Part 1 Chapter 9-14

Strictly speaking, Bonghyo wasn’t wrong.

Bonghyo had devised all plans in the best possible direction for his liege, Hwanryong, and had actually succeeded in defeating Jiparyong, one of the three monsters.

But Bonghyo’s success wasn’t my success.

I had intended to rest for about a day after awakening Hwanryong. I had planned to send Seok Harang away, meet Eun Yuha to finalize the Core distribution, and then roam all over China, catching one monster every two days.

But Bonghyo had preempted me. It seemed he had devised a strategy to offer all three S-rank Cores to Hwanryong before I could touch them, but unfortunately, he executed the plan by backstabbing me.

If he had asked me for a conversation, I would have gladly given him even two. My goal was the Cube, rather than the monsters’ Cores.

That’s why I was so surprised by the word ‘Cube’ that popped out of Bonghyo’s mouth that I couldn’t stop Deokbae, whom I was swinging. In the end, I only confirmed that Bonghyo knew about the Cube’s existence or its whereabouts, and Hwanryong’s power was needed to revive Bonghyo.

“It’s gotten tangled up, hasn’t it? Haha.”

My lips twitched at the sight of Heuksagal, whose body was larger than most buildings.

Kyaaaak!!

It was the form of a Heukjeongal that had grown to about 10m, standing on the ground, but the upper body of the woman that emerged from the center of its torso exceeded 20m. In Heuksagal’s mouth, which had its eyes covered by black hair, were Hwanryongdan members whose bodies were half-severed.

“Hmm.”

It was the body of a remarkably beautiful woman, but the problem was that, like a monster, it was nude. A 29-rated nude, without a single thread of clothing.

“And there….”

Kagagagak. Kagagagak.

Heukjeongals burst out, piercing through the sandy ground. The Heukjeongals born from Heuksagal were all S-rank.

“To be precise, they became stronger by reproducing prolifically and having their offspring devour each other.”

The number of Heukjeongals visible to the naked eye was a staggering 100. Considering the number of monsters hidden underground, including Heuksagal’s main body, it would easily exceed several hundred.

“There are so many. Tremendously.”

If they escaped the desert like this, it would become a disaster greater than a dimensional gate. I burned Bonghyo’s corpse, took his Core, spread my wings, and flew into the sky.

“What should I do…?”

Kyaaak!!

Heuksagal swung an arm at me. I leisurely moved my wings to dodge the slow attack and discovered a monstrous human caught in Heuksagal’s fist.

“Oh dear, it’s the traitorous monstrous human who went on loan, isn’t it?”

“…….”

The Emperor said nothing. I didn’t know why he had joined Bonghyo and backstabbed me, but the sight of him firmly held in his mother’s hand was quite amusing.

“So why did you harbor other intentions?”

I chattered at the Emperor, flying along Heuksagal’s fist. The Emperor refused to converse, even covering his ears, and Heuksagal screamed, trying to shake me off.

Kaang!

I kicked Heuksagal’s other hand, making it drop. Heuksagal’s body rapidly tilted downwards, and I took advantage of the opened fist to rescue the Emperor.

“Didn’t Bonghyo think he could catch an S-rank because you helped him? Why did you help him?”

“Because he’s my descendant. Is it wrong for me to help the descendants of the empire I founded?”

“……Ah, in that case, I concede.”

To think he’d care about blood ties here. I was both respectful and dumbfounded by the Emperor’s devotion to caring for his descendants, even after 2,500 years.

“If I had known this, I would have… Ah, would that be defiling the deceased?”

“You are already defiling me. Can’t you put me down right now?!”

The Emperor thrashed his body, getting angry. I grabbed his tail to rescue him. I only grabbed his tail. The Emperor’s limbs hung limply towards the ground.

“Still, I think he’d make good bait.”

Kyaaaak!!

Heuksagal roared, trying to snatch me and the Emperor. The gesture, infused with irritation and rage, felt like the instinct of a mother beast whose offspring had been kidnapped.

“Hoo.”

An interesting idea came to me. I chewed on the Emperor’s words and let go.

“Uwaaaak?!”

“Because you asked me to let go.”

The Emperor, unable to fly, began to fall towards the desert. Heuksagal, startled, overlapped its palms to catch the falling Emperor, and in that moment, I burrowed under Heuksagal’s armpit.

“An opening!”

I dug my nails into the underside of its breast, which was easily the size of an advertising balloon. Despite looking like a human, its skin was as hard as a Heukjeongal’s exoskeleton, making it incredibly difficult to dig my nails in.

Kyaaaaaaaaaak!!!

Heuksagal made an indiscernible sound, whether a monstrous cry or a scream, and grabbed me. I poured mana into my nails, which I had dug into the folded part beneath its breast.

“……As expected.”

There’s a Cube. A Cube definitely exists inside its heart. I was thrown to the ground by Heuksagal, but confirming the Cube’s existence was more important than that.

“Huhu. Hu.”

The shadows of the Heukjeongals began to cover me. They seemed to think I was dead after falling from a height of 20m and intended to tear apart my corpse, but unfortunately, I wasn’t dead yet.

“So what now?”

Kwadeuk! Kwadeudeuk!

The Heukjeongals diligently wielded their pincers and bared their teeth. But their attacks couldn’t penetrate my shield.

“What to do?”

Kadeudeuk! Kadeudeudeuk!

While the Heukjeongals were diligently biting me, I pondered for a moment how to resolve this situation.

‘Should I just slaughter them all?’

“Really… making people annoyed.”

The sun was still sparkling in the sky. If I decided to hide myself, no one would be able to find me. Because Bonghyo needlessly provoked Heuksagal, Heuksagal and hundreds of Heukjeongals were now-

“Ah.”

A brilliant plan came to mind.

“A plan that will satisfy everyone… Fuhuhu.”

If I just gave up a veeeery slight bit of greed, a wicked scheme that would satisfy everyone came to mind. I kicked up the head of a Heukjeongal that was biting my leg, then stood up, pushed off the ground, and jumped.

Kiiiiiik?!

Heuksagal shook its breasts from side to side. But it couldn’t shake me off, as I had landed right on its hard nipple.

“My, how noisy you are. If you’re embarrassed, you should put on some clothes like someone else!”

Kiiiiiik!!

Heuksagal clearly understood my words. I couldn’t tell if it wished to become human or if human tendencies had emerged because it had devoured too many humans, but as long as it held the Cube in its chest, I had no choice but to kill it.

“If it weren’t for the Cube, I’d lock it up somewhere and make it only give birth to Heukjeongals… Ah, is that too unethical?”

Kyaaaaaaaaaak!!

Heuksagal opened its mouth wide to devour me. I barely managed to suppress the twitching of my lips, and instead ran across Heuksagal’s chest and jumped into its mouth.

“So why become a giant in human form and create such a weakness? Fuhuhu.”

Naturally, the weakness of the hard-shelled Heuksagal was its inside. Even though Heukjeongal’s mouth was full of venom, it couldn’t melt me.

Pshiiii—

Because I could just burn it before it melted me. From Heuksagal’s perspective, it probably felt like a fireball had rolled into its mouth.

“Then.”

I stomped my foot. I rubbed my shoe, heated by flames, against its tongue.

Kiiiiiik!!

“If you mess around, I’ll burn you completely.”

……..

Heuksagal’s actions stopped at my threat. Its mouth was still on fire because of me, but it seemed it didn’t want its human body to burst.

“Hmm.”

I moved my steps towards the tip of its rather intricately formed tongue. Below the uvula, an esophagus filled only with darkness stretched downwards like a cliff, and I jumped without hesitation, descending into the esophagus.

Heuksagal’s outer appearance was no different from a human’s, but its inside was distinctly different from a human’s.

Kadeudeuk. Kadeudeuk.

The baby Heukjeongals hidden inside the human female body gnashed their teeth and writhed in pain from the light I had ignited. I leisurely flew to the Heukjeongal’s heart and checked for the Cube, whose location I had already confirmed.

Kiiiiiik!!

From its heart, the upper body of a woman, identical in appearance to Heuksagal’s female body, emerged. Its size was that of an ordinary human female’s upper body, but below it was a monster with the exact same form as a Heukjeongal’s lower body.

“Yes. You are Heuksagal’s true body.”

Kigiiiit….

Heuksagal seemed to have instinctively sensed the power difference between us from the moment its lower breast was pierced.

“I don’t want anything else. The Cube. I only need the Cube.”

Kigigigik.

Heuksagal covered its chest with both arms and shook its head. I held out my palm to Heuksagal, my expression hardening.

“If you don’t hand over the Cube within the count of ten, I’ll take the Core too. One, two, three.”

Kigigik.

Heuksagal seemed to be conflicted. Its eyes showed conflict, wondering if it could defeat me by combining forces with its offspring, and I merely let out a hollow laugh, finding it ridiculous.

“Ten. Done.”

Kigik?

“I said ‘within the count of ten,’ not ‘until I count to ten.'”

Kigigik!

I couldn’t tell if it was ‘Bullshit!’ or ‘Cowardly!’. Even if I could roughly understand fire-attribute monsters, I had no way of knowing what Heuksagal was babbling about.

“So, I’m taking the Cube.”

I kicked off into the air, ran, and extended my hand behind Heuksagal. Flames radiated from my outstretched palm, engulfing the giant Heuksagal’s heart.

Hwareureuk!

Kieeeek!

Heuksagal’s true body, startled by the sparks on its back, fell with a shriek. The giant monstrous human’s heart was quickly engulfed in flames and burned away, and within it, I found a small Cube fragment glowing red-hot.

“……Is this the fourth Cube now? Haa.”

I grabbed the Cube and tore it from the heart. With a ‘thump,’ Heuksagal’s true body fell to the ground. Simultaneously, the baby Heukjeongals began to move.

Sasaasasasak.

Like a swarm of cockroaches moving, the baby Heukjeongals scurried downwards. Some fell while trying to climb down another’s back, and others pushed past those in front as they ran downwards.

“Their home is collapsing, so they have to run, don’t they? Fuhuhu.”

By removing the Cube, Heuksagal’s cozy home collapsed. Now, hundreds, even thousands, of baby Heukjeongals would pour out from inside the 30m human building.

“This will be the best outcome, satisfying me, China, the Heroes, and even the Hwanryongdan.”

Hwareuk!

I spread my wings and exited the giant Heuksagal’s body. Heuksagal’s massive body, which I observed from above after hiding myself again under the sunlight, began to collapse like a house of cards, having lost the Cube, its source of sustenance.

Kiaaak!!

Kyaaak!!

The adult S-rank Heukjeongals shrieked, flailing wildly. They stomped their feet as if worried about their siblings and mother, yet still flashed their sharp tails at me, the cause of the situation.

“One for now.”

I ignited my mana. Since I had obtained a Cube that others didn’t know about, I needed to take quick action.

“First, could you bring me the Emperor’s Core?”

-I understand, geosiya.

The Mini Phoenix, which had been sitting on the tip of my index finger, glided down, found the Heukjeongal monstrous human’s Core, and took it in its mouth. The Heukjeongals swung their poisonous tails at the Mini Phoenix, but it was so small and fast that they couldn’t hit it at all.

-Take it, geosiya.

The Mini Phoenix placed the Emperor’s Core on my palm. Being a bird made of flames, it had no eyes, but its gaze was clearly directed towards the Cube I had put away in my pocket.

“…….”

-…….

The Mini Phoenix was watching my reaction. Since I had entrusted the Cube I extracted from the Martial God’s corpse to Gaeul, it seemed to be expecting that I might use at least this one for itself.

“With this, monster production-“

-…….

“is meaningless. Here.”

I pushed the Cube into the Mini Phoenix’s mouth. The Mini Phoenix swiftly swallowed the Cube, and soon our bodies rapidly changed.

[Is it that good?]

I became Phoenix, in monstrous human form, and

“It’s nice to be out and about after a long time. Fuhuhu.”

he became Changyeom, in human form.

I had used the omnipotent, all-purpose Cube merely to meet Changyeom.

Of course, I had no regrets.

[So, have you thought about helping me save the world?]

“Fuhuhu. What, already? It wouldn’t be enough even if I used all the Cubes you’ve collected, you know?”

If only Changyeom would help me, I could immediately reach the mythical SSS-rank. But Changyeom adamantly refused, and that was why I hadn’t been able to show Hwanryong proof of being a Spirit.

“So why did you call me? Are you going to ask for help or something-“

[Just. I called because I wanted to see you.]

“…….”

Changyeom was silent. I pointed at the swarming Heukjeongal hordes, like cockroaches.

[When Seongju comes later, it’ll pour out even worse than that, won’t it?]

“……Dimensional gates will appear in every city worldwide, and all sorts of monsters will burst out from them.”

[Yes. We have to stop that. So I awakened one Spirit. Chaos Hwanryong into Hwanryong.]

“Congratulations. Now there are four Spirits left.”

Changyeom calmly praised my past achievements. I offered my hand to Changyeom.

[I’m thinking of going to see Hwanryong now, would you like to come see him yourself?]

“No.”

Changyeom smiled bitterly and shook his head firmly.

“Don’t reveal my existence to anyone. From the moment you took my body, you are Changyeom and Phoenix.”

[……Understood. Then.]

I hugged Changyeom. Changyeom obediently leaned into my arms and smiled faintly.

“Fuhuhu. Do you think I’ll be seduced if you do this?”

[I’m doing this because I like it.]

“Do as you please~ But I won’t fall for it.”

Yet, Changyeom actually put his arms around my neck. I obediently held Changyeom and soared high into the sky.

[Let’s fly leisurely to Beijing.]

“Oh? Weren’t you busy?”

[Haven’t I been busy until now precisely to have leisure at times like this? Hehe.]

“…….”

Changyeom said nothing.

Thousands of Heukjeongals scattered in all directions, but I didn’t care.