The Dragon's True Heir
Kang Yoonsoo steadied his breathing.
In that brief moment, he took a step.
His movements were light as a feather.
The spear blade missed him by a hair’s breadth.
The dragon soldier switched his grip on the shaft with one hand and swung it in a wide, sweeping arc.
A powerful gust coiled along the blade.
Whoosh—!
Kang Yoonsoo dropped his stance at once and slipped beneath the spear’s path.
It seemed impossible for a man who could not see.
Inside the helmet, the guard’s eyes widened.
“Maybe he isn’t actually drunk?”
“Even so, it’s astonishing. A sighted man moving like that…”
Hermiya had forgotten to close her mouth. She simply stared at the duel unfolding before her.
Every time the dragon soldier’s spear passed, it looked as though a crimson whirlwind tore through the air.
Kang Yoonsoo dodged each strike as if he had foreseen them all.
Yet the dragon soldier showed no sign of fatigue, thrusting and slashing with relentless fury.
After the blade grazed his shoulder, Kang Yoonsoo—who had done nothing but evade—suddenly drove his machete upward with explosive force.
Clang—!
The dragon soldier’s spear met the heavy machete.
Even in that light defensive posture, the dragon soldier could not hide his admiration.
Kang Yoonsoo offered no reply. He simply continued his assault, machete whistling through the air.
With every swing, the power gathered in his hand erupted.
The dragon soldier parried each blow with keen precision.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
Greatsword and spear collided again and again. Sparks flew wherever the edges met.
Yet none of the clashes were truly head-on. Kang Yoonsoo’s blade only deflected the dragon soldier’s strength, never meeting it directly.
Deflection
“Your technique is flawless. But your strength is laughably weak!”
The dragon soldier reversed his grip and slammed the spear downward without warning.
A move no one could have predicted.
Yet Kang Yoonsoo did not fall. He angled his greatsword and let the force slide away.
It was a perfect read.
After the exchange, both fighters retreated.
The dragon soldier laughed heartily.
“Wonderful! Truly wonderful! In all my years, I have never met a warrior with such fierce skill. Your future is bright indeed!”
Hermiya and the guard swallowed hard.
For the Ignus Dragon’s own soldier to offer such high praise… Kang Yoonsoo was far more skilled than his ordinary appearance suggested.
Yet the blindfolded man felt no pressure at all.
Even without sight, he could sense everything—the path of the blade, the soldier’s movements, the breathing around him.
Kang Yoonsoo slung the greatsword onto his back.
The dragon soldier’s eyes narrowed.
“Warrior, are you abandoning the test?”
“No.”
After that curt reply, Kang Yoonsoo stretched out his right hand.
“Summon seventy-eight skeletons. Summon giant hobgoblin zombie.”
Thick black darkness billowed up, and an undead legion materialized.
The sight of undead standing beneath the bright sun was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine.
The dragon soldier tilted his head.
“I took you for a swordsman. So you are a necromancer?”
Kang Yoonsoo ignored the question. He pointed at the dragon soldier.
“Kill him.”
“Kaaah!”
The skeleton horde raised their weapons and charged.
The dragon soldier swept his spear in a long arc. Skeletons nearby were instantly shattered into fragments.
The giant hobgoblin zombie lunged and sank its teeth into the soldier’s shoulder. Blood sprayed.
Kang Yoonsoo stood at a distance, watching.
Though he could not see, his gaze was locked precisely on his target.
He drew two dark iron daggers he had taken from a corpse earlier.
Taking one step, he hurled both blades at once.
They slipped between a skeleton’s ribs, grazed the hobgoblin zombie’s shoulder, cut through open air, and only then struck the dragon soldier.
Blood exploded from both of the soldier’s eyes.
Throwing accuracy like that was impossible to believe from a blind man.
The pain must have been excruciating, yet the dragon soldier only clenched his teeth and endured without screaming.
But his vision was clearly compromised.
The blindfolded Kang Yoonsoo spoke.
“Now we’re even.”
“Underhanded… yet magnificent, warrior!”
The dragon soldier leveled his spear and charged with a roar.
Twelve skeletons were pulverized in an instant.
But that was the end of it.
Without sight, the dragon soldier lost all sense of direction.
Skeletons attacking from behind carved countless wounds across his back.
“Begone!”
The dragon soldier thrust wildly, but his spear only cut empty air.
The single fact that he could not see had completely stripped him of his combat strength.
All around him there was only darkness.
Yet in that same darkness, Kang Yoonsoo had displayed astonishingly precise swordsmanship.
The vast difference in their ability was now painfully clear.
The undead horde continued to add more wounds.
Kang Yoonsoo gripped his machete and ran.
Even without vision, his charge was perfectly on target.
He drove the greatsword straight into the dragon soldier’s chest as the blinded warrior staggered.
Thud—!
You have defeated the Ignus Dragon’s dragon soldier (clone).
You have passed the dragon soldier’s test.
The chosen one may inherit the Fragment of Power.
The real dragon soldier was far stronger than this clone. Because the test required fighting blindfolded, the opponent had been deliberately weakened. Being a clone, the Soul Harvest of the Ring of Life Suppression could not be used.
Once the test was cleared, the dragon soldier’s body dissolved into particles. The cloth covering Kang Yoonsoo’s eyes also vanished.
Only a thick spear and a mass of crimson light remained.
The sphere of light carried such overwhelming power that its presence alone felt oppressive.
◈ A vast remnant of the Ignus Dragon’s power. Only the chosen may inherit it.
◈ Increases strength, grants fire and heat resistance, and allows control over flame intensity.
◈ The more the user grows, the more power is unsealed.
“So this is the Fragment of Power left behind by the Ignus Dragon,” Hermiya murmured, her voice trembling with emotion. Her face looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
At last, in her generation, the long fate of the Lephe clan would be fulfilled.
She nodded toward Kang Yoonsoo.
“Please accept the Fragment of Power. You are the one who possesses true qualification. This power has finally found its rightful owner.”
“I am not qualified.”
“…Pardon?”
Kang Yoonsoo stared at the sphere of light.
It raised strength, granted resistance to fire and heat, and allowed the user to raise the temperature of flames. The more one grew, the more power would be released.
He spoke again.
“The one who will possess the Fragment of Power is not me.”
Hermiya’s face filled with confusion. She had not expected this answer at all.
“W-what do you mean? The Ignus Dragon’s soldier clearly said the qualified person had come here.”
Kang Yoonsoo touched the sphere of light with his index finger as if to prove a point.
Fwoosh!
Just a brief touch sent fierce sparks flying. The Fragment of Power was rejecting him.
Hermiya looked as if she might cry.
“Then… if not you, who is supposed to inherit the Fragment of Power?”
“That person.”
Kang Yoonsoo pointed indifferently.
Hermiya turned her head and nearly fainted from shock for the second time.
The guard, flustered, pointed at their own chest.
“Me…?”
“The one chosen by the Ignus Dragon is someone who has been at odds with fire since birth.”
It was true. The guard had lost their family in a childhood fire and suffered hideous burns that ruined their appearance. That very misfortune was the mark of the dragon’s selection.
Kang Yoonsoo lifted the sphere of light with one hand. The instant flames roared across his gauntlet, he hurled it toward the guard.
The guard panicked and tried to flee from the blazing orb, but the light flew as if drawn by magnetism and struck her chest.
Fwoooosh—!
The guard’s entire body erupted in flames.
Hermiya’s face turned deathly pale at the unimaginable sight.
The flames surrounding the guard only grew fiercer.
Yet the guard did not scream.
The fire was not hot. It felt merely warm.
Crack.
The guard’s helmet shattered and fell away. Long, beautiful hair spilled down.
“By the gods!” Hermiya cried out in shock.
The terrible burns covering the guard’s body were slowly disappearing. The dark, ugly scars faded, replaced by pure white skin.
The woman who had accepted the flames was so beautiful and pale that nothing in the world could compare.
Her armor shattered as well. Every scrap of cloth on her body burned away.
Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, she was radiant and delicate.
Hermiya whipped her head around frantically.
“Shanette, are you all right?”
“It doesn’t burn. You can calm down. But please… don’t look at me. Look somewhere else. I don’t want anyone seeing my bare body.”
The guard—no, Shanette—tried to keep her voice steady.
The flames around her soon died down.
Yet a corner of her heart still burned hot. The shame of revealing her hideous scars was stronger than the embarrassment of being seen naked.
Shanette hurriedly tried to cover herself.
She did not want anyone to see her monstrous form.
But the moment her hands touched her body—
“Huh…?”
There were no burn scars.
Shanette opened her eyes wide and examined herself. The clothes she had worn were gone, leaving only pure white skin.
She had no time to feel shame. The scars that had run from the nape of her neck to the tips of her toes had vanished without a trace.
With trembling fingers she touched her cheek. Smooth, flawless skin met her touch.
Never once since the fire had her skin felt this soft.
While Shanette stood frozen in disbelief, Kang Yoonsoo approached.
He took out a hand mirror and held it before her.
Shanette looked into it almost involuntarily. The woman reflected there seemed just as stunned as she was.
A face she had not seen in so long. A self she had long forgotten.
Only on the left side of her face—where the injury had been worst—did a faint scar remain. A pale pink mark ran from behind her ear across her cheek.
Yet compared to the hideous face she once had, it was incomparably better.
Shanette pressed a trembling hand over her mouth, trying desperately to hold back her sobs.
“Sorry I couldn’t fix it perfectly,” Kang Yoonsoo said. His tone carried not the slightest trace of apology.
Shanette’s voice shook as she asked, “What… just happened to me?”
He answered as if the question itself was pointless.
“You became pretty.”
It was an absurdly blunt, indifferent answer.
Shanette could not let go of her confusion.
“Why would you show such kindness to someone you’ve never even met before…?”
“I don’t do losing deals.”
Kang Yoonsoo’s eyes were exactly the same as before—cold and emotionless.
“You will travel with me from now on.”