Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: Dragon King Festival (5)
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A tremendous downpour crashes down.
Rumble!
And then lightning.
Cloudy skies. And an even darker earth beneath.
Waves surging with enough force to flip the land and sky upside down. Deep-sea folk and miscellaneous monsters tangled in the rain and waves, desperately trying to destroy each other.
Boom!
A deafening roar.
The village chief looked up toward the source of the sound.
Whoosh! A massive bird soaring into the sky? No, a person? "Gaaah!" Before he knew it, the chief's mouth was wide open, screaming.
"Kim Shin-hwa! Kim Shin-hwa! That monster! That demon!"
He didn't know what spell was activating, but Kim Shin-hwa's pitch-black robe shimmered brilliantly, as if woven from the Milky Way in the night sky.
The hem of the robe fluttered as Kim Shin-hwa flew in an erratic trajectory too fast for the eye to follow.
Splaash!
The waves defied gravity, surging upward endlessly. It was no longer something you could call a wave. A colossal water pillar? An upside-down waterfall? Or a massive sea dragon thrashing to annihilate our enemies?
Kabaam!
The pinnacle of the water pillar exploded, and out burst Venerable Biheijin. He thrust forward his thick, twelve-taloned claws, charging at Kim Shin-hwa.
"Grraaah! Die! You heretic scum!"
Venerable Biheijin, with scales tougher and sturdier than any other! And that speed! That mana! A frail, squishy mage's body would shatter into pieces and tear into a thousand shreds just from a graze!
"Stop following me!"
A blinding white flash that burned the retinas!
Rumble rumble! Boom! Boom! Kabaaaam!
The delayed thunderclap. The lightning summoned by Kim Shin-hwa struck Venerable Biheijin's body.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Graaah!!"
"Venerable Biheijin!!"
Screams erupted from unexpected directions. Not from Venerable Biheijin himself. From the chief's mouth, and from the deep-sea folk who had forgotten they were in battle and were staring up at the sky. Was that the fight of true powerhouses?
Contrary to the deep-sea folk's worries, Venerable Biheijin's speed didn't slow at all.
His ritual robes were torn, exposing the turtle-like carapace on his back, but Kim Shin-hwa's desperate attacks weren't inflicting any damage on Venerable Biheijin.
"To the Dragon King of the West Sea, your humble servant of the sea begs you—turn the whirlpools of the deep sea into that one's belly!"
Venerable Biheijin's incantation poured out at blinding speed.
Groooar!
His abdomen swelled, and a high-pressure jet of water blasted from his mouth.
Splaash!
"Ah, you damn turtle bastard, for real!"
A water cannon with enough power to crush rocks and uproot massive trees just from being caught in it. Realizing a mere protective barrier couldn't block it, Kim Shin-hwa lowered his flight path.
But it was a mistake.
That direction had waves charging toward him, and it was within the deep-sea folk's range.
"Graaah! Throw!!"
Whooom!!
Spears, nets, and arrows launched by the deep-sea folk rained down like hail.
Whiiish!
Kim Shin-hwa created a high-speed vortex around his body, deflecting the deep-sea folk's attacks.
0.5 seconds. The time Kim Shin-hwa took his eyes off Venerable Biheijin. But the cost of those 0.5 seconds was horrific.
"Grrah! Got you!"
Craaaack—
The chief could use limited sorcery and sense mana.
That's why he detected the massive number of protective barriers forming around Kim Shin-hwa's body. But Venerable Biheijin was a cut above!
Kabaam!
Kim Shin-hwa plummeted at near-invisible speed!
"Uwaa—!?"
Kim Shin-hwa's scream.
'He missed!'
Smashing him was an option, but Venerable Biheijin chose not to. He pushed with full force.
As deep-sea folk adapted to underwater life, they knew better than clumsily flying humans how to fight in three-dimensional space.
Splaash!
Kim Shin-hwa crashed into the mud pit, barriers and all.
The seafloor, turned to muck by the waves Venerable Biheijin summoned, swallowed Kim Shin-hwa whole, barriers included. In an instant, he was buried up to his waist.
The barriers blocked the mud for now, but the moment they dropped, Kim Shin-hwa would be buried alive.
"Damn it!"
Even with the waves, how could solid ground sink this deep? Human bones were mixed in the mud. The spot where Kim Shin-hwa had crashed was where the deep-sea folk disposed of their "sacrificial meals." The repeatedly dug-up ground was softer than anywhere else.
Kim Shin-hwa thought, *Hah, even the climate and terrain are against me.*
"Graaah! Stay buried there!"
Venerable Biheijin flew in.
Fwoosh!
Kim Shin-hwa hastily thrust out his hand, firing dozens of fireballs while increasing his barriers.
"Graaah! Useless! Useless! All useless!"
Venerable Biheijin swatted the fireballs aside with both fists and pressed forward.
Kugoogoo!!
Venerable Biheijin trampled and pummeled Kim Shin-hwa, who was "trapped" in his own barriers.
Fire? The Dragon King's rain halved its power.
Necromancy? The Dragon King's fog weakened its control.
Lightning? Venerable Biheijin's scales and sturdy carapace repelled it.
"Grrah! What else you got, human? Human! You land beast!"
Impact? Freeze? Waves? Poison? Curse?
The Dragon King's blessing, the deep-sea folk's tough scales, and their hardy bodies adapted to the abyss nullified everything.
Kugoogoo-boom!!
Kim Shin-hwa was simply buried deeper and deeper into the earth, shielded only by his barriers. No chance of victory for him now! This was their win! They could always procure another sacrifice later!
The chief thought that and was about to cheer.
If a single spirit golem hadn't silently approached and gripped his throat, he really would have.
"Grrah... H-huh?"
A grotesque spirit golem with four scythes where fingers should be. Among spirit golems, it was small and unremarkable.
The spirit golem's opposite hand gestured beside the frozen chief's body.
A hand made of a ladle, pencil, and smartphone stand, but the meaning was clear. A gesture anyone—human or deep-sea folk—could understand. *'Quietly step back.'*
"Grraaah..."
The chief slowly turned around.
A spirit golem's face made of junk filled his vision.
A speaker, small trash can, vacuum cleaner parts, and on what would be a human's left cheek, a large doll head.
The doll's eyeballs (one missing entirely) spun around a few times before speaking to the chief.
"Yeah. Stay quiet."
It was Kim Shin-hwa's voice.
"Grraaah!?"
The chief growled low but couldn't move further due to overwhelming terror.
"Man, it's pretty interesting watching myself get wrecked from a third-person view."
The spirit golem nodded a few times and continued.
"Anyway, that turtle geezer is seriously strong. Makes sense—he's judge-class, after all."
The Kim Shin-hwa fighting Venerable Biheijin right now wasn't at full strength. His body was definitely Kim Shin-hwa's, but one-third of his consciousness was controlling this spirit golem body here.
Even so, he couldn't issue complex commands like this. Kim Shin-hwa snarked through the spirit golem.
"Wh-what, what, wha—"
He wanted to scream *what scheme is this!?* but the chief's tongue was frozen. *No, no! This demon!*
"Village chief, you brought it, right? Where is it?"
The spirit golem rummaged through the chief's bosom with its ladle and smartphone stand.
"Ugh, damn. I really need to make one with proper hands. Ah, here it is."
The vintage doll head on the spirit golem's head gleamed with eerie light. But the words from its mouth were oddly refreshing.
"Ah, village chief, good job. I figured you'd bring it, but if you hadn't, it would've been a hassle. You did great."
"Th-that's—"
*A b-bomb!? Mana stone bomb.*
Something a young man from Inseu Village made a year ago but never used.
Something an old man had kept for a year to avenge his child.
Something a miserable old slave to the deep-sea folk had passed to Kim Shin-hwa, begging him to use it to liberate the village.
Something briefly stolen by the half-deep-sea village chief, but now back in Kim Shin-hwa's hands.
"Good. I'll share some good info with the obedient village chief."
Kim Shin-hwa spread his scythe-hand, releasing the chief. Then he continued.
"Look over there. Something cool."
There.
The spirit golem extended the scythe on its right hand, pointing at a spot in the air.
What was there...
Kugoogoo!!
Kim Shin-hwa was completely buried underground, barriers and all.
Not just Kim Shin-hwa.
A pit like an antlion trap had formed around Venerable Biheijin, so deep he couldn't even turn his head to see the surroundings.
"Grraaah! It's over!"
Venerable Biheijin raised both hands high, concentrating his mana. Kabooo—wave sounds emanated from his hands. Now he'd destroy the barriers wholesale! Get buried alive!
Wait, what's this? That weird noise? Why is it so quiet around him?
Some strange sound reached him from somewhere, muffled by his own grunts, the squelching mud, the surging mana, and the pattering rain.
Water? No, like entrails being pulled, a nostalgic sound drawing in his soul. So, that means—Venerable Biheijin perked his ears.
『H— O— YO—』
What? The song of the deep sea. The song of the waves. The Dragon King calling me. What is it? No, it's not.
"Haaah! Grraaah!!"
Venerable Biheijin clutched his head in severe pain.
From beneath his feet, from the mud, from under the barriers he stood on, a small voice spoke.
"As expected, the turtle geezer has some resistance."
"Grrah, grraaah— resistance?"
『YO— H— O— H— YO—』
His head hurt. What the hell are you saying?
Venerable Biheijin straightened up. What was happening outside the pit?
The deep-sea folk gazed up at the mysterious creature flying in the sky with dazed expressions.
『YO— H— O— H— YO—』
A beautiful song.
A red body soaring through the sky. A single large eye. A pair of wings and a broad tail dangling like seaweed.
It was undoubtedly the Dragon King's messenger.
The legend said that one day, when the Dragon King called to awaken us, his messenger—the Tri-leaf Image—would come. The legend of the sea had come true.
The Dragon King calls. Let's go. To our home. Our blood yearns for the sea. Back to the sea. To the sea. To the sea.
Inseu Village, trapped by fog and mountains. From this village, there was only one path to the sea.
The sea well. To the sea well.
Splash—
One.
Splash— splash—
Two. And three.
The deep-sea folk and half-breeds began leaping into the sea well with entranced looks.
"Grraaah! Stop! You idiots! What are you doing! Don't go! Where are you going!"
Venerable Biheijin's massive eyes spun wildly in all directions. What? Where? What's singing that song?! The sky! That's it! The small red freak was singing the eerie tune.
"Siiiip—"
Venerable Biheijin's belly swelled. Kaboo—preparing to blast a high-pressure water jet from his mouth.
"Whoa there, no can do."
Sloosh!
Something burst from the mud floor.
"Kr, kraaaah!"
Sloosh— sloosh—
Pale white, horrific tentacles.
Countless tentacles erupted from all directions.
Squelch squelch. They writhed, swayed, tangled, and flailed. For letting his guard down at the critical moment, Venerable Biheijin was ensnared by these grotesque, nightmarish tentacles.
Boom!
The ground rose, and the sky flipped.
A monster! A horrific monster! A nightmarish beast made entirely of pale white tentacles was surging from underground!
And standing atop that monster's body was Kim Shin-hwa. Venerable Biheijin screamed in despair.
"Grraaah! You! Youuuu!!"
Kim Shin-hwa, emitting yellow glows from the four eyeholes in his mask, said,
"People always let their guard down most when they think they've won."
"Grraaah!! Grraaaah!"
"Now, let's finish the Dragon King Festival as promised."
Just the method is up to me.