Chapter 169: The Hardheaded One

Chapter 169: The Hardheaded One

“Annoying witches!!” Zheng Yichen, flying in the sky, muttered angrily. After learning that Dan Marina had escaped the Sanctuary Church’s control, he had brushed aside the matter of the Prophecy Art. He thought that since she was now on his side, the Prophecy Art probably wouldn’t work anymore.

It was purely a case of thinking based on habit. In reality, the power of the Prophecy Art was still in effect. However, Dan Marina had tricked the Saintess of the Sanctuary Church, keeping her trapped in one place for a long time, so the power of the Prophecy Art had nowhere to manifest. That was why his month in the Secluded Refuge had seemed so normal.

But his good days were basically over. By now, the Saintess had probably broken free from the Lockdown Zone, and the power of the Prophecy Art would soon take full effect. That alone would have been bad enough, but what really upset Zheng Yichen was that his delivery had just arrived when Dan Marina told him about this.

Wasn’t she just trying to make him uncomfortable!?

He touched the third pouch hanging around his neck, and his mouth twitched slightly. Did all Witches have so many of these expanded pouches? He got one from Loris, one from Qin, and now another one from Dan Marina.

What’s more, this last one’s capacity was larger than the combined capacity of the previous two, and it had a permanent Featherweight spell cast on it, reducing the pouch’s weight… In other words, the burden became lighter.

Otherwise, carrying three pouches full of materials around his neck every day would have been too much for him. This pouch was a kind of apology from Dan Marina… Although she had seemed as carefree as ever when making this compensation, it did contain quite a few useful things.

Inside were three crystal vials containing a black liquid. Dan Marina had already explained to Zheng Yichen what these were—they contained the incredibly powerful Fate Backlash force that had trapped the Saintess of the Sanctuary Church for a month. This stuff was a super weapon!

If he was driven into a corner, he could just smash one of these vials. Zheng Yichen could rely on his own traits to ignore the outburst of power, but anyone else—the weak would be sent flying instantly, the strong would also be sent flying, and the very strong? Well, they would be sent flying a bit slower. As for enemies at the level of a Witch?

It wouldn’t kill them, but it would make them extremely miserable. If he used all three vials at once, even a weaker Witch would be in serious trouble!

It was great stuff, but unfortunately, there were only three vials.

As for why Zheng Yichen was acting alone, that was purely because the power of the Prophecy Art was too annoying. Even though Dan Marina had concentrated the effect on the Saintess of the Sanctuary Church alone, Zheng Yichen had still become a moving source of instability. Wherever he went, he would drag down those around him, since he himself was unaffected by the Power of Fate targeting him due to the Prophecy Art.

Unable to affect Zheng Yichen directly, that power would instead run wild and affect anyone around him that it could influence. So, whoever was near him would face misfortune—even people from the Sanctuary Church. If it wasn’t the Saintess, even if someone tried to forcefully confront Zheng Yichen, all sorts of accidents would occur because that went against the outcome predicted by the Prophecy Art.

When he heard Dan Marina’s explanation back then, Zheng Yichen was so angry he almost laughed. And she still had the nerve to say that this trouble was also a form of protection—as long as Zheng Yichen avoided being caught by the Saintess of the Sanctuary Church… Of course, if he was strong enough to ignore the Saintess, then he could treat this Prophecy Art as a kind of “backlash magic”.

As long as he didn’t fall into the hands of the Saintess, anyone who tried to cause trouble for him would run into plenty of problems. Even if these problems didn’t directly affect those people, as long as the power of the Prophecy Art remained, it would chain-react and stir up bigger troubles—for example, trouble coming from the Saintess herself.

And as for the strength of this Prophecy Art? That went without saying. If it could make a Witch pay such a high price, could it possibly be weak?

No way!

In short, after Dan Marina shamelessly told Zheng Yichen that he had lucked out, aside from receiving some forced benefits from Loris, he hadn’t gotten any undeserved forgiveness. No matter how you looked at it, that woman definitely had no innocence in this at all!

Finally… Zheng Yichen set out on his journey alone!

“Hmm~ A fresh start, all alone. That’s pretty dreamy too, right?” Zheng Yichen, flying in the sky, muttered to himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a Flying Magical Beast heading toward him. It was twice his size. Even though he was a dragon now, he didn’t have the so-called true Dragon’s Aura, so his intimidation factor was somewhat lacking. Especially since he was smaller than the other creature, it was only natural that he would be noticed.

Faced with this hostile gaze, Zheng Yichen curled his lip. He pulled out a cannon barrel from the first pouch, loaded it with a Shark-head Missile saved from the Witch Hunt period, and fired it at the white-feathered Magical Beast.

Magical Beasts were strong in close combat and also had Pseudo-Magic abilities that didn’t require Magic Rune Arrays to cast Magic. Zheng Yichen felt that kind of ability was more like a Supernatural Ability. However, Supernatural Abilities consumed Mental Energy, while a Magical Beast’s Pseudo-Magic consumed its own Mana. The ability it displayed was light-based—a light shield formed in front of it. It seemed prepared to take the Missile head-on, unwilling to dodge and lose speed in closing the distance with Zheng Yichen.

“Well, I guess to other Magical Beasts, the Dragon Clan is like highly coveted meat,” Zheng Yichen said to himself. He looked at this Flying Magical Beast with a bit of pity. What a hardheaded creature. Even the top Spellcasters during the Witch Hunt didn’t dare to take his Shark-head Missile head-on, and this was just a measly Flying Magical Beast?

Boom—

A pitiful cry rang out along with the explosion. The Flying Magical Beast, its head blown askew, struggled as it plummeted toward the ground. Well, Magical Beasts sure had hard heads. If it were a person, especially a Spellcaster, once their protective shield broke, one Shark-head Missile would send them out of this world without leaving a trace. But this Flying Magical Beast was only severely injured.

Of course, Zheng Yichen wouldn’t miss this chance or act cool by flying away without looking back… No way! Right now, not to mention having no clear destination, this Flying Magical Beast alone could provide plenty of materials! From its intact feathers to its bones and sharp claws, everything could be used—not to mention the meat, blood, and all. The meat was edible, and the blood could be used in Magic Potions and Alchemy. Since such a delivery had actively bumped into him, why wouldn’t he take it? It only required a little effort to claim it.

Killing random or unrelated people? Zheng Yichen would feel uneasy about that. But a Magical Beast that obviously wanted to kill him? Forget it! This world had no laws protecting Magical Beasts. Fighting back and killing it was simply an example of the law of the jungle!