The Dragon's Lair and the Elf King's Confession
It was fortunate that things had fallen into Rune’s hands.
Otherwise, the poor soul would surely have been used up as a demon’s expendable pawn and driven to darkness.
‘He must have been bound to the Elf King’s soul and forced to squeeze out his power.’
Rune had absorbed both the demonic energy and the Seal of the Forest into his body.
“Are you all right?”
Perdikion asked, worry lacing his voice.
Rune nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll need to purify it, but as long as I don’t get tainted by demonic energy again, it should be fine.”
After a brief silence, Perdikion corrected himself.
“……I meant you, not the Seal of the Forest.”
Rune, who had never imagined the concern was directed at himself, answered a beat late.
“Oh. I’m fine.”
He hadn’t been injured, nor had he been contaminated by demonic energy.
He had only been tense.
Perdikion still looked unconvinced as he examined Rune.
“Rune. Even human children know not to eat whatever they find on the ground. The Seal of the Forest may be valuable, but how could you just swallow something so thickly coated in demonic energy?”
He sounded as though he were scolding a child who had stuffed himself with spoiled food.
Rune felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu and looked at Perdikion.
It wasn’t hard to understand why.
‘This guy’s become overprotective too.’
Rune gave him a fond look and brushed the matter aside, insisting he was fine.
More importantly, Lepanon was still here.
“Just one question.”
The Elf King’s face curled its lips upward.
“What are you curious about?”
“When did you start planning this? Turning the World Tree and the elves into demons.”
The demonic energy within the World Tree had been slowly corrupting it over a very long time by mixing in demon blood bit by bit.
Rune did not believe this had happened by chance.
“My, my. The little beast reads a demon’s thoughts quite well.”
“Answer the question first.”
“So impatient.”
Lepanon should have been annoyed, yet he seemed to enjoy the audacity.
The more the other side resisted, the cleverer they were, the greater the satisfaction he would feel once he claimed their soul.
“Slaughtering the elves was quite enjoyable. But then that troublesome dragoness got involved and things became tedious. So—”
Whoosh!
A massive demonic arm swung out, veins bulging.
“I tore off one of these arms, made it look like I had been defeated, and planted it here along with the sword. I made sure it could never move unless I pulled it out myself.”
He let out an ominous laugh, adding that he had used up half the souls of the elf warriors he had hunted during the process.
“The elves are children of the World Tree…… So you infiltrated the World Tree with the souls of elves already tainted by demonic power.”
“Oh-ho. You listen well.”
Lepanon tilted his head.
“It was strange. The World Tree is a divine tree that holds the power of the forest. It isn’t the kind of tree that would be easily tainted by demon blood.”
The World Tree had raised the elves like her own children, feeding and sheltering them.
She must have swallowed the magic and demon blood made from her children’s souls and gradually become corrupted.
The World Tree could not turn away from the elves’ souls and embraced everything.
In the process, Lepanon’s blood—mixed with elf blood—had slowly seeped into the divine tree.
“That dragon brat who possessed the Seal of the Forest was acting as guardian, so I had to be careful not to get caught. Still, there was one foolish elf I had my eye on for a long time.”
An unpleasant laugh echoed through the tree cave.
Perdikion’s eyes sharpened, as if he had sensed something.
“Don’t tell me…… the Elf King?”
“Exactly. That fool wore a crown and blindly believed in the World Tree’s prophecies.”
“He believed my whispers were the World Tree’s voice.”
After that, Lepanon said with a cruel smile, he had worked quite enjoyably in the midst of tedious boredom.
“A few whispers and he moved like a diligent ant.”
Suddenly, Lepanon’s voice changed.
A voice that could not be identified as male or female, yet somehow captivating, filled the cave.
“My son, how could you be so intoxicated by victory that you fail to guard against the race right beside you? Would a dragon truly devote itself to elves for eternity?”
“One day, the child born between you and your daughter will become king, and the offspring of a dragon—not pure-blooded elves—will rule over them.”
The voice sounded genuinely concerned, but Rune, already knowing the truth, furrowed his brows.
“You really pulled off something like that.”
“This shell of a man desperately wanted the World Tree’s recognition. Stirring up that desire was child’s play.”
Perdikion, equally indignant, spoke up.
“You drove Rand out with that kind of petty instigation?!”
“As you can see. There were far worse things than what I just mentioned.”
Lepanon shrugged and deliberately spread his arms wide.
The exaggerated gesture looked utterly repulsive at that moment.
“You filthy bastard.”
When Rune finally spat out the harsh words, Lepanon laughed as though hurt.
“How cruel. I’ve been showing such consideration for such a precious soul.”
In an instant, Rune’s gaze turned ice-cold.
“Enough. Stop spouting nonsense without a soul.”
Rune roughly summarized the situation as he understood it.
“The Elf King mistook your whispers for the World Tree’s words, made a contract with you, offered up the Seal of the Forest, and drove Rand out.”
On top of that, he had even made the elves hostile toward Rand.
Using the arm and the elves’ souls to achieve so much was almost impressive.
‘At least if the Elf King hadn’t been so foolish…… If the elves hadn’t lived so closed off……’
It was fortunate that Rune had come here.
Otherwise, the elves would have been silently corrupted by the plague, their souls used as nourishment to devour the World Tree as well.
Just then—
“Chirp!”
A small bird’s cry came from beyond the barrier.
A white bird with angry eyes wore an anklet imbued with tracking magic.
Rune smiled inwardly.
‘Finally.’
It had been worth stalling for time.
“Chirp-chirp!”
Baekya raised its tiny claws outside the barrier.
It was an instinctive animal action, trying to scratch the barrier away, but it was pointless.
The next moment—
“Move aside.”
Christina’s telepathic voice rang in Rune and Perdikion’s minds.
Kuwaaaah!
A massive light burst forth from behind the angry-eyed Baekya.
Crash!
The barrier shattered in an instant, and powerful light flooded the gloomy cave.
Lepanon’s expression twisted for the first time.
“My, my…… You’ve done something clever, little beast.”
Seeing Rune’s slight smile, Lepanon muttered in annoyance.
“That violent madwoman.”
The face of a gigantic gold dragon glared into the cave.
Grrrrr.
The growl of an untouchable beast shook the heavens.
A single breath from this gold dragon could burn the World Tree.
Spears of light already circled her body.
Her fierce blue eyes, filled with killing intent, narrowed vertically as they fixed on Lepanon.
“You filthy demon!”
Bang!
Kwakwakwakwak!
A blinding flash erupted, and a massive spear of light slammed down beside Rune and Perdikion.
Shhhk!
The sound of wind being sharply sliced.
Rune, who had closed his eyes against the glare, slowly opened them.
Lepanon’s skin, exposed to the light, began to burn.
Yet he let out a snickering laugh and summoned the nearly shattered mask of his proxy in front of him.
Crack!
The mask shattered instantly.
But Lepanon had already wrapped himself in a protective barrier and dodged.
“I’ll leave the Despair that Summons Hell here.”
After revealing the magic sword’s name, he slowly waved his hand.
“Look forward to next time.”
Lepanon’s body began to slowly fade away.
At the same time, Christina’s roar erupted.
Grrrr!
“How dare you…… Where do you think you’re running!”
Her massive jaws opened, and sunlight poured out from within.
Kwaaaaaah!
A tremendous storm of light raged forth.
However—
“Did we get him……?”
At Perdikion’s words, Rune already sensed it was too late.
As expected, nothing remained where the breath had passed.
Unable to contain her anger, Christina trembled once outside the World Tree.
“That bastard……!”
Christina descended into the cave in her human form.
She looked at Rune and Perdikion one by one, checking their condition.
“You don’t seem to have been harmed. Wait just a moment.”
She quickly ran to where Lepanon had disappeared and began examining the traces of demonic energy.
Only then did Perdikion tilt his head back and let out a sigh mixed with exhaustion.
“To think we got through this without any trouble. It’s practically a miracle.”
“Really.”
Of course, Rune had already expected things to pass without major incident before coming here.
Lepanon was certainly powerful, but Christina had already dealt him a severe blow.
Recovering from an attack that was nearly fatal in just three days would have been too much.
‘Especially since she’s staying here, he couldn’t move recklessly either.’
Lepanon, who had tried to defile the World Tree with blood and use the Seal of the Forest through the Elf King’s soul.
If Rune hadn’t come here, what would have happened to the elves?
Once demonized, they would have become Lepanon’s slaves.
Without the World Tree to heal and protect them, they would have been thoroughly exploited before being annihilated by Christina’s hand.
‘If I hadn’t stepped in, Christina would have gotten her hands dirty with elf blood.’
Even if any elves had survived her, they would have been dragged into Lepanon’s paradise, turned into part of hell, and spent their lives as demons’ playthings.
‘In the end, it wrapped up like this because he coveted my soul……’
Truthfully, Rune’s real problems began now.
‘I wonder if I can get through this safely this time.’
***
“Rune-nim!”
Heungmi, who had seen Rune sitting at the desk scribbling with a quill, ran over.
“I heard you met an incredibly strange guy. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Despite her light footsteps, Rune answered with a lifeless face while diligently writing on the paper.
Heungmi peeked her face out and read what was written.
“I will…… never again…… recklessly…… make promises with bad guys……?”
“……”
When Rune silently nodded, Heungmi tilted her head.
“Is this something you were given to eat?”
“Eat? What do you mean?”
At Rune’s question, Heungmi raised her index finger and widened her eyes.
“Umm. Uncle Jed taught me! You’re not supposed to give food to bad guys!”
“Haa.”
That was just like Jed.
Rune sighed and shook his head.
Upon learning that Rune had absorbed the Seal of the Forest mixed with demonic energy, Christina had been more worried than angry.
She had thoroughly checked whether there was anything wrong with his body or if he had suffered any major mental trauma.
‘It only ended after I told her I was still holding the candy mixed with her power in my mouth.’
The candy Rune and Perdikion had been holding in their mouths was meant to protect against mental shock in case of emergency.
Though she was impressed by their quick thinking, the two of them had still been thoroughly scolded.
They were banned from going out, though they would attend the Elf King’s funeral.
On top of that, they had to submit a written reflection.
‘It might have been better if she had just gotten angry once.’
Her anger was frightening, but once it passed, it was relatively less severe.
However, Christina’s eyes were filled with worry and concern, afraid that even the slightest abnormality might exist.
That fact kept pricking at Rune’s conscience, making him feel uneasy whenever he saw her.