A dragon's nest.
This would be an accurate expression to describe the place where the dragon soldiers were guarding the human-sized eggs. They didn't have time to count them one by one because they were trying to fend off the enemies attacking them, but even at first glance, a few hundred eggs could be spotted.
"Did the dragon soldiers move all of them to one place?"
"I think so. There's no way the dragons would have all gathered here to lay eggs during the war." It was as they said. It seemed that the soldiers here had gathered the eggs from each hiding place. No matter where their original location may have been. Wouldn't that make it easier to protect them?
'Or maybe it's the instinct of the dragon soldiers.'
All of a sudden, Sirka had a strange question pop into her head. "But why would your husband leave all these eggs intact?"
"Leave them?"
"Well, the Shadow Monarch is famous for incorporating his enemies into his shadow army unconditionally when he kills them."
"Ah!" Cha Hae-In also realized something from Sirka's words. The souls of countless dragons that died here had already become shadow soldiers that served Sung Jinwoo as their king. Therefore, they wouldn't have any reason to keep the existence of the eggs a secret from Sung Jinwoo. Even if the dragons hid the eggs in secret places before dying, they would still have no choice but to tell him their location once converted to shadows. As Sirka said, Sung Jinwoo knew that these eggs were here, so they both came to the conclusion that he must have left them here on purpose.
'But why?' Cha Hae-In eventually found the reason.
"...Ah." The moment she unintentionally touched the dragon egg.
Pssss! Surprisingly, the surface of the egg that seemed hard as stone began to scatter like dust at her touch.
"Wait, what?" Cha Hae-In and Sirka's eyes widened, there was nothing inside.
"How can it be empty?" Seeing this, Sirka hurriedly made her way to the other eggs and started touching them one by one.
Rustle.
Crumble!
The eggs scattered like ashes into the air without much effort. It was striking just how they managed to maintain their original form. An ashen blizzard filled the tombs of the berserk dragons.
"These are hollow too!"
"Is that so?"
"Could it be that your husband knew these things were dead and didn't care much about them?" Sirka's guess was quite plausible.
However, Cha Hae-In still had a serious expression. "Sirka, is it normal for a dragon egg to be empty even when they die without hatching?"
"Well, so far I don't…" As an ice elf, Sirka didn't know much about a dragon's biology. There was only one, highly possible, guess that came to mind.
"Maybe the dragon died before it could be born and your husband has the souls of these eggs? What if they were all taken in as shadow soldiers?"
"Wouldn't their corpses still be inside the eggs, then?"
"They would." Cha Hae-In was silent for a while at Sirka's confirmation. Aside from logical thinking of whenever or not the eggs had been nurtured, the mystery still lingered as to why their exterior looked normal but they were empty inside. And also, what would be the reason the dragon soldiers were guarding empty eggs?
"Let's check them all for now." Cha Hae-In and Sirka began to test all the remaining eggs. Unfortunately, there was not a single one that stayed intact after being touched.
At the same time, Cha Hae-In was also coldly watching the behavior of the dragon soldiers. 'These eggs are the owners of the dragon soldiers, so why hasn't their number decreased?' There was a slight connection though. As the numbers of the eggs decreased, the bloodlust of the wariors was becoming even more intense.
'Could they have another owner? Maybe there are still some living dragon embryos around here?' Thinking of many various hypotheses, Cha Hae-In continued to reduce the number of eggs.
And finally. She found it. "This…"
"Isn't this a bit small?" Cha Hae-In's eyes sparkled when she found the ostrich-sized egg hidden among all the human-sized ones. The egg also smelled of mana, unlike all the other hollow ones. When she grabbed it, she could feel it weigh a fair bit.
Aaaaa! The aura around the dragon soldiers also became extremely thick.
"Cha-cha! These guys are getting mad! We have to evacuate… Huh?"
[Purrr] Suddenly, the shadow wyvern Kaisel, who had been sleeping quietly all this time, suddenly woke up.
[Kyaaa~] Kaisel spread his wings wide while stretching on Cha Hae-In's shoulder and yawning. Then, he took the real dragon egg into his arms, twisted himself into a coil and embraced it as if it was his own.
"Ah.." The bloodlust of the dragon soldiers suddenly disappeared in an instant. Cha Hae-In and Sirka looked around with puzzled expressions at the sudden change.
The soldiers all the sudden bolted towards them only to kneel down and lower their heads as they surrounded Cha Hae-In and Sirka.
[Purrr~]
To be more precise. They were on their knees in front of Kaisel, who was cuddling the egg. Seeing this, Cha Hae-In and Sirka muttered to themselves with bewildered expressions.
"I guess we can count this as a win, right?"
"Cha-cha, should I pray for this?"
"Yeah, let's tell Suho." It seems they have found the last dragon egg in this entire universe.
* * *
[Little Monarch! The entire shore is covered by a whirlwind of sand!] Haeundae was caught in an unexpected natural disaster, as Beru reported. The sandy whirlpool on the ground wasn't the only thing to worry about. There was also a sandstorm in the air that spread in all directions, as if it was a barrier.
'It's similar to the instance dungeon made by Harmakan, but much more refined.'
Harmakan, a member of the demonic spirit clan, also placed a barrier around the entire Yami Village to create the 'instance dungeon'. The barrier was so subtle that even those who passed through couldn't notice it. He didn't know if this was another kind of magic or the demonic spirits that appeared this time had been clumsy with their spells, but they created an easy to spot and obvious barrier that trapped people inside a sandstorm.
"Sung Suho!" A voice called from behind. Lim Tae-Gyu, the guild master of the Reaper guild and S class hunter, was running furiously through the sandstorm.
"Get out of the way!" He said while nocking magic arrows in the reaper's bow then quickly drawing and aiming towards the center of the sandy vortex.
Swish! The powerful projectiles grazed Suho as they flew towards the center of the barrier.
Kaboom! One of the arrows pierced its target and exploded.
[Ahh!! How dare a measly human being!] Angry screams of the demonic spirit echoed in all directions.
"There you are!" Like an eagle that found his prey, Lim Tae-Gyu's eyes sparkled as he unleashed a storm of magic arrows again.
Poof!
Kekekekeke! Countless skeletons also emerged from the sandstorm to attack him from all sides. He snorted and while laughing hit them with the reaper's bow.
Kwang! The S class weapon was harder than a baseball bat, so he smashed the skeletons with a delightful ease.
"That's all I need to kill you!"
[It can't be.]
"…!!!" Lim Tae-Gyu rapidly scanned his surroundings hearing an eerie voice right behind him.
[You are quite strong for a human.] Ignoring all other hunters the gloomy voice rang only in his ears.
[Oh well, it doesn't matter how much mana you have. Humans are a weak race.] 'He' laughed at Lim Tae-Gyu.
[The human soul is inferior.] As soon as 'he' finished speaking, the scenery changed right in front of Lim Tae-Gyu's eyes.
[The Demonic Illusionist Javier uses the skill: 'Mirage']
'Mirage?' Suho gained two pieces of information thanks to the system's message.
One, the culprit behind this situation was Javier, a magician from the demonic spirit tribe.
Two, he could use a skill called 'Mirage'.
[Little Monarch! Beware of the illusions!] Beru's urgent voice began to fade far away as the landscape around Suho changed.
* * *
Javier was a magician from the demonic spirit tribe. He never once doubted his victory. He had to win.
He had been experimenting with the souls of the people he collected on this beach, and as a result came to one simple conclusion.
'Humans are weak.'
The demonic spirits were a race that enjoyed doing various research on the nature of souls. To them, they were just a resource to study, with an infinite potential. Using them, they could create really interesting spells. Although it might be terrible for the victims, 'Mirage' was a powerful illusion that brought out the most terrifying or intense moments from the target's memories.
'They are quite an interesting race.' Through his demonic magic, Javier enjoyed the colorful fears hidden within the human's subconsciousness. Since they were fundamentally weak, the fear felt by them was more primal and instinctual than that of the other races.
'The other species only fear death at best. But look at the humans gathered in front of him! Look at the many colorful fears that they could express!'
'For example… That one.'
"Honey."
"No, no, it can't be…" Lim Tae-Gyu, who had the most magic power among the hunters, fell into the greatest despair.
That was because his 'dead' wife, no, the wife he had killed with his own hands, appeared in front of him. Her dead body was enveloped in a blue flame, burning her away. Slowly, she approached him with a sorrowful look on her face.
"Why are you looking at me like that? You are the one who killed me."
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…"
'Kehehe. How delightful it is to watch a soul struggle in despair!' Javier felt extreme pleasure while he admired Lim Tae-Gyu's despair and fear.
[Kahaha! They cannot resist their absolute fears, just look at how beautiful this is!] S class or whatever,inside was just another equally insignificant human soul, while his illusions were on another level. Javier could bring out the intense memories deeply engraved into the victim's soul and turn them into reality. The illusions could even exert physical power on the material world.
[This moment was bound to come, S class hunter, so don't struggle anymore and accept your fate.] He mocked and giggled at Lim Tae-Gyu until a sudden chill made him turn his gaze quickly in the other direction. He couldn't help but doubt his eyes.
[That… What is that…?!] The ominous feeling was coming from the young hunter who caused that blizzard earlier. He, too, had been watching the illusion of a person deeply engraved in his memory manifest into existence. But something was strange…
[What the hell is that!?] A being from Suho's memory was slowly revealing itself, covered in the black void of the abyss itself.