Myths Reawakened

Five minutes later, Wayne pulled his tentacles back and covered Filomina’s now normal right arm with the white shirt. He wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead like a surgeon. The surgery was a great success. The patient had overcome the critical period and could be discharged after recovering her stamina.

“I’m back with what you requested, Boss.”

Mona returned with a briefcase and a mask. She handed the mask to Wayne. “This seems unusual and may be the key to leaving the barrier, so I brought it.”

“And the head?”

“Burned to ashes.”

“Nicely done. Let’s go.”

In case the enemies had set up more ambushes, Wayne immediately rose to leave. Glancing at the unconscious Filomina, he tied the white shirt around her and hoisted her onto his shoulder. It was better to carry her out, or there could be perverts around!

Seeing the woman taking the spot that should’ve been hers left Mona disgruntled. She knew that Wayne was too kind not to offer the weak help, but why did he have to carry the woman on his shoulder? Bridal carry would... would be worse!

Why didn’t he just tuck her under his armpit? He was more than powerful enough.

Holding the mask in his hand, Wayne crossed the corridor and saw three headless bodies. He told Mona to pick up the three masks before he burned the corpses.

The enemies were clearly from a powerful faction antagonistic toward the Church of Moonlight. He didn’t care who they were. He just had to erase the tracks left. It wasn’t as if the faction would chase him to Londan.

Ha, you’re welcome to try!

With the masks, they made it to the suite at the end of the corridor and went up to the window. Waving his hand, Wayne finally saw the starry sky of the night. He flipped onto the rooftop and expanded his thoughts to sense for mana disturbance in the area.

“Bingo!”

He spotted the core of the barrier set up by the enemies. Dusting his pants, he jumped down from the fifth floor with Filomina in tow, hurrying to the grove behind the hotel. He memorized the patterns of the two magic circles and reached toward the crystal ball to draw the four elements.

But he stopped himself.

The hotel’s structural integrity was more than compromised. If he absorbed the four elements and destroyed the mirror space now, the building could topple in an instant. Since he had been too busy dealing with the enemies to rescue civilians, there were still people left in the hotel. They would die if the building collapsed.

Lowering Filomina to the grass field, he collected the item used to set up the anti-magic domain to tear it down first, ensuring that Filomina’s teammates would recover their access to magic. Then he enveloped the hotel with his tremendous thoughts, drawing the four elements inside the crystal ball while separating the earth elements.

The moment the mirror space dissolved, he used the earth elements to conjure earth walls to serve as support, stabilizing the shaky hotel. As for the rest of the mess, there was nothing he could do about it. He had put in his best effort. It would be the city government’s responsibility to worry about the cleanup.

It was a pity that the hotel was irreparable and had to be taken down. The owner would cry themselves back to sleep when they woke up and saw the state the building was in.

Half an hour later, police cars circled the hotel and began rescuing civilians. Wayne watched from afar. It wasn’t until twelve o’clock at midnight that Nicholas and the rest of his entourage, all drunk, returned to the hotel in taxis.

Nicholas broke into a cold sweat when he heard about the earthquake and the casualties, suddenly wide awake. He screamed, ready to rush into the ruined hotel to save his boss—no, Wayne wasn’t his boss, but his livelihood and future.

“Stop screaming. I’m not dead.”

Wayne emerged from a bush, pleased with Nicholas’s reaction. He told Nicholas to arrange for another hotel and a private flight. He had to leave as soon as possible.

The emotional rollercoaster he experienced today made Nicholas lose his composure. He laughed and cried while carrying out Wayne’s order.

Wayne asked his entourage for a pen and paper, writing a note and returning to the grove to stuff it under Filomina’s collar.

[Ma’am, I’ve completed your request and saved your companions in the last moment.]

[The enemies are too strong, and more ambushes have been set up. I could only save your people and not the briefcase. It was taken by enemy reinforcements, gone.]

[I healed your ailment with the church’s secret method. I’ll consider the sword payment for the treatment.]

[You are an incredibly charismatic lady. May our paths cross again. Jack.]

With that, Wayne waved at Mona to follow him. He pinched Filomina’s cheek hard before taking his leave.

The sharp pain woke Filomina from the exhaustion. In her hazy vision, she saw him walking away with the briefcase.

Suppressing the ache from exhausting her thoughts, she propped herself up by the tree and took the note under her collar. Her eyes twitched after she read it. If the briefcase had been taken by the enemy, what did she just see? What a terrible lie it was!

If he was going to lie, at least come up with a convincing one. While she was unconscious... Hm, he was a nice guy, a real gentleman.

She untied the shirt draped on her and put it on. Gathering moonlight at her fingertips, she stroked her face to treat her swollen cheek. Her expression darkened. While she had met a nice man, it wasn’t the time to think about that.

“Ministry of Magic, the Church of Moonlight will not let this matter slide. You must pay for what you did.”

Ambushing them with the aim of killing them all and also taking the briefcase? It was unforgivable!

***

Meanwhile, Nicholas managed to book rooms at a hotel near the airport. He received a call from the management of Alberd Steel to ask after them. After making sure there were no casualties, Alberd Steel earnestly apologized for the terrible experience and promised to make it up to them.

Seizing the opportunity when he had the moral high ground, Nicholas negotiated for more benefits for the Lando conglomerate in addition to the original pricing.

Nicholas booked the best suite for his boss, considerately arranging for the secretary to share the same room. There was no presidential suite, and the luxury suite only had one bedroom. He didn’t think it would be a problem since the boss and his secretary would be sleeping on the same bed anyway. An additional bedroom would only be left empty.

Inside his suite, Wayne sat on the sofa with a jacket around his shoulders. He laid down his spoils on the table and sorted them into groups, studying them.

His luggage remained in the rubble, awaiting excavation. It was hard to say whether any could be recovered, but he was certain that his and Mona’s luggage had to have been destroyed.

Wherever the Death Knight went, nothing would be left, not even an underwear or a sheet of tissue. He didn’t dwell on the material belongings. Nicholas would bring him new clothes. Rubbing his hands together, he turned his eyes to his spoils with anticipation.

It was the long-awaited reward time!

“Kekekeke—”

Mona emerged from the bathroom with a towel around her, concealing only part of her lower body while not even trying to conceal much of her upper body. Hearing her boss’s gleeful laughter, she quietly sidled up to him and sat down right beside him.

“What are you doing, Boss?”

Wayne looked down and saw her poor necklace, drowning in supple flesh. “I should be asking you the question. Why haven’t you put on clothes?”

“The suitcases are destroyed, so I don’t have any new clothes to put on,” Mona said, unabashed.

That made so much sense that Wayne couldn’t argue, so he controlled the cross necklace with his thoughts to put checkered pajamas on her, covering her body well.

Her expression turned disappointed. She had thought that her master would be riding on the adrenaline rush from tonight’s battle and let loose when she tempted him.

It’s not so easy. Line up! Wayne waved at her to move aside. Only after Veronica had eaten the meat, Vera had finished the rice, and Kristen had cleaned up the table would it be her turn to have the soup.

Mona’s infatuation had come out of nowhere, rooted solely in her imagination, which was ninety-nine percent admiration stemming from her faith. On the other hand, Wayne had no love for her, only affection, but the affection came from their contract. He liked having a stockinged, bespectacled secretary who would never betray him.

It would be too scummy to take off his pants now, not much better than the Church of Heavenly Father’s terrible track records. He decided to maintain their current relationship. Should he develop feelings for her, he swore to let her do anything she wanted, neither pulling her in nor pushing her away.

“What are these, Boss?” Mona took his arm and gave him an innocent look. What happened tonight left her feeling insecure. She realized that she wasn’t the only one who called him master, and another woman had ridden on Wayne’s shoulder, a spot that should’ve been reserved for her. If she didn’t seize her time alone with him, she could become replaceable.

She remembered the warning her other self had given her. She didn’t want to lose everything.

Wayne tried but failed to extract his hand. Defeated by her stubbornness, he reluctantly rewarded her.

“All good stuff, but their purposes are too defined. Not very useful to me,” Wayne said in disappointment, though his lips kept curling up.

Inner Filomina’s sword and gun had vanished along with the mirror space; in fact, they had disappeared as soon as he left the hotel. Filomina’s single-edged sword remained, and the quality was good. It could be of use when he put on another disguise.

It was a shame that he didn’t find the magical gun. He wondered where Filomina had hidden it.

Then there were the magical items for setting up the anti-magic domain and the mirror space projection barrier. Both were incredibly powerful. Once they broke, the magical items themselves were substantially damaged. Without proper support, Wayne didn’t dare to take the risk like those ambushers.

Good news, he had memorized the magic circles and the way to set them up, so he could replicate them as long as he collected the necessary materials.

Forget the mirror space. An anti-magic domain would be invaluable, especially for a mage with a powerful constitution like him. He could punch a group of Gold-rank mages to death.

After going over the rewards from the side missions, Wayne checked the loot from the main mission:

First, dragon blood! It was a great gain. If he used it on Veronica, she would heat up again like last time.

Second, Ring for Fire Element! This time, he and the fire elements found each other. The ring was fated to become his.

Third, Book of Moon Shadow!

It was objectively a great find. Based on the changing moon phases, the text was divided into dark moon, waning moon, waxing moon, and full moon, covering the faith magic and a great amount of knowledge of the Church of Moonlight. It was the perfect textbook that would get Wayne through the Silver and Gold ranks.

The Silver rank corresponded to university level. Then wouldn’t he become a graduate student after reaching Gold? Kristen was a graduate student. He would love to research the essence of life with her.

To Wayne, the white-covered Book of Moon Shadow was the greatest reward from the main mission. The only thing he didn’t understand was a parchment manuscript roughly put together. With human blood as ink, it recorded magical knowledge he couldn’t decipher due to the scrambled word order. The strange symbols were puzzling as well. He felt like he could understand it, but couldn’t translate it into understandable language. Actually...

The knowledge contained in the manuscript seemed wrong.

It was unlikely for there to be a flawed item among the treasures. Wayne believed the problem had to lie in himself; he didn’t know enough to judge the book’s accuracy.

Preparing to be open-minded, he opened the manuscript once more, going through every word and every line. After a while, though, he found himself shaking his head.

He wasn’t being picky. Disregarding the question of whether he lacked perspective or not, the manuscript contained too many incomprehensible lines that contradicted each other, the logic obviously nonsensical.

“Ma-master...” Mona said weakly. Wayne turned around and saw her pale face and clattering teeth. It didn’t seem like an act to tempt him. He quickly tossed the manuscript away and asked her what was wrong.

“The book...” She closed her eyes, lowering her head to avoid seeing the manuscript. “There’s something magical about it, tempting me to read it. With my thoughts subject to its influence, it’s difficult to read. It feels like my soul is being torn apart before being put back together, and my body feels like it were bursting from the seams...”

“It’s okay. Here, I’ll hold you.” Wayne pulled her into his arms. He could feel her sweat drenching her pajamas. He looked at the manuscript in surprise. “Strange, why did it not affect me?”

The Book of Greed greeted him. Right, he was under constant corruption, and when he opened the big eye in his chest, he turned into a source of corruption himself. The manuscript could influence Mona, but not him.

“Boss, you’re an angel. Angels are impervious to evil thoughts,” Mona lay in his embrace and answered with bleary eyes. The hit that her thoughts had taken from the manuscript exhausted her. Putting her arms around Wayne and nuzzling him, she adjusted her posture for comfort and fell asleep.

She wasn’t wary of him at all!

Wayne touched her forehead and swept a tentacle around her to make sure nothing was wrong. Then he picked up the manuscript and reread it, suppressing his urge to argue with the writings.

Going through the entire manuscript, he realized that it contained different handwritings—it was penned by more than ten authors. Or perhaps the Church of Moonlight had combined several parchments into this book.

Wayne leaned into the sofa, placing one hand on Mona’s shoulder while he wondered about the manuscript’s origin with a frown. He read the parts about the starry sky. The authors had poured words of amazement and shock onto the page to describe its appearance.

“It can’t be right. The starry sky isn’t so radiant...”

“The authors are likely mad.”

Wayne would like to ask Filomina why she had brought so many treasures with her, each with a different purpose that seemed to lack any connecting logic. Were they meant to be traded away? If so, what was the other side offering?

The fact that another group of unlucky souls might be ambushed while he wasn’t there to offer help made him slap his thigh in frustration—wait, it wasn’t his thigh.

Hearing Mona’s whimper, he said, “Sorry. Go back to sleep.”

Wayne picked up the Ring of Fire Element. It was a spellcasting tool containing a great reserve of fire elements, and it could also be used for energy storage. Given his affinity with fire, casting spells through the ring would only slow down the speed at which the elements could gather to him. Thus, he decisively went into meditation mode to draw the reserve in the ring into his body.

“Why is there only one elemental ring? What about the other three elements? Did Filomina keep them as kickbacks?”

While welcoming the fire elements, he complained about the older lady’s greediness.

***

November third.

The second day after the localized earthquake hit the Capital Hotel, the Luzerbourg government arranged for a private flight back to Londan under Nicholas’s insistence.

Wayne and Mona caught the flight home, while Nicholas and his team stayed in Luzerbourg. He wanted to use this chance to seek more benefits for the Lando conglomerate.

At noon, Veryl picked Wayne and Mona up at the airport and took them to his residence. The three college girls weren’t home, which bolstered Mona’s courage. She regretted sleeping so soundly last night and missing her chance. Today would be her day. Perhaps she could get Wayne to do it with her once.

The phone in the living room rang. Wayne picked up and heard Auston’s voice.

“I heard that you encountered an earthquake in Luzerbourg, and it destroyed an entire hotel?”

“That is the case, but don’t worry, I got lucky and didn’t get hurt.”

“I’m not worried about you. A scum like you has the burden of plaguing society. Before that, you won’t die.” Auston spoke bluntly with no regard for Wayne’s pride. “You have the dragon blood, don’t you?”

“Seriously, you know that too?”

Wayne couldn’t believe it. The old man seemed to know everything as if he had a cheat. To his knowledge, the last individual to have their eyes and ears across all of Chosen Land was the Heavenly Father.

“There’s a reason I know,” Auston said gravely. “You’re in big trouble. The Ministry of Magic is on to you. Bring the dragon blood and everything else over. I’ll be waiting at home.”