121. When Communication Fails, Try Changing the Conversation Partner

Horaru, sweating cold sweat with her palms pressed together, attempted to commune with the dragon hatchling.

Crackle.

“Damn it…!”

“What was that just now?!”

“The mana wavelength spiked so violently it was visible to the naked eye. Insane. At that level? And it’s not even an adult yet?”

“No, I mean what the hell was that?!”

“The hatchling twitched.”

Just from a twitch, it caused sparks to fly?

What the fuck is that thing? Are dragons really that strong?

-They are. You wouldn’t understand unless you’ve seen one.

‘Just how strong are they?’

-A single breath can tear through the air, and their killing intent alone can sever the throat of a Hob Goblin Shaman.

‘……’

They’re practically living natural disasters. Completely different from those weaklings that get beheaded by a hero’s sword.

“Uuung… This. Are we really continuing? This could end up awakening a calamity.”

“Can’t you do it?”

“Hng. It’s not that I can’t. But the outcome is completely unpredictable.”

Horaru asked again, warning that the slightest mistake could lead to an irreversible catastrophe.

To begin with, Horaru and Mabel knew nothing about dragon ecology. They didn’t even know if the hatchling’s current molting state was a natural part of its growth process.

“Nothing in Monster Dismantling and Appreciation?”

“Just weird stuff like how to cook dragons and how to effectively dodge their breath. There was no record of hatchling growth processes.”

“Absolutely no leads.”

No answers. If I hadn’t had Helena with me today, the Magic Tower’s fate might have ended right here.

‘This will really work, right?’

-It should. Probably.

If I follow Helena’s method, I can make the dragon hatchling mine. Not 100%, but she said the probability was fairly high.

-It’s possible with the Spirit Beast’s Heart.

The Spirit Beast’s Heart I bought from the Frogman.

Originally, following Olivia’s advice, I planned to take it to the Druid Society president to use as a catalyst for a spirit beast contract.

Until just moments ago, part of me still thought it might be better to just get a summon rather than try to tame a dragon.

But seeing this lizard that generates sparks in the air just from twitching, I’m convinced using the Spirit Beast’s Heart here and now is the right move.

-If the spiritualization fails, you’ll lose the Bracelet of Growth. Still want to proceed?

‘You said the failure rate is only about 10%, right?’

-That’s correct. But you should always assume the worst.

‘A 10% chance of failure is worth the risk.’

There’s a 10% chance the Bracelet of Growth shatters and the dragon hatchling dies.

Conversely, that means a 90% chance I can save the hatchling and make it my familiar.

I have to do this. If it were a 50% chance of the bracelet breaking, I wouldn’t have tried.

Even at 30%, I would’ve given up.

“Uung. Then I’ll try communing again.”

“Alright. I’ve prepared protective magic, so let’s do it.”

As Helena and I were planning for potential failure, Horaru began communing with the dragon hatchling again.

Mabel nervously chanted an 8th Circle protection spell while watching Horaru and the hatchling in her hands.

Horaru will probably succeed in communing. But she won’t be able to control it.

What Helena and I are aiming for is precisely the moment the hatchling goes berserk.

“Uuung.”

“What’s wrong? Is something not working?”

“Well… the connection is definitely established, but… something’s strange… huuung.”

Sometimes it’s hard to read Horaru’s expressions since she’s a bear, but right now she clearly looked serious.

Sweating cold sweat, fidgeting uncontrollably, her body trembling.

“Uuung. T-this is…!”

Suddenly, Horaru’s body was flung backward. Simultaneously, an unknown mark began forming above her head.

“Uuuh. Uuuuaaaaahhh!!!”

At Horaru’s roar, the glass bottles in the lab shattered.

Her eyes glowed brightly, flashing like fire, as she floated halfway in the air, limbs trembling in agony.

Smoke poured from her mouth.

‘The mark… a curse is being engraved.’

And I already know that mark. No, how could I not? It symbolizes one of the most infamous curses in the Labyrinth City.

“Impossible…!”

The supreme-grade curse, ‘Ember of Ruin,’ was being engraved onto Horaru.

Once the mark completes, she’ll lose all memories and her ego will collapse.

Her personality will burn away completely, beyond even a goddess’s power to restore.

That would effectively be the death of Horaru as a person.

No, I expected failure, but I never thought that insane curse would appear. The situation is abnormal. Need to act fast.

“Mabel!!”

I urgently shouted for the Tower Master to do something, and Mabel, sweating cold sweat, began casting a spell.

“With the blood of the guilty, I summon the vessel of suffering.”

After the activation phrase, Mabel rapidly chanted an incantation like a madwoman.

Just as the mark on Horaru was about to unleash the curse…

Splash!

Mabel drew a dagger and slashed her left hand, scattering blood across the floor.

With that, not magic but an ancient shamanistic ritual was completed.

“Sacrifice.”

A statue began materializing at the lab’s center.

A statue of a man with twisted limbs.

Seeing the pain-contorted statue, I immediately realized.

That thing… it’s alive.

‘No way.’

My guess was right. Mabel pressed her bloodied left hand against the statue’s back, then pointed at Horaru as if designating a target, whispering in its ear.

“That impurity is yours. Bear the curse within your filthy flesh.”

Whoooosh!

Wind blew through the sealed room.

The mark forming above Horaru’s head wavered, distorted by the wind.

Simultaneously, the wind that had wrapped around Horaru returned to the statue, which swallowed both the curse and the wind.

“Return. To your place.”

With the dismissal, the forcibly summoned statue sank back into the floor as if being pulled down.

Bearing the Ember of Ruin.

‘What was that just now…’

-A curse target substitution. A trick only usable before the curse activates. She always prattled about human rights and justice, refusing to use it, saying it was just useless idealism. But now she’s using it just fine.

‘Did you teach her that too?’

-Yes. Can’t just stand by and let a curse take you. When there’s no other way, summoning a sinner as a scapegoat is the only option.

‘But that’s shamanism. Doesn’t shamanism come with a price?’

-That’s for her to pay, so don’t get involved.

‘….’

Right, not my business. This incident stemmed from the Tower Master’s greed, so it’s only right she solves it and takes responsibility.

Meddling unnecessarily will only make things harder for me. I know better. I just need to chase my own gains like an opportunist. It’s not like I came this far out of charity anyway.

“Horaru! Are you okay?!”

“Kkh… hurts… my back feels bruised.”

“Anywhere else affected?”

“Uung? Uum. My head feels clearer.”

“Hah. Haha… That’s a relief.”

Fortunately, Horaru seemed fine. She even smiled cheerfully, saying her head felt clearer.

In contrast, Mabel, who’d used shamanism with unknown costs, was sweating as she returned the hatchling to its glass tube. Then she apologized to Horaru.

“Sorry, Horaru.”

“Uung? What happened?”

“Nothing comes to mind?”

“Uung?”

“Horaru, how much do you remember?”

“Oong. I got some tea… and the dragon hatchling… hmm. I see. A few minutes are missing.”

Only then did Horaru realize there was a gap in her memory.

“Was it because of that?”

“…Yes.”

“Hung. Tower Master. I’m bowing out of this. If my memory got wiped this much… continuing might kill me before I can even get married.”

“Understood…”

The Tower Master, now utterly despondent, visibly slumped.

With Horaru backing out too, utilizing the dragon hatchling just got much harder.

Now, it’s mine and Helena’s time. They say you should always buy at the lowest point. Time to demand the hatchling whose expected value just crashed.

“Tower Master Mabel.”

“Hmm..? Ahh, right… you came about the bracelet…? But… I’m a bit distraught now… Can we talk later…?”

“No. Not about the bracelet. That thing. The dragon hatchling.”

“Huh? Huh. What about it…? It’s a failure. Waking it up would just create a killing machine…? Need to dispose of it before the city leadership notices… I even named it Yongyong…”

Your naming sense is fucking terrible.

“Yongyong or whatever. Are you just going to discard it like this?”

“Have to… It’s an unusable murder monster…”

“If you’re discarding it, give it to me.”

“…..?”

“If you’re throwing it away anyway, give it to me.”

“What nonsense…?”

“I think I can tame it.”

At my words, Mabel’s expression, which had been so despondent she seemed ready to wither away, began to regain vitality.

Her eyebrows also rose in apparent anger.

“What? You want it for free? How would you tame it? Even Horaru, the foremost authority on communion, failed?”

“I can’t commune. But I can dominate it.”

“So how…?”

“There are ways. So, give it to me. My situation’s already complicated enough. I have to pioneer the underground city. And explore Utopia too. If you give it to me, I’ll usher in the new era you want.”

“You’ll explore Utopia? You?”

“Yes. I have to go down whether I like it or not.”

“Can you really tame that thing? As you saw, failure is fatal. Just waking the sleeping thing instantly draws a supreme-grade curse.”

Probably some security measure placed by the parent dragon.

To prevent their offspring from falling into lesser beings’ hands. If someone tries to interfere maliciously, it immediately slaps them with a supreme-grade curse.

“No problem.”

Doesn’t matter. I won’t even talk to it or try to befriend it.

All I’ll do is yank that hatchling’s soul out of its body.

“So what’ll it be? Give it to me. Or just dispose of it. If you give it to me, I’ll do a few favors for you while owning the dragon. If you want to scrap it, go ahead. The Magic Tower will dissolve that day.”

“The Tower won’t dissolve. At worst, I’ll be dismissed.”

“So get dismissed. Or join hands with me and save Yongyong.”

Mabel bit her lower lip, lost in thought. Her conflicted expression weighed the potential benefits.

“…You’ve gotten quite bold. Lost a lot of your fear, haven’t you?”

“Been working with Inquisitors too long.”

“Hah. Fine, try it. But if you die to a supreme-grade curse, I won’t help like with Horaru. And if you succeed in domination, you’ll have to let the Tower participate in your underground city pioneering.”

“You’ll cooperate with the pioneering? That’s what I was going to ask for. Thanks.”

“Feels like I’m the only one losing here… but I guess there’s no other option.”

The Tower Master stepped back as if telling me to do as I pleased.

“Uung. Can you really do it? It’s dangerous. It won’t communicate. It blindly attacks humans. Like… it just hates people in general?”

“It’s fine. I won’t talk to that bastard.”

If communication fails, just remove the obstacle.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

The hatchling’s current state can be described as ’emaciated’ and ‘neurotic.’

Mabel naming it a ‘dragon hatchling’ is evidence of that.

In short, weakened both mentally and physically, starved of mana in this environment, its physical growth has halted, leaving it half-withered.

Thus, its soul is extremely fragile. I don’t know about the defense mechanisms on its body, but with its soul weakened, I can bind and extract it with Soul Chains.

-Did you take out the Spirit Beast’s Heart?

‘Yes.’

-I’ll borrow your left arm now. Some of its mana circuits might burn out. Okay with that?

‘Yes. It’s a small sacrifice.’

I’m not living as a mage anyway. If it’s only half-burned, it can probably be restored.

-Good. Let’s begin.

Above all, this is a chance to obtain the ultimate summon. Burning out some mana circuits in my left arm is a small price.

Worth it to get a calamity-class dragon’s hatchling.

“Hup…!”

I fired Soul Chains from my right hand.

Simultaneously, my left hand, possessed by Helena, crushed the Spirit Beast’s Heart into a catalyst.

The key is infusing her soul with the heart. From now, Helena becomes my summon. The Bracelet of Growth also links with her.

For the dragon to survive its emaciated state in this mana-deficient environment, it needs a suitable nest. We decided to temporarily use the bracelet as that nest.

‘Got it!’

The chains touched the weakened hatchling’s soul.

Sparks flew everywhere, searing my right arm. Excruciating pain made my teeth chatter.

-Pull harder!

‘Fuck…!!!’

Gritting my teeth, I yanked the chains.

Gradually, the baby dragon’s soul began emerging from the hatchling’s body.

Without touching the hatchling itself, extracting only the soul without harming its body.

As calculated, the defense mechanisms engraved on the hatchling didn’t activate. This is it.

I can pull it out.

‘Now!’

The moment the soul left the hatchling’s body, I shoved Helena’s soul, clutched in my left hand, into the dragon’s body.

“Kuh-heuk…”

Blood poured from my mouth like water.

My left arm feels like it’s burning up. Dizzying. My right arm’s nerves seem melted-it trembles uncontrollably, unresponsive. My left arm’s mana circuits are scorched, shaking violently from extreme pain.

“Uh, Tower Master.”

“Did it work?!”

“Call a doctor.”

It worked.

Helena is inside the baby dragon’s body.

Also, before inserting her soul, I crushed the Spirit Beast’s Heart to make her my subordinate and summon…

‘Now I can summon her anytime, anywhere through the Bracelet of Growth.’

We avoided the worst-case scenario of the bracelet breaking, so this is a resounding success.

Done.

I have a dragon.

By stuffing a comrade’s soul into it.