episode_0096

Rustling-.

“Whaaah… !”

“Merlin, please stay still. If you keep moving, you might fall.”

I didn’t know, but it seems like Merlin has a disease where he can’t stand being quiet. Procrastinating without stopping is quite uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry… But… Something keeps touching my butt… .”

“Can it be reached? Wow, I’m a little heavy. But please pretend not to notice. What good is there in making guys blush?”

“Muk… now? Hehehe… !”

As if there was something more bothering him, Merlin flinched even more. He was breathing quite hard.

I guess it’s not because of me. Tension is evident on the face.

Well, you’re hiding in the dragon king’s bedroom, and it’s even weirder if you don’t get nervous. Moreover, Merlin at this time was not even twenty years old.

I’ll have to ease Merlin’s nerves. Merlin is already timid, but if he tells you to make a mistake due to excessive tension, it will be difficult.

slap-!

“Wow!”

He turned his body and slapped Merlin’s buttocks like a slap. Of course, the buttocks are covered in tattered robes. Merlin looked at me with a shocked look.

“Haha, your butt is plump. But there is too much force. Try to relax a little.”

“When, don’t hit… ! You never know when the Dragon King will return… !”

slap-!

“Aaaah!”

“You’re worried about everything. Don’t worry. If you’re the size of the Dragon King, the floor will vibrate as soon as you come near it.”

“Ugh, uh… .”

slap-!

“Heeeuuuu!”

“Well, my stiff body has finally relaxed a bit. You will soon be fighting the strongest being in the world, so you must be prepared for that.”

“Hehe, hehe… It hurts… .”

When I hit him three times in a row, Merlin bounced three times as if he was convulsing and then fell limp. I lay down on it again with a satisfied smile.

I never thought I would vent this much pain. Even though he was a wizard, I never thought his body would be this weak. If you get hit by the Dragon King, your limbs will be crushed.

A period of silence followed. Even though it was dark everywhere, and although I had dark adaptation, it was not as bright as daylight. It’s a boring time.

“Our party… .”

“Hmm?”

“Sa, will I be able to return alive…? ?”

Merlin, unable to wait, asks carefully. Unless we shout loudly, our voices cannot reach other corners of the world.

“Well, the Dragon King is not an easy opponent. They say we came here to hunt, but we might end up being eaten.”

“Then why did you come here, Suoka… ? If you can’t guarantee life or death… They say we have a duty to subdue the Dragon King, but you don’t, Suoka-sama.”

“There’s a friend over there. I am the only comrade who lived in the Demon Forest and has survived so far, so if you decide to go on the path to death, I have to go with you.”

He pointed with his finger to the corner where Nioh and Katarina were hiding. Come to think of it, Nioh and Katarina are a man and a woman, so do they lie in the same position as us? It doesn’t matter because we are men and women, but it might be a happy moment for Nioh, who has been obsessed with Saint Irowell his whole life.

“Wow… ! Oh, you are a comrade in arms who shared your life with you… ! Still, it must have been a difficult decision… .”

“Won’t you be lonely if you go alone? It’s good for me to walk together on the long, long road to the underworld. In the end, as long as I am human, it is a path I will walk someday.”

Of course I’ve already walked, but hehe.

Perhaps he was deeply moved by my words, and Merlin smiled brightly under his covered robe. All I could see was the corners of my mouth and the frames of my glasses. The eyelashes that were visible at first glance were uncharacteristically long for a male.

“You’re cool… Mr. Suoka.”

“Thank you. One, I think Merlin is cooler.”

“Yes, yes? Why me?”

“You did not disobey the empire’s orders and bravely entered the Demon Forest with your comrades. The Demon Forest is a place that even veteran warriors much older than Merlin cannot dare venture into.”

“Ah, ah… ! I-I… .”

“You’re not even twenty yet? He looks like he’s in his late teens at best, but it’s normal for boys that age to play soccer or something like that at the local playground. On the other hand, Merlin was even chosen as a warrior party.”

He gave generous compliments. The more the genius wizard boy heard compliments praising him, the more he didn’t know what to do.

I spat out words praising Merlin even more passionately. It’s so fun to wriggle around in your robe and be embarrassed, and to make fun of it.

Meanwhile, Merlin retorted in a hushed voice. This was the first time he was seen contradicting someone’s words.

“But… I didn’t apply to the warrior party with a pure heart.”

“Hmm? Support?”

Aren’t the wizards in the hero party ‘chosen’ like regular heroes? Everyone on the continent considers it an honor to be counted as a member of the warrior party. But you ‘applied’ and became a hero party?

“Didn’t you know? Oh, come to think of it, Suoka-sama spent almost twenty years in the Demon Forest. It’s natural that you don’t know the atmosphere of the continent.”

“It seems like a past history. Can you explain?”

“Of course, in the old days, being a warrior party was a coveted job. However, since a hundred years ago, when the hero party entered the Demon Forest and were massacred, or rather, when the Demon King expressed his intention not to invade the continent, the perception toward the hero party began to change little by little. Finally… There were also people who openly said rude things.”

Ah, I think I know what it is. If the continent of a hundred years ago thought of hero parties as a nuisance, the continent of today seems to think of hero parties as nothing more than a nuisance.

Even though I have no use for it, I enjoy all kinds of benefits just because I am a human being chosen by God. It’s just a sight to behold. Even if there was nothing wrong with the hero party.

“Everyone hated being part of a hero party. In the past, there were so many applicants that they had to select one of them, but now people who support the hero go around looking for strong players and beg them to join the hero’s party… .”

“Is it that much…? But then, how did Merlin apply to the hero’s party?”

“I said I would give you a precious artifact… ! A bandage with a shrinking spell… omg! I shouldn’t say this… .”

Merlin suddenly covers his mouth with his hand. A question mark appeared in my mind.

“Merlin, why are you surprised? I need to tell you where to use the bandage with the shrinking spell.”

“Well, well, that’s a secret! I can never, ever tell you… !”

“Secret? I thought we had become close friends, but I’m sad that he has a secret. Still, I won’t ask. Because everyone has at least one secret.”

I don’t have one or two secrets. The name itself is a blatant lie. Merlin will never know.

“… Actually, an artifact is an artifact, but… I felt sorry for the warrior party. They said they would come to the Magic Tower and look for companions, but no one would support them. There seems to be a prevailing trend that everyone is avoiding hero parties… .”

“Are you saying you applied because you didn’t like it?”

“Yes… Maybe that’s why the wizards of the Magic Tower no longer work with me… No regrets! Serjel, Katarina, Igor, and Viktor are all good people! Traveling the world with great friends has been my dream since I was young!”

“… .”

Should I inform those proud colleagues that they are about to die? I pity you the most.

“What was the perception of those around you before applying to the warrior party? Has your treatment of Merlin changed much?”

“Well, I’m not very friendly, so I wasn’t good at conversation… Still, everyone was kind to me! He was always willing to help me if I was looking for something like a magic experiment tool… .”

It’s natural to help. Who could ignore the greatest genius who was even revered as the next magic tower lord? Future Merlin establishes Eden Academy and spends his life as a principal.

Hwiiing-.

The sound of the wind coming through the crack in the door passed my ears. This is a cave where air does not circulate. In other words, if the wind noise is loud enough to penetrate through the crack in the door, it means that there is a change outside.

He put two fingers to Merlin’s mouth and held his breath. Merlin noticed my actions and immediately stopped talking.

Thump, thump, thump-.

The floor shakes. Something big and heavy is approaching. It feels like we are passing through the same cave passage we passed through, and I can feel its presence on my skin. Even though it is not emitting deadly force, its skin feels numb.

“Dragon King… !”

“I’m here, get ready. When the Dragon King falls asleep, it is your role to launch an all-out attack. I will be watching you. There needs to be at least one person to protect the wizard.”

“Su, Mr. Suoka is protecting me… ? Ma, just like a knight and a lady… .”

“Shh, the Dragon King has come to the door.”

The dead silence is split in half by the sound of the door opening. Kugu Palace, unlike when we pull together and push with all our might, the iron gate opens smoothly.

The door opened wide, and a full-body black dragon appeared. It’s not just black. Its eyes show off a golden brilliance as if they were made of gold, and an unquenchable fire is burning brightly in its tail.

The beginning of all dragons.

Dragon King Endros.

One of the five strongest monsters in the Demon Forest, he led the beginning of the dragon species, and is a great monster derived from chaos.

The pinnacle of dragons, the lord of magic, the owner of infinite lifespan. There were several modifiers used to refer to Endros. If you condense and summarize them, only one meaning emerges.

Excluding non-standard beings like the Demon King, it is the most powerful monster in the world at the moment. Among the five kings, he is the Dragon King with the power to destroy. The name is not Endloss for nothing.

Of course, as time passes, the world develops and the dragons also grow. If I were to compare the Dragon Lord and the Dragon King I killed in my past life, they would probably be roughly similar. In this life, I will increase my strength by absorbing the soul of the Dragon King instead of the soul of the Dragon Lord.

Kuung-.

The Dragon King entered the room, taking slow but heavy steps like a large rock. I didn’t even glance at the corners of the four beds where we were hiding. There didn’t seem to be much interest.

The Dragon King immediately fell down on the bed, as if he had no interest in doing things that other dragons might do, such as lounging around or studying magic. The beds, which would have been large enough for a thousand people, filled up in an instant and were shaking.

“Krrrr… .”

Grumbling- crackling, crackling-.

I used the fire on the Dragon King’s tail to look into his eyes. Instead of golden color, there is only dark inky color. I guess I went to sleep right away.

I turned my head towards Katarina, who had decided to give a signal when she saw the time to attack. As if waiting for the Dragon King to fall asleep completely, Katarina remained quietly beyond the pillar.

Since I didn’t know when he would give me a signal, I kept my eyes on him. About ten minutes passed like that.

“Krrr… .”

The sound of the Dragon King’s snoring filled the hall. At the same time, Katarina’s hand rose above the pillar. There were three thin pillars on a small hill. It means 3 seconds.

“Get ready, Merlin.”

“Yes, yes… ! Burn up, hell’s fire that burns monsters… !”

Katarina’s fingers quickly folded. 2 seconds. Meanwhile, Merlin memorized the starter word and summoned a fireball in the air. The heroes Serjel and Nioh, the assassin Katarina, and Viktor and Igor were pressing their feet against the roof, ready to jump out at any time.

The last finger is folded. 1 second. Everyone except me and Merlin rushed to the sleeping Dragon King at the same moment. Some were wielding spears, some were wielding swords, some were wielding daggers, and yet others were wielding fists. Merlin was next to me and fired Hellfire with enough energy.

Originally, magic requires time to prepare, but Merlin is the greatest genius of all time and has already reached the 6th circle. For the archmage, 3 seconds was enough time to fire 6 circles of magic.

Quaaaa-!

“Uaaap!”

“Ha!”

“Burn it! Hellfire!”

“Nyan!”

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-!!

A loud roar followed one after another. Flames, swords, spears, and fists were aimed squarely at the Dragon King.

A huge amount of dust rose up. My vision was obscured by black smoke, and a storm-like air current fluttered the hem of my clothes. I narrowed my eyes and opened my invisible vision.

The hero party’s and Nioh’s attacks all hit the Dragon King’s vital points. Eyes, throat, heart, etc. Each of them was an attack loaded with enormous power, and there were also attacks made with sword energy.

… however.

“Are they these guys?”

As the smoke cleared, the Dragon King’s body was revealed. Surprisingly, there were no injuries. No, the attacks didn’t even reach in the first place. The attacks from the hero party and Nioh all passed through the Dragon King’s body and hit the bedsheets.

Wow, it was an illusion.

Slurp-.

The shape of a dragon floating in the air was transparent at first, but gradually began to become clearer. It is a dragon that looks exactly like the illusion that the warrior party attacked. We looked up at him in bewilderment at the unexpected development.

Straight golden eyes scanned us without even the slightest movement.

“They are bright blue kids who are at the age when they want to play.”

This is not a sound you hear with your ears. The Dragon King just keeps his mouth shut and glares at us.

A heavy, oppressive sound rings in my head. There is not even the slightest hint of surprise in his voice. This means that they knew of our existence from the beginning.

“You have to risk your life to get along with this old man. Would you like to have some fun?”