chapter_0138

“How does it feel, child?”

“……It’s amazing.”

“Hehe. I’m glad you like it. Hold on tight so you don’t fall.”

A voice filled with affection flowed into my mind, and the Chairman, with a gentle tone, asked about my well-being. She gradually increased her speed.

Sitting on the back of the dragon, feeling the passing clouds and the chilly wind, I couldn’t help but reflect on how massive Mahbat had been.

The Chairman had claimed that compared to Mahbat, she was nothing much, so how enormous had Mahbat been? Even from a distance, it was clear that he had been a truly gigantic creature.

I slowly stroked the scales near my thighs, each one larger than my palm. There was no reaction from the dragon.

It was normal not to get a response from stroking a single scale on a house-sized dragon. If it had reacted with something like, “What are you doing?!” I would have been surprised. After all, if it was going to react to something like that, it would have done so as soon as I climbed on its back.

‘Am I the first human to ride a dragon?’

Common sense dictated that a dragon wouldn’t let just anyone ride on its back, let alone a human. Even a dragon on the human side, like Meligor, was a first. Meligor would probably be the last as well.

“Have you ever let anyone else ride you before?”

“Oh, are you jealous? You’re cute, child. Don’t worry. In essence, you’re the first.”

“In essence?”

“I once tried to let Eres ride on my back. At first, she was excited, but as soon as we took off, she started crying and screaming that she was scared, so I had to bring her down immediately.”

It was difficult to react to the Chairman’s old story, especially one involving her daughter-like figure who had met a tragic end. I simply said, “Is that so?” and left it at that.

The Chairman seemed to misinterpret the intent of my question and smiled to herself, but it was too late to correct her now.

“How do you plan to find the Life Vessel?”

I asked, partly to change the subject. A cheerful voice flowed into my mind.

“Child, what do you think the Life Vessel is?”

“Isn’t it the source of life for Elder Lich? That’s why, as long as the Life Vessel is intact, he can resurrect himself no matter how many times his body is destroyed.”

“That’s right. You know well. Since you used the term ‘source of life,’ think a little harder. Don’t we dragons also have an organ that can be called the source of life?”

“……Are you referring to the Dragon Heart…?”

“That’s right. They are fundamentally the same concept, so the Dragon Heart and the Life Vessel instinctively see each other as competitors and try to devour each other. That’s what we’re going to take advantage of.”

I hadn’t considered that the Dragon Heart and the Life Vessel were fundamentally the same concept. So, that’s why Elder Lich had wanted to turn dragon corpses into undead. They were competitors, after all.

“What if you get eaten instead?”

“Hehe. That’s an excessive worry. Just as dragons are a superior species to Elder Lich, the Dragon Heart is a superior organ to the Life Vessel. For me to be eaten, I would have to offer my heart directly to him, so don’t worry.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m glad you’re concerned, child. Now, I’ll speed up a bit more, so hold on to anything tightly.”

The passing scenery accelerated. The wind whipping around my body grew stronger. Even the crimson clouds streaked by at an incredible speed.

After some time, the sky turned a deep red. It was a sign that we had entered the heart of the Demon World. The Chairman’s voice flowed into my mind.

“Slimes are starting to notice us.”

I cautiously moved my body to look down. Even with physical enhancement, everything on the ground looked like tiny dots, smaller than millet grains.

They were so tiny and passing by so quickly that I couldn’t make out what they were.

“Is that a good sign?”

“It’s half-good, I suppose. It means they’ve noticed us, and it also means we’re on the right track. Ignore the things on the ground. They can’t reach me anyway.”

Indeed, we were flying at a height where the Imperial Palace looked like a tiny dot. For the average undead, who couldn’t use magic, there was no way to strike us from such a distance.

“Then, shall we send out the others?”

As soon as the voice rang out, something dense appeared in front of us. I narrowed my eyes. Undead wyverns, with rotting wings, were approaching us.

I couldn’t tell how many there were, but they filled not only our front but also the diagonal directions on both sides. It seemed like there were well over a thousand.

“It looks like we’ll have to fight. What will you do, child? Do you want to handle it yourself, or should I?”

“I’ll handle it. Please focus on flying. We need to get there before he escapes with the Life Vessel.”

“I’ll do whatever you wish, child.”

“Then…”

“Can you wait a moment? It’s a bit inconvenient to use magic from the back, so how about climbing up to my head? It’ll give you a better view.”

“Why? There’s no need for that.”

I didn’t plan on dragging it out anyway. Was I crazy enough to take on thousands of wyverns one by one? I’d finish them off with a wide-area annihilation magic.

“……Do you really not need to?”

The Chairman’s voice became a little desperate, strangely pricking at my conscience. Well, okay. Since it was a little inconvenient to estimate the location from behind due to the neck and wings, I climbed up to the space between her horns.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing. Hehe, it feels strange and exciting to have you step on my head, child.”

Why did she have to use such an expression as stepping on? I awkwardly fixed my footing again. Since her body was so huge, the space between her horns was more than enough for me to stand in.

As I moved diagonally to avoid blocking her line of sight, a hurried voice rang out.

“Child?!”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just realized that your horns are sensitive, so…”

I quickly apologized.

I thought it would be fine since her body looked so sturdy, even against the headwind, but it seemed like the horned species in this world weren’t much different from those in other creative works.

I wondered how Laura had set up the settings. She had said that most of her novel was written on the spot, so maybe this was one of those instances.

“It’s okay… I was just a little surprised. It’s fine now. I’m ready, so you can touch me as much as you want… Child.”

“Oh… Yes, I understand.”

I fixed my footing on the wide-spread wings of the wyverns, clearly visible in front of us, and prepared my magic. Mana rapidly flowed out of my body, and a large magic circle appeared in the air. The blue ink mixed with the red sky.

In this world, I inserted my own magic into the thousands of existing magic formulas. The old and new magic formulas meshed like gears.

“Wide-area annihilation magic. Eternal inferno – Baek Yeom.”

A white sun rose in the red sky.

The wyverns closest to the sun were instantly incinerated, not even leaving a pinch of flesh behind. They made up about half of the total number.

Of course, the remaining half weren’t safe either. Those who barely avoided being incinerated by Baek Yeom were engulfed by the flames, becoming kindling themselves, and before they could fall, they turned into a handful of ashes scattered in the air.

Even those at the very edges, who hadn’t been incinerated or burned, met the same fate. They were simply boiled alive by the heat that spread out, turning white, and fell endlessly towards the ground.

“Wonderful, child.”

The Chairman flew diagonally across the white sun, smiling proudly.

“As the chairman of the academy you attend, and as your… protector, I can’t help but praise you for this magic. Are you alright? Did you experience mana depletion?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

I answered as I shot down a few of the very last wyverns who had barely survived the massacre. They exploded without a sound.

If I had depleted my mana just from using a wide-area annihilation magic once, I wouldn’t have made it this far.

“That won’t be the end of it.”

“Of course. I agree. Compared to the number he turned, it’s embarrassing to even call this a vanguard.”

As I leaned against the horn, the voice in my head suddenly became much louder. I hugged the horn with my right arm as if to brace myself against the wind.

“The next enemy could come at any moment! Why don’t you prepare for battle, child?”

“……”

“Child?!”

Was she really that sensitive, or was she embarrassed because her horn was being touched? This reaction only made me more curious.

‘I wonder if she’ll let me touch her when she’s in human form.’

I wanted to ask about the meaning of this as well.

We landed on the flaming earth.

Originally, this land had been a swamp of rotting flesh, stench, and undead corpses, but after the Chairman had spent hours breathing fire on it, it had become a wasteland in a whole new way.

“This should be enough for now.”

The Chairman was still in her dragon form. She said she was embarrassed to show her Polymorph spell.

There was also the practical reason that it would be easier to retreat in dragon form if something went wrong. I hoped that wouldn’t happen.

“I hope we can end it here.”

“That would be nice. The sooner we finish, the less damage humans will suffer.”

As Elder Lich had said, he had unleashed undead on all the borders between humans and demons, and as a result if the hero, the Sword Saint, or Dullahan, weren’t present at the borders the humans would suffer tremendous losses.

No matter how powerful those three were, they couldn’t defend all the borders at the same time. Even if they cleaned up one area and moved on to the next, new undead would soon appear, forcing them into a war of attrition.

The Sword Saint had said that she could only think of quickly cleaning up one area and then moving on to the next as quickly as possible.

Magic barriers were useless. For some reason, they were rendered useless from the inside out, as if the undead were being summoned from within the barriers.

‘No wonder he’s not just a soldier, but a legion commander.’

This was the background to why the Emperor had so readily agreed to the treaty with the Demon King’s 1st Commander. In a situation where every soldier counted, a powerful force had practically walked right in.

“But where is the Life Vessel…?”

“It’s coming right there.”

“Huh?”

I turned my head. In the distance, an undead army was approaching, covering the horizon. I wasn’t surprised by the sight, as I had seen it so many times before. What caught my attention was the one leading the army.

A woman with the beauty of a living demon, wearing only a cloak, sat on a bone throne, leading an army of rotting corpses. She didn’t look like an undead at all.