Chapter 169: The Angel Who Raids a Dungeon (7)

Episode 169: The Angel Who Raids a Dungeon (7)

And so began the tale of a Fallen Archangel.

The archangel, who had been trying to convince the sky dragon, finally realized the child’s charming nature and understood her desire to protect the child.

He looked at the dragon’s sacrifice, raising her child while her body and soul crumbled from being banished from the sky, a single tear falling from his eye.

The angel was surprised to find that he could cry.

As time passed.

Another stern command descended upon the archangel who had not brought back Lumari’s soul.

Reap Lumari’s soul.

And so, the archangel, the angel who had lived his entire life as Heaven’s puppet, spoke to Heaven for the first time.

“I cannot do that.”

Insubordination.

The angel who passed judgment,

Knew that judgment would now be passed upon himself.

[Why?]

“Because this child needs someone to protect her.”

Feeling his body crumbling,

Leffriel endured the pain.

“I cannot let such a lovely child die.”

There once was an archangel.

An angel who had been called a cruel judge, a puppet of heaven, who now stood against the angels who sought to judge him and take the woman’s soul.

An angel whose heart was breaking as he watched the dragon who could not return home, fading away because of the time he had bought her.

“It’s shameless of me, but… may I ask one more thing.”

“…..”

“Please… p-protect that child.”

The child’s guardian angel.

‘That’s why I decided to become a guardian angel.’

Thus, the story ends like this.

The fallen angel is judged and becomes a boy destined to die in agony until the end of this world, while the girl ends up leaving this world without ever experiencing love.

‘I decided to become a guardian angel.’

However, he failed.

A miserable failure.

He couldn’t protect himself, let alone anything else in the world.

‘I decided… to become a guardian angel.’

However, the Great Karma has power that transcends even Heaven.

And Leffriel was more skilled at handling karma than any other angel in Heaven.

‘I decided that I would protect that child…!’

Perhaps, he could rewrite this sad story.

Leffriel offered a prayer.

A prayer that transcended even Keter, his Ultimate Skill.

A prayer to touch karma itself.

His body, severely injured from the attacks of other angels, his powers almost completely gone.

But his prayers didn’t cease.

Across time,

To his future self.

If the great flow that envelops the world would allow it, this time he would surely protect that child.

He offered a prayer, dedicating his entire being.

Leffriel was looking at ‘Leffrey’.

At that pitiful boy who couldn’t believe in anything, not even the heroes.

[“Leffrey’s” POV]

———

“If there had been an angel, a guardian angel to guide the young heroes to the right path and protect them from the trials that come their way… humanity wouldn’t have perished like this.”

———

It was a definite tone. The man randomly thought the voice was beautiful. Like a voice from heaven.

———

“You must become that angel.”

———

“…Me? Why?”

———

“Because you are the last survivor of humanity.”

———

“So, what does that have to do with an angel…?”

You’re overstepping your bounds for a hallucination created by my brain.

The man tried to get up, but he had no strength in his arms. The best he could do was tilt his head slightly.

At least that way, that’s how the man saw the identity of the light.

An angel.

A deeply wounded angel stood before him. With white wings made of light on its back and countless wounds on its body. Yet, the young boy maintained the appearance of an angel.

———

“To those children… you will be a much better angel than I was.”

———

The angel clasped its hands and prayed.

[The sacrifice of devoting one’s entire being for the world is more angelic than any other angel!]

[……]

[……]

[A Miracle has come true.]

* * *

Never say that again.

In truth, the girl named Yumari had some issues with feeling emotions. She certainly had emotions, but some feelings were difficult for her to understand.

For example, connection.

The bond between people.

Love. Friendship. Respect. Affection. Trust. Expectation.

These were hazy and murky areas for her.

Long ago, a count reportedly said this: Explaining God is like a color-blind person explaining colors.

Understanding something she had never seen or heard was a bit of an overwhelming challenge for Mari.

A boy shining brightly before her eyes.

Seeing this angel-like boy shedding tears, an indescribable feeling of guilt welled up in Yumari.

Seeing this angel-like boy shedding tears, an indescribable feeling of guilt welled up in Yumari.

That’s right.

Believing in God might be like a color-blind person explaining colors. But you know what.

Countless people,

Believe in a celestial being.

‘Right, this scent.’

The scent of the sky. Yumari remembered this scent emanating from the boy.

It was the scent that emanated from her mother.

Lumari, the Sky Dragon, whose face she didn’t even remember.

She couldn’t remember her voice, her smile, or how warmly she had embraced her.

But she remembered this scent that came from her.

A proof that she wasn’t born from hatred.

That she wasn’t born to suffer.

That she was born out of love.

‘At least this scent, I remember.’

But they say that Lumari was used and killed by the Seocheon Yu. And she herself was just a tool of the Seocheon Yu.

‘But still.’

While being experimented on as a dragon,

Eating the hatred and contempt of those who had suffered at the hands of dragons, to become their plaything, to cry until she’s exhausted, and to be forced to wear a mask she could never remove…

‘If only I wasn’t born…’

And in the continued abuse from the Seocheon Yu family…

She felt longing, but Yumari denied it. She hated herself for feeling longing, and despised the very act of feeling it.

She hated it.

The longing that wouldn’t disappear.

‘It would have been better if I hadn’t been born.’

Saa saa-

A chilling sound like icicles growing.

[The buff effect of the Splendor of the Dragon King Family is activated.]

[Dragon abilities greatly amplified, dragon instincts greatly enhanced.]

Yumari’s small horns suddenly grew to the size of a hand span, becoming too large to hide anymore.

Yumari wiped away Leffrey’s tears and said,

“I can’t hear such words.”

“…Why?”

“Because they’re words I hate so much.”

Yumari whispered in an eerie voice like a dragon’s, while embracing Leffrey.

“Rather than this world.”

She knew saying this would tear the boy’s heart apart.

But the writhing dragon emotions within her whispered that she wanted to see this precious boy cry.

‘I shouldn’t act on my dragon instincts…’

The thread of her sanity that she was barely holding onto. Snapped when she saw the sight of Leffrey’s beautiful crying face.

Yes.

If she said these words, she could possess most of the boy’s emotions.

And she didn’t want to share this boy,

With anyone.

“Rather, this world…? Mari, you…”

Leffrey muttered as if he didn’t want to hear those words. But Yumari, with a dragon’s cruelty, didn’t stop.

To crush everything to have what she wants.

Even if it’s a precious heart.

“Yes, this world. It would have been better if it had never been born.”

Transparent tears flowed down the white boy’s cheeks. The boy didn’t know why he was crying, but he felt like his heart was being torn apart.

“Hic, hic. Why, such, words.”

And Yumari didn’t know either.

Why the boy was so saddened by this.

‘He should know about cruelty.’

Her thoughts turned cold. During the Reflection Forest incident at the Blessing of the Spirits, Yumari had seen the boy’s past.

‘Why is he being so emotional. Why is he hurting so much. Over such an obvious thing.’

Yes.

Yumari didn’t know.

Just as she didn’t know why she felt a longing for that scent.

And why she felt hatred towards that longing.

‘I don’t understand, I don’t understand anything.’

Yumari thoroughly enjoyed the sight of the boy looking at her with sadness, the boy pouring all his emotions onto her, she subtly put on her mask of indifference.

‘…It doesn’t matter.’

As long as she could enjoy it, as long as she could possess it.

As long as she could use it, that was enough.

The fact that her darkness, her true heart, would surely be consumed by this angel who was the only one to cherish her, give her attention, give her sincerity, heal her, and treat her preciously.

And that fact made Yumari happy.

So she deliberately spoke in an even colder tone.

“Leffrey, we don’t have time for tears.”

“….”

“Looking at the current situation, that space distortion from earlier seems to be a spell that randomly teleports us somewhere within the Dragon Lord’s Nest. If it was meant to send us to a specific place and coordinates, we wouldn’t have been sent to a place like this.”

Grip-

Yumari painfully gripped Leffrey’s shoulder.

“If that’s the case, the dragon hasn’t pinpointed our exact location yet. We need to take advantage of that opening.”

“…….”

“Leffrey!”

Yumari calmed Leffrey down, infusing her voice with the Dragon’s Fury, Dragon Fear.

Of course, as a result, several nearby superhumans frothed at the mouth and collapsed, but that wasn’t Yumari’s concern.

Leffrey, slightly frightened,

Tried to step away from Yumari.

But the girl’s strong hand didn’t allow Leffrey to distance himself.

“Focus, I’ll protect you.”

“…….”

“What I said earlier was harsh. I know. So understand.”

Squeeze-

Yumari hugged Leffrey’s trembling body warmly. What was fortunate for Leffrey was that he couldn’t see the expression Yumari was making.

It was,

A truly dark smile.

“I’ll protect you. So let’s get our heads straight for now.”

“…Okay.”

“That’s good.”

As Leffrey wiped away his tears, Yumari made the surrounding superhumans back off again just by glaring at them.

“Th-that girl is definitely Yumari from the Seocheon Yu family, right?”

“Yumari, the last dragon?”

“Damn, with that power, she could have cleared this place on her own.”

“But why did she come out alone?”

One of the guild members muttered to himself.

“What happened to the people who were dragged away with her…? Ahhh?”

And the guild member who said those words suddenly fell into extreme fear, curling up his body like a pill bug.

The fear emitted by a dragon was not the kind of fear that ordinary humans could endure.

“Leffrey, let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

So Leffrey and Yumari stepped outside the stone door. Outside, there was a strong smell of blood, and the source of that bloody smell, the corpses of dragon-type monsters, were strewn about.

It was a gruesome scene.

In other words, it could be called a slaughterhouse.

“As I said earlier, I cleared this area. Judging from the lack of strong monsters, it doesn’t seem like this is an important location.”

“Really? Then…”

“So I did a bit of ‘interrogation’ on some monsters, and they told me where this floor is.”

Yumari said.

“This is where they store the sacrifices. The lowest level of the Dragon Lord’s Nest.”

The boy and girl continued walking down the corridor sharing information, the boy had to stop in his tracks at a voice suddenly coming from behind.

“O-Oppa.”

It was the girl, Suyeon, who had been trapped with him in the sacrificial chamber earlier.

“You promised to find my mommy and daddy…..”