Chapter 213: Giving Wings to a Tiger (如虎添翼)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 213: Giving Wings to a Tiger (如虎添翼)
In the era of the Nine Kings, the beastfolk were a little different from how they are now.
They were divided into furred beasts and winged beasts.
Canids, felids, fox spirits, and tigerfolk were all grouped together as the ‘Beastfolk Federation.’
The avians, who stood apart, had their own separate kingdom.
At first glance, the Beastfolk Federation seemed much larger, but in reality, their power was equal to that of the avians.
Because.
“The avians could fly.”
Their ‘Highest Kingdom,’ built amidst sheer cliffs, was like a natural fortress, seemingly impregnable to all.
“But in the end, it fell.”
As the mad Wizard King, wearing the guise of the monster known as the White Lion, launched his offensive, the avians were helpless.
The monarch of the Highest Kingdom boasted he would personally leap into the Labyrinth and kill the Labyrinth Master, but he failed.
Instead, his kingdom was devoured by the Labyrinth.
And a monster, with daggers attached to each and every feather, soared beneath the sun.
The Dagger Raptor.
It was a demon destined to shatter the tense balance between the Beastfolk Federation and the Avian Kingdom.
“We have to do something.”
Garvinga, the tigerfolk king of all furred beastfolk, had a secret.
Though he had never told anyone, he had, in fact, long admired them.
The avians.
“So this is what we'll do. We have no choice. We need wings, too.”
Garvinga descended into the Labyrinth. To stop the White Lion's offensive. To subdue the supreme ruler of the avians, his longtime rival.
“Grant me wings as well!”
The king of the beastfolk begged the Labyrinth.
“I will offer the Beastfolk Federation to the Labyrinth Master!”
The White Lion acted as the intermediary.
The Labyrinth was merciful and bestowed wings upon Garvinga.
Even more than the Dagger Raptor.
Not one pair, but two.
In return, it took all his fur.
The king of furred beasts lost his striped tiger pelt and was now covered in a smooth, chitinous shell.
The Mushroom Beetle.
Thus, the Inter-floor Lord of the 6.5th floor, blessed with the power of fungi, took on a new form.
Spores rained down.
“What is this…”
Even to the Spirit Race Taoist, who had reached a state of spiritual ascension, the sight was surreal and overwhelming.
As if the giant mushrooms of the 6th floor were pouring down their spores, a milky-white cloud of them drifted from the sky like snow.
Each one was a seed for a combat doll.
“Is this for real?”
Puppeteers normally don't possess more than three combat dolls. That's common sense. Most have two. Three is the absolute maximum.
The reasons are as follows.
First, because four or more are too heavy to carry into the Labyrinth.
Second, because it's more powerful to concentrate parts on one or two dolls to make them elite, rather than just increasing the number of low-grade ones.
And third.
Because no matter how many dolls you have, you can only control a maximum of two at once.
But the monster shattered all three points of a puppeteer's common sense.
“Just how many of them are there…”
Hundreds of combat dolls packed the area in every direction.
“They're coming!”
And they charged toward Bipa and Mugol in unison.
KABOOM!
A sharp gale of sword wind erupted from Mugol's scabbard.
Fierce Tiger's Forest-Cleaving Draw.
It was his most favored skill, a Tier 7 swordsmanship technique that could sweep a wide area.
But.
CLANG!
The blow was blocked from the very start. It was a miscalculation to think their quality would be low just because of their numbers. The enemies were no pushovers. They resembled the iron-plate mushrooms from the 6th floor, but they were far sturdier and stronger. Their combat power was…
“At least 10th-floor level!”
“I'll buy you time, Bipa!”
Mugol roared as he charged fiercely, piercing one of the mushroom's heads with his sword.
“Fall back and build the fortress—!”
The mushrooms swarmed over Mugol's mouth, silencing him. He fell backward.
If I get buried, it's over.
Mugol bit down on the forearm of the mushroom doll pressing on his face.
He kicked hard at one charging from the front.
He had to hold on, no matter what.
He threw a punch, twisting another one's jaw.
But the enemies swarmed him even more ferociously.
“It's done! Come back!”
At Bipa's shout, the tigerfolk warrior's chest swelled.
KWAAANG!
And a thunderous roar burst forth.
The Roar of the Mountain Lord destroys debuffs and ethereal states, using ultra-low frequencies to induce muscle paralysis.
BANG!
Mugol kicked off the ground with all his might and shot up, returning to Bipa's side.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes!”
Thanks to Mugol buying time, Bipa had prepared a talisman.
“I shall make this land a natural fortress.”
It was a cherished talisman, but this was no time to be sentimental.
“Impregnable Fortress (金城湯池).”
A fortress of steel and a moat of boiling water.
The ground began to rise. It was a type of siege magic whose lineage had long been lost.
This was only possible because Bipa was a master of Eastern magic and a researcher who had studied for an age, rivaling even Dalstream.
'Fortress Construction (築城).'
Using the talisman as a medium, the Spirit Race's mental energy hastily constructed a citadel on the spot.
A solid fortress wall rose.
Outside it, a deep moat was automatically dug into the ground. Steam from the boiling water within filled the air.
RUMBLE!
Atop the wall, which had risen several meters in an instant, Bipa finally managed to catch his breath.
“It seems the mushrooms can't climb the wall.”
“But if that beetle pours spores on us from above, we're finished.”
Mugol gestured toward the beetle with his chin.
The monster was perched on a branch at the top of a tree in the blizzard-frozen forest.
It watched Bipa and Mugol's response quietly, contemplating its next move.
“We can't give it time to think,” Mugol said.
“We're the ones who need time, Mugol. Don't move recklessly. That mushroom swarm should be treated like a monster wave from the 10th floor or the Deep Layer. If you fall, it's over.”
“Right. But its limitations are also clear.”
Threads glinted in the beast's eyes.
The beetle's perch was at a similar height to the fortress wall, putting them at eye level. From the monster's shoulders, hundreds of incredibly fine threads stretched out, connecting to the mushroom dolls.
“Mycelia.”
Bipa said, unfolding his fan.
“It's controlling them with those.”
“Should I cut them all?”
“It won't be easy.”
“Striking the puppeteer is the best option.”
That was true.
Bypassing the dolls to attack the puppeteer was the most crucial strategy in a fight against one.
“It would have been difficult before, but now, it's worth a try.”
Mugol leaped onto the top of the fortress wall.
His thick thighs swelled to an immense size. The explosive leap generated from thighs thicker than Yernil's entire torso wasn't a skill.
It was simply overwhelming physical performance.
KABOOM!
A single leap.
The distance of over ten meters closed in an instant.
Even a Deep Layer rogue or ranger would have been unable to react to such an attack.
It was a lightning-fast thrust, nearly as quick as a teleportation ability like a leaping ambush.
THWACK!
But the tip of his sword cut through empty air and embedded itself in the tree.
“…”
Using his sword as a brace, Mugol hugged the tree and ground his teeth.
The beetle had already moved several meters away and was hovering in the air.
“I can see everything.”
The beetle snapped its fingers.
Mycelia grew, piercing through the ice crystals on the frozen tree. Mushrooms began to wrap around Mugol's sword and forearm.
SHRRRIP!
Mugol tore off the mushrooms and kicked off the tree, leaping up.
Morning Tiger's Pounce (晨虎之勢).
This was the skill Mugol had used when confronting the professor duo at the university dormitory. He had nearly killed Meldini with it.
And he had intercepted the beetle with it once before.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Kicking off the trunks of the frozen trees, the beast darted about like lightning, the tip of his sword once again aimed at the back of the beetle's neck.
But.
WHOOSH!
Once again, the sword cut through empty air.
The beetle dodged Mugol's attack as if it had expected it.
It, too, had once stood at the pinnacle of martial artists as a tigerfolk.
“I won't fall for that twice.”
“…”
And in the moment their bodies crossed.
Mugol discovered a small spore implanted on the nape of his neck.
“Dammit.”
A giant mushroom doll sprouted, grabbing Mugol's body tightly.
KABOOM!
He plummeted into the middle of the hundreds of mushroom dolls on the ground.
“Mugol—!”
The beetle landed slowly behind the screaming Bipa's shoulder.
“If Caleb took care of the Lancer, all the better,” it said.
“That means there's a vacancy in the Master's party! That spot is mine!”
A crazed ecstasy gleamed in the monster's eyes.
Though it had gained the power of fungi by offering the Beastfolk Federation to the Labyrinth, the beetle was not satisfied.
Instead, a thought kept nagging at it.
'If only I could have offered the Highest Kingdom as well.'
What would have happened then?
Because the beetle had offered the Beastfolk Federation and wished for wings, the Labyrinth Master had given it two pairs, along with incredible mobility that could even evade a Deep Layer warrior's Morning Tiger's Pounce.
But it had taken all the fur from his body.
A beetle.
That form was not the image of a monarch Garvinga had desired. A beetle was nothing more than a snack that would be crushed with a single peck from a raptor.
What he had wished for was to be the unified king of both furred and winged beasts.
“It's not too late.”
A few spore mushrooms sprouted from the beetle's palm.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Bipa threw a talisman at the charging mushroom dolls.
“Return to nature (順其自然)!”
He canceled the summoning of one mushroom, blowing it away, but…
KABOOM!
a following mushroom doll slammed into him with its body.
“I will kill you all and join the Labyrinth Master's party.”
The Labyrinth Master was someone who judged merits and faults with certainty. He was cruel, but he was fair.
“And in the new world the Labyrinth Master will build, I will become the truly unified monarch of all beastfolk.”
The great unification that could not be achieved over tens of thousands of years could be completed in the Labyrinth Master's world.
Bipa and Mugol were the first stepping stone. The Wyndham duo who didn't know their place.
KABOOM! BANG!
The mushroom dolls threw themselves on top of the fallen Bipa, covering him. Buried beneath dozens of mushrooms, Bipa was already immobilized by their weight alone, but.
“Explode.”
Among a puppeteer's Tier 5 skills is a doll self-destruct skill.
The mushroom swarm was like a monster wave from the 10th floor or higher, each one classified as a combat doll, and the puppeteer beetle could detonate them.
The massive explosion that occurred south of the White Lion's fairy forest was so intense that anyone fighting in this land could have noticed it.
BOOM! KABOOM!
The walls of the Impregnable Fortress crumbled. The mushrooms piled on the ground also exploded at once. Mugol must have been turned to dust, and the moat burst, spewing hot water and steam in all directions.
The magically created steel bricks rained down.
'It's over.'
The battle between Deep Layer masters had ended in an instant. The victor was the beetle.
Watching the tattered Bipa fall with the remains of the fortress wall, the beetle slowly flew up.
Now it would go and deal with the brats in Caleb's party, and also kill that traitor, the Spider Doctor.
And if possible, Caleb too.
“I can be chosen.”
The beetle smiled.
Until it noticed what was clutched in the falling Bipa's hand.
'A gourd…?'
The Spirit Race Deep Layer Taoist was hugging it tightly to his chest as if it were a lifeline.
Even for an Inter-floor Lord who had lived for tens of thousands of years, it was an object he had never seen before.
But he could feel a powerful magical energy emanating from it.
'Chang-gwi.' [Spirits of those killed by tigers, bound to serve them.]
It was an original magic developed by Bipa.
For Mugol, and Mugol alone.
The Wyndham duo was one of the oldest pairs on the continent, a party whose synergy was a perfect match.
“Giving Wings to a Tiger (如虎添翼).”
To give wings to a tiger.
Mugol, too, had felt the limitations of a wingless tigerfolk. When he stood at the pinnacle of warriors as a Deep Layer adventurer. Just like Garvinga 30,000 years ago.
The only difference was that he had Bipa.
POOF!
Thousands of ghosts attached themselves under the beast's arms. They looked like the black smoke from burning damp firewood. Or like a torn sail.
A pair of huge, shimmering wings with no definite shape.
The tigerfolk warrior had not died buried among the mushrooms. He had barely managed to shake off his enemies and was now soaring on the wings Bipa had given him.
To ensure his survival, Bipa had shielded the gourd with his own body, protecting it from the explosion to the very end, and now.
“Got you.”
Mugol caught Bipa and flew up.
“It's a shame about the gourd.”
“It couldn't be helped.”
“…”
His eyes met the beetle's, which was frozen in shock.
Mugol raised his sword.
Again, it cut through empty air.
'I dodged it!'
The beetle was amazed at its own reaction speed.
'I dodged it!'
This sudden aerial battle.
The tigerfolk's shocking appearance.
It was true that it had been momentarily flustered.
And it was also true that Mugol's thrust had been incredibly fast.
But despite all that, it still had the advantage.
It could create more mushroom dolls. And it was faster in the air.
Besides.
“Are you going to fight while holding that damn Taoist?”
To the beetle, it was an insane act. His balance would be completely thrown off while flying, and his speed would inevitably decrease…
“Isn't that obvious?”
Mugol said, aiming his sword.
“If one wishes to fly, how can there be no wind?”
Bipa, held at his side, aimed his fan.
“The wind is beneath us (風斯在下).”
It was the same magic he had used when fighting the professor duo at the university.
The mass of chang-gwi was like a sail, and the winged tigerfolk rode the wind.
The Wyndham duo's blade did not miss.
For the beetle, it was just a fleeting, stinging pain that passed in an instant.
CLICK!
Behind Mugol as he sheathed his sword, the corpse of the beetle, split in two, fell from the sky.
Mugol also descended, landing safely on the ground.
Folding his ghost wings.
“Those were ghosts I'd collected for years.”
“It couldn't be helped, Mugol. If you had fallen down there, even you wouldn't have made it out unscathed. You probably would have died.”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, I'm alive. Shall we head over to Caleb's side now?”
“Let's rest for ten minutes before that.”
Bipa said, concentrating his Taoist power into his tattered right arm.
“I used a protective talisman right before the explosion, but there isn't a single part of my body that's unharmed. Let's recover for ten minutes.”
“I don't mind, but if that guy dies, Hyedam will raise all kinds of hell.”
“…”
Bipa quietly pictured her face.
“Th-then… let's recover… on the way…”
An angry Hyedam was scarier than an Inter-floor Lord.