Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren didn't mind Marina's silence for quite some time.

After giving her enough time to process his proposal, he proceeded further.

"I think I've given you enough time to consider it. Miss Marina, I'm really not joking with you. As you must have realized by now, activating this Unique Skill isn't easy for me.

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The fact that I'm willing to negotiate right now shows my sincerity. Otherwise, I could have easily killed you the moment this Skill was activated.

I don't want to sound to hurt your pride, but killing you in your current condition would be as easy as breathing for me," he said sincerely.

Marina could have put up a stronger resistance against Eren's Unreal Reflection if she were at her peak. However, she had already expended a significant amount of her power on the ritual to keep the sea monster leashed. Then, she had to battle Eren with everything she had.

Even though she was a dragoness with rapid mana recovery and near-endless stamina, she was close to her limits after such an intense fight against him.

"Presemptuous! Who… who do you think you are?"

Marina finally snapped. Although she was intimidated by Eren's potential, his marriage proposal was too sudden for her to take seriously. On top of that, Eren had the audacity to demean her further by saying he could deal with her as easily as swatting a fly. She had never been insulted like this, even when she was far from reaching S-Rank.

"I am what I am, Miss Marina. I may bend the truth when necessary, but for the most part, I never lie," Eren replied calmly, which only infuriated Marina further.

Before Marina could speak and berate Eren for his unprecedented negotiation tactic, Reen decided to chime in. After the activation of Unreal Reflection, even Reen felt it was unnecessary to remain on guard against the true dragoness.

"And who do you think you are, aunty?" Reen said, scrunching her nose in annoyance as she separated from Eren's body.

In the next moment, a beautiful young girl stood beside the butcher, arms folded under her chest, looking at Marina with blatant contempt in her eyes.

"You should accept Erni's proposal while you still have the chance. You won't even be qualified to marry him in the future. You're already over a thousand years old, aunty. Why are you acting like a shy little girl scared by her lover's proposal?

Erni has everything — power, potential, wealth, fame, and bloodline. What exactly are you so proud of? Is being a dragon really that great?

Erni has the blood of an elder god flowing through his veins. He's the sole inheritor of an entire demonic pantheon. His bloodline is clearly more precious than yours.

Plus, he's strong enough to please you in bed. Stay with Erni long enough, and maybe your children will thank you for choosing such a perfect husband."

She said all this while eyeing Marina from head to toe, inspecting her like she was some unfamiliar product.

Eren looked at Reen with a slightly stunned expression. Then he smiled and shook his head. It was as if he had just realized that Reen was growing up right before his eyes.

When she was born, all she could think about was food and devouring everything in sight. But now, she had taken it upon herself to act as his wingwoman at such a young age. He looked at her the same way a father would when realizing his daughter was maturing.

"You…" Marina's nostrils flared in anger. She hadn't expected that, in such a short time, she would find talking to Eren less troublesome than dealing with his cheeky Artifact Spirit. The young spirit was clearly trying to provoke her into losing her composure and making mistakes in front of Eren.

Marina took a deep breath before speaking again. Although Eren seemed to have refilled his near-depleted Spirit Force and even mana reserves somehow, she didn't take it seriously.

"It seems you two have become quite arrogant after your little trick worked. Beat me first before thinking about marrying me," she said, raising her hands toward Eren.

Even though she was exhausted, she was still a dragoness. Even with only a small amount of mana left, she could cast a spell powerful enough to wipe out the entire island they were standing on.

Not to mention, she had inherent access to intent-based magic as a true dragon, allowing her to manipulate the surrounding mana. It was something that was etched deep into her bones. As someone with a draconic lineage, she was clearly superior to most beings when it came to casting such magic.

Marina still hadn't fully understood how Eren's Unique Skill worked. However, she was confident that as long as the Skill didn't tap into divine powers, she could break through it with sheer force.

No matter how powerful an ocular skill was, it would always have limits tied to the caster's vision. Moreover, stronger Unique Skills typically came with severe restrictions and significant repercussions.

Even though Marina felt Eren and Reen were just trying to get under her skin, she believed him when he said maintaining Unreal Reflection was no easy task.

With that in mind, Marina devised a simple plan — to rely on brute force and a direct approach to break through Eren's skill, which had sealed her from all directions.

While she knew making Eren waste time maintaining the skill could work in her favor, she also realized Eren wasn't the type to stand around chatting. He would definitely act before the ocular skill collapsed on its own. Therefore, she decided to take the initiative.

An S-Rank skill took the form of a massive dragon head above Marina. The spectral dragon came to life, gathering enormous amounts of water before compressing it into its massive body. It then hovered above her, ready to pounce on Eren at any moment.

This skill alone was powerful enough to destroy the island several times over.

And since Marina had burned a portion of her dragonblood as a desperate measure to break free from Eren's skill, its power far surpassed anything she had cast at the start of their battle.

Marina took deep, steadying breaths after completing the skill.

'Let's not think about the sea monster for now. I don't have the luxury to pull my punches now. I'll… I'll crush these two and bury them deep into the sea. I'll think about what to do afterwards.

Now how will you respond to– hmm?'

Marina had loads of thoughts swirling inside her mind. As far as she was concerned, Eren didn't pose any threat to her.

However, she realized something was wrong. Then she grew angrier when she noticed that neither Eren nor Reen showed any sign of taking her attack seriously.