Chapter 57: The High Priest
Boom! Bang! Kaboom!
Various types of bombs and Mana missiles hit a sole target one after another in a short amount of time. It was an unbelievable sight in a quiet world, such as the Void.
Woosh!
Amidst all the smoke and debris, a dazzlingly golden hatchling spun in a circle in a matter of a few seconds before attacking the target—The Ghost King.
"Keuhahaha!" The Ghost King laughed in an unpleasant voice, as if madness itself had taken a form.
Its' hand, covered in ink black hue, swiftly caught the long tail of the golden hatchling.
One spun.
Two spun.
And…
Swish! Bang!
The golden hatchling—Kyriaki—was sent flying.
Roar!
In her place, another hatchling—Euclid—bared his claws and fangs.
The Ghost King merely swung its elbow and Euclid too, was sent flying.
Bam!
This time, instead of a golden hatchling, a golden whale fell from above, trying to crush the Ghost King with weight and gravity. A whale, yes, but nevertheless, a baby in comparison to a fully grown real whale.
With the size of an adult elephant, it didn't feel very threatening before the Ghost King, who roughly looked like a three-story tall building.
Hiss! Hiss!
A baby imoogi, in a beautiful White-aquamarine color, lounged at the Ghost King without a moment of rest before the whale even disappeared. It bit the torsos of the enemy with hostility dripping from its ocean blue eyes.
Grr…Roar!
A baby winged tiger as beautiful as the sun opened its mouth wide, taking the whale's place. Its' Pura non-elemental Mana wrapped fangs, same as a sabertooth tiger's bite into the Ghost King's arm that was about to crush the baby imoogi.
The imoogi was released; instead, an unavoidable attack from the Ghost King caused the tiger's golden wings to almost break. Thankfully, the mana barrier made of pure mana weakened the Ghost's attack.
If it was not for the pure mana, and if it was not for The Ghost King not taking this fight seriously, Kyriaki, in a winged tiger form, would have died at that moment.
Her yellow diamond eyes briefly glanced at the hologram floating between her and her enemy.
[Activating
[Setting Titan race as the target species]
[Loading]
[Setting complete]
Her body was immediately enveloped in a golden mist as soon as the message arrived. Thanks to her practice, now it took only a second at minimum to change her appearance.
A golden haired Titan girl, nearly two meters tall, extended her four hands within the golden mist and caught the Ghost King's right arm, where she bit a moment ago.
She then watched Euclid turn into a troll. He swung his fist while gritting his teeth with all the strength he could muster.
Bang!
But both of them knew there was a zero chance of harming their enemy.
After all, it was an M (high) rank monster. With their current level, they couldn't even dream of scratching it. Hench the reason it treated them like a fly bussing around. No, by the look of it. It felt like they were treated like a toy for amusement.
But they didn't care.
The purpose of their joint operation was not to harm the enemy, it was to grab its attention.
And while they were at it, the two of them went wild as if they had agreed to it beforehand.
Since it wasn't a mission and they had no reason to hide their identities anymore, the two hatchlings' fighting style had changed drastically. It was as if they got free from some invisible shackles.
Changing forms of different races to fight was a new experience. Although they changed forms, polymorph didn't change the true colors of their scales, nor did it change their age.
And above all, it didn't have the unique abilities belonging to that race. In a sense, Polymorph was like an illusion. It helps to create a shell, a vessel to contain an enormous being inside.
In the end, a dragon is always a dragon.
[Deactivating
A golden mist, once again.
Flap. Flap.
Kyriaki soared high into the sky.
It took her less than three seconds to get to a place where everyone could see her. And as if she was waiting for that moment, Kyriaki expanded her wings.
Roar!
Her scales glowed in a mesmerizing light.
So breathtakingly beautiful that it was enough to catch the eyes of the Ghost King.
Kyriaki smirked inwardly.
And then—
Swoosh!
She lounged at her enemy with lightning speed, without a moment's rest. The way she folded her wings and curled her limbs as she imitated a bullet was spine chilling.
Their distance rapidly decreased.
Seven meters.
Five meters.
Three meters.
The Ghost King did not take his eyes off the Golden hatchling. The afterglow of the spell seemed to still linger around her scales. Perhaps that was the reason for his momentarily shaken guard.
If the scene was to be painted upon a canvas, people might have praised it for centuries, calling it a holy painting.
It was a moment with a beauty unmatched.
The Ghost King waited as if to physically grasp that beauty.
But alas, it failed to recognize that some beauty has its own poison inside.
Kyriaki changed her direction in mid-air. It happened so fast, even the M ranked monster had to blink its eyes in puzzlement. But the next second, The Ghost King froze as if it felt something amiss in the air. As if it almost felt danger it hadn't felt in years. However, it was too late.
"AHHHHHH!!!!"
Hrrrr.
A giant wolf dug its fangs and claws into The Ghost King's shoulders, tearing it off almost completely. The pure mana coated wolf looked like a mount of the death god for a moment.
'A success'
Kyriaki, flew away from the danger zoon, savouring the agony of her enemy with a happy heart. It was a successful surprise attack. And a successful signal for others to start their own operations.
She spotted Euclid, who at one point disappeared from the battlefield, sitting alone far away at the edge of the tower's center territory.
—You're here— He greeted her as she landed next to him.
—Now we wait— Kyriaki nodded and sat next to him.
Her gaze lingered on the S+ rank Ghost still guarding the tower. It hadn't moved an inch, as if it was ordered to do so. But still, they couldn't reach the Dimensional Gate beyond the tower without facing the Ghost. They had to wait until the Ghost King was defeated.
If the guarding ghost was to interfere with the battle of high-rankers, The two hatchlings' job was to delay them, or best, slay them.
But not now, they had to be cautious of a few more variabilities.
'A shame, really.'
Kyriaki shook her head, focusing on the fight between two Kings. Mrs.Romanov still hadn't joined the fight, seemingly believing in another surprise attack.
As she said earlier, they waited.
And waited. And waited more.
At some point, Mrs.Romanov, the Omega of The wolf King succeeded in her surprise attack. She also joined her husband.
They say the higher your rank, the longer your fight extends. True to those words, they fought for hours without any rest. And just as The wolf King was about to emerge victorious, a loud cry pierced the eardrums of the survivors as if it was all a lie.
—Tsk— Kyriaki clicked her tongue.
—How pathetic— Euclid also joined her dismay.
Despite how high one's core rank may be, Ghosts inherently knew how weak they were from birth. That was the only reason they act as groups, like birds of a flock.
Hence it was inevitable that The Wolf King and his Queen would win against The Ghost King.
"KKKYAAAAAAAKKKK"
Upon the loud scream, the Ghost standing still immediately began to move. Not only that, another S+ rank Ghost arrived before them at lightning speed.
But the two hatchlings didn't move an inch.
It was different from their initial plan where they discussed additional support if this kind of situation arose.
—This really is…something— Euclid coldly slammed the ground with his long tail, as if demanding interest from someone who owed him money.
—Sigh— Kyriaki sighed as if she was truly tired, like an exhausted mother looking at her troublesome child.
—So, are you still planning to ignore it again?—
—...—
—Oh, Mrs.Romanov took the lead in pushing back the newly arrived Ghosts. Ria, what's your decision?—
After a few seconds of silence where Kyriaki was clutching her head with her claws, as if she was having a headache, she finally lifted her head, turning it to look at something a bit far away.
—This xxxxxxx Demagogue— Was all she muttered.
She unfolded her wings in a blink of an eye and soared high into the sky.
Within a few seconds…
Boom!
A loud sound got mixed with all types of battle cries and sounds coming from everywhere.
Where Kyriaki slammed her whole body, dust and after effects of shockwaves still lingered.
"Kekeekeke…How did you know?" A male voice, rough and deeply unpleasant, rang in her ears.
Kyriaki didn't bother to speak. She just stared at the new enemy with tired yet merciless eyes. Those eyes were enough to send a chill down one's spine. But just like a flickering light bulb, it appeared and vanished in a second's thought.
Meanwhile, the dust cleared, and a clear image of her enemy was slowly revealed.
"You don't look surprised."
—...— Kyriaki felt like insects crawling under her scales and thick skin as she kept listening to that voice.
"Aren't you going to ask why the High priest is here?"
—...—
"Kekekekehahahaha!!!"
'Right,' Kyriaki had a sudden enlightenment. She was tired, too tired. But that enlightenment snapped something inside her.
'I should've killed him when Eucee asked.'
"Keuhahaha…Do you know who I am?"
Kyriaki simply laughed along.
—Hahaha—
Like she cared.
∆ ∆ ∆
It happened a week after she joined the survivors.
At first, she just felt uncomfortable, especially when she was near the High priest Warkan. It was like she was locked in a mushy, stuffy room without an air conditioner for a week.
Kyriaki thought that was just how The Void Plane was, and she thought the unfamiliar people played a huge part in it too.
But then, she noticed how that feeling only came to surface when facing or entering the personal space of Warkan. That was when Kyriaki realized; her extraordinary dragon senses were telling her something.
But because she was still inexperienced and immature, she couldn't fully analyze or uncover anything satisfactory.
That didn't mean she stopped her sharp observations.
The day she reunited with Euclid, it was the day she finally found a clue to her out-of-place discomfort.
The scent, presence and the mana around the High priest was slowly changing.
It was very faint. Nonetheless, the fact that there was danger in that change was undeniable.
It wasn't just her who realized it.
Euclid also sensed what she did. And since Euclid was awake when they all fell into the Void Plane, he was able to take a good guess on what was happening. Furthermore, The wolf couple personally had a secret meeting with Kyriaki to deduce the reason.
And their final conclusion was; Warkan was corrupted by a demon.
Kyriaki had seen such cases in the
And after the team meeting with Euclid where she found clear evidence that supports their claim, the two hatchlings and the wolf couple were on high alert since then. Although they never spoke a word about it out loud, they all knew what to do.
Thus, they witnessed the growth of demonic magic inside the High priest day in and out. Every time he prayed, demonic magic increased, strengthening his core.
Euclid or the wolf couple may not know it since their knowledge about Demons are low. However Kyriaki, who had memories of three people facing a great calamity caused by demons, knew what was happening.
The flow of this situation pointed to only one place.
The high priest was performing the ritual to accept a demon to his body.
But because the body of the high priest is like garbage, and time needed was not so short, Kyriaki's judgement was that she could just turn a blind eye to it until they cross the gate.
Her clan will handle the aftermath and suspicious people anyway.
However,
Now facing the High priest, possessed by a demon, Kyriaki couldn't help but admit she was too careless and arrogant in her judgment. She was utterly careless and foolish. And it had made everything a mess.
Regardless of her reluctance to waste her energy, she should've just killed him, following Euclid's example.
To boast about refusing to have any regrets in life, only to eat her own words not even a half a year into it…Kyriaki felt very ashamed.
Ignoring Euclid's side eye, all Kyriaki could mumbled was;
—Damn… I really want to deny reality right now—
∆ ∆ ∆