Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: Dragonia Underground (6)
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However, Jack's assumption was wrong. Suhyun wasn't in that cold a state of mind either. Sure, he wasn't frozen in panic like Jack, but his head was swirling with countless thoughts.
*Is this it?*
He never imagined he'd end up face-to-face with a dragon in this situation.
*What can I do...*
Flee down the empty passageway after accelerating time. That was about the only option with any chance of success. But even that was questionable. A dragon had more than enough power to collapse the entire tunnel. Unless he teleported far away, escape seemed impossible.
The dragon simply stared at them without making the first move. It was impossible to know if moving first in this situation was the right call.
Suddenly, a question popped into Suhyun's mind.
*Can I turn back time again?*
In the past, Suhyun had awakened in a desperate moment and rewound time. So maybe it was possible now too. He'd have to start over from scratch with everything he'd built up until now, but that was still better than everything ending.
Thud.
A collapsing sound came from beside him. Jack had lost consciousness and pitched forward. He'd collapsed to his knees upon seeing the dragon, but Jack wasn't the type to just keel over like that. Suhyun realized the dragon must have done something to him.
The dragon approached. Its vertically slit pupils gleaming, it tilted its head toward Suhyun. Even with death looming right in front of him, Suhyun didn't close his eyes.
...!
What he felt was wetness. The dragon had stuck out its tongue and licked him.
?
After licking Suhyun once, the dragon nudged him lightly with its chin. Then it turned away. Folding its wings again, it leaped—no, simply rose—straight into the air without even jumping.
That was the dragon's final appearance. It vanished up the tunnel with the same soft sound it had made on arrival.
......
It didn't feel real. Suhyun looked up toward where it had disappeared. Confused voices exploded over the comms.
* * *
"It's gone. It just... flew away."
"Where to?"
"South... It spread its wings and took off, so I thought we were done for, something must've happened. But then it just flew down."
The mercenaries outside had witnessed what happened on the surface. The dragon never moved from the Dragonia Basin. Not even to eat, or so it seemed.
And yet this one had suddenly risen and flown off.
"It came all the way down there?!"
The rest of that thought went unsaid. *But how are you still alive?*
"You think we'd make shit up?"
One of the Eclipse members spoke in an exhausted voice. They hadn't even faced the dragon directly, yet everyone who'd been underground looked drained and weary. The mental pressure they'd felt was no joke.
"N-No, that's not..."
"Whatever. Contact them and get measures in place. You got the radar running?"
"Yeah. But if the dragon's on the move, shouldn't we pull out right now?"
It had flown off, but no one knew why. If it came right back, they were all dead.
"Yeah, you're right. Then let's pull..."
"No. Let's wait a bit longer."
!
As Suhyun spoke, all eyes turned to him.
"You're serious?"
When they'd seen Suhyun emerge alive with Jack in tow after facing the dragon, the Eclipse members' expressions had been indescribable. Even someone who'd come back from the dead wouldn't have elicited that reaction.
Their leader Jack was a man tough against bad luck, but seeing Suhyun made it clear that was nothing. Walking out unscathed after facing a dragon.
*How the hell did he survive?*
They were curious, but now wasn't the time to ask. They'd find out from Jack later.
"It won't come back. And even if it does, it won't attack here."
"How can you be sure?"
"Just a feeling."
......
If anyone else had said that, they'd have gotten an earful. A gut feeling as the basis for facing a dragon? But it was Suhyun.
*Damn, coming from him, it actually sounds convincing.*
The Eclipse team members shook their heads at their own wavering resolve. They couldn't act like this with Jack down.
"No, still, we can't just hold out in a situation like this..."
"You're right. Deciding unilaterally in this mess isn't fair. Anyone who wants to head back can. I'll stick around a bit longer."
People exchanged glances at Suhyun's words. The mercenaries standing watch and protecting the base staff looked unsure. Even as captains, they had no real authority in a gathering of monsters like this.
"What else are you gonna do?"
"Turning back now is basically the same as never coming back."
If they abandoned everything and pulled out not knowing when the vanished dragon might return, coming back later would be a pipe dream. No telling when or how it might show up again.
"If that's how it goes, all our hard work goes to waste. I'm staying to finish this. At least confirm how we can use it."
Shaina nodded at Suhyun's response. The other members did the same. The Eclipse team freaked out.
*Are they insane?*
They'd heard they were fearless plenty of times, but this made it clear that praise wasn't for them. It hadn't even been a few hours since they'd all fled full-tilt from the dragon, and the Uncle Jo Company crew acted like it'd never happened.
"Cut the crap, you cowards."
!
Jack staggered to his feet from behind.
"This guy's handled everything, and you so-called top-tier superpowered elites are just gonna cower?"
"But, Boss..."
*It's a dragon we're talking about.*
"If you're going, go! I'm staying!"
Regaining his senses brought back that humiliating moment. The shame of collapsing without doing a damn thing against the dragon.
"If it comes back, that'll be fine too!"
"Don't talk nonsense."
"...Anyway, I'm staying. Let's see this through!"
Suhyun turned to the staff.
"You guys can pull out no problem. If the chairman chews you out, I'll cover for you. We don't need to set anything up at the exit right now anyway... It'll be easier to escape if something happens with just us here."
"W-We’ll stay too."
?
"You're a mage, so we'll trust you."
"No, didn't I say it was just a feeling? Don't trust it."
"We trust that feeling!"
"Damn it all... Fine, let's give it a shot. If it shows, we'll be the first to run!"
With the mood turning impossible to back out of, the mercenary team leader shouted in resignation. Suhyun chuckled.
* * *
"Hey, you know."
"What?"
"Thing is, uh, well, when I met the dragon earlier..."
"You passed out?"
"Damn it! I didn't pass out!"
"You want me not to tell anyone?"
Jack nodded with a flushed face, his secret laid bare. His Eclipse subordinates thought he'd collapsed from superpower depletion. No one imagined a guy like him fainting at the sight of a dragon.
"It was more impressive than I thought..."
"I get it. Don't beat yourself up. Anyone would've gone down in that spot."
Jack chewed his lip. He wanted to say *You were fine*, but since Suhyun was being considerate, he couldn't. He had his pride too.
"But seriously, why did it back off?"
"Hard as it is to believe, I don't know. It just did."
......
"Fine, believe what you want. I threatened it that I'd kill you if it didn't back off right now, and it got scared and ran. Happy?"
"That's a stretch."
Suhyun stood in front of the golem. But something felt off.
...?
"What's up?"
"Hold on, stay here."
"What? No, why..."
Jack grumbled like he couldn't understand why Suhyun was trying to wake the golem, but he stood in front anyway.
But the golem stayed silent.
??
"What the?"
It didn't take long to uncover the new fact. Every golem inside had stopped functioning.
"What the hell?"
"Well, that's convenient. Let's scrap them all. This'll save a ton of time."
* * *
"So, no immortality-related items?"
"More precisely, it was something to eliminate immortals. But even that wasn't there."
Suhyun played it cool. The chairman smacked his lips in disappointment.
"More importantly, you met a dragon—got nothing to say?"
"You're alive, aren't you? Alive is good enough."
"Your personality's no slouch either, Chairman."
"Don't say it like that. I was shocked when I heard."
"Shocked that I met a dragon? Or that I survived meeting one?"
"Both. How'd you pull it off?"
"I'm wondering the same. No idea how many times I've had to tell this story..."
On top of his 'humanity's first mage' title, Suhyun had earned the dubious honor of 'the first human to face a dragon head-on solo and survive.'
Related parties had come sniffing around secretly, asking what happened, and each time Suhyun gave the same answer.
"It just left. That's it."
"Amazing."
The chairman grimaced as he sipped his drink. Suhyun immediately recognized it as made from red boar mushrooms.
*He's still drinking that stuff?*
"Sometimes I think you're like someone chosen by the gods."
"You're exaggerating a bit."
"Am I? Doesn't seem that far off. Humanity's first mage. Survived a dragon encounter. If that's not proof of being chosen, what is?"
"Proof of good luck."
"Luck... My theory's more plausible."
Suhyun fell into thought. He still had no idea why the dragon left. Maybe he hadn't seemed worth attacking, or maybe something about him made it hold back... Whatever the reason, it was unknowable now.
What concerned him more was what came next.
The dragon had vanished from the Dragonia Basin and hadn't returned since. The people there were on edge, monitoring radar for it, but no sign yet.
*Those golems. Could the dragon have been controlling them?*
Suhyun had a vague idea what happened to that underground facility. The dwarves had used it as a shelter originally, but for some reason they'd vanished, and the dragon took over.
Otherwise, all the golems stopping at once after the dragon left made no sense.
*I don't know. Really don't.*
"I've got another theory."
"What?"
"You're actually dragon bloodline."
"Just come up with something else."
"No, legends are full of it. Son of a dragon, distant dragon descendant..."
"That's why they're legends. Don't turn my parents into dragons on a whim."
Suhyun's parents were definitely human. That much was certain above all else.
"Enough joking. What's the plan going forward?"
"I was gonna use the underground as a passage, but with the dragon gone, it's tricky. That basin... It was supposed to be a new city site."
"Who'd build a city there?"
"We'll find someone if we look. No idea how many would wanna live there, though."
Dragon phobia gripped all humanity on Cameron Planet. No one would settle somewhere a dragon might return to anytime.
"Probably leave it be for a while. Someday a plan might form. Anyway, isn't it a win? New path opened, can head further south now."
"Yeah. If the dragon doesn't come back."
"Oh right, it flew south, yeah? Poor monsters."
The chairman sipped casually from his glass.