The Seal of Darkness

The mana storm that had been tearing through the dungeon’s interior like a living blade finally began to die down.

In the wreckage it left behind stood a man covered in wounds, glaring at me with pure fury. He ripped off his tattered gray robe and flung it aside, revealing a body densely covered in intricate tattoos.

“……You took a high-tier curse and still stand. You’re no ordinary mongrel. How the hell are you still alive?”

A curse that used a crimson crystal to corrupt the mana of everything nearby. In the original story, even the protagonist’s party couldn’t avoid it and fell into crisis.

But for me?

“Who knows…….”

I just ate an item, that’s all.

It had nothing to do with me.

“In the end, the fate that should have killed you here is just thrashing in vain. Your corpse will make a fine sacrifice for the ritual. I’ll put it to good use.”

“Without your comrades?”

He curled his lip in a mocking smile.

“Heh heh heh… those guys? Zephyr was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a pretty useful puppet—almost a shame—but in the end they’re all just expendable.”

Ah, so they were dummies?

In the game they had always been with him, so I’d assumed they were real companions.

“What matters is that you will die, and as long as I live the ritual will continue!”

Madness glittered in the eyes that peered out from between his thick red hair.

Wooooong!!

The tattoos covering his body flared all at once, spewing a foul, corrupted aura.

Unlike skills that could be activated with a simple trigger word, magic required a magic circle. That was why magic tattoos existed—permanent magic circles carved into the flesh.

Of course, ordinary people and heroes rarely used them.

Efficiency’s terrible, after all.

But for the Light of Dawn, who received the Demon God’s mana, magic was more effective than skills. They used this method often.

The power radiating from him was stronger than I’d expected, so I activated a skill of my own without delay.

I didn’t want to use this so soon…….

I still hadn’t reached the “qualification” she had spoken of, so I’d been reluctant. But this was an emergency. Speed was everything. I decided to end the fight as quickly as possible.

“I shall become the dragon that swallows the world.”

Crimson mana wrapped around my entire body as a surging power filled me. I felt a pair of horns rise from my head, yet this activation of Dragon Blood felt different from usual.

Then something caught my eye.

What the hell is this?!

Red scales had sprouted densely across the right hand gripping my spear. They covered my entire right arm like a gauntlet of living crimson. Between the scales, tiny particles of mana leaked out, giving the whole thing a faintly grotesque look.

The sudden change in Dragon Blood startled me, but I couldn’t afford to stand around researching a skill while an enemy waited right in front of me.

The moment both of us finished preparing, we attacked as one.

“Die for the great design, unbeliever!”

Black lightning formed in his hand and raced across the ground toward me.

“The dragon’s claw tears the earth.”

A massive amount of mana drained from me in an instant as I answered his dark magic with a skill charged with crimson power.

Two opposing forces collided at terrifying speed.

KWA-GWA-GWA-GWAANG──!

A deafening vortex of sound exploded outward, whipping up a violent gale. I had been preparing to follow up with Charge of Ruin, but the scene unfolding before my eyes froze me in place.

There was nothing I could do but stare in shock.

Dragon Claw, leaving deep, enormous claw marks across the floor as it flew, split the dark magic cleanly in two—and kept going, straight into the caster himself.

Living or non-living, Dragon Claw carved its mark into everything with perfect impartiality.

“N-no… this can’t beeeaaaargh!!”

A scream rang out, and then the dungeon fell into sudden, absolute silence.

The fight ended so abruptly that my earlier tension over his powerful mana now felt almost comical.

“Wow.”

I briefly wondered if he was playing dead, but my sharpened senses confirmed only complete stillness.

“That’s really it?”

I thought it just ate a ton of mana… I never imagined it would hit this hard…….

Apparently I had severely underestimated the hundred-plus increase in MP and the new skills I had gained.

When I canceled Dragon Blood, the horns and the scales on my right hand vanished as if they had never been there. The taut string of tension snapped all at once.

Still a little dazed, I walked over to the enemy who had been split cleanly in half.

He lay there with his eyes wide open, unable to accept his own death.

“Sheesh. You should’ve just lived a decent life.”

I muttered the words under my breath and thoroughly searched his body.

Ah, found it. Thank god it was here.

From an inner pocket I pulled out the ring that had been my real objective—an item known as the Seal of Darkness, the symbol of the Light of Dawn.

I rose with the ring in hand. Everything had gone according to plan, yet a strange unease lingered.

……How can I be this calm?

I had just killed a person.

My first kill.

And I had taken four lives in total.

Of course they had attacked me first, and under imperial law it was pure self-defense against dungeon ambushers. Still, the fact remained: a former ordinary office worker had just killed people and casually looted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a corpse without a single ripple of emotion.

[Isn’t that only natural?]

The quiet answer came from Beatrix, who had been watching in silence.

[Because part of you is already a dragon.]

I was about to snap back and demand what she meant when a certain word from my status window flashed through my mind, and my blood ran cold.

Half-human, half-dragon?!

Yes—the newly added race field on my status window had said exactly that.

Status window.

And in the middle of all that, the dragon percentage went up by 0.1%…….

[You are using this body’s power, are you not? Then you are also accepting this body’s mana along with it.]

Beatrix’s power and dragon mana.

After hearing that much, there was no way I could misunderstand.

The more I use the skills, the more I become a dragon?!

[What exactly is the problem? It is a fine opportunity to cast off that inferior human race. You should be rejoicing.]

She wasn’t wrong. Setting aside whether humans were truly inferior, I didn’t feel like I was losing anything by gradually becoming more dragon-like.

So the reason I can kill people without feeling anything is because of that?

[Does this body look like the sort that would attach meaning to the death of mere humans? There is no difference between a human and a worm crawling on the ground.]

I see.

The sensation of becoming something other than myself was a little frightening, but for now it seemed limited to gradual shifts in personality and perspective.

Even if you enter a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.

As long as I stay centered, I’ll be fine.

I would keep watching carefully, but there was no need to obsess over it. More importantly, I had no way to stop it right now.

As long as I possessed the Dragon Knight talent, my skills would continue to revolve around dragon-related abilities. Sealing them would mean sealing my own survival in this brutal world—and that simply wasn’t an option.

“Guess it can’t be helped.”

[Now that I think of it, why have you been holding that disgusting thing this whole time? Burn it with fire and erase it from this world at once!]

Beatrix’s voice, thick with disgust, rang out the moment she noticed the Seal of Darkness in my hand.

Calm down and just watch. Everything’s already over.

The one who designed this place had, unfortunately, just died. That meant I was now the only person who knew its secrets.

Mana threads crisscrossed the room like a spider’s web—understandable only to those who approached with true intent. It almost felt like a twisted joke from the designer, as if to say that without him no one would ever uncover the secret. But that didn’t apply to me.

I moved with practiced ease to the far side of the entrance and found a small recess in the corner.

Bingo!

[What is this? The magical processing is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠terribly inefficient.]

“This is the whole reason I came all the way here.”

[You mean to tell me that pathetic thing is the reason?]

I nodded at Beatrix’s question-mark-laden tone and, without hesitation, pressed the Seal of Darkness into the small recess.

Click.

It seated itself perfectly, as if it had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠always belonged there.

Gugugugugu──.

The grinding of stone filled the chamber. Starting from the recess, the wall split vertically and, in moments, a staircase leading underground appeared.

[Hoh. So there was something after all. A mechanism like this.]

“All right. Time to check the reward.”