The Balrog of Hajatum
"You... how do you know about that? It's a secret handed down only among the Red Dragonkin..."
"I heard it from Garon. As you know, Rundel's Gloves are connected to the phoenix egg."
"Hmph... I see."
It was a lie, of course, but Adel delivered it with such unflappable poise that Crul nodded in acceptance, seemingly convinced by his natural demeanor.
"After the Dragonkin War, the defeated had to offer their treasures to the victors. By rights, we should have surrendered Rundel's Gloves."
His expression darkened.
"But since we'd already lost them, I had no choice but to beg for my life by offering the secret of the ancient tree in exchange."
He shook his head, as if unearthing that shameful past pained him.
"In that case, shouldn't you be grateful to the Ulan instead? In the end, it kept the chief's gloves out of Baekgwi's hands."
"Hah, don't talk nonsense. Attacking us when we were weakened after the war and stealing the gloves? No different from common thievery."
Crul snorted at Adel's words. But unlike what Crul believed, Adel didn't think the Ulan tribe had simply coveted and stolen the Rundel's Gloves.
'Sure, gloves that allow a contract with a mid-tier god of conflagration are rare... but they're useless without a god to contract with.'
And as if to prove it, no contractor for Garon had emerged until now.
'Besides, the weapons forged in the Ulan's Ancestral Tomb can't contract with gods, but many outperform the gloves purely as equipment.'
There had to be some reason for it. And Adel suspected that reason might be tied to the phoenix egg hidden in the Gold Death Gorge.
"Anyway, fine. The past matters less than the present. What does the phoenix egg have to do with our current situation?"
"Both Baekgwi and the Burst King are after it, but for different reasons."
"...Hmm?"
"After the Dragonkin War left me with nowhere to go, I sought refuge with the Burst King. I figured he was the only one who could protect me from Baekgwi."
"Using the fact that the Zen Kingdom is allied with the Baekgwi clan, right?"
"Exactly. Even Baekgwi wouldn't dare strike an allied nation recklessly."
"But didn't it occur to you that the Burst King might just hand you over to them?"
It had been a desperate gamble, teetering on the edge of disaster.
"I had some confidence. The phoenix egg in Gold Death Gorge is what Baekgwi wants, but only the Burst King himself can retrieve it—even wrapped in a god's blessing."
"He had no choice but to protect you."
"Why is that?"
"Hmm... hold on a moment."
Crul paused mid-explanation, as if struck by a thought, then raised a hand and lifted a massive iron ingot plate from the floor.
Thud.
"Here is the central continent, and this is the Zen Kingdom."
He drew a sharp dagger and scratched at the ingot like an artist on canvas—scraaape, scraaape—a feat impossible without the monstrous strength of the Red Dragonkin.
"And here..."
"The Ronen River."
Adel immediately recognized the massive river Crul etched along the kingdom's left flank.
"Right. The Zen Kingdom's eastern lake beyond the Ronen River is the Forbidden Zone, Cove, and below that lies Baekgwi territory."
"I know."
"And to the west, this area."
Nothing was marked there yet, but Adel knew it well.
"Kaztan's domain. Unlike the druids of Spirit Formation who tame beasts, they're an odd bunch who control monsters."
"Heh, impressive..."
Crul nodded.
"But what's that got to do with anything? Does the Zen Kingdom have beef with Kaztan?"
"Even you didn't know, huh?"
Adel shrugged and chuckled softly at Crul's words.
"This is top secret, but... Kaztan was wiped out not long ago."
"...What?"
It was hard to believe.
"Kaztan—the monster tamers, right?"
"That's them."
They differed slightly from Spirit Formation's druids, who tamed animals. These were monster handlers, not always upright folk, but they didn't stir trouble either. Their ways were just... unconventional. They hadn't harmed the continent enough to draw the kingdoms' ire.
'In my past life, they held out for quite a while. What the hell happened?'
"They were killed by their own monsters. All of them."
Adel narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Monster tamers killed by monsters? The whole group? You're joking."
"No joke. They really all died. The monsters they controlled suddenly went berserk, like rabid beasts."
"Berserk how...?"
"Like they'd caught some plague—ferocious beyond their nature. Their eyes bloodshot, they tore into the tamers without mercy."
'Cataclysm...'
Adel recalled the monster rampages from his past life, triggered by the demon clan's spirit stones.
[Strange. Didn't you stop that? You recovered the spirit stones.]
'True, but even after reclaiming the demon clan's stones, cataclysm had already spread in some places.'
The central continent was still at war. No spare forces to purge elsewhere, so no large-scale subjugation.
'I halted the monster flood to buy time after the central war ended and the kingdoms' strength waned—time for them to recover before the rampaging hordes poured out.'
The war of nine kingdoms wouldn't end in one go. It dragged over a decade, so staving off the beasts was crucial.
'Cataclysm persisting was expected...'
The demon clan's spirit stones were reclaimed, severing the source, but already-rampaging monsters kept it going. And now, it had reached the Zen Kingdom.
'Too fast.'
Something was off. Without spirit stones, the spread matched his past life's pace too closely.
'Is something happening that I don't know about?'
Not impossible. He knew future history, but living beings adapted, creating variables from his ripples.
"What happened to Kaztan?"
Adel asked Crul.
"A nightmare. Their domain's still littered with unprocessed corpses."
Adel nodded at Crul's words.
"And recently, the Cheonghae shamans sent a massive communique. About the monster rampages."
The divination group with Ulan's strategist Yong-a had long monitored the cataclysm—why they'd tasked Adel with reclaiming the demon clan's spirit stones.
"What did it say?"
"That rampaging monsters must be utterly annihilated. But it's not like hunting undead."
"Burn them with fire, not divine power."
Adel could guess why the Burst King eyed the phoenix egg.
"Burn them with fire... So the phoenix egg is needed to purify the rampaging monsters."
The Zen Kingdom's plight made sense.
"And without Rundel's Gloves, even the Burst King cloaked in a god's blessing can't extract the egg."
"Of course. A newborn phoenix burns hotter than an adult—taming its heat is no easy feat."
"Ordinary castings can't withstand the treasure's blaze in Gold Death Gorge. To claim it, you need Red Dragonkin master forging."
"Spot on."
But one question lingered.
"Rampaging monsters are tough, sure. I get needing the phoenix egg for purification, but..."
Was it worth the risk?
They were stronger than normal monsters, yes.
"But this is the Burst King we're talking about. Scared of monsters? Spooked by Baekgwi?"
Adel shook his head.
"He'd sooner die fighting monsters than bow to Baekgwi."
"You're right. At first, he brushed off the changes. But after Kaztan's shamans fell, things got dicey."
"What do you mean?"
"He needs Baekgwi's power now. The monsters threatening Zen Kingdom aren't ordinary."
"Kaztan..."
"It's the monsters they controlled. You know why Kaztan's riders were renowned."
Crul eyed Adel.
"Monster tamers break laws without hesitation to tame them. Yet they endured because of their riders' special ability."
'Forbidden Monster Arts...'
"Right. Sealing monsters. Kaztan's riders sealed special ones, earning respite from neighboring kingdoms' attacks."
Adel's face twisted.
"No way."
An unwanted monster's visage surfaced in his mind.
"Damn... that thing's loose?"
Adel voiced it, but he could already guess Crul's follow-up.
"Not just loose—it's been infected for ages. Tough even normally, now rampaging... No wonder it wiped out Kaztan's shamans."
The answer he'd hoped to avoid.
"It's too cunning for a mere monster. Using Kaztan as a base, it's slowly folding rampaging monsters into its own force."
Crul said.
"What were once wild beasts are now an army. Even the Burst King needs resolve to take it down."
"How big?"
"Three days ago's report: around five thousand monsters."
"...Insane."
Adel let out a low sigh.
'Kaztan's rider reached 7th class. Inferior to the three great magic towers' heads, but armed with countless ritual artifacts.'
Those weren't ordinary—relics from the ancient Arunasar people, each brimming with power. At full strength, even magic tower lords hesitated.
Such a man felled by one monster.
There was only one.
"The monster of Maze Hajatum..."
Adel murmured the name he loathed recalling.
"Balrog."