Chapter 219: The Dragon (3)
A Hero, who had hidden among the party disguised as a powerless child, had been at their side the entire journey. Only now, in the aftermath, did the party truly grasp the enormity of what they had overlooked.
How...? Seraphina felt her heart seize with a pang of regret and bewilderment.
Looking back, it had never made sense. No ordinary child could have followed them through such perilous terrain. Yet somehow, not once did they find it strange, never even questioning the boy’s presence. They simply took it for granted, caring for him as though he were truly defenseless, so certain of their own perceptions that it was as if their awareness itself had been twisted.
Instead of answering their silent questions, the woman, no longer the boy they remembered simply clapped her hands together with a smile.
“Well then. It’d be a shame to leave things so unresolved, wouldn’t it? You deserve a proper ending. Let me give you one,” she said with gentle finality.
She stepped forward, just a single stride, yet in that instant a chill raced down the spines of everyone present. Her first target was Seraphina.
Sensing the danger, Seraphina cried out, “Material, Book 23, Verse 1! Those who serve you raised their hands in prayer, and the Sun God answered, shielding them from all evil!”
A brilliant wall of holy light burst into being around her, a manifestation of the divine shield once granted directly by the Sun God to faithful believers. The ancient legend from the holy scripture was brought to life right there in the dragon’s lair.
Yet the woman, utterly unfazed, extended a single finger toward the barrier. With just that tiny gesture, the divine shield shredded like tissue paper. Seraphina gasped. Not even the dragon had broken her defenses so easily.
Before she could recover, the woman gently touched Seraphina on the forehead with that same finger.
“Thank you for your kindness during the journey,” the woman said, her voice soft but resonant.So now, you can rest easy.”
“Ah...”