Chapter 35 — You're Not Hiding Anything, Are You?
Chapter 35 — You're Not Hiding Anything, Are You?
Translation: GodTL
「What if I could use full-fledged Dragon Words like the Dragons, instead of this half-fledged version?」
No one else understood what the emperor had said. To them, the recording was a silent piece of ancient history. To me, those words landed like a door suddenly opening where there had never been a wall.
Dragon Words.
Rokan had told me that mastering Dragon Words was the first true step toward wielding a Dragon's power freely—the condition I had to meet if I wanted to stay beside Sia without endangering myself.
The emperor who had conquered a continent had never completed that step.
That realization changed everything. The Dragon power in his sword had been enough to drag a disregarded illegitimate prince onto a throne and then across an entire continent.
And even that had been incomplete. A chill crawled down my back.
I thought back over what I knew about Dragon Words. Rokan had said it was his first time teaching it to a human and that it would be extremely difficult. Beyond that, he hadn't told me much.
How many humans in history had even reached the point where they could imitate Dragon Words at all?
He had conquered a continent without mastering them.
Then what would happen if someone actually did?
No. I'm getting way ahead of myself.
No point counting my chickens before they hatched.
Anyway, whether I should be relieved or astonished, ever since that scene, I'd somehow been able to understand every word stored in the recording magic. Whether I was confused by it or not, the recording magic kept playing.
The history of a continent I knew nothing about and accounts of the emperor's achievements that meant little to an outsider flashed by. Just as my interest began to fade and the recording neared its end...
「If you're watching this, I suppose you know how to wield Dragon power too.」
Near the end of the recording, the emperor lay wasted away in bed. His body looked frail, but his eyes remained sharp. Then he turned toward the recording spell—toward me, impossibly—and spoke as if he had known someone like me would eventually stand there.
「Let's see how you and I differ.」
The recording ended.
A grinding roar answered it.
The wall split apart, stone sliding into stone as a passage opened behind the emperor's final image. Cold air spilled out from the darkness beyond. Then shapes began moving inside it.
"Monsters!"
"Skeletons?"
"No. They're different!"
At first glance, they looked like skeletons, the D-rank monsters common in dungeons like this one. But a closer look made it obvious they were no ordinary skeletons: their bodies glowed with a strange light.
How could I describe the color? It was as if brilliant rainbow hues and the gloomy black of the Sword Remnants we'd seen earlier had been thrown together at random on a canvas...
"Everyone, be careful. We don't know what they'll do," Tae-seong shouted.
Fighting an enemy we knew nothing about was always daunting. Worse, the original purpose of this raid had been to train low-rank Hunters, so most of the team had little experience. We had trouble piled on trouble.
At least the monsters were pouring out from only one direction rather than all sides.
The skeletons screamed and charged. The sound scraped through the corridor like metal dragged across stone.
They looked like ordinary undead until they moved. Rainbow light and the same dead black energy as the Sword Remnants clung to their bones, pulsing together like two forces that should never have mixed.
But this was a place where ordinary rules might not apply. It was an EX-rank dungeon, after all. So I needed to forget what I thought was standard strategy.
As I had against the Sword Remnants, I changed the mana structure within my sword and charged. The aura surrounding the skeletons differed in color and form from the Wraiths', but there had to be a connection. A similar approach seemed best.
I met them head-on. The Dragon Bone Sword tore through the first skeleton so cleanly that the creature seemed to come apart before the rest had finished their first step. Its strange aura streamed into the blade as it fell.
I wondered if the sword might escape my control and fly away again, as it had before... but so far there was no problem. Not for me, at least.
"Aaagh!"
Around me, the battle became a slaughter—but not in our favor. I could cut the skeletons down. The others could barely hurt them.
"Heal! I need a heal!"
"How strong are these things?"
"Aaaah! Somebody help me!"
"We've got a casualty here!"
These were experienced Hunters, most of them D-rank or higher, yet their strongest attacks glanced off while the skeletons' blows sent people crashing to the floor. The difference was grotesque.
Why?
I might have special power and potential, but potential was all it was. Even taking everything into account, I couldn't call myself the strongest person here. Tae-seong, our leader, was an experienced B-rank Hunter.
So why...
"How is Min-jun doing fine over there?"
"Min-jun!"
"Min-jun! Please help us!"
Their cries for help came almost at once. Everyone had reached the same conclusion: whatever rule governed these monsters, I was the only person here allowed to break it.
But...
Then I'll do it.
I twisted around and brought my sword down hard on the skeletons behind us. Until now, I'd only had to worry about those before me. From here on, I had to fight on both sides, and it would take several times as much concentration.
Buffs flooded into me from every direction. Strength. Speed. Protection. Healing. In seconds, the entire raid had reorganized around one fact: if I fell, everyone fell.
The rear first.
Given my position, clearing the front would have been safer. The skeletons behind us were focused on the other Hunters, while the ones in front weren't. Turning toward the rear would leave my back completely exposed to the enemy's front line.
But the other Hunters could die at any moment. Surely I had to deal with the immediate danger first. Besides, I had the formidable artifacts Sia had given me. With their power, even a skeleton's blow shouldn't inflict a fatal wound.
I plunged into the rear line and swung until thought became unnecessary. Bone shattered. Strange light poured into the sword. Another skeleton rose, and I cut that one down too. The buffs made me faster, but underneath them I could feel the Dragon Bone Sword pulling more and more power into itself.
By the time the final skeleton collapsed, my arms felt as though they belonged to someone else.
"Phew."
The tension left me, and my legs gave way. I dropped to the ground. As the healers tended the wounded Hunters and they gulped down potions, others gathered the skeleton bones piled all around us.
Meanwhile, I went over the fight in my mind. Why had only my attacks worked properly against these skeletons? Other Hunters had been able to hurt the Sword Remnants. Here, though, no one but me had been able to fight at their best.
Is it because of the Dragon power in this sword?
Or perhaps it was the emperor's will: he would allow no one into his tomb unless they, like him, wielded a Dragon-blessed sword.
While I was deep in thought, Tae-seong approached.
"The more I think about it, the stranger this is. Don't you think so, Min-jun?"
Everything had begun to go strangely after my sword flew into the statue. And I'd always been at the center of it. The others couldn't have failed to notice.
"What exactly is your connection to this dungeon?"
"Connection? This is my first time here too. How could I have any connection to it...?"
"I can't make sense of any of this... You're not hiding anything from us, are you?"
Hiding something. A chill ran down my spine. How was I supposed to explain?
I couldn't exactly tell them the whole truth: that my girlfriend had been reborn as a Dragon, that the sword in my hand was a Dragon Bone Sword like the one wielded by the emperor who owned this tomb, and that I, too, carried Dragon power.
They wouldn't believe me if I told them. And if they did, that would be a problem of its own...
I did my best to pretend I knew nothing.
"I'm confused too. This is a lot of pressure."
"... I suppose it must be just as confusing for you. Once we're out of the Gate, let's look into what happened together. For now..."
Tae-seong took my hand.
"We need your strength."
"... I'll do my best."
Thankfully, Tae-seong didn't question me further, and the other Hunters didn't bring it up again either.
After a good rest, we set out again with me in the lead, heading for the lowest level of the tomb. Dungeons were unpredictable places to begin with, and this one was particularly dangerous. No one let down their guard.
Sure enough, with every step, skeletons and other undead monsters attacked us. They, too, were wrapped in that strange light, like rainbow colors mixed with black energy. As before, the other Hunters couldn't do any meaningful damage. They gave me all their support, and I hunted the monsters alone.
We pushed through one stretch after another, making our way toward the dungeon's lowest level.
At last, the endless stairs opened onto the lowest level. The cramped corridors vanished behind us, replaced by a cavernous chamber whose walls disappeared into shadow. Ancient patterns covered the stone, but there was no treasure, no coffin, no throne—nothing. The emptiness itself felt deliberate.
"It's creepier because there's nothing here."
"Still better than monsters."
"True, but... what was this place for?"
There was nothing in sight, but monsters could spring out at us anytime, from anywhere. I stayed at the front and kept watch as we walked.
Then something struck behind me.
A dull impact sounded nearby.
I spun around. The Hunters following me had been thrown back several steps, and an empty strip of floor now separated us.
What...?
I looked at them, wondering what had happened, but they seemed just as bewildered.
"What's wrong?"
"Min-jun."
Tae-seong raised a hand and struck the empty air between us. His knuckles stopped against something invisible with a hard knock.
"How did you get in there?"
"What?"
"There's a barrier."
Juwon kicked it. His boot hit nothing—and still stopped dead with a hollow impact. Somehow, I had crossed through before the barrier closed.
"Why is Min-jun the only one who got through...?"
A cold certainty settled in my stomach.
Don't tell me...?
I rushed back toward them. The invisible wall stopped me this time.
A dull impact sounded nearby.
This time, the wall stopped me.
"Uh...?"
Then the barrier turned opaque.
"...!"
The floor under my feet began to sink. On the other side, Tae-seong and the others pounded against the wall, their voices already growing distant.
"Min-jun!"
No attack they tried made a mark. The chamber carried me downward alone.
Whatever had built this tomb had finally separated the person it wanted from everyone else.