The Dragon God Lives
“The Dragon God?!”
Canteas, who had been listening, jolted in shock and scrambled closer.
That title meant a true god—the same caliber as the Demon God. Not some ambiguous immortal like the sages they had met before, but the genuine article.
Sages who had not specialized in combat usually reached their seats through accumulated virtue; few of them were truly strong. The Dragon God was different. As a dragon at his foundation he would already be formidable, and to have ascended to godhood on top of that meant his power stood on an entirely different plane.
“Are you certain the being you saw was him? Absolutely certain?”
It was Legion who pressed Do-ha with repeated questions.
“I’m certain. I even felt his aura.”
“Hah… What in the world…”
Legion dismissed the illusion magic and his shoulders sagged as if the strength had drained from him. Small wonder—the Dragon God had long been believed dead. And yet he was alive.
“Laktakalion vanishing fifty thousand years ago and still being alive… it simply doesn’t make sense…”
“Laktakalion?”
“That’s the Dragon God’s name.”
He had never imagined he would speak that name again.
“Why did the Dragon God disappear in the first place?”
“I don’t know the details. All I ever heard was that he died fighting a god.”
“Which god?”
“Who knows… Anyone strong enough to fight the Dragon God must have been monstrous, but I have no idea who it was.”
Legion let out a long sigh and shook his head. The event lay too far in the past, and with the Dragon God long presumed dead, almost no traces of him remained.
“Could it have been the Demon God?”
“The Demon God?”
Do-ha tilted his head at Canteas’s question.
“Who else could beat the Dragon God in a fight?”
“Hmm.”
“Do-ha, do you remember anything the Demon God said when you fought him?”
“He just ranted to himself the whole time, then when he was about to die he had the nerve to propose a ceasefire.”
“…”
“…”
For a moment Legion and Canteas were both struck speechless. Talking face-to-face like this, it was easy to forget that the man standing in front of them was the Absolute Being. Who else in the world could casually recount a battle against a god?
“Aside from that—did he ever mention the Dragon God?”
“Right before the fight he did bring up other gods…”
Many gods have opposed me, and every one of them fell. Do you truly believe the likes of you can defeat me?
That had been the end of it. He had never named any other gods beyond that.
“And more importantly, if he’d lost to the Demon God he wouldn’t have sided with the Demon God Cult.”
“True enough.”
Canteas and Legion both nodded. Defeat at the Demon God’s hands would never have made him a subordinate. Had that been the case, he would already have crossed paths with Do-ha during the war in the Demon Realm.
“Could it be the Heavenly God, then?”
If he was lending strength to the Demon God Cult, perhaps he belonged to the opposing side—the Heavenly God. Defeat after battling the Heavenly God, then joining the Demon God’s forces for revenge. It was the most plausible explanation they could invent on the spot. It might be wrong, but for now it was the only theory they had.
“Still, at least we know what he is. I’m glad I came looking for you.”
“Well… thanks to you I learned the Dragon God is still alive.”
“So track him carefully.”
“Huh…???”
Wait. What?
What had he just heard?
Track him?
Track whom?
The Dragon God?
Question marks flooded Legion’s mind at the incomprehensible order.
“You can’t possibly be telling me to track the Dragon God… right?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“That’s insane!”
Legion recoiled as if he had been struck. Tracking the Dragon God was pure suicide. The creature had already joined the Demon God Cult; chasing him would bring not only the Cult but the Demonic Sect and the Blood Sect down on his head as well.
Fine—let them come. He could shake them off or fight them and win. But if the Dragon God himself gave chase, there would be no answer.
“How would you feel if I secretly tracked you?”
“I’d kill you.”
“See?! It’s the same thing!”
“Eh, you’ll be fine. He’s weakened anyway.”
“What do you mean… Ah. You said he was about the same as you at your peak, didn’t you?”
Do-ha had never said “exactly the same.” He had said “similar.” That meant weaker than the Baek Do-ha of the past. Of course, even so, the Dragon God remained absurdly powerful.
“Hmm… So he really did lose a battle and lose his power.”
“Which is why tracking him is possible.”
“Haa… Still impossible. You said he’s roughly on the level of your former strength. That means he’s far stronger than an ordinary dragon.”
Being “not identical” solved nothing. Even “similar” was already beyond reason.
Do-ha, just threaten to kill him like you always do.
…Like I always do?
Canteas’s telepathic message left Do-ha looking momentarily drained. When had he ever gone around threatening people? He simply negotiated.
Want to die?
Oh, you’d rather live?
Then you’ll have to offer something in return, won’t you?
That sort of thing.
…Most people call that a threat.
Shut up. And death threats don’t work on Legion. More precisely, he’ll beg for his life, but his survival instinct comes from somewhere else entirely.
There was a reason Legion kept crawling forward even while being called a gutter rat. It was for his younger brother, Lazarus. Lazarus had died early in a battle against another dragon, and Legion lived on so that he could live out his brother’s remaining years as well. The reason he gathered information was so that, when he finally died, he would have countless stories to tell his brother.
That’s why I need your help.
Ahhh~ Now I get it. That’s why you dragged me along.
Only then did Canteas nod in understanding. So that was why Do-ha had hauled him out of bed.
“Let’s make a deal.”
“This isn’t something a deal can cover.”
“Lazarus.”
Legion’s body flinched the instant his brother’s name left Do-ha’s lips.
“I’ll summon Lazarus’s soul for you.”
“…Listen, Absolute Being. I really hate people joking about my brother.”
A cold glare Do-ha had never seen from him before cut through the air. Legion was too afraid of Do-ha to release killing intent or attack, but he could still show that icy attitude.
“You think I’d joke about something like that? Once a month I’ll call your brother’s soul. I can’t revive him or let the soul remain on the surface, though. If I did, he’d become undead.”
“…”
Legion’s pupils trembled. Could it… truly be possible to call his brother’s soul?
If Baek Do-ha had claimed he could resurrect Lazarus or anchor the soul permanently on the surface, Legion would have told him to stop spouting nonsense and leave. He was no stranger to magic; he would have recognized the lie at once. Even if a soul were forced back, it would turn undead exactly as Do-ha said—and then suffer for eternity.
“Is it really possible…?”
“I can’t do it. But Canteas here can.”
Legion’s gaze slid toward Canteas.
“Of course it’s possible. If I still weren’t in my true body it would have been impossible, but now it is.”
“True body?”
“Long story.”
Canteas shrugged. Being trapped in another body already felt like yesterday.
“Ah, there are a few conditions. First, finding the soul will take about a month. It’s a dragon’s soul with considerable power, and it’s been dead a long time, so locating it will take a while.”
“A month is nothing.”
No—even a year would have been nothing. He had already spent centuries yearning and grieving; waiting a little longer was trivial. As a dragon, a month passed in the blink of an eye.
“And I can’t keep him on the surface long. An hour at most? That’s only possible because it’s a dragon soul. A human soul would be contaminated the moment it was called after so many years. But I can summon him every month.”
“That’s enough.”
Having steeled himself, Legion looked straight at Do-ha.
“The Dragon God. I’ll track him. I’ll learn everything I can and report it all to you.”
“Good. I’m counting on you.”
Do-ha smiled and shook Legion’s hand.
Whoosh.
Thud.
“So this is where you were.”
Depnius landed lightly and approached Laktakalion, who was strolling at a leisurely pace. He had searched for quite some time after finding the building empty.
“I was observing this changed world.”
“And your impression?”
“Quite entertaining. I never expected it to change this much.”
Laktakalion, still facing forward, let a faint smile curve his lips. Tens of thousands of years ago humans had never flourished like this. They had been as weak and insignificant as ants, not worth a second thought. Now their progress was astonishing. Civilization itself, and the power humans wielded, had advanced enough to genuinely shock him.
“You met the Absolute Being you were so curious about… What did you think?”
“They say he fought the Demon God as an equal, correct?”
“Yes. According to the demons, he drove the Demon God to the brink of death. The Demon God was so badly wounded he entered a period of rest.”
“Hmm. Weakened, then…”
“Yes. His current strength is absurdly diminished compared to the past.”
“Well. I’m in the same position.”
“…”
Depnius bit his lip at the Dragon God’s murmured words. The same, perhaps—but the time scales were different. The Dragon God had needed fifty thousand years to recover; Do-ha had needed only a few. Even generously measured, less than two years had passed and he had already rebuilt this much power.
“You asked what I thought? It was quite a shock.”
When he first heard of the being called Baek Do-ha, he had dismissed it as impossible. He himself had fought a god and lost—yet a mere human had fought a god, and the Demon God no less? Had driven that Demon God to the edge of death? He had thought it a thoroughly unamusing joke. Then the information kept coming, and Baek Do-ha’s deeds began to appear before his eyes. Curiosity followed. What sort of creature was this Baek Do-ha who bore the arrogant epithet of Absolute Being?
“A shock… In what way?”
Depnius tilted his head. Baek Do-ha’s power had not yet fully returned; there seemed nothing particularly shocking about him. Strictly speaking, he was weaker than the Dragon God at present.
Swoosh.
“?”
When the Dragon God turned his head and looked at him, Depnius flinched. Why that stare?
“You… are lacking.”
“Pardon? In what…?”
“You cannot see his abyss.”
He himself had seen it. Only for an instant, but he had looked into the depths of Baek Do-ha’s eyes—into his abyss.
An endless ocean stretching without horizon… No. More like the cosmos hanging above that sky.
Baek Do-ha had no limits. Even Laktakalion had never encountered such a being. Gods themselves possessed limits, yet Baek Do-ha did not. It was enough to make one wonder whether the creature was truly human at all.
“Heh heh heh… What a truly fascinating world this is.”
Hands clasped behind his back, Laktakalion walked on at a measured pace and laughed.