Chapter 338
Chapter 338
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 338
Chapter Title: Dragon and Dragons (2)
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Shaolin Temple, located on Xiaoshi Peak of Mount Song.
As expected, once the chaos had settled to some extent, those who had gathered for the conference began departing for their home bases one by one.
Some suggested staying at the temple a while longer to prepare for any unforeseen events, but only a few sects severely weakened to the point of struggling with long-distance travel took them up on it.
Most were hurrying back to devise countermeasures.
The Zhuge and Nangong Clans were no exceptions.
The Zhuge Clan, which had relied mainly on defensive tactics using formations rather than pure martial arts, hadn't suffered much damage from the Demon Cult's raid. The Nangong Clan, with its Sword Saint—a transcendent realm expert—still intact, had more than enough forces to spare.
'The battle with the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor ended in a draw. So the Demon Cult remnants who retreated must be under his command.'
Hugo quietly watched those preparing for their long journeys.
The Heavenly Demon had already been dealt with, but plenty of remnants remained at a level that couldn't be ignored.
To swiftly eliminate them in the current situation...
"Young Master Ha!"
As he organized his thoughts, a now-familiar voice brushed his ear.
It was Nangong Soran, who had made a point of checking on him once a day amid the chaos when everyone was busy.
"...Please take care of yourself. And if you ever need to leave the Zhuge Clan, consider our Nangong Clan as well!"
Both clans were now preparing to depart.
Considering this world's abysmal transportation, it was practically an indefinite farewell with no promise of reunion.
"The Zhuge and Nangong Clans aren't that far apart, and we exchange visits often anyway. Maybe I'll come see you then..."
Of course, that was just her personal wish.
The distance between the two clans was twice that from Shaolin to the Zhuge Clan.
After parting with the lingering Nangong Soran, he bid farewell to the other connections he'd made here, one by one.
In the process, he learned about Mok In-gwang, now called the "Nine Luminaries Demon." It seemed he planned to stay at Shaolin for the time being.
Makes sense. Since he was interested in the suddenly vanished "Divine Light Demon" Harley, waiting here—where they'd parted—was the logical choice to avoid missing each other later.
'...Speaking of which, Divine Light Demon? What kind of half-baked name is that? Ah, I should've stayed and nailed it down properly!'
But it was too late to fume about it now.
A nickname was something that formed from how others called you, not self-proclaimed.
Unless Harley had stayed and barked corrections himself, there was no way to intervene with the person absent.
'I need to do something before that title fully sticks...'
Of course, there was nothing Hugo could do right now.
For one thing—
"...The clan has run into trouble. Discard all non-essential baggage immediately. We'll move as fast as possible."
He had to join the urgent march after those who received the clan's dire news via magical communication.
A whirlwind of upheaval was sweeping across the entire world.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ And at the eye of that storm.
The Heavenly Mountains of Shin River Province.
"...Kekeke, finally found you. Hiding here, eh?"
A black silhouette floating in the sky gazed down at the mountainside with a sinister chuckle.
While taking in the small city nestled in a remote corner of this vast mountain range.
'Impressive. Building a city of that scale in these harsh mountains. And with formations enveloping the whole thing—if not for the "Eye of the Abyss," it would've taken even longer to find.'
Hans stroked his chin and murmured in admiration.
It had fields for farming, massive livestock pens—completely self-sufficient in every way.
Small in size, but it could easily pass for a city-state.
A fitting grandeur for the main headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—the greatest, strongest, and most vile force in the Kanghwan Realm, far beyond any great clan or sect.
'Of course, none of that matters to me.'
A gleam holding the abyss erupted from his eyes.
The chimera parts shaped like eyeballs writhed uncontrollably under the sudden burst of energy but barely regained their form under Hans's firm control, obediently nestling back into their sockets.
"Heh—shall we start lightly, then?"
With a low laugh, a horrific demonic energy began overflowing from his entire body, as if to blanket the whole mountain range.
A terrifying presence far surpassing the Heavenly Demon, who had ruled this land until recently.
Woooo—
The clear sky darkened in an instant.
Under the clouds that had swiftly gathered, darkness fell over every inch of land his gaze touched.
"—!"
"—?!"
The entire city erupted in chaos at the sensation.
And Hans... the absolute being who had crossed dimensions to reach the Kanghwan Realm... solemnly declared,
["Hear me, you mortals cowering in your barrel."]
So they could grasp the situation.
["I am the sovereign of all demons in the world."]
So they couldn't even dare look straight at him.
Rumble—!
Thunder from the clouds shook the surroundings.
The divine being who had wrought all these omens imprinted his existence upon the world.
["Bow to your new Demon King."]
Thus, the Demon King descended upon the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Dragons and dragons shared many similarities, but even more stark differences.
Just as the base material was the same, but the process led to entirely different results.
'The biggest difference is that a dragon's birth isn't limited solely to innate factors.'
Unlike dragons, whose lineage continued only through blood, dragons held the possibility of acquired transformation.
Like an Imugi becoming a dragon after a millennium of cultivation and ascending.
Of course, it was merely possible—the odds were so slim it rarely happened. But zero and one were worlds apart.
However, such acquired methods only produced variant dragon species: Chicken-Headed Dragon, Ox-Headed Dragon, Winged Dragon, and so on.
The Five Sovereign Dragons—Red, Azure, White, Black, and Golden—passed down exclusively through bloodlines.
Dragons who ascended through cultivation weren't much inferior in ability, but the mysteries accumulated and inherited through blood could never be dismissed.
It was only natural that those bearing the Five Sovereign names held the top decision-making roles in Golden Dragon Island for generations.
And now, two of those leaders were...
"...So cute."
"Ahem, cough! That rascal's quite the charmer."
Thoroughly enchanted by a child who appeared out of nowhere.
The Azure Dragon beaming fondly while petting Horus's head nonstop, and the Red Dragon averting his eyes with fake coughs but unable to look away.
Horus sat atop a pavilion in a scenic forest glade, a feast of delicacies before him, mercilessly showered with affection.
'Better results than expected.'
Emboldened by their excessive reactions—forgetting his earlier shyness—Horus shrugged off his pretense and puffed up his chest proudly.
"Here, here, Horus? Want to try this too? It's pork raised on Spirit Silkworm feed, prepared by the island's top chef who once served the imperial palace..."
"Don't just eat meat—have some of this. It's Millennium River Herb stewed in Jade Bee honey..."
Exquisite dishes kept being pushed toward his mouth.
Horus accepted them with a haughty expression, licking them up daintily as he recalled the events since arriving on Golden Dragon Island.
'Never thought it'd go this smoothly.'
Horus had appeared without warning.
Harley had done it recklessly since things had already gone awry, but trespassing uninvited into Golden Dragon Island's territory was no small matter.
It could've been a grave issue if pressed...
'But it wasn't.'
For one simple reason.
He was now the last remaining "Golden Dragon" in this world.
'God, first in Outerica, now here. Why are Gold Clan always on the brink of extinction wherever I go?'
But it wasn't mere coincidence.
The Golden Dragon was the head of the Five Sovereigns in the Kanghwan Realm and leader of all Golden Dragon Island—just as in Outerica, with similar origins.
From the perspective of those plotting world destruction, they were naturally priority targets.
Past Immortal Kings had obsessively hunted Gold Clan—lineage of the Dragon Lord—among dragons. The Reverse Heaven Society Lord, who invaded and stole the Dragon Heart, did the same.
'He didn't just waltz in and snag the unguarded Dragon Heart.'
Publicly, it was known only as a winged outsider sparking a palace bloodbath and taking the Dragon Heart. But behind the scenes, fierce resistance from many unfolded.
Human forces centered on the Imperial Family, including a few absolute experts, and yokai forces led by Golden Dragon Island.
'The problem is they still lost despite all that. Come to think of it, Harris mentioned the original owner of that Infinite Eight Trigrams Flight Technique fell to him too.'
The Society Lord hadn't acted alone; it was bolstered by the Demon Cult's long-term shadowy schemes.
With spies planted everywhere and brainwashing making allies unreliable, and covert forces rampant, they couldn't consolidate power freely.
The result: the Imperial line severed, forces shattered, countless experts dead, world plunged into chaos.
Golden Dragon Island lost its Golden Dragon bloodline entirely, plus most dragons, qilins, black tortoises—the top brass all perished.
"Nom nom... So? What are the surviving dragons doing now?"
Horus smacked his little lips, listening raptly with interest.
His original goal of gathering intel upon arrival...
Was being achieved effortlessly!
Just by eating what they offered!
"White and Black Dragons entered the Dragon God Temple to maintain the collapsing balance. Along with those who can lend strength."
"We were there until recently. You can't just tough it out indefinitely. Without rotating shifts to recover strength, you'd die soon enough."
"...Some already have."
"At this rate, we won't last much longer either. That's why we clung to the Dragon God's oracle for a solution..."
Horus nodded slightly.
He could roughly guess why they'd reacted so sensitively to Harley.
He glanced briefly at Harley wandering the outskirts under the Azure Dragon's guidance, then refocused here.
Obviously, they weren't pampering him—a dragon from another world—purely for cuteness.
They wanted something, hence the over-the-top behavior...
Stretch stretch—
"Amazing. Cheeks can stretch like rice cake?"
"Red Dragon, he's eating—don't distract him."
"You stop braiding his hair and talk. Avatar or not, what's that to a boy?"
"But feel this texture. Doesn't it look prettier like this?"
...Or maybe not?
Were they really doing it just because he's cute?
As Horus pondered his unknowingly demonic charm,
"Good grief, who would've thought that dragon slayer was a Golden Dragon guide. Though quite different from our world's Golden Dragon..."
"Yeah, unbelievable, but he seems sufficient to inherit the role. That's enough for now."
"In the world... He looks no more than a hundred—no, half that, just a bloody lump. How does that make sense? What kind of world births something like this?"
Their conversation turned serious again.
And that's when the tale of the "Dragon's Child"—what he'd longed to know—emerged.
"Uh, so... they're sacrifices? To rebuild this world's lost Dragon Heart?"
"Exactly. Living sacrifices. Ordained by the great and glorious Dragon God Himself."
"Red Dragon..."
"Hmph."
The Dragon God, Kanghwan Realm's chief deity.
Who merely watched as the world unfolded until the Dragon Heart was ripped out by the Society Lord—then promptly scattered solutions across the realm.
Even a laissez-faire dimensional god had to act.
Thus, in pregnant women residing on powerful ley lines second only to the Dragon Heart across the continent, that "solution" took root in their fetuses.
They were the Dragon's Children.
Living sacrifices forced to give their lives for the world before even being born.
"...The ritual site is the Dragon God Temple, and we Five Sovereigns are the priests."
"Infuriating, right? But what can we do? The Dragon God wills it. He probably doesn't care about our feelings."
Horus blankly nodded at the Red Dragon's openly hostile tone.
He fully understood her attitude.
'...Wow, gods really have no mercy.'
He'd known divine beings were like that from the start.
Administrators of the world, wielding wills too vast for personality.
Classed as good or evil gods by inclination for convenience, but they weren't beings mortals could judge.
'...This is a headache.'
Connections made here flashed through his mind.
-"I'll be training hard here, so tell them what happened there, Young Master Ha. Promise?"
-"In your debt again today. Thank you, Divine One. This grace, I shall surely..."
Horus scowled and sighed deeply.
No wonder things had gone too smoothly.