Chapter 262 : Chapter 262
Side Story 21. Red Dragon (3)
In truth, Abner felt very different from the other Red Dragons.
Perhaps it was because of the experience he had gained over ten thousand years, but rather than the typical aggressiveness of a Red Dragon, his calm demeanor stood out.
It felt as though I were facing a sage who had attained enlightenment.
I would have to hear the exact details to know, but I had a feeling that his proposal would be something unlike a Red Dragon as well.
“I thought that, somehow, I might be able to reason with you.”
“I’ll hear it out.”
Our gazes met.
“After hearing you, I have come to think, at least once, from the perspective of the people of Kalia. Rather than Kalian people trespassing into our nests, perhaps we entered Kalia’s territory. Well, it does not seem entirely wrong.”
“You should not say it does not seem entirely wrong. You should say it is obvious.”
“Heh heh.”
Unfortunately, he did not seem able to admit even that much.
“Lord!!”
At that moment, the other dragons began rising up.
What they had restrained themselves from saying while watching Abner’s mood erupted all at once.
“There is no need to speak with a human like that!”
“That is right! We must kill him immediately!”
“And we must kill half of Kalia’s humans, so they understand how grave the sin of slaughtering a dragon is!”
What sort of thought process did they have to speak so casually about such murderous things?
The ones who had become puppies were relatively quiet.
They looked anxiously between both sides, unable to settle down.
“If you intend to make a proposal, it seems you should first rein in your underlings. It doesn’t feel as though communication will be possible at all. Looking at their eyes, they seem ready to fight right now.”
Abner nodded at my words.
Then he immediately restrained the others.
The Red Clan became tense at the Ancient-grade dragon’s expression, which had turned cold in an instant.
“Pay them no mind. You are speaking with me.”
“Then are you saying you will admit that the dragons were at fault for invading Kalia’s territory and killing humans who entered their nests as they pleased?”
“I will admit part of it.”
I was truly surprised.
Setting aside right and wrong, the question of why came to mind.
I had heard that dragons were a race that thought and acted according to the logic of power.
Even the one who had just insisted that half of Kalia’s people should be killed was closer to the typical way of dragons.
“Only part of it...”
“That is why I am making a proposal. Depending on your answer, there may not be a war between the Red Dragons and Kalia.”
Put differently, depending on what I chose, he would slaughter not only me but the continent of Kalia itself.
No matter how sage-like his atmosphere was, a dragon was still a dragon.
“For reference, this is also the first time in the ten thousand years I have lived that dragons have bent their own ways as they did today.”
In truth, this was also the result of the logic of power having a large effect.
If I had not been strong, this Ancient-grade dragon would never have considered matters from a human perspective.
“Either way, I’m sufficiently surprised by that. So what is the proposal?”
“The concept of a Demon King may be unfamiliar to the people of Kalia, but I would like you to deal with one Demon King.”
“A Demon King?”
He had dragged out the buildup for a single proposal, only to tell me something I could never have expected.
“It is a being an ordinary human could never handle. It may be easier to understand if I say it is an enemy that even we dragons must approach with caution. If you search Kalia’s legends and folktales, there should be records of Demon Kings.”
“I know as well. Most believe they are absurd beings that exist only in legends, but Demon Kings certainly exist. But why ask me instead of handling it yourself?”
It was a natural question.
I could not imagine there was a Demon King that an Ancient-grade Abner could not deal with himself.
“Because of an ancient pact. It is one we of the Red Clan cannot personally take action against.”
“Hmm.”
“It is not a bad proposal for you or Kalia, either. It may sound absurd, but that Demon King is extending his clutches toward Kalia as well.”
At that moment, Leviar looked at me with a shocked expression.
Then he began coughing.
I could not help but laugh as well.
The situation was too perfect.
“……Could it be the Demon King of Silence?”
“Ho!”
“It seems I was right.”
“I will have to hear the reason, but I have a feeling this conversation will proceed more smoothly.”
In the end, I told Abner everything that had happened in relation to the Demon King of Silence while I was with Leviar.
“You truly are an amazing human. How can someone like you exist?”
If we were speaking only of amazement, I was even more astonished.
How could a single being endure for more than ten thousand years?
“I’ll accept the proposal.”
At my answer, Abner gave a deep smile.
“With this, it seems that our Red Clan and the humans of Kalia have formed a Blood Alliance. Of course, you still have something to fulfill.”
“Then if I only deal with the Demon King, you will willingly withdraw from Kalia?”
“Did I not say Blood Alliance? It will not merely be a matter of withdrawing. If humans ever need the Red Clan’s help, we are willing to assist them at any time.”
Of course, I hoped there would never be a crisis severe enough to require the help of dragons, but there was nothing bad about having reliable allies.
Even after returning to Earth, I would be able to set my mind at ease regarding Kalia.
“From now on, we will begin making a tool that will allow you to enter the Demon Realm where the Demon King of Silence resides. It will not take long. Even allowing generously, we can make it within ten years.”
The way dragons treated a period of ten years as an instant was truly astonishing.
“Something like this.”
I took out a map and placed it before Abner.
“Is this what you mean to make?”
His eyes widened in an instant.
“No, how?!”
“Like you said, I’m an amazing human.”
I raised one corner of my mouth and continued.
“And I have one proposal of my own.”
“A proposal?”
“To commemorate our Blood Alliance, how about a light Bimu?”
It was Bimu, not a fight to the death.
Facing an Ancient-grade dragon was an opportunity that would not come twice in my life, so I could not help my competitive spirit from boiling over.
Now that negotiations had gone smoothly, a sparrow could not simply pass a mill without stopping.
Abner’s eyes looked as though he had been waiting for this situation.
Abner’s nest.
No matter that it was only Bimu, the location was important if we were to fight without restraint.
That was why we came here.
‘It’s enormous.’
As befitted an Ancient-grade dragon, the scale of his nest was beyond comparison to Devrias’s.
It was a vast plain with no end in sight.
It even made me think that an entire average-sized country could fit inside this nest.
The dense concentration of mana was astonishing as well.
If one trained in a place like this...
It was a thought that naturally came to me as a swordsman.
“What do you think after seeing my nest?”
“To be honest, I want it for myself.”
“Those are frightening words. In any case, thanks to you, another rule will be broken for the first time in ten thousand years.”
No matter the reason, humans who came to a nest were never allowed to leave alive.
It was an absurd rule, but I did not wish to point that out on a day like this.
In any case, once the Bimu ended, we would leave the nest together.
The other dragons were waiting outside.
The result of the Bimu would not be made public.
It was something we had agreed upon in advance.
‘There has never been Bimu like this before, and there never will be again.’
It was difficult to imagine that I would ever meet another opponent of this level.
“Are you ready?”
At Abner’s question, I nodded and raised the Holy Sword.
He immediately transformed into his true form.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The being flying before me was no longer a kindly-looking old man, but a gigantic crimson fantasy beast.
Its body was twice the size of Devrias’s.
The mana flowing from its steel-like red scales was pressure itself.
FWOOSH-
The plain, once full of vegetation, had become a sea of fire.
Boiling heat filled the nest.
The fact that he was trying to seize the initiative before Bimu had even properly begun showed that this fight was not mere play.
KRAKANG!
Fireballs began raining down from the sky.
I could only be amazed at how much mana it must have consumed to create all of this.
Before long, the hellfire flames filling the sky and earth became innumerable Fire Arrows that shot toward me.
PAPAPAPA!
They were called Fire Arrows, but it felt as though a sea of fire had become immense waves and was crashing down on me from every direction.
As though that were not enough, another enormous pillar of fire shot down at me from the sky.
KRAKAKAKA!
It was a true hellscape.
Amid a sight that made the word Bimu feel meaningless, I gave a faint smile.
SWISH!
The small oval created by the Holy Sword’s path was like a white world appearing on a red sheet of paper.
And it was my path to life.
SWISH!
I continuously created ovals in front of me and opened a path forward.
The horrifically intense heat of the flames surrounded me and blocked my way, but I did not slow my steps.
If I hesitated even slightly, the hellfire pouring from every direction would swallow me whole.
Abner seemed confident that he could suppress me forever with this absurd amount of mana.
KRAKAKAKA!
The hellscape’s attacks grew even more intense, and my breathing gradually became ragged.
For a moment, the Yeti’s Core crossed my mind, but it ultimately seemed meaningless.
Throwing a piece of ice into a sea of fire would not change anything.
“Whoo.”
As though he intended to decide the battle here, Abner drove Hellfire into the hellscape once more.
An enormous attack flew down over my head.
Blocking it was the priority, so I had no choice but to give up on some of the rest.
FWOOSH!
Hellfire vanished, but I could not completely defend against the streams of fire shooting at me from all directions.
If I had not summoned the Yeti’s power, which I could not use for offense, the situation could have become somewhat dangerous.
Yet the heat piercing my skin paradoxically made me vividly feel alive.
‘The first step of my counterattack...’
Because it was the most important matter, I had to be cautious.
A single mistake would return as an irreversible, fatal blow.
I could not easily find an opening in Abner as he flew through the sky in every direction.
Even as this continued, innumerable streams of fire constantly formed the hellscape and threatened me without pause.
But an opening would inevitably come someday.
Abner could not have experienced a desperate battle of moves.
The moment I found even the slightest gap, it would become the fuse for my counterattack.
And a battle of moves was the field in which I was most confident.
I gave a broad smile and waited for that fleeting moment.