Chapter 465 - Fuck off.
Kwaahhh-!
A massive mouth opens wide and rushes at me.
Kuoong-!
It slams straight into the wall, completely shattering it.
Dragging my ragged arm, I barely managed to dodge.
Since I was underwater, moving was quite inconvenient.
‘Tch….’
I clicked my tongue and furrowed my brow.
My body being wrecked was a problem, but something else was more pressing right now.
[Hand yourself over to me obediently!]
Every word the bastard shouted kept ringing in my head.
Was it directly attacking my mind?
‘What a pain in the ass, seriously.’
The physical side was already an issue, but with it messing with my mind too, it was more than just annoying.
‘What the hell is this thing?’
I was already so used to having weird things dangling off my body that one more wouldn’t be strange, but...
It had popped out so suddenly that my doubts ran deep.
A demonic beast resembling a snake with blue scales.
It had a massive build, and its sharp fangs were impressive.
It had the kind of appearance that made you wonder if such a form could even exist.
Disgustingly arrogant and utterly repulsive.
Yet from that bastard, I felt a strangely familiar energy for some reason.
Shhhick-!
"...!"
Sensing a presence from the left, I raised both arms.
Kung-!
The attack came crashing down the moment I raised my arms, as if it had been waiting.
"Kuk!"
A heavy weight landed on my arm. The bastard had struck me with its tail.
My body was swept away by the impact and sent flying.
Kwaahk-!
Pain so intense I doubted I was actually underwater.
Thrown back, I was sent flying and slammed straight into the wall.
‘Damn, it’s strong too.’
So much so that a hollow laugh escaped me.
No matter how I looked at it, the situation was terrible.
How could this happen?
One arm was bitten, and my qi couldn’t be properly utilized.
Was it because my vessel was broken? That might be it.
I was far from ordinary, but I couldn’t display even a scrap of my usual capabilities.
And now I had to face something like that in this condition.
‘This is total bullshit.’
It truly was nothing short of an absurd situation.
I twisted my body.
Deudeudeudeuk-!
The bastard’s claws embedded themselves exactly where I had been.
I tried somehow to create distance, but it wasn’t easy.
My arm was numb. Was it cracked?
‘I don’t think it’s that bad.’
Unable to deploy my protective Gang Qi, my defense had grown weak.
Blocking was dangerous, so I had to evade somehow, but...
Kwaahk-!
That too was impossible. My battered flesh flailed powerlessly.
‘Kuk.’
My organs were shaken by the impact.
I barely protected my head, but my injured arm twisted once more.
Fuck, this really hurts like hell.
Trying to gather my wits, scattered by the pain, and compose my body.
Kwak-!
The bastard’s arm quickly dug in, grabbed me, and pinned me to the floor.
Kuoong-!
The surroundings shook once more from that impact.
Whether from the aftermath of the impact or not, bubbles surged upward, and feeling the sensation of my bones shattering, I had to bite my lip.
[Worthless mongrel.]
[As the noble superior species that I am, I graced you with mercy, yet you know not your place.]
[Did you truly believe you could win? Nothing more than a fleeting mortal?]
"Ah, for fuck's sake, can’t you talk normally?"
My ears itch like I'm going crazy.
Ppudeudeudeuk-! I tried to wrench my body free, prepared to twist my bones, but the force pinning me down showed no sign of loosening.
[Cease your pathetic antics. There is no hope for you. Therefore, to me....]
"Hand over my body?"
[Yes.]
Hearing those words, the corner of my mouth rose.
How many times had it repeated that already?
It spoke of its own greatness and magnificence, telling me to hand over my body. Then I would know peace.
There was no way to win anyway, so hand it over quietly.
The more I listened, the more questions arose.
"So. Why do you keep asking?"
[I shall say it again....]
"You could just take it, you bastard."
[...]
At my words, the creature’s body stiffened momentarily.
Seeing that, I smirked.
I wasn’t an idiot; it was obvious after just one clash.
That in my current state, I couldn’t beat this thing.
It was obvious just from being pinned down like this.
And the bastard in front of me, trying to devour me, knew this too.
But.
"Why the hell do you keep asking for it?"
Seeing it constantly demanding I hand it over, I vaguely felt like I understood something.
I spat out words while looking at the bastard’s intact eye.
"You can’t steal it by force, can you?"
[Krrrrr....]
"I have to give it to you. Right?"
No answer came.
Only a low growl could be heard.
But that was more than enough.
There was clearly an overwhelming gap in strength, and the bastard seemed to want my body, yet...
All it did was keep threatening me to hand it over, unable to actually seize it by force.
Moreover, it seemed to be subtly controlling its strength so as not to kill me.
"You can't kill me, and you can't steal it either. Right?"
I could tell the bastard was in a situation where it couldn't act rashly against me.
Was I certain? I wasn't.
But it was gradually turning into certainty.
Because the bastard's reaction was exactly that.
Its face twisted viciously. Its breathing grew gradually rougher.
And yet, the fact that it showed no further reaction was exactly the point.
That bastard couldn't do anything to me.
It meant it had no other recourse but to corner me mentally and make me hand it over myself.
Of course, even that might involve some trickery.
‘Does it have to?’
For that, there had to be a reason it needed to go so far.
Also, could it be an anomaly caused by what I just said?
I felt the pressure holding me down loosen slightly.
I twisted my body slightly. Escaping was impossible, but I managed to pull my hand free a little.
The problem was what to do now.
‘...I know what the problem is.’
I understood the bastard's problem, but that wasn't enough to break this situation.
In the end, I'd have to finish off the bastard for this to end.
How?
‘Like I'd know that.’
Would I be like this if I knew?
I only had the conviction that I wouldn't simply die.
I had to keep racking my brains over how to overcome the situation.
For now, it seemed impossible through strength alone.
‘If only my qi were circulating, I could try something.’
I felt empty inside, so even that was impossible.
‘Damn it.’
This is a total crisis.
As I thought that and twisted my body this way and that, the tip of my hand suddenly brushed past the bastard's flesh.
At that moment.
Uung-!
"...!"
[… Grrrk!]
I felt something digging into my body.
At the same time, the bastard holding me swung its arm and flung me far away.
Hwoooook-!
My body flew through the water currents.
It was the same situation as before, but this time, my body didn't slam into the wall.
Tuk.
I twisted my body and landed gently against the wall.
Immediately after, I checked my body's condition.
‘...Is energy circulating?’
Then I realized that the vitality which had been absent had returned, albeit in an extremely small amount.
Feeling that, I let out a smirk.
"Ah, so that's what it was."
[Krrrrr...!]
My half-destroyed body, my mental strength barely crawling on the floor, but...
Separate from that, I finally felt a bit of the suffocating feeling lift.
Feeling the small amount of energy that had returned to my body, I looked at the bastard.
I had wondered why it felt so familiar for someone I was seeing for the very first time.
"I wondered what it was, so it was you."
I thought I knew that thing's true nature.
That thing is...
"Blood Qi (血氣)."
It was none other than Blood Qi.
The energy that had flowed in from the bastard was clearly Blood Qi, and the familiar presence I felt from it was exactly that.
I didn't know why the creature had taken on such a form, but...
[Krrrrrk-]
It was clear that the bastard's true nature was Blood Qi.
Looking at the creature snarling with its face twisted, I spoke.
"You were sleeping quietly like a dead mouse, so why the hell are you suddenly throwing a fit?"
It was none other than the energy the Blood Demon himself had planted in my body.
It produced absurd effects when used, but the recoil the body felt afterward was devastatingly powerful.
In the first place, I had tried to avoid using it because it was energy given by the Blood Demon.
I had no idea why the power I'd shoved into a corner of my dantian had suddenly popped out like this.
"What are you."
[Do not be mistaken.]
"What?"
[Because I existed, you gained the opportunity of Talgak. It is only right that I take that body.]
I had to furrow my brow at the words it spat out.
It obtained the opportunity of Talgak because that thing existed?
‘Talgak (脫覺).’
What on earth did that mean? The Blood Demon had also said it to me.
It seemed to be related to dying as a human.
What exactly happens when one achieves Talgak?
‘Did it say superior species?’
Would one become something far superior to a human, as it kept saying?
"Superior species"—even the word itself felt ominous.
Perhaps because I kept furrowing my forehead, the bastard continued speaking as though displeased.
[You have no qualification to become a Dragon (龍). You wretch.]
Dragon (龍).
The word Blood Qi spat out jabbed into my mind.
‘If it's a Dragon...’
Hearing that, the creature's appearance came into focus anew.
A long, snake-like body with limbs, a sharply torn mouth, and fangs.
And on top of that, a massive body.
I had felt like I knew something, and now that I looked, it closely resembled the appearance of a Dragon spoken of only in legends.
Which was precisely why it was even stranger.
If one spoke of Dragons (龍) in the current Central Plains...
‘They all refer to White-grade demonic beasts, don't they.’
Because it was a term that collectively referred to white-rank demonic beasts that had broken through the White Demonic Gate.