Chapter 439
Hearing the topic shift in this direction, the Shadow Queen looked at Seong Jiah with an expression of incomprehension.
"When you live life, there are times when you have to part ways, so why are you making such a fuss?"
[This is originally one of the topics people find most entertaining. It's perfect for nitpicking and gossiping.]
"Oh, is that so? I invited you because you're a constellation, so I'm sorry. I'll designate divorce as a forbidden word in the chat window."
[Forget it. Even if you make it a forbidden word, everyone will find a way around it. Just let them chatter.]
"...I guess. Then let's just watch the game."
When Seong Jiah answered nonchalantly, the Shadow Queen quickly enlarged the game screen.
There, the dragon clan members who each had two heads were in a standoff.
[I will carry out the Lord's order.]
Once again, one side was exploding.
And towards the surviving dragon, once again flew bits of blood and flesh.
They gathered next to the 2 heads and began wriggling to create something again.
-2 heads exploded, so does it become 2+2?
-Later on, it'll just have a crazy number of heads lol
-But if the number of heads increases, how much stronger will it get?
-Oh... This time it only increased by 1.
Splat!
After the fusion ended, the dragon's head.
The Shadow Queen narrowed her eyes seeing that.
"It's fortunate that it didn't increase to 4 heads, but I don't know how much stronger it got with just 1 more."
[How much stronger, you ask? It became about 30% more powerful than when it had 2 heads.]
"You can figure that out?"
[I can discern it to a certain extent.]
Saying that, Seong Jiah pointed to the brightly shining Divine Eye on her forehead.
"Oh... Then when it originally went from 1 head to 2, it also got 30% stronger?"
[At that time, it was around 40-50%. There were differences in mana increase rate between individuals.]
"Then even with 3 heads, the power of a level 9 constellation hasn't doubled."
[If an individual that got 50% stronger gained another 30%, it's close to doubling.]
The Shadow Queen's eyes sparkled as she looked at the Divine Eye calculating the increase in power.
"Seong Jiah, would you be willing to appear as a fixed guest only for this tournament?"
[Fixed? You want me to keep appearing on this?]
"I told your brother I would analyze the constellations' powers and let him know, and I think it would be more accurate seeing it through your Divine Eye."
[Ah... If that's the case, alright.]
The opponent Seong Jihan would have to fight after the finals was, no matter how you look at it, that fused dragon clan.
In order to analyze the enemy's combat power for her younger brother, Seong Jiah accepted the Queen's suggestion.
And like that, the tournament's round of 64 proceeded.
[4 heads... It's 20%. The rate of increase is gradually weakening.]
-Phew, that's a relief since it's 4 heads.
-I thought the heads might increase exponentially lol
-Still, since it became way stronger than a level 9 constellation, we can't let our guard down.
-Yeah, even if the rate of power increase is lower, by the time it reaches the finals it'll probably be a monstrous dragon.
As the tournament rounds went up, the heads of the dragon clan members were increasing exactly by 1 each time.
People were relieved seeing this number, saying the worst-case scenario had been avoided.
And as the matches progressed rapidly, the tournament soon entered the round of 16.
-Wow, they're all dragon clan??
-Not a single other constellation.
-Yeah, the other constellations couldn't win against the dragons with increased heads.
-They couldn't handle level 9 constellations getting stronger;
By the round of 16, besides the dragon clan, all the other constellations had been annihilated.
The Shadow Queen frowned seeing this.
"Looks like it'll reach the finals within today."
[Today's not the issue, won't it take just a few hours? Since it ends quickly when it's between dragons who self-destruct.]
"That's right. Setting up the arena takes more time..."
With the dragon clan dominating the tournament, the Shadow Queen's broadcast had already become a wreck.
When dragons met each other, they would talk about the Lord and self-destruct in less than 3 minutes.
Even when a dragon met another constellation, the dragon clan members who had gotten stronger with more heads easily overwhelmed their opponents.
'Even if I get an investment, I don't know if I can pay back the loans...'
While the Shadow Queen was foreseeing her own overwhelming deficit like that,
-Now it'll be 6 heads, right?
-Round of 16 is 6, quarterfinals 7, semifinals 8, finals 9...
-So in the end, Seong Jihan fights against 9 heads? Lol
The viewers, instead of being interested in the battles, were counting how many heads there would be.
The fights would end in an instant anyway with one side self-destructing.
They decided to at least gauge what kind of opponent Seong Jihan would fight against in the end.
"Seong Jihan hasn't shown up yet?"
[Yeah. He's staying in the training room for a long time this round.]
"Hmm... He might get forcibly summoned before I can even hand over the analysis data. Today's matches will end in an instant."
What a waste after preparing it.
While the Shadow Queen was lamenting,
On the game screen, heads were exploding like before.
"It'll be 6 now."
Since all of them increased by 1 head so far, it would be the same this time too.
The Shadow Queen spoke indifferently while watching the blood and flesh fly towards the living dragon, but.
[...Huh? No, something's strange?]
The scene that unfolded next was a bit different from before.
The remains of the exploded opposing dragon wrapped around the 5 heads.
These also all began to fuse together.
[This fusion is taking quite some time?]
"It is. It bought time for Seong Jihan to return."
[Why isn't he coming, I don't know.]
About an hour had passed since the heads were disassembled and lumped together like that.
Ssss...
In the place where the dragon clan's heads were.
There was a head that felt completely different from the original settled in.
This was.
"Rather than a dragon's head..."
[The appearance seems closer to a serpent?]
Unlike the previous dragons, the elongated dark red head resembled a snake in shape.
[The match has ended.]
[The winner is 'Seven-Horned Blue Dragon'.]
With that message popping up as the fusion finished completely.
-This time it didn't become 6 heads?
-The appearance really doesn't match;
-Yeah, it doesn't seem to fit with the dragon body.
-But dragons are actually a type of lizard, so I thought the difference wouldn't be that big... It looks quite unbalanced.
-First of all, the color is weird lol. A blackish-red head with a blue dragon's body.
While people were criticizing the new head for a long time saying it didn't match,
Swish...
From the ceiling of the Shadow Queen's broadcast studio.
"So this is where you were."
Seong Jihan poked his head in.
The golden tower located in Tuseong.
Watching the tournament match, Pythia frowned seeing the changing appearance of the dragon clan.
"...That head is similar to the one My lord took out."
The dragon whose heads kept increasing one by one, then evolved into a serpent's head on the 6th one.
But the serpentine shape that appeared there was familiar to Pythia as well.
Because the serpent head Martial God had created back when he said he would look through her memories and swallowed her looked just like that.
"Why is that head there... Is what My lord used the Dragon Lord's authority... Or..."
"What the, why is that damn snake head there?!"
When Gilgamesh, who was merged with the tower and only had his head sticking out, shouted like that,
Pythia raised her hand.
"Hey, are you secretly peeking at my BattleTube again? I told you not to look!"
"Urk...!"
Smack!
After smashing Gilgamesh's head, Pythia tried to turn off the screen.
But before she could end the BattleTube, Gilgamesh hurriedly shouted.
"Wa-wait! Isn't it strange? That the Dragon Lord and the snake have the same head!"
"...My lord can merely also summon a snake's head, that's not his real head."
"What are you saying? I'm the first human he made a contract with. His original form was a serpent!"
"When he saved me, he had the form of the Blood Clan!"
"That was him disguising himself in that form! When he revealed his true colors at the time of the primordial contract, his original form was a serpent!"
As Gilgamesh passionately argued, Pythia scoffed.
"Ah, that fraudulent contract? Saying it like that makes it sound even more fake. In order to make a false contract with you, he must have proceeded with the contract in a false form!"
"Guh...! That's not it. That's the truth!"
Smack!
Pythia hit Gilgamesh once more.
"Stop rolling your eyes and hurry up and fully merge with the tower. There aren't many days left until we go to Earth now."
"What are you trying to do..."
"You don't need to know."
Pythia said that and turned off the BattleTube screen before disappearing.
Left alone in the tower like that, Gilgamesh pondered deeply.
'The head the dragon clan fused into is exactly the same as Martial God's head. Martial God, could he have had a connection with the dragon clan or the Lord...'
Gilgamesh tried to recall his memories.
Although Martial God always hid his face in darkness,
The form revealed at the time of the primordial contract was a blackish-red serpent's head.
It was definitely that shape.
'I should let that descendant brat know...'
Gilgamesh, who had arbitrarily decided Seong Jihan was his descendant,
rolled his eyes this way and that.
Since Pythia had left her spot, now was the best opportunity to send a message.
Whirr...
From the right hand part of his body merged with the golden tower, a cell phone popped out.
Swish!
He swiftly grabbed the cell phone with his right hand and brought it inside the tower.
[Seong Jihan. The serpent head that formed from the dragon clan fusing is identical to Martial God's.]
[...You kept calling Martial God a snake, so that's what his face hidden in darkness looked like?]
[Yes. I made a contract with that face. Martial God's origin may be related to the dragon clan. Be careful.]
[Got it.]
[And Pythia said there aren't many days left until she goes to Earth... You'll have to prepare for that too.]
While Gilgamesh was diligently conveying all the information he knew,
Tap. Tap.
The disappeared Pythia returned.
"Gilgamesh. What... did you do?"
"...What can I even do in this state? I'm completely tied up."
"Hmm..."
She looked at Gilgamesh with suspicious eyes and sat down.
"Don't mess around. I know everything."
What do you even know?
He only sent a few texts.
While Gilgamesh thought that, he acted calm on the outside.
"How can I mess around in this state? Stop mocking me."
"...Something's fishy."
She sat in her spot and turned the BattleTube back on.
"Even if I show you this, I'll have to keep an eye on you next to me."
"Hmph, I'm grateful. It'll relieve my boredom."
Like that, the two began watching Seong Jihan's tournament together in an uncomfortable atmosphere.
And.
Splat. Splat...!
On the tournament screen, dragon heads were exploding like usual.
And.
"Martial God's head appeared again."
"That's not My lord's head, you know?"
Smack!
While Gilgamesh was getting beaten several times for calling the serpent head Martial God's,
The game had already progressed to the finals at super speed.
The dragon clan, who stopped having their heads multiply into 2 or 3 even when they exploded each other's heads after turning into serpent heads,
In the finals, two dragon clans with the same blackish-red serpent heads were facing each other.
And.
[The Lord shall descend.]
The dragon clans who always said they would carry out the Lord's order every time,
Finally spoke of the true purpose 'Descent' after reaching the finals.
Whirrrr...!
Then, instead of exploding, the bodies of the two dragons that made it to the finals combined.
Ssss...
The serpent heads that had a definite entity,
Instead began to blur and become semi-transparent.
-What the heck is this...
-Is the Dragon Lord descending??
-Did they push in 128 dragons to do this ;;
-No, isn't this against the rules? Shouldn't the arena regulate this?
-If they were going to regulate it, wouldn't they have done so from the start when 128 dragon clans entered. They're in cahoots, aren't they?
The viewers who heard about the Dragon Lord's descent were outraged, asking if this made sense.
But the arena showed no signs of stopping the tournament.
Rather.
[The tournament final match will begin.]
As soon as the final match ended, they were already summoning Seong Jihan.
Flash! Flash!
The two beings summoned to the stage of the final match.
The Blue Dragon 'Seven-Horned Blue Dragon' with the elongated serpent head.
And Seong Jihan with the sealed red hand faced each other.
Seong Jihan, a tiny human compared to the dragon.
Looked up at it intently.
"Are you the Dragon Lord?"
[That's right. Although I couldn't fully draw out my power, this body is more than enough to become an avatar.]
"Hmm... Is that head your original head?"
The Dragon Lord easily affirmed Seong Jihan's question, but.
[That's right.]
"What's your relationship with Martial God?"
[...Martial God? Why is he being brought up?]
It couldn't immediately understand Seong Jihan's next question.
"That guy's head looked like that too."
[What...]