Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 171 - 170 - Shady Link.

Raven silently lay in his bed, his expression filled with panic and his heart thudding faster than a squirrel in mating season.

He hadn’t even noticed Omni muttering, "Bro, this escalated faster than a kingdom tax! From auction to execution—man’s doin’ a speedrun!"

His fingers hovered uncertainly over his status window as he reread the last message from Grandpa_Hot_Pot.

"...You seem to care a lot about this female god."

Raven bit his lip.

’Was that a threat? A joke? An observation? A declaration of holy war?’

Raven couldn’t understand as all of this was equally likely with this unhinged Grandpa.

But he couldn’t back down right now.

Windy was one of the only two gods who had talked to him without asking for anything in return.

She was someone he didn’t have to butter up and could talk to without any formalities.

Windy was the only one he could call his friend among the gods.

No matter who he was up against, he wouldn’t abandon a friend.

Above all, he had an extra life, so even if he ended up dead because of his rash decision, he wouldn’t die.

So, instead of writing that he didn’t know her, he went against his instinct and was about to type a response, saying, "She’s a good friend, sir," when a new message popped up.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Grandpa_Hot_Pot:

"If you want to confirm her safety, click the link below."

[http://divine.glorystream.verify-truth.6969/safetycheck.windygod.aspx?secure=TRUE]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"...That URL’s a damn war crime," Omni deadpanned. "Ain’t no way that’s not a virus. Or a teleport scroll straight to hell. Or some divine-ass phishing scam."

"I know, right?" Raven whispered back, eyes squinting at the absurdity of it. "This literally screams ’do not click me.’"

He hovered over the link with a trembling finger.

’But... if Windy is in danger...’ he thought, mind racing with images of his unknown friend Windy surrounded by divine chains, or worse—Grandpa holding a tea party with her head mounted on a trophy wall.

"Well, you can only click it," Omni sighed dramatically. "Let’s get this trainwreck rollin’. You were screwed the moment this circus began anyway. If he really wanted you dead, you know something would’ve happened."

"Right." Raven clicked.

The moment his finger touched the glowing divine link, the world exploded.

Not literally.

But it felt like his body got yanked through a celestial meat grinder, tumbled through five layers of reality compression, and then squeezed through a keyhole the size of a cursed breadcrumb.

With a sudden pop, Raven was gone.

...............................

[Location Unknown – Some Room That Smells Rich.]

Raven slammed into a polished marble floor that glowed faintly with divine patterns.

Pillars of crystal rose around him, inscribed with ancient script, and the air was filled with the scent of lotus incense and pure existential dread.

The first thing he did other than groaning was touch his junior, wanting to know if it was fine as he now had women to take care of.

"Thank god..." He sighed in relief the moment he touched his crotch. "You’re safe."

Then, he looked around, seeing an unfamiliar surrounding.

"Omni? You there?" He called, and without a second’s delay, Omni, still in tattoo form, hissed on his skin.

"Yeah, I’m here," the sword replied, his voice cool but wary. "But tell me why it feels like we just got dragged into some dude’s Final Boss crib? Like—no lie—I swear I heard a boss theme start up."

"I feel like I’m about to be monetized," Raven grunted, pushing himself up. "Where even am I—?"

Clack.

He froze.

A sound like high heels on polished stone echoed from the shadows. Raven turned.

Out of the shimmering light came her.

A figure walking down marble steps at the edge of the space.

She was beautiful—no, she was eerily beautiful.

Long, snowy-white hair that cascaded like moonlight down her back.

Pale skin, almost glowing faintly.

Her blood-red eyes stared at Raven like he was a puzzle she was solving while deciding whether to set it on fire. There was madness in her eyes—a madness Raven hadn’t seen anywhere.

Her presence felt wrong—not evil, but like it didn’t belong in any normal realm. She was like a poem written by a ghost.

She seemed sad.

No—gloomy.

Her expression carried no anger, no delight. Only that heavy, haunting calm.

Her black horns and wings didn’t help.

She looked like a death angel coming to reap his soul.

"Uh..." Raven opened his mouth. "Hi?"

She didn’t answer.

She vanished.

"Wh—" Raven’s breath caught as she appeared right in front of him, arm glowing with divine runes. Before he could react—

BOOM.

A palm strike hit him in the gut like a meteor.

He flew back, rolling across the floor in a blur, groaning. "...Thank heavens you’re indestructible, Omni."

He was only alive right now because he could summon Omni in less than a second, shielding his side where the woman attacked from.

"Don’t go thanking the heavens just yet, man," Omni vibrated, his voice low and serious. "That crazy chick? She just used divinity. And unlike Graye, her hits are packing divine juice like a holy nuke. We’re talkin’ full-send madness."

"Does that mean she’s a god—?"

Before Raven could complete his words, Omni hissed. "Incoming again—UP!"

Raven barely raised his arm in time as her next strike came down—a blade of pure divinity crashing against Omni, who had now manifested in his sword form, sizzling with dark power.

Clang!

The clash of divinity and anti-divine steel sent a shockwave through the room, shattering part of the glyph above them.

"She’s trying to kill me!" Raven shouted, deflecting another burst of glowing knives that appeared in the air.

"Nah, man," Omni corrected. "She ain’t tryna kill you—she teachin’ you a divine-ass lesson. This is some holy growth arc, bro. You clicked a cosmic scam link, and now the universe is out here collectin’ its dues."

The girl landed silently a few feet from him, still not saying a word.

Raven grimaced. "Okay, that’s enough—I don’t even know your name!"

Finally, she spoke. Her voice was quiet, like the whisper of wind through the ruins of a temple.

"You sold his gift," she said.

Raven’s heart skipped a beat. "You mean Grandpa Hot Pot’s item?"

She stared at him. "You gave it away. To another woman."

"That was not a romantic gift!" Raven shouted defensively, backpedaling as she advanced again. "I was in dire need of help!"

But she didn’t stop. Her palm lit again, divinity wrapping around her fingers like a fire made of moonlight.

"He would’ve helped you if you asked him," she murmured, "but you didn’t. Instead, you went to a goddess."

"Man, I didn’t want to impose on him!" Raven stomped on the ground. "Fuck! This weird old man had to send me a goddess with abandonment issues even if he wanted to teach me a lesson."

"Weird...?" The lady muttered.

Omni chuckled dryly. "If you survive this, ask her out. Y’all seem like you got matching emotional scars—might as well trauma bond over dinner."

The lady, on the other hand, leaped again.

Raven didn’t back down, using all of his techniques to match her.

He gritted his teeth as another wave of divine knives hurtled toward him, their edges humming with celestial intent.

He swirled Omni in a tight arc, parrying three, ducking the fourth, and barely rolling under a fifth that burned a clean streak into the floor where his head had just been.

"She’s got more knives than a kitchen during Black Friday!" He gasped, trying to catch his breath. "And none of them are on sale!"

"She ain’t playing, bro!" Omni barked as Raven blocked a sweeping kick laced with wind-like divinity.

The impact still sent him skidding across the marble. "She’s throwing hands like she’s trying to discipline all of humanity!"

Another strike came—this one a punch so fast it cracked the air like thunder.

Raven twisted his body, redirecting the blow using Omni.

He moved with brutal efficiency, weaving together the muscle memory from Crisaius’s hellish training and the instincts born from two years of fighting corrupted beasts.

A flurry of attacks followed—palm strikes, shimmering kicks, and bursts of energy that shattered pillars behind him as he narrowly dodged.

For every move she made with ethereal grace, Raven responded with grounded, unpredictable counters.

A sudden feint with his knee.

A sweeping low kick.

A headbutt that—if not for divinity—should’ve broken both their skulls.

But she didn’t flinch.

No—she kept coming like a silent storm. Her expression remained unchanged. Gloomy. Beautiful. Dangerous.

Then, finally, she stopped.

With a dancer’s grace, she leaped back several meters, landing without a sound.

Her blood-red eyes watched him in silence.

Suddenly, something flickered in them.

Raven, panting, took a stance—sweat dripping, heart thudding. "You... done yet?"

For a fleeting moment, he saw it—a glimmer of something in her gaze.

Appreciation?

Then, just like that, it vanished—as if it had never been.

Raven blinked, stunned by the strange moment. But before he could ask anything, Omni’s voice echoed in his mind—calm and thoughtful at first.

"Yo... So... Uh, you might wanna sit down for this."

Raven didn’t like that tone. "Sit down? We’re mid-battle!"

"I just realized," Omni continued. "There’s a divine law in this room. Pretty subtle, but it’s there. It’s suppressing the strength of both fighters to match the weaker one."

"...So, you’re saying I’m the reason we’re still alive?"

"Ding-ding-ding! That’s the only reason she hasn’t turned you into a celestial pancake, bro."

Raven staggered. "W-What?! Then all this time I thought I was holding my own, but she’s just... nerfed?!"

"She’s nerfed to your level," Omni confirmed grimly. "But still handing out holy butt-kickings like it’s charity season."

Raven felt a cold sweat form on his back. "That’s the only reason I’m alive?!"

"Yup. You’re the stat cap, baby. Hope you enjoyed the illusion of skill—"

But then Omni paused, his voice changing into something darker now. An anxious hiss.

"...Wait... Wait, no. No-no-no-no. She’s doing something."

"What?" Raven asked.

"Her tales, man. She’s activating them. I feel one, then another—that’s two tales... no—now three—what the—SHE’S STACKING THEM—"

"What the hell?!"

"BRO! She just activated four tales!!"

Raven’s eye twitched.

"You mean... the nerfed version of her is beating me like I owe her heavenly rent, and now she’s about to go full lore mode?!"

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