Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 497.19 – Side Story 6 Part 2

Flame of the Abyss (2)

The sturdy general shook his head as he looked at the few remaining giant spirit generals.

Inside the pagoda, 90% of those with nearly infinite regenerative abilities had been annihilated.

It was fitting for one of the three worst lesser demons who had been infamous when immortals still remained in the world during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era.

However, from the moment they were trapped in the pagoda, it was already over.

When repairing the once-broken pagoda in the past, it was made to absorb even energy so that those trapped inside could never escape.

No matter how strong that fox woman was, the outcome was predetermined from the start.

Rather, it could be said that enduring this long was impressive.

But now it’s the end.

She seemed to have lost almost all her demonic power while annihilating nearly 90% of the giant spirit generals.

Covered in blood and staggering, she was almost crawling on the ground.

‘That’s enough.’

At this point, it seems I just need to finish her off.

Originally, I was going to leave it to the giant spirit generals, but should I give some payback for breaking my wrist?

The sturdy general entered the pagoda to finish her off himself.

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox, nearly exhausted, didn’t even notice him approaching and was just kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily.

Step step!

The sturdy general approached right in front of her, drew the sword at his waist, and spoke:

[Seeing one of the infamous Three Demons from ancient times submit like this makes me feel the passage of time.]

[You look like you’re having trouble even breathing. As a courtesy to your high infamy, and to repay the debt of breaking my arm, I’ll finish you off myself.]

With those words, the sturdy general raised immortal power in his sword.

But at that very moment,

Flinch!

Feeling an eerie sensation from behind, the sturdy general hurriedly turned sideways.

As he did so, something burst through his right collarbone.

Thud!

It was a golden tail stained with blood.

‘What… is this…?’

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox was gasping for breath and seemingly unconscious right in front of him, so how could a tail have pierced through him?

As he wondered, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s appearance gradually rippled and changed into a giant spirit general with no eyes, nose, or mouth contours on its face.

‘!?’

What on earth is going on?

Then a seductive woman’s voice reached his ears.

[How do you intend to finish things when you can’t even see what’s right in front of you? Kekekeke!]

With that laughter, the remaining giant spirit generals visible in the sturdy general’s eyes scattered like dust.

Was all of this a ploy to lure him into the pagoda?

‘Damn it.’

“You fox bitch!”

Hong Hae-a roared as he looked at the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox who had returned to her original form from the sturdy general.

He had been searching for her, the one who had turned his father, the Great Strength King, into a killing stone.

Looking at him like this, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox waved her hand.

“It’s been a while, red-haired kid.”

“You…”

“I thought you had died long ago fighting the stone monkey, but I guess you didn’t die then.”

At her provocation, Hong Hae-a’s eyes turned cold.

In the past, during the war against the ancient immortals, there was a time when lesser demons cooperated with each other amicably.

But not now.

Even if they knew about each other, they were now enemies.

Hong Hae-a suppressed the anger that had surged for a moment, regained his composure, and spoke:

“Fox. Why did you use the Fox Spirit Bead on my father?”

At this question, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox twirled her hair and answered:

“Well, wouldn’t it be better to ask your father when he’s released someday? Though I don’t know when that will be.”

“You’re still the same. Trying to scatter your opponent’s mind with provocations.”

Whoosh!

Crackle!

As Hong Hae-a held out his hand, flames erupted from behind him to his right.

Then, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox, who had wrapped herself with her nine golden tails, was flung back and stopped about ten steps away.

At the same time, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s figure in front of the Heaven and Earth Wheel blurred and scattered.

Her golden eyes gleamed.

‘He’s not the same kid as before.’

She had intended to subdue Hong Hae-a after distracting his attention.

But he had truly regained his composure, immediately noticing her tactic with his insight, and his demonic power had increased to a level difficult to compare with the past.

She was quite surprised, and Hong Hae-a held out his hand towards her and said:

“I won’t say it twice. Hand over the Spirit Demon Great Treasure, the Fox Spirit Bead. If you do, I’ll overlook what you did to turn my father into a killing stone.”

“The kid’s saying things he doesn’t mean. For someone saying that, you seem to have prepared even ancient immortals’ treasures, as if you’re determined to fight this big sister.”

“It’s not something I don’t mean. As a child, it’s right to resolve a parent’s grudge, but revenge tastes best when done by the person involved.”

“It sounds like you want to release your father and make him fight me.”

“You heard correctly.”

Their conversation, with neither giving an inch, was filled with hostility.

And it wasn’t just carried out through words alone.

As they were raising their auras with demonic power, sparks of shockwaves were flying up where their energies crossed, causing the space to ripple.

Crack! Crack!

Being Great Spirit Beasts on par with the Six Demons, the impact of their energies clashing had a big effect on the surroundings.

The boiling lava churned, seeming about to erupt at any moment.

As they battled with their auras while appearing to converse, the first to move was the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox.

Whoosh!

Her figure blurred as she tried to dive towards Hong Hae-a.

However, the fiercely rotating wheel of the Heaven and Earth Wheel blocked her path again.

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox changed all the hairs of one tail into sharp metal and struck away the rotating wheel.

Clang clang clang!

‘Huh?’

But her tail, hardened like metal, got caught in the wheel’s rotation.

She had thought there wouldn’t be much difference in hardness since she was protecting her tail with demonic power, but her tail couldn’t withstand the rotating force of the wheel.

Rumble!

The wheel rotated fiercely, trying to grind her up.

At this, three of her other tails moved and shot beams of light created with demonic power towards the rotating wheel.

Whoosh!

Bang bang!

The wheel that had been hit by the light beams infused with demonic power stopped for a moment.

Not missing this chance, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox tried to pull out her tail, but in that split second,

Whack!

Hong Hae-a flew in and launched a kick towards her face.

Just as the kick was about to connect with her face, one of her tails blocked it like a shield.

However, the force of the kick was extraordinary, and even though she blocked it, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s figure was flung back again.

Boom! Crash!

Flying back, she was only able to stop after breaking through three red-hot pillars in the lava cave.

‘This guy?’

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s eyes narrowed.

She had thought he had become much stronger than before, but it wasn’t just to that extent.

His demonic power had become so strong that it seemed to even surpass the Great Strength King in his prime before being sealed.

Unlike the Great Strength King, she had never been sealed and had continuously grown stronger, but she felt his demonic power had become even stronger than hers.

‘What is this?’

Moreover, she felt a strangely opposing energy in his demonic power.

This was close to the immortal power one would feel from immortals.

Did this guy really train to become an immortal while he was gone? Even though he’s a being that’s incompatible with them.

Whoosh!

It was at that moment.

One of the Heaven and Earth Wheel’s wheels flew in from behind her with a sound of air being torn.

She jumped up from the ground to avoid it and spotted Hong Hae-a’s whereabouts.

‘Here!’

One of her tails enlarged, creating a solid net that swooped down on Hong Hae-a as he ran along the ceiling wall of the cavern.

At this, Hong Hae-a stretched out his hand, and another wheel flew in, spinning flames and tearing apart the net.

Snap!

“That hurts!”

Then the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox flew in, grabbed Hong Hae-a’s chin, and slammed him against the ceiling wall.

Boom!

In that state, she tried to grind Hong Hae-a’s face against the heat-filled ceiling. However,

At that moment, Hong Hae-a’s two legs wrapped around her body,

Whoosh!

The fiercely rotating wheel of the Heaven and Earth Wheel flew in behind her, trying to crush her back along with flames.

But she had nine tails.

Realizing that the power of the Heaven and Earth Wheel was no ordinary thing, she crossed four tails and tried to deflect it by creating a rebound with her demonic power.

But it didn’t end there.

Crackle!

Then blue flames and yellow flames appeared in Hong Hae-a’s hands.

‘Samadhi True Fire!’

Hong Hae-a shot both flames simultaneously towards the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s face and chest.

Feeling the ominous energy in the flames, she wanted to avoid them, but she couldn’t because Hong Hae-a was holding her body with his two legs.

So she moved two tails to block the white flames and blue flames.

Crack! Clang clang clang!

‘What?’

One tail that touched the white flames froze solid, and the tail that blocked the yellow flames was paralyzed by the lightning created by the flames.

Then the rotating wheel of the Heaven and Earth Wheel, raising flames, collided with the spot where she had crossed four tails behind her back.

Whoosh!

She had thought she could definitely deflect it, but that was a miscalculation.

‘!?’

Boom!

Under tremendous pressure like a great mountain, her crossed tails were burned and ground away, then pierced straight through the ceiling.

Snap!

In that split second, Hong Hae-a released his legs and landed on the ground, separating from the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox.

Hong Hae-a raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that his power, having completed the Samadhi True Fire, an immortal cultivation technique, far surpassed even the Great Strength King.

Maintaining a somewhat equal situation through power control was also to inflict a fatal wound on her by suddenly increasing his energy in an instant.

Then one of the Heaven and Earth Wheel’s wheels that had smashed the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox into the ceiling wall came out. But the wheel’s rotation wasn’t as smooth as before.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

This was because part of the wheel had turned to stone.

‘This is?’

Boom!

The ceiling wall collapsed, and the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox burst out from there.

Holding a bead emitting five-colored light in one hand, she exhaled roughly as soon as she came out.

The condition of her tails wasn’t good, but as the light from the bead touched her, the burned parts turned back into shiny gold.

Seeing this, Hong Hae-a’s eyes sparkled.

“You’ve finally taken it out.”

It was the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s Spirit Demon Great Treasure, the Fox Spirit Bead.

That was needed to remove the Great Strength King from the killing stone.

But then the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox looked around, then frowned at Hong Hae-a and spoke:

“Why… was I fighting with you, kid? I’m sure I was trapped in a pagoda fighting spirit generals.”

At these words, Hong Hae-a’s eyes gleamed and his lips twitched.

It was as if he had discovered something good.

“This is interesting. I didn’t know the Flame of Oblivion would work even on a Great Spirit Beast.”

“What? Flame of Oblivion?”

At Hong Hae-a’s words, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s eyes sharpened.

She didn’t know what had happened, but it seemed part of her memory had been erased.

Unlike humans, her thinking was on a different dimension, so she could immediately recognize that a part of her mind was empty.

“You have a dangerous power.”

‘Is it that?’

The Heaven and Earth Wheel’s wheel was still rotating, though part of it had turned to stone because of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox.

A strange immortal aura was flowing from that flame.

It seemed best to avoid directly clashing with that.

Meanwhile,

“Huhuhu. I’ll burn away all your memories, fox, and make you a loyal slave.”

“You’ve become quite a handful while I wasn’t looking, kid.”

“Soon you won’t be able to have such arrogant thoughts. Fox!”

Whoosh!

As Hong Hae-a raised his hand, one wheel of the Heaven and Earth Wheel that was partially stone and another wheel began to rotate fiercely.

Woong!

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox gripped the Fox Spirit Bead and glared at the two wheels with a somewhat tense look.

Just as Hong Hae-a was about to manipulate the Heaven and Earth Wheel,

Thud!

At that moment, a huge monkey lesser demon with white fur and armor appeared in front of one of the Heaven and Earth Wheels.

It was none other than the White Ghost King.

As the Great Spirit Beast lesser demon serving his family suddenly blocked the Heaven and Earth Wheel’s path right after returning, Hong Hae-a’s eyebrows couldn’t help but rise.

White Ghost King. What are you doing now?

But it didn’t end there.

Someone descended through the hole in the ceiling of the lava cave and landed, also blocking the path of the other Heaven and Earth Wheel as if to protect the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox.

She was,

“Mother?”

It was Iron Fan Immortal, the Great Spirit Beast of Plantain Leaf Peak.

As Hong Hae-a was dumbfounded by this sudden inexplicable situation, someone slowly descended into the center of the lava cave with their hands behind their back.

Seeing this figure, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox’s face lit up and she shouted:

“Heavenly Demon!”