Chapter 144: There Are No Evil Dragons in the World (16)
"What on earth is happening?!"
The servants working at Raymond's mansion looked up at the sky, paralyzed with fear.
The sky was so choked with dark clouds that they couldn't see even a few meters ahead. They had no idea what was going on high above.
After the terrifying roar and the roof being blown off, the lightning clouds only revealed occasional flickers of blue light.
The servants wanted to flee immediately, but the barrier kept them trapped with no way out.
Covered in dust and rubble, trembling with fear.
Drip!
"...Huh?!"
Something hit them on the head.
Drip! Drip!
Black rain began to fall. Along with it came an overpowering stench that filled the air.
Beneath the shadow of the storm clouds, the people soon realized the nature of the liquid that appeared black from below.
"Blood, it's blood!"
Drip!
Drip drip!
Blood rained from the sky.
The people went pale with terror. Their faces, drowned in fear, looked at each other as if hoping someone would do something, but there was no answer.
They were all trapped here.
"Ugh!"
The tailor assigned to Raymond's polymorph costume vomited. He was a dwarf known for his strong stomach.
The stench of the blood rain was unlike anything he'd experienced. It wasn't just the usual metallic smell; it had an awful quality that churned the guts. Even the dull orcs were holding onto the ground, shedding tears and snot, while the sensitive elves had already fainted.
They had no way of knowing. The blood raining down on them was the dragon's lifeblood, infused with both life force and magical power.
"Grrr… Grrr!"
Min-jun, running on the dragon's back, had finally reached its tail. The shadow tail extending from his lower body gripped the dagger tightly and meticulously traced along the dragon's length.
He turned his head to look back at the path he had traveled. The glistening, blood-red trail left by the split scales. Blood surged from there, falling like rain.
'…A pity.'
As Min-jun thought this, the dragon's screams reached his ears.
"Graaah! Kyaaaah!"
Raymond continued to thrash. Min-jun focused on his eyes. They were different from when he had been panicking. The anger that had been directed at Min-jun was gone, replaced now by pain instead of hatred.
The frying pan, now transformed into a dagger, confirmed this.
=Fully brainwashed.=
Min-jun shouted immediately.
"Stop!"
Immediately!
Raymond Wong ceased all movement.
"······!"
The great dragon, with its lower jaw gone and its back burned, remained astonishingly calm. It looked at Min-jun with clear eyes, as if waiting for the next command.
Despite bleeding profusely, it stayed calm. It seemed impervious to any pain.
Min-jun was convinced he didn't need to test any more nonsensical suggestions on him. The dragon's behavior was proof.
At that moment, Kentius asked with difficulty.
"Is it over?"
Min-jun nodded.
"Yes."
Hearing the answer, Kentius's eyes closed, and his head drooped.
Then he began to fall.
Min-jun, startled by Kentius's collapse, reached out. A black whip extended from his fingertips, spreading out like a spider's web to ensnare the three-colored dragon. Thanks to this, Kentius was left dangling in the air, entangled like a hammock.
Min-jun clicked his tongue.
"He was already beyond his limits."
Despite being struck directly by lightning multiple times, Kentius should have fainted long ago, but each time Min-jun had implanted a mental suggestion in his head.
He mustn't faint now.
He could still endure.
He needed to buy more time and divert the dragon's attention.
Min-jun's assurance made Kentius believe without doubt. And so, despite surpassing his physical limits, he finally fainted as if the thread had snapped.
'Perhaps a kind of berserk state.'
It seemed more experiments were needed to determine the full extent of the frying pan's abilities.
'For now, treatment first.'
Both Kentius and Raymond needed care, and Raymond, with his lower jaw destroyed, shouldn't be seen by others in such a state.
The great dragon could not be killed. This was not only to find the murderer of Lord but also because, unlike Cheong-cheon, Raymond had not yet committed a sin deserving death by dragon standards.
Min-jun did not want to turn all dragonkind on this planet against him.
"Raymond, keep the barrier up but let only one person I designate in."
The great dragon complied with his instructions.
=It has been a long time.=
An alien, avoiding others' gazes, pierced through the black clouds. He bowed deeply in mid-air.
"Thanks for coming. You hid in the airplane cargo hold, didn't you?"
=I am just happy to be of service.=
The priest, Ymtus, who had arrived in Hong Kong via a different route from the rest, smiled genuinely as he spoke.
=Ah, this right now…=
The priest, serving Min-jun, looked back and forth between the fainted young dragon and the old dragon with its back opened.
He tilted his head, seemingly interpreting the scene according to his own philosophy.
Religiously speaking.
=Are you offering a sacrifice?=
Min-jun shook his head.
He had no intention of performing any bizarre rituals in the Dreamland cult style here. Of course, he acknowledged that it might seem that way to Ymtus.
"Treat these guys. Did you prepare the divine power in advance?"
=Yes, as instructed.=
Ymtus unleashed divine power. He first revived the exhausted Kentius. The dragon's unique vitality, stimulated by the divine power, began to fill the three-colored dragon's body.
"Ugh…"
Kentius woke up again within minutes of fainting. Next was Raymond's turn to be treated.
'Brings back old memories.'
Even with its jaw gone, the great dragon remained calm, looking only at Min-jun with a serene gaze.
In the past, during sensitive periods like mating seasons, male dragons would often fight, biting off each other's jaws or tails. Despite tearing each other apart viciously, they would stop all aggression and become docile beasts in the presence of their master. Even with shattered skulls exposing their brain membranes, dangling wings, and burned scales, they remained as if they couldn't feel pain.
"Is it possible?"
Ymtus examined the wounds and spoke.
"The jaw is quite damaged, but it's a small part relative to the body's area, so it's manageable. The key to recovery is the dragon's vitality. Since the vitality itself is not significantly damaged, there is no need to worry."
He admired the dragon's back.
The incision was clean enough that if the muscles on either side were pulled together, the cut would be virtually undetectable.
Even without expertise in dragon anatomy, Ymtus could tell it was an impressive skill. The priest felt a master's touch in the incision work.
Seeing not only the dragon but also the respect and belief in the incarnation of their faith, Ymtus felt his faith and admiration for the avatar deepen once more.
Hwaah!
After Raymond was fully recovered, Min-jun said.
"From now on, follow my orders."
The great dragon nodded obediently.
With vacant eyes.
Raymond, appearing in good condition before the servants, cleaned up the pieces of his body and blood scattered around and declared that the incident was caused by a "catalyst runaway during a magical experiment." It was an excuse that no one believed, but there was no one to question it.
Kentius, watching from behind, suddenly felt a sense of discomfort.
The dragon, calmly observing the sensations wriggling in his head, soon recognized their nature.
'By the way, where did Leo go?'
The dragon, who Min-jun had considered a friend before realizing he was insane, was nowhere to be seen. That dragon was also Raymond's son.
If he had been inside the barrier, he would have shown himself amidst the ongoing fight. The chaos was too widespread to ignore.
Even if Leo was outside the barrier, he should have returned by now. The barrier was massive, visible from anywhere in Hong Kong. He would have come to understand why such a barrier was erected right after his father hosted guests.
Yet he was still nowhere to be seen...
'Did he teleport away right after meeting me? And to a foreign country? If it was just before the barrier was set up, then it would have been possible. But why the rush...?'
After instructing the restoration of the mansion, Raymond moved to another location with the visitors.
After notifying Jenkinson that he was safe, Min-jun began interrogating Raymond. Since it was unnecessary to be seen by others, both dragons had taken on human forms.
Min-jun was in charge of the questioning, and Kentius raised no objections. Amidst the tension, Kentius forgot his concerns about Leo's whereabouts.
"······."
The atmosphere grew heavy in an instant. The interrogator starts with the most important questions. Despite suspicions of ulterior motives, the reason for accepting the invitation. The doubts that needed resolution.
"Did you kill Dragon Lord?"
Kentius felt like his chest was about to burst. With heightened anticipation, he watched the great dragon.
Then Raymond slowly moved his lips.
The answer that came from his mouth was...
"No, I did not kill him."
"Liar!"
It was both a scream and a shout. With his hopes shattered, Kentius fumed.
"How dare you lie in front of us! You killed the Lord. There's no other explanation for why the artifact disappeared!"
He had thought they were on the verge of obtaining the Dragon Heart, but being betrayed so abruptly made it hard to accept.
He spat out curses continuously, hurling accusations at the great dragon. Min-jun decided he needed to calm him down.
"Abandon your futile hope and confess right now…!"
Min-jun spat out.
"Kentius, that's not a lie."
"Oh, is that so? Raymond, you didn't kill him."
The voice, which had been full of anger, immediately turned calm. Kentius, as if he had never been agitated, returned to his peaceful demeanor and sat down again.
After providing the young dragon with mental peace, Min-jun continued the interrogation.
"Then, do you know who did?"
The great dragon answered with an innocent expression.
"I don't know."
Now Min-jun too felt irritation and disappointment rising.
"Then why did you try to steal the Lord's legacy?"
"Because I suspected there was an ancient race's artifact inside."
At least that wasn't a lie.
But...
"Thinking back, the plan to resurrect was likely a lie too."
The great dragon did not move a muscle in response to Min-jun's guess.
"Of course, it was a lie."
"Why did you try to recover it again? Did you tamper with the artifact and want to destroy the evidence?"
"No, that's not it. I had actually forgotten about it until the Lord mentioned it that night."
So, why?
The great dragon provided the answer.
"I witnessed the Lord casting a spell on that artifact the day before he died."
"...What kind of spell?"
"It was a spell that reacts to dragon blood."
"A spell for finding dragons?"
It was the same spell Jenkinson had used to find Jang Tae-jun in the past.
A spell that could only be used by a being with dragon blood flowing in their veins.
"It was a more refined version of that spell. It only reacts to those who inherited the Lord's blood, permits the use of the item only to them, and helps by searching for the location of the children."
Min-jun's expression changed slightly.
Thump! Thump!
His heart beat faster.
A spell that can find the Lord's children?
In principle... it was a spell that could only be performed by Dragon Lord himself.
Although other dragons with mixed blood could use similar spells, the oldest among the earth's children was Kentius, who was not even a hundred years old. They weren't at the level to handle high-level spells that intervened on a genetic basis.
Finding and bringing back children from foreign lands would be difficult, requiring persuasion and long approval from committees, making it the most realistic method.
"Why do you need the artifact with that spell?"
"Because I suspected the Lord had hidden children."
"······!"
Min-jun urged for more details with a sharp gaze.
The response that followed was something Min-jun had never anticipated.
"The Lord told me long ago that he was searching for a way to avoid death."
"······?!"
"It is a lamentable thing for a noble being like a dragon to face the limits of their lifespan and perish. Naturally, it is a research topic worth pursuing."
Recalling the past, the great dragon divulged the secret.
"Nevertheless, I was astonished when I heard that because I was also searching for that method. I was quite invested in it, spending a lot of money and time."
Being a close friend of the Dragon Lord meant that Raymond was also an old dragon.
"But I discreetly questioned the Lord about the method of his research without revealing that I was researching the same thing."
"Why? Was there a reason to hide the fact that you were researching for the same purpose?"
"Because the collaborators I worked with for my research... were people I found difficult to reveal to others, especially to the Lord."
As Min-jun was about to probe further, Raymond's next words made him listen intently.
"The Lord told me it was a secret. He never intended to reveal it. So, I shared this with my collaborators. They then... speculated that the Lord was conducting similar research in the same way as us. Without interacting with them, probably the Lord was working alone. It wasn't just coincidence; it was an inevitable conclusion. They were convinced that there was only one way for a long-lived race like dragons to overcome their lifespan."
"What is it?"
The great dragon spoke calmly.
"To prepare a body that is genetically closest to oneself and then transfer the soul into that body, so there is no rejection."
End of Chapter 144: There Are No Evil Dragons in the World (16)