Chapter 77

Where is this?

Xiaoman stood alone in the void.

She looked around, but all she could see was empty white. Occasionally, an extremely difficult-to-distinguish outline would flash by, like clear crystals placed in clear water, and sometimes it would pass through her line of sight yet be completely out of reach.

The doubt was not asked, but someone answered her:

"This was once the land of the dead."

Xiaoman turned around, and the pale world suddenly became bright, as if the mist was suddenly blown away by the wind.

Various shapes of crystal white buildings emerged from the clear air, and a tall man wearing a cloak easily jumped off a snow-white stone pillar more than ten meters high and landed in front of Xiaoman.

He casually lifted the hood, revealing his blond hair and impressive face.

"Although its coordinates on the surface of the world were recently changed by someone, and the inner layer has also become like this, but the functions are still there. - Those you just saw are the souls that died recently." He said.

Xiaoman walked quickly towards him, feeling relieved after a long absence.

She tried to speak: "I don't know why I'm here."

"It's a protective measure." Bernaludos looked no different than when they were separated, too gorgeous to fit in with the plain scene.

He casually explained, raised his hand and gently poked Xiaoman on the forehead, saying, "Close your eyes."

Xiaoman closed his eyes obediently, and miraculously saw "himself".

She was like a strand of silk hanging in the air, looking down at herself sleeping on the bed.

She saw that the external injuries on her body had been properly treated at some point. The moonlight shone through the narrow window high up, illuminating her face, which was even more rosy than usual.

But at the same time, her original clothes and equipment were confiscated. She was changed into the most common white linen robe in the style of the temple, and she also wore a pair of iron rings engraved with forbidden spells on her wrists. Apart from that, she seemed to be in good condition.

She opened her eyes, looked at Bernaludos and continued, "The prize I left for you has only just been triggered. These people are still too weak."

"...Belu, can you explain it more clearly? I really don't understand." Xiaoman honestly said that it was difficult for her to associate the cause and effect with such little information.

"You haven't encountered any real danger during this period of time, right? Until just now." said the Dragon King.

Xiaoman nodded. She had remembered what happened during the day. She arrived outside the Commercial City and happened to witness the emergence of the Holy White Barrier that protected the entire city. However, not long after she entered the city, she was suddenly caught and injured by the Templar Sword.

It's simply unreasonable.

"Well, it can be considered a blessing in disguise." After hearing her brief description, the Dragon King spoke calmly, as if he had no protective instinct at all.

"Let me tell you straight away. This reward you have would have made all the warriors go crazy with envy. Now it can only play a healing role when your life is in danger, and protect your soul at the same time. That's because you yourself don't have any will to fight."

Bernaludos rubbed Xiaoman's head, his technique still skilled, like what a lord would do when he saw a brave kid with great ambitions to become a knight during his inspection.

"I resisted." Xiaoman said.

If anyone else had commented on her like this, she wouldn't have taken it to heart, let alone bothered to respond. But Belu was one of the few people who could make her emotionally unstable.

"Do you want to kill him?" Long asked. He no longer looked like a lazy and calm young monarch. His dragon eyes, which were as blue as the earth and had the color of minerals, looked down at Xiaoman and observed her character calmly.

"No." Xiaoman's face clearly showed that she didn't understand why there was a need to kill people.

"But that person is very troublesome, right? If we kill him, he will shut up forever and will no longer interfere with you. If you can do it as long as you want, why not do it?" he asked seriously.

Even as he said this, revealing a dangerous attitude that seemed natural for a powerful creature that could easily destroy a city and kill countless people, his bright blond hair falling around his face and eyes made him look completely unrelated to evil.

"I wouldn't like such a person, but he...protects a lot of people. He is good to the world," Xiaoman said.

"He didn't want to kill me, we just had different ideas. I don't hate him."

The long tail easily pushed a piece of exquisite broken column weighing hundreds of pounds to roll over and stop. Bernaludus sat down and motioned Xiaoman to sit down as well.

"Actually, I expected this to happen before I gave it to you." Long said with a somewhat helpless but tolerant attitude, "It doesn't matter. When you want to fight, it will help you."

"How can I wake up then?" Xiao Man was more worried about this. She guessed that her ability to cast spells had been restricted, and her freedom and equipment were lost together. The situation was not good.

But as a soul that has temporarily separated from her severely injured body, she is not in a hurry to go back. It is said that the changed land of the dead is like a peaceful and quiet white empty city, and such an atmosphere is inexplicably attractive.

She hadn't seen Belu for many days, and she was just happy to see him again, not caring about his injury.

And after knowing where this place was, Xiaoman began to feel a secret anticipation in his heart.

...Are the spirits of Mom and Su Mei also here? If I stay, can I be with them...even if it's just for a little while longer.

"Don't try to stay here." The Dragon King could easily see that the cub's thoughts were almost clearly written on his face, and he tapped her on the head rudely.

In fact, it didn't hurt at all, but Xiaoman's eyes blurred and her body suddenly became as heavy as a thousand pounds.

She woke up and returned to reality.

However, the atmosphere around her seemed different from the cell where she was the only one in it.

After refocusing his vision, Xiaoman, who propped up his upper body from the bed, discovered that at the other end of the narrow cell, in the corner formed by the wall below the window, there was a person standing silently.

The corner of the cell was so dark that she could only barely make out the familiar curls at the ends of her hair, and in the dim light, the hazy purple color that she had seen many times in recent days was floating.

Xiao Man asked doubtfully, "...Chen Xing?"

The man whose face could not be seen clearly but who seemed subtly not awake heard it and tilted his head stiffly.

Then he seemed to raise the corners of his lips and chuckled softly.

"Yes, I am awake." He agreed readily, "I will take you out."

Even the voice is not the same. But judging from the hair features, there should be a connection, right? Maybe he is someone sent by Chen Xing. Xiao Man reluctantly decided to believe him once.

Perhaps it was because of the influence of his teacher who was a ghost, but now Xiaoman feels more friendly towards this guy who appears in the dark and has a temperament that is completely the opposite of an upright good person than to people like Amara.

"Do you mind? If you escape from the custody of the church, you might be charged with some new crime." The man asked jokingly without approaching. But his overall attitude was quite friendly.

"That's the beastman's crime. It has nothing to do with me." Xiaoman was actively separated from the beastman since he was a child and treated as a monster. Therefore, he never thought of integrating into the tribe. At this time, he answered directly as if it was normal.

"You're absolutely right, that's how it is." The other person couldn't help laughing, and sounded even happier.

Compared to this person, Dust Awakens is still too heavy. Could it be that when he fell as a meteor, the temperature was too high and he was covered with dozens of kilograms of melted sand and clay? Otherwise, how could his hair be so light and fluffy, but he didn't feel so frivolous at all? Xiaoman thought silently.

"Well, please come in." The strange man who came to save Xiaoman raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The shackles and the prison cell broke apart.

Moreover, this was completely different from what Xiaoman was used to seeing his teacher do. This kind of dismantling seemed extremely violent even though it happened from a distance.

The metal shackles were completely deformed with a terrible noise, as if being torn apart by countless invisible claws at the same time, and were completely destroyed in an instant.

When the prison cell was destroyed in the next step, Xiaoman subconsciously raised his hands to cover his ears.

Fortunately, the collapse of the iron bars and stone walls ended after completely destroying this one cell, and did not affect the entire building, even though at its peak it looked like it would completely collapse the entire cathedral.

Such a big commotion would immediately attract everyone over... Xiaoman was wary of this crazy trend that was just beginning to show signs of happening.

"Aren't you leaving?" Xiaoman asked.

"I have other things to do."

Now that he was free again and the unidentified rescuer showed no intention of leaving, Xiaoman could only prepare to evacuate the accident center as soon as possible and took away the guard's short stick for temporary self-defense.

After taking down the weapon on the wall, she turned around and was suddenly stunned.

The walls of the entire cell were now gone, allowing more moonlight from the ground to shine in, and Xiaoman was finally able to see the face clearly.

A very familiar face that always has a slight smile on its face.

In the moonlight and smoke, he was also looking at her from afar, his eyes light and empty.

It's more like the soul of the dead returning for a moment in the middle of the night.

Xiaoman subconsciously went forward, even though the man looked unfamiliar and there was a weird feeling everywhere that made her feel uneasy.

"--You monster!" Amara's suppressed angry voice appeared at the same time as the sword light, becoming sharper and sharper in the darkness.

In fact, the person who was not exactly the same as Su Mei easily deflected the attack and greeted happily in the shaking light and shadow:

"Good evening. You're just in time. Let's go out and reminisce."

The tone was much more fake than when he spoke to Xiaoman.

"What is your purpose?" Amara hurried over and stood between Xiaoman and him. It was an obvious and irrefutable protective gesture.

Is he really protecting me? Even though he knows I'm an outcast?

Xiaoman looked at Amara's back and didn't know what to say for a moment.

In her seventeen years of life, she had met many bad beastmen, as well as some not-so-bad but despicable or cowardly ones, but she had also met many kind ones, even some good people who had not developed an instinctive fear of her because of her identity.

But Amara... he did not recognize me, denied my ability to take responsibility for myself, subdued and detained me against my will, but chose to protect me without hesitation in front of dangerous people.

There are people like this in the world, people who are even weirder than me?

"There aren't enough sacrifices." The man with the face and eyes that held special meaning said in a nonchalant manner.

"Let her go and surrender now," Amara said in a firm voice.

"No way. You're so weak." He smiled again.

Under the illumination of the sword marks with added magic, this "person" clearly has jet-black hair and fierce horns as sharp as iron. He is an out-and-out monster.

"Listen to me, Pan." Amara lowered the tip of his sword slowly, taking a stance between a desperate defense and a life-and-death attack, and spoke without turning his head.

"Escape now, escape to the Holy City, the temple can save you."

"You are the one who wants to escape," the monster interrupted briskly, speaking with a smile as if he were chatting casually. "Besides, this is a child who is burdened with original sin. The Most Holy One will only reject her or simply throw her to me. Well, maybe she will take the initiative to kill her and offer her to me with both hands?"

His insult to the temple would certainly anger Amara. In fact, the Winged Clan was indeed furious. They no longer cared about the injuries left by the last fight and rushed forward with swords raised, just like they did every time to drive away the arrogant villains.

Between the options of running away and staying, Xiaoman looked over Amara's shoulder and gave him one last nostalgic look.

A glow as bright as copper finally flashed across her body.

A dark blue flame blossomed from his palm and condensed into a long spear that shot forward.

Amara was unharmed after being hit by the spear, but his opponent took a step back to receive the attack.

The phantom spear then dissipated, and the monster silently lowered his head and looked at his palm. There was still a blue flame jumping on the burn mark of bloody flesh, still tearing the wound stubbornly.

An indestructible armor appeared out of nowhere, protecting the warrior like a dragon's scale. Now only the blue eyes could be seen.

"You have hurt the weak," she said. "My gift is only effective against evil thoughts and evil deeds."

…and Amara was exposed to fire and nothing happened to her. Nothing.

Such a person should not die. At least not in front of her, so Xiaoman chose to do this.

"Well, it seems that today is not a good day for charity. ... I hope you like my face, Xiaoman."

Before he finished speaking, his figure dissipated and disappeared.

Amara and Xiaoman stood opposite each other in silence, and the ruined prison cell suddenly became quiet.

[She hit me! She actually hit me——] The adjutant dragged out his accusation miserably. It didn't sound like he was extremely aggrieved. It basically meant "I won't give in, I won't accept it, I'm going to make trouble."

Yuan Qian could hear such a lively noise.

"I don't understand why Xiaoman would choose to help No. 6..." Yuan Qian was also puzzled. Even if he were in Xiaoman's shoes, he would be considered a saint if he didn't hit Amara in the back or at least scolded him after being beaten and caught for no reason not long ago.

Therefore, they all thought that Xiaoman would choose Nirvana or simply not help anyone. In line with the usual script of the protagonist, he would not use his Cosmo until Amara was crippled. They didn't expect that he made the choice so quickly.

[As expected, the protagonist is devoted to you, the Light Color Group. Is there any need to decide the winner? Why bother to just fight over the disbanding...] The adjutant was very resentful.

"At least you don't have to continue acting..." Yuan Qian wiped his sweat silently.

It turns out that villains are more professional at running fast. He was left alone to face Xiaoman. Not only did the minor injury he suffered during the previous fight trigger an old injury so that his whole body was in pain like a fracture, but he also had to take on the responsibility of advancing the mission in the subsequent plot. He really had no one to vent his pain.