I like crossing the most

Chapter 981 The Last Routine 160
The smoke-filled Crimson Devil Village is a bit scary.

"Everyone's out of sorts right now... Damn it!"

I'm quite worried because it's so soft.

After all, the Crimson Demon Clan members are currently in a state of abnormal personality. If anything goes wrong, wouldn't the Demon King's army take advantage of their vulnerability? We need to rush back to their aid as soon as possible.

With that in mind, everyone hurriedly ran towards the Crimson Devil Village.

However, when they returned—

"Everyone, are you alright?!" Huihui shouted excitedly, but then stared blankly at the Crimson Demon Clan members. "W-what's going on...?"

"Wait a minute, could this be...!"

The soft, fluffy creature was equally excited.

"Carefully lift it up!" He skillfully directed the other Crimson Demons. "Move it outside the village!"

"Wow, what are you doing?!" Huihui asked curiously. "That's the rock that seals the Holy Sword... It's a famous tourist attraction in the village!"

"It's alright, I was the one who instructed them."

Yu-Yu's father... The Crimson Demon Clan Chief waved his hand and said, "This village is full of strange tourist attractions, so I plan to remove them and rebuild the whole place."

"What—!?" xN
Everyone was quite taken aback.

"Chieftain...!" Ruanhuhu was dumbfounded when he heard Youyou's father's words and asked, "You mean everywhere, so that's why you let them do construction everywhere?!"

"Ah."

Yoyo's father nodded matter-of-factly and said, "We'll use magic to blow them away, turning them back into empty space. Then we'll rebuild new buildings on top of them... That's our plan."

"So that's what caused the tremor just now..." Darkness nodded in realization.

Seemingly somewhat exasperated with the Crimson Demon Clan's tourist attractions, Youyou's father explained, "The place where the goddess is sealed, the tomb of the evil god, the sealed underground warehouse... treating places like that as tourist attractions will only earn us disapproving looks..."

“In the future, the Crimson Devil Village won’t need those ominous and bizarre things,” Dongdong Mushroom chimed in, “We need to build more gorgeous and lovely tourist attractions that anyone can visit.”

"What did you say……?"

"First, we plan to build a park where children can play safely, and a museum where they can appreciate the artistic magic items made by the staff."

Dongdonggu was immersed in that wonderful future.

Honestly, developing tourism is a great idea, but it makes the Scarlet Devil Village just like any other place, completely lacking in uniqueness.

How could anyone accept something like this?

Soft and cuddly looked at the two of them in disbelief and said, "What... what is this... it has absolutely no taste!"

"That's exactly what I meant!" Huihui retorted loudly as well, "Making the children feel at ease, appreciating art... all that stuff, there's no Crimson Demon Clan atmosphere at all! The so-called Crimson Demon Clan is all about seeking excitement and mystery!!"

"No, no, no, isn't this fine?"

Kobayashi had no idea what Huihui and Ruanhu were thinking; rather, he was simply unable to feel any resonance with them.

"In short!" the soft-spoken girl huffed and puffed at Youyou's father, "Then what are they like as members of the Crimson Demon Clan? They're completely unlike anyone else!"

"What are you talking about?" Youyou's father remained unmoved. Instead, he shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter what the Red Demon Clan was like before. This is to improve the future image of the Red Demon Clan."

It's as if they're planning to abandon the past, discarding those chuunibyou (delusional) customs, and creating a new Scarlet Devil Village.

"From now on, we need to bring in the younger generation, including Dongdonggu, and create a new Crimson Demon Clan!"

Everything is moving in a steady and positive direction.

"Yes, yes, that's right!" Dongdonggu chimed in with a smile, "While developing tourist attractions, we also have to ensure the trading routes centered around magical items. So busy!"

The smile on his face sent chills down everyone's spine.

This kind of chuunibyou behavior, different from that of the Crimson Demon Clan and seemingly normal, left the soft-spoken girl with an expression of disbelief and unwillingness to admit it. She muttered, "This...this isn't Dongdong Mushroom! Let's go back to the original Dongdong Mushroom!"

"Hey, hey, you're so soft! Don't do anything rash!"

Xiaolin shouted immediately.

Before anyone could react, Ruanhu suddenly pulled out a heavy book and pretended to smash it at Dongdonggu—but didn't actually hit it.

"I know!" Soft and fluffy was annoyed, but she suppressed her urge to attack Dongdonggu and shouted, "I won't knock it down! Haven't you been to any ruins where magical items might be found yet? I'll look for any clues I can find! Okay, Dongdonggu is coming along too!"

As she spoke, she grabbed Dongdonggu's wrist.

"Whoa! It's so soft...!?" Dongdonggu was startled. She shouted in surprise and fear, "What's going on? Let me go!!"

"I don't want to!" she cried softly. "Let's go together! Things will get weird in a place like this!"

Then she took Dongdonggu's hand, turned around, and ran towards the outside of the Crimson Demon Village.

Taking advantage of the other Crimson Demons' inattention, Kobayashi and the others forcibly took Dongdonggu away and headed to the last remaining magical artifact candidate ruins.

Along the way, Dongdonggu constantly struggled to escape, but under Darkness's brute force, the physically weak Archmage Dongdonggu could only obediently follow orders to the final ruins.

In order to restore the Dongdong mushroom to its original state, Xiaolin and others made many changes and used numerous methods.

For example--

Megumin's eyes lit up as she struck a strange pose and shouted in an incredibly childish voice, "Hahaha! My name is Megumin! I'm one who will conquer the Dark Ruins with my companions!!"

"My name is Softie! The most beloved younger brother in the Crimson Demon Clan, and the one who wants to obtain forbidden magical artifacts for the sake of his comrades!"

The soft, fluffy thing also struck a strange pose.

Then the two looked at Dongdonggu, but Dongdonggu, who would have joined in posing before, was now looking at them helplessly, as if she were looking at idiots.

She was clearly an idiot before.

"What's wrong!" Huihui said unhappily, hands on her hips, "This is the most important part, pose properly!"

"If we can't find any clues here, the Crimson Devil Village will be in danger!"

Softness also condemned her.

"Crisis or something..." Dongdonggu remained unmoved, pouting as she said, "Isn't the Crimson Demon Clan developing in a positive direction? I think the ones hindering this, Softie and Megumin, seem to be in a much worse position."

To be honest, Kobayashi had the same idea.

After all, if the Crimson Demon Clan could really change, it would be a good thing for both the Demon King's army and others—it's strange that Megumin didn't change along with her personality.

Kobayashi couldn't help but have doubts.

The soft-bodied girl hadn't expected her to say that, and stared blankly at her, "Dongdonggu..."

"Alright, we're already here. I'll help you conquer the ruins as a friend." Dongdong crossed her arms and showed no intention of running away, but still urged, "I'm very busy, we need to finish quickly."

"W-what do you mean by that... Wait, wait a minute, Dongdonggu!"

The statement was so normal that Ruan Huhu couldn't quite accept it for a moment. She looked at Dongdonggu, who had entered the ruins first, and quickly followed after her.

Seeing the two of them enter the ruins one after the other, Kobayashi and the others felt a little strange.

After thinking for a moment, Aqua said, "Has she become even colder than when we first met?"

“Indeed.” Kobayashi nodded in deep agreement and said, “It’s a bit pitiful to be all soft and squishy.”

After all, her goal was to help her friend get back to normal, but the other party didn't care at all. Although the relationship was subtly breaking down due to personality differences, the more they tried, the more separated they became, which was still hard to face.

“Alright, let’s enter the ruins,” Darkness said, then looked at Megumin and said, “Explosion magic can’t be used inside the ruins, so Megumin will stay outside and keep watch for now.”

"I want to go! I want to go!" Huihui shouted urgently, making her stance clear: "Please don't underestimate my strength!"

No, no, no, I didn't underestimate your power. On the contrary, it's precisely because of your power that the ruins could easily collapse.

But now there's no reason to refuse.

After all, it concerned the safety of the Crimson Demon Clan, and her two best friends seemed to be on the verge of a falling out, so how could she not go in? Left with no other choice, she had to enter the ruins together.

Then, when the group entered the ruins and had walked less than a hundred meters, they encountered a monster.

"Ugh...!" Huihui muttered nervously and fearfully, her expression grim, "Oh no, this is terrible...!"

"Huihui! Wait a minute, I'm coming to save you right now!"

The soft, fluffy thing quickly ran this way.

"No, don't worry about me! Keep going!" Huihui said to her instead, with a sacrificial expression, and called out to the soft-spoken girl, "The rest is up to you...!"

"Megumi!!"

She screamed softly as she watched Huihui fall to the ground.

As if unable to accept their behavior, Dongdonggu stretched out her hand towards the monster and shouted, "Light of Saber!!"

The monster was taken down in an instant.

"Oh, you took it down so easily." Darkness was slightly surprised. She hadn't even had a chance to fight yet; the monster was killed before it could even get close.

"Hey, as expected of the Crimson Demon Clan." Aqua looked at Dongdonggu with admiration and nodded, saying, "Isn't she quite capable?"

Perhaps because the Crimson Demon Archmage in the team was not very reliable, the performance of this legitimate and normalized Crimson Demon Archmage drew praise from the rest of the team.

However, her performance did not earn the approval of the other two Crimson Demons; instead, they reprimanded her unhappily.

"Wait a minute, Dongdonggu! This is a rare opportunity to play out a crisis, why are you getting in our way!"

Huihui pouted at her, clearly dissatisfied.

"Those are my lines!" Dongdonggu crossed her arms, rolled her eyes in annoyance, and said, "I hope you won't get in my way of conquering the ruins."

She then pointed at Ruanhu and Huihui, lecturing them, "When you're acting out a crisis, wouldn't it be even more dangerous if you encountered a real crisis?"

That makes so much sense, the two of them were speechless!

"An absolutely irrefutable and correct viewpoint."

Aqua couldn't help but complain.

But as correct as it may be, it's not like the Crimson Demon Clan at all. After all, the Crimson Demon Clan would rather put themselves in danger than not show off and play the role of a crisis. Otherwise, how could they be called the Crimson Demon Clan?
"Ah, there's one over there too... Light of Saber!"

There was no chance for anyone else to intervene. The moment the monster appeared, Dongdonggu activated a high-level spell, eliminating the potential crisis.

The monster was blasted into pieces without any resistance.

"Oh, before the attack...!"

Kobayashi gave a slight sigh of admiration.

At this moment, Dongdonggu said with a hint of joy and pride, "In battles, the first move always wins, right?"

This is the truth.

In any battle, striking first almost always guarantees victory—a fact universally acknowledged. However—

"Ugh, really! There's no Crimson Demon Clan combat aesthetics at all!" Softie couldn't agree and angrily shouted at Dongdonggu, "Isn't it boring to just collapse like that!?"

The so-called aesthetics of the Crimson Demon Clan is that a little drama must be staged before the battle, regardless of the strength of the opponent. It is precisely this kind of chuunibyou (delusional) behavior that arouses the dissatisfaction of others.

“Aesthetics…” Dongdonggu had a different opinion. She scoffed and said, “That’s futile. The Red Demon Clan must survive more efficiently in the future.”

A way of thinking that completely disregards the situation and only values ​​efficiency—in other words, not at all like the Red Demon Clan!

Ruan Hu looked at her in astonishment.

Dongdonggu didn't care about any of that. She urged, "Alright, let's find it quickly and leave. I still have a lot to learn, and I don't have time to waste here."

This is a completely well-behaved and studious child's speech.

"Study, study, study!" the soft-spoken girl muttered angrily. Pointing at Dongdonggu as if making a threat, she shouted, "Let me tell you first, if you go back to your original state, you will definitely regret what you just said!"

"You're too soft and cuddly. You should really think about your life plans."

"I'm furious!!"

It's entirely possible that Dongdonggu will regret it, but only if the problem of the Red Demon Clan's personality reversal can be solved. If it can't be changed, things will continue to be this way.

Honestly, if the Crimson Demon Clan members had completely opposite personalities, it would feel a bit boring.

Maybe it's because they've always been so eccentric and individualistic, but after the reversal, they just feel like powerful archmages, which is kind of boring. ...Wait a minute, could it be that I've unexpectedly taken a liking to the Crimson Demon race?
Kobayashi pondered with slight surprise.

(End of this chapter)