“Messenger birds… it’s those hateful Intec people!”
After thinking for a moment, the dwarf girl wore an expression of gritting her teeth.
“The Intec?”
“Yes, they betrayed the honor of the dwarves and colluded with the goblins! If not for them, the Grand Crafting God wouldn’t have been injured!”
As if language could not express the anger in her heart, the dwarf girl quickly walked to the side of the Brown-maned Lion, picked up her giant hammer again, and hammered the lion back into a puddle of mush.
This caused the corners of everyone’s mouths to twitch. Especially Gelifende and the two knights, who looked somewhat stunned.
‘The dwarves truly have a fierce folk spirit.’
After giving the Brown-maned Lion a sympathetic look, Muxuan nodded thoughtfully.
‘So the messenger birds are raised by the Intec among the dwarven race. This relationship… is far more complicated than I thought.’
Ending the topic, Muxuan didn’t ask further. Knowing he wasn’t facing the entire dwarven race, but rather one of its tribes, Muxuan also breathed a sigh of relief.
“His Holiness…”
Lucic’s figure slowly approached. After gesturing twice with his fingers, he walked toward the prison.
Understanding Lucic’s meaning, Muxuan looked at the dwarf girl with a smile.
“Miss, could I trouble you to look after her?”
“Of course!”
The dwarf girl agreed to Muxuan’s request without hesitation. Since Muxuan and Lucic were unwilling to speak, she could ask this sister to tell her stories!
Muxuan left a wisp of Lightforce behind. Seeing the dwarf girl’s happy look, his urge to complain internally was filled to the brim.
Shaking his head, he rubbed the dirt on the ground with his fingers. After flashing an apologetic smile at Qiansitelin, Muxuan turned to follow Lucic.
“Sister, my name is Theodore. What’s your name?”
Seeing Muxuan leave, the dwarf girl began to chat incessantly in front of Qiansitelin.
“My name is Qiansitelin.”
Rubbing her tired brow, Qiansitelin spoke softly, though her gaze remained firmly glued to Muxuan.
‘That old fellow Lucic is very wicked! If I don’t keep an eye on him, there’s no telling when he might trick this little Saintess into some trap!’
‘What is so important that it can’t be said in front of everyone? Damnable Lucic!’
With a resentful gaze, Qiansitelin stared fixedly at Muxuan and Lucic. The tone she used when speaking to Theodore also became a bit stiff.
“Sister Qiansitelin, are you feeling unwell?”
“Hehe, I know some massage techniques. I can loosen your joints for you, Sister!”
Theodore didn’t realize Qiansitelin’s attention was no longer on her; that perfunctory tone only made Theodore feel a bit strange.
After thinking about it, Theodore simply assumed that Qiansitelin was feeling physically uncomfortable. After all, it was just said that Qiansitelin had been injured.
“Wait!”
Qiansitelin’s attention was successfully pulled back by Theodore’s words, her voice carrying a hint of panic.
She didn’t have the power of the Moho Level right now; she simply couldn’t endure it!
“Don’t worry, my clansmen all praise my technique!”
As if afraid Qiansitelin would think her massage skills weren’t that good, Theodore hurriedly added.
‘Is that really a massage in the dwarven race!?’
Qiansitelin was rarely afraid of a young girl, but this was an exception.
As far as she knew, because dwarves worked for long hours, their joints would become stiff, so they often used “massage” to soothe them.
To call it a massage was an understatement; it was more like snapping and twisting joints.
In any case, Qiansitelin did not want to experience it. Without the physique and body structure of a dwarf, trying it would only result in fainting from the pain.
Even Lucic wouldn’t be able to take it! She meant it!
“Sister, I’ll demonstrate on Da Mao for you!”
As she spoke, Theodore directly grabbed the Brown-maned Lion, which had finally managed to reform its body. She rubbed her small hands together, an excited smile on her face.
*Aowuu…*
The Brown-maned Lion shuddered all over, a low wail escaping its mouth as it looked toward Qiansitelin as if for help.
Qiansitelin decisively turned her head away, completely ignoring the Brown-maned Lion’s pitiful appearance.
Seeing that Qiansitelin had no intention of saving it, the Brown-maned Lion turned its pleading gaze toward Gelifende and the other two.
Gelifende and the others looked at each other and simultaneously pulled back their heads. They looked at the giant hammer in Theodore’s hand, then at Qiansitelin, who had already turned her head away, and chose to ignore the lion.
“Captain, yesterday I…”
“Ah… if I could just see…”
“Should we go back and eat something…”
The three of them brought up stiff topics, acting as if they didn’t even see the Brown-maned Lion.
Seeing the smile on Theodore’s face grow brighter and brighter, the Brown-maned Lion let out a desperate sound.
“Aowuu — “
Piercing screams, accompanied by the sounds of bones *cracking* and flesh *squelching*, caused a chill to run through Qiansitelin, Gelifende, and the others.
Even though they weren’t the ones suffering, they felt a faint phantom pain in their own limbs.
“Da Mao, it feels good, doesn’t it?”
Theodore quickly snapped all four limbs of the Brown-maned Lion, then patted its head and let out a long sigh of relief.
With a smile on her face, she looked as if she had a great sense of achievement.
“Aowuu…”
The Brown-maned Lion lay on the ground, twitching constantly, unconscious murmurs escaping its mouth.
For a moment, the air went silent.
“What’s this?”
After finishing his talk with Lucic, Muxuan returned to see the silent crowd and the half-dead Brown-maned Lion with twisted limbs on the ground. A giant question mark popped up in his head.
“His Holiness, I’m showing Sister Qiansitelin our unique massage technique!”
“Massage technique?”
Looking at Qiansitelin’s speechless expression and Gelifende’s instinctively averted gaze, Muxuan’s mouth also twitched.
‘So… the massage technique you demonstrated was torturing the Brown-maned Lion into this ghastly state?’
‘The creature is at least semi-Strange, and its power has reached the peak of the Deep Sea Level. Is this really okay?’
“Ahem… we’re heading back to the base now. Miss Dwarf, would you like to come along?”
Clearing his throat to ease his awkwardness, Muxuan asked.
Lucic had just explained that the giant hammer in Theodore’s hand was also a quasi-Divine Artifact. This meant that Theodore’s status within her tribe was extremely important.
Although it wasn’t clear how her tribe viewed the Church, being able to invite Theodore and establish a good relationship with her would be of great benefit to the Church.
“I’d love to!!!”
When she heard Muxuan ask if she was willing to go to the Church’s base, Theodore immediately raised her hands in excitement.
She wanted to see what the world shrouded in light would be like so badly!
No matter how the elders in her tribe described it, Theodore could never imagine a world in the light through a world shrouded by the Black Mist.