Chapter 1234: 221. Wrath (VII)

The atmosphere became strangely quiet.

Especially after the words “Love God” left his mouth, Muen could clearly feel the wailing and howling remnant souls around him fall silent in an instant.

What replaced them was a piercing noise that appeared directly inside his mind, like steel grinding against steel, or the roar of some strange creature.

Those noises caused a stabbing pain in his mind, but... that was all.

“Ah, I remember now.” ℴ

Muen deliberately put on an expression of sudden realization. “It seems Pink Bear’s actions against you back in Belrand were still somewhat useful. At the very least, he cut off most of your tentacles, forcing you to even intercept other people’s faith in order to deceive and swindle them...”

During that amusement park date with Ariel, that bastard Pink Bear had joined forces with the Church and used him as bait to lure the Love God into taking action.

Although what he had done was as inhumane as always, perfectly matching Pink Bear’s habit of screwing people over, that incident had indeed drawn out a large number of the Love God’s believers. As a result, during the later chaos of the war between the Empire and the Kingdom, the Love God, who loved joining in whenever trouble arose, had shown no trace of causing trouble at all.

After that incident, Muen had originally thought the Love God would behave itself for a while. This was also one of the reasons why, at the beginning of this incident, he had not thought of it at all... but unexpectedly, that fellow would rather take the risk of stealing from the Withering King than stop causing trouble.

How inspiring.

It was simply the model worker among model workers. Even corporate slaves who had worked themselves bald would feel ashamed in comparison.

[Human...]

“Morton” seemed to have been angered by Muen’s mockery, and its face twisted. [You are courting death...]

“I’m courting death? You should take a look at yourself first. Is the Withering King so easy to steal from? Are his believers so easy to poach? Aren’t you afraid that after he wakes up, the first thing he’ll do will be to come settle the score with you?” Muen said with a faint smile.

“...”

“Morton’s” expression stiffened, but then it seemed to think of something. It stared at Muen and revealed a mocking smile.

[I am not worried... After all, you will definitely be ahead of me...]

“...”

Muen’s expression also stiffened.

It seemed... that made a little sense. If one were to ask who had stolen more from the Withering King, or who had poached his believers more ruthlessly, then it would definitely be him, this damned yellow-haired villain. In this regard, even the Love God would have to stand aside.

“Ahem. We can talk about that minor issue later. Let’s talk about the present first.”

The hand Muen had wrapped around “Morton’s” neck gradually tightened. “Little Love, could I trouble you to stop your evil plan? If you are willing to stop, then when I am able to kill you in the future, I can consider making sure to be a little gentler.”

[You want to save her?]

“Morton” did not seem to feel the slightest pain and continued grinning. [Impossible... She is a fruit I have coveted for several hundred years... As long as I obtain her... I will be able to possess a perfect vessel in the mortal world... At that time, no one will be able to stop me... No one...]

“It seems we still cannot talk things through, just as always.”

Muen’s gaze turned slightly cold.

Black flames swept out, and the remnant soul wearing Morton’s appearance was instantly burned away.

But that strange voice still echoed within the black mist.

[You cannot save her.]

The woman who had blocked Muen earlier raised her head. [This time is different from every previous time, human... You cannot do anything...]

“How will I know without trying?”

A blade flashed, and the woman turned into an illusory shadow and scattered.

[Humans are always like this... They always enjoy meaningless fantasies.]

Avni walked out of the black mist once again, her little hands clasped behind her back as she tilted her head and smiled sweetly. [But fantasies cannot change anything... I admit that I was careless last time, but what can you do this time? You may have deceived that flat-chested human woman with something wrong in her head, but could you possibly deceive a thousand-year-old dragon as well?]

“I have never deceived anyone.”

Without the slightest hesitation, black flames spread out from beneath Muen’s feet and instantly swallowed Avni. “I, Muen Campbell, rely on sincerity as I walk through this world, as well as my glorious reputation as a righteous and exemplary good man. I have never lowered myself to doing such a thing as deceiving others... But Love God, you are talking more and more nonsense now. Could it be that most of your tentacles have been cut off and you can no longer accomplish anything practical, so you changed careers and started taking the route of verbal attacks instead?”

...And it was becoming more and more like a human.

Muen narrowed his eyes. He still remembered that when he had first encountered it, this creature had even needed to learn human language on the spot. Yet now, it was already able to trade insults with him.

Did this count as growth?

Or degeneration?

[Your tongue is still as sharp as ever, human.]

One figure after another slowly walked out. Every one of them had the same posture and the same expression.

Coldness and mockery.

[Since you stubbornly refuse to understand, then how about I make that dragon fall completely before your eyes? I will let you witness with your own eyes how she gradually becomes my finest... vessel and puppet. You should like that sight.]

“You cannot do it.”

Muen put away his twin blades.

He began to realize that the Love God appearing here was nothing more than a false thing that could not even be considered a projection. It could not pose any threat to him.

Without a physical body to rely on, its Authority of “corrupting love” did not seem capable of producing much effect either.

It was more like it had come to delay him.

“Miss Dragon is not going to fall that easily...”

Muen ignored the Love God and continued walking toward those freezing depths—

Buzz.

His death warning suddenly buzzed!

Muen’s pupils contracted. Without caring about anything else, he immediately pushed his time slowing to its absolute limit, and his body instinctively dodged.

The surrounding black mist was suddenly blasted apart by some unimaginably terrifying force. A hollow symbolizing death instantly enveloped the place where Muen had just been standing, and the ground... including everything within that hollow, was directly reduced to dust.

Muen was greatly alarmed. Everything had happened far too quickly, so quickly that even while he was in a state where time was slowed one hundredfold, he had still been unable to see clearly what had happened inside the hollow.

However, it was not over yet. A gigantic claw suddenly reached out from the black mist. With only a few casual swings, it crushed several pitch-black scars into space itself.

Blood burst from Muen’s abdomen. He had already reacted extremely quickly, yet he had still been “grazed,” and his entire body had nearly been cut in half at the waist.

“Could it be...”

As his body toppled sideways, Muen also saw that claw clearly... that familiar claw.

How could he possibly be unfamiliar with it? From Belrand to the ruins of Tars, from Annabawei to this city of New Tars, he had crossed a distance so vast that he did not even know how far it had been, and the one that had carried him across such a distant journey... had been that very claw.

Apart from the owner of the claw herself, he might already be the person in this world who understood it best.

Therefore...

Muen turned his head and followed the claw with his gaze, looking into the depths of the black mist...

A pair of jet-black wings suddenly spread open, and the violent wind they stirred up scattered countless resentful souls. An enormous dragon body ground against the ground, causing the entire land to shake along with it.

It was an incomparably beautiful figure. A long, elegant neck, a streamlined waist, a powerful long tail—everything seemed like the most exquisite work of the Creator. The word “perfect” seemed to have been created solely for her. Even though they were meeting under such circumstances, Muen could not help but marvel at her.

“Miss Dragon...”

Unfortunately, at this moment, she was no longer truly that perfect.

Her obsidian-like scales were now stained with filth. Thick, writhing trails of blood wound around her entire body like some ancient totem. She struggled as though trying to fly into the sky, but some force firmly restrained her, pinning her to this land of suffering.

“Miss Dragon!”

Muen shouted loudly, but what responded to him at this moment was not the cold and haughty gaze engraved deep within his memories, but a pair of bloodstained golden eyes filled with savagery and cold cruelty.

Boom!

The long tail swept directly toward him with a roar like a collapsing mountain. Muen’s expression changed slightly. He did not dare resist it and could only dodge in an undignified manner.

After rolling several times across the ground, Muen barely avoided the fatal strike. A remnant soul floated lightly toward him, bent down, and stared at Muen mockingly.

[How does it feel? The blood of the Demon God... It is a good thing, is it not?]

“Love God, you!”

Muen struck the remnant soul apart, but the voice still did not disappear. It had not even sent a clone or projection here, so naturally it could not be defeated.

[You said she would not fall so easily... Indeed, she is a fruit that even I covet. If she could be plucked easily, I would not be so delighted by her.]

[Fortunately... I possess the blood of the Demon God. I do not even need to corrupt her through my Authority... I only need her inner defenses to be broken by the poison within her own heart... One instant, just one instant... and this Pollution will completely erode her...]

[When that time comes...]

The voice paused. Although it was indescribably strange, Muen could hear incomparable joy within it. [The perfect dragon, serving as the temporary vessel for the blood of the Demon God... will truly be born into this world!]

“Bullshit!”

Muen directly spat a mouthful of bloody saliva toward it. “What perfect dragon? Is Miss Dragon not perfect enough already?”

Look at those fair, jade-like hands. Look at those smooth, tender feet. What part of her was not perfect?

As expected, a dog of a thing like the Love God could only be said to resemble a human. In essence, it was still nothing more than a worthless lump of filth. It could not even appreciate something so beautiful!

However...

“So that is how it is...”

Muen’s heart sank slightly. The final question concerning those survivors and this so-called “hunt” also disappeared.

Previously, the people of New Tars had clearly been praying to the Goddess of Light, yet they had been eroded by a different kind of Pollution.

Now the answer had been revealed. The Pollution on the people of New Tars... including the survivors, and even the Pollution that had appeared in Annabawei, all came from the same existence.

—The Demon God.

That disorderly mutation followed no pattern whatsoever. Although it had similarities to some Evil Gods Muen knew, none of them truly matched it... because it came from the Demon God, the first Evil God to descend.

At the same time, this also explained why the polluted Tars survivors had been able to remain without mutating for a full eight hundred years. Unlike the other Evil Gods, the Demon God was currently still in a completely sealed state. As long as the Pollution it had left behind was not deliberately stimulated, it was relatively easy to suppress.

That was why the former “Goddess of Night,” Andri, had been able to suppress it, and the later survivors had also been able to suppress it, making the Pollution appear as though it were not powerful at all.

In fact, the exact opposite was true. This Pollution was extremely powerful. Just like the people of New Tars not long ago, once the Pollution was stimulated, the speed of their mutation became unimaginably fast, so fast that even Miss Dragon had been unable to react in time.

And at this moment, the Love God held one of the sources of that Pollution—the blood of the Demon God.

Naturally, it was confident. It did not even need twisted love.

And this was merely the blood of the Demon God, which could only pollute “living beings.” It was said that if the Pollution scattered by the Demon God in its complete state appeared, even the sky and the earth would mutate because of it.

“So the Love God wants to turn Miss Dragon into something like Shenyi?”

When Muen thought of Shenyi, lingering fear still remained in his heart. Back then, after Shenyi had been possessed by the blood of the Demon God and granted “immortality,” he had already become so troublesome. If it were Miss Dragon... Muen did not dare imagine it.

He had no idea where he could find another Godslaying Spear, and even if he found one, it might not be effective.

He had to admit that although the Love God’s dignity was becoming lower and lower, the things it caused were becoming more and more terrifying.

When other Evil Gods caused trouble, they merely wanted to erode more of this world or devour more souls... only it had continually attempted to shake the foundations of this world.

“You really are troublesome, Miss Dragon, causing such a huge commotion...”

Muen supported himself as he stood up and sighed. “After I apologize, you will also have to apologize to me. If you do not give me a little more of a reward, I will not forgive you.”

As he spoke, he took another step forward and once again walked ahead.

It seemed that he had already repeated this simple movement many, many times, and had also been stopped many, many times, so many times that his entire body was covered in wounds.

In this freezing land filled with black mist and remnant souls, his movements were still so heavy and filled with pain that even his soul trembled... yet even so, he showed no confusion or hesitation.

[Foolish!]

The Love God’s mocking voice still followed him like a nightmare.

[Do you still not understand? Why must even I, despite possessing the blood of the Demon God, first borrow those humans’ schemes to attack her heart? Is the crux of all this something you can solve through mindless courage alone?]

[The source of everything comes from the pain within her heart, and her pain comes from her own weakness, from Tars eight hundred years ago, and from everything accumulated throughout this long millennium.]

[And you... human, you originally had no connection with her. Among all her pain, there is no place for you!]

[You... cannot enter her heart at all!]

“...”

Muen remained silent.

He was already too lazy to continue entangling himself with that creature. At this moment, only one target remained in his eyes.

The enormous dragon struggling in pain not far away.

What pain, what time, what Tars... he did not care about any of it.

He raised his foot and once again stepped into her “territory.”

“Roar...”

Terrifying pressure descended once again. The enormous dragon, who had completely lost her reason, would instinctively and indiscriminately attack any existence that approached her.

Muen was locked onto almost instantly. Facing the enraged calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the sky, let alone Muen in his current condition—even if he were at his full strength, there would be almost no possibility of survival.

At this moment, even the Love God fell silent, joyfully waiting for Muen to be crushed into minced flesh.

...

Rustle...

The violent wind created by the dragon’s wings turned into a gentle breeze.

It moved a small paper pinwheel, and the sound of it spinning was like the innocent laughter of a child.

[?]

Every remnant soul revealed an almost human expression of disbelief, because at this moment, Muen had not been crushed into minced flesh.

He had successfully entered the enraged dragon’s territory. In his hand, he held up a small pinwheel stained with blood. There was old, mottled blood upon it, and there was also the blood currently flowing from his body.

The enormous dragon slowly lowered her head. Her golden eyes, stained red with blood, stared at the little pinwheel. It was clearly nothing more than an ordinary little toy and did not appear to have anything special about it, yet she seemed to sink into a beautiful dream and suddenly became extremely quiet.

Her heart had been touched, touched by such a small toy. All her wrath disappeared without a trace, and she gently rubbed it with the tip of her nose, so tenderly.

[No! This is impossible!]

Countless remnant souls began howling once again, and the Love God’s roar was like the collapse of an icy plain.

[Muen—Campbell!!!]

“...”

Muen had already gently embraced the dragon’s head, feeling the coldness of her scales and the heat of her breath.

“How can you say we have no connection? You gave me your blood before, and now... I will give you mine.”

Blood flowed down Muen’s body and entered the gaps between the dragon’s scales, seeming to merge completely with her.

“Let me see your dream again, my dear Miss Dragon.”