Book 6 Chapter 2

Episode 126

My gaze was drawn in, as if captivated, by the dragon called Bardumkus. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

The dragon scales, which writhed like maggots in spiderwebs, were jet black with an unholy hue, and ribs that had ripped through muscle and bone protruded from its back, spreading out like wings.

Dragging its entrails, which were white with frost, and with two eyes glowing with a cursed, disgusting color—

“—Alakish?”

Had my eyes gone bad? What on earth did I just blurt out? Shar'kas curled the corners of his lips.

"Ah, yes. That was its name in the past, wasn't it? Though I gave it a new name fitting for the king's servant."

Kasena, who had been gasping for breath while pressing her left chest with her right hand, began to tremble uncontrollably.

"No, it's not…"

As if unable to accept this cruel reality, Kasena vigorously shook her head and looked back at me.

"That, that can't be Alakish. Right? It can't be, Rein?"

Meeting Kasena's pleading violet eyes, which sought agreement, made my stomach churn as if I was about to vomit.

"Ha, hahaha, hahahahahaha…"

It was laughter that mercilessly crushed Kasena's… impossible wish. Laughter filled with malevolent demonic energy, enough to make eardrums burst.

"You lowly mongrels haven't evolved in fourteen hundred years. 'That can't be my friend, that can't be my father…' The sight of you crying while denying reality."

"Shut up…"

"Hmm? Are you angry now? Why? It's been less than half a year of acquaintance."

"Shut up, shut up, I said shut up—!"

"Not facing reality and denying it is a trivial habit of you humans."

Kasena, her face contorted with rage, shrieked a desperate scream and frantically drew lines in the air.

Like a conductor leading an orchestra, each time light was formed from her fingertips, magic resonated, creating a miraculous power.

Again and again and again… Fireballs, fiercely spewing white smoke, flew in, burning Shar'kas's arm and turning his leg to charcoal.

It was the Dragon Tongue flame learned from Alakish, the death throes of a sad bond that had formed fleetingly in this frigid empire, for a long yet short time.

But it was useless.

Completely useless.

The burned limbs always regenerated anew amidst countless weaving abyssal spiderwebs. His characteristic wide, dark blue robe was no different.

As if it wasn't worth blocking or avoiding, Shar'kas simply walked forward, then tilted his head when the offensive subsided.

"Is this the end?"

Was it helplessness, or despair?

Tears welled up from Kasena's eyes, who had been drawing runes in the air, her hands trembling, before she collapsed weakly. The tears immediately froze.

Recalling every moment spent with Alakish… the warmth of the day he embraced them under his wings on a cold night, the gentle voice of the day he taught them Dragon Tongue, and even the shy smile of the day he wanted to cook delicious food for his daughter.

"It's a mystery how that annoying girl's bloodline can be so trivial."

As Shar'kas stretched out his hand, the primeval spiders, Brokudum, which had been squirming disgustingly behind him, all rushed forward at once, shaking the ground.

"Frisvia, as per the agreement, please take the others and evacuate to the wall."

"Heh heh, what about you?"

"I need to buy that time."

Rein lightly placed a hand on crying Kasena's shoulder and walked past her. His face was strangely expressionless.

"Young lady, this might be your last lesson, so I'll teach you the most important thing."

Clink, the blue luminous liquid in the five glass bottles hanging from his waist glowed faintly.

It was a magic potion he had asked Kiran Wolf Blado for.

As soon as Pipi opened the cork with her beak, he poured the half-frozen liquid, covered in thin ice, into his mouth.

"Third lesson, a mage never gets caught up in emotions in battle."

As the thick liquid dissolved into his body, he felt a pain like cold needles piercing his esophagus.

Forcibly replenishing depleted magic. Forcibly generating impossible magic, making his core pulse vigorously.

While this series of processes was taking place, Rein had already thrown off the glove on his left hand and unwrapped the bandage.

"Image construction."

Like paint spreading on white paper, the boy's mental image began to overlay the world's thematic structure.

Five large magic circles unfolded on the ground. Yu (流) in the north, Ryang (量) in the east, Se (世) in the south, Jon (尊) in the west, and Kyong (警) in the central circle.

As the rune engraved in the center of the circle emitted light, countless mathematical formulas were inscribed around it, drawing geometric patterns.

"Yuryang Sejon: Kyong."

The one who showed the most surprise at the power that dominated the thematic structure, ignoring even the principles of the world, was Baekdoryeong Shar'kas.

'This power is clearly Karaden's…?'

Before that thought could fully form, an intense light poured out, enough to make retinas burn. The Brokudum leading the charge burst into flames, scattering fierce flashes of light.

"Rune alteration. Ryun (綸), San (散)."

The magic circle of the mental barrier: Yu (流) emitted light, and then the fire from the sky, Ryun (綸), scattered into countless strands of flame, then San (散), dispersed.

Those strands of flame, as soon as they entwined around the legs of the trailing Brokudum like ropes, blazed fiercely.

In the intense maelstrom of flames, hot enough to make one's face feel scalded, the Old Ones struggled in agony.

"Ryun, Ryun, San, San."

"Pipi, I'm fine, stay with Kasena. And help Barlzen."

Pipi rubbed her beak affectionately against Rein's cheek, then spread her wings and flew back.

"Captain, that's…"

Everyone was surprised by the feast of such mighty power, but the ones who were more shocked were Frisvia's subordinates, seasoned adventurers.

"Heh heh, that kid, was that not a fluke earlier?"

A mental barrier… I don't know much about magic, but I know well what level one must reach to use that.

Not bad at all, actually.

Was Alakish's judgment to entrust the dragon egg to such a rookie not only for personal reasons but also for ability-related ones?

'Rein, are you planning to stop all of that by yourself?'

Barlzen's fists trembled as he watched the Old Ones, who were engulfed in flames every time Shar'kas sent them out.

"Let's save the admiration for later and move to an advantageous position now, hehe."

One of Frisvia's subordinates hoisted Kasena, who was kneeling and staring blankly at Rein's back, onto his shoulder, and Kasena blinked.

"W-wait… where, where are you going?"

"You're in the way. So you should move."

"Move… I'm going to fight with Rein! Put me down, put me down!"

Then Frisvia stopped in her tracks for a moment, as if genuinely bewildered, then let out a cold, short laugh.

"Fight, hehe, how are you going to fight? A brat who can only cry. With dreams and hope? Hehehe, there's no such miracle in this world."

"Still, still leaving him alone…!"

"Right now, you're nothing but a burden that needs help, not gives it. Staying here will only make you a corpse or scattered bloodstains soon."

Again, pillars of fire erupted from behind, and a fierce heatwave swept through, making Kasena's fur cloak flap violently.

"But that guy isn't like that."

"…?"

"With that skill, doesn't he have something to rely on? Heh, go back to base and warm yourself by the fire."

Frisvia suddenly turned around, and in that instant, she grabbed the head of a dead one that rushed at her.

At that moment, steam fiercely erupted from a device attached to her wrist, and a steel stake was extruded, pulverizing that head into countless fragments.

And then the next, and the next…

The fighting style of expertly dominating even the Old Ones and then finishing them off by driving a wedge into their heads was truly a masterful art itself.

"Wow…"

Kasena admired his combat skill but bit her lip in helplessness.

I, I…

The next moment, Kasena roughly pulled away from the adventurer's shoulder and simultaneously cast a fireball, incinerating a dead one approaching Frisvia from behind.

"Warm myself by the fire? The fire's right here!"

Frisvia let out a sly laugh at her spirited appearance.

"Hehehe, if you die like this, will that black sheep scale be mine forever? Leaving you to die here wouldn't be so bad after all."

Meanwhile, Rein, who was desperately catching his breath, felt a sharp, needle-like pain in his core.

Magic exhaustion already… He pulled out the second glass bottle from his waist and tore off the cork.

As a reaction to the act of artificially pouring fuel and forcibly activating it, a tearing pain shot through his core, and his back was soaked in cold sweat.

'Protect, I must protect.'

Then, I should have fought like that then. With Alakish…

With that thought, he urgently crossed both hands, and the bodies of the ancient spiders that had rushed close were engulfed in flames, emitting the foul stench of burning flesh.

As the air rippled with the heat of the explosion, he gasped and gulped down the third potion. Now only seven potions remained…

"Indeed, I'm beginning to understand vaguely now."

Along with a pain that felt like a direct blow to the brain, Shar'kas's voice suddenly came from beside him.

"The reason Her Majesty the Queen sought you out as soon as she awoke, and the reason Karaden saved you with barely a handful of power left."

Flames scattering explosive smoke and burning the Brokudum; Shar'kas put his hand into the fire with an intrigued expression.

The flames immediately swallowed his small hand as well, but as if mocking it, spiderwebs shot out from the severed section and intricately wove together, forming a new hand.

Was it the peculiar composure of an ancient ruler, or was it the fear deeply ingrained in the genetics of the ruled that made all the hairs on his body stand on end?

"You are quite similar to Karaden."

"…?"

"I can tell by your eyes. You pretend to be calm, but that personality, prone to passion, and the way you use power… are you like a clone of Karaden?"

The image of Karaden, who had constructed similar power by pressing his hands together in this very street, at this very distance, fourteen hundred years ago, overlaid the boy's face.

"You are a being that should not exist in this era, a being that goes against the causality."

If so, I will eliminate you right here, right now. Shar'kas lifted his chin towards the back.

"You deal with the other mongrels. Don't touch Emitza's bloodline. There's something I need to read from her soul's memories."

He held his breath, watching Alakish create wrinkles in the earth with its massive body as it leaped high.

'Are the spiderwebs clinging to its ribs… acting as wings?'

He could tell it couldn't fly, but it definitely had a comparable leaping ability. He could only watch as Alakish blocked the group's escape route.

No, it would be more accurate to say he didn't have the luxury to stop it.

Because at the same time Alakish leaped, Shar'kas fluttered his sleeves and began walking straight towards him.

"Well, shall I test how strong you are?"