Chapter 116
‘Good, that’s it.’
Stealthily.
Quickly.
Lloyd slid forward, moving one step at a time.
In his hand, he firmly gripped the blue sunflower seed.
His target was King Stoma, who was rampaging ahead.
‘Feeding that guy a blue sunflower seed—it’s worth trying at least once.’
No matter how you looked at it, King Stoma was clearly a fantasy beast.
The fact that Lloyd could understand everything it said was proof.
So he guessed.
Maybe King Stoma was the opposite type from the other fantasy beasts.
Usually, when little Ppodong or Bangul ate a red sunflower seed, they’d grow for a certain amount of time. Maybe, on the contrary, King Stoma was usually huge and would shrink for a while if it ate a blue sunflower seed.
‘It’s totally possible.’
Or maybe not.
And if he was wrong?
He’d just use another method.
‘There are plenty of options anyway. Retreat, subdue, or if there’s really no other way, kill it. Besides, it doesn’t look like that thing has a master.’
Honestly, it was a little surprising.
The fact that a fantasy beast he hadn’t summoned existed in this world at all.
But whatever.
What mattered was that it was a fantasy beast.
Which meant there was a possibility of taming it.
That was all that mattered right now.
‘Just a little closer.’
King Stoma was thrashing around trying to catch Javier.
Lloyd closed the distance even more.
He stealthily approached, submerged up to his waist in the lake water.
Then, it happened.
“Bibeong?”
King Stoma’s huge, round head whipped around in this direction!
“…!”
Lloyd quickly ducked down, sinking his head underwater. The rippling surface reflected King Stoma searching around for him.
Did he get caught?
Just as he started to wonder—
Tuwhak!
A blast of Confined Blasting shot from the other side.
It grazed over King Stoma’s head.
Thanks to that, King Stoma’s attention turned back that way.
“Bibeobeong! Bibeong!”
With a crash and a roar, King Stoma rampaged again.
Lloyd let out a bubbling sigh of relief from under the water as he watched its back.
‘That thing is way more sensitive than it looks.’
That was really close.
If he’d been even a little slower to react?
If he hadn’t hidden himself in the water in time?
He’d have been spotted and attacked.
‘I’ll just approach by diving.’
From then on, Lloyd crawled beneath the surface, sneaking toward King Stoma. He came up for air now and then.
All the while, he prayed desperately.
‘Javier! Please, pull aggro properly this time!’
Of course, Lloyd wasn’t a telepath.
So his desperate wish didn’t reach Javier at all.
At that moment, Javier was thinking this.
‘Lloyd-nim, are you risking yourself again?’
He had hoped Lloyd wouldn’t do something so dangerous this time.
But it seemed his hope was useless.
‘He’s always been like that.’
Come to think of it, he always was.
When he dueled Sir Neumann to straighten out the estate.
When he personally entered the beast ant cave.
When he went to rescue the engineers captured by the dark sorcerer.
‘He always said one thing and did another.’
He’d insist he hated danger.
He’d say, “Why should I do something like that?”
He’d act shameless.
But when it came down to it?
‘When things get really dangerous, he’s always the first one out front.’
Just like now.
Never pushing it onto someone else.
Always personally shouldering all the danger.
Proving it through his actions.
That was the son of his lord whom Javier served, Lloyd Frontera.
‘So today, this must be my role.’
He would not let Lloyd bear all the danger.
He would take on any threat that came Lloyd’s way himself.
Javier resolved himself.
He fired off Confined Blasting with even more force.
He kept agitating King Stoma.
But it still wasn’t enough.
It had happened earlier, too.
King Stoma might suddenly turn its head and spot Lloyd again.
That’s why Javier came up with a plan.
A way to draw King Stoma’s attention even more dramatically.
“Bibeong!”
Kwaaang—!
A massive forepaw slammed down.
He dodged swiftly.
He coolly widened the distance in an instant.
“Huuuup.”
He took a deep breath.
Was it to use aura?
To unleash an even stronger Confined Blasting?
No, neither.
The breath he drew in was soon unleashed as a resounding shout.
“Bibeong—!”
Javier’s cry, packed with mana, boomed across the lakeshore at nearly the same volume as King Stoma’s roar.
Maybe it was thanks to that shout.
King Stoma, who was charging in, froze.
A look of confusion crossed King Stoma’s face.
The “Bibeong!” Javier had just shouted this way—
In King Stoma’s language, it meant “Mom!”
“Bibeong?”
Hey, I’m not your mom, you know?
Besides, I’m definitely male.
And I’ve been single for centuries.
The bewildered King Stoma asked back.
Javier pointed his sword in this direction.
With even more mana, he shouted even louder.
“Bibeong! Bibeobeong! Bibeong!”
Of course, Javier had no idea what King Stoma’s language meant.
He had no clue what he was shouting; he just yelled whatever.
But to King Stoma, the shout sounded like, “It’s going to rain tonight! Why! Is there no sauce for the pork cutlet!”
King Stoma was confused.
“Bibeobeong?”
Did you eat something bad?
Or are you suddenly sick or something?
King Stoma was baffled.
The bad human who broke its dam.
But suddenly that guy started shouting nonsense.
Beyond confused, anxiety started creeping in.
It was only natural.
Imagine someone rudely banging on your front door.
You get mad and go out to confront them.
But when you talk, you realize—
They’re just some weirdo babbling gibberish.
At that point, anyone would start to feel bewildered and uneasy.
That’s exactly how King Stoma felt now.
“Bibeong? Bibeobeong?”
Can’t you just fight properly like before?
King Stoma asked with genuine concern.
Javier responded loudly.
“Bibeong! Bibeobeobeong! Bibeobeong! Bibeong! (Chains and hula dancing are sad! Nosebleeds taste good! I’m cute, after all!)”
“…Bi, Bibeong?”
“Bibeobeobeong! Bibeong! Bibeobeong! (So the king said! Sometimes I shed tears! I love soy-braised beef!)”
“Bibeong, Bibeobeong?”
King Stoma was even more confused.
It fell into deeper thought.
‘Bibeong, Bibeobeong.’
That human is definitely not normal.
But should I keep fighting like this?
Or should I try to calm him down and get him back to his senses?
The more King Stoma worried, the more its gaze and senses focused solely on Javier.
‘Good. This is working.’
A smile crept across Javier’s lips.
He kept up the barrage of random nonsense and glanced over.
Where he looked—
Lloyd was there.
Lloyd was already quietly climbing up King Stoma’s tail.
‘Nice, good. Just like that!’
Lloyd cheered Javier on with his eyes.
He climbed King Stoma’s tail even more stealthily and vigorously, crawling along its dozens of meters long back like a flea.
And finally, he reached King Stoma’s head.
“Bibeong?”
Only then did King Stoma sense something odd and jerked its head up.
But it was already too late.
‘Right now!’
Taaat!
Lloyd leaped from King Stoma’s crown.
He launched himself through the air.
He looked down.
He saw King Stoma raising its head toward him.
Their eyes met.
“…Bibeong?”
King Stoma’s mouth fell open in a daze.
Lloyd aimed and threw his right hand.
Swish!
The blue sunflower seed left Lloyd’s hand.
It flew like a two-seam fastball.
It shot straight forward.
The target froze in place for a second.
The seed slipped right into King Stoma’s mouth.
Gulp.
“Bibeobeong?”
King Stoma involuntarily swallowed the blue sunflower seed.
And then—
Puff!
It shrank.
Down to ten centimeters.
Splash!
“…Bibeong?”
Shrinking, it instantly sank into the lake.
King Stoma was startled as it plunged into the water.
Beyond confusion, it felt utter chaos.
‘Bi, Bibeong? Bibeobeong?’
All it did was swallow something tiny by accident.
And suddenly, the world had become unbelievably huge!
The scene under the lake, which now completely engulfed it, proved it.
For the first time, it saw waving aquatic plants larger than itself.
The minnows swimming by.
The frogs kicking their legs in surprise.
Everything was about the same size as it was.
And then—
“Gotcha!”
“…!”
Swoosh!
A hand burst through the water and snatched King Stoma.
It grabbed him before he could react.
It lifted him up.
“Bi, Bibeong!”
He struggled desperately.
Trying to channel the power that could topple ten trees with a single gesture.
Remembering how he could crush rocks with just his rump.
He twisted with all his might.
But nothing happened.
He couldn’t escape the grip.
And beyond that huge hand—
The world was vast and gigantic!
“Hey, you giving up now?”
“…!”
The huge hand gripping him.
The arm stretching out felt like a mountain range.
Beyond that, a human face loomed as if it could cover the sky.
Dark, wet hair dripping with water.
Moon-sized eyes looking at him.
He felt overwhelmed.
Awed.
It was the first time he’d seen a creature so much bigger than himself.
And in that moment, King Stoma realized.
It wasn’t that the human had gotten bigger.
He himself… had shrunk.
“Bi, Bibeong! Bibeobeong!”
What did you do to me!
King Stoma shouted in panic.
The human gripping him just shrugged.
“What did I do? I made you small.”
“…!”
Another shock hit King Stoma.
Was it because he confirmed he’d shrunk?
No.
‘Bibeong? Bibeobeong?’
Wait, did I just… understand everything that human said?
No, that’s impossible.
King Stoma was even more confused.
It was the first time.
Even thinking back to the distant, hazy past when he’d first appeared in this world.
‘Bibeo, Bibeobeong, Bibeong.’
No one ever called to him.
No one ever gave birth to him.
Yet, one day, he simply existed in this world.
Like he just fell from the sky.
So he lived.
He survived, grew, and lived.
Of course, he’d never met another of his kind.
He’d never even considered that there might be others like him.
He’d never imagined being able to talk with another being.
But now, right in front of him, there was such a being.
“Hey, you. You can understand me, right?”
“….”
Gulp.
King Stoma stared at Lloyd in disbelief.
A sly smirk rose on Lloyd’s lips.
“Knew it. You can understand.”
“Bi, Bibeong, Bibeobeong.”
“Yeah. I can understand you too. So, why don’t we have a calm conversation?”
“Bibeong?”
“Man, I’m tired. I’m just going to sit down.”
“….”
“What should I start with? Should I tell you to relax? I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Bibeobeong?”
“Really. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
“…Bibeong.”
“You don’t trust human words?”
“Bibeobeong. Bibeong!”
“If I don’t let you go right now, you’ll crush me?”
“Bibeong!”
“Hmm, but that’s a problem. I’m a lot bigger than you now, but I’m not crushing you, am I? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could stop fighting?”
“Bibeong! Bibeobeobeong!”
“You don’t want to listen to a human, huh? Why?”
“Bibeobeong!”
“Because you’re the master of this lake?”
“Bibeong!”
“…Hmm.”
Lloyd was troubled.
‘This guy is fiercer than I thought.’
King Stoma struggled with all his might to break free from Lloyd’s hand.
Its stubbornness was much greater than expected.
On top of that, it showed no friendliness toward humans.
It just happened to speak the same language, but it was still wild and untamed.
‘Completely different from Ppodong, Bangul, or Hamang.’
Maybe because he hadn’t summoned this one himself.
So should he discipline it a bit more harshly to tame it?
Lloyd shook his head.
‘No, if I do that, it might close itself off and things will get harder.’
He’d risked a lot getting King Stoma to eat the blue sunflower seed.
But its effect only lasted 24 hours.
After 24 hours, it would return to its one-hundred-meter size.
So he had to persuade it or tame it within that time.
‘Since we can talk, the best result would be to convince it to voluntarily guard this place. Hmm, what should I do?’
His mind spun.
He thought hard.
And then, suddenly, he had an idea.
‘Maybe if it sees other fantasy beasts, it’ll let its guard down.’
With that glimmer of hope, Lloyd gently opened his coat’s inner pocket.
“Hey, Ppodong? Bangul? Hamang?”
“Pupung! Ppodong!”
“Oopupu, Bangul!”
“Hamamamang!”
The answers came from inside the pocket, full of water like a tub.
A faint smile appeared on Lloyd’s lips.
“There’s a new friend here. You guys want to come out and meet him?”
“Ppo! Bang! Ha!”
The response was instant.
Ppodong carried Hamang on his back and crawled out of the pocket.
They scampered up onto Lloyd’s shoulder.
They stared at King Stoma, who was caught in Lloyd’s hand.
“Ppodong?”
“Hamang?”
“Bibeobeong! Bibeong! Arurur!”
King Stoma bared its sharp front teeth at Ppodong and Hamang.
But then—
“Bangul?”
Bangul belatedly climbed up onto Lloyd’s shoulder.
She was busy fixing her wet ribbon.
Shaking the water from her bell.
She appeared on the shoulder, a little late.
Her moist face sparkled brightly.
She turned her big, round eyes toward the “new friend” Lloyd mentioned.
“Ppabangul?”
That sound caught King Stoma’s attention.
Just as fiercely as before.
King Stoma’s gaze shifted.
To the upper part of Lloyd’s shoulder.
Toward Bangul, who was peeking out.
Their eyes met.
At that moment, King Stoma’s once-fierce face unconsciously went blank.
“…Bi… beong?”
That day, King Stoma fell into a magical, pink, first love. (T/N: HAHAHAHA. So cute)