Dragon King: Throne of Demons and Gods
Chapter 58: Resist, Adapt, Burn

Chapter 58: Resist, Adapt, Burn

Hunger.

People say it’s a feeling. A growl in your stomach. A missing meal. A forgotten lunch.

But that’s not really what hunger is.

Hunger is the truth behind every action. The base instinct that pushes the world forward. Babies cry for it. Kings wage wars for it. Creatures kill for it.

Hunger is survival. It’s not just food. It’s the need. The endless need for something more.

And when hunger grows too large to be fed, it changes. It mutates. It becomes a hunger for anything, power, flesh, meaning. It forgets the purpose of eating, and instead becomes obsessed with devouring.

This is when hunger becomes a sin. The most primal sin. Because without it, nothing lives. But with too much... nothing stays sane.

And at the end of this spiral, when all meaning is lost... there is only madness.

All of it. All this unending logic, this twisted desire, reflected perfectly in a single eye.

An eye that sees nothing but appetite.

...

Silence.

Bel and the girl stood face to face.

Both were still. Like statues, like predators watching each other.

Behind them, Lyraen and Cassandra struggled to move. Still frozen. Their voices strained.

"B...Bel...?" Lyraen’s voice cracked.

"What... is going on...?" Cassandra wheezed.

Bel didn’t respond. He stared straight into the girl’s demonic eye. He blinked.

The girl stared back. She blinked too.

"...?"

She tilted her head. Still nothing happened.

Bel glanced around awkwardly.

"So..."

The girl blinked again.

"???"

Bel scratched his cheek.

"Uh... are you doing something? Because it really feels like you’re doing something, but I don’t feel anything..."

The girl gave a slow, annoyed sigh. She lifted both hands and removed the pig skull completely, holding it like a toy.

Both her eyes stared into Bel’s, her two eyes identical, demonic, complex pattern inside circles.

What... is... THAT?!

She didn’t speak. But her mind was screaming.

[You are under the effect of Authority of Gluttony]

Bel blinked. Another message popped up.

[Immunity to Status Ailments: Active.Effect nullified.Attempted intrusion detected.]

He flinched slightly.

"Hey—! You really were trying something!"

The girl frowned, but only slightly. She lowered her skull, her voice finally dropping to a curious tone.

"No. The better question is... how do you still have your mind while facing my authority?"

Bel frowned, his eyes narrowing.

"Authority? Gluttony?"

The girl leaned in slightly, her curiosity growing.

"What are you, exactly? You smell like Mother, but you’re not hers. So who do you belong to? Who are you serving?"

Bel clenched his fists.

"I serve no king," he said coldly. "I live by my own rules. And rule number one... is to hit back when someone attacks me."

[MP: 34 → 95 → 156 → 217 → 278 → 339/ 610]

His mana was quickly recovering. A flicker of fire sparked in his clenched fist.

"I’ll ask one last time. Who are you?"

The girl clicked her tongue, annoyed. Then with a flick of her wrist, she tossed the pig skull aside.

"You sure talk big for someone trespassing. You wanna know who I am?"

She grinned, eyes glinting.

"Then make me..."

BOOM!

A blast of fire erupted from Bel’s hand, swallowing her whole.

The explosion shattered the silence and sent Lyraen and Cassandra tumbling back with startled screams.

Bel didn’t move.

He raised one hand and snapped his fingers.

A sharp beam of fire tore through the lingering flames, but instead of detonating, it cut across the battlefield as a lance and blasted into a distant rocky peak with a loud detonation.

He stayed still for a second, then his gaze shifted to the side.

The girl stood calmly on a cliff, completely unharmed.

She smiled.

"Oh? You want to play that game? Then let’s play*.*"

Her aura exploded.

A dark, oily miasma burst from her body, rolling across the land like a creeping tide.

As the mist reached the ground, Lyraen and Cassandra gasped.

Their hearts skipped a beat. Then pounded.

Their legs weakened. Their breaths turned short.

A terrible hunger settled in their bones, aching, gnawing. An emptiness that felt like it would eat them from the inside out.

Bel’s brow tightened. The miasma reached him, and the next instant, a violent red wind erupted from his body.

The force of his pressure cracked the earth and pushed the miasma back, creating a clashing barrier between the two.

The girl paused, just for a moment.

Then she smiled.

"I see."

She appeared in front of Bel in a blink.

Face to face.

Neither of them flinched. Neither moved. The air between them buzzed.

[Curse - Authority of Gluttony: Nullified]

Status Ailment Immunity Active

[Target has resisted the effects of Abyssal Pressure]

Bel’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"This again..."

He was more and more intrigued by the new patterns of the system, but something about the message stood out.

She resisted it.

She resisted Pressure.

That had never happened before.

Bel thought of the battle with the wolf, of the burn, the poison, he had been satisfied.

But now...?

He smiled faintly.

"So the real challenge starts now."

Both were immobile, then, in a blink, she vanished.

Bel’s eyes narrowed.

"This again?" He scanned the area, his instincts screaming danger.

A chill brushed his back.

He flinched and twisted just as a black orb shot past his shoulder. The blast vanished midair, only to reappear with a pop behind him.

He leapt aside, rolling through the snow.

When he looked up, she was already there again, smiling just a few steps away.

Then gone once more.

Bel’s eyes darted around, but it was like trying to catch a mouse in a storm. She reappeared above, to the left, behind him, always just out of reach, always a beat faster than his reactions.

A black orb rushed past him, then vanished, only to explode behind his back. Bel rolled through the snow, barely dodging. The impact was real, but the damage minimal.

He sent a fire beam in return, but she disappeared again. The beam cut through empty space.

"This isn’t working..."

He watched her flicker in and out, sending tendrils of darkness, avoiding his flames, laughing like it was all a game.

"Big blasts won’t cut it... and can’t waste mana like this."

Plan B.

[Burning Soul]

Bel’s aura exploded.

A massive pulse of fire burst from his body, spinning like a tornado of red and gold. Flames danced across his skin, swirling up his arms, his back, his feet.

Combining his draconic form with Burning soul, his scales were brighter, sharper, his muscles tighter, and his claws burned like swords.

He jumped.

BOOM!

The ground below erupted in fire as he shot into the air like a missile. Trails of heat and embers followed him.

The girl blinked, genuinely surprised.

"Oho?"

She vanished again, teleporting sideways.

But this time...

"!!!"

Bel’s eyes darted. He turned to the right.

There.

She reappeared, charging a black ball of magic. He moved fast, dodging the moment she fired.

I felt it, he thought, shocked. Right before she appeared... There was a.... A pull... A bit of energy.

She teleported again. He moved again.

Each time, faster.

The more she blinked, the more he understood.

The air around her always shifted just a little. His draconic senses were picking it up.

I can track it...

He adapted, dodged, and countered.

His brain worked like a machine. Each dodge fed him new data. Each glimpse, each twitch, was recorded, processed, turned into predictions.

Further away, Lyraen and Cassandra could only watch in awe.

From the girl’s point of view, it was a show of flash and explosions, both monsters popping randomly and disappearing in between explosions.

He’s still going?

The girl frowned slightly, spinning in midair.

Even after all this, he’s not slowing down...

Her eyes narrowed.

Maybe I should stop playing around. A prolonged fight isn’t a good idea. Maybe... I should kill him for real.

She teleported again.

"!!!"

Bel flashed past her, then, his punch landed.

A devastating hit, right to the side of her head.

Her vision went white. The sound vanished. Her skull twisted violently.

Light. Then nothing.

When the blow hit, Bel felt it again, that ocean of energy. Like a cloak of force around her, powerful, heavy, but it didn’t stop his strike.

Yet, he didn’t have time to think about it. As soon as he hit, a vertical slash blasted him back. He flew through the air, spinning, until he landed on his feet and skidded to a stop, fire trailing behind him.

He looked up.

She was still there, standing still, but very different.

Her head was gone.

Just her body, perfectly upright, arms loose at her side.

And in her hand, a black umbrella had formed, elegant, covered in glowing purple gems, pulsing slowly like blinking eyes.

There was a moment of silence, followed by a troubling scene.

Her head started to rebuild.

Squelching sounds echoed as her bones stretched upward. Flesh grew like vines wrapping around her skull. Eyes reformed in their sockets. Veins crawled into place.

Hair poured out last, glossy and neat, like nothing had happened.

She opened her eyes, looking hazy, then chuckled.

"I was right."

She raised her head, grin wide.

"You’re a general too."