Chapter 404
Chapter 404
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 404
>Chapter Title: Salmon and Dragon
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Hwagmu plunged into great confusion when his confident breath was blocked by an unidentified figure.
“What is this….”
Paaat-!
The five monsters, including Doeksini, leaped onto the ice and targeted Hwagmu.
“How dare you!”
Kwarrrrrrung-!
A barrage of lightning crashed around him, preventing their attacks from following through right away.
At the very least, it bought Hwagmu time to recover from the weakness that came after his breath.
‘This can’t be… This can’t happen. Even if things have gone wrong, I am a dragon.’
I am an evil dragon.
I am the legend of the East that existed long before these creatures ever drew breath.
‘But why….’
Eeeek…
His body gradually swelled larger. If time passed like this, he could return to his true form as a dragon, even if it was somewhat unstable.
The problems were twofold: whether he’d be given that time in the first place, and whether regaining his draconic form would even let him subdue them.
“Where are you looking?”
Pooook…
The red knight’s sword dug into his thigh. She was the hardest opponent to sense.
“Grraaah….”
Whoooosh-!
“Huh?”
Kwaaaaaang-!
The tail that sprouted sent her plummeting far below.
Paaak-!
Someone grabbed that tail.
“Come down here and talk.”
Whooooom!
Kwaaaaaaaaaang-!
This time, it was Hwagmu who fell. Jamad had seized his tail and slammed him into the ground.
The crash was utterly humiliating.
“How can this…”
“Hwagmu… like this…”
“He’s a legend… a dragon…”
Do not look upon me, you lowly creatures.
Do not etch this moment into your eyes.
‘Don’t… look at me like that!’
Fear had been good.
It was just one step away from awe.
After claiming the East once in his grasp, he had never imagined it. A future of such utter downfall.
“I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you allllll!”
Eeeek…
Wings took clearer shape on Hwagmu’s body. He couldn’t fly freely due to the barrier, but they would still serve a purpose.
Groooooowl-!
[Hwagmu uses Authority: Sky at Will.]
[Hwagmu adjusts the weather.]
[The current weather is a storm.]
[The storm is a domain unto itself. Hwagmu can unleash his greatest power within the storm.]
[Those who defy the storm’s flow will suffer continuous damage from the moment they enter.]
[The storm gradually expands, swallowing all enemies within its domain.]
Koooooooong…
The red rain stopped.
The pus-doll puppets melted into puddles and were absorbed into the ground.
In their place, a massive storm began to form around Hwagmu.
Hwoong… Whooooom…
“Evadeeeee-!”
With someone’s shout, a colossal storm erupted at the center of the Dragon Palace.
“Die, you mayflies.”
Kwaaaaaaaaa-!
“No!”
Soldiers were caught in the storm and torn apart.
Even the fragments of the giant soldier abandoned in one corner were shredded without mercy.
Kwoong-!
Doeksini rolled up his sleeves and clapped his hands.
Jaaaaak-!
[Doeksini uses Hundred Ghosts Night Parade.]
[A horde of all manner of ghosts rises, causing all sorts of chaos.]
……
Whooooosh…
Ehehehehehe…
Energetic forms of ghosts enveloped the storm.
Kyaeeeeek-!
Uwaaaaa…
“Tch… Useless. The storm will keep growing. Hwagmu… he’s made his resolve.”
Kang Seol asked Doeksini.
“What is he trying to do?”
“This means mutual destruction. He’s using far too much power without even regaining his true form. He’ll probably lose his reason.”
“……”
“Fifty-fifty chance. Either he controls the storm to the end, slaughters everyone here, and revives as a dragon… or he fails to control it, loses his mind, and fails to revive. The problem is, even in the latter case, the devastation the storm leaves behind will be immense.”
Ur walked up behind Kang Seol.
“I’ll buy you time.”
“…What?”
“There’s a way to stop it.”
Doeksini’s eyes widened at Ur’s words. She had lived for an immense span of ages.
“There’s no such thing! His opponent is a dragon! The legend of the East, Hwagmu! The evil dragon who hunkered down for centuries to achieve his goal!”
She couldn’t know knowledge that she didn’t possess, no matter how lowly a summoned beast tried to claim it. But she didn’t know.
The fact that Ur had been bound to Alcatron for centuries in a way that reduced those centuries to “mere.”
“If we cool the domain itself, we can halt the storm’s expansion. For a storm this size, it’ll take enormous mana, so everyone will have to pitch in.”
“……”
“Handle the rest yourself.”
Ur looked at Jamad, Karen, and Karuna.
“Noisy lot, get to work. Help with my task.”
Karen had blocked her ears at Ur’s words, so she naturally refused.
“No way! You’re just trying to show off alone again, right? I can tell without looking.”
“I’m only doing this because of that guy. Forcing myself into action with this unfamiliar body.”
At the mention of Kang Seol, Karen sighed.
“Fine, no choice then. Alright!”
Without needing long explanations, they scattered in all directions around the storm.
Fwooo…
“Let’s begin.”
Crackle…
Crackle crackle…
A pure white energy formed around the storm.
Kang Seol watched it, biding his time.
“…You’re going in there?”
Seolhong, who had approached unnoticed, asked.
“Into that storm…? Are you… going to risk it alone again?”
“……”
Kang Seol chose his words.
No excuse he gave would convince Seolhong to let him go.
Her disheveled crown and torn dragon robes spoke of the ordeals she endured to reach this place.
And that there was no glory at the end of those trials.
“It’s something only I can do.”
“I know I can’t hold you back. Then…”
Swoosh…
Seolhong handed something to Kang Seol.
“This is…”
“Your mother… will protect you.”
It was Seolhong’s hand mirror.
The item she had cherished in her bosom from girlhood until becoming a mature woman.
“Please…”
Seolhong swallowed the rest.
Nothing could be guaranteed.
Not against the storm conjured by the dragon.
Crackle crackle…
The storm halted its expansion, blocked by ice.
“Now!”
At Ur’s shout, Kang Seol walked toward the storm.
Zzzzzzt…
When he touched the storm, his hand shook as if it might tear apart at any moment.
Yet that whirl could not stop Kang Seol’s steps.
Kwaaaaaaaa-!
He stepped into the storm that swallowed all.
* * *
Someone was within the storm.
Like a sunset suddenly encountered in the wilderness, a man held a halberd and welcomed him.
“…It’s you. I’ve been waiting.”
Hwagmu in the form of Hongcheon. Once more, the dragon in human guise.
“Are you Hongcheon or Hwagmu?”
“Kekeke… Kekekek…”
Something seemed wrong with him.
Hwagmu, who had hidden in Hongcheon’s body for three hundred years, corrupting him.
“Now… I don’t even know.”
He no longer knew if he had become Hwagmu from Hongcheon, or Hongcheon from Hwagmu.
Where it had gone wrong. Where it had started to unravel.
Shring…
The one gripping the halberd was Hwagmu, and also Hongcheon, who had felled him.
“Come, dark one. Face me.”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh-!
The halberd swung.
“Be buried in legend!”
Pzzzzzzzzzt…
Immense lightning dwelled in the halberd.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang-!
The struck earth erupted, caught in the storm and vanished.
Kaaaaaaaang-!
Kikikik… Kikikik…
Kang Seol, maintaining his Yaksha form, blocked the halberd.
- Ugh… Heavy.
It was a blow heavy enough to make Sin Yu groan.
But.
Pzzzzzzzzzt…
The storm’s favor was not Hwagmu’s alone.
Kwaaaang-!
A sword shook off the massive halberd.
“Noooom!”
Kwaaaaaaaaang-!
They clashed and flew back. A little less shock absorption, and they might have been shredded by the storm.
Creak…
‘…Hm?’
Something shattered from Kang Seol’s bosom.
It was the mirror Seolhong had given him.
“That… mirror…”
Hwagmu glimpsed the mirror’s broken ornament, recalled something, hesitated briefly, then clutched his head.
“Kaaaaaaaak!”
He charged with a roar.
Kwarrrrrung!
Hwagmu, wielder of the storm.
He had soared to the heavens, commanding the weather, bringing rain to the drought-stricken and clear skies to those tormented by storms.
And all those days were forgotten.
Now, he was merely an evil dragon.
“Uwaaaaaaaa-!”
“Haaaaaaa!”
Kwaaaang-!
Kwaaaaaaaaang-!
Each sword clash unleashed massive shocks, making the storm’s waist waver unevenly.
Those outside the storm might have prayed for it to end, just as people once prayed to the old Hwagmu.
Kwaaaang-!
Kikikikikikikik…
Kang Seol yielded not an inch.
Their clashes rang like bells.
One was the evil dragon Hwagmu, who once dyed the East in blood; the other, Kang Seol, heralding a new era.
Their meeting was a bell toll.
Kwaaaaaang-!
Whoooosh…
A faint green light wrapped around Kang Seol’s body.
- …Go.
A gentle voice reached the two clashing in the storm.
- My child…
Kwaaaaaaaaang-!
Hwagmu spasmed, shaking off his hand.
“Stop! Stoooop! Get out of my dreams!”
In that instant, Kang Seol realized one truth from Hwagmu’s reaction.
‘No way….’
[Inheritance of ‘Yuhwa’ begins.]
……
The sudden inheritance of Yuhwa. The shattered hand mirror was the trigger.
Yet the green particles evoking the inheritance’s memories enveloped Hwagmu as well.
Weapons still in hand, they returned to that day’s memories.
* * *
Huff… Huff…
He ran, dragging his frail, massive frame.
Splash…
With no attendants, only his eunuch supported him.
It was Hwagmu—no, Hongcheon.
Oops…
Splat…
Too frantic, his body tumbled to the floor.
But without a whimper of pain, he sprang up and ran. Forgetting dignity, forgetting status.
Huff… Huff…
Creeeeeak…
Waaah!
Waaaaah!
Waaaaaaaaah!
A child’s cry.
The birth of new life.
Hongcheon cradled that precious something.
“…Where is Yuhwa?”
Thud-!
The midwife slammed her head to the floor and wept.
“P… Please… kill me…”
Hongcheon’s pupils turned gray. He frantically sought the mother.
Haa…
Haa…
The woman gasped roughly.
She had lost too much blood; death was near.
“Why… have you come…”
“Yuhwa… my dancer… death? Nonsense…”
“…Listen.”
Yuhwa spoke with trembling lips.
“Seolhong.”
“……”
“That child’s name. The dragon’s child, Seolhong…”
The woman he had deliberately kept distant.
The human who made him lose purpose through her irresistible pull. The era’s hero, Hongcheon.
And…
The woman most loved by the evil dragon Hwagmu, on the verge of revival: Yuhwa.
“My child… my child…”
Drip…
The moment Yuhwa’s breath stopped.
Kwarung-!
Shwaaaaaaaa…
Rain poured from the sky.
* * *
[You have inherited ‘Yuhwa’s’ last will.]
[Inheriting the dead one’s abilities.]
[Inheriting Song of the Sword.]
[You inherit Song of the Sword.]
[Crow’s occupational effect enhances the ability.]
[Ghost Hand’s constitution effect enhances the ability.]
……
Kwaaaaaaaaang-!
A cross-section of the storm.
Kwaaaaaaaaang-!
The one clashing swords was Kang Seol.
Pzzzzzzzzzt-!
Kwaaaaaang-!
Clash again, and it became Yuhwa.
Hwagmu desperately drew forth his power.
“Haaaaaaa!”
Kwarrrrrung-!
His final power.
A single move from the storm wielder.
And opposing it, Kang Seol’s sword. The blade charging toward the storm.
Kwarung…
With a flash of lightning, the two lines crossed.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang-!
The storm exploded.
In an instant, the eyes of countless people on either side of the storm fixed on one spot.
……
At the same time, the silence after the storm descended.
*Cough*…
Hwagmu spewed blood from his mouth.
A clear sky.
It felt as if the unlucky days Kan had endured were all washed away by that sunlight.
And among those watching this scene, one remembered what Jinryeo had once said to Seolhong.
- Legend has it that Dragon Emperor Hongcheon was originally a salmon who couldn’t stand Hwagmu’s tyranny, swam upstream against the current, and became a dragon himself. Funny, right? How does a salmon even become a dragon? It’s not even a snake.
Long ago, a salmon that swam upstream.
It became a dragon of its own will, but lost itself.
- Maybe… just maybe…
The legend of the era, Dragon Emperor Hongcheon, spoke with blood staining his lips.
“Yuhwa…”
A man stood before him.
*Clink*…
The man sheathed his sword.
- Isn’t Lord Kang Seol like a salmon?
Hwagmu smiled bitterly.
“You’re still… dancing.”
Koooooooong…
Hwagmu or Hongcheon.
Hongcheon or Hwagmu.
The dragon’s breath ceased.
“H-Hwagmu…”
“N-No way…”
The storm ended, and another salmon swam upstream…
“Ahh… Kan!”
At last, becoming a new dragon of its own will.
[You have prevented the revival of the evil dragon Hwagmu!]
[The Great March: Dragon Struggle is recorded under a new name.]
[The Great March: Salmon and Dragon ascends and descends in history.]
[Recorded as part of the Chronicle of the Twilight Era.]
[The tale of the man who came on an old ship resurfaces.]
[Secret Society: The Veil reveals its hidden form to the world!]
……