Chapter 314. The Clash Approaches (1)
We got off at the Alaska Peninsula located south of Alaska’s mainland. Our plan was to travel up.
“Aren’t fresh Alaskan salmon delicious, Oppa?”
“It’s spring right now. Salmons come back during autumn when it’s their breeding season, so it should be hard to find them now.”
“What about bears?”
“Alaska’s well-known for their grizzly bears, also known as Kodiak grizzlies.”
“Bear paws!”
“Oh, I’ve had bear paws before. The things I had to do to have a taste of it…”
“Wow, really? I want to try it too!”
Yua’s eyes shone brightly. It seemed Yua was interested in Alaskan delicacies. When I was thirteen, I had come to Alaska with Father for training, and I had to hunt a Alaskan grizzly bear with a wooden spear. Alaska grizzly bears were notorious for being as frightening as polar bears! Just thinking about the past made my gnash my teeth.
I wanted to throw Father in front of a grizzly bear as revenge, but since he could easily stab a grizzly bear to death, I couldn’t even call it revenge. Thankfully, I had somehow managed to survive and even ate the paw of the bear I caught. Sadly, it wasn’t even that tasty, especially considering I had almost lost my life…
In any case, I had come to Alaska before and I could tell how much Alaska had changed. I decided to be honest with Yua.
“I doubt any grizzly bears are alive in Alaska.”
“… Ah.”
Because of its beautiful natural scenery, many tourists used to visit Alaska. But now, Alaska’s precipitous mountains, icy rivers, and wild animals were all gone as if the entire land had been recreated.
“Wow, look at that mountain, Shin! It looks higher than Everest!”
“I can hear, a howl. Emperor of the mountain.”
“It looks like a monster replaced Alaskan grizzly bears as Alaska’s strongest.”
“Hiing, my bear paw…”
Despite what everyone else thought, we weren’t here to sightsee. I had Daisy summon her super-massive tuna undead, Aikan, and we began our travel. Of course, since we couldn’t ignore the monsters in our way, I decided to borrow Dortu’s power.
[I am Dortu. I will work hard and waste time with Master today.]
“No, Dortu, we’re not wasting time today. Also, don’t say that when I summon you.”
[I am Dortu…]
I transferred my thought to Dortu, and he immediately began to make metallic fragments around us. It looked as though we were in the middle of the milky way.
“Wow, how beautiful, Oppa!”
“It won’t just be beautiful. Also, from now on, don’t look at Oppa’s face. Daisy and Ye-Eun, the same goes for you guys too.”
My Evil Eyes of Petrification didn’t indiscriminately petrify everything around it. What I was worried about was the effect of my charm. I could easily exclude them from my charm’s effect, but I couldn’t say for certain that they would be excluded completely.
Once Dortu’s metallic fragments spread far, I began to slowly release the charm I had trapped inside me. After obtaining Lilith’s power, I could recognize the charm within my body as something like a fragrance. Not only did was it easier to control my charm, but releasing it from a single part of my body also became possible. Currently, I was pouring my charm out through my eyes.
The surroundings turned bright. The light let out by the Evil Eyes reflected off the millions of mirror fragments. Of course, it didn’t just end there. As Aikan was purposely crying out, all land-based, river-based, and sky-based monsters were paying attention to us. They were then exposed to the light of my Evil Eyes, and the result was to be expected.
“Wow…!”
“Yua, let your kids out on the ground. I’m going to unpetrify them once they shatter and die.”
“Yes, Oppa!”
Following what I said, Yua released Luna and her mantises. Meanwhile, Daisy’s expression changed when she saw every living being turning into stone..
“Evil Eyes’ power, amplifying?”
“It’s because Dortu is an elemental connected to me. It uses a lot of mana though.”
It was also possible thanks to my mana nearing one million points. Not to mention, I was constantly absorbing atmospheric mana with Absolute Soul and Peruta Circuit. My entire existence was like a giant magnet attracting nearby mana.
“You shouldn’t try it, Daisy. Your Evil Eyes and mine have completely different effects.”
“I won’t. Reading the thoughts of thousands at once, just thinking about it gives me a headache.”
With that, Daisy stared at Yua’s tamed monsters breaking the petrified monsters and eating them, then raised her head and spoke.
“Kang Shin, petrifiable monsters, how strong?”
“Up to SSS rank, probably?”
“Everything that’s alive?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t work on inanimate objects for now.”
I replied as I rubbed the reddish-black horn on my forehead. As I was using my charm, the horn was giving off slight heat. I could feel that my Evil Eyes could still evolve.
“If Kang Shin gets stronger, everything weaker than Kang Shin, can be petrified instantly.”
“I doubt a day like that will come.”
“… If that happens, how is Kang Shin, different from a god?”
“Hm?”
I looked back at Daisy. She blushed.
“Are you, seducing me?”
“No, sorry.”
“But Shin’s name is already Shin!” [1]
While I quickly turned away, Ye-Eun erased the strange air between us with her stupid comment. I laughed, but Daisy looked back down on the ground filling up with stones and spoke.
“Incomprehensible sight. Even I’m, getting scared.”
I shrugged. Even if I became much stronger, I didn’t think I would ever be strong enough to petrify someone like Daisy. Of course, there was no reason for me to petrify my precious friend either. In my opinion, there was no need for Daisy to be scared of me.
But it seemed Daisy thought otherwise.
“Kang Shin’s Evil Eyes, I looked down on them at first. But if what I said happens…”
“Yeah?”
“Kang Shin will, receive the awe of all people. Might become… a real god.”
“That sounds so ridiculous, I don’t know even where to begin.”
“Kang Shin, even if you become a god.”
“Like I said, that won’t happen.”
Daisy held my shoulders and spoke.
“Don’t abandon me.”
“I won’t, geez.”
“You’ll get cursed with sore feet, after walking less than ten li." [2]
“How would a god get sore feet? It’s nice to know you’re adapting well to living in Korea though.”
“Shin, you won’t abandon me either, right?”
“Of course not.”
I was worried Yua would join in on this talk but she was thankfully uninterested. She was simply cheering on her pets.
“Luna, don’t eat that! It’s dirty! Guys, there are lots to eat on the left!”
“Wow, look at those mantises eat.”
“It’s a bit gory objectively speaking, but then again, we’ve been killing monsters for a long time…”
“Killing tens of thousands of monsters, just with a blink of an eye. Kang Shin has no persuasiveness.”
Yua’s mantises shattered the stones and happily ate the corpses of the monsters. The ground became dyed in fresh blood, bone fragments, and flesh. As the mantises only needed to eat what I petrified, they quickly gobbled them up and chased after us. Daisy also released her undead army on the ground and cleaned up any monsters that the mantises missed.
“Monster, massacre.”
“I want to hunt them too… I’m getting all itchy.”
“Don’t take out your dagger here, Ye-Eun. It’s scary.”
The galaxy made out of Dortu’s metallic mirrors stretched out from the sky to the ground and petrified everything in its range. Although we had to slow down from time to time to let the mantises catch up, by the time we went through 90 percent of the Alaska Peninsula, it was only lunch time. Since we left Korea in the morning, only about an hour of time had passed.
“Emperor of the mountain, looking forward to it.”
Daisy spoke with sparkling eyes while we were eating the meat of a wolf Luna brought back. I then realized that we were flying over the mountain we saw when we first arrived in Alaska. This mountain was where we heard the thunderous howl.
The Alaska Peninsula was originally famous for its Aleutian Mountain Range. Now, that mountain range was gone and replaced by a massive mountain. This probably couldn’t be called Aleutian any longer.
“Let’s go inland following the mountain.”
“Yes, Oppa!”
I spoke apathetically while biting down on a wolf’s leg. I wanted to reclaim Greenland under two days, but we weren’t even half-way done with Alaska. Since I couldn’t feel the energy Ciara talked about here, I just wanted to get this place over with as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, in the middle of bulldozing through any monsters we came across, we heard its howl once again.
[Guaaaaaang!]
I raised my head. After confirming that source of the cry, I looked back to the others and asked quietly.
“… Did the succubi report on the monsters here?”
“Mm… They said they didn’t go deep in and that this place had the highest concentration of energy in all of Alaska. But they said it was all the same for Oppa.”
Yua tilted her head as she retorted. I see. I nodded my head. I remembered hearing about it. Indeed, I could feel an energy different than normal mana from this mountain, but it was still only like a carbonated drink to someone like me.
“We might have to fight the biggest monster we’ve fought so far.”
“Yes?”
Yua asked curiously. Without speaking, I pointed at the peak of the mountain in front of us. Everyone could immediately see a red lump hanging onto the peak as though it was a koala hanging on a tree.
“Oppa, is that alive?”
“Yep.”
I nodded. Almost like it heard me, the monster howled once again.
[Guooooooooong!]
“Making a soda can for that guy is going to be a bit hard.”
Was this to make up for the grizzly bear we couldn’t see!? Just look at the size of that thing!
“Bear paw, can you make it for us?”
“Yeah, but you have to eat it all. You’ll be eating it for ten years straight.”
I held up my spear as I joked. My Evil Eyes had already covered this entire region. Since it wasn’t petrified, I had to fight it myself.
“It’s coming!”
“Wow, a mountain peak just crumbled!”
“Grind your dagger well, though it might not go through that thing!”
With that, I jumped off. SSS rank my ass, that thing might as well be the successor of the Beast King!
[1] Remember, Shin means "god" in Korean
[2] A line from a traditional Korean song called Arirang.