Chapter 272: The Most Ferocious
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 272: The Most Ferocious
The power of the Gaegaek Cult was growing stronger by the day.
The Priestess, the Left Guardian, and the Right Guardian had now become powerful enough to be worthy of their titles.
They still had the disadvantage of being smaller than the other spirit beasts, but that in itself could be used to our advantage.
Moreover, Tus and Pus had surprisingly learned to imitate my miniaturization.
It was a bit like Tus and Pus copying my miniaturization, which I had copied from old man Compy, but what did it matter?
Since they evolved by eating my tail, it seemed they were gradually becoming more like me.
…At this rate, are they going to grow scales?
Then, eventually, they’ll become spider dragons.
When they breathe their breath attack, instead of fire, a swarm of tiny baby spiders will shoot out, inflicting mental damage on the enemy.
As I entertained the thought, it occurred to me that I might get thinner every time I used such a breath, and I shook my head.
“Kioong?”
Tus and Pus just tilted their heads.
The hierarchy among the poisonous insects had already been established.
Tus and Pus might look cute, but that was only from my perspective.
“Pi… Piong!”
To the poisonous insects, they would appear as sacred spirit beasts, so they would naturally obey them.
I had officially placed them under Soyeong’s command, but it shouldn’t be a problem for them to travel with Tus and Pus.
“The baby’s babies…?”
Of course, Mr. Centipede was an exception.
Mr. Centipede, who was no different from a benefactor to me, was also a benefactor to the Gaegaek Cult.
Not only did I arrange for him to be able to search for his family in his spare time, but I also made sure he wasn’t bound by the Gaegaek Cult’s hierarchy.
Of course, even without Mr. Centipede, the hierarchy of the Gaegaek Cult didn’t mean much.
“Co… Come here!”
After all, there was Tang Soyeong, who seemed to have already been devoured by the newly arrived poisonous insects.
I had no doubt in Soyeong’s abilities, so I believed that, in time, the insects would naturally follow her.
Even Tus and Pus, who had bickered at first, had grown quite close to Soyeong.
They cared for each other so much that when Soyeong pretended to be dead, they burst into tears.
Of course, once they realized she was faking it, a brutal punishment was inflicted upon her.
“Sob… I still haven’t memorized the names of thirty locusts…”
Tang Muyeong, his eyes wide with fascination at the sight of the poisonous insects, ended up staying for a few more days.
But even that had its limits. With a look of regret, he finished his preparations to return to the Tang Clan.
Honestly, I would have liked a talented individual like Tang Muyeong to stay, but despite appearances, he was the Young Lord of the Tang Clan.
Now that he had confirmed Soyeong’s well-being, it was time for him to return.
He also needed to report my existence to the clan head to decide the future direction of the Tang Clan.
What if the entire Tang Clan decides to move here to serve me?
Imagine, the beauties of the Tang Clan offering to attend to my every need…
“Gehyuuuu…”
I looked at Soyeong and sighed.
“Hero Go, what was that sigh for?”
Well, it’s not like the Tang Clan people wanted to be like this.
It was all the fault of the True Dragon who cursed them.
I gave Tang Muyeong some food and plucked a few of my scales as a gift to prove my existence.
He prostrated himself and expressed his gratitude just as he had when we first met, making me wonder if it was okay for the knees of a Young Lord to be so light.
Finally, before sending him off, I asked him a few questions.
They were things I had been curious about for a while, and my curiosity had deepened after fighting the Black Cloud Faction Leader.
“The characteristics of the previous Gomodo, you mean?”
The Black Cloud Faction Leader was a martial artist with close ties to the True Dragon.
He was a master of the Transformation Realm, a formidable warrior strong enough to manifest the form of the ancient being known as the ‘suspiciously suspicious thing.’
Furthermore, as the head of the Black Cloud Faction, which managed the elixirs to be offered to the True Dragon, he must have possessed a fair amount of information.
Yet, such a man only realized I was the Gomodo at the last moment.
Both Soyeong and Tang Muyeong had recognized me as the Gomodo the instant they saw me.
So why did the Black Cloud Faction Leader only realize it at the very end?
Was the information he had about the Gomodo different from the characteristics passed down in the Tang Clan?
To find out, I first needed to know exactly how the Gomodo was described in the Tang Clan’s records.
I could hear the story from Soyeong, but the information from Tang Muyeong would likely be more accurate.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Soyeong, but he had mentioned that some information was passed down only to the clan head and the young lord.
“Indeed, Hero, your appearance is different from the descriptions in the records and the stories passed down orally in the Tang Clan.”
That was to be expected.
After all, I wasn't a Gomodo right now, but a unique individual called a Gomodo-Crushing Dragon.
“First, there is a difference in size. There is a description that when it opened its mouth wide, its lower jaw touched the earth and its upper jaw touched the sky.”
…Isn’t that a bit of a mythological exaggeration?
Hearing Tang Muyeong’s words, I opened my mouth.
It was big enough to fit Soyeong’s head without any trouble, but compared to beasts of a similar size, my mouth wasn’t particularly large.
My teeth were sharp and hard, but biting wasn’t my primary form of attack.
Even if it was an exaggeration, the existence of such a phrase suggested that the previous Gomodo likely used biting as its main attack.
Of course, it could have also shot beams from its mouth like me.
“And this white fur you have, Hero. No such record could be found. Many records have been lost, so it may not be entirely accurate, but nowhere was the color white mentioned.”
In truth, this fur wasn’t a Gomodo’s fur.
It was the same material as the fur of the Fire-light Beast. I must have gained this trait because I defeated and devoured it.
Since I evolved while fighting the Red Dragon, I probably transformed into a form that could resist fire.
This white fur seemed to be a unique characteristic of my own.
“And the biggest difference would be… the color of your eyes. There are descriptions that the Great Grandmaster’s eyes flashed with a crimson light filled with a menacing killing intent.”
The previous Gomodo had red eyes?
To sum it up, the previous Gomodo was much larger than me, had no white fur, and had red eyes.
…Then my current appearance is vastly different.
I could understand Soyeong recognizing me, since she saw me when I was a crocodile monitor, but how did Tang Muyeong recognize me as the Gomodo at a glance?
“Gekgekgek.”
When I asked that question, Tang Muyeong answered as if it were obvious.
“Because we are of the Tang Clan.”
Did he mean that people of the Tang Clan could recognize the Gomodo even if its appearance changed?
“Even if the outer appearance has changed, this place remains the same, does it not?”
He then stared at my chest.
“Gek…?”
You’re into that?
I had my suspicions when I saw how much he liked insects.
“It’s not that. I’m talking about your inner self, Hero.”
My inner self?
Come to think of it, didn’t Soyeong enter my mindscape once?
Did the Tang Clan possess such an ability?
“Soyeong does have a peculiar ability, but even without using it, we can feel your aura, Hero. It is because there is a being within you that constantly expresses itself to the outside.”
A being that constantly expresses itself?
“I cannot say for certain what it is, but it is an aura that truly befits the words ‘ancient death.’ If I had to describe it, I would say it is a menacing, crimson light.”
A menacing, crimson light.
…Isn’t that a phrase completely unrelated to me?
If I were to be described by colors, they would be black and blue.
My scales were black, and my eyes were blue.
The color of my blade aura and sword flux was also blue.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that red was a color that had nothing to do with me.
But he was saying there was a menacing, crimson light within me?
…….
Come to think of it, there was one such being.
A being with red scales that emitted a menacing, crimson light from its eyes.
The Heart Demon.
*
Bixi, a spirit beast with the face of a dragon and the body of a turtle.
He was the eldest of the Nine Sons of the Dragon and the spirit beast the True Dragon trusted most.
The reason for the True Dragon’s trust was simple.
He had never failed a single mission.
He was the one who always completed his assigned tasks and brought back results that satisfied the True Dragon.
In terms of simple martial prowess, it wasn’t that there were no other spirit beasts under the True Dragon who could match him.
But they were only strong; they had no brains.
They were not individuals who could be entrusted with important tasks.
Though their martial might was outstanding, they were incapable of assessing a changed situation on the battlefield and overcoming it with their own judgment.
But Bixi could, which was why the True Dragon had no choice but to trust him.
A new mission was given to him.
To go to the 100,000 Great Mountains and punish the culprit who destroyed the Black Cloud Faction.
Bixi immediately understood the importance of the mission he was assigned.
It was a mission that required not only strength but also intellect, and as if that weren’t enough, he was instructed to cooperate with a ferocious beast that was, in many ways, his polar opposite.
It was a task that required twice the effort, as he also had to control that beast.
He let out a small sigh, but the True Dragon’s command was absolute and could not be disobeyed.
Thus, Bixi arrived at the territory where that being resided.
The reek of blood filled the air.
The smell was a nauseating mix of beast and human blood.
Bixi frowned.
For a sacred spirit beast like him, a place so saturated with the vengeful spirits of humans had a negative effect.
And he knew that Qiongqi deliberately created such an environment.
Rumble…
The bright sky darkened in an instant.
What blocked the sun was none other than a pair of giant wings.
The master of this territory was staring down at Bixi.
“I was wondering where that foul stench was coming from. So, it was you.”
Teeth shaped like sharp saws.
A pattern of vermilion and black, vaguely reminiscent of a tiger.
No, it was, in fact, a tiger.
Except for the giant wings on its back.
“Bixi. Don’t tell me you don’t know what your presence here means.”
A menacing aura, as if ready to strike him down at any moment, flared up.
Qiongqi, called the most ferocious of the Four Fiends.
Bixi, regarded as a sacred spirit beast.
It was only natural that their relationship was poor.
Qiongqi glared at Bixi, his red eyes flashing.
Bixi’s green eyes calmly met his gaze.
“The True Dragon has given a command,” he said softly.
At that, Qiongqi’s menacing aura subsided, if only for a moment.
“Hehehe… I’d love to smash that shell of yours, but if He sent you, that’s a different story.”
Qiongqi had a twisted personality.
He loathed the good and followed the evil.
It was Qiongqi who would devour the good for mere amusement and gift all sorts of treasures to villains who had made a name for themselves.
The most ferocious being, one who revered evil.
Being such a creature, it was only natural that he disliked Bixi and had no choice but to obey the True Dragon’s command.
“But… He sent you as a mere messenger?”
Though Qiongqi loathed Bixi, he had to acknowledge his abilities.
He was one of the few beings who were his equal.
“Any other messenger would have been turned away by you, so I had no choice but to come myself.”
“Khahahah! Are you offended? They were gifts from Him to me, so I took them as I pleased.”
Bixi hardened his gaze.
Even though the True Dragon had sent him, this ferocious beast had not yet given up on fighting him again.
It was all too obvious that he was deliberately trying to provoke him.
He couldn’t fall for such a blatant trick, so he simply ignored Qiongqi’s words.
“The Black Cloud Faction has fallen. Your task is to investigate it and punish the culprit.”
“Kahah! Go to the 100,000 Great Mountains? That’s welcome news. But… investigate? He gave me such an order?”
It was a word that didn’t suit Qiongqi.
If the order had been to simply lay waste to the 100,000 Great Mountains, that would be one thing, but to investigate?
It was not an order the True Dragon, who knew Qiongqi’s nature well, would give.
“Just prepare to leave.”
“Of course, I must obey His command. …But don’t you think doing such a tedious job isn’t worth my while?”
A black aura rose from Qiongqi’s massive forepaw.
Now that the message had been delivered, he intended to have a life-and-death battle with Bixi.
“I’d like to indulge you, but the mission comes first.”
“Hey, Bixi. You, who knows me best, are running away? Khahahah! How amusing!”
“Tsk.”
Bixi clicked his tongue.
“The True Dragon has commanded that you and I head to the 100,000 Great Mountains together.”
Qiongqi, who had been about to attack, froze.
“He is sending both you and me at the same time?”
“Even with your dull head, you must understand now, don’t you? What the True Dragon’s command is.”
Qiongqi ignored Bixi’s provocative words and laughed heartily.
A booming laugh that echoed through the entire mountain range.
Qiongqi, who had lived for ages, instinctively realized that this was no ordinary mission.
“Khahahah! Yes, if it’s a mission like this… there’s no need to waste my strength!”
Qiongqi knew that Bixi was better suited for this kind of mission than he was.
But if Bixi alone wasn’t enough, and he himself was being sent as well?
It clearly meant there was something more.
It meant that some being, one that even the True Dragon could not ignore, might be lurking in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
It meant that the perfect opponent to satisfy his desires would surely appear.
A menacing being who would push him into the fear of death with overwhelming power.
A being who would let him experience death itself.
Qiongqi let out a laugh filled with ecstasy.
He believed that this time, his long-held wish would finally come true.