She is a natural disaster.

Chapter 45 Natural Disasters and Man-Made Calamities

The sword strike was as swift as lightning; Anastasia flew almost close to the ground, arriving in an instant.

Faced with the swift and precise thrust, the dwarf man had no way to dodge. Before he could even react, the slender sword had already pierced through his body.

The dwarf man looked down at the thin sword piercing his chest. The wound, which should have been bleeding profusely from the sharp blade, only oozed blackish-green mold.

Not a drop of blood flowed out; all that came out was blackish-green mold, highly corrosive mold that emitted toxins.

"You're Anastasia Angel?"

A smug smile appeared on the dwarf man's face. He continued, "Looks like those idiots from the Investigation Bureau are dead at your hands."

Anastasia didn't reply. With a furrowed brow, she looked at the mold climbing up the slender sword with disgust. She wasn't a germaphobe, but seeing something as dirty as mold still made her feel physically uncomfortable.

Iniz Blatt, who was not far away, felt a chill run down his spine. The lightning-fast thrust had clearly pierced through the dwarf man's body, but not only was he unharmed, the blackish-green mold had begun to erode the thin sword that had pierced his body.

The black-green mold's abilities were chilling. Blatt suddenly felt a sense of relief, relieved that Anastasia had suddenly rushed over to steal the kill, and relieved that her thrust had revealed the dwarf man's hidden strength.

In Iniz Blatt’s eyes, the dwarf man, who was good at both offense and defense, was certainly powerful, but the one who would win was Anastasia.

"Anatasia Angel, Iniz Blatt, you are the two strongest men around Montagu. If I take you down, Montagu will be mine."

Facing two opponents alone, the dwarf man covered in mold showed great confidence, even arrogance and conceit, instead of trying to escape. But he had reason to be arrogant and conceited.

While the black and green mold is highly corrosive, its most deadly component is the toxins that seep into the air. As long as the person needs to breathe, the toxins will unknowingly invade the body, accumulating until they penetrate deep into the bone marrow, where there is no cure.

Although it may take a while, it's worth it to win and kill the enemy.

The dwarf man looked at Anastasia with arrogance and said, "Your sword is fast, my eyes can't keep up, but it doesn't matter, you can't kill me."

According to the information provided by the Bureau of Investigation, Anastasia Angel is skilled in close combat and often uses a slender sword. The dwarf man did not believe that Anastasia, who was skilled in physically injuring people, could harm him.

"Your body is full of fungus," Anastasia suddenly said. "Are you fungus or a person right now?"

Although she only stabbed the dwarf man once, she saw through his situation.

The dwarf man's body had been taken over by mold, and the blood that should have been flowing in his body had been replaced by mold.

You could say that the dwarf man is the black-green mold, and the black-green mold is the dwarf man; he and the mold have become one.

"How could you ask such a stupid question!" the dwarf man exclaimed incredulously. "Whether I'm human or mold, what does it matter? All I pursue is power!"

"But the power you're pursuing is dangerous," Anastasia said. "If you can suppress the mold, you can still be considered human. But if the mold takes over, you'll become its slave and vessel."

The power of mutation comes at a price.

Anastasia succinctly pointed out the dilemma facing the dwarf man, highlighting his crisis.

While merging with mold can grant immense power, it also leads to losing oneself and becoming a puppet obsessed with power.

At that time, the dwarf man will no longer be human, but a carrier of mold, mold walking in the sunlight, a devil walking among men.

"So what!" roared the dwarf man covered in mold. His body proportions were extremely disproportionate, and his voice sounded somewhat strange, which made the dwarf man's roar seem comical.

The sharp blade called truth pierced the dwarf man's defenses. He knew his own situation better than anyone else.

Since the pollution caused the mutation, the dwarf man has been tormented by mold. His head hurts as if it is about to explode, his nose bleeds from time to time, and he sometimes has difficulty breathing, like an asthma attack.

Torture upon torture, endless torment, the dwarf man had no choice but to merge with the mold, to become one with it, in order to alleviate his pain.

"Anastasia Angel! I've decided to spare your life, so you'll suffer my torment every moment, a life you can neither live nor die!"

The dwarf man, his defenses breached, roared fiercely. Anastasia's effortless thrusting filled him with insane jealousy.

Why should he suffer from the torment of the mutated power every day? Why?!

"Honestly, I can solve your problems," Anastasia said. "I can end your suffering."

Anastasia's tone was incredibly sincere, even compassionate, like a compassionate doctor encountering a patient suffering from a rare and difficult disease.

However, the dwarf man did not believe Anastasia had the ability to heal. The pain he suffered was something even the snake-man could not cure. Anastasia was just a private investigator. Believing she could cure diseases was no better than slitting one's own throat.

Moreover, Anastasia Angel is an enemy, and no one with a sound mind would easily believe what the enemy says.

"I really can cure it, please let me try! Please, I really—hey...don't pull me!"

Just as Anastasia was hesitating to treat the dwarf man, Iniz Blatt couldn't stand it anymore; he had never seen anyone beg to treat someone like that.

Blatt waved his hand, and the jets of water that broke through the ground instantly transformed into a gentle hand, wrapping around Anastasia around the waist and pulling her back to Blatt's side, away from the largest carrier of the toxin.

"Anatasia, be careful, the mold is poisonous."

Iniz Blatt was exasperated; he hadn't expected Anastasia, who seemed so composed, to have such unconventional thoughts.

"Why did you drag me back!" Anastasia scolded. "I really can cure the fungus in his body, and maybe I can even cure his dwarfism as a side effect."

Whether it was Iniz Blatt's wariness or Anastasia Angel's well-intentioned claim of being able to cure all ills, it was a great insult to the dwarf man, especially Anastasia's mention of dwarfism.

"Even if you know the mold is poisonous, what can you do!" the dwarf man shouted, his voice shrill and piercing. "The toxins will soon take over your bodies, multiply and grow stronger within you, and the toxins that invade your bone marrow will cause you to die a miserable death in extreme agony!"

Although Anastasia's rambling was grating to the dwarf man, this delaying tactic was to his advantage, giving the toxins in the air ample time to enter their bodies.

This is also why Iniz Blat stopped Anastasia; she might not be afraid of the toxin entering her body, but Blat didn't have the ability to cure her.

Anastasia sighed and said, "Since you won't let me treat you, then don't blame me for over-medicalizing. As long as I eliminate you, this fungal carrier, all the problems will be solved."

Anastasia spoke with great ease, as if eliminating the dwarf man was as simple as snapping her fingers.

At this moment, the confidence she displayed was exactly the same as that of the dwarf man before.

In this dangerous group of transcendents, arrogance and conceit are common ailments, while the admirable qualities of humility and modesty are extremely rare.

"There is a difference between man-made disasters and human-made ones," the dwarf man said. Covered in mold, he appeared as a blurry human figure. Although his expression was not visible, his tone was full of contempt and disdain.

"There is indeed a difference between man-made disasters, and the difference is significant, but—"

Anastasia abandoned her previous insistence on healing people and became serious, like a sharp sword about to be drawn.

"What if I wasn't the one who caused this disaster?"

The moment she finished speaking, Anastasia suddenly raised her arm.

In an instant, an extremely bright light burst forth, spreading forward from Anastasia's palm.

The blindingly bright light illuminated the streets and the dark night sky almost instantly, turning this terrible night into daylight.

Iniz Blatt closed his eyes tightly and raised his hand to block out the blinding light. He didn't know what was happening, but he could feel the temperature around him rising rapidly.

The dwarf man covered in mold was even worse off than Blatt. The moment the bright light suddenly shone, the dwarf man could see nothing. He could also feel the temperature rising and the mold on his body being peeled off!

Anastasia, like a ray of light, steadily raised her arm. Her long, black hair turned snow-white once more, the fluttering ends obscuring her oval face and her icy gaze.

I don't know how much time passed—maybe a minute, maybe five minutes, maybe even longer…

As the dazzling light faded, Iniz Blatt slowly opened his eyes. His vision gradually returned, though he could only barely make out the outlines of things.

Blatt first saw Anastasia's back, but unfortunately he could only see a blurry silhouette and didn't get to witness the process of Anastasia's white hair turning black again.

After a while, Iniz Blatt's vision cleared up, and he could see things on the street clearly.

Blatt saw that the mold on the street had disappeared, revealing the severely corroded pavement. He also saw that the mold on the walls of the surrounding buildings had disappeared, revealing the uneven surfaces of the walls, and in some places, the corrosion had even exposed the underlying building materials.

Immediately afterwards, Iniz Blatt saw the dwarf man who was his enemy. The black and green mold that had covered his body disappeared at this moment, as if the black and green mold had never appeared at all.

At that moment, a strange thought suddenly arose in Blatt's mind: Anastasia really could cure the mold and solve the problem of the dwarf man.

At this moment, the dwarf man swayed, his small body resembling a broken sampan in a raging storm.

Unlike Blatter, his eyesight did not recover. His eyes were blinded by an extremely bright light. Although he could not see, his senses did not disappear.

The dwarf man could clearly feel the mold disappear, his mutated power was completely suppressed, the pain that had plagued and tormented him for years temporarily subsided, and he felt a sense of relief he had never experienced before.

"I see……"

The dwarf man murmured to himself, his voice sounding calm, as if he had made up his mind.

"Who's behind this?" Anastasia asked. A Transcendent with a danger rating of "human-caused disaster" must be a core member, and that person must know something.

"So that's how it is. The loss wasn't unjust..." the dwarf man continued to mutter, "So this is a natural disaster!"

Before he could finish speaking, the dwarf man suddenly pulled out a dagger and cleanly slit his own throat, ending his life without any hesitation.

Anastasia stepped forward slowly, but she did not take any rescue measures, even though the dwarf man was still breathing, and even though this man-made disaster-level transcendent might hold a major secret.

Because Anastasia saw a happy smile on the dwarf man's face; he was free, forever free.