Chapter 422: Assault

"Who are you? One of Burgo Torres's men?"

Miss Wen Na Puwell gripped the floating pendant and pressed it firmly against her chest, watching Rod warily.

Under the shifting play of light and shadow, the soft, thin, form-fitting silk gown had grown somewhat translucent.

The figure beneath the glow was almost without an ounce of excess flesh — a golden ratio, not a hair more, not a hair less.

The peaks were teardrop-tipped points, the waist slim, the legs long — enough to steal souls and claim lives.

By human standards, Miss Wen Na Puwell was indeed a rare beauty.

Rod's thoughts stirred; the well-like calm of his heart rippled.

Hm?

Strange.

I, Rod, have lived an upright life all my days, and have always only had eyes for the other races — so why does looking at her make my heart stir a little too?

"As I said, I came here to deal with you, not as some underling of Burgo Torres."

"So this is how you conduct a transaction, sir? Strike first upon meeting?"

Miss Wen Na forced herself to calm down, putting on a composed look as she spoke.

Yet the trembling note of fear in her voice had already betrayed her.

A man who suddenly broke into her home — handsome, yes, but he had to pick the exact moment when she had stripped down to nothing but her underclothes to show up; whether he was a frivolous sort was plain for anyone to see.

And the way he appeared was so terrifying — more practiced, more at ease than quite a few adventurers.

Before her father was murdered, she had been a princess who lived in the lap of luxury; even after her fall from grace, she had relied on a treasure to change her face, and with the succubus Kaelyan to tend her, she had never actually run into anything like this.

Fear was inevitable.

"Miss Miss Wen Na is already a startled bird; I was only afraid that any sudden contact would scare the young lady off."

Rod smiled, channeling the domain power of 【Gullibility of Truth】: "Relax, I won't hurt you."

However.

The wariness in the eyes of the light-blue-haired girl before him did not relax one bit.

Oh? No effect?

She can even resist the domain's power.

Now that is interesting.

Since that was the case, Rod simply spoke plainly: "I came for the White Dragon Horn Seal. There is word that the one in Burgo Torres's hands is a fake. If you can give me the real one, I can get you somewhere safe, and you won't have to worry about being wanted."

"Wanted? That's a lie! I didn't collude with the lizardfolk, and I didn't rebel or murder my father! All of this is Burgo Torres's plot! He is the true culprit!"

The word 'wanted' had clearly struck a nerve.

Miss Wen Na's eyes reddened as she rebutted him hotly.

"Is that so? Then what a shame. But with your current strength, trying to set things right probably isn't very realistic. Why not go somewhere safe first, rest and recover for a few decades, and then make a grand return like a Dragon King when the time comes?"

"My father's killer is within reach — how could a daughter possibly have the heart to drag out a cowardly existence? Until I have avenged my father, not for a single day will I leave Axehead Beach!"

At that moment, Tally poked her head out from the shadows.

"Master, why bother talking so much with her? Just have that slime bite her head clean off!"

"Ah! What is that?!"

Miss Wen Na was startled by the head that suddenly appeared from the floor; she instinctively retreated a few steps and fell on her backside onto the ground.

"That's a last resort. Pull the shadows back."

The slime Blackie's 【Memory Devour】 is the kind of skill you can't take back — if it swallows her head but doesn't get the relevant memories, it would only be more troublesome.

Besides, Miss Wen Na seems to possess a treasure with mental resistance; whether 【Memory Devour】 would even work is uncertain.

As for using force to coerce her, well.

For a daughter drowning in grief over her father's death and harboring vague self-destructive tendencies, it probably wouldn't be all that effective.

"Okaaay~"

Tally obediently replied.

The shadow ribbons wrapped around Miss Wen Na's oval force field quickly receded as if rewinding.

Then her expression sobered, and she looked toward the floor below: "Someone's coming."

"I know."

Rod walked slowly up to Miss Wen Na, putting on as gentle a smile as he could:

"Back home there's an old saying: a wise man knows when to yield — no, wait, it's 'as long as the green hills remain, there'll be firewood to burn.' I believe I've been sincere enough, and everything I've said is true. You might as well think it over carefully."

Saying so.

He pressed his palm against the oval force-field sphere.

【Dragon Heart】 【Dragon Strength】 【Surging Might】 【Fungal Warrior Physique】 【Power Release 900%】.

Every amplification triggered at once!

Crack!!!

A sharp, splitting snap rang out suddenly!

Miss Wen Na looked over in terror and saw the broad, thick hand erupt with tremendous force, crushing savage cracks into the oval magical force field.

"Impossible — this is a high-grade magical artifact made by an eighth-tier mage"

Boom!!!

At the same time.

A muffled thud of impact came from the living room outside the room.

In an instant, the relatively quiet villa grew noisy.

The farmers' district's crows of roosters and geese, the chatter of passersby, the waves of sound pouring into the sealed space and echoing through the emptiness.

Then the succubus Kelyan's furious cursing rang out, followed by the sharp clatter of metal on metal and the sounds of fighting tangled together!

In less than two seconds, Kelyan screamed loudly, and with a crash she knocked over something—who knows what.

Thud thud thud!!!

The sound of hurried footsteps rushing up the stairs came!

The heavy footsteps finally made Wen Na react, and her face changed drastically.

Her first thought was of the man before her; grief and fury mixed in her eyes. To think I actually had a fleeting notion of trusting you just now!

"It's you!"

"Wrong guess."

Rod smiled. Taking advantage of the fact that 【Power Release】 had not yet faded, he stepped back two paces to near the door, turned on the spot, and delivered a powerful, heavy kick.

Bang!

The room door happened to be smashed open at that very moment. A burly man wielding a dagger had not even reacted before the kick landed on him; he immediately crashed through the corridor railing and went flying, landing in the first-floor living room, and lost consciousness on the spot.

The other two burly men were still crammed in the corridor, and instantly raised their daggers and short swords, frozen on the spot.

They glanced down at their companion who had come on this job as a seventh-tier thigh, his chest caved in and his life or death unknown, then looked at the tall man in the room, and clearly saw their target Wen Na Puweier fallen on the floor.

Both silently swallowed.

For some reason, they actually could not recall the face of the man before them, as if a layer of fog covered it.

"Scram."

"... Mr., Axe Beach Militia arresting a major criminal, please step aside."

"What's your weekly pay, playing life-and-death with me?"

The two men's faces looked very ugly, hesitating and undecided.

Rod couldn't be bothered to say more to them, and raised his hand to fire an enhanced version of 【Repulsion】.

An invisible, powerful repulsive force spread out in an umbrella shape; with a roar, the men along with the door were blasted down to the first-floor hall.

They knew when they were beat.

The thick-skinned and fleshy sixth-tiers weren't much the worse for the fall, and they knew Rod had held back. Lying on the ground, they screamed loudly and did not press forward again.

Rod now looked again at Wen Na, who had fallen to the ground, reached out his hand to her, and once more put on that greasy, gentle smile.

"Let's go, the reinforcements are coming."

Wen Na was full of suspicion and uncertainty; she looked at the wooden wall blasted with a huge hole, then at the man before her.

Somehow, a sense of security welled up in her heart.

Involuntarily, her slender hand reached forward and rested in Rod's large hand.

(End of this chapter)