Chapter 1391: 149. Improvisation

"We're here. This is our destination."

Peles raised a hand.

As space distorted, a peculiar island suddenly appeared.

Or rather...

A bubble.

An extraordinarily dreamlike bubble.

Its wavering outer edge shimmered with a faint, indescribable radiance. Even though there was no sunlight whatsoever, brilliant colors continuously drifted and rippled across its surface in a dazzling haze.

Within this sea of stars, whose dominant tones were dim gray and pale white, it was like a little house glowing with lamplight in the middle of an endless night.

Peles did not even need to point it out.

Muen and Ariel noticed it immediately.

"This is surprisingly girly."

Muen's expression turned strange.

Well, well.

Douglas looked like such a stern, serious old man, yet the passage leading into his office looked like this?

And this was only the entrance to his office.

What would his bedroom look like?

Surely there wouldn't be some kind of pink teddy bear sleeping arrangement in there too...

"Ahem..."

Peles suddenly gave a dry cough, her face faintly reddening.

"I merely wanted to add a little color to an otherwise dull journey, but hearing you say I have a girlish heart... actually makes me rather happy."

"..."

All right.

Apparently, the one who might like pink teddy bears was this person instead.

"Senior Peles has... pretty good taste."

"Thank you."

"Staaare—"

"..."

All right, stop staring already!

At this rate, I'm going to start worrying that your Delusion-Breaking Eye will evolve the ability to shoot lasers!

Helpless, Muen hurriedly ignored the piercing gaze with the thick skin of a good man. Before the two of them could start fighting again, he let his long golden curls sway behind him as he approached the edge of the enormous bubble.

"Ahem. So, we can just go straight in now, right?"

There was nothing else visible inside the bubble.

Only an ordinary door.

But Muen knew that beyond that door lay the destination he had worked so hard to reach, even sacrificing his dignity once again and transforming into Miss Muse to get here.

"Of course."

Peles nodded confidently.

"It may look cute, but this is still the back door I personally built. It should definitely be safe."

"I see. Then I'll just—"

Muen reached out, preparing to touch it.

But then, as though suddenly remembering something, he cautiously looked around.

"Just to be safe, I want to confirm one more time. There's really no danger here, right?"

"What danger could there possibly be now? This sea of stars is somewhere only people using the back door would ever reach."

Peles looked at him speechlessly, then said with a slightly coquettish tone:

"You really trust me that little?"

"No, no, no... I've just had people interfere at moments like this far too many times. Better to be careful."

Hearing her answer, Muen relaxed a little, but still asked:

"By the way, that old bastard Douglas isn't suddenly going to come charging back here, is he? If he blocks us in here, that'd be pretty terrifying."

"That... let me take a look."

Peles closed her eyes.

...

...

The thirteenth floor.

At the edge of a vast ancient forest, Douglas's mage robes whipped around him.

His normally neat pale hair was now completely disheveled, thrashing wildly like the mane of a lion in battle.

At the same time, immense magical power surged outward without restraint, almost becoming tangible.

Behind him was a defensive spell hastily constructed into a barrier.

Like a solid wall, it sheltered him within this narrow space.

As a veteran Truth-Rank Grand Sorcerer, the defensive magic he constructed could not necessarily be called absolutely indestructible, but it possessed the steadiness of a mountain standing in the middle of the sea, enough to withstand monstrous waves.

And yet now, that wall seemed to be suffering impacts far beyond anything mere waves could produce.

It trembled constantly.

The deafening roars sounded like meteors crashing into mountains.

Each impact shook the earth, and even the barrier itself dimmed slightly every time.

"Damn it... faster... just a little faster..."

Cold sweat gradually appeared on Douglas's forehead.

With his mastery of magic, repairing the defensive spell that was slowly weakening should have been effortless.

He could even strengthen it considerably with a casual gesture.

Under normal circumstances, the attacks from outside would not have been enough to make the dignified Tower Master nervous.

But right now, most of his attention was concentrated on repairing another magical array in front of him.

The complexity of this special spatial array was such that even a veteran Truth-Rank Grand Sorcerer like him had to devote an unimaginable amount of additional focus to it.

Thus, he could only hope that the temporary defensive magic he had constructed would hold firm.

That it could endure the assault of another Truth-Rank mage long enough for him to...

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

One deafening impact came after another, each louder than the last.

They sounded like the tolling of a death bell, making his nerves tighter and tighter.

"Faster... faster... just a little faster... Damn teleportation array! Who the hell made this thing so complicated?! I'll cut all your research funding! Every last subsidy too! All of it!"

The veins at Douglas's temples bulged as he stared fixedly at the constantly shifting magical patterns before him, praying that the spatial gate would open smoothly in the next instant.

But...

Boom!

Perhaps even fate had no mercy for him.

He was ultimately one step too slow.

As the magical wall shook violently once again, the radiance flowing across its surface finally dimmed completely.

A crack clearly appeared across the barrier.

Douglas's face filled with terror.

Yet he could not completely pull his attention away from constructing the teleportation array.

Not only would that erase all his progress, but the backlash from the collapsing array would also severely injure his mind.

So he could only maintain the restoration of the teleportation array while repeatedly turning his head to look at the magical wall.

Boom!

Boom!

Several more deafening impacts followed.

The barrier looked as though a giant axe were chopping into it over and over.

The cracks grew clearer.

Larger.

Douglas's expression became more and more terrified.

Without realizing it, he had already shrunk into a corner, tightly clutching the wand he had not used in a very long time.

"No... don't..."

Boom!

Under Douglas's despairing gaze, a massive opening was finally smashed through his magical wall.

And immediately afterward, a hideous face carrying a bizarre mixture of perversion, madness, and utter shamelessness appeared on the other side of the crack.

Then it glanced sideways, grinned wildly, and stared at Douglas.

"Honey, I'm here!"

...

...

"It looks like Tower Master Douglas won't be coming back anytime soon. He's very busy right now."

Peles opened her eyes with a strange expression.

"What happened?"

Muen and Ariel both looked over curiously.

They could both see that there was something unusual about Peles's expression.

"Ahem, nothing."

"I just didn't expect one of my former disciples, who I was merely putting to some use, to be so... 'talented' in this particular area."

"With just a little improvisation, the results went far beyond what I imagined."

Peles waved a hand and brushed the matter aside.

Although Huggins was indeed doing an excellent job over there, at this point she had absolutely no face left to admit that the man had once been her disciple.

After all, while she had forcibly controlled him at the beginning, what he was doing now...

That was entirely his own improvisation.

She could never say something that perverted.

Besides, compared to some old man with a white beard, handsome, juicy young men were much more her type.

"All right. If Senior Peles says so, then I won't keep imagining problems where there aren't any."

Muen took a deep breath.

True.

There was no point being suspicious.

Just think about where he was right now.

A back door personally created by Senior Peles.

The core region guarded by the Origin Tower's three great cores.

A place that, theoretically speaking, no one besides the Tower Master could reach at will...

What kind of accident could possibly happen here?

Impossible.

Absolutely impossible!

If his luck was really that bad, he might as well start reverse-cursing the Love God.

Maybe he'd actually curse that thing to death.

"I'm going in."

Muen slowly extended his hand.

It passed through the brilliant bubble, and he firmly grasped the cold door handle.

Then...

Hum—

At that exact moment, killing intent erupted.

Terrifying light and shadow appeared from nowhere.

Like a drifting nightmare, it descended from above and instantly swallowed the two tiny figures below.

"Damn it! I knew it!"

As a premonition of death stabbed painfully into his mind, Muen pulled Ariel into his arms and shielded her against his chest while furiously cursing inwardly...

Love God! You're fucking the cutest thing in the entire world! I sincerely wish you a thousand years of life!

From the bottom of my heart!