Chapter 405
Chapter 405
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 405
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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As Hagrumu collapsed, a barrage of message windows flooded in.
[Snowman achieves a monumental feat of transformation.]
[Great and small changes occur in the Eternal World.]
[Hagrumu's final day becomes the talk of everyone's lips.]
[Numerous individuals, having confirmed the existence of one legend, set out in search of others.]
[The descendants of the Great Empire Khan successfully ascend to the throne.]
[The Great Empire Khan is now ruled by three ducal princes.]
[Another evil, suppressed by Hagrumu, begins to stir.]
[The connection between the East and the Ghost Realm grows even tighter.]
[The secret labyrinth 'Hagrumu's Circumstances' opens.]
[This adventure requires collecting related clues to unlock.]
[The secret labyrinth 'Hongcheon's End' opens.]
[This adventure requires collecting related clues to unlock.]
[Faction: Khan and Faction: Duuksini enter into smoother relations.]
[From now on, all players can select 'History Resembling Legends' from their strongholds.]
[From now on, all players can select 'The Salmon's Tale' from their strongholds.]
[You obtain a large amount of adventurer points.]
[The resurrection of the corrupted dragon, Hagrumu, will never occur again.]
[You acquire additional rewards.]
[The Great Empire Khan ushers in a new history: The Great Prosperity Era.]
[You successfully complete a historic adventure.]
[You obtain a massive amount of era force of unknown use.]
[You acquire additional rewards.]
...
Messages too numerous to take in at a glance.
Kang Seol's grand expedition had been long and profoundly meaningful.
The messages still weren't over.
[You are the first to complete the grand expedition.]
[The vanguard privilege activates.]
[You can now view the current grand expedition status in Pandea.]
[Failures: 32, In Progress: 56, Successes: 1 (You)]
[You achieve the first feat 'Don't Try a Grand Expedition Like Me.']
[You obtain the first title 'Finisher.']
[The Curtain's stored era force greatly increases.]
[Those who ride the waves of the era now watch the secret society: Curtain.]
[They are a group about which little is yet known. Depending on their future actions, they may become villains or prophets.]
[The secret society: Curtain's alignment shifts slightly from chaos toward order.]
[All members of the secret society: Curtain acquire 200 dignity.]
[You are currently a longtime friend of the Great Empire's emperor.]
[You achieve the first feat 'That Guy When He Was Young? Don't Even Ask.']
[You obtain the first title 'The One with Good Friends.']
[The grand expedition's final reward is granted.]
[You obtain what the old dragon left behind.]
[What the old dragon left behind is stored in the void.]
...
This must be what it means to be overwhelmed by messages. It felt like being swept away by a wave of information, sinking into the ocean depths.
But right then—
Zzzzt...
'...What?'
Like a bolt from a clear sky, someone plummeted from the heavens.
Everyone tensed, watching the situation closely in this utterly unforeseen event, but Kang Seol's group relaxed upon identifying the fallen figure.
"Heh heh... you did it after all."
It was the dragon they had met in Sotcheon.
"Master!"
He was Shinyo's teacher, had aided in the battle against the yaksha, and was the extraordinary being who had prophesied how the fight with Hagrumu would unfold.
Gulp...
He might even be a stronger foe than Hagrumu.
"It's nothing else—just came to pick this one up."
Whoooosh...
The dragon extended his hand toward Hongcheon's corpse.
Shoooo...
Black energy was sucked out, flowing into the dragon's palm.
"Hagrumu... Hagrumu... you've piled up countless misdeeds. You'll never be forgiven."
Kang Seol asked,
"Where is his soul headed?"
"This one disrupted the order of the present world. The reason I lingered in Sotcheon was to await this one's end, which would eventually come. We will never set foot in the present world again, and Hagrumu will pay the price for the long ages he disturbed other worlds."
The dragon had let all events flow according to natural order; he wouldn't lie. Without his help, Hagrumu would have resurrected and turned Khan into ruins.
"Your world and ours are far too distant. Your ideals hold no value to us, and you cannot comprehend ours."
What was the dragon trying to say?
"Even so... I want to say this."
Heh...
"You've done well. Salmon. I'll give you one gift."
Whoooosh...
Something slipped from Hagrumu's soul, seeping into Kang Seol's eyes.
"Urgh..."
Despite his pain resistance, the agony was nearly unbearable.
This sensation—it was the pain that came each time he newly awakened his eyes.
[The blood of origins accepts new blood.]
[The Foresight Eyes evolve into Dragon Blood Eyes.]
[Effects unknown at this time.]
[Duration: Superior bloodline takes effect.]
...
Messages scrolled up, but since the Dragon Blood Eyes' effects were unknown, the subsequent ones didn't fully manifest.
When Kang Seol removed his hand from his eyes, long, slit reptilian pupils briefly appeared and vanished.
"Then, I depart."
Vrrrr...
Pewoo!
The dragon soared into the sky.
Rumble—!
The clear sky darkened, clouds swallowing the dragon.
What remained was left to humans.
* * *
Urgh...
Uuuugh...
A man drenched in sweat.
The maids dabbed his sweat-soaked forehead with cloth.
"Hah... hah..."
"He's awake!"
"He's really awake!"
"Sob... sob..."
Despite his body feeling like it had barely escaped death, the maids before him wailed as if he had died.
"...Why are you crying?"
"He spoke!"
"...Huh?"
The man touched his body and said,
"Why is everyone making such a fuss... urk..."
"It's not a fuss! It's been a month!"
"...What?"
"You've been lying down for a month! Do you know that?"
"Wait... I... what..."
The man rising from the bed was Chiwoo.
The one who had nearly died, pierced by Hagrumu's spear.
Seolhong's precious one.
"Seolhong! Where's Seolhong..."
"Here."
A woman sipping tea, clad in dragon robes.
"...Seolhong."
"Everyone, leave us. He seems confused."
"Yes..."
The maids hurried out.
Dissenting Seolhong's words would earn a reprimand from the Heavenly Lord.
"...Did I really sleep for a whole month?"
"Yeah."
"How... that time, Hagrumu clearly..."
"Hagrumu?"
"...Huh? Wasn't it? A dream..."
Heh heh...
As Seolhong laughed, someone opened the door and entered.
"Nice to meet you! Wolf boy!"
"Jinryeo! That arm..."
Jinryeo's one arm was a mechanical prosthetic.
"Greet him, Kunna 2!"
- Hello, I am Kunna 2. Nice to meet you.
A voice emanated from the mechanical arm.
The pinnacle of Khan's mechanical engineering.
It influenced not just war machines but their daily lives.
"You know, I proved it! I did something important!"
"Jinryeo! No way you took down Hagrumu... you're that strong?"
"...Not that. Anyway! Lady Seolhong said it's okay to nap whenever from now on, so I'll keep napping!"
"Waking up to a declaration of slacking off... something feels off..."
Chiwoo looked at Seolhong and asked,
"...What happened? Hagrumu..."
"He's dead."
"...What? By whose hand..."
Seolhong smiled brightly.
Facing that smile sent chills through Chiwoo's entire body.
"No way... Kang Seol came back?"
"Yeah, he did."
......"Came back?"
"He defeated the dragon... and left."
"Left! Why! Why didn't you stop him! Khan needs him!"
Seolhong said,
"I know, that much... but..."
Seolhong recalled his retreating back.
"The world needs him too."
She abruptly stood and gazed out the window.
She hadn't failed to hold him.
She couldn't.
His final appearance came to mind.
- Can you promise... you'll return?
The response was different from before.
- ...I don't think I can.
Seolhong stared blankly out the window, taking in Khan.
"He said he can't return."
......
"...He said he won't... come back."
"...Where did he go?"
"North. Wait, Chiwoo?"
Chiwoo dragged his pained body up, slamming his head to the floor.
Thud!
Thud!
He kept bowing.
Until exhausted.
"Thank you. Thank you, my friend. For saving Khan... for saving Seolhong... truly, thank you."
Tears welled in Chiwoo's eyes as he spoke.
"May days even brighter than our time together await you!"
So much had happened.
Chiwoo, Seolhong, and Kang Seol.
Chiwoo worried for Seolhong.
"Seolhong..."
"I'm fine. Truly. I learned everything from him. That gentleness isn't always the way, that sometimes you must confront head-on, that the world won't bend to your will."
Gazing at the sunset, she murmured weakly.
"The last lesson was parting from a precious one."
"...We won't see him again, will we?"
Heh...
Seolhong turned with a smile.
If answering as the child she once was, she would say yes.
"No. All paths connect. In this new era, I'll gift peace. I'll do everything I can. Then someday... we'll meet. I'm certain."
The reason she could be certain.
"He won't vanish. We'll hear tales of him across the continent. Just imagining it lifts my spirits."
His news carries his scent.
Surely, wherever he goes, he'll stir up a commotion.
"He's... an outsider, after all."
A tale of a child becoming an adult.
A tale of an outsider from across the sea blooming flowers in the dragon's land.
* * *
Clank...
Clank...
Thud...
A knight collapsed to his knees.
The black armor evoked someone.
"Finally... found you."
The man who had infiltrated the Immortality Church.
Karuna's other fragment, yearning for the true self.
"To think... you'd hide it here..."
The days spent striving for Montla's resurrection flashed by like a panorama.
He hadn't shied from clashing with the church's leaders to obtain vital information.
Finally, the knight shook off pursuers and reached his goal.
"Hah... hah..."
His first arrival here had been absurd.
Everything lay in ruins.
Finding the entrance was impossible, and even if one entered, escaping that depth seemed unlikely.
A massive crater gaped.
Yet the knight had unearthed something from the pit.
"Alcatron..."
Where Kang Seol had found Ur—and fought him.
This place hid one secret.
Swoosh...
This jar.
"Come out..."
Whoooosh...
As the jar's lid opened, a soul emerged.
- Wh-what... why me...
"I need your help."
- Do you know who I am? I'm... Tori. I can't do anything.
Tori.
The soul who had aided Kang Seol in Alcatron.
"No, you're not Tori."
- Not Tori? I am Tori! What are you saying?
"I'll tell you your true name."
- Stop... stop! I am Tori!
In the past, Ur had told Kang Seol this:
- The resentment in Alcatron didn't condense as expected, delaying revival and yielding less power than hoped. Strange, but perhaps a leak somewhere.
Ur's resentment hadn't flowed to him. It was stolen by another.
"You are the vessel. Absorbing the resentment generated here to prepare for revival..."
- Don't!
"Your name isn't Tori. You are... Taliaad."
Taliaad.
The moment the name escaped—
Crackle—!
The jar shattered.
Tori's—no, Taliaad's—head drooped, then lifted to face forward.
- Ah... a bit early, it seems.
No longer Tori, Taliaad's speech was markedly different.
- To awaken in the wasteland. How much time has passed?
Thud—!
The black knight bowed his head to the soul.
"Reunite me... with Montla. With the true self."
- Montla? True self? Never heard those names.
The knight squeezed his eyes shut.
- But since you woke me... I'll take an interest. It's simple enough.
Crackle...
Taliaad flexed his hand.
Myriad energies flowed from it.
- I've reached a new realm unlike the past. First, I need a body.
His voice echoed once in someone's memory.
- Creation is the projection of consciousness, creation is easier than brushing teeth, creation is joyful!
The soul was sucked into the knight's embrace.
- I am... the Immortal.
The season wind of death began.
* * *
Life divides into seasons, each with its role.
Spring and winter alternate, enriching life.
When death's shadow falls, life will stir anew.
Kang Seol now headed north.
An endless fight, unknown in duration. Parting from Seolhong was regrettable, but smiling on that path wasn't bad.
"Open the void—let's rest a bit!"
"Sure."
At Karen's request, Kang Seol opened the void.
A cozy space formed.
The domain of the Curtain.
An afternoon thought to pass peacefully as any other.
One event occurred.
[Shake....]
The message window displayed an odd, unfamiliar phrase.
"What? Just now..."
[Shake....]
Kang Seol rummaged through his bosom.
Rustle...
A sound, but not from his bosom.
[Shake shake....]
Crackle...
The message indicated rummaging was futile.
[Something seeks to awaken.]
At Kang Seol's flustered look, the four summons excluding him wore incredulous expressions.
"No way..."
Fwoooosh—!
Kang Seol's shadow space shuddered violently, vomiting something out.
[Awakened!]
A massive egg shrouded in darkness.
The stark difference: the egg's top had flown off.
"Wh-what!"
"Zzzz... calm down."
"...Ur, why are you too?"
"...Didn't expect it to awaken. A dragon child. Even I've never seen one."
Swoosh...
Something slowly rose from within the shell.
"Gasp!"
Karen covered her mouth.
Soon, all realized it was a cute little horn.
A ram-like, spiraled horn.
Followed by a tiny face and innocent eyes.
"...A baby?"
"A dragon, surely."
"Sh-shouldn't we... say something?"
"What if it attacks?"
The child sprang up and declared,
"Rawr!"
"Eeeeek!"
Karen jumped in fright.
A petite girl with charming fangs.
"I am the emperor of shadows! Tansia! Rawr—!"
Aside from Karen, no one was that startled.
No one worth their salt would be shocked by a child mimicking a monster.
Flustered by the lukewarm reaction, Tansia.
"I, I command all to b-bow your heads!"
......
As everyone stared blankly, Tansia deflated and retreated into the egg.
"Weird... th-this isn't right..."
Dragon.
She was a dragon.
Tancrid's final legacy.
Just unfamiliar, born not in green but black, yet undeniably a dragon.
Step...
Step...
Everyone approached the egg.
Tansia's shout rang out.
"Where are my parents! Come out! Tansia is so lonely! So lonely!"
Parents.
Her parent, Tancrid, was dead.
Her sibling's whereabouts unknown.
She had no family.
Jamad hesitated.
"Ahem..."
Jamad poked Kang Seol's side repeatedly. In truth, Kang Seol's side was already battered by the four's prods.
"I... don't know much about small creatures."
Kang Seol sighed and drew near the egg.
"This aura..."
Tansia sensed it first.
Kang Seol was the master of the shadow she had absorbed.
"Tansia."
"Ugh..."
After hesitating, the child leaped toward Kang Seol.
Smack—!
"Daddy! Scary! Everyone looks scary!"
Kang Seol stroked Tansia's head.
"...It's okay. We're family."
Spring of life crosses winter of death.
Eras intersect. Bells toll.
Tansia cried out.
"Family! Tansia's family!"
A new era dawns.
Death awakens, and life awakens too.
Is the dimness dusk or rising dawn?
"Tansia has family too!"
A new family is born to the Curtain.