Chapter 54 : Eternal Flame and Ice Dragon (1)
Chapter 54: Eternal Flame and Ice Dragon (1)
At Kyle’s words that a crack had formed in the source, Iron was utterly shocked, his face turning pale.
Only once.
There had been a single time when a crack had formed in the source that became the foundation of the Eternal Flame.
At that time, it was the Founding King who had revived the Eternal Flame.
The benefactor who had revived the Eternal Flame that had been on the verge of destruction.
It was no different from saying that he had bestowed a grace so great that the Dwarf Tribe could never fully repay it in their lifetime.
‘But our Dwarf Tribe betrayed the Founding King of Ragnar.’
They coldly rejected the Founding King’s request to side with the humans and instead aligned their will with the Lords.
As a result, the Dwarf Tribe lost the trust they had painstakingly built with humans over a long period of time.
‘……And now we are once again receiving help from Ragnar.’
No matter how fate had twisted itself, Iron felt that the ties repeating themselves once again in his generation were cruel.
In truth, the reason he had opposed the claim that the Lords needed to leave the mountain range was not because of humans.
The Ragnar Family.
It might have been because they were guarding the entrance to the mountain range.
No, to be precise, it was meant as atonement for past transgressions.
Because he did not want to lay a hand on the descendants of the Ragnar Family, he had stood on the opposite side of the Lords and voiced his opposition.
Lowering his head, Iron pressed his forehead and spoke in a low voice.
“……What should we do?”
“We have to choose one of the two.”
“Speak.”
“Either protect the Eternal Flame, or protect the Dwarves’ territory.”
It meant that protecting both was impossible.
If Kyle were to save the Eternal Flame, he might have to expend so much aura that combat would become impossible.
Of course, it would have been fine if Iron and Yul could step forward together and slay the Ice Dragon.
However, to deal with the Ice Dragon, Kyle’s Frostfire was necessary.
‘In the end, must we abandon one…….’
Faced with the choice, Iron closed his eyes.
Protect the Eternal Flame and abandon the territory.
Protect the territory and abandon the Eternal Flame.
If he had to choose between the two, Iron would naturally choose the former.
But even then, it was not a problem that would end easily.
“Even if we abandon the territory and leave, the Ice Dragon will relentlessly pursue our tribe.”
“If I save the Eternal Flame, I’ll probably end up completely exhausted. It might take at least a week to recover. Or it could take even longer.”
At Kyle’s words, Yul, who was beside Iron, frowned.
“Kyle, did you not say that we don’t know when war with the Daon Family might break out?”
“…….”
“If you have to save the Eternal Flame and rest, then at such a critical time, the Ragnar Family could be pushed back.”
“I know. But there is no other way.”
At Kyle’s words, Yul bit his lip hard.
Now, the Ork Tribe and Ragnar were no different from a shared destiny.
The moment the Ragnar Family collapsed, the future of the Ork Tribe would disa
‘ppear along with it.
Of course, if Yul, who possessed the skills of a Master, supported the Ragnar Family, he could fill Kyle’s absence to some extent.
But that was impossible for now.
At that moment, Iron looked at Kyle and opened his mouth.
“Save the Eternal Flame. If you do just that, we Dwarves will repay that grace.”
“The Dwarves already have a history of breaking trust with Ragnar once.”
At Kyle’s cold voice, Iron clenched both fists tightly.
“This time, we will never break that grace.”
“And what makes you think I should trust that?”
“Then tell me, Kyle Ragnar—despite not trusting the Dwarves, why did you decide to save the Eternal Flame?”
“If the Eternal Flame is destroyed, it will deal a tremendous blow to all living beings inside the mountain range.”
Kyle knew that they were barely managing the food problem by growing and cultivating crops here.
Realizing what Kyle meant, Iron could only remain silent.
Kyle looked down at Iron with an emotionless gaze.
“The Lords will have no choice once food runs short. If there is one, it would be the choice to starve to death.”
When Kyle first heard from Yul that the Lords were divided and fighting over their positions, he was dumbfounded.
Prisoners who could not leave the mountain range without Ragnar’s permission.
Those without any right to choose trying to make a choice meant that they had forgotten their own circumstances.
“The reason all the tribes, including the Lords, are trapped here is because they are prisoners.”
“……I know.”
“Knowing that, do you still think you have a choice?”
Kyle, who rarely raised his voice or showed anger, let out a sinister aura.
Sensing the powerful presence, Iron naturally lowered his head and refrained from speaking.
“The Lords are mistaken right now. They’ve fallen into the delusion that they can leave the mountain range at any time as long as the Ragnar Family disappears.”
“…….”
“Even if, by some chance, the Ragnar Family were to disappear, you would never be able to leave this mountain range. From the beginning, there is no way to break the pact.”
Iron nodded slightly, and Kyle did not stop speaking.
“Even harboring useless hope is not permitted to you. Permission for the Ork Tribe to leave the mountain range? But that will not apply to the Dwarves.”
In the case of the Orks, the Lord had changed almost once every fifty years.
During the war with Ragnar, the Ork Lord died before even losing the war, and the one who succeeded him passed away not long after being trapped inside the mountain range.
As such, the Ork Tribe had already gone through several changes even before Yul became the Lord.
Generational replacement had occurred to the extent that there was no one among the tribe who remembered the time of the war.
But the Dwarves were different.
Until now, their leader had changed only once, and moreover, Iron was of the old generation who had experience participating in that war.
That was why Kyle spoke more coldly to Iron than to Yul, but in a matter directly tied to the Founding King, he could not simply let emotions take precedence.
“No matter how much they are prisoners, Ragnar is not so cold as to force them to abandon innocent lives as well. But it seems you do not know why Ragnar remained as the Guardian Family of the mountain range entrance.”
Of course, up until now, Ragnar had been unable to settle the situation in the mountain range due to a lack of strength.
Since the Successor of the Frostfire had not appeared for a hundred years, the gap had inevitably been large.
After that, Kyle appeared and inherited the Frostfire, and he learned that the Lords were causing trouble.
Yet, even knowing that the Ragnar Family’s power had weakened, the Lords were unable to leave the mountain range.
‘Because they do not even possess the qualification to break the pact.’
The pact of the Lords was different from the one Ragnar had formed with the Daon Family.
The two families had cooperated with each other, so they had prepared a mechanism by which the pact could be broken, but as Kyle had said earlier, the Lords were prisoners.
It was only natural that prisoners had no right to choose.
However, the Founding King understood the true reason why the Lords had waged war.
To create the minimum living conditions they desired, he had settled in the mountain range.
“Ragnar’s Founding King had long taken measures so that his descendants could deal with the consequences of what he had done. And those descendants have not forgotten that responsibility either. That is why I am trying to save the Eternal Flame.”
Of course, not all of the previous generation of Lords remained, but Kyle could not stand by and watch a new generation die because of the sins committed by their ancestors.
That was why he was trying to save the Eternal Flame and, through it, save the lives living inside the mountain range.
Iron, who had been pressing his lips tightly together, soon bowed deeply to Kyle.
“Though ours is a relationship that once betrayed the trust our tribe so loudly proclaims, if you would trust us just one more time, we will give our all to help Ragnar. No—we will help.”
Iron, who had stubbornly used informal speech until then, hurriedly switched to honorifics.
Amid the tangled relationships, Iron was doing his utmost to fulfill his responsibility as the head of the Dwarves.
At that sight, Kyle turned his head and looked at Yul.
“Yul.”
“Speak.”
“I ask for your protection. There must be absolutely no one who touches me.”
“I will do my utmost.”
When Yul nodded, Kyle stepped closer to the Eternal Flame once more.
Of course, it was not because he liked the Lords that he was trying to save the Eternal Flame.
What he had said to Iron was an appropriate mix of falsehood and truth.
‘……An item that can become the best means to save Ragnar right now. And also an element that will help establish relations with the Dwarves.’
Kyle’s true intention in trying to save the Eternal Flame.
He intended to bring the Eternal Flame back to the Ragnar Family.
However, there was no way the Dwarves would simply hand over their divine relic.
Moreover, as Kyle himself had said, without the Eternal Flame, it was an obvious fact that the Lords living in the mountain range would face a severe food crisis.
If a food shortage broke out, the Lords might rush toward the entrance of the mountain range in desperation to survive.
Or they might drive all the monsters living in the mountain range and attack the Ragnar Family.
Either way, only by saving the Eternal Flame could Ragnar avoid suffering damage, and even resolve critical issues.
‘With trade caravans blocked, this is the only way to achieve food self-sufficiency.’
As Aron had said, he could try trusting Marquis Shan, but that was merely a future based on prediction, not something certain.
If there was a definite way to break through the current predicament, Kyle was willing to stake his life on it.
Holding the Eternal Flame resting atop the altar, Kyle dropped heavily to the floor.
At that, Yul drew the greatsword hanging at his waist and glared at Iron.
“Iron, step back.”
“……Understood.”
At Yul’s warning, Iron slowly retreated.
He felt a surge of resentment at Yul’s actions, which showed that Yul did not even trust him, but now was the time to comply.
Once Iron was driven out of the temple, the Dwarf warriors waiting outside each gripped their weapons and looked at him.
Iron spoke in a low voice to them, as they waited for him to open his mouth.
“Maintain strict vigilance around the temple. Right now, a descendant of Ragnar is reviving the Eternal Flame. Keep your minds sharp and do not let your guard down even for a moment.”
Even though his body had become one that felt neither cold nor heat after mastering Frostfire, sweat poured down Kyle’s entire body like rain.
The Eternal Flame tried to protect itself by pouring out the last remaining source.
As the heat grew stronger and stronger, Kyle opened Frostfire to steady his mind.
‘But I must not suppress the heat with cold.’
With a crack already formed in the source, the moment he used cold, reviving the Eternal Flame could become difficult.
For now, suppressing the intense heat was the best course.
Just as Kyle pushed the energy of Frostfire to its extreme—
Whoosh!
The heat of the Eternal Flame grew even more intense.
Gritting his teeth, he tried to control the Eternal Flame, when suddenly a voice rang out in his head.
—Do not try to control it. Simply follow the natural flow.
‘The natural flow……?’
At the suddenly heard voice, Kyle abruptly realized the mistake he had made.
‘Rather than forcibly suppressing it by trying to control it, the answer may be for me to accept the heat of the Eternal Flame and contain even stronger heat within the gem.’
Having reached that realization, Kyle gathered back into his body the heat he had been emitting.
Then he accepted even the heat pouring out from the Eternal Flame into his body.
Even as the massive, swirling heat entered him, Kyle felt neither discomfort nor pain.
Instead, it was warm.
As if the heat of Frostfire and the heat of the Eternal Flame were one, they fused together.
But only for a moment—inside his body, the heat began to amplify further.
As the previously harmonious balance began to form dissonance, the heat tried to devour the cold.
‘Now!’
Seizing that moment, Kyle poured the amplified heat with all his strength back into the Eternal Flame.
The discordant energies gradually calmed, once again aligning into harmonious balance.
“Hoo…….”
When Kyle exhaled deeply and opened his eyes, Yul—who should have remained in the temple—was nowhere to be seen.
Boom!
Hearing the thunderous crash from outside the temple and sensing Yul’s presence, Kyle rose to his feet.
“Is this what you call heaven-sent fortune.”
Kyle had always thought that such luck never existed.
Every result he achieved came from meticulous planning and preparation.
But this time was different.
Though he had infused the amplified heat into the Eternal Flame, the balance had yet to be fully restored.
To achieve that balance, even stronger cold was required.
And the very existence that could restore that balance was currently rampaging outside.
“It seems I have one more reason to hunt the Ice Dragon.”
Murmuring softly, Kyle rose from his place while holding the Eternal Flame.
And as if answering his voice, intense heat burst forth from the Eternal Flame.