Chapter 444 - Cheeky

CULTIVATION EARTH – CHAO MUNDI

Retreating at the fastest pace he could, Virus gazed upon his opponents that did not even blink before rushing at him once again.

“KILL!!! KILL THE MOTHERFUCKER! AHHH…” With his spit flying around, the raging barbarian chief roared while his other subordinates accompanied him from the sidelines with no hesitation whatsoever.

Regretfully, since the chief was even faster than Virus himself, Virus wasn’t successful at creating some distance between them.

As the chief was already upon him, rotating his ax from below, the barbarian hacked at him in a straight horizontal motion.

That attack, however, promptly brightened an idea in Virus’ mind as he raised his longsword in front of himself in a blocking pose.

BAM!

As the two weapons collided, the intense might behind the ax transferred over to his weapon. But cleverly, Virus used that force to propel himself backward. As a result, he was sent flying back before doing a backflip and accurately landing on his feet some distance away.

‘Now, how should I deal with this situation?’ 

BAM!

Just having raised that question, Virus was about to enter his extreme state of processing to discover any possible solutions and methods of either battling or escaping from the barbarians, a solution that he might have missed in his normal state, when out of nowhere, someone unknown landed in the middle of Virus and the barbarians.

“Barbarians are indeed barbarians! Ganging up on a single poor man, are you not ashamed of yourselves?!” The newcomer, wearing a veil over her face, exclaimed while facing them.

“Huh? Who the hell are you? Get out of the way, bitch!” Having no intentions of even pausing, the chief charged toward her while brandishing his ax at her.

“Hmph! Scram!” However, releasing a harrumph of contempt, the newcomer merely brought her two palms together and clapped.

BOOM!

Instantly, with her clap as its center, an energy wave was released in all directions, directly flinging off the barbarian chief and even all of his subordinates backward!

Landing some distance away, the barbarian leader wiped the blood off his mouth as shock and astonishment replaced his rage. “S-she’s at S-Sublimity Emergence!”

“You bet I am!” Meanwhile, looking back at Virus, the veiled woman said, “Are you okay? Can you tell me what happened here?”

To that question, Virus decided to answer truthfully since there was no reason not to, “These barbarians suddenly appeared out of nowhere, saying that my face would sell really high at a slave auction. So, they attacked. They are slave traders.”

“Ah, barbarian slavers, I see. But they were right though, you’re so fucking hot.” She admitted while preserving her deadpan tone.

“Huh?” Tongue-tied, Virus didn’t know what to say.

On the other side, as the barbarian chief had calmed down by now, a realization hit him. ‘That attack just now and that vulgar behavior… hmm, it’s definitely her. We need to retreat at once and report this to the third prince. Everything else can wait.’

Afterward, he threw a brief gaze filled with hostility and venom at Virus and declared, “Brat, let’s see each other again.”

“We’re leaving! Let’s go!” Shouting the new command, he no longer wanted to linger around and escape the vicinity while his gigantic minions also followed closely behind him.

After they were gone, out of curiosity Virus decided to ask, “Hmm, why did you let them leave? Is it because this is none of your business when all things are considered, so you don’t really want to bother killing them?”

“What? What are you talking about? Of course not! The moment they attacked an innocent person, it already had everything to do with me as it became my business. Eradicating evil is my cause!” The veiled woman elaborated calmly.

‘Huh? What are you, a saintess of justice?’ Virus pondered in amusement while another doubt occupied his mind. “But if eradicating evil is your cause, why didn’t you kill them?” 

“Hmm, that’s because who can say for sure that they are evil?” Touching her chin, a sage-like light that screamed wisdom brightened her eyes.

“Uh… but they are slave traders who kidnap people though? Doesn’t that passively qualify them as evil people?” Virus was now confused at her thinking process.

To that, the veiled woman didn’t even need to ponder before responding, “Yes, but benevolence is my cause as well and my benevolence is telling me to give them another chance! They might redeem themselves in the near future.”

‘That’s exactly the complete fucking opposite of everything you were saying before!’ Feeling like he might lose some brain cells if he continued trying to understand this unknown woman’s logic, Virus simply decided to stop.

Nonetheless, it was true she had aided him out of his previous quandary, so he was nothing but grateful to her. “Anyway, thanks for the assistance. I might’ve been in big trouble if you didn’t show up.”

“No need to thank me! It’s always a pleasure to save a damsel in distress!”

‘What the…’ That, however, instantly forced a scowl over Virus’ face. Still, he couldn’t really get angry at the person who had helped him just now, therefore, ignoring that unpleasant part, he insisted, “No matter, you have my thanks, so thank you.”

“No problem!”

“Miss! Wait for me!” Suddenly, someone’s shout could be heard at some distance away. 

Bam!

And a few seconds later, like thunder that strikes the ground out of nowhere, someone promptly reached them while panting, “Huff, miss, why did you start running that fast all of a sudden! You left me all alone there!”

“Hehehe, sorry, sorry, sister Henna, this weak man needed saving, so I couldn’t wait for you.” She chuckled while patting Henna’s back and pointing at Virus.

Albeit, that answer instantly made Virus’ countenance very dark. Now he was only speechless about encountering this weird woman. ‘She’s crazy!’

“Ah, him?” Studying Virus, the woman called Henna whispered with a suspicious tone.

Patting Henna’s head this time, the veiled woman confirmed, “No need to act like that, really just some barbarians bullying a weak-man-in-need kind of situation.”

“Is that so?” Finally, it appeared Henna was convinced.  “Alright, whatever, if you’re done saving him, shall we go, miss?”

“Huh? But they might attack him again though… I mean look at that face, I bet deep inside you want to kidnap him too, hehe.” She presumed while wearing a knowing smirk that screamed ‘I know what you’re thinking, you nasty girl!’ beneath that veil of hers.

“Miss!” Frustrated, Henna’s cheeks became red. In fact, she was starting to get embarrassed at her vulgar claims in front of a stranger.

Woefully, that reaction only made the veiled female even more cheeky, “What? Did I hit the nail on the head? Why are you so disturbed? Why so shy? Is it getting hot down there?”

Beside them, Virus had long become dumbfounded as he questioned himself, ‘What the fuck is happening right now? How the fuck did I end up in this situation?’

Forcefully calming her nerves, Henna took a deep breath before getting back to the main issue. “Phew… what do you want to do then? You know we can’t guard him forever, right?”

“We can’t?”

“No! Unless you want to marry him!” 

“M-marry him?” At the mention of marrying Virus, however, the unknown woman began to stutter oddly while her expression behind the veil could not be perceived, “I mean… n-not that I would mind marrying that face…”

“Miss!” Gripping both her fists, Henna almost felt suicidal at this point.

“I’m not marrying anyone! So don’t marry me off on your own!” No longer able to tolerate where she was going with this, Virus yelled.

“Alright, alright. Calm down you both! How about this, he will just follow us to that place. He’ll be safe by our side.”

That solution, however, immediately riled Henna up as her countenance became unnaturally dark as she reminded her, “You can’t be thinking of giving him a spot, right? We only have two badges, one for each of us!” Fully aware of just how unpredictable she could behave sometimes, Henna didn’t think that outcome would be entirely implausible.

“Hehehe, of course not. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to give up your spot for him. How could I possibly do that to my dear sister Henna? He will stay outside.”

Meanwhile, Virus felt somewhat dumbfounded how this woman wasn’t even asking for his opinion and instead just decided everything for him. 

Thus, at last, determining it was enough, he was just about to reject her one-sided invitation, when he caught them mentioning ‘that place’. Now he was curious.

Thus, he threw the question right at them. “Um, what are you guys even talking about? What is ‘that place’?”

“Mind your own business, w-” Apparently, Henna didn’t want to reveal their destination. But before Henna could even end her sentence, she noticed the veiled woman had already started the process of revealing everything, “Ah, by ‘that place’, we are referring to the ‘Invisible Ancient Fortress World’ that shows up every thousand years.”

“MISS!”

Suddenly, her tone became somewhat serious. “Come on, all the elite powers know about this anyway, so what’s one more?”

“Can I enter it too?” Now Virus was even more intrigued.

“No way!” Henna refused at once.

“Uh, unfortunately, no. There are only a select few badges and all of them are in the hands of the most elite superpowers over the land. Oh, right, unless you can cross the ‘Bridge to Heaven’. There is a myth that claims if you can pass the ‘Bridge to Heaven’, your existence itself will become the badge and you’d be able to enter all the floors with no badge whatsoever.” The veiled woman elaborated on a whim.

“Hahaha, him? Crossing the Bridge to Heaven? Miss, you really have a good sense of humor sometimes! Hahaha…” Henna ridiculed and laughed at even the possibility of Virus crossing the bridge.

“Hehehe, right? Anyhow, let’s go!”

‘Hmm, Bridge to Heaven? Well, let’s tag along, for now, I smell something interesting.’ With that, Virus didn’t need to think twice and was resolved to accompany them willingly.

However, before that, remembering he still didn’t know who he was talking to, Virus inquired casually, “Before we go, how should I address you? I mean what’s your name?” 

“Argh, you’re right! Where is my manner! What’s your name?” She mouthed, reflecting the question at him.

“I’m Vee, and again, what’s your name?” Virus introduced himself in the most polite tone he could muster right now.

“Ooh, Vee, huh? That’s such a cool name, just like your face! Alright, enough introductions. Let’s get going then!” With no further ado, she turned away and began sprinting in a specific direction.

“…” Feeling too tired to ask again, Virus no longer felt like even knowing her name.

Following that, until the next day, the trio ran through specific paths of the jungle while avoiding certain parts of it. According to the cheeky veiled woman, the map she had with her would guide them through the safest route while avoiding all possible dangers.

Based on her claims, without the map, it would be impossible for them to travel to where they were headed to.

And at long last, after an entire weary day of running, they reached their target. However, to Virus, it wasn’t the running itself that had exhausted him, rather, it was the impudent lady that just couldn’t stop being cheeky!

Luckily, Virus forgot all the fatigue the moment he laid his eyes upon the scene before him.

Currently, right before him, there was a titanic castle that pierced into the sky itself!

‘Hmm, it’s easily as big as Burj Khalifa in mere height.’ Virus concluded.

“See this? You couldn’t see it before we got this close, right?” The veiled woman mentioned.

“Hmm, indeed, how could we not see something this big until we came right in front of it?” Puzzled at the mechanics behind the fortress, Virus questioned casually.

Showing that sage-like shimmer within her eyes, the veiled woman shook her head. “Well, I don’t know either. I just know that it’s the special feature of this wonderous fortress. You can only see it if you are at least this close to it. Furthermore, you can only see and enter it for a little while later, and then it will vanish for an entire thousand years with no way of perceiving, touching, sensing, or entering it again during that period!”

“Anyhow, welcome to the Invisible Ancient Fortress World!” She announced proudly like it was her own house.