Chapter 266: Divine Protection
"I am a noble of the Aub Kingdom, you can't kill me!" The pale-faced noble youth shouted in terror as he saw the hand reaching out towards him.
He recognized the youth who had just torn off the roof. It was that very existence, now attacking him.
For the first time, he felt the nearness of death, and he had no chance to resist. He hoped his identity would give the assailant pause.
Muria's expression remained unchanged as he pressed his hand downward. Everything in the room, including the young noble and the elderly butler, exploded in an instant, filling the air with a pungent smell of blood.
"Huh, a devout believer of a deity." Muria looked somewhat surprised at the semi-transparent apparition in the room, resembling the young noble and covered in a barely visible golden light.
This was a sign of divine protection, the reason why the noble's soul had survived Muria's palm strike. The butler's soul, naturally, was annihilated instantly.
"Divine protection, huh!" Muria drew his demon-slaying sword and slashed at the soul, shattering the faint golden light. The soul screamed and dissipated in the sword light.
"You dared to harm my people and thought of fleeing to a deity's kingdom? Perish directly!" Muria coldly said, then transformed into a golden rainbow, shooting up into the sky towards another noble's estate.
Muria's unrestrained actions drew the attention of the entire area in Patrick Fortress, quickly leading to the discovery of the dead noble in his estate. The news spread: a noble had been killed by the golden dragon who had seen off the paladins at the city gate.
This explosive news stirred the whole city. Muria was well-known here; even those who hadn't seen him had heard of him.
"How did that noble provoke the golden dragon? I heard he died horribly, without a complete corpse left."
"Can't you guess? Just yesterday, that lord had pledged to protect a demon-hunting knight. Less than a day later, the knight was assassinated. That's how the noble offended the golden dragon."
"So, the noble planned the assassination? Then he deserved to die!"
"Exactly! Trash like him dying is for the best!"
"Killing our human protectors, they're all brain-dead fools."
...As adventurers and residents of the city discussed the first noble Muria had killed, he continued to eliminate six more nobles. He made no effort to conceal his movements, brazenly entering and leaving their estates.
Soon, the strongest human in the city confronted Muria's unrestrained actions.
"Golden Dragon, I know those fools offended your dignity, but your actions amount to disrespecting the Aub Kingdom. Stop!" The broad-browed, robust general Muria had met before floated in his path.
This was a soul-intent third-rank human, with eleven soul-intent rings faintly visible and rotating slowly behind him.
"Out of my way!" Muria curled his lips and raised his hand. A roaring hurricane formed into a massive wind palm, slapping towards the general.
"Ha!" The serious-faced general shouted, his rings of soul-intent shining brightly, enveloping him in a radiant aura of fighting spirit.
Such spectacle drew the attention of the already excited adventurers in the city – too many nobles had died that day.
"Boom!" A huge explosion erupted as Muria's wind palm hit the soul-intent general. The shockwave spread rapidly, sweeping across the city of nearly a million, causing many onlookers to be blown back.
"Bang!" The entire city saw the city's strongest human being slammed into the ground by the golden dragon's angry palm. A cloud of dust rose nearly a hundred meters high, visible throughout the city.
Then, there was no more. The general, who had just been formidable, did not rise again. He seemed to have been defeated by the golden dragon's palm...
Muria glanced at the buried general in the dust below and continued towards the next target on his list of nobles. He was determined to settle scores with all of them...
"General, are you alright?" Below, the moment the general hit the ground, his aide rushed up anxiously, looking worriedly at him.
"Do I look alright?" The general, covered in dust, sat among the debris, looking up at the pillar of dust, a trace of melancholy in his eyes. "Now the whole city must know I was slapped away by a human-shaped golden dragon."
"Don't worry, General. The 'turn to dust' spell I cast turned the soil here into fine dust. The cloud you kicked up can be seen clearly by everyone in Patrick Fortress."
Hearing his aide, the general smirked, "Couldn't you have cared about how embarrassing this was for me? After I return, I'm sure to be ridiculed for twenty years."
"It couldn't be helped," the aide consoled. "With the golden dragon refusing to be discreet and quietly disposing of those brainless nobles, we had to sacrifice your dignity."
"I could have just sat in the command room and watched the golden dragon kill all those fools who have been holding me back. Why did I have to lose face like this? Damn it!"
"You had to respond, General. Otherwise, you couldn't explain to the Senate," the aide said soothingly.
"Hmph, now I can explain, but my dignity is gone," the general grumbled, reluctantly lying back down.
...
Meanwhile, Muria looked at the deserted manor before him, his eyes scanning the trembling servants at his feet, his expression indifferent. "Where is your master?"
"Ran… ran away with the butler," a bold maid replied, her voice trembling.
"Where did they run off to?" Muria asked nonchalantly, not expecting much from the maids, but the answer surprised him.
"The master fled back to the Andy territory, his father's land, Count Andy."
"Seems this guy wasn't much valued by his father," Muria remarked, eyeing the manor – grand for a commoner but meager for a count's son.
"My lord," the bold maid spoke again, seeing Muria didn't seem intent on harming them. "Are you here because of the assassination task the master ordered yesterday?"
"What do you know?" Muria raised an eyebrow, surprised at the maid's words.
"That task was given by Count Andy for the master to carry out. He was initially unwilling."
"Understood." Muria nodded and soared into the sky.
He continued to seek the remaining nobles on his list. Unsurprisingly, they had all fled. These nobles were not fools; the commotion was too big to ignore, and not running would be foolish.
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