The Dragon Heart
The Endless Express (12)
There were many byproducts one could harvest from a dragon’s corpse.
Its scales and bones—including claws, talons, and fangs—were the most obvious. Then there was its blood, a high-grade reagent prized for rituals and magic.
The problem was that they were too high-grade.
While it was possible to use the materials as-is, weapons and armor only reached their full potential when crafted to match their wielder. And there weren’t many places capable of properly refining dragon byproducts.
Proper utilization would likely require either enlisting the help of the Meister Clan on Floor 15’s rest area, or visiting a forge or factory available as a reward on Floor 36 or higher.
“And even then, if I pay the Meister Clan to make something, there won’t be anything left over.”
Right now he couldn’t even turn Aksharon’s shed skin into armor. He’d keep a small amount just in case, but scales and bones weren’t his real goal.
What Yoon Taeyang wanted was something far more precious.
A dragon’s heart.
Or, as it was more commonly known, a Dragon Heart.
A pure condensation of mana and a vessel containing the dragon’s soul. An elixir that could grant an enormous amount of mana the moment it was consumed.
Crunch.
Taeyang sliced open Untara’s corpse with his lightsaber. The body was still stiff from rigor mortis, making the work tougher than expected.
Sweating heavily, he hacked away without mercy.
“What is it, some kind of wild ginseng?”
“Oh. Right.”
Taeyang paused mid-swing and let out a short laugh.
Crunch.
Taeyang finally carved open Untara’s chest. A massive heart was revealed before him.
“Ugh, that’s grotesque.”
Ran, who had been diligently prying off scales nearby, wrinkled her nose.
Given Untara’s enormous size, its heart alone was as big as Taeyang’s entire upper body.
“Why are you even taking out the organs? It’s disgusting.”
“Why? So I can eat it, obviously.”
“Y-you’re going to eat that?”
Martial world NPCs tended to know very little about ‘dragons.’ After all, the ‘dragons’ of their world and the ‘dragons’ of the dimensional labyrinth were completely different beings.
“Not the whole thing.”
The term Dragon Heart didn’t refer to the biological heart itself, but to the mana crystal located at its core.
“You’re the only one covering your eyes again. Coward. Total coward.”
Taeyang plunged his hand deep into Untara’s flesh.
“Blegh, this is nasty.”
The squishy sensation made him grimace. After digging around for a while, he finally grasped the crystal and yanked his arm free.
Shlurp.
With a sound like air escaping, dragon blood poured from the hole where his arm had been.
“This is the Dragon Heart?”
Ran and Paka approached Taeyang. He rubbed the crystal against the snow to wipe off Untara’s blood.
“It’s just a transparent rock.”
“Looking at it now, it’s actually kind of pretty.”
“So this is a Dragon Heart…”
Taeyang looked at Paka and asked, “I’m taking this. No objections, right?”
“None.”
Paka nodded. In exchange for handing over the Dragon Heart, he would receive the second-most valuable part of the dragon—the reverse scale. Taeyang had also been the one to cut off the dragon’s head, and only he could locate the train. The negotiation had been based on that leverage.
Ran asked, “Are you really going to eat that?”
“Of course.”
“It looks like it’ll get stuck in your throat. You can’t even chew it.”
“……”
She had a point. Truthfully, that was exactly why Taeyang had been hesitating.
“Does that actually work?”
“Forget it. What else was I expecting from you?”
After staring at the Dragon Heart for a long time, Taeyang finally tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it whole.
The moment the mana crystal touched his throat, it melted like liquid and slid down his esophagus.
“Ugh.”
Maybe because it came from a white dragon, it felt like ice-cold water was churning through his body.
Taeyang instinctively sat down. The dragon’s mana circulated through him once before settling into his heart.
You have obtained the Special Trait: Dragon Heart.
* * *
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Open the door! It’s me! Battalion Commander Acutus has returned!”
The battalion commander, who had chased the train all night without sleep, pounded on the rear car.
“Damn it.”
His face was twisted with rage.
Those ‘rats’ had gone and killed the dragon, creating witnesses. On top of that, he hadn’t managed to retrieve the lightsaber—the symbol of a legion commander.
If there had been only one, he might have taken it by force. But with three of them, there was nothing he could do.
If he returned empty-handed, Benjamin would undoubtedly brand him as incompetent.
“Damn it! When the hell are you opening the door?!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He slammed the partition again. These dim-witted laborers. As always, they were too stupid to even recognize who he was. Or maybe they were panicking and didn’t know what to do.
Finally, the ceiling of the rear car opened. Benjamin Acraptor and his personal guard appeared to greet the battalion commander.
As he climbed inside, Acutus gave his report. Since Benjamin’s guard knew the entire plan, there was no need to watch his words.
“I confirmed that the rats killed the dragon. It’ll be troublesome if they return to the train.”
“They killed Untara? Those three?”
Benjamin’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“Yoon Taeyang activated the lightsaber.”
“Unexpected.”
“Afterward he showed signs of mana exhaustion, so it appears he cannot use it again.”
“And the legion commander’s sword?”
“……I couldn’t retrieve it. The rats recovered it and are returning to the train. I’ll wait outside, kill them, and take it back.”
The battalion commander brushed the snow off his uniform. He would be heading out again soon, but he wanted to soak in warm water for even a moment.
“……”
Only then did Acutus realize that Benjamin and his guard were staring at him with cold eyes. He also noticed that the rear car—which should have been bustling with people at any hour—was completely empty.
The large man in a violet uniform, the captain of the guard, spoke in a dry voice.
“Traitor Acutus. Charges will be recorded as insubordination, rebellion, murder of a superior, and attempted murder.”
“No need to capture him alive. Execute.”
Benjamin Acraptor activated the magic circle he had prepared in advance. The guard raised their weapons at the battalion commander.
Acutus’s face twisted like a vengeful demon.
“You power-mad old bastard!”
The magic circle erupted in flames, and the rear section of the car exploded.
Kwaaaaaang!
The battalion commander drew his blade and swung it in response. But it was as meaningless as waving a toothpick against a tidal wave.
“Easy.”
Benjamin’s return magic had only taken the blink of an eye, but walking back had taken the battalion commander more than half a day. And half a day was more than enough time for a mage of Benjamin’s caliber to prepare.
Staring at the shattered wall debris, Benjamin asked the guard captain, “What is Salomon’s condition?”
“It should be exactly as you confirmed. He is under house arrest with no contact from any living being.”
“Absolutely prohibit bringing in anything related to fire or smoke. Check mana flow once every five minutes. The control room chief and his subordinates must be monitored with extreme—cough!—caution.”
Benjamin coughed up blood-flecked phlegm. It was lung cancer, the hereditary curse of the Acraptor family.
Smoke Magic.
Since the magic was based on smoking, it came with unavoidable side effects. The Acraptor family’s life expectancy was so short that Benjamin, who had already passed sixty, was considered an outlier.
He had been using accumulated mana to suppress the cancer’s progression, but on a day like today, his condition deteriorated without mercy.
The guard captain wordlessly offered a handkerchief. Benjamin took it and wiped his mouth.
“If your body is in poor condition, it would be best if you rested. We will handle the ‘rats.’”
Benjamin shook his head.
“These are the ones who killed Untara.”
Just from what he had seen with his own eyes, the ‘rats’ were strong. Strong enough that, if the sensitive matter of assassinating a legion commander hadn’t been involved, he would have summoned the Guardians—and still wouldn’t have felt entirely safe.
Moreover, killing Untara meant they had either succeeded in activating the lightsaber or possessed a card Benjamin hadn’t anticipated.
“I can’t risk losing something bigger while trying to protect a body that won’t last much longer anyway.”
While the guard’s forces were certainly powerful, the strongest asset was Benjamin himself. He couldn’t sit out just because he felt unwell.
At that moment, one of the guards shouted.
“Three biological signatures detected ahead!”
“Three minutes until engagement! Return to formation!”
At the command, the guards who had been installing magic circles throughout the rear car finished their work and lined up before the captain.
The captain asked, “They should have both lightsabers. Should we adjust firepower?”
“No. Execute them immediately like we did the battalion commander. If they survive and start talking, it’ll be a pain to clean up.”
Due to the train’s nature, population density was high and rumors spread extremely quickly. The surest method would have been to kill them outside, but the rear car’s facilities were simply too efficient for that.
The rear car, along with the vanguard, received the most monster attacks. As a result, it was exceptionally well-prepared.
“One minute remaining!”
Benjamin asked the guard captain, “Got a cigarette?”
Since developing lung cancer, he no longer carried any on his person.
The captain hesitated briefly before nodding.
“……I do.”
“Give me one.”
Benjamin took the cigarette and lit it with practiced ease.
“Huu.”
“Visual range in thirty seconds!”
The smoke Benjamin exhaled coiled around his wrist. There was no need for conversation. The moment their forms appeared, he would erase them with overwhelming firepower.
Thirty seconds passed.
“Still nothing?”
“A-according to the radar, they’ve already entered the train.”
The captain gestured. “Bring it here.”
After checking the monitor displaying the radar data, the captain frowned. Just as the guard had said, the three biological signatures were showing up as being inside the train.
“What the…”
That was when it happened.
Screech.
An unidentifiable sound echoed through the rear car.
“Combat ready!”
“Combat ready!”
The guards raised their weapons and aimed at the shattered wall.
Giiiiing.
Magic circles installed across the walls, floor, and cover points began to glow.
Screech.
The sound came again.
The captain shouted violently, “Above! It’s above!”
They had located the source, but all the guards could do was raise their gun barrels. There was no time for any other response.
Screech.
Another noise.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
A spine-chilling sound like bending metal filled the rear car.
“Scatter! Everyone scatter!”
“B-but then the prepared magic circles will—”
Everyone except the one guard who asked the stupid question dispersed in every direction.
Tap.
Benjamin ground the filter of his cigarette into the floor and exhaled smoke.
Screech.
At the same time as the next sound, the ceiling of the rear car collapsed.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!
Standing atop the fallen ceiling, Taeyang swung his lightsaber and roared.