Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 88: An Army of Four

There was everything in Brave Salaar, except an army.

Kalen guarded the path leading deeper into the story, like an especially steadfast mountain. Salaar’s cousin and the Dragon Fae had no magic, so they could only fret anxiously at the priest’s feet, completely unable to help.

As for Brief and his Bedsheet Archdemon… Myss nearly threw those two little nuisances out of his mind.

So where exactly was this army supposed to come from?

If not for Redding’s foot suddenly coming down at him, Myss would have wanted to fling question marks all over the sky.

That twisted foot descended from above. Myss directed Fork to barely dodge it, his cotton-thread hair whipped around by the wind. The two little dolls each rode a silver snake, dodging through the stomping feet that were raining down on them.

“Go do what you want to do, Great Genius!”

The Salaar doll shouted at Myss from afar. He guided Knife backward, clearly charging toward Brief and Bedsheet Archdemon.

Redding’s attack followed almost instantly. One of his hands twisted strangely and smashed down after Salaar.

Before the strike could land, Myss led Fork towards it and knocked it askew. Fork reeled from the impact, looking slightly dazed. Its two eyes drifted unevenly—one up, one down, as if asleep—and Myss had to forcibly slap them back into place.

He moved like a crimson bolt of lightning, weaving through those many twisted limbs. Myss was not merely fleeing. Along the way, he guided two of Redding’s monstrous hands into colliding and tangling together, tying them into a dead knot with lightning speed.

Amateur.

Beneath the strange-hand bowknot, Lord Archdemon looked at Redding with contempt.

This guy’s attack methods were nothing more than child’s play—tricks he himself had long since discarded. The moment Redding’s body shifted, Myss knew where he intended to strike. The use of blind spots, the judgment of landing points; it was as if he had transformed into Salaar that was trapped inside the seal, moving with a grace and agility that resembled a dance.

But, also like Salaar inside the seal, the gap in strength between them was an uncrossable chasm.

Without magic, he couldn’t see this thing’s so-called core. Myss could only hinder Redding’s movements. The dents Fork knocked into him became shallower and shallower, while Redding’s recovery speed was despairingly fast.

What is Salaar doing? Didn’t he say he had a plan? Why hasn’t he made his move yet?

I’ve already stalled for so long… Huh?

Back then, was Salaar fighting him with this kind of feeling?

He was waiting for Salaar. Back then, who had Salaar been waiting for?

Myss froze in midair for an instant. In that moment of distraction, Redding’s palm struck Fork’s tail. Fork let out a scream, and it looked as if it and Myss were about to fall together.

“Careful!”

Salaar rushed over and bit Myss’s hair, dragging him away.

“Why are you here?” Myss frowned.

Shouldn’t Salaar be leading his army from the heavens into battle? Myss quickly glanced around. There wasn’t a single extra person present. Where was Salaar’s army?

Salaar spat out his cotton-thread hair. “I already said what needed to be said, so of course I came over.”

“After all, we are the army under ‘Brave Salaar.’ How can it be called an army if you’re the only one?”

Don’t tell me two people actually count as an army? Myss nearly choked on the sarcasm caught in his throat.

However, Salaar had just said they were “Brave Salaar’s” army. In other words…

Myss peeked over again. He abruptly discovered that Brief and Bedsheet Archdemon were no longer where they had been!

“Right! Upward!” Tass shouted, one hand curled in front of his button eye like a telescope.

The Salaar doll revealed a brilliant smile and grabbed Myss, flying to the right. Redding’s attack barely grazed the tops of their heads, and a gray-white thread slowly drifted down.

Myss immediately caught on. Could it be…

Salaar: “I do know where the Divine Blood Puppet’s core is.”

“Also, I’m not the only one familiar with rapid assaults. I only needed to tell Tass the target.”

“Tass has no magic,” Myss said.

“That doesn’t matter. This isn’t the story of a Dragon Fae assassin, nor is it your story or mine.”

The two tiny dolls broke through the wind, flying amid the pure-white waves.

“…This is their story. Here, they still possess ‘magic’.”

Myss froze for a moment, then whipped his head around.

“Awooo, awoooawah!”

Bedsheet Archdemon cried out as he flew into the sky. He could turn in midair, and his movements were far more agile than the two snakes bouncing around.

Brief was sprawled across Bedsheet Archdemon’s back. His right hand gripped his tiny sword, while his left hand held a round little bottle and a doodle paper scroll.

The two of them seemed to be fighting together for the first time, and their movements were somewhat clumsy.

Redding’s whip-like limb swept over, tearing Brief’s red cloak. The lines at his shoulder turned blood-red. They became twisted and incomplete, like ripped stitching.

Brief didn’t make a sound. He forcefully poured the little bottle over his shoulder. A few drops of golden liquid splashed out, and the scarlet lines wriggled back into their original form, turning ink-black again.

“Woo?”

“I’m fine.” Brief patted Bedsheet Archdemon and tightened his grip on the sword hilt in his right hand. In those ink-dot beady eyes, there was actually a hint of determination.

“Now!” Tass shouted.

Redding realized something was wrong. Most of his limbs attacked toward Bedsheet Archdemon. In the next instant, Brief vanished from Bedsheet Archdemon’s back without a trace.

So that was it. Myss’s button eyes flickered slightly.

…Brave Salaar had three extraordinary treasures.

He had a bottle of elf spring water kept in a crystal bottle, which could heal all wounds and illnesses, great and small.

He had a magical map drawn in golden ink, which could instantly reach every corner of the world.

These things were probably only useful to Brief himself. He simply had never had occasion to use them before. Now, there was only one problem left. That little sword drawn in ink was too fragile. It couldn’t even pierce burlap and cotton.

Unless…

Brief flashed behind Redding, raising that crudely drawn little sword high and stabbing toward a certain gap in Redding’s spine.

At the same instant, the entire Salaar doll threw himself into Myss’s arms. He gave up dodging and defense, entrusting his life to his enemy. The soft cloth hand pointed, and the doodle little sword shone with golden light.

It wasn’t as grand as anything Myss had seen, but it was bright enough.

In that brief instant, through that ridiculous simple doodle, Myss vaguely saw that mad guardian inside the seal.

The little sword stabbed deeply into Redding’s skin. That tiny puncture didn’t heal; instead, it triggered a chain reaction, causing spiderweb-like cracks to burst open across the skin.

Redding rolled on the spot, flinging Brief away.

Bedsheet Archdemon immediately rushed forward, spreading his soft bedsheet body and neatly catching Brief.

“This definitely isn’t a magic artifact effect. You can manipulate Divine Blood… You aren’t Kendrick Karns. Who—or what are you?”

Redding’s inverted face turned toward Brief. His voice was full of shock and rage, but his face still had no expression, which annoyed Myss.

“He is my enemy. My enemy!”

Myss loudly announced, ordering Fork to crash across Redding’s face. He seized the chance to punch him twice with his short little hands.

Now this was interesting. This was how things should be. Salaar should be stronger, stronger still. Only then would he be qualified to a thorn in Myss’s side for three hundred years.

“Damn it, has the Chaos Archdemon’s seal loosened? Are you His follower?”

Redding completely ignored Myss, only staring at Salaar, his tone growing more anxious.

Myss: “?”

How was this guy fabricating rumors about him out of thin air? Since when had he ever had followers?

No, wait. Why did Salaar being able to control Divine Blood make him get mistaken for Myss’s follower?

The Salaar doll remained silent, knowing only to play dead in Myss’s arms, while also supporting the fiercely battling Brief.

Brief didn’t let this golden opportunity slip.

He followed Tass’s commands and strictly adhered to the combat strategy from earlier, seizing the opportunity to stab Redding several more times. Every strike landed in the same place, and that patch of skin peeled open like a porcelain doll that had shattered from a fall.

Bedsheet Archdemon howled and yowled, happily swaying his body, looking quite excited.

With his vital point injured, Redding was unable to collect his thoughts. He seemed to have found something more important than the Divine Blood experiment. His eyes only stared at Myss and Salaar.

“Playing dumb is useless. ‘Divine Blood’ is a relic of the Night Scourge! It’s the power of the apocalypse!”

Redding’s voice was incomparably hoarse. “You ominous—pff!”

Myss rushed forward angrily, and Fork’s tail whipped across Redding’s mouth.

What relic of the Night Scourge? What power of the apocalypse? In the end, wasn’t it just his own divine power that had leaked out?

Rounding up, that was his property, his money. They were all spending his wealth without permission. Rather than letting the Stargazers Society use it, it might as well be given to Salaar. At least Salaar would hand over his wages.

“You’re using a Divine Blood Puppet yourself, and you still call him ominous?” Myss hissed. “Brief!”

Brief once again flashed behind Redding, persistently stabbing at that one weak point. The cracks grew larger, and the hollow was now the size of an eyeball.

Myss seized the opening and circled around Redding’s head. Fork shot straight into that broken hole. The two dolls fell from midair, only to be caught by Knife, which came immediately after.

The instant Fork drilled in, Redding’s body froze in place like a jammed machine. On his reversed face, his eyeballs turned in different directions, and clicking sounds came from his mouth.

“I see… Divine Blood… Divine Blood Puppet… you are…”

The Salaar doll directed Knife to circle to the front, and his cotton left hand pressed against the top of Redding’s upside-down head.

The end of Redding’s sentence vanished within that light touch. In the next instant, the black matter connecting the many body blocks dissipated like mist. The body blocks fell with crackling sounds and shattered into dust.

“Mental magic?” Myss was far too familiar with it.

“We couldn’t let him leak what happened here,” Salaar paused, then asked, “Aren’t you curious what he wanted to say?”

“Isn’t it just that you researched my power? I’ll figure it out myself.” Myss said indifferently. “Besides, no matter what you are in the human world, to me, you are simply ‘Salaar’.”

Salaar stopped talking and lightly bumped Myss’s face with his own again.

The gesture was so comical that Myss didn’t know whether to dodge or not. Since he was in a good mood right now, he let this guy rub against him.

“Done!” Tass shouted cheerfully.

Kalen also let out a breath and slightly relaxed his shoulders.

Amid the dust, Brief swayed as he stood up, shaking the powder off his red cloak. There were many more blood-red lines on his body, but Brief’s entire body had turned wavy, and he no longer even had the strength to pour the medicine.

Bedsheet Archdemon hurriedly landed, anxiously circling Brief while thin whimpers came from beneath the bedsheet.

“Don’t worry, Bedsheet. We won. We really won.”

Brief struggled forward two steps and hugged the soft Bedsheet Archdemon. His voice was as soft as a prayer.

“Whoo mi mi,” Bedsheet Archdemon called quietly.

“I’m fine. Everyone in the story is fine.” Brief wiped his eyes. “Thank you, thank you all! With only the two of us, we never could have beaten that monster!”

“Whooo!” Bedsheet Archdemon finally recovered some energy.

Myss couldn’t help sweeping a glance toward his Salaar. He suddenly discovered that Salaar’s doll body was trembling slightly. Clearly, “controlling Divine Blood” also came with a considerable price for him.

This was unfair, Myss thought. As the source of the Divine Blood, he hadn’t even figured out how to control this power… Once they got out of here, he really would have to interrogate Salaar.

Thinking this, he couldn’t resist stretching out his sinful hands and once again squeezed Salaar’s soft head into an hourglass shape.

Salaar stood in place as if used to it and sighed with his deformed head.

Amid the relaxed atmosphere, there was only one person who couldn’t be happy.

…Compared to Myss, Cousin Mag was clearly more concerned about Redding’s unfinished sentence.

“So far, no one has ever been able to control Divine Blood. For normal people, even skin contact is fatal.”

Magnolia spoke with certainty. “You absolutely cannot be Kendrick. Who are you?”

“In any case, not a Stargazer.” Salaar shrugged. “Madam, the Stargazers Society’s secret is right ahead. Don’t you think getting hung up on this right now is inappropriate?”

“I think the Stargazers Society’s Divine Blood experiment is definitely a little more important than me being a fake Kendrick. What, could it be that you and Mr. Kendrick have such a good relationship that you feel I deceived your feelings?”

“Don’t insult me. Who in their right mind would have a good relationship with that trash?”

Mag responded reflexively. “If not for Professor Gentry… Professor Gentry…”

She suddenly fell silent.

In Professor Gentry’s letter of introduction to the United Library, he had written Kendrick Karns name clearly. The United Library had specially verified it, and that letter had indeed been written by the professor himself.

In other words, either this impostor had extraordinary abilities and could deceive even a Kingdom Archmage, or Professor Gentry actually knew the truth and was willing to help these people deceive the United Library… deceive an institution directly under the Aufon royal family.

No matter which situation it was, she couldn’t afford to provoke these people.

In this battle, she had seen far too many things she shouldn’t have seen. The other side not immediately hitting her with mental magic was already courteous enough.

If she lost these precious records… Mag shivered and refused to think further.

“…Professor Gentry’s reputation carries a lot of weight.” Lady Mag stiffly continued, “What you said makes sense. The urgent priority is to understand the Divine Blood experiment and resolve the abnormality in the United Library.”

After saying this, she jumped off the priest’s shoe and rushed toward the ink hole as if her backside were on fire. Tass chuckled and jumped down right after her.

Only then did the priest move. When he stepped over the ashes of the Divine Blood Puppet, his heart abruptly twitched for no reason.

What was going on?

…Forget it. Perhaps his nerves had been too tense earlier.

Kalen shook his head and tossed away the thought.

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The author has something to say:

Lady Magnolia, stop struggling. Just accept your role as an inside agent for your fake cousin already! (???

Also, Salaar really isn’t the Chaos Archdemon follower. He’s the Chaos Archdemon’s family. [dog head]

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