Chapter 149
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Chapter 149
"Your Majesty. I shall enter for a moment."
The one who opened the door and stepped inside was his guard.
"Demonic beasts have appeared within the Imperial Palace. I shall escort you to a safe location."
Tae Irim stared through the guard who had come seeking me, his gaze piercing.
Under that prolonged, silent stare, a bead of cold sweat trickled down the guard's forehead.
"Your Majesty...?"
Whoosh—
Descending from the window, Tae Irim gave a languid command, tilting his chin slightly.
"Lead the way."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The guard led Tae Irim to the deepest chamber within the Dragon Emperor's Palace where the Emperor resided.
It was the place where successive emperors had sought refuge whenever turmoil erupted within the Imperial Palace.
Passing through an unusually quiet corridor, the moment Tae Irim opened the door and stepped inside.
Crack!
Bang! Bang! Crash—!
Doors from three directions shattered, and demonic humans poured forth.
As they rushed at Tae Irim, an invisible force coiled around them like vines and hurled them outward.
Boom—!
It all happened in the blink of an eye, in an extraordinarily brief moment.
Tae Irim turned gracefully, regarding the guard who had led me here.
"How... how is this possible...."
The bewildered guard suddenly came to his senses and took a stance to attack.
"I had grown fond of this child in my own way."
Then Tae Irim, without a trace of surprise or alarm, curved his lips into an oblique smile....
Whoosh—!
A cluster of golden light bloomed in the void, piercing through the guard's heart.
Thud.
The guard's body collapsed without a single dying scream.
"So it has come to this after all."
Tae Irim murmured bitterly, watching it unfold.
"Damn...."
A curse spilled from between the dead guard's teeth.
"Do not damage that shell."
"Ugh... uuugh...."
Defying Tae Irim's command, the dead guard's shell tore apart into fragments.
"Tsk. I instructed you not to damage it."
Displeasure crossed Tae Irim's previously expressionless face.
Between the torn shell, a black demonic beast revealed itself.
It was Dochul.
"Yellow Dragon... Ugh."
Tae Irim casually stepped on Dochul's body as he tried to rise.
"Where is your master?"
He looked down at Dochul with cold eyes and asked.
"Do you think I would tell you that?"
"She must be somewhere nearby."
Tae Irim slowly surveyed the surroundings.
Then, in an instant, his gaze sharpened.
"There."
Crash!
The folding screen flew away, revealing what had been hidden behind it.
It wore Riri's body, yet it was not Riri—it was Evil, barely moving on the sustenance of Riri's malice.
"It has been a long time, Evil."
Tae Irim took a step forward toward Evil, whose entire skin was covered in black veins, twisting his lips into a smile.
"Or should I say, it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time."
Screech—!
Thud!
Tae Irim's extended hand slammed Evil's body against the opposite wall, crushing its breath.
"How delightful that you have come directly to the Imperial Palace."
The pupils of Tae Irim's eyes, as he strangled Evil, split vertically like those of a reptile.
From the tips of his delicate fingers, sharp and rigid claws grew. They were dragon claws.
The dragon claws, harder than any blade, tore through Evil's skin and pierced the black veins.
Screeeeeeeeeech—!
From Riri's mouth came a bone-chilling scream that could never be human.
Drip. Drip.
Black blood fell, wetting the tip of Tae Irim's shoe.
A foul stench spread thickly, yet Tae Irim did not furrow his brow even once, murmuring in a low voice.
"Now, disappear...."
It was then.
"My lord! Now is the moment!"
With Dochul's cry, the black blood pooled on the ground traced a circular magical seal, and the spell activated with a crimson flash.
Whoosh—!
In an instant, black smoke billowed and coiled around Tae Irim's body, and at the same time...
Pierced—!
It passed straight through his chest.
His head snapped forward.
"Kekeke. Even the Yellow Dragon is nothing special."
The vile laughter of the beast echoed through the chamber.
Slip.
Riri's body, which had been held by Tae Irim until moments before, slid down the wall to the floor, and from within it, Evil in the form of a black sphere burst forth.
―The Yellow Dragon's... orb....
Evil cried out in an excited voice.
―Bring... me... the orb....
"Yes, my lord. I, Dochul, shall present the Yellow Dragon's orb to you."
Dochul chuckled and walked toward Tae Irim.
When he first infiltrated the Imperial Palace, he had targeted the Yellow Dragon's body, but soon abandoned the idea.
The Yellow Dragon's mental fortitude was far too clear and strong. There was a risk of being consumed instead if he tried to seize the Yellow Dragon's body.
So what he targeted instead was none other than his orb.
Unlike those of ordinary dragon-kin, the Yellow Dragon's orb contained a mysterious life force within it.
If he could only obtain that, his lord could also regain a complete body and be revived without parasitizing the bodies of other beast-kin.
Having determined this, Dochul had dug a trap and lured the Yellow Dragon to this place.
"Foolish Yellow Dragon. You didn't even realize it was a trap...."
―Dochul... The orb... is not here....―
At Evil's call, Dochul froze.
―I cannot feel the orb's presence....―
Panicked, Dochul checked Tae Irim's orb.
"The orb is... gone?"
Where the Yellow Dragon's orb should have been, in the hollow of his chest, nothing was visible.
The Yellow Dragon had no orb.
Bewildered, he muttered in disbelief.
"That can't be. It can't be...."
Whoosh―
At that moment, Tae Irim lifted his head.
The instant Dochul's eyes, filled with shock, met Tae Irim's blue-green eyes directly.
A shudder.
As an ominous aura descended upon him, Dochul staggered back, but only briefly. Golden light coiled around his body....
"Die."
Boom―!
Dochul's body exploded outright.
* * *
Meanwhile, Sayeon was facing difficulties because of the suddenly appearing group of demonic beasts... or rather, people in the form of demonic beasts.
Under normal circumstances, he would have slaughtered the demonic beasts that appeared out of nowhere in an instant....
'These are not demonic beasts. They are people.'
He quickly grasped the situation.
The blackened, festering wounds each bore on their bodies, marks left by the sorcery of a criminal.
It was exactly the same as the traces shown by someone during the meeting just moments before where they were discussing the disposition of the Cuckoo.
He had anticipated that the Cuckoo's sorcery might bring calamity within the Imperial Palace, but not in this manner.
He could not harm people.
Sayeon carefully retreated backward, trying not to provoke them.
In the meantime, the demonic beast-transformed people swarmed forward and surrounded Sayeon and Jeok Ahyun.
Jeok Young and the other Imperial Court members standing at a distance were in no position to help them.
Several of them suddenly cried out in pain, and they began to transform into demonic beasts.
That area descended into chaos as they scrambled to defend against those who had suddenly undergone the transformation.
"This is quite the predicament."
Jeok Ahyun, standing beside Sayeon, muttered while glaring at the transformed people surrounding them.
"Can't you do something? Purify them with flames or something?"
"Unfortunately, that's not possible."
"Utterly useless, then."
More and more of the transformed people pressed toward Sayeon and Ahyun.
I'd heard that people had lined up to seek out that Cuckoo, rumored to be the Yellow Dragon's bride, bringing gifts and begging for treatment.
Looking at this massive crowd, it seemed the exaggerated rumors were no exaggeration at all.
'Damn that Cuckoo. She's caused quite the mess.'
Sayeon was swallowing curses and concentrating on finding a way out of this situation.
"Father!"
At the sound of that voice from beyond the transformed people, Sayeon's expression suddenly hardened.
"Fluffy...?"
Jeok Soya was calling out to me from back there.
I could feel the child rushing toward me.
But between the child and me were countless transformed people.
It was dangerous for her to rush over like this.
"It's dangerous...!"
But before Sayeon could finish speaking...
Poof!
Jeok Soya transformed into a small bird and took flight.
"Chirp!"
The child soared toward Sayeon, cutting through the night sky.
Jeok Ahyun's pupils trembled violently for a moment.
Those crimson feathers of the small bird cutting through the dark night sky...
"Fluffy!"
As Sayeon extended his hand, Jeok Soya leaped into his arms.
"You, that was reckless...!"
"But I was worried about Father, so I couldn't help it."
At the chirping bird sounds, Sayeon let out a soft laugh.
"Only our baby Fluffy worries about Dad like this."
Poof!
Jeok Soya soon released her transformation and returned to her original form.
Then she stood in front of Sayeon, as if to protect him.
"Those people... they're still human, not demonic beasts, right?"
"Yes. They're people corrupted by the Cuckoo's sorcery."
Now that I knew they were human, I couldn't attack them.
"Then there's only one way."
"Will you be alright?"
Sayeon asked with a note of concern in his voice.
He had sensed what Jeok Soya was about to do.
"Father told me this before, didn't he? To run in the direction I believe is right. That he would stand beside me on that path."
Jeok Soya looked up at him, her voice steady and clear.
"Since Father is by my side, I'm not afraid."
At that, Sayeon let out a soft laugh, his eyes widening.
He reached out and gently ruffled the child's hair as he spoke.
"That's right. Dad will be here."
Buoyed by his encouragement, Jeok Soya felt as though she could accomplish anything.
"Yes, Dad."
Jeok Soya smiled softly and slowly turned toward the corrupted people.
There were quite a lot of them.
But Jeok Soya was not afraid.
Because Father was beside her.
'I never intended to reveal it this way, but...'
Having made her resolve, she extended both hands toward the corrupted ones.
'Goddess, please help me.'
A small flame slowly blossomed in the palm of her hand.
'...!'
And Jeok Ahyun, standing beside them, stared at it with a face as though his breath had stopped.
No—in truth, from moments before, he had been holding his breath so tightly that not even the faintest sound escaped him.
His mind bleached white, yet a single scene played endlessly before his eyes.
Jeok Soya. That image of the baby bird born with pristine white down, spreading crimson feathers as it soared into the dark sky...
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------