Chapter 70
I wandered through the jungle with a pounding heart.
The weather was hot and humid.
However, for reptiles, it could be considered relatively comfortable weather.
Moving on all fours felt a bit awkward.
It was because I had insisted on walking on two legs due to martial arts like *Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step*.
But there were certainly advantages to quadrupedal movement.
Now that I had become a *Komodo*, it wouldn’t be bad to utilize the advantages of four legs.
It wasn’t as if I couldn’t use martial arts while moving on all fours.
Right now, I was a lizard.
You might say I always was, but what I meant was that I would maximize the abilities unique to lizards.
It was known that the Komodo’s sense of smell was incredible.
They could track the scent of blood from a bite, even if the prey fled to the opposite side of the island.
I had transcended even that, becoming a *Gomodo*.
*Gomodo*, third form.
*Flickering Tongue*.
*Shhriik.*
*Sssaaaak.*
The smells from all around me flooded in simultaneously.
Having a good sense of smell didn’t mean I could distinguish everything, though.
The various scents were all mixed together.
But that didn’t mean there was nothing to gain.
Even if I wasn’t accustomed to detecting smells over such a wide range, there was one scent that stood out unmistakably.
A fishy scent.
It was the smell of blood.
Smelling blood didn’t necessarily mean a Cockatrice was nearby, but it was more likely to be found here than in other areas.
*Sasasaak.*
Stealthily, quickly.
I dashed toward the source of the blood scent.
Of course, there was more than one location where the smell of blood was coming from.
There was the blood of dinosaurs fighting over territory, the corpse of an unfortunate dinosaur that had become someone’s meal, and even a *Utahraptor* that had just hunted its prey and was about to feast.
For whatever reason, it panicked at the sight of me and fled, leaving me no choice but to scavenge the meat it had left behind.
Leaving food behind was a grave offense.
It couldn’t be helped.
As I continued to follow the scent of blood, I came across some rather peculiar traces.
Feathers scattered everywhere.
And a *Terror Bird* that had been neatly sliced.
As if it had been cut by a sharp sword.
Was it slashed by a human with a sword?
I couldn’t be sure.
After all, there were sword-wielding dinosaurs roaming this place.
It could have been struck by the tail of a *Stegosaurus*.
Still, it was an oddity.
Judging by the arrangement of the branches, it looked like someone had been trying to start a fire.
*Sip.*
It was highly suspicious.
My lizard instincts told me so.
That there was something around here.
“Kokiooo!”
A rooster’s crow echoed in the distance.
No ordinary chicken would announce its presence like that in a jungle teeming with dinosaurs.
It wasn’t an ordinary chicken.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a Cockatrice.
Should I return to the Snake Queen now?
No, this wasn’t enough.
It could just be a crazed chicken, or the creature might be moving to another location.
At the very least, I needed to find its nest.
“Kokiooo!”
Fortunately, it kept crowing.
Alright.
I should get a little closer.
*Sasasasak.*
As I moved toward the source of the sound, I heard someone sobbing.
“Huh… Huh….”
“Primeval Heaven Sovereign, Primeval Heaven Sovereign….”
It was a human voice.
And a male one at that.
It didn’t seem like something I needed to concern myself with.
He didn’t seem like a nobleman or anything special.
If I had the time, I’d just let him go.
“Go, Gomodo…. Hahaha….”
The man muttered the name Gomodo.
Was it just a coincidence?
He hadn’t seen me yet.
It didn’t seem like he was talking about me, so how did he know about Gomodo?
And why was he seeking Gomodo in this situation?
Muttering about Primeval Heaven Sovereign or whatever, maybe he was just making a final wish to the miraculous beings he knew.
Including the very miraculous divine beast, Gomodo.
I wasn’t particularly interested, but maybe I should check on his condition.
I could hear the Cockatrice’s crowing, but it still seemed quite far away, so I had some time.
“Geggek.”
I made a low, growling sound as I slowly walked closer, meeting the man’s eyes.
“Huh, huuuurp!”
He looked terrified.
But seeing that he was covering his mouth with his hands to minimize the noise, it meant he still had some sense of the situation.
“Huff…. No, no way….”
Don’t be afraid.
…Wait.
This guy seemed a bit familiar?
An unremarkable face.
An ordinary build.
I felt like I’d seen him somewhere before.
“Grrrr….”
Right, the swamp.
I’d seen him once back when I was still the Crocodile King Lizard.
He was the one who dropped that seemingly good sword and ran away.
The sword was quite useful.
I used it as a grill and to hunt a *Dilophosaurus*.
…Please don’t ask where it is now.
“Go, Go, Gomodo?”
For him to recognize me as Gomodo.
Was Gomodo a fairly famous divine beast?
This guy didn’t seem like a member of the Tang Clan.
“P-please spare me….”
What’s with this?
I might look like this, but Gomodo was a kind animal that had never harmed a human.
He didn’t appear to be injured, so he should be able to walk just fine after resting a bit.
“Koookiooo!”
That is, if it weren’t for that sound in the distance.
“Grrr….”
I signaled to the man with my eyes.
Run away, quickly.
If you stay here and get caught by the Cockatrice, it’ll be a problem for both of us.
It would ruin my plan to sneak in.
The man quickly got to his feet.
“Th-there!”
The man called out to me.
I turned my head, wondering what it was.
“I know this is a shameless request…. But over there, someone has been turned to stone…. Please, please save them….”
Turned to stone.
So it was indeed a Cockatrice making that sound.
I appreciated the information, but asking me to help?
Did he expect me to fight the Cockatrice?
To be honest, I didn’t have a particularly good impression of those humans I met in the swamp.
‘Why did they push me? I don’t know either.’
Because they pushed Tang So-yeong and ran away.
Of course, this man in front of me wasn’t the one who pushed her.
But a bunch of burly men kicking a delicate woman and then escaping in the chaos? It wasn’t something I could think well of.
“Grrrr….”
If it had been a different dinosaur, one less kind than me, Tang So-yeong would have died then and there.
‘Well, who can understand the thoughts of those from the *Biome-Dominating Clan*?’
Of course, Tang So-yeong had uttered those cheerful words, and she didn’t seem to have any hard feelings.
Otherwise, she might be planning quiet revenge in the Tang Clan’s way.
In my view, not only was the person who pushed Tang So-yeong clearly in the wrong, but everyone around him was too.
At least one of them should have helped her up.
Or they should have offered up the person who pushed her as a sacrifice.
…Of course, I wasn’t the kind of lizard that coveted sacrifices.
For that reason, I didn’t particularly like the man in front of me.
I had only shown him a bit of kindness because I had made good use of the sword he had dropped, and because I didn’t want to see someone die right in front of me.
“Please…. Please…. Don’t let it happen again because of me….”
The man knelt down, tears streaming down his face.
“Gomodo…. I will spend my life atoning…. Please….”
It seemed that this man really thought of me as some sort of mythological creature.
A being that would grant wishes without much effort.
What had my master said again?
A sane person wouldn’t talk to a lizard, he said.
A delusion brought on by fear.
That’s probably what was happening.
If I delayed any longer, the Cockatrice would find this place.
Biting him on the nape and tossing him far away would be my final act of kindness.
“…I’ve lived my life as a coward.”
That’s what he said in this situation.
“Even this time, I heard there was a big opportunity and just thought I’d tag along.”
It was a typical story.
A reflection on his life.
“I regret not being able to save Lady Tang…. And I regret being nothing but a hindrance to Baek Daehyeop….”
A final moment of repentance.
But it was a meaningless act.
His apology wouldn’t reach Tang So-yeong, and the same was true for this Baek Daehyeop person.
“Please…. Please…. Save Baek Daehyeop…. Gomodo….”
I could understand why he mistook me for a divine beast and made such a request.
He must have thought I was a miraculous being that appeared in this dramatic situation.
But there were requests I could grant and those I couldn’t.
He was asking me to save someone I’d never even met?
To risk my life?
There was no reason to do something so foolish.
Even if I defeated the Cockatrice, there was no guarantee that the petrification would be undone.
There was no benefit to it, and I had no reason to do it.
I haven’t read many martial arts novels.
I liked their unique charm, but there were many aspects I didn’t understand.
I couldn’t comprehend why a protagonist who had mastered martial arts would act with such chivalry.
Why would they do such things?
Why not just ignore it and take the advantage?
I never understood the protagonist’s actions when they stormed a bandit’s hideout just for a bland bowl of porridge.
It was such an inefficient thing to do.
And yet.
What would Baek Yeonyeong have done?
The person from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
A group that might be called evil, a religion some would label as heretical.
Would my master have just turned a blind eye because this man wasn’t to her liking?
No.
The master I knew would never do that.
Just as she reached out to me, she would do something utterly indifferent and inefficient.
“Grrrrr….”
*Chwararararak.*
The scales of my dragon form shifted.
Optimized for battle, I took on the appearance of a dragon.
It wasn’t out of some great sense of duty.
I didn’t particularly like this man.
This was an inefficient act.
I might regret it.
I might wonder why I did this.
I might think I should have just ignored it and returned to the Snake Queen.
But I didn’t stop.
Because the chivalry I knew was an extremely inefficient thing.
“Kraaaah!”
I roared toward the Cockatrice.
*Sasasasasak.*
*Pabababat!*
I charged straight at it, and it did the same.
*Chwaaaak!*
I pushed through the foliage and lunged at the beast.
—
【Cockatrice lv45】
__________________________
【Cockatrice】
A monster that is a combination of a bird and a snake.
It is a mythical creature said to be born when a rooster’s egg is incubated by a poisonous creature.
It is often equated with the Basilisk and wields the power of petrification, turning its enemies to stone.
__________________________