Chapter 95: Did You Deceive Me?
Kompi Old Man taught me not only the technique of miniaturization but also various other skills.
If I were to give them names, I would call them Soaring Dragon Strike, Soaring Dragon Fist, or perhaps Soaring Dragon Kick—a set of martial arts techniques.
They seemed to work well with the Soaring Dragon Heart Technique.
However, instead of practicing the Soaring Dragon Heart Technique, I created the Gecko Heart Technique.
I could have learned the Soaring Dragon Heart Technique, but for now, it was better to focus on Gecko.
That doesn’t mean the martial arts I learned from Kompi Old Man were useless—far from it.
The martial arts I possessed were more effective the larger I was.
Especially the Ancient Dragon Kick or Gecko Death Beam—their power was proportional to my size.
It would have been a shame to use those while I was small.
On the other hand, the techniques with the Soaring Dragon name were suitable for fighting when my body was smaller.
It meant that I could continue fighting even when I had reduced my size.
Of course, using my original techniques after canceling the miniaturization would be the most efficient, but the more cards I had to play, the better.
There might come a situation where I would need to insist on fighting at a small size.
I ended up spending more time with Kompi Old Man than I expected.
I had to stay here until I perfected the miniaturization technique; otherwise, there would be problems later.
During the day, I sparred with the old man in a water hole.
I practiced Soaring Dragon techniques while in a reduced state and learned how to respond to the old man’s attacks when I was larger.
In the past, if it weren’t for tricks, I couldn’t even graze a single scale of the old man, but now it was different.
By creating the Gecko Heart Technique, I could use my internal energy more efficiently.
The dynamics of our sparring had become much more balanced.
Of course, the moment the old man used his internal energy, I was still at a disadvantage.
But I made some significant progress.
I managed to knock the old man into the water several times.
Although I had to plunge my face into the water dozens of times just to knock him in once, it was still an encouraging achievement.
After the sun set, I meditated in a cave adorned with murals.
The purpose of the meditation was to understand the phrases recorded on the murals.
I thought I might be able to comprehend them now that I had broken through the wall of the pinnacle, but there wasn’t much change. However, it wasn’t without progress.
The meditation allowed me to focus more on the Gecko Heart Technique.
Although progress was slower compared to the martial arts, my proficiency in the Gecko Heart Technique steadily increased.
After finishing my meditation, I headed to the area where the lizards resided.
What I did here was somewhat unrelated to training.
I spent time bonding with the lizards, sharing meat with them.
I needed some relaxation after a whole day of training!
…That wasn’t the reason.
This was also a way to become stronger.
Kompi Old Man had officially recognized me.
Just like the Snake Queen, a part of Gecko Faith had merged into Soaring Dragon Faith.
In other words, the divinity and experience points that the lizards here accumulated were also added to mine.
To increase that amount, I spent time befriending these creatures.
I hoped that if these lizards had offspring or encountered other kin, they would talk about a lizard with dragon scales.
Aside from that, I also wandered around the territory, looking for traces of the Green Gecko.
There was a possibility that my kind might be around since there was another gecko.
But this didn’t yield much success.
Still, I wasn’t discouraged.
If the lizards here encountered my kind, they would probably tell them.
They might even mimic my cry as they spoke.
“Gegek.”
I let out a cry.
“Gegegek!”
“Gegegegek!”
The lizards gathered around me, imitating my cry.
Even species other than geckos were mimicking my cry.
As much as I hate to admit it, I had become quite a popular figure within the old man’s territory.
With the boost in appearance from my dragon scales, the fact that I had taken down Megatherium single-handedly, and Soaring Dragon’s recognition, there was no reason for the lizards not to like me.
If I were a lizard without any sense of ethics, I might have led these followers to invade the Snake Queen’s territory in the middle of the night.
But it didn’t seem right to mess with my father-in-law’s followers.
…Come to think of it, was the old man in such a hurry to recognize me because he was worried I might do that?
“Kekek!”
Kompi let out a cry as if to ask why I was looking at him like that.
He stood there with his arms behind his back, wearing the same expression as always among the geckoing lizards.
There was only one reason why the lizards and the old man had gathered.
It was time for me to return to the Snake Queen.
I had honed my martial arts, heart technique, faith, and miniaturization to a high level.
I wanted to stay a bit longer and cultivate more, but for some reason, Kompi seemed eager for me to leave.
To be precise, he wanted to send me back to the Snake Queen as quickly as possible.
“Kekek.”
Kompi handed me a large stone tablet.
It was covered with writing I couldn’t read.
No, it was more like a chaotic mess of drawings than actual writing.
“Kekek!”
Given the time we had spent together, it wasn’t too hard to understand the old man’s intentions.
The stone tablet he gave me was a kind of letter.
A letter to be delivered to the Snake Queen.
I didn’t know what it said, but it felt like something I absolutely had to deliver.
“Gegek.”
I had spent about a week with the old man.
It wasn’t too long, but not too short, either.
A lot had happened during that time.
The most memorable thing was when he dug up an old bottle of alcohol buried deep in the ground, and we drank it together.
After getting a bit tipsy, he started grabbing at my scales and wrestling with me.
Though we couldn’t communicate verbally, I could somewhat understand his intentions.
From his grumbling while he was kegeking, it seemed like he was talking about his daughter.
The Snake Queen was raised on his back.
She was a truly innocent child.
If you make her cry, I’ll bury you.
I could roughly grasp this nuance.
I kegeked back, agreeing with my father-in-law.
The truth was, the Snake Queen was my surrogate wife, and your granddaughter fell for me.
Not only snakes but spiders and even humans covet my dragon scales!
I felt like blurting out such things, but fortunately, only kegeking sounds came out.
Kompi Old Man kegeked for a long time before collapsing into sleep in his cave.
Watching him, I felt a bit sorry for him.
Thinking back on what the Snake Queen had told me, it didn’t seem like she considered Kompi her father.
She had only said that he was one of the few beings she acknowledged.
And since she had mentioned that she couldn’t pinpoint his location, it was likely that they hadn’t met in quite a long time.
If they had met in the meantime, she would have known he was living with lizards like this.
The stone tablet that the old man had handed me might be a letter containing those emotions.
A letter to the daughter who had left long ago.
…Of course, that wouldn’t be all; there must be other contents as well.
The stone tablet was tremendously large, after all.
“Gegek!”
I’ll make sure to deliver this letter.
And if I can get a reply, I’ll come back.
“Kekek.”
With that, I left the Soaring Dragon’s territory, leaving Kompi Old Man and the lizards behind.
—
*
The steps toward the Snake Queen’s temple were lighter than when I had left.
Considering that my current size was more like Komodo rather than Komodo-Lania, it made sense.
I had almost completely mastered the control of miniaturization.
For the time being, it would be best to maintain my small size.
Miniaturization didn’t just end with reducing my size.
There was a hidden effect to it.
When the ability was released, a rebound effect caused my size to enlarge.
And through several experiments, I discovered that the longer I maintained the miniaturization, the greater the rebound effect.
In other words, if I reduced my size to a more manageable level for movement during regular times and then released the ability when necessary, I could use the gigantification to gain an advantage in battle.
Inducing the enemy to let their guard down was one thing, but the fact that my size would be even larger than before would double that effect.
I wanted to reduce my size even further, but because of the stone tablet that the old man gave me, I had no choice but to stay this size. I had to at least be Komodo-sized to carry it comfortably.
And so, I walked to the Snake Queen’s temple.
I encountered the Black Dragon that was patrolling around.
It saw me and nodded in greeting.
Now that I was the Snake Queen’s rightful partner, such treatment was only natural.
“Gegek.”
Yeah, you’re doing a good job.
With that cry, I entered the temple.
As expected, the traps didn’t activate.
Now, as soon as I got through here, the Snake Queen and Shikshik would come out to greet me.
…But is it okay for the Queen to be cooped up here
like this?
With the princess, no less?
Crash!
As I walked through the corridor, I heard something collapse inside the temple.
It wasn’t a severe noise; it sounded more like a basilisk hurriedly transforming into a lamia.
“You’re quite late.”
The Snake Queen greeted me in a very awkward pose.
She had indeed transformed in a hurry.
“Gegek!”
“Pyaaah!”
Shikshik, who seemed to have been asleep, stumbled and let out a happy squeal.
It’s nice to see you after so long.
…You seem to have gotten a bit bigger.
“You’ve shrunk a bit. But this isn’t all you learned from Hunhwi, is it?”
The Snake Queen was as sharp as ever.
Since I had succeeded in bringing the stone tablet here, I could shrink my size even further without any issues.
I set the stone tablet down and performed the dance that the old man had taught me.
It felt like I could hear a song, as if I were watching a serene water scene.
A dazed expression.
Flailing arms.
Ssssaaaak!
My Komodo-sized body continued to shrink until it finally reached the size of a Green Basilisk.
Now, I didn’t even need Dragon’s Reverse Scale to use miniaturization.
It had become one of my proud skills.
“Gegek!”
I let out a valiant cry.
The Snake Queen would be very surprised.
She wouldn’t have expected me to master miniaturization so perfectly.
“…This can’t be.”
The Snake Queen opened her mouth wide in disbelief.
Emotions slowly began to appear on her normally expressionless face.
Yes, praise me.
“…Oho.”
Oho?
“Ahah.”
Ahah?
“Hahahaha!”
The Snake Queen burst into laughter.
So much so that the temple seemed to shake.
After laughing until tears welled up, she finally calmed down and wiped her eyes.
What was so funny?
“Where did you learn that dance?”
Where did I learn it? Of course, from Kompi Old Man….
No way?
“Ahaha! You don’t need to make those movements for miniaturization.”
…What?
Lies.
That’s a lie.
Then what was the purpose of all the dancing I did?
“Gegegegek!”
“You must have really impressed him if he played such a prank on you.”
Impressed him?
Impressed him enough to play such a cruel joke?
“Ohoho.”
I felt like my black scales were turning red.
How embarrassing.
I had earnestly practiced that dance, not knowing the old man had lied to me.
“Pyaaa!”
Shikshik slowly approached me.
Yeah, Shikshik.
You’re the only one I can count on.
If I could look at your chubby body, my wounded heart might heal.
“Piii!”
Shikshik squealed in delight, wagging her tail.
Yeah. Just like a puppy.
Then she suddenly offered me her plump tail.
“Gegek.”
As I looked at her in confusion, Shikshik suddenly pounced on me.
“Ge, Gehek?”
Shikshik wrapped herself around me.
What are you doing?
“Kyaaah!”
…Shikshik?
Drool dripped from Shikshik’s mouth.
No way?
Just because I got smaller doesn’t mean….
You wouldn’t be thinking this is your chance…?
“Piyah!”
“Geeek!”