Chapter 313: The Secret of the Bicorns
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 313: The Secret of the Bicorns
The 100,000 Great Mountains are a mystical land where all manner of spirit beasts gather.
Ancient powerhouses like the Tyrant Dragon, also known as the Ancient Dragon, as well as his descendants Gomodo and Jin-ryong, were all born in these mountains.
Countless other beings on par with them have emerged and faded away without a sound, unrecorded in history, right here in the 100,000 Great Mountains.
Even as the ages passed, the spiritual energy of the mountains never ran dry.
On the contrary, as the corpses of spirit beasts piled up, the energy grew more and more condensed, increasing with each passing day.
Naturally, as time went on, more spirit beasts, drawn by the mountains' power, were bound to gather.
Spirit beasts gathered, so spirit beasts died. And because spirit beasts died, more spirit beasts gathered.
Even mere animals, one by one, began to walk the path of the spirit beast.
Truly unique individuals continued to appear, but one stood out among them all.
A black lizard named Hui.
He united spirit beasts that could never have been brought together, creating a system of faith that evolved into a new religion.
Each of these beings was powerful enough to form its own faction within the 100,000 Great Mountains, yet they all ended up under the lizard's banner.
It was an unprecedented event. The lizard himself was unaware, but even if one scoured the entire Central Plains, an emerging martial faction of this magnitude was nowhere to be found.
Baek Rang felt a deep sense of gratitude toward this lizard.
After all, he was the one who had taken in her pack when they were pushed out by competition and forced to live on a cold, snowy mountain.
Of course, she had been wary at first.
The token of the Snake Queen hung around the lizard's neck.
And who was the Snake Queen?
She was the noble queen who ruled over half the jungle.
A young lizard wearing her token?
That meant something.
It meant that woman, who seemed to have no interest in males, had fallen for him.
For that reason, Baek Rang tried not to grow attached to him.
Her younger siblings, of course, welcomed him with furiously wagging tails.
But as she spent more time with him, Baek Rang’s own tail began to wag unconsciously.
Even as it wagged, she felt it was strange.
I’m a wolf, and he’s a lizard, isn’t he?
With that thought, she tried her best not to fall for him, but the lizard cowardly underwent a metamorphosis.
The moment she saw his long, white fur, Baek Rang knew she could no longer deny her feelings.
She understood why the Snake Queen had fallen for the lizard, and she realized she was no different.
“Awoo.”
“Pant, pant, pant.”
Baek Rang was lost in thought as she watched her siblings play in the fields.
This was not a cold, snowy mountain, but a warm, sunlit nest.
Baek Rang couldn't help but feel grateful to Hui—the divine beast she served, the master of this nest, and her future husband.
She remembered sleeping in the cave, their fur touching, and hunting with her siblings.
She’d see Chillang-i sneak into the lizard’s embrace and pull her out, only for Yukrang-i to take her place.
Then, when everyone was asleep, she would lean against the lizard just a little, sharing his warmth.
The weather had been cold, but it was a life she had been content with, a life she could even call happy.
How could she complain when such warmth had been added to that life?
Baek Rang believed that meeting the lizard was the greatest happiness of her life.
But contrary to her thoughts, her tail was currently drooping.
Because the lizard had left the nest.
Of course, she knew she couldn't hold him back.
A great threat would soon come for them again, and the lizard had left temporarily to build the strength to fight it.
So, instead of being dispirited, Baek Rang did what she could.
She played a role in keeping the Gaegaek Cult running smoothly even in his absence and did not neglect her own training.
All to be of some help to him, even though the gap between them was now immense.
It was no exaggeration to say that Baek Rang was living the busiest days of her life.
She took care of her siblings and stockpiled food.
And since the one in charge of managing the poison insects had left with the lizard, she had taken on the duty of caring for them as well.
Of course, she wasn't doing it all alone.
A normal spirit beast had finally joined the Gaegaek Cult.
Her name was Chodo.
She had a relatively gentle personality and was quite intelligent.
She was the perfect person to ease the burden on Baek Rang, who had held the title of the sole sane one.
“Kraaah! What are you doing, female!”
“I told you not to carry that bandage around in front of me.”
“It’s because I’m sweating, I can’t help it—!”
“What did you say?”
“KRAAACK!”
Well, she did have her moments.
She seemed to have a strange inferiority complex; whenever the topic of chests came up, her expression would turn vicious.
Baek Rang wondered why she was like that, but then she recalled that the lizard also liked those lumps of fat on the chest, and a small smile graced her lips.
“…Hmph.”
Baek Rang shook her head.
She had just realized her tail was wagging furiously.
To think her mood could improve so much just from a fleeting thought of the lizard.
I really have a severe case.
There was a time she couldn't understand why her siblings wagged their tails at him, but now, her own tail often wagged even more fiercely.
She tried to cool her cheeks by manipulating the cold energy, but the heat wouldn't subside.
After shaking her head for a long while, she made her way to the Bicorns’s dwelling.
Baek Rang knew. She knew that these mysterious creatures would disappear somewhere and then suddenly reappear.
And she knew that every time they disappeared, the number of female followers strangely increased by one.
The point was, the Bicorns occasionally went to meet the lizard.
Therefore, to hear news of him, visiting the Bicorns was the right move.
Of course, she was reluctant to visit them.
Whenever she tried to ask for news about the lizard, they would just giggle, “Heu heu heu,” and spout incomprehensible nonsense.
Nevertheless, she steeled herself to meet the Bicorns.
Because she missed him.
“Bicorn. That lizard…”
Baek Rang opened the door.
“Let’s apply the formula. Here, if we do this…”
“By applying Partial Spirit Transformation to the lower body?”
“Not bad. Are you going to scrap the one we came up with last time, then? The stamina increase?”
“No. We have to combine it. Dual-wielding plus a stamina increase…”
And she closed the door again.
…What was that?
Baek Rang wondered if something was wrong with her head.
Could the Bicorns speak so fluently?
And weren't they drawing an anatomical chart of the lizard and… those kinds of pictures on the wall?
Their once-thick bodies had also become slender.
How on earth?
No, more importantly, why?
It was all so incomprehensible.
Baek Rang opened the door once more.
“Heu heu?”
“Polygamy?”
The Bicorns blinked, giggling “heu heu” as if they knew nothing.
But Baek Rang had realized.
The Bicorns were, in many ways, far more dangerous beings than she had ever imagined.
“Tell me the truth!”
Baek Rang was the first to discover the secret of the Bicorns.
“Polyyyyy!”
“Gammyyyyy!”
*
My exchanges with the elders were mostly one-time affairs.
A single day was enough to copy everything with Reverse Scale.
However, I planned to invest more time in Hoya’s Partial Spirit Transformation.
I could copy skills with Reverse Scale, but proficiency was much more important for this one.
When I tried to focus on one arm to form claws, a different part of my body would turn into a lizard instead.
Sometimes scales would sprout on my face, or my lower body would transform into that of a lizard.
It was fine when I was just training like this, but it would be a disaster in a real fight.
That’s why I planned to stick to Hoya until I mastered the skill.
Partial Spirit Transformation was a tailor-made skill that scratched every itch I had.
I could be fighting as a human with a sword, then create a situation where I lose my weapon.
The moment the enemy rushes in for the kill, I can slam my Dragon’s Claws right into their face.
It was a simple trick, but for me now, every single move could become a killing technique.
And besides its practical uses, there was a personal desire involved.
Honestly, it’s fucking cool.
How could I resist being able to turn just my hands into a lizard’s?
And I say lizard, but my forelimbs were closer to a dragon’s.
No, they were better than most dragons.
My body was specialized for its tail and forelimbs, while my head and teeth weren't as prominent.
Being able to freely use those forelimbs was useful in many ways.
Hoya peeked her head out.
“Seriously, why do you hate this form so much?”
KRAAAAAK!
I quickly averted my gaze.
It was a sight I just couldn't face.
Hoya currently looked like something that would remind you of a cereal brimming with tiger energy.
Seriously, why was she covered in fur when she had such a pretty face?
“Transforming the whole body is easier than just the arms, you know?”
Transforming the entire body into a lizard’s form.
That meant taking on a lizard’s appearance while retaining a human skeleton.
In other words, it would look something like a Lizardman… but I thought, what’s the point?
Because I was already a lizard who walked bipedally.
I could just cancel my human form and walk on two feet.
“You’re so stubborn about the weirdest things.”
The tiger-energy-cereal-mascot plopped down next to me.
“I think I’ve taught you everything I can. Don’t you think I should get something in return?”
True, it’s not good to only receive.
This was supposed to be an exchange of skills, not just me learning from her.
Should I try the Heavenly Demon Moon Step after all this time?
Since she’s a spirit beast and not a human, maybe I should show it to her in my lizard form.
“No, not that. …Did the humans really ask you to teach them that?”
“Gek?”
What’s that supposed to mean?
Are you dissing the Heavenly Demon Moon Step?
“Gerrrrr…”
“What, why is your face getting so long?”
Well, what can I expect from a cat, not a human?
Can’t blame her for having no aesthetic sense.
“Gek gek.”
The magnanimous me will let it slide.
“You’re so weird. Anyway, what I want is information.”
Information?
Hoya’s request was out of the blue.
It was the first time I’d heard such a thing here.
Could it be that she covets my compendium on the sizes of Internal Energy Pouches?!
The cradle of information I’ve compiled, nearly 70 percent complete for not just the Gaegaek Cult but the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as well…!
“What is that? It sounds scary.”
I guess that’s not it.
“Gek gek.”
Then what information could she want?
It’s nothing to brag about, but a lizard’s brain isn’t very big.
And as a two-year-old lizard, I didn’t possess that much knowledge.
On the other hand, this tiger looked to be at least three digits old. What information could she possibly want from me?
“Actually, I’m not from the 100,000 Great Mountains.”
Not from the 100,000 Great Mountains.
I’d heard that from my master.
This tiger came from a different mountain.
So, does she want information related to the 100,000 Great Mountains?
“…This is what I want to know. The spiritual energy in the 100,000 Great Mountains is increasing at an abnormal rate, and I want to know why.”
The spiritual energy is increasing?
Isn’t that a good thing?
I don’t know what it is, but it sounds similar to more places like the Dragon Gate appearing.
I should just hurry over and gulp it down.
Seeing my expression, Hoya sighed.
“Do you happen to know how Gongcheongseokyu is made?”
Gongcheongseokyu.
A nostalgic name.
Wasn’t that the elixir I gobbled up in the Silver Dragon Cave?
“Gongcheongseokyu is no different from water in which spiritual energy itself has been condensed. In other words, it’s an elixir created from the accumulated corpses of spirit beasts.”
I knew that much.
The status window had explained it to me.
Of course, the one I ate was a subspecies of Gongcheongseokyu that smelled of oil and was black in color.
“It’s the same reason spiritual energy is accumulating in the 100,000 Great Mountains. Gongcheongseokyu is just a portion of it that has formed like water. That spiritual energy accumulates as spirit beasts die.”
Spirit beasts accumulate internal energy → Spirit beasts die → The spirit beasts’ internal energy returns to the 100,000 Great Mountains.
Is that the structure?
And then other spirit beasts naturally absorb that spiritual energy again.
It feels like I’m looking at a well-made ecosystem.
“Normally, the total amount of spiritual energy shouldn’t fluctuate much. No, if anything, it should decrease over time. But right now, that spiritual energy is continuously increasing.”
Then isn’t that a good thing?
I reconsidered my earlier thought.
“It’s a problem because we don’t know the cause. This phenomenon began to accelerate two years ago, and especially one year ago. An amount like this would require killing several beasts near the Profound Realm level, not just ordinary spirit beasts…”
Does that mean someone who kills Profound Realm-level spirit beasts indiscriminately appeared in the last year or two?
You could call them a criminal who’s destroying the ecosystem.
Not only that, but they’re using some method to tamper with the circulation of spiritual energy…
…Huh?
I subtly glanced around.
Wait, that’s me, isn’t it?
The being who not only eats inner cores but also disrupts the circulation of spiritual energy through the cheat-like method of leveling up.
Moreover, a being who hunts down Profound Realm-level spirit beasts.
“Geeeek…”
I’ve found the culprit.