Chronicles of the Silver Dragon – Episode 39
“A Divine Beast?”
At Yeom Jo-hwi’s question, Hong Yu-hwa tilted her head.
“You don’t know what a Divine Beast is?”
Seeing that, Yeom Jo-hwi, who had been wearing a dumbfounded expression, also tilted her head.
But then, not just her, but Je Hwa as well, and even Hong Yu-hwa, reacted to something.
“The Blood Cult… is it?”
Je Hwa growled lowly.
“Ahh… They’re moving too fast…”
Yeom Jo-hwi also frowned, making a troubled expression.
“What is this vulgar stench? Like Demon Realm slave-class demons.”
Hong Yu-hwa, who had never seen the Blood Cult before, pinched her nose and complained irritably.
BOOOOOOM!
An earth-shattering explosion rocked the Sacheon Dangga.
“Wh-what!”
“This is as if dozens of thunderbolt bombs have gone off…”
Startled by the sudden explosion, the crowd that had been watching the fight between Hong Yu-hwa and Yeom Jo-hwi in shock looked around in panic.
And the expressions of some martial artists who recognized the sound of thunderbolt bombs hardened stiffly.
In an instant, over fifty figures clad head to toe in black appeared at the martial arts competition grounds.
“Kuaaack!”
And they began to tear the martial artists apart with their bare hands.
In moments, the Sacheon Dangga had turned into a living hell.
Numerous martial arts experts drew their swords and rushed to dispatch the assailants, yet they couldn’t inflict a single wound on their bodies.
“I-Ironclad Gangshi!”
Over fifty of the terrifying Ironclad Gangshi—creatures that could only be wounded by Sword Gang—had appeared!
And there was only one place in the Central Plains’ martial world that made use of Gangshi.
“The Blood Cult!”
Someone shrieked in a strangled voice.
“Kuaaaack!”
But even as he cried out, a Gangshi that had closed in behind him plunged its hand into his chest.
A torrent of blood drenched the Sacheon Dangga.
“What? What’s with that trash…”
With an expression of revulsion, Hong Yu-hwa looked at the Gangshi as though they were filthy garbage.
“Ah, I signed the contract because I thought it would be fun, but…”
Yeom Jo-hwi also scrunched up her face and looked around.
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter… Anyway, what are you?”
Yeom Jo-hwi, who had been frowning at her surroundings, smiled brightly and asked Hong Yu-hwa.
At those words, Hong Yu-hwa looked at Yeom Jo-hwi briefly and opened her mouth.
“Hong Yu-hwa. My exact name is Diadelin de Diablo, daughter of the Flame Demon King of the Demon Realm.”
“The Demon Realm? The Flame Demon King?”
At the unfamiliar words, Yeom Jo-hwi scrunched up her face and tilted her head.
Watching her, Hong Yu-hwa opened her mouth again.
“Your turn to introduce yourself.”
At that, Yeom Jo-hwi smiled and spoke.
“I’m Yeom Jo-hwi, the eldest daughter of the Divine Beast Zhuque of the southern lands of the East, and the successor of Zhuque.”
“Zhuque? What’s that? Is it something you eat?”
For a moment, Yeom Jo-hwi was speechless.
Just how devoid of common sense must one be to not know of Zhuque?
There would naturally be many uneducated people who wouldn’t know, but to Yeom Jo-hwi, Hong Yu-hwa seemed like someone who had learned plenty.
“H-hey… You really don’t know?”
“I don’t.”
“Live with some common sense, you ignorant wench!”
“What! What good is knowing the common sense of this world! I don’t even need it!”
“Th-this… world? What? What do you mean?”
“Hmph! You don’t need to know! Anyway, prepare yourself!”
Hong Yu-hwa glared at Yeom Jo-hwi, burning with fighting spirit.
To Hong Yu-hwa, Yeom Jo-hwi smiled and said,
“You’re not my opponent.”
“What?”
Hong Yu-hwa put on a bewildered expression.
Smiling at that sight, Yeom Jo-hwi lightly waved her hand, and five people appeared.
“What?”
As Hong Yu-hwa made a bewildered expression, those five lunged at her.
Swoosh!
Along with that, her escort knight appeared behind Hong Yu-hwa.
“Miss, please be careful! Two are Demon Counts, and the remaining three possess the power of Demon Barons!”
“I know. But where on earth did things like these come from?”
“At any rate… that woman is no ordinary person.”
“I know enough that she isn’t human.”
Hong Yu-hwa grumbled with a scrunched face, then soon pointed her finger at the enemies and shouted.
“Heuk-hwa! Go and wipe them out!”
“Um… Your Highness? Are you telling me to go die?”
“Hmph! Even if we’re both Demon Counts, not all Demon Counts are the same!”
“That may be true, but…”
“So shut up and charge!”
“….”
“Protecting the princess is a virtue a knight must possess! You bastard, hurry up and fight! Go! Shoo!”
‘Every princess is different, I suppose.’
Turning his back on Hong Yu-hwa, who treated him like a servant, Heuk-hwa smiled bitterly and raised his sword.
And Heuk-hwa saw. The five people looking at him with sympathetic gazes….
‘They’re having a hard time too, I see…’
In that moment, Heuk-hwa realized they were his comrades.
But even so, they couldn’t afford to simply sympathize with each other!
Heuk-hwa gripped his sword with a hardened expression.
Smack!
The head of the Gangshi struck by Je Hwa’s fist burst apart.
At that sight, the five Gangshi around him flinched. Even the fearless Gangshi couldn’t help but recoil at Je Hwa’s terrifying momentum.
“What are these things?”
Je Hwa’s expression was extremely unpleasant, as if he were looking at filthy trash.
The strange odor mixed with the stench of rotting corpses did little to improve his mood.
Just as Je Hwa was about to lunge at the Gangshi…
Crunch! Crack!
Something suddenly appeared and began smashing the Gangshi to pieces.
It was none other than Yeom Jo-hwi, who had been fighting Hong Yu-hwa just moments ago.
“Hey there.”
Yeom Jo-hwi grinned and greeted Je Hwa.
But Je Hwa simply looked at her with a flat expression.
“Huh?”
At that reaction, Je Hwa swung his fist without hesitation toward the slightly bewildered Yeom Jo-hwi.
Fwoosh!
“Gasp!”
Startled by the heavy fist flying at her, Yeom Jo-hwi launched herself backward.
Boom!
“What kind of brat attacks so recklessly!”
Yeom Jo-hwi shrieked in alarm.
“Stop!”
Glaring fiercely at Yeom Jo-hwi, Je Hwa wildly swung his fists and rushed at her.
If it had been a bare fist without any energy, like Hong Yu-hwa’s, she could have blocked it.
But since a terrifying silver aura enveloped his fist, Yeom Jo-hwi couldn’t think to block Je Hwa’s attacks carelessly.
After being chased by Je Hwa for a moment, Yeom Jo-hwi took out twin fans from her bosom and unfurled them wide.
And spinning on the spot, she created a powerful wind.
“Ehhhhh?”
Je Hwa, blasted into the air by the wind, wore a blank expression.
Taking that opening, Yeom Jo-hwi instantly appeared before him and planted her foot in his stomach.
Thud!
“Geugh!”
Je Hwa let out a groan at the heavy impact in his stomach. At the same time, he began plummeting at tremendous speed.
But Je Hwa was not one to take a beating lying down.
He instantly grabbed the ankle of Yeom Jo-hwi, who had kicked his stomach, and flung the startled her straight toward the ground.
“Kyaaaaak!”
In the sudden turn of events, Yeom Jo-hwi screamed as she crashed to the ground together with Je Hwa.
Thud!
Bang!
The two landed on the ground, making different sounds.
“Tsk… This brat… Hiiik!”
Yeom Jo-hwi ground her teeth and tried to get up, but had to roll aside in alarm as a foot stomped down right before her eyes.
Thud!
With a heavy impact, someone’s foot embedded itself right where Yeom Jo-hwi’s head had been.
Naturally, the one who had planted their foot in the ground was none other than Je Hwa.
“Uwah…”
Yeom Jo-hwi broke into a cold sweat after barely dodging.
“What a waste! I could have killed you.”
“You nearly killed a beauty and you say it’s a waste!”
“Hmph! As if you’d die from something like that.”
“But it must have hurt like hell!”
Watching Yeom Jo-hwi shout in anger, Je Hwa simply picked his ear with his pinky.
“Th-that is…”
Yeom Jo-hwi, who had been glaring at Je Hwa, flinched at his cold eyes for a moment.
“Hey, weren’t you trying to fight me?”
“….”
“Come at me. I’ll kill you.”
Je Hwa said with a grin, and at those words, Yeom Jo-hwi felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
Though he smiled so innocently, she had clearly seen it. The cruelty hidden within the innocence flickering in Je Hwa’s eyes….
‘Perhaps… I may have provoked a monster even greater than I thought…’
She had already investigated quite a lot about him.
No one knew where he had suddenly appeared from.
But she could find out that he had appeared roughly thirteen years ago, lived in a certain village until recently, and that all the villagers had been killed by a group called the Blood Cult.
Unlike humans, Divine Beasts lived as one with nature.
They lived feeling countless energies: the energy of wind, earth, water, fire, sky, wood, and many more.
Among these, Zhuque possessed a strong affinity for the energies of fire and sky.
Moreover, of the Four Directional Divine Beasts, Zhuque was the most belligerent and fond of combat.
As the next successor of Zhuque, she too possessed a highly combative temperament.
She had fought other Divine Beast successors and offspring several times, but meeting mysterious existences like Je Hwa and Hong Yu-hwa made her interest surge and simultaneously aroused her competitive spirit.
Hong Yu-hwa possessed powerful demonic energy.
Not only that, but she possessed an enormous fire energy rivaling her own, yet was something other than a Divine Beast.
To her, a Divine Beast, the race known as “demon” was unfamiliar.
No, the race called demons didn’t even exist in this world, so it was undoubtedly an unfamiliar existence regardless.
But Yeom Jo-hwi was more interested in Je Hwa than in Hong Yu-hwa.
To her eyes, Je Hwa was clearly human, yet he was a monstrous human who far surpassed humanity and possessed power on the level of a Divine Beast.
Wanting to fight him, she had prepared several things to provoke him.
But he already knew that she had some sort of connection to the Blood Cult.
And he looked at her with eyes so cold they seemed capable of freezing the world.
Yeom Jo-hwi let out a deep sigh, rose from her spot, then took a respectful posture and spoke.
“I am Yeom Jo-hwi, successor of Zhuque who rules over the south among the Four Directional Divine Beasts of the East. I have come here to fight you.”