Chapter 131: Nightmare
The unicorn, having undergone an awakening befitting the protagonist of some tale.
The divine energy, akin to a blue lightning bolt, replaced its lost horn.
I couldn’t help but be amazed at its form, which closely resembled the unicorn I had imagined.
But now wasn’t the time to be in awe.
“Nay…do…ra…rae… Chaaan!”
The enraged unicorn.
“Kyaaaah! What is this horn…?!”
The Imoogi Bird was utterly shocked.
Even as the unicorn charged at the Imoogi Bird, it glanced at me.
It was probably saying, ‘Leave this to me.’
“Monogamyyyyyyyy!”
Look at that condensed fury.
The unicorn had enough strength to easily handle the Imoogi Bird.
“Get out of hereeeee!”
The Imoogi Bird screeched in terror as it tried to flee from the unicorn.
Unlike me, who was far from pure, that horn was likely lethal to it.
The unicorn in its current state could definitely deal with the Imoogi Bird.
I had only one thing to do.
Leave this to the unicorn and rejoin the Snake Queen.
Popopopop!
Kwaaaang!
It wasn’t hard to find where the Snake Queen was.
The ground-shaking roar.
And the destructive ray that seemed to tear the sky apart.
The Snake Queen was definitely over there.
“Block it! Block iiiit!”
But the Imoogi Bird and the other enemies wouldn’t leave me alone.
“Keeekikikik!”
The Terror Birds swarmed towards me.
They couldn’t defeat me, but they were trying to hold me back as much as possible.
Still, I had to think about our forces, too.
“Sssaaah!”
A massive anaconda quickly targeted one of the Terror Birds’ necks.
Crunch.
Its bite strength wasn’t something to boast about, but those snakes had other weapons.
Crackkk!
With its immense muscles, it squeezed.
One of the Terror Birds, about to attack me, immediately collapsed to the ground, and with a sharp crack, its neck broke.
Crack.
Without even a moment to express my thanks, I dashed towards the Snake Queen.
The enemies desperately tried to block my path.
“Grrroooaaar!”
A Black Dragon Stegosaurus swept through the enemies with its tail.
“Screeeee!”
The enemies that tried to attack me from the sky were dealt with by the Pteranodon.
Although I had help from everyone, the resistance from the enemies was fierce.
They were doing everything they could to stop me.
I had to shake them off to reach the Snake Queen.
Dragon Scale Transformation.
Shaaah!
I suppressed the Dragon Scales to the limit.
Now, I was almost in a bare-bodied state.
I immediately threw myself into the air.
Kwang!
I crashed into a nearby rock.
Blood flowed from my entire body.
…This should be enough.
A sudden self-inflicted wound.
And the blood dripping down.
I could see the enemies were confused.
They must have thought I’d gone mad.
Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t the case.
Whoosh.
Blue flames engulfed my entire body.
Once again, Dragon Scale Transformation.
Shaaaaash!
If they could still hold me back, they were welcome to try.
—
The Snake Queen roared.
Every time she moved, the entire jungle quaked.
Her massive body, which could easily leap tens of meters, was enough to crush the incoming enemies just by her movements.
Simply moving her body could be called a disaster.
But the Snake Queen wasn’t satisfied with just that and gave it her all.
Destructive rays fired in quick succession. Even if one managed to dodge them, she immediately unleashed her petrifying gaze, and if that failed, she swung the massive sword wrapped in her tail, literally turning the jungle into a wasteland.
At a glance, it might seem like a waste of strength.
Since the forces the Snake Queen had brought were formidable, she could have left the small fry to them.
But the Snake Queen didn’t do that.
There was no way she would exhaust her strength with just this, and she knew that the more chaos she caused, the more likely the Bird King would respond personally.
He might not have any affection for his subordinates, but he surely understood the importance of his forces.
The longer it took for Gaetsalgoadal to intervene, the more meaningless the losses to his troops would be.
That was the message the Snake Queen was sending.
Stop wasting time and come out.
Whooooosh!
A tremendous gust of wind arose.
As she had predicted, the Bird King appeared.
As soon as the Snake Queen saw his face, she unleashed her destructive ray.
Chweeeeeeng!
The destructive ray tore through the sky as if it were about to split it in two.
The Bird King swiftly dodged her attack with rapid flight.
“It’s been a while, Snake Queen….”
And then, leisurely, he spoke, Gaetsalgoadal.
“No, Bakshilisugu (爆失離需懼).”
Bakshilisugu—a name given by Gaetsalgoadal, not the Snake Queen’s true name.
“Don’t address me with that filthy mouth.”
“Heh! Your fiery temper hasn’t changed….”
Gaetsalgoadal laughed sinisterly.
The Snake Queen felt an instinctive disgust.
“Break your wings and come down here.”
“Hah! Hahaha!”
Gaetsalgoadal burst into maniacal laughter.
To threaten a being of the sky to come down to the ground.
It was just like the Snake Queen he knew.
“Gladly!”
The Bird King descended close to the ground.
One might think it was madness for a bird to touch the earth, but the Bird King knew that he couldn’t attack the Snake Queen effectively from the air. To subdue her, he had no choice but to come down.
And, as she had implied, the Snake Queen wasn’t incapable of aerial combat either.
With speed that defied her massive size, she lunged at him.
The serpent soared through the air.
A sentence that should be impossible in any context.
She had transcended the limits of her species with overwhelming muscle power.
She coiled her tail like a spring and leaped with its recoil.
The Snake Queen didn’t stop there.
Chweeeeng!
She unleashed a destructive ray from her mouth.
The Snake Queen used it to propel herself.
By twisting her body as she fired it, she turned the full force of the destructive ray into speed.
When I turned my body, my tail naturally swung forward.
And attached to her tail was a large sword, forged from the feathers of the Golden Vermillion Bird and tempered with dragon scales.
Saaaak!
Zweeeeng!
It was a colossal slash that cut down dozens of trees at once.
“From the start… you’ve come at me with full force. This wasn’t the strategy you had planned, was it?”
Gaetsalgoadal was unharmed.
To be precise, he had dodged the Snake Queen’s attack.
The Snake Queen frowned.
It wasn’t because he was faster than her and avoided the attack.
There was something she didn’t know.
“Are you worried about that black lizard you claim is your mate…?”
The Snake Queen didn’t answer.
There was only one response she could give him.
Zweeeeeeng!
The Snake Queen’s destructive ray, capable of burning everything to ashes.
The Bird King unleashed the same technique.
Paaaang!
The two attacks neutralized each other.
Kwang!
The aftermath of the battle shattered the surroundings, turning the area into a wasteland.
The beasts with any sense had already fled, while those that couldn’t had their bodies melted away.
Kwang!
Crack!
The Snake Queen and the Bird King were locked in a fierce battle.
Whenever the Bird King tried to create distance, the Snake Queen immediately closed in.
Saaaak!
Kwaaaaang!
Their fight was truly neck and neck.
Each attacked with the intent to kill, yet neither landed a single blow on the other.
After exchanging about twenty strikes, the Bird King spoke.
“Persistent!”
Paaaat!
With a gust of wind, the Bird King widened the gap.
“You didn’t even give me a chance to speak, attacking non-stop.”
The Snake Queen knew exactly what Gaetsalgoadal’s ability was.
Just as she had her petrification, he had mind control.
Of course, their powers didn’t work on each other.
But the fact that their abilities didn’t work didn’t mean their minds couldn’t be shaken.
In fact, she had almost faltered earlier due to the Imoogi Bird, which was a weaker version of Gaetsalgoadal.
That’s why she had pressured him before he could start speaking.
Also, she was worried about her mate, who was fighting the Imoogi Bird.
Without responding, the Snake Queen tried to rush toward the Bird King again.
But she couldn’t.
“Rise.”
At that moment, when Gaetsalgoadal spoke those words, the corpses that had melted away began to rise again.
It was an impossible sight.
The bodies, which had been melted beyond recognition from the recent battle, were reanimated.
A strange black substance, like shadows, wove through their bodies, forcing them to stand up.
It was an ability that defied reason.
But something like this couldn’t stop her.
“Kukukuku. Allow me to introduce you….”
A familiar enemy appeared.
“Kokkiok!”
Gaetsalgoadal.
A being that had once served the Snake Queen.
Gogaduris.
And it wasn’t just him.
“Krrrrk!”
“Krrraaar!”
Beihj Bird.
These were beings her mate had already killed.
Even if one generously assumed Gaetsalgoadal had the power to control life, this still didn’t make sense.
Both Gogaduris and Beihj Bird had been killed with their cores extracted.
Gogaduris had turned to stone and shattered, while Beihj Bird had been completely consumed by her mate.
How could beings that had vanished without a trace be resurrected?
Moreover, their energy felt stronger than before.
They shouldn’t even have their cores.
“Are you surprised? Heh heh heh….”
The Bird King grinned with satisfaction.
The Snake Queen refocused her mind.
Though an unexpected factor had arisen, it was still something she could overcome.
Paaaat!
The petrifying gaze.
A power that could turn even divine creatures into stone.
“Kokkiok!”
“Krrrrk!”
But it didn’t work.
It wasn’t that they resisted or had an immunity.
The petrification simply had no effect, as if she had cast her gaze into the air.
The Snake Queen, without panic, immediately adjusted her strategy.
If petrification didn’t work, so be it.
Saaaak!
She spun her body, unleashing a massive slash.
Kwaaaaaang!
A strike powerful enough to split a mountain in two.
No creature, divine or not, could survive such an attack.
“Struggle all you want, my Queen….”
The beings were indeed destroyed.
“Kokkiok!”
But from beneath Gaetsalgoadal’s feet, Gogaduris reappeared.
The Snake Queen realized it immediately.
If she didn’t kill the Bird King, none of this mattered.
She had to endure minor losses and focus on taking his head.
The Snake Queen acted without delay.
She moved with wild fury, striking down the resurrected beasts.
Feigning that she was focused on fighting the resurrected subordinates, she prepared a secret move to target Gaetsalgoadal’s neck.
For some reason, Gaetsalgoadal simply observed her from a distance.
Could he have already noticed her plan?
If not, there was no reason for him to refrain from attacking.
Although his nature was twisted, this was the final phase.
Once again, Gaetsalgoadal acted in a way that was impossible to understand.
At that moment, a thought flashed through the Snake Queen’s mind like a lightning bolt.
Gaetsalgoadal had gained some rapid regeneration or resurrection-related ability.
That’s how he controlled the divine creatures that had already died.
Her mate, who was fighting the Imoogi Bird.
She had assumed the wings were still injured and factored that into the battle plan.
But what if those injuries were completely healed?
What if, beyond that, its strength had increased?
All of her strategies would fall apart.
She finally understood why the Bird King was buying time.
He had copied the Snake Queen’s own plan.
The Imoogi Bird would defeat the lizard, reunite with Fiery Phoenix, and they would rejoin the Bird King.
The Snake Queen had no choice but to immediately revise her strategy.
There was no time to look back.
For the victory of this war, and for her mate’s safety, she had to kill him instantly.
The sword she wielded was made from the feathers of the Golden Vermillion Bird.
Though it was only part of it, the inner energy of the Golden Vermillion Bird was infused within the sword.
The power itself wasn’t that great.
However, it was a force that directly opposed the Bird King.
It was time to use that power.
The Snake Queen’s scales shimmered with a brilliant golden hue.
“Hooh. It seems you’ve finally realized….”
The Imoogi Bird’s lips curled upward.
“But, Snake Queen, could you take a look below?”
There was no need to listen to that creature.
Like the Imoogi Bird before, it was trying to shake her psychologically by showing her former master.
Such a predictable trick.
She couldn’t allow herself to be bound by the ghosts of the past and lose those precious to her in the present.
However—
“…Now, you are the Queen.”
A vivid voice resonated in her ears.
The Snake Queen tried not to look down.
But she couldn’t help it.
“My favorite flower….”
The form of a human, cloaked in black shadows.
“White Lotus, and Snowflake….”
And the conversation that only she knew from that day.
Why?
How could you be here?
The Snake Queen swallowed the words that threatened to escape.
How cruel this was.
Of all times, why now, did she have to appear?
Grit.
The Snake Queen clenched her teeth.
That was Gaetsalgoadal’s malice.
A mere illusion created to deceive her.
It was a scenario she had braced for countless times since encountering the Imoogi Bird.
She had thought she could ignore whatever appeared before her.
But to dismiss it as mere malice… those warm, red eyes felt too real.
They belonged to the person who had taught her.
The person she couldn’t hold onto.
The Snake Queen had been a coward.
She regretted losing her master.
She had waited for a master who would never return.
The person she thought she would never see again.
The Snake Queen’s heart began to falter.
She wanted to tell her that she had missed her.
That she wanted to see her savior once more.
That she wanted to beg for forgiveness.
Kwaaang!
A violent explosion erupted from the Snake Queen’s mouth.
She had unleashed her destructive ray on herself.
It seemed like the only way to overcome this temptation.
It was nothing but a ghost of the past.
There was someone more precious to her now.
“…Yes, that’s it.”
The woman smiled gently.
The same smile from the time they shared the Honey of Okbong, filled with happiness.
…Could that really be just a ghost from the past?
Could her master still be alive?
Even though she knew it was a foolish thought, the Snake Queen found it hard to move.
A black liquid began to slowly take hold of the Snake Queen’s heart.
She could no longer resist.
If only she hadn’t spoken.
If only she hadn’t shown that smile.
If only, then maybe she could have shaken it off.
Wasn’t this all just a nightmare?
Wouldn’t she wake up and return to the form of a small snake?
The Snake Queen, thinking such thoughts, tried to close eyes that wouldn’t close.
….
Zweeeeng!
A blue ray swept through the image of her master.
Thump.
Thump.
The Snake Queen’s heart pounded wildly.
It was probably due to the Beihj Bird’s core that she and he had shared.
The blue ray.
And the energy of the Beihj Bird began to resonate.
The one who would save her from this nightmare was not a ghost from the past.
“Gegegegegek!”
Her mate had returned.