Ch.9393. Dragon King (4)

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[…I’m not sure if we really need to go that far.]

Tatiana bit her lip hard at the response coming from the other side of the communication screen.

Originally, she had no intention of asking the Luminary for help. After all, the Luminary had simply ordered her to kill that man, without providing any necessary tools for the job.

But considering the power she had witnessed recently.

It would be absolutely impossible with her strength alone.

[Isn’t just summoning the tribal chief enough right now? You’re going to take out that relic too?]

“…Based on the circumstances, the time axis has been twisted once.”

Tatiana barely managed to respond in a dry voice.

“Only the most powerful among the rulers of hell could accomplish such an absurd feat. It must have happened because of the Grey Demon’s fragment.”

She had known for some time that the Grey Demon resided within the Tristan Duchess, but she never expected it would use its power so… ‘devotedly’ for that man.

However.

[Well. It’s probably not the kind you’re thinking of.]

The Luminary’s subsequent response was on a completely different track from what she had been thinking.

“…Pardon?”

[It probably didn’t emerge specifically to help that man. Since it only resulted in twisting the time axis, the demon itself didn’t actually manifest.]

Tatiana blinked.

“…What do you mean by that?”

[If the Grey Demon’s main body had directly emerged, it wouldn’t have ended with just twisting the time axis. That was probably just the vessel going berserk?]

“…”

Tatiana fell silent, at a loss for words.

Right now, this woman was.

Dismissing even such a phenomenon as ‘nothing significant’ compared to the manifestation of a demon’s main body.

[Besides, the vessel going berserk… would clearly not be welcomed by him either. No matter how much he’s naturally loved by villains, there’s a very high chance that even that wouldn’t work when the vessel’s malignancy is inflated to its limit.]

These explanations were completely incomprehensible.

Though perhaps that was to be expected.

This was a human whose understanding of demons was arguably the highest among all humans in the material world.

“…Are you saying we don’t need to worry about it?”

[No~ well. That man probably wouldn’t want to make the vessel go berserk to use that power either, but I can still provide it. It would be troublesome for me too if he dies again this time.]

“…?”

Tatiana looked at the Luminary with a puzzled expression.

“…Did you say ‘again’?”

[Yes.]

The Luminary answered with a slight smile.

[That man was badly hurt by a demon before. In the past. He died.]

“…?”

Surely they were talking about someone who was currently alive.

Such a question crossed Tatiana’s mind, but the Luminary continued speaking as if nothing was unusual.

[If it happens again, I think I’d be a bit sad.]

Tatiana’s eyes widened.

That response undoubtedly contained.

A mixture of countless complex emotions.

Had this woman, who usually wore an inhumanly light attitude like a mask, ever revealed so many emotions before?

Regret, sadness, anger, irritation, and above all.

Remorse.

As if this woman, who acts like she knows everything in advance, who shows disgust at even the slightest questioning of her choices.

As if there had been something even she couldn’t control.

Tatiana stood stiffly with wide eyes from the shock, then suddenly realized something strange and spoke.

“…But, Luminary. Didn’t you order me to kill that man?”

[Did I?]

“Then why-“

Why show an attitude of not wanting to see that man’s death?

Didn’t she herself say not long ago that she would throw trials at him that could genuinely kill him?

When she questioned with such doubts in mind.

[He’s like a spring, that guy.]

A strange answer came back.

“…Pardon?”

[The more intense pressure you apply, the more forcefully he bounces back. The more life-threatening danger you put him in, the faster he grows.]

“…”

[The more you try to kill him, the more he’ll grow. If you succeed in killing him… well, it was ‘destined to fail’ this time too. Don’t you think?]

Fail what?

Tatiana’s expression hardened.

The Luminary’s current attitude had an inexplicable sense of dissonance.

“…Luminary.”

[Yes?]

“I know this may be impertinent, but I’d like to ask one thing.”

Right now, this woman’s words and actions were almost as if.

“It seems like all your actions and objectives are aimed at making that man ‘stronger’—”

[Hey.]

Tatiana immediately closed her mouth.

Cold sweat trickled down.

She could read the coldness in the Luminary’s voice.

[Let’s stop there, shall we?]

“…”

Tatiana silently bowed her head.

Right now, she felt acutely that she was treading on dangerous ground.

This topic was clearly the Luminary’s ‘sore spot,’ to the point where it was palpable.

Fortunately, seeing that she had closed her mouth, the Luminary quickly returned to her usual light tone.

[Well, anyway.]

The Luminary stretched and continued.

[I can give you what you asked for. Even the most powerful relic can only seal a demon’s presence temporarily… but that should be enough, right?]

“…Yes. Thank you.”

[Then I’ll deliver that much for now. Work hard on what I’ve asked you to do~]

The Luminary continued in a light voice.

[While you’re doing that, I’ll aim for the ‘real target.’ While that man is distracted with you.]

“…I will obey.”

With that, the communication ended.

Tatiana silently bit her lip until it bled as she stared at where the Luminary had disappeared.

Still, the Luminary placed that man higher in priority than herself. That feeling was conveyed quite clearly just from the way she spoke.

“…”

Then, what she needed to do was.

Simply to meticulously plan and crush that man.

If the demon’s power is sealed, there would be no force within this academy capable of stopping the ‘ancient being’ she could summon from the depths of the sea.

If she deployed that in the most efficient manner, subduing that man wouldn’t be too difficult.

All that remained was to anticipate what moves that man might prepare before the relic arrived.

‘…Where is he right now?’

A hologram showing the status of the entire academy appeared in her room. Thanks to this, finding Darwood Campbell’s current location wasn’t particularly difficult.

If she could see where he spent his time and how much, she could roughly figure out what he might be planning. He certainly wouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing without any preparation.

Middle of the ocean.

Since it was during the Hunter’s Night period, he must have moved there to participate.

“…”

And.

Tatiana’s expression momentarily hardened when she realized what ‘thing’ was at the location where Darwood had anchored his ship.

Though it soon relaxed.

‘…No, surely not.’

No matter how crazy he might be, the personnel on his side were just a few students. He absolutely wouldn’t think of making contact with the creature there with just that.

And even if he did make contact.

That would be nothing short of suicide.

Tatiana sighed as she concluded this with certainty.

‘…He’s wasting time, that guy.’

She exhaled with that thought.

Whatever his reason for going to meet the ‘King of the Sea,’ it would only be a self-defeating move.

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“Huff… huff…”

I look down at the guys collapsed beneath my feet, catching my breath.

These are the ones who jumped out in rage right after I knocked down the fat guy who was hurling abuse at Riru.

“You’re not that strong after all, huh?”

They came out looking so intimidating that I wondered how strong they might be, but if I can handle them all by myself without Talion or Riru, they’re clearly nothing special.

Even Life-or-Death only applied at B-rank.

“…”

Of course, even so.

I did get to test how much stat boost I receive from hand-to-hand combat skills when unarmed.

‘This feels better than I expected?’

It’s not just about stats increasing; it feels like my motor skills themselves have changed.

I can now perform movements I couldn’t even imagine before.

Somersault kicks, triple spinning kicks, naturally countering opponents’ attacks with my fists.

‘…At this rate.’

Previously I only managed to increase the progress by 10 percent, but with this level of performance, it shouldn’t be impossible to complete it before the main quest boss battle arrives.

If my memory serves me right, there’s also an event coming soon that will allow me to drastically increase my martial arts proficiency.

Probably visible as soon as we leave this sea and move to the next stage after Hunter’s Night.

“…Shouldn’t you be showing a bit more reaction after taking down that many opponents?”

Talion, who was collecting all the equipment from the guys as I instructed, spoke with an incredulous voice.

“Tribal Union warriors with proper equipment are said to have combat abilities exceeding those of the Empire’s regular knights.”

“Don’t compare academy students with their level.”

In reality, the battle itself wasn’t much.

They may have been wrapped in excellent equipment, but now I can easily perform crowd control with skill backup.

I’m this exhausted because I was trying to block them all at my and Talion’s level, afraid that if any of them got past us to Riru, some accident might happen over there.

“…”

From the moment that fat guy started spouting nonsense, blue energy was swirling around, making the situation precarious.

If we had entered combat in that state, something would definitely have gone wrong…!

“More importantly, collect the equipment carefully. We’ll need all of it later.”

“Yessir.”

Talion accelerated his work at my instruction.

The Tribal Union’s ‘workshop’ is renowned as the place with the best technology among all academies. Since we’ve come this far, we can’t not use it.

With that thought, I recall the list of ‘materials’ I’ve gathered so far.

Star iron, adaptive leather stripped from magical beasts earlier, ectoplasm, intermediate relics… and considering what we’ll collect from these guys’ equipment, we should be able to make something quite helpful.

Something that will greatly help strengthen this person and me.

Thinking that, I look at Riru, who turns to me with an expression suggesting she has a headache.

“…Why did you do that?”

“Pardon?”

“Why did you fight? And why did you try so hard not to let any of them come my way?”

“…”

That’s because if I had let them go to you and the Blue Demon went berserk, we’d all be dead.

But how do I explain that?

“Fine. You don’t want to explain, I get it. Let’s drop it.”

Riru sighed deeply, then muttered in a low voice.

“…So it really does start with doing nice things without explanation?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Nothing. More importantly.”

Riru continued with a sulky expression.

“…What are you planning to do with this one?”

We sent all the guys whose equipment we collected back to the dock by controlling their boats.

But the first guy who hurled abuse at Riru is still tied up tightly with rope.

“He’ll be used as a sacrifice.”

I’ve been unable to find one until now, so this works out perfectly.

As they say, if you don’t have teeth, use your gums—if there’s no suitable magical beast, I’ll have to use this guy.

“…Sacrifice?”

Riru narrowed her eyes and looked the tied-up pig up and down.

His appearance does look a bit strange.

To put it in words.

“…He looks like bait attached to a fishing rod.”

I smile at Talion’s observation.

It’s a surprisingly accurate description.

“You mentioned needing a sacrifice… But is there a situation that requires a human-sized sacrifice…?”

“There is.”

Saying that, I have Talion hold both ends of the guy.

“On the count of three, throw him as far as possible. One, two, three.”

His body flies in a parabolic arc with a whoosh. Thanks to Talion and me throwing with all our might, he seems to have flown quite far, as the portly figure now appears about the size of a fist.

There was a splash and a scream as the person hit the water.

Having been limp until now, he seems to have come to his senses only after falling into the water.

Ignoring the screams he’s letting out while floundering, I first check the time.

‘Not too late.’

He’s such a rare creature that even in the game, he was notorious for requiring all sorts of conditions to be met before you could encounter him.

Exactly during the Hunter’s Night period, at exactly the specified time, with exactly a similar-sized ‘sacrifice,’ if you wait here.

There’s something that comes out to eat it.

A truly, truly terrifying creature.

Recalling this information, I adjust the ‘fishing rod’ connected to the fat guy’s rope.

Dip in the water, pull out, dip in the water, pull out.

I move it flamboyantly to make it look like appetizing bait.

“Ugh, blub, you, you, bastards! What are you doing! I am Krun Ger-Do! The next chief!”

“I see.”

“What do you mean ‘I see’? Get me out of here right now! Otherwise, you’ll face severe consequences-!”

“Is that so.”

“…”

Watching me handle the guy so indifferently, Riru sighed and interjected again.

“Still, I think you should be careful. No matter how insignificant he seems, he’s the chief’s successor. The Tribal Union won’t just let this slide, you know?”

“Let them come.”

“…What?”

“Once he picked a fight with you, he was bound to become my enemy too. Can’t be helped.”

“…”

Riru closed her eyes and held her head.

It’s a gesture that suggests she’s wondering why such words come so naturally to me, as if breathing.

“…Why is that so obvious to you?”

Riru said that in an almost drained voice, but it’s hard to focus on that right now.

The ‘bite’ is starting to come.

“…The wind has stopped.”

Talion was the first to notice.

The wind and rain that had been raging around us stops. The waves that had been surging in the choppy sea subside.

Like the calm before a storm.

“…”

Come to think of it, that’s an appropriate expression.

There’s no word that suits the entity about to reveal itself better than ‘storm.’

“Hold on tight.”

I tell Talion and Riru, who are looking around with puzzled expressions.

“Otherwise you won’t be able to keep your balance.”

Then.

In front of us, where Krun had been.

‘Something’ gradually revealed itself.

First to appear are massive horns.

Seeing the two horns on its head, Riru seemed to realize something and froze stiffly.

This person would probably know.

What kind of entity that is.

“You.”

Riru said in a trembling voice.

“…Didn’t you say we were meeting a native creature?”

“It is a native creature.”

“That?!”

I give a slight smile to Riru, who is screaming.

Well, strictly speaking.

It would have been living in this area continuously, so it is indeed a native creature.

It’s just that calling it a mere ‘magical beast’ would be… too low a ‘rank.’

After the horns, what reveals itself are scales covering its entire body. Whiskers. And, clearly visible even from far away… a ‘dragon heart’ pulsating in its chest.

Water Dragon. Sea Dragon.

Although a distant branch, a monster belonging to the dragon race, classified as one of the strongest magical beasts in the world setting.

It revealed itself before us.

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