An Old Man Toys With a Naughty Child

As the vines vanished, Bai Yu finally saw the figure who had come crashing through the roof.

He was an old man, little more than skin and bones, with graying hair, shriveled skin as wrinkled as dead wood, and thoroughly clouded eyes. An air of death hung over his entire body.

He wore a lifeless gray-black robe, and his hunched back looked ready to snap at any moment. Strangely, though, his emaciated body stood extraordinarily steady, as if something were supporting him.

The bastard who cut a rock that big into sugar cubes is an old man who looks like this?!

As Bai Yu got a clear look at the old man, the old man also saw him clearly. Godzilla's imposing, domineering appearance quickly caught his attention.

"Now that's an overwhelming presence."

"Huh?"

Bai Yu hadn't expected the first thing the old man said after exchanging blows and seeing him to be a compliment.

"Thanks, I think so too."

As he spoke, he struck an extremely flamboyant pose. He had originally wanted to brush his hair back, but unfortunately he now had neither hair nor arms long enough to reach the top of his head.

"Quite lively, too."

"I'll give you a chance. Submit to my lord now, and I can take it upon myself to let you serve the great Tree God alongside us."

?

"Is there something wrong with your brain, you old fart? You came in by digging through my roof, then insulted me as soon as you got here."

"And now you want me to submit to some bullshit Tree God and serve you? Have the vines on your body sucked your brains out or something?"

Bai Yu's words seemed to hit the old man hard, forcing a faint flush onto his shriveled face.

"A maggot is still a maggot. Since you refuse to join my lord's great undertaking, become nourishment."

With that, countless vines like dead wood emerged from the old man's sleeves, twisting as they reached to wrap around Bai Yu.

Facing the vines hurtling toward him, Bai Yu didn't dare be careless. Godzilla's defenses were strong, but he was only five meters tall right now, still a baby.

Judging by the attack power those vines had shown, getting hit by them would definitely hurt.

The vines were already upon him. Bai Yu extended his arms, a little short compared to a human's, and tried to tear the vines apart with his sharp claws.

The moment Bai Yu's arms approached, the vines seemed to have eyes—or perhaps the old man behind them, whose eyes hadn't gone blind yet, was controlling them. They perfectly dodged his claws and climbed up his arms.

Bai Yu finally understood how that huge rock had been cut into stone cubes. The vines climbing his arms wrapped tightly around them, then their barbs tightened and spun, cutting like chainsaws.

Although the vines looked soft and flexible, their barbs were as sharp as blades when cutting. Even with a young Godzilla's defenses, the barbs still left scratch after scratch on his scales.

Feeling the cuts on his scales grow more numerous and deeper, Bai Yu had reason to suspect that, given enough time, these things really could grind his arms into mince.

I wonder what Godzilla-filled dumplings taste like. Would eating them make you mutate? ԅ(¯﹃¯ԅ)

No, no, I'm in the middle of a fight. How did I suddenly start thinking about food?

Shaking his head to drive the inexplicable thoughts from his mind, Bai Yu abruptly lowered his center of gravity and planted his feet firmly on the ground. He twisted his waist with all his might, swinging his arms in an attempt to use the connecting vines to fling the old man away.

Bai Yu heaved, but couldn't budge him. The old man still stood steadily in place, and the vines were even tugging relentlessly at Bai Yu's arms, trying to pull him into the mass of vines.

Wait, does this make any sense? Never mind how that dried-up old man has so many vines hidden inside him. Looking half-dead like that, how did he not budge when I pulled?

Although he hadn't managed to swing the old man around like a meteor hammer as he'd imagined, the effort had helped him get out of the large mass of vines' attack range.

He had only moved about a meter away, but that was better than standing there and getting slashed by the tips of the vines.

For some reason, the old man opposite him had stood motionless after releasing that wave of vines, as though he'd worn himself out. He didn't even give chase when Bai Yu got out of attack range.

"I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this. That old bastard isn't preparing something big for me, is he?"

"Ah!! Fuck!"

Bai Yu was focused entirely on guarding against the old bastard across from him when a sudden stabbing pain shot through his arms.

He looked down and saw that the vines wrapped around his arms had stopped cutting his scales. Instead, they were wriggling like maggots.

Through cracks in their outer skin, he could see blue liquid being transported bit by bit inside the vines.

That looked like... his blood!

"What the fuck are these things? What kind of plant comes with its own saws and can suck blood too?!"

"There's no such plant!!!"

"I'm the mighty Godzilla..."

"That's right, I'm Godzilla."

Only then did he remember that Godzilla wasn't a monster who relied solely on brute strength to smash his enemies. He had a beam skill. With that thought, Bai Yu immediately began sensing the Atomic Furnace inside him.

With a hum, rows of coral-shaped dorsal fins filled with energy, starting from the tip of his tail, and glowed blue.

Energy gathered continuously in his mouth through his dorsal fins, filling his entire maw with blue energy.

(Breath sound effect) After a brief charge, he fired an Atomic Breath at the connecting sections of the vines wrapped around his arms.

The instant it made contact, the breath burned through the middle of the vines wrapped around Bai Yu's arms, meeting almost no resistance.

He shook the vines off his arms and put some distance between himself and the vast mass of vines still reaching to wrap around him.

A deafening hum rang out once more in the dim underground cave, and a light even more dazzling than before gradually illuminated the giant beast's outline.

Maximum power, fully charged Atomic Breath!

This shot was definitely the strongest attack Bai Yu could unleash at present. Through the gaps between the vines, he aimed at the old man, who stood in place as if deliberately offering himself up as a target.

"I don't care what dirty trick you're cooking up. This shot will scatter even your ashes!"

The dazzling blue pillar of light tore through the layers of vines with unstoppable force. Every vine it touched turned to charcoal in an instant.

Though his ability had been broken, the withered old man showed no fear. He remained standing as steady as a mountain without dodging, while the remaining vines intertwined in front of him to form a wall of grass.

"You think a measly grass wall can stop Godzilla's Atomic Breath? All your efforts are muda!"

But the intertwined layers of the vine wall were pierced in an instant, and the enormous blue beam shot straight at the old man's face.

Standing in place, Lu De could clearly feel the heat and destructive power contained in the beam. In his current state, he would die if he took it head-on.

Death was upon him, yet he smiled. The corners of his mouth stretched into a wide grin, and the withered skin on his face was about to tear.