330: Chapter 323 The Black Cat Knight, The Roar of the Evil Dragon

In the vast primeval forest, sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on the ground. Birds perched on branches, bathing in the sun and enjoying a moment of early morning leisure, but they were soon disturbed by uninvited guests.

After traveling for an hour, Wino leaned against a tree trunk to take a short break, watching the birds fly away. "Toby, I think we need to think about something."

Toby, leaning against a nearby tree trunk, turned his head to look at him. "Think about what?"

"Could we have picked the wrong direction heading toward that tree?"

"But..." Toby scanned his surroundings irritably; the light between the trees was dim, and fresh green moss covered the rocks. "If we really picked wrong, how can you be sure which way is the right direction?"

Wino was also guessing based on intuition and had no reliable evidence. So even if he guessed correctly, he couldn't answer Toby's question. He sighed helplessly, feeling confused in his heart about what the Headmaster was planning.

Although they hadn't seen the main subject yet, the two words "Evil Dragon" alone were enough to infer its level of terror.

Wino highly doubted whether they were looking for the Evil Dragon to eliminate it or to deliver takeout to it.

The high difficulty of the task was already tricky, yet the Headmaster hadn't revealed a single bit of intelligence. He couldn't even determine the target's general defenses now. Even if they were going to their deaths, at least point out the way for them, right?

Panting for a moment, Wino felt his physical strength recover slightly. Leaning against the tree trunk, he stood up straight. "The Headmaster definitely knows where the Evil Dragon is, but he seems to be deliberately hiding it. Why?"

Toby shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

After pondering for a while to no avail, Wino temporarily set it aside and said with a smile, "Perhaps we can change our thinking."

"For example?"

"We don't need to look for the Evil Dragon at all; we only need to wait patiently, and then..." He only said half of it, believing Toby would understand.

Indeed, Toby slid down the tree to sit on the ground. "The rules seem to allow it, and there's a possibility of success. What we need to watch out for is, what if the contestant who finds the Evil Dragon is very far from us?

If he returns to the starting point, we won't be able to make a move."

Toby didn't refuse and directly analyzed the situation along that line of thought. It seemed contrary to his character, yet Wino was not surprised.

Who was he?

Before joining the Superpower Bureau, Toby had served in the special forces, participating in actual combat multiple times, and finally retired safely to the Superpower Bureau to live out his days.

With such a career, would he be pedantic enough to think that 'despicable' means shouldn't be used?

Toby was indeed kind-hearted, but one should never arbitrarily assume he would be soft-hearted because of it, especially when the rules didn't forbid it.

One thing had to be clear: soft-hearted people couldn't survive on the battlefield.

It was precisely because Wino had insight into Toby's nature that he didn't hesitate to suggest a sneak attack. Toby also understood this and at the same time became clear about Wino's essence—adherence to order.

That's right, Wino was actually the one among the five who most recognized and followed order.

It sounded somewhat laughable—would a villain like Wino, who used any means necessary, follow order?

People who laughed had a misunderstanding: darkness is not chaos; it is also an order.

"Whoever encounters the Evil Dragon will definitely go through a fierce battle; the commotion won't be small.

Besides, the contestants in this competition are all first-year freshmen with limited strength. Perhaps by the time we reach the scene, the battle will still be ongoing," Wino said, hands on his hips.

"Then what do we do now? Wait here?"

"Of course not." Wino turned around, nimbly climbed to the top of the tree, pushed aside the dense foliage, and gazed at the distant tree that pierced the clouds. "Don't you want to witness its majesty?"

"Getting distracted during a mission isn't a good idea."

"The Evil Dragon should be at the top of the food chain in this forest; it's very likely nesting on top of that canopy."

"Then let's go take a look." Toby was also curious deep down about how tall that tree really was.

Wino jumped from the tree to the ground. The two didn't linger and set off again.

"What do you think the name of that tree is?

Something so spectacular must have a name, right?" Wino asked while jogging.

"I don't know what Hogwarts calls it, but the only thing I can think of is the World Tree."

"I remember the concept of the World Tree seems to originate from Norse mythology?"

"Yeah." Seeing that he didn't know much about it, Toby explained, "In legend, the World Tree is an ash tree that penetrates and connects nine worlds, serving as the origin and carrier of all things in the universe."

"Whoa, sounds grand. When the competition is over, I'll ask the Headmaster if it's real."

Toby didn't stop running, but his head turned, and the gaze he fixed on Wino was very strange. "It's said to be a mythological story, and you actually suspect it's real?"

"Hogwarts is from a novel; isn't that even more illusory than a myth?"

"True."

They stopped their small talk; after all, running for several hours was very taxing on their physical strength and they had to conserve it.

The two ran for several hours. To prevent encountering sudden danger, they didn't run until they were exhausted to rest. Instead, when their footsteps felt heavy, they took a twenty-minute break on the spot.

They didn't lie down together; they rotated, with one person on guard and the other seizing the time to recover strength, switching every ten minutes.

Although they hadn't seen any large carnivores so far, it was a strange forest after all; being careful wasn't a bad thing.

Thus, they ran and stopped, only stopping for good at dusk.

The forest at night was full of danger and not suitable for travel. After a brief discussion, Toby went to find a nearby water source, while Wino gathered enough branches to ensure the campfire wouldn't go out during the night.

However, what was very eerie was that in such a vast forest, Wino searched around for a long time but couldn't find a single dry branch.

"I was thinking about the Evil Dragon all day and didn't even notice. Damn it!" he cursed to himself and climbed to the top of a tree to break off fresh branches.

Fresh branches that hadn't been dried would produce thick, choking smoke when burned, but he had to make do.

Wino gripped a branch above his head with one hand to steady his body and used the other hand to continuously break off branches and throw them down.

After working for a while, he stepped back to the trunk. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he looked toward the distant "World Tree."

After traveling for a day, it felt like the distance between him and the tree hadn't shortened much.

"It's really tall," he sighed. "I wonder what it would be like to stand at the foot of the tree and look up..."

"Hey, look what I found!"

Looking down, he saw Toby holding a pitch-black cat in both hands, shouting excitedly.

"Is this tonight's dinner?" Wino asked as he slid down the tree.

"You bastard, who are you calling dinner!"

"Huh?" Wino froze, staring blankly at the black cat that had just spoken human words—it even spoke in English.

Toby, who had already communicated with the other party, quickly explained, "He is a knight who was turned into a cat by the Evil Dragon's magic!"

"Can it be undone?"

"Just kill the Evil Dragon." The black cat seemed still dissatisfied with Wino's offense, its gaze very resentful.

"Our goals are the same; he is willing to take us to find the Black Dragon!" Toby held the black cat up a bit by its armpits.

"With your strength, fighting the Evil Dragon is suicide. I advise... Damn it! Put me down, I am not a cat!"

...

On the audience's side, everyone was looking at the light screen in the sky, startled by the strange black cat that could speak human words. They sat up and hurriedly reached into their pockets to grab their Mobile Phones.

Only after finding nothing did they realize that their souls had come to this world, and obviously, Mobile Phones did not have souls.

"What a pity. I wanted to record it and upload it to my Facebook account after I go back."

"It's okay, buddy, we're already very lucky."

Everyone comforted each other, set aside their disappointment, and instead discussed how long it would take for the six contestants to reach the "World Tree." They also debated who would be the final winner and what kind of... conflicts would break out among the contestants.

They speculated, setting aside for now whether the Evil Dragon could be defeated. According to the rules announced by Dumbledore, the contestant who first obtained the head would inevitably be ambushed by opponents.

So victory was not just about killing the Evil Dragon, but also returning safely to the starting point.

Besides, the audience was also very curious: would contestants from the same school plot against each other?

Of the six contestants who advanced this time, Wino and Toby were students of Hogwarts. Among the other four, two were from the same school, and the remaining two belonged to the last two schools respectively.

To ensure an advantage, the four people from the same schools formed their own teams and set off in pairs.

The problem, however, was... did Dumbledore say the finals were a team competition?

He didn't, right?

There was only one champion. If a team of contestants successfully returned to the starting point with the Evil Dragon's head, who would win?

Presumably, the contestants would resolve this contradiction before returning.

The audience was looking forward to the drama that was about to unfold—it could be betrayal or selfless concession.

Standing on a branch, the Queen heard the whispers from the ground and asked Dumbledore beside her curiously, "Mr. Headmaster, did you do this on purpose?"

"These are the rules set by the first Headmaster of Hogwarts; we must abide by them."

"I see." The Queen nodded, then quickly brought up the topic she had been holding in her heart for a long time. "Do you know that Immortal Xu went to space?"

Before this, she had no idea that transcendent beings could enter space with their physical bodies. The shock of seeing the satellite images was even greater than that of the people from the Special Investigation Bureau.

After receiving the report yesterday, she had planned to ask Dumbledore this morning. Who knew that, unlike the previous two days, he didn't announce the start of the competition from the spectator seats but appeared on the wooden platform in the middle and brought everyone's souls to a strange world.

Then he just stood on the branch without saying a word, looking at the light screen with a grave expression.

Dumbledore seemed to perceive her thoughts and smiled. "You can be completely direct with your question."

"Uh, can you go there too?"

"Of course."

"Then..." The Queen was clearly excited. "Have you ever flown out of the solar system?"

The pace of human space exploration currently made flying out of the solar system a distant dream. The universe was full of mystery to humans, and the Queen was also curious about what it was like out there.

"It would take a very long time. Hogwarts is still under the threat of calamity; I have no free time for now." He shook his head and then added, "Well... once the calamity is resolved, perhaps I will begin a journey.

If you wish, you can come along."

"Then it's a deal, Mr. Headmaster." The Queen was very happy about the agreement, but her expression soon turned lonely again. "I am different from you; I probably... won't last until that day."

"You will," Dumbledore made a promise.

The Queen understood the meaning behind his words—her life would be extended. She believed Dumbledore could do it, so she didn't suspiciously ask for proof. Instead, she stopped talking and looked at the light screen with the old man.

Four of the six contestants chose to team up in pairs, so everyone didn't need to move their eyes back and forth between the six areas on the light screen; they only needed to pay attention to four.

At this time, it was dark. The six people simultaneously took advantage of the last moments of sunset to quickly select a campsite and build a temporary shelter and campfire.

Due to time pressure and environmental constraints, one naturally couldn't expect the temporary shelter to be very comfortable; it was even just four thick wooden sticks supporting a "roof" made of piled-up branches.

This roof was obviously crude; its only use was probably to shield from rain.

They lit a campfire in "front of the house" and skewered the caught white rabbits and grass carp on sticks, slowly rotating them over the flames.

Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, the six immediately rested.

The next morning, just as the horizon was turning pale, they got up and set off.

Soon, the morning passed.

On the way, aside from the two solitary Magic Apprentices who turned the wild leopards that tried to ambush them into dried meat, no other sudden incidents occurred.

By this time, the six had already run a long distance, and the audience could clearly see that their target was the "World Tree."

Although they were not close to each other, they were all rushing toward the same location.

The thinking of the six was very consistent: the Evil Dragon was likely the absolute overlord of this forest, and its lair would definitely manifest its majesty.

The "World Tree," which could be seen from any part of the forest, was undoubtedly the only choice.

They also seemed to have guessed that their opponents had figured out the same thing, and each intentionally slowed down or quickened their pace.

The former were likely plotting to pick up the pieces, traveling slowly to conserve strength, waiting for others to fight the Evil Dragon to exhaustion before making their move.

The latter were the more prominent contestants; they were very confident and planned to kill the Evil Dragon at the fastest speed and return to Dumbledore before the others arrived.

Everyone had their own plan; the rest was left to luck.

The "World Tree" was very far away. The contestants raced for a week before barely arriving in the vicinity.

The audience chatted with companions and family while watching for a week.

In those seven days, they hadn't consumed a drop of water, hadn't eaten even a single weed, and hadn't even closed their eyes for a second. Yet strangely, no one felt hungry or sleepy.

One must know that for a normal person, after twenty-four hours without sleep, their eyelids would feel as heavy as if stones were hanging from them. Beyond three days, there was a risk of sudden death at any time.

Someone discovered this around the second day, but they couldn't reach a conclusion. Finally, they could only attribute it to the fact that souls didn't need to rest or eat.

As for their bodies back on Planet Blue, there was no need to worry; they believed Dumbledore would handle things properly.

The only thing that felt irritating was that for seven days, the contestants had been in a cycle of traveling by day and resting by night.

Although the scenery along the way was beautiful, watching it for a long time became boring.

Fortunately, the time of torment finally passed, and the contestants had arrived around the "World Tree," which also meant that intense plot points were about to be staged.

The audience, whether sitting or lying down, all got up from the ground and stared tensely at the light screen.

The six contestants rested slightly on the spot and then acted individually.

The two two-person teams simultaneously set off toward the foot of the "World Tree." Of the two solitary Magic Apprentices, one slowly approached the "World Tree," while the other hid in the dense canopy, eyes closed, focusing on listening to something.

"Look! The Hogwarts team is almost at the edge of the tree!"

With someone's exclamation, everyone quickly focused their gaze on the top right area of the screen, preparing to witness the majesty of the "World Tree."

"Roar—" A roar coming from off-screen interrupted them.

Is it the Evil Dragon?!

The audience from Ying Country subconsciously held their breath.