Chapter: 55. Tricked?
Such a thing is simply impossible!
Her voice roared like thunder in Murolov’s heart.
As he stood up in a panic, his eyes bulging and chaotic, he knocked over the wooden chair behind him.
Without a chance to inquire or test any intelligence, Murolov desperately cast various enhancement spells on himself.
【Body Enhancement】【Swiftness】【Thunder】【Wind Speed】【Mental Focus Enhancement】【Total Enhancement】【Emerald Defense】
Several multi-colored magical halos surrounded Murolov; he was on high alert, staring intently at the【Calamity Witch】who was picking up gold coins, his mind filled with disbelief and confusion.
His strategy only existed on the battlefield, but he never thought such a situation would occur before him!
“Why…?! Tell me! Why are you here?!”
“Uh… Why are you asking me? I have legs, and I can go wherever I want. Besides, your wooden house is built here, violating the basic laws of the Demon Territory, and it’s going to be demolished!”
“Demolished…? Tsk, stop picking up coins! …I warn you! Princess Xue Feiya, did you come here with an army?! How did you find this place?!”
It seemed Murolov was genuinely flustered.
His tone and logic became increasingly chaotic as he spread his palms, gathering thunder in his hands, roasting the wooden table until it charred, directing his offensive at Xue Feiya’s head.
This was Murolov’s hidden base, the most secret and unseen part of his entire plan; how could he allow the enemy leader to appear here so casually?
It was simply absurd!
Xue Feiya, on the other hand, calmly finished picking up the gold coins on the ground, carefully checking for any left behind, and then stood up to dust off her skirt before noticing the thunder swirling next to her head.
She scratched her silver hair at the back of her head, her bewildered expression making her seem like an innocent passerby.
“You’re asking me why I’m here? Not really… But why do you think others can’t find you? Are you hiding very discreetly?”
“Of course! There are ten layers of concealment barriers outside, ten miles from the battlefield! How could you find this place?! Are you even human?! You’re practically a monster! Get out of here!!”
“……”
Get… out?
Desperate people act irrationally; this is indeed an unchanging truth.
Well… this scene reminded Xue Feiya of when she saw a family in the Royal City catch a super big fish when she was little; she used teleportation to sneak in for a look, and that family thought she was a little thief, yelling “Get out!”
This scene felt familiar, a déjà vu.
The wooden house had poor lighting, and even nearing noon, it was still dim inside.
Xue Feiya lightly stomped her foot, and the lightning coalesced in Murolov’s hand extinguished.
Huh…?
Before he could comprehend why his magic had been canceled.
Murolov saw in the dim wooden house, ahead of him, a pair of flickering purple eyes that seemed like the reaper coming to claim him.
Every word frozen the flames of joy in Murolov’s heart.
“Spirit bodies also require the main body’s magic power for support as a medium. If you summon a spirit, don’t expect others to not find your main body. Oh, that might sound a bit harsh; I guess the one who taught you this trick didn’t explain it this thoroughly? Well, they were just using you to get things done and didn’t care about your survival.”
“Unreasonable! Are you saying that esteemed one didn’t take me seriously…? What do you understand…!”
“Stop, I never said I understood. I’m just passing by to catch you. So, what’s it going to be? Do you confess and surrender, or do I have to forcefully take you back to the Royal City? Hiss… But I can quietly tell you a clear path: you were also deceived and haven’t caused any casualties. If you quietly tell me where there are new fish lakes in the northern border area, I might consider lightening your charges a bit… the Second Legion also needs a new place… uh, no! That’s not acceptable! Treason is unforgivable. Do you think sweet talk can reduce your punishment? Absurd!”
“……”
Murolov seemed to have no intention of using any sweet talk…?
His mind echoed with the witch’s declaration of doom.
The Demon Race’s innate fear of the Royal Family caused beads of sweat to dot his forehead.
He almost wanted to smash through the wooden house behind him to escape, but his instincts told him there was no chance of escape.
Wait…
Murolov’s mental deliberation suddenly stagnated.
Escape?
Why should I escape…?
A stream of sacred words like clear spring echoed in his mind.
That was the promise made to him by the supreme existence.
【Do not fear; your power has already achieved a breakthrough. Even with five wings, with my authority granted, you can rival six wings.】
Rival six wings…?
Calming down, Murolov cleared his mind to sense the conditions outside the wooden house.
Ten miles of open space, without the sound of any marching troops, nor any signs of other experts.
In other words… at this very moment, Princess Xue Feiya came alone?
The【Calamity Witch】may be strong.
But from the common knowledge Murolov learned since childhood, he believed that those proficient in wide-area magical attacks wouldn’t necessarily hold an advantage in one-on-one combat.
Princess Xue Feiya had exceptional talent, but she was only twenty years old, still considered a child among the Demon Race.
Such six wings, lacking combat experience, made a long-distance dash; using up energy to break through the ten layers of perception barriers to find this hiding place and using【Dark New Star】to create an avalanche on the battlefield consumed a tremendous amount of magic.
At this moment, she had likely exhausted her power and was merely bluffing!
The evidence is that she had just brought up the topic of fish lakes to negotiate, which precisely indicated her inner concerns!
Murolov was no longer the person he once was; his current strength was enough to rival six wings.
If he just waited and observed, Princess Xue Feiya, having exhausted herself from the long journey, their states were not equal, and he could potentially defeat her.
Although he didn’t know to what extent Princess Xue Feiya had guessed his plan, as long as he killed her here… there would be no subsequent variables, and everything would still proceed according to the plan.
With that thought, the cold sweat on Murolov’s forehead stopped.
He let out a low chuckle, extending his sensing ability to the limit.
“Hahahaha…! Princess Xue Feiya! Are you going all in? Do you think such few words can fool me? Hmm, you’re right; there’s no need for so much nonsense; this is ultimately a fight to the death. Come on!”
“Ah…?”
He wouldn’t surrender even if he was asked to?
At that moment, with a sudden shout, as all five wings lifted toward the sky.
Half of the wooden house disappeared around him.
The neat cross-section was fully impacted by magic pressure, wood chips flying toward the sky above the snowy mountains.
On the tip of Xue Feiya’s toes was a boundary line; in front of her stretched a vast expanse of snow, yet she remained unaffected, standing in the half of the wooden house that could no longer block the wind.
Murolov’s heart sank.
Originally, it was reserved just in case, meant to deal a fatal blow to Ailer, but it seemed it was time to use it early.
Murolov transformed into a streak of black light.
Time and falling snow seemed to freeze; not because everything was too slow, but because he moved too fast.
With the speed that could react to the breakthrough of consciousness, coupled with enough force to shatter an iceberg with a punch, this was what it meant to be a one-man army, holding that kind of confidence in one’s power.
At that moment, time stood still for Murolov; he felt the Princess Xue Feiya standing there was merely a weak lamb for him to slaughter.
Ah, this feeling…
This omnipotence felt like having reached the endpoint of magic!
【Dark Stream Star】
“Xue Feiya·Halder! Die for me!”
A tremendous roar, accompanied by a raging blizzard, rushed toward that petite, fragile body.
Just as Murolov had anticipated, having exceeded the speed limit, the ability gifted by that esteemed one indeed reached a dizzying effect, capable of killing in one blow.
Too bad…
The one spinning around in his vision was himself.
The one who was struck down was also himself.
“?”
Murolov felt his ability to speak had been severely damaged.
His whole body ached, and it felt like several of his bones had snapped.
His head buzzed, and his dazed gaze landed on the position where Xue Feiya stood.
The once diminutive princess now seemed someone he had to look up to.
It wasn’t that Xue Feiya had grown taller; rather, he inexplicably lay on the snowy ground.
Blood stained the white snow, which was Murolov’s blood.
Xue Feiya was surrounded by a circle of dark purple halos, forming the shape of a fist.
According to common sense, it should be the punch formed by the gathering of this purple magic power that struck him with greater speed before his offensive could reach.
And indeed, that was exactly the case.
“This is impossible… this can’t be… ugh cough cough!! Cough!! I am a six… six-wing…!”
Opening his mouth, he coughed out another mouthful of blood, inexplicably suffering severe injuries; Murolov had no idea what significance it had for him to have activated【Emerald Defense】ahead of time.
What went wrong…?
Am I unable to control my own power?
Or did I not use the power given to me by that esteemed one properly…?
If there was anything he couldn’t figure out no matter how he racked his brain, it was this matter; it had gone wrong from the very start.
“So I said… you got tricked.”
Xue Feiya dispelled the magic around her, shook her head, and sighed.
“Be more aware, when others tell you they’ll give you the strength of six wings, you think you can rival six wings? Sigh… you may not quite understand what that entails. If it were that easy to reach that realm, this world would have been in chaos long ago.”
Who sincerely cares for you other than your parents?
To be honest, Murolov’s earlier display was indeed intimidating, and his power had certainly multiplied; a normal five-wing might have been so frightened by his momentum that they’d go weak in the knees before confronting him directly.
But this wouldn’t intimidate a true expert.
If Murolov had confronted Ailer directly, and Ailer’s aunt was serious…
Xue Feiya could assert.
—In less than two moves after meeting, Murolov would be destined not to have a whole corpse left.
