Chapter 265 : Chapter 265
Side Story 24. Red Dragon (6)
It was fortunate that I had not been too late.
If I had delayed even a little longer, Diorin would have become black ash from the enormous fireball that had flown at her moments ago.
It would have remained a lifelong regret.
In truth, I thought there was a significant chance that the other dragons would break their Blood Alliance with humans while Abner was absent.
Some of them had only reluctantly agreed after being cowed by the Dragon Lord’s presence. They clearly did not agree with it at all.
“Stay behind me.”
I gently pulled Diorin back.
Her shoulders trembled for a moment, and I could feel her staring at my back.
Of course, there was no way she would recognize me.
I was no longer Johan Raven, but Seo Ji-han.
The Red Dragon gave me a savage smile.
“Heh heh heh! This situation is very interesting. Why did you suddenly crawl in here?”
“Because I knew this might happen.”
“What?”
“Your face looks like you’d throw a promise away like an old shoe. No matter what, should you not at least pretend to uphold a Blood Alliance on the very day it is formed?”
“It does not matter. Inside my nest, my will is the truth. Heh heh heh. By the way, this woman was desperately looking for you. Do you two have some sort of connection after all?”
The Red Dragon gave me a sinister look.
‘Diorin was looking for me?’
Something was strange.
There was no way she knew my true identity.
Neither the Dragon Lord nor the Demon King knew about my reincarnation.
Perhaps not even the Abyss knew.
Then someone was clearly misunderstanding something.
I turned my head and looked at Diorin.
She, too, was looking at me with a puzzled gaze.
Then she spoke quietly.
“You’re not the person I’m looking for.”
I did not know the full situation, but this had indeed happened because of a misunderstanding.
The Red Dragon tilted his head as though he could not understand.
“You are not? That cannot be.”
“She says I’m not the one she’s looking for, so how can you say that’s impossible?”
“No! You two are deceiving me right now! You entered my nest at the same time, and are you going to claim that was a coincidence as well?”
Of course, it was not a coincidence.
I had followed Diorin here.
‘But why is Diorin here...?’
Before coming here, all I knew of Diorin’s actions was that she had visited my shelter.
And now, she was at a Red Dragon’s nest.
If I thought about it simply, the conclusion was obvious.
If she had been following my traces as well, this question was answered.
The last place where I had left a trace before departing Kalia was a Red Dragon’s nest.
“I do not know what you two were thinking when you entered my nest, but it does not matter. You will witness one another’s deaths here anyway! And they will be very painful!”
I listened to the Red Dragon’s nonsense with one ear and calmly walked toward him.
“It is truly regrettable. I formed a Blood Alliance with your Lord, yet blood must be shed again like this.”
“Heh heh heh! How arrogant! You had one Bimu with the Lord, and now you act as though you are something? But you should know this one thing. Without the Lord’s mercy, you would no longer be a person of this world!”
“Thank you for informing me.”
“I will tell you one more thing. For your information, my ability does not lag far behind the Lord’s.”
He looked extremely proud as he said that.
“That is a lie.”
“W-what did you say?”
“You have the face of a snake. If your ability did not lag behind the Lord’s, you would have rebelled long ago. Am I wrong?”
Having been struck at the heart of the matter, the Red Dragon could only stammer and snort angrily.
“I will kill you! Human!”
The Red Dragon poured flames toward me.
A mighty inferno, like the fire that had nearly burned Diorin moments ago, rushed in.
But it was certainly a lie.
‘Doesn’t lag behind, my ass.’
These flames were by no means weak, but the power of Abner’s attacks was not merely at this level.
His hellfire had been like a calamity capable of erasing me from the world if I let down my guard for even an instant.
Compared to that, this was child’s play.
SWISH!
At the path of the Holy Sword’s careless swing, the enormous fireball was split in two.
And once more.
SWISH!
The two streams of flame I cut horizontally could no longer flow onward.
Mana scattered softly through the air, and the Red Dragon’s astonishment filled the space.
I could have cut off his head right then, but today was the day I had formed a Blood Alliance with the Lord of the Red Dragons.
I needed to respect that pact.
“You dare, a mere human...!”
“Let me give you one piece of advice. It would be better not to covet the Lord’s position for the rest of your life, if you wish to enjoy the long life unique to dragons.”
“Shut up!”
The Red Dragon spread his wings and soared high into the sky.
WHOOOOSH!
At the massive wingbeats, the vegetation swayed for a long while.
He stopped at a height where his enormous body looked no larger than a thumbnail.
He intended to take advantage of the fact that only he could fly.
Even if I released Sword Qi, it was common sense that an attack launched upward from below would lose power.
FWOOSH!!
Then a torrential rain of flames began falling.
The world within the nest turned red.
Behind me, Diorin created a Barrier and barely managed to defend herself.
Of course, it would not last long.
Every fierce stream of flame carried enough power to oppress the world.
“Aah!”
In the end, Diorin cried out.
The Diorin of the past would not even have been able to defend against this much.
In any case, she had reached her limit now, so I fired the mana gathered in my hand into the sky.
PAPAPAPA!!
The place where the gathered flashes of light converged became a single point.
I had aimed for his belly.
BOOOOM!
And what completed the attack was the tip of the Holy Sword I fired upward.
A moment later, the Red Dragon let out a groan, and his enormous body began falling.
Still, it was astonishing that he managed to spread his wings in an instant.
THOOOM!
The ground shook, and dust rose into the air.
The dragon had collapsed as he was.
With his eyes closed, he was spewing enormous amounts of foam from his mouth.
Of course, I had not killed him.
I had not intended to from the beginning.
I needed to maintain my good relationship with Abner.
My stay in Kalia was only temporary.
I did not know what would happen on this continent in the future, and I needed reliable allies like the Red Dragons if I wanted to stop worrying about my homeland even from Earth.
I turned my head and looked at Diorin.
She was spitting blood and breathing heavily.
Even for a brief moment, withstanding a dragon’s fierce attacks was an extremely difficult feat.
That alone was surprising enough.
The Diorin of the past could never have done it.
“Reckless. Entering a dragon’s nest without any plan.”
I walked toward her.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but her eyes seemed wistful.
“Because there was someone I wanted to find.”
Diorin answered in her usual calm voice.
“And if you found him? What did you intend to do?”
“What?”
“You must have something you wanted to do after finding him.”
“……Th-that.”
Diorin could not answer easily.
She likely had not thought about what came afterward.
In truth, it was surprising enough that she had been searching for me like this.
No matter how heartfelt or desperate she was, Diorin was someone who kept such things within her heart.
At least, that was the Diorin I remembered.
‘If she learns that I’m Johan Raven...’
With Diorin’s personality, she might immediately start looking for a mousehole to hide in.
That thought made me let out a faint laugh.
“Why are you laughing?”
“It’s just a little absurd.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s absurd that you have not said a word of thanks even after seeing your lifesaving benefactor.”
“Thank you.”
“There is not much sincerity in that.”
“I had prepared myself to die.”
“So you have no attachment to life? Enough that you cannot be grateful to the person who saved you?”
“That is not it. I will say it again. Thank you. I mean it.”
Yes. If Diorin said that much, her sincerity was certain.
I smiled and nodded.
Someone I had missed from time to time.
This much was enough for our reunion.
I only hoped that her heart would become a little more at ease now.
“I hope you do not keep searching.”
“Huh?”
“The person you are looking for. Johan Raven.”
When my name was mentioned, she stared at me with a dazed expression.
“H-how do you know that?!”
It was nice to meet someone from my past, but repeating the same explanation every time was tiring.
Still, there was no helping it.
There was no other way to persuade her.
“Y-you are that person’s disciple?”
“You do not have to believe me. I came to meet you and convey these words according to my master’s will.”
“His will? Are you saying that he knows I am looking for him?”
“Why? Would that be a problem?”
“Th-that is not it, but I cannot believe this! Why does he not appear in person? For what reason?”
“I cannot tell you the reason. But he knows many things.”
“What does he know?! He vanished from Kalia for almost ten years!”
Diorin suddenly became agitated.
“Starting with the fact that you entered his shelter and looked around, and that you intentionally left memories in an afterimage...”
“W-what? How in the world do you know that?!”
“I cannot tell you that either. And you do not need to be ashamed. The two of you will never meet again from now on.”
Silence followed.
Diorin could only stand there with her mouth slightly open.
“I will vividly tell him about your remarkable changes.”
She still said nothing.
She merely stared blankly at me, seeming to swallow words she wanted to say.
Only after a long time did she speak with difficulty.
“……We can never meet again?”
I nodded.
Silence followed once more, and she tightly bit her lip.
Her clenched fists trembled, and it looked as though she were holding something down inside her mouth.
She was holding back tears.
‘That is like Diorin.’
Even when I was Johan Raven, I had never once seen her cry, so it was not especially new.
I walked one step closer to her.
As she looked up at me, she suddenly seemed like a young girl.
“Why...?”
Diorin repeated those words three times.
Of course, she could not understand.
I would have been the same.
Her eyes looked as though they might burst into tears if touched.
As I watched her, I wrapped one arm around Diorin.
“Perhaps, if he were here, he would do this now.”
We stood like that for a long time.
With her face buried in my chest, I did not know what Diorin was thinking.