The villain's way to tame the protagonist

Anser chuckled as if he was mocking Number Nine's stupidity, but his expression and eyes...didn't seem like he was mocking Number Nine.

In the depths of those ocean-blue eyes that had only shown confusion and hardship recently, a dark ray flickered, which had not appeared for a long, long time... the fire of sin.

"I can, Mr. Anser." Number Nine put his hands flat on his knees and said very calmly, "Only I can do this."

"Mr. Anser, because——"

The wheelchair carrying her was moving forward a little when an anxious voice was heard at the door of the meeting room.

"Ansel! I don't want to stay here, I want to go help..."

Listening to the voice coming from behind him, No. 9 lowered his head slightly and sighed softly.

"What a pity, Mr. Anser. I still have a lot to say to you. If you allow me, I will come to you later... I am confident that I can convince you."

"As for now, I'll take my leave."

As she said this, she very naturally let the shadow crawling on the ground turn the wheelchair and slowly pushed her out of the meeting room. When she passed by the slightly frozen girl, it was as if she was just passing through air.

In the long corridor, No. 9 couldn't help but wonder, what would Miss Sitana... say to Mr. Anser?

First of all, she would definitely talk about her feelings anxiously, inadvertently revealing how panicked and worried she was.

"Anser...are you going to face so many dragons and Ivora alone? It's too dangerous. I...I'm worried about you. Please don't be alone, okay? I can help you! I can already help you!"

And then, even though he was the most depressed and painful person, Mr. Anser had to comfort her, telling her not to put too much pressure on herself, and he would not accept Miss Hitana's request to go to the battlefield.

"It's okay, Xi'er, I will find a way. As for you... the frontal battlefield is too dangerous. Your spiritual essence is very special and you will become a common hunting target for many dragons. Don't think too much. You have tried your best in the past period of time."

Then... they will confide their feelings to each other in order to gain comfort and strength from each other, but this is destined to be a one-way street.

"But I clearly... I clearly haven't helped Anser much before. It's happened so many times. How can I still help Anser this time-"

"Stop talking nonsense. Who was it that dared to hit the emperor last time? How can you think that you never helped me?"

Because Mr. Anser can't get comfort from anyone now. It's just that Miss Sitana... is simply getting unconditional comfort and tenderness from Mr. Anser.

"...But, even so, Anser, are you really——"

You can't do anything at this time, but you're still wasting Mr. Anser's energy... You're so willful, Ms. Xitana. Ms. Ming Fuluo, it's probably the same.

In the end, the conversation ended with Mr. Anser's gentle comfort, without any results, without any plan, and without solving any problems. Only two selfish girls were left, falling into the cycle of self-admiration and self-doubt again.

"I am okay."

Mr. Anser would say such things...but still be in a predicament that made him suffer.

But it's okay, Mr. Anser.

I woke up late, but it's still not too late.

I don't ask for your warmth, I just want to move forward with you, even if it means heading towards the abyss.

*

"So...I really can't go?"

Xitana, who was sitting on Anser's lap, said with great grievance: "Even if we can kill a few more fourth- and third-tier dragons, it will help relieve Anser's pressure."

"Will you do what you say when the time comes?" Ming Fuluo retorted without thinking, "If you were so honest, you wouldn't have lost your life last time."

"...I understand. I will stay here quietly and won't cause any trouble for Anser."

Although she was unwilling to accept it in her heart, after realizing that her current level could indeed shine on the battlefield, but she was also more vulnerable to attacks, Hitana did not want to drag Ansher down.

"The same goes for you, Luo." Anser gently rubbed Ming Fuluo's head. "I won't let you forcibly control multiple elements to increase the strength of the mechanical deity. When you reach your limit, I will remove it. Do you understand?"

Ming Furo was also unwilling to accept Anther's orders, but it was Anther who provided ether for the Deus Ex Machina. Without Anther, the Deus Ex Machina could not exist independently for long. If Anther had already decided to do so, then she had no choice.

Even so, Ming Fuluo still emphasized with a serious expression: "You must make sure you have the means to deal with Ivora or the dragons, otherwise I would rather -"

"No need to say otherwise, A'lo." The young Hydra smiled briskly, "I told you, I have a way."

The two girls stared at him for a long time, unable to detect anything unusual but also not getting much certainty, so they could only remain silent with different thoughts in their minds.

After a while, as if to change her mood, Xitana changed the subject and said, "Just now I saw Lina... Anser, what did she say to you?"

"she says--"

Anser paused slightly, but did not explain what No. 9 said. He just responded vaguely: "She wants to help me as much as possible, just like you."

Ming Fuluo, who is more sensitive to the overall situation, is more aware of No. 9's current work situation: "Now most of the extraordinary people in the Western Kingdom are under her leadership... This alone has helped Anser a lot. I remember that she and the little princess organized the extraordinary people to build several temporary cities... Very impressive."

Xitana put her face on Anser's head with some sadness, and said vaguely: "If Lina liked Anser normally...it would be great."

Ansher didn't say anything, but just gently stroked Xitana's snow-white short hair. Ming Furo didn't say much either. She sat on the armrest of the chair, leaning against Ansher, closed her eyes slightly, and took a quiet nap.

Anser, who gently hugged the two girls at the same time...finally felt a sense of peace.

If he didn't think about how to save Ivora, if he didn't rack his brains to think about how to fight against fate, he seemed like... he could enjoy this peace forever.

All of this seemed to be telling Ansel - look, you now have a new life, and it won't be long before you will have the power to fear nothing. Why rush? Why be blinded by the hatred in your heart?

It’s better to let it go, it’s better to... take another step back.

This way, they won't worry about you so much and won't feel the same pain for you, right?

"...Anther?" "Anther?"

At this moment, Xitana and Ming Furo, who noticed some emotional changes in Ansher, looked at Ansher almost at the same time and called his name in different tones.

After a brief silence, Anser smiled and shook his head: "It's nothing, you are too sensitive... It's fine now."

"It's good like this now."

lay down?

The devil of the past, the devil who crawled out from the abyss of hell, who harbored a rage for fate a thousand times more intense than the flames of feasting, the word "let go" would never appear in his thoughts about fate.

It is indeed impossible for him to let it go now, but compared with the past, these two words have emerged in his mind.

...Then, will there be a day when he will seriously think about these two words; will there be a day when he will accept these two words?

No.

Anser told himself expressionlessly.

no way.

Chapter 7: Forgiveness and Freedom (K)

"Oliver, how much did you earn this time?"

On the land soaked in dragon blood, the adventurer wielded a giant axe to cut the dragon's claws and said to his temporary companion, "I heard that you haven't rested for a moment since you came to the West. Are you that cruel?"

"Nonsense, I'm afraid I won't encounter this opportunity again in this lifetime."

The adventurer who was resting beside the boulder drank a sip of the potion and felt so excited that he didn't look like he had been fighting non-stop for nearly four days.

"Do you know how many extraordinary people have poured into the Western Kingdom? That's half of the empire! Every time we go hunting, there are always at least forty or fifty of them, and the leaders are always no less than level four... Do you know what this means? Even if you sneak in as a backpacker, there is no safety risk. And they killed a giant dragon, so you can get full just by drinking some soup."

He waved his staff with a beaming face. "Although we are only there to clean up the mess, so what? The leaders are more generous than each other... Some are short of materials, some are short of magic crystals, and some are even short of spoils of war and decorations! If you slack off for a few minutes, another poor dragon will die. Those are all golden coins!"

"Even if we don't mention the big shots... do you know how high the price of the dragon spoils was raised by those vain mortal merchants after they knew that His Excellency Hydra allowed the extraordinary people to enter the West Country?"

"Well... Logically speaking, with so many dragons dead, shouldn't the price be lower?"

"What do you know? How many extraordinary people are willing to share a dragon's corpse? Things that were once worth a fortune are now so abundant that who wouldn't want to get more? Even fingernails are not spared. How can they buy them as decorations?"

"That's true. I heard that in Sodom, a completely intact dragon carcass can be sold for an incredible price."

"Sodom? You mean the temporary city built by that bastard Susilun? Forget it, that place is full of scammers!"

"But the largest dragon trading market in the empire is right there. You can't go anywhere else."

"You still don't believe it? Last time I sneaked into the team, someone complained that he still hasn't received the materials he bought at the auction house! If this little bastard hadn't worked for Lord Hydra... he would have been hanged long ago!"

While dismantling the giant dragon's corpse, the adventurers unscrupulously called the descendants of Flame-Feasting, who once had to be addressed with great respect, "bastards." They looked so relaxed and natural, as if they were on a picnic.

And the fact is just as he described... When half of the empire's extraordinary people poured into the Western Kingdom, the role of the dragons had changed from hunter to prey.

Their status as overlords of the continent has long been a thing of the past, not only because there is an emperor among humans who is at the same sixth level as the Dragon King, but more importantly, the power and possibilities of humans themselves have surpassed the beasts that linger in the Tiantu Mountains, occupying the most ether-rich area on the continent but have never evolved in their continuous evolution.

That is to say, even if the divine species on both sides are eliminated at the same time, if a life-and-death fight breaks out between the dragon clan and humans, the dragon clan will definitely be the loser.

As for their attitude towards Feast Flame, it was not surprising. After all, His Excellency Hydra had personally admitted that they had completely killed Ivora, the only person with the qualifications to be an emperor. As for the emperor himself? Most of the extraordinary people were quite optimistic - that old madman was also dead.

When the might of the sixth level was wiped out from the world, the name of Xiangyan also went from being the most noble and honorable to being trampled upon by everyone.

"According to this progress..." The adventurer smacked his lips, "It feels like all the dragons will be killed in a week at most. What a pity."

"Yes, if this dragon disaster could last a little longer--"

As the adventurer, who was resting on a boulder, looked up at the sky, his words and his expression... were completely frozen.

The boundary of the sky turned black. Even though the endless ether that seemed to have turned the world upside down was still at the other end, the surging ether was already within reach, like the sky collapsing.

"damn it……"

The adventurer muttered absentmindedly: "What on earth... is this?"

All the adventurers present, some resting on the spot, some dismantling corpses, some killing time, all stared blankly at the shadow that gradually covered the sky. The leisurely and lighthearted feeling in their hearts, the "desire" for the dragon disaster, disappeared without a trace at this moment.

When opportunities are readily available, everyone can become a warrior who bravely steps onto the battlefield.

And when the inevitable destruction comes mercilessly, everyone may become a despicable deserter.

The dragons are not ashamed of becoming prey; on the contrary, their populations are falling into unprecedented hunger and madness due to this reversal of status.

As they stood there, still shocked by the scene before them, a beam of light suddenly flashed dozens of kilometers away.

Then, a white energy wave suddenly erupted, and everything in the light beam was like snow thrown into a furnace, melting away in an instant, as if they had never existed.

The earth, soil, dust, air, ether... This bombardment that seemed to penetrate the entire continent annihilated everything in its path, announcing to the continent that the hunt sweeping the human world was about to come, and the former overlord had returned!

That beam of light... was only a few dozen meters away from them.

Even though they were dozens of meters apart, everyone felt that their skin was instantly burned to the point of necrosis. Those who were a little closer to the beam of light even fell to the ground with a thud on the spot, leaving behind only a half-charred corpse, silently stating the horror.

But they had been shocked to the point of losing their minds, and could never have imagined that... not only was a greater terror about to come, but it did not come from the dragon tide that swallowed up even the sky.

They stared blankly at the dragon group, and suddenly realized... it was dark.

No, it was not the sky that was dark, but a beam of black light that seemed to respond to the white light, completely swallowing up the sunlight that illuminated the earth. Even the sun itself fell into darkness at this moment!

"—"

The adventurers could not describe the sound ringing in their ears, because the adventurers who were still conscious found that their eardrums had already been shattered.

All they saw was a beam of pitch-black light that could even block out the sun, crossing the sky and bombarding the other end of the sky from behind, the end that was so obscured by the endless dragon tide that even the sky could not be seen clearly.

Afterwards, the endless dragon tide that turned the sky dark and black...had a gap visible to the naked eye.

Even though the gap may be hundreds of kilometers away, it is still visible to the naked eye.

"This will be the front line of the second wave of dragon disaster."

A deep voice sounded above the adventurers. Even though they had temporarily lost their hearing, that cold and majestic voice still emerged in their minds.

"Be prepared, don't run away in disgrace."

All the extraordinary beings raised their heads, and what was imprinted in their eyes was... the cold iron color emitted by the Iron Demon.

It seemed that he was not just speaking to them, but to all the extraordinary people nearby who had discovered the incoming dragon tide.

After saying these simple words, the Iron Demon's mountain-like body rose to higher clouds, and his wings burning with dark blue flames dragged dazzling tails in the air, falling to the distant other side of the sky like a flaming meteor.

"Anser, will those extraordinary people...really join the war?"

Ming Fuluo asked Ansher in a low voice.

"No." Anser answered without thinking, "Because their driving force is profit, never salvation. What the Western Country becomes has nothing to do with them."

"If the risk of profit is too great, they will give up. They have no interest in the West... they will undoubtedly turn around and leave."

"...Did you have the same attitude in the previous council meeting?"

"As long as we can do our best to convince the fifth-level extraordinary people, that will be enough. As for the remaining low-level dragons or sub-dragons... let the adventurers in the Western country and some extraordinary people who don't plan to leave deal with them."

Anser narrowed his eyes and stared at the endless dragons in the distance: "This number looks scary, but it is indeed scary... Where do the dragons come from? At least 80% of this wave of dragons are sub-dragons. They should be able to resist it."

Ming Fuluo, who was sitting in Anser's arms, placed her hand on the back of Anser's hand and said firmly: "Then we have to do... the same as before."

The steel snake wrapped around the exoskeleton transformed into a giant blade that could cut through the sky. The steel demon god, spewing out dark blue tail flames, was charging at the dragon group covering the sky alone at a high speed. The closer he got, the clearer it was... just how terrifying the momentum of this dragon disaster was!

There are at least ten fifth-order dragons, some of which are extremely powerful. They are ancient dragons that have experienced countless years. Any one of them can cause devastating disasters throughout the empire. If there were no emperor, I don’t know what a huge price it would cost to subdue them.