「You have successfully cast earth-attribute magic—‘Earth Break.’」
「Earth-attribute magic—‘Earth Break’ has been registered as a skill.」
「Skill: Earth Break」
「Causes a powerful explosion in the earth and destroys the terrain.」
「You have successfully cast non-attribute magic—‘Wizard Eye.’」
「Non-attribute magic—‘Wizard Eye’ has been registered as a skill.」
「Skill: Wizard Eye」
「Creates a wizard’s eye that shares your vision.」
「‘Wizard Eye’ can only be created within your field of vision.」
「You can create another ‘Wizard Eye’ within the field of vision of a ‘Wizard Eye.’」
「You have successfully cast nature-attribute magic—‘Entangle.’」
「Nature-attribute magic—‘Entangle’ has been registered as a skill.」
「Skill: Entangle」
「Weaves grass and trees together to bind a designated target.」
「The amount of mana consumed changes depending on the surrounding environment.」
「Its strength is determined by the amount of mana invested.」
It was a pleasant day on which he had learned every 4th Circle spell he had decided to master.
Naturally, the moment they were registered in the skill window, he also checked all of their effects.
The dramatically more splendid Earth Break looked as though the continent itself were being overturned, while Entangle transformed the surroundings into the middle of a forest in an instant.
As his realm of magic rose higher, the effects of his skills seemed to grow more magnificent as well.
And Wizard Eye, which went one step further, summoned a great mage wearing a pointed hat in the sky and covered the air entirely with eyeballs.
- No matter how many times I see it, that characteristic is truly just like you.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
- ……There is such a thing.
Whatever Purnel said, it was a good day.
After all, he had completed all the 4th Circle magic.
The purification work was also going smoothly.
Every day, within limits that would not strain him, he used Purification to cleanse the dragon’s soul, and though slowly, he could see the soul growing cleaner little by little.
On top of that, there were additional effects.
Casting magic every day without rest until his mana ran dry.
Unexpectedly, this had a great training effect, making the handling of his mana smoother, which in turn increased the speed of his spellcasting, and even the total amount of his mana had grown, if only slightly.
According to Purnel, it meant that his vessel as a mage was growing larger.
And aside from those magical effects, there was something else he had gained.
- How long do you think it will take?
Regarda had begun to speak to him first quite naturally.
He had become fairly close to him.
Of course, that might only have been Hio’s personal impression…… but since they had exchanged quite a lot of conversation, it was certainly true that things had become more comfortable than before.
“Well, there’s still a long way to go. Still, the pace is gradually picking up, so don’t rush me too much.”
- I did not ask in order to rush you.
“Oh, come on…… It’s written all over your face that you’re looking forward to it.”
- ……It is not.
Hio purified the dragon without missing a single day, and Regarda did not leave the dragon’s side for even a moment.
Since they spent more time together, the distance between them naturally narrowed quite a bit.
“Based on my estimate, once I succeed in purifying more than half of it, the speed will increase much more. I can feel the clarified soul trying to purify itself.”
- Is that so. You can feel that?
“Yeah. It may look like it’s asleep, but I suppose that means it’s working tremendously hard too.”
This was not empty talk.
It was a fact he had discovered after observing the dragon’s soul for several weeks.
Perhaps because it was a soul of truly lofty rank, even in such a situation, the soul was moving on its own in order to return to its original state.
Of course, the purified portion was only an extremely small part, so for now it was only a faint movement.
“Come to think of it, if it can be purified by magic like this, why didn’t the dragon cast purification magic on itself? It should have been able to use a purification spell of a far higher rank than this.”
The words slipped out like a murmur, half spoken to himself.
He had not expected much of an answer from Regarda.
Whenever he asked about the past, Regarda always sealed his lips tight.
But perhaps Hio’s feeling that the distance between them had grown rather close was right after all.
- I…… do not know matters concerning magic. Guarding the dragon’s temple. That was the mission given to me at the same time as my birth.
Regarda’s heavy mouth slowly opened.
- But if it is about the reason, I know. The aura at that time was powerful beyond comparison with what it is now. All dragons were contaminated before they could even respond, and that was the beginning of the war.
“Then…… you’re saying the aura that’s been weakened that much is still at that level?”
- Yes. It must be the effect of the seal the dragon placed upon itself, and the fruit of its efforts.
It was not difficult to notice that the calm voice conveying this was a little different from usual.
It was a voice he heard every day, and they had grown rather close.
However, even if he noticed the change in emotion, determining what that emotion was proved, conversely, extremely difficult.
It was something exceedingly subtle and complex.
It was difficult to find the right word to define the emotion.
Even so, if he had to choose one similar word—
“You must have been pretty close with the dragon.”
Camaraderie.
Could it not be called deep affection, or friendship?
- Ariel. That is the name of the dragon who was with the wind.
“I see. Ariel……”
- And I am the dragon knight who guards the temple.
Even in the meantime, Purification continued to activate steadily.
As Regarda gazed at the brilliant light of mana shining at the tip of Hio’s staff, he began to bring out an old tale.
- A dragon knight is born with that destiny, and so, from the moment of birth, he is together with the dragon.
“Then you too?”
Regarda nodded slightly.
- Thus, my old memories are filled entirely with green light.
To Regarda, when he was young, Ariel was his parent.
When he grew a little more, she became the greatest teacher in the world.
And when he became an adult and matured, Ariel became his one and only friend.
She was Regarda’s parent and teacher, and at the same time, also his friend.
Regarda Ovier.
The dragon knight who guarded the dragon’s temple and conveyed the holy will of a great being to the world.
One who, even after a thousand years had passed, continued to steadfastly uphold his mission.
- For my sake, she usually stayed with me in the form of an elf.
And yet, the way he brought out and recited memories of the past was quite ordinary.
Green hair that always swayed gently.
A voice as cool and refreshing as the wind.
The wind that cut through the verdant forest.
Mystical green eyes that pierced through the principles of the world.
Once the memories began to emerge, they were followed by other memories, pouring out without pause.
Though now his body was different from back then.
Though now he had become a body that neither slept, nor ate, nor even needed rest.
Though even other emotions were gradually fading, the memories of those days were something he could never forget.
Because he must not forget them, he still remained.
As the last dragon knight left in this world, he had endured for a thousand years in order to fulfill that mission.
But had it, in the end, been a duty he could not complete? Had it been a hope not permitted to him?
Was the problem that his expression, as he spoke of memories from long ago, looked happy?
The voice Hio poured over Regarda’s reminiscence was nothing if not urgent.
“Regarda.”
The bright light of Purification had vanished at some point.
“Stop the gate.”
At those incomprehensible words, Regarda’s gaze turned toward Hio, and soon he could see it.
“Until I come back, absolutely…… no matter what.”
Hio’s deeply sunken eyes.
That grave expression he was seeing for the first time.
“The dragon must not awaken.”
With those words as his last, Hio Pavlenko vanished in an instant, as though he had been switched off.
His presence could not be felt anywhere.
As if he had disappeared from this world in a single moment, he was gone.
Something…… ominous was about to happen.
And as though to prove that intuition, a black aura caught in Regarda’s senses.
That accursed aura, all too familiar.
It was coming from the coast of Arilleia. From the place where the ominous gate had been.
Regarda knew exactly what this was.
- ……Are you trying to begin again?
Without the slightest hesitation, Regarda headed there.
He called the sea dragon, wrapped aura around his spear, and ran while barely suppressing the rage surging within him.
And so he did not see it.
- How dare you.
That the dragon’s eyes trembled ever so faintly.
* * *
*- Awakened Kim Cheolhwan, the leading figure in the successful clear of Incheon Airport’s B-rank gate, commonly known as the “Ant Nest,” names “Savior Nam Taemin” as the Awakened he respects most.
- BBT selects Asia’s most influential “First Awakened, Rank 1: Savior Nam Taemin.”
- The First Awakened Lee Gihan, Kim Giseong, Han Yura…… a mysterious meeting?
- Why are the First Awakened special?
- Taeryong Guild Master, unknown facts about Nam Taemin.
- France’s First Awakened, Criton, missing for several months?
- The disappearing First Awakened. What is the cause?
- The First Awakened Nam Taemin…….
- The First……
……
The articles piled up in abundance were all related to the First Awakened.
Inside the quiet room.
“Haa……”
Yun Seula, who had taken her eyes off the monitor, sighed and sank deep into her chair.
“What on earth could it be?”
She was no longer Yun Seula, Awakened and member of the Taeryong Guild.
After that day, she had stormed out of Taeryong Guild and returned to being Yun Seula, businesswoman.
And if she had to say which day that was, it was, of course, the day when everything had been full of questions.
A black gate she had seen for the first time in her life.
The monsters that poured out of it were also ones she had never seen before.
There had been far too many strange points.
At the time, she had been too frantic to realize it, but Nam Taemin had clearly known about that black gate.
Not only that, all those called the First Awakened had known about it, and the moment the black gate appeared, they had immediately blocked it.
Was that not far too strange?
That was why she had asked Nam Taemin about it, but she had received no answer whatsoever, and Yun Seula had left Taeryong Guild just like that.
This was something that absolutely must not happen.
Was the balance of power not already in an abnormal state as it was?
Disproportionately concentrated fame, authority, even military power.
Were not all of those held entirely in the grasp of those called the First Awakened?
And yet, as if that were not enough, they were also controlling information unknown to others?
What exactly were the First Awakened, and what were they plotting?
Since that day, when all the questions began, Yun Seula had spent her time investigating only that.
And the more she learned about them, the deeper her questions became.
They—the First Awakened—all shared certain common traits.
First, they disappeared from time to time.
This was something she had found strange ever since she had been in Taeryong Guild.
Unless there was an important gate raid, it was almost impossible to see Nam Taemin.
At the time, she had simply thought it was because he was busy, but as it turned out, it was a characteristic of all the First Awakened.
And that was not all.
They had their own hierarchy.
She did not know how people whose levels could not even be measured divided rank among themselves, but it was clear that they knew.
There was definitely some kind of connection.
And only recently had she been able to learn that, even among them, Nam Taemin occupied a position far higher than she had thought.
But this was the limit.
1. The First Awakened are overwhelmingly stronger than ordinary Awakened.
2. A definite hierarchy exists among them, and Nam Taemin holds a position close to the pinnacle within it.
Whenever the information reached this point, it was always blocked.
Somehow, by using everything she possessed, she had learned many things, but no matter how hard she tried, there was one thing she could never understand.
3. Nam Taemin feared Lee Hyeonseung.
“……Lee Hyeonseung.”
The mysterious man whom Nam Taemin feared.
The one who had covered the sky with a blue sun, possessing prowess she never would have believed had she not seen it with her own eyes.
Just who was he, and where had he disappeared to?
Yun Seula had tried to investigate him using every method at her disposal, and yet……
“Not a single thing comes up. Does that even make sense?”
Strangely, not a single piece of information appeared.
As if someone had deliberately erased all records related to him.
A man who had suddenly appeared and then vanished in an instant.
She had placed people at the location where he had first shown himself and the place where he had last disappeared, but there had been no results so far.
This was where she was stuck.
The First Awakened, who possessed certain information and were controlling it.
And the mysterious man whom even Nam Taemin feared.
It seemed the key lay with this man……
The moment her thoughts reached that point, the ringing chime of her cell phone notification broke her contemplation and echoed in her ears.
Yun Seula’s gaze turned toward the phone screen, and what appeared there were two text messages.
- Well…… I’m not sure if this is something I should report, but.
The sender was one of the people in charge.
He was one of the people she had dispatched to find Lee Hyeonseung, and for months, he had only reported that there was nothing unusual.
But the message he had sent this time contained something difficult to readily understand.
- Some…… cosplayer? Patient? Anyway, some weird person suddenly appeared?
After confirming it, Yun Seula tilted her head in puzzlement.