Chapter 312: Ancient

Chapter 312: Ancient

Facing it for the first time, what Bran felt was arrogance, the contempt of an ancient existence for a newborn. Even though Xina had suffered a considerable loss at his hands, it still acted careless when proposing a transaction. It seemed to have forgotten that not long ago, Bran had stolen something from it.

And that Ola, he did not die by Bran’s hand, but died from his own arrogance. If he had possessed even a tiny bit of reverence and released his mana in advance, he would not have ended up like that. Close-range mana collision and entanglement happened to be what Bran was most skilled at; Ola’s strength was completely devoured before he could even unleash it.

Assimilation, devouring, and then transformation—this was the foundation of how Bran’s abilities worked. Moreover, he had already spread himself out completely, turning himself into a shadow, into a mist, shrouding the surroundings under the cover of night. What sat on the river surface was merely an empty shell used to conceal Huahua, with very little power .

The focus at the time was Xina; most of Bran’s body was attached to the sea surface, rising and falling with the waves. Xina was too big; Bran simply could not envelop Xina entirely. Especially underwater, Bran’s infiltration was very slow. And when Xina started making the seawater spin, the infiltration came to a halt as well.

Bran had no choice but to quietly gather power on the sea surface, preparing to launch a surprise attack when Xina let its guard down. Bran believed that even if he couldn’t take its life, he could definitely cut off a large piece from it. He couldn’t hold the whole thing, but stealing a part of its body was still possible. A few more cuts, and Bran didn’t believe it could really hold out.

Ola’s appearance disrupted his plan. Ola showed up there without any concealment; if he had retained even a shred of vigilance, he would have noticed something was wrong. Standing there, he looked down at the surroundings with the demeanor of a superior being, completely unaware that he had already entered Bran’s body and was already in danger. His defeat was sealed from the moment he landed; it’s just that even Bran didn’t expect Ola to fail so utterly.

Xina was able to ravage the Dragon Rider’s Azure Wave Archipelago out of displaced anger, so Bran could also guess what kind of destruction it would cause on its journey. If it spared the Amphibians, then Bran would classify it as an ally of the Amphibians, and this time it would be a fight to the death. If it didn’t spare them, then it would likely draw out the existence behind the Amphibians, triggering a conflict ahead of time.

The person was drawn out, but not to teach Xina, the main culprit, a lesson. Ola, with his innate sense of superiority, actually planned to teach this newcomer, Bran, a lesson.

When Ola appeared, the undisguised anger and killing intent directed at him made Bran feel somewhat confused. He hadn’t thought about capturing Ola; he only wanted to save Eileen. It was only when the two became entangled, when the inky Torrent swept up Ola, that he realized Ola did not have the Key, did not have a foothold in the Tributary.

Bran was a bit puzzled. What did this mean? How could someone not carry the Key with them? If they were all like this, even though it would be more advantageous for him in a fight, it would strip the fight of its meaning. The Key was Bran’s target; this kind of showing up empty-handed to gain advantages was truly detestable.

He didn’t even manage to obtain the other’s Soul. Even though the physical body was shattered, Ola’s Soul remained powerful, as if it were an independent entity, the body merely being the final piece of clothing for modesty, so Bran had to tear it apart.

If they were all like this, Bran didn’t mind dealing them a harsh blow, seizing the chance to drag them into the Sea of Magic and drown them there.

Bran withstood all of Ola’s attacks but did not receive much damage. Bran thought it was more appropriate to describe it as consumption. As long as the inky Torrent wasn’t cut off, what did a little consumption matter in the face of the rolling Mana? And because of this, Bran became even more convinced that he in this world was merely a reflection composed of Mana, a Shadow. As long as the main body wasn’t damaged, the minor distortions of the Shadow would soon be corrected. And the resulting sensations, like the illusion of being injured, were actually more advantageous for him.

He had intended to use Xina’s misjudgment to buy time and deliver a harsh blow. Unexpectedly, Xina chose to make a deal and directly showed sincerity. Although this shred of sincerity was full of arrogance and contempt, for Bran, this was the best outcome.

After some probing, Bran knew he currently couldn’t kill Xina. Maybe he could drive it away temporarily, but being constantly remembered by such a Monster wasn’t an easy thing either.

This was best, a result acceptable to both parties. Xina got back the urgently needed Fruit, and he obtained two Mana sources.

Bran left too cleanly and swiftly; Xina didn’t react at all. In its memory, last time Bran ran away along the sea surface; the speed of that fleeing escape was something even Xina had to admit was impressive. Now, however, it suddenly flew away right before its eyes.

He could actually fly! Caught completely off guard, Xina didn’t have time to stop him.

As Bran flew away, the feeling of a sudden brightening made Xina secretly resentful while also feeling a twinge of apprehension. That bastard had been quietly plotting all along…

Bran disappeared too quickly, making Xina involuntarily recall the scene from last time when it lost the Fruit. Moreover, not long after Bran flew far away, the Black Cat Huahua also suddenly vanished. So, it began to worry, feeling like it might have done something foolish again, and a feeling called regret gradually took over its heart.

Not far away, Maya and Eileen looked at each other. They didn’t understand why Bran and Huahua didn’t even say goodbye before running off one after the other without a trace.

Run? It seemed a bit too late. Not run? This distance was definitely not safe. They started hoping the Monster in the sea would ignore them.

But things didn’t go as wished. The Monster waved at them. So, the girl and the dragon, very reluctantly, shuffled over.

“Don’t be afraid. I hope you can keep me company with some chat while we wait.”

Eileen puffed out her chest. “I’m not afraid…”

But she was bumped aside again by Maya, who stood in front of her.

Xina pretended not to see this little action. It pointed at the head left on the beach. “We just reached a transaction; this is the collateral he left. But I feel this alone might not be enough. And you just said you are his good friend, right?”

Eileen gritted her teeth again, wanting to step forward, but Maya clamped her under its wing with one flap. Then, it shook its huge head, denying the relationship.

“You know what? Countless years ago, I once had dealings with the Ancestral Dragon.” Saying this, Xina let out a dragon-like roar. “It was probably a sound like this, the roar of a severely wounded, dying Dragon. Beings like us have been to too many places, seen all kinds of creatures. An almost eternal time has allowed us to learn, to know many interesting things in this world, like languages, writing, and some so-called history.

During this process, we might erupt into various conflicts—some over benefits, some over ideas—so we are never short of enemies. Until I grew somewhat tired and began to wander endlessly in the ocean. But loneliness slowly made some things clearer, harder to let go. For example, a little grudge between me and the Dragons…”

Before it could finish what it was going to say, Maya directly pushed Eileen in front with a wing. So, Eileen, who had been stifled for a while, finally spoke up loudly again. “Good friend! And don’t worry, Bran is absolutely a man of his word. Even if he abandons us, he wouldn’t easily abandon his promise. Especially for just a minor transaction.”

“Is that so?” Xina retorted meaningfully.