Brain bloom

An unnamed fire ignited in Melia's heart.

But that wasn't the case at all—Dandelion looked pained, removed her corolla, and plucked a tiny petal from the yellow flower. Then, she pried open Mori's little mouth and placed the petal on her tongue.

She complained playfully, "Silly strawberry, I can only bloom once a year, such a precious thing... and you've already eaten three petals..."

"Thank you, Princess."

"I just hope you get better soon. Who told you to drink so much in one go? You're so dizzy... And you even said you'd help me brew wine."

As the scent of dandelion petals spread through Mori's mouth, her eyes slowly regained their sparkle.

Upon seeing this, Melia realized that dandelion petals might have some kind of healing effect.

Melia was understandably surprised, because the dizziness was caused by the potion she had added. It wasn't a simple medicine, yet it had been so easily dispelled… its potency was remarkable.

"I...I'm much better! How am I now? The enemy, right? Who cares what the enemy is...Let's go! Dandelion, let's deal with them."

Mori Shi propped himself up and sat up, with only one thought in his mind: to get away from Melia as quickly as possible.

Moreover, she had to take Dandelion with her on the run. If things were exposed, she hadn't figured out how to explain why she had two bodies.

"It's the Calamity Mist. This ship unfortunately encountered it, but we still don't know which type of Calamity Mist it is this time."

Melia gently placed her hand on Morishi's shoulder, her voice warm.

"But don't worry, I'm here."

"Hmph... I'm here too."

Dandelion gripped the staff that Mori had specially made for her tightly, glaring defiantly at the enemy. She had healed Mori, securing a victory, and now she needed to press her advantage.

She didn't want Mori to leave her like this, because then... she would truly be all alone.

But the so-called enemy did not appear, and the murky fog that should have been very conspicuous did not materialize. Only the exceptionally noisy guests continued their boisterous revelry and heavy drinking.

"Where's the Evil Mist? Are you sure it's this?"

"Listen up, everyone, I have a suggestion," Yuan said, her expression grim. "Make a deal with me. I'm willing to expend a little of my life force to take you to the Demon Realm for refuge. Because the person who came this time... is extremely troublesome."

"No, I don't want you to waste your time."

“But, it’s really troublesome…” Yuan retreated step by step, as if fearing an invisible ominous mist.

There was no sign of any enemy in the place they were facing, but there was still a chilling power present.

Even Mori, who had just regained consciousness, noticed something amiss. It wasn't that she was particularly perceptive, but when she focused intently on the air, she saw blurry character name frames floating around... but they appeared and disappeared intermittently, making it impossible to discern any enemy information.

“Daniel,” Melia called to her guardian, “Protecting this Seasonal One is the top priority. Her head is covered in leaves, but she has no flower crown. You can tell, right?”

A dragon's roar that resounded through the heavens and earth responded, indicating that it had accepted the command.

Mori silently stood up, thinking that he wasn't that weak, and then held the staff in his hand.

But... what is Evil Mist again? I've heard of it before. It's supposed to be a leaden-gray fog that permeates the sea, a terrifying natural phenomenon? Mori didn't quite understand why this thing appeared here and why it had silently gotten involved with the Night Market.

Seeing that others could summon such a cool dragon, Dandelion felt a little frustrated. But a sly glint flashed in her eyes, and she spoke up, not wanting to be outdone.

"Fu Fu".

The salt sprite's azure light emerged from Sen Shi's pocket, and Melia looked at this crystallization of nature with some surprise.

"Are you salty enough?" the dandelion asked.

"Ah."

"Could we trouble the reliable Fu Fu to go and investigate? It seems there's an enemy that only you can handle, and they've already boarded our ship. We're all terrified."

Fu Fu naturally felt a sense of responsibility and agreed, planning to fly around the ship once to see what the enemy was.

Before it had flown far, just as it reached the various barbecue stalls, it seemed to have collided with something unseen, causing space to instantly distort. This was extremely abnormal, and a silent roar could be heard in the air.

"That's a salt spirit? A child of the sea! No wonder it frightens something like the Evil Mist..."

"It has many other uses too, you can't even imagine," the dandelion said proudly.

“Yuan, do you know why this ominous fog has no color? This phenomenon has never occurred before.”

"...Finally listening to me seriously? Cough cough, the ominous mist around here has probably devoured the 'invisible corpse pickers,' which is why it has the characteristic of being invisible...So what's coming next is destined to be very troublesome."

The salt spirit's nature of exorcising evil had prematurely angered the Evil Mist.

Knowing that it had been exposed, what was hiding inside hastily launched its first attack.

To all those nobles who are still indulging in pleasure and treating Fufu like a star fallen from the sky...

This attack remains invisible.

At first, it was a young couple standing on the other side of the boat, bathed in moonlight, whispering sweet nothings to each other.

The woman, her heart filled with sweetness, had just parted from her lover's lips. As she shyly lowered her head, she noticed a strange glint in the light on the ground. It seemed to be a ring of blood? Curious, she lowered her head, wanting to see more clearly.

The mark grew deeper and deeper, and the blood became more intense.

"What are you looking at? My moon," the man asked curiously.

"There seems to be a face here...it looks...like me?"

The woman noticed that the bloodstains on the ground were gradually congealing and turning into a face.

A woman's face.

As the facial features became clearer, she finally recognized it. It was exactly the same face she had seen in the mirror before going out that day, when she was getting ready; it was her own face.

She was delighted: "My star, is this a surprise from you? It looks so real! What a beautiful night!"

"...No." The man looked surprised.

The woman continued to admire her face on the ground, but... she didn't paint the eyes on that face.

She was a little puzzled, because her eyes were very beautiful. Was it because he deliberately didn't paint them? Just as the woman was about to look up and question him, it seemed that someone patted her on the shoulder.

She turned around and saw that it was just a wisp of lead-gray mist.

Then, the mist climbed onto her face, like two fingers gouging out her two proud eyeballs. A grating voice could almost be heard laughing: "Thank you for your generosity."

Volume 1 #147 The Invisible Corpse Collector

Such incidents were unfolding across the entire deck. The victims were not only the couple, but also other nobles and celebrities.

Suddenly, numerous bloodstained faces appeared on the ground, on the dining table, or on the barbecue grill. Without exception, they were all their own likenesses. And it wasn't just faces; some were even parts of the body, all depicted with incredible precision.

Furthermore, all of them are missing parts.

Some are missing facial features, others are missing fingers, half an arm, or toes; there are all sorts of missing features.

After that, if you respond to the ominous mist tapping your shoulder—by turning your head back—that part of your body will be taken away by the ominous mist. Incessant screams spread panic in an instant.

An invisible ominous mist continuously erodes people's bodies. One moment they are enjoying food and discussing art under the stars, but the next they are no longer whole.

But soon people noticed that even though his eyes had been gouged out and his arms had been torn off, no blood flowed from the cuts. Instead, there was an ambiguous, misty substance that was even more chilling.

The four of them, including Sen, were standing quite far away and were not affected by the phenomenon. However, they couldn't appreciate this eerie sight either.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Dandelion got goosebumps all over her body.

“These marks on the ground, this method of committing the crime, uh, could it be an ‘invisible corpse picker’?” Mori murmured.

Hearing her accurately state the name, Yuan was quite surprised: "Huh, Mori Toki knows about this too? That's right, this method, coupled with its invisible characteristics, must be that thing."

"Um...I know."

She recalled the gaming era when she took on a complicated side quest related to the invisible corpse collectors, and the details gave Mori a headache again.

Just as its name suggests, it is precisely because of its invisible nature that it can approach the Night Market without making a sound. But being "invisible" is not the most troublesome aspect.

The Invisible Corpse Collectors are a very rare but extremely vicious and notorious race. They rank among the top three most troublesome groups in the world.

Because it will intimidate the other party based on its own interests, steal a part of the other party, and then never return it.

It's not impossible to get it back, but the hassle makes it seem like it's better to give up and spend a lot of money to find a high-level healing spell to restore the lost part. At that time, the side quest that Mori encountered in the game was to help an NPC get back their lost mouth.

This task required collecting items a total of 47 times, switching maps 30 times, and interacting with 200 NPCs.

It was all to find out where that damn monster had gone... I found it three times, and lost it three times.

But on the night market bus, the four of them weren't the only ones who assessed the situation and grasped the facts.

"Don't panic."

With a resounding shout, a man as majestic as a lion firmly stepped onto the deck. He was none other than the greatest adventurer of all time, and now the renowned Lord Balzac of Silvermoon City.

He enjoys a very high reputation, and his abilities are still trusted by the people.

The panicked people heard his voice and surged towards him like a tide, hoping he would protect them from the unknown danger. They would probably accept it even if it meant a fivefold increase in taxes.

Lord Balzac resembled a statue, with only his long golden beard fluttering in the wind, which was indeed reassuring.

But the first thing this powerful figure, whom everyone relied on, did was not to casually annihilate the enemy, nor to heal the missing parts of the people. Instead, he looked at the Demon Queen, who stood in the corner, watching the show with her giant axe.

He spoke up: "Your Majesty Queen of Chaos, please lend a hand."

"It's very expensive, you know," Melia said with a smile.

The panicked crowd then realized that they could rely on much more than just Lord Balzac. Their commotion gradually subsided; since the Demon Queen was also on their side, what was there to fear?

"What is the price?"

"I haven't decided yet, and you don't have a choice anyway. Whatever I propose, you have no choice but to accept it."

"...Then I will pay." Lord Balzac accepted with a serious expression.

What do you want me to do?

"In short, let's prevent this guy from escaping."

"I knew it would be like this."

Melia raised her hand towards the sky—Senshi could see clearly that on Melia's raised index finger was wrapped the third-class array of magic and the foundation of the world, Barahbrot. This must be a spatial magic, capable of being cast instantly with a flick of the wrist…

The thought that she might have taught me makes me a little itchy to try it myself.

Then, it transformed into a unique mental energy fluctuation that enveloped the entire Night Market area.

"As you wished, this ship has become a cage." With that, she casually took out a stamina potion from a golden bottle and took a small sip.

Lord Balzac breathed a sigh of relief before turning to his subjects.