Chapter 225
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 225
Chapter Title: Birth of the Dragon God
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Four years passed, and Yahuhan had grown into a full adult.
Having inherited all the Dragon God Arts' essences, Yahuhan now had to prove his qualification as a god.
The ritual of ancestral inheritance.
At twenty-five, the emergence of a genius who had mastered every essence of the Dragon God Arts drew together the twelve tribes of the plains.
"This is the real deal! The rumors were true! I heard he was young, but this is ridiculous—he's practically a kid!"
The Tiger Clan's chieftain, Huyeon, extended his hand with a booming laugh.
"Ah! If that offends you, forgive me! Man, inheriting the entire Dragon God Arts before even holding your coming-of-age ceremony! Incredible! I was a genius back in my day too, but I'd be lucky to lick your boots! Hahaha!"
The tiger-headed man's face split into a friendly grin.
Grand Commander of the Tiger Clan. Tiger Head Huyeon.
He too had been hailed as the Tiger Clan's genius chieftain for mastering eight essences of the Tiger God Arts at a young age.
At the very age when Yahuhan had first picked up a spear, he had sent challenges across the entire Northern Tribes, defeating four chieftains and twenty heirs, earning praise as the "Heaven-Granted Fangs."
Rumors now swirled that he had mastered ten ultimate techniques, making him the strongest warrior on the plains.
Yahuhan sensed the energy surging from Huyeon's dantian.
"The rumors about you can't be trusted."
To Yahuhan's eyes, the man had mastered all twelve essences.
He simply hadn't fully refined them yet.
Huyeon laughed heartily once more and teased.
"For two beasts qualified to be gods to appear in the same era! What an entertaining time to be alive!"
"Is that so?"
"You bet! I can feel it instinctively! If I can't kill you today, we'll be rivals for life!"
"Is that right."
Huyeon grinned fiercely and raised his sword.
"And even if one of us dies, the survivor will cherish today's duel as a lifelong point of pride."
Yahuhan nodded calmly.
He had instinctively known the meaning of this confrontation.
He had known for a very long time.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The warriors of the twelve tribes stomped in rhythm to the drums.
The glorious day of ancestral inheritance.
In the arena to decide a god, a dragon and a tiger stood.
"Twenty-second Tiger Head! Heaven-Granted Fangs Huyeon! Today, I shall hunt the dragon's head and prove my qualification as a god!"
"......Nineteenth Dragon Head. Yahuhan. I shall undertake the ancestral inheritance."
Compared to Huyeon's roar, Yahuhan's declaration was utterly plain.
"The Dragon Head has no equal beneath the heavens, making him invincible under the sky. To battle a god demonstrates unmatched valor worthy of ascension. He unites the twelve tribes of the plains into a hellish inferno, shares a sip of jerky with fellow chieftains, and opens the path to the heavens......"
"The Tiger Head is a peerless fierce youth who knows no retreat in battle. He prizes honor above all, with righteousness piercing the skies—a hero of the world. The plains' rogues and braves considered it shame to not befriend the tiger. 'Wind Follows Tiger, Dragon in Clouds.' Pleasant winds always trail the tiger, while the dragon hides its shameful reverse scale amid the clouds......"
The shamans of dragon and tiger chanted the legends of their ancestors' exploits, conducting the ritual.
The two warriors aimed their weapons at each other.
Amid ecstasy and tension, Huyeon bellowed spiritedly.
"Young dragon! Strike first if you like! If only you'd been born before me......"
Mid-sentence, Huyeon's fur stood on end.
Yahuhan raised his crescent blade straight ahead in a perfect line.
That was it.
Huyeon felt every hair on his body curl in dread.
The tiger could not meet the young dragon's gaze head-on.
"Khk!"
The trajectory of death etched itself vividly before his eyes.
Countless paths where no resistance was possible—overwhelming, inevitable death.
Before the terror of death, the tiger felt utter powerlessness against his foe.
'Something's wrong.'
Heaven-Granted Fangs, the strongest warrior among the beastkin.
Only because he had inherited the twelve Tiger God Arts essences could Huyeon perceive it.
The dragon before him had already transcended the heavens.
"Grraaah......!"
The tiger desperately glared at the dragon, veins bulging in his eyes.
In contrast, Yahuhan's eyes were serene and still.
'He's scared.'
To Yahuhan, the tiger's puny spirit was visible.
The mental blade Yahuhan had projected made the tiger's spirit tremble in confusion.
'What a pity.'
For the genius warrior who had conquered the plains under the name Heaven's Fangs to cower before someone twenty years his junior.
The Dragon Head quietly observed his opponent.
The Tiger Head's sweat would not stop.
After a long silence, Yahuhan spoke softly.
"If you won't come."
I will cut you down.
At the dragon's final ultimatum conveyed through sheer presence, the tiger flinched.
Realizing this, the tiger's face twisted in shame and self-loathing.
The Tiger Clan's leader could never show fear.
Especially not before his young son.
"Raaargh!"
Shaking off the paralysis of fear, clutching a scrap of courage, the tiger leaped at the dragon.
And then.
One stroke, two halves.
Yahuhan cleaved the tiger in a single strike.
Fresh blood sprayed, and the tiger shaman's face drained white.
Her husband's death.
Kneeling in stunned despair before the bisected tiger corpse, the shaman collapsed.
Waaaaah!
The Northern Tribes' folk roared in victory.
All chanted Yahuhan's name; the heirs proclaimed their birth in the Dragon God Yahuhan's era a glory and pledged loyalty.
As the Tiger Clan's elders praised his honor and the Dragon Shaman Amir declared the birth of the great Dragon God.
Yahuhan thought.
'What a boring world I've been born into.'
A child's wail brushed Yahuhan's ears.
The young tiger clutched his father's corpse and wept bitterly.
'The bad dragon killed my daddy!'
Yahuhan knelt before the crying child and replied.
"I am not bad."
"Then why did you kill my daddy!"
Yahuhan stared straight into the tear-filled eyes of the young tiger.
"I slew your father to prove my qualification as a god."
Yahuhan surprised even himself with his words.
Only then did he realize he had become the Dragon God.
The legendary Dragon God.
Yet, having finally become a god.
'It feels utterly empty.'
So hollow that he felt sorry for the pitifully weeping young tiger.
The previous Tiger Head, Jian, approached and soothed the child.
"Huguan. Tigers do not show tears before their enemy. Swear it to your bloodied father here. That you will never forget today's events."
"I won't forget! I won't forget what you did to my daddy!"
"That's right. That's a tiger."
The old tiger silently gathered the scattered tiger entrails and bone fragments.
"Dragon God. Yahuhan."
With blood-soaked hands, Jian hoisted the still-bleeding tiger corpse over his shoulder and bowed his head.
"Congratulations on ascending to the seat of god. Though we have lost, we understand the meaning of your victory. I believe our valor has made your triumph all the more precious. May you cherish the honor and glory you claimed today for all eternity."
Beyond tribal enmity or his daughter's grudge.
The old tiger offered genuine respect.
At the old tiger's reverence, Yahuhan wanted to ask.
'What meaning did that fight even have?'
He had known the outcome from the start.
The tiger had never been his match.
He had known for a very long time.
No beast on the earth was his equal.
'The meaning of victory? Honor and glory?'
The age of glory had ended long ago.
The heavenly giants had died off, and the great ancestral gods had ascended ages past.
The plains held no worthy foes, only fools who rejoiced at mastering a single technique.
'What honor or glory is there in fighting anyone?'
Yahuhan had toppled the plains' strongest warrior, Tiger Huyeon, becoming the mightiest on the steppe.
But Yahuhan had never once felt like a warrior.
He had never tasted the thrill of victory.
He had never felt true honor.
'There are no enemies.'
A great warrior must have a worthy rival.
Glory and honor come only from such foes.
True respect for one's enemy is required to claim a warrior's pride.
Yet he had never once faced a rival since birth. Thus, you are the strongest warrior.
What contradiction was this?
'I am merely a scarecrow.'
To Yahuhan, he was no warrior.
He was an idol propped up by the plains' fools.
A scarecrow in the heavens, hailed as a great war god.
The young tiger's sobs echoed in his inner emptiness.
'Mother. Is a warrior's heaven such a place?'
What use is claiming victory alone in a warrior's heaven?
No one was there.
Shouting victory alone in an empty wasteland, self-proclaiming as the god of honor and glory, the strongest warrior—what meaning did it hold?
Nothing but hollow void.
Unlike the great ancestral gods, no one would ascend to the heavens alongside Yahuhan.
'It has always been this way.'
Such was life for Yahuhan.
From childhood, he had known the outcomes.
His peers could not touch him, and soon the tribe's elders would fall short too.
He knew ascending to godhood would not be difficult.
'Becoming a god and ascending to the heavens must inherently be this empty.'
Until the colossal tower descended from the sky.
The day the tower's shadow fell upon the empty heavens.
Malevolent spirits dwelling in the tower declared invasion upon the entire plains, and never-before-seen monsters appeared across the steppe.
To Yahuhan, they were nothing.
But to the tribesfolk, they were not.
The monsters were no rivals, but they were enemies threatening the plains.
"This won't do. It's dangerous."
As the monsters' territory expanded, Yahuhan felt the emotion of threat for the first time.
The beastkin faced existential crisis.
Wandering heirs halted their dueling pilgrimages to fight and protect the tribesfolk.
The heirs found honor in their sacred duty, shielding terrified tribesfolk.
Bloody battles erupted across the plains, filled with victorious roars and anguished wails.
Warriors banded together to hunt mighty foes, protect the weak, and pour their all into saving imperiled tribesfolk.
'It feels like an old tale.'
Ancient values were resurfacing.
Warriors believed saving the crisis-stricken plains would birth nobler virtues.
'I am the same.'
For the first time, Yahuhan found value in slaying enemies.
He called it honor.
Later, summoned to Babel, Yahuhan met foes beyond measure.
—Dragon Lord. Allow a first greeting.
A massive iron knight glared down at him with blazing eyes.
—I am the Four Heavenly Kings serving the Demon King. Unyielding Baincliff. I have come to exterminate your kind.
Yahuhan shuddered.
'Huyeon, is this the feeling you had that day?'
If they fought, he would surely die.
No chance of victory.
From the one called Four Heavenly King, Yahuhan felt such despair.
At the same time, he gripped his hilt until it nearly snapped.
'But someday, I will surpass you.'
Hordes of foes and dangers poured from the tower.
Countless tasks awaited Yahuhan to protect his tribe.
Slash, slash, slash again.
Finally, the day he felled the Heavenly Knight.
The Dragon God let out a victorious roar.
"I, Dragon God Yahuhan, have claimed the enemy's head! I shall weave this glory into song and offer it to the ancestral gods of the heavens!"
For the first time, Yahuhan called himself the Dragon God.
The spirits visited, patting his shoulder, and the heirs looked up to him in awe.
These things no longer felt empty.
In the warrior's heaven, Yahuhan was no longer alone.
Rivals. Glory. Honor.
All that was absent on earth existed in the tower above the skies.
Babel was his heaven.
'This place is fun.'
Foes of worth, battles for honor and pride.
Burning a warrior's soul, protecting young beasts in desperate straits, with a heart of gold, believing in a better future amid grueling trials.
'Ah! This is the greatest era! The golden age!'
The dragon war god born in chaotic times cried out joyfully.
"Thus, I shall ascend to the golden heavens."
The Dragon God opened his eyes.
A colossal iron god beyond measure loomed before him.
"Let all be as my heart desires."
The Dragon God stepped into the void as if solid ground lay beneath his feet.
Golden footprints glowed at his soles.
That was not all.
Auspicious golden halo radiated from the Dragon God's entire body.
"I shall become the true war god."
With each step ascending the void, his body grew exponentially larger.
Soon, the Dragon God had become a massive golden dragon rivaling the Dimension Machina.
"You. King transcending all machines. Before our duel, I ask your name."
The upright golden crescent blade emanated sharp menace.
"Son of Dragon Shaman Amir, nineteenth Dragon Head Yahuhan. I shall hunt you."