Chapter 132: The Reverberating Aura That Covers the World
Why does our Snake Queen always fall prey to mental attacks?
Since the situation didn’t look good, I blasted the Gecko Death Beam right away. It should be fine, right?
She looked quite similar to Baek Yeonyeong.
She also resembled the Snake Queen.
…Yeah, she was the woman I had seen in the Snake Queen’s mental landscape.
Even if I didn’t know much, the choice I made was surely the right one.
“Gegegegek!”
I let out the fierce roar of a brave lizard.
“This… lowly lizard dares to…!”
An insidious voice roared in anger—Gaetsalgoadal.
It seemed that she had nearly succeeded in her plan, but my interference caused her failure.
“Gekgek.”
I quickly ran.
Toward the safest place.
That was, of course, beside the Snake Queen.
To be honest, my participation in this battle was absurd.
I knew that both the Snake Queen and the Bird King were overwhelmingly strong.
They were so powerful that I couldn’t even see their levels.
But from the aftermath of the battle, I realized they were even stronger than I had imagined.
The surroundings were literally laid to waste.
Giant trees were reduced to stumps, and solid rocky hills had collapsed.
This was the fight of mythical beings.
And yet, there was another mythical beast here—Komodo-Lania.
Perhaps this was how a shrimp felt when caught between whales fighting.
“Gegek.”
But still, one of those whales was on my side.
“…My companion.”
It seemed the Snake Queen had regained her senses.
“You’re safe.”
“Gek.”
“I was so worried that something might have happened to you.”
The Snake Queen lightly stroked me with her tail.
“Kyaaaak!”
Gaetsalgoadal’s minions immediately charged at us.
Just as I was gathering my strength to respond,
Hisssss.
The Snake Queen took a deep breath.
And then,
Zzzzeeeooong!
She unleashed a massive destruction beam.
It was the same technique she had shown at Argentarvis’s nest.
But this time, it wasn’t a single shot—she continuously poured out attacks.
Boom boom boom!
As her head moved, the trajectory of the beam shifted.
The forces of Gaetsalgoadal that had rushed toward us melted as soon as they touched the beam.
No, before they even touched it, they literally evaporated.
Even the elites like Gogaduris and the Beihj Bird.
When I saw their faces while running here, I was a bit shaken.
I had clearly taken care of them myself, so how were they still alive?
I was already struggling just to face those two, so how could I possibly assist the Snake Queen?
Boom!
That worry vanished the moment the Snake Queen’s destruction beam struck.
The enemies hit directly by her attack turned into black water.
Black water.
It was an eerie substance that could easily be mistaken for a black shadow.
It was similar to what I had seen when facing the Imoogi Bird.
An ability that rendered them unkillable no matter how much they were attacked.
A power that defied the laws of infinite regeneration.
The source of that power was Gaetsalgoadal.
She had revived the Beihj Bird and the Cockatrice with that same ability.
However, for some reason, their regeneration was considerably slower this time.
Was it a different kind of power from what had been in the Imoogi Bird’s body?
Or perhaps the Snake Queen’s attack had been that devastating.
It seemed likely that once they sustained enough damage, they couldn’t regenerate for a while.
The Snake Queen’s attack was more than enough to kill them a hundred times over.
Still, the fact that they were still squirming meant they weren’t completely dead.
However, it would be possible to keep them out of the fight for now.
“Training the heart is not an easy task. Though my body grew powerful over the years, my mind has not matured.”
The Snake Queen spoke in a sorrowful tone.
Even with such immense power, her mind had been shaken again.
“Gekgek.”
I lightly stroked the Snake Queen’s tail.
How could anyone—no, any snake—be perfect?
I could just help her like this.
“…Indeed. That is what companions are for, to fill in where we are lacking.”
Whoooosh.
A massive gust of wind surged.
The source of the gust was none other than the Bird King, Gaetsalgoadal.
“To think I can’t even handle a mere lizard…”
She expressed her frustration and took an aggressive stance.
“My companion.”
The Snake Queen’s tail brushed against my scales.
“Beihj is two in one, and one in two.”
Whoooom.
A powerful energy surged.
The Beihj Bird’s core, which I had consumed, started to rage within me.
“Are you ready?”
We had practiced this countless times for this battle.
Meditations for enlightenment.
Mock battles with the Snake Queen to gain experience.
To face the Bird King, the snake and the lizard had united their strength.
“Gegek!”
Before Gaetsalgoadal could launch her attack, the Snake Queen moved first.
Fwoooosh!
The Basilisk charged toward the Bird King with immense momentum.
She had used that powerful technique to neutralize the Beihj Bird, the Cockatrice, and the rest of the minions.
Since she couldn’t use her destruction beam again immediately, she opted for close combat.
But that didn’t mean it was to be underestimated.
Her charge alone held enough power to annihilate her opponent.
Even the Bird King wouldn’t come out unscathed if caught by the Snake Queen.
“Ugh!”
The Bird King halted her movements and immediately chose to take flight.
But the Snake Queen’s assault didn’t stop there.
At the end of her tail was a massive sword.
A sword even larger than me.
Swwwish!
It was a sword made from the feathers of the Golden Vermillion Bird.
Gaetsalgoadal narrowly avoided the Queen’s sword strike with quick, nimble movements.
“Such physical combat… is meaningless…!”
Indeed, close combat might not mean much.
If the Snake Queen specialized in offense and defense, Gaetsalgoadal specialized in speed and mobility.
No matter how powerful an attack, it didn’t matter if it didn’t land.
But our attack wasn’t over yet.
[Using “Dragon’s Reverse Scale lv5”.]
Another sword had been hidden in the Snake Queen’s tail.
The famed sword, Komodo-Lania.
Rather than saying it was hidden, it would be more accurate to say it clung tightly to her tail, refusing to fall off. But Gaetsalgoadal, too focused on the Queen’s attacks, hadn’t noticed it.
At the moment she dodged the sword strike, I sprang into the air.
A black-scaled lizard suddenly appeared.
The Bird King’s face twisted in shock.
[Temporarily acquiring “Nine Yin White Bone Claws.”]
How could she have predicted this attack?
It was at the moment when she swung her hand.
“The attempt was good.”
A black beam shot out in a narrow range.
Unlike a typical destruction beam, no preparatory motion was required.
Even if it couldn’t be predicted, it could be reacted to, apparently.
The Bird King grinned with satisfaction.
I was airborne at that moment.
In other words, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t dodge the attack.
[Using “Dragon’s Reverse Scale lv5.”]
…If it had been the previous me.
With the level of Dragon’s Reverse Scale raised, I could now copy techniques that I couldn’t before.
The skill I chose to copy was Old Kompi’s technique.
Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step.
To be precise, the technique Old Kompi used to avoid my attack.
[Temporarily acquiring “Curved Body Shadow-Skip-Dash”.]
Curved Body Shadow-Skip-Dash.
It is known as one of the highest-tier divine techniques, along with Unusual Phenomenon Illusion.
By bending the body like a bow, it allows movements that defy the laws of physics.
It was a technique Old Kompi had shown me.
Although Dragon’s Reverse Scale’s level had risen, copying this skill put a great burden on my body.
Its energy consumption easily exceeded that of three uses of Nine Yin White Bone Claws.
It wasn’t particularly efficient, and the difficulty was high.
If I hadn’t learned Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step, I wouldn’t even be able to attempt it.
But it was a technique worth the effort.
Fwoosh!
I barely dodged an attack that couldn’t be avoided physically.
A perfect dodge meant a perfect opportunity to attack.
Grit.
I gritted my teeth and pulled up my inner energy to its peak.
Lower dantian, middle dantian.
And the internal energy circulating through my entire body gathered in my front paw.
Whoosh!
Blue flames ignited over my blood-soaked body.
The most powerful strike I could muster at the moment.
Pierce through the enemy’s head with five fingers.
Boom!
Nine Yin White Bone Claws.
“Kuh-heoook!”
Gaetsalgoadal coughed up blood and plummeted to the ground.
Hissss!
The Snake Queen rushed in and twisted her body mid-air to catch the falling foe.
Even though it was Nine Yin White Bone Claws, the damage wouldn’t be that significant.
The gap between her and me was still immense.
But the mental shock must have been severe.
She had underestimated me.
Boom!
The Snake Queen’s body slam struck the enemy head-on.
“Kyaaaaak!”
The Bird King vomited dark red blood.
“How dare you, how dareeeeee youuuu!”
It came.
The berserk pattern.
An indiscriminate barrage of beams.
Bzzzt!
Various attacks followed relentlessly.
Boom!
I focused on dodging along with the Snake Queen, avoiding the onslaught.
Tat!
There was no way I could dodge this attack on my own.
But with the Snake Queen’s help, I could move somehow.
Above all, the Beihj Bird’s core resonated within me.
“To think, to think that someone like youuuu!”
The Bird King’s grotesque face twisted even more.
It seemed my attack had worked better than expected.
“My companion. It’s about time to end this.”
She was right.
The Bird King was now attacking recklessly without thinking of defense.
This was our chance.
“We’ll finish this now.”
Rumble.
The Snake Queen’s body shimmered with golden light.
The source of that energy was the feather of the Golden Vermillion Bird wrapped around her tail.
It was an energy that opposed Gaetsalgoadal’s power.
A tremendous amount of inner energy pressed down on everything in this space.
It looked similar to The Reverberating Aura That Covers the World, but it was a distinct technique unique to her.
She called it, The Serpent’s Force of Heavenly Mountain.
Not to be outdone, I activated my skill as well.
[Using “Dragon’s Reverse Scale lv5.”]
[Temporarily acquiring “The Reverberating Aura That Covers the World”.]
Crack.
The power of the Beihj Bird amplified both our strengths.
Our inner energies resonated with each other.
Two distinct techniques became one.
Heavenly Mountain’s Serpent Force That Covers the World.
That power could uproot mountains, and the energy of a giant serpent covered the world.
Swooosh!
The overwhelming power of the Snake Queen gathered at a single point.
Zzzzeooooong!
A golden beam shot out.
And then,
Zzzzeooong!
A blue spiral wrapped around the beam.
Boom boom boom!
The combined attack of the Snake Queen and me pierced through Gaetsalgoadal’s head.
Boom!
Boooom!
The enormous aftermath.
I would have been blown away, but the Snake Queen’s tail caught me.
“Gehh…”
I didn’t even have the strength to move a single finger.
The effects of my gigantification had ended as well.
I was in no condition to continue the battle.
I hoped Gaetsalgoadal had died from that attack, but it didn’t seem so.
My level hadn’t gone up.
Or maybe it was because the Snake Queen dealt the final blow.
Even if she was still alive, she wouldn’t be in good shape.
On the other hand, the Snake Queen remained unscathed.
Our victory was certain.
Thanks to the resonance of the Beihj Bird’s core, I was able to exert more power than usual.
If not for that, my attack wouldn’t have worked on her.
“Gekgek.”
I looked up at the Snake Queen.
There was no need to give her more time—let’s finish her off now.
That’s what I meant.
“…My companion.”
However, the Snake Queen didn’t continue her attack.
Did she think this was enough?
No, she wouldn’t do that.
If she were the Snake Queen I knew, she would certainly finish it.
Shudder.
The Snake Queen’s massive body trembled.
“Run away at once.”
Run?
A word I hadn’t expected came out.
“Kulkulkul…”
A voice echoed from within the dust.
“Snake Queen, as expected, there’s no one like you.”
The Bird King spoke so fluently.
From the recent attack, it should’ve suffered a fatal wound.
Usually, it spoke awkwardly, but now, what had changed?
My instincts screamed at me.
I had to escape this place immediately.
My body trembled like a leaf.
But my feet refused to move.
The Snake Queen was standing between me and the Bird King.
“Run… Hurry, run…”
Even though she was clearly frightened herself, she urged me to retreat.
I couldn’t.
If I ran, we’d run together.
Shhh!
Emerging from the mist came Gaetsalgoadal.
No longer in the form of a monstrous bird but appearing in human form.
A grotesque figure with hundreds of eyes attached to hideous tentacles.
Her distorted face looked as though she had ripped off a human’s face to use as a mask.
The bird’s form had vanished, replaced by two arms and two legs.
“I wanted to walk the path of a dragon. Well, this isn’t too bad either.”
At first glance, she looked almost human.
No, she was something imitating a human.
“To think you led me down the path of rebirth, how can I ever thank you?”
The Bird King had been a weak snake.
How could such a snake have killed the Snake Queen’s entire family?
How could it have harmed her master?
How could it have used a power that defied reason?
Now I finally understood everything.
【Imoogi Bird – Taese】
The true mastermind who had given power to the weak snake.
The evil god, Taese.