Chapter 222: Arrived Early

Chapter 222: Arrived Early

“I felt like I was abandoned by the whole world just now.” After emerging from the Magic Barrier, Zheng Yichen immediately tossed the now completely stabilized Fate-Killer to Dan Marina with a look of disgust. The object remained its original size; aside from the patterns on its surface appearing even more blurred, there was no change at all. The crystal Irene used, however, had dimmed in color. Previously a deep, dark blue, it was now a faint, somewhat transparent light blue.

It was clear that most of its energy had been consumed.

“You study it. You can give it back to me whenever you’ve had enough.” Dan Marina threw the Fate-Killer to Irene without hesitation. Irene gently tapped the air with her finger. The crystal in her hand completely dissipated, and the Fate-Killer, which had been following a parabolic arc, halted in mid-air. It was enveloped by a Magic Barrier similar to the previous one but much smaller.

Unlike Dan Marina, who treated the object casually, Irene handled it with great seriousness.

“What exactly is this barrier? It’s so power ful…” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue and asked in amazement. This was the first time he had seen such a barrier. When he made contact with it earlier, he even had the illusion that even Loris probably couldn’t blast it open directly.

“Think of it as a pseudo World Barrier; it’s about the same.” Dan Marina did not go into a deep explanation, offering only a simple analogy.

” ‘About the same’ how? I’ve never come into contact with that thing before!” Zheng Yichen pulled a long face; the anxious feelings from before hadn’t dissipated yet.

Dan Marina waved her hand lightly, unbothered by Zheng Yichen’s tone. “Haven’t you just come into contact with it now?”

“Tsk, alright. Am I okay now?” Zheng Yichen lifted his claw and waved it through the air beside him, then moved his back. He had been worried earlier about what to do with the black substance transformed from the Fate-Killer that surged into his wound. Now it seemed he had clearly overthought it; his physical condition was perfectly fine.

There was nothing left inside his body either. Of course, it could also be that his cultivation level wasn’t high enough. Even after the Prophecy Art was dispelled, he didn’t feel a sudden lightness in his body or a sense of some heavy burden disappearing.

“Gone. As long as you don’t go strutting around in front of the Sanctuary Church all by yourself now, nothing will happen.” Dan Marina said casually. “But you’ll have to stay here for a while.”

“…Stay, then, stay.” Having his own thoughts, Zheng Yichen didn’t reject the idea. He planned to research new Magic Arms anyway, and having a Witch like her who was naturally proficient in all Magic around was a good thing!

“Oh, Loris might come here later too.”

“That’s enough!” Irene shot Dan Marina an unhappy glance. She knew Loris. Even though Loris’s personality wasn’t as troublesome as Dan Marina’s, her ability was very troublesome—the kind that couldn’t be fully controlled. Having her come here would be a headache if she accidentally affected the Magic Rune Array Irene had set up here.

“I really can’t control that. You don’t want me to forcibly keep an eye on her, do you? I don’t want to get beaten to death.” Dan Marina said with a laugh. “And don’t worry. Because of this Little Dragon, she got herself a pretty good set of clothes that can suppress the leakage of her ability’s aura.”

“…Even so, I…”

“I’m already here.” Loris’s voice suddenly came through.

Irene glared angrily at Dan Marina. For Loris to appear so punctually, she must have arrived long ago, just waiting for this moment to show up. Clearly, after coming here, Dan Marina had already started setting this trap for her. “I really want to curse at you.”

After observing Loris, Irene’s gaze focused intently on the black dress Loris was wearing. Only after confirming that there was no stray Witch Power around her did Irene’s furrowed brow relax slightly. However, she still shot Dan Marina another uncomfortable glance. Not only had she been tricked, but now she also had no reason to forcibly chase anyone away, since Loris truly, as Dan Marina had said, showed no uncontrolled power leaking from her. Besides, her height was a bit lower than Irene’s!

“Don’t be angry. Think of the positives. For example, with both of you here, who would dare come here looking for trouble, right?” Dan Marina smiled. Irene’s abilities aside, Loris’s offensive power was among the most outstanding of the Witches. As for defense, the Magic Barrier Irene created earlier could be considered top-tier!

However, setting it up required a long preparation time and could only be used in a fixed location.

At this moment, Lily was so shocked she couldn’t speak. In her impression, this dragon was usually unreliable. She never imagined that this dragon, whose personality seemed rather unreliable, had connections with so many Witches! Now there were three Witches here. Thinking about the power of the Undead Witch, these three before her… Had the world gone mad?

Just who exactly was this dragon?!

Anyway, for now, unnoticed by anyone, Lily huddled alone in the basket, silently squatting in defense, trying her best to lower her presence to avoid drawing too much attention. She was scared.

“Hmph! I was doing just fine alone!” Irene snorted coldly and shook off Dan Marina’s hand from her shoulder.

“Yes, yes. Sorry to trouble you then.” Dan Marina gave a light chuckle, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at Irene. What insincere words.

At this moment, as Lily cautiously peeked her head out a little, she saw a pair of eyes staring directly at her. It was a girl with black hair and red eyes, about the same height as her. But the other’s gaze made Lily unable to even think about holding eye contact; she immediately and involuntarily averted her gaze. The pressure was just too great. Would the other party directly attack and kill her…?

“Don’t dig around randomly. It’s dangerous.” Irene snapped her fingers, and the surrounding environment abruptly changed. The faintly Aberration feeling Zheng Yichen had when first arriving here completely vanished.

“Hmm… So it’s a manor…” Zheng Yichen exclaimed in wonder. They were now inside the manor. The scenery they saw earlier must have been hidden by Irene using some method.

“Making it so beautiful, aren’t you worried that someone might come and tear this place down someday?” Dan Marina clicked her tongue meaningfully. She had noticed something off about the environment here long ago, but Irene was also a Witch, and her methods were quite sophisticated. Without using some special means, she couldn’t see through the concealment here. Using those means would not be coming to ask for help but provocation.

“None of your business!” Irene gave a light hum and gently tapped the empty air. A point of faint blue light landed on Lily, and a faint Mana Fluctuation passed over her body. “Let’s go.”

“What was that for?” Zheng Yichen, walking at the very back, looked at Lily, who was crouched in the basket like a hamster, and couldn’t help but ask Dan Marina.

“A protective measure. The environment here is very special. Without some protection, her body would quickly develop a dependency on it.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Zheng Yichen didn’t understand, Dan Marina pointed to a patch of grass nearby. “This place is enveloped by Irene’s power. A Witch’s Power isn’t so friendly. In an environment like this, before long, she would become homogenized by the Elemental Power here. It might not seem problematic temporarily, but in the future, she wouldn’t be able to leave this place. You know what happens when a small piece of ice falls into the ocean, right?”

Zheng Yichen nodded.

“And that’s just the temporary situation. After a long time, her body would gradually crystallize into Element Crystal.”

“…” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue. Witches, really, none of them were easy to get along with. It wasn’t that Witches avoided the world and people, but their power was just too outrageous. If they didn’t take precautions, things would go wrong. Just an environment covered by a Witch’s Power could lead to such a situation. What ordinary person could withstand that?

“How come those flowers and plants are fine?”

“Fine? They’re fine while rooted in the ground. Pull one out and you’ll see if it’s fine or not.”

Zheng Yichen looked down at his own claws. Well, being new here, better not go digging up other people’s lawns for no reason.

The manor was large and very quiet. As they walked, Zheng Yichen didn’t see a single moving creature besides themselves. The only moving things were the flowers and plants swaying gently in the wind. Living alone in such a large place, wouldn’t it feel empty and lonely? Even around Loris, there were beings like Ghost Maids.

“Pick your own places to stay. There are many empty spots here. As for you… There’s a shed over there.”

Zheng Yichen looked where Irene pointed. Well, it was indeed a large shed, with a small lake next to it. Apart from not being a house, the scenery was quite nice. “This will do.”

“And, you’ll stay there with her.” Irene said, looking at the basket holding Lily.

Hey, hey, that’s going too far.

“Mhm, that’s fine.” Zheng Yichen didn’t speak; Loris spoke first. Zheng Yichen gave her a slightly puzzled look, suppressing the questions in his heart.

Arriving by the lakeside, Zheng Yichen set down the basket holding Lily and lazily stretched his body. He turned to look at his back. The residual power was gone; he just needed to wait for the injuries to heal. He took out a ruler and measured the holes in his wings. Seeing the diameter of the holes had shrunk a bit, Zheng Yichen finally sighed in relief. As long as they could grow back fully, that was fine. He was just afraid the edges of the wounds would heal, but these holes would remain.

Right now, there were few holes. But after experiencing more in the future, having a pair of tattered wings… If Zheng Yichen’s body were tens or hundreds of meters in size, that would be fine; it would even add to his imposing aura. But his current size was just this few-meter-long Little Dragon. He really couldn’t pull off having such a pair of wings!

So, since his body size probably wouldn’t grow any further, having a pair of flawless wings was very important. And his Scales… They were damaged so badly. He hoped that after they grew back, there wouldn’t be any extra marks.