Top Tier Perversion: Dual Cultivate Secretly

At the town gates.

A dust-covered man caught a Railguard by the sleeve.

"Sir, you must believe us!"

"Yes, yes! They weren’t like this yesterday. I saw those same wolves near the eastern stream. They really were normal-sized and scared of gunshots!"

The Railguard looked at the other villagers surrounding him.

"Then what happened?"

"I don’t know. There was a strange sound from deeper within the highlands."

The man took the cup of water offered to him and drank with trembling hands.

"It happened before dawn. We heard the sound and then saw all the birds fly at once."

"All of them, literally!" another villager added. "Every nest emptied. Even the insects disappeared from the fields."

A Railguard wrote down their words.

The villagers were given water and moved away from the gate. Some huffed with their hands on their knees while others sat in a corner, unable to take another step.

The sounds of rifle fire and monster cries continued from outside the walls.

Every time a gunshot rang, the villagers flinched and looked toward the gate.

"Sir, there was something even stranger."

Hearing the discussion, an elderly villager walked toward the Railguards.

"The deer did not run from the hunters’ gunshots. They did not even look at us."

"What about the wolves?"

"They were the same! With an abundance of deer, one would think they’d have a feast, but no! They just ran through the settlement!"

A villager carrying a hunting rifle pushed through the crowd.

"I can confirm, sir."

He placed the rifle on the ground and held his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"The wolves killed whatever was directly in their way, but never stopped to eat. Even after catching something, they kept running."

The hunter raised his pale face.

"It was as if we weren’t being hunted—"

Another round of gunshots cracked outside.

"—but as if we were blocking the road!"

The Railguards exchanged looks.

"Which direction did they come from?"

"The northern ridges," the hunter answered. "Everything came down from there."

"After the first group of monsters ran through the settlement, we counted ourselves lucky and rushed toward Copper Town."

At this moment, another small batch of villagers reached the gates.

Their clothes were torn and covered in mud. A few were bleeding while others supported the elderly between them.

Upon noticing the Railguards, they rushed toward them and grabbed their arms.

"Sir, please don’t close the gates!"

"The villagers from Ridge Hamlet are still behind us!"

The Railguard frowned.

Ridge Hamlet was another settlement altogether, meaning more refugees were still on the way.

"How many?"

"Two hundred—no, more."

The man looked behind him as if expecting the villagers to appear at any moment.

"The bridge collapsed. They had to take the western path."

"When did you last see them?"

"Less than an hour ago. They had many carts and elderly people with them."

The Railguard quickly wrote it down and handed the report to a runner.

"To the lord!"

"Yes!"

The runner took the paper and rushed toward the northern wall.

...

Inside the town’s forge.

The fountain snake’s corpse was sprawled across the ground.

Its thick, barrel-like body occupied almost the entire workspace, forcing the smiths and Railguards to stand close to the walls.

Any sane person would think twice before approaching such a creature, even after its death.

Leona sat on a stool beside its body, hammering a steel stake against one of its scales.

Clang.

The strike produced an ordinary dull note. It was followed by a second metallic ring that should not have come from bone or keratin.

"Write this down," Leona said without turning around.

A Railguard nearby raised his pen.

"First Test: Striking."

"Result: First sound—normal. Second sound—abnormal metallic resonance."

The Railguard quickly wrote the sentences.

Leona hammered the stake against the scale again.

Crack.

The end of the stake split.

The scale did not even have a scratch.

Having opened more than half of her veins, Leona possessed enough strength to bend an iron rod with her bare hands.

Yet, she could not leave a mark on the scale.

Leona dropped the broken stake and held the Spirit Iron dagger.

"Second Test: Cutting."

She pressed the dagger against the scale’s surface and dragged it down.

The blade slid across without leaving a cut.

"S.I. dagger failed to damage the surface."

The Railguard wrote it down.

Leona turned the dagger over and tried to cut from beneath, where the scale joined the flesh.

The Spirit Iron blade slowly entered.

As the flesh was cut, a dark metallic sheen crawled along the inner side of the scale.

It moved like thin veins spreading across its surface.

The moment Leona completely separated the scale from the flesh, the dark sheen stopped crawling.

It remained trapped along the inner surface.

Leona stared at it for a few seconds.

The snake had been dead for hours, yet whatever had entered its body had not completely disappeared.

"Write this with emphasis."

The Railguard straightened.

"Unknown metal-like substance remains active after death."

Leona then cut into the snake’s flesh.

The dagger moved more easily than it did against the scale, but the meat was much denser than it should have been.

The muscles had already been strengthened.

However, only faint traces of the metallic sheen could be seen deeper inside. Most of it remained concentrated beneath the scales and outer tissue.

At this point, the corpses of a wolf, deer, and boar were brought inside the forge.

Blood dripped from the wooden carts carrying them.

Leona performed similar tests on all three.

The wolf’s fur had become coarse and tough enough to deflect a poorly angled knife. Its muscles were denser, and a faint metallic sheen moved beneath its skin.

The deer’s horns produced the same abnormal ring when struck.

The boar’s hide was beginning to harden as well.

The same foreign force existed within every creature.

Different species.

The same alteration.

Whatever remained inside the corpses was still trying to spread, but death had reduced its movement to a crawl.

Leona eventually came to a conclusion.

"First: the hardened scales and strengthened bodies are recent alterations, not natural traits."

"Second: the same unknown force exists in different species."

"Third: the force remains active after death and is concentrated around the outer tissue."

The Railguard continued writing.

Leona paused and stared at the corpses scattered around the forge.

"These creatures did not naturally grow stronger."

The metallic sheen beneath the wolf’s skin moved once more.

"Something forced their bodies into this state."

Leona then took the paper and wrote a personal note beneath the findings.

The reinforcement was mainly concentrated along the outer layers.

The eyes, mouths, joints, and existing wounds were still vulnerable.

The corpses should also not be touched with bare hands until more was known about the foreign force.

She handed the paper to a Railguard.

"Take this to the Lord immediately."

The Railguard accepted the report and rushed out of the forge.

...

By the time the runner reached the northern wall, Vincent was still watching the road through his binoculars.

Another Railguard stood beside him, finishing his report.

"...the creatures did not actively hunt. They kept running."

Vincent’s gaze remained on the monsters outside the town’s gate where Vanessa was fighting.

Another crowd of villagers had emerged from the forest.

Behind them followed a larger group of creatures.

There were more wolves than before, along with two horned boars and several serpents moving through the grass.

The villagers directly in their path were mercilessly trampled or killed, while those near the edges survived.

The monsters did not actively seek Vanessa either.

One of the boars tried to pass from the side instead of charging her.

Vanessa crossed the distance in a blur and drove her spear through its neck.

The surrounding wolves immediately turned toward her.

She was not their target.

She was simply standing in the direction they wanted to run.

Vanessa swept her spear across the road.

The blade passed through two wolves and struck a third hard enough to throw it into a nearby tree.

Her Soul continued to strengthen.

Her spirits broke past the highest ceiling, reaching a new peak.

To fight, the mind was willing, but the flesh was not.

Blood had soaked her sleeve to the elbow.

When she shifted her grip, her fingers slipped once against the wet shaft.

Vanessa merely tightened them and stepped toward the next creature.

"M’lord..."

The runner’s voice interrupted Vincent.

He lowered his binoculars and turned toward him.

The runner handed Leona’s report and personal note.

Vincent quickly read through them.

"...dagger cannot cut the surface..."

"...abnormal metallic resonance..."

"...same force in different species..."

"...alterations are recent..."

"...force remains active after death..."

Vincent understood the gist of the matter.

’They were ordinary animals until recently.’

He then read Leona’s personal note.

"The reinforcement is weakest at their eyes, mouths, joints, and existing wounds."

Vincent handed the paper to Anastasia.

"Send this to every rifleman and knight. Tell them not to waste ammunition on the scales."

Anastasia nodded.

"Understood, young master."

The instruction quickly travelled across the wall and toward the soldiers fighting outside.

A serpent lunged at one of the former knights.

The rifleman behind him waited for its mouth to open.

Bang!

The bullet entered through its jaws.

The serpent’s head snapped backward and its body collapsed on the road.

Vincent raised the binoculars again.

The same unknown force had altered different species.

Yet, none of them had remained within the highlands.

It had made them stronger.

And still, they had fled.

Vincent turned toward the distant forest.

Beyond the forest was the border, and beyond it were the highlands from where all these creatures originated.

’What could frighten them after turning them into this?’

His gaze slowly shifted farther north.

’And if these were only the creatures that escaped...’

’Who’s left in the highlands?’

-

-

-

Far beyond Copper Town, beyond the abandoned settlements and the hunting paths known to men, the highlands enclosed a valley untouched by roads.

The surrounding mountains had been shattered.

Ancient trees lay uprooted from the earth, while one side of the valley had collapsed beneath broken stone.

At the center of the destruction lay a dark dragon.

Its enormous body was curled around a single egg.

One wing covered the egg from above while its claws enclosed it from either side.

Several scales had been torn from its body.

A deep wound stretched across its side, revealing pale bone beneath the ruined flesh.

Blood gathered within the cracks between the rocks.

The dragon breathed.

Ash rose from the ground.

Its wound should have already begun to close.

Instead, something beneath the torn flesh pulsed once.

Fresh blood flowed from the injury.

The dragon lowered its head.

Its claws tightened around the egg.

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