Tamed Calamity (3)
“Graaaah! Grrraaaah!”
The rock troll let out a monstrous roar, its eyes, as large as apples, glinting with an eerie blue light.
For a fleeting moment, a crimson flash flickered in those eyes.
The flash sliced swiftly between the troll’s eyes.
Thud…
With a sound like boiling blood, the rock troll collapsed heavily to the ground.
Dalren caught his returning hand axe and nudged the fallen troll with the tip of his boot.
“Still alive, huh?”
He muttered in fascination, then drove his sword through the troll’s heart.
Even with its brain split, the troll’s shallow breaths continued until its heart was pierced, causing a brief spasm before finally ceasing.
“They say the older a troll gets, the more its heart takes over the brain’s functions.”
Dalren nudged the troll again with his boot.
The fallen rock troll was covered in a layer of blue frost from head to shoulder.
It was likely a creature brought to the dragon’s lair by Cheongrin for menial tasks.
A troll, with its limitless lifespan, residing in the inviolable domain of a dragon’s lair, must have been there for at least a century.
Dalren continued deeper into Cheongrin’s lair, dealing with the monsters along the way.
The lair was teeming with creatures besides the rock troll—goblins, gnolls, lizardmen, ratmen, and more.
Each one was about half again as large as their kin, and despite their master’s death, they fiercely tried to fend off the intruder, as if protecting something.
But unless they charged in hundreds, none could withstand Dalren’s axe.
[Ah, for a dragon’s lair, there’s not a single chest overflowing with gold or diamonds…]
The demon, Arbor, muttered absentmindedly. Dalren chuckled.
Come to think of it, this guy had pestered dark wizards to amass all sorts of treasures in his hideout as soon as he awoke.
As the demon noted, aside from the monsters, Cheongrin’s lair was rather barren.
Contrary to the common belief that dragon lairs are filled with gold, there wasn’t even a single shilling to be found.
Of course, Dalren knew.
Only dragons less hostile to humans hoarded treasures.
Gold and silver are merely means of exchange for mortals.
For dragons that don’t regularly interact with mortals like humans or elves, treasures are just cumbersome rocks.
Dragons like Cheongrin, who see humans as mere prey, valued their immortality, mystery, and power as their currency.
They shared a bit of their mystery with mortals seeking power, creating followers.
Unlike demons who lure followers with treasures, dragons don’t gain power from such offerings.
Sss…
Dalren brushed off the frost clinging to his clothes. The deeper he went, the colder it became.
Each breath turned into a white mist, and the frost he just brushed off quickly settled back on his clothes and armor.
Despite no spells or enchantments, the place was imbued with the dragon’s lingering mystery from its long rest.
In this extreme cold, where an ordinary person would freeze to death, even the monsters guarding the lair had vanished.
Dalren wandered through such a place as if taking a stroll in his backyard.
The dragon’s blood boiling in his veins allowed not a single chill to penetrate his skin.
How long had he walked into the lair?
Turning a corner, Dalren finally stepped into a vast chamber.
Crunch.
The cold crystal beneath his feet shattered.
Every wall and ceiling of the chamber was densely covered with blue-white crystals.
They emitted a mysterious light, reflecting off each other in a beautiful spectacle.
Yet the immense magical cold within the chamber was enough to make even Dalren hesitate for a moment.
Crunch. Crunch.
And soon, Dalren found it.
In the center of the chamber.
On a mound of crystal shards piled like a giant bird’s nest.
Surrounded by the most powerful crystals, as if to signify its reason for existence, lay a revered presence.
[Discovered the corpse of a warrior from the southwestern continent.]
[Discovered the corpse of a mage who participated in the Great War.]
[Discovered the corpse of a noble hunter of the Dark Moon.]
[Discovered the corpse of a hero who lost their light.]
[Discovered the corpse of a righteous saint.]
It was an egg the size of a house.
The child of Tethera Liulac, hailed as one of the most powerful blue dragons in history.
The dragon that would hatch and grow from this egg was arguably one of the most formidable bosses in the entire game.
The very being that forced countless restarts and directly killed him five times.
It led the monster army, crushed the paladin order, and froze the capital of the Noria Kingdom in the southwestern continent.
”…”
Crack.
Unconsciously, Dalren gripped his sword, the handle creaking under the pressure.
Even as an egg, the tension running down his spine made his limbs tingle.
Dalren recalled memories from long ago.
The sight of hail and storms from its wings crumbling the capital’s walls like sandcastles.
The scene of a thousand soldiers frozen with a single breath.
Could he withstand that overwhelming presence, now real in this world, which he had often witnessed beyond the monitor?
A true dragon stronger than its mother, the blue dragon, in her prime without any injuries or curses.
The only reason he hadn’t split the egg in half was because of Felber’s last wish.
Crack. Crack.
And as he pondered what to do with the massive egg, cracks began to form on its shell.
Whoosh—
Simultaneously, the cold filling the chamber swirled into the cracks in the shell.
Woooo…
A strange resonance echoed around the egg, and with a pop, the shell shattered, scattering in all directions.
Crack!
Dalren reflexively swung his sword to deflect the shards, each as powerful as a ballista bolt.
As flames wrapped around his blade, his pupils elongated vertically, drawing on the dragon’s power.
Rumble! Screech!
The figure at the center of the broken egg shot towards Dalren like a pale shadow.
He tried to strike with his sword, but it was too late.
There was no sense of malice, and Felber’s last wish momentarily stayed his hand.
In that brief moment, the blue hatchling darted into Dalren’s space.
Screech! Screeeech…
It rubbed its head against Dalren’s chest, whining like a young beast seeking its mother’s warmth.
”…”
Momentarily dumbfounded, Dalren lowered his sword.
He looked down in bewilderment.
The hatchling, about the size of a Pomeranian from Earth, paused its nuzzling and lifted its head, sensing his gaze.
The ice dragon’s vertically slit yellow eyes met Dalren’s crimson ones.
[Boop!]
With a bright smile, the dragon uttered its first sound since birth.
A dark room.
A vast space large enough for a fully grown dragon to comfortably rest was covered by a pitch-black dome ceiling.
Strange colors flowed freely across the black background, with twinkling lights scattered like stars.
Underneath this scene, reminiscent of a night sky magnified a hundredfold, a white-haired girl gazed blankly at the celestial sphere.
“The stars are moving again.”
The girl murmured.
Her soft voice became a strange vibration, resonating through the room beneath the celestial sphere.
“The paths keep twisting.”
“Is it that warrior again?”
A man asked.
Step.
Under the celestial sphere, the man walked along the cross-shaped paths extending in all directions.
With distinct features and pale skin, his hair neatly combed and fixed, he looked like a noble’s son, observing the celestial sphere with an amused gaze.
“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard similar stories from the old hag in the past six months. For the last two hundred years, I thought she was a parrot.”
“What do you mean, Everon?”
“Fate doesn’t change, Everon. Rivers split and merge countless times, but they ultimately lead to the ocean. If that’s not a parrot, what is?”
The man spoke in a mocking tone, like a mischievous boy.
The girl finally lowered her gaze from the sky.
Her eyes, like white dots on a cosmic-colored glass, met the man’s.
She chuckled softly.
“Still throwing tantrums at your age?”
“I could live another thousand years and still not reach half your age.”
“Shh. That’s quite rude, you know.”
The girl chuckled softly as she looked at the young man.
Everon, caught off guard by her smile, lowered his head slightly and scratched his nose, a small laugh escaping him.
The girl turned her gaze back to the sky.
Stars dotted the universe, twinkling like the bright whites of her eyes.
Her eyes, fixed on the incomprehensible dance of the stars, flickered with strange shadows that came and went.
In the next moment, her voice filled the vast celestial sphere.
“[The Apostles of Regression have fallen, and the labyrinth’s leaders have scattered without their chief. The holy sword, which Golakap sought to corrupt, has regained its power in the warrior’s hands, and the fallen knight who stole it met his end at the hands of Lapilem.]”
Her voice was steady, the sentences long, yet she neither paused for breath nor faltered.
Her eyes, glowing with an otherworldly light, did not blink even once.
Even Everon, usually full of mischief, watched her with a serious expression.
“[The last of the Ashen lineage fell into Enaxagus’s cauldron. Tethera Riulak tried to cast off her fate with the holy sword but failed. The young dragon she left behind sees the warrior as its mother, and the tree is slowly regaining its memories in his care.]”
”…What a mess. But in a good way, I suppose. So, what’s the point of today’s story, old lady?”
“[The great stars are moving. Too many of them. Millions of small destinies are spilling over their banks, diverging from their original paths even as we speak.]”
The girl closed her eyes tightly and bowed her head.
Her long white hair fell like a curtain over her face, and a faint murmur escaped from beneath it.
It was not the transcendent voice that resonated through the celestial sphere, but a small, fragile whisper.
”…The Feathered Witch has descended to break her contract with the Chain Throne.”
“Tsk. She’s ahead of schedule.”
“Yes. She will die. Just as she couldn’t save her mother, we will fail again this time.”
“You never know.”
Everon spoke.
The girl lifted her head slightly, catching a glimpse of the young man’s lips curving into an intrigued smile through her cascading hair.
“Weren’t that warrior and the witch quite close? If it’s the warrior I saw, she might just save her. From the first meeting, I had a feeling she could pull off the unexpected.”
”…No one can defy fate. Even if you twist the river’s course for a moment, it eventually flows back to its natural path.”
“Old lady, you should get out more. Stop brooding over stars in this gloomy room.”
The young man grinned mischievously.
The girl was momentarily taken aback, then furrowed her brow and waved her hand dismissively.
“If you’re going to keep teasing me, just leave. I don’t have time for jokes.”
“Alright. I’ll leave, but you should come out for a stroll sometime, okay?”
Still smiling, the girl turned her head sharply to gaze at the sky again.
Everon’s footsteps gradually faded away, and soon his presence was completely gone from the celestial sphere.
After he disappeared, not long after—
”…Phew.”
A small sigh lingered quietly beneath the celestial dome.