The Sea (2)
The world around him changed.
A body that had felt unnatural, as if he had been underwater from the very start, eased by degrees into something comfortable. And yet he was still underwater.
Urk!
The proof pressed in from every side: a place where breath would not come, where he felt he might suffocate at any moment.
...They called this the East Sea Dragon Palace, didn't they? Feels like real water actually formed because of it.
In the deep sea of that urban legend, the Bermuda Triangle, there had been no water. No—water had existed, but Bihyung's presence had shattered every rule and condition of the place. That was the truer way to put it. So even if his body had felt wrong, he could still breathe.
This place was different.
The floor of the deep sea. Where the urban legend withdrew, a story from the past bloomed.
The East Sea Dragon Palace. The place in Journey to the West where Sun Wukong had raised hell and claimed the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Bihyung had arrived there.
First things first. Breathing.
He fused the Water of the Five Elements with the water of the Five Greats.
Splash!
Just as yin flame and yang flame had once merged into a violet blaze, water bearing both powers welled up and spread around him. It looked almost like a membrane. Bihyung eased the flow a little at a time and packed it close around his head.
"Pwah!"
His breathing snapped back to normal. A clear current guarded the space around his head, shoving the seawater aside and opening a pocket where he could draw air. It even picked out only the oxygen nearby and drew that into the current, while the carbon dioxide he exhaled was vented straight out. A split-second answer, and a perfect one.
"Huh. That works."
Only then did Bihyung let the tension go and swing his arms in loose circles. But why did his body feel so light?
"Hm?"
It really was light. The moment that puzzlement spread through him, he realized the thing that had held the greatest share inside his Dokkaebi Bat was gone.
"Ruyi!"
Yes. The one inside the club that had always been unusually temperamental had vanished.
"...Did it just step out for a drink because it came home?"
The East Sea Dragon Palace was a place the thing could fairly call home. Until Sun Wukong stormed in, it had idled its days away here, loafing to its heart's content. Having returned to a place like that, maybe it was excited in its own way. Sentiment kept insisting he see it that way.
But reason keeps nudging me that something's off.
Sentiment against reason. Reason won.
"I think it's planning to pull something."
Bihyung scratched his head and looked around. Beside him were Dueogsi, Eodugi, and three dokkaebi who served under Dueogsi.
...Could they even manage it?
Dueogsi may have been strong in his prime, but this is still the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. The monkey whose peak had startled the celestial realm from the day he was born. When he stormed the Dragon Palace, that might was so vast even the Dragon King flattened himself, wasn't it?
Still. You never know.
Clinging to that slim hope, he put the question to Dueogsi. The answer that came back was nothing like the usual certainty.
"Pardon? The Dragon King, you say? Hmm... They are beings who remained upon the earth rather than ascending to heaven, so in my prime I might still have found some way to contend... but as I am now, it would be rather......"
Even Dueogsi looked troubled.
Dueogsi's strength right now is roughly 7th Rank. He had been steadily recovering the prowess of his prime, but after stepping into the 7th Rank—the beginning of the high ranks—that pace had slowed little by little. No. It had nearly stopped.
Still, 7th Rank. If things go wrong, Dueogsi is the only one I can count on.
The villains could come crashing in at any moment. Bihyung decided to trust him and step into the Dragon Palace.
Magnificent.
His verdict was brief, and no word could have described the sight better. The entrance rose high and wide enough for giants to pass, and the moment he pushed inside, a dazzling light flared. Streets adorned in gold. Lanterns burning even in the middle of the deep sea. A main keep raised so high its crown could not be seen. And fish-folk wandering everywhere.
...How am I supposed to eat sashimi after this?
Fish heads on human bodies. A little grotesque. No—very grotesque. He was scratching his cheek in discomfort at the sight of them when a message rose.
You have been invited into a passage of the myth, Journey to the West.
...My role is Sun Wukong?
The questions ran on without end, but Bihyung faced only the reality set before him.
The divine artifact, Ruyi■■■, turns its gaze upon you.
A gaze, felt from the palace's main keep. One of the identities that honored the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and the only divine artifact he possessed. Ruyi. He could feel the look of the one that had even permitted him its name—almost a sneer. What are you waiting for? And you call yourself Sun Wukong?
The corner of Bihyung's mouth twitched.
"Fine. I'm coming."
The moment he said it, life began to stir in the eyes of the fish-folk who had been standing still as marionettes with their strings cut.
"Th-the enemy!"
"What were the gate guards doing!?"
"Bah! Blame can wait! Seize every last one of those beasts from the land!"
Vitality returned, and awareness with it. They read the situation at once, and they were even faster to snatch up their weapons and charge.
"Boss. What shall we do?"
At Dueogsi's question, Bihyung thought it over. His role, right now, was Sun Wukong. What would he have done?
The Sun Wukong I met liked his pranks. He was cheerful... But that had been after the journey to India was finished, after he had risen to the seat of a buddha called the Victorious Fighting Buddha. This was the early Journey to the West. He could not imagine the Great Sage Equal to Heaven letting a moment like this pass quietly.
Therefore.
Boom!
Bihyung clenched his fist and swung at once.
"Gyaaah!"
The punch, driven with the Spirit of Play drawn to its peak, swept their formation away in a single blow.
"W-we can't handle that alone! Summon the Great General!"
"Useless wretches! And you call yourselves soldiers of the Dragon Palace... Hrk! Wh-what are you standing around for!? Bring the Great General at once!"
A few of them dug in and tried to cling on again, but they were no match for him. So long as he gave himself to the Spirit of Play and wove the yokai arts of the Five Greats through it here and there, they had no choice but to be driven back without resistance.
Still.
Proficiency in the basic yokai art of Water has increased!
Proficiency in the basic yokai art of Earth has increased!
Proficiency in the basic yokai art of Wind......
The proficiency is climbing at an absurd rate.
He had never unleashed yokai arts at full power like this. Of course he hadn't. Outside, one always had to mind who was watching. Here he didn't, and Bihyung loaded the arts into the Spirit of Play and swung with everything he had, exactly as he pleased.
How should I put it... They're stronger than I expected, sure. So why are they dropping like flies?
He was using the Spirit of Play at full strength, yes, but their power was quite high for mere soldiers. In ranks, somewhere between 4th Rank and 5th Rank. Even so, they couldn't overcome a single one of his attacks. They just got planted in the ground.
Ah. Don't tell me.
In that instant he remembered that this space was a moment of myth and history that had already passed. And my role is Sun Wukong. The king of yokai, the one who even threatened the Dragon King. Which meant?
This might be... more doable than I thought.
If so, he could pile up yokai-art proficiency against the strong. A proficiency burning event!
"Come at me, all of you!"
He kicked off the ground—no, the seabed—and flew at the soldiers. Dueogsi, who had been blankly watching that back, turned toward Eodugi, who had at some point hopped onto his shoulder. The little one had already been looking his way, so their eyes met.
"......"
"......"
The two yokai thought the same thing. Whatever else one might say, he was every inch a dokkaebi.
The palace gate. Broken. The first floor. Broken. Bihyung, who had been laying the Dragon Palace to waste as he advanced in every direction, came to a dead stop.
"Lord, why are you—"
Eodugi's mouth snapped shut. Even he, the weakest of the party, could feel the mighty presence from above.
From the feel of it, the front of the royal hall. Whoever guarded it was no ordinary presence.
"Hmm."
Was that the Great General the soldiers had been yammering about?
"Dueogsi."
He could have taken the fight himself, but he decided to yield this chance. There was a reason.
The proficiency is almost full. What he had thought would be a blessing if it took a year had nearly reached its end. Spending any more strength here would not be wise. Beyond the Great General, he still had to face the Dragon King.
"So. Want to take that one?"
He didn't need it, so he wanted Dueogsi to take it—a chance to set his stalled recovery of rank moving again, and to reclaim his Lore as well. Dueogsi seemed to understand. His eyes trembled, fine and quick.
"...Yes. I shall take him."
With that, Dueogsi climbed the stairs, step by heavy step.
Hwooo!
Somewhere along the way, the presence and fighting spirit spreading from his whole body surged, razor-sharp. Then the fierce battle between the two yokai began.
Boom!
"Good. Fight well!"
Dueogsi's fist slammed into the Great General's face. Even so the general did not yield; he swung his sword straight back at him.
Shwik!
But he could not so much as graze the hem of Dueogsi's robe. No—more precisely, the instant the blade cut, Dueogsi's form rippled and vanished. Gifted in the yokai art of Void, a being people could never perceive, the Lore of Dueogsi had begun to show itself in earnest.
Sssst...
His body revealed itself a short distance from his opponent, and he charged the Great General again.
Slash!
The Great General's sword once more split the ripples of empty air. But Dueogsi was not there. Shimmering like heat haze under a blazing sun, hiding his form, he looked almost like an incomprehensible being.
Dueogsi meant to build his Lore anew. But in that process he did not want to deny his past self, or throw it away. The one who had parasitized another Lore in order to live was him, and the one who meant to go forward like this was him as well. He would accept both, and advance. That wish gradually stirred his Lore and woke it.
Your subordinate, Dueogsi, is gradually reclaiming the true color of his Lore!
Having seen that much, Bihyung turned away.
"Let's go."
"You're not even going to watch to the end!?"
"Don't need to. Dueogsi wins."
At the sight of him trusting the subordinates under his command, Eodugi glanced back at Dueogsi for a moment, then turned as well. The two of them were already staring at a door flung wide open.
A dragon's voice came from within. When Bihyung stepped through the open door, he could see it.
Hwooo—!!
Eyes of a vast dragon, coiled until it more than filled the ceiling of the royal hall.
The Dragon King. The moment he came face to face with a monster of the 9th Rank.
The treasure vault of the Bermuda Triangle. More precisely, those who had intruded upon the place where it had been could not hide their shock.
"Wh-what is this......"
The gaping hole looked as if this space alone had been carved out whole. A strange thing. A yokai's domain, splitting without warning?
"...Someone arranged this."
The cult leader judged so at once, and made his decision.
"O great Sacred Blood. A part of you lies there. Please, grant us a path. Bestow upon us the glory of attending you!"
He knelt and held forward the bottle he had carried so preciously. At that, the villains' faces went pale once more. No—beyond pale. They blanched as if they might die on the spot. Even so their eyes were soaked in rapture, seeking the god who answered their call.
Then the liquid in the bottle pushed the lid aside and made, little by little, for the carved-out space.
Crack.
The faint sound of a fissure rang out.