Chapter 569 - [Fated Encounters: Nyzzet's Labyrinth Conquest] 31/?: Metamorphosis & Odanth And The High Viper
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Begudhur, who had recently woken up from his slumber while trying to devour his own Clones to acquire the powers of Kireina and her family, was currently sitting on his lair, while constantly doing something that could only be thought to be grotesque.
By using the 'Divinity Devouring' Skill he had recently acquired, coupled with the other two Divine Techniques 'Self-Devouring Divine Technique', and 'Self-Parasitism Divine Technique', he constantly generated Clones of his own soul and devoured them one after another.
After having acquired these skills, his sense of pain towards eating himself had quickly disappeared, and it only remained with the sense of an amount of power slowly accumulating within his existence.
Due to his unique Divinity, Begudhur had found a way to cultivate his power by self-parasitizing himself and self-devouring himself.
Of course, this could not be used constantly, as Kireina possessed a power similar to this, but simply eating herself did not give her enough power, and it only granted her an increase in power at most.
But Begudhur could be considered to be different in this regard… at the very least, because he was a True God, his innate power was larger, he could not limitlessly eat himself to beat every single being in the world, but he could do it, for now, to strengthen himself up to a certain point, where he would need to prey in something afterward if he wanted to keep growing stronger.
Begudhur started by eating his clones to test his powers, he slowly felt the stats showcased in the System increase, and he could even feel that certain Skills were evolving, such as his Divine Aura.
When he decided in devouring his shattered Divine Core, his Divine Realm came back as a Skill, similar to Kireina…
And his power grew even larger after eating his Divine Core… it was as if he had become something else entirely.
"What is this feeling? What have I now become? Is this the being that can be between the boundaries of mortals and gods… Someone that… Someone that can defy fate and do as he pleases! Just like that Fairy! I have ascended… I have ascended!" laughed Begudhur, drowned on his own power as he quickly began to assimilate various living beings into his host, using his newfound and strange powers, becoming an even more abominable and aberrant being, mutating the body and changing it into his own true vessel.
Begudhur felt that he was slowly merging the soul and the mortal flesh into something more… a metamorphosis of sorts.
"But for my metamorphosis to complete… I must rest while assimilating more flesh and mortals… I cannot be interrupted! I will send them all into those cities… that Fairy seems to be inclined in saving them, so I will happily use them as peons to give me time!" thought Begudhur, as his mass of pulsating flesh cut itself into many Soul Clones through his special Divine Technique, making them inhabit various monsters.
Although he had already sent a few groups to those cities, he was sure that they would be defeated as easily, so his genius plan was to just send many others, these new split souls were charged with his new powers, so he was sure that they could last longer before he could complete his metamorphosis.
Begudhur then shrouded himself on his own pulsating flesh, made by many living beings that he parasitized and stuck together with his new Divine Aura powers, which included assimilation.
The flesh quickly became harder, similar to a cocoon.
Begudhur was slowly reaching a realm that only Kireina had touched, a being that could change the world and the boundaries of fate…
Meanwhile, as the new beasts of Begudhur rushed towards the respective cities to distract Kireina and her family, the ones that were already sent were slowly reaching the second city which they were given the order of destroying and devouring, it was the second nearest of cities.
The lowest floors of the Dungeon were vast landscapes that covered many kilometers, due to this, the giant monsters of over one hundred meters took their time to reach these places, mostly due to their slow movements.
At the city of High Viper, their population, which covered over two hundred and their governor, the Elder Dragon of Thunder Fire, Odanth were completely unaware of the army of giant monsters.
Odanth is one of the eldest Elder Dragons compared to the other two nurtured by Goghesdum. She was the first to be taken by her tutelage and nurturement, with the help of Goghesdum, she raised through levels and become more than just a wild and instinctual Dragon.
Odanth was born as a Thunder Fire Wyrm, and was quite the tyrant in her times as a wild monster… however, when Goghesdum appeared out of nowhere, the two fought for territory.
After being overwhelmed by Goghesdum's powerful and masterful Magic Spells, she had thought that it would be her last day, and, just like any monster, she would lose to someone stronger than her and be eaten.
However, against all of her beliefs, she was given a second opportunity.
"You're talented and have potential… Obey me and I will forgive your life" said Goghesdum, with her voice of an Elder Dragon, she was intimidating and masculine, despite being a woman.
Odanth was captivated by Goghesdum's words, even without being capable of understanding languages, she understood the meaning of her eyes at that moment.
Goghesdum, who at that time was already working in the nurturement of the Thunder Lizardmen, healed Odanth wounds and gave her a name.
"You're young and arrogant… so you shall be Odanth, The Lady of Fire," said Goghesdum, granting Odanth a true name through his authority and power as an Elder Dragon, way above her in that time.
Odanth was young and arrogant, but her drive to grow strong and become as intelligent and incredible as Goghesdum remained within her heart.
Goghesdum was a rather merciless teacher, but Odanth learned from her mistakes and the challenges that Goghesdum gave to her.
Such challenges not only included fighting against Dungeon Bosses or large amounts of monsters in a Monster Wave, but she was also taught many complicated things, such as language, mathematics, alchemy, architecture, and so on.
It was a chaotic few dozens of years, but after around twenty years, Odanth evolved into a Lesser Elder Dragon Wyrm of Thunder Fire, and through this evolution, her intelligence improved drastically, she was now capable of mustering words better and to learn faster.
From this point onwards, Goghesdum taught her how to nurture mortals, and Odanth decided to choose a race that she had taken a liking to, the Viper.
Odanth saw in the Viper a lot of potentials, as they were similar to Lamia but more monstrous such as Lizardmen.
Vipers are humanoid snake monsters, with the upper body of a humanoid with two arms, and their lower body of a snake, their head… is that of a snake as well, this is why they are not considered demi-humans but monsters, much like Lizardmen, their entire bodies are covered in their scales, unlike Lamia and their subspecies who have the skin of humans in their upper bodies.
Their intelligence is not advanced either, just like Lizardmen, they are not that bright by themselves.
Vipers are considered to be 'Monster Lamias', but they are a race even older than the Lamia, who was originally born from a Demon God in the Realm of Vida.
Similarly, to Lizardmen, they existed even when Genesis was still a planet, surviving through the Ragnarök and taking the newly formed Realms as their home. There are even a few Gods who were originally Vipers, however, such gods inhabit different Realms than Vida.
A resilient race with the potential of acquiring a higher intelligence and forge a civilization of their own, they were an admirable species that had survived through many catastrophes through their sharp adaptability.
And because Nyzzet's dungeon was filled with all kinds of reptiles, including those such as Thunder Vipers, which were rather common in the dungeon, much like Thunder Lizardmen, Odanth was given the task of nurturing them much like Goghesdum was doing with the Lizardmen.
However, through this nurturement… Odanth was slowly influenced by the culture of the Viper and coupled with her arrogance, she became quite deviant in her path.
Odanth was always passionate and rebellious to Goghesdum, but still obeyed him for the most part… however, when she immersed herself in the culture of the Viper, she changed for the better or the worst.
Because the Viper are a race who have a high sexual libido, and due to their unique culture to produce offspring as fast as possible and as many as possible, they would often not forge proper relationships and indulge in orgies for reproduction.
Due to this, Viper was very open about their sexual lives and would often thank each other for favors with sex and more sex.
Odanth was slowly influenced by this… and because she gained the ability to change into a humanoid form similar to Lamias, with her lower body of a red Wyrm and her upper body of a chocolate-skinned beauty, she was immersed into the sexual life of this culture.
However, Goghesdum could not help it, Odanth was young and external influence was bound to change her… at the very least, when Odanth was raised into an Elder Dragon, she had still completed the many tasks given by Goghesdum.
And after a few dozens of years, the Viper finally gave birth to the High Viper, similar to High Lizardmen, they were a more intelligent race capable of creating a more complex civilization, and alongside that, worship and faith could be done smoother.
Much like Goghesdum, Odanth wanted to raise into godhood, so she desired the High Viper that she nurtured to worship her as a goddess so she could have a sizable amount of power whenever she finally raised into godhood.
Due to Odanth open sexuality with many of her citizens, she was seen as a bit deviant' by Goghesdum, especially when he was already nurturing the other two Elder Dragons…
Odanth was always immersed in love and relationships that lasted a few weeks, she had orgies almost every day with her beloved citizens and countless servants, which willingly participated in these ceremonies of love with their goddess.
It seems that even after becoming as intelligent (or perhaps more) than humans, they still held the immense sexual libido of their ancient genes, and Odanth could not help but indulge in it due to her passionate personality… which had turned to be what the Viper loved the most.
Due to her strong 'connection' with her people, she was perhaps even more loved than Goghesdum with her High Lizardmen, and her religion spread all around the city, without anyone missing out a prayer per day to their (false) Dragon Goddess of Love and Passion.
The High Viper reached many things that the High Lizardmen did, but they never changed their sexual lives, which marked their new civilization.
High Vipers are passionate and driven by their newfound love, which they acquired after finally obtaining true sapience.
Poets, musicians, painters, the High Viper diversified in all these types of arts where they could showcase their passion and love, becoming more and more unique than the High Lizardmen, and were often visited by their 'siblings' of the other cities whenever these 'siblings' were looking for inspiration or a night of love without any compromises.
Odanth's city became a haven of Love, Passion, and Arts and this was something that even the other Elder Dragons, who saw her as a bit 'deviant' had to recognize.
"Sigh…"
Odanth was sitting in her large bed made out of many white cushions, where she would often do love to many men and women of her city to pass time or indulge in her Love and Passion.
Her beloved servants, a group of High Viper that shared a strong bond with her, asked their beloved goddess what was wrong with her today.
"My goddess-sama, what is troubling your mind this day?"
"Perhaps it is nothing that a bit of Passionate Love can't resolve?"
"Maybe she was dissatisfied with our performance last night…"
Odanth, who was in her humanoid appearance most of the time, waved her head.
She had the beautiful appearance of a chocolate-skinned beauty, with the lower half of a long and serpentine red-scaled Wyrm. Her skin was glossy and almost golden, her hair was of a fiery red, like flames, and extended into braids all across the throne room. She had two large demon-like horns protruding from her forehead and a red jewel in the middle of her forehead.
Her eyes were crimson red, with the white part of her eyes being black-colored, giving her a menacing yet enticing glare. Her nude body was barely covered in white and almost transparent clothes alongside various golden accessories.
"No… I do not think it is that… I just feel… a bit empty" said Odanth.
"Empty?!" shouted Odanth's servants, her goddess had never said such a thing.
"I don't know… it just feels like… I want to do something else now… I want to… explore the outside world!" said Odanth.
"My goddess! Explore the dangerous outside world? But what about our city? The lovers you have forged, my lady?! What about us?!" asked the servants.
"That's… You can come with me if you want or not… I am leaving, I am bored of this…" said Odanth, breaking the character that she had forged through many years and showed to her citizens through their entire lives!
Her servants could not help but feel completely frozen by her words…
"She's… serious…" they muttered.
And just at this very moment, a strong tremor happened.
Boom!
Another servant, a male High Viper came rushing from outside the palace.
"My goddess-sama! Invaders! Giant Monsters are rushing towards here! It is… It is a Monster Wave!" shouted the man.
"A Monster Wave? At this time and age?" wondered Odanth, deciding to go outside of her palace to see if what her servant was talking about was the truth.
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