Chapter 109: Blood of the Dragon (3)

As I wandered through mountains, unsure of my location, small raindrops began to fall from the sky.

The sky was gloomy and the surrounding air was humid, so it seemed a downpour was starting.

Swaaaash-!

After running for a while to avoid the refreshing downpour, I was able to find an abandoned building in the mountains.

The collapsed gate and the dilapidated state of the building looked quite bizarre.

It looked as if it had been crushed all at once by something heavy.

However, it seemed like a suitable place to take shelter from the rain for a while.

“Hmm…”

I could have formed a thin barrier of mana over my body to avoid getting wet, but I couldn’t afford to waste mana due to the anxiety that another attacker might appear at any moment.

I headed inside the abandoned house with Nightmare.

Inside, there was a musty smell of dust.

After briefly looking around, it seemed that it had previously been a dojo for martial arts training.

Old wooden swords and broken wooden staffs were scattered throughout the abandoned house.

Flap-

Nightmare settled down in a suitable spot and lay down.

Nightmare was also quite exhausted due to the attackers who came day and night.

I covered him with a thin blanket and prepared a bonfire.

Crackle- crackle-!

As I blankly let time pass in front of the blazing bonfire, I could sense someone approaching this place.

I checked on Nightmare, who had fallen into a deep sleep, and quietly placed my hand on my sword.

A man wearing a deeply pressed bamboo hat appeared beyond the collapsed main gate.

I didn’t sense any hostility. It seemed he had come to avoid the rain rather than targeting me.

Of course, that didn’t mean I could relax. As I watched him with my hand on my sword, without saying a word, the man wearing the bamboo hat raised both hands.

“I’m Gwangya, just a wanderer. I have no other intentions… I just needed a place to escape the rain…”

“How can I believe that?”

“I suppose not…”

Gwangya nodded at my words and turned around.

I blinked at the absurd sight. I didn’t expect him to just leave.

Now I felt like the bad guy. I frowned and called out to Gwangya.

“Stop.”

“Why?”

“Rest here for a bit…”

“Hmm…”

Gwangya turned around as if he had been waiting for my words, a small smile on his lips beneath the bamboo hat.

He settled down in a suitable spot and shook the rain off his bamboo hat and coat.

I carefully observed Gwangya’s appearance beyond the bonfire.

His pointed ears sticking out between his black hair were striking.

His long tail was also damp with rain, but it was glossy as if it was usually well-maintained.

After confirming that his tail and ears were intact, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you referring to that horse?”

It was Gwangya’s question. He was looking at Nightmare, who was lying on the ground, breathing evenly, “Phew- phew-.”

“Yes.”

“A fine horse… It’s a breed I’ve never seen around here… Did you perhaps come from beyond the severed sky?”

I nodded silently. Then Gwangya smiled slightly and continued.

“It’s raining quite a lot. So, I was wondering if you could lend me some fire to dry my wet clothes?”

Was this bonfire his goal from the start?

When I looked at him with strange eyes, Gwangya smiled awkwardly.

It wasn’t a difficult request, but I didn’t want to keep someone with a sword at his waist nearby.

“Gather some things that can be used to start a fire.”

“Hmm…”

Gwangya obediently followed my words.

He gathered old wooden swords and wooden staffs scattered around, just like when I started the bonfire.

“Okay, I’ve gathered everything.”

I nodded at Gwangya’s words and snapped my fingers.

With a light gesture, a faint mana was released, creating a small flame.

Whoosh-!

“Oh… so you were a sorcerer. Thank you.”

With those words, there was no further conversation with Gwangya.

He started drying his wet clothes silently, as if he really needed the fire.

How much time had passed? Suddenly, I could feel the presence of two people approaching this place.

They weren’t ordinary people. It was a sharp, violent, yet strangely familiar energy.

Flap-

Nightmare, who had woken up from his deep sleep, suddenly stood up and began to stare at the collapsed main gate.

Gwangya, who was drying his clothes by the bonfire, also placed his hand on his sword and watched the main gate.

After a short time, a pair of beautiful men and women appeared.

Their long, flowing blue hair scattered beautifully.

They looked fine despite the rain.

Upon closer inspection, the rain falling from the sky was avoiding only the two men and women.

“Oh, there he is. The rumors were true.”

“Seems like a Dragonblood of the Scarlet Dragon Clan.”

The two men and women looked at me and their eyes sparkled.

Horns protruded from their heads, and their reptilian eyes were slit downwards.

Parts of their bodies, such as the backs of their hands and parts of their cheeks, were covered with blue scales.

It was a similar appearance to how my body had mutated under the influence of mana.

It was definitely a Dragonblood, as I had only heard about.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Don’t get too close. He’s a Dragonblood of the Scarlet Dragon Clan, so his personality will be fiery.”

The two men and women approached without hesitation.

They didn’t seem wary of anything around them.

Nightmare next to me and Gwangya with his hand on his sword were outside of their interest.

“Me…?”

“Did you hear…? He said ‘me’?”

“Hmm…”

Was my answer unexpected?

The two men and women, who had been approaching closely, stopped in their tracks, seemingly embarrassed.

“A, a Dragonblood…?”

It was Gwangya’s voice, who was taking shelter from the rain with me.

He looked at the two men and women with trembling eyes and slowly backed away.

Even though there was a wall of the abandoned building behind him.

Was Gwangya’s voice annoying?

The Dragonblood man frowned and asked me.

“Is he your servant?”

“Ah, no…”

“Then a companion?”

“Not that either.”

The moment those words ended, the Dragonblood man waved his hand at Gwangya.

What bloomed from the light gesture was a blue chill.

I hurriedly swung my sword.

The moment the magic stone embedded in the center of the sword amplified the mana, a hot flame soared from the tip of the sword, swallowing the chill that the man had sent out.

Fsssh-!

Hot heat and cold chill collided, and a hazy mist rose.

The man who had sent out the chill looked down at me with strange eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“What are you doing? Suddenly attacking…”

“He presumptuously placed his hand on his sword in front of a Dragonblood. Isn’t that reason enough?”

I opened my mouth blankly at the man’s words.

I had heard that they were arrogant, but I didn’t know it would be to this extent.

The bloodline of the Dragonblood that I faced directly was more arrogant than I had imagined.

I gestured to Gwangya with my sword pointed at him.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then lowered his head, gathered his belongings, and darted into the rain.

The Dragonblood man simply watched Gwangya’s disappearing back with a look of regret.

I slowly moved away and approached Nightmare. So that I could ride him and run away at any time.

The two men and women didn’t seem to care much.

“Hey, what did you say your name was?”

“Seris.”

“Seris…? That’s not a name from around here?”

The Dragonblood woman frowned at my words and tilted her head.

It seemed that the two of them had mistaken me for a Dragonblood and came looking for me.

“Cheonga. We don’t have time to dawdle.”

At that moment, the Dragonblood man approached me.

Judging by the way he reached out his hand without hesitation, he was trying to grab my arm and drag me away.

Then Nightmare breathed out hot air and blocked my path slightly.

“Is that your horse…?”

The man whose hand was blocked didn’t frown like before.

He simply scanned Nightmare with strange eyes.

“I can feel a faint dragon energy, so it seems you fed him the heart of a lesser dragon… He seems to have great loyalty to his master, a horse fit for a Dragonblood to ride.”

The moment the man let out a small exclamation and reached out his hand to Nightmare, Nightmare bit down hard on the approaching hand.

I was startled by the sight and pulled on his reins.

Nightmare, who had been chewing on his hand, stepped back slightly as I led him.

“Hmm…”

The man looked down at his hand and frowned.

“Insolent…”

I swallowed hard and gathered mana.

He was someone who had scattered mana containing a chill at someone he was meeting for the first time just because he was slightly annoyed.

He might attack Nightmare for biting his hand.

As I built up the tension, the woman called Cheonga stepped between me and the man. She smiled lightly and patted the man’s shoulder.

“You said we had to hurry, right? If you don’t want to pick a fight with the Scarlet Dragon Clan, you should withdraw that momentum.”

“But…”

“Cheongbin.”

“Understood.”

Cheongbin retreated, suppressing his momentum at Cheonga’s words.

Cheonga, who was watching the scene, smiled lightly and said to me.

“You said your name was Seris, right? I’ll hear your real name when we return to the family, but how about we move for now?”

“I’m not a Dragonblood…”

Cheonga’s eyebrows twitched greatly at my answer.

I retreated further. She was also a Dragonblood, so she would have a personality not much different from the man called Cheongbin.

Just as blue chill began to rise from Cheonga’s body, bustling presences were detected from all directions. One, two, no, more than ten. The presences increased very quickly.

“This is…”

“It seems like some stragglers have attached themselves.”

Cheonga and Cheongbin also seemed to have sensed the presences.

The two men and women frowned and looked around, continuing their conversation with each other.

“Too fast, isn’t it?”

“It’s outside the authority of the Dragonblood Clan.

They said a young Dragonblood was wandering alone, so it’s only natural that they would gather like this.”

“Can we protect him while we go?”

“Protect him? He’s a child of the Scarlet Dragon Clan. Anyone who approaches recklessly will be burned by his heat.”

“What’s with the praise…? You don’t have any other intentions towards him, do you?”

It was when Cheongbin frowned at Cheonga’s question and avoided her gaze.

The bushes far away rustled, and attackers with swords poured out.

“There he is! It’s a Dragonblood!”

“Three…? It’s different from the rumors?”

“There are only three of them anyway! Kill them all!”

Cheongbin looked at the rushing people as if he was used to it and let out a long sigh.

The moment a strange chill began to mix with the breath flowing from his mouth, Cheongbin stepped forward and stomped on the ground.

Thump-!

The shockwave that started from Cheongbin’s feet froze the raindrops falling from the sky.

The dozens of frozen raindrops emitted a small light and were shot forward.

Thwack thwack thwack-!

“Kuh-ack…!”

“Huh, heok…!”

“Ggrrr…!”

The attackers collapsed with holes all over their bodies. Cheongbin turned around and said to me.

“Let’s move for now. If we stay here, those stragglers will keep coming.”

I gripped Nightmare’s reins and hesitated.

Whether to continue traveling alone, or to follow them.

As I continued to worry, more attackers appeared. I nodded and climbed onto Nightmare.

“Okay. Let’s go for now.”

I followed the two out of the abandoned house.