The unicorn had awakened as if it were the protagonist of some tale somewhere.  

A divine energy, resembling blue lightning, replaced the horn that had been lost.  

I couldn’t help but be amazed at its appearance, which was close to what I had envisioned for a unicorn.  

But now was not the time to be lost in admiration.  

“**Nai Dorare...** Here I come!”  

The enraged unicorn charged at Nazchal.  

“**Kyaaaak! What is this horn...!**”  

Nazchal was in a panic.  

As the unicorn crashed into Nazchal, it winked at me.  

It was a signal, as if to say, “Leave this to me.”  

“**Monogamous!**”  

Look at that condensed fury.  

It had enough strength to contend with Nazchal.  

“Get away from me!”  

Nazchal shrieked, attempting to escape from the unicorn.  

Unlike me, who was distant from purity, that horn would be lethal.  

With the current unicorn, it could certainly handle Nazchal.  

What I needed to do was simple.  

Leave this to the unicorn and join the Snake Queen.  

**Pabababab!**  

**Kwaaaaaaang!**  

Finding the location of the Snake Queen wasn’t difficult.  

A deafening roar shook the ground.  

And destructive beams tore through the sky.  

She was definitely over there.  

“Block it! Block it!”  

But Nazchal and the other enemies wouldn’t let me go.  

“**Kiyik!**”  

The oncoming terror birds swarmed me.  

While they couldn’t defeat me, they were trying to hold me back as much as possible.  

But I needed to consider our forces as well.  

“**Saaak!**”  

A massive anaconda swiftly targeted a terror bird’s neck.  

**Kwa-chik.**  

I wouldn’t say its strength was overwhelming, but those snakes had their own weapons.  

**Kwadadadadak!**  

With immense muscles, the anaconda executed a constricting move.  

A terror bird that had tried to attack me immediately fell to the ground, and with a crisp sound, its vertebrae broke.  

**Crack.**  

With no time to express my gratitude, I dashed toward the Snake Queen.  

The enemies were doing everything they could to stop me.  

“**Gwoorow!**”  

The sword dragon and Stegosaurus swept through the enemies with their tails.  

“**Kyeek!**”  

The opponents aiming for me in the air were met by Pteranodons.  

We had plenty of help, but the resistance from the opponents was not trivial.  

They were doing everything they could to hold me back.  

I needed to shake them off to reach the Snake Queen.  

**Dragon Scale Transformation.**  

**Chachachak!**  

I suppressed my Dragon Scales to their utmost limit.  

At this moment, I was like a naked body.  

I immediately launched myself forward.  

**Kwaaaaaaang!**  

I crashed into the boulders nearby.  

Blood flowed from my entire body.  

…This should be enough.  

An abrupt act of self-harm.  

And the blood that dripped down.  

I could see the enemies were startled.  

They must have thought I had lost my mind.  

Unfortunately, that was not the case.  

**Fwhirrrr.**  

Blue flames engulfed my body.  

Once more, **Dragon Scale Transformation.**  

**Chachachachak!**  

If they could hold me after all this, then so be it.  

---

The Snake Queen roared.  

Every time she moved, the entire jungle trembled.  

Her massive body, easily leaping over dozens of meters, was more than enough to burst through the approaching enemies with each movement.  

Merely moving her body could be called a calamity.  

The Snake Queen didn’t settle for just that; she gave it her all.  

Her destruction beams shot with a time delay. Just when it seemed she had barely evaded one, she activated her petrifying gaze. If that was avoided, she would whip her tail with the giant sword coiled around it, literally turning the jungle to ashes.  

At first glance, one might think it was a waste of power.  

With the troops the Snake Queen brought along, the lowly enemies could be left to them.  

But the Snake Queen did not do that.  

She wouldn’t be drained of energy so easily, and she knew that the Bird King would respond directly if she caused enough chaos.  

Though she might have no affection for her subordinates, she wouldn’t be ignorant of their importance.  

The longer the intervention from the Bird King was delayed, the more meaningless it would be, as the forces would scatter.  

That’s what the Snake Queen was conveying.  

“Don’t mess around, hurry up and come!”  

**Fwhirrrr!**  

A tremendous gust of wind erupted.  

As expected, the Bird King appeared.  

The Snake Queen immediately unleashed a destruction beam as soon as she laid eyes on him.  

**Zzzzzzzzzzz!**  

The destruction beam shot forth with the force to split the sky in half.  

The Bird King swiftly flew to evade her attack.  

“It’s been a while, Snake Queen…”  

Then, with a relaxed tone, the Bird King spoke.  

“No, **Paksilisu-go** (爆失離需懼).”  

He had lost the very act of leaving behind, so it was **sil**.  

And in fearing to wait, it was **gu**.  

That was not the name of the Snake Queen.  

It was the derogatory term assigned to her by the Bird King.  

“Don’t call me that with your filthy mouth.”  

**“Keh-heh! Your sharp temperament hasn’t changed, I see…”**  

The Bird King chuckled sinisterly.  

The Snake Queen felt an instinctive sense of revulsion.  

“Come down before I break your wings.”  

“**Kuh-hah! Kuhahahah!**”  

The Bird King laughed maniacally.  

Threatening an aerial being to come down to the ground?  

He was just like the Snake Queen remembered him.  

“Willingly!”  

The Bird King drew closer to the ground.  

You might think it mad for a bird to land, but the Bird King couldn’t launch an effective attack against the Snake Queen in the sky.  

To subdue her, he had no choice but to come down.  

And just as she said, the Snake Queen wasn’t incapable of aerial combat.  

The Snake Queen lunged at him with a speed that belied her size.  

A snake soared through the sky.  

It was a situation where a sentence like that could exist.  

Overwhelming muscles that transcended the limits of species.  

She bent her tail like a spring and leaped from the ground.  

But the Snake Queen didn’t stop there.  

**Zzzzzzzzz!**  

She unleashed a destruction beam from her mouth.  

The Snake Queen used it as propulsion.  

She twisted her body while using it, converting the power of the destruction beam entirely into speed.  

Since she turned her body, her tail naturally pointed forward.  

And attached to her tail was a massive sword honed from the feathers of the Golden Phoenix.  

**Swaaaaaa!**  

**Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!**  

It was a massive cut capable of slicing through dozens of trees at once.  

“Starting off strong, huh? You must not have set this strategy.”  

The Bird King was unharmed.  

To be precise, he had evaded the Snake Queen’s attack.  

The Snake Queen frowned.  

It wasn’t that he had moved faster than her attack.  

There was something she didn’t know.  

“Are you worried about the black lizard that claims to be your mate?”  

The Snake Queen didn’t answer.  

The only response she had for him was one.  

**Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!**  

Her destruction beam, capable of petrifying even spirits.  

But the Bird King had also used the same technique.  

**Zzzzzzzzzzz!**  

Their attacks clashed and nullified each other.  

**Kwaaaaaang!**  

The aftermath of the battle shattered the surroundings to pieces.  

Any beasts with a sense must have fled long ago, and those that couldn’t would melt away.  

**Kwaaaaaang!**  

**Kwa-chik!**  

The Snake Queen and the Bird King engaged in close combat.  

Whenever the Bird King tried to create distance, the Snake Queen would immediately pursue him, and that pattern continued.  

**Swaaaaa!**  

**Kwaaaaaaaang!**  

Their battle was a true standoff.  

They aimed to kill each other with their attacks, yet none landed.  

After exchanging about twenty blows, the Bird King spoke.  

“You’re quite persistent!”  

**Zzzzzzzzz!**  

The Bird King withdrew quickly.  

“You attack without giving me a chance to speak.”  

The Snake Queen knew well what the Bird King’s abilities were.  

Just as she had petrification, he had the ability to brainwash.  

Of course, their abilities wouldn’t work against each other.  

But the difference between their abilities not working and shaking one’s psyche was a separate

 matter.  

In fact, she had almost broken down psychologically because of Nazchal, the lesser version of the Bird King.  

So she pushed hard before he could move his tongue.  

And she worried about her mate, who was fighting Nazchal.  

But she couldn’t afford to act now.  

“Rise.”  

The moment the Bird King spoke those words, the melted corpses began to rise again.  

It was an impossible feat.  

The corpses strewn across the ground had melted to the point that their shapes were indistinguishable due to the recent battle.  

Strange, dark shadows intertwined with their bodies, forcibly lifting them up.  

It was a power that transcended logic.  

But that wouldn’t stop her.  

“**Cluck-cluck!** Come now, show them what you’re made of…”  

Familiar figures emerged from the depths of the melted flesh.  

“**Kyaaaaaak!**”  

Kyeongmyeongseong.  

Once a subordinate of the Snake Queen.  

Gogadorisu.  

Not just him.  

“**Krrr!**”  

“**Kwooo!**”  

The Nazchal.  

Clearly, they were beings she had slain.  

Even giving the Bird King the ability to control the dead would not explain this.  

It was nonsensical.  

How could a being that had completely vanished without a trace be resurrected?  

Moreover, she sensed a power even stronger than she had known.  

There shouldn’t be any essence left.  

“Are you surprised? Hehehe…”  

The Bird King wore a satisfied smile.  

The Snake Queen focused her mind.  

Even if she faced an unexpected variable, it was something she could overcome.  

**Zzzzzzzzz!**  

Her petrifying gaze.  

Her ability, which could turn even spirits to stone.  

“**Kyaaaaaak!**”  

“**Krrr!**”  

But it didn’t work.  

Not that they resisted the petrification, but it didn’t connect at all.  

It was as if she had used her petrifying gaze on thin air.  

The Snake Queen didn’t panic; she immediately modified her strategy.  

If petrification didn’t work, so what?  

**Swaaaaa!**  

She spun her body and struck with her sword.  

**Kwaaaaaaang!**  

It was a massive blow capable of splitting a mountain in half.  

Even if they were spirits, they wouldn’t survive this.  

“**The Queen, struggle all you like…**”  

But Gogadorisu, who had been slain, emerged from the Bird King’s feet.  

The Snake Queen immediately realized.  

If she didn’t kill the Bird King, it would all be meaningless.  

She had to endure minor injuries and prioritize the strike against his neck.  

She swung her sword made of the Golden Phoenix’s feathers.  

Though only a portion, the essence of the Golden Phoenix resided within it.  

The power itself wasn’t overwhelmingly strong.  

But it was a force that could be said to be antagonistic to the Bird King.  

Now was the time to use that power.  

The Snake Queen’s scales turned a brilliant gold.  

“**Ho-ho. It seems you’ve finally realized…**”  

The Nazchal’s lips curled up.  

“But, Snake Queen. Will you take a look below?”  

There was no need to listen to that.  

Just like Nazchal had done, he must have aimed to disturb her psyche by showing her the figure of his master.  

It was an obvious trick.  

Bound by the phantoms of the past, she couldn’t lose the precious being of the present.  

But…  

“…Now, you are the Queen.”  

A vivid voice rang in her ears.  

The Snake Queen didn’t want to look down.  

But she couldn’t avoid it.  

“**My favorite flower…**”  

A human figure cloaked in black shadows.  

“**Baeklyeon and Seolhwa…**”  

And the conversation from that day, known only to her.  

Why?  

How could you be here?  

The Snake Queen swallowed the words that were about to burst out of her mouth.  

How cruel this was.  

Why, of all times, did she have to appear now?  

**Kwaaaaaang!**  

An explosion erupted from the Snake Queen’s mouth.  

She had used the destruction beam on herself.  

If she didn’t do it this way, she felt she wouldn’t be able to overcome this temptation.  

The phantom of the past.  

There was someone more precious than that now.  

“**…Yes, that’s it.**”  

The woman smiled lovingly.  

The face that had beamed with happiness while sharing honey from the jade peak.  

…Was that really the phantom of the past?  

Would her master not be alive?  

Even knowing that it was a futile thought, the Snake Queen couldn’t move easily.  

The black liquid gradually engulfed the Snake Queen’s heart.  

She couldn’t resist.  

If only she hadn’t spoken.  

If only she hadn’t shown that smile.  

If that had been the case, she could have easily shaken it off.  

This was all a nightmare, wasn’t it?  

When she woke up, wouldn’t she return to being a small snake?  

The Snake Queen thought this while closing her eyes, unable to feel anything.  

…  

**Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!**  

The blue beam swept over the Snake Queen’s master.  

**Thump.**  

**Thump.**  

The Snake Queen’s heart raced.  

That was probably the essence of the Nazchal she had shared.  

The blue beam.  

And the energy of the Nazchal began to resonate.  

The one who would save the Snake Queen from the nightmare was not the phantom of the past.  

“**Gekekekek!**”  

Her mate had returned.