(MC POV)
Considering everyone was actually kneeling to this guy, I bet he's someone pretty important around here.
I'm going to make a wild guess that this guy is probably the patriarch's father or maybe even the family's ancestor or something?
Perhaps he's the very person who stole the divinity from one of the gods in the first place?
Still, what's with those horns? Was that a side effect of taking this World's dragon god's divinity or is that something you made yourself to emulate the original god?
The guy floated himself closer to us but remained in the air so that he could look down at us from above, probably as some sort of power move.
"How dare you taint these sacred grounds with your presence, mortal?!" He bellowed.
I raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm literally riding atop a Qilin which even the likes of you cannot even do and you still think I'm a mortal? Are you like stupid or something?
The sounds of several sharp intakes of breath echoed around the summit.
"How dare you?! Do you even know who I am?!"
I pretended to think for a moment, "Some silly old man pretending to be young?"
Cai Hong giggled, "Silly old man!"
So cute~ Headpats for you~
His face flushed red with anger, "How dare you?! I'm Ancestor Long! The one who trapped and stole the Dragon God's divinity and the literal God of this mountain! Do you think you can disrespect me and get away with it?!"
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Iris smiling at me.
I understood what she wanted and I nodded to show her my assent, letting her take over the conversation instead.
She then flew up into the air until she was floating above that Ancestor Long, something that seemed to shock him and everyone else on this summit greatly.
That action alone basically told everyone here that she saw herself as someone above him. Which was actually a fact, just that no one else knows about it at the moment.
"Ara, ara? So I assume you're the one with the biggest head here?" Iris asked with a smile on her face.
"Big… What? How dare you?! Who do you think you are to be above me?!" He roared, though he didn't try to fly higher than her for some reason.
I'd think that he was stupid enough to make that into a competition.
"Ufufufu~ I'm merely just the person who destroyed this entire mountain as well as you a few moments ago~ So how did it feel like to die despite being a Divine?"
That made the man freeze up as he stared at her in shock.
The others around the summit were also surprised to hear her admit to that fact that they even stopped prostrating themselves to look up at Iris.
That ancestor guy pointed a finger at her, "You… You were the one who brought down that light that wiped out everything here?"
"Ufufufu~ That is correct~"
"Lies! There's no way someone like you could have done that!"
"Ara, ara? I suppose another demonstration is in order then?"
Iris waved her hand in front of her and the clouds parted again, repeating the event that wiped out the entire mountain just now.
This time, as we were already at the summit, we could see how a giant ball of light started to form above us, building itself up in preparation to fire the light beam down on the mountain.
I'm guessing this was what she did before destroying the mountain and the ancestor guy seemed to know this as his face grew pale at the sight of the ball.
He growled and pointed his palm at Iris, shooting out his own beam of fire at her before she could finish charging the light ball.
Wow, talk about being rude. How could anyone attack someone that's busy charging up their super skill instead of just standing there and watching it?
Obviously Iris wouldn't be affected by such an attack and the beam of fire merely just hit her without doing anything to her.
She looked down at the fire beam casually, "Ara, ara? Is this an attempt to try to kill me? If that's the case, you have no qualms about me killing you and not bringing you back to life, right?"
The guy started to panic, "Wait! Wait! We… We can talk about this! There's no need to resort to violence!"
Wow, big talk for someone who literally just fired a beam of fire aimed to kill.
Unexpectedly, Iris actually giggled and turned to face him, though the light ball remained floating up in the sky.
"Ufufufu~ Very well, let's talk then~ What do you have to say for yourself, little sack of flesh?"
He quickly did a ninety degree bow to her, "I… I didn't know that you're actually a being above the Gods! If… If I did, I never would have been rude to you!"
"Ara, ara? You know about beings like myself?"
"Of… Of course! When we overthrew the Gods… We learned about the existence of great beings like you! We just didn't make the knowledge public!"
Ah, so there are people in this World who are aware of higher existences but keep that knowledge secret. I can see why they would do that.
This way, the other people in this World continue to think that the World gods were the apex of existence and thus, seeing that their ancestors were able to overthrow them, they would be assumed as existences above the gods themselves.
They would thus never imagine that there could be a possibility of something being above these ancestors and offer them their complete loyalty and obedience.
The corners of Iris's lips rose even further, "Ufufufu~ So you are aware of us~ In that case, what do you think would be a suitable punishment for your earlier disrespect?"
The man started to panic visibly, "I… I can offer you all the riches I have to you!"
He materialised several Spirit Stones out of thin air which I guess must be worth quite a fortune in this World. But seriously, that's the best you can do?
Iris gave him a funny look, "Ara? What makes you think an existence like myself even cares about something as insignificant as these few lumps of rocks? Besides, it's not even me who you disrespected."
The ancestor guy realised she was talking about me immediately and he looked confused, "I… I don't understand… What is that thi-- I mean… What is that person's relation to Divine One?"
She giggled, "He is none other than my Master and my beloved."
His reaction was instantaneous as he propelled himself to the ground and landed in a perfect dogeza pose.
"Please accept this useless one's sincerest apologies!!"
I really can't get used to how these people are able to switch their attitudes so quickly like that. It's almost as if they are all used to meeting higher existences and throwing themselves at their fee-- Oh…
I guess this must be what their life was like under the gods?
"Ehehe~ Papa! Funny old man~" Cai Hong giggled while munching on her mini popcorn.
From the looks on everyone else's faces, I could see that no one else was able to keep up with the rapid change of events.
Now I'm wondering if another guy was going to show up and start shouting at me as well?
