Chapter 252: An Unexpected Reunion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 252: An Unexpected Reunion
Obtaining elixirs.
A welcome phrase, no matter when I hear it.
Lately, whenever I slept with my followers, my body felt strangely drained, making me feel the need for elixirs.
I’d consumed a fair amount of elixirs and inner cores already, so I’d been giving any decent ones to my followers.
Even when I defeated powerful spirit beasts, I chose to subjugate them rather than kill them for their inner cores.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t need elixirs.
Besides, this was a chance to steal elixirs from Jin-ryong of all people. There was no reason not to do it.
I’ll give some to my followers, and if there are any left, I’ll eat them.
Back in the day, the Snake Queen used to toss me an elixir whenever I scratched my belly in front of her.
I’m a lizard who always repays my debts, so if I steal a lot this time, I should prepare some for the Snake Queen, too.
I should think about my Master, too.
Of course, she’s so powerful she doesn’t need elixirs, but it would feel wrong not to give her anything.
We have a bond, after all.
It wasn’t my main goal, but I had a feeling that if I gave my Master an elixir, she’d call me pretty and toss me even better things.
It was like giving a ten-year fo-ti and getting a ten-thousand-year one in return.
She might even give me a Gerong as a reward for being a good boy and bringing her an elixir.
…While I might have a slight ulterior motive, the most important thing was that the elixirs I was about to steal belonged to none other than Jin-ryong.
He was supposedly using them to recover, so this should slow him down.
And since time was what we needed most, nothing could be better.
“If Jin-ryong hears that his elixir storehouse has been smashed, he’ll certainly be furious. But you don’t need to worry too much. He might be able to take some action, but he won’t be able to move his body right away.”
Even an injured Jin-ryong was an incredibly strong opponent, but I was told he rarely moved in that state.
Besides, he had recently suffered a new injury, so he would be even more reluctant to move.
He might send his subordinates, but that would only give us the advantage.
Just like the mistake Gaechalgoatal made, it would only result in me becoming stronger.
“The elixir storehouse is where elixirs from all over are first gathered. The largest portion, of course, comes from the 100,000 Great Mountains.”
I’d thought this before, but the 100,000 Great Mountains were beyond the scale of a normal mountain range.
It was a vast land where the people of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult could live, and where enormous spirit beasts could exist without encroaching on each other’s territory.
It was also strange how a single region could contain places that were polar opposites, like a snow mountain and a volcano.
Of course, this was likely due to the influence of the Dragon Gate.
“We could probably crush the enemy with a frontal assault. But that would only be a half-victory.”
That wasn’t something I’d expect Taotie to say.
Considering what I’d seen of her, I’d expect her to be screaming ‘Chaos, Destruction, Evil!’ and demanding we charge in immediately.
“Because in the process, there’s a high chance the elixirs would be lost. Jin-ryong’s minions might devour them all in a last-ditch effort.”
To think she’d thought this far… she was smarter than Tang Soyeong, at least on par with Swish-Swish.
“What’s with that look? Anyway, it would be better in many ways to secretly take the elixirs little by little, then strike all at once at the last moment.”
She was smarter than I thought.
But there was a flaw in her plan.
Charging in blindly was easy, but stealing elixirs without being noticed was the hard part.
“It’s not that difficult if you can infiltrate without being noticed.”
That’s the difficult part.
How on earth are you going to infiltrate?
“A way to infiltrate without being noticed…”
Taotie’s hands began to fiddle with my cheeks.
“Here it is.”
“Gekgegek…?”
*
I was enjoying the wind from atop Taotie’s shoulder.
Unfortunately, since she was disguised as an old woman, this was the only place I could be.
If I went into that compressed space of her robes, I’d literally become lizard jerky.
I’d left the management of my territory to Nephila and Baek Rang, so I didn’t have to worry.
This job didn’t seem like it would take very long, either.
“It would be good to memorize the way, but it’s better if you just forget it. I’ll be back when the time is right, anyway. Depending on the situation, I might even bring your followers.”
It was farther than I expected, so I clung tightly to Taotie’s shoulder.
After running like that for several hours, an artificial-looking structure came into view.
The 100,000 Great Mountains really are vast.
To think they built a place like this, hidden from my Master’s eyes.
What I saw was a building made of stone.
At a glance, you could say it looked like a castle.
I saw a gate as large as my gigantified body, and in front of it stood two humans in armor.
They looked pretty strong.
Each of them seemed to be at the Peak Realm.
“Who goes there!”
Seeing Taotie approach, the guard drew his sword.
Of course, she didn’t answer and simply stared at him.
“Huh, h-huh!”
One guard covered his mouth.
“L-Lord Taotie!”
The other guard hastily sheathed the sword he had drawn.
“What brings you here…?”
It seemed they recognized Taotie, even with her old woman’s face.
Seeing them tremble slightly reminded me just how fearsome her reputation was.
“What brings me here? I’ve caught a useful little fellow.”
“A useful fellow, you say?”
The guard seemed relieved.
No matter how reckless Taotie was known to be, he probably thought she wouldn’t dare do anything to Jin-ryong’s elixir storehouse.
But she said she caught a useful fellow?
So this is how we’re infiltrating.
First, Taotie will enter with me, and we’ll start taking the elixirs.
“A fellow worthy of being offered to Lord Jin-ryong as an elixir.”
“Indeed…! Lord Jin-ryong will surely appreciate your sincerity, Lord Taotie.”
“He’d better.”
“Then… may I inspect the item?”
Hmm, not a bad strategy.
“Here, take a look.”
Taotie handed the elixir she had prepared to the guard.
“Gekgegek?”
Meaning, me, on her shoulder.
Wait.
I was the elixir?
“This is…!”
The guard looked shocked.
He seemed surprised to see this divine lizard, but his expression was a bit strange.
“My apologies, Lord Taotie. A lowly person such as myself simply cannot…”
“You don’t recognize it?”
I’m not some registered elixir, how would he know?
“It’s an elixir not listed in any guide…”
“I see. So you don’t know.”
Hey, I’m not an elixir in the first place.
“I’m sorry!”
“Hmm… Is that how it is.”
“Pardon me… but to my eyes, it just looks like a lizard…”
The guard on the other side said.
At those words, Taotie’s eyes flashed.
“…Are you daring to suggest that I, Taotie, would offer a mere worthless lizard to Lord Jin-ryong?”
I don’t think he went that far.
“P-Please, calm your anger! This friend is new…!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Their reaction was certainly clear.
“Hmph, that’s how it is with you lot who have no aesthetic eye. Take a closer look.”
The guards were literally looking at me closely.
“Hoooh…”
“Gekek.”
What are you looking at?
“Huk!”
He flinched when I pretended to bite.
“I-Indeed…”
“His eyes look dazed, but they’re strangely sharp, his teeth are even, and his belly looks soft…”
Aren’t they insulting me?
“Ge-ek.”
“And his tail is so long…”
My tail is long, but it seems like that’s all anyone ever talks about.
“Yes. This should be of great help to Lord Jin-ryong.”
“It certainly will be…!”
“And you who offer this will also be rewarded for your efforts.”
“Th-That means…!”
“Thank you!”
The guards, who had been looking suspicious, now beamed.
The arrival of Taotie, whose identity was clear but who was somehow unsettling, had been terrifying. They must have been relieved that instead of causing harm, she was helping them.
But they would never know.
That this was all a scheme to bring down this elixir storehouse and drag Jin-ryong from his throne.
Let’s go, Taotie.
It’s time to go inside.
Your acting wasn’t bad.
Thump.
Taotie put me in some kind of basket.
Did she put me in here so I could travel comfortably?
How considerate.
“Keep it safe. It must be offered alive, so don’t put it anywhere dangerous.”
“O-Of course. Is there any question!”
That’s Taotie for you.
Look at that acting.
She sounds like she’s really going to offer me up and leave, doesn’t she?
Clank.
Wow, this basket is amazing.
It’s designed so it can’t be opened from the inside.
“Safe travels!”
…Huh?
*
Taotie abandoned me.
Actually, she didn’t abandon me. It must be part of the plan.
After all, the result was that I’d successfully infiltrated the inside.
They say to deceive the enemy, you must first deceive your allies. So, this was brilliant.
…Still, couldn’t she have told me?
I could undo my miniaturization soon, so there wouldn’t be a problem even if a dangerous situation arose, but I was still a little hurt.
I thought we were going to have a delightful caper starring the phantom thief lizard and Taotie, the master of disguise.
Still, an infiltration mission wasn’t so bad.
“Kieeek.”
“Krrrk, krrrk.”
The place I was in now was like a small cave.
Judging by the constant sound of insects chirping, this must also be an elixir storage area.
Specifically, for living elixirs.
Beings like Hwari, the Golden Toad, or the Golden Frog were spirit beasts but were also treated as elixirs, so it wouldn’t be strange for there to be more like them.
“Kwieeek!”
A black mantis swung its scythes, threatening me.
Back when I was a Green Basilisk, I would have fought a life-and-death battle with a creature like that, but now, I felt nothing.
I could literally look at it as if it were just a bug.
“Kwiik…?”
The mantis seemed a bit flustered that its threat wasn’t working.
“Ahem, hem. Right. Are you new?”
It made an intelligible sound, not a roar.
What the hell, even a mantis can talk, so why can’t I?
“You’re a Seokcheok. You kind of look like a wall gecko.”
The mantis started explaining various things next to me.
What this place was, what rules it had.
How I should act, and that since he’d been here longer than me, he was a sort of senior.
Therefore, I had to respect him, and he something something five crickets and countless bugs…
He kept droning on, making me want to yawn, but I held it in.
“Y-You yawned! You bastard! How dare you ignore a senior of this Ten Thousand Year Golden Poison Cave!”
Suddenly, the mantis’s scythe flew at me.
Hey, what’s with the sudden attack?
I don’t know about anything else, but you’re going to regret that.
Even if my body was small, my Dragon Scales were still Dragon Scales. I could clearly picture that scythe snapping in two.
I was just preparing to mourn the mantis that was about to become one-armed.
Thwack!
When someone smacked the mantis on the head.
Thok!
Thanks to that, the mantis’s scythe ended up stuck in the floor instead of me.
This guy is pretty lucky.
“Kwieeek! Can’t you see I’m teaching him some manners!”
The mantis glared at the one who had hit its head.
That guy just saved your arm, but you’d have no way of knowing that.
“Kiek…! We’re all in the same boat, why are you being like that?”
I don’t know who it was, but this was one sensible bug.
I’m a lizard who always repays my debts, so I’ll have to protect that one later.
I took a look at the bug that had spoken.
It had a long body.
It had countless legs and impressive, sharp jaws.
Moreover, unlike other bugs of its kind, it had a somehow simple-looking face, and that appearance was strangely familiar.
“Huh…?”
The creature also seemed to recognize me from somewhere, raising its third leg to its head.
“Gekgegek!”
It’s the kind Mr. Centipede from the Silver Dragon Cave!
Wait, you were alive?