172. The Demon King and the Dragon
‘Dragon?’
Dragon?
There had indeed been a dragon in the Erjest Mountains.
Before his regression, news of the dragon's existence in Erjest had caused a massive uproar.
That's why he'd warned Krutoo and the princesses about it. There was no need to clash with Alein's strongest being, the dragon, if they didn't have to.
But the creature wasn't supposed to be discovered yet. And injured, no less?
“Where?!”
『Here...』
“On my way.”
Berge spread his black wings.
* * *
A dragon was indeed there.
The massive body sprawled across the pristine snow was unmistakably a dragon.
But it had long lost any semblance of draconic majesty.
Its radiant scales had been scraped clean. Its wings were severed, its tail gone. Its shattered claws had lost their edge.
The lifeform staining the white snow red with its own blood looked less like a dragon and more like a toothless lizard.
“My lord.”
“What the hell happened to this thing?”
“It was like this when I arrived.”
Berge cautiously examined its condition. Despite losing enough blood to half-submerge its body, it was still alive.
But dying all the same. Without intervention, that faint spark of life would surely extinguish.
- Demon King...?
Faded golden pupils tracked Berge.
- Heh... heh...
It let out a feeble laugh.
- Unbelievable. Beaten by a hero, only to lose my life to a demon king.
- To think this would be the end for my great self.
“A hero, you say?”
- Oh? Now I see—you're one of my kind.
The dragon's ocular power pierced through Berge. A faint vitality returned to its eyes.
- No, perhaps not quite kin.
Ma-gye's dragonkin and Alein's dragons were cut from different cloth.
Though both were of the dragon race, born with immense power, Alein's dragons boasted massive true forms over 30 meters long. Dragonkin had no such colossal bodies.
Their current humanoid shape was their true form; even unleashing all restraints only transformed them into something dragon-like.
Still, as fellow dragons, their powers were hard to compare.
“Cut the nonsense. What do you mean, 'beaten by a hero'?”
- Curious, are you?
- Well, a demon king would be interested in heroes, I suppose.
The dragon laughed.
Its blood-smeared scales, now even redder, rippled.
- If you want to know, save me.
“What?”
- A demon king, especially one of dragon blood, must have some way.
- I, a great dragon, cannot die to some human empowered by dimensional forces.
- Save me, fellow dragon, and I'll give you info on those bastards.
“Do you even grasp your situation?”
- That's why I'm saying this.
- I'll have my revenge on those who did this to me.
- Save me. I swear on my dragon word: you'll get your answers, and I could even serve you for a millennium.
A millennium was a long time, but for a ten-thousand-year-old dragon, it was just ten percent of life. Still substantial, but for revenge, it would serve gladly.
“A millennium of service...”
Tempting.
The dragon brightened at his positive reaction.
- Yes! You could command me, of the great Red clan.
- Save me, give me a shot at vengeance against those damn heroes!
- I'll help you conquer this dimension!
“Aren't you a native of this world too?”
- You know better. Dragon authority transcends dimensions.
- Sure, dimensional interference weakens me elsewhere, but time solves that.
“Fine, then tell me this: who left you like this?”
- Save me first.
“I swear on the First Mahwang and the Demon King's Canon: I will save you. Now answer.”
- The First Mahwang...
The dragon nodded faintly.
- I don't know who. But it wasn't just one—several. The bastard who stabbed my heart was insanely strong.
“That's underwhelming.”
- A sword. Made from a kin's bone.
“...A kin's bone?”
A dragonbone sword. And as far as Berge knew, only one such blade existed.
“What color was the blade?”
- Red. The blade was red.
“...!”
Found it.
Berge shivered.
“Definitely red?”
- Dragons never forget what they've seen.
“What was his name?”
- No idea.
“But definitely red, right.”
Heh... heh...
Berge burst into laughter.
Finally. A solid lead at last.
'Heroes, plural—not a single hero. Only one group fits.'
The subjugation party that came to Erjest to kill him. One of them wielded a red sword.
'Is that the guy?'
Probably. It was a dragon, after all. Alein's strongest creature.
Someone capable of mortally wounding it explained everything—including why Berge had died.
“No name? Then describe him. Hair, eye color!”
- ...Save me first.
- Too much blood lost. Can't hold my wounded heart much longer.
“Talk if you want to live.”
- Black hair! Black eyes! Those murderous pupils gleaming even in the dark—I remember them clearly!
“Black hair, black eyes.”
It matched the man who killed Berge. A face he'd replayed endlessly, never to forget.
- N-Now save me!
- My treasures, hoarded for millennia, are vanishing into the dimensional maze!
- Please...!
The red dragon begged.
“Ah, right.”
Berge approached slowly, gently stroking its wounded scales.
Then.
Crunch—
He pierced the scales and crushed the wounded heart.
The red dragon vomited blood.
- Wh-Why...?
“Sadly, no way exists to save a dragon with a half-shattered heart.”
Making it a familiar might bolster his strength, but not revive the dying.
And the tower had no master healer for dragons anyway.
- Y-Your oath on the First Mahwang and Canon...?
“Oh, forgot to mention.”
Berge shrugged.
“I'm the one demon king who despises the First Mahwang and the Canon. I could even call that bastard First Mahwang a son of a bitch.”
- Y-You bastard...!
- No shame as a dragon...!
“I'm a demon first, dragon second. A momentary shame for such fine byproducts? Profitable deal.”
Berge sneered.
“I'll put your heart, scales, bones, and flesh to good use.”
And.
“Your revenge.”
I'll handle it for you.
“No matter what it takes.”
Crunch—
The dragon's heart was ripped out.
* * *
“...”
Berge pondered the massive, half-shattered heart and its vast mana.
Was devouring it truly wise?
Mana and magic points were wholly incompatible forces, clashing on contact.
'But Phoenix's power dwells in me, coexisting with magic points.'
Pure luck.
Dragonkin were born with two hearts, enabling the ultimate fortune: wielding mana and magic points simultaneously. It birthed his Phoenix alias, letting him roam the continent freely.
But could he absorb even this?
Dragon mana was vaster and more violent than Phoenix's.
It was dragon mana—fire mana—with some familiarity, yet still mana. Distinct from magic points.
'Too wasteful to pass up.'
A dragon heart, no less.
Worth the risk.
'I'm dragonkin.'
Ma-gye's most arrogant, greedy race. But qualified to digest anything, the greatest race.
'Scared of some lower-dimensional dragon?'
As if.
'Might cause issues, but if I digest it fully, I could reclaim all my Ma-gye power.'
Eat it. No room for doubt.
Berge gripped the heart, suppressing its rampaging mana with magic points. Compressed it, again and again.
Finally, reduced to a small orb, he swallowed it.
─────!
* * *
“...Whoa?”
Ravinia, helping build the fake tower with chimera monsters, whipped her head around.
Her eyes sparkled.
She dropped everything and ran. The corpse from the demon king's subspace exceeded her wildest dreams.
“Dragon.”
Beautiful.
“Dragon.”
Scales marred, eyes dulled—yet undiminished in dignity.
“Dragon.”
The remnants of its strength still palpable.
“Dragon.”
What chimera could she make?
The thought alone filled her with ecstasy; she shivered.
“Yes, a dragon.”
The demon king replied. Her gaze shifted.
“Me?”
“No.”
“Me.”
“Nothing's free in this world.”
“What?”
“Become my familiar?”
“Familiar... dragon?”
“Yes.”
She'd cooperated so far, but a dragon demanded more—equivalent exchange and trust.
For Berge, trust meant familiar.
“Hmm.”
Ravinia pondered.
Become his familiar, and no turning back. No longer guest or ally, but subordinate.
Was that okay?
'Why not?'
Ernan did.
Elena did.
Kaede did.
Luize did.
The princesses she knew all served gladly as familiars, content.
Maybe she was the odd one out.
And above all.
“Dragon.”
The dragon corpse was too alluring to refuse.
Ravinia nodded.
“Devour it.”
She swallowed Armani's Orb. The squirming sensation disgusted her, but she endured.
“Now?”
“Yes. I'll carve out your share.”
“Thank you!”
Ravinia hugged Berge—then noticed something off.
“...Different?”
His hair was blackish-red. Pupils too. But it wasn't just looks.
Deeper.
Changed, beyond her grasp.
“Yes, changed.”
Berge ignited magic point flames in one hand, mana flames in the other.
Dragonkin fire and Phoenix fire were opposites—same blaze, but magic points and mana.
But this dragon...
Shared dragon lineage with dragonkin.
Shared mana with Phoenix.
Its all-consuming mana and authority, tied by fire, fused the forces.
The three powers merged perfectly within him.
“I'm no longer bound by magic points or mana.”
No more separate hearts channeling them apart.
His dragonkin essence remained, so dimensional interference lingered.
But no clashing forces, no divided use.
Now, Berge could wield both as one equal power.
Empowered further by the dragon heart.
“Whoaaa.”
Clap clap clap—
Ravinia clapped furiously, then pointed at his horns.
“Horns?”
“Don't get cute.”
“...Wings?”
“Guess you don't want the dragon after all?”
“No!”
“Then finish the tower. If it's not done on time, dragon scraps or not, it'll all go to the dwarves.”
“Nooo! Bad dwarves! Thieves!”
Ravinia dashed back, blocking the dwarves now freaking out over the dragon.
“Work!”
“B-But the dragon...!”
“Hurry!”
“Hogging it all is unfair! Even for a Four Heavenly King!”
“Right! Right!”
“Work! Work!”
Berge chuckled at the theatrical scene, clenching his fist.
“Can't wait.”
For the day he faced that red-sword hero again.
< 172. The Demon King and the Dragon > End