Chapter 50: The Silver Haired Woman

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Silver Haired Woman

"The Baron is dead! The monster ate him!"

"Did you see the black mist? The Devourer is real."

"Flee! Run to the lower districts before he gets hungry again!"

"He took a human shape. How can a human crush a Vermilion noble?"

"Quiet your mouth, you fool, or he will look at us."

"The Arklong lineage is completely wiped out."

"Look at his eyes. Do not make eye contact."

"May the Ancestors save us."

"The entire city will burn for this."

"Move out of his way! Drop your weapons and kneel!"

"He is looking this way. Oh gods, please spare me."

"Do not breathe. Just let him pass."

​Krono walked down the ruined cobblestone street without a single care in the world. His bare feet stepped smoothly over shattered weapons and terrified guards. The elite soldiers pressed their faces firmly into the bloody dirt, weeping in pure terror.

Krono possessed a brand new flawless human body. The raw power coursing through his veins felt incredibly intoxicating. He was no longer a lowly scavenger. He was a god of destruction walking brazenly amongst trembling insects.

​A few blocks away from the smoking crater, the sheer chaos of his battle had not yet interrupted the underground market of the upper district. Here, beneath the flickering glow of green magical torches, a massive iron cage rested on a raised wooden platform.

​Inside the rusted cage knelt a human woman.

​She was a creature of absolutely breathtaking ethereal beauty. She looked entirely out of place in a filthy city ruled by savage reptilian overlords.

Her skin was as pale as winter moonlight. It possessed a soft porcelain quality that seemed to glow naturally in the dim lighting.

Her cascading pure silver white hair spilled over her delicate shoulders. The bright metallic strands tangled around her slender arms like threads of spun silk.

​Yet her divine appearance was marred by extreme cruelty. Heavy rusted iron chains bound her frail wrists and delicate neck. Dark purple and blue bruises painted her flawless pale skin.

The horrific marks mapped out the vicious strikes of careless slave drivers.

Her tattered filthy white garments barely clung to her incredibly curvaceous feminine frame. Blood trickled down her collarbone from a fresh whip mark. Her wrists were bleeding heavily from the jagged iron cuffs.

Despite her completely broken state, her silver eyes held a cold unyielding defiance. She looked exactly like a fallen goddess dragged forcefully through the absolute lowest pits of hell.

​Surrounding the wooden platform was a disgusting mob of monstrous aristocrats. Massive dragons in their half forms drooled onto the stone floor. Hulking dragonoids with heavily scaled arms pushed violently through the massive crowd.

Wealthy dragonoots clutched their gold pouches with greedy predatory anticipation. Their yellow and slotted eyes stared hungrily at the captive human woman.

​They were definitely not bidding for a simple house servant. The vile whispers echoing through the lustful crowd spoke openly of dark forbidden rituals. They desired to drain her pure magical essence entirely. They wanted to use her fragile body as a forced breeding vessel to mutate their own rotting bloodlines.

The auctioneer was a fat lizardman with a spiked tail.

Bang!

He slammed his wooden hammer down repeatedly, shouting out increasingly astronomical prices to the frenzied audience.

​Krono walked past the screaming crowd. He was an apex predator now. He was a being driven entirely by infinite hunger and absolute supremacy. He possessed absolutely no heroic ideals. He did not care at all about saving the weak or punishing the wicked. He had just slaughtered an entire noble family without a single ounce of hesitation or remorse.

​And yet.

​Krono paused.

​His bare feet stopped moving across the cold stones. He slowly turned his head toward the rusted cage.

Perhaps it was the fact that he had just awakened his own ultimate human form.

Perhaps the swirling silver starlight within his newly evolved eyes resonated deeply with the ethereal silver light radiating from her broken body.

Whatever the true reason was, the cold suffocating abyss within his chest suddenly moved.

He tilted his head, watching the disgusting lizards bid on the bleeding goddess.

"50,000 dragon crest, going once!"

"50,000 dragon crest, going twice!"

"50,000 dragon crest, going—"

​It was that moment, Krono raised his hand.

​"Oi lizards, stop the bidding! That woman belongs to me now."

"...."

​For exactly three seconds, the entire underground market went completely silent. The only sound left in the cavernous plaza was the crackling of the green magical torches.

​Then, absolute pandemonium erupted.

Did a frail, pathetic human just dare to show himself in the middle of an exclusive noble auction?

Did this hairless ape just demand the most valuable breeding stock in the entire upper district with such overwhelming arrogance?

​"Is this human completely insane?" a hulking dragonoid muttered, rubbing his scaled chin.

​"He must have escaped from the slaughterhouses," a wealthy dragonoot laughed maliciously, baring his yellow fangs. "Does the meat really not fear death anymore? He walked right into a pit of starving carnivores."

​"I call dibs on his legs! A flawless human like that will taste incredibly tender."

​The auctioneer was not laughing.

Bang!

The fat lizardman slammed his heavy wooden hammer violently against the iron bars of the cage, causing the silver woman to flinch.

The Slave Master angrily glared down at Krono,

​"You filthy, arrogant livestock. You dare interrupt my grand auction? You dare speak to your natural superiors with such an insolent tone? Guards! Break this pathetic human scum into a hundred pieces and throw his bloody remains to the gutter hounds!"

​Immediately, four massive armed reptilian guards immediately stepped out from the shadows. They drew their dragon-steel swords, grinning wickedly as they surrounded the unarmed human.

​Krono grinned at them and then... vanished.

​Every dragon’s eyes were left confused as to where the human had gone until they heard some popping noises.

​Puff. Puff. Puff.

​"Ahhhhh!"

​To their horror, all the guards’ heads burst like watermelons.