Chapter 268: Jin-ryong, Anagon
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 268: Jin-ryong, Anagon
“Geeeek….”
Seriously, what’s with putting me in a maid outfit?
It was utterly humiliating, but I could understand why.
After all, to break the Heart Demon of something so suspiciously suspicious, you’d need something even more shocking.
I could have easily broken it with what my own Heart Demon usually shows, but I couldn't just reveal my Heart Demon.
I didn't know how, and it’s not like my Heart Demon would cooperate.
More importantly, it would be like letting a tiger into the room to catch a mouse.
Even the Heugunbang Leader ended up in that state; there was no way a weakened Seol-hwa would be fine after seeing my Heart Demon.
That’s why I adjusted things accordingly.
By having me, not my Heart Demon, enter Seol-hwa’s mindscape in a maid outfit, I was able to wrap things up perfectly.
All that mattered was saving Seol-hwa, regardless of how I looked.
And now that I’d actually done it, it wasn’t quite as embarrassing as I’d feared.
Why?
Because I currently have the body of a lizard.
Just as people thought Swish-Swish was cute when she wore clothes, they would have seen me the same way.
Unlike the lewd appearance of my Heart Demon, I would have just looked like a lizard wearing an outfit.
…If I had done that in a human body, I would have wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, but for me, who was far from humanization, such worries were an extravagance.
I turned my head to look at Seol-hwa.
“Gek.”
Seol-hwa, who had been staring at me blankly, blushed slightly.
…She was definitely picturing the maid lizard.
“Gekgek.”
I hope you forget about it.
“It’s alright, Hui. I’ll be the only one to remember what happened.”
I’d rather you didn’t remember it either.
Fortunately, Seol-hwa was back to normal.
Her once-cold body seemed to have calmed down to some extent.
Seol-hwa had told me she was born with an Extreme Yin Body.
So that was why she could wield ice arts and had some connection with the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
“I usually hide my constitution, but I ended up showing you everything, Hui.”
I ended up showing you something I kept hidden, too.
…Wait, that sounds a little weird.
“Geeeeh….”
As I let out a gloomy sound, I heard my Heart Demon’s loud laughter.
This is satisfying. You look pathetic. Feel my pain.
A barrage of such comments flew at me.
I’m sorry, Heart Demon.
…No, wait. I didn’t want to make you look like that either.
Why would I have made it look like that when it could have been a fatal blow to myself as well?
Come to think of it, why did my Heart Demon appear in that form in the first place?
It wasn't normal even when I first saw it.
My Heart Demon had appeared in the form of a Spinosaurus.
Of course, compared to now, that was a much better look.
Appearing with red scales and not a single thread on…
“Geheek!”
“Hui, are you okay? Why are you suddenly bleeding…?”
Ugh.
Do I need to rest?
It’s normal for a dinosaur not to wear clothes. I was having strange thoughts.
My worries about my Heart Demon were also considerable.
Lately, it seemed to be showing me some favor, but the fact that it was a Heart Demon remained unchanged.
It would do its best to steal my body.
The attitude it was showing now might just be an act.
I must always remain vigilant against my Heart Demon.
It might even try to put me in strange clothes like it did just now.
…I’m definitely not saying this as retaliation for making me look like that. It’s just that there’s no harm in being cautious.
“What the? You’re fine. Hmm, since I received Hui’s help, I’d like to do that thing you wanted so badly… that Gerorong? A Gerorong-like thing? But…”
“Kkerorororong.”
“Ah, right. That was it. It was Kkerorong, not Gerorong, huh? Anyway.”
I wagged my heavy tail.
“We have something to do right now.”
Seol-hwa’s gaze shifted.
The Heugunbang Leader was tied to a tree.
She looked at the suspiciously suspicious thing, its red and blue fur now charred black.
Good, it stayed put.
It was still breathing, so we could probably get some information out of it.
“Ugh… Uuuugh….”
The Heugunbang Leader seemed to sense our gazes and let out a groan.
Still, I can’t let him off.
Even setting aside his collaboration with Jin-ryong, this group called the Black Cloud Faction was rotten to the core.
A few of his subordinates had told me of their evil deeds, and I learned they were a group that committed atrocities not only against spirit beasts but also against fellow humans.
There was no reason to keep the leader of such a group alive.
“Keuheuuu… Keu….”
Had he lost his mind?
His crying seemed to be gradually turning into laughter.
“Hehehehe… I saw it all…. That Heart Demon you showed me….”
Yep, seeing the Heart Demon drove him mad.
“Heeeuut… Haaaaaak!”
“…He doesn’t seem to be in a good state.”
Of course he wasn’t.
I had personally massaged his skull, cleanly burned off that hideous fur, and then my Heart Demon showed him something truly… geeeek-worthy.
“I saw it. It had a ridiculous appearance, but… I saw its true nature…!”
The Heart Demon’s true nature?
“Those red eyes… that vicious killing intent! Even hidden behind a comical form… keuheuh… it can never be concealed….”
It was probably meaningless nonsense.
He couldn’t be in his right mind.
“Hehehe… To have such eyes and try to hide your identity…. Euhahahaha….”
He would probably just spout nonsense about a Brachiosaurus in a bunny girl outfit and chip away at my sanity.
“How regrettable… that I cannot deliver this news to my lord… hehehe… that the Old Death with a Tail is hiding here….”
Well, look at that.
He somehow figured out I was a Gomodo.
Then again, since he was a subordinate of Jin-ryong, it wasn’t strange for him to know such information.
Besides, information about Gomodo was something even people like Jang Bong could overhear somewhere.
“Wait! Hui! Get back!”
Crrrack!
Two ice flowers bloomed in haste.
“But… I will prove my loyalty even like this!”
SPLAT!
The explosion wasn’t as powerful as Seol-hwa’s alarm suggested.
However, it was enough to make the man’s head disappear.
From the beginning, he hadn’t intended to self-destruct, but to take his own life.
To avoid giving us information.
And to deliver something to Jin-ryong.
He probably didn’t transmit information about me.
If he had such a method, there would have been no reason to blow his own head off.
He had merely reported that something had happened to him faster than anyone else could.
*
“The 100,000 Great Mountains… the 100,000 Great Mountains again.”
A long, serpentine body, the scales of a fish, the whiskers of a carp, and two horns.
A massive dragon with brilliant white scales murmured to itself.
It had an appearance that could be considered divine, but a single red eye changed its entire atmosphere.
That eye held a clear, murderous nature.
It was the same light that had been in the eyes of the Black Dragon he had fought long ago.
The white dragon’s name was Jin-ryong.
Unlike other dragons, he had ascended to the position of a true dragon, thus earning the name Jin-ryong.
His other name was Anagon (牙娜霣).
It meant ‘Beautiful Thunder with Fangs,’ a name to counter the ‘Old Death with a Tail.’
Rumble…
Suddenly, dark clouds gathered in the sky.
A true dragon was a divine being capable of changing even the weather with its will.
Anyone who witnessed this phenomenon would have no choice but to acknowledge the being before them as a true dragon.
CRACK-BOOM!
Countless bolts of thunder rained down from the sky.
The spirit beasts under Jin-ryong’s command, knowing that these lightning strikes were not an attack but a mere expression of emotion, could only bow their heads and tremble.
“To grate on my nerves to this extent.”
The Heugunbang Leader was dead.
By his own hand, no less.
Jin-ryong, who realized this immediately, knew that something had happened in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
He had taken measures to ensure the man wouldn’t die.
He had even generously bestowed a Dragon Pill, a pill containing his own power.
Despite that, the Heugunbang Leader had taken his own life.
What that meant was obvious.
Someone had attacked the Black Cloud Faction.
And not content with that, they might be targeting him as well.
“Can the prophecy truly be real?”
A new Heavenly Demon will be born in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
It was Baek Seol-hwa’s prophecy, but Jin-ryong’s side inevitably had figures of comparable stature.
Thus, Jin-ryong also knew of the story.
“So… that’s why that wench fought so desperately to stop me.”
He examined the scars on his body.
One was carved by the previous Heavenly Demon.
Another was carved by a Gomodo.
And there was one that had appeared recently.
A scar from his fight with the black-haired girl he met at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Things were taking a strange turn.
There was definitely something in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
“Bixi.”
“Yes, Father.”
One of the Nine Sons of the Dragon.
Bixi stepped forward.
“I entrust this matter to you.”
At those words, the other spirit beasts sighed in relief.
Who was Bixi? Was he not the Son of the Dragon who inherited Jin-ryong’s blood most strongly?
He was a spirit beast Jin-ryong trusted deeply, and him taking action meant Jin-ryong’s worries would soon disappear.
“By ‘this matter,’ you mean….”
“An investigation of the 100,000 Great Mountains.”
“An investigation, you say?”
“Yes. The human in charge of the elixirs is dead.”
“The Heugunbang Leader…! I see. Understood.”
It was shocking news.
Who would dare attack the Black Cloud Faction?
And who on earth could have attacked the Heugunbang Leader?
But the spirit beasts kept their mouths shut.
If they spoke up here, they knew they would be turned into elixirs.
“Father, but will a simple investigation be enough?”
“This is tantamount to a declaration of war against me. You will personally show them what that means. And…”
The other spirit beasts gulped.
He wasn’t satisfied with just sending Bixi, one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon?
“Take Qiongqi with you.”
Qiongqi, one of the Four Fiends.
Unlike Taotie, who had earned the name of a Fiend relatively recently, Qiongqi was the foremost among the Four Fiends, sometimes called the Most Ferocious.
One of the Nine Sons of the Dragon and the foremost of the Four Fiends, together.
This was unprecedented.
“Well, he is a notoriously violent fellow, so you will have to put up with some trouble.”
Bixi quickly made a cupped-fist salute.
He knew what Jin-ryong’s order meant.
It was an order not just to deal with those involved, but to literally raze the 100,000 Great Mountains to the ground.
Jin-ryong wanted a decisive move.
Bringing Qiongqi along would also provide a justification.
The other spirit beasts residing in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
Especially beings like the Heavenly Fox, said to have lived for over a thousand years, were likely to object.
But Bixi could dismiss their objections by claiming he was merely trying to stop a rampaging Qiongqi.
They would be putting on a show, pretending to fight each other while actually causing even greater destruction, but no one could argue with the pretext itself.
He could even argue that he deserved a reward for happening upon a rampaging Qiongqi and trying to stop it.
“I accept your command!”
Bixi then stepped back.
But Jin-ryong did not end the meeting just yet.
The spirit beasts felt a sense of puzzlement.
The Jin-ryong they knew would, by now, be getting ready to indulge himself with the humans nearby.
With women of an incomprehensible taste, women whose chests were so flat a certain lizard would cry ‘Geeeek’ upon seeing them.
Their faces were beautiful, but their bodies were not those of women at all.
There were even strange rumors that men were mixed in among them, but since dragons were inherently lecherous creatures, his subordinates paid it little mind.
Such acts also helped Jin-ryong recover the vital energy he lost from his injuries.
Jin-ryong felt the desire to indulge himself, but he knew now was not the time.
The proud yet lazy white dragon, who had been without a rival for some time.
That dragon’s red eyes flashed.
The time to move had come.
“…That half-breed. No, bring in the one who calls himself Namgung Yeon.”