Chapter 317
Chapter 317
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 317
Chapter Title: A Faded Promise (9)
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A resplendent flame blazed.
The fire that had filled the vast cavern swirled and began to flow into Ha-eun’s body.
“Ugh!”
Ha-eun’s expression twisted.
A great tidal wave of magical energy was pouring into her.
“Kugh!”
“W-what is this heat!”
The Majin, locked in a fierce battle with Oh-jin, groaned and stumbled back, reeling from the incredible heat radiating from Ha-eun.
“Nunna!”
With a desperate look on his face, Oh-jin ran toward Ha-eun, who was absorbing the flames.
*Sizzzle!*
With every step closer to Ha-eun, he could feel his skin searing from the incredible heat.
“Kellion…!”
With the situation diverging from the ‘prophecy,’ Oh-jin glared at Kellion, his face twisted in a savage expression.
Naturally, when planning this operation, he had considered the risk of Kellion's betrayal.
He had gone through with it anyway because, after carefully observing Kellion for the past few days, he hadn't judged him to be ‘lying’.
It wasn't as if Oh-jin could see through every lie at a glance.
But he had never failed to detect a lie after thoroughly investigating a suspicious subject for several days.
*Kellion didn't deceive us.*
Then what in the world was happening?
“Why… how?”
Kellion, his face pale, stared blankly at Ha-eun absorbing the Dragon God's soul.
According to Kailus's prophecy, the woman with the Dragon's Eye was supposed to awaken the Dragon God from its slumber.
But.
Even now that the Dragon God's soul had been released, its tightly shut eyelids showed no sign of opening.
No, it wasn't just that its eyes remained closed.
*Gurgle, grumble.*
The sleeping Dragon God's body was melting from the heat that filled the cavern.
The breath that had periodically puffed from its nostrils had ceased, and the overwhelming pressure that made it hard to breathe just by looking at it had faded.
Yes.
The Dragon God, Kaleios, was dying.
“This is… different from the prophecy, isn't it?”
Something had gone wrong.
It was like assembling scattered puzzle pieces only to find they formed a completely different picture.
“Lord Kaleios…”
Tears streamed down Kellion's cheeks.
He rose to his feet and staggered toward the dying Dragon God.
*Sizzzle!*
The pain of his flesh burning.
Even through the agony that felt like his mind was being burned white, he did not stop walking.
The Dragon God, Kaleios.
The dragon who had remained alone in the kingdom to save the Dragonkin, who were nothing more than slaves.
The merciful god who, despite being scorned by other dragons, never gave up on the Dragonkin.
Was it when the great army of Majin attacked?
It had been over a hundred years, but the conversation he'd had with Kaleios then was still vividly etched in his heart.
-This place is dangerous!
At the urgent warning, Kaleios had nodded slowly, as if he already knew.
-You must abandon the kingdom and flee!
While not as long as the immortal dragons, the lifespan of a Dragonkin was also quite long.
Kellion had been leading the Dragonkin even back then, a hundred years ago when the Majin invaded.
At the time, Kellion had proposed abandoning the kingdom and fleeing with the remaining survivors.
But.
-Is this not the foundation of your lives?
Kaleios's answer had been firm.
He, born a noble dragon, had declared he would risk his life to protect the home of the Dragonkin, who were born to serve them.
He was a foolish dragon.
Like a king drawing his sword and heading to the battlefield to protect his subjects.
No, perhaps it was even more than that.
The relationship between dragons and Dragonkin was not a mutually complementary one like that of a king and his subjects.
A king cannot exist without subjects, but a dragon can exist without Dragonkin.
To dragons, the Dragonkin were nothing more than convenient slaves to be worked.
For such worthless beings.
Why had he risked his life?
-You are not slaves.
To Kellion's question, Kaleios had continued with a warm smile.
-You are my, Kaleios's, proud children.
Even after a hundred long years had passed.
-My most precious treasures.
Those words, which had never faded.
“Why… why… won't you open your eyes?”
The tears rolling down Kellion's cheeks evaporated in the heat.
When the woman with the Dragon's Eye came to him.
He had been filled with the hope that he could finally meet the Dragon God again.
“Didn't you say… you could open your eyes if you only had the Dragon's Eye?”
They say hope is the greatest spice for despair.
Where hope had drained away, deep despair welled up.
Kellion stared with hollow, soulless eyes at the Dragon God's body as it gradually melted away.
One step, then another.
He walked toward the dying Dragon God through the flesh-searing heat.
Just as his entire body was becoming covered in burns.
“Snap out of it, you bastard!”
A hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
Kellion fell backward like a wooden puppet with its strings cut.
“…Dammit.”
Oh-jin chewed his lip anxiously, watching the flames being absorbed into Ha-eun's body.
Seeing Kellion's soulless reaction, it was clear he hadn't intended for this to happen.
If so.
Who.
*This isn't the time to think about that.*
More important than who had orchestrated this was confirming whether the current situation was harmful to Ha-eun.
“Nunna!”
He called out to Ha-eun, who was completely engulfed in flames and couldn't even be seen.
Had she lost consciousness in the great tidal wave of magical energy?
There was no answer from within the flames.
*Dammit.*
Oh-jin took a step toward the flame-engulfed Ha-eun.
The incredible heat pushed him back, as if warning him not to come any closer.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
He pushed through the searing heat and took another step.
*Rumble!*
Walking into the blazing fire, he drew upon the power of the ‘Black Sky’.
*The only way is to absorb the fire with the Black Sky.*
Since there was no way of knowing what effect the immense magical power dwelling in the dragon's soul would have on Ha-eun.
There was no other way but for him to devour all that power himself.
“Hah.”
He placed a hand over his left chest.
Beyond the thin layer of skin, the black sky sleeping within his pulsating heart.
As the power of the Black Sky awakened, dark storm clouds billowed out.
The clouds of the Black Sky began to greedily devour the fiercely burning flames.
*It's working.*
He could feel the magical energy contained within the flames flowing into him through the Black Sky.
Being able to absorb the flames flowing into Ha-eun was good news, but.
*It's not enough.*
The amount being absorbed was ridiculously insufficient.
No, to be precise, the magical energy within the flames was just too immense.
Oh-jin bit his lip.
In the end, he had one card left.
*I have to use Opening the Heavens.*
There was no other way.
“Those who pass through me…”
Oh-jin began to chant softly, his hand still on his left chest.
Just then.
“O-Oh-jin, you're about to use that skill, aren't you?!”
Ha-eun's voice came from within the flames.
“…Nunna?”
“I'm fine, so don't use it!”
She's fine?
How could she possibly be fine while taking in such immense magical power?
“You're lying…”
“I'm not lying, you punk! You're good at telling when people are lying, aren't you?!”
“……”
Just as she said.
Her voice, coming from the flames, sounded surprisingly ‘okay’.
“Hold on, this is almost over, so just wait a bit!”
The flames, which had been burning fiercely enough to incinerate the whole world, began to subside.
Through the calming fire, Ha-eun could be seen walking out.
“…Nunna.”
The Ha-eun who emerged from the flames looked more like a Dragonkin than a human.
Red scales covered parts of her neck and cheeks.
Pointed ears and vertically slit pupils reminiscent of a reptile.
Hot flames blazed around the body of Ha-eun, who had transformed into the likeness of a Dragonkin.
No, to be precise, parts of her body had turned into ‘fire’ itself.
It was similar to when he used Opening the Heavens or the Lightning God Body.
Her body, now blazing flames, radiated an incredible heat in all directions.
“Whoa, damn, I nearly freaked out when it suddenly got absorbed into me. Is this supposed to happen?”
Ha-eun looked around, bewildered.
Her eyes fell on the melting body of the Dragon God.
“Huh? Hey, why is that thing dying?”
“I don't know.”
“…Is it because of me?”
“……”
Oh-jin kept his mouth firmly shut.
It certainly seemed to be what happened when the soul meant for the Dragon God inhabited Ha-eun instead.
But he had no idea why the soul had been absorbed by Ha-eun and not the Dragon God in the first place.
“Hang on, let me adjust the firepower.”
Thinking she first had to stop the Dragon God's body from melting, Ha-eun gathered the flames radiating from her back into her body.
The heat that had been scorching the entire cavern subsided in an instant.
But.
“…Is it dead?”
The Dragon God's breathing, once stopped, did not resume.
Even the flames that had periodically puffed from its nostrils, proving it was still alive, were no longer being emitted.
The Dragon God, Kaleios.
The merciful god who had sacrificed his life for the Dragonkin.
Was completely dead.
“Ah, ugh. Ahh…!”
Kellion approached the half-melted corpse of the Dragon God.
“Lord Kaleios…! Lord Kaleios!!”
He wept, embracing the god who had died without ever opening his eyes.
A sorrowful wail echoed through the cavern.
Ha-eun watched the wailing Kellion with a conflicted expression.
“Hah, hah!”
“W-what was that heat just now?”
The Majin who had retreated from the incredible heat approached again.
“…Right, you guys were still here.”
Ha-eun's gaze, which had been on the wailing Kellion, shifted to the Majin.
*Fwoosh!*
The flames that had been absorbed into her body erupted again, blazing with ferocious heat.
“Oh-jin, I'm gonna try taking those guys on by myself.”
“You sure you'll be okay?”
Although their numbers had dwindled while fighting Oh-jin, there were still nearly thirty Majin left.
For the old Ha-eun, it was a force she wouldn't have dared to face alone, but.
“Yeah, I think I'll be fine. As I am now.”
Ha-eun nodded, her voice full of confidence.
Leaving Oh-jin behind, Ha-eun walked slowly toward the Majin.
With each step, the flames absorbed within her blazed more fiercely.
“D-dammit!”
“Kill her!”
The Majin, who had been hesitating due to the incredible heat, drew their weapons and charged at Ha-eun.
And then.
“H-holy crap, I got crazy strong, Oh-jin!”
It took less than ten minutes for the nearly thirty Majin to be reduced to piles of ash.