The Unexpected Guest
I pulled the lever on the device the moment Aram stepped into the Fusion Coffin.
—"Ugh. Ughhhhhh. What is this!!! Aaaargh!! I’m being sucked in!! Open it!!! Open the door right now!!!!!!"
—"Nooooooo!!!! Master!! Kyaaaaa!! No!!! It feels weird inside!!!!!! Ugh.. Uweeeeeeek!!!"
The screams of Kekere and Aram echoed even outside the coffin. "Ohhh...!" "Soon... a new existence will be completed..." Hellers and I stared at the violently shaking Servant Fusion Coffin. Soon, two creatures would become one.
'The Slaughter Beast that devours all curses... and the Dragon-Blooded Knight with dragon scales that halve most physical attacks... the fusion of these two entities is....'
The birth of the ultimate tank. A monster that would take every attack with its bare body and be nearly impossible to kill would crawl out. Since the Slaughter Beast, which was born under a divine curse but survived through sheer grit, had met a human born with the blood of a dragon—the lord of all creation—the result was inevitable.
—"Crackle-pop!!!"
"Ugh!"
"Back away! Hellers..."
The fusion began. I could feel the energy of the two beings vanishing from the coffins on either side. At the same time, an overwhelming presence was detected from the central coffin. Something truly immense... had been born.
"Th-this is..."
"Kugh... Fear.. Dragon Fear..."
"Kyaaaa!!! It’s hot!!!"
Jeong Ji-yeon, who had been watching the situation, muttered under her breath, and Yoon Ha-jun stepped back from the Dragon Fear erupting from the coffin. Hwang Su-min, who had been stirring the cauldron endlessly, screamed at the sudden blast of wind pressure from the Fusion Coffin and grabbed the pot to keep it from tipping over. It looked incredibly hot.
—"Hiss..."
Soon after, a massive amount of smoke rose, and the Fusion Coffin opened.
"Sigh.... Haa.... The air.. is strange..."
—"Whoosh..."
An entity revealed itself to the world, pushing through the unnaturally thick smoke. "Su, success..." It was a naked woman with red hair. She furrowed her brows, looking around as if she couldn't understand the situation. At that moment, something floated before my eyes.
'Demon Dragon Liberator..? What is this now..'
What kind of achievement was this? Could it be that this achievement is unlocked by combining a Slaughter Beast and a Dragon-kin to create a new species? That might be it. They really do hide achievements in the strangest places. I decided to look into it later.
"Hey.. you.. who are you... Are you Kekere? Or... are you Aram.."
Whose ego remained in that body? I asked the entity that had just walked out. The woman tilted her head, asking if I was talking nonsense.
"Hey. Who is Kekere... and who is this Aram?"
A woman with a deep, husky voice. She knew neither Kekere nor Aram. She really seemed to have no clue.
"What..? Hellers.. what is going on here..?"
"That is... I am not sure.. In theory, either one of the two personalities should remain... or they should be mixed.. It is impossible for her to know nothing at all..."
Hellers didn't grasp the situation either. He said that if a perfect fusion occurred, a new ego with both memories would be created, or if one was stronger and devoured the other, only one personality would remain to claim the body. But once the fusion ended, a phenomenon completely different from Hellers' theory had occurred. A strange woman had simply crawled out.
"You two.. what are you whispering about since earlier...? No, in the first place.. where is this.. I was clearly..."
The red-haired woman muttered as if all this was confusing. Looking at her physical traits, it was hard to find any trace of the Slaughter Beast or the Dragon-Blooded Knight. There were no traces at all. Her appearance was completely unrelated to them. First, checking her face: the Slaughter Beast that had devoured Kekere and become a toad-human had that characteristic yellowish skin and large eyes. But this woman's skin was perfectly normal. Her face was just incredibly beautiful; her eyes weren't large enough to trigger the uncanny valley... and it wasn't as if the Dragon-Blooded Knight's features were there either. The Dragon-Blooded Knight had those specific reptilian scales on its arms and legs... but her hands and feet were clean. Furthermore, her eyes were not vertical pupils.
"Hmm... I.. clearly.. hmm.. my memory is fuzzy.. hmmmm...."
I took off my coat and gave it to the woman, who was lost in deep thought. "Uh.. for now, please cover yourself with this.."
"Hm? Oh. Thank you."
She accepted my coat, put it on, sat down on a chair in the lab, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes. Then she fell into deep thought for a long time... No, was she sleeping?
'What the hell is this?'
Since the source of her existence had changed, my Slave Brand must have vanished. Of course, when Yoon Ha-jun was replaced by Alcide, the brand had disappeared too. If the source of existence changes, the brand becomes void even if the body is the same. Therefore, that woman was no longer my slave. But I couldn't recklessly suppress her to re-brand her either. Because...
'She's terrifyingly strong... Without a doubt.. that woman is... equal to or greater than Sieg...'
I could capture her if I tried. I had obtained the Three Sacred Treasures of the Black Snake and could summon Kysiria and Einax simultaneously. However...
'If I fight openly here... not only the humans around, but everyone including Hellers will die.. Besides, Kysiria and Einax aren't the type to fight while worrying about others... they might even start a power struggle among themselves...'
So, I decided to observe the situation a bit more. The woman in front of me was just confused; she wasn't hostile toward me.
—Creak.
Just then, the science lab door opened, and Mer, Aila, Cheshire, Pahl-us, the Giant Slayer Dante, the Beast Hunter Killian, and even Henry, the Ghost of the Abyss, rushed in. These were essentially my strongest forces. It seemed they had all felt the energy the red-haired woman emitted upon appearing and rushed over.
"What... is that..?"
Killian, who had rushed into the lab first, swallowed hard as he looked at the red-haired woman. There was no lust or desire in his eyes. Only fear for the monster before him.
"This is an opponent I cannot handle.. Then I shall take my leave.."
Killian slipped backward and fled. As expected of a quick-witted guy, he realized the situation could turn to shit and ran without looking back. He was quick to change his stance even when defeated... as expected of a traitor, he is cunning.
"Master, are you safe?"
"Uh.. I'm fine.. No problem.. probably."
"I, is that so.. Hmm.."
Mer stood cautiously by my side. The fact that Mer, who would even attack Pahl-us when he emitted killing intent, was this tense meant... she had judged that she couldn't fully protect me in this standoff. Because Mer wouldn't fear death if it meant protecting me...
'No, what the hell is that red-haired woman..? Even Mer is scared of her..?'
I could understand Killian, as he was that kind of guy, but after seeing Mer's reaction, I was truly terrified. Furthermore, Cheshire and Aila approached my side, standing as if to protect me. Everyone was in a state of extreme tension.
"Hmm.. pardon me while you are thinking, but may I know the name of the noble lady?"
At that moment, Dante, who had absolutely no sense of reading the room, approached the red-haired woman and asked for her name, trying to be polite.
"Hmm. State your name before asking mine."
"Ah, my apologies.. I am Dante. Currently, I am acting as a lackey for the heretics."
"Is that so? By the way.. heretics, you say..?"
The woman's eyes changed as she looked at me. Golden eyes. Pupils slit vertically....
'Could it be...'
Only then did I realize that this entity was not a normal human. It was a dragon. A polymorphed dragon...
"Heretics.. yes. Now I remember. Why I... had been sleeping for so long.. Hahahaha... Indeed.. is this also fate..."
Suddenly, a thrilling energy that made my whole body shudder swept past us. Henry blocked my front, dispelling the fierce energy the dragon emitted, and Aila deployed a defensive formation to protect those in the lab. Also, Mer and Pahl-us drew their respective weapons and flew toward the dragon, and Cheshire pulled a gun from her pocket, aiming at the dragon's forehead.
An imminent situation. If monsters like that fought here... the school would collapse. If the school collapsed, Son Hae-un and the Idol of God in the basement storage would be smashed... and the slime jars might break too. It would just be ruin. Everything would be over.
"Ugh! No! No!! Fuck, you can't fight here!!!!"
I stopped them, imagining the bleak future. They absolutely could not fight here. If they had to fight, they should crawl into the Abyss or fight at the American camp... If the school I had built so nicely collapsed, I might not be able to sleep or eat.
"Hmm.."
At my shout, Pahl-us and Mer stopped their blades right in front of the red-haired woman's throat. Cheshire also lowered her gun.
"Your loyalty is quite high. You are branded. Hmmm..."
The red-haired woman sat back down on the chair as if she didn't care at all whether they attacked or not. It was as if she were certain she couldn't be killed. At her arrogant behavior, Pahl-us and Mer retreated without taking their eyes off her. Pahl-us started to break into a cold sweat. It seemed he was already exhausted.
"Excessive loyalty to the master.. the effect of the brand.. Hmm.. you must be the leader of these people. What is your name? Apostle of Disaster."
She asked me, half-opening her eyes. I swallowed hard and told her my name.
"I am... Jang Jojun."
"Is that so. As expected, it is a name I hear for the first time... The time itself seems quite different from the era I knew.. Hmm.. for now, my name is Brynhildr. Others call me the Demon Dragon Fafnir. It is not a name I particularly like, though... just call me Hilde."
Fafnir... this, like Mimir, was a name I knew. Clearly... it must be the dragon that Siegfried kills in the stories...
'The name Brynhildr... and this... this crazy woman.. is she Sieg's enemy..?'
The situation had become incredibly tangled. Could it be... that my luck had acted up in a shitty way again? No, why did an Demon Dragon crawl out when I fused Kekere and Aram? Something... something is wrong. Then where did Kekere and Aram go? Did their souls disappear? I was having such thoughts when—
—Creak.. Clatter.
"Ugh.. my head hurts.. I'm dizzy.. Master, you bad bastard..."
Someone else walked out of the Fusion Coffin. It was Kekere, with a much cuter face than before... and dragon horns.
"I'm going crazy."
Hilde.. this woman.. who is she.