Chapter 312: Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 312: Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver, Shiver
[Mountain Lord LV135]
A Mountain Lord!
The fact that I can see its level means it's probably not a Profound Realm spirit beast.
Still, with a level like that and an extraordinary aura, it seems to be at least a Transformation Realm spirit beast.
“What are you staring blankly at?”
Her internal energy pouch is quite nice.
Nice enough that the old me would have gone gerorong and fallen for it.
But I’m not the me I used to be.
If I had been with Soyeong, Chodo, and Nephila, I might have walked toward those big things as if possessed, but now, I’ve accumulated warmth from many places.
I will not fall for a lump of fat like that.
“Gerong…”
Huh?
I quickly covered my mouth.
It slipped out before I knew it.
This isn't the time for that.
Even for me, doing something like that in front of a woman I’ve just met?
What would that make the believers who are taking a number and waiting in line?
“I’m sorry, but I already have lovers.”
It was a difficult decision.
I had succeeded in refusing to gerorong.
Achievement unlocked: Surprised a Tyrannosaurus.
Shouldn’t a message like that pop up?
“Lovers? Why plural?”
Huh?
Because there’s more than one.
And when I said ‘lovers,’ I was referring to my believers. I’m the Cult Leader’s disciple; wouldn’t it look strange if I said I was leading the believers of another religion?
Besides, calling them lovers isn’t that strange.
On paper, the Snake Queen is my companion. And the ones who left their marks on my necklace can be considered to have a similar position.
“…Wait a minute. And what are you thinking? Did you think I was going to do that with you?”
The cat—no, the tiger—jumped in surprise.
Then what did you mean?
“Aish, damn it, I just need to check something, so just take it off!”
Take it off without any explanation? You think I’m going to listen to that?
“Not your pants! Just your top!”
Yes, ma’am.
After all this, it should be fine to trust the tiger before me.
Since she knew I was coming here, my Master must have contacted her first.
Being an ally of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult meant she naturally knew something of my Master’s power.
And she would try to do something to that Master’s one and only disciple?
Impossible.
She would know her body would be folded in half before her hands could even touch me.
So, her actions right now were less likely to have any impure intentions and more likely to be a task requested by my Master.
“Hiyak! W-wait! Don’t take it off like that! Just roll up your sleeve!”
Huh?
I was about to obediently take off my clothes, but the tiger covered her eyes and freaked out.
Well, I’m grateful for that.
As she said, I rolled up my sleeve and showed her my arm.
She slowly walked toward me, covering her eyes, but it was obvious she was peeking through the gaps between her fingers.
“Hmm… You’re well-muscled… Aigoo, why did she have to ask me to look at something like this…”
The tiger mumbled as she observed me closely.
“Your arm is unusual… It’s thick, so you’re definitely male… but it’s strangely clean… Hmm, did you learn some kind of Virgin Boy Skill?”
How did she know that?
…Judging by her tone, it seemed like she just took a wild guess.
“Alright, I get the gist of it.”
The tiger spun around in mid-air.
It was a movement that literally reminded me of a cat.
The only problem was that the rags, which could hardly be called clothes, all came apart.
“My name is Hoya. I’m the master who will pass on a technique to you… Ugh, she’d get mad if I said that, wouldn’t she?”
The bandages were covering her, but the surface area was seriously lacking.
I didn’t know where to look… actually, I did.
“Gerong.”
She was a truly peculiar one.
Why did she freak out over me slightly taking off my shirt when she was dressed like that?
And what was that about ‘invigoration’?
I didn’t get it, but it made sense when I remembered she was a feline.
Cats are just like that.
“The technique I’ll teach you… is this.”
Shwwik!
Hoya’s hand changed.
From a slender human hand to one with a tiger’s sharp claws and soft, squishy pads.
Partial Spirit Transformation!
Who cares what kind of creature she was?
What mattered was that she possessed a technique like this.
It was a skill I wanted to learn so badly I would bow for it.
One of the drawbacks of my human form was that I couldn’t use some of my main skills.
I could fight with a sword, but I hadn’t learned swordsmanship professionally.
That was why I had learned various weapon techniques from the elders, but learning a skill like this would change things.
I could stay in human form, transform only my hands to be sharp, and unleash the Gaegaek White Bone Claw.
On top of that, I could also use the Avatar Transformation skill.
Pretending to be human and then suddenly unleashing the Gaegaek White Bone Claw?
Even a Profound Realm master would have to give up an arm.
There was no reason not to learn this skill.
I was about to flatter her and give her the same reaction I gave the Blade Emperor.
“Do you like it? I can change my face like this, too. Grrrr… How’s this?”
…What am I seeing right now?
No, fine.
I get it.
If she could transform her front paws into her spirit beast form, there was no reason she couldn’t do the same with her face.
For a spirit beast, its teeth could be used as a weapon on par with or even greater than its front paws, so there was no reason not to use them like this.
But that didn’t lessen the visual shock.
She’d changed from a beauty who resembled a tiger to a tiger pretending to be a beauty!
And a suspiciously suspicious-looking one at that!
“Poeori… hehe…”
“Fur… furry… hehe…”
You guys, stop showing up!
*
The 100,000 Great Mountains, where the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was located, were situated near Guangxi Province.
The 100,000 Great Mountains were a treasure trove of vast ecosystems.
Countless lives that should have otherwise disappeared and been forgotten were living there, and numerous spirit beasts, having absorbed the spiritual energy of the mountains, were emerging even at this very moment.
For this reason, the believers of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult respected their land and named the endlessly sprawling, beautiful mountain range the Heavenly Mountains in praise.
Thanks to the geographical characteristics of the 100,000 Great Mountains, the Central Plains could not interfere with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult in any meaningful way.
One couldn’t say that the influence of Baek Yeon-yeong, the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult who was said to be the closest to being the World’s Strongest, had nothing to do with it, but that wasn’t the only reason.
To strike at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, one had to tamper with the 100,000 Great Mountains, and there were quite a few groups that were influenced by those mountains.
Even if they were to wage an all-out war against the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, a decisive victory was not guaranteed, and they had no capacity to deal with all sorts of spirit beasts and other groups on top of that.
One of those groups was the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
No matter how strong the factions outside the Central Plains were, they could not compare to the Central Plains as a whole.
The population difference was overwhelming, so the number of powerful individuals was bound to be different as well.
But the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace was different.
In their home terrain, which was even more treacherous than the 100,000 Great Mountains, they appeared and disappeared like ghosts.
And because of their geographical proximity to the 100,000 Great Mountains, countless beasts and spirit beasts influenced by its spiritual energy lurked there.
An impregnable land.
Powerful beasts and spirit beasts that made up for their lack of human resources.
Even the Murim Alliance tried to avoid making an enemy of them and sought to circumvent them somehow.
And so, a single letter arrived.
The Lord of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, Maeng Gak, used that letter as a side dish for his drink.
“Keuheuh, this liquor tastes good.”
If he hadn't been a man from outside the Central Plains, Maeng Gak would have claimed one of the spots among the Ten Great Masters of the World.
He was a master who had reached the Transformation Realm long ago.
“Hero Gi, what are your thoughts?”
There was one spirit beast who held a status equal to or greater than his.
Giganoto.
It was a primeval ancient dragon, but it possessed power that was in no way inferior when compared to the high-tier dragon races.
The colossal ancient dragon, which had driven out the Scarlet Queen who once reigned as the master of this place and now ruled like the king of the Southern Barbarians, let out a low growl.
“Grrrr…”
Hearing its cry, Maeng Gak laughed heartily.
“Keuhat! So that lizard we talked about last time has grown that much.”
Maeng Gak and Giganoto had known about a certain lizard that had appeared in the 100,000 Great Mountains for some time.
But they had not acted.
The lizard back then was a feeble existence.
They had waited for it to grow.
And finally, the time had come.
Much earlier than they had anticipated.
“What will you do? Will you return to the land of the Tyrant Dragon?”
“Kuaaaaaaah!”
At Maeng Gak’s words, Giganoto let out a great roar.
The Tyrant Dragon, said to be the strongest among the primeval ancient dragons.
The Spine Dragon, said to have ruled the waters and fought with a giant crest it pulled out.
The Southern Giant Dragon, the largest dragon that ruled the south.
There were once three ancient dragons that vied for supremacy.
The Spine Dragon sank into an endless lake, and Giganoto’s ancestor, the Southern Giant Dragon, was defeated by the Tyrant Dragon and was forced down from the 100,000 Great Mountains.
For that reason, the 100,000 Great Mountains, once ruled by the Tyrant Dragon, were an object of both love and hate for Giganoto.
To reclaim the land of his ancestors.
That was what Giganoto desired.
But the Tyrant Dragon was no longer there.
So how was he to avenge his ancestor’s resentment?
Even if the Tyrant Dragon was gone, its descendants remained.
The Dragon of the Sky, Jin-ryong.
The Dragon of the Earth, Gomodo.
But dealing with these two was also no easy matter.
Jin-ryong was secluded in Kunlun, and Gomodo had also disappeared long ago.
It was then that a Divine Being appeared in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
According to Al-Yu, that being was Gomodo.
His intention was to provoke Giganoto into destroying him, but his scheme failed.
The Gomodo of that time was no match for Giganoto, and Giganoto had no intention of taking revenge on such a being.
But now, it was different.
He could feel its aura even from a standstill.
The lizard they had been watching had grown to a level where it could threaten Giganoto.
“Heh… If that’s what you want, then it’s about time we made our move as well.”
Maeng Gak stroked his beard once.
It was obvious that the Murim Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would clash.
And Gomodo of the 100,000 Great Mountains would also side with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
This was the situation he and Giganoto had been waiting for.
“We’ll have to see how things play out before deciding which side to take.”
Should they take Gomodo’s head before the Murim Alliance attacks?
Or should they side with him and take Jin-ryong’s head?
Or perhaps, should they take the heads of both Gomodo and Jin-ryong?
“Keuhaaaaaaaak!”
The gray Giganoto roared.