Chapter 466
Chapter 466
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 466
Chapter Title: Aftermath
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The world of dragons.
Everything around the Dragon God Temple.
Had come to a standstill, as if time itself had frozen.
Silence descended.
Every dragon, from their lairs, from the ruins, or atop the ashes of the battlefield.
Was desperately trying to make sense of the scene they had just witnessed.
They had seen it.
Their god, the Absolute Ruler of the Abyss whom they had believed in without doubt—the Transcendent Dragon Sepiro.
...Opening the gate to the Great Rift himself and vanishing beyond it.
"...No way he ran away."
The words slipped unconsciously from the mouth of a young dragon.
Fled.
That single word carved a massive crack into the pillars of faith that had upheld the dragon world.
"Something's wrong. Our eyes must have deceived us."
An elderly dragon muttered in a trembling voice.
Disbelief filled his eyes.
A desperate attempt to deny reality clung to his words.
"Yes, it must be. How could the great Dragon God flee? It has to be a strategic retreat for some greater plan."
A few dragons nodded at his words.
They had to believe that.
Otherwise, the eons of loyalty and faith they had devoted would become meaningless in an instant.
But their flimsy self-deception shattered at the cold words of another dragon.
"God?"
It was Darcan, the Dragon of Sloth.
He was the witness who had observed everything from the closest vantage point.
"Who calls him a god? The system declared it clearly. Sepiro is no longer our sovereign."
As Darcan said.
It was an inescapable truth.
Indeed.
The system, the absolute law of the Abyss, had already stripped Sepiro of his qualifications.
He was no longer the Dragon God.
Classified as an 'outer god,' he had lost all authority over the dragonkin.
So, what was that act just now?
'He didn't want to die.'
A truth so obvious, so utterly pathetic.
'He fled because he didn't want to die.'
The being who had been their idol and god.
Fearing oblivion, had abandoned his kingdom and his people, fleeing alone to an unknown world.
Into the Great Rift.
"Haha!"
A dragonkin warrior let out a hollow laugh.
His laughter carried a bitterness like tears.
"Is that really the great Transcendent Dragon Sepiro?"
They remembered.
Sepiro's arrogance.
The absolute majesty that always placed everything beneath him, deeming all other beings insignificant.
That arrogance sometimes felt tyrannical, yet it was also the pride of the dragonkin.
We have such a great god.
An absolute being no one in the Abyss could challenge stands on our side!
But now, it had all vanished like a mirage.
What they had seen was not the dignity of a god.
Just the pathetic rear view of a cowardly lizard tucking tail and running to save its own skin.
"Arcana was different. He didn't flee. That was the true essence of dragonkin."
Someone murmured the name softly.
The Dragon of Despair. Yet the hero who sang of hope.
He had willingly sacrificed himself to protect Sepiro's honor.
And Sepiro had insulted him, calling him a 'pathetic lizard.'
Who was the true dragon, and who the true lizard?
"......"
The leaders of the other dragonkin tribes, who had led the clans of Truth and Eternity, could say nothing.
They had been Sepiro's most loyal swords.
They believed his words as truth and followed even his arrogance as divine authority.
When Ataraxia and Darcan sided with the humans, they were the first to brand them 'traitors' and seek their execution.
But now, who was the real traitor?
In the face of their race's crisis, the one who abandoned his people and fled was the being they called god.
Chaos began to engulf the dragon world.
The millennia-old faith system was shaking from its roots.
Who should they believe now?
Who should they follow?
The eyes of the lost dragons naturally converged on one point.
The screen broadcasting live across the entire Abyss.
And at the center of that screen stood a single being.
"...Park Chan-woo."
In the midst of this chaos left behind by Sepiro's abandonment, he still stood firm in his place.
With his comrades who believed in and followed him.
And now, even Ataraxia and Darcan, their former allies, stood by his side.
The dragons had seen it.
While Park Chan-woo slept, the desperate struggle of Zero and humanity's warriors.
Against the dragonkin 'outer god' their god had abandoned them to—they didn't retreat a single step.
To protect Park Chan-woo. To protect their convictions.
That sight was in stark contrast to the ugly flight their god had just shown.
Which one bore the true appearance of a king?
The answer was all too clear.
A panorama of everything Park Chan-woo had done throughout the interspecies war flashed through the dragons' minds.
He had always fought for his people, 'humanity.'
Whether facing all enemy forces alone at the 'Crown of the Weakest Station' or charging into the chaos of the great war at the 'Fallen Truth Station,' the core of all his actions was always humanity's survival and victory.
And humanity had not abandoned him.
They couldn't do much.
Just pray to the heavens and send their faith.
But that feeble faith gathered, creating the miracle that completed Park Chan-woo's imperfect divinity.
Park Chan-woo did not abandon humanity, and humanity did not abandon Park Chan-woo.
...Ideal.
A king and his people who trusted each other, willingly throwing themselves for one another.
That was the true form of god and followers they had only read about in ancient epics.
The dragons thought.
The seat of the Dragon God was vacant.
The system had revoked Sepiro's sovereignty, and he had fled from it himself.
Then, a new dragon must sit upon that empty throne.
Who was most fitting for that seat?
The first name that came to mind was the previous Dragon God, Bahamut.
The great being who led the golden age of dragonkin.
But he had ended his era, handing everything to Sepiro.
Reviving the glory of a bygone age would only be a regression of history.
Then, should the strongest and wisest among the surviving dragons become the new Dragon God?
Yet none dared even think of claiming the seat for themselves.
They were all sinners who had learned arrogance in Sepiro's shadow and tolerated his tyranny.
Did they truly have the right to lead the dragonkin's future?
Rather.
"If only he hadn't feared death......"
"If only he had upheld the dignity of the Dragon God......"
If only Sepiro had fought to the end.
Instead of abandoning his kingdom and fleeing, if he had accepted the outcome.
And died gloriously.
The dragons would have followed him eternally without hesitation.
Even as a defeated god, he would have been their final king.
But Sepiro fled.
Trampling the pride and honor of dragonkin into the mud, for his own survival alone.
In that moment, he was no longer their god.
So, who should they follow now?
Once more, the dragons' gazes turned to Park Chan-woo.
Park Chan-woo.
He was human.
An outsider without a single drop of dragon blood.
Yet he was more dragon-like than any of them.
He remembered Arcana's sacrifice and confronted Sepiro for his honor.
He even showed mercy to the dragons who betrayed him, opening a new path of magic for them.
And above all, he did not abandon his people.
This outsider human possessed every virtue of the true king the dragons so longed for.
Moreover.
Hadn't they already competed for the true Dragon God's seat in the Dragon God Temple once before?
Hadn't the dragons followed Park Chan-woo then?
"Please."
In the confused silence, an elderly dragon softly opened his mouth.
"Please become our new sky......"
Park Chan-woo stood in the midst of the battlefield ruins, silently staring at the traces of the Great Rift where Sepiro had vanished.
Everything was over.
The long interspecies war, and the fateful entanglement with Sepiro that had bound him, had finally drawn to a close—for now.
Sepiro had left behind much in his flight.
Dragonkin wrapped in betrayal, demons stripped of authority and plunged into chaos, and all beings of the Abyss lost at the dawn of a new era.
But the most unexpected thing he left was this.
"...Huh."
A hollow laugh escaped Park Chan-woo's lips.
The Dragon God Temple.
The very place Sepiro had turned into a treasure vault to hide his existence.
The system had transferred ownership of the separated space to Park Chan-woo, and Sepiro had willingly abandoned it to protect his main body.
And now, that discarded Dragon God Temple had circled back into his hands.
'The prank of fate, or inevitability?'
Park Chan-woo slowly extended his hand toward the empty air.
In response to his will, space tore open, revealing the entrance to a massive temple glowing with golden light.
Without hesitation, he headed toward the Dragon God Temple now under his ownership.
The interior was quiet.
Sepiro's oppressive magic power was gone, leaving only a faint trace of divinity without its master.
Park Chan-woo made his way to the deepest part of the temple, where the jade throne sat.
And there, he discovered two things.
One was Sepiro's clone, collapsed beneath the throne.
With its connection to the main body severed and all power lost, only an empty husk remained, devoid of any movement.
And the other.
A few holy artifacts scattered around the throne.
Part of the collection Sepiro cherished so dearly, as seen in the codex of mysteries.
Probably items Sepiro had given to the clone as bait.
At that moment, Zero appeared beside him and spoke while eyeing the scattered artifacts.
"He left a proper gift behind."
A faint mockery laced Zero's voice.
"This is the true trophy."
Park Chan-woo silently walked toward the highest point of the Dragon God Temple, the massive jade throne now without a master.
And very slowly, he sat upon it.
In that instant, the entire Dragon God Temple resonated with his presence, beginning to hum with a faint golden light.
After circling around,
he had returned.
To the Dragon God Temple.