Chapter 136 The Path of the Gecko
It felt as though time had come to a halt, and everything grew still.
The sensation of a blocked blood vessel clearing.
Right now, it seemed like I could do anything.
“You dare…!”
The tentacles, which had hesitated for a moment due to the light pouring from the sky, regained their focus.
Urged on by Gaetsalgoadal’s shout, they resumed what they had originally intended to do.
Numerous tentacles reached out toward me.
Each one strong enough to toy with me.
Gaetsalgoadal wasn’t coming directly at me, instead moving across the battlefield, increasing the number of tentacles. It was likely because it was well aware of its own strength.
After all, those tentacles originated from Taese’s power.
Even though I had gained enlightenment, I hadn’t grown stronger than Gaetsalgoadal, who borrowed Taese’s strength.
There was still a vast gap between us, like heaven and earth.
Gaetsalgoadal himself knew this better than anyone.
Paaat!
I kicked off the ground at high speed.
In an instant, I broke through the tentacles that had surrounded me and reached right in front of it.
Then came a powerful swing.
“Not bad!”
Paaaang!
Gaetsalgoadal dodged my attack with even greater speed.
The cost of missing my attack was a sharp counterstrike.
Once again, the tentacles shot toward me.
Guuuuu.
Pabababap!
A massive number of tentacles rushed at me.
To counter them, I used my right hand.
Saaaaaak!
With a snake-like movement, I twisted the trajectory of all the incoming attacks.
Kwaaaaang!
Even though I had blocked the tentacles’ attacks, Gaetsalgoadal still remained.
A twisted smile appeared on its face as its palm shot toward me.
I countered with my left hand.
That movement—it must have been the same technique I had seen when facing the Snake Queen.
Gaetsalgoadal’s speed far surpassed my current self.
Reacting to its attack would be nearly impossible.
So, I didn’t react.
I simply struck the air with movements as sharp as an eagle’s talons.
Chwaaaak!
“Kuh!”
I struck the spot where Gaetsalgoadal was about to arrive.
I couldn’t react, but I could predict.
Startled, Gaetsalgoadal abruptly changed direction.
Its extraordinary reflexes allowed it to move its body just before being hit by my attack.
Chwaaak!
I quickly swung my tail to follow up with another strike, but it hastily retreated.
“…So, you’re resorting to tricks now!”
Gaetsalgoadal seemed to have gauged my strength.
If it recklessly charged in, it might receive a fatal blow.
That also meant there was a high possibility it would use a different type of attack from what it had shown so far.
Fwoooooong.
A storm began to blow.
Numerous tentacles transformed into black shadows.
Taese’s power, combined with the Bird King’s innate strength.
Everything was combined into a deadly strike.
Kugugugugu.
The speed of the attack was slow.
No, it only appeared slow.
The moment I got caught in that attack, my body would be torn to shreds.
However, there was no escaping the storm.
The only option available to me was to face it head-on.
What I had realized wasn’t just the method of using power.
The countless murals I had seen until now.
The phrase left behind by the First Heavenly Demon for future generations.
I could now vaguely understand what it meant.
I took a deep breath.
In my left hand, the mystery of the bird.
In my right hand, the mystery of the snake.
Saaaaaak!
A movement like that of a snake and an eagle locked in a life-or-death battle.
The martial art recorded by the First Heavenly Demon on the rock.
Eagle-Snake Life-and-Death Duel.
My heart pounded wildly.
All of my energy focused on my hands.
Kwaaaaang!
Zzeooooog!
I struck one, and immediately blocked the other.
Dozens, hundreds of movements.
Kwaaaak!
Zzeooooog!
The black shadows of Taese relentlessly attacked, but I continued to deflect them with the mysteries of the Eagle-Snake Life-and-Death Duel.
Kwaggagagak!
Zzeooooong!
My right hand, like a snake’s head, stabbed into the storm.
My left hand, like an eagle’s talons, struck down Taese’s shadows.
Puhuhuhuhung!
The black storm turned into a gentle breeze.
“You were hiding your strength.”
Gaetsalgoadal stopped its attack and retreated.
It had realized that while I was employing the Eagle-Snake Life-and-Death Duel, the black storm could no longer harm me.
“Or maybe you’re drawing on innate energy.”
It was a completely unreasonable situation.
A mere lizard that had struggled against a single tentacle had now deflected hundreds of them.
“A useless struggle, but entertaining nonetheless!”
Its figure disappeared.
Zzeooooong!
I quickly raised my hand to block its palm strike.
“How unfortunate, truly unfortunate!”
Chwajajak!
Zzeooog!
Even though I was simultaneously using both the snake’s and the bird’s mysteries, keeping up with its attacks was still overwhelming.
I was much larger in size. However, it had the advantage in both strength and speed. My large body was, in fact, a disadvantage in this situation.
“You could have become a dragon. And yet, I must kill you myself!”
Puhuhuhuk!
Its palm strike broke through my defense.
Kwaaaaang!
The cost of allowing the attack was immediate.
I crashed into a rocky mountain, coughing up blood.
The accumulated fatigue from the fierce battle hit all at once.
My bones shattered, and every muscle in my body screamed in agony.
I hadn’t been fighting on equal terms with Gaetsalgoadal.
I had merely forced it to seem that way.
There was no time to even feel the pain.
The Bird King was not satisfied with this.
Its evil energy began to take form.
Gaetsalgoadal, in its human form.
Above its head, the image of a giant feathered snake wavered.
As blue flames wrapped around my body, Taese’s black shadow enveloped Gaetsalgoadal.
Step.
Kwaang!
The technique aimed to end my life.
A slow but certain death was approaching me.
My vision became blurry.
I had miraculously gained enlightenment, but it didn’t erase the accumulated damage I had taken.
The brief recovery of strength, thanks to Gaetsalgoadal’s arrogance, had vanished in an instant.
“Snake Queen! Open your eyes wide and watch! Witness the final moments of the lizard you love!”
Step.
Kwaaang!
Step.
Kwaaaang!
Gaetsalgoadal’s attacks were gradually gaining speed.
“Watch closely how I kill that arrogant creature!”
Arrogance.
The phrase ‘supreme above heaven and earth’ was a statement of pure arrogance.
Heaven and Earth.
It meant to encompass everything.
Squeezing out the last of my strength, I assumed the stance from earlier.
“Kuhaha! What’s with that ridiculous posture!”
Gaetsalgoadal burst into laughter.
Death was drawing closer.
One hand pointed toward the sky.
The other hand pointed toward the ground.
Step.
Kwaaaaaang!
No.
One hand grabbed the sky.
The other grasped the earth.
Great Heaven and Earth Shift (乾坤大挪移).
The legendary martial art, considered one of the greatest in the martial world, alongside Gu Yang Divine Skill.
The essence of the Great Heaven and Earth Shift was understanding the roots of power.
It allowed one to fully unleash potential and freely alter the direction of force, truly deserving to be called a divine skill.
Of course, there was no way I could fully replicate such a technique.
[“You have temporarily acquired the Great Heaven and Earth Shift.”]
What I could do was replicate only a fragment of that power.
Kugugugung.
“This energy… a dragon…!”
Kwaaaaaang!
Gaetsalgoadal’s speed increased.
It seemed to realize that instead of gathering power, it needed to reduce the time it took to reach me.
It was the correct decision.
The Great Heaven and Earth Shift was a divine skill that could elevate one’s potential.
All the elixirs I had consumed over time responded to the divine skill.
“Do you think I’ll just sit back and watch?!”
Gaetsalgoadal’s strike came flying toward me.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
It was a fearsome magical strike, capable of obliterating whatever it touched.
My body, wrapped in dragon scales, was ruthlessly destroyed.
I couldn’t avoid that attack.
“…No way!”
His attack had effortlessly bypassed my defenses.
But that wasn’t the result Gaetsalgoadal had intended.
‘Tail Cutting.’
The part that had been hit wasn’t my main body but my severed tail.
The benefit of cutting my tail was overwhelming speed.
The reward for a perfect evasion was a razor-sharp counterattack.
I focused all of my internal energy into my right hand.
Just one strike.
I needed the power to break through his defense in a single blow.
The attacks I’d used so far weren’t enough.
So I had to walk a different path.
There was only one path for me to take.
The Path of the Gecko.
The path of the gecko was—
A being that once crawled on the ground now grasped the sky.
My five fingers, filled with the essence of the gecko, swung down.
It wasn’t an imitation of someone else.
It wasn’t a technique taught by anyone.
It was my own martial art.
Gecko Divine Claws.
Zzeooooong!
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
A deafening roar shook heaven and earth.
“Kuhhhoooook!”
Gaetsalgoadal vomited black blood.
“Kahak, huuuh!”
Gaetsalgoadal screamed in agony.
Now was the perfect time to finish him off, but I had no strength left.
All I could do was trust in the words of the red-eyed woman.
“How dare you! How dare youuuu!”
Gaetsalgoadal glared at me with a hideous face, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.
“I will kill you! I will kill youuuuu!”
But contrary to his words, Gaetsalgoadal couldn’t move.
Puhwak!
A crimson-black tentacle sprouted from his body.
“Kkeureuk…. Kyaaaaah!”
To be more precise, it looked like something was escaping from his body.
“Ta-Tae-se! Why?!”
Gaetsalgoadal writhed on the ground, overcome with pain.
“Kahaha!”
He continued to vomit blood.
“Guuuurk… kuh…”
Gaetsalgoadal glared at me.
“Don’t think… this is over….”
Did he still have some strength left?
This was bad.
I was literally unable to move a single finger at the moment.
Just as Gaetsalgoadal raised his hand with great difficulty—
Zzeooong!
Kwaaaang!
A destructive beam.
It came from the Snake Queen.
“Kyaaaak!”
Gaetsalgoadal was struck by the Snake Queen’s attack and was flung far away.
She had gathered all her remaining strength to block Gaetsalgoadal’s attack.
“Kuhak… kuhak!”
But—
Crimson-black tentacles sprouted from the spot where the destructive beam had hit him.
“Krruuugh, kyaaaaak!”
Kwaaang!
Zzeooog!
Taese’s power began to run rampant.
“Krrrgh…. Grrr… Either way… I’m dead….”
Wooooong.
The scattered black shadows gathered into one.
“I’ll take you all… with me to the underworld….”
Zzeoooooong!
“Not just you, but everything in this jungle… I’ll return it all to nothing.”
A sinister energy began to radiate.
Kwaaaaaang!
The severed arm surged with Taese’s power, which was spiraling out of control.
Even that alone would be an uncontrollable disaster.
But he wasn’t satisfied with just that.
“Bow down….”
Saaaak!
A black aura stirred.
“To the Reaper of Death…!”
I realized his intention.
Since Taese’s power was running wild, Gaetsalgoadal would die soon enough.
The rampaging power of Taese no longer followed Gaetsalgoadal’s will.
In other words, even with power left, he couldn’t achieve his goal.
To resolve that, he had summoned another being.
“A being closest to the demonic!”
Zuaaaang!
“Kuhaha! Struggle all you want! Even if I die, this jungle will be wiped out!”
Gaetsalgoadal laughed maniacally.
“Khehe, of course, it won’t matter! Someone with this level of demonic power won’t let you live!”
I had made a mistake.
I should have kept some strength in reserve.
I never imagined he would make such a choice while Taese’s power was going berserk.
…….
It was a hopeless situation.
Gaetsalgoadal, who had absorbed Taese’s power.
And the powerful other being he called the Reaper of Death.
There was no way the current me could defeat such a being.
From the black shadow, a puppet-like figure emerged.
“Kuhahak! Reaper of Death! Great being! Destroy this world!”
“So, you’re the one who summoned me.”
I had lost.
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine defeating that being.
“Yes, indeed! Bring me the head of that lizard over there!”
“My principle is not to interfere with nature, but it seems there’s an exception this time.”
“Kuhat! You understand me well. Such fearsome demonic energy!”
Step.
Step.
The powerful being approached me.
It was over.
There was no way out.
The difference was too overwhelming.
My broken and torn body trembled uncontrollably.
Thud.
Someone grabbed my head.
Was he planning to rip it off just like that?
Would I simply die?
Crunch!
I bit his finger.
But my teeth couldn’t sever it.
I tried my best, but all I managed was a small mark.
“Lizard.”
My trembling body stilled.
“Little lizard.”
There was only one being who called me that.
“Did that creature do this to you?”
A woman with blue eyes gently stroked my head.
“W-What are you doing! Cut that lizard’s head off right this instant…!”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Hiiya.”
The being Gaetsalgoadal summoned radiated an aura even more fearsome than Taese’s.
“Did that half-baked monster do this to my only disciple?”
Using the last of my strength, I responded to her words.
“Gekek….”
She carefully laid me down.
Step.
Step.
Without a word, she walked slowly toward Gaetsalgoadal.
“Are you prepared?”
For the first time, her face was filled with anger.
She rolled up her sleeves.