Chapter 183: Chapter 182: Witness the Power of the Fire Mist Warrior!
“… So, the creatures I just battled are called Phosphors, and they are subordinates to the ‘Demon King of the Crimson Realm.’ The ‘Demon King of the Crimson Realm’ is a powerful entity from another world. To maintain their form in this world, they have to devour the Power of Existence, preferably that of humans… So they are man-eating monsters, is that correct?”
Sitting in the fast-food restaurant, Fang Zheng shook his milk tea while staring at the girl sitting opposite him. She was still wearing a black coat, but her hair, which had seemed to burn like fire before, had now turned pitch black.
“And when this Power of Existence is devoured by these creatures, the balance of the world gets weakened, and it may even lead to catastrophes. Hence, warriors like you, the Fire Mist Warriors, appear to prevent the situation from worsening… Is my understanding correct?”
The girl nodded, bit into her pineapple bun, and carefully scrutinized Fang Zheng with a furrowed brow.
“This is really interesting…”
Smiling slightly at her response, Fang Zheng turned his gaze back outside the window—where the buildings that should have collapsed during the previous battle had already been restored to their original state, and those who had been affected were now seemingly back to normal. But according to what this girl had said, they were now nothing but empty shells, for their souls… or rather, their Power of Existence, had been taken away by the Phosphors.
And having lost their Power of Existence, these people would cease to exist, not just in the sense of their physical disappearance, but also meaning that all traces of their past, any residual images, even their presence within the memories of others, would be completely erased—as if they had never existed at all.
One or two people disappearing might be overlooked, but if tens of thousands were erased at the same time, the world would suffer irreparable gaps, which is only natural. A class may be able to adapt if it’s missing one or two students, but it would be difficult for the world to adjust if there were only one or two students left in a class.
In a way, it is similar to programming; extensive missing code would naturally lead to software crashing. And for this reason, just a moment ago, this girl, wielding the Power of Existence, demonstrated a world repair for Fang Zheng… Hmm, what an interesting world…
Fang Zheng was certain that he had never seen this animation before. After all, if he had heard of such an intriguing concept, he definitely would have remembered it.
“Hey, you haven’t told me about yourself yet.”
As Fang Zheng pondered, the girl in front of him slammed the table and glared at him fiercely.
“You’re not a Fire Mist Warrior, and you’re not a Follower of the Crimson Realm. How were you able to move within the Sealing? And you could actually kill two Phosphors? Who on earth are you?”
“My name is Fang Zheng. I’m currently a teacher at Goki High School.”
Fang Zheng put down his milk tea and looked back at the girl, then answered her question. Hearing this, the girl’s eyebrows shot up.
“I don’t believe an ordinary teacher can move within the Sealing and kill Phosphors.”
“Well, I am also a Mage and a Templar.”
Fang Zheng always was quite frank with beautiful girls.
Sure enough, the girl looked puzzled at this.
“What is that? Aralastor, do you know?”
Following the girl’s query, the strange pendant on her chest began to glow again.
“I have never heard of such beings…”
“I just learned today that there is such a job as a Fire Mist Warrior in this world.”
Fang Zheng was unfazed; with the girl’s help, he had managed to learn more about the world he was in, and that was enough for him.
“Thanks for the introduction. Now that it’s getting late, I should take my leave…”
As he spoke, Fang Zheng stood up, preparing to leave. But at that moment, the girl suddenly looked toward him and said.
“Is there something else?”
Hearing the girl’s words, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow and looked at her, while the girl stared back at Fang Zheng without the slightest hesitation, and then extended her hand.
“Did you just obtain a Noble Phantasm from a Mistis? Hand it over to me!”
Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng smiled slightly.
“Interesting, a Noble Phantasm? Is it yours?”
“It’s not something I own, but Noble Phantasms are extremely dangerous. You’re not a Fire Mist Warrior, and you don’t understand the risks involved…”
“Sorry to interrupt.”
But before the girl could finish her speech, Fang Zheng raised his hand to cut off her lengthy discourse.
“I may not be a Fire Mist Warrior, but since I’ve gotten my hands on that thing, there’s no way I’m handing it over to you. That’s how it is… As for what use it has for me, that’s a trade secret.”
As if, he thought, why would anyone give away something they’ve obtained? Although Fang Zheng did not know what exactly the Noble Phantasm he had acquired was, since it was required to unlock the Soulstone, it must be something of great importance in this world. Given the significance of the item, there was no way he’d foolishly hand it over to someone else.
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s response, the girl’s face changed color instantly.
“In that case, I have no choice but to take it by force!”
“You want to have a fight?”
Looking at the girl in front of him, Fang Zheng pondered for a moment. If he wasn’t mistaken, could she be one of the protagonists of this world? Regardless, since she seemed interested, he was ready to oblige. It was a good opportunity to find out just how powerful these so-called Fire Mist Warriors of this world were.
“There are too many people here; let’s change locations.”
No matter how many times he saw it, that skill seemed pretty handy.
Standing on the riverbank, surrounded by the crimson space, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but marvel. He had learned from the girl that this space was formed by a type of Barrier Magic called “Sealing.” But contrary to what Fang Zheng had imagined, “Time Stop,” the entire “Sealing” process involved the temporary separation of a section of space from the “causality” of the world, forming an isolated space. It was as though a piece had been temporarily removed from a conveyor belt to scribble and paint on as one pleased, but ultimately, the piece had to be put back on the conveyor for further assembly and processing. If that piece went missing, the entire “world’s” assembly system could grind to a halt or even malfunction.
But no matter how you put it, this magic was incredibly convenient.
If he could use this magic in the Main World, Fang Zheng wouldn’t have to worry about battle traces being left behind; a simple fix with the Power of Existence would do the job.
With that thought in mind, Fang Zheng looked up at the girl in front of him.
At this moment, the girl had already reverted to that flaky flame form, with dandruff scattering about. Hmm… Fang Zheng thought it might be a good idea to introduce her to a good shampoo brand, like Head & Shoulders or something…
As he spoke, Fang Zheng casually drew the Sky-Cleaving Sword from the void.
“Let’s see the strength of you Fire Mist Warriors.”
“You really dare to say that…”
Listening to Fang Zheng’s nonchalant tone, the girl furrowed her brows, her face expressing unmistakable coldness and annoyance.
“Then, let me show you the power of a Fire Mist Warrior!”