Chapter 169: The Fifth Evolution
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 169: The Fifth Evolution
…This is driving me insane.
The Red Dragon won’t actually kill me. Even when she tortures me, she never goes far enough to threaten my life. So, if I just hold on until she gets bored, I should be able to get out of this eventually.
But why did she have to come now?
I can’t move, so I can’t help her or stop this. If she’d been here from the start, I would’ve told her we should run.
Why did she have to show up at the worst possible moment?
“Gek-ge-ge-gek!”
“Baby, let’s be quiet for a moment, okay?”
Shhhk!
A chain wrapped around my mouth.
I was in a state where I couldn’t move or make a sound. My body was in such bad shape, I couldn’t risk moving recklessly.
All I could do was watch.
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
I struggled, trying to scream for her to run, but it was too late.
Baek Rang spun around, unleashing a blast of cold air.
Crrraaaack!
A cold so intense it felt like the very air would freeze. Even a formidable spirit beast would be unable to ignore the chill now radiating from Baek Rang.
But her opponent was the worst possible match.
Fwoosh.
The energy of fire, the polar opposite of cold. Besides, this volcano was a place saturated with the energy of fire, and the Red Dragon was a spirit beast that was practically fire incarnate.
The Red Dragon’s fire energy overwhelmed Baek Rang’s cold.
“Hmm. So I finally get to see your face? My little baby was keeping his mouth shut, and I was just about to give up. How kind of you to come to me.”
“…You’re the one who did this to him?”
Baek Rang was no match for the Red Dragon. She was in her wolf form, but the Red Dragon was still in her human form. She was this powerful without even revealing her true form. The gap would only widen if she did.
Despite that, Baek Rang did not back down.
“Did this to him? I was trying my best to hold back, you know?”
The Red Dragon smiled seductively.
“You held back and he ended up like this? There are holes in his scales!”
Baek Rang bared her teeth, wary of the dragon.
“Well, I suppose it would be hard for a furry beast to understand.”
“What?”
“This is just a lovely display of affection.”
“Bullshit. He’s still dripping blood, and you call that affection?”
“Hm?”
The Red Dragon glanced over at me.
“You’re right. He’s bleeding more than I thought.”
She tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand why.
“That’s strange. I don’t remember doing that.”
This crazy dragon. How could she act so clueless after what she’d done?
“You crazy bitch!”
CRRAAACK!
A pack of giant wolves made of ice appeared.
“Awoooooo!”
From Ilrang-i to Chillang-i. No, they were masses of chill shaped in their image.
“Oh my, I thought you were just some ordinary wolf. This might be more fun than I expected.”
Shhhk!
The flame chains moved once more. This time, they covered my eyes.
“My baby, keep your eyes shut tight, okay?”
I could neither speak nor see.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll make sure she’s still breathing.”
Struggling was pointless. I could only listen to the sounds of the fight.
*
BOOOOM!
“Wow, these ice sculptures are pretty fun. They keep regenerating even when I break them, don’t they?”
Baek Rang’s cold energy continued to weaken, while the Red Dragon’s fire energy grew stronger and stronger.
The outcome was all too obvious.
The sound of Baek Rang’s pained yelps.
And the sound of the Red Dragon’s laughter.
“Ahaha! To think the present my baby prepared for me was this good. I like it.”
“…Shut that mouth.”
BOOOOM!
I have to move, somehow. If I just stay here, Baek Rang will be killed. But because of the Red Dragon’s chains, I couldn’t even move a single finger.
“But what are you trying to do by just stalling for time? You must have a trick up your sleeve. Why don’t you show it to me?”
The fire energy surged strongly once more. As if to counter it, the cold energy gathered again.
KABOOOOOM!
CR-CR-CR-CRACK!
A tremendous roar echoed through the cavern.
I knew instinctively.
The fight had just ended.
The fact that both fire and cold energy still lingered meant that neither of them was dead.
Step.
Someone walked towards me.
“…Hey.”
It was Baek Rang.
But I couldn’t hear the Red Dragon.
…Does that mean Baek Rang won?
“Are you blind?”
Baek Rang touched my scales.
“What did you like so much about that dangerous creature that made you stay with her?”
Clank.
The chains binding my body slowly began to come undone.
“You should have come back as soon as you caught the Fire Rat.”
My eyes were covered, so I couldn’t see what was happening, but it seemed Baek Rang had defeated the Red Dragon.
How did this happen? Even though Baek Rang’s energy had grown stronger, she shouldn’t have been able to beat the Red Dragon.
What did it matter? The important thing was that Baek Rang had won and was now in her human form, undoing my chains.
“There’s so much I want to say, but we don’t have much time.”
Right. She probably hadn’t defeated the Red Dragon completely. We had to get out of here, fast. Baek Rang must be exhausted, so I’d have to carry her on my back and run.
“Gek!”
She continued to undo the chains on my body, and finally, she removed the one covering my eyes.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
Hazy golden eyes stared back at me. Her pure white hair was stained with red blood, and her entire body was covered in wounds. She looked like she could collapse at any moment.
“Really, you’re such an idiot.”
Pfft. Baek Rang forced a small smile.
Sssss….
Black smoke rose from the hand that touched the red chain. I knew better than anyone how these chains were made. And what happened when you touched them with your bare hands.
“What’s so great about something that only has scales.”
Thump.
Baek Rang fell into my arms as if collapsing.
“Why I did something like this…”
Crrraack!
At that exact moment, I heard the sound of shattering ice.
“I was a little surprised. Is this the power the Unicorn gave you? To think it was enough to freeze even me for a moment.”
Only then did I realize.
Baek Rang hadn’t beaten the Red Dragon. She had used all her power just to trap her in ice for a moment.
…If she could use a technique of that level, she could have at least protected herself. And yet, Baek Rang had come to me.
“And you didn’t even use all your strength. You were busy trying to undo his chains?”
If she hadn’t freed me, she might have been able to inflict a fatal blow on the Red Dragon. If she had focused only on escaping from the beginning, she could have gotten away unscathed.
“Baby, keep your eyes shut tight. Okay?”
Baek Rang slowly wagged her tail while held in my arms.
Her body was a wreck, and yet… what was she so happy about?
She was just… smiling.
…….
Why do you all always throw yourselves on the line for me?
Why do you make me remember the past?
Why do you make me repeat the same mistakes?
I covered Baek Rang’s body with the Fire Rat’s pelt.
“Baby, what are you doing now?”
“Grrrrrr….”
I bared my teeth and growled at the Red Dragon.
“Are you protecting that female right now?” the Red Dragon asked, her voice tinged with surprise.
“…And you’re baring your teeth at me?”
Her voice, once full of warmth, turned icy.
“Baby. Hand that wolf over while I’m still asking nicely.”
“Don’t touch her.”
“Right, so that’s how you’re going to—wait, what did you say?”
As if I’d hand Baek Rang over now.
“Ahat, ahahahat!”
The Red Dragon laughed like a madwoman.
“My baby, did you finally start talking?”
I laid Baek Rang down a short distance away and prepared to fight. As if her mood had improved, the Red Dragon didn’t interfere and simply waited.
“Yes. This isn’t so bad either.”
Crrrackle.
The Red Dragon returned to her true form.
A massive body, incomparable to my own. A being that could be said to exist at the pinnacle of all living things—a dragon. Flames and lava moved according to her will.
Fwoosh.
“Kraaaaaah!”
When she roared, the ground split and lava surged.
“Still, isn’t that a foolish choice? Do you really think that wolf can withstand the fire energy of this volcano?”
The volcano’s fire energy grew even fiercer. It was because she was mimicking a drought, just as she had mentioned before.
Because I had given the Fire Rat’s pelt to Baek Rang, it felt like my body would melt just from standing still.
Even so, I couldn’t back down. Because Baek Rang had tried to save me while facing this very same heat.
[A spiritual energy envelops your body.]
For me to face her now, I needed to evolve into a Salamander. But I couldn’t do that. My evolution inevitably left me defenseless.
But not all evolutions were like that. I knew of one exception.
A woman who threw herself in harm’s way to protect me, just like Baek Rang.
Nephila Jurassica.
Her evolution was different from mine. An evolution that happens when emotions reach their peak.
Tang Soyeong had said that was true metamorphosis.
The emotion of anger welled up, and the emotion of regret reached its zenith.
[Congratulations! 【Gomodo-Lania LV30】 has evolved into 【Gomodo-Elder Dragon (婆龍) LV1】.]
My dragon scales became harder than before, and my forelimbs grew thicker and sharper.
“My baby, you were hiding your strength!” the Red Dragon said, sounding pleased. “Judging by your looks… a lesser dragon?”
But this wasn’t enough to protect Baek Rang. Even if I defeated the Red Dragon, Baek Rang would die from the volcano’s heat.
“Not bad. It’s a lower-rank dragon, but still…”
I have to destroy this damn mountain itself.
[A spiritual energy envelops your body.]
True metamorphosis can only be achieved when emotions reach their peak. Tang Soyeong had said the greatest trigger of all is the will to protect something.
Anger and regret had reached their peak, but that wasn’t all. An emotion that couldn’t be clearly defined swirled madly inside me.
[The spiritual energy transcends your physical body.]
Gomodo is the divine beast of Gaegaek.
Gaegaek is the heart I had when I faced the ant legion with Nephila.
Gaegaek is the heart I had when I faced the caiman for Tus and Pus.
Gaegaek is the heart I had when I faced the Dilophosaurus for Tang Soyeong.
I defeated the Cockatrice for a stranger, fought the Megatherium for the little ones, and stood against Tai Sui for the Snake Queen and Swish-Swish.
The phrase “for someone’s sake” felt embarrassing, so I guess I never made a big deal out of it or even thought about it that way. But it was there when I was a gecko, and it was there when I was a Green Basilisk. It was there when I was a Crocodile Monitor, and it’s here now that I’m a Gomodo.
Gaegaek was the will to protect someone.
[Congratulations! 【Gomodo-Elder Dragon (婆龍) LV1】 has evolved into 【Gomodo-Crushing Dragon (破龍) LV1】.]
Yeah.
This makes it all worth it.
[You can temporarily use the ?? of ?.]
The fire energy of the volcano began to fade.
“Impossible,” the Red Dragon muttered in disbelief.
A different power, one that was not cold, fire, or poison.
Psssssh….
A fierce rain fell from the sky.
Crrreeak.
And from the ground, plants began to grow.
“…It’s not a lower-rank dragon?”
The volcano’s fire energy gradually died down. The ground, split by the Red Dragon’s power, was filled in, and flowers and trees began to grow.
“Grrrrrr….”
This wasn’t a clumsy imitation, but the power to interfere with the weather itself.
I had stepped onto the path of a true dragon.