Chapter 161: Tricking Minerva

The hybrid just agreed to it like she didn’t care.

​Night shrugged acting cool on the outside, but he was smiling on the inside thinking, I am getting better at giving names. First Dolly, and now Minerva.

​Then Minerva turned around and started to walk away.

​Night looked at her and asked, "You’re leaving?"

​Minerva paused, looked back at him, and said, "What else am I supposed to do?" ℴℴ𝘮

​Night asked a question that had been bothering him: "Why did you come here?"

​He understood the intentions of Razen, Vance, and even Rango’s group for coming here, but Minerva was not with them, so her motives were unclear.

​At first, he had thought she might ask him for the City Core. If she had, he would have just given it to her because he was too weak to resist.

Even if he escaped to Dream City, she was bound to find it sooner or later if she put her mind to it and If she attacked the Dream City because of him, it might just fall or at least be left in ruins by the time she was done.

One must not forget ever since the world became Demigod Grade, the city could now be invaded by Demigod beasts, monsters and even devils.

​Minerva turned back around. "Nothing in particular," she said, and started walking again.

​Night ran up and stood in front of her. "Were you not sent here by that Mystic Moon Immortal?"

​Minerva looked down at him and said, "When did I ever say I was sent here by the Mystic Moon Immortal?"

​Night looked confused. He had good information about their world because of the corpses, and with the information he had just gotten from Razen, he was pretty sure of his guess.

But seeing Minerva’s questioning look, he asked, "Who sent you, then?"

​Minerva stared at him for a while before finally answering, "My father."

​Night blinked. "Your father?"

​Minerva nodded.

​Night pressed, "Who is your father?"

​Minerva narrowed her eyes. "Why should I tell you?"

​Night shook his head, having already expected that answer. Then he repeated his earlier question: "Why are you here, then?"

​Minerva’s silver eyes glowed for a second. "I am here to grow stronger."

​This time, he got a different answer.

​Night immediately offered, "Then let’s work together."

​Minerva scoffed. "Why would I work with a weakling like you?"

​Night looked at her speechlessly. "Weak? Isn’t the reason you are leaving without refining me because you’re worried about the Nightmare Mist you devoured from me refusing to be fully refined?"

​Minerva pressed her lips into a thin line. She raised her hand, and the same blood-red fire appeared on her palm, but this time, the Nightmare Mist that had clung to its edges was nowhere to be seen.

​Night was stunned. He leaned in so close to look that his hair almost got burned. "How?"

​Minerva pulled the fire back and looked at him smugly. "I admit I was surprised when your Nightmare Mist resisted being refined, and I was even worried for a moment. But the moment I got the artifact, it was refined completely."

​Night backed away a little and looked at her with a peculiar expression. "So you did manage to eat me..."

​Night didn’t know what he was feeling right now. Up until now, it had always been him eating the corpses, but now he had gotten eaten.

​It would have been okay if it was after his death; it was only fair to get his corpse eaten since he had been eating other people’s corpses.

​But to be eaten and still be alive was just too weird, weird enough for him to not feel enmity, but rather a strange sense of camaraderie with her.

​Minerva also had a weird expression on her face after he said that.

It wasn’t like they were mortal enemies who had to be at each other’s throats. They had only ended up fighting out of coincidence, and now that the situation was over, they were both wise enough not to overthink it.

​Night saw that he saw she didn’t seem entirely opposed to working together and added, "This world is huge, and there are too many dungeons to count and monsters. Even with your strength, you will easily get overwhelmed alone."

​Night decided to press on. "While you, with your strength, fight the Demigods, me and my friends can help you clear out the mortal realm monsters."

​Minerva closed her eyes. Then, with an expression that looked like she had just eaten sour grapes, she said, "Okay, we can work together."

​She was strong and little lose in the head, but she was not stupid. She understood that getting ganged up on was the easiest way for someone like her to kick the bucket.

​Night smiled. "Good then. We can start tomorrow. Let’s just rest for today. You can take one of the mountains and live there."

​For some reason, Minerva felt like she was being tricked, but she couldn’t understand how.

​...

​Inside one of the rooms in the Nightmare Castle, Vance lay on a bed.

​He looked like a sick hospital patient. He had used the System store to buy blood to drink, but his body was still taking time to heal.

​Lilith and Eve, who were there to keep an eye on him, looked at him with envy in their eyes. Seeing him buy things from the System so freely was a pain point for them.

​Any other day, they would have liked to chat up a stranger, coerce him into letting them buy something using his System shop, and maybe even get their hands on some new cooking recipes so they could pamper their Master with good food.

But right now, they were not in the best mental state.

​Nanobots around them flared with electric sparks as Lilith and Eve communicated with each other silently.

​Eve’s prediction had come true, just as they had feared. As if fate were mocking them, one of the Werewolves had indeed almost wormed her way into their group.

​This was concerning. If one could happen, then what was stopping more like her from popping up?

​And the massive difference in strength didn’t help their situation, either.

​Not knowing what else to do, they called Lucy and held a secret meeting behind Night’s back.

​The topic was simple: How to cull their future "friends" before they appeared.

​They had expected Lucy to be resistant to the idea, perhaps even out them to Night, but surprisingly, the Fenrir agreed to join their efforts without a moment’s hesitation.

​She claimed she just wanted to cuddle Night as they slept and didn’t want another "street dog" replacing her. She added that she was already annoyed enough by Nuwa, who clung to Night’s neck like a freaking necklace.

​Then she mentioned in the passing that she was craving raw meat.

​Somehow, Lilith and Eve felt that last line was the real reason she was joining them, but they didn’t care about her motives as long as they had her support.

​Together, they decided to call their secret group "Eating the Bosses."

​...

​Out on the balcony, Night stood beside Vivianne in her wheelchair. Both of them were looking out into the distance.

​Night turned to her and said, "Sorry about earlier. I think the Sun and Moon Seed has been messing with my emotions."

​Vivianne didn’t turn around, but her cold expression loosened somewhat after hearing the apology. "It’s fine."

​Earlier she had been sleeping in her room when she heard Night’s voice. Part of the reason she was so annoyed was because she had been woken up in the middle of her sleep, plus she hadn’t even been aware of the things going on outside.

​Only after Night had explained the situation to her afterward did she understand he wasn’t yelling at her without reason. No one could have predicted her "brother" would appear out of nowhere, and was on the verge of death.

​Night’s extreme paranoia and distrust toward his Physique was what had saved Vance.

​The last time with Sara had been an eye-opener for him, so no one could really blame him for losing his cool when he felt like something similar was about to happen. Especially since this time, the target was not him or his friend, but one of his friends, his family.

​Something like this happening was enough to trigger his guilt, even if no one else blamed him, at the end of the day, he would know that his Physique was the culprit.

​Vivianne asked, "What do you think? Is he really my brother?" She was a headstrong woman who had lived for over five hundred years, and a Devil to boot.

​Yet, somehow, sitting beside Night, she felt she could act a little vulnerable. Maybe it was because he felt genuine, or simply because, unlike others, he was just approachable.

​Night thought for a while and said, "I think he might be. I think [Dream] would be the best person to consult here. Somehow, I feel she should be able to help."

​Vivianne frowned. "Will she help me?"

​This was a Goddess, even if she had been reduced to soul fragments. Vivianne wouldn’t be surprised if she was flatly refused.

​For some reason, the Goddess was very keen on helping Night, but Vivianne wasn’t delusional enough to think that help would automatically extend to her.

​Night said, "You will know if you ask. I really think she’ll help."

​Vivianne looked at him. "Really?" she asked with a glimmer of hope.

​Night saw that she was hesitating and added, "She is always looking for ways for me to get stronger. If she could motivate you and make you stronger, she would surely help."

​Vivianne was confused. "Why?"

​Night stated the obvious. "Because making you stronger is the same as making me stronger."