Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf Mentor

Chapter 140: Dancing Abyss
On the throne, King Steds' figure gradually recovered amidst the frantic crimson dancing phantom.

And below the stage, all the guests were shocked by the sudden scene!
"You actually assassinated—"

But before they could finish their words, Lake turned around and swung her sword—

The sharp edge of the Star Killing Sword pierced through the king's head again in an instant, which was like a phantom in the water, and the star shadows on the surface of the Star Killing Sword formed a curtain of light!
The king's huge wound was instantly dispelled by Star Shadow.

The next moment, his body never recovered, and the rest of his body turned into wildly dancing red light and shadow.

From this moment on, this already false world seemed to have finally reached a point where it could not be repaired.

At the banquet below, the expressions of shock on the faces of the guests suddenly froze. Starting with the king, the ground, the light and shadows, and everyone else gradually began to blur, revealing a red glow...

"Don't be afraid, Danz!"

When the incident began, veteran Invi rushed down the stairs in a few steps and rushed towards the center of the ballroom, where the eldest princess, Danse, was standing at the front among several princesses.

He reached out his hand and held Dansi's hand as an evil red light appeared around him.

Then, the wildly dancing red shadows spread all over the sky!

The whole world has collapsed. I don’t know whether I am falling or rising. Gravity is gone. My body seems to be suspended, and it seems to be wrapped in a red shadow.

“Where…is this?!”

Poro was stunned. This world was like an absurd dream with extremely real senses. He could think and move, but he didn't know how to do it!
A veil that was meant to conceal the truth has been torn apart.

Perhaps, the scene before our eyes is the true truth revealed!
"Wait, I remember now, hold on to each other and don't separate—"

After grabbing Dans's hand, veteran Invi looked at the red light swirling around him, his face suddenly changed, and he spoke loudly.

"Brother Yinwei, where is this?"

Poro was stunned when he heard this, and reflexively grabbed Lake, who was still holding a sword and on guard, and then tried to move towards the veteran who was farther away.

But in this unusual space, I want to move, but I don’t know how to do it.

"This space must be somehow connected to the nature of the Wild Dancer. I rescued Danse from here a long time ago..."

Veteran Invi lowered his head and looked at Dansi, who was held tightly in his arms.

This time, Dans was not as mindless as Poro had always seen. She did not disappear with the surrounding scene. When she was suddenly pulled by Invi, her eyes revealed a hint of rational astonishment.

She studied the appearance of the veteran Invi and did not struggle.

After a moment of confusion, the panic gradually subsided, and she seemed to remember something. Her eyes began to reveal a kind of attachment and excitement of reunion after a long separation.

"Invi? Is...is it really you?!"

Dansi finally spoke, a clear tear flowing from the corner of her eye.

"Yes, it's me. Don't be afraid, Dans. This time—I will bring you back intact."

As the veteran Invi spoke, he hugged his arms tighter. The invisible cloak behind him gradually rose up, slowly covering half of his body and Danse's body.

Finally, he raised his head again, looked at Poro and Lake, and said in a deep voice:

“That time, I snatched away the demon-possessed prince’s dance partner, and here, Danse and I completed a dance of soul fusion.

Here, it is completely different from the outside world. This is the realm of the crazy dancers—

Dance allows you to sense the path through the abyss, and reason allows you to find the surface amidst the chaos...

Most importantly, exercise extra restraint, so you can stop your final dance steps, escape the dance epidemic that is about to penetrate your bones, and return to the surface of the sea! "

As the old soldier was speaking, Dansi in front of him moved her body slightly apart, then raised her hand and gently placed it on the old soldier Invi's shoulder.

They skillfully struck the poses of a standard and elegant Studzi Kingdom pas de deux.

"The last time I took Dansi, on the eve of touching the sea surface—

My self-control finally reached its limit.

With the help of the invisibility cloak, I was able to cut off the wild dancer's gaze on me, but the invisibility cloak could not perfectly cover both Dans and me, and a part of Dans remained here.

But this time, it won’t be like that.”

After the veteran Invi finished saying this, the red phantoms dancing wildly around seemed to have finally reached a critical point. In a trance, the mixed dance music disappeared when he listened attentively.

Finally, the last bit of virtual reality snapped like a taut string!
Like a tidal pull, it affected several people in an instant—

Poro's pupils shrank as he saw that the distance between him and the veteran and Dansi, who were originally only more than ten meters apart, had widened infinitely in one thousandth of a second!
In the blink of an eye, the dancing red phantom completely engulfed the veteran and Dans.

The only person beside him was Lake, whose hand he was holding. Her armor had disappeared, and she was still wearing a red cloak, looking around.

"Polo, your appearance this time seems to have suddenly become distorted..."

Finally, Lake still kept her gaze on Poro's face.

In Lake's eyes, the Poro who was originally disguised as a demon prince, after the world collapsed, his solid human appearance suddenly began to become like those phantoms, overlapping and unclear.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, this time the disguise is a little different. It's not caused by the circular return, but by the wild dancer..."

After hearing what Lake said, Poro came back to his senses from his chaotic thoughts and explained to Lake.

But the next moment, he seemed to sense something, his expression froze, and then he showed a hint of realization.

"Wait a minute, I get it!"

As the false world and memories twisted in the depths of his mind, Poro finally felt something more. His current body came from a demonic dancer, and...

The original senses and body.

"So, that's how it is..."

The blurry shape of the demon-possessed prince blurred and distorted at an accelerated rate, turning into a blood-red light of the same color as the surrounding area. It began to rapidly gather and shrink, revealing the Poro's true wolf-shaped body hidden within.

Finally, the red light split into two and was sucked into the Poro's eyes.

The red light in her eyes gradually faded and turned back into green pupils. The hand they had just held turned into Lake holding the Poro's wolf claw.

It turns out that the human body of this possessed prince is the materialization of the energy in the Poro body that was plundered from the six possessed princes.

Not only that, Poro also felt that now, in this strange space——

It seems that he has gained more flexible and perfect control over the energy of this wild dancer that does not belong to him!

He even felt that as long as he wanted, he could even control these energies and create a human body of any shape for himself!

"Oh, a new disguise?"

Lake asked, looking at the changes in Poro in amazement.

"I think it might be because of the special environment here that I have this ability."

Poro shook his head, and suddenly changed from a human body to a wolf body again. He still felt a sense of disharmony.

He looked around, and in the crimson light and shadows, it seemed like countless people in different clothes were dancing wildly.

But when I looked closely, it became blurry and disappeared.

In such a world, Poro and Lake can only see each other. Without direction and gravity, Poro can only feel the girl's warm touch through her palm.

"Well, it seems that now, there are only two of us left." Lake bent down, stretched out his arms, and took the Poro in his arms, looking at the wildly changing red dancing afterimages around him.

"Now, do you want to hear a story?"

Poro narrowed his eyes slightly. He could feel a demonic attraction from the dancing abyss on all sides, stirring his muscles.

Because of the special nature of its soul, Poro was not bewitched by this invisible attraction.

Lake was also affected by this anomaly. Only the Star-Killing Sword at her waist, still wrapped in blood-red light and shadow, emitted a misty silver light, which prevented Lake's sanity from collapsing in this crazy temptation.

It is the specialness of these two people that makes them different from ordinary people...

His mind was infected by the dance plague, and he turned into a monster that danced wildly all night long.

"A story? Let me guess...it's about dancing, right, Poro?"

Lake placed a green finger on her fair chin, blinked her blue eyes smartly, and asked with a smile.

"Of course, I think the current atmosphere is very suitable."

Poro listened carefully to the faint sounds of dance music in the Mad Dancer's alternate dimension, and slowly spoke:
"The first story is called... The Twelve Dancing Princesses."

"Once upon a time, there was a king who had twelve daughters, all of whom were as beautiful as flowers.

They all slept in the same room, twelve beds placed side by side, and when they went to bed at night, the door was closed and locked.

But from one day on, every morning when the king woke up, he found that their shoes were worn out, as if they had danced all night.

What happened or where they went, no one knew.

In order to solve the mystery, the king announced that whoever could follow the princesses for three consecutive nights without being discovered and find out their secret would be able to marry one of the princesses and inherit half of the kingdom.

But if you fail, you will be executed..."

Poro spoke slowly. The faint dance music in the surrounding environment did not interfere with his clear voice. Lake also listened attentively, nodding in immersion from time to time.

At the climax of the story, she opened her mouth slightly with joy, revealing a bright smile.

//Grimm's Fairy Tales: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
"On the morning of the third day, the old soldier revealed the answer to the king.

The king was pleased with the old soldier's courage and wisdom, allowed him to choose a princess as his wife, and gave him the promised reward.

The old soldier chose the eldest princess, and they were married and lived happily ever after."

After Poro finished telling this story, Lake also looked a little dazed.

"So, this fairy tale is about... Mr. Invi?"

Lake whispered, "But if reality is really like this fairy tale, Mr. Invi will definitely be much happier than he is now, right?"

"Yes, but in this world, reality is always much more ruthless than these fairy tales."

Poro shook his head, then added, "Fortunately, Invida rescued his lover, just like in the fairy tale, although... it wasn't perfect."

Poro was silent, and the image of the veteran holding Dansi in his arms, dancing in the red light and shadow, flashed through his mind.

At that time, the tenderness on the face of that weathered man seemed more affectionate than ever before.

"I just hope that we can finally resolve this matter. Even though King Studs has long since turned into ruins in the darkness, at least—will there be a relatively happy ending?"

Poro took a deep breath and said, his eyes flashing with gold.

In the spiritual realm, a page of a book is about to emerge.

"What about Ms. Cullen? And that wild dancer...what is it?"

At this moment, Lake suddenly thought of something, frowned and asked, in the story told by Poro, there were almost no elements from Karen.

The only connection is the old man who gave the veteran the invisibility cloak.

"Don't worry, Lake."

Poro smiled, but did not take out the golden page that was about to condense. Through the memory given by [Spiral Beacon: Wise Man], he finally recalled the vague fairy tale deep in his memory.

In fact, Poro's memory of these two fairy tales is not particularly clear.

Without the superhuman memory granted by [Spiral Beacon: The Wise], Poro would never have been able to recall these two fairy tales, let alone connect them with the current situation.

"Today's second fairy tale is called - The Red Shoes."

Poro paused, organizing the content and words of the second fairy tale in his mind.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl named Karen.

Little Karen's family was very poor and had no money to buy shoes.

The poor little girl went barefoot in the summer and had to wear a pair of clumsy and heavy wooden shoes in the winter.

Little Karen has always had a wish in her heart: to have a pair of red dancing shoes like the princess's..."

The first half of the story of "The Red Shoes" has a comfortable and ordinary beauty, but in the middle, when Karen puts on the red shoes and starts dancing wildly without control of her body...

It has a kind of gloom that is incompatible with fairy tales.

//Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales: The Red Shoes
"She sat alone at home, stroking her two wooden legs, praying to God for help...

Just then, the angel reappeared with a bouquet of roses and forgave Karen.

Karen's heart is filled with sunshine, peace and joy.

Her soul flew to heaven in the sunshine, where no one would ever mention the red shoes.

The second fairy tale has also been told. It contains the story about Karen, the red dancing shoes that couldn't stop dancing, and many other things... It seems that the corresponding answers can be found in this dark reality.

"The Red Shoes" and "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" are combined together.

Ultimately, this resulted in the Kingdom of Steds being destroyed in an endless dancing plague.

After hearing this story, Lake's blue eyes also fell into thought.

It was a fairy tale, a dreamlike story, but combined with the demon-possessed princes she and Poro encountered, the people who died while dancing, and the entire capital of Steds, which was covered with wriggling, dancing flesh and blood...

But it carries an indescribable weirdness.

"Polo, what is this page of the book? What is the corresponding unsealing ceremony?"

Lake took a deep breath, looked at Poro and asked.

Poro spread out his claws, and two golden lights emerged, outlining the outlines of two pages of a book—

The title on it was the first thing that appeared in front of the two people.

One is "Circular Return: Twelve Dancing Princesses: Endless Dance"

The other is "Circular Return: The Red Shoes: Dance of Liberation"

　Pictures don't count towards the word count. I wonder if this would be better. These fairy tales all have different versions. The pictures I inserted in the text are actually a little different from what I saw myself, but the general plot is not much different.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)