Mister Zero, Her Story: Chapter 78 – It’s Not Over Yet
Luo Yan glanced back, noticing Yan City mobilizing.
Troops retreated, and a few elite teams cautiously approached the crimson monster.
Thankfully, Yan City wasn’t foolish enough to attack Dawn now; that would be suicidal.
This was Yan City’s core district, not Dawn City’s.
“Die—”
The crimson monster’s shrill roar echoed, its gaze fixated on Luo Yan.
Even battered and bruised by Yan City and Dawn’s combined attacks, it ignored everything else.
All its tentacles were aimed at Luo Yan.
Luo Yan effortlessly sliced through the tentacles with the spatial energy in her hand.
The uncontrolled spatial fragments surrounding her shredded any tentacles that got too close, raining down gore.
Logically, the crimson monster should have recognized the power difference and retreated.
In its current state, it couldn’t harm Luo Yan (One), even with all its might.
However, Luo Yan’s words had enraged it, driving it into a frenzy.
Despite its injuries and the futility of its attacks, it relentlessly pursued Luo Yan.
Under the “Witch of Envy’s” influence, her resentment amplified her follower’s rage.
Once triggered, it became an uncontrollable frenzy.
Ordinary words wouldn’t have this effect, but mentioning “Absolute Death,” a name that held deep significance for the “Witch of Envy” and all Primordial Demons… was different.
Especially since Luo Yan had spoken knowing Absolute Death’s actions, her words further enraging the crimson monster.
Even “Qin Wen” was affected.
As its frenzy neared its end, the crimson monster weakened.
Its roars became less coherent, its tentacles fewer.
The surrounding “Soul Eater” mist thinned, no longer affecting even “Ruin” level ability users.
Finally, after the combined assault from Yan City and Dawn, the crimson monster shrunk back to its original size.
But it still hid within the crimson mist, frantically trying to reach Luo Yan.
In the end, it succeeded, but… it was Luo Yan who approached it.
The small, icy-blue figure walked towards the giant, weakened crimson shadow. Luo Yan looked up, her gaze meeting the monster’s distorted eyes.
Finally, in its final moments, the crimson monster seemed to regain a sliver of sanity.
Its weary gaze met Luo Yan’s, its orifice-like mouth twisting into a mocking smile.
“It’s… not… over…”
The crimson shadow vanished.
A figure fell to the ground.
Compared to Red Butterfly, this crimson monster had been stronger.
If it hadn’t been driven mad, it might have been a tougher fight.
Unfortunately, in its frenzy, it had only focused on Luo Yan, its attacks predictable, allowing Yan City and Dawn to attack freely.
Under the combined assault of multiple “Ruin” level and nearly ten “Peril” level ability users, the crimson monster hadn’t lasted five minutes.
The surrounding mist dissipated, revealing the figure within.
With its twisted consciousness gone, the figure returned to its original form.
Dawn didn’t recognize it, but Yan City did.
“Frick…”
Li Ping looked at the man lying on the ground, his expression strange.
The beautiful woman… was actually Frick?
Recalling the end of the Flower Street incident, it wasn’t entirely surprising…
But he hadn’t expected Frick to be a Devil’s minion.
Li Ping felt a wave of fear.
No wonder this crimson monster had been able to infiltrate the Ember Furnace undetected, despite Yan City’s heightened security.
If it weren’t for that mysterious girl…
The Ember Furnace was the heart of Yan City. If it were corrupted by demonic power, the entire city would be doomed, the tainted energy unusable by ordinary humans.
This would be far worse than Dawn’s invasion.
After all, the worst-case scenario of this war was the destruction of the Ember Furnace, a significant reduction in energy output, halving Yan City’s size and setting back their development for decades.
Dawn, however, wasn’t interested in the man on the ground. After defeating the crimson monster, Rhine led his team away from Yan City’s forces, standing behind Luo Yan.
They were still at war; Rhine couldn’t be sure that Yan City wouldn’t attack them after the crisis was resolved.
Yan City didn’t attack, but not out of any sense of honor… they simply couldn’t win.
Without the pulse cannons, their few remaining elite teams were no match for Dawn.
Even with the pulse cannons, Dawn’s Cadres were still at full strength; the cost of such a battle would be too high.
Dawn’s reason for not attacking was simple: they were here to retrieve the Eldest Mister.
And the Eldest Mister was right here… For Dawn, the war was over.
As the crimson mist dissipated, leaving only Frick’s mangled corpse, the sudden disaster seemed to have ended.
Both Yan City and Dawn breathed a sigh of relief.
Only Luo Yan’s expression remained serious, her gaze fixed on Frick’s corpse.
More precisely, on the twisted consciousness within.
“Logically, the ‘Witch of Envy’s’ will, attached to the soul, should have dissipated with the body’s death, but why…?”
Just like Mrs. Natalie and Red Butterfly, their consciousness hadn’t lingered after their deaths.
But Luo Yan could still sense the “Witch of Envy’s” malevolent aura, still lingering…
“Could there be… another Devil’s minion?”
Luo Yan followed the aura, her small figure walking towards the Ember Furnace.
Instantly, all eyes were on her.
After all, at the end of this war, the most striking figure was this icy-blue haired girl who had appeared out of nowhere.
Her bandaged appearance, and her powerful spatial ability…
“Eldest Mister, what do you see?”
Rhine took a step forward and asked in a low voice.
These words reached the Yan City forces, their expressions turning to shock.
“Eldest… Mister…?”
They were all ability users, raised on stories of Dawn’s nine legendary Misters.
The nine Misters, who had shown humanity the true potential and humanity of ability users, preventing them from being treated as monsters and calamities.
Even though Dawn and the Free Federation were on opposing sides, even engaging in war, the Misters were still respected.
However… the last Mister, Nine, should be dead. Why was there suddenly an Eldest Mister?
Feeling the countless gazes upon her, Luo Yan shifted uncomfortably. She wasn’t used to being the center of attention.
Especially while impersonating someone else…
Luo Yan coughed awkwardly, then her expression turned serious (although it was difficult to tell through the bandages).
“Everyone, it’s not over yet.”
She stared at the Ember Furnace. Indeed, although the surrounding malevolent aura was dissipating, a lingering trace of the “Witch of Envy’s” presence remained near the Furnace.
Faint, yet persistent.
Luo Yan walked towards the Furnace, towards the heart of Yan City.
Li Ping and Lin Cheng watched nervously, not sensing any unusual aura, as the icy-blue haired girl approached the Ember Furnace.
Should they stop her?
Logically, they were still at war with Dawn, and the Eldest Mister, no matter what, was a member of Dawn.
Unlike Nine, who had lived for so long, no one in this world knew the Eldest Mister’s true nature.
They couldn’t be sure she shared Nine’s benevolent view of humanity, that she wouldn’t be concerned about the “internal conflict” between Dawn and the rest of humanity.
They had allowed Nine to approach the Ember Furnace because everyone knew he wouldn’t harm anyone.
But the Eldest Mister…?
Li Ping and Lin Cheng exchanged glances, seeing the hesitation in each other’s eyes.
But in the end… they didn’t do anything, letting Luo Yan pass.
The reason was simple.
…They couldn’t stop her.
Of course, that was only part of the reason. There was also Sun Biwu, whom she had just saved.
His injuries were mostly superficial; the burning of his spiritual energy had been stopped by some force, and he was no longer in mortal danger.
The Eldest Mister had saved Sun Biwu, returning him to Yan City despite being surrounded by Dawn.
This alone might not be enough, but… both Li Ping and Lin Cheng had the same intuition.
Everyone made way for Luo Yan, watching nervously as she reached the Ember Furnace and placed her bandaged hand on its outer wall.
Before their eyes, the Furnace’s outer wall, made of mythril and reinforced steel, a structure second only to the “Wall of Resentment” in terms of durability, shrieked as a large chunk of it was torn away.
Luo Yan’s hand, covered in spatial energy, had effortlessly ripped through this high-strength material, one of the strongest in the New Era.
A hole large enough for a child to pass through appeared in the nearly meter-thick wall.
Gasps echoed through the Yan City ranks, Lin Cheng and Li Ping staring in disbelief. They hadn’t expected the “Eldest Mister” to do this.
…Wait…
Li Ping, seeing this, seemed to realize something, his lips twitching.
Could it be that the Eldest Mister was doing this… to enter the Ember Furnace?
But the Furnace had a door… there was no need to create one…
Lin Cheng’s heart bled. This kind of damage couldn’t be easily repaired.
Tearing a hole in the outer wall meant the entire section would have to be replaced; otherwise, a critical weakness would remain.
Dawn, seeing this, immediately assumed defensive positions, wary of Yan City attacking the Eldest Mister in anger.
But Yan City remained rational, at least for now.
Luo Yan, oblivious to the reactions behind her, didn’t enter the Ember Furnace after tearing the hole.
…She hadn’t been trying to create an entrance.
Her gaze fell to the ground, or rather, to the part of the Ember Furnace’s outer wall that was embedded in the ground.
It was corroded, severely.
“Just as I thought…”
Luo Yan’s eyes narrowed. She channeled her spatial power, tore away a large chunk of the buried wall, about two meters high and three meters wide, and tossed it aside.
Li Ping now understood that she hadn’t been trying to create an entrance. Looking at the severely corroded section of the wall, both he and Lin Cheng were shocked.
“How… how is this possible…?”
Remnants of crimson flesh, still wriggling slightly, clung to the piece of the Furnace wall Luo Yan had torn away.
This disgusting flesh seemed to be parasitizing the wall, slowly devouring the alloy, expanding and multiplying.
It was feeding on the alloy!
They had never heard of any creature capable of consuming such a high-strength material; this defied all logic.
Clearly, this was the power of a Primordial Demon…
And it was still active.
“The Ember Furnace is in danger!”
Li Ping exclaimed, and Lin Cheng, grabbing his sword, was about to rush towards the Furnace.
But Luo Yan shook her head and sighed.
“It’s… too late.”
Indeed, it was too late.
These remnants of flesh were just… leftovers. The main body had already infiltrated the Ember Furnace.
How could Luo Yan not understand now?
The crimson figure’s appearance had been a diversion, to cover another Devil’s minion’s infiltration of the Ember Furnace.
Whether she went berserk or not, her purpose had been to buy time, even at the cost of her life.
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