Chapter 275: After Sunset, the Night (5)

<My Daughter Will Not Become a Burden.>

The Dragon Letao sent a letter written in blood to Cale, begging him to rescue his daughter.

<If you just get her out of the prison, she will find a way to escape by herself. I have given her the necessary education.>

<Her ability is to fly. In the sky, not even an Ancient Dragon can catch her. So don’t worry.>

Dragons acquire an ability after their first growth. Raon, despite having the ability “Present,” does not know how to use it well. Unlike Raon, who was just beginning to understand his ability, most Dragons mastered their ability after the first growth.

“Sigh.”

Cale could barely hold back a sigh.

“!”

He stopped.

“Human, I want to see too!”

Raon poked his head over Cale’s shoulder. Cale quickly raised his hand to push Raon back.

Raon was locked in a prison inside a cave, with shackles on his paws.

Cale couldn’t even imagine how Raon would react to seeing a Dragon with clipped wings in that prison.

However, before Cale could cover Raon’s eyes with his hands...

Huff.

A very rough breath was heard. Raon’s breathing stopped when he touched Cale’s palm.

The problem wasn’t just that breath.

Gasp.

Down below, Hong’s rough breathing could also be heard.

Thud, thud.

Then, breaking the silence, Cale slowly lowered his hand as On walked in calmly.

What was the point of trying to hide what the children, averaging Ten years old, had already seen?

“Ryan, we need to kill him!”

Cale couldn’t say anything, even though Hong used the word “kill.” He wondered who had taught that little one such harsh words.

- Cale, the kids are learning your way of speaking.

Cale turned around, ignoring Super Rock’s words. Unlike Hong, who couldn’t contain his anger and was hitting the ground,

Raon was still just breathing heavily.

Cale met his dark blue eyes.

“...Human.”

“Yes?”

“Is Ryan like this?”

“Yes.”

The rough breathing slowly faded away.

Raon was silent for a moment before speaking.

“I think Letao will be sad.”

And then he walked past Cale and entered.

Woooshh-

Black mana surged around Raon and then spread throughout the room, towards the prison.

Whoosh-

The fire’s light illuminated the prison. The prison was covered in numerous magic circles. Probably the work of the Two-Star Dragon who had created the prison gate.

Those magic circles must have turned that little Dragon into what she was.

Raon, who had walked past Cale, flew up to the Dragon lying on the ground, completely curled up and face down. The small Dragon slightly lifted her head and looked around as soon as she heard the name “Letao” from Raon’s mouth.

“...”

Raon awkwardly sat on the ground. He got to eye level with the Dragon.

He looked at her for a while. Maybe it was because of Raon’s childlike appearance?

The Dragon stopped looking around and fixed her gaze on Raon. The two Dragons stared at each other.

Raon thought.

What should I say to this Dragon?

For a brief moment, when Raon saw this Dragon, he was reminded of himself a few years ago.

And when he saw her clipped wings despite having the ability to fly, genuine anger towards the Dragon named Ryan welled up inside him.

God?

Do you have to commit these kinds of acts to become something like a god?

That Dragon, Ryan, wasn’t a great Dragon but a very backward one. Even his Dragon name was an embarrassment!

Raon swallowed the words rising in his throat. And he thought about what he could say. Unlike him in the past, this Dragon before his eyes probably had something to say.

“Letao is waiting for you!”

Raon had found a place to return to after meeting Human Cale Henituse, but this Dragon already had a place to return to.

“By the way, I am the Great Raon Miru! I am 7 years old! I am 200 years younger than you, but I am a very cool and powerful Dragon after my first growth!”

Raon also calmly introduced himself.

It was then...

The Dragon, said to be over 200 years old but had grown as much as Raon, said.

“...Father...”

Cale thought for a moment about what she would say next.

Would she wonder why her father hadn’t come?

Would she wonder where her father was?

Soon, the small Dragon continued.

“Is Father... okay?”

At the moment he heard these words, there were beings who reacted faster than Cale.

- Cale! That bastard Ryan must be stomped!

- Damn Dragon bastards! No, not all Dragons are like this. Let’s kill all the Dragon bastards of the Purple Blood Family!

Cheapskate, the Fire of Destruction, and Sky Eating Water unleashed their fury with great intensity.

Whoosh, whoosh.

Raon began breathing heavily again.

Cale crouched down and looked into the Dragon’s eyes. The Dragon looked at Cale silently.

“...”

Raon was the same size, so Cale couldn’t guess the age of this Dragon. From the words that followed, Cale realized that this Dragon was over 200 years old.

“It must be sad to see me.”

The voice was childish, but her expression was one of sadness.

At that moment, Raon’s angry voice echoed in Cale’s ear.

“These, these magic circles are all mind-tormenting circles!”

The magic circles densely engraved on the ceiling, walls, and floor of the prison all contained content that broke the mind.

- Human!

Why was Raon speaking to Cale in his mind?

- She must have spent every day unable to distinguish between nightmares and reality. For these magic circles to be activated, ah!

Raon spoke loudly with a scream.

“It seems that opening the prison gate stopped it!”

A magic circle engraved on the inside of the prison gate. If the gate had closed, this magic circle would have been completed and would have made the little Dragon immerse in nightmares forever.

Cale looked at the Dragon and asked.

“Then you didn’t hesitate?”

She showed caution towards a stranger, but the Dragon before his eyes soon believed in the words of Cale’s group.

“...No matter how many magic circles are deployed, I can feel the vibration.”

The small Dragon spoke calmly.

Seeing this, Cale thought that Letao was underestimating his daughter.

The Dragon before his eyes was strong in a way different from Raon and Dodori.

“I felt a great constant vibration and thought something was happening on the surface. And the only person who has been coming and going from this place lately is Ryan.”

“So, you trust us?”

“Yes. Ryan wouldn’t give his key to anyone else, especially a human.”

The Dragon’s voice and gaze were calm and unwavering.

However, Cale could see from the Dragon’s curled-up body and trembling front paws that this Dragon was showing great courage at this moment.

And he soon knew the reason for that courage.

“Is Father, okay?”

She asked again.

This Dragon was showing great courage right now out of concern for Letao.

Cale realized he had made a mistake. He was supposed to respond immediately, but he delayed a bit in responding while observing the Dragon’s condition.

“Uh. He is fine.”

And he added.

“He is waiting for you.”

And came the Dragon’s question.

“If I try to run away from Ryan, do you think he won’t catch me?”

Cale, knowing the Dragon was wrong, responded without hesitation.

“You don’t have to run away.”

And then Raon suddenly intervened and shouted.

“Exactly! We are not here to run away; we are here to defeat him! Today we are going to take down Ryan! Goldie Gramps said he would do it! And Witira, the whale, said she would hit him so hard that dust would rise even on a rainy day!”

Cale’s eyebrows furrowed.

‘When did Eruhaben and Witira tell Raon that?’

He frowned upon seeing On and Hong nodding their heads. But then he paused as he heard the next words from the Dragon.

“Ryan told me that even if my father and I went berserk and attacked, we couldn’t defeat him.”

Berserk...

In the past, in the Gorge of Death, Cale had experienced the Berserk of the Dragon Half-Blood. If Super Rock had not been there, things would have turned ugly.

“Ryan used to come and open that door occasionally and give me a break.”

In the illusion where she couldn’t distinguish between nightmares and reality. Ryan sought out the Dragon who was about to lose her sanity, chased away the jailers, and stayed alone with her to tell her his plan.

“It must have been fun.”

Ryan’s words to a Dragon who couldn’t do anything to him were pure frustration.

“He was anxious because he had to hurry while the Dragon Lord was not present.”

In his way, Ryan was impatient.

“And then one day, I said with a smile, ‘Sorry, I don’t know the date.’”

The dragon, still unable to hide the trembling of her entire body, said.

“I have no sense of time. Being here makes me like that.”

And then she added.

“Why should only the Beast People go wild? The Rage and Berserk are the same. So, if I can ‘master’ the ‘Berserk,’ won’t I be able to use it freely?”

Cale’s eyes widened.

Choi Han, who was behind him, said.

“It seems that Ryan can use Berserk Transformation like Rage.”

Dragon’s Rage.

The Rage of a Dragon Half-Blood was already terrifying.

At the beginning of the novel “Birth of a Hero,” the book described Raon’s Rage. How powerful that power was.

If a 4-year-old Dragon who hadn’t even learned to fight properly could have so much Rage...

“How strong is Ryan?”

He didn’t know.

Cale’s gaze turned cold.

“And...”

But the Dragon’s words didn’t end there.

“If the Rage can be controlled-”

Cale opened his mouth unconsciously, because he was thinking the same thing.

‘Could he also ‘master’ the Berserk Transformation?’

Cale’s and the Dragon’s eyes met.

Both were thinking the same thing.

Despite her young appearance, there was wisdom in her eyes.

“I have also been thinking about that.”

The Dragon said calmly.

Cale realized that this Dragon’s courage came from her concern for her father and her own wisdom.

“Cale-nim.”

“I know.”

Cale also realized he couldn’t continue like this.

Super Rock’s voice echoed in his head.

- I understand why he wants to take the place of the Blue Wolf.

Ryan, a Dragon with the “Domination” Attribute.

It was said he could dominate beasts and ferocious animals, including humans.

“What if that power also affects the Beast People?”

It wouldn’t be impossible.

Ryan was one of the Dragons who had absorbed the Source of the World the most.

Just as the Inquisitor Elves grew with special powers, Ryan’s Attribute could have changed or grown enough.

“...Ha.”

An Attribute that knew how to dominate the Beast People and even control their Berserk at will.

Blue Wolf.

It made sense that he wanted to become the God of the Beast People.

The only suitable position of God for Ryan was that.

‘However, it won’t be easy to dominate the Beast People.’

If it had been easy, Ryan wouldn’t have hidden until now, pretending to be a subordinate of the Dragon Lord.

There must be some “prerequisite.”

And...

‘That prerequisite would have already been met for the Beast People living in his territory.’

It was then...

Boom!

The prison vibrated strongly.

It was a great vibration coming from the ground.

“Ha.”

Cale chuckled.

‘Of course, it couldn’t be that easy.’

He had discovered Ryan’s ace up his sleeve.

“Cale-nim, if Ryan controls the Beast People of the territory and drives them mad-”

Choi Han spoke urgently. He must have realized the danger.

However, Cale looked at the Dragon calmly and asked.

“By the way, I haven’t asked you. What’s your name?”

“...Maren.”

“Alright, Maren.”

He offered this intelligent Dragon.

“Do you want to get out?”

And at that moment, Cale opened his eyes wide.

“Oh!”

Raon was also surprised.

Maren, a Dragon with the Flight Attribute.

The Dragon, a little larger than Raon but over two hundred years old, soon gave her answer.

She was still trembling, but-

“She’s flying!”

With a cry of joy from Raon, Maren’s body rose into the air.

Maren looked at Cale and Raon and spoke.

“Just because my wings are broken doesn’t mean I can’t fly. I am my own wings.”

At those words, Raon’s eyes widened.

The expression ‘I am my own wings.’

Suddenly, Raon thought about his own current Attribute.

‘Then-’

He substituted those words for his own situation.

‘Does that mean I am the Present itself? Am I the ‘now’?’

Suddenly, Raon felt that the entire space he existed in at that moment was strange.

However, he soon shook off that feeling.

That didn’t matter now.

“It seems you’re braver than Letao.”

At Cale’s question, Maren gave a slight smile. Her lips trembled, but her gaze was firm.

“In fact, my father is a bit of a coward. He’s a crybaby.”

And for the first time, she showed a playful side.

Seeing this, Cale turned and headed towards the prison exit.

No, he stopped and said to Raon from the hallway.

“Raon.”

And he pointed to the ceiling of the hallway.

Raon understood immediately.

“Should I break it?”

“Yes.”

“Alright!”

Raon, excited, cast a spell.

Baaaaaaaaaannnng!

The ceiling shattered with a crash.

There was no time to lose.

Whoosh-

The wind enveloped Cale’s feet. The Sound of the Wind lifted him into the sky. Without hesitation, he followed the path Raon had opened and soared upward.

“...”

Finally, he emerged from the ruined mansion and reached the sky. And he could see the surroundings clearly.

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Uwaaaaah!”

The fleeing Beast People were falling to the ground or collapsing, screaming.

It was the time when twilight was fading, and night was about to fall...

“My, my body won’t obey me!”

“Uwaaaah! It hurts, my body is burning!”

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

The suffering Beast People and the people of Aipotu, panicking at that sight, found themselves in a situation where they couldn’t escape. Chaos took hold of them.

Cale’s gaze turned to the stage.

“Pfftt…. haha…-”

Ryan was laughing calmly, while Eruhaben faced him with a frown.

His eyes met Eruhaben’s, who had just turned his head.

- This guy is as strong as me.

The One-Star Dragon. His power was comparable to Eruhaben’s.

So Eruhaben couldn’t win and was in a stalemate.

- And I can also feel Dead Mana beneath the stage.

Moreover, as expected, there was Dead Mana beneath the stage, and because of that, people couldn’t escape and couldn’t fight fiercely.

While Eruhaben informed him, Cale looked down. He saw the suffering Beast People.

“Cale-nim, if they go berserk-”

The Beast People would resemble Lock when he first went berserk. Choi Han, who had risen into the air with Raon’s magic, couldn’t finish speaking.

At that moment, Cale heard a voice in his head.

- Domination?

The deep voice sounded strangely familiar.

But at least at this moment, it was something comforting.

- Ryan? If I dominate that guy, will the Beast People be alright?

The Dominating Aura. He laughed and spoke.

- Ryan. That guy isn’t a God, is he? Just a mere mortal trying to act tough?

Woo-woo-woo-

The air around Cale began to sink. Like the approaching night, it heavily enveloped his surroundings.

***

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]