WPMTE 36🔐

Chapter 36 …

The stomach, which had been heaving as if struck by an earthquake, finally began to spew out what it contained.

“—Ggweeeeeek!”

Along with a nauseating sound, everything inside surged back like a tidal wave. Sticky gastric fluids and corpses were vomited out together, and the two of them were finally expelled from the creature’s belly.

The violent convulsions shattered even the water qi that had been enveloping them. As a result, Gongun and Seono, both drenched in gastric fluids, fell hard to the ground.

At that moment, a yokai who had been hiding behind a door and watching the situation spotted the two of them and shouted loudly,

“L-living humans!”

Only then did the other yokai realize why their master was convulsing. Their gazes instantly locked onto the two humans. Feeling a ringing in his ears, Seono grabbed Gongun by the collar and hauled him upright.

Gongun, who had been clutching his throbbing head, now found himself suddenly yanked up by the collar and stared at Seono with a stunned expression.

“Kill them!”

More than a hundred yokai charged forward, their eyes gleaming.

However, before they could even reach the two, Seono’s sharp water blades—raised by manipulating the gastric fluid—sliced them cleanly in half.

It was fast and precise.

The corpses of the yokai lay scattered, mixed in with the gastric fluids.

“……”

Seeing Seono’s skill with his own eyes, Gongun narrowed his gaze.

I underestimated him…

Just then, Seono, who had finally caught his breath, looked at Gongun and whispered firmly,

“I’ll handle things here, so run while you can. Got it?”

Run?

That word pressed down hard on another of Gongun’s buttons.

Gongun was a poison transcendent, and poison transcendants were, frankly, an awkward fit for direct combat. Their true specialty lay in creating ever more vicious and insidious poisons, and their finishing moves were always meant to be used covertly and secretly.

They could create poisons that remained unchanged even when touching silver, or poisons identical to water in texture, taste, color, and consistency—so convincing that a target would ingest them without suspicion. Finding ways to use poison without being discovered was the core discipline of poison transcendants.

Highly skilled poison transcendants could even give form to poison and use it to attack. However, the amount of poison that naturally existed was not vast, so there were limits.

No matter how far one advanced, even to the point of drawing yin energy from empty space, the usable amount was still proportional to the yin energy permeating the world. Poison was scarce—nothing compared to fire, light, water, earth, or plants.

Because of that, it was an established—and factual—belief that poison transcendants were weaker and less useful than others in physical combat. And that, of course, was Gongun’s trigger.

Until the age of nine, before awakening as a Chosin, Gongun had lived under countless worried gazes questioning how such a weak poison transcendant could possibly shoulder the responsibility of his clan.

Seono had just cruelly stabbed at that weakness again. It hadn’t been intentional this time, but the result still hit Gongun hard.

However, there was something Seono had overlooked.

Gongun was not just an ordinary poison transcendant.

At that moment, a massive shadow fell over their heads.

Gongun and Seono both looked up at the same time.

The golden salamander, filthy gastric fluids dribbling from its mouth, stared down at them with glittering eyes. It looked as though it knew exactly who had torn through its stomach, its gaze brimming with murderous intent.

Feeling as if a gigantic cliff were moving before him, Seono tensed and tightly gripped his 음석. Even without its 음석, the opponent was a colossal yokai that had lived for over a thousand years, accumulating immense yin energy.

He had to stay sharp.

We still have a chance. We’re by the river.

Now, Seono was confident in attacking with water qi.

“I’ll hold it back, so move to the rear—”

That was when it happened.

Beside Seono, a massive crimson light flashed—

“?!”

In an instant, Gongun transformed into a gigantic red dragon and lunged fiercely at the enemy.

Faced with the overwhelming size of the red dragon, Seono’s mouth fell open.

Dragon transformation…!

A Chosin’s dragon transformation.

He had never expected to see it this early.

It felt as though an endless crimson pillar was flying before his eyes. Only after noticing the densely packed scales covering it did Seono realize that he was truly looking at a dragon.

Gongun’s red dragon was far larger than the four-legged dragon in the demon beast cave, awe-inspiring enough to send chills down his spine. Mysterious golden flashes skimmed across the crimson scales set one by one. Following the smooth, well-maintained body upward, Seono saw the dragon’s thin, snake-like pupils and its dignified face.

Its long, narrow snout gave it a refined appearance, alluring like the king of serpents. Yet the splendid crimson horns growing from its head proved that it was undeniably a true dragon.

As the vast space—so large the ceiling was invisible—was filled by the golden salamander and the red dragon, it felt as though they had entered a world of giants.

With terrifying killing intent, the red dragon charged the golden salamander and snapped its jaws shut around the creature’s neck. The golden salamander let out a blood-curdling scream.

“Kaaaaaah—!”

In an instant, golden flesh from its neck was torn away in chunks, blood gushing out like a fountain.

“Kaaah! Kaaaaah!”

Driven mad by pain, the golden salamander leaped up and viciously reached for the red dragon. Sharp claws sprouted from its rock-like fingers.

“Dodge!”

Seono shouted without thinking. The red dragon snorted disdainfully and lightly evaded the attack. It was an agility that belied its massive body.

Having effortlessly avoided the claws, the red dragon swung its thick tail with all its might, smashing it into the salamander’s face.

Kwaaaang!

“Keoaaagh!”

Staggering from the tremendous impact, the golden salamander quickly regained its balance, its eyes flashing sharply.

Enraged, it opened its jaws wide—and the mouth embedded in its belly opened its lips as well. From both mouths poured out a revolting stench.

“Ugh!”

Seono hastily raised his arm to cover his nose and mouth. The red dragon, also trying to avoid the onrushing stench, was struck squarely by the golden salamander’s swinging fist.

Kwaaaang!

The red dragon slammed into the wall, triggering a massive quake. The enormous chamber shook violently and partially collapsed.

“Hah!”

Seono, startled, couldn’t withstand the tremors and fell to the ground. When he looked up again, the red dragon had already regained its balance and soared even higher. The golden salamander roared in frustration, opening its jaws even wider.

From its mouth poured a greenish miasma.

Green stench—damn it!

That was the golden salamander’s flesh poison. It was a lethal toxin created by endlessly condensing the poisons lingering in the bodies of all the sacrifices it had consumed.

The deep green miasma, visible to the eye, thickened and rose, climbing high enough to nearly reach the red dragon at the ceiling. Unaware of what the smoke truly was, Gongun prepared to dive straight through it and attack again.

No…!

Covering his mouth again, Seono focused with all his might. He could feel the water qi lurking everywhere around them.

Drawing in all the water qi he sensed, Seono clenched and opened his fingers as if gripping it in his hand. The surrounding walls burst open, and torrential waterfalls poured down.

Shaaah!

When Seono tightened his hand once more, the waterfalls instantly dispersed into mist, absorbing the rising miasma. The moisture, absorbing the poison at a terrifying speed, gathered into a single mass.

As Seono pointed his finger downward, that mass plummeted sharply into the golden salamander’s gaping maw.

“Keoheeeugh!”

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, the golden salamander clutched its throat and staggered. Having swallowed a condensed mass of its own flesh poison, its eyes rolled back—and Gongun did not miss the chance.

The red dragon dove straight down, clamping its jaws once more around the salamander’s neck and tearing it apart far more violently than before. The salamander’s neck bones snapped, its head twisting grotesquely.

“Kahaaaah…”

At last, the creature’s lifeless body toppled backward.

Kuuuuuuung—!

The impact triggered another massive quake, and the ceiling—already on the verge of collapse—finally began to crumble and fall.