Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 112 Provocation

Chapter 112: Chapter 112 Provocation

Leon’s biological clock used to be quite erratic—he slept when he wanted and woke when he chose to. Day and night weren’t much of a concern for someone with Dark Vision... Though it did have some effect, not hindering his activities per se, but impacting visual quality since it’s hard to discern colors in the dark, so he was more active during the day.

Since he began his ascetic practice, Leon had adjusted his biological clock and seldom engaged in activities at night. Therefore, when the Meenlock appeared, he was already asleep. But since he had locked all the doors and windows, the Meenlock inevitably woke him up in their attempts to break in.

Unsurprisingly, Leon recognized the Meenlock.

The Meenlock, with its mouthparts and pincers, resembled a standing insect. It was a kind of terrifying and misshapen spiritual creature that mainly dwelled in forests but could adapt well to urban and subterranean environments.

Meenlocks emitted a supernatural aura that instilled nearby creatures with tremors and fear, but it had no effect on Leon.

He might struggle to resist the Frightening Majesty of Brass Dragons and Blue Dragons, often relying on Samadhi True Fire for internal reinforcement. But surely, he couldn’t fail to resist the aura of fear from a Meenlock with a mere Challenge Level of 2, which was less than a fraction of his own challenge rating.

The Meenlock was quite intelligent; upon breaking into Leon’s room, it immediately surrounded him to prevent his escape.

Leon remained calm as he watched the surrounding Meenlock. He allowed them to slash and claw at him, his skin appearing delicate but revealing faint scales when attacked, as if he were clad in a suit of plate armor.

Four Meenlocks stretched their long pincers at Leon continuously. He grabbed the pincers of two Meenlocks, one with each hand, twisted his waist, and flung them away—one crashed into the windowsill, the other onto the bedside table, knocking over a glass and spilling its contents on the floor. Then Leon reached into his Sleeve of the Universe to pull out a weapon.

Leon wielded his sword and stabbed at a Meenlock gnawing at his thigh. He pierced its head, stirred forcefully, and finished it off. Then he grabbed another Meenlock clinging to his back and threw it over his shoulder. A firm step crushed its skull.

Leon easily took down two Meenlock. The remaining two realized they had met their match and, being intelligent enough to flee, immediately turned tail towards the forest.

With Shadow Teleportation, the Meenlock could transport to an unoccupied area not far away, as long as their current and destination spots were both in dim light or darkness.

Meenlocks moved quickly; an average person would undoubtedly have let them escape. But they were facing Leon—he used an immobilization spell on one and obliterated another with a Hand Palm Bomb. It was all handled effortlessly, leaving no chance for him to even use his Gathering Form and Scattering Energy spell.

Leon threw the four Meenlock corpses outside the house onto the open ground. He cleaned up a bit because the smell of Meenlock blood was quite unpleasant, then went back to sleep.

Upon waking, Leon discovered the Meenlock bodies were gone without a clue who took them.

No Elf Rangers or Pixies came by today, or else Leon would have liked to discuss the Meenlock incident with them.

On the third day, the Elf Rangers arrived.

Des looked tired and asked, "Leon, did you go out last night?"

"Nope," Leon replied. "I’ve been asleep."

"That’s good," said Des.

"Don’t leave your sentences hanging. Acting like that elsewhere would get you beaten up," Leon said dryly. "What really happened?"

"Well, someone saw..." Des stumbled, "someone saw you wandering outside our village last night, looking suspicious."

"Some people think you’re causing trouble," Des timidly added. "Strange things have been happening in our forest ever since you arrived."

"They must be crazy. I’ve been here for months; how can they blame me for that?" Leon retorted annoyedly. "Your Elves’ concept of time is really problematic. It’s been several months already, not just a day or two."

Elves have lifespans of up to seven centuries or more, and unsurprisingly, this trait affects their attitude towards all aspects of Mortal World life. For instance, Elves rarely form close relationships with other races, believing that only a century of companionship can forge a solid foundation for intimate friendship.

"I know," Des whispered. "It’s just one or two people saying that."

Although it’s difficult for Elves to form close bonds with other races, they easily establish casual ones. Elves can often determine whether a new acquaintance is a suitable companion for a journey or an adventure within just a few minutes of meeting, and most times they are quite effective in this assessment.

"If I had ill intentions, your village wouldn’t stand a chance against me. Why would I bother with such trivial deeds?" Leon already knew the fighting power of the Elf Village. In general, it was stronger than that of the village he had previously destroyed, but not by much.

Indeed, Elves live long, but without talent, longevity is futile. It’s like someone playing thousands of games yet remains at a silver level, unable to climb the ranks. In modern society, acquiring knowledge is easy, but many people choose not to learn or practice. Some might be older yet have less knowledge than a middle school student.

A high-level Druid, his students, a group of warriors and Rangers, the remaining Elf civilians had no combat power, Leon only needed a set of spells to kill those high-level Druids, only that guy could pose a threat to him, after that it’s just a pushover.

Des was a proud Elf, he believed Leon was not weak, but that was all, he said, "I believe you mean no harm, but for one person to want our village defenseless... You don’t know how powerful our elders are, he can transform into a mighty Saber-toothed Tiger and cast all sorts of spells."

"I kind of want to meet him." Leon said.

Des didn’t doubt it and said, "He’s busy now and doesn’t have time to meet you."

Leon shrugged his shoulders.

Des quickly left, leaving Leon alone, lying in a recliner swinging back and forth, waking up in the afternoon. Just about to practice his training, he saw three Elves, one male and two females, running over.

"So, you’re the one harassing our village." The male Elf threw a fruit at Leon, of course, it did not hit Leon.

"Get out of our forest." The female Elf with long hair shouted by her mouth, "Ever since you’ve arrived here, strange things keep happening in our forest."

Only the female Elf with short hair looked scared, hesitant to speak.

Leon silently drew his sword.

"Do you want to kill us too?" the male Elf shouted, "Come on then, kill us."

The long-haired female Elf picked up a clump of mud and threw it onto Leon, then pushed the short-haired female Elf, saying, "You run, go and get help, he’s going to start killing people."

Leon didn’t speak, decisively activated Gathering Form and Scattering Energy and disappeared into thin air, instantly appearing in front of the male Elf, his sword piercing the male Elf’s heart, then turning to the long-haired female Elf and releasing a Hand Palm Bomb, knocking her to the ground, unable to get up. With a raise of his hand, an immobilization spell controlled the short-haired female Elf.

Leon pulled out his sword, wiped the blood from the blade on the body of the male Elf who was not completely dead yet, crawling on the ground, causing the short-haired female Elf... She was immobilized, unable to scream, her eyes unable to move.

"Don’t scream." Leon didn’t make the short-haired female Elf wait long, quickly... releasing her from the immobilization spell.

The short-haired female Elf covered her mouth, shaking her head repeatedly, regretting that she had accepted her good friend’s invitation... but now she regretted it even more, regretting that they had been too bold, and now she was going to be killed by a mad murderer.

Leon didn’t care what the short-haired female Elf thought, he looked at the still-breathing male Elf and muttered to himself: "Piercing the heart and still not dead, do I really need to cut off the head?"

Leon squatted next to the male Elf, grabbed his hair with one hand, then cut off his head with a sword. The short-haired female Elf fell to the ground, subconsciously clenching her thighs, feeling some warmth below.

"You are young and know nothing; I don’t blame you." Leon glanced at the short-haired female Elf, then turned to look at the body of the male Elf. After waiting for about ten seconds, the male Elf’s head turned into Voldemort’s head, and the leather-armored body turned into a grayish corpse of a monster.

"Were you playing dead?" Leon shot another Hand Palm Bomb at the long-haired female Elf, who instantly turned into a charred monster corpse.

"Did you not notice that your friends were replaced by two shapeshifters?" Leon thought for a moment. "Shapeshifters not only transform but can also read minds, skilled in lies and schemes, it’s normal that you couldn’t recognize them."

Leon quietly waited for several minutes, then said: "Come to your senses? Your two friends were taken by two shapeshifters who then took their places... Go and look for your friends now, if you’re lucky they were just knocked out and tied up; if you’re unlucky, all I can do is express my condolences."

Not long after sending the sobbing short-haired female Elf away, Leon encountered a group of Elf Rangers, Des among them.

The Ranger Captain examined the shapeshifter corpses, then asked Leon in detail about what had happened.

"Somebody wants to provoke us into killing each other." Leon helped the Ranger Captain analyze what might have happened if he hadn’t recognized the two shapeshifters.

The Ranger Captain nodded his head repeatedly and said, "We owe it all to your keenness for detecting the shapeshifters ahead of time."

He couldn’t be fooled by mere shapeshifters; his Heavenly Eye Technique would allow him to see through them at a glance. Leon waved his hand and said, "The shapeshifters are no big deal; the key point is they’re definitely not the end of it."

"We will find out the truth." The Ranger Captain nodded solemnly, "To see what kind of creature is plotting against us."

Leon didn’t want to be involved in any conspiracy, he just wanted to complete his Foundation Establishment as soon as possible; he only had a little left, and it would take just one more month if he hurried, but an incident had to occur right now.