Chapter 1256: 13. Demonic Clutches

“Boom!”

A tremendous roar resounded as beams of condensed magic rampaged through the dim underground space. Unimaginable light, shadow, and shockwaves destroyed everything tangible they touched, as though the end of the world had descended.

The agile young woman dodged back and forth through these terrifying spells, moving with astonishing speed. Although she avoided every lethal attack, in this devastated place filled with dust and ashes, she still inevitably looked somewhat battered.

“Cough, cough......damn it, why is this ruin so troublesome?”

With limited space and nowhere left to evade, Ariel could only draw her sword and cleave apart the stone pillar carved with ancient totems. Terrifying winds swept out from the depths of the darkness, blowing her long hair into disarray.

A feeble light lit up once again, illuminating her dust-covered little face. The enemy's offensive temporarily ceased, but the sense of danger did not diminish in the slightest.

“The intelligence was wrong.”

An ethereal figure floated out from the ancient ring, solemnly observing the surroundings:

“This isn't an ordinary ruin from several hundred years ago at all. It belongs to a thousand years ago—a genuine Ancient Ruin.”

“Ancient......Ruin?” Ariel slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, showing no surprise whatsoever, only solemnity.

Although from the perspective of the present, any era sufficiently far in the past could be called “ancient,” because of the special nature of a certain period of history, whenever the word “Ancient” was placed before the name of a ruin, relic, or some other remnant, it basically referred to that incomparably brilliant era from a thousand years ago."

And anything connected to that era, without exception, symbolized trouble.

“Still, I've explored quite a few Ancient Ruins. If it were merely a ruin, it shouldn't be troublesome to this extent......how could there be this kind of damned thing?”^

Ariel's little face tightened as she held the greatsword horizontally before her. As the bandages wrapped around it slowly unraveled, crimson runes lit up one after another along the blade.

Flames rose, also illuminating the terrifying existence within the darkness.??.

“Those who desecrate the slumbering—die.”

An emotionless buzzing voice echoed throughout the space. It was an enormous bronze golem, its entire body covered in ancient rust. It looked as though it might be completely buried beneath the earth at any moment under the erosion of time, yet at this very moment, an unimaginable amount of magic power still coursed through those complex patterns, and with every movement it made, the entire space seemed to resonate with it./

“One correction.”

Peles's tone was equally solemn: “The master of this ruin isn't it. It's only a guardian watching over the tomb. The one truly sleeping here is probably the owner of that coffin behind it. So strictly speaking, this isn't actually a ruin, but a tomb—the grave of a top powerhouse from that era.”_

Behind the bronze golem, a golden coffin floated in mercury. Several gemstones formed a complex array across its surface, flashing together with the radiance on the bronze statue.

“Is the person still alive?”^

“No, long dead.”

Peles shook her head: “I've seen that style of coffin before. The most powerful mages of that era specially built them as resting places for themselves after death. The magical patterns on it carry only the meaning of eternal rest, so it couldn't possibly serve as a vessel for suspended death. Besides......I don't think any mage could feign death for an entire thousand years.”*

“So the only purpose of this thing is simply to guard a corpse?” The corner of Ariel's mouth twitched.

Although it looked like nothing more than a bronze creation, the strength of this bronze golem had clearly already reached the level of a Truth-Rank mage. Who knew how many magical arrays the owner of this place had engraved inside its body? At the very least, in that brief instant just now, she had been attacked by dozens of terrifying spells._

Yet it was merely a tomb guardian.

“That has both good and bad sides.”

Peles said: “Looking at the bad side, if even a mere gatekeeper is this terrifying, who knows how many dangerous things are waiting farther inside?”

“Looking at the good side, if something like this is guarding it, whatever is hidden inside must be extraordinary.”

Ariel picked up where she left off, the corners of her mouth gradually curving into an unruly smile:

“What good side or bad side? For me, aren't they all good things?”

Right now, she was at a critical stage and desperately craved anything good she could get!

“Don't get careless. The enemy is extremely troublesome. Even for the current you, this tomb is very dangerous!” Peles said seriously.

“I understand......but I won't give up.”

Ariel's hands gradually tightened around the Skyfire Greatsword.

Scorching flames swept outward around her. At the same time, her eyes became filled with pure darkness and light.

The enemy before her was terrifying and completely beyond her expectations, but throughout her journey, what she had encountered most often were precisely these kinds of unexpected situations.

This would undoubtedly be an unimaginably difficult battle, but unexpected danger also meant unexpected rewards!

She had a feeling that here, she would completely ascend another level!

“Come on! You'll be the first stepping stone on my path to conquering the evil dragon!”

The bronze golem roared as an unimaginable torrent of magic power gathered. Ariel showed no fear whatsoever. Ignoring the burning and stabbing pain across her skin, she actively charged toward ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the bronze golem.

“Wait for me, my dear Muen. Don't be afraid. Once I clear away a few more obstacles and get just a little stronger, I'll come very soon and rescue you from the evil dragon's demonic clutches!”

As the fierce battle began once more, Ariel secretly swore this oath in her heart......

......

......

“Help me with something?”

Muen froze, then his gaze was immediately drawn toward Miss Dragon's fair and smooth little hand.

That hand gently touched the hair ornament, seemingly because Muen had not secured it firmly enough, and pressed it back into place. Then it slid down along her fiery-red hair. This incomparably natural movement made Muen feel as though he were seeing a small white flower drifting through an endless maple forest, carrying an indescribable poetic beauty.

Beautiful......seriously speaking, this was nothing more than an utterly ordinary movement. Any young woman could make such a gesture, and there was nothing special about it at all.

But perhaps because the one making such a gesture was the legendary calamity, or perhaps because she had never made this kind of gesture before, the gentle charm in every movement actually left Muen completely spellbound for several seconds.

It was not until Hamreign frowned slightly beneath Muen's unwavering stare that he finally came back to himself: “Anything is fine?”

“Mm.”

Hamreign lightly nodded with an expressionless face: “As long as it's something I can do.”

“Hiss......”

Muen sucked in a sharp breath.

Normally speaking, exchanging one favor for another really was an utterly reasonable “exchange.”

But the identity of the person before him was anything but normal.

The legendary calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the heavens, was telling you, “As long as it's something I can do.” Just how much weight did those words carry?

There were far, far too many things she was capable of doing. And for some reason, Muen had a strange feeling that even if he made an extremely excessive request, she would still consider it a reasonable exchange between “companions” and choose to accept it.

That even included giving the old loli a vicious beating.

In that case......

Muen's gaze fell on Miss Dragon's jade-like hand, then followed her fair skin upward until......Muen raised a finger and pointed: “I want that.”

“Mm?”

Hamreign turned her head and followed the direction Muen was pointing, only to discover that it was......an extremely adorable dragon-shaped doll.

The black dragon spread its wings in a threatening pose, but since it was a doll, every part of it had been made cute. The round eyes on the dragon's head were clearly glaring at people, yet they were not frightening in the slightest. Instead, they carried a touch of innocent adorableness that made it difficult not to laugh.

“You only want......this?”

Hamreign frowned, seemingly not expecting Muen's request to be so simple.

“What?”

Muen blinked: “What kind of request did Miss Dragon think I would make?”

“I......”

Hamreign glared at Muen as well. Without her usual cold temperament, that look unexpectedly resembled the dragon doll for an instant. She did not say anything more and directly walked forward.

“Excuse me, how much is this?”

“Sorry, miss, this isn't for sale.”

“Not for sale?”

“That's right. It's a prize for the competition. If you want to get it, you'll have to participate in the competition first.” The man smiled and pointed toward the event stage beside them: “If you want it, have your boyfriend win it for you. The grand prize for this competition is something truly extraordinary.”

“Competition......”

Hamreign looked toward the event stage. Quite a few people had already gathered around it, clearly attracted by the upcoming competition.

“Thank you......also, he's not my boyfriend. We merely have a pure companion relationship.”

“Is......is that so?”

The man's gaze moved back and forth between the two of them as he silently grumbled to himself.

Buying gifts, touching her head, putting a hair ornament on her—who would believe they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend?

“......”

Hamreign paid no attention to the thoughts of this ordinary human. The companion relationship between her and Muen, who had made an eternal promise together, was not something ordinary humans could understand anyway. She merely stared at the event stage not far away, her brows knitting tightly once again.

“What's wrong?”

Seeing that Hamreign had not simply taken the doll, Muen curiously came closer.

“It requires a competition.”

“A competition?”

Muen turned his head as well. When he clearly saw the enormous words “Big Eater Competition” written on the event stage, he couldn't help laughing: “Then go participate. Isn't this your specialty?”

A dragon competing against a group of humans in a big eater competition......just thinking about it made Muen feel that it was somewhat excessively unfair to the humans. But since the organizers had never written that dragons were forbidden from participating, then Miss Dragon taking part was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it?

“My......way of eating is different from that of humans. It will frighten them.” Hamreign said.

That was the reason she was frowning. Although she currently had a human body, her eating speed was still equivalent to that of her dragon body. Otherwise, if she had to eat normally in this form, she could eat for an entire lifetime and still never fill her stomach.

“How could it? Miss Dragon looks very cute when she eats.”

Muen also recalled what Miss Dragon had looked like the first time he saw her eating. Mm, from the perspective of an ordinary person, it really was somewhat beyond common sense.

But frightening......definitely not. Even if someone truly found it frightening, then that would absolutely be their fault.

Anyone who couldn't understand that kind of cuteness was wrong!