the slightest trace.”

“You really didn’t listen at all. What I mean is that this action itself is not intelligent!”

Muen wanted to cry but had no tears. Who the fuck said this dragon listened to people?

She was completely the type to act only according to her own will!

“Then what do you say should be done?”

Hamreign gave a cold snort and said, “Do you want me to ignore all this Pollution completely? Allow this Pollution to explode, pollute every place, and even seep into the mist? Do not forget, what you guaranteed me just now was that you could completely control this Pollution, which was why I did not act. But now? You have failed to completely control it, and it is even about to go entirely out of control. Furthermore, the degree of loss of control far exceeds before.”

“...”

Muen fell silent.

He could not deny this point.

In front of the “Goddess of Light,” who had suddenly appeared, his plan just now had indeed reached the edge of collapse.

Because these people polluted by the “Goddess of Light” were clearly impossible to make pray to him anymore. If he could not make his Pollution deepen through prayer, then he could not seize the initiative.

Forcible Pollution was also impossible. Activated Pollution and dormant Pollution were two different things to begin with. Now, if his Pollution was added in as well, it would be no different from pouring water into boiling oil!

So from this perspective, the problem placed before him and Miss Dragon was not some conspiracy at all, but an open scheme.

As long as Miss Dragon remained fixated on eliminating Pollution, as long as this world still needed someone to eliminate Pollution... she would inevitably step into it.

Grandma Meg... or rather, that person from eight hundred years ago named Priscilla, understood Hamreign far better than he did.

She also understood her resolve and coldness better.

“Calm down. My intuition tells me there is still a way...” Muen advised.

“When it comes to Pollution, the longer it is delayed, the harder it becomes to deal with. I will not believe in your so-called resolve.” Hamreign did not listen at all.

“But things are already like this now. Can they get worse? There is still time to wait a little longer.”

“What difference is there between waiting and not waiting? It is only a meaningless waste of time.”

“It is not meaningless!”

Muen looked around to the side, only then discovering that aside from a dumbfounded Grandma Meg, there was also a dumbfounded Andri. He hurriedly called out:

“Miss Andri, quick! Come help persuade her. Although you were hunted by her before, aren’t you also someone Miss Dragon knows? Come help me persuade her!”

“I... I do not dare do such a thing now.” Andri shook her head hard.

Was he joking? To be honest, right now her legs went weak just from seeing Hamreign. How could she possibly dare do such a thing?

Mr. Muen truly was worthy of being an existence who dared challenge a calamity. This courage... was indeed worthy of admiration.

“This matter is better left to you, Mr. Muen. But I can temporarily call upon the night and slightly suppress the Pollution, buying you a little time.”

Andri took a deep breath. Using her final physical strength and vitality, she propped up the endless night and used this night to do her utmost to suppress the eruption of that Pollution.

Her ability had a certain suppressive effect on Pollution to begin with. Otherwise, she could not have persisted for so many years despite clearly knowing she herself was polluted. Under the effect of the night, the progress of the Pollution’s eruption was visibly slowed. At least for those innocent people who had once believed in the Goddess of Light, the speed of their mutation had slowed down considerably.

After doing all of this, Andri collapsed to the ground. She felt that she had already reached her limit, only one step away from death.

No, it should be said that she should have died long ago. Being able to live until now had been nothing more than that tiny bit of obsession supporting her.

“Foolish.”

And at this moment, Grandma Meg had finally recovered from the shock of seeing Hamreign’s thigh being hugged by a human. She glanced at Andri with disdain. “Andri, as expected, you have always been the stupidest among us.”

“How could I not be foolish?”

Andri said softly, no madness left in her words, only gentleness. “They are all my most precious children...”

So, Mr. Muen, it is all up to you.

...

...

Muen could feel that Pollution gradually calming down.

But this was only temporary.

Andri’s night was not that powerful. It could even be said that whether against Pollution itself or against Miss Dragon, it was far too weak.

Being able to persist until now was only because of that almost insane will of hers.

Madmen.

The current Annabawei truly did not lack madmen the least.

Evil madmen. Kind madmen.

Madmen who did not listen to people.

After calculating it over and over, probably only he was the one normal person.

Fuck. Why was it so hard to be a normal person in this damned world? At every turn, there were madmen who wanted to destroy this and destroy that. No wonder someone was always saying the end of the world was almost here!

“I have to hurry and think of a way.”

Still in the posture of hugging a thigh, Muen raised his gaze slightly and met Miss Dragon’s cold downward glance.

She finally temporarily no longer seemed to have any intention of acting. Perhaps Muen’s words just now had taken effect, or perhaps Andri’s life-risking suppression made her feel that they could indeed wait a little longer now.

But it was only a little longer.

She could temporarily hold herself back from acting only because the Pollution had indeed not yet reached the point of completely losing control. Once she determined that Muen could no longer control that Pollution, she would immediately act.

Therefore, Grandma Meg on the other side had only fallen into brief astonishment because of Muen’s thigh-hugging action. Afterward, she recovered that posture of “victory already in hand.”

She understood Hamreign.

She understood that calamity who only brought destruction.

She would eventually swallow her “bait.”

Just like eight hundred years ago, when she had mercilessly brought down destruction.

As for that yellow-haired man... he was just a tiny fifth-rank warrior. Even if he was bold enough to hug the thigh of the Dragon of Death and Doom, what use could it have?

“That’s right. What use can a mere fifth-rank warrior have?”

Muen could not help thinking of this question as well.

But after thinking carefully, the current trouble did not seem to be something that could be resolved simply by being a little stronger or having a slightly higher realm.

Even if he were stronger, even if his realm were higher, as long as his strength had not reached Miss Dragon’s level, had not reached the level of a true Evil God, then he still could not solve this matter through a head-on clash.

Sweeping it away and resolving it were both like daydreams to him.

So... he could only start from the problem itself.

“Speaking of which, just whose vest is this Goddess of Light?”

Muen thought again of this question he had not yet confirmed earlier.

In the existing records, there was no Evil God in the world called the Goddess of Light. Therefore, this “Goddess of Light” had to be a disguise of someone.

If he could know who the true body of this so-called Goddess of Light was, then perhaps he could take advantage of Miss Dragon not paying attention and secretly ask the omnipotent Black Book, then prescribe the right medicine.

And... this did not seem impossible.

The original Pollution in Annabawei had no activity, was from a very long time ago, and on top of that, its Pollution traits were irregular mutations, so it was very difficult to guess exactly which existence was the source of that Pollution.

But the current “Goddess of Light”’s Pollution was different... that light had very obvious traits!

“Related to light... It can’t be Life Goddess Aimier, right? But Aimier is not an Evil God. That old thing the Pope said so himself. If he dares lie, I’ll have Liya yank his beard hard.”

Muen’s gaze quickly fell on Landa and Alan nearby, hoping to find a key point in the mutations of the two.

“Huh?”

Once he looked, he actually very quickly discovered something wrong.

“Strange. Why have the people who believe in the Goddess of Light everywhere across Annabawei already begun producing obvious mutations because of the Pollution eruption, but you two have not?”