Chapter 152

The girl sitting atop the spire looked down. The voice that had bound and ensnared her was no longer heard. The bell had set her free.

The child, experiencing freedom for the first time, clutched it desperately and fled, not even knowing what it was. As if someone might snatch it from her grasp, she ran frantically. No wall could stop her.

After some time, the girl finally calmed down.

She realized that the fear she had held was baseless.

“Yanid. You’re mine!”

The shadow muttered as it watched her. The voice no longer came from within her.

The voice she had been so afraid to face had returned once more. But so what? The girl’s heart was eerily calm. Even she was surprised by her lack of agitation.

“Do you think you can escape from me?”

A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. The imperfect body of the Dragon Chimera had now shed its innate flaws and evolved to the next level.

Draconians. Among the half-dragons, they are the ones who inherit the thickest dragon blood. They are beings no different from dragons in human form.

Her body had ascended to that rank, forcibly elevating her mind. Now, the girl no longer felt estranged from her own body.

“That’s not it.”

Her dragon eyes narrowed. She instantly read the essence of her opponent.

Humans cannot see the world of souls without special abilities, but dragons can do so naturally. Just as all humans have a sense of smell, all dragons have spiritual perception.

“You can’t escape from me.”

Without any warning, a mass of darkness was expelled. It struck the shadow directly, tearing it apart. The Dragon Breath even damaged the formless, a technique potent enough to affect the divine.

Oberta screamed. The weak and docile mind of the past was nowhere to be found.

The body is the vessel of the mind. As the vessel grows, so does its capacity. The Evil God glared at the girl with venomous eyes, but there was nothing more it could do. She had already suffered a great loss of vitality.

Something that dared not harbor hatred continued to drain her power. The Evil God couldn’t even think of cursing the priest who had reduced her to this state.

What lay beyond was something she could never handle from the start. She forgot what she had even seen. Or had she truly seen anything at all?

Perhaps she had only seen fragments, illusions, or trivialities around that existence and mistaken them for the real thing.

She didn’t want to think about it. She just wanted to forget.

Unable to vent her anger even on Kyle, the priest, she returned to torment Yanid, but now even this girl was no longer an easy target.

*Thud!*

Two hands imbued with magical power forcibly grabbed the formless entity and fixed it in mid-air. The dragon gazed coldly at the Evil God. The level of magical power concentrated in those hands was something this avatar could never contend with.

A hollow laugh formed on the girl’s lips. The voice that had tormented her so much, driving her to abandon herself, was nothing more than this.

The past self that had been afraid of such a thing was laughable. The opponent who had flaunted such power was also laughable.

“Fine. I admit it. You are at least equal to me on the ground, if not more.”

The Evil God had no choice but to make a humiliating decision. She abandoned her attempt to instill fear.

She could fight Yanid here and now, risking everything. But mobilizing that much divine power would jeopardize even her divine status.

She had already suffered a great blow. If she took another significant loss here, it wouldn’t end with just tears.

After all the effort over the years to reach this point, was she to fall back down? That couldn’t happen. The goddess already had much to lose.

“Nonsense.”

But the newly born half-dragon truly had nothing. She tore the shadow apart without a second thought and stomped on the fragments, still unsatisfied.

The girl had nothing. Therefore, she had nothing to lose.

Family? A father she had never seen, and a mother who had sold her to the church.

She had no desire to see them again, and even if she did, it would be meaningless. At most, she might kill her mother with her own hands.

Yanid didn’t want to seek out that elf to kill her. Even if they were worse than strangers, such a decision wasn’t easy to make.

No friends, no family, nothing but her own body. She truly had nothing to lose. The girl didn’t care what she did. She didn’t even consider the consequences.

The Five Great Divine Gods of the Continent? Oberta? The curse of the Evil God? That was for later. None of it could stop Yanid.

Oberta watched her avatar being torn apart but didn’t leave. This time, she didn’t even taunt.

She simply waited quietly for the girl’s anger to subside.

A chick with nothing to lose can be kicked over without consequence. But a dragon with nothing to lose is another matter. Yanid could burn her own life to take her opponent down with her.

Oberta was an Evil God. She could quickly discern whether her opponent was bluffing or serious. This girl was serious.

Such resentment was best not prolonged.

When you think it’s the latest, it’s actually the earliest. With that in mind, the Evil God reappeared.

“If your anger has subsided a bit, let’s talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Yanid. Don’t you want to be my saintess?”

No answer came. The shadow was shattered once more.

It didn’t matter. It was just an avatar for communication. The power invested in it was minimal. A loss wouldn’t be a significant burden.

“You can’t kill me. No matter how many times you try.”

“Then I’ll just keep trying until I do. I don’t care. I have plenty of time.”

The Evil God swallowed a groan. Come to think of it, how long was this girl’s lifespan?

Was she like a chimera? Or like a human? Or perhaps… a dragon?

If it was the third option, that would be a big problem. Even the strategy of hiding and waiting for her to die of old age wouldn’t work. An immortal rampaging across the continent, physically crushing her followers, would inevitably diminish the faith directed towards her.

“Fine. I’ll apologize. I…”

With the power of the Firefly Meringue, the Heart of the Dragon had become one with the human body. Yanid flicked her finger, and the magical power naturally flowed, blowing away Oberta’s avatar.

It wasn’t strange. It was just an avatar for communication. Even an ordinary person with an axe could destroy it. Even if she made a combat avatar, it would be shattered if Yanid decided to destroy it, so this was much cheaper.

“So the loss is minimal. I know you hate me. But you can spare a little time, right?”

The girl with her arms crossed looked at the Evil God. She no longer served anyone.

Even if she did, that annoying shadow wouldn’t even be a candidate. A saintess? It wasn’t even worth laughing at.

“Your true enemies aren’t me. It’s that bitch who claims to be the Goddess of Healing and her followers. I’m willing to cooperate in killing them all. Isn’t that worth talking about?”

The avatar was destroyed once more. The speed of destruction was increasing. The girl was quickly becoming accustomed to her dragon body.

Suddenly, Yanid let out a roar. Not an ordinary sound, but a dragon’s cry that shook the soul. It was different from what she had used against Ardein before.

A true Dragon’s Roar. The dragon’s cry erupted, stirring the depths of hell. Oberta, completely caught off guard, covered her ears in pain. But the Roar couldn’t be blocked.

The pain felt like her soul was being torn apart. After a dizzying sensation of her soul slipping away, the Evil God barely managed to hold onto her consciousness. Only then did she realize how weakened she had become.

“Ugh…”

There were many excuses. She had been completely off guard. She hadn’t expected such an attack. She had been floating in the mortal realm in a spiritual state. The aftermath of the demonic ritual had caused significant damage to her essence…

But no matter how many excuses she made, the result didn’t change. Oberta trembled with humiliation. How had she, a proud Evil God, fallen to this state?

“Seeing you in pain makes me feel a little better.”

Yanid finally smiled. Seeing that voice make the expression she always wore made her feel surprisingly good. This feeling of satisfaction was truly a first.

“But it’s not enough. You need to suffer much more.”

“Sigh…”

Honestly, it was annoying.

Just a few days ago, this brat had been nothing but a helpless lump of flesh. A mere sacrifice to offer her body to the Evil God.

But now, showing that annoyance wouldn’t help at all. If she backed off here, she wouldn’t be able to sleep out of frustration.

The loss was already certain, and she was only being so persistent to try and recover at least the principal.

“Let me say it again.”

No matter how angry she was, she needed Yanid’s help now.

“Become my saintess.”

“Sigh…”

“Close your mouth. Stop the Breath. This is a proposal that benefits you too. I’m not asking you to believe in me, but rather offering to lend you my power.”

Oberta knew her place. Gaining the faith of the strong was indeed helpful. But those who were that strong usually had no interest in gods.

If she went to the Primal Demon King Grimudo of the Arctic and proposed that he serve her, it would be a miracle if he returned with his soul intact. Oberta had faced that being before. He was a being who had reached the pinnacle in both body and soul.

She had lost sleep over it. The Demon King could strangle her with pure mental power alone, his physical body aside.

Yanid was far inferior to the Demon King. She wasn’t strong enough to instill fear in the Evil God. Of course, she wasn’t weak enough to offer her faith to the Evil God either.

“I don’t need your power.”

“Of course not. You just need to lightly wrap yourself in my divine power. You don’t have to believe in me. As long as others suspect you’re my follower, that’s enough.”

So the proposal was a kind of mutual benefit. The point was, as long as she pretended to be a follower, that was enough.

If it became known that a being like Yanid was a follower of Oberta, whether it was true or not, the Evil God would gain great prestige.

The more famous Yanid became, the more famous Oberta would become. Attention was the precursor to more faith. In fact, this wasn’t the first time she had made such a proposal.

The being in the Arctic. Grimudo. She had once tentatively proposed it to him.

And by sheer luck, she had managed to return alive. That day was the most terrifying day of her life. Since then, the Evil God had never gone near the Arctic again.

“…Why should I?”

The tone was different, but the Demon King had also asked this question. She couldn’t answer, and the Demon King had smiled.

And that day, the Evil God realized. She had learned the answer to a question even the Three Divine Gods were curious about, in an unwanted way. How strong is the Primal Demon King? Oberta could now answer that question.

It’s better not to know.

At least then, your heart can be at peace.

“Why should I, huh?”

But even if the Evil God had nothing to offer the Demon King, with Yanid, it was different. She could offer terms worth bargaining for.

“If the Goddess Hilrae curses you, I’ll block it. I can also tell you where Hilrae’s followers are. Honestly, isn’t that a pretty good deal?”

After a while,

Yanid accepted the position of the fake saintess.