< Episode 617 > Dragon (龍).
I heard a sound.
Right beside me.
The moment I thought that.
Fwoosh—!
My arm was already moving.
Oong—!
A vibration resonated in my soul.
It was to unleash the Heart Fist (心拳).
There was no hesitation.
I had used the Heart Fist earlier as well.
The backlash that would come later from using it now.
I had to ignore such things for the moment.
This was someone who had approached right beside me without me noticing.
Whether or not they held hostility wasn’t something I had the luxury to care about.
And so, just as I was about to pour forth the Heart Fist.
Crack—!
A bizarre sound came from my arm.
When I turned my gaze to look at it.
“!”
Shhhhk—!
My outstretched arm was torn away, leaving only the shoulder behind.
Thud—!
My arm fell to the ground.
Pshhh—! Blood burst from my shoulder.
“Yangcheon!”
Uhyeok, seeing this, shouted with widened eyes.
He bit his lip tightly.
Then he urgently shifted his footwork to widen the distance.
Drip.
Blood flowed from the shoulder I was gripping.
Immediately, pain surged in.
“Huu… hu….”
However, only sharp breaths escaped instead of groans.
‘What?’
What just happened?
Ignoring the pain, I looked forward.
Beside the spot where I had been facing Uhyeok, someone stood.
It was a white-haired youth.
“My, my.”
The youth looked this way. A smile was on his face.
The moment I saw that smile, goosebumps rose all over my body.
“That’s quite a greeting? I don’t really like that sort of thing.”
Disgusting.
Just looking was unpleasant, and I felt nauseous.
A feeling like I wanted to grab his nape and tear it out right now.
From my distant dantian, hostility surged up from deep within.
-Kill him right now.
An instinct speaking in such a voice kept pushing at my back.
I had to barely endure it.
I couldn’t win.
A single exchange had been enough to know that fact.
While looking at the youth with my tension fully raised.
“I was originally just going to watch. It was a bit fun to watch, you see.”
The youth began to continue speaking.
In the meantime, I had to furrow my brows seeing something the bastard was holding.
‘Why the hell is she caught there?’
It was Yuri.
Yuri was being held in the bastard’s hand, unconscious.
“But this is a bit boring, isn’t it? Right?”
The bastard shifted his gaze.
It was toward Uhyeok.
“Bioegun.”
“…”
At the youth’s call, Uhyeok bit his trembling lips.
“We definitely had a promise. But why are you doing this?”
“…”
“Does this mean you don’t care what happens to the collateral?”
“It’s not that…. I just….”
“If not, is it lingering attachment? It seems you still have some left.”
Listening to their conversation, I furrowed my brow.
Through those words, I thought I could grasp the youth’s identity.
‘So that bastard is… then.’
The bloodline of the Ice Palace who was said to have joined the rebellion.
Did that mean it was him?
Seeing as he was a youth, it would be either the First or Second Young Lord.
‘This feeling.’
Something felt strange.
What was this feeling?
It was different from the sense of distance felt when looking at a mere strong expert.
This was.
‘It’s similar to the Palace Lord.’
The sensation when I met the Palace Lord at the previous hideout.
It was similar to then.
It wasn’t about a resemblance in appearance stemming from shared bloodline.
A foul feeling.
An unpleasantness emanating from his very existence.
It had been the same when I saw the Palace Lord, but this was on a completely different dimension.
‘This is… yeah, was it this?’
Feeling his energy, it suddenly came to mind.
When I first arrived in the North Sea, I had felt a chill from the ground and an inexplicable unpleasantness.
That energy and.
‘His energy is the same.’
If I had felt something similar from the Palace Lord.
That energy was identical to what I had experienced.
It meant he was the source of the unpleasantness coming from the North Sea.
What the hell was that?
What was it that made my entire body reject it so?
Also.
‘What should I do?’
How could I escape this crisis?
While all sorts of thoughts were racing.
“If Bioegun still has lingering attachment…. That attachment.”
The youth who had been speaking directed his gaze toward me.
At that moment.
“Is it toward him?”
The youth’s figure vanished.
I lost him.
I couldn’t follow him with my—
Crack—!
“Keok!”
My neck was grabbed.
I was lifted up just like that.
“This wasn’t how I intended to greet you.”
Our eyes met forcibly, and I was made to face the bastard’s eyes.
“Nice to meet you.”
“…!”
My heart lurched at his words as he smiled wickedly.
Horizontally slit pupils in blue-green eyes.
And scales faintly visible on his cheeks.
Others might not know, but to me it was a familiar sight.
“I didn’t expect to meet kin (同族) here.”
I had to furrow my brows at the words he spat out.
‘Dragon (龍)…?’
A dragon.
This bastard was a dragon.
Unlike the curse the Palace Lord was suffering from, his form looked complete.
Which meant.
‘Does that mean he’s the same as me?’
Did this mean he too was one who had finished molting and become a dragon?
While I was bewildered by the unexpected situation.
“But….”
The bastard’s gaze swept over my body.
“You’re far worse than I thought. To think this is my kin.”
His voice contained clear disappointment.
“I wonder if you’ve suffered some internal injuries…. It seems my expectations were misplaced. I didn’t know you were this pathetic when you first came to the North Sea.”
My eyes widened at his words.
Had he known I came to the North Sea all this time?
Strength entered his gripping hand.
It was tremendous pressure. I couldn’t breathe.
So being grabbed and lifted by the neck was more infuriating than I had thought.
I reflected on that.
If I made it back alive, it seemed I could stand to use this move more often myself.
While I was thinking such thoughts without realizing it.
“What is this?”
The bastard was observing my body even more minutely.
To be exact.
“Why are you so pathetic? You’re definitely kin, and yet….”
He seemed to be analyzing each and every lacking part of me.
‘Is this bastard crazy?’
I couldn’t remember the last time in this life I had been called pathetic and lacking.
Except for my looks, that is.
“Hmm….”
Is he saying there is some difference simply because he can’t properly figure this out?
I couldn’t know.
“So that’s why. So that’s why.”
I couldn’t know, but the bastard seemed to know something.
Kkuuuk—!
“Krrgh….”
The pressure grew stronger.
“So you were this insignificant.”
The light contained in his slit pupils grew intense.
“You’ve evolved, yet you wish to remain human yourself?”
I tried to grab his wrist with my remaining right hand, but it wouldn’t budge at all.
There was likely a difference in strength, but it was more accurate to say strength wouldn’t enter my body.
“How could you? To want to stand on the same level as those insignificant insects. We can’t do that, can we? We are great beings.”
“Fuck… what… are you saying….”
“I can’t understand. That you couldn’t even make such an obvious choice and remained a half-baked thing.”
The bastard’s gaze changed.
The smile he had been wearing disappeared, and something cold rose in his pupils.
“It was a meeting I had deeply anticipated.”
Killing intent (殺氣).
It seemed shallow, but that was definitely killing intent.
‘I’ll die.’
At this rate, it was dangerous.
My survival instinct was telling me so.
No, even without him saying anything, I could tell at a glance this was a crisis.
“I’ve lost interest.”
At this rate, my neck would be broken and I would die just like that.
I tightly gripped his wrist and tried somehow to break free, but even that didn’t work.
What to do? What the hell should I do?
“A being who can’t even grasp my position… you’re too pitiful to call kin. Just die.”
And so.
Crack—!
Just as the bastard was finally about to snap my neck.
While still gripping his wrist.
I spoke to him.
[Let go…!]
“…!!”
Huuuk—!
In an instant, a vibration was felt from my heart, and wind burst out from my body.
It was an unintended Dragon Word (龍言).
I had wondered what use such words could possibly have.
But the bastard who heard my Dragon Word stiffened for a moment.
Tuk—!
“Keok…!”
Surprisingly, he truly released his grip.
My bound body was freed and I collapsed.
“Keoheok….”
With one arm missing, my balance was off.
While my blocked breathing opened up and I was barely catching my breath.
“…It makes no sense.”
The bastard who had been holding me until just now spoke to me in an unbelievable tone.
“You.”
I raised my head and looked at him.
“Are you a pureblood (純血)?”
His voice was brimming with surprise and shock.
“That can’t be? There shouldn’t be any pure bloodline left on this land….”
“…What have you been saying since earlier….”
Pure bloodline? They were words I couldn’t understand.
Where in the world was there a mongrel like me? All sorts of miscellaneous things were combined in my body.
Where in my body was there anything pure?
But.
“Aah….”
Contrary to my thoughts, the bastard’s eyes lit up again as if he had realized something.
“That’s right. Yes, I didn’t think everything would change easily just because you escaped that miserable body.”
Then, making an inscrutable expression, he continued speaking to me.
“It’s rather fortunate. Because I got to see you here.”
While he kept talking, I didn’t answer and rolled my eyes.
Uhyeok’s position was about ten paces behind me from here.
The position where Namgung Bia was thought to be was much farther than that.
‘I don’t know what this bastard sensed in me.’
For now, I had to figure out how to escape from here first.
Could I save everyone all at once? Objectively, it was impossible.
In my current state, even winning was impossible.
“I’ve long wondered.”
Then what should I do.
Should I try tapping into my primordial qi?
It was obvious I would die if I used it incorrectly, but this was a time I had to use it anyway.
Even if I died.
Having steeled myself as such, I tried to raise the energy in my body.
“I wondered how three fragments of the Dragon Emperor had gathered on this land. It was because of you.”
I froze.
I had to stiffen at the words the bastard spat out.
“…What? What did you just say?”
I looked at him.
Dragon Emperor (龍帝). The bastard had definitely spoken the word Dragon Emperor with his own mouth.
The bastard, seeing my behavior, showed a brief flash of bewilderment but soon formed a deep smile.
“It seems our pureblood knows nothing. Ignorant despite your precious blood.”
“What are you saying. If you’re going to talk, speak clearly.”
“I can’t do that. There’s nothing as covetable as a foolish competitor.”
A competitor?
“Moreover, if that competitor is born from the most precious blood.”
“This bastard…. keeps….”
I tried somehow to raise my body, but.
“If it were up to my heart, I’d like to devour you right now….”
He was already no longer in front of me. Before I knew it, he had moved and was now in front of Uhyeok.
“I’ll endure for now. Because I want to verify.”
Then this time, he grabbed Uhyeok by the collar.
Uhyeok didn’t utter a single word. He didn’t even resist.
“By trampling, tearing apart, and devouring you, the pureblood, I will prove that I am the truly chosen one. To do that.”
Uuuung—!!
Feeling the sensation, I raised my head and looked at the sky.
“…What?”
It was twisting.
The space in the air was twisting bit by bit.
“Someone as weak as you right now won’t do. Shouldn’t we meet when I’m at least in perfect condition to have proper justification?”
Crackle—!
Cracks formed in the sky and gradually spread.
Space was collapsing in real time.
What the hell kind of situation was this?
“Well then, I’ll just take my leave this time.”
Amidst the precarious situation, the bastard spoke to me with his characteristic smile.
He’s leaving?
Does he mean he’s leaving just like this?
It was a situation that seemed fortunate at a glance, but.
I had to speak to him with my face fully twisted in a scowl.
“…Are you planning to take him?”
Those were words spoken upon seeing Uhyeok, whom the bastard held.
“Of course. Bioegun is an existence I cannot do without.”
To that, the bastard spoke to me with an expression that said it was obvious.
“You know, right? We never let our possessions be taken.”
Grind.
I gritted my teeth.
Because there was nothing I could do even if the bastard took Uhyeok.
I had no choice but to let him go like this.
Knowing that made my feelings all the more miserable.
“It’s not much of a trade, but.”
The bastard spoke.
“I didn’t kill my cute younger sibling who brought you here. I’ll retreat today without touching the other fragments either.”
“Other fragments…?”
I tried to ask upon hearing this, but couldn’t continue further.
Hwaaaaaak—!!
Fragments of the collapsed world began to wrap around the bastard.
The fragments spun rapidly around the surroundings as if swept by wind, looking like a typhoon was blowing.
Inside it.
—Ah, right. My name is Yuseon.
The bastard’s voice was heard.
—When we meet next time, I hope you’ve made up your mind. Because it won’t be fun otherwise.
Kwagagagak—!
The storm gradually grew in size and expanded rapidly.
There was no way to escape.
Soon, the wind mixed with fragments reached right before me.
—This is a small gift for that.
Together with the continuing voice.
—I hope you like it.
It roughly swallowed me up.
******************
Not long after.
Opening my closed eyes.
The first thing I saw was the now-familiar sky of falling snow.
“…!”
Seeing that, I immediately sat up with a start.
Am I alive?
Hadn’t the world clearly been collapsing?
‘What about Uhyeok? The bastard?’
What the hell had happened?
As I was trying to figure that out.
“Huh…?”
I suddenly felt something strange and looked to the side.
‘…My left hand?’
The left hand that had been torn off by the bastard was back. The earring that had been on it was back too.
It was clean, as if it had never been torn off at all.
Moreover, that wasn’t all.
I circulated the energy in my body.
‘What is this?’
I swallowed dry saliva as I checked my physical condition.
I could tell the moment I circulated my energy.
That all the internal injuries in my body had been completely healed.
What the hell did this mean?
Not only had my arm regenerated, but the internal injuries that were expected to take ages to heal had been cured.
It was incomprehensible.
While my gaze trembled at these events and I was looking at my left arm.
“…Ah….”
Stiff!
My body froze at the voice.
A sound came from behind me.
The position where I had been lying until just now.
A voice completely drained of strength.
It couldn’t be helped.
Because it was a voice so familiar that I had been searching for it.
My head turned.
There.
“…Hello….”
There was a woman wearing shackles on her wrists, looking at me.
White hair and her characteristic blue eyes.
She looked tired, but her face was still deathly pale.
Had she been holding my head on her lap until now?
Contrasted against the snow piled up around us, her body was partially buried.
“You….”
“Did… you wake up…?”
The woman spoke while looking at me.
“It’s been so….”
I didn’t hear the rest.
My body embraced her on its own.
I hugged her tightly as if I would never let go and stayed still just like that.
Then.
“Ah… yes.”
Namgung Bia whispered quietly.
“I… missed you too.”
It was an answer to the unspoken words.