Vega blinked, watching as several catgirls stared at him with blank eyes and mechanically walked over.
It suddenly flapped its wings and flew up into the air, looking down at Viktor from above, shouting hoarsely in strong resistance, "Viktor! What are you trying to do?!"
"I just said a couple of things about you, do you really have to hold such a grudge?!"
It beat its wings rapidly in midair, sounding a bit nervous as it spoke, "And you're way too strange, aren't you? There are clearly humans over there, yet you didn't choose them. You had to arrange a few demi-humans instead!?"
"Do you like demi-humans that much?!"
Listening to Vega's rapid-fire complaints, Viktor didn't respond at all, looking like he couldn't even be bothered to deal with it.
Looking at the few catgirls who had been controlled into coming here, he stepped forward and began to examine them from top to bottom.
He reached out and pinched a catgirl's cheek.
The sensation coming through his fingers was extremely real. Her fair skin was very soft and supple, moist and lively, exactly the same as a real demi-human.
After all, they had been constructed completely according to the physical structure of demi-humans.
The only difference was that their bodies had been shaped by the Yard Divine Tree using natural energy.
Hovering in midair, Vega stared blankly as Viktor pinched the catgirl's cheek. The black feathers all over its body stood on end, and a chill ran through it.
If Viktor had reached out to pinch the cheek of a normal demi-human, Vega wouldn't have found it particularly strange.
But the demi-humans he was touching now were basically like dolls.
Aside from having bodies identical to real demi-humans, there wasn't a single thing about them that resembled a living, breathing demi-human.
This made Vega feel extremely unsettled.
As it kept watching, something even more shocking happened.
While Viktor was pinching the catgirl's face, the next second, the doll's facial features began to change.
Her features turned into a patch of black liquid, as if they had completely melted together, gathering over the entire blank face.
With a movement of his fingers, the black liquid quickly began reshaping delicate facial features, even the face shape twisting along with it.
When the black liquid gradually stabilized, that refined face and three-dimensional features made Vega feel a deep sense of unease.
'Isn't this Viktor's tsundere little sister?!'
Vega froze in midair, shook its bird head, and carefully examined the face that looked strikingly similar to "Liya."
It wasn't an exact match, but it was at least eighty or ninety percent alike.
However, on top of "Liya's" head, there were two fluffy cat ears, giving her a rather unique charm.
"Are you insane? You actually molded your own sister?"
Viktor still didn't speak, instead moving to another catgirl and reshaping her face again.
Black liquid roamed across her face, gradually forming a new appearance.
The originally somewhat alluring face became a bit rounder during the reshaping.
Then, when the liquid fully fixed the features in place, Vega finally recognized her. This was "Henny."
It grew even more confused.
Viktor walked up to the third catgirl and, after a series of actions, molded a face that looked like "Erika," even casually creating a head of blonde hair, leaving Vega utterly dumbfounded.
Vega thought Viktor was going to stop there, but unexpectedly, he walked up to the fourth catgirl.
"Viktor! You're still going?!"
Viktor still ignored it and continued reshaping the face.
"I just want to see how far you can..."
The moment the fourth catgirl's face was completed, Vega was completely stunned.
It even forgot to flap its wings, and with a thud, fell straight onto the floor.
The fourth one was "Aurelian."
"..."
Vega was now certain that Viktor was a full-blown pervert.
He was actually planning to use these dolls to satisfy his repressed, perverted, beastly desires.
And why were they perverted beastly desires?
Because Gwen wasn't among them.
Before Vega could even start feeling curious, ghe next second, a surge of magic twisted around the bodies of the four catgirls, causing their faces to change again.
Their features turned into black liquid, but instead of reshaping into new faces, they gradually dispersed.
All that remained was a blank face. Eyes, nose, and mouth all disappeared, making them look extremely eerie.
Immediately after, several cards at Viktor's waist rose up as if carried by the wind.
A flash of white light, and they plunged into the bodies of the catgirls.
BOOM!
The bodies of the four catgirls expanded slightly, and dazzling white light spilled out from their seven orifices.
The next second, their bodies completely exploded, turning into natural energy that spread through the air.
Now Vega was truly confused. It really couldn't understand what Viktor's whole sequence of actions was meant to accomplish.
First he created these demi-humans, then completely destroyed them. Was this simply some kind of twisted amusement?
With some distaste, it landed back on Viktor's shoulder, wanting to observe up close what Viktor was actually planning to do.
At that moment, Viktor suddenly extended one hand. A lightning core glowing with dazzling white light slowly emerged from his palm.
[Storm Dragon King's Gene]
[Description: A mysterious gene containing the power of ancient giant dragons. It may be able to combine with an ancient dragon.]
Vega stared at this strange core and felt it looked somewhat familiar.
"This thing is…"
It had a vague impression, but not a strong one.
It seemed to have dropped from some giant beast with very little presence that Viktor had blown apart.
Viktor's voice finally sounded beside its ear, "Do you remember that dragon in the Mage City that could resurrect endlessly?"
Hearing this, Vega recalled it, "Why are you taking this thing out?"
The next second, Viktor did something extremely inconceivable.
He threw the Storm Dragon King's gene high into the air. The core floated upward and attached itself to the beating heart of the Yard Divine Tree.
Wrapped in green natural energy, lightning constantly flickered around the blue core.
White light crackled through the air, and two bolts of lightning even collided, sending out a shockwave.
Lightning clouds began merging with the green natural energy, gathering toward the center of the blue sphere.
Blue outlines and vein-like patterns gradually formed in the air. Very quickly, the skeletal frame of an enormous, elongated giant dragon fully appeared.
Natural energy overflowed from the lightning, gradually filling the dragon's massive body and veins.
From the dragon's tail, green energy fluctuations like fissure rippled outward.
The surrounding magic rapidly condensed, completely filling in the dragon's scales and horns.
BOOM!!
A terrifying shockwave exploded outward. The giant dragon stretched its body in the vast space, its eyes snapping open as it released a frightening, oppressive aura.
Lightning twisted and flickered around its body as if completely at ease.
"Roar!"
The dragon let out a thunderous roar, and the Divine Tree's heart seemed to beat even faster.
The four faceless catgirls' shattered bodies also completely recovered.
They stood there blankly, expressionless and hollow.
Vega stared at the reborn Storm Dragon King, its single eye wide open.
"This… this is the Storm Dragon King's resurrection ability?"
The energy contained within the Storm Dragon King was itself a chaotic aggregate of magic.
As long as the appropriate frequency could be found, it could combine with natural energy and recreate its original body.
And moreover…
It was no longer the Storm Dragon King.
"Yard."
Hearing this, the storm dragon god in the sky let out a furious roar. The lightning magic on its body surged with astonishing energy fluctuations.
This fluctuation even caused the magic within Viktor's own body to become slightly unstable.
This was a trait unique to the Storm Dragon King, just like before in the Magic Power Canyon.
It gazed at Viktor, then lowered its proud head.
As if in submission.
Viktor said calmly, "A single experiment."
"But it seems it didn't fail."
The heart of the Yard Divine Tree was different from the Divine Tree itself. It was a consciousness born from nature.
Simply put, this thing... was very intelligent.
Most importantly, after combining with the Storm Dragon King, Yard didn't just gain the Storm Dragon King's chaotic magic and infinite resurrection ability.
A flash of white light, and the cards once again sliced through the bodies of the catgirls, shattering them.
The next second, the four catgirls were once again reassembled by violent magic and revived on the spot.
Viktor carried out multiple cuts, and they were likewise revived multiple times.
It was just that each resurrection took longer and longer.
Because they had no consciousness, they didn't feel pain.
"Puppets… that can resurrect infinitely?"
Vega considered its wording for a moment, then offered that explanation.
This thing was far more useful than any army.
"It's not infinite resurrection. There's still a limit on the number of times."
Viktor explained calmly, "Just like the Storm Dragon King I killed in the Magic Power Canyon."
"If it dies too many times, the magic reserves will eventually run out."
Once magic was completely exhausted, a single mistake would mean true death.
Viktor couldn't help feeling a bit curious.
He wondered whether the Storm Dragon King in the Magic Power Canyon had revived or not.
In an environment like the Magic Power Canyon, its form would be reshaped again.
After all, as long as the chaotic magic didn't disappear, its existence wouldn't be erased.
But even if it did revive, it would no longer be the powerful giant dragon it once was.
After the experiment was complete, Viktor restored faces to the four catgirls.
With a wave of his hand, countless branches pierced into their backs, fully connecting them to the Divine Tree.
He also hung other unconscious bodies on the branches, arranging them neatly in a row, suspended in midair.
Green energy wrapped around them, as if preserving their bodies.
After finishing all this, Viktor turned his head and looked at Vega, "It's been so long. Have you picked one you're satisfied with?"
"..."
Vega awkwardly glanced to the side.
It shouldn't casually talk trash anymore.
With this crow around, he really follows through.