Book 9 Chapter 16

Chapter 215

Rem and Bart, who had hastily returned to the Ranoa Grand Bridge, unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.

"Bart, this is…"

"Yes, it's the smell of burning people."

Since traffic to the grand bridge was blocked by the Red Witches, the exact situation could not be known, but the smell of burning human flesh and black smoke were clearly visible.

"Did Lane do this?"

"No, there's no way that guy would burn so many people. The problem is what kind of plague it is…"

Serwebon of the White Spear Palace cried out loudly once from Rem's back.

The direction pointed by its light was southeast, that is, the Solond Kingdom.

Rem pointed a finger in that direction and asked as if confirming.

"You mean Lane already went that way?"

Hum.

It felt as if Serwebon nodded.

"You're lying, right? How could he have gotten there already?"

Huuuuuuummmmmmm.

Serwebon, as if irritated, began to glow so brightly it was blinding!

"Sorry! Stop it! It was a joke! I said it was a joke!"

Making a commotion in a situation where everyone was already sensitive was not pleasant, so Rem quickly grabbed a few merchants and asked.

"Hey, which road should I take to go to Solond?"

After four attempts, he managed to find a merchant fluent in the common language, but the answer was the same as the previous three.

"Solond, you say? Why would you want to go there? It's not a country anymore."

"Not a country?"

"Don't you know? Most of the land is turning into a plague zone. The Southern Republic Magicians' Association has completely blocked passage. They say anyone who comes out of there, no matter who, will be burned with fire."

Plague.

Right, what kind of plague could it be?

The atmosphere became eerily heavy, and Rem and Bart couldn't help but exchange strange glances.

'The Republic is a nation where witches who perform healing magic are deployed on the front lines.'

'That's why it always had more advanced medical techniques than the Empire…'

'And now those witches have decided to incinerate even all civilians? Is the situation that dangerous?'

Bart shrugged, showing the Dragon Bone Spear on his back, and loosened the movements of his various joints.

"We need to hurry and join them. They might have already engaged the enemy once."

* * *

"A daughter, you say? Do you have a daughter too?"

Balensidis, who knew Akki's circumstances at least briefly, asked in surprise.

"Her name is Ellamas. You must know her too."

Ellamas?

A disbelieving silence briefly dominated this mysterious basement.

Miria put a hand to her brow to collect her thoughts.

'Ellamas, wasn't that the name of the Black Church's second pillar?'

Dragon Slayer, if it's a being that reigns even above that monster, how much stronger is it?

But it was a Dragonkin? Then it's not entirely incomprehensible.

As if reading the emotions in their eyes, Shalessarum corrected their conjecture.

"She is not a daughter born of flesh, but a daughter born of heart."

"Not a blood relative?"

"Not all True Dragons succeed in creating avatars, so the blood relative of my sister here is truly the crystallization of a great miracle."

How did an indescribable sense of loneliness give birth to such earnestness? Or did even the gods pity his sister and permit this gift?

"Ellamas's spiritual mentor was a True Dragon? That's utterly unbelievable. Do you know Ellamas's current position?"

While such questions and answers were exchanged, Lane and Pippy were silent, unlike usual.

Though deep wounds on their bodies caused them to breathe shallowly, it was not physical pain but something mental that brought silence to their lips.

One was because a fragment of Alakish's soul was resonating with that flame and weeping, and the other was…

'Rista?'

That name, that face, that smile, brought back from the era 300 years ago, repeatedly came to mind and dominated his thoughts.

'When I saw her with Bel Kurias, there were no hallucinations or illusions. It means she was real.'

Right, my face is different, so it's natural she wouldn't recognize me.

But she didn't recognize Pippy.

No, she did recognize her for a moment. Though she painfully clenched her head as if her memories were being controlled.

'Then it means it's real.'

But how is that possible?

Kalenden said that all his companions had ascended to the heavens, not bound to the earth.

But does that mean Rista, who had the noblest and most beautiful heart among the hero's party companions, was left on this earth?

How?

Why did this happen?

If he could, he wanted to scream until all the energy drained from his body, his heart was so stifled.

"It is all Shalessarum's oversight. I failed to understand her heart when I left her."

"What does that mean?"

"Unfortunately, there is no time to explain my story with her in your language. Neither for this remnant of Shalessarum nor for that descendant of Ligwind."

He had forgotten amidst the rapidly changing situation. Startled, Balensidis checked Obin's condition.

His body was burning like a fireball.

He had clearly cast a spell, and even the caster was dead and the song broken, so why couldn't he get up?

"The dark magic used by Ellamas and her subordinates is Naragalas's dark magic… it gnaws at the weak parts of humanity and takes their souls, submerging their bodies into the abyss."

Miria raised an eyebrow.

"Naragalas?"

Balensidis immediately retorted with a reprimand.

"It's the true name of the Lizard Lord. Don't carelessly utter it with human lips. The abyss will move."

"Then we need to fix it quickly. Taking souls, doesn't that mean dying?"

And probably, that dark magic is the one turning Solond into a land of plague right now.

And the moment it's activated over a wide area, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that the entire nation, no, the entire continent, would be finished.

If we briefly summarize the fragmented information obtained during the interrogation earlier, it seems the preparations are almost complete…

"If this body were whole, I would have immediately removed that dark magic, but now I am merely an afterimage."

"Then what should we do?"

"Therefore, to remove that child's dream, someone else must enter that dream. Since she cannot emerge from her happy memories, the truth must be awakened within her."

Enter another's dream?

It was a notion impossible for anyone other than a transcendent being, a True Dragon.

As Balensidis and Miria glanced at each other, hesitating, Lane, who had been silent until now, spoke.

"You go in, Balensidis."

"…"

"When I was caught in a dream, my master told me, 'Is this truly where you are meant to return?'"

With that single phrase, that one phrase, I was able to escape the dream immediately.

My master's words, which guide me on the right path whether I live or die, lead me to the future.

And a similar situation is here.

"You're that guy's master. Taking care of a disciple is naturally the master's role, isn't it…?"

Balensidis bit his lip.

A master, he says.

Can I truly be a master? Am I qualified? With these hands that killed my master to survive…

"You also had a master, didn't you?"

Was it that day long ago, when the magical volleyball match took place?

When I conveyed the Dean's aunt's mindset, this guy made a face of déjà vu and asked for her name.

Perhaps this guy also had a master who conveyed the same heart to him. Either Tureina or someone else.

"Raising a disciple is also an extension of learning; not only your knowledge but your heart will also grow."

"My heart will grow? How is that possible?"

"Because you will understand the master's heart."

Suddenly, abruptly, yes, once again, at Dean Atlante's smile that rose warmly as if illuminating the soul, he smiled even through the pain.

- Lyn, try some of this.

Was it because of that smile?

Or because of those words?

In Balensidis's mind too, for the first time in a very long time, the laughter of the master he had 'killed' came to mind.

"…"

Balensidis didn't respond, but instead went and sat by Obin's head.

'Yes…'

Shalessarum observed the situation and could harbor a certain conviction.

'Sister, I now understand why you chose that human as the protector of your blood kin.'

Though it was unknown what sad circumstances prevented Alakish from coming and only her blood kin arrived with a protector…

"It is decided. After I place you into the dream of Ligwind's descendant, I, Shalessarum, will guide my sister's blood kin."

"Abut…?"

"This Shalessarum's memories, strength, abilities… and even how to fight as a dragon."

Normally, no, perhaps if it were the young Akki of old, she might have asked Lane's intentions at this very moment.

But Akki clenched her fists with her own will and her eyes shone brightly.

Was it because she had keenly felt her own shortcomings as a child at the Ranoa Grand Bridge?

"It will not take long by human time. I will burn this last soul to create an eternal space. Now, let us begin."

* * *

"Priestess, please, please, I beg you. Please, just this child…"

Solond Kingdom's border, Palseas region.

Ellamas entered the heart of the plague zone, a place even the kingdom's soldiers were reluctant to enter, without any hesitation.

Ellamas was a hero and a divine proxy in the crumbling kingdom.

"There is nothing to fear. The gods will tend to your pain."

Many brought plague patients before her.

Those whose hands or feet had been transformed into primitive forms, a child already turned into a primitive by the Soul-Shattering Disease and bound in chains…

As Ellamas raised both arms and offered a blessing prayer, the plague was instantly purified, and people bowed their heads, weeping.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Each time Ellamas performed a miracle, her prestige rose higher, and the royal family's standing slowly deteriorated.

Foolish humans had no way of knowing that it wasn't a miracle, but merely her retracting the dark magic she herself had spread.

If Ellamas had been a mere fairy priestess, there might have been those who doubted… but she was the Dragon Priestess.

"Um…"

The child, who had returned to a human body from a primitive state, seemed to want to express gratitude, so he tugged at her hem.

Then, an intense killing intent suddenly surged, and he involuntarily wet himself and recoiled.

Why? Why did that happen? The priestess was just smiling gently at him.

"Yes, be a good child and listen to your parents from now on."

The truth stemmed from Ellamas being unable to hide a momentary surge of killing intent born from primal discomfort.

'How dare this filthy human brat touch my body?'

And in response to that fury, the unreal entity, standing as colossal as a mountain behind her, snarled fiercely, shaking the very ground.

"And your thanks should go not to me, but to this one."

The transcendent being that accompanies Ellamas wherever she goes, the reason she is called the Dragon Priestess.

Dragon scales that blazed brilliantly as if sculpted from flame, a massive body that exuded even supreme majesty, and wings as beautiful as fire.

Its identity was one of the five flames that received life from the great fire, Bel'dakidun…

It was the second flame that cared for its siblings after the eldest daughter Alakish disappeared, and a flame forgotten by humans 500 years ago.

It is said that humanity once praised that dragon as 'the Great Shalessarum'.