Chapter 491: Chapter 492: The Roar of the Dragon_1
The damp waterfall-like long hair obscured Lamia’s face, the ends sticking to her pale back. In Aiden’s eyes, this monster now somewhat resembled a giant version of Sadako.
Aiden immediately cast "Punishment" to imprison Lamia, but suddenly, Lamia let out a blood-curdling scream that seemed as sharp as a dagger, piercing harshly into Aiden’s ears.
Aiden felt his head go empty, followed by a strong sensation of dizziness; his ears instantly went deaf, hearing only a continuous, hollow buzzing.
At the same time, an uncontrollable fear exploded in his heart, making him feel completely paralyzed, unable to move a muscle.
Lamia suddenly arched her body.
"Dodge! Boy!!" The voice of the Goddess of Vengeance rang in Aiden’s head. He couldn’t hear with his ears, but the Goddess of Vengeance could communicate directly with his consciousness.
In a flash, Aiden broke free from the fear, replaced by a surge of intense fighting spirit and confidence.
Lamia lunged at him like a loosed arrow, and Aiden immediately threw himself to one side to evade. Lamia’s clawed hand grazed close by his side as he dodged.
With a "crack," the tree Aiden had been leaning against snapped, raising a cloud of dust.
Lamia’s figure flickered in the dust. By the time Aiden got back on his feet, he could no longer see her.
Aiden finally recovered, and he wiped his ear—there was a trace of blood. The sound had just perforated his eardrums.
Fortunately, the divine word "Return" was taking effect, the blood that had stained his fingertips quickly withdrew back into his ear, the pain subsiding; the tree that Lamia had broken with her body was also healing. When he had cast the divine word just now, he had only guarded against black magic and hadn’t taken sound into account.
"I didn’t expect to hear a dragon’s roar in an age when dragons have gone extinct." The Goddess of Vengeance appeared beside Aiden.
"That was a dragon’s roar? It felt like ten thousand women screaming at me simultaneously," Aiden replied.
"A mutated dragon’s roar. Different form, but the same effect. Didn’t you feel that fear of being dominated by a top predator? Only a dragon’s roar can have that effect," the Goddess of Vengeance explained.
It seemed the witch had held back during the last encounter with the Harvest Mother Cult, or perhaps she was overpowered before she could use her trump card. Aiden thought.
"So, was it you who used a divine power just now?" Aiden asked.
The instant change in his mentality was clearly due to the Goddess of Vengeance using the power of ’Betrayal’ to reverse his fear. He had used the Wordless Code to prevent the Goddess of Vengeance from breaking her absolute vow to never harm him, conversely, if it was to help him, the Goddess of Vengeance could still freely use her power.
"Without me, you would have had to engage in a close combat with that monster just now, you owe me one," the Goddess of Vengeance said.
"We can talk about this favor later," Aiden said while holding his gun, remaining vigilant of his surroundings, "She’s gone into the woods! Is she really crazy? I feel like she’s now sharp enough to catch ghosts!"
"Having lost her rationality, she still has instincts. Unfortunately, she happens to have turned herself into a beast; don’t underestimate a beast’s instincts," the Goddess of Vengeance added.
"Honestly, I kind of want to come back tomorrow to deal with this..." Aiden sighed.
"Find a safe place to hide, and then take her out with your ’The Codex’," the Goddess of Vengeance started suggesting strategies.
"I need to make sure she’s within my domain, in case she escapes. I won’t be able to catch up with her."
"She won’t run away, you just interrupted her late-night snack, and I guess she hasn’t had her fill yet."
"Then let’s have her come out quickly." Aiden said, fired a shot into the sky, and then took out the Wordless Code.
"Get your priorities straight, idiot! Find a safe place to hide first, working on laws with your head down will get you grabbed from behind and shredded!" the goddess of vengeance reminded.
"There’s nowhere to hide from her, I reckon she can sense warm-blooded animals like a snake and her sense of smell is top-notch, carnivores are best at hunting prey," Aiden said nonchalantly, "and this place is safe enough."
No sooner had his voice faded, Lamia’s slender figure silently swept past the trunk of a tree behind him, her six arms whipping out like long whips, her sharp claws aiming straight for his back.
Just as Aiden was about to be pierced into a sieve in the next second, Lamia’s claws came to an abrupt halt.
A barrier blocked her, and under the impact, the barrier flashed momentarily—it was a square transparent cage surrounded with chains, securely enclosing Aiden within.
Hearing the noise behind him, Aiden turned his head, facing Lamia eye to eye.
"Good evening," Aiden greeted her.
He had used the power of "Punishment" to cast imprisonment upon himself, as the warden of the prison, he could freely control what could pass through the cage, and what would be blocked. By utilizing this power, he could create a formidable shield for himself.
Lamia opened her mouth to roar again, but this time, no sound reached Aiden— the cage even isolated sound.
Aiden employed his power again, transferring the cage onto the real prisoner.
The square cage flashed again, this time confining Lamia. The cage was a bit small for her, forcing her to crouch down.
Inside the cage, Lamia struggled furiously, beating with her claws and striking with her serpentine tail, but the cage remained unscathed.
Finding these attacks ineffective, she suddenly opened her mouth wide and spat a blend of venom and digestive fluid onto the cage. Then, under the effect of divine language, these substances were drawn right back into Lamia’s mouth, forcing her to swallow them.
"Oh, that’s gross!" the goddess of vengeance complained.
Aiden couldn’t help but frown as well.
"Can’t this little girl learn some decent combat methods?" the goddess of vengeance commented, "Her taste is quite bizarre."
"The ’little girl’ you’re talking about is at least a hundred years old," Aiden reminded her.
"Hmph, how do you know I’m younger than her?" the goddess of vengeance retorted disdainfully.
"There’s nothing to vie over in terms of seniority," Aiden began writing rules in The Codex.
Lamia shrank within the cage, glaring hatefully at Aiden, then suddenly, she began to speak. This time her voice penetrated the cage—language of sovereigns, impossible for human vocal cords to produce.
The power of authority couldn’t directly affect another authority’s power; the cage could isolate sounds but couldn’t block the presence of divine language.
Just as Aiden had feared, even though Lamia’s mind was deeply mired in insanity, she could still use the divine languages she commanded. Aiden’s actions had thoroughly enraged her, and instinctively, she played her trump card, retaliating with the same power.
