Chapter 1106 — Book 2: Chapter 303: I'll bet on you (5)
15 min read ·
The noise surrounding Axion's castle became calm.
Like a short spring rain during the day or a sun shower, the water drops silently covering the ground swallowed up all of the flames.
Chhhh—
As the flames that had felt so scary no longer felt that way…
People wiped the water drops touching their cheeks.
“…Ha.”
Pope Casillia scoffed while looking at her wet palm.
As she looked at how the scales had covered all the way down to the back of her hand, making it difficult for her to cover her arm even with her robe, her eyes were slightly shaking.
Yes, fear.
The things that were truly scary were the things that silently crept up to you.
Like death.
Like the time used by the Dragon Lord.
All of those things that suddenly crept up to you were quiet.
“…Yes, like this rain.”
Casillia looked around.
The people who had followed her, some from the church, some from the castle, some from elsewhere, were all smiling brightly while standing in the rain.
They were happy.
‘But do they know?’
Inquisitor 1, the leader of the Inquisitors…
He was an existence covered by a veil, someone that even the Pope didn't know everything about.
The Dragon Lord was probably the only one who knew everything about that man.
However, his attribute, fire…
Of course, ‘fire’ wasn’t the full extent of Inquisitor 1's powers. It was only a small portion of it.
Nonetheless, she knew the danger of this fire that won’t go out.
It was the reason she chose to avoid it rather than fighting against it.
‘He put this fire out with these powerless little drops of rain.
But these drops are not harming me at all even though they are falling directly on my skin.’
In fact, the slightly cool and refreshing feeling she got from these raindrops helped relieve the fatigue she had been feeling because of the fire and ashes.
That was why she was scared.
That was why this was such a scary power.
‘It is nature itself.’
Some saw nature as scary as death while others saw it as warm as life.
It was why some saw nature as their friend and family while others saw it as an existence they must obey or follow.
There was no choice to avoid it.
Nobody could hide from nature.
‘They are not smiling.’
The Pope could see some individuals who were not smiling.
They were people she considered to be strong, whether it was through physical strength, intellect, abilities, or any specific area.
They were probably the individuals who realized the true scary nature of this power.
They too, just like her, were unable to enjoy this moment.
But an odd mood was seeped within it.
They were probably having similar thoughts as her.
‘He didn't choose the worst option.’
The figure standing above the white cloud…
The human she could faintly make out…
This human was someone who could truly fight against the Dragon Lord.
Chhhhhhhhh-
All of the fire was out.
The clouds underneath Cale’s feet instantly disappeared without any resistance.
– That was light, right? It didn’t burden your body at all?
The Sky Eating Water asked and Cale answered. He answered honestly.
“That wasn’t much.”
This much did not burden his body.
Maybe it was because he only used a small amount of water.
‘Mm. Something does feel a bit different though.’
What his body was feeling felt different from usual.
‘Did you learn something when we saved the World Tree?’
Cale asked and then heard a refreshing answer.
– It turns out gods are not the sky.
‘Hmm?’
– But I am the Sky Eating Water.
The Sky Eating Water commented in a clear voice.
– Pfft. F****** entertaining.
Cale flinched at the sudden swearing.
– Kekeke.
The Water just laughed some more.
– This crazy water!
The Dominating Aura mumbled with disgust.
The Sky Eating Water laughed even more without caring.
– Kahahaha! A mere god was not the sky! Eating the sky was an even greater ordeal! Hahaha!
Cale's face stiffened up.
“Mm.”
He subconsciously groaned.
He could avoid most crazy bastards, but he could not avoid the crazy bastards inside his body.
As Cale's face turned serious…
“…I'm sure it wasn't light.”
‘Hmm?’
Cale turned his head after hearing a voice.
Axion, the Third Saint Dragon.
He was looking at Cale with an odd gaze.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’
Cale looked confused but Axion turned away. He then nonchalantly commented.
“You just woke up after fainting like that… It must be hard to have to use your power like this immediately after waking up.”
Cale couldn’t tell whether Axion was talking to himself or for Cale to hear.
But he decided to answer anyway.
“No. I'm feeling fine.”
It was not hard at all.
Honestly speaking, the current situation was different from normal because although he did push his body a bit, he mainly lost consciousness to digest the Saint’s power.
“I remember hearing that you were the Dragon Lord’s sword.”
Cale approached Axion.
He then stood next to him.
“I'll take care of the shield so I think it would be good for you to take care of those punks.”
Silver thread flowed out of Cale's hand.
It was to use the Indestructible Shield.
“…….”
Axion stared at it before observing Cale's face.
“What?”
Cale asked with a scowl on his face while Axion chuckled.
“Ha, haha-”
He then laughed out loud.
‘What is up with him?’
Cale scowled some more and Axion stopped laughing.
Cale felt uneasy after seeing the sudden changes in Axion’s cold face.
‘This guy seems a bit loose in the head too.’
He slowly took about a step to the side.
Axion then looked at Cale and opened his mouth.
“I'll bet on you.”
‘Hmm?’
Cale was at a loss for words before understanding what he meant.
She was talking about the Dragon Lord or Cale.
As a result, Cale was confused.
“Why are you saying such a thing now?”
He was already fighting against the other Dragons.
“Didn’t you already bet on me?”
Cale asked looking truly confused, and Axion laughed out loud.
“Hahahaha!”
Seeing him like this made Cale a bit annoyed.
It could not be helped.
The bronze barrier…
The ten or so Dragons outside of it…
Cale took a good look at them and realized that they were flapping their wings together, getting ready to start again.
Especially-
‘He's glaring at me, right?’
One of them was glaring intensely at Cale.
There was also one Dragon who was licking his lips while looking at Cale.
‘That son of a bitch-!
That Red Dragon!
I'll remember your face.’
Cale thought about which of the 10 Dragon gods was red.
There was only one.
‘Did they say he is the God of Gluttony?’
His attribute was Gluttony.
That Red Dragon-
‘Disgusting.’
He kept licking his lips while looking at Cale and drooling.
The Dragons seemed to be saying stuff outside the barrier, but none of it made it through.
‘Ah, what are they talking about?
They seem to be chatting.’
Cale walked up next to Axion and patted his shoulder.
Of course, his gaze was still focused on the ten or so Dragons.
Ten Dragons in their adult Dragon forms.
The pressure was large enough to cover the sky.
It was a bit scary.
‘First of all, they are huge.
Plus, there’s one drooling while looking at me.’
“Hey. Hey.”
Cale quickly spoke to Axion.
“Leave the rest to me. You first kick those bastards out. We need to do that before we can chat, right?”
Pat pat.
Cale looked at the Red Dragon warily while continuing to pat Axion.
He then turned his head as Axion remained quiet and then flinched.
“What are you doing?”
Axion was quietly looking at Cale with a stiff look on his face.
The knight he first resembled when they first met… As well as the high status noble he resembled… This cold look on his face reminded Cale of both.
That face was looking right at Cale.
“What?”
‘We don’t have time. What is up with this guy?’
Baaaaang!
The barrier gently shook at that moment.
Cale turned his head and gasped.
“Eek!”
The Red Dragon slammed into and stuck to the barrier.
Right in front of Cale.
‘Eek.’
His tongue was wiggling as he licked his lips again.
It was at that moment.
He heard a familiar voice behind him.
“That, that-”
It was a voice of disbelief.
As for Cale, he smiled brightly as he turned around.
He raised his hand and pointed to the Red Dragon.
“Eruhaben-nim! I think that Dragon wants to eat me! Apparently his attribute is Gluttony!”
He snitched right away.
Eruhaben seemed to have come here because there was no more fire to burn the World Tree.
“Ha!”
Eruhaben scoffed in disbelief.
Cale heard the quiet Axion speak up.
“Leave the rest to you… Leave my back to you… Ha!”
This guy scoffed in disbelief as well.
Cale, who was a mere feeble human in between two scoffing Dragons, contemplated before speaking.
“I'll use my shield.”
‘Let’s just do what I have to do.’
As Cale sighed and was about to use his shield…
“There’s no need to do that.”
Axion calmly commented.
“They are just trying to scare me and buy some time. They will soon return as well.”
He looked up at the sky.
To be more specific, it moved to somewhere on the distant continent.
"The call will soon come.”
Cale opened his mouth and then flinched.
“Huh?”
‘What is going on?
What is up with this situation?’
He could not really understand it.
Ooooooo-
The air rumbled.
He looked toward the direction.
It was the same direction Axion was looking.
This was different from a normal ripple in the air.
They were floating in the sky but it felt like the ground was shaking.
The world started to shake from the direction he was looking.
He felt it at that moment.
‘It must be the Dragon Lord.’
The Dragon Lord was the one to create this rumbling.
‘Ah
It's different.
This bastard is damn strong.
He’s different from the others I faced until now.’
Cale subconsciously started to have those thoughts and soon felt it.
Not just in his thoughts but he felt it with his body.
‘Huh?’
No words were coming out.
‘What am I looking at right now?’
He couldn’t fully understand what was happening.
His whole body felt as if it was tied down.
Actually, he couldn't even think about that properly.
It really was just an instant.
Between one second to another…
The extremely minute rift between the two was the only period of time that had passed, but…
Cale definitely saw it.
“…….”
A pillar of light shooting up…
And an aura in the form of a large Dragon, which seemed to be made of magic, flapping its wings.
Actually, by the time he comprehended what happened…
It was after he saw it.
Yes. The instant he blinked…
The pillar of light shot up…
The large Dragon-shaped aura flapped its wings…
All of that instantly disappeared…
It was to the point Cale thought he had not seen anything.
But those images were clearly implanted in his brain.
He was sure that a pillar of light was shooting up and a flap of the wing…
Those were both things that could not happen in less than one second.
“…Ha……”
He got chills all over his body.
He had cold sweat dripping down his back as well.
He looked toward Axion.
There was something he wanted to hear from this Dragon.
But there was no need.
Flap, flap.
The ten or so Dragons all started to fly toward the direction of the disappeared pillar of light.
It was as if they were called to do so.
“It is the call of the Dragon Lord.”
Axion's calm voice was slightly shaking.
“When we feel that ripple, we need to go to it.”
Axion then raised his arm.
He pulled his uniform up to reveal a bracelet.
The bracelet had a jewel at the center.
Inside the jewel was a purple dragon wing moving toward a direction.
“We just need to move toward the direction of the wing.”
He showed his slightly shaking arm to Cale.
“I'm sure you felt it as well, but… The Dragon Lord makes everything in this world shake to do something trivial as calling us to him. It is probably because he has full control over the flow of aura.”
“Ho- this really isn't at the level of a Dragon. This-”
Eruhaben was feeling something beyond disbelief, it was astonishment.
Cale could see the beads of sweat on Eruhaben’s forehead.
“He is like a god. No, as long as he has control over the flow of this world… He is the god of this place.”
Eruhaben could not say anything to retort Axion's comment.
Cale looked at Axion.
Although his body and his voice were shaking… His gaze was still firm.
Axion was firm about fighting the Dragon Lord despite this.
Cale opened his mouth to speak.
“Yes. The Dragon Lord is stronger than I anticipated.”
He calmly continued.
“He creates a ripple that makes the entire world shake to simply call the Dragons to him. He used that instant to shoot up a pillar of light-”
‘Haaa. Seriously.’
"That Dragon-shaped aura flapping its wings that showed up with the pillar of light is probably the spell that makes the jewel on your bracelet react? It would make sense since that aura and the wing inside the jewel look the same.”
‘Seriously, wow. He’s too strong.
He doesn't even know where the Dragons might be on the continent.
Doesn’t that mean that his spell can reach the entire continent?
Something like that is possible?
Maybe it is possible because he has control over the foundation that ties down the twisted aura of this place?’
Cale’s mind became complicated.
Yes.
Most importantly…
There was something else that surprised, no, shocked Cale.
It was at that moment.
“…What?”
Axion's eyes shook for the first time.
Eruhaben’s was doing the same.
"Cale. What are you talking about?”
Cale was confused.
“Excuse me? What do you mean?”
“…You saw a spell? You saw a pillar of light?”
Eruhaben couldn’t hide his confusion.
Why?
“I did not see anything.”
He had not seen anything, especially a spell.
That was why he was afraid of the Dragon Lord’s power.
As for Axion-
“You, you saw it?”
He came over and grabbed Cale’s arm.
His hand was slightly shaking.
He resembled someone who was grabbing onto the last lifeline before falling off a cliff.
“You, you saw that rift in time?”
Astonishment and delight were both visible in Axion's eyes.
He looked like an adventurer who found light in the darkness.
Cale answered with bewilderment.
“No. Umm, I did see it?”
‘But other people didn’t see it?’
“It was only an instant, but it definitely happened, didn't it?”
Yes. It was an instant.
Instant.
The reason Cale got the chills…
The reason he experienced the strength of the Dragon Lord who has the attribute of time…
This was the only reason for it.
Cale Henituse.
No, one of Kim Rok Soo's powers, ‘Instant.’
It was because he saw an ‘instant’ that was at a much higher level than that ‘instant.’
The Dragon Lord knew how to use a much more advanced ‘instant’ than Kim Rok Soo.
‘But I was the only one to see it?’
As Cale looked confused…
He heard the Super Rock's calm voice.
– Why is it that you think we are the only ones to get stronger?
‘What?’
– Ancient powers are originally a power that only one human possessed. It could be called their attribute.
Similar to how Dragons have their attributes…
Some humans had their attributes become their power.
– These powers started to be called ancient powers because they were passed down after the person's death.
‘Well, that makes sense.’
– Cale. You have your own power.
Yes. If someone’s attribute, their talent was the start of an ancient power…
Cale had such a power as well.
The Super Rock commented.
– No, not Cale.
He continued in an extremely calm tone.
– Kim Rok Soo.
Your attribute is the same as the ancient powers.
It is yours.
As you get stronger and your plate grows and evolves, your power naturally gets stronger as well.
Axion asked Cale one more time. He resembled an explorer who found a great treasure.
“Did you see the rift in time?! Please answer me. Did you see it?”
‘Haaa.’
Cale scoffed.
Of course, he answered.
“Yeah. I saw it.”
He did see it.
He recognized it later on because his instant was lacking compared to the Dragon Lord’s, but he definitely saw it.
“That instant.”
Yes.
That time was an instant for Cale.
There was one more individual who saw it other than Cale.
No. There were actually two.
The ones who saw that instant…
“Human! That pillar of light earlier was the Dragon Lord?”
Was Raon, whose attribute was the present.
Then there was someone that Cale didn’t even consider.
“That was fast.”
After arriving at the Black Castle currently hidden by Axion's castle…
Cale saw a lot of people for the first time in a long while.
One of those individuals…
“It wasn’t at the speed of light, but it was almost just as fast.”
An individual with the attribute of light…
The Dragon half-blood.
When he had his physical body, the crown taking his Dragon blood left the dregs of his power inside his body. That faint trace of the ‘light’ attribute clashed with the power of darkness inside his body, creating small explosions that caused him continuous pain.
He had now cast that body aside and only his soul resided within the Bone Dragon now, but…
The dregs of that attribute still remained.
That was why it was possible for him to see ‘light.’
He was someone who could see the speed of light, someone who could see time.
No matter how much the Dragon Lord cracked time as he could sense it and cracked it some more…
No matter how many instants he created…
‘Light’ moved even faster than that.
The aura of magic that the Dragon Lord contained light as well.
“Ha.”
Cale scoffed while looking at Raon and the Dragon half-blood, the two Black Dragons standing next to him.
—
Translator's Comments
Being reminded once again that Cale is indeed KRS.
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