Chapter 373
Chapter 373
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 373
Chapter Title: Children of the Dragon (1)
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“Ahh—.”
Jegal Hye-mi, gazing up at the sky, let out an involuntary gasp of admiration.
The overwhelming majesty of the dragons that had suddenly ripped through the thunderclouds and appeared.
And the sight of yokai emerging one by one, slicing through space around them before plummeting to the ground to block the path of the yokai jiangshi that resembled them in form—it was more than enough to stir strange emotions.
‘The yokai who had lurked only in the shadows for ages, never stepping to the forefront of history...’
At last, they revealed themselves in earnest amid the world's crisis.
To join forces with humans and navigate this desperate situation together.
‘Well, they’re part of this world too, so it’s only natural.’
In truth, they had been steadily active, just like when they’d cooperated with the imperial family two decades ago, but all those efforts had been conducted in utmost secrecy, so few knew the details.
This was the first time in nearly a few hundred years they’d openly revealed themselves to the general public.
‘Those are real dragons. Even I half-doubted the ancient texts from my clan.’
Entranced, she stared up at the sky and swallowed hard.
Their overwhelming presence made it impossible to look away.
If even she, a direct descendant of the prestigious Jegal family, felt this way, one could only imagine how the masses—who’d dismissed yokai and divine beasts as mere legends—must feel.
It wasn’t surprising that most of the Alliance’s elite experts, who could be considered upper echelon, were standing there dumbfounded, gaping at the spectacle.
Even the Demonic Cult had halted their assault for some reason.
However, there was one nagging detail amid it all...
‘...Why does that Yellow Dragon look so different from the others? There’s no description like that in the records.’
It was the bizarre appearance of the Yellow Dragon at the center—unlike the other long-bodied dragons, with its massive flapping wings, bloated body, and highly developed limbs.
It didn’t match the typical image of a ‘dragon’ at all; it looked more like a gigantic lizard, completely detached from the norm.
In this world, the Yellow Dragon was indisputably considered the foremost among the Five Dragons.
So why did this one have such a different form? There had to be some hidden reason.
‘Are the clan’s ancient records wrong? Or is there some special circumstance...’
As she lost herself in thought, drifting into her own world,
“Miss Jegal, we’ve reached the formation now, so I think this should suffice.”
“Ah!”
The sudden voice of a man snapped her out of it.
She quickly came to her senses and turned to Ha Seung-hoon, the one who’d spoken to her.
“Sorry, Young Master Ha. That sight just... pulled me in.”
“Haha, no worries. I was the same. Alright, then. I’ll cut off the qi supply now.”
“Yes!”
Right after that exchange,
the moment the flow of qi broke off in perfect sync, she released the spell she’d been maintaining. The dragon-shaped entity that had carried them down to the ground—and continued asserting its presence—gradually faded, then scattered into the air and vanished.
“Whew—.”
“Are you alright? Maintaining such an advanced spell for so long must’ve been quite taxing.”
“Oh, of course! And even if it was tough, it couldn’t compare to what you endured, Young Master. You supplied all the qi needed, after all. I just shaped the shell.”
“I’m fine too. Honestly, if I set my mind to it, I could keep that up all day. It’s all thanks to your blessing, Miss.”
“The blessing I used wasn’t anything special... Achieving that feat was only possible because of you, Young Master! And not just the amount of qi—keeping it steady like that is no easy task.”
“Still...”
“...Pfft.”
The two, facing each other and hastily praising one another, burst into awkward laughter at the same time.
Since escaping the underground ritual chamber where they’d been imprisoned,
much had happened to them.
No sooner had they caught their breath than Demonic Cultists and jiangshi kept swarming them.
They fought fierce battles, pushing through perilous paths in a desperate bid to escape the enemy stronghold.
If most of the Demonic Cult’s forces weren’t concentrated on the outer battlefields—and if they weren’t bound by the need to capture sacrifices alive—they’d have failed long ago.
And in that process, it was only natural that the bond between Hugo, their sole fighter, and Jegal Hye-mi, the only one able to support him, had rapidly deepened.
There’d been more than a few perilous moments where they had to sync perfectly or perish.
“...Anyway, I can’t just sit idle. Hope has dawned with their arrival, but the battle isn’t over yet.”
“Then I...”
“Please stay here and protect the others, Miss. Even in the heart of the formation, we can’t predict what might happen if they come at us with full force.”
She had no choice but to agree with him.
In truth, the most crucial factor in this battle wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was the fate of those ‘Children of the Dragon.’
The Demonic Cult wanted to recapture them to complete their ritual, while the Murim Alliance couldn’t abandon the world’s only hope for recovery.
‘Ah, right. This isn’t the time to celebrate escaping the Demonic Cult’s grasp.’
Neither side wanted anything bad to happen to them, but the Children of the Dragon’s fate was already sealed.
It would only differ based on who won the war—whose cause they’d be sacrificed for, and to what end.
‘...Yeah. Still, sacrificing for the world is far more worthwhile than being used for the Demonic Cult’s schemes.’
She didn’t want to see the world crumble into ruin.
There were still many precious things left in it for her.
Her family and clan members who’d spared no effort for her frail health since childhood, for one...
Gritting her teeth, Jegal Hye-mi watched the man’s back as he headed toward the battlefield.
Flames erupted from his body, transforming into a fire dragon that swept through the jiangshi ahead.
The haze from the heat blurred her vision.
“......”
Staring fixedly without even blinking, she lifted her gaze back to the sky.
The dragons swimming mystically through the heavens were captured in her hazy view, descending upon those below.
‘What a shame. I wanted to document the dragons properly for the records.’
Her eyes lingered on one in particular—the oddly shaped Yellow Dragon.
Of course, with so many witnesses here, this historic event wouldn’t be forgotten.
From the outline of events to the dragons’ and yokai’s intervention, even that Yellow Dragon’s appearance—it would all be faithfully passed down.
Not just in histories and oral traditions, but in art, paintings, and songs.
...Just not with her name as the ‘author.’
“Ah.”
As she spaced out, she felt for a moment like her eyes met the Yellow Dragon’s—but it was probably just an illusion.
Her vision was still blurred, after all.
A single blink would sharpen it, but she refused to close her eyes.
As if that alone were her utmost act of defiance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Perfect timing. Any later, and it would’ve been irreversible.]
A deep, gruff male voice flowed into Horus’s mind as he gazed quietly downward.
[If the White Dragon hadn’t opposed it, we could’ve come sooner.]
[Hmm, I’ll concede that. But exiting the Illusory Realm always requires caution. Especially now, when the world’s on the brink of collapse.]
The calm reply came as the woman’s voice—Red Dragon’s—chimed in with a tsk-tsk tone.
It was a response befitting the eldest of the current Five Dragons, the White Dragon.
Though in human terms, he was barely in his early thirties.
[Tch, such an old fogey.]
[Red Dragon, mind your manners.]
Unsatisfied with the measured response, the early-to-mid twenties Red Dragon grumbled again, only for the Blue Dragon—around the same age—to quietly admonish her.
The Blue Dragon inwardly agreed but knew where to draw the line.
[But seriously, why be so cautious even now? If we lose here, it’s all over! If not for Horus this time, we’d be in deep trouble. And now you say ‘perfect timing’?]
The real reason for Red Dragon’s prickliness wasn’t anything else.
It was that when Horus first proposed this intervention, the White Dragon had opposed it most vehemently.
Having grown fond of Horus over their not-insubstantial time together—much like the Blue Dragon—she couldn’t help but resent it.
[Still, looking at the situation, it seems like the perfect moment.]
Then, a young girl’s voice quietly interjected among them.
The youngest of the Five Dragons excluding Horus, who’d undergone her coming-of-age just a few years ago—the Black Dragon.
[If we’d come too early, human casualties would’ve been too low, right? Ideally, arriving right before humanity’s annihilation would’ve been best, but that would’ve caused too many losses on our side too. This feels just right.]
[Black Dragon...]
The words were brutally cold, mismatched with her voice.
It reflected her disdain for humans, who’d seized continental hegemony over the Dragon God’s direct heirs like themselves.
That tendency had intensified after her brother—the former Black Dragon—died maintaining the world while humans warred among themselves.
[Horus? What’ve you been staring at... Oh! I see. Those children...]
The Blue Dragon, unable to rebuke her, glanced where Horus had been looking and slowly nodded.
She knew at a glance.
The frail humans gathered at the center of the human lines.
They were the Children of the Dragon, the key to saving the world.
[...Seven of them. And one stands out with particularly high potential...]
The Blue Dragon trailed off.
She wasn’t brazen enough to bluntly say they’d suffice as sacrifices.
Red Dragon followed up with an even loftier tone.
[Great. Then we just smash those kids, and it’s done. Odds are in our favor. We can’t intervene directly due to stabilizing space, but we brought plenty of capable fighters instead, right?]
In truth, all Five Dragons coming here was a huge strain.
They hadn’t holed up in the Dragon God Temple, enduring heavy losses to maintain the world’s balance for nothing.
But to suppress this demonic realm’s environment and transport the yokai horde, they had no choice.
They’d dispatched other dragons to the temple as reinforcements, but even that wouldn’t hold long.
‘The greater the power divine beasts like us exert in the mortal world, the fiercer the backlash.’
Then everyone would be at risk.
The dragons barely holding the world together in the temple, those overexerting themselves here, and the unstable world itself.
That was why the White Dragon had been so overly cautious.
One misstep, and the world could end before they even performed the Dragon Heart Reconstruction Ritual.
‘Of course, that doesn’t apply to me.’
Horus’s lips curled up as he stared below, revealing vicious fangs.
He was an otherworlder awakener unbound by this world’s rules.
Unlike the other dragons, who had to tread carefully, his situation differed.
[So it’s a race against time from here?]
[Pretty much. We need to wrap this up fast and return to the temple to minimize damage to the world.]
While Red Dragon answered Horus’s question nonchalantly, the Blue Dragon narrowed her eyes at him, sensing something.
[Horus?]
But before she could speak,
Flap—
[I’ll be off then!]
Horus spread his wings wide, spun once in midair, and dove straight down.
[...Huh?]
[Horus?!]
Ignoring their startled voices, Horus’s Yeouiju gleamed as he closed in on the battlefield.
‘Primary objective achieved. Now, maximize the gains.’
The world was already proceeding as he’d planned.
The karma he’d reap from this would be immense.
But why pass up additional profits when they were ripe for the taking?
‘Leave a massive footprint on the world. One that won’t fade for tens, hundreds, thousands of years.’
Everyone gathered here—humans, dragons, yokai alike—stood at the pinnacle of this world.
This was the golden opportunity to etch his existence indelibly into their minds and wield immense influence.
Why pass up such sweet event?
Flash—
The faintly glowing Yeouiju erupted with sunlight-like brilliance.
At the same time, Horus’s Dragon Heart throbbed wildly, condensing dense energy like a volcano deep in his throat.
‘Full power.’
「Gold Dragon」’s innate ability fused with 「Elder Dragon’s Heart」, amplified by 「Dragon Word Magic」. 「Lord of All Things」 and 「Seeker of Mysteries」 supported him.
「Resistor of Providence」 ignored constraints on power manifestation, while 「Heavenly Flow Taoism」 wove it all together.
‘And finally, 「Limit Breakthrough」.’
Crack—
Something intangible within him fractured.
Not a physical object, but a formless limit—or wall.
It reacted to Horus’s first full-power exertion since birth.
Whoooosh—
The air currents shifted.
Part of the favorable winds blanketing all of Beijing since the Five Dragons’ arrival twisted, surging toward one point and compressing repeatedly.
“Huh? The Yellow Dragon?”
“W-what is that?!”
“Crazy...! Fall back! Defend! Defensive formation!”
Demonic Cultists and Alliance members alike panicked at the ominous phenomenon, scrambling into defensive postures.
Only the emotionless jiangshi remained unfazed.
Rooooar—
Infinite mana from the Elder-grade Dragon Heart surged from his maw.
Not limited to adult dragon levels as usual.
It immediately interfaced with the Yeouiju, which attuned to the world’s laws, triggering endless synergy.
Stronger, faster, larger, more brilliant.
And then.
A destructive beam, unbelievable from any living being’s mouth, lanced out like a laser.
Toward the Beijing side, held by the Demonic Cult, slightly behind the battlefield.
And—
In an instant, all battlefield noise vanished.
No—all sounds were drowned and crushed by one overwhelmingly massive roar.
“@!%$!&*...!”
“$@$!#%&...!”
Aftershocks ravaged the entire battlefield—no, all of Beijing.
The fierce ongoing battles had ceased long ago.
Everyone was too busy just staying upright.
Rumble—!
Amid sweeping earthquakes and dust clouds, a colossal mushroom cloud rose from the city.
The capital of this world, which had amassed long history through rises and falls.
Also the scar of disaster, left to ruin after recent prolonged neglect.
Beijing.
Vanished.
Along with part of the Demonic Cult’s rear forces gathered there.