Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 326 I'll be watching

What are lions like when they fight?
Typically, lions are accustomed to concealing themselves, launching a sudden attack, and then bursting out with speeds unmatched by humans to catch up with their prey, grab and pin it down, and then bite off its neck.

However, this tactic is often ineffective against humans, who have spears and bows and arrows and can drive lions away from a distance.

Even if a lion bursts forth at terrifying speed and knocks a human to the ground, the human will instinctively protect their neck and use a range of weapons, including daggers, to stab and poke the lion's mouth, nose, and eyes.

But neither Leo nor Hercules were ordinary lions and humans.

When they were very young, the two had played and fought together. In these playful squabbles, they usually ended up fighting to a draw.

The lion had an invulnerable body, while the boy possessed formidable strength; neither could defeat the other.

Ten years have passed. The cubs have grown up, and the boys have become adults. But the battles of their childhood are now being reenacted in an unexpected way.

The lion was incredibly fast, disappearing from the young man's sight almost instantly, before a massive black shadow fell.

Almost without thinking, the young man raised the wooden stick in front of him, swaying from the impact and barely managing to block the blow.

A lion, as large as a bull, its face almost touching the ground, was biting at the wooden stick blocking its way. Its huge pupils were filled with rage, as if it wanted to devour someone.

The young man took the opportunity to step back two steps and said urgently.

"Leo! It's me, Alcides, the one you grew up with!"

The lion also took a few steps back, wary of the youth's strength, and circled around him, speaking in human language.

“I know you are Alcides, that’s why I’m going to kill you… You lowly mortal, what right do you have to have my father’s blood?! That should have been my honor.”

The lion let out a terrifying growl, its voice filled with resentment and jealousy.

It has always been proud of its origins, taking pride in being born of the bloodline of the ancestor of all demons, and it has always hoped that one day it can make a name for itself in the world that will move the gods.

But this pride was shattered on the day the young man learned that he had obtained the blood of the Ancestor of All Demons.

Even among childhood playmates, the lion always felt that he should be the more noble and powerful one.

A draw with a mortal companion is merely a matter of not actually fighting. But that mortal obtained what it had always dreamed of but could never have.

That mortal was given blood and was implicitly considered to be the biological son of the progenitor of all demons.

Ha, that's a complete joke.

Enraged, the lion left the dwelling the moon goddess had built for it, killed its servants, and fell from the moon in an attempt to find the mortal who was said to have come to earth—its childhood playmate and now its hated enemy.

And now, the enemy is right in front of them.

The bewildered youth had finally understood something, and a complex and sorrowful expression appeared on his face.

"Leo, is it because of this?"

"Isn't that enough? I should be the best! I should be the most powerful one in the world! I should be the most outstanding offspring of the Ancestor of All Demons! I want to prove to my father that he was wrong! He misjudged you, a mere mortal, and looked down on me!"

The young man's words seemed to provoke the lion, which roared angrily, letting out a defiant howl.

It suddenly swooped forward and collided with the young man.

"puff!"

"Bang bang bang..."

First came the sound of something hitting a body, followed by the sound of a tree breaking.

The lion's strength was unparalleled. The young man was sent flying, his body crashing into the surrounding trees without slowing down in the slightest. The thick trees snapped like seedlings.

But the lion didn't stop. Its huge head rammed against the young man's body, and then it forcefully lifted its head, sending the young man flying.

It opened its mouth wide, waiting for the young man's body to fall and be torn apart by its sharp teeth.

It had used this tactic many times before; even if the mortals weren't killed by the impact, they would be bitten to death by its own gaping maw. Even metal armor couldn't protect them; they could only let out desperate screams and watch helplessly as they fell into the lion's jaws.

The mortal also ended up in the lion's mouth, but the outcome was not what the lion had expected.

It felt as if a hard, stubborn piece of iron had suddenly been stuffed into my mouth; I tried to bite it, but I couldn't close my mouth.

The young man used his hands and feet to forcefully pry open the lion's mouth. His arms, which gleamed with a bluish light, seemed to be made of cast iron, and he forcefully shook off the lion's bite.

The lion, suffering from its mouth's discomfort, spewed out a toxic, putrid wind, forcing the great hero to leap out of its jaws.

There's no point in saying anything more now that things have come to this.

Hercules raised his club and brought it down with all his might on the lion's head.

This time, it was no longer childish play; both sides were serious.

Unparalleled divine power was poured into the wooden stick, and a booming sound like a striking bell rang out.

The lion grunted, its massive head snapping to one side. Hercules was about to strike again, but the lion dodged.

The lion pounced, knocking the exhausted Hercules to the ground, throwing his club aside, and opening his mouth to bite off the throat of the future great hero.

Hercules pushed the giant lion away with all his might, kicked it away, then rolled to his feet and watched his childhood playmate warily.

He picked up a bow and arrows from the corpse on the ground, drew the bow, and shot at the lion.

Hercules was an excellent archer; his sharp arrow struck the lion in the eye, but the lion neither flinched nor flinched, and the arrow shattered upon impact with its eye.

The lion pounced on Hercules.

As the lion was about to take flight, Hercules fired another arrow at its heart. This arrow was powerful enough to pierce metal and stone, but it still could not penetrate the lion's fur.

As the lion once proudly proclaimed, it is invulnerable to weapons and cannot be harmed in the slightest, not even by so-called divine weapons.

The great hero had sensed something during his childhood play, but he truly realized the weight of those words at this moment.

At this moment, it was too late to shoot an arrow. The lion had already pounced, and the great hero had no choice but to drop his bow and arrow and fight the lion with his bare hands.

His fists could pierce through metal, his teeth could bite through chains, and his divine strength was unparalleled in the world; no one could rival him.

But he was facing a monster that was invulnerable to swords and spears.

The great hero and the lion were locked in a fierce battle. His iron-hammer-like fists landed on the lion's body, but failed to harm it in the slightest. Instead, they aroused its ferocity.

As darkness fell, the forest was ravaged by the battle between the great hero and the lion, with broken and destroyed trees everywhere.

Along the way, the great hero tried many methods, attempting to smash it with wooden sticks and slash it with swords, but to no avail, he could not subdue this invulnerable giant lion.

The lion kept rolling, pouncing, and biting, its sharp claws tearing bloody wounds into the hero's arms and legs.

The lion, smelling blood, grew increasingly agitated and excited, as if it could already see itself swallowing this mortal whole.

In the sky, the gods had already noticed this scene on earth.

Ares, the god of war, cheered for the battle on earth, while Athena, the goddess of goddesses, frowned at the heroes' predicament. All the gods marveled at what was happening on earth.

Zeus, the king of the gods, gazed upon his son, born of a mortal, and gripped his thunderbolts as he watched him fight such a formidable foe on his first adventure.

He could have saved his son's life at any time if he wanted to, but he didn't. Just as the progenitor of all demons said, if Hercules truly stopped here, whatever his potential, it would prove that he was nothing special.

Because a truly powerful warrior is one who can determine his own destiny.

On the ground, the unseen little snake coldly watched the battle between its two "sons."

The giant lion is its child born from its blood, while the great hero is its child who has been given its blood.

Despite its concern for the great hero, it wouldn't matter if he truly died here. It had already witnessed the battle, and if the giant lion emerged victorious, it would bestow its favor upon him.

As for the loser?
Incompetent waste has no need to exist.

The man and the lion on the ground were unaware of the gazes of the gods and demons; they were simply fighting desperately for victory.

The situation was not good for the great hero, who still couldn't figure out how to defeat the invulnerable monster.

But the more this happened, the calmer the great hero remained.

Fighting relies not only on brute force, which is nothing more than the actions of a wild beast, but also on calm and composed combat.

Just as the lion pounced again, he nimbly dodged and then lunged at the lion, pinning his entire body down on top of it.

He strangled the lion with his arms and clamped its body between his legs. Though his body was made of flesh and blood, it was stronger and more resilient than steel.

The giant lion realized something was wrong. It roared and tried to roll over to throw the great hero off its back, but the great hero held it firmly in place.

His divine power is boundless, and even a giant lion cannot break free from it.

His arms were stronger than the strongest chains in the world, tightening their grip on the lion's neck.

The lion's roar shifted from anger to panic, and then gradually subsided.

Even with an invulnerable body, one is still made of flesh and blood, and breathing is a symbol of the soul.

With each breath, the soul becomes strong, powerful, and full of vitality. Without breath, even the most noble deity's soul becomes pale and powerless.

Even a giant lion would become listless and weakened if it stopped breathing.

The giant lion tried desperately to take another breath, but the great hero's iron arm completely blocked his idea. His soul could no longer communicate with the outside world or receive nourishment.

His strength began to wane, and his consciousness gradually became clouded.

Before the giant lion's consciousness completely faded into darkness, it finally realized something.

"I lost."

The defeat was utter and complete, without any schemes, magic, or help from others, and without any excuses to justify it.

That mortal, with the most upright and direct power, utterly defeated himself.

But at that moment... those iron arms quietly loosened their grip.

Breathing was finally able to resume, greedily drawing in the air, and the soul within its body rejoiced, but the giant lion had no desire to fight anymore.

It has lost completely.

It tried hard to prove that it was better than this mortal, but in the end, it turned out that the mortal was indeed stronger than it.

"Why don't you kill me?"

The giant lion lay weakly on the ground, its eyes closed, and remained motionless.

Hercules, or rather the young man, looked at the giant lion he had controlled with a complicated expression.

At the height of the battle, he was focused solely on defeating and killing the lion, with no other thoughts in his mind.

But when his iron arm tightened around the lion's neck, and he felt the lion gradually stop moving and its life force fading away, he suddenly softened.

He knew he shouldn't do it, but he still let go of her arm.

"I do not know either."

The young man shook his head, then swayed his exhausted body, his legs gave way, and he leaned against the lion.

A man and a lion, just like when they were children, resting after playing and frolicking.

"You've defeated me. What are your plans now?"

For some reason, the lion's roar seemed to have calmed down, no longer filled with anger.

"Probably by continuing my adventures, defeating more people and monsters, and letting the whole world know my name."

"In that case, you will be respected by the whole world."

"Well, that should be it."

"Then how will the world judge me for defeating the first monster you've ever killed?"

"I will tell them that you are strong, very strong."

After a brief conversation, both the lion and the youth fell into an inexplicable silence.

After a long while, the lion's deep voice rang out.

"It's settled then. You must tell the world that I, Leo, am very strong, extremely strong."

"Ah."

"Wait, use my claws to peel off my fur; it will protect you from all harm. Alcides, I will watch over you... watch you accomplish great feats... the whole world will know just how tough my fur is, just how strong I am..."

As he finished speaking, the lion beneath him stopped moving.

The young man looked down and saw that the lion was no longer breathing.

It chose to die; the lingering existence of a loser is a disgrace, and its pride would not allow it to do so.

The young man was unsure whether to be happy or sad that his formidable foe, with whom he had fought to the death, had died.

He stood there, stunned, his cheeks seemingly damp and warm.

He wiped his face, bit his lip, and then suddenly a smile appeared on his lips.

Yes, you will see.

One day, the great hero who has accomplished so many great feats will earnestly tell his admirers that the most difficult battle he ever fought was the very first one.

……

The lion's soul ascended to heaven, where the goddess guided it, and the gods, praising its power, elevated it to a constellation in the sky.

But the proud lion didn't even look at it; it simply leaped up and transformed into the constellation Leo in the sky.

Under the night sky, Leo looked down at the young man on the ground, dressed in a lion's skin, his face resolute as he walked home.

(End of this chapter)