Chapter 265: The Suspiciously Suspicious Thing
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 265: The Suspiciously Suspicious Thing
Baek Seol-hwa felt nauseous.
She knew how those pills had been created.
There was a group known as the Blood Cult.
Unlike the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which was mistakenly believed to worship demons, the Blood Cult truly worshipped blood.
Not the metaphorical blood of the people, but real, actual blood.
They were the kind of people who would set a fire just passing by, and if asked why, would answer, "Because it lets us kill people." That was the Blood Cult.
Their reputation was so infamous that when the Blood Cult was on a rampage, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had, however briefly, even joined hands with the Orthodox Factions.
One of the Blood Cult's methods involved consuming things.
Human blood, hearts, livers.
They would mash such things together into a pill to increase their internal energy.
It was an idea that would make anyone shudder, but astonishingly, it was highly effective.
It would be no exaggeration to say that every single powerhouse in the Blood Cult had devoured human beings.
Baek Seol-hwa could see that the pills the men before her had taken were remarkably similar to those of the Blood Cult.
Their essence was made from the flesh and blood of spirit beasts, but human parts were mixed in as well.
And melted into it all was another, foreign energy, different from the rest.
A third ingredient that felt somehow sacred, yet also a little bizarre.
She didn't know what it was, but she could tell it was related to "that being."
And it wasn't difficult to deduce that "that being" referred to the existence known as the True Dragon.
The Dragon Pill was a horrific object created by mixing the vengeful spirits of humans, the blood and flesh of spirit beasts, and something from the True Dragon.
Since its principle was similar to the Blood Cult's methods, Baek Seol-hwa surmised that the True Dragon must have some connection to them as well.
Kwwaaaaang!
Two ice dragons continued to dance.
Cold energy and yin energy mixed together, creating a phenomenon that couldn't be explained by ordinary ice arts.
Jjeojeojeojeok!
With a mere extension of her palm, a martial artist several steps away froze solid.
Swiiish!
Dodging an incoming claw, she swept her hand upward from below.
Puhwaaaak!
A pillar of ice erupted from the ground, mercilessly impaling the martial artist who had swung his claw.
Wherever her hands moved, all the cold energy in the area followed.
It was clear that even if they were at the same realm, they wouldn't be able to touch the hem of her clothes unless they could counter the Ice-White Divine Art.
But the situation was not good.
Despite using ice arts, sweat poured down her like rain.
That horrific energy was continuously constricting Seol-hwa.
“Where has your initial vigor gone? Come on, keep attacking!”
Swiiish!
The masters of the Black Cloud Faction continued to pour on their attacks, even with one arm blown off.
Their momentum was threatening, but they couldn't land any significant blows on Seol-hwa.
Nevertheless, the Black Cloud Faction Leader didn't consider their defeat.
He could see her becoming visibly exhausted.
Pajjijik.
And finally, Seol-hwa's ice shattered.
It wasn't just any ice, but the very ice she had created to isolate this space.
The measure she had taken to prevent them from reaching the lizard had been brutally broken.
“Hmph... The captains are doing a fine job.”
The Black Cloud Faction Leader chuckled.
The fact that she couldn't even maintain that barrier showed how strained she was.
Now that the other captains had joined, all they had to do was slowly cook that woman.
“Hwangpungdae! You too, take the Dragon Pills and join the fray!”
It was the moment the Black Cloud Faction Leader gave that order to the Hwangpungdae.
Hwoooong.
Thud.
Some kind of beast fell right in front of him.
A bizarre creature that resembled a bear but had the lower body of a sheep.
“Hyaaak!”
The Black Cloud Faction Leader screamed, unbecoming of his station.
He couldn't help it.
Not only was the thing just thrown hideously grotesque, but its condition was also horrific.
It looked as if it had been crushed by something incredibly heavy and sharp.
The only reason he could tell it had once been human was because of the clothes it wore.
Yellow clothes, soaked in blood.
They belonged to the Hwangpungdae's captain.
Thwack.
It didn't end there.
This time, a body in black clothes.
Thwack.
And finally, one in red clothes.
He could immediately tell that the red clothes had originally been white.
“H-how...!”
It wasn't the captains who had shattered Baek Seol-hwa's ice.
The one who had broken the ice and entered was...
“Grrrr...”
Old Death with a Tail, Gomodo.
*
Seol-hwa stares at me blankly.
Is it because I made a cool entrance?
“Hey, why would you break that, you lizard!”
“Gek?”
Is she talking about the thing I just broke?
I mean, something was blocking the way, so I broke it.
“Do you know why I put that up...? Well, looking at it now, I guess there was no need to block it after all.”
The corners of her lips lift slightly.
This must be the first time she's seen me in this form, but she doesn't seem surprised.
Is it because she already knew this lizard was hiding his power?
Or is it because I haven't used Gigantification yet?
“By the way, you've gotten quite a bit bigger. Is it because I fed you so many good things?”
Does she think I grew because of the elixirs?
“Still, it looks like you finished the job?”
“Gek gek.”
Perfectly.
I raided the storage they were guarding and managed to steal three elixirs.
I shoved two of them into my mouth, and I've tucked one between my scales.
She's fighting a Transformation Realm master, so Seol-hwa could get hurt.
I saved one just in case, but she seems fine for now.
Except for the fact that she's sweating a little.
Her clothes are clinging to her... How gerorong.
“Gerororong.”
“It's a little gross when you make that sound with that body.”
Gross?
You're the first human to ever say that to me.
“Kraaaaaah!”
“Do you take me for a fool!”
While Seol-hwa and I were bantering, the things that were neither human nor spirit beast around us charged in a fury.
“Captain Hwangpung! Kraaaah!”
Jjeojeojeojeok!
Before he could even reach me, he turned into an ice sculpture.
So this must be the captain of the Jeokpungdae.
Then the one charging from the right must be the captain of the Cheongpungdae, right?
Swiiish!
I swung my claw and smacked his sword away.
Kaaaaang!
He had coated it in sword aura, so the blade didn't break, but he wouldn't be able to mitigate the shock to his wrist.
“Kghh!”
That shock would prevent him from responding to my next attack.
Swhoooosh!
I whipped my tail and finished him off.
“Everyone, charge together!”
Even though two of their captains were finished in an instant, the rest of them, already having lost their minds, charged at us without a second thought.
Jjeojeojeojeok!
They froze in an instant.
Kwajjijik!
And were promptly turned into minced meat, but they didn't seem to care.
Unless this was like the Jian Bird's trap, a battle of attrition like this would be meaningless.
Their resources couldn't be infinite.
With such a huge power difference, it would make sense to order a retreat.
Why engage in such a war of attrition...
Wait.
“…Hui, the Faction Leader has been gone for a while now, hasn't he?”
He ran away?
Even if he runs, how far could he possibly get?
“Gekek.”
I stretched out my tail and wrapped it around Seol-hwa's waist.
“Kyaa! Hui, what are you doing?”
This isn't the time to deal with these small fries.
Ssssp.
Hooo.
If I just release some paralysis poison, they'll probably destroy themselves.
The important thing now is to chase the Faction Leader.
I lifted Seol-hwa onto my back.
“Oh my, are you giving me a ride?”
Seol-hwa said in a strangely satisfied voice.
Riding on the back of a lizard of my stature isn't a common experience, after all.
“Gerororong.”
“Your cry is a little strange, but I won't press the issue.”
Well, thanks for that.
Paat!
*
“Huk… huff… How did things turn out like this…”
The Black Cloud Faction Leader, Changmu, had ordered his subordinates to charge and then retreated at high speed.
He had lost all will to fight the moment he saw that giant monster.
It was common sense for a Transformation Realm master to charge in at least once, even if it meant death, but that depended on the opponent.
A sinister killing intent that seemed to be the very personification of death itself.
The black lizard was such a powerful being that for a moment, he had the illusion that he was seeing an overlapping image of the True Dragon he had seen from afar.
Moreover, seeing the three captains who had taken the Dragon Pills return as corpses, it was obvious the creature's temperament was vicious to the extreme.
The Black Cloud Faction was closing its doors for good today.
They would be literally annihilated.
That was why Changmu had escaped.
He had to at least report to his superiors.
The clash with the Priestess of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
And the sudden appearance of the black lizard.
He had to report this unprecedented event, and it would be better if the one reporting was the strongest among them—himself.
“…If I knew this would happen, I should have held onto that old geezer Taotie.”
It was a statement from someone who didn't know that if Taotie had been here, things would have ended even faster.
“Changmu… Changmu… Get a grip, Changmu. The emergency passage is just ahead. Once you get past this, you can avenge your subordinates.”
Whispering to himself, the Black Cloud Faction Leader headed for the emergency exit.
He was the one who had driven his subordinates into a corner, but he had long since shifted all the blame to the Priestess and the lizard.
“Those bastards who deserve to be torn to shreds. I’ll skin the lizard and make jerky out of it, and that bitch…”
The Black Cloud Faction Leader's curses, uttered as he climbed the ladder, were left unfinished.
Because at the top of the ladder, he could see two pairs of blue eyes looking down at him.
A lizard with blue eyes.
A Priestess with blue eyes.
They had arrived here before him.
“H-how…?”
It was possible because the centipede and the mantis had told them about the emergency exit, but there was no way Changmu could have known that.
“Hi-hiik!”
Thump!
Hastily letting go of the ladder, the Black Cloud Faction Leader fell to the floor.
The lizard and the Priestess exchanged glances, and the Priestess sighed.
“I told you it’s useless to run. I won’t kill you right away, so it’s better for you to just stay still.”
She never said she would let him live.
“Hk… Huk!”
Changmu scrambled backward from his fallen position.
This was an opponent he couldn't win against.
“Grrrr...”
Forget winning; it was impossible to even save his own life.
He was literally cornered.
But sometimes, a cornered mouse will bite the cat.
Kwaduk!
Seol-hwa’s eyes widened at Changmu’s sudden action.
The Black Cloud Faction Leader swallowed a whole, unbroken Dragon Pill.
Not just one, but three of them.
As the leader, he knew full well the side effects of the Dragon Pill.
He would lose his sanity and literally turn into a beast.
He was the one who had broken the pills to minimize the side effects, and even then, fearing them, he had made his subordinates take them instead of himself.
But now, there was no one left to take the pills for him.
And a single fragment of a Dragon Pill wouldn't be enough to get him out of this situation.
That was why he chose to swallow three whole Dragon Pills at once.
Kwajijijik!
Jjeojeojeok!
It was only for a split second, but the lizard’s claw and Seol-hwa’s cold energy struck both his arms perfectly.
“Uwoooooh!”
But severing his arms wasn't enough to stop him.
Jjeoooooong!
An explosion of immense size erupted.
The lizard quickly pulled Seol-hwa into his arms and lowered his stance.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
“What in the…! Hui, are you okay?”
The lizard grimaced.
“This omnipotent power! Kuhahahat! Yes, this is power!”
He knew that the recent explosion wasn't meant as an attack.
The Black Cloud Faction Leader had lost his original form.
Blue fur grew over his blue skin, and his hair turned red.
A form so horrific it made Hui doubt his own eyes had appeared in this world.
A being that was neither human nor beast.
Even for Go-Hui, who had seen all sorts of things, this being was overwhelming.
It wasn't just a transformation into a beastly form, but a new form created by overdosing on Dragon Pills.
Just as Go-Hui could be called the manifestation of the Old Death with a Tail, the current Black Cloud Faction Leader could also be seen as having become an ancient being.
“This is amazing. I feel like I can do anything.”
Ancient humanity called him this:
The Suspiciously Suspicious Thing.
The fur-covered ancient being had finally revealed its form.