Chapter 1161: 148. Blinding the Dog Eyes

Having come this far, how could Grandma Meg possibly allow her plan to fail?

She had plotted for four hundred years... waited for four hundred years... anticipated for four hundred years... During these four hundred years, she had constantly hidden in Annabawei, constantly changed identities, and while spreading belief in the Goddess of Light, she had also feared being discovered early by Andri...

Four hundred years! She had finally waited for the executioner who had once destroyed Tars! She had also waited for her chance at revenge! These poisons... these poisonous baits condensed from Pollution, were the first step of her revenge plan. This step was about to be completed...

And yet, at this kind of critical moment, she was being stopped by a yellow-haired brat?

He was even only a fifth-rank warrior! An ant-like figure!

Although she did not know why he clearly had neither the Goddess’s mark nor aura on him, yet could control the Goddess’s flames, but... how could she possibly allow this kind of thing to happen?

“No!!”

Grandma Meg’s face was savage. Her old face was like a rotten squash, and a foul, fishy wind was spreading everywhere. Shadows rapidly condensed beneath her feet into a terrifying posture. Savage laughter and murmuring shadows echoed, as if that shadow were truly a living thing.

A faint Crowned One aura came from the shadow. Half of a crown rose and sank within it, decayed and ancient. The illusory images of sun, moon, stars, heaven, earth, and all things upon it had also long since become broken beyond recognition... but the oppressive sensation brought by the leap in life level was still real.

“Damn it!”

Sensing the danger, Muen’s expression changed rapidly. He just knew this old thing definitely wasn’t anything good. Not recklessly charging up earlier had indeed been the right choice... But even if he had guessed it, that was useless. Not taking the initiative to attack did not mean others would not attack, and right now, when his consciousness had just withdrawn from the night, he had no possibility of counterattacking at all.

The twisted shadow instantly crossed the not-so-distant space and arrived in front of Muen.

“Die!”

Grandma Meg roared, “Those who dare blaspheme against the Goddess of Light, die for me!”

Muen’s whole body tensed, and he prepared himself for a desperate struggle...

Splat.

The shadow suddenly froze only a few centimeters away from Muen and stopped advancing.

Muen blinked. He could even clearly see the countless writhing flesh buds inside the shadow, and feel that Crowned One aura that made his hair stand on end. Even if he were not in his current sorry state of temporarily forcing up his strength, even if he faced this terrifying attack in his full condition, the probability of resisting it head-on would be less than thirty percent.

But such a terrifying attack, that savage shadow, had suddenly stopped, as if it had crashed into an indestructible wall.

—In fact, that was indeed indestructible.

Because what stood before the shadow was not a wall, but the strongest living being beneath the sky of this world.

Dragon of Death and Doom, Hamreign.

“Did you forget about me?”

Her face was still covered by a layer of strange blur, making it impossible to see clearly, but that high-above coldness and indifference were already enough to make a person’s soul tremble.

Her crimson hair danced like a blooming blood rose. Her excessively fair jade hand reached out so lightly... and, in one grab, seized the shadow that should not have had a physical body.

Muen subconsciously shrank his neck... From personal experience, Miss Dragon’s dragon claws... no, jade hands, were probably the most terrifying thing in this world.

Being squeezed by them was probably really enough to kill a person.

“Ah! Hamreign! You... you!”

The shadow struggled desperately, while Grandma Meg over there had already become like a corpse.

So this was the true body... Muen thought.

“What about me? You want to make a move right in front of me? Priscilla, it seems that after eight hundred years, you really have forgotten many things.”

“Evil dragon! Let me go!” Within the shadow, strange things churned. Crimson flames suddenly bloomed, carrying the broken crown as it swayed and rose. The terrifying aura belonging to a Crowned One gradually released, making Muen, who was nearby, turn pale.

“You are ordering me?”

However, facing such a terrifying impact of aura, Hamreign merely extended one finger, reached into the crimson flames, and pressed that heaven-granted crown... back down again, along with that aura that was incomparably terrifying to Muen.

The corner of Muen’s eye twitched. He could see Miss Dragon’s finger going deep into the flames, yet there was not the slightest contact. The Crimson Flame surged wildly less than half a millimeter away from her skin, yet still could not touch Miss Dragon in the slightest.

Just like before, the “medium” had been erased, so even flames from the Withering King could not threaten her in the slightest.

As for that broken half-crown... Muen saw only disdain in Miss Dragon’s golden pupils.

Forget half of one... even a whole one, to her, was trash.

“Ah—no!”

The violent pain made the entire shadow tremble fiercely. Amid fury and fear, the twisted shadow finally reacted... Even if the yellow-haired man was not worth mentioning, Hamreign, whose thigh he had been hugging, was ultimately what kind of existence.

“Damn it! Remember this... Hamreign, the matter between us is not over yet! It is not over! Sooner or later, I will make you, evil dragon, pay the price... and that yellow-haired bastard too! For the matter of blaspheming against the Goddess, I will definitely demand an explanation from you!”

The sudden naming made Muen freeze. Unfortunately, before he could activate his passive skill of mockery and kindly greet the other party’s ancestors, the shadow exploded in place, turning into countless black mud specks that scattered in all directions. At the same time, Grandma Meg also seemed to come alive. Her hunched body was unbelievably fast, using all four limbs as she turned into an afterimage and fled into the distance.

“Ridiculous.”

Hamreign still only laughed coldly.

Grandma Meg had mocked Muen as an ant.

But in Hamreign’s eyes, how was she not also an ant?

And so, that jade hand which Muen feared incomparably rose once more.

As if taking the entire world into her palm.

Suddenly, it gently clenched.

Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

A series of sounds like bubbles bursting echoed truly like raindrops. Countless black mud specks exploded one after another. Muen seemed to see bundle after bundle of black fireworks blooming in the air.

Rather beautiful.

In the end, only Grandma Meg, in her strange posture, was still fleeing.

Hamreign glanced at Muen and did not move for the time being.

Muen froze, then turned his head to look at Marcie, who had fainted beside him. His lips moved. He wanted to say something... but in the end, he still said nothing and merely shook his head.

Although he did not know when Grandma Meg had been possessed... or rather, replaced, judging by that state from before, where she could recover even after turning into meat paste, she had long since been thoroughly eroded.

She could not be saved... Even if Miss Dragon could kill the shadow inside, what remained would only be a monster filled with Pollution and distortion, without even her original consciousness left.

The real Grandma Meg had long since died.

“...”

Hamreign’s golden pupils shifted slightly, and her gaze locked onto “Grandma Meg,” who had already fled very far away.

Pop.

That body exploded just like that.

Like the final bundle of fireworks after a banquet ended, it bloomed... and then vanished from the world.

Even all traces of it were erased.

...

...

“It’s over...”

Watching “Grandma Meg,” the first person he had seen after arriving here, disappear from the world just like that, Muen stood stunned for a long time.

To be honest, this change was full of abruptness to him. The character called “Grandma Meg” had suddenly entered the stage, then suddenly exited it, which was rather absurd.

Fortunately, this time, it was truly temporarily over. There probably would not be any more strange things popping out again.

Thinking this, Muen let out a long breath, as if relieved of a heavy burden.

This trip to Annabawei had actually only lasted less than half a month, but to him, it felt incomparably long.

Only, before he could feel the joy of victory, his body swayed again.

Muen’s face was deathly pale.

...Shaking three times in one day. He, a dignified seven-times-a-night man, a yellow-haired stud with an unfallen golden spear, was almost turning into a patient with muscle weakness.

But this time, it was not because of the tragic suffering of his physical body, but his mind.

From the result, the “Goddess of Light” Pollution that “Grandma Meg” had brought this time not only failed to cause serious consequences; the Crimson Flame he had cucked away had also instead strengthened Muen’s power, making all of this even smoother. He also did not need to demand more “compensation” from the people here.

But even more of it was a burden on his mind. The more power there was, the more people prayed, the more mental strength he had to spend to control it, arrange it, and reach a boundary where the original Pollution would absolutely no longer stir.

This was definitely an extremely complicated project, because compared to casually laying down Pollution, controlling these things was the truly difficult matter.

If not for the assistance of Andri’s night, he most likely would have been unable to complete it.

But even so... it still made him reach his limit. After this, he would probably need a very long time to recover again.

“Open your mouth?”

“Ah?”

“I told you to open your mouth.”

Hamreign suddenly extended that excessively fair, delicate jade hand of hers and, not delicately at all, directly clamped Muen’s cheeks, forcing him to open his mouth. Then she took something and stuffed it inside.

Muen widened his eyes. He was a dignified duke’s son, imperial husband, Church knight, Lord Black Sun... when had he ever been fed in such a rude manner?

This was truly too humili—happy. Right, too happy!

Sharp golden pupils swept over, and Muen immediately changed those rather mood-killing thoughts of his. What was humiliation? To be personally fed by a red-haired, golden-eyed dragon-girl beauty should be his happiness!

He wished he could do this every day...

“Hold it properly in your mouth.”

“Mmph!”

Muen was still experiencing this “happiness” when a bead with a warm, moist feeling was forcibly pushed into his mouth. A strange power spread out, and Muen felt the stabbing pain in his mind immediately ease.

“Th... this is...”

Muen asked in shocked, muffled speech... According to ordinary plot developments, a bead given by a giant dragon could not be...

“It is only a precious bead used to nurture the mind.” Hamreign’s tone did not change in the slightest compared to just now.

“Oh... then that really is an honor.” Muen was still a little shocked.

In this world, mind-type items were already rare to begin with. Those that could nurture and restore the mind were even fewer, and most of them were consumables. Otherwise, he, this duke’s son, future imperial husband of the Empire, Church Temple Knight, and Lord Black Sun believed in by so many people, would not be challenging the limits of his mind here every day.

Miss Dragon was actually willing to specially give him one of these. It seemed she was not that... heartless?

“I have a lot of things like this,” Hamreign suddenly said.

“Eh?”

She did not try to explain. She merely raised her hand and casually drew across the air. A spatial rift unfolded before Muen, and then... Muen almost had his dog eyes blinded.

In the pitch-black space, he saw treasures piled up like mountains. Countless gold pieces and all kinds of gemstones emitted dazzling radiance. Every ray of radiance seemed like a cold hand, mercilessly slapping Muen’s face.

Among them, these kinds of beads were casually thrown into a corner, probably numbering in the hundreds. Perhaps because they had not been used in too long, they were all covered in dust.

Muen’s vision went black. He sucked in a breath of cold air, and his head instinctively tilted backward... After crossing over for so long, this was probably the first time he had experienced someone slapping the word “rich” directly onto his forehead.

Truly, his dog eyes were almost blinded.