Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 292 - 211: Divine Comedy

Chapter 292: Chapter 211: Divine Comedy

Earth Wolf Twelve had visited no less than twenty Dead Stars, but neither he nor the entire company had ever ventured so deep into a Dead Star to confront the root cause of the planet’s "Cocoon" transformation.

Up to now, all investigations of Dead Stars stopped at the surface, for any further steps would lead to being devoured by monsters, viruses, or natural disasters, and even the Long Branch Guards were no exception.

At least when Earth Wolf Twelve was still a candidate for the Long Branch Guard, the company would lose several candidates each year to planets undergoing "Cocoon" transformation; sometimes even formal members of the Long Branch Guard would perish, which led all explorers to a consensus—that human strength was not yet enough to contend with the "Cocoon."

However, it wasn’t long before Earth Wolf Twelve understood more vividly what Mingyuan meant by the "gods" being displeased with them.

A roar came from the end of the Forest Sea, and a towering tree climbed into the sky at a speed visible to the naked eye. The branches of the colossal tree covered the sky, or rather, became the sky itself.

Almost at the same time, a tremor came from beneath their feet. Earth Wolf Twelve could feel something rushing towards them at high speed.

A moment later, he saw the object approaching them.

It was the roots of the giant tree buried under the land. He drew his gun in an instant, but the ammunition that could blast a hole in an Interstellar Flagship did not cause any ripples. More precisely, it failed to detonate; the moment the ammunition was about to touch the roots, it was assimilated into plant matter, becoming nutrients absorbed by the plant.

Subsequently, man-eating plants bursting from the ground surrounded the two of them. From between the flowers, fierce flames burst forth. Although Earth Wolf Twelve instinctively dodged to the other side, the blast wave from the explosion still flung him several meters away.

The ground was blasted open with a hole, and an unrealistic thought surged in his mind.

That was clearly the Blast Bomb he had just fired.

These man-eating flowers not only swallowed his bullets but turned them into their own weapons?

This discovery filled Earth Wolf Twelve with an unprecedented sense of powerlessness; let alone the Divine Wood reaching into the clouds in the distance, even the man-eating plants it spawned were enough trouble for them.

He fight the Divine Wood?

Was that even possible?

If these man-eating plants were immune to bullets, he couldn’t think of a way to deal with these massive creatures on the spot.

"The preachers of the Divine Wood Cult call these man-eating plants the emissaries of the gods. They will act on Divine Wood’s will and punish those who have angered it," Mingyuan said, looking up at these mysterious plants held in awe by the Divine Wood Cult followers. Although they lacked the function of speech, he could feel their anger through the menacing movements of their blooms.

In the Divine Wood Cult, there are scriptures that specifically record "God’s punishment."

In the minds of the Forest Sea residents, the Divine Wood had meted out punishment three times, completely eradicating three cities from the planet.

The cities had undergone revolutions.

Some questioned the legitimacy of the Divine Wood Cult, no longer willing to be puppets for the Divine Wood. They called for people to break free from theocratic rule and advocated for a path of development through knowledge and science.

Such phenomena were not rare. Whenever human civilization reached a certain stage, people would awaken and set off a series of movements called "Enlightenment," which usually resulted in a confrontation between the clergy and the public, often evolving into civil wars under most circumstances.

However, the practices of the Archbishop of the Divine Wood Cult at that time were much more extreme than those of any other bishop Mingyuan was aware of. He prayed to the Divine Wood and directly erased the three cities from the planet, along with many ordinary citizens.

The Archbishop recorded this as a significant achievement in his life in the scriptures.

"The Archbishop believes that the envoys of the god are invincible beings. Nothing within their awareness can harm them, and not only that, they will also develop new abilities based on the weapons used by humans."

And just then, Earth Wolf Twelve had proven with his actions that even firearms thousands of years more advanced than those on this planet could not inflict damage on them.

This indeed fit the identity of "God’s emissaries."

Invincible, leaving people feeling nothing but despair.

"Thanks a lot, could you get to the point?" Earth Wolf Twelve was hopping mad on the side as those man-eating plants not only "stole" the power of his bullets but turned it into rapid-fire attacks against him.

With the lesson learned, he dared not shoot at these plants anymore.

"What point?"

"Like, what’s their weakness? How can we completely destroy these bastards?"

"No weakness."

"What?"

"That’s what the scriptures say, the envoys of the god are flawless beings, they are invincible. Neither blade, spear, arrow, nor the elements of wind, fire, thunder, and lightning can scratch them."

The people of the three destroyed cities had exhausted all the methods they could think of but ultimately could not escape the crushing fate at the hands of the envoys.

"Just try your swordsmanship, maybe you can cut them down!" Earth Wolf Twelve shouted.

"It’s probably useless too, tangible weapons cannot harm them."

Mingyuan watched the envoys’ "cat-and-mouse game" on the side, quite certain these man-eating plants indeed had a consciousness of their own. They seemed to relish chasing Earth Wolf Twelve around. After the initial "anger," he sensed an emotion of "excitement."

Like a hunter gleefully tormenting prey driven to desperation.

This was also the reason the envoys did not immediately attack him; it seemed they intended to torment his psyche using the pitiful state of Earth Wolf Twelve.

Actually, Duan Mingyuan didn’t know if the Prime Monarch’s Sword Control Technique would work against the man-eating flowers of the alien world, but seeing how the Archbishop of the Divine Wood Cult had vowed in the scriptures, praising the Apostles as unmatched and thus demonstrating the omnipotence of the Divine Wood, Duan Mingyuan respected the "settings" of the Apostles.

"Where’s that momentum gone? Weren’t you going to kill a god?"

Earth Wolf Twelve clamored, admitting that he too had been greatly inspired just moments before.

Engaging with an unknown deity on a Dead Star was definitely in line with an Interstellar Cowboy’s romance.

"That was what you said."

Duan Mingyuan corrected, he had never uttered such aggressive words, and would surely try a peaceful resolution if conditions allowed.

For instance, under ideal circumstances, he could meet with the Divine Wood in the coffee shop of the Gear Hotel in the afternoon, treat it to a cup of coffee, and listen closely to why it had transformed from a planet’s consciousness into an accomplice of a family.

There must be many fascinating stories in this.

While speaking, a flower moved slowly in front of Duan Mingyuan, hanging its bloom in a highly anthropomorphized manner, looking down on him.

Intense, dazzling light surged from within the opened flower, but it did not immediately shoot the highly destructive beam at him.

This behavior made Duan Mingyuan think of a criminal who, believing to have the upper hand, toys with his gun in front of unarmed civilians.

Pointing the dark muzzle at the crowd, relishing their panic-stricken expressions.

"Whether it was you or me who said it, I’m about to break! Think of something fast!"

For Earth Wolf Twelve, the battle was indeed too frustrating; he had never experienced a fight where he could only take hits and not fight back.

"The solution is actually quite simple."

Duan Mingyuan said, "The Archbishop said that any tangible attack within the realm of cognition wouldn’t work, so all we need to do is use something beyond cognition."

Earth Wolf Twelve’s clamoring stopped.

He intended to say more, but the next moment’s event made him widen his eyes.

No matter what, he couldn’t comprehend the scene before him.

The man-eating plant in front of Duan Mingyuan suddenly disappeared, without any battle, nor any splattering of juice. It was as if a portion of a painting had been abruptly cut out, leaving only a blank space in the damaged area.

The Apostles that had been pursuing him also vanished. Behind him was empty, the giant man-eating plants seemingly never existed.

When Earth Wolf Twelve looked further afield, he was even more lost for words.

The "cut out" section of the painting wasn’t just around them; a part of the faraway Divine Wood was also missing.

"This is the inevitable result of reconstructing space."

Duan Mingyuan explained.

This was another method he thought of when he had been pulled into the "Cocoon" space of Mechanical Star, intended only for use when peaceful means were ineffective.

This fully conformed to the "beyond cognition" attack strategy; even he did not know what would occur during the collapse of space, nor where the vanished objects would end up during the process.

The Apostles receded like the tide, and the roots shrank back under the Divine Wood.

After "anger" and "excitement," Duan Mingyuan felt a third emotion emanating from these plants.

Fear drove them back to their origin.

"Reconstructing space."

Earth Wolf Twelve muttered to himself, standing still, straightening the clothes that had become disheveled from the escape.

It was a term he couldn’t understand at all, let alone the principle behind it.

But after spending time with Duan Mingyuan, he was starting to get a feel for it.

Just like now.

Now was not the time to marvel, nor to delve too deep into the questions.

After straightening his clothes, he swept back his hair, fixing it in its most dashing state, then pulled out a cigar and lit it with the flame from his fingers.

Next came the cowboy hat. With his left hand on the brim and his right hand spinning his revolver before slipping it back into the holster at his waist.

All these movements flowed smoothly, like the final tally of the MVP after a game.

For an Interstellar Cowboy, every cigar had a different meaning.

This cigar now was a celebration of victory.

"We have together driven back the Apostles of the god."

Earth Wolf Twelve spoke in a voice filled with age and determination, "Now, it’s time for that damn deity."