Part 1, Chapter 8, 13

At that moment, Phoenix had no idea that two men and women were riding on top of the Black Flame Dragon.

Deep within where the Chaos Illusion Dragon slept, the former members of Dongchang who had received its grace, now calling themselves Illusionary Bandits, or the Illusion Dragon Corps, were pouring out all their mana with all their might.

“Admiral…! We can’t do this anymore!”

A superpowered individual, sitting cross-legged, cried out in exhaustion. But the Admiral, Bonghyo, shook his head violently and sternly rebuked him.

“Fool! What does our God dislike the most?!”

“……Waking them up while they’re sleeping!”

“Exactly! So we must prepare a place for our God to sleep peacefully!”

Bonghyo shouted at the members. They, too, did not want to disturb the deep slumber of the Chaos Illusion Dragon, whom they called God, but unfortunately, their limits were clear.

“It’s a dirty trick to wake up God through mana resonance. Then we just need to counter by releasing mana ourselves!”

Bonghyo was a capable individual. Mao Zeping had even given him the moniker of a prematurely deceased genius strategist, and Bonghyo quickly found a way to counter the Good Morning Terror with his brilliant mind.

However, the problem was that their mental strength was being drained more than their mana. A member who had been listening to the sounds outside the secret base quickly sent a signal.

[They’re coming! Reveille! …W-what is this?! Uwaaagh!]

“Hmph.”

The mana throughout my body began to fluctuate. Unwanted memories resurfaced, stimulating my entire being. Among the countless repertoires, the trumpet sound that was playing, specifically targeting this crisis, was the reveille used in Dongchang.

“……Ugh.”

To be honest, it wasn’t a painful or stinging attack. There was no physical damage whatsoever, but mentally, it felt quite disgusting.

“Admiral.”

“What.”

“Can’t we just not do this?”

“……Honestly, I don’t want to either. It’s just a headache and annoying.”

Sitting cross-legged, sweating profusely and releasing mana, several hours had already passed. During that time, the Chaos Illusion Dragon had been sleeping soundly, and the members gained strength watching it snore softly.

But that was that, and this was this. The changed tune once again brought annoyance.

Ding ding ding. Good morning.

“How long are they going to keep singing morning songs…?”

“Oh no. It’s not even annoying anymore, I’m starting to get used to it.”

“Snap out of it. That’s their aim. If you start getting used to it, they’ll switch to another song…!”

Bonghyo noticed the malice mixed in the song that was shaking their mana.

“Their intention is to piss them off and wake them up…! This person right here!”

The alarms and reveilles covering all of China were targeting only one person: the Chaos Illusion Dragon. The opponent spared no means or methods to wake the Chaos Illusion Dragon, even if it meant annoying a million superpowered individuals.

“The opponent is probably a being similar to a god…!”

That’s why Bonghyo couldn’t wake the Chaos Illusion Dragon. He didn’t know who the opponent was, but it was clear that their intention was to wake the Chaos Illusion Dragon.

“How do you know that?”

“It’s a hunch!”

Perhaps because he was the first monstrous human created by the Chaos Illusion Dragon, Bonghyo quickly discerned the true nature of the girl who had become his new master.

She just wanted to keep sleeping.

Frankly, Bonghyo himself had established the Illusion Dragon Corps, and the Chaos Illusion Dragon was merely pleased with the slightly better bed and slightly better location the Illusion Dragon Corps provided.

Sleep mattresses, toppers, cotton duvets, sleep socks, sleep masks. Whenever they provided all sorts of items for deep sleep, the Chaos Illusion Dragon would turn them into monstrous humans and release them from the Boy’s Skill. Therefore, they had to protect the Chaos Illusion Dragon. Under Bonghyo’s leadership, the Illusion Dragon Corps’ efforts to establish a formation centered around the Chaos Illusion Dragon knew no end.

For their comrades who had not yet escaped the clutches of the Boy’s Skill.

And for their benefactor and God who had granted them a new life.

“Kueeugh…!”

However, constant dripping water will eventually bore through stone. The chirping songs of the Illusion Flame Spirits finally broke the formation.

Good good good mor mor mor ning ning ning

“Huuugh…!”

As the songs came in staggered intervals, like a round, blood vessels popped in one of the members’ eyes. He had suffered from an inability to control his anger easily since birth.

“Uwaaagh!! Shut up!!”

“You?!”

Bonghyo was startled and tried to stop the man, but the formation had already collapsed. Holes were punched through the mana wall that had been spread out like a sound barrier.

“……Ugh.”

The Chaos Illusion Dragon covered its ears and frowned. Bonghyo mouthed a silent scream, but the Chaos Illusion Dragon rustled and got up from the bed.

“…….”

The Chaos Illusion Dragon sat cross-legged, its head bowed deeply. It exuded annoyance, like a low-blood-pressure patient woken up by noise pollution in the early morning.

“……Bonghyo.”

“Yes.”

“Get ready to go out.”

The Chaos Illusion Dragon’s eyes were bloodshot.

“I’m going to rip that Fire Chicken Bitch’s head off so she can never cry again.”

The Chaos Illusion Dragon rose from the bed.

* * *

“Euracha-aaaaah!!”

With a shout, I swung Deokbae (Stone Club). The monstrous bird’s talons, aiming for my head, were blocked by Deokbae, and I didn’t stop there, batting the monstrous bird away.

Kiyoooooot?!

The monstrous bird shrieked and was slammed onto the dirt ground. Its wings twisted and broke, and it rolled two or three times on the ground, blood oozing from between its feathers.

“Hehe. What an arrogant fellow.”

I climbed onto the belly of the Silkie Chicken-like monstrous bird and stomped hard.

Kyaaaak?!

The monstrous bird screamed and spat out blue blood. Thanks to my mana-enhanced body, merely stomping seemed to have ruptured all its internal organs.

“So you should know your place, shouldn’t you?”

I lifted Deokbae vertically and struck its wings just as they were about to flap. Blood spurted from the monstrous bird’s beak, and I sharply brought my hand together and thrust it towards its heart.

Pshuuut!

Blood splattered on my face. But since I had already formed a mana barrier on the surface of my skin, it didn’t touch my actual face. I rummaged through my memories, searching for where the monstrous bird’s heart would be, and waved my hand around.

“I’m sure it was around here…. Ah, here it is.”

Thunk. I pulled out the monstrous bird’s heart, which was elastic like rubber. The blood vessels connected to the heart were forcibly torn by my rough touch, and the monstrous bird died from the pain.

Kereuk.

Was that a bit excessive? Even though Phoenix myself is a bird, my heart felt strangely unsettled after so brutally killing a fellow avian monster.

“…No, no, that’s not it.”

‘This could be me someday.’

Phoenix’s strength is an undeniable fact, but I, who wield it, am still very lacking. To defeat the Seongju who will someday cross the stars, and the Otherworld God, I absolutely had to rise to SSS-class.

None other than I, Azure Flame Phoenix.

“That’s right. I absolutely cannot die.”

Kwajik. I burst the heart and pulled out the monster’s Core embedded within. The Core, wiped clean of blood, had a deep green hue.

“A-class…. Tsk.”

I clutched the Core in my hand and threw it to Deokbae. Still in his Stone Club form, he ravenously devoured the mana from the Core that touched him.

Eujeok. Eujeok.

While Deokbae was eating, my lips naturally curled up at the massive mana reaction I felt from afar.

“Hehehe. As expected, they couldn’t stand it and came right out.”

While following my personal route, no matter what methods I used, the Chaos Illusion Dragon would not leave its bed. Even in the H event scene after the route was confirmed, when the protagonist attacked the Chaos Illusion Dragon while it was sleeping, it still wouldn’t leave the bed.

Instead, it was a Spirit that would pull them into bed and ask them to sleep together.

And I know all too well the weakness of the girl who gets furiously angry when woken up from sleep.

“You woke up the moment the alarm started, didn’t you? But you just left it alone because it was annoying, right?”

The Chaos Illusion Dragon is fundamentally a spirit body, or a ghost. Since it forms its physical body with mana like me, it wouldn’t be able to resist reacting immediately to the wide-area mana vibrations.

“It woke up a little later than expected, but… it doesn’t matter much.”

I clenched and unclenched my fists, loosening my muscles. All that remained was to break the Chaos Illusion Dragon’s brainwashing. I just needed to eliminate the ‘chaos’ aspect of its executive role, leaving only the Illusion Dragon as a Spirit.

“Deokbae-ssi. Wake up.”

I picked up the Stone Club and tapped it with my palm. Deokbae had eaten the A-class Core with great effort, but unfortunately, he failed to escape C-class.

“Still no evolution?”

[Nah, you know what? I think I can evolve if I eat just a little more?]

“So you’re still C-class, aren’t you? Tsk. It would be much more advantageous to evolve before fighting the Gym Leader in a gym battle.”

[Is this a gym?]

It was a training ground with wide, clean gray bricks, so neat that one might mistake it for a cultural heritage site if not for the monstrous bird’s corpse.

“It’s similar. It’s a training ground for superpowered individuals. Shall we prepare to welcome our guests first?”

I flicked a flame and incinerated the monstrous bird’s corpse. The pungent smell of burning protein wafted into the sky with the ash.

[Why aren’t you annihilating it?]

“To draw aggro. Deokbae-ssi. With the smell of roasted chicken wafting around, won’t a lot of guests come?”

[And you’re the chicken boss?]

“Do you want to die?”

[Oh, are you finally going to kill me? Without resurrecting me?]

Deokbae kept being annoying. He was getting more impudent by the day, like seeing the Night Emperor in the early days of the original story.

“…Sigh. Never mind. Let’s finish things here quickly and go back to Korea.”

[Quickly?]

“Yes. That’s why I’m drawing aggro now.”

Kyaaaak!

A giant bear appeared as the wall collapsed. I raised my fist and took a stance.

“B-class, A-class, S-class. If I catch the flies attracted by the smell of food one by one….”

*Snap*.

I snapped my fingers. My vision was enveloped in blue flames, and I transformed my body into that of a monstrous human.

[I’ll even reach SS-class. Since I’m too lazy to go, I’ll make them come to me.]

From now on, it was the monstrous human Phoenix’s time.

Hwareuk.

Blue flames erupted on the Stone Club. Under the influence of the Spirit Stone I activated, the Stone Club became a flaming mace.

[Shall I warm up until the Chaos Illusion Dragon arrives?]

Kieeeek?!

I threw the flaming mace at the forehead of the startled bear monster.

It was a strike.

* * *

Before coming to China.

Eun Yuha, Rusalka, and I put our heads together and brainstormed.

The Chaos Illusion Dragon.

S-class monsters hidden in various regions.

And the Cube.

Each and every one of them was a bomb that could cause problems with just one wrong move, and Mao Zeping was a madman who could commit all sorts of insane acts using those bombs as leverage.

“Can’t we just extract the Chaos Illusion Dragon?”

“No, we can’t. If they ever find the Cube, they’ll revive the Martial God. We have to find the Cube too.”

“Then how are we supposed to find the Cube? It’s not like we can scan all of China with mana.”

“We’ll borrow the Chaos Illusion Dragon’s power. While we cause chaos across the entire continent to distract Mao Zeping, we’ll search every corner like lice to find the Cube.”

Just as Seonui Cheol knew about the Cube’s existence, Mao Zeping also knew about it.

“But they don’t actually know where it is, do they? It’ll be two years until they find it.”

It was different from Seonui Cheol, who knew the exact location, or Cheongsong, who had already secured the Cube. Mao Zeping had used Dongchang to search all of China like lice, and there were about two years left until they found the Cube.

“Is there no chance they found it first?”

“No. Fortunately. Absolutely not.”

No matter how much the world conspired to mess with me, that much wouldn’t change. I skillfully changed the subject and then planned with them again.

“To reiterate, the narrower Mao Zeping’s vision becomes, the better. Before he goes crazy and starts pressing missile buttons again, we’ll divert his attention to domestic issues in China.”

“Will that really be possible with your disappearance? You know that Seonui Cheol’s Pine Tree Unit is an organization modeled after Mao Zeping’s Dongchang, right?”

“Yes. They’re much more vicious.”

They were vicious in many ways. As the worst enemies who tormented the protagonist’s party escaping through China’s land routes, Mao Zeping incited them by promising to reward them with the heroines as public playthings if they captured them.

“So, I’m going to beat up Dongchang, the monsters, and Mao Zeping, all of them. For the next five and a half years. During that time, they will absolutely not dare to covet this land. And as a bonus, I’ll beat up the Chaos Illusion Dragon and bring it along.”

I pointed to the locations of the S-class monsters deployed throughout China, according to my memory.

“So, my plan, you see, is simple.”

I circled the entire map with a marker.

“Chaotic Battle (亂戰).”

If the battlefields until now had been confined areas like Guro, Busan, or the Amnok River, this time the scale of the battlefield was much larger.

“We’ll engage in chaotic battles across all of China. The more chaotic, the better. That way, Mao Zeping will get a headache from the melee happening within his own country. To summarize simply.”

I gave them both a refreshing smile.

“Forget about plans and all that nonsense, I’m just going to cause a huge ruckus across the continent!”

And that was what Azure Flame Phoenix did best.

Chaos. Disorder. Isn’t the opponent the Chaos Illusion Dragon anyway?

“This is my plan.”

‘Anyway, every plan I made just ended up getting ruined.’

Eun Yuha and Rusalka put their heads together to devise strategies and plans regarding my legal entry, distracting Mao Zeping, and subsequent actions, but it was all meaningless anyway.

[Just beat them all to death.]

How simple and perfect a plan was that?