Like a Dragon (2)
‘It’ struck like lightning.
“……!!!”
To the demons ravaging the continent as always. To the demons lying in wait for their chance to rise again. Even to the demons cowering in their own castles.
Thump— Like an electric shock from lightning.
It froze every demon in existence. And by every, I mean not just the nameless rabble, but demons with true names—and even the demon kings themselves were no exception.
Tearful Demon King’s Castle.
The 56th-ranked demon king, Gre Mory.
Using the man huddled on the throne as a footstool, Gre Mory—who had been resting—sensed it. A presence emanating from the distant Arcana Continent, far beyond the horizon!
Chilling!
Her limbs went rigid under the killing intent. So much so that even her footstool picked up on the ominous vibe and spoke up with a worried look.
“……What’s wrong, my queen?”
But Gre Mory couldn’t respond.
If I’m not careful, even my voice might carry……!
As she’d just noted, the presence came from an impossibly distant place. A range where not even labored breathing—or a real thunderclap—would reach.
Yet fear robbed Gre Mory of rational thought.
Rustle!
Demon king’s dignity? Screw that!
Gre Mory frantically ducked behind the throne.
“My queen?”
The footstool’s voice called out. Gre Mory shot him a venomous glare.
Is this moronic doormat too stupid to notice?
That uncontrollable killing intent……!
While she held her breath, tense as a bowstring, a sudden idea struck.
……Right, the Demon Eye!
The Demon Eye that peered into every corner of the Arcana Continent. It could pinpoint the source.
Soon, Gre Mory’s eyes went pure white—the process to share the Demon Eye’s vision.
But……
……Impossible.
Nothing. Not a thing in sight.
It was just a split-second glimpse. The countless Demon Eyes dotting the night sky couldn’t have vanished all at once.
Gre Mory crawled awkwardly to the window. Only then, gazing upward, did she understand.
“!”
The Demon Eyes had shut their lids. Terrified, just like her—too scared to even peek.
What in the……?
Rustle!
Gre Mory curled up again. She desperately parsed the sensation washing over her.
A long, long time ago……
She’d felt something eerily similar. In the Demon Realm. More precisely……
Bael.
The first among the upper demon kings of the Ten Thrones. Back during Bael’s summoning ritual.
Gazing up at Bael, she had trembled in fear just like this.
……This seat fears.
An upper demon king. Call them dullards beyond reason, but their power was anything but. Gre Mory remembered it crystal clear: Bael’s feats. Enough to shatter omnipotence itself. He had dragged an entire world to utter ruin.
I escaped that terror only because……!
Bael—the king of the first throne—was an ally.
But whatever this was now? No ally of hers.
Gre Mory stole a glance at her footstool, the man.
The humans aren’t shaking……
The implication was clear. This killing intent was aimed squarely at demons like her.
I, I don’t want to die!
The second such terror she’d known since birth. Gre Mory wrapped her salmon-pink hair around herself like a blanket. She trembled. Praying desperately that it wouldn’t notice her……
Endless status ailment messages related to fear kept popping up.
Fear status ailment messages flooding in endlessly.
Why so many? For a second, I thought they were spam. I hadn’t even done anything.
Mana’s not fully recovered yet, either.
Gripping a cleared rift or opening a portal to the Arcana Continent—those feats had guzzled mana proportional to their complexity.
Without the World Tree’s blessing, I’d have been bedridden for days.
Of course.
Predator-Prey Relationship
With Predator-Prey Relationship active now, no real problem.
Anyway.
Hundreds of thousands was just the beginning. I am your natural enemy. Your fear incarnate. That’s what I’d bluffed.
……Why’s it gone so quiet?
The moment my foot hit Arcana soil, I’d braced for demon hordes swarming me. Or having to punch through encirclements to reach Yunak Seus. I’d prepped for the worst.
This works in my favor, though.
Meeting Yunak Seus wasn’t the endgame. Bad luck, and I might clash with whatever force drove him to death’s door.
Cooperative demons? Perfect. Lets me conserve strength.
“At last, you comprehend how prostration becomes you. I shall praise you accordingly.”
……Is that praise?
I summoned High El and Diend before the doubt could linger.
“High El, Diend.”
“High El responds to the call of its lord.”
“To meet thee here stirs fresh sentiments, my lord.”
Yeah, their overly reverent greetings always hit novel……
No time for theatrics, though. Prep work before facing Yunak Seus.
Yunak Seus isn’t just any dragon.
Leader of the elder dragons. Preparations for meeting the ancient wyrm weren’t complete.
I issued orders to High El and Diend.
“High El obeys its lord’s will.”
High El vanished into thin air first.
“Thy command I shall uphold.”
……Diend—growing ever more burdensome—departed to carry it out.
Left alone, someone approached to speak: couldn’t forget Clone No. 3.
—A bitter vista upon revisit, my master.
Kwi-cheol, reverted from Illusion Breaker to his original form.
If that’s a silver lining, it is.
The instant we cleared the CODE rift, no more illusions to sever. True to form as an ego sword with a mind of its own, Illusion Breaker returned to Kwi-cheol’s shape.
Sure, calling it Kwi-cheol beat Illusion Breaker……
But it wasn’t pure relief.
—So, what must I cleave next, master?
Kwi-cheol here? Seemed itching for a new name!
The terrified presences of demons frozen in fear all around. I pondered.
Even prototypes had awakened him as the grandiose Illusion Breaker.
If it awakens to slay demons……
……Demon Slayer. Something like that, probably.
Imagining uttering it myself? My pride couldn’t bear the cringe.
So I prayed fervently.
Demons, just stay down like that. Please.
Keep groveling. Don’t provoke Grandfell’s ire.
Unaware of my inner plea, the mouth blundered on.
“Kwi-cheol.”
Clones can’t match the original, they say.
“’Twould be swifter to tally what not to sever.”
Outdoing even Kwi-cheol……!
At this rate, memorizing dozens of his names later?
Chanting dozens like Illusion Breaker? My toes already curled in secondhand shame……
Each deep breath blurred his consciousness further. In his faintly open eyes: the desolate Arcana landscape.
The dying elder dragon, Yunak Seus, smiled bitterly.
Eternal life? He’d thought it disposable anytime.
Yet now, with death’s shadow looming……
I’ve feared death all along.
He realized his own hubris.
Bitterness tinged Yunak Seus’s smile. His sister, Agentress’s voice echoed in his ears.
—“You know nothing.”
—“The perfect one like you wouldn’t grasp inferiority.”
—“That blessing was salvation for us, the incomplete!”
Even if others pointed fingers at you, I should have understood your heart.
Only now, on death’s doorstep, did he comprehend.
Yunak Seus’s voice filled the area.
“Mother…… I shall heed your will.”
The plan beginning with his death. Yet even closing his eyes like this, he lacked the confidence to face his mother.
He’d failed to persuade, after all? The All-Dragon Summon. That day, he’d shared the long-postponed tale with his dormant kin.
And this was the result. Wings savagely torn. Body gashed deep enough to bare muscle. Breath faltering.
Yes. In Arcana, only fellow dragons could inflict such wounds on an elder dragon.
“All my failing.”
Everything stemmed from his inadequacy. Yunak Seus smiled wryly again. Or rather, overestimating his kin.
What would Agentress say, seeing him thus?
I admit it. I was the inferior sibling.
Right path or wrong, if you could unite the kin…… at least you wouldn’t meet my end.
Yet Yunak Seus harbored no regrets. Even on death’s edge, his gaze burned unwavering—a testament.
Moisture crept into Yunak Seus’s voice.
“Claudy……”
Please, look mercifully upon my foolish kin. I seek no forgiveness. Just a shred of mercy.
Even if denied, I understand.
“……For I lack the qualification to defy thy will.”
This truly was the end. His Dragon Heart, said eternal beyond all things, slowed. Pain at last pierced his immortal flesh.
Yunak Seus drank in the continent’s vista one final time.
So you groaned amid such agony.
But Arcana wasn’t all his fading sight beheld.
And you lot inflicted this suffering on others.
The demons who’d wrought Arcana’s ruin appeared. They licked their chops. Whispered.
“The Dragon Heart’s mine.”
“Heh heh! Armor from the hide.”
“A weapon from dragon fangs……!!”
For Mother’s plan, he’d wanted to incinerate the pests. Even that proved beyond him.
He’d begged his kin: preserve at least one wing. Yet……
“I can’t fulfill even that one wish for Mother.”
Must Yunak Seus depart thus? Shameless before all.
So unjust.
“Krr……”
Squeezing every ounce of strength for one final dragon’s breath. Yet it couldn’t even scatter the nearby demons.
……I was pathetically frail.
Flutter—
Unable to resist his leaden eyelids, Yunak Seus closed his eyes.
For some reason, a familiar touch brushed him. Softly—right on his snout.
Faint in his ears, a voice.
“I heard thy cry, Yunak Seus.”
Only then did Yunak Seus realize. Mother’s aura. A dawn spirit.
Yet sorry, frail one. As a brother who knows Mother’s will, I yearn to aid thee somehow. But my body fails me.
The reply surprised.
“No need for concern.”
No concern?
“I came not alone.”
With all his might, Yunak Seus pried open his eyes. And saw: demons kneeling, foaming at the mouth, stone dead.
Then—
Click—
Footsteps approached. Light shimmered from that direction. Amid the glow, a noble figure emerged.
“!”
Yunak Seus knew at once. That man was the Dawn. Mother’s chosen.
But……
“……?”
Yunak Seus’s pupils dilated unprecedentedly.
Why……?
Why……!
Thy locks……
The Claudy house mark. Dazzling, icy silver…… shining?