Chapter 215: Cutting
The battle continued.
It was relentless and overwhelming.
As soon as the enemy revealed its true form, an onslaught of attacks incomparable to before rained down.
Steel blades, so massive and sharp, they could shatter dragon scales with just a touch.
The biggest problem was that the attacks weren’t limited to me.
They indiscriminately swept across everyone in the battlefield, in a wide-ranging onslaught.
“Keeeng!”
The wolves, one by one, were encased in ice.
“Ilbuuuu…”
Even the Igaksu staggered under their massive frames.
The Snake Queen and the Argentarvis weren’t in good condition either.
They tried to counter with all the strength in their necks, but no amount of force could overcome steel.
The Argentarvis could no longer fly, and even the Snake Queen's once-beautiful scales were completely ruined.
With their last remaining strength, they wrapped themselves in gigantic plants.
Before such hunger, these vines might not mean much.
But they were effective in restraining the wounded Snake Queen and Argentarvis.
Boom!
Thud!
Sounds of havoc erupted from within, but it quieted down, as if realizing breaking free would cause even more harm to itself.
“Companion…”
Only the sorrowful voice of the Snake Queen could be heard.
If she hadn’t been restrained like this, she would have kept charging at Gongbok to the very end.
Rushing in without a plan or solution was nothing more than throwing away her life.
“…Finally, all the nuisances are gone.”
Gongbok’s silver eyes turned toward me.
Yes.
It mistook me for someone else.
It seemed solely interested in fighting me.
Its attacks on the others were likely just to ensure there were no interruptions.
“Grrrr…”
“Oh, True Dragon. The time is near. The day your son surpasses you and claims the Yeoui staff.”
Gongbok still mistook me for the True Dragon.
Defeating it was long abandoned as an option.
All I could do was divert its attention.
Gongbok’s wide-range attacks didn’t differentiate between friend or foe, which meant the enemy forces weren’t in great shape either.
In other words, even if the believers escaped, there wouldn’t be many left to pursue them.
If the Red Dragon could subdue Ak Bulhui or drive it temporarily off the battlefield, then freeze the ground with the combined cold of Baekrang and Cheolduryong, we could retreat.
If they created an opening for the Snake Queen and Argentarvis to escape, everyone could survive.
Yes.
I had to focus.
Despairing over the strength of the enemy wouldn’t help.
As the divine beast of the Gecko Faith, it was my duty to save everyone.
With that thought, my gaze fell on Baekrang.
He was trapped in ice, a safeguard I had prepared as a last resort.
“Keeek…”
“Kioong…”
The spiders frantically shook Tang So-yeong, who had her eyes closed, with their short limbs.
…..
This was the future I had seen.
And it was the future I had vowed to change.
But why, then?
— Did you think changing fate would be so simple?
The inner demon began speaking to me.
— Pitiful. So pitiful.
It spoke as if it had known this would happen all along.
— The Gongbok you saw in the future didn’t use the power of gold, did it?
Its voice carried a tone of amusement, as if it was watching an entertaining spectacle.
— Yet now, it’s crushing you all with the power of steel.
— I bet that’s what you’re thinking.
The future I had seen wasn’t exactly the same as this.
But still, they had been breathing in that future, and the Red Dragon hadn’t been defeated yet.
I couldn’t think of it as the future changing.
It was simply that we hadn’t reached that point yet.
— Such a predictable and predictable story.
— That’s the nature of fate.
— No matter how much a mere mortal struggles, you can’t defy fate.
The inner demon’s laughter rang out.
— Krr-hahaha!
Time seemed to slow, as if it had come to a standstill.
— Do you hate fate?
Its sweet voice whispered to me.
— Do you hate the ones who have reduced your believers to this state?
— None of your believers have died yet because of your desperate attempts to save them, but… what’s the point of that?
— If you lose, they’ll all die anyway.
What it said was true.
Even Baekrang was in such a state, so my goal of evacuating everyone seemed impossible now.
If I lost, all my followers would die.
Just like in the future I had glimpsed.
— But there’s still one thing left.
The inner demon’s voice tickled my ears.
— The proposal from that time is still valid.
The words it spoke when I saw the future repeated themselves.
— Now, take my hand.
— Only I can help you.
It was such a tempting offer.
If I took the Inner Demon’s hand, wouldn’t I be able to save all my believers?
— If you offer your body to me, I will kill the Dragon’s child.
Yes.
If I gave my body to the Inner Demon… perhaps something could be done.
— I will carve into their very bones the true meaning of fear.
If it’s for the sake of saving my believers.
What wouldn’t I do?
It was at that very moment when I was about to accept the Inner Demon’s offer.
Thunk.
A small object flew toward my head.
Wrapped in spider silk, it fell straight to the ground.
And the moment I recognized it, time, which had seemed to stand still, began flowing rapidly once more.
“…Believe.”
The one who had thrown it was Nephila.
Encased in her spider silk was an all-too-familiar green object.
Yes.
It was a tail.
The tail I had entrusted to Nephila when I left her.
The tail from when I was a gecko lizard.
Seeing that, I regained some clarity.
— Pay no attention to it. Changing fate defies reason. Only I can….
Crack!
Slash!
I cut off my own tail with my hand.
“Ghhk, ggrrrrrrgh!”
I knew that without pain of this magnitude, I wouldn’t be able to escape from the Inner Demon.
Blood dripped down.
Even Gongbok, who had been silently staring at me, looked somewhat surprised.
The voice of the Inner Demon that had echoed in my ears was no longer there.
“Grrrrr…”
Fate cannot be defied.
That’s what the Inner Demon had told me.
A lizard that was supposed to have been devoured by an Oviraptor escaped its fate.
A spider that had merely ruled a single tree evolved into an Arachne.
The starving spider sisters I met in the swamp survived because of me.
Even Tang So-yeong, who was fated to be eaten by a Dilopho, survived.
Fate cannot be defied.
No, I have defied fate time and time again.
I could barely move, but my mind had never been clearer.
[Using 「Reverse Scale lv5」.]
The mere act of activating Reverse Scale caused me to cough up blood.
But I couldn’t give up.
I had to defy this fate, no matter what.
[Temporarily acquiring 「Dragon Speech lv0」.]
The technique I had brought forth was Dragon Speech.
However, due to a lack of resources, I couldn’t fully replicate it.
Even as I struggled, was this truly my predetermined fate?
….
Who dares to decide my fate?
[Using 「%! Dr■□ LV2」.]
Crack-crack-crack!
[「Yeoui Orb」 reacts to 「Dragon Speech lv0」.]
[The level of 「Dragon Speech lv0」 temporarily increases.]
I barely managed to scrape the bottom of my strength to successfully copy Dragon Speech.
I could feel the sacred energy of the dragon surging through my entire body.
The enemy used Dragon Speech to cover their body entirely in steel.
Since it was created with Dragon Speech, the only way to pierce through it was with Dragon Speech as well.
What words must be spoken?
How can I pierce through that creature?
"My body…"
What I need is a weapon that can somehow crush it.
A vicious weapon to replace my broken claws and pierce through its dragon scales.
"Become a sword."
The severed tail began to change shape.
Its general structure remained the same, but it took on the form of a greatsword.
The creature had created armor through Dragon Speech.
What I created with Dragon Speech was a sword capable of piercing that armor.
What difference does it make if a lizard that has never held a sword now wields one?
One could easily think this was nothing more than futile desperation.
After all, what I had trained in all this time wasn’t the motion of wielding a sword.
‘If you awaken sword energy, you can easily cut through rock.’
Even when my master taught me about sword energy, they taught me how to swing claws, not a sword.
‘A martial artist at the pinnacle is typically defined by whether or not they have mastered sword energy.’
But so what?
My master demonstrated sword energy using nothing but a simple tree branch.
‘If you progress to the transcendental stage, you can extend sword energy like a thread and wrap it around your weapon. It will be faint like mist, but visible even to the eyes of an ordinary person.’
What my master showed me then was sword projection.
Even with just sword energy, I could see it with my own eyes, but sword projection was on another level entirely.
Despite saying it would be faint, the threads of sword energy were so vivid that they were clearly visible to me.
‘Since I’ve shown you sword projection… I suppose it’s only fair to show you the next stage.’
My master, speaking so casually, revealed an unforgettable and breathtaking sight.
A blade of black and blue intertwined beautifully.
Its elegant form resembled the Milky Way in the night sky.
‘This is sword force. When you can freely wield sword force, only then can you say you’ve entered the Flowering Realm.’
My master’s sword force sliced through steel as though it were tofu.
‘There’s even a realm called Unity of Sword and Body. It’s something that can’t be explained with words… What are you doing? Get into position.’
The sword now in my hands was forged from my own body.
Because of that, even though its shape as a sword was unfamiliar, it felt strangely natural.
Though it was my first time holding it, I had reached the state of Unity.
I focused my mind.
There wasn’t a single resource left for me to draw from, but strangely, my body felt weightless.
Wooooong.
The Fox Orb quivered lightly.
I instinctively knew what I was holding.
And what I needed to do.
A blue sword aura enveloped the blade.
The aura soon shifted into fine, thin lines.
Those lines of sword energy began to condense.
Blue sword force overlaid the black sword.
This sword was a weapon to sever the fate that stood in my way.
To sever fate—if it were the former me, I would have dismissed it as nonsensical.
Even if I understood the idea, I would have thought it impossible.
But the moment I gripped this sword, a realization struck me.
「%! Cu■□ LV2」
The true name of the technique I had cursed for days and nights.
「Fate Severing LV2」
Yes.
What I had been severing all along wasn’t my tail—it was fate itself.