Brain bloom

"Oh." Dandelion's movement to shake Senshi's little hand also stopped.

Sen Shi sensed that something was wrong, and even the Ancient Demon King, Fernanda, and Melia moved to a different spot.

Sen Shi hurriedly said, "I'll wash the dishes when I get back... I promise I'll wash the dishes this time, for a whole month! After tonight, I'll spend every day with you! Let's go on a trip to the Holy Coffin Kingdom, I'll pay for the whole trip! By then, I won't care whether Silvermoon City is dead or blown up!"

“I don’t care about the future… Where are you going tonight? And it’s night now, there are terrifying ghosts, don’t you know? I told you that as soon as I summoned you.”

"...Obviously, I know. I also know they won't run rampant for now, and even if they do...cough cough, don't make me finish." The Four Seasons One knew better than anyone what these things that made nightmares come true were all about.

Dandelion's tone remained unchanged: "So, what do you want to do?"

"Kill some monsters, since there seem to be quite a few of them in Silvermoon City. I think it would be a good exercise."

She forced a smile and explained that she lacked that one crucial bit of experience. If she missed out on the puppets left behind by the Calamity Mist, she feared she might never have another chance…

Between the delicious dandelion dish and leveling up by fighting monsters, Mori chose the latter. For some reason, there was a particularly foolish feeling that "the game is more fun than you"...

"That's it? Fine, go away, go away, go away." Dandelion was no longer so gentle.

"...Are you angry?"

“Yes, I understand that you should go to which ruins, so I’ve been busy preparing dinner for you all afternoon… and now it’s all ruined.” She raised her voice and sneered several times.

"I……"

Suddenly, Dandelion pulled out her staff, hoisted it onto her shoulder as if she were about to punch someone, and said with a grim expression, "I have to vent this frustration."

Sen realized he had stepped on a landmine again, and although he looked pained, he closed his eyes.

"...Be gentle."

"What do you mean 'lightly'? Hmph, you look kind of cute when you're scared, but too bad I'm not going to hit you."

"That?"

"Don't forget, I'm a magician too." Dandelion gave her a "I can't do anything with you" look and gently took Morishi's hand. "Come on, I'll go with you to hunt down those monsters who don't understand romance."

"……well."

"We will also take responsibility to prevent you from being accidentally harmed by ghosts."

Mori forgot to reply, and before she knew it, she realized that she was no longer a lone player.

Volume 1 #255 The Master of the Cursed Mist

"It's already evening, you'd better not go out," the Ancient Demon King warned.

In the past, the devil didn't care about the lives of others. But it still spoke up, after all, it was already quite familiar with Sen Shi, and it would need her to borrow the set of relics of the first Pope. Nothing was more important than its daughter's survival.

Even the ancient king of demons didn't fully understand the ghosts that haunted the human world at night. In any case, one should always be cautious of things whose nature is unknown.

"I...I'll go too."

Although Melia also feared the night, her intuition always warned her that Dandelion would do something very detrimental to her father.

Fernanda tried to stop her, but Dandelion spoke first.

“Although you are all among the strongest in the world, you will also be in danger once night falls. Unfortunately, only we Four Seasons Warriors can embark on this journey.”

"So you two can return safely?"

Sen Shi, listening nearby, broke out in a cold sweat. He felt that Dandelion's words were an indication that, "Yeah, the ghosts are all caused by the Four Seasons, aren't you scared?" Because these ghosts were a phenomenon affecting the entire world, influencing too many things, there was no guarantee that Melia wouldn't turn on him.

But Dandelion was smarter than she thought; perhaps she had already rehearsed this situation beforehand.

"Do you know why the winery is safe at night? It's not because it's far from Silvermoon City, but because there are only plants here."

She explained without batting an eye—

"Haven't you noticed? Every night when it ends and the next day comes, the streets are perfectly fine. The green leaves and flowers used to decorate the city are also safe. The essence of the Four Seasons is almost completely covered by the scent of plants. As long as you don't provoke them, you can escape from the clutches of ghosts."

"Hmm...is that so? Aunt Fernanda, Uncle Ancient Demon King, what do you think?"

"The plant scent of the four seasons truly obscures the essence of the soul."

"It seems... to make sense."

They didn't believe it entirely, but they didn't think it was the truth either. Dandelion, not forgetting, added a few more words—

"After all, it was quite some time after the Kingdom of Flowers was destroyed before the ghosts appeared. Perhaps it was God punishing this world that was always in turmoil? In any case, no one knows who did it, but it must have forgotten that there were survivors among the Four Seasons... It's so sad that our race has perished, even the ghosts have forgotten us, alas."

"Princess, don't be too sad."

Mori closed his eyes, sighed softly, and pretended to echo Dandelion's melancholy tone.

So, the two Seasonal Beings, after getting ready, supported and relied on each other, reminiscing about the past prosperity of the Kingdom of Flowers, as they headed towards Silvermoon City.

The dim night had enveloped everything. But it was not yet time for people to fall asleep and for nightmares to come true.

Sen walked very fast, and Dandelion followed calmly.

Unlike his previous explorations of the ruins, Mori put away the skull, leaving only the Pope's hand bone, which was still tied with a rope and used as a flail. The oppressive underground atmosphere no longer affected the dandelion.

She didn't sit idle either; she lit a lamp to light the way.

It's a low-level plant magic exclusive to the Four Seasons type: Light-Calling Leaf. This makes some of the leaves on her head glow, making them very conspicuous at night. From a distance, they look like a few glowing leaves floating in the air, which should be enough to scare children.

The situation in Silvermoon City is not good.

There were hardly any people left, but an unusual stench permeated the air.

The smell of corpses, vomit, and a mixture of blood and ominous mist wafted through the air from time to time. Although the corpses had not yet decomposed to the point of attracting flies and maggots, it was still quite unpleasant.

They encountered their first wave of enemies after entering the city.

A group of skeleton golems, averaging around level 40, but not mere skeletons; instead, they were shrouded in the dark hues of the Evil Mist. Upon closer inspection, remnants of meat and orange-yellow fat could be seen on the bones—leaves the Evil Mist hadn't completely devoured.

Six skeletons were chasing the rat, while the remaining three seemed to have discovered that there were survivors inside the house.

Mori and Dandelion hid, preparing to discuss their strategy with paper and pen. But for some reason, these guys still sensed the arrival of the two vibrant Four Seasons Girls. Their empty pupils turned to where they were hiding, and they quickly approached.

"How did you find out...?"

“Maybe it’s because you were holding a skull hand, and they thought it was one of their own… Oh dear, what do we do now?” Dandelion wasn’t panicked, because Sen Shi was more reliable than anyone else.

As if in response to expectations, Mori immediately jumped out and hurled the sacred object at the skeleton running in the lead.

This isn't a monster from the ruins, but a creature covered in hard black bones. No matter how holy the Pope is, his bones are no different in hardness. If they clashed head-on, the Pope might break a bone.

Mori's fingers moved lightly and gracefully, like an old puppeteer who had manipulated puppets for decades, with exquisite control over the strings.

Before the collision, Mori adjusted his position and only grazed the object.

But in the next instant, the hand seemed to come alive, the ropes binding its five fingers spun, and the Pope's hand suddenly descended from the sky, grasping the skull's head.

And so, the first skeleton was crushed into ashes by the Pope, purifying even the darkness.

Unfortunately, Mori gained very little experience, since these were just low-level minions, even lower than her own level. She might have to kill a thousand of them to reach level 50.

Moreover, this method of fighting is very inefficient... manipulating the hand bones is simply too exhausting. Helpless, Mori still chose to take out the skull and let the Pope kiss it.

Dandelion, who had been cheering from behind, suddenly noticed that another group of skeletons had discovered survivors.

She was a woman with a livid face. If I remember correctly, she was a bookstore clerk and had even recommended a few good books to me.

Mori was carrying the bone and running around wildly, unable to free his hands. Dandelion hesitated, but still helped. Instead of using her staff to blast away the poisonous natural magic, she put it down and then did something strange.

She clapped her hands, the four long and one short claps ringing out loudly in the quiet night.

The skeletons, who were originally filled with murderous intent and only acting on their killing instincts, froze as if bewitched. Mori casually used his bones to purify one of them and figured out the method inside.

"Princess... is this how we control the Evil Mist?"

"Yes, this is my first time using it too. It seems the records passed down are correct."

She snapped her fingers—in an instant, the skeletons collapsed, with only a few wisps of ominous mist flowing from their skulls and flying toward the dandelions.

But the dandelion disdained these secondhand goods and decisively rejected their offer of refuge. With a casual flick of its wrist, it unleashed a low-level wind blade spell, slicing the evil mists to shreds.

Sen Shi was quite surprised and wanted to ask her, "Why didn't you use this method sooner?" but he swallowed his words. Silvermoon City had shown hostility towards the Four Seasons, and the major nations had previously fought against the Four Seasons, so she really had no reason to help.

Moreover, she is a being who experiences all four seasons...

"You...you all..." the rescued person murmured in a daze.

Sen Shi sighed inwardly. The other party had witnessed the whole thing and heard the conversation just now, so a misunderstanding was probably inevitable.

She didn't expect to be understood, but she still explained, "We are not the ones who orchestrated the massacre of the city by the Evil Mist, nor are we your enemies... at least not now."

"I...I know! I just wanted to say...thank you..."

Volume 1, Chapter 256: Battlefield of the Strongest

Rescuing survivors along the way happened a total of three times during Mori and Dandelion's journey.

But they only received "thank yous" the first time, thankfully without revealing that the Four Seasons Ones could control the Calamity Mist, so they didn't care. Sen Shi began to feel tired; a day without food, water, or irrigation was already difficult enough, and now, out leveling up, there were no monsters to gain experience from…

"Dandelion".

"Hmm? Do you want me to water it for you? You look so unhappy." She noticed that the strawberry leaves weren't very cheerful.

Sen Shi shook his head: "Let's go back and talk about it. I want to ask, how far can you go with your manipulation of the Evil Mist? Can I learn it?"

"If it could replenish mental energy, it could probably cover the entire city... It's a pity you can't learn it, because it's too complicated. I also practiced it when I was a child, when I was learning royal etiquette and historical traditions."

"Then let's get rid of all the skeletons in the city."

It was a pity that she couldn't make the experience her own, but killing them one by one was too much of a waste of time. She handed the bottle of wine from her pocket to Dandelion, which contained freshly made blue potion. Mori had also added new seasonings to make it taste better.

“No problem,” Dandelion asked, “but won’t it affect you? Because you said you came out to gain experience.”

"They are too weak."

Upon hearing the powerful man's words, Dandelion's gaze towards Sen Shi was now tinged with respect. Then, she casually summoned several beautiful morning glories, which, like trumpets, surrounded her hand.

Mori immediately knew what she was going to do, so he covered his ears.

She clapped her hands vigorously, the four long claps followed by one short one, amplified and amplified by the morning glories. The sound reached across the entire city, and even as far away as the winery, the applause could be faintly heard.

Then came a snap of the fingers, signifying "disbandment".

Although Mori couldn't see it, the night was so quiet that you could hear the intermittent sounds of bones breaking apart...

This was a battle fought without bloodshed, a battle fought only with sound.