The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness

The erosion from an unknown cause was still continuing. First, it spread outward from the positions of his palm and fingertips, all the way to the back of his hand and his wrist.

Rotting and mutation played out separately on his left and right hands. Muen felt as if he had become a test subject for a toxic strain. All kinds of unpredictable changes were taking turns occurring inside his body. If this were left alone, sooner or later some incredible existence would probably be born from it.

Fortunately, the black flames’ ability to devour all things was still effective when facing this erosion. Whether it was corruption or mutation, all of it was very quickly and thoroughly cleared away by the black flames. At the same time, under the absolute regenerative power brought by the flames, new palms and fingers were perfectly reborn within the fire.

And from the areas where this erosion had occurred, Muen could roughly guess the cause of this unknown erosion.

"Was it because of... the contact just now?"

Muen recalled that when he had dealt with that skeletal evil believer just now, he had indeed shattered the bones all over its body barehanded.

Speaking of which, when facing evil believers, being this careless was indeed something he should not have done. But in a certain sense, he had also been misled by the other party’s weak strength at the time. He had suspected that it was hiding some move, which was why he had fought it in a way that was more like probing and intimidation.

But he had not expected that instead of probing out any move, he had gotten his hand stained with “poison”?

"Something is wrong. With my resistance against Evil God pollution, I was eroded just because of simple contact with an ordinary evil believer?"

Muen frowned in confusion. One had to know that back in Saint Blancfazesiya during the “World-Stripping,” he had been able to calmly deal with Evil God pollution that even the Crowned had to focus their minds to resist. This was also one of the sources of confidence he had when dealing with Evil Gods and some bizarre existences. Yet such a weak evil believer had almost capsized that confidence?

...Then, thinking from another angle, perhaps this was the true move of these evil believers?

What was powerful about them was not their combat strength, but this terrifying pollution ability?

Then why was he...

"How did you know I am an outsider?"

Muen looked solemnly at the person in the lead... but because he had too many eyes, Muen did not know which two eyes to meet, so he simply stared at the vocal mouthpart at his neck.

"How did I know? Very simple... only outsiders are polluted this easily."

The person in the lead chuckled. The laugh was extremely strange.

"You mean only outsiders would show symptoms like mine?"

Muen narrowed his eyes. His intuition told him that this was another extremely critical clue.

However...

"What are you doing?"

Muen was slightly surprised.

Not far away.

That person in the lead was pressing his half-rotten hand hard against the ground. His half body kept struggling on the ground, like a fish struggling constantly before death. Yet amid this difficult swaying, he was actually trying to stand up again.

"What am I doing? Very simple."

The mouthpart kept opening and closing, and the sharp teeth inside kept grinding against one another. Muen could actually see a feeling of "gritting his teeth" from such a bizarre organ.

"Completing the great Goddess’s will. Once an outsider is discovered, they must be erased immediately."

"Erased? Why? Can you tell me the reason?"

"If there is an outsider, that means the passage leading in really exists. That passage absolutely cannot be exposed, and those fellows absolutely cannot be allowed out."

"Passage? Out?"

Could this place actually be isolated from the world? Muen thought.

"Not letting the people here out—is that because you want to kill them all?"

That bizarre pollution made Muen temporarily unwilling to move recklessly, so he could only ask step by step.

"That’s right! Their sins have not yet been redeemed. They absolutely cannot take even one step out of this place. Absolutely not!"

Very clearly, the person in the lead no longer wanted to give Muen any chance to obtain too much intelligence.

He suddenly pounced at Muen. Even knowing the enormous gap in strength, he was still fierce and fearless, like a wild dog at the end of the road, able to make only one desperate gamble with his own madness at the final moment.

But Muen pondered slightly and did not meet the attack. Instead, he suddenly withdrew and retreated, causing this fellow to pounce at empty air.

"You... are afraid?"

The person in the lead, who had no lower half, fell flat on his face. He struggled with difficulty on the ground, but still did not forget to reveal a strange, provocative grin toward Muen... though Muen also did not know how he had managed to see a "grin" on that face.

"My apologies. Although I am somewhat wary of the pollution on your body, with strength like yours, you are still far from enough to make me afraid."

Muen shrugged. That pollution was indeed troublesome, but as long as he did not get close or make contact, it seemed unable to cause him any substantial effect.

As for why he had withdrawn and retreated...

"Quick, quick, quick! Those believers of the night are out causing trouble again!"

"I heard Forest District One and Forest District Two have already been destroyed by them. Our Forest District Three absolutely cannot be destroyed too. Everyone, move faster!"

"Damn it, how long are these evil bastards going to keep destroying our hope? Forest District Three is the meaning of our village’s existence. This time, we absolutely cannot let them succeed!"

"Everyone, charge! Attack together!"

In the night, it suddenly became extremely noisy.

Muen’s gaze slanted slightly. Although there were no stars in the sky at this moment, no moon either, and no lamps around them, his eyesight could still clearly see a large crowd rushing over from the village not far away.

Those people were not hindered by the darkness at all either. Their movements were quite quick and nimble. Before long, they had arrived close by, holding all kinds of weapons in their hands... knives, swords, spears, halberds, hammers, sickles, and even hoes. In short, a large crowd of men, women, old, and young soon surrounded this place in a dense black mass.

"How could this be?"

The person in the lead’s face had already been very pale to begin with, and now it became so pale it seemed as if it were about to light up the night.

He suddenly turned back, wanting to question them sharply. But the many-handed man who had been responsible for handling the magic warning lines could only helplessly spread out his only three remaining hands toward him.

Muen’s blade had not only split him in two, it had also left him with only three hands. Of course he had been unable to keep maintaining the cover over the magic warning lines.

"Huh? These fellows all seem to be badly wounded. Every one of them is lying on the ground and can’t get up."

Someone discovered their miserable state at this moment.

"It must be Grandma Meg’s warning lines that worked. These fellows thought they were amazing just because they destroyed the first two forest districts, but they didn’t know how formidable Grandma Meg is, so they directly triggered the trap!"

"Then we have to do our best too. We can’t let Grandma Meg’s efforts go to waste!"

"Attack!"

The crowd charged over in a dense black mass. That terrifying killing intent left the few people who were already badly wounded with not even the courage to resist. They could only dejectedly await the arrival of death.

Only the person in the lead stared resentfully at the direction where Muen had quietly left at the moment before death. His hand pressed against his chest, and he quietly crushed a rune stone.

"Great Goddess..."

He prayed in a low voice.

"We absolutely cannot let this outsider... disrupt our plan..."

...

...

"What a... bizarre scene that no one could come up with even if they cracked their skull trying."

In a hidden place, Muen concealed his form and quietly watched that "fierce battle" unfold.

Calling it a "fierce battle" was actually nothing more than a one-sided slaughter.

After all, those fellows had been split in half by his slash and had basically lost the ability to resist. Before this pack of wolf-and-tiger-like villagers, they could only be butchered however the villagers pleased.

Muen even saw a certain "acquaintance" among them. Grandma Meg’s granddaughter, Marcie, whom he had met once during the day, was also among the crowd, carrying a tiny hoe as she charged toward one of the evil believers.

Ah, she tripped on flat ground.

Ah, the hoe flew out of her hand.

Ah, the hoe handle happened to hit her on the head.

Ah, she cried.

"..."

Muen truly did not know how to describe this scene. One side was made up of mysterious villagers guarding this forest farm whose purpose was still temporarily unknown. The other side consisted of evil believers who took carrying out the will of some unknown Evil God as their duty, bringing disaster and pollution to this world.

A great battle between them, under normal circumstances, even if it was not heaven-shaking and earth-shattering, should at least be able to spread magnificently over tens of thousands of words.

But here, it was actually only on the scale of a village brawl.

Those spirited young men from the village did not even need to bring their own cement. They could just step with stylish dance moves while beating up the evil believers on the ground until they were fat and swollen.

"As expected... after contact, the only one who suffered pollution erosion was me, the ‘outsider’? So that fellow could recognize me at a glance."

As he watched the "great battle," Muen naturally also clearly noticed that the spirited young men using their fists to violently beat the evil believers showed no signs of being polluted at all. From eighty-year-old grannies to three-year-old children, the villagers who had specially come to resist these believers of the night had absolutely no awareness of guarding against pollution.

It seemed that to them, pollution did not exist.

"But Evil God pollution really does exist. That definitely wasn’t my illusion."

Muen lowered his head and stared at his own hands. Because they had been newly regenerated, these hands were excessively fair. And it was precisely this abnormal fairness that constantly reminded him just how terrifying that pollution, which even he had almost failed to resist, had been.

"Pollution exists, but it is useless against those villagers. Or rather, according to that evil believer leader, it is ineffective against the ‘locals’ here..."

The locals here were all immune to this pollution.

If he continued analyzing in this direction...

A particular line of speculation began to appear in Muen’s mind.

Why were the evil believers here this weak? Perhaps it was not that they were weak, but that their direction of development was not pure strength, but this terrifying pollution.

Just like some wild animals that were fragile in themselves, yet could become top predators by specializing in toxicity.

These fellows were the same. They could make someone like him, who had once pointed at an Evil God’s nose and cursed, fall into the trap without any trace. If this kind of pollution were placed in the outside world, it would very easily form an extremely terrifying disaster. Perhaps even the Crowned would find it a headache.

From this angle, forget being weak. This kind of evil believer was much more terrifying than ordinary evil believers.

And in the face of such pollution, the people here naturally would not sit around and wait to die. They had also used some unknown method to become immune to this pollution’s existence—if they had not gained immunity, there probably would not be a single normal person left here long ago.

So one side had specialized in developing pollution, and the other side had specialized in developing immunity. Beneath the surface appearance of two weaklings pecking at each other, was it actually some extremely intense life-and-death confrontation?

"A little interesting. I’m starting to become more and more curious about the full picture of this place. The Goddess of Night, evil believers, and these villagers who look ordinary on the surface but can completely ignore such terrifying pollution... the things hidden behind this may be even more incredible than I imagined."

Muen rubbed his chin. He was just preparing to continue watching this grand show to the end and see whether he could obtain more intelligence.

"Hm?"

But at this moment, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

Because he suddenly noticed that on higher ground on the other side, a somewhat stooped figure had also not joined this "great battle." Instead, she stood aloof from the affair, quietly watching everything develop.

"Grandma Meg..."

Muen naturally recognized that figure. But compared to during the day, at this moment, his heart held a few more traces of solemnity.

Because whether it was the evil believers just now or those villagers’ words, that Grandma Meg was clearly no simple person.

Carrying ancient texts.

Secretly guarding the forest farm.

Usually appearing in the image of a kind old grandmother.

And even now, Muen still could not sense the slightest magic or fighting aura from her.

She had every kind of big-shot factor filled to the brim.

"Hey, hey... Grandma Meg, don’t tell me you really are some incredible hidden figure..."

Muen thought for a moment, and still decided to retreat for the time being.

His recklessness just now had already made him pay a price. Although staying here right now carried the possibility of obtaining more intelligence, it was clearly not equal to the risk.

Miss Dragon still wandered who knew where. At this moment, it was better to be a little cautious and first collect more intelligence for the time being.

Having made up his mind, Muen’s form flashed, and he disappeared from where he stood.

Meanwhile, Grandma Meg, standing on the other side, still watched everything happening in the great battle, especially her granddaughter’s first time on the battlefield, as if she had completely failed to notice Muen’s disappearing figure.