Chapter 227 – But it’s more comfortable here? (1)

However, Cale had one last hope as he turned back toward the stone pillar.
He could see the large stone pillar, as well as the dark red magic circle on the ground around it. There were also the chains that were breaking apart.

"…The chains?"

Cale looked back toward Eruhaben who started to smile.

"No, the stone pillar."

'What a reckless ancient Dragon!'

"Yes, Goldie! Let's destroy it all!"

'Do Dragons just like destroying things?'

Cale looked at Raon who was flapping his wings, the amused crazy priestess Cage, the sword master Hannah who kept clenching and unclenching her fist as if she was itchy, and the concerned Saint, Jack, as he sighed and started to speak.

'I'm the only normal one here.'

"Eruhaben-nim, what if that leads to monsters coming over from the other side?"

The Forest of Darkness had a lot of mutant monsters.
When he researched into it, the mutants were the result of the Eastern continent's monsters that had come to the Western continent using this path.

The Super Rock had built a villa in this underground plaza as well as the stone pillar to seal the path. That was why it was possible that monsters would cross over again if they broke the seal, and…-

'My house will be destroyed.'

This was the reason Cale was serious.

"Cale Henituse."

Eruhaben had a serious expression on his face. He then pointed to himself with his finger.

"I am a Dragon."

The one who made this seal was just human. Although it was a unique and strong seal even in Eruhaben's eyes, it was just something that a human had made.

"I just need to seal it once again. It's not that hard."

Cale quietly observed the ancient Dragon with white gold hair that was smiling in a relaxed manner. Raon slowly approached them.

"Human, I will be able to do it soon too. I will be able to do it next time if I watch the Gold Dragon do it this time. I am very good at learning!"

Saint Jack started to speak as well.

"Dear Lord, Dragons truly are great and mighty."

Cale pointed to the stone pillar as the two Dragons looked at him.

"Let's destroy it then."

'Sure, destroy it. Let's destroy them all.'

Cale looked toward the stone pillar that would soon be destroyed. However, the ancient Dragon's response was different than what Cale had expected.

"Sure."

Eruhaben gave a short response before waving his hand in the air.

Pssssssssss-

A gray powder slowly floated up into the air.
The large stone pillar was slowly disintegrating into dust. Cale felt chills as he watched it disappear without making a sound.

Screeeeeech- screeeeeeech-

"Ugh."

The crazy priestess Cage covered her ears with her hands. Hannah was already covering her brother Jack's ears as well.

Screeeeeech- screeeeeeech- screeech-

The screeching of metal echoed in the plaza. The source of that noise was not the stone pillar, the talismans surrounding the pillar, nor even the chains.
It was coming from the dark red magic circle on the ground.

This magic circle gave off quite an ominous feeling.
The magic circle was screeching as it started to warp.

"It's because the seal was broken. It will disappear soon."

The noise disappeared soon, just as Eruhaben indicated.
The talismans and chains were floating in the air as the stone pillar disintegrated into nothing.

"Mm."

Cale subconsciously took a step back.
He had no choice.

His body felt weird.
His entire body felt as if it was pounding.

– Are you trying to sacrifice yourself?
– Looks like I have to eat something again?

The voices of the Super Rock and the glutton priestess echoed in his mind.

Boom! Boom! Boom!
His heart started to beat wildly as well. The Vitality of the Heart suddenly activated. At the same time, the Fire of Destruction and the Sound of the Wind started to appear by his hands and feet.

Cale realized the reason for it.

Pat. Pat.
Eruhaben's hand and Raon's paw landed on Cale's shoulders.

"Weak human, what is going on?"
"Little kid. Do you really need to ask? It is because of that path."

Raon's round eyes headed toward the path that was glowing purple. An extremely wide path that resembled a cave appeared on the ground.

"Is it because of the eerie aura coming from there? Human, you are too weak! Even the Saint over there is fine!"

Tsk tsk.
Eruhaben removed the loud Dragon child from Cale and proceeded to pat Cale on the shoulder.

'…Huh?'

Cale felt himself calming down as Eruhaben did that.
The Vitality of the Heart and all of the other powers slowly calmed down as well.

"Cale Henituse, that path is an incomplete path. That must be why incomplete existences react sensitively to it."

The ancient Dragon and Cale made eye contact.

"The ancient power of water attribute that you own. That is something you possess, but not something that is inside your body, right? Your body is incomplete because of that."

Eruhaben had used a water attribute magic to surround Cale as he patted him on the shoulder.

'The Water of Judgment.'
The ancient power that he had yet to find brushed across Cale's mind. He also thought about the crown he would use afterward.

"I am okay now."

Eruhaben put his hand down after hearing Cale's response and slowly started to walk toward the path. Cale followed behind him. Eruhaben made a noise as he looked inside the path.

"…Ho."

It was a gasp.

"What is it–"

Cale could not finish his sentence as he too was at a loss for words as he looked inside the path.

"Oppa, don't look inside."
"…This … terrible..."

The fake Holy Maiden tried to quickly shield her brother Jack, but he had already looked inside. Even the crazy priestess Cage could not stop frowning after looking inside.

What was inside the large path that was shining purple? The light from the plaza was letting them see inside the path.
The Gold Dragon's eyes slightly lowered.

"It looks like there was a war."

There were numerous skeletons filling up the path.

There were so many skeletons that it filled up the large cave's walls. The entire cave, other than a small path that was only wide enough for one person to go through, was filled with skeletons.

These skeletons had somehow not rotted over time.

There were skeletons of all sizes inside the cave. Some of the larger ones were as tall as Cale. Although he had no way of knowing what creatures these bones belonged to, he could at least tell that they were huge.

However, the experts, Eruhaben, the sword master Hannah, and Raon all realized something.

The ancient Dragon's voiced echoed in the area.

"A single person killed them all."

A single person.
A single human had done this.

The path was so deep that they couldn't see the end from the entrance. The ancient Dragon had realized that a single person had filled this entire path with bones.

It could not be helped.
Eruhaben turned his head to look at Cale.

"You ate this power, right?"

Cale could not say anything.
He was busy looking at the numerous skeletons.

He could also the weapons that had killed them.

Large spears.

Large spears made of rock numbering in the hundreds, no, thousands, had pierced through the bones and stabbed the monsters against the cave walls.

All that was left in the middle of the spears was enough room for one person to walk by.

Cale thought about that person.

The Scary Giant Cobblestone.

He still did not know anything about that power.
This was because Cale did not want to sacrifice himself. He had not ever responded to the Super Rock's question.

However, he had seen a portion of that power today.

"He seems to have been an average-sized person."

That was what Eruhaben had observed based on the sight inside of the cave. There was only enough room for an average human adult in between the bones and the stone spears.

"…He seems to have been pretty strong. He probably awakened his abilities after being involved in one too many wars."

Eruhaben looked around the cave before suddenly asking a question.

"But how did he go in?"
"I was wondering that as well."

Cale agreed with Eruhaben.
But he could feel something. It was almost like an intuition.

Humans cannot go through this path.
The Super Rock had explained to Cale when he had first arrived at the villa.

'- Humans were kicked out. It was the same for Elves and Dwarves. Only monsters seemed to be able to go through.'

'- My friends and I were unable to solve the mystery of this path, however, we sealed the path from the east to the west in order to prevent even stronger mutant monsters from coming through, and I guarded the western entrance.'

The Super Rock had said that only monsters could enter this path.
So then was the owner of these stone spears not the Super Rock?

'No. It's definitely the Super Rock.'

Cale's intuition was telling him that this was the case. It was telling him that these stone spears were the Super Rock's power.

"I can't understand it at all."
"Indeed."

Cale had been agreeing with Eruhaben since earlier.

'Indeed.'
That was the only thing he could say right now. That was why he was just repeating himself over and over.

"Then I should go inside."
"Indeed. Excuse me?"

Cale looked toward Eruhaben.

"But only monsters can go inside."
"But I'm a Dragon."

Cale could not say anything about it.

"But I can't go!"

Raon chimed in and Eruhaben responded back.

"I am the closest to perfection in this world. Little kid, you haven't even gone through your first growth phase yet."
"…I have nothing to say!"

Raon admitted defeat as Eruhaben chuckled and said something to Cale before entering into the path.

"I'll go figure out where in the Eastern continent this leads to."

However, Cale stopped him before he could go.

"Eruhaben-nim."
"What is it?"
"Why don't we create a teleportation magic circle by that entrance?"
"Why?"

Cale happily answered Eruhaben's obvious question.

"So that I can go."

The Water of Judgment and Arm's forces.
He needed to go to the Eastern continent in order to find some information about them.

The problem was that there was nothing Cale knew about the Eastern continent.
The parts of the novel that Kim Rok Soo had read did not discuss much about the Eastern continent.

" Alright, I understand. Just wait."

Eruhaben then walked into the path. Cale just sat down on the ground. He wasn't worried about the ancient Dragon, but he knew that Raon would not leave.

"Human, I will wait here!"
"Yes, yes."

Cale just laid down on the ground. His house really was the best. It felt extremely relaxing to lay down on his front yard. Saint Jack and the crazy priestess Cage left a basket of food for them before leaving.

* * *

A few days later, Eruhaben came back with an expression that seemed to be saying that he saw a lot of odd things.

"Eruhaben-nim, why do you have such a strange expression on your face?"

They were currently in the plaza, however, Cale was sitting on a comfortable couch while eating fruit.
Eruhaben then looked at Raon who was patting his full stomach and studying a language book for the Eastern continent as he responded back.

"…Poor me."

Cale was able to figure out what Eruhaben was thinking based on their conversation. That was why he had jumped onto the teleportation magic circle knowing Eruhaben didn't really mean it.

The group that was going to head to the Eastern continent all gathered around him.

"It's been a while since we last traveled!"
"This is my first time going to the Eastern continent!"
"Just trust me! The great and mighty Raon Miru has memorized all of the Eastern continent's languages!"
"Our youngest is really smart!"

The children averaging nine-years-old chatted amongst themselves as they roamed around Cale. However, Cale was not looking at the children as his gaze was focused on some other people.
It made sense for Eruhaben to go, however, he was not too happy about the others that were going.

The Eastern continent. They needed someone who knew a lot about the Eastern continent to go with them.
That was why Ron and Beacrox were coming with them.

Ron should have a good idea about the layout of the Eastern continent.

He then needed some muscles since Choi Han was not here. Eruhaben was difficult to boss around. That was why another sword master was going with him.

"Hannah, be careful out there."
"Oppa, I got it. Use the video communication device if there is an emergency. I'll come back right away to kill them all."
"Haha, you always worry about me too much. Why would you kill people? Don't worry."

Cale frowned after hearing the sword master Hannah's vicious comment. The two of them made eye contact at that moment and Hannah smiled at him.

"Thank you. I've been itchy for a few days."

'What was itchy?'

Cale wanted to ask that, but decided not to do so. He then motioned to Eruhaben, who silently activated the magic circle.

It was an extra-large magic circle in order to be able to teleport across continents.
Furthermore, there was also a language magic placed on it in order to allow them to use the Eastern continent's common language.
It was a complicated spell, even for an ancient Dragon. The magic circle started to ripple.

"Have a safe trip."
"Come back soon!"

Cale let the magic circle control his body as Cage and Jack bid farewell.

"It will probably be late at night once we arrive."

Cale heeded Eruhaben's words as he closed his eyes.
He was standing on top of a mountain when he opened his eyes.

"The sun is coming up."

Cale could see it as well.
It was just about to become morning. The early risers were probably already up and heading to work.

Cale slowly turned around.

He could see the large stone pillar.
The destroyed chains and ripped up talismans were gathered by the side of the pillar.

"My goodness."

Cale scoffed while looking at the condition of this stone pillar. He then heard a voice coming from behind him.

"W, who are you?!"

Cale turned his head.
He looked down the mountain. There were tens of houses around the middle of the mountain. There were many people moving to and from those houses.
Furthermore, Cale could see people with sculpting tools and axes heading up to where he was standing.
He had made eye contact with them.

"W, who the hell are you guys?"

Cale looked at the clothes of the people talking to him.
They wore outfits made of animal fur and hides, as well as had hand-crafted arrows and dull swords and axes. There was a total of five people.
"…Ha."

Anybody would be able to tell that they were mountain bandits.
Cale was certain based on his years of experience reading fantasy novels, as well as someone who had seen mountain bandits on his way to the capital in the past. He heard Eruhaben's voice at that moment.

"They seem to live on this mountain."

A mountain covered in wild shrubs and people. It was the place for looted items to gather together.
All of the people moving to and from the ships were mountain bandits.
Cale understood why Eruhaben had been mumbling about his life earlier. Cale peeked behind him once again.

He saw the large stone pillar.
It was currently being shaped into a sculpture.

Although it was only partially completed, Cale felt as if he could see an ugly mountain bandit with a large axe in his hand.

The bandits in front of him all looked as if they were minions.
And the one depicted in the incomplete sculpture was, naturally, the boss.

It was a simple deduction.
Cale heard the bandits speaking again.

"What is up with these old and stupid looking peoples?"
"You dare to intrude on the mountain of the Indomitable Ruler?!"

Eruhaben added an explanation.

"Their leader's name must be the, 'Indomitable Ruler.'"

Cale let out a sigh.
Why did the name have to include, 'Indomitable?' He was tired of that name.
However, things were better this way.

"Ron."
"Yes, young master-nim."
"Doesn't your intuition as someone who once lived in the Eastern continent say that they are mountain bandits?"
"That does seem to be the case, young master-nim."

Cale turned his head. Beacrox was already putting on a pair of white gloves. Beacrox confidently asked when the two of them made eye contact.

"Shall I go?"

Cale looked toward the other side. The sword master Hannah was clicking her scabbard. On and Hong, who were probably with the invisible Raon, were busy observing the scenery as if this discussion didn't matter to them.

Cale turned back to the bandits.

He did not want to see blood when the Dwarves had dug some pits for them. He didn't want to get used to killing and didn't want to make anybody get hurt.

However, he did not have any up to date information about the Eastern continent.

"Beacrox, take off your gloves. Ron, Hannah."

In that case, he just needed to loot them.

Cale's gazed headed to the middle of the mountain again.
Wonderful friends had come to greet him.
He should accept their welcome.

"Let's do a simple introduction."
Cale was smiling brightly toward the bandits.

"Hello, friends."

There was nobody he knew here. Cale was planning to do a clean sweep.
Taking things from these bandits would be the first step.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]