Thank you to everyone who gave comments and coupons! Episode 172
54. The Magical Beasts, the Worshippers of the Rocky Mountain, and the Dragon
171 – The Magical Beasts, the Worshippers of the Rocky Mountain, and the Dragon #4
— Are you talking about Azidahaka when you mention the fire dragon?
At my question, the salamanders nodded eagerly and shouted with a voice that could tear the very skies apart.
— Yeah, you got it! Scary, right!? We are the descendants of the chosen mythical creatures, the kings of this desert! This red scale and horn are proof!
— We’re not just some random chumps! It’s way too late for regrets now!
The twin sisters flicked their tongues playfully, showing off their bright red tongues.
I shrugged my shoulders, feeling a bit uneasy about the whole situation.
— With them acting like that, what do you think? When did you have such grown daughters? I had no idea you were married.
“Th-that can’t be! That was my first time laying an egg!”
Azidahaka reacted quite sensitively, yelling back.
— No need to shout. But you do resemble them. Red-scaled lizard. Hehe.
I could just about understand the jackals of the desert mistaking the fire dragon Azidahaka for a red-scaled lizard, the salmon salamander.
If you only looked at their appearance, Azidahaka, with scales, a tail, and long horns, and the salmon salamander twins, who also had red scales and little horns on their tails, looked quite similar — bizarrely so, really.
The only difference? Size, of course.
The sisters, with their short limbs, tail, and horns resembling those of little girls, contrasted sharply with the voluptuous grown Azidahaka.
‘Are they really not related?’ was the impression I got. But hey, a dragon is nothing more than a big lizard, right?
— Sis, I think everyone’s frozen in shock at our real identity.
— Then we should kindly melt their hearts!
The salmon salamanders flared up with flames at the corners of their mouths.
— I-I’m gonna sh**t flames!
— All of our fur’s gonna get singed!
The jackals barked and warned with an alarm.
‘If they’re gonna spew flames, I can block it first this time.’
With nearly a hundred agility points gained after reaching adulthood, I could easily close dozens of meters in a single bound.
I wasn’t sure how powerful the flames they produced were, but like Azidahaka, they would need time to charge and prep before blasting.
Then, it made sense to strike before they completed their charge.
As I was deciding my next move and getting ready to leap, Azidahaka, striding elegantly beside me, stepped in front of the salmon salamander twins.
“I’ll handle this.”
Clink.
The black fairy accessory on Azidahaka’s horn chimed sweetly.
— Want me to pet your hair or something?
“Uh, no, I don’t think that’s necessary this time.”
Whoosh.
A heat haze rose up from Azidahaka’s mouth. Seizing that moment, the two salmon salamander sisters opened their mouths wide to release flames.
— Burn, burn!
— Make it black!
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Two fire strikes shot toward us.
They looked more like flaming balls being vomited than flames spewing forth from mouths.
The two fireballs soared toward Azidahaka, seemingly ready to scorch her.
“Too lukewarm for me!”
Kuaaaak!
With a thunderous roar, Azidahaka opened her mouth and unleashed a massive column of fire. The flame balls from the salamander sisters were swallowed by the larger inferno.
Whoosh!
The flames emitted by Azidahaka didn’t just extinguish the fireballs, but also surged forward, scorching everything in its path.
— Hiiiiyah!
— Wh-what’s happening!
Seeing the fiery curtain barreling towards them, the twin salamanders huddled together in shock.
After the flames swept by, they lay on the ground, charred black, writhing feebly.
— Ouch, Sis, it’s hot….
— How did we… end up on fire….
“Red-scaled lizards daringly muttering the name of the fire dragon, huh? You’ve got another ten thousand years of training ahead of you.”
In a surprising contrast to her fiery temperament, Azidahaka’s voice, as she approached the dazed salamander twins, was as icy as could be. She grabbed each sister by the scruff and lifted them into the air.
— Kreeeck, ugh! Sis, what do we do!
— Don’t ask me! Just think for yourself for once!
“I’ve seen red-scaled lizards in the desert impersonating me, but I was a bit shocked to hear them claim to be my daughters.”
— Uh, is she really the fire dragon!?
— I heard only she has such fearsome flames!
The twin sisters struggled, hanging onto Azidahaka’s arm.
With even mediocre beasts being easily dealt with by my own power, it was only to be expected that Azidahaka, the prime incarnation, swiftly and easily dealt with them.
‘She must be really angry.’
Watching Azidahaka’s skin glow a deep reddish-brown, I felt my back sprout quills in sympathy.
Typically, she was calm and dignified like a saint, but witnessing her in this rage made it all too easy to understand the legends of a dragon setting the sky on fire out of spite.
It would certainly be odd not to be furious with anyone impersonating her children.
— Please forgive us, O Fire Dragon…! We didn’t know you had returned to this desert!
— We’ve been completely innocent! Honestly! We were misled by the promises of being turned into dragons and came to this mountain. Didn’t I say we shouldn’t come here!?
— Are you blaming me? You said it was a good idea!
— I never said it was good! I said it might be!
— You always do this! You act like you’re never at fault and always put the blame on me!
— What? Did you just talk back to your older sister!?
Bicker, bicker.
The sisters, caught in Azidahaka’s grip, began flailing their little tails and limbs as they squabbled.
“Shh, quiet down.”
Bam!
Watching the platinum duo crumble into a pathetic heap, Azidahaka thumped her tail against the ground just like I always did. The sound split the air, making the twin sisters blink in surprise.
“A bit rude and noisy, but judging by the heartbeat and voice I hear, you’re not the kind of bad beasts that worship Satan as you claim.”
Azidahaka’s once-red skin started fading slowly back to white. Perhaps she was worn out by the twin sisters’ bickering.
— So, are you forgiving us?
— We’re sorry! We won’t ever do it again…
“You’ve had your punishment, so I see today’s events will likely not repeat. But there must be some penalty for impersonating my children.”
— Huh, m-my tail!
— P-please let go…!
Azidahaka forced the sisters onto the ground, then grabbed each of their stumpy little tails and yanked them off.
— My tail, my tail!
— Nooo, my nutrients! Two decades worth of accumulated growth down the drain….
— Just k*ll me now! A lizard without a tail! I’ll be ridiculed for life!
I’d heard that lizards store surplus nutrients in their tails. The more robust and substantial the tails are, the higher the social standing among their peers.
Having had their tails stripped away, the sisters felt about as empty as someone who’d had their entire bank account cleaned out.
As a matter of fact, the twin sisters, their tails yanked from their bodies, began weeping such thick tears of regret that I felt sorry for them.
*
— Delicious.
Having wolfed down two red-scaled lizard tails, I reveled in the rich, oily flavor.
Just as their name suggests, salmon salamanders were decadently fatty, melting like butter in my mouth and sliding easily down my throat.
I could eat these endlessly without tiring, even without soy sauce or wasabi!
— So good.
【Experience points gained.】
Despite only eating a part of their bodies, I snagged experience points smoothly.
Having devoured many creatures since climbing this mountain, I thought just a few more would be enough for a level-up.
“The nutrients stored must be packed. The thicker and sturdier the tails, the more you can tell about their nutrient status.”
With Azidahaka’s explanation in mind, I narrowed my eyes and scanned her rear. From the hole in her waist, I could see a well-defined and thick tail swaying enticingly.
— Packed with nutrients, huh.
“P-please, not my tail! You have no idea how much time I spent growing this!”
Perhaps sensing my scheming gaze, Azidahaka clutched her sumptuous tail against herself like a protective child and growled.
— I never said I’d eat it. Just looking, that’s all.
“Wipe your mouth before you speak!”
— Oh.
Slurp.
I wiped the drool trickling from my mouth with my front paw. The mouth structure was a bit different now that I was a dragon, so occasionally I couldn’t help it when that hunger hit and drool spilled out.
With Azidahaka clutching her tail and glaring at me, I sheepishly scratched my cheek with my front claw.
— We’re almost at the peak now. That didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I figured it would take at least a day to reach the top.
This rocky mountain, Sinai, could be compared in height to Hallasan.
Given how unrefined the mountain paths were and the harsh terrain, I thought it would take at least a day or two to reach the top, but reaching the platinum layer had only taken about half a day.
Abraham, who’d silently followed along behind us, nodded in agreement.
“Thank goodness there’s a cave like this in the mountain. No need to scale cliffs. At this rate, we should make it to the peak in less than half a day.”
— That’s only if we easily deal with the ascended beings in the diamond level above us.
The floor just below the mountain peak.
This area where the diamond level ascended beings resided.
You could call it the very top floor of the Tower Palace in the human realm.
I recalled the one ascended being residing up there.
As for the twin sisters with red scales, they said that this being was not just a typical type but the original source of their kind.
Climbing the ladder leading up, rather than basking in the fragrant smell of grass from the lower levels, we were met with the pungent scent of iron.
‘Feels like my nose is going to bleed.’
That was the smell of bl**d. The diamond level was an utterly rancid space, where the stench of bl**d permeated everything.
The countless skulls of various beasts scattered about and the bizarre marks of curses and totems of heresy spun my head around.
‘Now this looks like a real Satan worshipper’s lair.’
The sullen atmosphere and thick fog of bl**d reminded me of the heart of The Ancient Nest, deeply reminiscent of Nialli’s belly.
— Kyuuiiing….
Yingyi trembled and burrowed into Azidahaka’s embrace. Being sensitive to both good and evil, Yingyi must have sensed the oppressive evil pressure weighing heavily in this space.
“There’s something ahead.”
Azidahaka, who had maintained her relaxed demeanor up until now, whispered a hushed threat to me in a low voice.
— I know.
I sharply extended my claws, preparing for an ambush at any time.
Until now, I had taken a laid-back stroll up the mountain, but upon entering this layer, it seemed wise not to let my guard down.
“Those are sheep skulls, without a doubt. These are the bones of sheep that the Satan worshippers have taken from us. And this….”
Ignoring the foul stench, Abraham rummaged through piles of bones and pulled out one particularly elongated bone.
“This is not a sheep’s bone. Nor is it a bone of any other beast. This… this is… Isaac, my son. Don’t look. Blindfold yourself.”
The trembling voice of Abraham, an old man over a hundred years old, shivered as if he would faint any moment.
He must have realized what that bone was, what had happened to the young men abducted from his village.
Such bones littered about the winding passages of the rocky cave.
‘This is some sick appetite they’ve got. Plenty of discarded chunks too.’
Satan worshippers.
I had heard they were cruel and wicked, but given what I’d seen of them up to this point, I held a somewhat mocking view of them, treating them like bumbling fools.
However, once I laid eyes on this gruesome scene, I had to concede that I had misjudged them.
‘This isn’t about being hungry — it’s about finding meaning in the act of eating itself. It seems they found enjoyment in hunting as well. There’s definitely something dangerous here.’
Seeing the red palm prints and sharp slashes stamped into the cave walls gave me a vague understanding of the events that had transpired here.
After walking a bit further, I soon spotted whole skeletons hanging on the wall, making me frown deeply.
“How dreadful. It feels almost like an exhibit.”
Just as Azidahaka had said, in this oppressive cave hung skeletons arranged like the human models from a biology lab.
You could easily infer that their arms had been tied and their legs shattered, suggesting they’d been restrained and tortured to prevent escape.
‘This is the real deal, huh.’
I felt no hint of the mercy I showed to the jackals. What I sensed here was a clear display of malice relishing in suffering — not mere predation.
— So then, are you the master of this vile perversity?
Before my eyes stood a black monster, defiantly seated on a throne made of bones.
It looked like a grotesque hybrid of a black ram below and a muscular man above, complete with twisted horns and goat-like eyes that raised my hair on end.
— Vile perversion, a fine compliment. I’ll award you seven points out of ten.
The extreme savagery of the beast, known as Baal, the dark son of the black ram, slowly rose.
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