Chapter 112: Isolated and Helpless
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: Isolated and Helpless
Where is this place?
I remember my body being sucked into the gourd bottle thrown by the Rakshasa Bird.
Does that mean this is the inside of the gourd bottle?
Or was I simply transported somewhere else?
Right now, I had no way of knowing.
“Grrrr…”
No, there was one thing I could deduce.
Countless eyes were glaring at me.
If I couldn't escape this place, there would be no reason to position these beasts here.
They had gathered here to kill me.
In other words, if I defeat them all, I can get out.
Either I’ll be able to leave the gourd bottle, or I’ll have to walk back to my original location.
“Gek-ge-gek…”
Whatever the case, I had to deal with these creatures.
“Kkeee-geek!”
From the Terror Birds…
“Kwoooar!”
…to the Saber-toothed Tigers.
They made no effort to hide their hostility toward me.
I’d seen this sight before.
Back when I fell into the Silver Dragon Cave while fleeing the Piranha Caiman.
The time I faced a massive swarm of insects.
Of course, the creatures here were incomparably stronger than those back then.
Each one was at least on par with a Terror Bird.
Did they really set a trap like this just to catch a single lizard?
The Bifang and the Rakshasa Bird were just a diversion; this was the real trap.
The Snake Queen, upon seeing me disappear, might become enraged and kill them both in an instant.
And yet, the Bird King took that risk to set this trap.
Did he value me that highly?
I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful.
But there was one thing he didn’t know.
He couldn’t defeat me with a human-wave tactic like this.
I could recover completely just by leveling up.
If anything, enemies of this level were nothing more than walking piles of experience points.
“Kwoooar!”
A Saber-toothed Tiger at the front let out a fierce roar and charged.
Getting caught in those teeth wouldn’t be fun.
[Using Reverse Scale LV1.]
I had to fight efficiently.
[Temporarily acquiring Poison Mist LV1.]
I could already produce poison, but my proficiency wasn’t very high.
Reverse Scale would compensate for that.
I borrowed the skill of a Dilophosaurus.
Sssss…
Fwoooosh!
I spewed a tremendous amount of poisonous gas from my mouth.
A quick check with my Wild Eyes confirmed it: they had no resistance to petrification or poison.
This meant they weren't elite troops raised by the Bird King himself, but rather a kind of mercenary force acquired through brainwashing.
That didn’t mean their combat power was significantly lower, but their lack of poison resistance was good news for me.
Just knowing that poison worked opened up dozens of strategic possibilities.
“Kwoargh…”
The Saber-toothed Tiger that was charging at me faltered.
It must have sensed the menacing poisonous aura.
Not missing the opening, I lunged forward.
I slammed my foreleg into the head of the Saber-toothed Tiger, which couldn’t react in time.
KWAAANG!
“Ggyeeeeh!”
The Saber-toothed Tiger screamed, spewing blood.
As it was the largest of the bunch, it seemed a blow like that wasn’t enough to kill it.
But it had definitely sustained heavy damage.
I wanted to follow up immediately, but I couldn’t.
This wasn’t a one-on-one duel.
As if on cue, beasts swarmed me from all directions.
Even as they coughed up blood from the poison mist, they tried to attack me.
Even if I broke through one side, I’d be attacked from another.
Gomodo.
The Tailed Old Death.
It was probably a name that meant something like ‘ancient butcher.’
But why emphasize the tail?
What creature that looked like this didn’t have a tail?
The reason was simple.
Whooosh.
KWAAAAAANG!
It was likely because the Gomodo’s tail was its most threatening weapon.
My massive, long tail, over four meters in length, whipped through the air like a lash.
I had never learned any martial arts that utilized a tail.
But just swinging it generated immense power.
The heads of the creatures struck by my tail simply exploded.
Even those that managed to endure were sent flying several meters away.
“Kki… Kkeee-geek!”
They might be brainwashed by the Bird King, but could they not overcome their instinctual fear?
A few of them were screaming and trying to flee the battlefield.
It was only natural.
A giant lizard over seven meters long was spewing poison from its mouth and slaughtering its enemies.
My tail, covered in sharply transformed dragon scales, could be considered a massive sword.
Chwaaaak!
The same went for my forelegs with their sharp claws.
KWAAANG!
A direct hit would shatter a skull, and even a graze would leave a deep wound.
And the moment they were grazed, the poison I had spread seeped into their wounds.
“Grrrrk…”
Foaming at the mouth, my enemies collapsed.
I didn’t miss a single one, cutting them all down.
To display overwhelming power and crush their will to fight.
And to kill them and raise my level.
It didn’t matter how many enemies swarmed me.
As long as I leveled up, my body would return to its optimal condition.
Yes, as long as I leveled up.
…
……
My level wasn’t rising.
*
One hour before the Gomodo was attacked.
“So, you’re saying the Bifang and I are supposed to draw the Snake Queen’s attention?”
The Rakshasa Bird spoke as if it were absurd.
Just a diversion?
For the Rakshasa Bird, a being with the status of a spirit beast, it was a blow to its pride.
“That is the only way… to ensure his death…”
“That’s not like you. Isn’t this an excessive investment?”
“In reality… you are not the ones who will kill him… which means… both of your strengths can be fully preserved…”
The Rakshasa Bird and the Bifang’s mission was simply to draw the Snake Queen’s attention.
They didn’t need to exert too much power, and if they were careful, she wouldn’t be able to harm them.
Hide the strength of his two subordinates and kill only the Snake Queen’s companion.
It was the best judgment the Bird King could make.
It was a choice to hide his own cards while reducing the enemy’s.
“Do you really think you can take care of him for sure with just that? I don’t think so. How about the Bifang handles the Snake Queen alone, and I take care of the lizard?”
“Wooo…”
The Bifang glared at the Rakshasa Bird.
Its words were laced with ill intent.
Although the Bifang possessed the greatest martial strength, it couldn’t face the Snake Queen for long.
For it to hold out, the Rakshasa Bird had to succeed in unsettling the Snake Queen’s psyche.
In such a situation, telling the Bifang to handle the Snake Queen alone was no different from telling it to go die.
“Do not… worry…”
“Worry about what? I heard you failed to kill him three times already.”
“This is different…”
“What is?”
“His secret… I have figured it… all out…”
Gaechalgoatal flapped its massive wings.
It could be seen as a grand operation, sending out all three of its spirit beast-level subordinates.
Of course, two of them were just diversions, but it didn’t change the fact that they would be absent for a while.
“This is… an inescapable death…”
When you thought about it, this would be Gaechalgoatal’s most vulnerable moment.
“Isolated and helpless… he will despair at his own weakness… and give up on himself…”
However, this was a loss he had to endure.
To kill the detestable Snake Queen’s companion.
“After I have ended his life… I will go to see the look on the queen’s face…”
The Bird King smiled hideously.
The Rakshasa Bird shuddered.
It was an expression it could never get used to, no matter how many times it saw it.
That’s why the Snake Queen dumped you.
The Rakshasa Bird wanted to spit out those words but barely managed to hold them back.
*
My level wasn’t rising.
I knew it became harder to level up with each evolution.
But I had already dealt with more than a dozen beasts.
I should have leveled up at least once.
What in the world was happening?
“Krrrr…”
A Terror Bird charged at me.
I immediately swung my foreleg.
This time, however, with slightly less force.
KWANG!
My foreleg connected with the Terror Bird’s head.
POPOW!
The moment it hit, the Terror Bird’s head exploded.
Something felt off.
It should have been able to withstand that much force at least once.
I had controlled my strength, after all.
And yet, its head had exploded.
The durability of the Terror Birds I knew shouldn’t be this low.
Something was strange.
Figuring out what this sense of wrongness was, was more important than anything else.
Sssss…
Fwoosh.
Using not only the Poison Mist but also my innate poison generation, I turned the entire area into what could be called a poison swamp.
All to figure out this strange phenomenon.
The creatures swarmed endlessly.
I refrained from using skills as much as possible, fighting the beasts with pure physical combat.
Kwajik.
KWAAANG!
I tried to level up through predation, but that wasn’t easy either.
First, I had no time to eat the corpses.
When I finished off an enemy with my sharp teeth, I could at least get a taste.
But I couldn’t eat a sufficient amount of meat.
Their bodies would explode before I could even chew a few times.
This was a bit much.
The swarming enemies were getting stranger.
Their bodies would disintegrate with even the slightest impact.
POW!
Even the bodies of Terror Birds that I hadn’t attacked began to explode.
To be precise, it was a Terror Bird that had been slowly sickening from my poison.
Only then did I realize.
The reason my level wasn’t rising.
Once they took a certain amount of damage, their bodies would explode due to some unknown principle.
And the creatures that died that way didn’t give me any experience points.
“Kkeek-keek-keek!”
The Bird King had figured out my ability.
He probably hadn’t realized I had a status window.
What he had figured out was the reward I gained after defeating an enemy.
It was about leveling up.
“Krarararak!”
Countless beasts swarmed me again.
I had thought that no matter how many there were, they couldn’t beat me as long as there were no exceptionally strong enemies.
But the situation had changed drastically.
The enemies were endless, but I had no way to recover my stamina.
They would die on their own before I could kill them.
The same went for attacks using poison.
Once they took a certain amount of damage, their bodies would just explode.
It was a way to change the cause of death to something other than me.
All to prevent me from leveling up.
The moment I realized I could no longer heal myself, fatigue washed over me.
The number of beasts whose bodies had exploded reached thirty.
The despairing part was that I hadn’t killed a single one of them.
And that there were still more beasts swarming in.
Even if I miraculously defeated them all, nothing would change.
They would keep coming until I died.
…
“Gek-gek.”
Get a grip.
Haven’t I experienced this exact situation before?
An endless flood of enemies.
A situation that grew more disadvantageous with time.
Right, it was when I encountered the Cordyceps in the Silver Dragon Cave.
Remember what I did back then.
I found its main body and split the entire wall it was on.
There had to be someone manipulating this strange space.
KWAAANG!
Descending Dragon Tremor.
I slammed my foot down with great force, shattering the ground.
This created a brief opening.
Sssss…
I drew up the internal energy from deep within my dantian.
The internal energy gathered in my two eyes.
I focused my power to activate my Wild Eyes.
My internal energy, which had reached the Peak Realm, allowed me to see things that were previously invisible.
A very faint thread.
An intangible thread made of internal energy.
My mind raced.
The feeling of despair I had felt moments ago melted away like snow.
I had found a breakthrough.
“Grrrr…”
Tadat.
Pat!
I charged forward at high speed.
Towards the source of the thread.
Chwajajak!
I cut down the enemies that hastily blocked my path.
POPOW!
Their durability was extremely low.
To prevent me from gaining experience, they would self-destruct after taking a certain amount of damage.
My tail and claws.
And my entire body, reinforced with dragon scales, had become a weapon.
I literally pulverized every enemy that stood in my way and broke through.
Pabababat!
I see it.
The master of this place.
The one commanding these creatures.
【Dimetrodon LV55】
A Dimetrodon.
I knew instinctively.
This one was the strongest here.
Moreover, I could feel its internal energy even from the outside.
It was different from an ordinary beast.
Its appearance was also different from the Dimetrodons I knew.
One of its arms was abnormally short.
And it had only one eye.
It was larger than me, but its body didn’t seem suited for combat.
That must be why it was controlling the beasts from the rear.
“Krrrr…”
It let out a low growl.
Dimetrodon.
A pseudo-Spinosaurus.
I’ll make sure to devour you completely.