A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 33 Watching the Battle Late at Night, the Fire Thief's 'Fire'

Tokyo, 11 p.m.

The dark dome pressed down heavily, and the warm yellow lanterns of the old shops in the alley gradually thinned out, leaving only a few lonely vending machines standing by the street, like fireflies in a ukiyo-e painting.

Aso Shin thought he might be crazy. How could he believe Xu Lie and secretly run away from home without his grandmother's knowledge?
Should we go home and write a note so that Grandma won't be unable to find her if she gets up in the middle of the night?
Or should I just go home and sleep instead of going to the appointment?
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. A complete stranger, a foreign guy, approached her, performed a few magic tricks, and she inexplicably agreed to a late-night date with him. It was all too strange.

She's clearly a coward, so why would she trust Xu Lie so much?
With a multitude of thoughts arising and his mind becoming increasingly chaotic, Makoto Aso finally arrived at the small riverbank two kilometers from his home.

The riverbank was slightly eerie late at night. Before Aso could feel any fear, he spotted Xu Lie having a leisurely picnic.

It was truly relaxing. Xu Lie had laid out a picnic blanket with two plates of grilled skewers he'd bought from somewhere, still steaming slightly.

Holding a bottle of Ebisu craft beer in his hand, he enjoyed a bite of grilled skewers and a sip of beer, thoroughly savoring the experience.

"Is this guy crazy?" Asou Makoto couldn't help but think to himself. "Having a picnic on the riverbank at night instead of sleeping? Is that something a normal person would do?"

"Ms. Aso, please have a seat. You've come at just the right time. The show on the other side is about to begin." Xu Lie raised a beer can, gesturing for Aso to come quickly.

Aso walked to the edge of the picnic blanket and greeted him with mixed feelings: "Good evening, Mr. Xu."

After sitting down, following Xu Lie's words, I looked towards the opposite bank.

Across the river embankment is a public park, where nearby residents often take a walk after get off work.

But at this hour, the small park had already fallen silent, so where was the good show Xu Lie had mentioned?
“You can’t see clearly like this.” Xu Lie put down his drink and picked up the night vision binoculars he had prepared beforehand: “Use this, and in a few minutes you will be able to see the true nature of the world.”

Aso felt genuinely uneasy, as if he were involved in some kind of momentous event.

Logically speaking, she should have been as cautious and prudent as usual, and not come to the appointment.

But even Aso himself couldn't explain why, he obediently listened and took the binoculars.

The dark side of the world is presented very directly before us.

One in front and three behind, four figures suddenly burst into the telescope's field of view.

"What is this?!" Aso exclaimed in fright, his eyes wide with disbelief, gripping the binoculars tightly.

The three people chasing them seemed to be gangsters, each carrying a sharpened sword and exuding a murderous aura.

But what surprised Aso the most was the figure being chased; to be precise, it was no longer human.

With the help of night vision binoculars, Makoto Aso could see very clearly that the creature being chased was a humanoid monster!

It is about 1.8 meters tall, but its head has grown scales and its eyes have turned into dark gold vertical pupils like those of a reptile.

With arms so long they practically drag on the ground, even the most exaggerated human arm can't be that long, right?
Moreover, sharp, thick claws grew from the ends of those ferocious long arms, leaving marks on the park ground as it ran.

Aso could hardly hide his shock; Xu Lie's words, "the reality of the world," kept echoing in his mind.

Later, Makoto Aso witnessed a bloody battle, in which three humans, wielding swords, engaged in a primal fight with the humanoid monster.

The two sides seemed to have some kind of mortal feud. The three humans kept exclaiming and roaring, and the monster responded with roars.

Due to the distance, Aso couldn't hear what they were shouting.

All he could see were blades drawing blood, and occasionally severed limbs flying up, bringing with them plumes of blood mist. Even though there was a small river between them, Asou Makoto seemed to be able to smell the rusty scent of blood and subconsciously vomited.

After gagging for a while, Asou Makoto finally recovered, secretly relieved that he hadn't eaten much for dinner and hadn't eaten Xu Lie's grilled skewers, otherwise it would have been too embarrassing if he had vomited something. "Xu Lie...-kun?" Asou Makoto turned his head to look for him, his heart suddenly slowing down.

What about people?

Xu Lie suddenly disappeared.

Asou Makoto was truly terrified now. Countless terrifying thoughts arose in his mind: either Xu Lie was killed by the monster on the other side, or Xu Lie had fallen into a state of spiritual obscurity and mysteriously disappeared.

Grabbing the binoculars hastily, Asou Makoto took several steps back, trying to run home, only to find Xu Lie walking back: "Hmm?"

"Has Ms. Aso finished reading it?"

Xu Lie greeted them as if nothing had happened.

"Xu-kun!" Aso Shin called out first, then exhaled a large breath of stale air before patting his heart to calm himself down: "Where...where did you go just now?"

As she asked the question, Makoto kept her head down, not wanting Xu Lie to notice her eyes, which had just been almost wet with fear.

"Didn't you see?" Xu Lie pointed to the other side: "I went to deal with that out-of-control Deadpool."

Actually, he sneaked over and, taking advantage of the moment when the Snake Clan slew the demon, dropped a parasitic talisman and took away the Dead Servant's soul.

These humanoid Deadpools are often the corrupted ghosts of the Oni Clan who have gone out of control. One of the materials for the Sequence 5 Dream Thief, a corrupted soul, has been successfully obtained.

As he spoke, Xu Lie could feel the Sequence 6 Fire Thief Potion in his body being slowly digested, and he was very satisfied with it.

One of my purposes in coming to Tokyo was to digest the Fire Stealer's potion, and this approach proved to be correct.

The three humans that Aso Makoto saw earlier were not trying to boost morale, but rather they were suddenly surprised to find that they could no longer use their incantations!

Even the strength and agility that come with bloodline have decreased significantly!
This caught the three humans off guard, putting them in grave danger and costing them limbs before they finally managed to subdue Deadpool.

This is the theft ability that Xu Lie possesses after advancing to Sequence 6 Fire Thief.

The three executive agents of the Snake Clan had their words of power stolen, putting them into a sealed state that would take 24 hours to recover.

The fire-stealer, as the name suggests, is a figure in the occult whose origins are believed to be Prometheus who stole fire from the heavens and brought it to humankind.

Taking this secret as a logical basis, and understanding it from another perspective, the 'fire' in the story of the fire thief refers to an ability that ordinary people should not have originally possessed, but later acquired.

In the world of Dragon Raja, ancient humans were extremely weak, and it was only through various maneuvers that hybrids were born.

Therefore, the dragon bloodline of the hybrid race fits the meaning of 'fire' very well.

Xu Lie specializes in stealing the bloodline power of hybrids, essentially acting as a fire thief, which can effectively accelerate the digestion of potions.

Unfortunately, the bloodlines of those three half-bloods from the Serpent Clan were too low, and their rank was insufficient. Even after stealing everything, they only managed to digest a tiny bit of the Fire Stealer's Elixir, so their progress was slow.

Xu Lie also discovered that when stealing from hybrids, the Fire Thief could steal extraordinary abilities over a wide range, not only words of power, but also the dragon blood amplification attributes of the hybrids.

The power that dragon blood brings to hybrids, including a slight increase in agility and speed, seems to be regarded as an extraordinary ability by those who steal it.

This attribute can only be used for ten minutes after being stolen, and after being sealed for 24 hours, the stolen attribute such as strength and agility will be restored.

(End of this chapter)