Chapter 1287: 45. Stopping in Her Tracks

"Mm... ah... gentler... I can't take it anymore..."

The girl's beautiful moans continued to echo through the forest beneath the night sky.

Aside from that, everything around them was utterly silent. It was as though even the birds and beasts had vanished, leaving only that astonishing pair of large white rabbits bouncing freely through the woods.

Darkness and Holy Light.

Desolation and pale skin.

A picture of starkly contrasting colors unfolded here, every stroke outlining the most primal kind of wildness and trembling excitement.

Hamreign felt her heartbeat speeding up slightly.

For some reason, the scene before her gave her an inexplicable sense of impact.

It was an extremely unusual feeling.

After all, she was a calamity.

The Dragon of Death and Doom.

The strongest creature beneath the heavens.

She had already lived for a thousand years.

Over the long passage of time, she had read countless books and seen countless humans.

With her strength and experience, by all logic, she should never have felt something like this.

Even if two Crowned Ones were slaughtering each other before her eyes right now, even if followers of an Evil God were ravaging the mortal world, even if some unimaginable catastrophe were descending upon everything—

Her heart should not have stirred in the slightest.

That was how it ought to be.

And yet.

What appeared before her now was clearly nothing so grand or earth-shaking.

It was merely a man and woman among humans, controlled by desire, engaging in an instinctive act.

There should have been nothing strange about it.

Nothing worth paying attention to.

Just as she had never cared how many women her companion had.

She disdained desire.

She disdained love as well.

Then why...

"Haa..."

As she watched the performance inside the carriage, Hamreign's breathing unconsciously grew slightly heavier.

Even without realizing it herself, beneath that thorn-covered dress, her long legs had instinctively begun to...

"Mm!"

The girl's moan suddenly rose sharply.

It jolted her awake.

Hamreign sensed a gaze and abruptly came back to herself, instantly extinguishing the faint spark that had appeared in her mind.

"Hiss... you little slut, why did you suddenly squeeze so tight? Does having your body exposed outside excite you that much, you lewd Saintess?"

Hamreign raised her eyes.

Through the gaps between the leaves, her gaze met a pair of beautiful eyes filled with lust and instinct.

She could see surprise in those eyes.

Then panic...

Then curiosity and something strange.

Those eyes were staring at her.

Examining her as well.

As though separated by a mirror, the two of them stood on opposite sides.

Hamreign suddenly felt somewhat flustered.

Not because of that completely harmless gaze.

With her state of mind, being discovered "watching" was nowhere near enough to shake her.

It was just...

Something the human named Old Mark had said not long ago suddenly surfaced beside her ear for no apparent reason:

[The kind of relationship you're describing, my lord... if you simply replaced the word "companion" with "lover," wouldn't it sound perfectly natural too...?]

No difference?

No.

Hamreign immediately expelled that sentence from her mind.

She was different from them.

Between herself and Muen—

Between herself and her eternal companion—

There was absolutely no lust mixed into their relationship.

Even if, from the outside, the two relationships might look just a tiny bit similar.

But if one examined their essence and origins more deeply, that vulgar emotion and desire could never have anything whatsoever to do with her!

Just look at those human women.

Pinned underneath someone and bullied however he pleased.

How could she, the mighty calamity, the Dragon of Death and Doom, the strongest creature beneath the heavens, ever become like that?

"......"

Hamreign's eyes flickered.

Because during the brief time she had spent thinking, she noticed the look in that human woman's eyes had changed again.

The frightened expression of a deer in the forest had already disappeared.

In its place was something smug.

Almost boastful.

"Ah... Muen... f-faster..."

"Huh? You were begging for mercy just now. How did you suddenly get so bold?"

"I... mm... just got into the mood... I want more... mm... don't tell me this is already... mm... your limit..."

"What limit? I'm only getting started! Take this, you lewd Saintess!"

The man standing behind the girl immediately reacted as though he had been injected with chicken blood.

He pressed her down even harder.

The lone general launched another charge, battering the provocative enemy until she could no longer maintain her formation!

And even that was not enough.

His large hand slid down along the peach-like curve, stroking the resilient thigh before lifting it upward—

Placing one of her fair little feet against the window frame and exposing even more of her beauty to the forest that should have been completely deserted.

The grass spread lush beneath them.

Beyond lay the endless forest.

"Ah... this position... I'm so embarrassed..."

"I think you're getting even more excited instead! Hiss... you're squeezing me again!"

"Mm... Muen!... Love me more..."

That voice became even more seductive.

And the word "love" sounded particularly piercing.

Hamreign froze for a moment.

Apparently she had not expected this performance to somehow rise to yet another level.

Putting everything else aside, humans certainly had far more variations on such things than she had ever imagined.

But immediately afterward, she gave a soft sneer.

While once again sweeping those strange thoughts out of her mind, she also found that human woman utterly ridiculous.

What was that look supposed to mean?

What was there to boast about in an act controlled entirely by instinct and desire?

Was she just like those other vulgar women from before, always trying to project filthy, lowly human ideas onto Hamreign?

When would they finally understand?

She felt nothing but contempt for human lust.

"How boring."

Hamreign stepped forward, preparing to leave.

Since her companion was still immersed in this kind of game, she would simply refrain from disturbing him and come back tomorrow morning.

But after taking only two steps, she suddenly stopped.

The performance inside the carriage was entering its climax.

And for some inexplicable reason, the irritation in her heart rose again.

Far stronger than before.

She still did not understand where that irritation came from.

But this time, mixed together with it, another strange thought appeared deep in her heart.

A strange thought even she herself could not understand.

And so, after hesitating for a moment...

She actually did not leave.

Instead, her figure flashed and disappeared into the darkness.

Some bizarre magical force had forcibly rooted this calamity, this Dragon of Death and Doom, this strongest creature beneath the heavens, directly to the spot.

She continued watching in silence.

She watched the performance reach an unimaginable peak, then fall from that peak.

She watched the heroine finally exhaust herself after a long campaign.

She watched a new heroine take the stage and begin a different performance in a different way.

She watched her eternal companion display incomparable might, defeating one enemy after another and sweeping through everything in his path.

And just like that...

She kept watching.

Until—

"Ugh... so bright."

The next day.

The instant Muen opened his eyes, dazzling sunlight struck him full in the face.

He hurriedly reached for the carriage curtain in a fluster, only to realize by accident that the rising sun seemed to have skipped right past the stage of morning entirely and jumped straight into the middle of the sky.

"It's this late?"

Muen jolted upright.

Wind from the forest slipped through the gap in the curtain, bringing a faint chill between his legs and reminding him of the reality that he was currently completely naked.

He quickly glanced at the time.

Only after confirming that it really was already noon—and even rather late into noon—did he hurriedly grab the clothes beside him and prepare to put them on...

"Hiss—"

Muen sucked in a sharp breath.

The clothes slipped from his hand.

He had no time to worry about such external things and hurriedly supported his aching lower back.

He had only just awakened, so he had not noticed it at first.

But the moment he moved, he immediately felt that strange emptiness—

As though his entire body had suddenly lost twenty pounds.

Memories of last night came flooding back into his mind.

While marveling at just how intense that battle had been, Muen was forced to acknowledge a fact.

For the first time in quite a while...

He had been completely drained again.

He had thought that after becoming half a Crowned One, after undergoing a qualitative transformation in physical strength and improving his integration with the alchemical core, he had already become invincible beneath the heavens...

But once it came to actual practice, he discovered—

He was not the only one who had grown stronger.

Each of those little temptresses had improved to varying degrees.

Even Ariel, without relying on all kinds of sudden flashes of inspiration and bizarre tricks, could now fight him hard for two or three rounds.

So although disciplining all four of them last night had looked glorious on the surface, and although he had won enormously—

He still could not avoid overexerting himself.

Which had led to his current state of weakness, exhaustion, and aching waist and legs.

Difficult.

Muen sighed inwardly.

Sure enough, being a blond-haired villain was an extremely high-risk profession in this world.

If his strength did not improve quickly enough, there really might come a day when he died in bed.

That would be hilarious.

So there was still a long road ahead.

A very long road indeed...

"But speaking of which, where did those girls go?"

Muen swept his gaze around.

The carriage was completely empty.

Aside from a few traces that testified to the intensity of last night's battle, not even a single pair of panties had been left behind.

"Those girls recovered even faster than I did?"

Muen was immediately surprised.

Could all that begging for mercy and admitting defeat last night have been fake?

No...

Liya had Holy Light healing, which was basically a cheat when it came to recovery.

It was perfectly normal for her to wake earlier.

What was unusual was that she had apparently helped the others recover too.

"But why did they get up so early? They aren't plotting something again, are they?"

Muen raised an eyebrow.

Because from the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed a slip of paper on the small table in the middle of the carriage.

He casually picked it up.

"Good morning, dear Muen. First, here's a good-morning kiss for you... We have things to take care of, so we're leaving first. Don't come looking for us."

At the bottom were several chibi drawings of girls, along with a playfully drawn little flower.

"What does this mean?"

Muen's expression turned strange.

Those girls had simply left without saying anything?

Even though they had only reunited last night?

That did not fit their personalities at all.

Could they really be plotting something again?

Muen shuddered.

"Calm down, calm down. Whatever comes, I'll deal with it. Last night already proved that those girls still can't overturn the heavens."

He hurriedly patted his chest and comforted himself.

Once he had finished reassuring himself, however, he could not help finding the whole thing somewhat ridiculous.

His fingertips rubbed against the signatures at the bottom of the note.

For a moment, Muen could not decide whether the alliance between those girls was actually solid or not.

If it was solid...

Then last night they had clearly scattered the moment disaster struck, allowing him to defeat them one by one.

But if it was not solid...

Whenever it came to schemes and tricks, they certainly advanced and retreated together.

"Hmph, whatever. If they pull something like this again next time, I'll just take all of them down again."

Muen crumpled the note in his palm.

Although he was still suffering from the emptiness of having been thoroughly drained, the achievement of successfully taking on all four of them at once still made his confidence swell enormously.

"So next it's just me alone... Huh? Am I forgetting something?"

Muen scratched his head.

What was he forgetting?

For some reason, it felt extremely important.

"You're awake?"

The curtain was lifted.

Sunlight once again struck Muen full in the face.

But Muen no longer had any attention to spare for that.

His expression froze as he turned his head.

Still completely naked...

He met a pair of suddenly cold golden eyes.

Compared with those golden eyes, even the blazing noon sun was somehow the cutest thing in the entire fucking world.