Chapter 287
by fanqienovelChapter 287: Bringing a Piece of Meat to the Lady
"Ah… actually, it’s quite normal…"
Trilobite felt a bit embarrassed.
Making such a fuss over this was unnecessary.
In fact, several types of lobe-finned fish care for their young.
For example, bettas, snapper, and seahorses are fish that carefully raise their offspring. Among these, male bettas even compete with females for parenting rights, driving the females away to raise the young fish alone.
These three cases all show fathers caring for the young.
Pufferfish, on the other hand, care for the young together, making them model couples among fish.
"If lobe-finned fish do this, then it’s even less surprising for four-legged creatures that are closer to terrestrial vertebrates…"
"The Haisigen Toothfish is indeed one of the four-legged creatures."
Four-legged creatures refer to a large group of flesh-finned fish closely related to amphibians and terrestrial vertebrates. These creatures belong to a classification made up of many evolutionary branches, including all ancestors of modern terrestrial vertebrates.
Trilobite had also been a "Peter Foot Salamander" and "Pander Fish" for a time, both of which are four-legged creatures.
"Ah, but anyway, discovering that the Haisigen Toothfish practices good breeding and cares for its young was truly a big find."
"This shows that ‘motherhood’ and ‘family bonds’ appeared much earlier than expected!"
"With this, I could write five papers easily!"
Luckily, Trilobite didn’t know the "Haisigen Toothfish" is actually "ovoviviparous"; otherwise, he could have written five more papers.
"Oh!"
"Right."
"I almost forgot why I came here!"
Thinking of this, Trilobite stared again with his calcite compound eyes, fixed on the Haisigen Toothfish and her sleeping children.
"Lady!"
"I want to…"
—-
"Ah—!"
"It’s coming!"
"You… don’t come any closer!"
The Haisigen Toothfish lady…
No, the Ether Dragon, titled Emerald Shadow, Cassius Tiberea, twisted his huge, battered body around his newly born children.
All options were exhausted.
"I never expected that I, Emerald Shadow, would die so miserably."
"Not in a glorious battle, but in a cave like this, dying pitifully, unable to protect my own just-born children…"
…
“Whoo… whoo…”
The breath of that enormous “monster deity” filled her with despair.
Just as she closed her eyes, waiting for the saber teeth to pierce her body…
“Gurk—ugh—!”
A sound like vomiting echoed,
and a slightly sour smell spread through the etheric liquid-filled cave.
Then…
“Whoosh—!”
The terrifying, ruthless presence of the “monster deity” slowly faded away, leaving the City of Dimensions.
“What on earth…”
“Happened?”
Lady Tiberea slowly opened her eyes.
She couldn’t imagine such a terrifying, ruthless, and bloodthirsty powerful deity sparing her and her newly born baby dragon.
Such a perfect chance should have meant certain death!
It should have ended like Kutulaso—brutally torn open, her plump corpse devoured like a ghoul’s feast!
Yet she’d been spared.
And even…
“Hiss…”
A lump of pasty flesh floated in the etheric liquid, giving off a strange sour odor.
“This is…
divine flesh!?”
“But no, it’s mixed with something else…”
“Uh, could it be…?”
Tiberea recalled the "monster deity" swallowing a chunk of Kutulaso’s meat.
As this revolting possibility crossed her mind…
“Buzz—!”
The flesh suddenly squirmed.
It glowed brightly, blazing like a beacon in the dim City of Dimensions.
The light made the Ether Dragon’s Double Eyes snap shut in shock and stirred a long-buried memory.
He remembered being a tiny etheric worm—the raw thrill of his first taste of a larvae from the Outer Gods from the Void, driven by evolutionary hunger…
This wasn’t the refined pleasure of absorbing an enemy’s divine rank.
This was primal, pure, savage craving.
This desire for flesh and blood was called — “hunger”!
“Damn it… How could I be controlled by such a lowly desire!”
“I…”
“Uh…”
Soon, the wound sliced by the Bared Tooth Tsar’s bloodletting teeth throbbed with intense pain; the destructive divine rank drifting from the Endless Ether continuously attacked and eroded the wound, attempting to invade the Ether Dragon’s body from there.
They had always done this before.
Once successful, Tiberea would grow weaker still. She wouldn’t even need other ferocious deities; holed up in the City of Dimensions, she would wither into a skeleton.
This despair deepened her fear, and fear stirred her most primitive, base cravings.
“Hungry… so hungry…”
Now, even that half-digested piece of divine flesh from the Bared Tooth Tsar seemed irresistibly tempting.
“Damn it…”
“I’ve no choice!”
“Ah—ugh—!”
Tiberea swallowed the divine flesh whole!
“Hmm…”
She closed her eyes, savoring the burst of rich flavor and tenderness as the divine flesh melted in her mouth.
“Gulp—!”
Ether Dragons couldn’t chew. Tiberea held the meat like crystal candy before finally swallowing it down.
“Phew…”
The long-lost sensation of flesh filling her stomach surged energy and warmth through her entire being.
This differed from the pride of conquering gods or merging souls. This satisfaction came from her deepest core.
In that moment, Tiberea truly remembered her essence…
“Yes…”
“Even crowned a deity, draped in sacred might, wielding immense power—I remain, at heart, a beast.”
“Strip away the surface, and it’s all the same slaughter, the same devouring.”
“Is this my reminder?”
“To never forget my true nature!?”
“Hmm…”
Tiberea closed her eyes slightly, lost in reflection.
“Had the Bared Tooth Tsar clung to his divine pride while I discarded mine…”
To cast aside her treasured rationality, facing him as pure beast—ignoring his standing in the Endless Ether, unshaken by his divine aura…
“Even gravely wounded, my odds would’ve been forty percent!”
"So that’s it, your battle just now was actually a demonstration for me!?"
"I learned from it…"
"Um…"
While she was still pondering the insights brought to her by the monster deity, a tingling sensation swept over the Ether Dragon’s long body, making her shiver with pleasure.
"Hiss…"
A loud noise came from her massive body.
Light blossomed within her, quietly changing her body and driving away those nasty "shattering divine ranks"!
"Did Kutulaso’s divine flesh have this effect too?"
"No… it wasn’t just from the divine flesh; much of this light-like energy came from that monster deity."
"This…"
The Emerald Shadow, Tiberea, trembled slightly, losing her composure.
If this energy existed within her as well…
"What was the corrosion of the Endless Ether to me!?"
"I could even counterattack the Endless Ether!"
As soon as she thought of counterattacking, the Emerald Shadow felt her deepest desires stir—hunger returned!
"But it wasn’t enough; she could feel that the power in this divine flesh was a one-time thing. If only there were more…"
"Hmm…"
"Hiss…"
The water brushed past the Ether Dragon’s nostrils, letting Tiberea notice every detail in the flow.
Soon, in a stream of water, she detected an aura very similar to the monster deity’s!
"Very good!"
"Then…"
"Hey…"
She gently nudged her daughter, who had fallen into a deep sleep from her magic spell.
"Come, Mother will take you to a great place!"