Chapter 229
Chapter 229: Really?
Weija blinked, watching as the several Cat-girls stared back at her with blank eyes and walked toward her mechanically.
She flapped her wings sharply and shot up into the air, looking down at Viktor from above and crying out in her hoarse voice, bristling with resistance:
"Viktor! What do you think you're doing!"
"I only said a couple of things to you—do you really hold a grudge this badly?!"
She flapped her wings rapidly in midair, and even her words came out sounding a little nervous:
"And you're so strange about it—there are clearly humans over there and you didn't pick them, you had to go and line up a bunch of Demi-humans?!"
"Do you really like Demi-humans that much?!"
Listening to Weija's frantic complaints, Viktor made no response—he couldn't even be bothered to engage.
He walked up to the few manipulated Cat-girls before him and looked them up and down.
He reached out and pinched one of the Cat-girls on the cheek.
The sensation that came through his fingers was entirely real. The pale skin was soft and supple, full of life—exactly like that of a genuine Demi-human.
Which made sense, as they had been fully constructed according to a Demi-human's physical structure.
The only difference was that their bodies had been fashioned by the Divine Tree Yadh from Natural Energy.
Hovering in the air, Weija stared blankly as Viktor reached out and pinched the Cat-girl's cheek. Every black feather on her body stood on end, and a chill ran through her.
If she had seen Viktor reach out and pinch a normal Demi-human's cheek, Weija wouldn't have found it particularly strange.
But these Demi-humans he was touching were essentially like puppets.
Other than their bodies being identical to those of real Demi-humans, there was not a single thing about them that resembled a living, breathing Demi-human.
It made Weija deeply unsettled.
As she watched, something even more baffling happened.
Viktor pinched and squeezed at the Cat-girl's face, and the next second, the puppet's features began to shift.
The facial features dissolved into a streak of black liquid, as though merging entirely, pooling across the blank expanse of the empty face.
He moved his fingers, and soon the black liquid began to reshape itself into delicate new features, even reshaping the face's contours along with them.
As the black liquid gradually settled back into stillness, those refined features and vivid contours gave Weija an eerie feeling.
Wasn't that his tsundere little sister?!
Weija froze in midair, shook her head, and looked more carefully at this face that bore a striking resemblance to 'Leah.'
Not perfectly identical—but perhaps 90%, even 80% of the way there.
And on top of 'Leah's' head grew 2 fluffy Cat-girl ears, which gave the whole thing a rather distinct flavor.
"What in the world—you actually squeezed out your own little sister?"
Viktor still said nothing, and had already moved in front of another Cat-girl, pinching out a brand-new face.
Black liquid drifted across the face, gradually sculpting a new appearance.
The originally somewhat bewitching features became a little rounder under the reshaping.
Then, when the liquid fully settled the facial features, Weija made it out—it was 'Heni.'
She grew even more confused.
Viktor moved to the 3rd Cat-girl. After another round of manipulation, he produced a likeness of 'Erika'—complete with a head of golden hair—leaving Weija utterly dumbfounded.
Weija had assumed Viktor would stop there, but to her complete surprise, he walked up to the 4th Cat-girl.
"Viktor! You're still going?!"
Viktor continued ignoring her and began reshaping the face anew.
"Let's see if you can still..."
The instant the 4th Cat-girl's face was finished, Weija went completely still.
She even forgot to flap her wings for a moment, and—thud—dropped straight to the floor.
The 4th one was 'Auréliane.'
"......"
Weija was now fully convinced that Viktor was a genuine deviant.
He was actually going to use these puppets to satisfy his repressed, perverted, bizarre bestial urges.
Why bestial urges, specifically?
Because Gwen wasn't in there!
Before Weija could even begin wondering about that.
The very next second, a surge of Magic Power twisted across the 4 Cat-girls' bodies, causing the faces of all 4 to shift.
The features dissolved into black liquid but did not reshape themselves into new faces—instead, they gradually dissipated.
What remained was a blank face. Eyes, nose, and mouth were all gone. It looked deeply unsettling.
Then, the several cards at Viktor's waist rose up, carried on the wind.
A flash of white light, and they plunged into the bodies of the Cat-girls.
Bang!
The 4 Cat-girls' bodies expanded slightly, and brilliant white light spilled from all 7 of their orifices.
The next instant, their bodies detonated entirely, dissolving into Natural Energy that dispersed through the air.
Weija was genuinely confused now. She truly could not make sense of what Viktor had been doing with all of this.
First he created these Demi-humans, then he completely destroyed them—was this simply some kind of twisted amusement?
With a slightly disdainful air, she landed back on Viktor's shoulder, wanting to watch from close range and figure out what he was actually trying to do.
At that moment, Viktor suddenly extended one hand. A blindingly bright lightning core, flickering with radiant white light, slowly rose out of his palm.
【Storm Dragon King's Gene】
【Description: A mysterious gene containing the power of an ancient great dragon. Perhaps it can be fused with an ancient dragon.】
Weija stared at this peculiar core, feeling a vague sense of familiarity:
"This thing is..."
She had some impression of it, but not much.
It seemed like it had dropped from some unremarkable beast Viktor had blown apart at some point.
Viktor's voice finally reached her ears:
"Do you remember that dragon in the City of Mages that could resurrect infinitely?"
At that, memory returned to Weija:
"What are you bringing this thing out for?"
The next second, Viktor did something utterly incomprehensible.
He hurled the Storm Dragon King's Gene high up into the air. The core floated upward and attached itself to the beating heart of the Divine Tree Yadh.
Wrapped in green Natural Energy, the blue lightning around the core crackled ceaselessly.
The air crackled and spat with white light. Two bolts of lightning even collided, sending a wave of force rippling outward.
The lightning mist began to merge with the green Natural Energy, converging toward the center of the blue sphere.
Blue outlines and meridian patterns began to take shape in the air. In moments, the skeletal frame of an enormous, elongated great dragon had fully materialized in the air.
Natural Energy spilled outward from the lightning, gradually filling the dragon's massive body and meridians.
From the dragon's tail, a green energy wave spread outward—like the edge of a fracture.
The surrounding Magic Power rapidly condensed, filling in the dragon's scales and twin horns completely.
BOOM—!
A terrifying shockwave erupted. The great dragon stretched its body within the vast space, its eyes snapping open, releasing an overwhelming and fearsome presence.
Lightning moved around its body as though completely at home, twisting and flashing.
ROAARRR—!
The dragon unleashed a thunderous, awe-inspiring roar, and the Divine Tree's heart seemed to beat even faster.
The 4 faceless Cat-girls' shattered bodies also fully reconstituted themselves.
Expressionless, vacant, they stood in place.
Weija stared at the reborn Storm Dragon King before her, her single eye going wide.
"This...is this the Storm Dragon King's resurrection ability?"
The energy contained within the Storm Dragon King's body was itself a convergence of Magic Power—and a highly chaotic one at that.
But as long as the corresponding frequency could be found, it could merge with Natural Energy to recreate the original body.
And moreover...
It was no longer the Storm Dragon King.
"Yadh."
The Storm Dragon in the sky heard this and let out a roaring howl, the lightning Magic Power on its body erupting in an astonishing surge of energy fluctuation.
This surge was powerful enough that even Viktor could feel his own Magic Power becoming slightly disturbed.
This was a trait unique to the Storm Dragon King—just as it had been in the Magic Power Gorge.
It fixed its gaze on Viktor, then lowered its proud head.
As if in submission.
Viktor said evenly:
"An experiment."
"But it appears it has not failed."
The heart of the Divine Tree Yadh was different from the Divine Tree itself—it was a consciousness that had come into being within nature.
Put simply, this thing.
Was very intelligent.
Most importantly, after fusing with the Storm Dragon King, Yadh had not only gained the Storm Dragon King's chaotic Magic Power and infinite resurrection ability.
A flash of white light—the cards cut through the Cat-girls' bodies again, shattering them.
And the next second, the 4 Cat-girls were once again reconstructed by the surging Magic Power, reviving on the spot.
Viktor carried out the cutting multiple times, and they were revived the same number of times.
The only thing was, the revival time grew slower and slower with each repetition.
Because they had no consciousness, they felt no pain.
"Infinitely respawning... puppets?"
Weija considered the wording for a moment before arriving at this interpretation.
This thing was far more useful than any army.
"It is not infinite resurrection—there is still a limit to the number of times."
Viktor explained evenly:
"Just like the Storm Dragon King I killed in the Magic Power Gorge."
"If the number of deaths accumulates too many times, the Magic Power reserves will eventually run dry."
In a situation where Magic Power was fully exhausted, a single misstep would be met with true death.
Viktor couldn't help but wonder.
He had no idea whether the Storm Dragon King in the Magic Power Gorge had resurrected or not.
In an environment like the Magic Power Gorge, its body would be reconstructed again.
After all, as long as the chaotic Magic Power did not dissipate, its existence would not be erased.
Though even if it had revived, it would no longer be the powerful great dragon it once was.
The experiment concluded. Viktor restored faces to the 4 Cat-girls.
With a wave of his hand, countless branches pierced into the Cat-girls' backs, connecting them fully to the Divine Tree.
He hung the other unconscious bodies from the branches as well, arranging them in a neat row suspended in midair.
Green energy wrapped around them, as though preserving their bodies in storage.
Once all of this was done, Viktor turned around and looked at Weija:
"It's been a while now—have you picked one to your satisfaction yet?"
"......"
Weija awkwardly averted her gaze.
She could never run her beak off carelessly again.
He would actually follow through if she was a Crow.