The Mythical Path of a Princess from a Destroyed Kingdom

Having taken the house keys, old Enzo put away the gold coins and, without giving Maginus time to back out, eagerly invited them upstairs.

The five of them entered the same room first, and Maginus told them to move around freely: "We've arrived in the land of music, so relax and take on the mission again in ten days."

"Yay! Master, let's go to the circus tomorrow!"

Neko knew that Maginus hadn't forgotten what he promised her, and she couldn't wait to see the most famous night circus on the continent.

Of course, we need to rest today; the carriage ride was tiring.

"Okay, let's go first."

"I'll also go and meet up with some acquaintances."

After leaving the room, Nei Ke showed no intention of doing anything else, and simply lay down on the bed and fell asleep in broad daylight.

As silence fell, Maginus snapped her fingers to activate her life force as a protective shield, ensuring she could detect anyone approaching immediately.

She raised her hand and stared at the lines on her palm. She slowly stretched her hand forward, and her bones made a few cracking sounds. Then, the entire part of her right wrist below the wrist turned into liquid from flesh to bone.

She felt all the expected pain. Maginos could have easily cut off the pain, but she didn't. She felt the excruciating pain of her palm suddenly bursting open, but her expression didn't change at all. She was already used to the pain.

The arm retracted, and the liquid wrist slowly slid through the bar, gathering and reshaping the will of Zero Four Zero Five Mongols into a new form. If one had to describe it, the overall shape was somewhat like... a cat's paw.

The five fingers stretched out and pressed against the ground, the palm solidified from the fingertips, and blood-red nails appeared first, followed not by furry hairs, but by scarlet claws covered with scales.

"They are only similar in shape, but their internal structure, whether in terms of bone or muscle hardness, does not meet the standards."

Muttering to herself, Maginos, who wasn't very good at fine manipulation, squeezed her palm to make it return to its original state. She took out the dragon bone from her dimensional bag and played with it carefully, controlling the state of her palm bones as they slowly approached the dragon bone.

At the same time, she was also multitasking, breathing and guiding the surrounding magic into her body. Her spiritual energy was partially modifying her blood, making it more like dragon blood.

"Huff... hiss... huff... hiss..."

Maginus's breathing was incredibly long, and several hours passed without her showing the slightest change. But she wasn't in a hurry; the process of change was destined to be very long.

What she wanted was not just a temporary conversion of magic into life force, but to make this dragon-like characteristic a complete part of her, and after gaining spell-like abilities, to let it continue to be a special ability that would not be affected by anti-magic fields or anti-psychic fields.

"Master, it's time to get up. Didn't you promise to come to the circus with me?"

Maginus, who had lost track of time, opened her eyes, put away the dragon bone in her hand, stood up, and looked outside: "What time is it now? Where is everyone else?"

"It's already the second night. Kxia and the others said they went to scout out the situation to see if there were any suitable cases, but I guess they went on a date. As for Uncle Ajac, he said he went to see his old flame."

Neko wrapped her arms around the girl from behind, nuzzling her face which was warm in winter and cool in summer, and Maginos agreed, "Let's go, do you know the way?"

"Haha, I went out for a special trip at noon today and found the circus a long time ago. Hurry up, hurry up."

Dragged along by the excited Neko to the circus, Maginos recalled the information about the Dark Night Circus.

This circus is known throughout the continent for its dazzling performances and its dark, eerie, and intensely focused environment. Every member of the circus is a professional, and they perform in more than one city; it just so happens that the Muse has recently arrived.

"It's there!"

In the capital city where there is no curfew, Maginus, guided by Neco, sees a circus tent, surrounded by an overwhelming aura of death.

Chapter 385 Believer Selection

Do you think circuses take on assassination jobs?

Countless scarlet threads in the sky converged toward the circus, each thread representing a dead life.

An ordinary circus could not possibly cause so much damage; this is probably just a facade.

It's none of her business. She's just here to watch the performance, so let's just leave it alone.

With their special vision off, Maginos and Neko walked towards the circus as ordinary tourists. A large number of tourists had already gathered around, waiting for the circus to open, wondering if the circus could accommodate so many spectators.

The locked gates slowly opened, and a beautiful woman with silver powder on her face and a handsome man stood at the entrance, smiling and calling out loudly to the people behind them to line up so they could buy tickets more quickly.

Their words carried a certain magic. Ordinary residents lined up on their own, while professionals and those with strong wills, whose impact was quickly resolved or who were not affected at all, also lined up with a hint of fear in their eyes.

Maginus and others are considered to be in the middle tier, and it's unclear whether it will be their turn.

The line moved forward slowly, and when it was their turn, Neeko made a "two" gesture with her fingers: "Two tickets."

"Miss is a beastman? That's quite rare. Have a good time."

The ticket seller smiled and handed two tickets to Maneko. Maginus reached out and took them first, feeling a subtle magic flow into her body through the paper.

With a slight tremor in her body, Maginus used her psychic energy and life force to clear away the strange magic. Pretending to know nothing, she entered the enclosure and, guided by the group, went into the tent, where someone was checking tickets outside.

We entered the circus smoothly. The spaciousness inside was completely disproportionate to the size of the outer tent. The top of the tent even reflected the color of the night sky. Strangely, there were no stars in the night sky, giving it a deep and dark feeling.

The entire circus tent is a magical prop, specially expanded to accommodate more audience members, befitting the most prestigious circus.

Maginot found her seat according to her ticket number, and soon the entire circus was full of people. Perhaps because the tickets were expensive enough, there was still plenty of space between the seats, so there was no need to worry about people crowding together.

Leaning back, Maginus subconsciously released her life force to scan her surroundings, only relaxing completely after confirming there was nothing amiss. Neko, gazing excitedly at the stage below, asked without turning her head:

"Master, have you ever seen a circus before?"

"No, I didn't have the chance before, and I didn't have the time later."

Before the performance even started, many audience members were chatting idly. Maginus sensed a peculiar magical fluctuation and looked up. Suddenly, darkness enveloped the surroundings, and everyone instinctively fell silent in response to this sudden change.

A light shone in the center of the stage, and a clown in full costume looked up at the crowd, gesturing wildly to show his respect to the audience:

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Dark Night Circus! Here you are guaranteed to see the most spectacular performances. Without further ado, let's begin our first act: Escape from the Tiger's Mouth!"

The lights went out again, and when they came back on, the clown was gone. Maginus saw a mechanism at the bottom of the stage open, revealing several bound people. They slowly awoke from their unconsciousness, looking around sleepily, unsure of their situation.

On the other side, a huge cage was raised, and a saber-toothed tiger, about four or five meters long, kept raising its legs and pawing at the ground. Its eyes were full of hunger and desire as it looked at the people in front of it and the audience in the stands.

"How did we get here?!" "Damn it, this is a circus! We've been captured by the Night Assassins!"

The group looked around in panic, and their expressions changed drastically when they noticed the hungry saber-toothed tiger.

Of course, it was all an act. Maginus could sense that their vitality had remained unchanged; they had been awake from the beginning, and their subsequent fear and tension were all a facade.

It's probably just for the sake of the show; maybe the circus wants to lure out someone else.

Maginos, who showed no interest in these things, sighed unusually and reached out to grab Neko's hand, who was focused on the performance. The cat didn't turn around but just clenched her fist, her face showing excitement as she watched the saber-toothed tiger pounce on the bound crowd.

Other audience members hesitated because of the actors' authentic performances, but when they saw the tiger pounce, they gasped in surprise, and many instinctively covered their eyes, even though their fingers were wide open.

At the critical moment, the bound men broke free of their ropes and quickly separated to avoid the saber-toothed tiger's attack. Some of them had cuts on their faces, and blood splattered everywhere. Many of the professionals had strange expressions on their faces.

There's no way a cut would bleed so much; everyone guessed it was fake blood, but no one pointed it out. They were all there to see the performance, so it didn't need to be too real, just exciting.

More dramatic battles are presented on stage, with the actors employing more expansive and dynamic fighting styles to allow the audience to better see their movements.

As for whether it can be used in real combat, Maginus, who has been observing for a long time, is not sure, after all, she is not exactly a skill-based character.

After a perilous battle, the three men knocked the saber-toothed tiger unconscious but didn't kill it, then locked it in a cage. The first performance ended there, and the three actors stood at their exit and bowed to the audience.

The audience, having enjoyed the wonderful performance, gave it a round of applause. The lights dimmed again, and the clown reappeared, his smile seemingly even more sinister.

"Ah, it seems you all enjoyed the first performance. Now, please stay tuned for the next show, The Resurrection."

Bloodshed, violence, and a knack for creating unknown terrors to pique people's interest.

After one performance after another, Maginos basically established the tone of the circus's performances. No wonder it was able to become the number one on the continent; every play had a very good grasp of people's hearts.

To put it simply, "intelligent beings all love darkness," and it expresses that darkness in its most vivid way.

In particular, the audience, after realizing they are safe and being drawn into the drama, forgets they are in a safe environment. When their fear is aroused and they come to their senses, they realize their predicament. The constantly fluctuating emotions make the drama irresistible.

The Dark Night Circus... Could it be related to the Goddess of the Night?

Maginos was concerned about this, as the goddess of the night was said to be very good at bewitching people and liked to stir up the dark thoughts in people's hearts.

A few people in the circus audience seemed to have something amiss; the small amount of magic the tickets gave them seemed to be triggering their emotions.

Could this be a performance to select believers?

Maginus narrowed her eyes, but unfortunately she couldn't sense the flow of faith power from other gods unless the amount of faith power was large enough, like that of a temple.

As the performance drew to a close, the clown reappeared, his smiling face turning into a crying one, and everyone could feel a sense of oppression.

Chapter 386 Dungeon Adventure

"Thank you for watching. I wonder if the audience enjoyed our performance?"

"After this performance, our Dark Night Circus will be leaving the Muse."

The clown continued talking to himself, a piece of news that caused many who were already captivated by the circus atmosphere to secretly complain. Hearing the noise around him, the clown, whose face was painted with a sad expression, curled his lips:

"The next performance will be held in Lorlo, the land of music. If you would like to continue watching the performance, you can go there and wait for us."

"Things that we have worked so hard to achieve are bound to be even more beautiful. Now, the performance is over. Please leave in an orderly manner. Thank you again for coming."

He let out a series of cold laughs, the lights went out, and then the lights in the entire tent came on, causing many people to instinctively raise their hands to block out the light.

Maginus looked around. Some people's expressions were not quite right. The excitement from the performance had not subsided. They were still muttering incantations, and their magical energy was fluctuating violently, as if they had been affected by magic.

How was the performance?

"It's amazing! Most importantly, it's so exciting! I want to follow Lorlo to see the next performance."

Neko danced with delight, quite satisfied with the performance filled with darkness and evil. Maginus nodded and said, "I'm glad you like it, but we should go back now."

"Okay~!"

Reaching out to take Maginot's arm, she leaned against the girl's shoulder, her face full of happiness. For her, there was nothing wrong with her current life.

The audience left in an orderly fashion. The two women lined up and walked out of the tent. As soon as they stepped out, she stopped and turned to look behind the tent.

call!

A hurricane appeared out of nowhere, and a huge tornado with lightning suddenly appeared in the staff area behind the tent, as if it would devour everything.

The sudden appearance of the tornado startled the audience, who were still enjoying the performance. They screamed and scattered, and the scene immediately became chaotic.

"How could someone attack the circus skirt-wearing group?"

Neko tilted her head, full of doubt. Maginus looked away and slowly walked away from the danger zone with her.

"Who knows? Maybe there's something dirty going on in the circus. It's none of our business."

"Yeah, I want to eat grilled fish!"

Neko wasn't one to join in the fun, and although she was curious about what had happened, cherishing the time she spent with Maginos was more important to her.

In this day and age, there are few good forms of entertainment besides performing. At Neko's request, Maginus ate and strolled around with her to completely relax, his body and mind completely limp, and he didn't even do any practice.

He completely relaxed and lingered in bed with Nei Ke, never getting up before noon. Once he got up, he would either listen to music or go to the gladiatorial arena in the land of music to watch duels.

Maintaining this state until the end of the relaxation period, the girl got up, perked up, and straightened her back, making her bones crack.

It's time to return to normal. If I survive, I'll have a long period of rest. If I don't survive, then...

Looking back at Neko, who was talking in her sleep, Maginus's eyes flashed with a hint of affection.

Pushing open the door, I saw Kxia, whom I hadn't seen for several days, sitting alone at the downstairs dining table eating breakfast, with a notebook in her hand, looking at some of the commissions she had investigated.

As Maginus's colleague, she didn't relax at all, but genuinely wanted to make the adventure team a success, seemingly aware of the benefits the adventure team could bring, such as the most important human resources.

After going downstairs and ordering garlic bread with grilled steak from the waiter, Maginus tapped the table and asked, "How's the situation? Do you have any suitable requests for us?"

"Yes, by the way, if you mid-level players start fighting, will it affect us?"

Kxia turned the notebook to Maginus and gave him a commission called "Tomb Exploration." Due to torrential rain, an ancient underground tomb in the mountains of a city in the Land of Music had been exposed to the public.

The internal situation is currently unclear, but the territory's owner has issued commissions in multiple cities, seeking adventurers to handle the tomb.

If the tomb didn't affect his territory, he wouldn't care. But the problem was that the negative energy emanating from it made the surrounding soil unsuitable for growing crops, which was something the nobleman couldn't tolerate.

However, no adventurer has come forward to accept the mission yet, so the bounty has been raised again and again, and it has now reached 200,000 gold coins.

"A team of more than ten adventurers went in, but not a single one came out. There must be dangers inside that only mid-level experts can handle. So far, no mid-level expert has taken on the mission. I think this mission can make our team famous."

Kercia explained her proposed solution. She was not afraid of being discovered by the Kingdom of Chrysanthemum, as this was the land of music, and it would be extremely difficult for them to forcibly kidnap someone, let alone with Maginus present.

"Dungeon..."

Catacombs, cities that have sunk underground for various reasons, the dwelling places of liches or evil mages, and even the underworld known as the Underdark—all of these can be called "dungeons."

Maginus could guarantee her own survival, but frankly, she couldn't guarantee the survival of others.

"Are you sure you want to take on this kind of mission right away? You might die there."

"How about this mission? There's an orc tribe on the border of the Kingdom of Music that's trying to attack and plunder villages on the outskirts. The country is calling on adventurers to help fight them."

The two discussed the commission for a long time, and everything seemed dangerous to Maginus, which slightly changed Kexia's opinion of her.

The half-elf princess looked at the girl helplessly, then her eyes lit up as she organized her thoughts: "Ilsis, to be honest, you're like a mother afraid her child will get hurt."

"It's just a matter of making the right judgment based on the danger and your capabilities."