Ch.6868. The Dragon’s Priestess (2)

Choi Yu-na’s group ventured deep into the temple and quickly took a magically created escalator to the altar.

Son Sang-hui and Baek Seol-hwa watched in amazement at the escalator made not of machinery but of magical power and spells.

Both were mages, and especially Son Sang-hui with her sensitivity to magical energy couldn’t help but wonder how this escalator worked.

However, that curiosity was very brief.

“Dragon statues?”

Upon arriving at the seven dragon statues that still overwhelmed visitors, Son Sang-hui marveled at their grandeur.

Unfortunately, unlike previous visitors, Son Sang-hui, who specialized in detecting magical energy, and Baek Seol-hwa, who could distinguish others by the heat around them, couldn’t afford to be distracted by the seven dragon statues.

This was because their senses quickly detected an overwhelming presence beneath them.

“Ugh!”

Yes, they had realized that an enormous being that no one could resist was right below them.

Son Sang-hui let out a groan at the sensation of what felt like a blazing sun before her eyes.

Though she knew this being wasn’t her enemy, its mere presence exerted an overwhelming influence on the surroundings that affected both Son Sang-hui and Baek Seol-hwa.

Thinking it truly was an unfair existence, Son Sang-hui slowly calmed herself and took the trembling Baek Seol-hwa’s hand.

Baek Seol-hwa, who had been trembling in fear after sensing Bahamut’s enormous presence, was able to stop shaking when Son Sang-hui held her hand.

“We are honored to meet Lord Bahamut.”

And as they stopped trembling and calmed down, Yu-na knelt and bowed her head, showing respect to the dragon god below.

Seeing this, Son Sang-hui and Baek Seol-hwa finally realized that there truly was a dragon god beneath them.

“We are honored to meet Lord Bahamut.”

On behalf of Baek Seol-hwa, who couldn’t move due to her physical condition, Son Sang-hui knelt and bowed her head in greeting.

Bahamut, sitting on a stone throne, gently opened his eyes and looked over Yu-na’s group.

Starting with Yu-na, then Son Sang-hui, and finally Baek Seol-hwa in her wheelchair.

After observing each one, Bahamut slowly opened his mouth.

“Is that the child?”

“Yes. Her name is Baek Seol-hwa.”

“Baek Seol-hwa. A good name.”

Saying it was a good name, he welcomed their visit with a gentle demeanor.

Son Sang-hui’s anxious heart was somewhat relieved by this unexpectedly friendly attitude. She stood up and positioned herself behind Baek Seol-hwa.

Now her only remaining task was to observe the contract that would soon take place.

As Son Sang-hui stood behind Baek Seol-hwa, Bahamut’s gaze turned to Baek Seol-hwa, and perhaps sensing the dragon god’s enormous presence, Baek Seol-hwa’s body began to tremble.

“…! …!”

“There is no need to fear. Dispel the fear in your heart.”

“…”

Unlike Son Sang-hui, who could see Bahamut with her own eyes, Baek Seol-hwa couldn’t visually confirm Bahamut’s appearance.

What Baek Seol-hwa could feel was Bahamut’s overwhelming power and presence, and for Baek Seol-hwa who couldn’t see anything, the dragon’s enormous presence alone was enough to cause panic.

Seeming to understand this, Bahamut told Baek Seol-hwa in a gentle voice that there was no need to fear, and only then could she stop her trembling.

Then, with a kind demeanor, he patiently waited for Baek Seol-hwa to calm down, and Baek Seol-hwa somehow managed to compose herself, raising her head to feel the dragon’s gaze.

Of course, having lost her eyes, she couldn’t actually see Bahamut’s appearance.

“Are you the dragon priestess selected from Pohang?”

“…Ah.”

Baek Seol-hwa wanted to answer, but because her vocal cords had been burned by the mutant spider zombie’s poison, she couldn’t speak properly.

She desperately wanted to respond, but only a rough, crude voice came out, and she could feel the burning pain in her throat.

“You cannot speak. Then there’s no need to strain yourself answering my words. But can’t you express your intentions somewhat by nodding your head?”

“…!”

Grateful for Bahamut’s consideration, Baek Seol-hwa nodded.

If she couldn’t speak, it was good to express her intentions with her head.

“Then there is one thing I would like to ask here. Was there your own will in this selection?”

Bahamut, also being considerate of Baek Seol-hwa, asked questions that could be answered with yes or no as much as possible.

Baek Seol-hwa also pondered the question Bahamut asked.

‘My will. There wasn’t any.’

If asked whether there was her own will in this selection, the answer was no.

There was no will of her own in this selection; it was decided by the intentions of Pohang’s three major camps.

Even the fact that they would select a dragon priestess was something she had heard from Seo Un-jae, who had come looking for her.

Baek Seol-hwa turned her head, expressing that it wasn’t so.

“Then. Was accepting this selection for the sake of others?”

‘For the sake of others?’

Bahamut asked if this act was for the sake of others.

At those words, Baek Seol-hwa, who had made up her mind to save others, couldn’t immediately nod.

It was true that she had been forcibly installed by others, but it was also true that they had made Baek Seol-hwa, who had been useless, useful.

To repay that, Baek Seol-hwa could certainly claim that she had accepted the position of dragon priestess.

Yet somehow, Baek Seol-hwa couldn’t nod.

‘Did I really come this far for the sake of others?’

What came to mind was Seo Un-jae, who had been agonizing over human morality and conscience.

Baek Seol-hwa had comforted such a Seo Un-jae, but if asked whether she had truly volunteered to sacrifice herself for Seo Un-jae, for Pohang…

‘I never had a choice to begin with.’

Baek Seol-hwa didn’t have the right to choose anything else.

Even if she hadn’t chosen, Seo Un-jae would have forcibly installed Baek Seol-hwa as the dragon priestess to prevent more bloodshed.

Could there really be a will to help others in that?

Baek Seol-hwa shook her head as if she didn’t know.

“Then is it for yourself?”

For myself?

At Bahamut’s words, Baek Seol-hwa couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

As someone who had essentially come as Pohang’s sacrificial lamb, she had never had the chance to think about herself.

‘Can this contract become something for myself?’

She had no right to that, and having already given up on life internally, Seol-hwa had never seriously considered it.

But since Bahamut had asked such a question, Baek Seol-hwa decided to ponder it.

The answer she reached after her deliberation was…

“…”

To affirm Bahamut’s words.

Baek Seol-hwa nodded to his question.

“Is it to live?”

To live.

Yes, the reason she had fought zombies until now was ultimately a struggle for those who had gone before her, because she had survived alone.

Baek Seol-hwa had been defeated in that cruel survival competition, and her body and mind were in ruins, but still, she had survived and fought with a magic staff to stay alive.

For the survivors who used her, and for herself.

Baek Seol-hwa nodded vigorously to Bahamut’s words.

“That’s fine. Your eyes may not see this place. But this is a sacred temple for forming contracts. A temple completed by my power. By contracting with me here. You can obtain my power.”

‘Contract…’

At the word contract, Baek Seol-hwa tilted her head.

‘Is this meaningful to me? I’m just a girl who doesn’t even have the strength to live alone.’

At Bahamut’s words that she could gain power, she agonized over whether that power would have any meaning for her.

In her current state, even with power, she couldn’t achieve anything.

A disfigured body that couldn’t survive without depending on others.

“Of course. I cannot say there is no price. Through your contract and power. I will appear in the mortal world. And in return, I lend you my power. It can be seen as a kind of contractual relationship.”

‘The price. I’m not afraid.’

But the price wasn’t frightening.

Her body and mind were already in ruins, and there wasn’t much Baek Seol-hwa could give as payment.

For someone who had nothing, the price Bahamut spoke of seemed truly trivial.

“Though you reached here by the hands of others, your arrival here must also be fate. You must be someone with the potential to grow into a being that will someday have a powerful influence on the entire world.”

‘Me, having a powerful influence on the entire world?’

That couldn’t be.

If she were such a being, she would have already defeated the mutant spider zombie.

But she had been defeated and was now before Bahamut in a disfigured state.

How could such a loser become a remarkable being?

“Do not bow your head. You have infinite potential. So if you prove your own justice and belief. I promise, on my name. To lend you my power.”

‘Potential. Belief… justice…’

She had once held a belief.

She had vowed never to lose someone she knew again, like her parents.

But despite that vow, she had been defeated, and the belief Baek Seol-hwa had held had crumbled.

She didn’t think someone like her had the infinite potential Bahamut spoke of.

There was no way she could possess noble justice.

Baek Seol-hwa began to lower her head more and more.

“Now the time has come. Your eyes will no longer be deceived by any illusion. And you will no longer turn away from the truth.”

‘Huh?’

A clear blue light began to gather on her face.

Her disfigured, melted face gradually began to regenerate flesh, and the clear blue light gathered in her eye sockets, regenerating Baek Seol-hwa’s lost eyes.

Realizing that her face and eyes had regenerated, Baek Seol-hwa removed the cloth she had been wearing, just in case.

“S-Seol-hwa! Your face!?”

Son Sang-hui’s shocked voice reached her ears.

Baek Seol-hwa felt the same way.

Her face had been horribly melted, with discharge coming up every day making her face and the cloth covering it unbearably damp, but now her fingertips couldn’t feel any such discharge.

She could only feel smooth skin sliding under her touch, and she could tell that sensation was returning to her face.

She had been healed.

Baek Seol-hwa’s face, which even Yu-na couldn’t heal, had returned to normal.

‘I can see. The light I had lost has returned to the world!’

And when she opened her eyes, she could see the world she thought she had lost.

She could see with her own eyes the bright and dark light, the waves of power flowing around her.

And she could also see the dragon god with gentle blue eyes, smiling slightly.

“You will never lose that voice again. With that voice, proclaim your beliefs and justice loudly to the masses.”

“…Ah.”

Her lost voice had also returned.

She no longer felt the intense pain in her throat.

The strength to proclaim her justice and beliefs to the masses had returned.

“No one will be able to stop you. Nothing is resolved by quietly enduring. Salvation is not taken by others, but by oneself.”

The sensation in her legs, which she hadn’t felt beyond her waist, returned.

She no longer needed to rely on devices.

Baek Seol-hwa surrendered to the sensation she felt in her legs and slowly began to rise.

Standing firmly on her two legs again, Baek Seol-hwa slowly gazed at the dragon god watching from below.

“Now we can form a proper contract. Come. Choose. A contract? Or will you turn away as you are?”

He said they could now form a proper contract.

Yes, it was a contract.

Baek Seol-hwa had come today to contract with the dragon god as the dragon priestess.

“…I will make the contract.”

She would no longer form a contract by someone else’s will, but by her own.

Baek Seol-hwa proclaimed the contract with Bahamut in her own voice, and Bahamut nodded heavily.

“The meaning of life I’ve finally found. I don’t want to lose it anymore. I… I want to live on!”

She wanted to live on.

She didn’t want to die.

She wanted to return to daily life.

She wanted to reclaim what she had lost.

Having just found her path forward, she didn’t want to turn away here.

Because she didn’t run away, Baek Seol-hwa proclaimed the contract.

“That is good. If that is your wish. I swear to lend you my power. In the name of Bahamut.”

With that, the contract was completed.

【You have changed class.】

【Profession: Dragon Priestess is unlocked.】

An enormous current of power was rushing toward Baek Seol-hwa.

Her black hair was turning snow white, and her eyes, regenerated by Bahamut, were gradually turning blue like Choi Yu-na’s.

‘Amazing. This power. Really, I!’

Baek Seol-hwa herself could feel the tremendous current of power flowing into her.

“Is this… what a contract means?”

Son Sang-hui realized that the source of the enormous power she had felt from Yu-na was the power gained through Bahamut’s contract.

“It seems the contract is now complete.”

Yu-na, who seemed pleased to have witnessed a scene of contract formation from a third-person perspective that she had also experienced, smiled broadly and declared that the contract was complete.

“Another dragon priestess has been born here.”