I hadn’t been aiming for that spot from the beginning.
No. I hadn’t even known it was there.
It was like trying to find a squirrel hidden in a dense forest.
The Mutated Water God Dragon’s body was simply too enormous for me to spot it, and I had never imagined there could be such a gap in a part of its body it had guarded so thoroughly throughout the battle.
But…
That.
There it was.
A weakness capable of severing the windpipe of this gigantic monster.
And I did not let the perfect opportunity to finish the fight slip away.
Thk!
—Krrk…!
Living creatures were truly remarkable. They constantly evolved, adapting to their surroundings and compensating for their weaknesses.
If even humans, whose average life span was only now approaching a hundred years, could do that, then surely this exalted being, which had lived for centuries, was no different.
Was it coincidence? Or fate?
Either way, it didn’t matter.
The only thing that mattered now was that a gap exactly one scale wide had been left in the monster’s neck, which was otherwise covered in its toughest scales.
And I hadn’t missed it.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Those final words of encouragement were a privilege only the victor could enjoy.
I had driven my spearhead precisely into the underside of its neck—where a human’s Adam’s apple would have been. Tightening my grip on the shaft, I shoved it deeper.
Thk—!
The dragon’s scaled jaw trembled with a short groan, as though it were trying and failing to draw breath.
Then its jet-black pupil quivered, and the sphere of water on the verge of completion inside its wide-open maw began to disperse.
Shhhhhhh!
An incomplete Water Breath was nothing more than ordinary water.
I did not avoid the deluge pouring down over my head. I let it hit me full-on.
The unusually cold water of Dongting Lake soaked me from head to toe, calming my mind.
I won.
At the same time, a thrill surged up my spine.
The end of a long, brutal battle.
Once again, I had survived and buried my spearhead in the neck of a powerful enemy. And as always, the end of a life-or-death battle came down to two words.
Vertical and horizontal.
The victor standing tall and the loser collapsing.
Even an evil beast that had lived for an unfathomable span of time was no exception to that absolute law of the jungle.
Whoooooosh. Splash!
The body that had once possessed such immense strength and resilience gave way and toppled onto the waters of Dongting Lake.
Through the spray rising high into the air, I saw its eye blink slowly and its snout tremble faintly.
No.
I heard it.
—You are just as I remember.
“……!”
The moment someone’s voice echoed inside my head, the strength drained from the hand that had been about to drive the spear in again and finish the job.
As though bewitched, I stared into the Mutated Water God Dragon’s enormous eye and felt my body lock in place.
What the hell…?
The jet-black gleam and murderous aura that had made it look like a monster born beneath an ill-fated star were nowhere to be found.
Like dark clouds parting after a day of driving rain, an eye as clear and deep as the blue sky gazed back at me.
—There is no need to be surprised. After five hundred years or so, one naturally acquires abilities like this.
“Sound Transmission?”
—Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it mental intent.
The Mutated Water God Dragon—or rather, the divine being also known as the Two-Horned Beast of Dongting Lake—calmly sent its thoughts into my mind.
—You do not know me, but I know you. You look exactly as you did when I saw you in a dream long ago. I dismissed it as an idle dream and forgot all about it… Yes. This, too, must be part of the natural order.
A dream? The natural order?
Damn it, what the hell is going on?
“This is… I mean…”
—Hah.
My fumbling for words must have struck it as amusing. A growling laugh rumbled from the blood-soaked corner of the Water God Dragon’s mouth.
—You cannot understand, so do not try. These are merely the ramblings of an old imugi1 whose cultivation proved insufficient to ascend. My only regret is that I have no time left.
The Water God Dragon’s words were true. Its body had already reached its limit and stood on the verge of death, while the light was gradually fading from its deep eyes.
Damn it.
It was too late for regrets.
I bit my lip.
Part of me mourned the Water God Dragon’s impending death. To be coldly honest, another part simply regretted the loss.
This mystical being had regained its senses moments before death. It was an important key to solving the mystery.
Dark Heaven.
There was no way a divine and wise imugi1 had turned into a mad evil beast that slaughtered humans for no reason.
Someone must have interfered. And if so, I could hardly leave Dark Heaven off the list when it stood at the very top of the suspects behind everything currently happening in the Murim.
“Who did this to you? And how?”
The question was brief, but it contained everything.
The Water God Dragon’s reply went far beyond anything I had expected.
—See for yourself.
“Excuse me?”
The Water God Dragon answered by blinking.
Srrk.
Blue liquid welled in its enormous eye. The liquid everyone called tears slid slowly down its scales, and the moment it touched me, I understood what the Water God Dragon had meant.
Ding.
System
Water God Dragon wishes to convey a portion of its memories to you.
Memory Fragment Acquired.
The power contained within Memory Fragment is leading you into the Water God Dragon’s memories.
As the System notification rang in my ears, the Water God Dragon’s tear unfurled like a curtain before my eyes.
Shhhhhhh.
A cool sensation washed over me.
Then the world stopped.
It was exactly what its name suggested: a fragment of memory.
It held the five hundred years the Water God Dragon had lived, but perhaps because of the mutation, parts of it had broken away. Some memories were blurred, while others remained perfectly clear.
And everything began with its birth.
—Guruk?
Somewhere deep beneath the waters of Dongting Lake, a tiny newborn creature looked around in bewilderment.
Aquatic plants swayed as though dancing, and countless underwater creatures had gathered around it.
The subjects who sensed the birth of a divine being swam joyfully through the currents.
It was an auspicious day—the birth of a new master of Dongting Lake and the occasion of a grand enthronement ceremony.
—Guruk? Guk!
The new master of the river tilted its head with all the curiosity of a puppy, then began to swim with its tiny body.
The moment this being, gifted with dazzling wisdom and power at birth, began to move, countless creatures followed behind it, and even the river parted to make way.
Shhhhhhh!
As it cut through the waters of Dongting Lake with supple, powerful movements, its body gradually grew larger.
Silver scales sprouted across its once-small, soft pink body, and imposing whiskers grew long beneath its snout.
It was probably around then.
Those who caught sight of this divine being once every few decades—or even less often—gave it a new name out of reverence.
A name I knew well.
Water God Dragon.
Perhaps because of the two horns on its forehead, it was also called the Two-Horned Beast. But most people were reluctant to call such a beautiful and mysterious being a mere beast. Instead, they worshiped it as the divine spirit of Dongting Lake.
And the imugi1, having received a new name from humanity, would occasionally perform deeds that truly seemed divine.
It rescued sailors on the verge of drowning and carried them to remote stretches of dry land. It also used its innate power to calm violent currents on countless occasions.
And that wasn’t all. The Water God Dragon was also the one that defeated an evil beast that had once stained the Yangtze with blood.
After a fierce battle, it slew the turtle-shaped evil beast and came to rule both Dongting Lake and the Yangtze.
Time flowed like water.
Over the course of more than five hundred years, the Water God Dragon grew beyond all comparison to what it had once been.
It was a benevolent imugi1 possessed of tremendous power and profound wisdom, and an excellent ruler who cared for its subjects.
Yet even the Water God Dragon had one concern.
—Huh. Fighting never ends in the Lower Realm.
The horrors it had witnessed over its long life were truly appalling.
Humans constantly fought among themselves, and whenever they did, blood and countless corpses were scattered across the waters.
Two empires fell and war followed war. The Water God Dragon grew troubled and weary.
—I have already spent an unfathomable span of time in the Lower Realm. When will I finally be able to ascend?
No matter how people worshiped it as the divine spirit of Dongting Lake and called it a dragon, the Water God Dragon was, in truth, still an imugi1 that had yet to become one.
For the Water God Dragon, ascension was practically a destiny determined at birth.
But its cultivation progressed so slowly that it came to resent the heavens, and enlightenment remained stubbornly out of reach.
Then a school of fish brought news that was more than enough to stir the weary Water God Dragon’s curiosity.
—You say a human has appeared? But no one has visited that place in decades.
An uninvited visitor had entered the deepest and most secluded part of Dongting Lake—a treacherous place where no human had set foot in a very long time.
Its curiosity piqued, the Water God Dragon headed for the place it had once used as its dwelling.
The moment it arrived, it realized something was terribly wrong.
—What is this…!
The Water God Dragon of the past was not the only one shocked by the sight.
Watching through the fragment of memory, I was just as stunned.
That can’t be…
A clammy, sickening sensation crept slowly up my spine.
Overcome by disbelief, doubt, and the sheer shock of being blindsided, I muttered blankly.
…A Gate.
There was no doubt.
I had passed through Gates hundreds—no, thousands—of times. I was certain.
The black energy pouring in streams through the cracks between the enormous rocks was unmistakably magical power.
What the fucking hell…!
My vision swam, and every curse I knew echoed through my head.
If I had not been trapped inside the Water God Dragon’s memories—if I had been able to move and shout freely—I would have smashed everything around me. I would have screamed until my throat tore open.
Fuck, a Gate. Magical power!
My head felt ready to burst from the flood of thoughts. The scream I could not release died on the tip of my tongue.
Eyes wide with shock and fury, I stared at the scene unfolding before me.
—Stop! I said stop!
The master of the lake used its entire body to hold back the countless subjects charging toward it.
The teeth of the fish exposed to demonic qi were sharper than saw blades, and their scales had turned completely jet black.
—Please, stop!
But its desperate thoughts could no longer reach the fish mutated by demonic qi, and the Water God Dragon was forced to make a terrible decision.
If those unnaturally powerful and violent fish escaped, all of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze would be stained with blood.
A sacrifice had to be made for the greater good.
—…I am sorry.
The battle in the deepest waters of Dongting Lake naturally ended in the Water God Dragon’s victory.
But it was not even given time to grieve.
The wise imugi1, which had lived for centuries, understood what it had to do. It placed its own body over the enormous rift that ceaselessly poured out its ominous energy.
—I do not know what you are, but you will not have your way.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
It was the longest and fiercest struggle of the Water God Dragon’s entire life.
For seven days and nights, the two powers remained locked in a stalemate. The waters of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze churned violently, and the people on land trembled in fear, believing the divine spirit had grown angry.
And I already knew how that struggle ended.
—Krrr…
The Water God Dragon, its dazzling intelligence lost as it fell into corruption and became an evil beast, let out a low growl.
It had protected its territory and subjects by absorbing most of the demonic qi, but it could not contain all that power.
Hissss.
Its eyes slowly turned red.
Yet its last remaining grain of reason drove the Water God Dragon to surge out of the water.
It was the will of an old imugi1 determined to find the culprit behind this terrible atrocity.
Shhhhhhh!
On a dark night, the blackened waters parted.
The Water God Dragon rose as though ascending to heaven, and its red pupil reflected a person sitting on a moss-covered rock and splashing their feet in the water.
“The energy here is lovely. Coming all this way was worth it.”
A clear, gentle voice.
A dazzlingly white nape.
And a silver hairpin securing long black hair twisted into a knot.
…Honglan.
The moment that name surfaced in my mind, the entire world around me shattered into pieces.
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