Chapter 373: 148. Hunt the Dragon (6k)
“Dong~dong~dong~”
The broken church bell pushed time back little by little. In Fisher’s past dream, in the scene untouched by Erwind and Valentina, a black-robed nun pulled the sullen little Fisher behind her all the way to the school gates. It was only when they couldn’t see any other children nearby that the nun brought the sulking little Fisher to the front.
“Fisher Benavides, you got into trouble again, didn’t you!”
Little Fisher turned his head to look in another direction. His stubborn, silent demeanor made Sister Teresa a bit frustrated, but she didn’t scold the little Fisher further. Instead, she gently turned his face back to look at her and then asked,
“Tell me, what happened just now? Why did Father Kara at the cathedral get so angry that he fell to the ground?”
Little Fisher looked at Sister Teresa and gently pushed her hand away, then sat beside her, saying,
“That guy is a pervert. He always hugs Lier and even tried to reach into his clothes, but I caught him. I saw a ring on his ring finger, and there was dog hair on his church robe. I suspect he has a wife and children at home. Plus, he showed no signs of practicing magic, so he should belong to the church’s administration, governed by the ecclesiastical order. I threatened to tell his family and the ecclesiastical order about his harassment of Lier unless he gave me and Lier 100,000 Nali, and then he just collapsed.”
Sister Teresa stared blankly at little Fisher, who was holding his chin and speaking. She pointed at his head and exclaimed,
“Wow, you dared to blackmail our superior! Where did that 100,000 Nali go?”
“It’s all Father Layman and your fault. If you hadn’t shown up, the money would have been in my hands.”
Little Fisher rolled his eyes at Sister Teresa and then pouted, quietly mumbling something, but he didn’t dare say it too loudly because he was afraid Sister Teresa would make him copy that pointless Genesis.
Sister Teresa looked at little Fisher, who was only six but already so hard to pin down. After a sigh, she said,
“So why do you need so much money? 200,000 Nali, that’s the entire subsidy for our school for three years. You little brat really dare to ask for such a large sum.”
“Hmm, I plan to fix the clock tower that I broke first, then renovate the school building. The rest I want to save in the bank or invest in those bishops who make a killing from drinking and gambling, not to mention those bosses and New Party members keen on business and expansion. A lot of the funds allocated for the war against Shivali have also been embezzled.”
Fisher tapped his cheek with his finger, turning to seriously look at Sister Teresa, and said,
“That’s better than you all foolishly doing services, witnessing weddings, and writing prayers. Doing all that hard work earns you barely dozens of euros. You spend every night writing those prayers and preparing wedding witness statements until very late. You’re so dumb, if people could get rich that way, the textile workers on Newt Street, who only get to go home every seven days from the factory, would have become billionaires long ago.”
Sister Teresa, cupping her chin, watched the serious little Fisher analyzing everything and suddenly spoke up,
“Actually, Fisher, you really look down on us, don’t you?”
Fisher looked at Sister Teresa, who was smiling, and the excitement he had imagined faded a bit. He shook his head and said,
“I don’t look down on you.”
“Then you think everyone other than me is beneath you, right?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Wow, you really dare to say that, you little brat!”
“Ugh, let go of me! Teresa, ugh!”
Sister Teresa suddenly reached out and hugged little Fisher’s head, pulling him into her arms, and then lightly patted his forehead, but her strength wasn’t very much.
Little Fisher thought he was going to get scolded again, but Sister Teresa did not continue to hit him but rather covered his eyes with her hand, looking up at the school interior, which had become chaotic because a high-ranking priest from the church came to inspect and was enraged by a child. She suddenly chuckled softly,
“In Fisher’s eyes, this world must seem absurd, right? You, little brat, most dislike me telling you about church classics. You secretly told the other kids that everything about the church is a lie, right?”
Little Fisher pouted and said softly,
“Well, it’s not my fault they didn’t memorize the scriptures later. I memorized them.”
“So that’s why you look down on everyone else, because of their ignorance? Father Layman, the head priest of the school, prefers to drink privately and acts all holy on the outside, while the bishops appear pious but are just as corrupt. Even those seemingly honest members in the parliament are all profiting handsomely, which is the ignorance you despise, isn’t it?”
Sister Teresa released her hand that covered little Fisher’s face. She didn’t look at him but stared at the sky.
“Today, I won’t tell you any stories about the Mother. Let’s talk about the math book you’ve been reading lately, Fisher. In your eyes, who can be considered a good person?”
“Um, you, and Lier, and little Annie, and Gesserdo, maybe Father Layman too? And the candy-selling Aunt Gray across the school, she often gives out snacks for free to the school kids.”
Little Fisher counted on his fingers and thought of a few people who could be deemed “good,” but it added up to around ten, which wasn’t many. Sister Teresa, however, smiled, seemingly surprised,
“So many? I thought in your eyes, I was the only good person. If in our church school of just over a hundred people, only one-tenth can be considered good, then how many good people are there in all of humanity? And are you sure the people you mentioned are truly good? Aunt Gray once scammed all the money from her ex-husband before running off to Saint Nali, can she be considered a good person?”
“What if I say it’s because her ex-husband wanted to sell their daughter that she did that? If I also say that after moving to Saint Nali, she forced her daughter to marry a much older wealthy man, would you still think she’s a good person?”
Sister Teresa lowered her head, smiling as she raised a finger to Fisher.
“This question seems a bit too difficult to consider, and we can’t find an answer immediately. Now, let’s quantify this question, shall we? This is the number one. If this ‘one’ represents absolute goodness and wisdom, and ‘zero’ represents absolute evil and ignorance, how do you think we can achieve this ‘one’?”
Little Fisher, who was in her arms, reflected quietly. At that moment, Teresa retracted her finger and began to think with him, but as seconds ticked by, her expression grew increasingly troubled.
“Ah, then what kind of person does this ‘one’ represent? Little Fisher, you are clever, do you think you can become this ‘one’? If you can’t, then who do you think can?”
“Unfortunately, every one of us sees the world differently, and our standards for judging this so-called ‘one’ are different. But we can never construct such a perfect existence in reality; or rather, if there really were such a perfect being in this world, it surely wouldn’t be human. Even deities make grave mistakes, let alone us who are far inferior to the gods.”
Little Fisher, in Sister Teresa’s embrace, buried his face in her chest, and a muffled voice came from there.
“Hmm, it sounds too difficult to make everyone wise. I’m tired, let’s just destroy it, but Teresa, you must not be the one to destroy it.”
Sister Teresa gently lifted little Fisher’s face, looking at him and saying,
“Do you remember the story I read to you when I was little, about humanity hunting the dragon?”
“The Mother made humans experience pain in the mortal world. One day, a dragon came before humanity, watching how they suffered and restrained themselves, it tempted them to bestow its dragon blood upon them, promising that they would give up their human identity and gain absolute rationality and power, so ignorance and weakness would no longer exist.”
“At that moment, a great sage among humanity stepped forward and said to the dragon, ‘Although you speak the truth, if we do this, can we still be called humans? Can we still be called the children of the Mother?’ Thus, the rejected dragon, angered and humiliated, attempted to destroy all humanity, but the Mother cast down a great spear from the heavens and killed the dragon.”
Fisher rolled his eyes and replied to Sister Teresa in disbelief,
“That’s definitely a made-up story, right?”
“Hmm, I know. But the reasoning here is quite obvious, isn’t it, little Fisher?”
Sister Teresa’s golden hair flowed down little by little from her nun’s clothing. Slowly, she extended her fist towards little Fisher, smiling as she said,
“For humanity, there’s no such thing as a one-time truth, and there also exists no perfect entity that one can achieve instantaneously. Imperfect existence is humanity. The wise must lead such an imperfect existence to continuously approach that perfect ‘one’.”
“Little Fisher possesses such extraordinary talents and will surely be ahead of everyone. The ignorant will call you ‘rebellious,’ and those on different paths will label you ‘mortal enemy,’ while the correct path will feel obscured like the ‘dragon’ full of temptation before you.”
Sister Teresa held her fist steady in front of Fisher. The ripples of the dream slowly spread, seemingly leaving a deep imprint in young Fisher’s heart. She simply said,
“Even if the Mother may not exist, your adherence to being human has always been hidden in your heart. That is the true spear that slays the tempting dragon, a weapon unique to us weaklings. So, what you did today against the bad guys was right. How could I punish you?”
“Okay, let’s sneak back before Father Layman catches us wanting to eat something at night. I’ve prepared some food for you, and by the way, it seems Father Layman recently bought some books on magic, specially prepared for you. That’s the work of the great magician Heilson. You need to thank Father Layman well later.”
Sister Teresa led little Fisher away, and their figures became increasingly distant until the beautiful illusion engulfed her back, making her invisible. Only the intermittent sound of the broken bell continued,
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
At the same time, as the bell in the dream rang again, it interrupted the intimate moment between the transformed Valentina, now a phoenix, and Fisher, for they were still facing an extremely powerful enemy.
“Fisher, are you okay? Sorry, I just saw the base of the phoenixes. They gave me their bloodline, so I was a bit late.”
“It’s fine, as long as you’re safe.”
Fisher sat up from Valentina’s embrace, first assessing Erwind, who quickly recovered after Valentina’s strike. He roughly estimated Valentina’s current soul strength; her soul had completely transformed into a phoenix form. Judging from her earlier attacking speed, she should be at around the twelfth or thirteenth rank. However, such an attack still felt like a mere tickle to Erwind.
No wonder even Eil needed to bring the death runes to deal with him. But here in the dream crevice, the death runes couldn’t be brought in, and Fisher was afraid of his brain exploding if he tried to construct something.
Fisher paused for a second, turned his head to look at Sister Teresa leading young Fisher farther away until the church school gate was completely closed. Then he shifted his gaze back to Erwind before him.
“Valentina, I need a little time. Fourteen-ring magic isn’t enough to kill him. I need stronger magic.”
“Hey, your current state is poor. Do you want to…”
Valentina spread her wings to give him space to prepare for battle, but she noticed that Fisher’s soul state wasn’t great right now, so she opened her mouth to remind him.
But Fisher only shook his head, looking at Erwind, who wore a flowing white cloak, and said,
“If I rest a bit more, we might perish here. You must be careful; I need some time.”
“Okay.”
After saying that, Fisher’s hand began to slowly construct two distinctly different ring heads, one for [Thunder] and the other for [Destruction]. The process of inscribing dual ring head magic required vigilance at all times. Even Heilson needed to be cautious, and Valentina stopped questioning him, instead suddenly soaring toward Erwind in the distance.
The great battle was about to break out.
Valentina suddenly opened her wings and soared into the air, while Erwind’s beaked mask remained motionless, focusing his gaze on Fisher, who was quickly recovering his magic power, murmuring,
“This soul recovery ability, is it from the Soul Supplement Handbook or the Magic Supplement Handbook?”
Then, spreading his arms wide, he ignored Valentina, who was ready to attack him, and charged directly at Fisher.
“Step back!”
Valentina, with her wings spread, flew toward him, but Erwind lightly landed, making his entire body elongate like a thread and became ungraspable. His flesh fragmented into strands, each flying in the wind created by Valentina’s charge. Then, those strands tightly gripped her flying wings, forcefully pulling her down to the ground.
Inertia kept her moving at high speed along the ground, dragging a long distance behind her.
“Just recently becoming a phoenix… No, you’ve just gotten rid of your disability, yet you want to fly. Isn’t that too fanciful?”
Erwind’s cold voice came. Valentina, thrown to the ground, immediately shrank her pupils and beat her wings. The next moment, an extremely thick blood and flesh whip came crashing down, shattering the ground.
Valentina floated in mid-air, only to see that Erwind, who had launched that attack, showed no intention of dealing with her at all. He charged straight at Fisher as if he had completely ignored her.
This guy…
Valentina raised her hand, consuming soul energy to transform it into a suitable sword, then took flight again. Fisher calmly watched Erwind drawing closer and quickly retreated, the magic light in his hand slightly flickering.
“Clang clang!”
The crisp sounds of clashing exploded before the simple church school. From Erwind’s back suddenly stood up numerous hard organs resembling crab legs, quickly slicing and blocking Valentina’s attacks from behind, while he continued to pursue Fisher. The dream’s ground slowly began to crumble, and just as this stalemate seemed ready to continue, Erwind suddenly paused, his body twisting ninety degrees, and one hand grasped the sword in Valentina’s hand.
“Crack crack crack!”
The fragile weapon snapped suddenly, and Valentina, who hadn’t fully mastered her flight skills, couldn’t control herself and collided with Erwind.
“Got you.”
Valentina could clearly see there was no way to dodge, and biting her teeth, she shouted. Once again, she flapped her wings, a strong force pushing both Erwind and Fisher upwards. In mid-air, Erwind retracted the blood and flesh limbs he had grown before and instead sprouted a pair of giant wings to race against Valentina as they took to the skies.
With two sonic booms erupting in succession, Erwind was several times faster in reaching Valentina’s front than she was now. That speed surpassed Valentina’s imagination, and in her frost-colored pupils, the cold, emotionless beaked mask was getting closer, meaning that the originally single-minded Erwind had also developed murderous intent toward Valentina.
“This is your own seeking death; don’t blame me.”
Valentina’s pupils narrowed slightly. Only now did she realize what kind of monster Fisher was facing. But it was evidently too late for her to awaken.
Erwind’s hands extended like iron claws, grabbing Valentina’s wings. The next moment, an immense force surged through, threatening to shred her along with her wings and body. Valentina and Fisher noticed this scene, and gritting her teeth, she flipped and actively charged at Erwind.
“Erwind!”
Seeing Fisher take the initiative to come, Erwind suddenly slapped Valentina’s back, deeply embedding her into the ground, then with a shake of his flesh wings, he grasped the approaching Fisher and smashed them both down through the shabby church school.
“Boom!”
“Cough cough!”
As dust and smoke soared up, a gigantic pit opened in the very center of the school, yet it did not lead to another spatial collapse. Underneath, Fisher was nearly bleeding from all his orifices, exacerbated not only by Erwind’s forceful slam but also from exhausting his own magic power.
“Fisher, do you understand the significance of the Supplement Handbook? It is a path leading to the [Ultimate of Truth], the only answer that can help humanity free itself from ignorance and frailty. I have given up so much and waited so long to reach that place. I believe that through truth, I will lead all humanity out of ignorance. That day, when everyone becomes rational and no longer makes mistakes out of desire, I will be content.”
Pinned down by him, Fisher coughed once. He didn’t respond to Erwind but looked around the devastated school central area, next to the still intact clock tower, that black-robed nun was such a familiar figure.
At this moment, he suddenly realized that no matter how unwilling he was to admit it, that nun had indeed had an immeasurable impact on him. Those church texts he had always scoffed at had long been etched into his mind.
Then, it seemed he spoke words he had never said before, addressing Erwind,
“I have also seen the filth you mentioned, and I have also come to recognize the ignorance of many people who are not as good as us. Yet in the end, I did not walk the same path as you, because I have been fortunate to encounter those ignorant yet shining individuals. She made me deeply realize that the weak beings that cannot reach perfection yet continuously strive to get closer to it are humanity itself. And you, Erwind, have moved far away from the concept of humanity.”
“I understand you due to your misfortunes, but I cannot identify with you because of the different choices you made after being tempted by the dragon. But you know, the scholars’ condemnation isn’t what should be done now. Direct pain or death is far more effective.”
Fisher smiled slightly, lying on the ground. He gazed at the figure of the nun leading young Fisher further away. In his eyes, Teresa’s image gradually changed. She shone brightly like in his childhood, and in the dream, she seemed to notice the grown Fisher lying in the vast pit. She also seemed to see the dual-ring head magic he held in his hand that was now taking shape.
The completion of that magic symbolized that Fisher had already become one of the extremely rare magic masters in the human world. After Heilson, he was now the second human magician known to construct dual-ring head magic.
Sister Teresa, holding little Fisher’s hand, proudly smiled at the grown Fisher, then extended her hand toward him, as if saying,
“Cast your resolute shot at that dragon tempting humanity!”
Erwind looked down in astonishment, seeing in Fisher’s hand, a brilliance comparable to mythical rank had already taken shape, and its name was,
Ten-Ring Dual-Ring Head Magic, [Dragon Hunting Spear]!
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(Note: End of chapter)
