플래터13-16 minutes 26.07.2022
Anyone who had stood in front of a dragon would lose their right to laugh at anyone who had pissed their pants in fear. There were two reasons for that. First, the presence of a dragon was more than enough to make one feel insignificant. Second, a dragon would have no qualms stepping on a creature in front of them, as they thought of other creatures as nothing more than ants in their way. Unfortunately, the latter was the more common outcome when any creature faced a dragon.
Any hints of complaint or grumbling were bound to disappear in the presence of a more powerful being. The crowd that had been rowdy mere seconds before suddenly fell silent at the appearance of the dragon. The silence was so deafening that they could hear an ant’s breath.
“I said, where is the bastard who stole my child, who has not even hatched from the egg yet?!” Ignus shouted in a loud, terrifying roar.
The elves who were directly in front of the dragon had blood coming out of their ears, and some started to slowly walk backward as if they were ready to make a run for it at any moment.
“I will burn everyone and everything in this place if anyone dares to run without providing an answer!” Ignus roared once again. A frightening amount of fire started gathering in the dragon’s mouth. It was obvious that someone would lose at least an arm if the dragon’s breath as much as grazed past them.
Who in their right mind would steal a dragon’s egg?
A man suddenly spoke, breaking the dead silence.
“I know,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
All eyes were on Kang Yoon-Soo as Ignus asked fiercely, “Tell me, where is the bastard who stole my child?!”
“The thief is in this place,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. The crowd started to murmur noisily.
Ignus fiercely blew fire out of her nostrils and asked, “Who is that arrogant bastard?!”
Kang Yoon-Soo confidently stood on the altar and said, “I’m the one who stole your egg.”
“I see!” Ignus exclaimed, and fire spilled out of her mouth.
Most of those in the crowd suddenly had their life flash before their eyes. They recalled their wills, their childhood friends, and things they still hadn’t experienced.
It was a moment in which everything could go up in flames in a matter of seconds.
“You’ll never be able to see your child again if you kill me now,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
Ignus stopped gathering her fire, and the crowd let out a sigh of relief. Nobody had paid attention to Kang Yoon-Soo previously, but his presence had now been recognized by every single one of the five thousand troops.
“Tell me, you insignificant speck of dust! Where is my child?!” Ignus roared so loudly that the atmosphere shook. Some of the elves in front of the dragon were blown away by her fierce roar.
However, Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and replied, “I can’t tell you that.”
“Die!” the dragon roared. A large amount of flame once again gathered in her mouth.
The crowd closed their eyes as they braced, waiting for the dragon’s flame to disintegrate them at any moment. They thought, ‘We’re all going to die!’
“Oh, dragon Ignus, why do you think I stole your child?” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
Ignus swallowed her fire upon hearing Kang Yoon-Soo’s words. A few in the crowd passed out as nerves flared in the tense situation. The dragon asked, “What do you mean?”
“Hasn’t your egg not hatched for decades? It’s difficult to call it a ‘child’ anymore,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
The dragon was silent for a moment, but she then asked the human, “How do you know about that?”
“Do you still believe the egg will hatch?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked in return.
The dragon suddenly roared angrily, “How dare you ask me that back?!”
Henrick, on the other hand, grumbled and whispered, “Eh? If it hasn’t hatched for decades… Isn’t this just a rotten egg?”
“Shh! The dragon might hear you!” Shaneth retorted, also in a whisper.
The dragon slammed its large claws toward the altar.
Baaam!
The large altar was instantly torn apart, but Kang Yoon-Soo safely managed to land atop the dragon’s claw without sustaining any damage. He said, “Your egg won’t and can’t hatch.”
“How can you be so sure? Who knows if my child will suddenly break the shell and stick their head out one day?!” the dragon roared, anger evident in her voice.
Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and said, “That’s just you stupidly holding out hope as a mother.”
Baaam! Kwachiiiik!
The altar was almost completely destroyed, and the crowd scrambled as they tried to avoid the debris falling from it.
Henrick scoffed at the destruction in front of him and said, “That punk is trying to get all of us killed.”
Iris trembled uncontrollably as she clung to Shaneth and said, “I am scared. A dragon is really scary…”
“It’s okay, unni,” Shaneth said, trying to calm Iris down. She did not feel any fear toward the dragon for some reason, and remained able to stand steadfast in Ignus’ presence.
“Shaneth?” Iris called out worriedly as she saw Shaneth walk toward the dragon.
Ignus roared once again at Kang Yoon-Soo, “You dare mock my child?!”
An invisible aura of bloodlust filled the air. The dragon’s hostility alone was more than enough to create fissures in the ceiling. The crowd’s fear only grew as they felt the dragon’s breath was about to descend toward them like a storm.
“You shouldn’t kill me,” Kang Yoon-Soo said confidently, not budging an inch despite the pressure exerted by the dragon. In fact, he was standing face to face against the dragon.
“How dare an insignificant creature like you stand in front of me?!” the dragon roared once more, blowing Kang Yoon-Soo’s hair backward.
Kang Yoon-Soo said without any hesitation, “It’s because I’m not scared of you.”
“You arrogant little—!” the dragon roared, now severely enraged.
However, Kang Yoon-Soo ignored the dragon’s ranting and asked, “Why do you think your egg isn’t hatching?”
“Grwaaaaaah!” Ignus roared and gathered a ball of flame in her mouth. The dragon launched her breath toward Kang Yoon-Soo.
“Aaaaaah!” The crowd screamed in fear of the intense dragon’s breath. By the time the thick black smoke subsided, they all expected the brave human to have been burned and melted without leaving a single bone behind.
“Oh, dragon Ignus-nim. Please calm down,” Shaneth pleaded, standing in front of Kang Yoon-Soo with both of her arms spread wide. She was completely unscathed even after being hit with the full force of the dragon's breath.
The dragon stared at Shaneth for a moment and muttered, “I see. You are the one who inherited my powers.”
“That’s right,” Shaneth replied. She had obtained a fragment of Ignus’s powers from the Orb of the Covenant. Perhaps that was why she was not afraid of the dragon at all.
“Why are you protecting that man?! Stand aside at once! Do not worry; I will only burn him to within an inch of his life,” the dragon replied.
“No, I can’t do that,” Shaneth replied.
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Ignus stared down at Shaneth, who was smaller than one of her claws. She asked, “Why is that?”
“This person is precious to me. That’s why I can’t let you kill him,” Shaneth replied.
“Then are you asking a mother who had her child stolen from her to just let it go?!” the dragon retorted.
Shaneth was speechless. She could not deny that Kang Yoon-Soo had done a bad thing, and there was no way to justify what he had done no matter how precious he was to her. She turned around and asked him, “W-what should I say?”
Then, Kang Yoon-Soo walked forward and said, “Please withdraw your anger for a moment.”
“What an arrogant request. You would be burnt to a crisp if that bitch who inherited my power had not protected you,” the dragon growled, scoffing at him.
“I’ll just ask you one thing. Why didn’t you break the egg that hasn’t hatched for decades, instead choosing to keep it in your lair?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.
“Are you suggesting you would kick a child who could not walk out of your house?” Ignus replied.
“Would you kill the only doctor who could make your child walk?” Kang Yoon-Soo retorted.
The dragon scoffed and replied, “Are you claiming you know a way to make my egg hatch?”
“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied with a nod.
Ignus was silent for a moment before saying, “Impossible.”
“No, I can make your child hatch out of the egg,” Kang Yoon-Soo said with full confidence.
Ignus lowered her head for a moment before saying, “I admit it. My child in the egg is already dead.”
Shaneth gasped in surprise.
Ignus lamented angrily, “You asked me why I was keeping the egg in my lair? Because it is my child! Why am I angry even though I know it is a dead egg? Because it is my child!”
The dragon’s roars were so loud that the crowd felt as if their eardrums were about to explode. It was a roar filled both with anger and the sadness of a mother losing her child.
“Not a day has passed that I do not remember my child who died because of my mistake! I am sure the egg has rotted as time passed, but I cannot accept that my poor child died without even having the chance to be born!” Ignus lamented further.
“Oh, dragon Ignus, I understand the foolish hope you’re holding on to,” Kang Yoon-Soo said to the dragon.
“What are you trying to say?!” Ignus roared.
Kang Yoon-Soo looked at Shaneth for a moment before saying, “I’m living off of a foolish hope as well, just like you are.” He continued, “I understand the pain of not being able to see your child as well.”
Kang Yoon-Soo was the same as Ignus. He had also lost his child, whom he would never be able to see again.
“What is your point, you insignificant creature?!” Ignus growled.
Kang Yoon-Soo got straight to the point. “I’ll make it so you can hatch your egg if you participate in the war.”
Ignus closed her mouth and fell silent for a moment. The dragon was seriously considering the offer. She then stared down at Kang Yoon-Soo and asked, “Is something like that even possible?”
Kang Yoon-Soo replied, “There is a man who can turn back time and return from the dead. The right to resurrect a life will be granted if we manage to kill him.”
The dragon Ignus started to listen intently to the words of the human, and Kang Yoon-Soo started to convince her in front of the five thousand troops.
***
Several stone golems fought against Kartheon’s invading army amid the vast, rocky desert.
“Who are you?” asked a golem.
“The one who will kill you all,” Kartheon replied. His thousands of mummies crushed the stone golems, and he slowly accrued experience points and temporal power as the golems fell one by one.
“W-why did we come here?” Katz asked, gulping dryly.
There were a lot of dangerous monsters in the rocky desert, but Kartheon calmly replied, “Follow me quietly, Katz—if you do not want to wake that being up.”
“Who are you talking about, Your Majesty?” Katz asked; his voice was filled with anxiety and fear.
Kartheon laughed at the human and replied, “There is nothing to be scared of. That being is going to be one of us soon.”
Kartheon and his army reached the center of the rocky desert. What they found at the center was a complicated set of inscriptions and an octagonal seal.
“The being trapped in this place since ancient times is still stuck here,” Kartheon said with a smile. The ancient king bit his finger and released a drop of his blood into the center of the octagon.
Rumble…!
The ground they were standing on started to tremble, and it felt as if something humongous were moving in the vast rocky desert.
“W-what the hell is that?!” Katz screamed, falling on his rear.
A gigantic creature, with tattoos all over its large body and skin as hard as steel, stood up from the sand. The giant had a jewel embedded in the center of its head.
“Are you surprised?” Kartheon asked with a laugh.
Katz replied while trembling, “I’m more than surprised! I almost fainted! What is that giant?!”
The massive giant made the Fire Giants they had killed look like children. Kartheon looked at the gigantic creature that was so tall he could barely see its head and said, “That is a Colossus.”
A Colossus was a creature multiple times bigger than a giant; Colossi were also known as the gods of the giants. They were creatures that were supposed to have only existed in mythology, unlike dragons or golden goblins, which existed but were extremely rare.
“A C-Colossus? Why did it show up all of a sudden…?!” Katz asked in surprise.
A Colossus was said to be able to rip a mountain out of the ground with one hand, and was supposed to be strong enough to overpower a dragon by its strength alone.
“This was where my kingdom, Sharshyanon, existed in the past, and that Colossus used to hold the ground of the capital together,” Kartheon explained.
The words spoken by the ancient king sounded like something that would only be passed down as myth or folklore. Katz could not help but look at Kartheon in disbelief.
“There is nothing to be so surprised about. A magic tower where the Colossi gather and live together exists on the continent. That being was the weakest one among them and was banished from the tower,” Kartheon explained.
“B-banished? It looks as if it would be bigger than a dragon, just judging from its size…?” Katz exclaimed.
“Do you not think we will at least need someone like this to destroy the continent?” Kartheon replied with a smile. The ancient king moved his left hand, and the Colossus responded to his command and moved its gigantic body.
‘999th regression?’ Kartheon thought as his gaze turned sharp.
If there really was a man who was living his 1,000th life, that was something interesting in itself. There was no better place than the Desert of Death to face such an opponent. The ancient king planned to use both his power to control time and the Colossus to thoroughly step on the self-proclaimed regressor.
‘I will kill all life on this continent, and I will regress back in time.’