Chapter 254 – Eat Up (1)

Baaaaang!
The spear clashed against the shield.

"Ugh."

Cale grabbed his stomach.

He felt woozy.
It felt as if his insides would turn over.

It was different than the feeling he felt every so often when he used the Vitality of the Heart.
The glass plate that had become as weak as possible was causing Cale pain.

"Damn it."

Red blood.
A drop of blood dripped from Cale's mouth to his chin and then onto the ground.
The color of that drop of blood was red.

It was different than the black dead blood that usually came out.
The fishy smell of blood started to fill the area around the lake that looked like a grey eye.

Squirm, squirm.

Beacrox saw it this time.
The Black Dragon's front paws were moving. The front paws were shaking and visibly moving, little by little.

The fishy smell of blood was making the young Black Dragon's heart beat even faster.

Thump, thump.

He was sure that it was Cale's blood.

Raon wanted to hurry up and open his eyes in order to see what was going on. However, the young Dragon was looking at a different world right now.

The young Dragon had to move around in his dreams since his first growth phase started.
No, he needed to face a trial that imitated a dream. His instincts were telling him that he needed to pass this trial in order to fight alongside Cale, however, it was hard to overcome quickly.

Raon looked over his body.
Short front paws, short body, and tiny wings.

All of them were full of injuries.

He was fighting without resting, however, he could not use mana nor magic in this dream. A Dragon who had not gone through its first growth phase and could not use magic was extremely weak.

Raon looked down under his feet.
He had seen this ever since the dream-like trial had started. The young Dragon could see people grabbing onto his ankles.

Cale, On, and Hong, Goldie gramps, Choi Han, Rosalyn, Ron, Lock, Mary, Beacrox, etc.
Too many people were holding onto Raon's ankles.
Raon had to fight with these people holding onto him.

He could see a Dragon in the sky when he looked up.
It was a large Dragon that was incomparable to his short self.
Although most adult Dragons were 20 meters in length, this large Dragon was close to 30 meters in length.
The Dragon was black in color while its eyes were dark blue.

Raon's instincts were telling him something.

'That Dragon is me.
That Dragon is me as an adult.'

It was a Dragon that was flying alone freely in the sky without anybody holding onto its ankles.

'I need to fight and win against that Dragon.'

His instincts as a Dragon were telling him that defeating his future self was the only way to overcome this trial. That was why Raon was fighting against this large Black Dragon.

However, he did not have a chance of victory.
He was too weak to win against a strong Dragon.

However, Raon could not just choose to give up even though he knew that this was the case.
It was because he could hear and smell what was going on in the real world.

"Fuck!"

He could hear his weak human's voice in the world outside of this trial.
It was the way he talked whenever he was frustrated or annoyed. Raon lowered his head. It was not the voice of the person grabbing onto his ankles in this trial, but the voice of his human in the real world.

The human had said that he only had 3 days.

'This smell of blood is our human's smell.
I need to save him.'

Raon flew back up into the sky. It was sort of, no, extremely difficult to fly because of the people holding onto his ankles, however, he did not stop flapping his wings.

It was because he did not despise the people holding onto his ankles.
Raon charged once more toward the large Black Dragon that was looking down at him.
Raon was not scared. He was just afraid that he would be too late to return to reality.

The person who was dealing with things in the real world that Raon was desperate to get back to could not help but swear.

"Ugh, motherfucker!"

Cale's expression looked as terrible as possible as he coughed up blood and continued to swear. His insides were rumbling and felt as if they would flip over.
Furthermore, he was going nuts after seeing all of the red blood that he was continuing to cough up.

Baaaaang!

The grey water spear and the silver shield crashed together once again.
Although there was a loud noise, the silver shield was fine and did not even shake a little.

The problem was that the water spear that was aiming for Cale was fine as well.

Chhhhhhhh.
The shape of the spear broke down right after slamming into the shield, however, it quickly returned its form and shot toward Cale once again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The silver shield and water spear continued to slam into each other as if they wanted to gulp the other up.
Cale wiped the blood away from his mouth as he glared at the grey water spear.

His body's plate had reached its limit.
His insides were roaring in ways that were incomparable to the wooziness he felt when he was using the Sound of the Wind to travel.

That was why he could not use the Indestructible Shield nor the Scary Giant Cobblestone as much as he wanted to.

'He always lost to the glutton and the stubborn Super Rock.'

That was what the Fire of Destruction had told him, however, the opportunity to fully use those powers was not available for him.
However, Cale's eyes were calmly looking at the lake and the water spear.

'One chance.'

He could only use the Super Rock once with the shield activated.

One chance.
Cale repeated that to himself as he blocked the water spear with the shield again.

Baaaaaang!

Loud noises echoed throughout the area once again. The ancient Dragon Eruhaben started to frown while watching the fight.

The Water of Judgment.
It was cold and ruthless.
He felt an unbelievable power coming from the water spear. It was a power that seemed ready to execute a sinner immediately.

'Something is weird.'

Something truly was weird.
The ancient powers that Eruhaben knew about were all lacking to be the main source of power.

However, some of the ancient powers that this unlucky Cale Henituse had in his possession were as strong as, if not stronger, than most strong individuals' strengths.

"…This."

Eruhaben started to frown.
He could feel Cale Henituse's rumbling insides. His plate was about to break.

This ancient power was said to be an arrogant power that was almost like a god.
But Cale Henituse's current condition was not at his best to be able to win against such an ancient power.

Can he win?
Was it even possible with his current condition?

It was difficult even for this wise ancient Dragon to determine.
However, there was something that he did know.

"It is difficult using standard methods."

The ancient Dragon Eruhaben's eyes opened wide at that moment.

Ooooooo-
The lake rumbled once more.

The ancient Dragon touched his arm.
He was getting the chills.
Eruhaben heard Cale's voice at that moment.

"This is driving me nuts. They're all crazy, all lunatics! Damn it!"

Cale could not hold back from shouting.

Chhhhhhhhh-
Something was coming up from the bottom of the lake.
They were chains made out of water.

Chains were shooting up from the bottom of the lake, as if they were ready to shackle the hands and feet of the sinner. A water spear and now chains. Cale started to frown.

He felt frustrated.

They were quiet.
Those loud voices of the ancient powers were all being quiet.
Now that he thought about it, the other voices of the ancient powers all went quiet whenever he was trying to earn another power.

Chhhhhh- chhhhhhhhh-

Multiple chains shot up from the water. They then clanked as they stuck to the water spear. They looked as if they were going to attack Cale alongside the water spear.

"Damn it. For being the Water of Judgment, it uses some weird shit."

It was when Cale subconsciously voiced his frustration.

– It's not me.

It was the voice of a woman.
A clear voice that seemed to be echoing inside a cave filled Cale's mind.

It was the Water of Judgment.
He was sure of it.
He always heard the voice of the owner of the ancient power whenever he was about to finish the trials.

– No, this isn't me!

"Ugh."

Cale put his hand up to his ears. The calm voice in his mind suddenly turned into a screech.

Chhhhhh- chhhhh!
At the same time, the chains and the spear combined together in order to become an extremely large spear. Furthermore, the surface of the lake started to tremble.

– This isn't my power! This is not me! I, I am not a judge!

'Not a judge?'

Cale's gaze quickly changed.

– I, I am!
– I am! I…!

That was all the ancient power kept saying. That voice was giving him a headache. That was why he subconsciously commented.

"Then who are you?"

If you are not the Water of Judgment, then who are you?
Everybody calls you the Water of Judgment.

It was at that moment.
He heard a quiet voice.

– I…Am someone who does not have freedom.

Screeeech- screeech-
The odd noise made Cale lift his head up.
The large water spear surrounded by chains was aiming at Cale. Just looking at it made it hard to breathe.
The ancient Dragon who was watching this said what came to his mind.

"…You are chained down by a god."

– I am chained.

Cale could hear the owner of the ancient power in his mind.
She was chained by a god using shackles called responsibility and duty. She had to be repressed by an identity that she was not born with.

She was chained the moment that she was born, and then that god gave her a name as soon as he found her. Then he gave her to the people.

– I wish to get out of them. I escaped and ran away to the corner of the Eastern continent, however, I had already forgotten about who I truly was.

– Free me.

It wanted to return to its original identity.
The power that a god cherished but had no choice but to chain down wanted to be used freely at least once.

– The god gave me the name of the, 'Water of Judgment.' However, I have a name that I gave myself.

A name that she gave herself. She wanted to use that name.

– Ancient powers always give themselves names. I lost the chance to give myself a name. I want a new chance to give myself a name.

And she found someone who could give her that chance.

She could feel the powers of the people who helped her escape to the Eastern continent a long time ago.

They had helped her write a letter of resignation, caused a fire in order to create a diversion, and then defended against the white snakes with a shield.
They also gave her a ride on the wind to help her move, and finally, gave her a body that was as strong as his own boulder. There was also a nice person who consoled her and was her conversation buddy.

In the end, they had sacrificed themselves for the world.
She could smell their scent.
It was coming from this person.

– I am not a judge.

The grey lake started to tremble.

Water is something that naturally flows from top to bottom.
The laws of nature indicated that water would flow from top to bottom. That was how it was meant to be.

However, she was someone who went against the laws of nature.
That was why a god cherished her but had to chain her down, forcing her to be with the humans.

The owner of the ancient power had only said the name she gave herself once she arrived at the Eastern continent and had earned her freedom.

– I am the Retrogressive Water.

Retrogressive.
The one who defies the laws of nature.
Her voice in Cale's mind slowly became quieter. The voice that sounded as if it was in a cave far away started to disappear, however, he could still clearly hear it.

He could hear her last words.

– I am the Sky Eating Water.

It was the first name she gave for herself after throwing away the name of the, 'Water of Judgment.'
The Sky Eating Water.

Screeeeeech- screeeeeeech!
Cale lifted his head up.
The chains turned the tip of the water spear toward Cale once her voice disappeared.

"…It is the traces of a god."

Nobody could hear what Eruhaben just said.

It was because the water ate up the noise.

Chhhhhhhh-

A large grey spear was shot toward Cale.
At the same time, the chains shot out while trying to tie Cale's limbs down.

"…No."

'This is not okay. He can't do it.'

Eruhaben felt a power that went against the laws of nature in the chains and water spear.
This was something that Cale could not handle.

"Cale Henituse!"

Eruhaben had no choice but to shoot some white gold mana toward Cale and start to run toward him.
However, Eruhaben could not stand next to Cale.

Chhhhhhhh.

Cale smiled while looking at the chains and water spear that were heading toward him.

'The Retrogressive Water.'

He liked this name quite a bit.
It was much better than the, 'Water of Judgment.'

Cale could not hear the voices of the owners of the ancient powers. However, he could feel the other ancient powers making their presences known around his body.

Cale looked directly at the water spear and started to speak.

"Then I will go in reverse as well."

Cale's body shot forward.
The Sound of the Wind became Cale's feet.

Cale turned his head and smiled toward his group. They seemed to be anxious.

Cale's feet left the ground. His feet were walking where he should not be able to walk, as if he was water that was aiming for the sky that it could not reach. The results of that soon reached Cale's ears.

Chhhhhhhhhhhh-

The Grey Eye Lake.
Cale jumped into the lake.

He was certain.

The water could not touch him.

Cale chose to sink into the lake.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]