Chapter 301
Chapter 301
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 301
Chapter Title: 93. First Experience (2)
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Panting breaths. Purple eyes. Eyes filled with hatred.
Wiping the saliva from her cheek.
Yoo Ji-tae raised his hand.
Slap!
Her head snapped to the side.
Both arms pushed against his body. Instinctual resistance. He seized both wrists with one hand, pinned them to her chest, and raised his hand expressionlessly once more.
Slap—!
Her head snapped to the side. Her lips split open completely. Saliva mixed with blood trickled down. Her mouth must have been a total wreck inside. But there was no reaction beyond resistance. If she felt any regret, she would have shown it. He raised his palm again.
Slaaap—!
The entire isolation room rang out. Blood burst from her nose. Blood vessels burst in her eyes, staining them red. Her body twisted and writhed in agony. From this point, the reactions were familiar.
But Mew's gaze never wavered, even as the blows landed. Her emotions didn't falter. Even dragons knew their place in the hierarchy and cowered before the strong. But not her.
So he raised his palm again.
Slap—!
His hand struck like a whip.
Slap—!
Her cheeks burst open in all directions.
Slap—!
The shocks accumulated. Mew twisted her body, flailing like she was seizing, then trembled like an aspen leaf. He grabbed her by the hair, yanked her up, and dragged her close. "Ugh…!" All she could manage were feeble kicks of her legs—the best effort from an adult dragon that had lost most of its strength. He slammed her against the wall. Then he lifted his military boot and kicked her head. Thud— And he continued the beating.
For a few minutes. Relentlessly.
When her movements slowed, Yoo Ji-tae stopped.
Mew slowly pushed herself upright.
Her face was smeared with wounds. Yet in that clear gaze, she stared at Yoo Ji-tae.
She spat out a bloody glob. Her trembling hand wiped her face.
Mew still exuded composure.
He knew a single precarious thread restrained his hands. One that could snap at any moment to suit his whims. The reason he'd gone out of his way to beat her was to vent his impulses this way—lest he end up killing her by accident.
Slowly, she licked the blood from her torn lips with a cat-like tongue.
Then the corner of her mouth curved. As if mocking him.
For a brief moment, Yoo Ji-tae nearly lost his reason.
That was when it happened.
The gaze watching him grew a shade stronger.
The pitch-black cat that was a companion to the Apocalyptic Clock. Or a massive mechanical monster. 「Key (EX)」 was an entity that monitored and observed his emotions.
Yoo Ji-tae had no idea why its gaze had deepened.
But now that he was aware of it, he began to reflect on his actions.
As Yoo Ji-tae exhaled steadily to calm his impulses.
"My... enemy."
Mew spoke in her cracked voice.
Still without a hint of lost composure.
"I've given it some thought. Despite antagonizing you and attacking humans... you let me live. Why? There must have been a reason. I still don't know what it is."
Mew placed a hand on her chest.
"Perhaps... a reason more valuable than this heart."
Huff, huff... She labored for breath. Her condition was like that of an ordinary human who'd been in a car crash. Speaking alone must have been excruciating.
Yet her voice remained clear.
"And hearing your words just now... has confirmed it for me. Cooperation. Dissection. Experimentation. There's something you want from my body. Something more valuable than this heart."
"What of it?"
"In all your threats so far... you've placed my life on the scale. You must have had far more to weigh against it. You assumed I'd value my own life."
His eyes narrowed. She was right.
From his research, every creature across all dimensions centered their existence on passing on their genes. In other words, the greatest purpose in an organism's life was reproduction. From insects to dogs and cats, humans, orcs... Life was finite, but genes endured eternally.
However, dragons—who could live up to 10,000 years—were different. Their lifespans were vast. They prioritized their individual existence over species propagation. For them, nothing was more precious than personal survival. The older dragons grew, the more obsessed they became with life itself.
This had been recorded as a "peculiar circumstance" by a researcher from another dimension.
The study put it this way: Wouldn't that leave the bizarre dragon species naturally doomed to contextual extinction?
"You've seen dragons desperately clawing to survive more than once or twice."
Yoo Ji-tae knew the answer.
It was precisely because of this self-centered view of life—valuing the individual over species prosperity—that the 「Ancient Dragon」 had embedded a mechanism in the Origin Fragment to avenge slain hatchlings. An authority called 「Infant Dragon Protection」. Without it, dragons wouldn't bat an eye if a hatchling died.
"Yeah, yeah. Guess it's not total bluster that you've met plenty of dragons... But do you know what? I'm a mutant."
Her purple eyes curved like a bow.
Her gaze deepened, as if ready to swallow the world.
"I have no intention of living a long life. Live moderately. Enjoy moderately. Die moderately. Life isn't precious to me to begin with. And you're trying to dictate my fate by threatening it in front of someone like me?"
Mew smirked crookedly once more.
The smile of one who had ascended to a superior position in negotiations.
"My enemy. The reason you haven't killed me is because I need to stay alive. For the dissections and experiments you mentioned. But from now on... if you torment me even a little more, I'll die without hesitation."
"You think you can just die on me like that?"
"Just stop the heart, and it's done."
"It won't stop unless you hit the threshold of suffering."
This, too, was one of the authorities inherent in the Origin Fragment.
「Heart Stop」
The reason he hadn't been able to save BY when she stopped her own heart in the 4th regression. The reason even the Green Dragon hatchling nearby hadn't been able to stop the Blue Dragon from doing the same in the 6th.
Dragons who reached the peak of suffering and crossed the threshold could end themselves.
"You know it exactly. But I already told you—I'm a mutant. I can choose death even without the suffering."
Yoo Ji-tae had no retort.
Incredibly, the truth floating in his Scales Eye (SS) read as true.
"What's your situation, then?"
"Think your subject is lowly?"
"Pathetic."
With her slow words, she made clear who held the initiative.
This, too, was something he hadn't known—born of her being a mutant specimen.
"If you want my body... do as I command."
"……."
"No answer? Isn't this the cooperation you wanted?"
"……."
"But I have no intention of staying locked up here. Nor any reason to move at your whim."
But being able to die and actually dying were different things.
The Black clan was especially obsessed with life.
"No. You can't die."
"Me? Why?"
"A dragon stops its own heart when it judges death leads to a better future. Are you saying you're that miserable?"
"Who knows. For some, getting beaten like this by a mere human and locked away... might be that miserable."
If she couldn't seize the initiative... she would die.
That was what Mew was saying.
"Any Black clan member ever taking their own life."
That was when it happened.
The moment talk of the Black clan arose, the smile drained from Mew's face.
"Enough pretending you know about my clan. I told you last time."
"Looks like your wandering means you don't know how your clan is faring. Don't you know the lengths they go to just to survive?"
"How dare you! Shut your mouth!"
Yoo Ji-tae took her extreme reaction as a positive sign.
As before, Mew seemed to harbor pride and affection for the Black clan.
"Why? I told you—I met plenty of them myself. Every last one... despicably, filthily, uglily clinging to survival."
"Shut your trap, enemy. Unless you want to watch me end it right now."
"You can't die. From 150-year juveniles to 7,000-year elders. Polluting the world. Abandoned by all around them. Persisting alone... vowing to live forever. So just cooperate obediently. If you truly can die anytime, as you claim... I won't force you."
"Stop—"
Mew clamped her hands over her ears.
Refusing to hear another word.
So Yoo Ji-tae stepped to her side and pried her hands away by force. "Eut!" Mew swung a fist wildly in frenzy. He caught it and pressed on.
"Or pretend to cooperate... then betray me later. Just like the other squalid Black clan members. I wouldn't even be disappointed. I already know that's your nature."
"Stop... stop—!"
A scream like tearing metal echoed through the isolation room.
The next instant, Yoo Ji-tae dodged. Sharp nails raked the empty air.
Distance opened between them.
Stalemate.
Mew, who had been glaring fiercely, let out a sigh.
She reverted to her previous leisurely expression, then bit her lip in a smile toward him.
"Go on... give it a try..."
At that moment, the mana shifted.
From the Black Dragon's heart.
Her pulse began to slow gradually.
Thump, thump.... Thump......
The corner of Yoo Ji-tae's eye twitched.
"You... what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like?"
"Saying you're just gonna up and die?"
Had she judged the initiative swung back her way?
Mew smiled.
"One last time. Grant me freedom. Don't hinder my movements. Then... I'll cooperate, to a limited extent."
Mew's Dragon Heart began losing power bit by bit.
Her pupils dilated. Blood flow slowed.
Her disheveled hair trembled. Her purple eyes narrowed. Her breathing grew shallow.
The arm resting on her stomach slipped away powerlessly.
"Ung......"
A faint moan, and her eyes closed.
Slowly... Mew began to die.
Her heartbeats quieted rapidly.
"I'll give you... 60 seconds... Think it over..."
In that instant, the cards on Yoo Ji-tae's scale turned to scraps of paper. In contrast, a heavy weight landed on Mew's.
"Or I die—..."
With eyes closed, Mew laughed. A blatant provocation.
Her slow speech felt detached from reality.
"Do whatever... you want with my corpse......"
He closed his eyes. Something hot surged through his veins. He wanted to kill her right then—but he had to stop her from dying within 50 seconds. His own predicament was laughable.
50 seconds remaining.
"Think you can negotiate by holding your life hostage? That it'll work on me?"
"The desperate one... has to play their cards... right...?"
Yoo Ji-tae frowned.
Mew couldn't die here.
Over a thousand regressions.
Hundreds of years' worth of time.
The first mutant specimen with a shattered 「Ancient Dragon's Will」 he'd found among dozens of individuals.
The odds of discovering another like her were vanishingly slim.
40 seconds left.
"Who's the desperate one?"
But there was one thing Mew didn't know.
She didn't know how many Black Dragons he'd encountered across the 5+ regressions.
"Fine. Die."
"Ung...?"
"Die. If that's what you want."
She didn't know he knew the locations of every Black Dragon across nearby dimensions.
"But before you go... look at one of my memories."
She didn't know they had all died by his hand.
At 30 seconds remaining, Yoo Ji-tae approached Mew again and seized her hand.
A small, pale hand.
Faint resistance stirred. He gripped it hard enough to nearly crush bone.
Even in her dying state, the mana that parsed the memories and emotions of those she touched activated.
Into Yoo Ji-tae's mind. Memories from the 5+ regressions began to surface. Time undivided by regressions meant gaps here and there, but every relevant fragment rose fully.
Suddenly, Mew's hazy eyes snapped wide open.
"You... you......"
She shook her limp arm, trying to shake off his hand.
"Let... go."
"Where to?"
"Let go. Let go! Let go—!"
She thrashed her hand, slapping at his face. But she was already weakened, her heart on the verge of stopping. Mew couldn't dislodge his grip.
Then, the painful memories she'd dreaded began flooding in relentlessly.
They were memories of Yoo Ji-tae massacring Black clan dragons.
Toward Mew, who held pride and love for her clan, Yoo Ji-tae spoke.
"A foolish specimen."
The memory of Gaio's 3,700-year-old Alican having her head split by his attack.
"Pathetic, flopping on the ground."
The memory of Umuttuna's 1,800-year-old Giriu having her wings torn by his ambush.
"Such tenacious life."
The memory of shared dimension Hamkan's 150-year-old hatchling Allan's heart being ripped out by Yoo Ji-tae's hand.
"Grew sluggish in old age."
The memory of Catriaca's 7,700-year-old elder Aian's skull shattering under his blow.
Everything but their "deaths" transmitted to Mew.
Even though he'd killed them all, for some reason the deaths themselves were blank voids in the memories, like holes punched through.
But the message came through clearly enough.
15 seconds remaining.
"......"
Mew fell silent. But through his 「Scales Eye (SS)」, Yoo Ji-tae sensed a stark shift in her state of mind.
He realized her emotions had reached a critical limit of loathing.
Like a daughter's heart upon seeing her parents about to be slaughtered before her eyes.
Her mana sharpened like shards of broken glass.
10 seconds left.
"You......"
Mew's voice trembled.
Why did Mew harbor such intense feelings toward the Black clan? Because they shared the lot of exiles? But dragons from other clans didn't react this way.
Was it because she was a mutant?
Yet in Yoo Ji-tae's memories, there had been one Black clan 「hatchling」.
Mew would know that, at this point in time, that hatchling hadn't died yet. What significance would that hold for her?
The regressor knew exactly.
"Go ahead."
5 seconds remaining.
"But if you go first..."
Yoo Ji-tae released her hand. 3 seconds.
Her small hand twitched in the air.
"...your kin will follow right behind."
A beast-like growl filled the isolation room.
......Thump.
...Thump.
Thump, thump....
1 second.
The fading heartbeats faintly resumed.
Death halted.
"......"
At last... Mew submitted.