The Price of Touching What’s Mine
“Cough……”
Gaster spat out a mouthful of black blood. Having been poisoned by Hydra’s venom, he had forced himself to teleport across vast distances not once but twice. It was no easy feat. The pain radiating from his Dragon Heart was far from ordinary.
“Are you alright?”
Elena gazed at him with clear concern. When her vivid amethyst eyes fixed on him, Gaster turned his head away.
“I’m fine…… Just need a little rest……”
“Still, thank you for your hard work. You can rest now.”
“What about you……? Your territory……”
“Oh? Are you actually worried about me?”
“Worried? Me? About a human? Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Saying you’re fine…… feels a bit off, doesn’t it?”
Elena looked down at her territory with a complicated expression. Black smoke rose from the ruins of what had once been peaceful land. The sight brought back memories of hell itself. It felt like PTSD was creeping in. The trauma from that day resurfaced.
Long ago. When monsters had swarmed the territory, shattering the castle walls and pouring inside.
‘That’s when Father and Mother died from the wounds they suffered.’
Hundreds of monsters had flooded the land in an unnatural wave. The injuries they inflicted had worsened, eventually claiming both her parents. The scene before her now was identical. The image of something filled with absolute malice destroying her home was unforgettable. The despair and helplessness she had felt then still made her teeth clench.
But.
‘It’s okay now.’
“It’s fine. I have my brother, after all.”
Unlike back then, Albert was here now. With a reliable older brother who loved her and protected her so dearly, what was there to fear?
“Tsk. With that monster around, I suppose you would feel safe. Though calling someone like him a doting fool seems a bit much, no?”
“Ahaha, th-that’s a little harsh.”
“A little?”
“……Very……”
He was quite the doting fool, but Elena could fully understand the feeling behind it. How resentful he must feel. How furious. If he had possessed such power back then—if Albert had been there that day—her parents might have been saved.
Elena knew. She knew how her brother would sometimes visit their parents’ graves.
‘That’s probably why he spoils me so much.’
“Anyway, my brother will take care of everything.”
She was a little worried about the nanny, but Albert had already expanded his senses and confirmed that she had evacuated to safety.
“Here, try some of this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s popcorn.”
Elena pulled out the snack. Albert had told her to watch the show while munching on these before he left.
“Not bad……”
Gaster nodded after tasting the popcorn. He reached out for more, only to realize the bowl was already half empty. It had been full just moments ago.
“What the—?”
“Om nom nom!”
“Yum yum yum!”
“It’s delicious!”
“The smell of popcorn! It’s so good!!”
When he looked to the side, the fairies had already settled in. Their short legs and tiny arms worked furiously as they shoved popcorn into their mouths. It was impressive how much they could fit into those minuscule mouths.
“Can I have just one bite~?”
“Okay, just one bite.”
“Nom!”
“Ack! That was supposed to be one bite! How did you eat half of it!!”
“This is one bite for me!”
The two fairies were even fighting over the popcorn now. At this point, one had to wonder if the popcorn had been drugged.
“……What kind of fairies are these?”
The absurd sight left Gaster feeling drained. Fairies who had hidden from the world for hundreds of years were now casually sitting here.
‘Fairies that even dragons couldn’t find……’
All because of popcorn. And they were eating it with such bliss.
“Nom nom nom!”
“Crunch!!”
“So crispy!!”
“Mmm~ So tasty~!”
Watching the fairies steal popcorn with such happy smiles somehow eased the tension. Gaster turned his gaze toward the distant territory. It really was strange.
“Humans, fairies, dragons, elves, dwarves…… What a chaotic territory of mixed races……. I wonder what else he plans to drag in next……”
Maybe even werewolves or vampires…… The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head.
“Well, that would be impossible.”
Gaster dismissed the idea, completely unaware that he had just uttered a terrifying spoiler.
Albert surveyed his surroundings. The ruined territory. The painstakingly repaired castle walls had collapsed, and the water supply pipes were shattered, sending water gushing out like fountains.
The territory is being contaminated with poison.
It appears to be Black Dragon venom. It’s extremely potent.
As Gaster said, this is a Black Dragon. A thousand-year-old adult dragon.
“Ugh! You damn human bastard!”
Hydra, who had taken a solid hit, shot to his feet. Then, as if driven by pure spite, he stomped down on Pride once more.
“Kuek!”
Pride let out a strange noise from the impact. Thick rage clouded Hydra’s eyes.
“How dare a worthless insect…… lay a hand on me and think you’ll get away with it!!”
His voice carried the arrogance unique to dragons, along with a powerful aura.
“……”
But Albert paid him no mind. His gaze was fixed solely on Pride, who had been stomped down once again.
“Pride.”
“Ahaha, O Great Master of mine, I apologize for showing myself in such a disgraceful state.”
Gluttony has been completely destroyed.
Thanks to Gluttony and Pride buying him time, Albert had managed to arrive just in time. He looked at Pride and spoke in a heavy, commanding voice.
“Since when does one of my subordinates plan to stay pinned down like that? Get up.”
Releasing power in accordance with the contract with Pride.
The moment the System message ended, an expression of pure joy spread across Pride’s face. At the same time, Hydra felt an overwhelming energy that he had not sensed before.
“Wh-what is this!?”
The power of the hybrid who had been helplessly crushed beneath his foot had skyrocketed.
“How dare you, you mongrel!!”
Hydra poured mana into his stomp to keep him down, but he could not stop Pride. The man pushed Hydra aside and rose to his feet, neatly adjusting his suit as if it were both his battle attire and his pride.
Then he looked at Hydra with cold eyes.
“Kindly remove your foot. The only one allowed to step on me is my great master, Sir Albert Legrian.”
“This bastard!!”
“I am not a bastard. I am Pride, the loyal right hand of the great Sir Albert.”
Hydra raised his sharp claws and attacked. Dragons were not only superior in magic; their physical abilities were also among the best of all races. A balance-breaking, near-perfect cheat species.
But.
“An attack of that level cannot harm me.”
The fallen earth spirit Pride’s physical abilities were on par with Hydra’s—or perhaps slightly superior. On top of that, he had the experience and techniques gained from clearing countless Gates alongside Albert.
Pride easily deflected Hydra’s attack and drove his fist into the dragon’s face as payback for everything he had endured.
“Guh!!”
“That feels much better.”
Pride wore a slightly refreshed expression.
Releasing power in accordance with the contract with Gluttony.
Regenerating Gluttony.
Now it was Gluttony’s turn. The moment its power was released, the fragments that had been scattered by Hydra’s attack gathered in one place and returned to their original form.
Boing boing!!
Gluttony spotted Albert and rushed over as if to say, ‘Master! That guy! He bullied me!’ before settling on his shoulder.
Boing boing! Ing ing!!
It rubbed its face against Albert’s cheek, acting cute. The sensation was soft yet strangely moist. Albert gently stroked the slime.
“Good work.”
“You honor me.”
Pride quietly poked his head out beside Gluttony. He had secretly squeezed in, hoping to be petted too. Albert pushed his head aside.
“Stay back.”
“……Yes……”
Pride and Gluttony wisely retreated. Hydra burst out from beneath a pile of collapsed building debris. He was so furious at having been struck by the hybrid he had looked down on that part of his polymorph had come undone. Reptilian eyes. Black scales exposed on his skin. His rage had reached its peak, making him look like he could no longer control his anger.
“You damn bastard!! How dare you—!!”
Summon Dragon Blade?
“No need.”
When he had first met Gaster, he had used the Dragon Blade as a courtesy. But this time was different. This bastard had thrown the first punch. And he had wrecked Albert’s precious territory.
Albert cracked his knuckles with a loud pop. The next instant—
Whoosh!
Albert’s figure vanished as if sinking into the ground.
Body Reinforcement Skill activated.
Poison Resistance Skill activated.
Fist Reinforcement Skill activated.
Swiftness Skill activated.
Strength Reinforcement Skill activated.
The moment the messages ended, Albert had already closed the distance to Hydra. Hydra was startled. The speed at which Albert had closed in—folding space itself—was far too fast to be human. And before he could even register it—
Thud!
Albert’s fist slammed powerfully into Hydra’s abdomen. The force was so immense that even though Hydra instinctively raised his scales to defend, the impact still transmitted straight into his body.
Armor Penetration Skill activated.
“Guh!”
Thanks to Albert’s attack, Hydra was sent flying outside the territory. He had changed the battlefield. If they kept fighting here, the territory would be even more devastated, so he intended to finish the dragon off properly in the wide-open plains.
Chasing after the flying Hydra, Albert looked at the dragon clutching his stomach in agony and wore a furious expression.
“This bastard—I’m going to beat him to death with my own fists.”
“How……?”
Hydra could not believe it. He was a dragon. A Black Dragon, no less! An adult who had lived over a thousand years, a top-tier predator among monsters capable of easily devouring even ogres. If he wished, he could kill frail humans with magic alone. One breath could wipe out an entire decent-sized territory. The guardian of the middle realm. Master of magic. The supreme race of the land, called the sovereigns of mana—dragons.
Whenever he heard that a dragon had been killed by humans, he had always thought the dead dragon was pathetic.
‘Killed by a mere human? What a pitiful fool.’
Humans were so weak he could crush them with a finger. He could never understand how any dragon could lose to such creatures, and he believed he never would.
But now.
“What are you thinking about? Seeing your life flash before your eyes?”
“Cough……”
He was being forced to understand with his own body the very thing he thought he would never comprehend in his lifetime. Hydra vomited black blood. It felt like his insides were being torn apart—the first pain he had ever felt since birth.
“You damn…… human…… I will never forgive you!! Poison Dark Inferno!!”
True to his nature as a dragon, he cast a 7th-circle spell instantly, without any casting time. A massive black flame laced with poison shot toward Albert. It was powerful enough to melt and incinerate an ogre—which boasted high resistance to both poison and fire—on contact. Normally, a human should have been burned to ash and erased from existence the moment it touched them.
But.
“Forgive? You?”
Albert threw a punch. Was it the shockwave? No—precisely, the power wrapped around his fist completely erased the magic. Hydra’s face went slack with disbelief.
‘My magic…… with a mere punch? Is that even possible?’
Though it was 7th-circle magic, a dragon’s spells operated on an entirely different level from a human’s. They were stronger and far more refined, making the difference in power between the same circle as vast as heaven and earth. It was at least five times stronger.
Yet.
‘That kind of magic…… with a punch……? How? It shouldn’t be possible……’
In that instant, Albert’s figure stretched like taffy. With a single step, the distance between them vanished as if it had never existed.
Boom!
Albert grabbed Hydra’s face and slammed his head into the ground, just like always.
“Forgive? You?”
Asking once more, Albert stomped down hard on the dragon’s head. Then he crushed the arm with equal force. A sickening crunch echoed. Hydra screamed from the excruciating pain of his shattered arm.
“Graaaagh!!”
“With only that much power, you think you can forgive me?”
“You damn human!! I’ll kill you!”
Crash!
Black aura erupted from Hydra’s body. His form twisted with grotesque sounds before returning from human shape to that of a dragon. A Black Dragon with dark scales spread its wings and soared high into the sky.
-A mere human who doesn’t know his place!! How dare you challenge a dragon like me!! I’ll make you regret this!!
Hydra prepared his breath attack.
3 seconds until breath attack.
Wide-area Poison Breath will strike.
Not only is the range wide, but the Poison Breath will turn the surrounding area into a land of death with lingering toxic smoke.
Three seconds. Using breath was a foolish choice. An annihilation-type spell like this could kill most decent opponents in a single hit.
But.
“Only if it actually lands.”
To Albert, who lived on a different time axis from other beings, three seconds was quite a long time. As the strongest EX-rank hunter, his perception of time was qualitatively and quantitatively different from everyone else’s.
Leap Skill activated.
Double Leap Skill activated.
Albert instantly jumped to the same height as Hydra. Hydra’s eyes widened in shock. He clearly hadn’t expected a human to reach such heights, and his panic was obvious. He tried to fire his breath anyway, even if it was incomplete. It should at least serve as a check.
‘Die, human!!’
The Poison Breath was about to burst from his mouth and spill into the world. But.
“Too slow.”
Albert was much faster. Before the breath could leave Hydra’s mouth, Albert’s fist smashed into the dragon’s head first.
-Guh!
With a tremendous impact, Hydra’s massive body plummeted back to the ground. It was an impossible shock. Having returned to his true form, his Dragon Scales should have blocked a fair amount of damage and absorbed the impact. But Albert’s attack was too much for even Dragon Scales to handle.
-Ugh……
Standing atop the massive dragon’s head that had crashed into the ground, Albert wore a chilling smile. It was the smile of a hunter about to deliver the final blow to a wild beast that had attacked his family.
“Forgiveness is a privilege that the strong may grant to the weak. How could someone as weak as you possibly forgive me?”
What are you going to do if you can’t forgive me?
Only then did Hydra realize why Lord had given that half-baked mission to this place.
‘It was because of this human……’
To monitor him. It must have been to keep watch over this human whose power far surpassed that of a dragon.
‘A monster…… of a man……’
Hydra finally understood. This was someone who must never be provoked…….
And.
“So, what should I do with you? You ruined my territory and turned my taxi into that mess……. For starters…… shall I make those rebellious eyes obedient?”
He had realized it far too late. For the first time in his life, he learned the emotion called ‘regret.’ And here, he learned once again that regret always comes too late.