Demon
Demon
Kkumppeok-kkumppeok—
Bia, who had been staring at me while blinking for a moment, asked as if to reconfirm if she had heard correctly.
"You... eat dragons?"
"Yeah."
To think that she, who was acting like a woman crazed for battle until just a moment ago, would be this flustered—is eating dragons really that shocking?
"But aren't dragons of the same species as you?"
"Aha."
Now I see why she was so shocked.
Since we were looking at it from different perspectives, I suppose that could happen.
"You don't know much about dragon ecology, do you?"
"Well, since I'm not a dragon, it's only natural I wouldn't know."
"Right. You weren't a dragon. So, to put it simply."
Dragons are an arrogant race, faithful to their desires, and most dragons are no different.
Would such dragons have any attachment to their own kind?
It's safe to say they have none at all.
I don't belong to that majority, so I have a bit of attachment to my kind, but it's not to the extent that it extends to kin I've only heard of and never met.
In the distant past, I think I might have had a stronger attachment to my kind, but every time I went to find them simply because they were the few dragons left in the world, they would pick a fight with me. That attachment vanished long ago.
Then, I got into a particularly nasty fight with one dragon, and before I knew it, I had already killed them.
And I felt a strange attraction from the dead dragon's corpse.
To be precise, near the heart of the corpse.
As if possessed, I ripped open the dragon's chest, pulled out the heart, and swallowed it in one gulp.
The heart, where all of a dragon's power is concentrated, brought the pleasure of growth to me—someone who hadn't grown even after eating the roots of Yggdrasil, which supports the nine worlds.
In fact, if the roots of Yggdrasil had only been filling my vessel until then, consuming a dragon's heart went beyond that and expanded the vessel itself.
After finishing off the heart and completing my growth, I spent some time killing any dragons that picked a fight with me. Perhaps because of that, I even earned the bizarre nickname 'Dragon-slaying Dragon.'
Sss-up, just thinking about it after all this time makes my mouth water.
After hearing the reason why I wanted information on dragons, Bia looked at me as if I were a madman.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No, I thought you had a surprisingly good personality for a dragon, but I guess I was mistaken..."
"What do you mean? For a dragon, I'm extremely normal."
It's true.
Compared to the personalities of the dragons I've met so far, I could say my personality is in the top 1% among them.
However, Bia shook her head as if she didn't agree at all.
It felt unfair, but knowing that further explanation wouldn't work, I gave up on persuading her.
Instead, after confirming that she had recovered enough to move without difficulty, I prepared to head out of the Gate.
"I'll be heading out now."
"Already? I wanted to talk more... well, it's not like this is the only opportunity. Once I've finished recovering, will you fight me again?"
"Focus on your recovery first. And if you plan to challenge me again, come back stronger."
"Fufu, telling this Goddess of Violence to come back stronger. How long has it been since I've been treated like this? Fine, next time I will hone my skills even further and challenge you."
Leaving behind Bia, who waved her hand as she saw me off, I headed toward the Gate exit.
And when I passed through the shimmering Gate, the sight I saw was a mess, overturned here and there—though not quite as much as the fight between Bia and me.
"What the? What's going on now?"
Going back in time a little to when Nidhogg and Bia began their fight.
Due to the consecutive Gate Mutation incidents, it would have been normal for chaos to break out outside the Gate. However, the three who had just come out of the Gate explained the situation inside well, calming down the flustered Association and Awakened. The three were resting in a temporary tent provided by the Association to wait until the fight inside the Gate ended.
And at a location slightly away from the Gate where they were resting.
Unidentified men in black, wearing black clothes and even covering their faces with masks, appeared.
A White-masked man stood at the head of exactly ten men in black.
He spoke to the other men in black in a commanding tone.
"You've already heard this before we set out, but I will confirm it again. This Gate is suspected to be a Titan's Legacy. We must retrieve it before the greedy Association and Awakened bastards take the legacy of those people. I will permit the use of force. Kill all witnesses, enter the Gate, and acquire the legacy. Understood?"
The men in black responded to the White-masked man's command by nodding in unison.
As soon as the order was given, the men in black ran toward the Gate simultaneously.
And as they got closer to the Awakened resting near the Gate, black energy began to bubble and pour out from their bodies.
That energy was similar to the energy that had previously corrupted Baek Yeon.
The thick energy clumped together and flew rapidly toward the place where the Awakened were gathered, colliding with it.
Kwaaaaang!!
Flames imbued with black magic power rose from everywhere.
It was a situation where it wouldn't have been strange if someone had died.
However, the Awakened gathered here were not ordinary people either; they were Awakened who had gone through all sorts of hardships while traveling through various Gates.
By the time the black magic spheres flew in, they had already grabbed their equipment and thrown themselves out of the way, standing to face the men in black.
"Who the hell are you guys?"
"......"
Even at the question of a muscular man who was quite a veteran among the Awakened, the men in black remained silent and gave no answer.
Instead, they created weapons made of black magic power and rushed toward different Awakened.
The moment a man in black and an Awakened collided, despite his overwhelming physical build, the Awakened holding a shield was pushed back.
"What kind of strength is this?!"
"......"
The man in black, still giving no answer, swung his weapon again indifferently. Realizing instantly that just blocking like this was not the answer, the Awakened dodged the attack and stepped back.
Another Awakened, who was gathering magic power from behind, muttered in an exasperated tone.
"Ha, where the hell did these freaks crawl out from..."
"This isn't an attack that can be blocked multiple times. Aim for an opening within three exchanges."
"Yeah, yeah. Leave it to me."
After speaking, the Awakened charged at the man in black with a giant shield, and their armaments collided.
Ku-ung!!
Against a monstrous strength that was hard to believe came from a body not even 2 meters tall, the shield-bearing Awakened braced himself with all his might as if his lower body would burst. The man in black, whose attack was blocked, struck down even harder than before.
Kwa-ang!!
"Keu-heup!"
Strong strength was one thing, but upon touching the black magic power used by the men in black, the Awakened's ordinary magic power was easily crushed. He instinctively felt that it would be difficult to endure even three exchanges.
"Is it ready yet?!"
"It's done!"
Kureureung-! Kwang!
At the same time as the words that preparation was finished, the sky rumbled, and a bolt of lightning fell from the clear sky.
As the clothes of the man in black, who took the lightning head-on, were torn, his body was revealed.
Black-stained sclera and black tattoos engraved all over his body.
"Kuaaaaaaap!"
The man in black, who should have been crisply roasted after taking a direct hit from lightning, emitted black magic power from his entire body. The red burn marks disappeared, and his condition returned to normal.
"He healed that? He's a literal monster."
"Dammit. What do we do?"
"What do you mean, what do we do? We have to do what we can."
The moment they steeled themselves to die if necessary.
Kwaaaaang!!
Something falling from the sky at an incredible speed crushed the man in black.
As the dust from the impact scattered, the person standing there was none other than Baek Yeon.
Holding her spear in a reverse grip, she had driven it into the head of the man in black.
"Baek Yeon?!"
"Wa, wow... I thought it was another monster."
The Awakened who had dropped the lightning let out a breath while clutching his chest, which had tightened at the sight of the horns and tail that were clearly visible through the dust.
But his relief was short-lived, as he quickly shriveled under Baek Yeon's sharp gaze, which was bothered by the word 'monster.'
After glaring at the Awakened for a moment, Baek Yeon spoke.
"The weakness of these guys is the head."
"Do you know who these guys are?"
"I heard they are called 'Fiends'."
"Fiends, huh? That's a needlessly grim name. But he was fine even after being struck by lightning all over his body just now?"
"That much is not enough, so you must completely crush the head like I did."
"...Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
Baek Yeon, having revealed the weakness of the men in black—now identified as Fiends—ran to kill another Fiend that was attacking other Awakened.
While Baek Yeon was dealing with the Fiends one by one, Shin Su-ah was efficiently blocking the Fiends' attacks using the Valkyrie's armor.
As the two of them joined the battlefield, the atmosphere changed in an instant.
The Awakened, who had been slowly pushed back and suffered casualties because they didn't know how to properly deal with the Fiends they were facing for the first time, began to take them down one by one according to the advice of the two.
When six Fiends had been dealt with.
The White-masked man appeared in front of the Fiends.
"Haah... No matter how incomplete they are, what a disgrace this is. I have no face to show The One."
At the sudden appearance of a new enemy, everyone stopped and watched him.
He grabbed his mask and shook his head, then reached out his hand toward the Awakened.
"If I don't at least take your heads, I won't have the face to see The One."
Magic power similar to what the men in black had been using poured out from his hand.
However, the magic power used by the White-masked man was several times superior in both quality and quantity.
Just before the magic power, which spread like black ink, could swallow everyone.
With a bright light, the Valkyrie Linnea appeared, wearing the same armor as the one Shin Su-ah was using.
"Everyone, step back."
Folding her wings made of light and landing on the ground, her voice contained not a hint of her usual playfulness.
Fixing her sharp eyes, visible through the gaps in her armor, on the man without looking away for a second, Linnea spoke in a chilling voice.
"They seem a bit different, but so they were here as well. You harbingers of destruction."