The Traitor’s End (3)
“Speak. Why did you do it?”
Silence hung in the air before the maw of the earth dragon. Instead of pressing further, Jeokchang raised his spear.
The spear, forged from dark crimson flames, emitted a chilling resonance. Even the scales that could withstand the depths of molten lava would surely falter against the heat at the tip of that spear.
“The Dragon God and the White Sword won’t come to save you. You know well that having betrayed me once, you’re nothing but a discarded pawn to them.”
A low growl escaped the dragon.
“If you wish to suffer until the world’s end, by all means, remain silent. Soon, you might curse your extraordinary regenerative powers.”
The spear’s tip gently grazed one of the dragon’s eight eyes. White and red liquid gushed from the split eyelid.
The eye began to regenerate almost immediately, bubbling as it healed. The remaining eyes, filled with conflict, finally settled into resignation.
“You haven’t forgotten how the Dragon God was created, have you?”
The earth dragon finally spoke.
“He is a being formed from the collective will of us all. The representative of a thousand dragons, reigning above mysteries. Though we, the immortal demigods, had no need for a deity, it was true that we felt a sense of crisis watching the endlessly proliferating mortals.”
Jeokchang listened in silence, a subtle tension hanging between the two dragons.
Dalen stood a few steps back, listening intently to their conversation. Both Jeokchang and the earth dragon spoke in twisted riddles, but it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
“True dragons are a race born as mysteries themselves.”
They instinctively learn to wield magic as they grow, and by the time they reach full maturity, they settle into the fifth rank. Considering Jeokchang and Bourbon are of the sixth rank, the entire race is practically demigods.
Even such beings felt threatened by the proliferation of humanity.
“It’s not an incomprehensible thought.”
Having lived in both Earth and this continent, Dalen understood even more. Though the times and societies differed, most lands and seas were under human dominion.
Seeing a race once deemed inferior mortals engulf an entire continent in mere centuries would send chills down anyone’s spine.
“So their unconscious created the Dragon God.”
The complex puzzle pieces in his mind began to fit together. The origins of the evil gods Jeokchang had mentioned before and the earth dragon’s tale merged into one.
Where do the evil gods originate? Why is the impending end so difficult to prevent?
“Why was I cast into this land?”
Amidst the swirling thoughts, the earth dragon’s voice continued.
“The Dragon God represents all our wills. He chose to create the fifth great hell. Among the thirteen great dragons, nine agreed, three were neutral, and you were the only one who opposed.”
“Demons are beings forced into immortality, less than the dirt beneath our feet. I had no intention of being equated with such creatures then, nor do I now.”
“Ha… Regardless, it was the will of all. If anything, weren’t you the one who betrayed our entire race?”
The dragon’s split maw twisted into a grin, thick blood and saliva dripping like lava.
“You received what you deserved for that betrayal. The Dragon God absorbed your once-beautiful body, and the remnants of your consciousness were sold to Enaxagus. I, too, gained the power to wield the abyssal lava.”
“And as a result, you obtained this twisted form.”
“What does it matter… In doing so, you vanished from this world forever!”
The air twisted violently. The magic in the area reassembled into hundreds of spells, targeting the two figures with a chilling intent.
“You were born the most noble of true dragons! I don’t know how you came back, but one thing is certain! You are not the real Jeokchang! You are the specter of a vanished being…”
“I’ve heard enough.”
With a sound like a candle being snuffed out, the earth dragon’s head split in two.
“Aaah, aaaaah…!!”
“I wondered if there was some misunderstanding between him and me… but it seems there wasn’t.”
Flames roared to life.
The dragon’s scales melted, and its burning muscles and innards twisted grotesquely.
From within the split head, a scream of agony echoed throughout the cavern.
The spells targeting Dalen and Jeokchang had long since been shattered by the spear’s dark flames.
Whether that strike was the limit, the power of the opened domain waned, and Jeokchang’s form began to slowly fade.
Jeokchang let out a weary sigh and closed her eyes. She spoke.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I no longer have to hesitate.”
The flames, fueled by mystery, burned for a long time before finally extinguishing.
The earth dragon’s screams also subsided, and soon even its twitching ceased completely.
Dalen silently stared at the charred, bisected head. Then, a calm voice resonated from beyond his consciousness.
“The corpse of a true dragon will be quite useful. Sorry I couldn’t save the head.”
”…”
“If I recall correctly, that paladin was quite the cook. Don’t worry. Unlike humans, we have no aversion to consuming our own kind.”
The voice carried a hint of amusement. Dalen scratched his chin and asked.
“I’m more concerned about you. Are you alright?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? It was an expected outcome. I just needed a reason to be sure.”
“I see.”
“The subspace of the tree should be spacious enough now. Let’s store it there and take it back.”
If she said she was fine, there was nothing more to say. She hadn’t lived for thousands of years for nothing; she could handle complex emotions on her own.
Dalen wandered the collapsed cavern, collecting the scattered remains of the earth dragon.
It wasn’t an easy task.
The dragon’s elongated body had been sliced into dozens of pieces by Jeokchang’s final heat ray, flung in all directions.
Countless debris from the collapsing underworld buried some pieces so deeply they were impossible to retrieve.
If not for the demon in the subspace assisting with chains, it would have taken ages to gather the remaining fragments.
“This should be enough.”
“Huff, huff…”
“Stop whining. You can collect as much gold as you want on the way back.”
“Go-gold? Master…!”
A voice drenched in gratitude echoed in the subspace. Despite the mountain of treasure already piled there, a demon’s greed knew no bounds.
Of course, all that gold ultimately belonged to Dalen, but the gold-crazed demon seemed oblivious to that fact.
There was no need to extinguish that flame of gratitude. Dalen chuckled and turned his head.
Beside the burnt head of the earth dragon lay an ashen corpse, waiting for him with a notification window.
[Corpse of the Dragon Slayer]
“This makes three.”
Among the countless timelines and endings he had indirectly experienced through the monitor, the corpses that reached the transcendent rank were few and far between.
The first was the martial artist’s corpse retrieved from the World Tooth Mountains.
The second was the electro-mage’s corpse obtained during the defense against the Suum’s grand army.
And the third corpse to be collected now was a rare character even among the transcendent endings.
“Have you gathered all of the earth dragon’s remains?”
“I’m mostly done. The rest are buried too deep to retrieve and too damaged to be of use.”
“That’s sufficient. With the first roar, the heart and marrow can reshape your framework anew. The dragon scales and bones… might be crafted into weapons.”
Jeokchang spoke in a slightly languid voice. Dalen let her words pass through one ear as he checked his gear and reached out.
“Though I wonder if there’s a craftsman in this era who can properly handle dragon bones. Simply carving them isn’t difficult, but crafting them into weapons while preserving their mystery was a nearly lost art even in my time…”
“Don’t worry about that.”
His fingertips touched the ashen corpse. The conclusion of a transcendent being, chewed up in the dragon’s maw, slowly crumbled.
“I’m about to invite a craftsman with that skill.”
”…What?”
A fine mist of light particles drifted through his fingertips. The corpse vanished in an instant.
[You have retrieved the body of the Dragonbone Sword’s master. Inheriting abilities.]
[Inheritance Reward: ]
As soon as the new notification window appeared in the empty air, the rapidly scrolling text paused abruptly.
His vision blurred momentarily, pulling him into a world unlike reality.
An old cabin in the snowy mountains.
Standing in the backyard, Dalen raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Nothing.”
The backyard, filled with a hunter’s tools, was devoid of any presence.
The snow covering the ground was untouched, smooth as if no one had walked on it, and the only sound was the cold wind carrying the blizzard.
It reminded him of the first time he opened his eyes in this place. Scratching his head, Dalen glanced around the cabin.
There was still no sign of the transcendent being. In fact, it was hard to find any trace of a person at all.
As Dalen idly kicked at the snow in the front yard, he suddenly looked up.
In the distance, beyond the ridge, a faint plume of smoke was rising.
‘There shouldn’t be anything over there that would cause smoke.’
Dalen tilted his head.
Of course, this was a fantastical realm where the sky unleashed dark clouds, fire, and lightning, and strange landscapes spread in every direction.
But as far as Dalen, the de facto master of this world, knew, the land where the smoke rose was still mostly barren.
The cliff where the red spear lingered or the valley where the exotic dragon circled were in completely different directions. Unless a random pillar of fire struck the forest, it was unusual for just a single line of smoke to rise.
Dalen naturally began to walk toward it. Before long, he could hear a noise cutting through the wind.
Clang… Clang…
The familiar sound of metal striking metal. A sound common in any city on the continent.
Crossing the ridge, he saw a forge in the middle of the snowy forest, smoke billowing from its chimney.
Upon reaching the forge, Dalen knocked on the firmly closed door a couple of times.
”…”
There was no response. Only the rhythmic sound of hammering continued without pause.
Bang! Bang!
If the hammering was in full swing, it wasn’t surprising that the knocking went unheard. Dalen decided to just open the door and go in.
Or at least, he was about to, when he placed his hand on the door.
Bang—Thud!
With a loud hammering sound, a blade suddenly pierced through the door.
A sharp dagger embedded itself in Dalen’s palm before he could react.
Boom!
A powerful whirlwind erupted, blowing the door off its hinges, and hundreds of flashes filled his vision.
“You impatient fool. Can’t wait a moment and disrupt the flow?”
Swoosh…!!
They were weapons.
Hundreds of weapons floated slowly in the air, aimed at the intruder.
From ordinary swords and spears to whips, stakes, bows and arrows, spiked gauntlets, and greaves.
Behind the gleaming array of blades, ready to strike at any moment, a man with a tangled beard and hair spoke.
“A hybrid made from the hopes of concluded timelines. Have you come to covet even the insignificant possibilities of my timeline?”