Chapter 106
Chapter 106
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: This World's Happy Ending: The Assault on the 7th Subordinate (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
9.
Personality Assistance AI.
Lükael came online.
Outputting the requested promise data as audio.
“Do you not hear it?”
“Miss…….”
“Gaineb. I asked if you hear it too. Do you not hear Skesari crying?”
“……Yes.”
“We have to go, don’t we?”
“………….”
10.
「GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
A scream as if the world itself were tearing apart.
Black flames erupting from the impact site. The blaze swallowing the ice dragon’s back whole, turning it pitch black.
It was the same…… as Paul’s power.
The same force I’d seen during the assaults on Arishel’rab and Erjeruta, but encountering Paul afterward made it all the more shocking.
No way.
Does that mean.
Im Yong-gon was a hunter chosen by an absolute god?
At that moment, Skesari.
Was flapping its right wing desperately as it plummeted.
But.
It couldn’t support that massive body with one wing alone.
The instant the ice dragon crashed into the ground.
───Splat!
The abyss covering the earth surged up fiercely.
───Ching!
The frost composing its body shattered like glass windows, scattering in all directions.
“Krgh!”
From that tremendous impact.
Im Yong-gon, atop the ice dragon’s body, was flung off and tumbled across the ground.
“Im Yong-gon-ssi!”
“Now’s our chance! Finish it with concentrated fire!”
“No, don’t!”
Im Yong-gon, who had shouted upward, whipped his head around to look at me. I finally managed to open my mouth.
“This…… I have to do it.”
22:27:50.
Not yet. There were still 130 seconds left.
Stand up, Kim Baek-jun.
Was I dying?
My mind was blank white, my entire body soaked in hot blood from the fatal blow.
Even so.
Even so, I gritted my teeth.
- I said I’d always watch over you.
Because I remembered Jeong Ha-kyeong’s smile.
Because I remembered my promise to Kserinia.
- Grant that poor child peace……
I had to do it. I had to be the one.
Using the Dawn Sword as a cane, I pulled myself to my feet. Staggering as if I might collapse, I took a step forward.
「HEIRAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!」
Aiming straight at me.
The ice dragon spat out a fierce dragon tongue.
A trembling voice.
A voice on the verge of death.
Even so, the overwhelming power in that language became immense gravity, dragging me to the ground.
“Krgh!”
I writhed in agony.
But I barely held my buckling knees.
And then again.
One step, two steps. Another step.
I resumed advancing, dragging myself forward bit by bit.
22:28:00.
Skesari’s dark blue-green eyes flashed eerily, and it spat out dragon tongue once more.
「EBL…… EBlE…… EBLE KK…… KKK…… KKKKK…… KK…… KKKKKK…….」
A death-rattle dragon tongue, gasping.
The last dregs of its strength?
Dizzy vertigo…… I vomited blood and collapsed to the ground.
But…… I stood again.
“……Enough already! Why are you so obsessed with landing the killing blow!”
22:28:10.
“……Choi Uk-ssi! Grant permission to fire!”
“……No. It’s the Association President’s order. Everyone, stand by.”
22:28:20.
“……Yes? But!”
“……If we leave it…… the Association President might die!”
22:28:30.
The world had changed, the situation had changed, but the essence of my life’s compass remained unchanged.
- We came to save you.
Why push yourself like an idiot.
The reason was clear. To save Jeong Ha-kyeong. And to save that poor dragon’s soul.
22:28:40.
It was right around then.
The moment I finally stood before the ice dragon Skesari’s eyes.
“Skesari…… I brought…… a message…… from your mother…….”
I raised the Dawn Sword.
Stroked its blade with my palm.
Aimed straight at Skesari’s heart.
“She said…… to make sure…… I told you this…….”
And quietly.
I slowly pushed the sword tip into its snow-crystal heart.
“‘Mommy’s sorry,’ she said.”
The sacred Dawn Sword vomited crimson lotus flames.
Swordlight blazing in the blood-red of dawn. The Dawn Sword’s [Purification] quietly enveloped the ice dragon’s body.
Dawn.
The power that grants peace to all things.
That power of rest embraced the world’s last dragon, the child Kserinia had loved.
Its name was Skesari.
At that moment, the sound of splashing water.
Looking back…… Shin Tae-yeop was rushing toward us, as if he’d just descended.
“Skesari!”
Shin Tae-yeop ran right up to the dragon’s snout…… and reached out to touch its nose.
“Do you…… remember me?”
“It’s dangerous, step back.”
“You used to…… climb…… onto my shoulder……?”
That was when shock hit.
Skesari suddenly gaped its massive maw wide, its icicle triple fangs gleaming fiercely.
This thing, no way, again……?
“Tae-yeop! Get away!”
As I shouted and reached to yank Shin Tae-yeop by the nape.
「……Kerak.」
What the ice dragon produced was neither frosty breath nor dragon tongue. It was a desperately trembling tongue.
「Kerak. Kerak. Kerak.」
And with that tongue…… what? It began affectionately licking Shin Tae-yeop.
What…… the hell?
Had the abyss’s corruption been purified?
The dark blue-green dragon eyes. The pupils slowly reverting to pale blue.
“You…… were really…… so…… so small back then…….”
「Keraaaaaaaak…….」
22:29:00.
“Now…… you couldn’t even sit…… on my shoulder anymore…… right?”
「Kerak. Kerak. Kerak.」
“You don’t like that? You can’t……!”
22:29:10.
“My back would shatter…… I’ve gotta have kids of my own someday…….”
Hearing that heartbreaking exchange, I unwittingly bowed my head.
A tale from the distant past?
A story from the era when this world became a proxy battlefield for the absolute gods.
Shin Tae-yeop had been there on that battlefield.
And this ice dragon, Skesari, had been close to him.
“Rest now…… okay…… it’s alright…….”
22:29:20.
A single tear streamed from Shin Tae-yeop’s left eye. Skesari laboriously raised its long neck upward.
「AIEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…….」
Finally.
A dragon tongue laced with what seemed like relief, as if all was accomplished…… or the sorrow of a child seeking its parents……
I couldn’t understand its meaning.
I was quite taken aback.
Paul had definitely told me this.
- Ice dragons meet a miserable end in the abyss, whether normal ending or bad ending.
Was that why?
Perhaps. Truly perhaps.
This…… that cry……
Might be this poor world’s modest happy ending.
22:29:30.
After the roar, the ice dragon collapsed limply to the ground in its massive form.
The next instant.
The dawn bloodlight that had enveloped its entire body.
The bloodlight climbed along its long neck, completely engulfing the ice dragon.
It was over in a heartbeat.
The ice dragon’s body crumbled into motes of light, scattering like cherry blossoms.
And those flowers of light.
Mystically intertwined in an instant, forming characters in the air.
薰.
Was this…… a Lin character?
The moment I thought that, an info window appeared before my eyes.
A promise…… out of love……
I bit my lips until they bled to swallow my tears.
- Please tell her ‘Mommy’s sorry.’
Was this the tragic finale?
Shin Tae-yeop with head bowed.
Tears plopped steadily into the abyss at his feet.
22:29:40.
I patted his desolately shaking shoulders, as if to comfort him.
“Lead Hunter Uncle, it’s weird…… I…… still can’t remember well…….”
“……?”
“But strangely…… things with this guy…… I remember them vaguely…… Why is that?”
It was right then.
The Lin character 薰 in the air emitted a flash. At the same time, the stigmata on the back of my hand pulsed in resonance.
This…… light from the illusory world?
The same light Kserinia had shown me. When I opened my eyes again…… Shin Tae-yeop and I were no longer in the abyssal cavern.
A verdant green field teeming with life.
Sunlight shining down from impossibly high above.
A pleasant mountain breeze blowing.
Conifer forests of pale green rustling like a symphony.
“Here, here!”
That was when.
A clear laugh rang out.
“Fly a bit harder! That’s it!”
We whipped our heads around in unison…… and our eyes went wide.
A woman in a fluttering dress running across the field.
No…… was that……?
Dragon Lady…… Kserinia……?
And something flapping after her, cawing…… a hatchling……?
Was that Skesari……?
Skesari panted wearily, and Kserinia scooped up the hatchling, giggling as she ruffled its head wildly.
Ah. No way…… this was.
The dream landscape Kserinia and Skesari had shared.
If the stars’ prank hadn’t happened.
The reality this mother and child might have had.
“………?”
Perhaps sensing our gaze.
Kserinia turned to look at us. Skesari followed its mother’s gaze to us.
A fleeting silence.
Then suddenly…… Kserinia, cradling the ice dragon hatchling, beamed and bowed deeply to us. The ice dragon cheeped happily.
“Kerak! Kerak! Kerak!”
No…… no.
The vision I’d just seen.
Might just be this poor world’s…… humble happy ending.
What Paul had sought.
What Shin Tae-yeop had sought.
What the [Master of the Broken Dawn] had searched for but never reached.
- Gather the fragments. To restore everything.
No…… this wasn’t it either.
This vision becoming reality for that mother and child—that would be the true happy ending.
My sword hand trembled.
- The final wall you must overcome will surely be the former elite sorcerer, now apostle of the abyss……
Apostle of the abyss……
If the end of this nightmare is killing you…… I’ll drive my sword tip into your heart.
The vision ended there.
──Srrrrk.
Like a book closing.
The field in the vision slid away sideways, reality seeping into the void.
The abyssal ground visible once more.
And the long info window stretched out before my eyes.
[Hunting Success: Exalted Subordinate, ‘Last Dragon, Skesari’]
[Legendary Achievement Unlocked: The One Who Hunted the Seventh Subordinate (3 / 12)]
[The stars pay their respects to the hunter who felled the final subordinate!]
- All physical ability stats receive (+5) correction.
Proof of completing the seventh subordinate hunt.
“Will you prepare to go?”
“You can’t go.”
“Why not?”
“You know better than anyone, so why do this every single day…….”
“………….”
“Even if you go there in that young lady’s body…… you’ll fully zombify before reaching the [World’s Floor].”
“Even as a zombie, it’s fine. I’d get to meet Skesari.”
“You could meet, sure. But you couldn’t touch or talk. And…… Skesari instinctively devours the abyss. Seeing you…… it might eat you.”
(The sound of two women stifling sobs)
“What must I…… what must I do?”
“………Miss.”
“I made a promise…… decades ago already…….”
“………….”
“I’d come…… come meet you again…… that poor child…… Don’t you hear it? Calling for me…… Aieha…… Aieha…….”
Last Dragon, Skesari
■■□□□, □□□□□, □□□□□
[Lin Character: 薰]
[Description Summary]
- Residual Image of Light Recorded in Characters: 薰
[Usage Method]
- ????
The world’s final true dragon.
The glorious being bore this character in its soul to devour the abyss.
薰 means love.
It was the symbol of all your creation gods who shaped and loved the world.
When the world was devoured by the abyss.
The true dragon offered its body as a sacrifice to devour the world’s abyss.
To fulfill its promise with its mother.
To repay the boundless love its mother had given.
My beloved ones.
I tell you the truth: love one another. As your blood kin loved you, so love one another.