Chapter 23 Your comrade? Are you referring to this?
The headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
The Cult Leader returned.
The elders reported to Baek Yeonyeong.
The contents were nothing unusual.
Whether there had been any intruders, what incidents occurred among the believers, and what the current situation was.
No one seemed to know that she had gone out, except for her close associates.
She maintained her usual expressionless face as she quietly listened to their stories.
It was all boring talk.
At some point, she found herself looking at the patterns on the ceiling.
The ornate patterns resembled countless dragons.
That part is crooked.
Baek Yeonyeong, who had noticed the misaligned part and was bothered by it, somehow felt happy because it reminded her of the lizard she had seen earlier.
“We conclude our report.”
The elders finished their report.
“Okay.”
After the elders left, the personal reports from the Guardians followed.
Except for the Left Guardian cautiously observing her, there was nothing special about these reports either.
For some reason, the Guardians quickly retreated.
To her, this was a good thing.
Now it was Baek Yeonyeong’s alone time.
She stretched and yawned.
“Haam…”
As she stretched, she found herself looking at eyes just like hers.
“…You were surprised. If you had something to say, you should have said it earlier. Why are you still here?”
Baek Seolhwa, the Shrine Maiden of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, was staring intently at Baek Yeonyeong.
“How could I dare to say anything unpleasant to the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
Baek Yeonyeong had never said it was something unpleasant.
The Shrine Maiden had come to say something unpleasant to her.
She instinctively realized it.
Baek Yeonyeong thought deeply.
Something unpleasant… what could it be?
Was it because I got caught stealing food last time? Or was it because I secretly took the Bingdanghoru?
There were so many things she had done that she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“Really? Then leave. I want to rest now.”
“If the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult gives such an order, this girl has no choice but to obey.”
The Shrine Maiden bowed gracefully.
And then, in that same posture, she raised her head.
Her eyes blazed.
“It’s not the Shrine Maiden asking the Cult Leader, but Seolhwa who has something to say to Yeonyeong. Will you listen?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Will you listen?”
“I said I don’t want to.”
The flames grew fiercer.
“Cult Leader. Seolhwa says that if it’s not now, she will be twice as angry.”
“Is that so?”
“May Seolhwa say something to Yeonyeong?”
She wouldn’t be able to leave without saying it anyway.
Baek Yeonyeong nodded.
“Go ahead.”
Seolhwa took a deep breath.
Her already large chest swelled even more.
“You crazy bastard!”
Gah!
It wasn’t a voice that the usual Shrine Maiden would make.
Except for the Guardians and the Cult Leader, Baek Seolhwa had always behaved in a way befitting a Shrine Maiden—gentle and always kind.
But now, she was like a general on the battlefield. She looked like an angry beast.
“Didn’t I tell you to let me know if you were going somewhere?”
Was she making a fuss over something so trivial?
“I definitely told you.”
Baek Yeonyeong spoke indifferently.
“What’s the point of telling the Left and Right Guardians? They try to hide it from me because they’re afraid of you.”
“How bad must the Shrine Maiden’s behavior be for them to hide such things? They’re both so virtuous.”
“You, you….”
It was the legendary martial art known as Lion’s Roar, which was believed to be lost.
That martial art was now being demonstrated by Baek Seolhwa.
Boom!
Baek Seolhwa’s nagging, which resembled a sound attack, continued.
The 101 reasons why the Cult Leader shouldn’t leave her post, the usual mistakes, and most importantly, how difficult it was to obtain the Honey of Okbong.
“Huff… Huff….”
Even for Baek Yeonyeong, who had long surpassed the pinnacle of martial arts, Baek Seolhwa’s sound attack was quite annoying.
“…Are you done?”
Why make such a fuss over stealing a bit of honey?
Honey.
Baek Yeonyeong smiled slightly as she remembered the small lizard devouring the Bijokdan and honey. It was just a momentarily lost item, but she couldn’t retrieve it.
How could she disturb it when it was eating so earnestly?
“Do you find this funny? …Ugh, forget it.”
Baek Seolhwa shook her head.
“Cult Leader.”
Her tone changed again.
What kind of eccentricity was she going to commit this time?
Baek Yeonyeong looked up at the Shrine Maiden.
“There’s one thing I didn’t report during the meeting.”
“Speak.”
“There’s something strange heading towards the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.”
“Something strange, you say.”
“It seems someone heard about the spiritual creatures here and is planning to infiltrate.”
Why mention this now?
If I questioned her, she’d probably say, ‘Because the Cult Leader was absent, there was no personal time to report it, right?’ and unleash another Lion’s Roar.
“They plan to infiltrate, so it won’t be a full-scale war.”
“For now. The Five Great Clans or the Nine Sects won’t attack without justification. They won’t use their names. But that doesn’t mean they’re not paying attention.”
In short, a punitive force targeting the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains was being formed.
The ringleaders were unknown. The upright sects pretended not to care but secretly sent small forces. They would soon invade the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
Specifically, their target was the spiritual creatures in the plains.
Baek Yeonyeong nodded.
“Let them come.”
“Pardon?”
“One grows through trials.”
Baek Yeonyeong looked at her fingertips.
There were no marks, but she remembered the sensation of someone biting her.
“Of course, I’ll have to trim some branches.”
Baek Yeonyeong made a meaningful remark and stood up.
*
This time, it was a centipede horde that attacked.
Their disgusting appearance repulsed me.
I should be thankful as it was a sign that my mind was still human.
Only five of them recognized me as an enemy, and the rest of the centipedes crawled elsewhere.
Even though there were only five, they still outnumbered me.
In the past, I would have run away.
But now I was different.
I activated Sprint.
My specialty was speed.
I should make the most of this advantage.
Adding my movement technique to my already fast speed, I reached a pace they couldn’t follow.
Slash!
And then came the Dragon Claws.
Dragon Claws was a martial art that involved grabbing the enemy with claws like those of a dragon.
My claws touched the centipede’s body.
At that moment.
Snap.
Its body split in two.
To ensure it was dead, I crossed my hands and slashed again.
Snap.
The centipede’s body trembled.
…So cool.
Was this really me?
I killed that hideous monster in one blow.
I was surely close to Baek Yeonyeong’s level now.
There was a reason for this.
My overwhelming speed and the deadly Dragon Claws were factors, but there was another additional element.
It was my title.
【Title】
「Loved by Spiders」
You will not be attacked first by animals belonging to the Araneae order.
When facing insects, your strength and speed are enhanced.
Enhancement to strength and speed when facing insects.
Strictly speaking, centipedes were arthropods, but it seemed to apply.
Thank you, Nephila Jurassica.
You were so generous.
After killing one, the other four centipedes seemed flustered.
“Hissss!”
They must have been communicating with each other.
How could a small lizard like me have such power?
That’s probably what they were thinking.
They hesitated.
Normally, they would have attacked right away, but they seemed wary of my strength.
They even approached me cautiously.
The four centipedes formed a defensive formation.
Whether intentional or not, it was a more challenging situation for me.
Even if I used both hands to take down two at once, the remaining ones could attack me.
There was a way to handle this.
I extended my long tail.
Flick.
A technique learned from the Snake Fist master.
Flick flick.
You guys are so weak.
“Hisss.”
One of the centipedes got angry and lunged at me.
“Hisss!”
Simple creature.
I grabbed the centipede’s body with my right hand.
Green Basilisk-style Dragon Claws, Third Form.
Shraaak!
It split in half!
Now, there were only three left.
The formation had already been broken long ago.
It was time to perfect my Fourth and Fifth Forms of the Dragon Claws.
“Hisss!”
With a mighty roar like a green dragon, I charged at them.
*
【Green Basilisk LV8】
HP: 80/80
MP: 30/30
【Title】
「Loved by Spiders」
I hunted the incoming enemies, steadily growing stronger. In my spare time, I climbed the mural and practiced my energy circulation while reviewing martial arts techniques I hadn’t yet learned.
There weren’t any particularly appealing techniques, but it wasn’t a bad idea to look them over.
There was no guarantee that I was the only one using martial arts.
There could be animals using martial arts, even if they weren’t humanoid
.
Didn’t the baby Titanoboa perform strange attacks?
Its parents didn’t do that.
As I diligently studied the martial arts, there was one thing I still didn’t understand.
The marks next to the mural.
Should I call them sword marks?
There were unknown marks.
Judging by the clues, it seemed to be related to martial arts.
Ideally, I wanted to meditate here until I understood what they were, but that was impossible.
As I hunted centipedes and spider troops, I realized a few things.
Silver Dragon Cave.
This cave was a man-made place filled with numerous beasts and insects.
The leader among them was the Titanoboa that Baek Yeonyeong had dealt with.
Once the leader died, the beasts had only one thing to do.
Determine who the new master of Silver Dragon Cave would be.
They fought fiercely.
Even the previously neutral insects fought recklessly.
It was quite profitable to secretly watch and hunt them one by one.
This Silver Dragon Cave, driven mad by fights.
And me, a slender lizard.
But not everyone was aggressive.
I noticed a centipede passing under me.
“Hiss.”
It seemed to be greeting me by making a sound on purpose.
“Gek gek.”
Hello, Mr. Centipede.
“Hiss.”
“Gek gek.”
Did you gain anything today?
I patted my hollow belly.
The centipede tilted its head from a distance, then approached and placed a small cricket on the ground.
“Gek gek!”
You’re so kind.
This centipede, how should I put it, was quite nice.
It hadn’t attacked me since the first time we met.
Maybe it was scared because I was covered in centipede fluid, but it was good enough for me if it didn’t attack.
No matter how many centipedes I hunted, I couldn’t bring myself to eat them.
The limit of my humanity was eating centipedes.
I had given this centipede what I couldn’t eat, and now we had this relationship.
A cricket was a delicacy, a delicacy.
“Gek gek!”
Thank you, Mr. Centipede.
Just as I thanked the centipede and bit into the cricket.
Boom!
“Hissss!”
The centipede disappeared.
A giant millipede that emerged from the ground had swallowed my kind neighbor.
“Gek gek gek gek!”
Mr. Centipede!