At that moment, time seemed to stand still. The wind died, the cooking smoke rising from a distant village hung motionless in the air, and even the wings of a bird flying overhead stopped beating, leaving it suspended high above the ground.
"..."
ε=(ο｀*))) sigh
"Honestly!"
(｀)
On a hill near the manor, a certain exasperated little girl immortal had been lounging on a huge boulder. Now she let out a sigh and slowly sat up.
That was right!
The wind had stopped, the smoke from the distant village had ceased to rise, and the bird hanging motionless in the sky—all of it was Annie's doing. She had stopped time itself.
She had no choice. If she hadn't, that idiot Lin Daiyu really would have had her head chopped off.
"Such an idiot!"
(﹏)
"Who takes a whole pack of trash mobs and mini-bosses straight to challenge the big boss while running a dungeon?"
(×﹏×)
"She could've cleared them easily, then made it a four-on-one at the end. But no, she had to charge in all at once—and now she's reached the boss's door without even clearing the mobs. What is that if not asking to die?"
(ノ△.)
To be honest, Annie could barely stand to watch. But she couldn't just leave things alone, or that bear would start making a fuss again. So, at the critical moment, she had hit the pause button and brought the world's time to a complete halt.
"Fine!"
"I'll give her a little cheat, then!"
(￣︶￣)ノ"
As she spoke, Annie waved her hand, and everything instantly returned to normal.
(...)
(●￣￣●)
In an instant, the mountain breeze began to blow again. Cooking smoke once more curled up from a home in the distant village, and the bird whose wings had been frozen in midair