Chapter 425
Chapter 425
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 425
Chapter Title: Interracial War (64)
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Darkan's mind went blank.
It was a declaration beyond the realm of understanding.
The being called the essence of Dragon God Sepiro...
Had declared that it belonged to Park Chan-woo.
'...What did I just hear?'
Darkan doubted his own ears.
He had come to pledge his loyalty.
Not to the current Sepiro, a raging mass of emotions, but to the true sovereign who would lead the dragonkin with reason and rationality.
Yet that sovereign was saying he already had another master.
A mere 'human,' no less.
It was bewildering.
The sensation of every common sense and hierarchy Darkan had understood up to now being uprooted from its foundation.
The god of the dragonkin serving a human as master?
This went beyond inverting lord and vassal—it was an absurd tale, as if the laws of the world itself were being turned upside down.
But...
Darkan's gaze shifted from Zero to Park Chan-woo, then back to Zero again.
And he saw it.
There was no coercion or humiliation in Zero's eyes.
Only a dry, serene calm, as if stating the most obvious fact in the world.
'...He's serious.'
In that moment, Darkan realized it.
How narrowly he had been viewing this board all this time.
He had seen Park Chan-woo as a 'possibility.'
Zero as the 'answer.'
But he was wrong.
Park Chan-woo wasn't a possibility—he was the 'cause' itself, moving everything.
A being who could even place the essence of Dragon God Sepiro under his own will.
Then the one he must follow was clear.
Darkan hesitated no longer.
He knelt on one knee, not to Zero, but to Park Chan-woo.
"Sloth Dragon Darkan. With the foolish eyes of a dragon, I finally behold the true sky."
He bowed his head deeper once more.
"My clan of Sloth and I, from this moment onward, shall serve you as our sole master. The path you tread shall be ours, and your will shall become our clan's destiny."
This was no mere alliance proposal or transaction.
It was the complete oath of 'submission' from the leader of an entire race, staking everything he had.
Darkan closed his eyes, prostrated.
The sky.
To the dragonkin, the sky was Dragon God Sepiro.
But that sky was ever capricious, often bringing storms to test them.
He had thought it the natural order.
But no.
It was a false sky.
The true sky did not disrupt laws.
It became the new law itself, embracing and leading all things.
'Yes. Now I behold the true sky.'
He fully acknowledged the mistake he had made until now, that arrogant delusion.
From here on, he would follow this inescapable natural order.
Darkan slowly raised his head.
His gaze first went to Ataraxia, silently guarding Park Chan-woo's side.
An old friend and rival.
Now he fully understood his choice.
Next, his eyes turned to those who slumbered.
Lee Hyuk-soo, Han Shin, and Witch Adora.
They slept with peaceful expressions, but their souls harbored storms incomparably vast compared to before.
In their dreams, they were being reborn.
Darkan asked Park Chan-woo again, his voice filled with awe and pure curiosity.
"What dreams are they dreaming now...?"
Park Chan-woo gazed at his sleeping comrades for a moment.
A faint warmth flickered in his eyes, then returned to the deep, quiet abyss.
He looked at Darkan and spoke very softly, yet more clearly than any sound in the world.
"Dreams of a world they can protect even without me."
"...!"
At those words, Darkan's heart sank with a thud.
The shock was like being struck by a massive hammer to the head.
Darkan immediately grasped the true weight of those words, the ruthless resolve they contained.
'Even without me.'
It wasn't just about making his comrades strong.
It was a statement premised on his own absence—something like a distant, sorrowful last will.
This being already knew there would be no place for him at the end of all these battles.
Darkan shuddered.
Was this the vessel of a true god?
A vision that transcended racial victory, worrying even about the world after his own disappearance.
It was a difference in 'caliber' unlike anything he had felt from any lord he had served or opposed.
There was no longer any reason to hesitate.
Under this sky, under this great will, he had to stake everything.
"That dream..."
Darkan spoke in a trembling voice, but with unwavering eyes, meeting Park Chan-woo's gaze.
"May I not dream it alongside you as well?"
A solemn question from a warrior, inquiring about his own worthiness.
Across Darkan's mind flashed eons as the Sloth Dragon.
Sloth.
It was their clan's name, and also their shackles.
They had never enjoyed battle by nature.
They dreamed of creation over destruction, coexistence over domination.
Their research had always aimed to enrich the Abyss further and harmonize with other races.
'Origin Core Forging' and 'Nuclear Fission' techniques were originally peaceful arts, meant not for war but to breathe life into barren lands and create energy for all to prosper.
But under the sky of the tyrannical Dragon God Sepiro, their dreams were dismissed as tedious playthings, inefficient fantasies.
Sepiro branded their research 'useless,' and the Abyss devolved into a vast arena ruled solely by the logic of power.
Thus, they grew slothful.
In a world where dreams were impossible, there was nothing they could do.
"We... I was a dragon who forgot the law."
Darkan's voice quietly filled the cabin.
His eyes held deep regret and the spark of newfound longing beginning to blaze.
"We had wings but no sky to spread them, rotting on the ground. We believed our wisdom and techniques could benefit the world, but the current Abyss permitted no such existence."
His gaze turned once more, past the sleeping comrades, to Park Chan-woo.
"But you are different."
A new hope began to infuse his voice.
"You are the true sky we have longed for. In the world you open, our research, our dreams—perhaps we can prove they are no longer trivial pastimes."
Darkan rose from his kneeling knee, straightening his posture.
His eyes no longer drowned in past helplessness.
"Please, grant us the qualification to dream that dream as well."
His voice grew hotter.
"Under this true sky, give us the chance to spread our wings freely and burn everything we have."
He pleaded once more.
"Let us dream your dream together."
Ataraxia's shoulders twitched faintly as he stood silently by Park Chan-woo.
'...Darkan.'
Ataraxia closed his eyes quietly.
His friend's desperate cry overlapped with his own past.
The days under the false sky of Sepiro, reciting the dragonkin's dirge of despair while gnawing at himself.
It was Park Chan-woo who had broken that vicious cycle.
Ataraxia knew better than anyone.
How grand an undertaking Park Chan-woo's 'Lucid Dream' was.
A sublime sacrifice, prepared to let even his divinity vanish for the sole goal of humanity's victory.
That was why he dared not interject.
This miracle was meant solely for humanity.
For a dragon like him to add even a speck of greed to that sublimity would be to defile Park Chan-woo's will.
But...
'That guy... is my oldest friend.'
His closest friend was crying out so earnestly to walk the same path as him.
Longing to taste the light of salvation that he himself had experienced.
Ataraxia could hesitate no longer.
He stepped forward silently and knelt beside Darkan.
"My lord."
At Darkan's and Park Chan-woo's gazes turning to him at his sudden action...
"I too, dare to make a request."
His voice was low and solemn, yet filled with hot affection for his friend and absolute faith in his lord.
"Darkan and the Sloth clan are existences Your Excellency truly needs in this world. Their wisdom and techniques will become the strongest wings for your great undertaking. Please do not overlook their potential—grant them a sky to spread their wings."
Ataraxia bowed his head deeply.
"I stake my entire honor to vouch for them."
Park Chan-woo looked down at them wordlessly.
A brief silence flowed.
A prudent god's time, weighing their sincerity and its gravity.
Finally, Park Chan-woo moved.
He slowly extended his hand toward the two dragons.
At his gesture, the Milky Way of 'Wish' filling the cabin rippled softly, gathering toward him.
"Rise."
A soft voice, yet carrying an irresistible dignity.
His hand lightly touched the shoulders of the kneeling dragons.
"I permit you to dream my dream together."
Darkan and Ataraxia's eyes widened in awe.
"My dream is not mine alone."
Park Chan-woo's gaze passed his sleeping comrades, toward the darkness beyond the window, and the unknown world past it.
"To make this dream reality, we need not only swords and magic, but also the wisdom to build the world and enrich all. The creative power of your Sloth clan will be an indispensable cornerstone in the world I envision."
Park Chan-woo looked at the two dragons again.
"Thus, I acknowledge it. That you are necessary to my dream."
It transcended mere permission—it was 'recognition.'
Not as tools or subordinates, but as companions to build a new world together; he affirmed their value as such.
In that instant, light flowed from Park Chan-woo's fingertips, seeping into the hearts of the two dragons.
Their consciousnesses were being invited into the vast dream world Park Chan-woo had forged.
Lucid Dream.
Into that world of absolute magic he had created.
"Do you know what you're doing right now?"
Zero warned.
Instead of answering, Park Chan-woo looked down at his faintly glowing palm.
'Zero Point' to 'Dawn.'
Evolved one step by humanity's faith, yet his divinity remained fragile as mist.
"Your 'Lucid Dream' has already surpassed its limits."
Zero took a step closer, continuing.
His insight pierced Park Chan-woo's state precisely.
"Just maintaining their consciousnesses and guiding their growth is wearing away your divinity even now. And now you've taken in two dragon leaders? Their souls are vastly more immense and complex than any human's—no comparison. The burden of tempering those two in the dream will be greater than nine humans combined."
Zero met Park Chan-woo's eyes directly.
"It's true you stabilized your divinity somewhat in the 'Crown of the Weakest King' reversal. But that's just a stopgap. Like tossing a handful of dirt at a crumbling dam. At this rate, you'll turn to ash and vanish before the future you dream of arrives."
Zero's warning was logical and sound.
Not malice, but the cold diagnosis of an analyst foreseeing imminent ruin.
But Park Chan-woo paid it no heed.
A faint smile even curved his lips.
"I've factored that in too."
At his calm reply, Zero's expression crumpled for the first time.
"...I can't understand it. Are you truly not afraid of oblivion?"
"I am."
Park Chan-woo affirmed softly.
But...
"But there's something I'm more afraid of."
"......"
"A future where I can dream no more. The past where I could only helplessly watch everyone wither in despair, unable to see even an inch ahead. That's my greatest fear."