Chapter 259
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 259
Chapter Title: Come at Me.
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"This bitch...!"
Whether those words had irked him or not,
Monster Lord Gula twisted his already grotesque face even further as he glared at Maya.
During the war a few years ago,
not only had his stronghold been reduced to rubble by Maya, who had charged in alone, but he'd been forced to flee in a panic—an humiliation he could never forget for the rest of his life.
But that lasted only a moment.
He soon flashed a hideous grin.
"Yeah, yap away while you still can. I'll make sure you never spout that arrogant crap again."
"You think you can pull that off?"
Maya sneered.
A mocking laugh that clearly declared he could never be her match.
"I can. Damn right I can."
Even as he felt the blazing hatred in her gaze, Gula didn't lose his smile.
No, it grew even more viscous.
"That's why I prepared this."
With those cryptic words, Gula pulled out a single horn.
A bizarre horn that resembled a bone fragment or a snail shell. The moment he put it to his lips and blew with all his might,
Screeeeech!
Crunch, grrrrind!
"Keurgh!"
"Krung, keurheung!"
Maya narrowed her eyes.
The guild members who had been collapsing throughout the fortress due to poisoning were now swelling up explosively, letting out horrific roars.
"...Is this the 'preparation' you mentioned?"
"Heh heh heh, you bet."
Until just moments ago, they had looked like perfectly normal humans.
But now, beholding his subordinates transformed one and all into hideous giants, Gula laughed slyly.
Back when he fought Maya in the past,
what had pissed Gula off the most was how utterly useless his underlings had been.
Even the ones who strutted around as dukes or grand dukes could barely keep themselves alive in the space filled with her poison.
At least if they'd stuck around, he could've used them as meat shields.
But no, these worthless bastards had fled ahead of him instead of sacrificing themselves for their sky-like guild master.
Because of that, Gula had ended up fighting Maya one-on-one in his own stronghold and only barely escaped at the very end.
He could've used his men as bait, but instead, he'd been forced to play the bait himself.
Enough to drive him mad.
"Useless grunts like them were no good for catching you. So I made them useful."
"Useful...? You mean that hideous mess?"
"I care more about performance than looks."
That was why Gula had fed his guild members loads of ambrosia.
The mutated giants wouldn't run from a fight with Maya, at least.
And most importantly, one thing:
"Anyway, I turned those whimpering weaklings—who couldn't even lift a finger—into something that can at least fight you. That's a massive upgrade."
Just moments ago, the Forest Guild members had been dying from the poison, unable even to breathe.
But now that they'd become giants, her poison didn't faze them in the slightest.
Thanks to the powerful resistance to poison granted by the physical mutations from the ambrosia.
And it wasn't just resistance.
Just as the test subjects at Quetzalcoatl HQ had skyrocketed to high-level player strength upon mutating,
these guys—mid-tier or high-level players to begin with—had gained vastly superior physical abilities as giants.
Each now comparable to a level 80+ player.
"Last time, your dirty tricks left me suffering alone. But now, I've got comrades."
Hundreds of giants rivaling the Seven Dragon Society's branch leaders.
Plus eight blood giants, even larger than the rest, on par with the society's executives or grand duke-level players.
The only downsides were that they'd lost their reason, couldn't use skills, and wouldn't last more than a few months—but those were minor flaws.
In terms of raw combat power, they even surpassed the Forest Guild's elites in their prime. Gula grinned hideously with these "comrades" at his side.
"Now that your poison doesn't work, I wonder how long you can hold out alone?"
Gula felt a thrill of ecstasy.
Last time, he'd retreated partly because he'd let his guard down and taken a heavy hit from Maya, but mostly due to the numerical disadvantage.
He could've handled Maya, but adding the Green Dragon Clan on top without minions was too much.
Now the tables had turned—he could overwhelm her with numbers.
He could hardly wait to see her pathetic flailing in this reversal of fortunes.
It excited him like a boy on the eve of his wedding night.
But the next moment,
he had no choice but to twist his face again.
"Done with your last words?"
Even with her old poison neutralized,
surrounded by countless giants,
facing the Monster Lord head-on,
Maya showed no fear of flight or anxiety—only a sneer of utter disdain.
Her princess-like poise, amplified by her signature frail beauty, shone with unyielding nobility that bowed to no coercion.
"...Fine. Let's see how long you can keep up that high-and-mighty act!"
So at odds with himself, who had abandoned everything to flee.
His humiliation deepened at the sight,
his hatred swelling in equal measure.
Gula glared at Maya with eyes that could tear a man apart just by looking, then bellowed fiercely.
"Kill her!"
"Kruuuuuhhh!!"
In response to Gula's roar,
the giants unleashed thunderous roars and charged at Maya en masse.
Yet even facing their assault—like a mountain crumbling— Maya neither panicked nor fled.
She merely stood her ground, gazing at them with gloomy eyes.
And so, just as the wave of giants—weighing hundreds of tons each—was about to engulf her slender form,
a single gust of wind arose.
[A walking biochemical weapon...? That sister's seriously terrifying.]
Yuna Kyung made a face like she'd seen a ghost.
The power to poison everything in a radius of hundreds of meters just with her scent.
Even for her, somewhat familiar with the Seven Dragon Society's princesses or the Seventy-Two Martial Arts, it was beyond imagination.
Li Chingwei nodded with a giggle at her words.
"Yeah, that's why even among us princesses, Maya's as much of a pariah as me or the Silver Dragon Princess."
[...That's impressive.]
"Her constitution is pretty unique in a lot of ways."
'No, the impressive ones are you princesses and the Russian sis who can compete for most-avoided with someone who kills on contact.'
Yuna Kyung swallowed her bubbling questions.
How could anyone vie for top avoidance spot with Maya, who killed just by touch?
She didn't trust herself to stay calm if this girl explained with that beaming smile.
So she hurriedly changed the subject.
[Anyway, that scary sister's got some real guts.]
"Guts, you say?"
Li Chingwei tilted her head as if she'd heard something absurd.
Yuna Kyung said earnestly,
[No matter how strong her poison is, it just means you can neutralize it with proper countermeasures, right?]
Not in ancient times, perhaps.
But in this Iron Age, poison resistance items or detox skills weren't that rare.
Of course, not just any item or skill would block Maya's poison.
But a top-10 guild was a hegemon of the era.
With unlimited rare items and high-level players, neutralizing it was entirely possible.
Yet she charged into Forest Guild alone?
Seeing Yuna Kyung's surprise that Maya would be so reckless, Li Chingwei wore a strange expression.
"...Who knows. Might be tougher than that?"
[You mean blocking the poison is that hard?]
"That's part of it, but even with that, neutralizing Maya entirely would be tough."
[Huh?]
Utterly baffled,
Yuna Kyung blinked in confusion.
Li Chingwei asked her calmly,
"You know what psionic the Green Dragon Clan uses, right?"
[Bio-manipulation? The power to heal patients or make medicine with psionics.]
"Right. That's why the Green Dragon Clan dominates the medical and pharmaceutical industries."
Li Chingwei nodded.
Then added lightly,
"But that's just one application. The true value of bio-manipulation lies elsewhere."
[...True value?]
Yuna Kyung cocked her head.
What more value could healing have? She couldn't guess.
Li Chingwei explained step by step.
"Healing wounds means interfering with flesh down to the cellular level."
"Making poison or medicine with psionics means if it affects biology, it can handle inorganic matter too."
"And psionics are always more effective when used on yourself than others."
"Get what that means?"
[Uh, not really?]
She scratched her head with a wing for a moment.
Yuna Kyung rolled her little bird brain, piecing it together.
Cell manipulation.
Inorganic influence.
Efficiency by target.
Her head steamed from the disconnected clues, but suddenly her eyes widened.
Thinking of the prime inorganic in the human body led to a chain of realizations.
[Wait, hold on. You don't mean...!]
Cells are muscle.
Inorganic is calcium.
And not healing, but bio-manipulation.
Seeing Yuna Kyung's beak drop at the conclusion, Li Chingwei nodded.
"Bio-manipulation psionics go beyond simple healing—they can strengthen one's own body."
In a way, it was obvious.
The Seventy-Two Martial Arts themselves granted superhuman physical prowess to practitioners.
That meant reinforcing the body via psionics, which could only be bio-manipulation at its core.
"Her poison-handling is more constitutional than her true ultimate art."
The key point:
The Seventy-Two Martial Arts grew more powerful the better they matched one's psionics.
Thus, the conclusion.
The Red Dragon Clan's psionics outdid in raw destructive range, yet why were Green Dragons more threatening in one-vs-many fights?
Li Chingwei revealed the reason.
"In pure external martial arts mastery—body control alone—Maya is the Seven Dragon Society's top expert."
In one-vs-many, defense to protect the body mattered more than attack power.
Yuna Kyung could only gape at Li Chingwei's ever-gentle smile.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
"...!"
Blood and flesh exploded.
A fierce wind whipped up.
The roar echoed belatedly.
A single fist.
Just one punch had not only halted the giants' charge with a storm,
but shattered the lead blood giant, sending its corpse smashing through a dozen more and flying clear to the opposite side of the fortress.
Maya, now clad only in her underlayer for freer movement, assumed her stance.
Swish.
She stepped one foot forward at an angle.
Extended one hand palm-out.
Pulled the other into a fist.
Lowered her posture for a stable center,
back straight, gaze forward.
Having completed the formal stance of the Storm Iron Fist Style,
Maya declared,
"Come at me."
Whether from the lingering storm of that single fist,
or overwhelmed by the unimaginable sight,
the giants—who had charged so fiercely—now stood frozen like stones. Her gloomy green eyes fixed on them.
A cold sneer, like a serpent eyeing rabbits.
Channeling her psionics via the Diamond Indestructible Style's energy circulation—masterable only by the Green Dragon Princess versed in bio-manipulation.
The princess with the sturdiest body in the Seven Dragon Society proclaimed,
"If poison doesn't work, just beat them to death."