The Water Spirit
Because the children were all so young, Rune remained unusually calm as he tended to the dragons.
Rune combined everything he knew.
They had already been starved to the brink. Why cling to power that was almost like poison when purification had been refused?
Was it because they wanted the power of the Black Dragon clan?
Or was it the sense of duty as the Balance Keeper?
Rune immediately rejected the thought.
Sweet things are swallowed, sour things spit out. Thirsty people instinctively drink water, after all.
The darkness power was simply too strong, like poison, for swallowing.
The ones who had stubbornly refused Rune’s purification power were trying to extract it.
But it wasn’t the duty of a Balance Keeper either, since Amelia hadn’t accepted even her own purification of the darkness she carried.
Are they so insane that they can’t even tell right from wrong?
Rune kept watching the two dragons fighting Dullahan.
Waves rose, and the sea churned with the density difference, overflowing in tidal bores.
ROOOAAAR!
The Dark Knight slashed through the rushing tide with his pitch-black greatsword like eating it.
Strange. The attacks are too one-note.
Rune soon realized why.
The dragons’ attacks were threatening, but they were completely defensive.
Dullahan had instinctively realized it too and started responding while keeping a safe distance.
They have that much power and they’re not even worried about us. And they’re not even moving from their spots. This isn’t just a fight. It’s a battle to protect something.
What?
Rune stood dazed by the thought that flashed like lightning.
“Amelia.”
[Huh?]
Rune gave the order with eyes that were hard to read.
“Morph into yourself.”
[R-Right now?]
“Yeah. Since you’ve already done it, morph into a hatchling of my age or younger if possible.”
[A hatchling from when I was little……?]
Amelia tilted her head, but lowered her weapon and changed form.
“Kyuwa…….”
A small, blue-scaled blue dragon hatchling, scales sparkling.
Rune took the hatchling that was about the size of the middle between Baekya and Heungmi and stood in front of Dullahan.
Amelia’s water-blue eyes widened in shock and fixed on the eyes of the adult blue dragon high above.
“Kyue, kyuhoo…….”
Amelia’s eyes filled with clear tears as she faced the mad adult without even a body.
Rune calmly observed the opponent’s actions.
And then the howls of the blue dragons, trapped in the curse for hundreds of years, tore through his ears.
KYAAAAA!
The water vibrated and the waves reached deep inside them.
Rocks shattered and fell around, and the mountain of sediment crumbled.
KUGUGUG!
Two long necks whipped the sea, and the currents tangled in chaos.
Dullahan caught the flying rocks that got tangled in the current and dragon tail swings and threw them in the opposite direction with both hands.
“Kyue, kyuhoo……!”
“It’s okay. Slowly use the purification power around your body.”
Since they hadn’t gone back to childhood age, Amelia trembled slightly but activated the Word of Power for purification around her body.
The blue dragons whose eyes were blinded by darkness and curses instinctively fixed their gazes on the light spewing out the purification.
“Good. Keep going. Just show the power you have.”
Now.
Rune started absorbing the darkness power that had soaked into the dragons under the light.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The blue dragons raised their bodies.
As if drawn by the light, the two dragons walked slowly with heavy footsteps toward Rune holding Amelia.
-A…… mel……ia.
[A, dad……? Mom?]
The two voices calling Amelia came out thick and distorted.
Amelia, who had frozen in surprise, started thrashing to get away from Rune’s hand.
[R-Rune. I have to go. Mom and dad……!]
“Calm down.”
The darkness was still thick for Amelia to reach them.
More than anything, the two adult blue dragons approaching had curses overflowing on their bodies.
Rune clicked his tongue inside and tightened his grip on the struggling hatchling to calm it.
-KRROOOONG!
Naked, raspy killing intent and rage shot toward Rune.
Oh no.
BOOOOM!
A giant blue dragon tail smashed down instantly on the spot where Rune stood.
“Rune-ssi! Baekya! Sister!”
Heungmi came running with a kyaaang sound.
“Calm down.”
Heungmi stopped in place at Rune’s flat voice.
The sand and small stones that had spread across the sea sank, revealing Rune and Amelia’s figures.
Rune stood holding Amelia inside a transparent barrier where tiny multicolored sparks of light flickered around him.
A transparent dolphin with a faint glow.
Rune’s reflection inside it was completely relaxed.
“It seems you’ve been waiting here all this time.”
The Milky Way embedded in the dolphin’s body sparkled as if answering.
“Kyuhoo……?”
[W-What is this?]
Amelia looked around curiously at the translucent dolphin that was wrapping them.
“It’s a water spirit. More accurately, perhaps a sea spirit.”
[Spi……rit?]
Even though it was just a tail-whip strike, the dolphin had defended against an adult dragon’s attack head-on.
At the very least, it was an Upper Spirit.
Rune examined the water spirit calmly.
“Right. Now that the sea has been purified, it must be why you could finally come.”
At first, it was strange that no water-related spirits could be seen anywhere in the sea.
Blue dragons were a race born with affinity for water.
Yet inside the rare area, and even on the field, there were only monsters and marine life.
Rune had felt the strangeness for a long time.
A place as rare as the deep sea for a spirit to stay was rare.
No threat to the spirit, full of the elemental source water, and overflowing with mana.
In every way, the conditions were perfect for a spirit to live there.
Because of the darkness power and curse, it became a place where spirits couldn’t stay.
Purifying the abyss had been a task to prepare a place easy for Amelia’s parents.
So Rune had known that the spirits would return to this place one day after the darkness cleared.
Especially this dolphin spirit had clearly been waiting to enter the rare area for a long time.
On the other hand, Amelia was looking up at the spirit with wonder.
[W-Wonderful…… I’ve never seen anything like it…… It feels like I’ve known it…… for a long time…….]
“……I wonder if that’s true. Your parents entrusted you to this spirit, after all.”
Christina had also entrusted little Rune to the light spirit Rai.
Spirits didn’t betray, so there was no better target than Amelia to entrust.
Even though it’s an Upper Spirit, it only came here after a day. It must have known Amelia already.
At that moment, the dolphin turned its back toward Rune and Amelia.
[It, it seems to be telling us something…….]
Still unsure, Amelia led by Rune climbed onto the dolphin’s back.
The dolphin carrying surprised Amelia and Rune dodged the spraying breath quickly.
Good luck. Even if it’s a contract with a spirit that’s gone mad, it’s trying to protect it till the end.
The target of the contract with the dolphin must be one of the two blue dragons.
Even though the contract wasn’t in a proper state, it had been maintaining it without changing for hundreds of years, meaning it had been protecting their request.
A spirit…….
While Rune was impressed by the loyalty, the dolphin reached the place where the others were.
And it waited without moving much from the safe distance, guarding the blue dragons.
Rune lifted one corner of his mouth.
If this guy helps, the work will be easier than I thought.
Rune spoke to the dolphin.
“Hey.”
- ?
Rune checked the dolphin tilting its head and took out all the snacks he had collected from his pocket space until then.
Cookie with fruit jam made by Christina, pudding, jelly, candy.
In between, the test honey and twist made by Rune.
They were power foods filled with Christina and Rune’s mana.
“Feed this to them to return your contract partners. You help too.”
- …….
It was a confident negotiation, but the dolphin’s eyes changed to one that didn’t seem to like it at all.
That?
As Rune stared at the dolphin, Amelia, unsure what to do, squeezed between them.
[Spirit. P-Please…… help me too. We…… want to wake up our…… parents…….]
The dolphin looked at Amelia steadily, then reluctantly swam and flew near the blue dragons as if giving in.
[I-It seems you gave permission!]
“……Yeah.”
Though reluctant, Rune focused on finding a way to proceed with the work by staying calm.
“This is a power food blessed with the Gold Dragon’s blessing. Eating it will break the curse.”
[Th-These foods?]
“Yeah.”
The blue dragons were strong.
But what Rune had prepared was power cooking enough to fill a carriage.
Even power cooking with the power of the Gold Dragon Elder included.
I won’t be able to completely refuse Christina’s power in here.
But Amelia was unsure and looked cautious.
[It’s, it’s so precious…… Even if you give this many…… is it okay?]
“Coming to someone else’s house without empty hands isn’t good manners.”
With this, I can owe you something so you’ll get what you want later.
Recovering the darkness power was just taking back what was originally his power.
Rune had intended to receive the water insignia from the water clan after showing them a favor.
“Everyone ready?”
The others intuitively understood what they had to do and their eyes sparkled.
“Yes!”
Heungmi stood with both hands full of blueberry cookies and smiled.
The dolphin carried the group and swam toward the blue dragons’ faces.
At the moment the dragon opened its mouth wide to spray breath, Rune shouted.
“Now! Dump everything in!”
The group threw the small snacks into the giant mouth.
Just like people from a tiny country throwing food into a giant’s belly, the cookies all disappeared into the blue dragons’ mouths.
A moment later, the Gold Dragon Elder’s power exploded from inside the blue dragons.
SHINE!
The golden blessing from the snacks made the blue dragons’ bodies sparkle.
Among them, the honey Rune made marked the origin of the dark Black Dragon clan like a bullseye.
Next to the blue dragon’s heart.
The power of the darkness clan caught by the dragon heart’s mana!
There it is.
Rune glared at the target.
“Amelia, now!”
“Kyuu!”
Amelia in hatchling form stretched out her front paws and sprayed the light of purification.
SHINE!
The bodies of the blue dragons were overflowing with blessing and purification.
-KUAWAK!
The blue dragons started writhing as if stuffed.
Even their innate purification ability activated instinctively, and the darkness power and curse naturally separated and began to stabilize.
Now?
Rune summoned the separated darkness and curse.
-KYAAA!
The origin of the darkness power pulled out from outside the blue dragons’ mouths.
Yes!
As Rune reached out, the origins were absorbed into his hand.