Chapter 322: Something Incomprehensible (2)

Instant.

Cale could use that power to extend time more than others.

He could move alone in the slowed time.

But the Plate would break.

Moreover, his body would feel like it was being cut and torn by multiple crystals.

His body wouldn’t be able to withstand the slowed time.

No, it wasn’t just the body.

Even Cale’s brain could barely endure that time.

When Kim Rok Soo used another power, his body would heat up, but this power caused him pain of a completely different magnitude. To be precise, it wasn’t just pain—it was a power that placed him on the border between life and death.

Boom!

His heart was beating.

Cale hadn’t used “Instant” yet.

But he was aware of it.

- Your power has grown.

As Super Rock said, Cale’s body was already using Instant.

Like when he would naturally use ancient powers.

- The usage limit has expanded.

Boom, boom.

Time slowed.

No, in the stopped time.

His heart was beating.

Boom, boom.

The heart that seemed dead stopped.

Boom, boom, boom.

Faster and faster.

At its normal pace.

Cale felt alive in the stopped time.

"It doesn’t hurt."

His body didn’t hurt.

His skin wasn’t tearing.

No blood.

No fever.

"I’m fine."

Yes.

Instant had grown.

Cale finally realized it.

- Of course, Cale, when you start using that power properly, your body will suffer. And if you push it to the limit…

Super Rock paused before speaking.

- It will explode. No, the Plate will break.

When the Plate, which had once been repaired, breaks again.

‘Teacher, your plate is large, but it is weak as glass. So, please be careful.’

‘There is no next time.’

The Dragon Mila had warned Cale clearly.

Boom, boom.

But Cale kept hearing his heartbeat.

He ignored Super Rock’s words.

He had no choice.

Boom, boom.

As his heart beat faster, Cale could see what was happening in the time that seemed stopped.

Slash, slash.

Another Dragon died.

At the hands of the Dragon Lord Neo.

That Dragon had been Neo’s subordinate but had recently complained about his condition and planned to betray him.

Then…

"Ahhhh!"

"Damn it, what is this—!"

Time began to move normally.

Cale quickly looked around.

Fortunately, his companions were safe.

"You, Human!"

Cale extended his arm backward and instinctively grabbed Raon, who was behind him.

And their eyes met.

"You—"

He saw the Dragon, the Dragon Half-Blood, and Choi Han flying rapidly toward him.

They seemed desperate.

It was understandable.

The vibrating sound that covered the space was different from the abnormal weather conditions.

It was enormous.

Cale felt an immense heat.

"Hehehe!"

Neo was laughing.

The heat emanating from the Dragon Lord was so immense that even Cale, who possessed destructive fire, could feel it.

Cale looked at Neo.

"Funny?"

The moment Neo said that.

Cale tried to speak.

"!"

But Cale couldn’t do anything again.

"Again!"

Time stopped again.

No, it slowed.

Neo was really using his ability without restraint.

He truly didn’t care about his lifespan.

And because of that, Cale felt fear.

But he couldn’t stay still.

"Hey, hey—"

Cale called out to someone other than Super Rock.

- …Yes….

An elderly voice responded hesitantly.

"Explain."

Cale’s regenerative power, the vitality of his heart. Cale demanded an answer from the Crybaby residing in his heart.

- Your heart is adapting to Instant.

"And then?"

Cale was interested in something else.

"How long can I endure?"

Boom, boom.

The heart was beating.

More and more like usual.

It was still slow, but it was returning to its normal state.

- I don’t know. I don’t know how long you can endure. We’ll have to experience it to find out.

Cale almost got angry at the Crybaby for his irresponsible answer.

- But I can warn you before you reach the limit. I know it’ll be a big problem if your Plate breaks this time!

He heard the answer he was hoping for.

- Cale, are you going to do it?

Boom, boom.

He ignored Super Rock’s words.

He didn’t need to respond.

He had no choice.

Slash.

The Dragon Lord Neo cut all the remaining chains with his purple mana.

He vanished from sight.

Boom!

An explosion was heard.

- You can move now!

Cale heard the Crybaby’s words, but he didn’t move.

Why?

"He mustn’t notice."

He mustn’t notice that I can move in this time.

Boom, boom.

The world became clearer.

The world that he could barely see in the slowed time was now more visible.

What did this mean?

"I can match him!"

I can match my time with the Dragon Lord Neo’s.

"Of course, even if that’s the case, I won’t be able to fight Neo for long."

Even if Cale’s Instant had grown, it couldn’t compare to Neo’s.

Cale was sure of it.

"Because the world has truly stopped."

No, time was indeed passing.

But so slowly that it was almost as if it were stopped.

Cale watched the speed at which a drop of blood from the severed neck of the red dragon, decapitated earlier, was falling to grasp the flow of time.

The drop of blood seemed not to fall.

That’s how slow Neo’s time was.

"The God of Time."

He could understand the meaning of those words. His back was drenched in cold sweat.

Boom!

Another rumble was heard.

"Damn it!"

He wanted to look.

He wanted to see where that sound was coming from.

If…

"If it’s my companions?"

What if the sound of his companions being injured was happening in this slowed time?

Then, can I stay like this?

Shouldn’t I move immediately?

"Damn it!"

Even so, Cale stayed still.

He didn’t expose himself.

He had no choice.

"Hehehe…"

Neo’s laughter echoed.

"!"

Neo suddenly appeared in front of Cale. Without blinking, Cale remained still.

"Hehehe, it seems like this is hard for you too?"

Neo smiled while looking at Cale.

Then he looked elsewhere.

Where his gaze landed, the black dragon and the Dragon Half-Blood were frozen in the air.

"Is it hard here too?"

The Dragon Lord Neo remembered exactly who had reacted to his time.

"As expected."

That’s why Cale couldn’t move easily. But he wasn’t desperate about the situation.

‘The opportunity will come.’

Boom, boom.

The heart returned to its normal state.

Cale realized that he could see and record in his mind more clearly.

That’s why he could see more clearly.

"Haa, haa…"

The rough panting coming from Neo’s mouth, who was laughing, his open chest, and his grotesquely swollen heart.

‘Exactly, it’s a heart within another heart.’

The purple heart was beating violently.

‘As if it would explode.’

Anyone could see that those heartbeats weren’t normal.

It was excessive.

It seemed like it could explode at any moment.

Uuuu—uuuuu----

Moreover, the purple mana surrounding Neo was powerful but uncontrollable. It looked like a bomb about to go off.

‘The Berserk state of a Dragon.’

A berserk dragon is like a time bomb.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!

Neo’s heartbeat echoed in Cale’s ears.

‘The Purple Blood Family.’

He couldn’t understand what those people had done to create that purple heart or how they had transferred the ability of ‘Time’ over more than ten thousand years. Maybe it could only be fully understood once Neo was defeated.

‘Yes.’

I have to take that guy down.

The cold sweat continued to run down his back. He had no choice.

‘Damn it.’

Cale was trying to stay calm.

‘I can’t let them notice this state.’

If they did, it would all be over.

‘Hold on…’

Yes. Hold on…

“Kuahaha!”

Neo let out a maniacal laugh.

Yes. Hold on.

“Hahaha! I should have done this sooner! It’s really like a God! No, it is a God!”

Neo was swimming freely in this time. And he was delighted. Despite blood running from his lips, his heart looking like it would burst, and veins bulging on his face, he was enjoying it.

“Kuhahahaha!”

And Cale was thinking.

Hold on…

Until that guy lets his guard down.

“I’ll kill them all!”

Yes. When he lets his guard down, like now when he’s intoxicated with his emotions.

“Anyway, I’ll die soon after this time ends! Before that, I’ll kill all of them first!”

Cale paused.

Cale, we don’t know how many dragon hearts are fused into that guy’s purple heart.

If it goes berserk, in the end, there will be a huge explosion.

Maybe it’s a good thing he stopped time.

Super Rock was right.

Time.

Thanks to that ability, Neo was holding on and at the same time doing what he wanted one last time. Even if that meant killing everyone.

Slash.

The sound of something being cut was heard again.

In fact, now that sound was heard more slowly.

‘That means my body is adapting to this time.’

More and more, Cale’s body was fully merging with this stopped world.

Completely.

Thump. Thump.

The heart was beating properly.

Uuuu---

Neo began to cast magic.

“Hahaha, I’ll kill them all! I’ll kill all these bastards without them noticing! I don’t need any of this!”

His figure wrapped in madness looked like a lunatic without reason.

And Cale was watching this.

‘Yes.’

When he lets his guard down, at that moment…

‘I’ll kill that bastard!’

Cale’s thought couldn’t be completed.

Swoosh.

The Dragon Lord Neo turned his head.

Suddenly, he looked at Cale.

‘Did he discover me?’

- Did he discover us?

Cale and Super Rock were shocked.

- No, don’t panic!

The Crybaby screamed desperately.

- The heart is beating fast! The body is reacting!

Yes. Stay calm, calm down.

Cale tried to stay composed.

“Hehe—”

But Neo smiled and tilted his head.

Ssss—

The wind blew.

No, that was the impression Cale got when…

“Funny?”

When he heard Neo’s words again.

‘!’

Neo was suddenly right in front of Cale.

‘Damn it!’

Did he discover me?

- Did he hear your heartbeat, Cale?

- It can’t be! Damn it, what gave us away?!

Super Rock and the Crybaby were distressed.

Neo smiled and extended his hand.

“Kid.”

The direction of his hand wasn’t toward Cale.

It was behind Cale.

“You have tears in your eyes.”

Pretending not to move. Heading toward the young black dragon.

“Can you see this Time?”

The moment tears welled up in Raon’s eyes, wide open without blinking.

“Damn it!”

Cale finally moved. Neo stopped. Raon was also surprised.

“No! Human, don’t move!”

Raon knew. Because he was behind Cale. The sound of Cale’s heartbeat. The sweat soaking Cale’s back. Plus, Cale’s hand gripping his front paw more tightly.

He knew all that.

‘No.’

Raon hadn’t adapted at first. The world had become incredibly slow. But at some point, he heard it.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Someone’s heartbeat.

It was Cale’s heartbeat that was protecting him with his back.

The sound of the heart coming from his back brought him back to the present.

In the stopped time, Raon was able to return to normal.

So, he held on.

Because Raon was smart and understood why Cale wasn’t moving now.

Also, he knew he shouldn’t move.

‘This is strange!’

Even though he could see the slow world now, the mana in the slow world wasn’t moving.

It was natural, in a way.

Raon had seen everything from Neo, but he was always one step behind.

Because time had to flow normally to react correctly.

So Raon was very angry now.

At himself.

“No!”

Because they had been discovered because of him.

Boom!

A loud rumble was heard. And Raon couldn’t see well in front of him. Because Cale’s back fully covered him.

“Ha!”

Neo looked at his hand.

Crackle, crackle.

Golden currents attacked the purple mana. Neo spoke in a calm voice.

“What are you, really?”

But the madness in his voice was more intense than before.

- Cale, not much time left! You’ll die if you do this for too long!

Cale took a deep breath.

Thump, thump, thump.

The heart was fully beating.

The Crybaby spoke hurriedly, almost crying.

- I’ll warn you when you reach the limit! You must stop then! You must finish before that!

I know. I know.

Cale didn’t respond to the Crybaby but instead stared straight at Neo.

“Fuuu.”

Gradually, his body was heating up. And the heart started beating faster.

Yes. This is what it feels like to use Instant.

“Human, no!”

Raon also knew that Cale had used that power.

Last time, when the human was about to die.

When they really thought their human would disappear.

That power.

Raon felt his heart beating strongly.

It was a feeling of fear beyond worry.

That’s why Raon didn’t know.

Before, he could only see.

Now, he could also speak and move.

And—

Ssss—

Though faint, the air around him reacted to Raon’s intense emotions. Raon still didn’t know. Because he hadn’t had time to notice.

“Hehe. It’s fun. It’ll be a grand finale.”

Neo moved his arm. The purple mana moved like a whip toward Cale.

Boom!

A translucent shield appeared. And Cale left that shield with Raon while charging toward Neo.

Splash—

With a whip made of water in hand. Neo, seeing it, swung his whip again.

Boom, boom!

Neo and Cale started clashing. In the time that seemed stopped, extremely slowed down. Covered by the rumbling, neither Cale, Neo, Raon, nor anyone noticed.

Crack.

A faint sound of something breaking was heard.

Crack—

A black bone was cracking.

Craack, crack—

The Black Dragon, frozen in the air, was cracking as if it were about to break. It looked like a bird hatching from an egg.

In the time that seemed stopped for living beings.

But in the time that was flowing, albeit very slowly.

Between the cracked black bones, a faint light began to shine.

***

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]