Chapter 38: The Twelve Skewers Great Demon King!

Here in this international metropolis on the other side of the Earth, things are different from the other hemisphere; it is already night here. The night market is bustling with life, crowds flowing back and forth like shuttles, and various specialty food stalls have begun their nightly operations. There are stalls selling fried shrimp noodles, grilled meat skewers, wontons, and dumplings—basically, if it is Oriental cuisine, you can find something to satisfy your cravings here.

Annie was currently standing in front of a grilled meat skewer stall, swallowing hard. Her teleportation spell had just carried her across half the globe to this location. In this Eastern metropolis, at the end of the street ahead stood a Mage Tower—what the mages called a Sanctuary.

Right now, that Sanctuary was beginning to collapse, and a group of mages were engaged in a massive brawl over there! Annie had originally intended to go help, but as she walked past a skewer stall, she decided to ignore them for the time being. Let them fight for a while; it shouldn't be a big deal. They had been fighting for so long anyway; waiting a little longer wouldn't kill them!

The aroma of these meat skewers was simply too enticing. The rich scent made it impossible for her to walk away; fighting could be postponed! Perhaps she could even buy a few skewers to eat while watching them fight? Yes! That was it! Conquered by the aroma, Annie made her decision immediately.

In the stall in front of Annie, a middle-aged man with a bare torso and a rugged, fleshy face was busy before a glowing charcoal brazier. Rows of meat skewers being grilled were lined up neatly on the rack, sizzling under the intense heat of the coals. The man was focused, watching the heat while sprinkling various seasonings onto the skewers. Once the spices merged with the meat and were roasted by the high temperature, they began to release waves of enchanting fragrance.

"Uncle! Uncle! How much are these skewers?" That was the smell! Annie's eyes lit up. She inhaled deeply, savoring the wonderful scent, and hurriedly asked for the price, unable to wait any longer to taste them.

"Eh? Oh! Hello, little girl! We have three kinds: pork skewers for five Hong Kong dollars, beef skewers for ten, and lamb skewers for fifteen! How many do you want?" The man had been so busy that he hadn't noticed Annie; after all, her height only barely reached the level of his stall, so it was normal for him to miss her.

"Hong Kong dollars? I don't have any." Annie stood on her tiptoes, looking at the cooked skewers and swallowing hard.

"If you have RMB, that works too." The man assumed the little girl was a tourist and that it was normal for her not to have Hong Kong dollars.

"I don't have that either." She had neither of the two currencies he mentioned.

Annie suddenly felt that these Earthlings were truly exasperating. Why did they have so many different kinds of currencies? And they could just use any colorful scraps of paper as money? In Valoran, they used gold, silver, and copper coins directly, which could circulate everywhere—not like the complicated mess the Earthlings had made!

"Little girl, if you don't have money, there's nothing I can do! Where are your parents? Maybe you can go ask them for some money?"

The middle-aged man assumed Annie had slipped away while her family wasn't looking. He offered his suggestion while glancing around, hoping to spot the blonde foreigner's parents so he could use his broken English to coax them into buying something for the girl. If he succeeded, he would officially consider his business open for the day.

"Hmph! My family isn't here!" If he hadn't mentioned it, it wouldn't have mattered, but the mention of them filled Annie with indignation.

Her family was still in Valoran. The reason she had come to this Eastern city was to seek spatial magic knowledge from that group of Kamataji mages, but who would have thought they would fall into internal strife first? She was currently at a loss, unsure which side to help.

"Look! I don't have RMB, and I don't have the Hong Kong dollars you mentioned. I only have this! Just tell me if you're selling or not!" Annoyed, Annie handed over a crisp, grayish-green hundred-dollar bill. This was something Coulson had prepared earlier to prevent her from causing unnecessary trouble by using gold coins; she still had several stacks of them in her spatial pocket.

"This is...? Hiss...! US dollars?" Seeing the girl hand over a banknote, the man had to stop his work. He took it curiously, and after a glance, he gasped in shock. This was US currency—judging by the feel, it was the real deal!

"Hey! Have you seen enough? Can I buy your skewers or not?" The man was acting strange. It was just a banknote; why was he staring so long? Annie was growing impatient. She had given him the money; if he still wouldn't sell, she wouldn't blame him if she had to take them by force!

"Ah? Oh! Yes, yes! Of course! No problem at all!" Hearing the girl's urging, the man snapped out of it. He stuffed the money into the small pocket of his apron as fast as possible, then reached into the pile of cooked skewers and grabbed a large handful, thrusting them into the girl's hands without a word!

"Here! These are all yours now. Eat as much as you want, go wild!" After shoving the skewers into the girl's hands, the man grinned so wide his mouth nearly crooked.

Not only had he opened for business today, but he had also made a massive profit. He hadn't even thought about giving change just now. In a moment, once this little girl finished the skewers, even if her parents came back to settle the score, he would deny everything! Regardless, the girl had eaten a huge amount; if he insisted she had eaten a hundred dollars' worth, there was nothing they could do about it.

"Mmm~! So hot, so hot!" Having obtained the skewers she wanted, Annie flashed to the rooftop of a building while no one was looking. She sat on the edge of the balcony, swinging her feet, stuffing meat into her mouth while staring intently at the two groups of half-baked mages fighting in the streets below.

"Wow~! Tibbers, look! They're so pathetic. Do the mages here just love melee combat that much?" As Annie gnawed on a skewer, she began to critique the brawl below. Had no one told these heretical mages that they were doing it wrong?

"Proper mages, and they've let themselves learn it all wrong. Honestly, tsk~!" Annie shook her head in disdain, casually tossing a finished bamboo skewer downward. As for whether it would hit the two fighting groups below, she didn't care.

Wait? Just as Annie was about to continue eating, she realized the entire world had begun to pause. Had time been stopped? How was that possible? Then, she noticed that above the sky, a world of pure darkness was descending upon Earth—or more accurately, it seemed to be intending to devour the Earth.

"Tibbers! Tell me, should we step in?" While eating a skewer, Annie asked Tibbers. She could certainly recognize that dark world above; it was very similar to Tibbers' Shadow Realm, yet slightly different.

"Master! Inside is a chaotic, evil, deformed shadow creature. It survives by devouring the essences of different worlds, and such things are common in the Shadow Realm! However, none have ever been as large as this one. Just how many worlds has it devoured? Although its rank is only at the Pseudo-God level, its body is far too massive! There is too much energy to exploit. I suggest you do not act lightly."

"Not step in? Then just let it eat the Earth? That won't do!" Hearing Tibbers' suggestion, Annie was startled! Was this dark creature that powerful? Even Tibbers was intimidated? But it was impossible not to act! There were people Annie cared about here on Earth; she would never let the Earth be devoured.

"Oh, my little ancestor! If this deformed dark creature hadn't grown this large, it would be easy—I could wipe it out with one claw! But look at it now! How many planets and worlds has it swallowed?"

"If you insist on acting, then wait a moment and strike directly with everything you've got. It's best to wound its soul directly to scare it away! Otherwise, if the fight drags on, we will definitely be the ones at a disadvantage! Oh, look! That fellow in the red cloak has gone in. Perhaps we can wait a bit longer?"

"Huh? You're right, that person is so brave!" Annie also saw a man in a red cloak flying into the shadow world in the sky. After a brief moment of surprise, Annie went back to gnawing her skewers. Tibbers was right; in that case, it was better to observe the situation first.

A tiny melee mage actually running into the enemy's home turf to fight? Aside from calling him brave, Annie didn't know what else to say. If it were her, she would never do such a thing; it was simply too stupid!

"Hmm? Tibbers! Why do I feel like something is a bit off?" Annie chewed on her skewer doubtfully. After finishing it, she tossed the skewer away and carefully counted what she had left. Hmm! There were twelve skewers left in total. Since there were still so many, she would keep eating!

"Ah!!! Tibbers! I've discovered something amazing! I can't seem to finish my skewers! Look, I just counted—there were twelve. I just ate two, so there should be ten left! But look, there are still twelve!"

Annie suddenly realized that this startling occurrence was very strange! Just now, she had discovered that no matter how much she ate, the skewers wouldn't run out. This was truly bizarre!

There were actually infinite skewers? That was wonderful! At first, she thought she had miscounted, but looking closely, after eating two, there were indeed twelve left. After eating two more, there were still twelve! Seriously, how could they not run out?

Tibbers did not answer Annie; it also sensed that something was wrong, but it was currently observing closely.

"I swear, Tibbers, I never want to eat skewers again!!!" After countless repetitions, Annie spitefully threw the twelve skewers in her hand down from the building.

She had repeated this act of eating skewers countless times. Was it hundreds? Or thousands? She couldn't remember! Perhaps she had eaten tens of thousands of skewers? This was truly terrifying!

Now, the mere sight of a skewer made her want to vomit, but she realized she couldn't even choose not to eat! Just now, she had thrown the skewers downstairs, yet in the next instant, they had returned to her hands—exactly twelve, no more, no less!

"Ah!!! This is so annoying!" Annie continued throwing the skewers downstairs, and while at it, she threw a fireball to burn them to ashes! If she did this, they wouldn't return to her hands, right? This was the first time Annie felt that even the most delicious food, if eaten too much, could drive a person to a breakdown.

"Tibbers, what is happening to us? Why is it like this?" Annie stared blankly at the twelve skewers that had returned to her hands once again.

She felt terrible. These weren't skewers at all; they were likely twelve demons! She had tried burning them, freezing them, decomposing them, exorcising them, and even throwing them into another dimension! Yet, every single time, every single time, they reappeared in her hands—exactly twelve!

"Ha! I understand! Master, the problem isn't the skewers; time has been put into an infinite loop! Look! That fellow in the red cloak has flown into the dark world above once again!"

"He has flown there countless times! What's so strange about that? Wait... you're right! How could he possibly fly that many times? Aha! So it was his doing!" Prompted by Tibbers, Annie immediately broke free from the death loop of the twelve skewer kings. Her eyes immediately locked onto the culprit—the green gem worn on the bad guy's chest. Its fluctuations were very similar to the other two she had collected.

Since Annie already possessed the Space Stone and the Mind Stone, then the one on that red-cloaked villain was likely the Time Stone. Otherwise, Annie wouldn't have fallen into a mysterious time loop, causing her to eat countless skewers until she was on the verge of a breakdown! That man in red was definitely a villain!

"Master! The time loop has ended. The time node seems to have returned to normal."

Just as Annie was planning how to terminate this infinite loop, Tibbers suddenly reminded her that the loop had ended.

The approaching dark world seemed to have been dealt with by the man in the red cloak. Looking at the sky and streets returning to normal, and then looking at the skewers in her hands, Annie's mouth twitched. She threw them onto the balcony; she didn't even want to look at them anymore—not even a glance!

After a while, watching the two mages leaving below—especially the one in the red cloak—Annie thought for a moment and flashed down to the street. She planned to track them properly and find an opportunity to get that gem.

Annie felt that something as dangerous as the Time Stone absolutely should not remain in their hands. It was far too risky; the recent incident was proof! They had almost trapped her in a time loop forever. Therefore, Annie felt she would reluctantly "help" them by keeping such a dangerous object safe.

"Hey! Little girl, finished those skewers so fast? Were they good? Want some more?" As Annie passed by, the sharp-eyed skewer man noticed her immediately and quickly grabbed a handful of skewers, waving them enticingly.

"Pah! They were disgusting! I'm never eating your skewers again!" Seeing the skewers, Annie almost vomited. In her anger, she turned around and made a fierce face at him! She had almost eaten herself sick, and this man actually wanted to trick her into eating more?

"Disgusting? No way." The man looked doubtfully at the little girl who was fleeing as if escaping, then looked at the skewers in his hand. He picked one up and tasted it himself. As he ate, he nodded; it wasn't wrong—the taste was the same as always, both spicy and fragrant! Smooth and delicious! How could it be disgusting? His stall had been a famous local brand for decades.

(End of Chapter)