LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 37
Chapter 38
“Oh dear.”
In a room filled with electronic devices, a man sighed blankly while clutching a cigarette. There was a reason for his distress. He faced five gigantic monitors that could easily be mistaken for electronic billboards.
Each screen was split into 40 segments, showcasing 40 different landscapes.
The man’s gaze drifted to the corner of the fifth monitor, which appeared pitch black, as though malfunctioning.
Observations through the information ring were only permitted during practice. Occasionally, such screens would break down and turn completely dark.
‘…But it’s rare for only one to break…’
Whatever the case, his role was to observe. The decisions would be made by the operational staff. With that thought, the man picked up the phone, chewing on the cigarette filter like gum.
“Hey, Hyun-Soo, could you check it out for me?”
*
Pressuring the opponent from both the front and rear. At first glance, it seemed like the situation favored Yeon-Woo and Shar. However, knowing the hidden backstory, the current situation was akin to a tightrope walk.
It seemed that as Shar hatched and grew stronger as a dragon, there was a slight positive impact on her contractor, Yeon-Woo, who appeared to have somewhat recovered from injuries and mana depletion.
Still, due to overexertion, Shar’s existence remained precarious, and she was in a situation where she had to depend on Yeon-Woo to survive.
Being in the early stages of hatching, she wasn’t able to separate completely from Yeon-Woo just yet.
Then it made one wonder, what about that cute little Shar swinging tremendous destructive power? The truth was, Shar was maintaining her form solely through Yeon-Woo’s mana.
In short, if the mana boosted by Shar’s hatching were to deplete completely, she would instantly fade away into nothingness.
To prevent that from happening, what should be done? The answer was simple.
Kill or force them to flee.
From the moment the gate was transformed into a closed type, those were their only remaining options. Normally, the other side wouldn’t have any chances to escape, but being the Demon King’s subordinates, they probably prepared some means of retreat.
[Dad, do you know!? I can’t stay long!]
‘Shar, how long can you stay in this form?’
[At most around 10 minutes. Please come up with something in that time…!!]
Ten minutes, huh. The traps were still set, so if they handled things well, perhaps they could manage something, but the downside was that if they fought from their current position, it was obvious that Shar would be swept away.
“Boring. Is it a lack of experience?”
“…Ugh!?”
In the brief moment of thought exchange, an instinctive sharp opponent seized the opportunity, switching to an aggressive stance.
Typically, dragons engage in melee combat using overwhelming strength, weight, and intensity; engaging in a pure brawl without magic wasn’t their specialty.
A straight jab grazed Shar’s center of gravity. Shar crossed her arms to block it, but due to her lightweight form, she staggered back a few steps.
The actual damage seemed minimal, but Yeon-Woo hastily threw the remaining bomb that was strapped to her waist.
How dare you touch someone else’s precious daughter!
“Did you think I would keep falling for that!?”
Swish! With an unpleasant sound, three walnut-sized bombs, caught at her fingertips, were sliced in half. The capital city.
Mesmerized, Yeon-Woo stared at the crimson salt oozing from the bomb. This wasn’t the time to be daydreaming, but her gaze turned instinctively.
“Ah, Dad!!”
“This isn’t the time to get distracted, is it?”
By the time she regained her senses, the opponent was already close, swinging their arm like a blade. In that instant of distraction, there was no way to defend or dodge in time.
She thought moving in this situation would only hinder her progress. Instead, she focused on her senses. No matter how quick her hands were, could they ever compare to the speed of thought?
Hadn’t she practiced many times, turning her thoughts into weapons? Although that effort had been in vain against Darius due to too many professors around to utilize it.
Flap, flap, flap—the pages of the bookshelf fanned out like the wind in her mind, something streamed rapidly through her thoughts.
In the face of imminent death, the whip-like mana rolled down and plunged into the shadows beneath her feet.
Was it difficult to perceive the mana from her own body? Luckily, she was able to recognize at least the mana beneath her feet’s shadow, thanks to how deeply she had brainwashed herself.
Woosh!!
The rising dark arm resembled a second-tier spell called “Rock Upper.” Its form looked more like Shar’s arm than a stone, but that was a sensory comparison.
The magic used by dragons, known as Dragon Command, shapes based on the owner’s desires. An attack spell activated at the speed of thought couldn’t be dealt with even by high-grade monsters. Moreover, the advantage of darkness-based elemental mana was that it could easily reclaim its power in dark places like this.
It was unfortunate that it couldn’t be used from a distance, but magic activated in close range was a trump card that could work against anyone who wasn’t on Yuri’s level of strength. Hence, both Shar and Yeon-Woo had concentrated on using elemental mana in their magic over the past few days.
Bam! Kai was sent flying, struck directly in the abdomen by a scattered fist. While she hadn’t expected him to fall, his physical strength was not to be underestimated.
However, it was no time to have an optimistic expectation that the situation wouldn’t escalate further. Once was manageable, but twice wouldn’t be.
Although his position wasn’t exactly aligned to the breaking point, Yeon-Woo decided it was time to use a plan she had in store, stomping hard on her shadow.
…Nothing happened.
“…….”
“What’d you do?”
Ah, he couldn’t hear.
“Listen carefully. Can’t you hear anything?”
Rumble, rumble…
The sound was like an earthquake. The small noise soon transformed into a tremendous roar echoing throughout the ruins, and pieces of stone began to fall from above.
“That’s the sound of your house collapsing.”
“……What have you done?”
“Oh, what’s wrong? Your expression became serious all of a sudden? I guess it’s a building you’re fond of, huh?”
Noticing the grim expression on his face, Yeon-Woo couldn’t help but feel pleased. Well, he had been maintaining a calm demeanor, but it seemed some of that coolness had cracked.
“But honestly, I didn’t do much. You should be thanking me. The building you just smashed? I was the maintenance guy.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration. Though some lack of maintenance played a part, his every strike had been too powerful, causing cracks everywhere on the walls and floors. Of course, the bomb had a significant impact as well.
This also naturally affected the columns that solidly supported the royal palace. Yeon-Woo had even purposefully lured him to hit the columns.
However, the dark mana that had been filling the gaps to ensure the columns didn’t collapse was now completely gone.
“So what do you think will happen?”
“Y-you bastard…!”
“Thanks for the compliments!”
Suddenly filled with rage, Kai lunged at Yeon-Woo. Whatever it was, it seemed to be a building he was really attached to.
The reason for taking that location to battle was likely due to the Demon King’s taste. The Demon King, Moryo, was particularly infamous for his bad temperament.
“Hey, it’s not good to stare so ardently at someone.”
This body? A married man. Approach is forbidden.
Just as his fingertips drew near, they would never touch Yeon-Woo. She stood still and pointed a finger at him.
Of course, some magical, mysterious power manifested from her finger didn’t send him flying.
Before long, Shar, who had slipped in at some point, twisted her body and swung her tail at Kai. Oh, that must hurt. The power of “Rock Upper” wasn’t shabby, but Kai, struck with all of Shar’s strength, flew into the wall like a baseball hit by Babe Ruth’s bat.
“See you next time, Mr. Kai Hros.”
Then came a tremendous crash as the palace crumbled.
*
As expected, setting traps requires a safe area. Especially for traps of such magnitude.
Of course, that guy sensed it and charged in, but perhaps due to a well-executed provocation, his gaze had diverted from Shar, which proved effective.
Standing beneath the lone, unscathed column, the ceiling of the collapsed palace showcased only a dark sky, instilling a sense of unease. At first, it seemed like the door was blocked with debris, suggesting it might be buried, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“D-do you think they’re dead…?”
“Oh dear, with that comment, they’d probably come back to live.”
“Y-yes!?”
Startled by Yeon-Woo’s remark, Shar clutched her own mouth. So cute.
“D-do you think he used a spell limited to road-level dragons!?”
“What? Is there such a setting?”
It seemed like a spell that had to be spoken, and what was implied was that it was a higher-level tech tree than spells you could just think about? That was hard to imagine.
“Joking aside, they probably survived. I’ve seen it happen a few times in past lives. I expected them to be dead, but they were still alive.”
“Monsters are remarkable…”
“Remarkable is the Demon King. Especially those connected to that Moryo fellow. So, under normal circumstances, I’d want to verify the body, but…”
Shar glanced at the pile of collapsed stones with a vague smile. How much would it take to clear that before checking the bodies?
Moreover, it’d be frustrating if they cleared it all only to find nothing left.
That’s why, under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t use traps of this scale, but the situation called for alternatives.
“Well then, until the rescue team arrives, we should play with Shar. Come here, Shar!”
“Really? Yay!”
As Yeon-Woo sat cross-legged and patted her thighs, Shar leaped in joy. Yeon-Woo caught the diving Shar and laid her on her lap.
“Shar needs to eat more. You’re too light.”
“Yeah, I’ll eat a lot! I’ll grow big and help you, Dad!”
Gazing at Shar’s long, golden hair flowing down to her waist, Yeon-Woo gently patted her head.
Shar, initially startled and shivering, soon rubbed her head against Yeon-Woo’s palm. It reminded her of the puppy she had raised at the orphanage.
She had thought she knew, but every time she saw the similarities with Nea, she realized that this child was indeed Nea’s.
The sharp claws and tough scales which once adorned the child’s hands were now entirely gone, leaving behind a form indistinguishable from a human. The only remnants were her tail and horn.
The tail, too, had lost its spikes and now resembled a smooth lizard’s tail. It seemed her form was magically altered to shed those spikes.
Walking, smiling, and swaying in excitement were all too human-like movements.
But dragons are not humans. Between dragons and humans, a gap will inevitably occur, no matter what.
Yet, to say that seemed impossible when this daughter exhibited such thoroughly human-like traits.
Perhaps this was what imprinting meant. Just like a duckling following the first being it sees, humans imprint upon their parents to learn behaviors; a similar phenomenon occurs among dragons.
A living being capable of transforming its own appearance from the moment it’s born—the dragon’s imprinting phenomenon likely equated to this very answer.
The newborn life craved love unconditionally, thus this child altered her form to be worthy of affection.
Naturally, she learned from the humans around her, shaping her appearance so as not to be cast aside and appear as one of her kind.
Reflecting on the change stemming from the assumption of being unlovable, Yeon-Woo felt a twinge of sadness but—
Lost in such thoughts, Yeon-Woo found herself unable to suppress a smile. What if it’s fake? What if it’s real? If I’ve decided to love, then that’s my child.
Even if she lacked any of his genes, appearing more like a replication of her, it was no mystery that both the fake father dreaming of a real father and the fake child dreaming of a real child were anything but strange.
*
[You’ve returned quite a mess, Kai.]
“I apologize, Your Majesty.”
[So, did you learn anything?]
“Yes, indeed. There’s a dragon in their care.”
[……Oh? A dragon?]
At Kai Hros’s words, the Shadow King’s expression brightened. Just a slight shift in his posture unleashed an unspeakable pressure that swept through the Shadow Palace. Kai gritted his teeth, bracing courageously. What kind of power was that? It was the first time he felt grateful for being in the presence of such an overwhelmingly strong being.
[That’s wonderful news.]
The Shadow King smiled. The dragon heads sprouted from his shoulders opened their eyes. Was he going to get involved? Kai believed not.
“What will you do?”
[Let it be. It will make for great entertainment.]
The situation unfolded as he had anticipated. The Shadow King was a hedonist like none other.
(To be continued in the next episode)