Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: 55. Socks and Hat (4)
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Depending on his mood, depending on necessity, he swung his sword.
But once he set it down, an unexpected dilemma arose.
Yoo Ji-tae gazed at the baby sea monster trembling before him.
— ...If he's a good person, that would be nice.
Winter's voice brushed past his ear.
If there was someone Winter called a 'good person.' What would that person do in a situation like this?
Spare it?
No. If 'that person' were superhuman, they wouldn't spare it. Monsters were humanity's enemies, after all. They grew up to rip human heads apart.
Disable it just enough and let it go?
A half-baked idea. A monster resembling a primate like this was even more fragile as a hatchling, heavily dependent on its parents. With its parents already dead, it wouldn't last long anyway. There was no reason to cripple it unless he wanted to shift the blame for the killing and ease his guilt. But someone capable of that judgment hardly seemed like a 'good person.'
The terrified hatchling trembled violently.
It looked up at him.
"Grk... Grroo..."
Its words meant 'Mommy, Mommy...'
"......"
He said nothing.
Snow had been falling here for a while now.
A little snow had piled up on his arm while he held the creature.
What would a 'good person' do?
What would be a 'good person's' way......
Picking up trash or feeding stray cats would have been easy. But this was different.
Not being a 'good person' himself, Yoo Ji-tae couldn't figure out what a 'good person's' method would be, no matter how much he pondered.
He pondered.
Pondered some more.
In the end, he released the creature's scruff.
Unable to find an answer, he had no choice but to do it his own way.
He let out a sigh.
He gripped the sword he'd set down with his right hand firmly once more.
With his left, he covered the hatchling's eyes.
The frightened creature stayed still.
He raised the sword to its neck.
With its eyes covered.
A low-intelligence monster hatchling wouldn't know what was coming next.
Once the deed was done, the hatchling had closed its eyes.
And never moved again.
Winter's shedding was reaching its conclusion.
Scales across her entire body, horns, claws, the outer membrane of her eyes—all her shedding skin flowed out and turned to mana. The scene was no different from before.
But now, something stood out.
When the shedding skin on her chest peeled away. From beneath the especially thick, hard scales, something pure white emitted light.
There were two sources of light.
The large one was Winter's dragon heart, sustaining her life. The small one attached beside it was called the 'Ancient One's Fragment' or 'Origin Fragment.'
This was the translation of Ascalifa's term 'Origin Being,' referring to a Green Dragon from ancient times—the very first dragon.
Mighty. And powerful. Far more than Yoo Ji-tae now. Being a different species, it wielded far greater authority than a regressor bound by human limits.
That's why, even after the Ancient One died and eons passed, its fragments remained connected to dragons' hearts.
They transmitted the hatchlings' information to Ascalifa upon their deaths or when their playtime ended, transcending dimensions.
The regressor briefly recalled old thoughts.
Once, he'd believed that was the root of everything.
After the 4th cycle ended, the regressor wandered through countless uncounted cycles.
At one point, he'd tried forcibly removing it from a dragon's heart. At another, he'd schemed to open dimensional rifts with it.
All attempts failed.
After dozens of tries, he realized the Origin Fragment inside a hatchling wasn't something he could control.
— It hurts, I feel like I'm dying...
A groan-mixed scream brushed past his ears.
In the 4th cycle, finally witnessing a Gold Dragon's death up close, he'd torn out its heart to revive it and seen the Origin Fragment activate.
As planet Earth reached its end and the long years of his efforts slipped away, the regressor felt something in his mind crumbling in real time.
In the next cycle, he began learning chimera manipulation.
For a time he couldn't even remember, he'd immersed himself in organic research.
Those memories were hazy, like static noise. Only the technical knowledge lingered as instinct.
— Please, stop...
— I'll do whatever you order...
— Save me. It hurts so much...
— Please...
...Which clan's dragon was that?
Different each cycle?
He couldn't recall well.
But he remembered the tearing screams that made even the dragon fear pierce his ears unpleasantly, damaging his vocal cords.
After failure, with no reason to face the end, he chose suicide.
Short cycles, one after another.
Meeting BY in the 4th cycle. Her death.
Researching chimeras in 4+ cycles to use the Origin Fragment.
Imprisoning dragons in the 5th cycle.
Being killed over 1,100 times in 5+ cycles.
The 5+ cycles where he was just killed to strengthen Formless Sword (SS) blurred in his memory.
Similarly, the 4+ cycles dissecting dragons to manipulate the Origin Fragment faded.
...Looking back, it felt ink-black stains spread across his memories.
The mood wasn't great.
Crack—!
His reverie shattered then.
A massive ice crystal broke and fell. The Blue Dragon within floated down and settled on the ground.
Rumble... A heavy body. Dazed, the hatchling blinked.
The shedding wasn't complete. Her dormant dragon heart had only just begun beating, mana starting to flow.
Her head, arms, belly, legs, and folded wings near the heart were perfectly clean, but the shedding skin on her distant toes remained.
Bom had advised removing it.
"......"
Yoo Ji-tae approached the massive hatchling's foot. Sharp claws and tender skin. The foot alone dwarfed his upper body.
He carefully peeled off the shedding skin by hand. Even weakened, it was dragon hide—tough, requiring great strength.
A task normally for her adult mother or father.
The powerless blue hatchling just looked down at him.
Suddenly, he recalled the socks Yeoreum had given him as a birthday gift.
He'd learned from Bom recently: a dragon offering 'thin coverings for feet' meant 'I acknowledge you as my guardian.'
That's why Bom and Gaeul had been surprised then. Despite her prickliness, Yeoreum had accepted him.
But peeling the shedding skin by force from her delicate skin hurt Winter.
The hatchling's foot twitched. Each twitch forced Yoo Ji-tae back a few steps.
"Hey, hey. Stay still."
He smacked her claw. The foot jerked bigger.
After that, the work eased. Winter held still, and Yoo Ji-tae succeeded in removing all the skin.
Suddenly, the hatchling shoved her head at him.
A head as big as his torso.
To eat him as payback for the pain?
As the regressor thought that.
The massive lizard lowered its head right before his and closed its eyes.
As he stood blankly, the hatchling let out a '...grrrk.'
Even its cry was unclear, cautious like Bom's.
Still unsure of her intent, he asked.
"What."
Not liking that, the massive head shook side to side.
What. Why. What do you want.
No reaction from him, so the hatchling's mouth gaped wide and gently engulfed his torso whole.
Gently.
Outside the ice cave.
As the untimely snow stopped.
Her body recovered, Winter polymorphed.
Until then, Yoo Ji-tae had wondered inwardly how the child had grown. He didn't care much either way, but questioned if it'd match the previous cycle.
In the last cycle, one shedding made Winter Bom's age. Would it be the same?
Truth be told, he hoped not inwardly.
The Blue Dragon hadn't been happy last cycle.
Soon, her massive form was enveloped in light.
A human shape emerged, retaining the dragon's essence.
There sat.
A blue-haired little girl.
She covered her body with her hands and looked up at him.
Still small. Barely over 130cm.
Her chubby cheeks from voracious eating for this moment were gone.
「Polymorph (S)」 was magic to mimic humans. Growth followed human order. So Winter, post-shedding, was estimated at 9 to 11 years old.
Clearly different from the previous cycle.
A good sign.
Suddenly.
He recalled her back in the living room when they first met.
The moment life met him.
Tiny back.
Flowing hair.
Smiling face as she turned.
Fatigued eyes.
Hands fiddling with her first T-shirt.
Mouth mumbling without words.
"...Hello."
But now she spoke well.
In a worried voice, she greeted him.
"Hey. Hello."
"...Give me some clothes, please."
He took off his outer coat and handed it to her.
Watching her thread her arms into the coat several sizes too big and button it up, he fell into sentiment again.
Slum in the warzone. Dyril.
The pale, emaciated mother wailing in grief.
The nameless woman died despite the midwife's help, birthing a dead child.
Perhaps it was the first time in ages he'd felt regret at life ending.
Winter herself taught him something unfamiliar.
Different from what Bom always taught.
Then.
No sooner had she dressed than her hair began falling out.
"...Ah."
Startled, the child tried blocking the cascade, but it kept falling, so she clutched her head with both hands.
Even human flesh post-shedding changed. New hair grew belatedly.
"...Ah, ah, stop..."
Whether she knew or not, Winter covered her head futilely, then pulled the coat over it to hide her face. He smiled faintly, reminded of her hiding her face with a frying pan at the tent.
"Don't worry too much. It's fine."
"......"
"Hair grows back at night, they say."
Coat over her head, Winter was silent.
So Yoo Ji-tae pulled out a cap he'd brought separately.
And poked the child.
"...Mm."
Still hiding, she shook her head.
"Why."
"...No hair."
"It's fine."
"...Mm."
"I said it's fine."
"...It's not."
"Well. Look at this."
Only then did the coat part slightly, blue eyes peering at him.
In his hand was a sky-blue cap.
"Shedding gift."
The coat opened fully. He fitted the cap on her bald head. She looked much better.
Yet Winter fidgeted anxiously.
Unable to understand her since birth, Yoo Ji-tae still couldn't grasp her emotions.
But one thing he seemed to know.
Why the dragon had offered her head earlier.
The regressor approached the child.
Grabbed the cap brim and turned it back.
The moment he did, Winter flinched, fearing he'd remove it.
Next instant, he enveloped her fully in his big arms. Then gently pulled her head to press his forehead to her bare one.
"Good job, Yoo Gyeoul."
From forehead-to-forehead distance, Winter opened her tightly shut eyes to look at him. Realizing their foreheads touched, a smile bloomed on her worried face.
"You did really well."
Winter nodded slowly. Then wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug.
Her body was still small.
But no longer trembling.