Chapter 214: Seizing the Body
Inside the snow cabin illusion, the girl was still tidying the room.
She was carefully picking up the broken teacup on the floor, grumbling softly, "These guests are really rude, breaking the cup and then running away, leaving me with a big mess."
The fire in the fireplace remained warm.
However, this was only the result of the illusion's beautification. In reality, the scene was horrifying, as writhing monsters extended grotesque limbs, picking up shattered bone fragments and placing them in the corners.
Valenna sat on a wooden chair, idly flipping through a yellowed book.
Resting her chin on her hand, the girl couldn't help but murmur softly, "When will I be able to leave? Father promised me."
She no longer knew how long she had been there, so long that she couldn't even remember.
In her fragmented memories, she was brought to this cabin after being rescued from the chamber, living a dull, repetitive life day after day, year after year.
The book said that after many years, people grow old.
But the girl found that her appearance seemed to be forever fixed at eighteen, without even the slightest change.
Valenna also felt that her memory was incomplete. She was always puzzled by this but did not dare to think deeply.
It was as if an invisible shackle bound her thoughts, preventing her from dwelling on those matters.
Some things...
If they cannot be understood, then it's better not to think about them.
She would continue to entertain guests in the snow cabin, listening to their stories every day. It was, in a way, experiencing the outside world indirectly.
Valenna always told herself this.
Suddenly, a hoarse and extremely familiar male voice broke her train of thought.
"Valenna, my dear little girl, look who's come back."
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Valenna's actions immediately ceased, and she turned around in disbelief.
"Ah, Father!"
"You really came back!"
The girl jumped off the wooden chair, impatiently rushing into the man's arms, her big watery eyes even sparkling with tears.
Wagner gently stroked Valenna's head, bending down to softly say, "Yes, Father took care of everything outside and came back to see you right away."
Valenna hugged him tightly, as if afraid he would leave again.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she spoke in a low, sad tone, "Father, you're lying. You haven't come back for a long time. You told me to entertain those guests well, but they all bullied me, hated me, and even cursed me. They didn't want to play with me."
The girl looked up, sobbing, and asked, "They all said I am... a monster."
"Father, am I really a monster?"
Wagner's face still wore a gentle smile as he shook his head and said, "No, you're not a monster. You are my most precious treasure, more noble than any of them."
"But, but..."
He reached out to wipe away the tears from Valenna's eyes.
"Valenna, remember, you will always be my daughter."
"Stop thinking about these sad things. Do you know why I came back this time?"
Valenna shook her head in confusion.
Wagner took hold of her slender hand, bent down, and whispered in her ear:
"I'm here to fulfill my promise and take you to see the outside world. Father is never one to break his promises."
Valenna was instantly overjoyed.
She never imagined that the man who was always cold in her memories, the father who had heartlessly abandoned her for who knows how many years, would say such a thing.
The girl smiled contentedly, wiping away the lingering tears on her face, nodding heavily.
"Yes."
The man held the girl's hand, leading her to push open the door of the illusion—
Valenna's remaining consciousness only felt a blinding light flash by, causing her to involuntarily close her eyes.
"So bright. Is this the outside world?"
"It seems a little different from what I imagined."
There was no so-called new world, only the cold, Polar Night Demon Tower, an icy metal cage.
The twisted monster, stitched together from various limbs, struggled continuously. Its fleshy parts wriggled, and sparsely scaled skin bulged grotesquely, as if something were trying to burst out.
Finally, a humanoid body resembling Wagner emerged from the stitched monster, with delicate, pale skin like that of a newborn, yet faint traces of scales could be seen.
Its lower torso was still connected by flesh to the stitched body, replacing the faceless girl and becoming part of the monstrous horror.
It also became the ultimate controller of the monster's chaotic consciousness.
However, from deep within that gruesome flesh, a faint, despairing sobbing female voice echoed.
"Father, you lied to me."
"You lied to me again..."
The voice grew weaker and weaker until it finally disappeared completely, drowned out by the sticky sounds of flesh rubbing together.
"Valenna."
A tear unexpectedly rolled from Wagner's eye.
But his expression was filled with ecstatic delight, his mouth stretching nearly to his ears, completely consumed by madness. The body attached to the stitched monster trembled uncontrollably.
"I—I told you, I would never fail again. Father did this all for you."
"I will take you—with me to complete this evolution! We will become greater than the Dragon God!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
On the other side of the tower, the red dragon's fringed ears twitched slightly.
With the dragon's extremely keen senses, Wagner's insane laughter also reached his ears.
"Hah, as expected, it's the so-called snow cabin. There's no more time."
"He's taken Valenna's body."
Valenna's snow cabin had no exact location; it was connected through an interdimensional door, making it impossible for even Cassius to find it—he could only wait for Wagner to reveal himself.
Langpu, sensing the increasingly bizarre atmosphere inside the tower, spoke in a heavy tone, "Master, should we go after him?"
"No, if my guess is correct, he's heading to the top of the tower."
The Cataclysmic Dragon Eye had disappeared after releasing the breath.
Cassius closed his eyes, relying on the surging tide of magic, and recreated a seventh-tier spell slot.
When he opened his eyes again, those golden pupils already flickered with an awe-inspiring arcane glow, and an invisible dragon eye floated beside him.
[Cataclysmic Dragon Eye]
He used the ability [Foresight].
The deep dragon eyes pierced through the constraints of time, seeing directly into the future.
At the very top of the tower, the twisted, stitched monster was writhing, approaching the trapped white dragon.
The white dragon seemed to see something terrifying, letting out agitated, fearful growls, its entire body trembling. It struggled with all its might, but the unbreakable magic chains bound it tightly, rendering all resistance futile.
Cassius's expression grew grim.
"Wagner wants to devour that white dragon. We must stop him."