Chapter 1204: 191. Avik

“What a nuisance.”

Though she said it was troublesome, Hamreign still casually cast a spell.

The people around them blinked and looked around in confusion, but it was as though they had deliberately skipped over the cruel scene before their eyes. None of them reacted at all to the grievously injured Kran.

Muen breathed a sigh of relief.

“What did you mean by what you just said?”

“Exactly what it sounded like.”

Hamreign’s finger continued pressing downward. Kran’s left shoulder shattered outright, splintered bone interwoven with mangled flesh as blood poured out wildly as though it cost nothing.

“Speak.”

Hamreign asked, “Why did you attack me? Or rather, where did you get °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the courage?”

“Where did it come from? Everyone gave me strength, of course!”

Pain and madness mingled across Kran’s face, making it hideously twisted. He spat toward Hamreign.

“This is the determination of our entire city! Evil dragon, you will not remain arrogant for long. In the end, you will be driven out!”

“Are you trying to be funny? From beginning to end, you were the only one who turned into a mad dog.”

“Nonsense! I received everyone’s support! Do you think we are all cowards like Morton... Huh?”

Kran turned around, intending to prove to the evil dragon the determination of all New Tars.

But what he saw was not his companions fervently supporting him.

Instead, he saw face after face looking around in confusion, bewildered by the sudden change in the scene before them.

“W-What is going on? Wasn’t everyone supporting me? They just said they supported me. Why are they now...”

Kran froze for a moment, then his expression became even more vicious.

“It must be you... Evil dragon, you must have done something! How despicable!”

“Other than preventing them from seeing a few scenes unsuitable for children, I did nothing.”

Hamreign said coldly, “Was your brain kicked by a donkey? Do you think that if someone had openly supported you, I would have allowed you to successfully launch a surprise attack? This happened right beneath my eyes. Not a single one of your little movements could escape my sight.”

“...”

Kran’s eyes widened slightly.

He realized that what this evil dragon said did indeed make some sense.

Just now, everyone’s declaration that they would defeat the evil dragon had caused such a huge commotion.

Why had she not reacted beforehand?

Could it be...

“Someone inside your body is bewitching you. It does not matter. I will help force him out.”

Hamreign curled her finger.

This time, she was no longer as gentle as before.

She pressed down forcefully.

It was as though she intended to completely crush an insect to death.

Kran’s body immediately sank.

His entire body was forced to his knees, and the ground shattered inch by inch, spreading outward in the shape of a spiderweb.

He felt as though every bone in his body was also about to crack apart inch by inch.

His consciousness became increasingly scattered.

At that moment, Kran seemed to have already seen his own death...

...He was so unwilling.

Kran clenched both fists, his fingernails digging into his palms.

He was a mighty warrior bathed in dragon blood, a brave man who had sworn to protect his homeland with his life, and a candidate for hero who stood only one step away from the highest honor.

Yet now, he was about to be killed as pitifully as an insect.

Could it be...

Could he truly do nothing at all?

Kran prayed in his heart.

My lord... Lord Hero...

Help me...

Help New Tars...

“Ah.”

And so, at the final moment, Kran finally heard that familiar sigh once again.

The voice was filled with compassion.

“Poor child. Since you have been so brave... I will help you one final time.”

...

“Found you!”

An unprecedentedly scorching light erupted from Hamreign’s golden pupils.

She suddenly released the pressure suppressing Kran before her, turned her arm, and pointed toward the crowd not far away.

Pff.

Flesh was directly pierced through.

Behind the horrifying hollow wound were one bewildered face after another.

As the savage and terrifying wound extended upward, the young man with the immature face coughed up blood, yet his lips curved into an extremely approachable smile.

“Big Sister Dragon, long time no see.”

Toby, the young man who served as Kran’s assistant, greeted her intimately.

“It has been several hundred years, yet your temper is still just as violent. The moment we meet, you greet me with such enthusiasm.”

“You are... Avik?”

Hamreign narrowed her eyes.

“As expected, it was you. Only you would enjoy taking such risks and playing these petty little tricks.”

“Cough, cough... Big Sister Dragon, those words are rather too condescending. You are an invincible dragon. What else can rats like us, who can only hide here and there, do besides playing a few petty tricks in front of you?”

Toby...

No.

It should be said that the man named Avik, one of the Tars survivors, smiled.

“We cannot simply run foolishly in front of you and ask you to have a hearty hand-to-hand fight with us.”

“You used a little trick right in front of my face. That makes me think you truly did have such an idea.”

Hamreign sneered.

“Haha... After several hundred years, Big Sister Dragon has actually become humorous.”

Avik said, “Unfortunately, I would never be that foolish. I risked hiding among these people because I originally wanted to give you a greeting gift. Unfortunately, certain outsiders interfered with it. It truly makes me angry.”

“You should know that your little tricks have never worked on me. It was like this eight hundred years ago, and eight hundred years ago, it was still like this.”

Rarely, a trace of complicated emotion appeared in Hamreign’s eyes.

She seemed to have remembered something from a very long time ago.

But that complicated emotion quickly transformed into bone-deep fury.

“I know.”

Avik seemed not to feel the terrifying pressure at all and continued smiling.

“Before absolute power, conspiracies and schemes truly cannot accomplish much. However, after Priscilla discovered your weakness, I became extremely eager to test it.”

“Weakness? I have no weakness.”

“Ha. Naturally, we can only know something like that after testing it. Big Sister Dragon, our game... has only just begun.”

Buzz!

Suddenly, blazing light erupted from Avik’s body.

Avik’s aura abruptly changed.

Although he was not Crowned, under the enhancement of that “light,” the aura he displayed was not inferior in the slightest to that of an ordinary Crowned being.

“Another gift from Brother Withering?”

Muen, who had been observing from the sidelines, narrowed his eyes.

He was prepared at any moment to use his black flames to snatch away that power, but Avik did not approach Muen at all.

He clapped both hands together.

Light blossomed.

“W-What is going on? What happened?”

“Toby? Toby, why are you injured?”

“That wound is so severe! Toby, hold on!”

The magic placed over the eyes of the surrounding people was dispelled.

They were confused at first, then shocked.

Finally, someone let out a scream, and everyone stared in terror at Toby’s abdomen.

At that moment, the abdomen Hamreign had pierced showed no sign of recovering.

The wound ran completely through his body from front to back, and even the half of his internal organs that remained inside could be clearly seen.

“Come.”

Avik spread both arms and laughed loudly.

“Let everyone clearly see your true face, Big Sister Dragon. Let everyone know how you, eight hundred years ago...”

“Illumination Spell!”

An even more dazzling light suddenly erupted.

In an instant, the entire world was transformed into a blinding expanse of pure white.

Caught completely unprepared, the surrounding people were blinded by the intense light for the second time and released miserable screams.

“Ah! My eyes!”

“Damn it! Who is so despicable?”

“I want to challenge that bastard to a duel! A duel!”

For a time, no one paid attention to what was happening.

No one paid attention to what Avik had said either.

“You!”

Avik stared through the intense light and glared fiercely at Muen.

That bastard yellow-haired brat had actually done it again...

Just as Priscilla had said, this fellow was truly irritating!

The intense light stimulated Avik’s eyes until tears streamed down his face, but Hamreign would not give him time for such “sentimentality.”

The fiery-red figure flashed.

She had already appeared before him.

“So much time has passed. Let me see whether you have made any progress, Avik.”

Hamreign’s figure was tall and slender.

She looked down coldly at Avik, who resembled a child before her.

“All right.”

Avik’s cheek twitched before settling again.

His expression seemed both furious and amused.

“I look forward to your instruction.”

Boom!

Two powerful auras erupted almost simultaneously and collided with one another.

The entire city trembled.

The fog above the city surged violently, lightning flashed, and fierce winds howled, blowing everyone nearby off balance.

But this phenomenon quickly stopped.

Because the aura Avik released collapsed almost immediately upon impact and was forcefully crushed by Hamreign.

The difference was enormous.

His expression changed.

His figure rapidly disappeared.

When he appeared again, he was already extremely far away.

“Heh.”

Hamreign sneered disdainfully.

“Before, you were hiding here and there, so forget it. Do you think... now that I have locked onto you, you can still escape?”

The fiery-red figure flashed as well.

She directly tore open space and pursued Avik with an almost violent posture, like a lion slaughtering a small white rabbit...

...

...

“Today has truly opened my eyes.”

The cunning rabbit fled in panic, while the furious lion followed closely behind.

For a time, aside from the occasional roars and screams coming from the distance, this place that had originally been a “battlefield” unexpectedly returned to calm once again.

Seeing this, Muen shook his head and could not help letting out a long sigh.

“In a single day, two people actually challenged Miss Dragon without caring about their lives. Sure enough, wherever there is a crouching dragon, there must also be a young phoenix.”

Of course, what surprised Muen even more was that one of those survivors, the fellow named Avik, had jumped out so easily. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

He had truly been hiding inside New Tars’s Dragon-Slaying Team, which was responsible for opposing the “evil dragon.”

While occupying that position, as long as Miss Dragon descended, he would inevitably confront her directly.

Just now, because the battle had been stopped, Miss Dragon had no choice but to search for him by inspecting everyone one by one.

But had the previous battle continued, Muen believed Miss Dragon would have quickly discovered his true identity.

It could be said that from the moment Avik made such a choice, his discovery had already been inevitable.

“But... why?”

Muen rubbed his chin and frowned.

“Wasn’t the survivors’ goal to avoid Miss Dragon? Why would they hide in such a foolish manner? Like this...”

Was it not exactly the same as not hiding at all?

Hiding without hiding?

“And there is also what he said just now.”

That fellow named Avik had said that he had done this to give Miss Dragon a greeting gift.

Muen glanced over the surrounding people who were still clutching their eyes and screaming.

If there truly was some greeting gift, then that so-called greeting gift must have been connected to these people who would originally have died at Miss Dragon’s hands.

But Miss Dragon had already inspected them and had not discovered any abnormalities at all.

Avik’s greeting gift should not have been powerful enough to completely deceive Miss Dragon.

Otherwise, he would not have needed to flee.

“So his goal appears to have been... merely to make these people die.”

Muen lowered his head.

His gaze landed on Kran, who had charged at Miss Dragon several times.

“Just like what Priscilla once did in Annabawei.”