Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Briareus
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Whoosh-!
A cold wind brushed past his cheek.
Do-jae came to his senses and slowly got up.
"Ugh... Hah!"
Looking around, Do-jae gasped in shock.
He was so startled that he nearly lost his balance and fell.
"It's the sky..."
A blue sky stretched above him, and white clouds drifted past below.
That was right.
The place Do-jae had woken up was in the sky, and on the head of a dragon at that.
- You are awake.
A voice, distinct from the sound of the wind, imprinted itself clearly on his mind.
Do-jae instantly realized the owner of the voice was the dragon he was standing on.
If not, who else could possibly be speaking to him this high in the sky?
"So you can talk now..."
- My mind has cleared.
Do-jae had known the dragon would eventually speak to him.
The book he had acquired in the Magic Kingdom, *The Great Encyclopedia of Mysterious Monsters*, had a section on dragons. It said they symbolized wisdom and wealth.
It also mentioned that dragons, who had mastered all magic and were called the strongest of all living beings, claimed to be agents of the gods.
For such a creature, a spell to communicate its thoughts should have been simple, so it had been strange that it had only been growling.
Of course, that must have all been because of Gellahan's mana.
- My name is Briareus. I am an adult of the great Red Dragon lineage.
Whoosh-.
The dragon, Briareus, introduced himself as he glided swiftly through the air.
Thanks to that, Do-jae had to grab onto a horn to keep from slipping.
"You seem to be in your right mind now. And it doesn't look like you fought."
- That is correct. I am aware that you freed me from Gellahan's control. I offer you my gratitude.
Do-jae was relieved, but also a little surprised.
In the book, dragons were described as prideful creatures, a race that knew no gratitude.
But seeing one offer him thanks like this, either the book was wrong, or this dragon was special.
"That's a relief. I'm not in my best shape right now."
The mana from Gellahan that he had absorbed beyond his limit continued to torment him.
It was disrupting the normal flow of his mana, and because of that, his stamina wasn't recovering.
- I will descend. Hold on tight.
Briareus spread his tattered wings wide.
The massive body descended gracefully, landing lightly on some remote, unknown island.
"We must have flown quite a long way."
Do-jae searched for and read the mana of his golems.
It felt so faint that he couldn't tell how far away they were.
- The humans kept attacking, so I flew some distance away.
"Well... good job. More importantly, what am I supposed to do with you... Hoo."
Do-jae sighed as he climbed down from Briareus's head.
Absorbing Gellahan's mana had been fine, but he hadn't expected the dragon to survive this unscathed.
- What do you mean, what are you supposed to do?
"Now that you're sane, shouldn't you be going back to Tranpeion or something, instead of coming here?"
- No. Crossing dimensions is an exceedingly difficult task, even for a dragon. Moreover, it is utterly impossible with my current, severe lack of mana.
*Shake-!*
Briareus shook his body like an animal, then coiled his tail and sat down.
Seen like this, he was truly a mystical creature.
"Then what will you do?"
- I intend to stay by your side for a while.
"What?"
Do-jae was flustered by Briareus's perplexing statement.
A human traveling with a dragon?
The idea was preposterous.
But Do-jae's thoughts would soon change.
Flash-!
Briareus was engulfed in a white light.
His size rapidly shrank until he was about the same height as Do-jae.
- This form should be acceptable.
Briareus had transformed into a human.
And a very handsome, red-haired Westerner at that, one who reminded him of Havik.
"Is that... polymorph?"
The magic to change one's appearance into another form or species, Polymorph.
The ultimate magic, a realm unattainable by humans, had unfolded before his very eyes.
- In this form, I can stay by your side, can't I?
"...Could you maybe take another form? Preferably someone who looks more like us, an Easterner."
- An Easterner... Will an appearance similar to yours suffice?
Briareus was once again enveloped in a white light.
This time, he changed into someone who looked quite Korean.
However, he ended up with a slight resemblance to Do-jae, only much more handsome.
The biggest difference was his hair, which wasn't quite black but a reddish-brown that still held a crimson tint.
"Much better..."
- I used your face as a reference.
Even so, Do-jae felt troubled.
How was he supposed to explain this dragon to people?
He'd had a hard enough time making Gwak Ji-hyeok, Kim Se-hoon, and the others understand.
Do-jae himself had only been able to grasp the concept of monsters and Gellahan because he had crossed over to another world. But those men hadn't seen it for themselves; they were people who had spent their entire lives hunting monsters.
In the end, he had managed to persuade them, but whether they truly believed him was uncertain, as evidenced by the 'Doubt' status he'd seen in their information windows through his Eye of the Golem.
"But why do you want to stay with me? If you're that low on mana, shouldn't you be hibernating? I heard dragons just sleep in their lairs for hundreds of years."
Do-jae asked another question that was on his mind.
Dragons symbolized wisdom and wealth, but they were also said to be the epitome of sloth.
*The Great Encyclopedia of Mysterious Monsters* stated that if dragons were zealous and diligent, no other race would be able to survive in Tranpeion.
- Dragons are fundamentally intelligent beings who enjoy inquiry. The humans of my continent have recently gone extinct, but this place is full of humans. In particular, there are many here who have borrowed Gellahan's power. Thus, instead of hibernating, I wish to slowly recover my mana while observing the world with you.
Do-jae looked at Briareus for a moment, then placed his hands on his hips, lowered his head, and said.
"So this is why they say experience is better than books..."
No matter what the books said, reality was different.
Briareus gazed at Do-jae with sparkling eyes.
They were the same eyes as a certain little Gray Elf girl.
"What if I say no?"
- It matters not. The Ascetics chose you, and I, too, find you agreeable.
"I'm the one who has a problem with it."
- It is fine. Because I say it is.
Do-jae was at a loss for words.
It seemed no matter what he said, he wouldn't be able to reach a proper agreement with this dragon.
"First of all, I can't just take you back with me. Is there somewhere you can stay... I guess not..."
If he took the dragon back, how would he explain it?
Briareus had created countless victims.
Even if it wasn't of his own will, if the dragon's identity were revealed, things would get extremely complicated.
No matter how much he insisted it was Gellahan's doing.
- Besides, you won't be able to return without me, will you?
"Where are we?"
- I do not know. I flew east across the sea for a long time.
"Hah..."
Seeing the vast ocean in the distance, it seemed they were on a remote island somewhere in the Pacific.
Do-jae pressed his throbbing temples and said.
"Take me back to where we were. To a remote spot, away from people."
- Understood. Stay close to me.
Briareus gestured for him to come closer.
Wondering why he didn't change back into his dragon form, Do-jae moved to his side.
Then, Briareus placed a hand on Do-jae's shoulder and said.
- Teleport.
***
The place where the black clouds had cleared and the dragon had vanished.
The clash of weapons still echoed loudly, but the screams of people could no longer be heard.
Because anyone who might have screamed was already dead.
"You there! Make sure you collect every last severed piece!"
"Don't cross this line! There are still monsters left, and they keep coming up!"
The hunters and Suppression Corps members who had fled from the dragon had returned and were now slowly mopping up the remaining monsters and recovering the bodies.
Class 2 and even Class 1 monsters appeared from time to time, but with three S-rank hunters present, they were more than enough to handle anything that wasn't a named monster.
One area, in particular, was being cleared with remarkable speed.
"Follow the golems and advance!"
It was the area where four black golems led a force of some eighty others.
The golems were hunting monsters at such a tremendous speed that all the hunters and soldiers present were left speechless.
"Wow, that's insane! There's nothing left for us to do."
"I don't know, man. To be honest, it's a little scary."
However, since golems were clearly monsters, the fact that their controller was nowhere in sight was unsettling.
They had no idea when the creatures might turn on them.
There were even some hunters and soldiers who found the mere thought of those powerful beings turning against them at once to be terrifying.
"Hey, mister, you don't need to be scared. My brother's golems would never harm a person. So could you please move aside?"
Young-jin said as he passed by a middle-aged man who was eyeing the golems suspiciously.
Shhhk-!
Thwack-!
Members of the Guardian Guild passed by Young-jin, slaying monsters as they went.
Now that the dragon was gone, Guardian was approaching the sinkhole to search for the Chilgok Unit.
"Please... please..."
Ji-yoon muttered to herself repeatedly as she swung the 'Cape of Judgment'.
The closer they got, the more depressing and bleak the atmosphere became, but their pace quickened.
And finally.
Young-jin, who had been charging at the very front, stopped in his tracks.
He slowly knelt and cradled a man in his arms.
"Gwang-hoon..."
Jeong Gwang-hoon of the Chilgok Unit's 2nd Squad.
He was dead, burned so black that he would have been unrecognizable if not for the necklace he always wore.
"I'm sorry..."
Tears streamed down Young-jin's face.
Jeong Gwang-hoon's death was by no means his fault, but those were the only words he could offer.
"Cough..."
Just then, a cough came from the side.
Hearing it, Ji-yoon quickly ran over.
"Jeong-gyu!"
It was Son Jeong-gyu, clutching a corpse that was even blacker than Jeong Gwang-hoon's, its very form melted away.
Son Jeong-gyu himself was fine for the most part, but there was a hole the size of a soccer ball in his side.
"Cough, cough..."
"Oh... what do I do... What do I do!"
Ji-yoon didn't know what to do, placing her hand over the wound in his side.
But there was nothing she could do.
The only reason Son Jeong-gyu was still alive was that the intense heat had cauterized the wound, preventing him from dying of shock from blood loss.
It was an undeniable fact that he would stop breathing soon.
"Ji... Yoon... you look... okay..."
"Don't talk. We can do something!"
Ji-yoon tried to lift him.
But Son Jeong-gyu coughed up blood and shook his head.
"I think... it's too late... But... I'm glad... I could see you... one last time..."
Instead of getting up, Son Jeong-gyu gripped the hand of the corpse he was holding.
He then took a ring from the corpse's finger and handed it to Ji-yoon.
"To my sister-in-law... give her this..."
The moment she saw the ring, Ji-yoon burst into tears.
The corpse Son Jeong-gyu was holding.
It was Kim Jun-seo of the Chilgok Unit's 3rd Squad, who had been married for less than a month.
"Hic... Okay...!"
After those words, Son Jeong-gyu's arm fell limp.
Ji-yoon collapsed where she stood and began to sob uncontrollably.
Just then, someone gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ji-yoon, get up."
Ji-yoon looked back, her vision blurred by tears.
A familiar face in a distorted background.
It was Do-jae.