Chapter 1185: 172. Provocation

"We've arrived."

It was like crossing from one world into another.

The irritating crying vanished in an instant, like a roaring waterfall suddenly cut off at its source. In its place came Miss Dragon's cold voice, sounding like heavenly music.

Warm, sweet fragrance gathered around him like clouds. Muen felt a pair of unimaginably soft hands support him, while some power he could not understand swept through his entire body in an instant, gradually calming his agitated blood and energy.

His vision was still blurry, and his perception was not very clear, but everything was gradually returning to normal. After such an intense contrast, as vast as heaven and earth, Muen felt as though he had been reborn.

"Th... thank you."

Muen took a deep breath and wiped away the blood dripping from his nose onto his collar.

That had been brutal. As expected of the "world's crying." Just now, he had been only a hair's breadth away from a complete mental collapse.

Had it not been for the jade beads Miss Dragon had given him in advance, whether he could have endured it was truly hard to say.

"Not bad."

Hamreign lowered her eyes and looked down at Muen from above.

"To face the crying for the second time at your current level and endure it, even with some assistance from an external object... among all the humans I know, you are the first."

"Th... thank you for the praise."

"You don't look happy at all."

"..."

Happy? How the hell was he supposed to be happy?

Happy that he had become even harder to break?

The corner of Muen's mouth twitched.

"Of course I'm happy to be praised by Miss Dragon, but next time, I hope you'll warn me beforehand instead of casually throwing me a few items and then acting all mysterious. My poor little heart really, really, really... can't take it."

"Would it make any difference?"

Hamreign tilted her head.

"If I told you in advance, would you have passed through it easily?"

"...No."

Either way, he would probably die. The only difference was dying with mental preparation or dying without it.

In a certain sense, the latter might even place less of a burden on him.

Muen sighed inwardly.

He always felt that recently, he had entered another strange cycle.

In the past, he would constantly suffer severe physical injuries. Being beaten by enemies—or certain people even more hateful than enemies—until an unknown number of bones throughout his body broke was hardly anything unusual.

Recently, though, he had suffered far fewer wretched physical injuries. Unless he encountered someone at the Crowned level or some Pollution that was difficult to guard against, with his current strength, it was basically very difficult for him to suffer serious bodily harm.

But the number of injuries on the mental level kept increasing, and so did their severity.

Every now and then, his legs would go weak and his mind would go blank.

So this was the price of a beginner accidentally entering a high-level match?

Muen stroked his chin...

For some reason, the symptoms of accidentally entering a high-level match felt rather familiar.

"Since there's no major problem anymore, stand up by yourself. Do you expect me to keep supporting you?"

Miss Dragon's tone suddenly turned cold.

Muen immediately jolted upright like a startled rabbit and leaped backward several steps in a row, putting some distance between them.

It was not because he was afraid.

Nor was it because the person before him was also one of those "people who were in some ways even more hateful than enemies and could easily let his physical body experience the utmost pain."

It was because, as a gentleman, regardless of whether the other party was a giant dragon capable of swatting him to death with a single slap or a delicate and adorable young woman, he would equally display gentlemanly conduct.

Profaning a woman or anything like that was absolutely impossible.

However...

As the bloody smell in his nose gradually faded, Muen once again caught the faint fragrance left on him from their close contact.

For a dragon to smell this fragrant felt unreasonable no matter how he thought about it.

"I know a spell that can make you smell this fragrance for the rest of your life."

The golden eyes flickered slightly as Hamreign spoke seriously.

"The only drawback is that afterward, this will be the only scent you can smell. Every other odor will smell to you like a dead rat that has been rotting for exactly one week."

"No, no. Such an excellent spell should be saved for someone who needs it more. A magical idiot like me isn't blessed enough to enjoy it."

Muen hurriedly shook his head hard and reservedly declined this "kind offer."

Although he truly did like Miss Dragon's fragrance, compared with appreciating only one kind of flower, he preferred strolling through a garden where all sorts of blossoms competed with one another in fragrance.

Yes, he was precisely such an elegant man, both inside and out.

Muen ended this dangerous topic and quickly turned his attention to his surroundings.

After arriving in a new environment, understanding the situation as quickly as possible had practically become one of his instincts.

"Huh?"

Yet even after experiencing so many unbelievable events, Muen could not help being shocked by the scene around him.

Pale pink petals drifted down before Muen's eyes, decorating the old-fashioned gray tiles and blue-brick walls like patterns upon a young woman's dress, or perhaps a few casual brushstrokes left behind by a painter.

The faint floral fragrance finally broke through Miss Dragon's bodily scent and its blockade over Muen's sense of smell, pouring into his mind.

The light around them was dim, yet Muen felt as though he stood somewhere filled with bright spring sunshine.

The temperature, humidity, air...

Everything was suitable to an unbelievable degree.

The narrow alleys twisted and turned, dividing the old-fashioned buildings into a layout that was irregular yet not chaotic.

Several wind chimes beneath the eaves swayed from time to time, producing exceptionally pleasant sounds.

Gentle light radiated from several pillars in the distance. Although dim, it still allowed the surroundings to be seen normally.

Several trails of cooking smoke rose into the air. Someone was beating a drum in the street, and sounds of children playing occasionally came from behind the courtyard walls.

"Miss Dragon... this is where Priscilla is, correct?"

The scene was so completely different from what he had imagined that Muen wondered whether his severely depleted mental power had caused him to hallucinate.

He suddenly slapped both hands against his cheeks, using pain to stimulate his mind, and even immediately activated his black-flame vision.

It was not an illusion.

Everything before him truly existed.

Yet the fact that such a place existed...

Such an unbelievably beautiful sight only made it even more shocking...

Or frightening.

Never mind Annabawei—even the stretch of land where they had temporarily stopped to rest earlier had been nowhere near as prosperous and abundant as this place.

This was no longer an oasis in the desert.

This was a damn Amazon rainforest in the middle of the desert!

Where the hell had he been brought?

Was this really the filthy land where the Tars survivors had hidden from place to place?

Why was it so beautiful?

"Miss Dragon, say something... Huh? Miss Dragon?"

After receiving no answer for a long time, Muen turned to look at her.

He discovered that Hamreign also seemed to have been drawn in by the sight before her.

Her golden eyes swept fixedly across every brick and tile around them.

Her face remained blurred and indistinct, but Muen could sense that her heart was equally unsettled at that moment.

Moreover, that turmoil did not seem to come merely from the fact that the place looked somewhat different from what she had imagined.

It was because of some...

Deeper reason that shook her heart even more.

"Miss Dragon?"

Sensing that something was wrong, Muen gently called out again.

Hamreign still ignored him.

She suddenly walked straight ahead.

Muen did not understand, but could only follow.

Green moss covered the stone path. Verdant trees and red flowers surrounded them.

The scenery was as beautiful as a painting, yet it did not allow him to lower his guard in the slightest.

Muen watched the surroundings vigilantly, afraid that something strange might suddenly emerge from beneath this beautiful exterior.

But then he thought about it again.

Miss Dragon was right beside him. Who did he need to fear?

Thus, Muen relaxed and followed Hamreign forward at high speed while turning his attention to various details.

The architectural style here was not one he was familiar with.

It was extremely ancient.

Supplies were definitely not lacking here, because he smelled a rich aroma of meat in the cooking smoke.

This place also looked nothing like a dirty den where filth and evil gathered.

All sorts of flowers had been planted along both sides of the road, and most were now in full bloom, competing with one another in beauty.

Yet the more this was the case, the stranger Muen found it.

After all, once Evil Gods became involved, every beautiful thing could be nothing more than an illusion.

The song of a mermaid.

The lure of an anglerfish.

"Come to think of it... why does this place feel somewhat familiar?"

Muen stroked his chin. His doubts continued to multiply, and his brows knitted more tightly.

The place felt both unfamiliar and familiar to him.

He did not understand its bricks and tiles, nor did he know the stories behind the complex totems upon the walls.

It was merely a faint sense of familiarity that lingered around him.

"I've definitely seen this architectural style before, but where..."

Muen was thinking, but Hamreign walked faster and faster.

She seemed to have forgotten Muen behind her. She was moving so quickly that she nearly left afterimages, and even Muen had to exert a little effort to keep up with her pace.

She continued weaving through the complicated alleys.

At first glance, she seemed to be turning around at random without any purpose, yet Muen was surprised to discover that no matter how she walked, she never passed through the same path twice.

She seemed to be confirming something among these streets and alleys.

Or perhaps...

She wanted to deny something.

Watching her back from several meters away, Muen inexplicably sensed the fury gradually rising within her.

She moved faster and faster, and her actions became increasingly violent.

At times, she did not even follow the roads, instead passing directly through walls.

Those blue-stone walls were as fragile as blocks of tofu before her.

She could not even be bothered to knock away the dust, simply allowing the fragments to naturally disintegrate around her.

After passing through a wall and reaching a certain place, Muen realized that her emotional fluctuations were becoming increasingly intense.

So intense that they were no longer merely something he could sense...

They became a direct, undeniable awareness.

Her aura spread.

Her pressure enveloped everything.

Muen even began to find it difficult to breathe.

"No... this place is wrong..."

Muen heard her murmur.

"This place should not exist in the world... It should not exist..."

"Miss Dragon!"

Muen attempted to call out to her once again.

Hamreign's current state was clearly extremely abnormal.

As a calamity, as the Dragon of Death and Doom, what place in this world could possibly shake her to such an extent?

Muen could not understand.

But he knew that this absolutely could not continue.

Spending so much time together had already made Muen extremely sensitive to changes in her emotions.

It was a skill he had rapidly mastered while constantly skirting the edge of death.

Because of that, he realized that Miss Dragon, who already possessed a violent temper, was currently a living volcano.

No one knew when she might erupt!

He could not allow her to erupt at random. Otherwise, who knew what consequences might follow?

"Miss Dragon, calm down first!"

Muen gritted his teeth, accelerated directly toward her, and grabbed Hamreign's hand.

That hand...

The hand of a calamity in human form was still just as pale and soft as before.

Yet at that moment, it was terrifyingly cold.

"Although I don't know the reason, please stop and calm down first!"

Muen pulled her back.

Fortunately, Hamreign had only been walking, so under that pull, she truly stopped.

However...

Hamreign slowly turned her head.

Her expression could not be seen. Only her fiery-red hair drifted slightly.

Muen felt a terrifying aura crush toward him in an instant, nearly causing all the blood in his body to flow backward.

Those golden eyes were even more terrifying.

Dragon might pierced into Muen's mind like needles.

His mental space, which had only just calmed down, almost instinctively began rolling and surging again...

It even began to tear!

Damn it!

Muen looked away, not daring to meet those golden eyes.

At the same time, he grew even more shocked.

He could not understand what sort of magic this place possessed that could cause the mighty Hamreign to lose control to such an extent.

Could even a mighty calamity have something she cared about...

Wait...

Cared about?

He seemed to have heard something similar before!

Muen carefully examined the surroundings again.

The familiar architectural style...

Miss Dragon's abnormal reaction...

Combining the two, could it be...

Inexplicably, a word appeared in Muen's mind.

A word that absolutely should not have appeared here.

But he had no time to seek an answer.

Creak.

A door in the alley suddenly opened.

Hamreign abruptly turned her head to look.

She saw a little girl skipping outside.

The girl held a paper pinwheel in her hand. The wind blew against it, causing it to spin with a fluttering rattle.

The moment the little girl stepped outside, she suddenly froze.

With a slightly stiff movement, like a doll, she turned to look toward Muen and Hamreign beside her.

Or rather...

She looked only at Hamreign.

She tilted her cute little head.

Hamreign's figure was reflected in her bright, watery eyes.

As though she had remembered something, her small mouth opened slightly.

"D-Dragon Sister?"

A familiar form of address.

A gentle call.

The pinwheel spun with a fluttering sound, and the little girl's smile bloomed like a flower.

So warm.

So beautiful...

Yet it was like a dose of deadly poison.

"What... did you say?"

Muen clearly sensed that the volcano before him, which had been compressed for so long, truly erupted at that moment.

Unimaginable fury burst from the depths of those golden eyes.

Her long, fiery-red hair whipped wildly despite the complete absence of wind around them.

In only an instant, Hamreign flashed directly in front of the little girl.

She lowered her head, her golden eyes fixed upon the child.

Distant memories were gradually stirred.

Ice sealed for countless years was burned and melted by fury, revealing the horrifying thing hidden within.

"Huh? D-Did I say something?"

The little girl looked utterly confused.

But that did not stop killing intent from erupting wildly in an instant.

Everything around them came to a complete standstill.

Under the blazing radiance of her might, all color drained away as though time itself had stagnated.

Within that colorless world, only that pale, soft hand slowly rose.

Like a drifting flower, it silently but decisively descended toward the little girl's head.

That hand carried enough power to tear the sky apart and shatter the earth.

As it slowly fell, Muen could almost see the space around the palm continuously submitting and twisting in an extremely humble manner.

Before it, even a veteran Crowned One would have to retreat.

Even the most outstanding hound of an Evil God would have to avoid its edge.

Yet its target...

Was only a little girl.

This was no longer using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.

This was using an atomic bomb to kill a chicken.

Yet she...

The owner of that hand...

Remained just as resolute.

There was not the slightest hesitation.

"Miss Dragon!"

Muen shouted almost instinctively.

He wanted to stop her, but he was far too late.

Hamreign's attack was too swift.

Whether back in Annabawei or within the mist, Muen had never seen her launch such a direct attack before.

Could there be something strange about this little girl?

That thought almost instinctively appeared in Muen's mind.

After all, for someone capable of provoking Miss Dragon into attacking directly, she had to at least be some ultimate Evil God mastermind or something...

However...

Just when even Muen believed the little girl was certainly dead...

Hamreign's movement suddenly stopped.

"Hmm?"

The golden eyes stared directly at the little girl.

Blazing light flickered within them, as though Hamreign had noticed something she could not understand.

"Your body... has no Pollution?"