The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix’s Novels Also Desires Happiness - Chapter 208
133、Cash Ability
Mu En seemed to step into another world.
The night was thick, without a single light to adorn it.
The entire city appeared to have been thrown into an abyss where no light could reach, and everywhere he looked, there were vaguely grotesque shadows of unspoken horrors.
The rain continued to pour, and thanks to the city’s excellent drainage system, there had yet to be any disasters, but the standing water in the streets had already risen above his ankles.
As Mu En walked through these unfamiliar streets, it felt as if he were wandering in the realm of the dead.
Occasionally, the sound of an explosion would reach his ears, and in the distance, flames would briefly flare up, only to be extinguished in the profound darkness of the night.
The Silent Agency’s full-scale assault on the cultists was proceeding as scheduled; if it weren’t for the sudden advance of the evil god’s actions, those cultists might have been caught off guard, leading to a complete failure of their plans.
But after all, it was the evil god’s plan, and it wouldn’t be so easily thwarted. In fact, at the very beginning, due to some internal members being unknowingly eroded by the moon, the Silent Agency had suffered a setback.
However, being a special organization specifically dealing with the evil god, they were quite adept at handling the god’s corruption. After a brutal and indifferent suppression, this violent agency, which had recently been restrained in Belrand, finally revealed its cruel fangs.
Even though it was raining, Mu En could distinctly smell the scent of blood.
Tonight, who knows how many corpses have been thrown into Belrand’s sewers, or burned to ashes in a fiery blaze.
But Mu En no longer had time to pay attention to the fierce battle between the Silent Agency and the cultists; instead, he felt somewhat fortunate for the chaos they had created, allowing him to easily delve into the heart of the cultists’ stronghold.
In the air, the cold atmosphere grew increasingly dense, the biting chill making him shiver a bit despite his current physical condition.
“It seems the direction is correct.”
Mu En pressed down the brim of his hat and continued to walk quickly forward.
But not long after, his steps came to a halt.
He couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.
“Sure enough, it’s not that easy, is it?”
At the edge of the street, those originally gentle and charming bridges and streams had now turned into a raging torrent under the pouring rain.
And from that murky water, a fierce claw suddenly emerged, gripping the riverbank, which could barely contain the surging waters, and suddenly pressed down.
As a clear scratch mark was left on the blue stones of the riverbank, a monster, covered in scales like a lizard, slowly emerged from the water.
The monster shook its head, its cold vertical pupils locking onto the only living being in the alley, a fierce aura emanating from it that sent chills down the spine.
Moon Beast.
Small in stature, both in size and strength, it was far inferior to the worm prepared by the Red Fire Gang to kill him.
But…
Not just one.
As Mu En shifted his gaze, more monsters slowly emerged from the darkness. Their grotesque forms, as if the Creator had sneezed while crafting them, did not bring any sense of relief; instead, a chill settled in.
“So this is what Teacher Meila meant by ‘the things that ran up from below’?”
A flicker of understanding crossed Mu En’s eyes as he finally grasped why those heretics could withstand such a powerful assault from the Silent Mechanism.
These Moon Beasts… it seemed there were more than just the ones in front of him; this entire area had likely become a den for these monsters.
No wonder the atmosphere here felt so wrong. With these creatures around, the residents must have already…
“This really is going to be a challenge for me,” Mu En muttered irritably as he fidgeted with his spatial device.
“Surely, I can’t let you pass so easily, can I?”
In the alley, where only the sound of rain had been, a sharp voice like metal scraping suddenly pierced the air. Mu En showed no surprise as he turned to the shadow across from him.
From the darkness, a gaunt figure draped in a black robe slowly stepped out from among the monsters, a lantern in hand swaying and casting an eerie blue light.
“Who are you?”
“You can call me… the Beast Tamer, Mu En Campbell.”
The figure placed a hand on its chest and bowed, performing a comically awkward noble gesture:
“It is a great honor to stand before the legendary Duke’s son.”
“I thought it would be the succubus coming,” Mu En replied expressionlessly.
“Such trivial matters are hardly worthy of the High Priest’s personal involvement.” The Beast Tamer raised his head, looking at Mu En, a hint of mockery showing on his deeply sunken, ugly face.
“Just my waiting here for you is enough.”
“Oh? So confident?”
“Heh, confidence comes from strength. I have studied you, Mu En Campbell.”
“Studied?” Mu En finally lifted his eyelids.
“Indeed, studied.”
The Beast Tamer spread his arms, the lantern in his hand swaying, the flickering blue light reflecting the agitation of his expression:
“Through your battle records at St. Maria Academy, through the skills you displayed when you killed those Red Fire Gang members, I have gained the clearest understanding of your strength and fighting style. This is precisely why I am here.
— Mu En Campbell, I am the one who can best restrain you in terms of ability.”
“You scared me; I thought you were going to suddenly say something like ‘I am your nemesis’…”
Mu En shrugged nonchalantly. “Restrain? What do you mean by that?”
“Crackle…”
The beast tamer let out a standard villainous sneer and said:
“It’s simple. Your moves, your skills, none are designed for ‘humans,’ as can be seen from your two weapons.
Therefore—
The one who comes is me, the beast tamer.”
The beast tamer shook the lantern, issuing a silent command, and before he knew it, Mu En had already been surrounded by those moon beasts.
As products of lunar pollution, moon beasts are basically mindless creatures.
However, these monsters, born purely for slaughter, become entirely different with a commander.
“I see, I really am not good at fighting monsters.”
This was the truth.
From the very beginning, the opponents Mu En practiced against, from assassins to adventurers, were all human.
And his weapons were indeed not suited for battling creatures of such large size.
Not to mention, with such a number of moon beasts, even if he were truly skilled at fighting monsters, he would undoubtedly be dragged to death.
The guy called the beast tamer spoke of researching countermeasures, but in reality, he was planning to overwhelm with numbers.
No matter how one looked at it, for Mu En, who was all alone, this was yet another dead end.
But—
“Do you really think you have me all figured out?” Mu En said with a half-smile.
“Crackle, won’t you find out by trying?”
The beast tamer licked his lips, his gaze eager as he said:
“Mu En Campbell, I will turn you into one of my collectibles. Crackle, I’ve never had a collectible of such noble status, it’s truly exciting.”
“Collectible?”
The beast tamer was speechless.
But from behind him, a massive moon beast emerged.
On that grotesque body, which was beyond comparison to any known creature, Mu En saw faces of despair embedded in the monster, crying out in misery.
Recalling a certain unpleasant image, Mu En’s expression instantly turned cold.
“It seems you didn’t consult your esteemed priest properly before you came?”
“Consult?” the beast tamer asked, puzzled.
“Exactly, consult. Because if you had experience in this area, you wouldn’t keep researching while neglecting the most important thing.”
The corner of Mu En’s mouth curled into a cold, emotionless arc.
“Am I, as the son of a duke, really going to foolishly fight to the death against you monsters?”
—
As he spoke, two round objects slipped from his sleeve, rolling all the way to the beast tamer’s feet.
The beast tamer looked down, sensing the terrifying killing intent about to erupt from the two trembling spheres, and his confident smile instantly froze.
What the hell is this?
“What… what is this?”
“Grenades, no, according to this world’s terminology, it should be instant-cast cluster explosion magical missiles.”
Mu En weighed a few more small spheres in his hand and curiously asked:
“Haven’t you seen these before? Military gadgets, specifically designed for dealing with large numbers of enemies. Although they’re expensive, well, it’s no trouble for me to casually pull out a dozen or twenty.”
As he spoke, Mu En pressed his lips together and said with a mocking smile:
“It’s fine if you haven’t seen them before; look, aren’t you gaining some knowledge now?”
Before his words could finish, in the beast tamer’s horrified and desperate gaze, the grenades—oh no, the instant-cast cluster explosion magical missiles—exploded in an instant, a thunderous roar erupted, and fierce flames engulfed everything, incinerating all flesh that came into contact.
What followed was hell.
In the first wave of explosions, the beast tamer, with quick reflexes, used the monsters beside him to absorb all the damage. Relying on the bodies of one beast after another, he finally endured the onslaught of the cluster explosion magical missiles.
Watching his “collection” turn to char in the flames, his expression suddenly twisted with rage, vowing to make Mu En Campbell suffer tenfold the pain.
Heh, why not turn him into a Moon Beast too? From a noble aristocrat to a lowly, disgusting monster—just thinking about it was enough to make one feel…
But even this fantasy hadn’t finished before, amidst the aftershocks of the explosion, he had no chance to organize the remaining Moon Beasts for a counterattack… when he saw Mu En pull out something new.
A scroll.
A magical scroll.
Even he knew how precious magical scrolls were, always having a price but never available on the market, yet Mu En was throwing them out as if they were worthless.
One spell after another was instantly activated, and on this street, flames soared to the sky, fierce winds howled, and thunder rumbled, creating a scene reminiscent of the apocalypse.
As the beast tamer was caught in the magical waves, his hand blown off, a scroll happened to crash down on his head, instantly healing his injuries.
Mu En Campbell was even throwing around healing scrolls!
But it wasn’t over yet.
Magical crossbows.
Alchemical bombs.
One-time-use magical devices.
Under that insane financial power, the number of Moon Beasts he had for encircling Mu En rapidly dwindled.
Finally, when he pulled out a magical cannon that could scare someone into wetting their pants, skillfully firing three shots that nearly leveled half a block, and without a hint of remorse kicked the wrecked cannon into the river…
The beast tamer, now a mere figure without any support, couldn’t help but shed tears of utter helplessness.
You motherf—… no sense of martial ethics…