Chapter 17: Confronting the Dream-Eating Beast

The Blue-Robed Daoist’s tone was stern as he interrogated the creature, whose size far exceeded that of any normal beast.

The Dream-Eating Beast seemed to understand him. It raised its head and roared, the sound carrying a strange quality that could disturb one’s mind.

Some villagers with weak wills covered their ears and bent over to vomit. The Caravan Leader was not as strong-willed as he had thought. He collapsed to the side, unable to concentrate, slipping into a light faint.

Even the Blue-Robed Daoist had to cover his ears to reduce the spiritual attack brought by the roar.

He glanced to the side and his eyes widened. He noticed the young girl standing firm, completely unaffected by the Dream-Eating Beast’s roar.

It was then that he realized his position had shifted, as if he had teleported, ten paces from where he had been before the roar.

He looked at the villagers. Several of them had become like soulless zombies, slowly walking toward the Dream-Eating Beast.

The Daoist rushed over and slapped each one awake.

“D-Daoist? How did I get here?” a villager asked, coming to his senses.

The Daoist shouted, “Everyone go back inside! That beast can control minds.”

After calming the villagers, he noticed the girl again, standing like a lighthouse in the dark night, still holding her axe, as if nothing could affect her.

The Daoist blinked. When he opened his eyes, the scene had changed. He was only a dozen paces from the Dream-Eating Beast. He had teleported again.

Someone was grabbing his sleeve. He turned and saw the girl.

“Thank you, layperson. I will explain the debt of life later.” The Daoist recovered his senses and pinched his cheek to stay alert.

The girl nodded.

Their eyes met. The Daoist felt a warmth inside, not a physical warmth but a spiritual satisfaction.

His feet stopped wavering. His gaze grew steadier. “Layperson, this beast has definitely taken many lives. It has become a demon and attacks people on sight. It will not let us go today. Its appearance means it wants to kill everyone here before moving elsewhere to continue its evil.”

The girl nodded. She now understood the meaning of the colorful lights she had been seeing. Black mist signified misfortune, bad things. The red mist around the Dream-Eating Beast was blood energy, left behind by constant killing.

“Layperson, help me!” The Daoist left those words and charged in.

The girl contributed by circling around to get behind the demon.

Perhaps sensing she was more threatening, the beast focused most of its attention on her.

Only when the Blue-Robed Daoist got close and attacked did the beast divert some attention to him.

The creature charged at him, a simple ramming move like a wild boar.

“Perfect!” The Blue-Robed Daoist welcomed this. Wasn’t the demon delivering itself to death?

He raised his peachwood sword in his left hand and an iron short sword in his right, planning to strike with both.

But he felt uneasy. He glanced at the girl again. The moment he saw that reassuring lighthouse, the scene changed.

The iron short sword in his right hand was pressed against his own neck. He had nearly committed suicide.

The beast had not charged at all. It was still in its original spot.

The Daoist knew he couldn’t drag this out. He would be worn down. He attacked again, positioning himself and the girl in a straight line with the beast between them.

This time, he kept the girl in his sight at all times, whether directly or with peripheral vision.

He realized that girl was no ordinary mortal. As long as he could see her, or even sense her with his soul, he could break free of the beast’s mental control.

Being controlled felt like an out-of-body experience, where he could use his soul’s vision to look at the girl.

He didn’t know the principle, but he planned to study it later.

Once close, the Daoist tested an attack with his peachwood sword. The beast seemed afraid of it and avoided contact.

Suddenly, the Daoist found himself teleported again. Luckily, only one step this time, meaning little time had passed.

Coming back to his senses, he saw a fireball radiating intense heat.

The beast had spat it out from its mouth. It was right in front of him.

He managed to dodge just in time.

The fireball brushed past his ear and struck a house in the distance, exploding into flames and setting it on fire.

The Daoist’s hair caught fire. He quickly put it out while warning the girl, “This beast is cunning! It is not afraid of fire!”

It was absurd. A demon capable of fire spells would fear fire? Its earlier fear of torches had clearly been an act. Without the girl, he would have been killed by that fireball after being mentally controlled.

After extinguishing the flames on his head, he pressed his attack.

The beast dodged and sidestepped, refusing a direct confrontation.

The Daoist used his speed advantage, found an opening, and thrust his peachwood sword fiercely. This strike was sure to hit.

But the beast charged straight into the sword.

Hurriedly, the Daoist searched for the girl’s figure and took a look.

No teleportation?

This was real!

The beast broke the peachwood sword and slammed into the Daoist, sending him flying. He rolled over ten times in the snow before stopping.

The creature had used a spell to accelerate at the moment of impact, doubling the force.

The Daoist was badly hurt.

The beast charged again, partly to distance itself from the girl and partly to finish him.

The Daoist rolled in the snow, slashing with the iron short sword. It hit, but didn’t feel like it cut flesh.

He glanced at the girl in the distance. His body teleported again.

He was face to face with the charging beast.

He blocked with his left hand, throwing out a yellow talisman held between his little and ring fingers. The short sword struck the talisman and pierced the beast’s belly with the talisman.

At the same time, the beast stomped on the Daoist’s hand, crushing it into the ground. His entire left hand was flattened, broken.

“Ah…” He let out a low groan of pain.

Fueled by anger from the pain, he pushed the sword deeper, cutting a deep gash in the beast’s stomach. Green blood splattered over him.

The air grew hot. The iron short sword became scorching. He let go.

A wave of heat erupted. Visible fire spread from the beast in all directions.

The Daoist ran. Fire ignited his back, his clothes and hair burned. His skin charred to black, exposing raw flesh.

After escaping the flames, he rolled in the snow to put out the fires.

Suddenly remembering he hadn’t seen the girl for a while, he quickly looked at her.

That look saved his life. He had teleported again.

He must have been hit while fleeing. Now he stood motionless in the snow, waiting to die, engulfed in raging fire.

He ran to the sea beside the village pier and jumped in without hesitation. Even the pain was better than being burned alive.

Seconds later, he surfaced. Hardly any part of his body was unscathed.

He swam ashore, keeping his eyes on the girl.

He noticed she had been circling with her axe, waiting for an opening.

The beast was afraid of her, never turning its back or letting her get close.

He understood.

He made gestures to the girl, signaling that he would distract the demon to give her a chance.

Whether she understood or not, she nodded.

The severely injured Daoist returned to the battlefield. The beast was wounded, its movement impaired. Perhaps sensing danger, it started spitting fireballs continuously.

Stray shots set several houses ablaze, lighting up the small village and a wide area.

The Daoist avoided the fireballs.

Then he had an idea. He stopped dodging. Imitating the villagers he had seen earlier, he approached the beast like a zombie, keeping the girl in his peripheral vision.

The beast wasted time gathering power for a large fireball to kill him. The extra time cost it.

When it spat out the killing fireball, the Blue-Robed Daoist, now almost at its side, moved. He dodged the fireball and slammed into the beast, staggering it.

“Layperson!” the Daoist shouted.

The girl was already close. Seeing his move, she seemed to understand. She jogged closer to the beast, which was about to kill him.

She got her only chance. After being staggered, the beast couldn’t move or escape for a short time.

She leaped, raised the axe, and brought it down.

The ordinary axe struck the beast’s tough back hide.

No! the Daoist thought in dismay. The blow hadn’t hit a weak point.

But what happened next would stay with him forever.

When the axe struck, a weak shockwave rippled through the air, and a deep thud sounded, as if something heavy had passed by. Even his mind was shaken.

For that brief moment when the axe hit, the Daoist and the villagers saw mana with their own eyes for the first time.

It was pure, uncontaminated, compressed to the extreme mana.

A massive lump of mana slammed into the beast. An explosion rang out. The beast was blown apart. Flesh splattered everywhere. A small crater appeared in the ground. The surrounding snow evaporated.

The Blue-Robed Daoist’s eyes went wide in shock.

Before him was the girl’s face, covered in green blood and flesh. He didn’t know how to describe it. It was shocking and frightening, yet also full of beauty.

The axe in her hand had shattered into countless tiny fragments.

After a long silence, the Village Head cheered, “It’s dead! The demon is dead!”

Then the villagers came out from their houses and celebrated together.

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