Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 126 Noah's Ark

Inside the ancient underwater temple, a pitch-black creature whose appearance is obscured sits high on a throne. Even just sitting there, it exudes a dark and profound aura that inspires fear and trembling. One's heart feels as if it is being tightly gripped, making it hard to breathe, and one involuntarily wants to kneel down and worship it.

It was as if there was an invisible black hole, causing all the light around the throne to distort.

Meanwhile, the upright serpentine eyes, piercing through billions of tons of seawater, observed without hindrance the every move of the mortal named Noah on the earth.

The mortals who heard the divine revelation learned that the world was about to be destroyed. The panicked man tried to seek help from others, but who would believe the "Great Flood that will destroy the world"?
The villagers, scornful and mocking, refused to believe the man's desperate pleas. Ultimately, the man had no choice but to take his wife, the only one who believed him, and their three children, and leave the crowds to begin building the colossal ship of unprecedented scale on the beach…

"Father, shouldn't we do something?"

Beside the throne, the snake woman standing among the dark creatures asked softly.

The dark entity, whose face was obscured, did not answer. Instead, it raised its hand and looked at the white chess piece in its hand, a piece composed of a family.

A robust middle-aged man embraces his wife and children, with two older and one younger children clustered around them. His wife holds another infant in her arms. The husband's resolute expression, the children's bewildered embrace of their parents, the crying baby, and the wife nestled in her husband's arms, gazing lovingly at her young child... all the family emotions—the love between parents and children, the sibling bond, the parental affection, the marital love—are vividly portrayed.

The cold, vertical snake eyes stared at the white chess piece that did not belong to its control, and the white chess piece instantly turned into dust.

"no need."

He spoke in a calm and deep voice.

The snake woman standing beside him did not ask any more questions, but simply bowed quietly before turning into specks of light and disappearing.

Inside the empty temple, only the one who sat high on the throne remained alone.

"..."

At that moment, a deep and resonant sound gradually emanated from the depths of the earth beneath the temple, profound and melodious.

That was the murmur of an ancient being that had slumbered beneath the sea since the beginning of creation. The monster that devoured the world was still asleep. When it occasionally moved its body while sleeping, it would cause upheavals on the seabed and the land that were enough to split the continents apart. The murmurs that were occasionally heard by creatures on the land would cause them to mutate into monsters. The oldest vampires, werewolves, centaurs and so on were all born from this.

The monster is still asleep, for it is not hungry yet, but the dark creature knows that this enormous and ancient monster will one day awaken from its hunger, and at that time, all reason and wisdom will be torn to shreds by its endless hunger.

At that time, greedy and violent monsters will devour everything in this world.

"Now is not the time to wake up."

Listening to the low, dreamlike murmurs, the dark entity on the throne, whose face was obscured, uttered a soft remark. Then, silently sensing the brief commotion deep within the earth gradually subside, it placed its hand on its forehead. The depths of its upright, serpentine eyes were filled with endless darkness, making it impossible to fathom its thoughts.

……

Across the vast sea, nestled in a lush forest, stand several wooden houses.

"Jaffer".

Looking at his tall and straight youngest son and the young girl he was holding hands with, Noah, whose face bore the marks of time, showed a rare smile of contentment.

Noah raised his hand and patted his youngest son's shoulder. Feeling his son's strong arm, Noah was at a loss for words and could only murmur repeatedly.

"Good...very good."

Somewhat shy, Japheth looked at his father in front of him and then stammered.

"That……"

"The wedding, right? I know it's next month."

But Noah seemed to understand his son's thoughts and nodded with a smile.

Immediately, in front of Noah, the two young men couldn't help but embrace each other excitedly, cheering and celebrating.

Unbeknownst to them, Noah's smile gradually faded, and he murmured something.

"Next month...yes, next month."

As he spoke, his eyes were filled with complex emotions, and he turned to look towards the direction of the sea... There, lying quietly, was a huge ship, a massive warship hundreds of meters long, a ship that Noah's family had spent one hundred and twenty years building... the great ship that God had revealed to him.

The ship will be completed next month, coinciding with his youngest son's wedding, but that also means...

Accompanying the cheers of young men and women was a silent sense of melancholy.

……

A month later.

"Crash..."

Inside the wooden house, the sound of the tide crashing against the shore echoed intermittently at night, but Noah, who was already used to it all, didn't find it noisy.

The daytime wedding was very lively. Although it was far from the crowds, and only Noah's family lived there quietly and built the ship, the eldest and second sons were already married, not to mention several newborn children. The family wedding of more than a dozen people still made the atmosphere quite warm and pleasant.

However, even after the wedding, Noah felt only melancholy.

Tomorrow, the ship will be repaired, and all sorts of animals and plants will have gathered. In fact, the animals have gathered here on their own initiative, as if some force is driving them to do so.

Unlike his sons and daughters-in-law who were at a loss, Noah understood that the great flood that God had revealed to him was about to come.

Lying in bed, Noah lay awake, unable to fall asleep. Finally, he reached out and once again took out the golden scroll from beside him…

That scroll that emitted a faint golden glow even at night.

Looking at the scroll in his hand, which remained as pristine as ever even after 120 years, Noah fell silent.

He couldn't recall exactly how he felt when he first saw that golden scroll 120 years ago. Was it astonishment? Panic? Disbelief? Denial? Hesitation?

Perhaps he had all of those feelings, but there was one thing Noah could never forget to this day…

It was that deep fear.

"God, why do you want to destroy this world..."

Noah murmured.

He didn't want the world to end. His family, his memories, his hometown, and everything else were too precious for him to lose.

Countless times he wished it was all just a dream, but every time he opened his eyes, he would see this silent, golden scroll.

One hundred and twenty years. For some reason, the time recorded in the golden scroll for the Great Flood was exactly one hundred and twenty years. It was in this one hundred and twentieth year that he completed the construction of this great ship, as if some unseen force had foreseen all of this.

"..."

At that moment, a cool hand gently grasped his hand.

Unlike the smooth and supple hand from over a hundred years ago, the hand is now covered in scars from mending and repairs, its surface uneven to the touch, bearing witness to the weariness of its owner.

Over the course of more than a hundred years, the owner of these hands endured immense hardship, yet Noah never heard the owner of the hands complain to him, not even once. Even now, the owner of the hands continues to silently comfort him.

Noah's eyes revealed a complex expression.

"We are a family, everything will be alright."

The woman gently stroked Noah's cheek with one hand, looked at her husband, then buried her head in Noah's arms, feeling the sound of her husband's heartbeat, and whispered.

"Everything will be alright..."

The man beside her silently embraced her.

In my ears, only the sound of the tide remains unchanged.

(End of this chapter)