The Seventh Lord Basara
When the promised fourteen days had passed, Isera could not help but frown.
"Union has disappeared?"
"Yes, Legion Commander!"
"He vanished suddenly, along with his castle."
"We apologize!"
The demons who had been monitoring Union bowed their heads, sweat pouring down their faces. They were specialists in surveillance and tracking—and even they had no way to find the whereabouts of Union, who had vanished without warning.
The furrow between Isera's brows deepened.
He dragged things out and then disappeared. Did he have some other agenda?
Isera knew that Union had forcibly sealed his own power. But even if he had other motives, she could not understand why he would hide without reclaiming that power. At the very least, she had believed his desire for revenge against the other world—Earth—was genuine.
However.
It's a good thing I never trusted him from the start and proceeded separately.
There had never been trust from the beginning. So she had not left the task of finding the Dragon God entirely to Union. Isera herself had been working through other channels to summon the Dragon God. As her sister Basara had said, the humans of the Empire were impossible to read.
"He won't be able to hide for long anyway. I've already taken his soul as collateral."
More than anything, she had a sure guarantee. Union's soul was already in Isera's grasp, and if she so wished, she could kill him at any time. The reason she did not kill him immediately was that she wanted to know the reason more clearly—why Union, whom she thought would never betray her, was moving contrary to her expectations. That, too, could serve as important information. As long as she held his soul, he would reveal himself before long.
Clicking her tongue, Isera said,
"Have you found the Dragon Vein?"
"We've found eight suspected locations!"
A high-ranking demon in a robe answered from close by. Finding a Dragon God was not limited to distortions of balance alone. The Dragon Vein—destroying the vein that connected to a dragon's nest would also make the Dragon God appear.
Eight places, though. She had wanted to eliminate the Dragon God first with as little combat as possible.
Two days should be enough.
Now that it had come to this, there was no choice. Nodding, Isera ordered,
"Destroy all the suspected locations."
Slurp!
A woman wearing sunglasses leisurely swallowed hot coffee as she gazed out the window.
"Hmm. This world is truly peaceful."
She was Basara. Isera's blood relative and the Legion Commander of the Seventh Hell. When she first crossed over to Earth, she had possessed the body of a low-ranking demon, but now she had seized the body of a human woman by taking over her consciousness. Not only that—she had been acquiring memories by passing through the consciousnesses of various humans.
A world where you can do and know everything with a single tap of a finger.
She had even learned the convenience of this place, Earth. To her, Earth was a very fascinating place. The advancement of civilization. Humans were growing in a completely different way from Pangenia—a method of simplifying everything, minimizing, and progressing quickly. Thanks to that, Basara, too, easily found the information she wanted.
"…He must clearly be somewhere around here."
Information about the person she was looking for as well. The place where Basara currently was was Korea—a café in Eunpyeong-gu, a place where the spot where Hydragon had once been summoned was visible right in front.
Since she was the only one who had completely grasped Wilhelm's techniques and come right up to the point of mastering them, she had recognized at once that the man who summoned Hydragon was him. Of course, she would be the only one in this world who would think of Wilhelm upon seeing that scene. Only she could sense his consciousness.
With this body, there was nothing she could do even if she found him right now.
I just want to see him. The true form of the only human who killed me.
Basara grinned. Just thinking about it, just imagining it, brought a smile to her face unbidden. What would he look like? That delicate and elegant being who allowed not even a single inch of error—that beautiful one. Had he grown stronger? Or weaker? Or had he not yet recovered his power?
It was then.
Whoooosh!
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Countless fireballs flying from afar.
"Aaaah!"
"Wh-what is that!"
"Get out of the way!"
Hundreds of warps opened, and from them demons emerged, beginning to attack people. Buildings collapsed one after another, and in an instant it became a scene of chaos.
"Hmm."
Basara tilted her head. Wasn't finding and killing the Dragon God supposed to come first? Union. Had that bastard betrayed them or something?
"Ah, miss! What are you doing there! Hurry and run—!"
A man shouted as he saw Basara still leisurely sitting by the café window. But the shout did not last long.
"Kill all the humans!"
Demons appeared at the entrance. The demons immediately began slaughtering people upon their appearance. And before long, when they reached Basara—
"Stop."
Basara said, still seated in her place. At that sight, the approaching demon frowned.
"You've lost your fear."
"Tsk. Dogs who don't even recognize their master."
In the end, Basara had no choice but to rise from her seat. Even though she had switched to a human body, to think the demons wouldn't recognize her. But when the demon looked into her eyes, the situation changed.
"You…?"
"Kneel."
Thud!
At the same time, all the demons who saw her eyes dropped hard to both knees—without even being able to offer any resistance.
"What is the reason Isera changed the plan?"
"T-to find the Dragon Vein…"
"Dragon Vein?"
"Yes!"
The answers were the same. It felt as if all their reason and will were subordinated to her. There was only one being who gave such a feeling.
"Y-you… could it be…?"
Basara. She was clearly an Absolute who possessed the power of Dragon God Speech. But they could not bring themselves to speak her name. The only being in all the worlds who could call Basara's name to her face was one—her younger brother, Isera. If anyone other than Isera called her name, they would never see the sun rise tomorrow. Even Demon Kings would not dare utter Basara's name to her face.
Isera. So the plan has changed.
They mentioned the Dragon Vein. Saying they would destroy the Dragon Vein directly meant that Union had failed to fulfill his role.
Dragon Veins are hidden among the places with the densest populations.
Korea was probably one of those candidate sites. Korea—especially Seoul's population density ranked high even worldwide.
If you massacre everyone, the blood vein opens and the Dragon Vein appears.
And if you destroy even that Dragon Vein, the Dragon God is bound to reveal itself. In other words, they intended to wipe out all the humans in the places designated as candidates. Then, once they found and killed the Dragon God, the demons who had crossed dimensions would be able to use their power more completely. It meant that the invasion and domination of the world would become much easier. Humans would not even be able to properly resist.
Having organized her thoughts, Basara opened her mouth.
"Tell Isera. There is no Dragon Vein here."
"B-but…! The Legion Commander's orders are absolute!"
The orders of the Legion Commander who initiated the invasion were absolute. Basara's command priority, not even being her main body, was inevitably lower than Isera's. However, she was none other than Basara—not some other lord.
Isera, that brat. Has he forgotten even the formation conditions of a Dragon Vein?
Moreover, he was agitated unlike usual. This method was not like Isera. What had unsettled him? Was it Union's betrayal? Thinking his own judgment was wrong? Or had he been consumed by his own duties?
"I will not say it twice. Tell Isera."
"Ah… yes!"
But this sudden behavior was disappointing. Had he not grown enough yet? So when she spoke firmly, the demons had no choice but to gradually leave their places. Before long, all the demons who had forced the invasion disappeared into the warps.
"Wh-what happened?"
"The monsters are retreating!"
"W-we're alive! We're alive!"
Isera had heard Basara's words. But soon Basara could not help but tilt her head.
The contents of Main Quest 10 have been changed!
Mad Dragon Ainharthar's Trial has been changed to Dragon God Ainharthar's Trial.
…Text that suddenly floated before her eyes. Come to think of it, this woman's body belonged to a player. Though her level was low, Basara could clearly grasp the related content.
Ainharthar has lifted the Curse of Ruin?
Suddenly. Without any warning whatsoever. He had lifted that curse that was impossible to lift. He could not have done it alone—meaning someone had lifted it for him. If that bastard had regained the rank of Dragon God, it was not welcome news for the demons.
However, that did not particularly interest her. Rather—
"Oh ho."
Something else piqued her interest more. Her eyes momentarily sparkled with golden light as she looked up at the sky. A golden current visible not far away. That was clearly the special current emitted when a Dragon God's Wish Bead was used. There should not be a Dragon God here, yet a Dragon God's Wish Bead had been used. And if that had appeared—
"…A Dragon Vein has formed here?"
Ainharthar had regained the rank of guardian, and the Dragon God's Wish Bead had appeared on Earth, satisfying the formation conditions of a Dragon Vein. All of this could not merely be coincidence. The connecting link. The one who made all of it possible.
Wilhelm. No—now it's Randolph, isn't it?
It meant he was there. And that he had used the Dragon God's Wish Bead the moment he appeared, forming a Dragon Vein. Why? For what purpose?
You intend to catch my younger brother, Isera. Don't you?
A Dragon Vein is the dwelling of a Dragon God and the center of the world—balance itself. As long as it exists, the demons who invaded from another world are bound to be weakened. Creating that meant, in a word, the will to catch Isera.
But could he really face Isera alone? Even if he had created an additional Dragon Vein, Isera had also grown stronger than in the past. Moreover, Randolph did not lead the players of this place. One who moved silently alone. A completely different path from Wilhelm—he had raised the Great Expedition and, one way or another, faced things together with countless people. When facing Isera as well, had countless personnel not sacrificed themselves over a long period to discover the weakness? How on earth did he intend to face him alone?
Wilhelm. Have you already grown that much?
What was certain was that he was here. This aura. He had definitely inherited Ainharthar's Wish Bead. It was unheard of for a Dragon God to transfer their Wish Bead to another. Something that had grown together for a lifetime was like their own life. Giving that meant he was a person who had accumulated that level of rank. And if he had even lifted the Curse of Ruin?
A growth speed that is almost frightening.
A smile spread across Basara's lips. As expected of Wilhelm. Always transcending her imagination. The only being who gave her this much interest and fun was him alone. Even so, she had thought he would not have grown enough to catch Isera yet.
Basara showed intense interest, her eyes gleaming.
Tap. Tap-tap.
And she began to move her feet, approaching the newly formed Dragon Vein—with the expectation that she would finally be able to meet him.