“You. Are you really water-attribute?”
In the continuing silence, Raon urgently shook the egg while shouting.
He’s inside a barrier made by a water-attribute, and lightning strikes there? If this goes wrong, he’ll literally become an electric roast…
“Baby. We really need to get out of here before we’re truly fucked. I’ll somehow stop Hwi, so—”
Raising his head to look up, Raon began to earnestly coax the egg with sincerity. Just dragging out time like this would only provoke Jaehwi’s temper. He was gentle, kind, and docile to him, but depending on the opponent, he could be quite threatening.
If that opponent was a monster and not a person, that is.
Of course, the main body of this egg he was currently holding was a monster that could never be ordinary. Whether ordinary or not, either way it was still a monster.
Things he had seen and heard through fantasy novels in the past had become reality one by one. Powerful monsters appeared and ability users swept them out and cleared dungeons. When they struggled to solve one, something stronger than that appeared. And speculation ran rampant that the end of it might be a dragon. And before they knew it, everyone was waiting for a dragon’s appearance.
When news came that an S-rank dungeon had appeared or been cleared, everyone checked the dungeon master first. Espers and Guides with excellent abilities dreamed of becoming dragon slayers like protagonists of many fantasy novels, and Centers and each nation had to collect data on that being’s ability values and important information if a dragon appeared.
However, even in S-rank dungeons, which could be said to be the most powerful dungeons that had appeared so far, no dragon had appeared.
S-rank dungeons professed to be ordinary dungeons even until entering inside the dungeon, but underwent various mutations midway. And among them, what occurred most rarely and was most difficult to deal with was the illusion dungeon.
Breaking illusions that appeared in low-rank dungeons wasn’t very difficult, but as the rank went up, the place that made ability users most troubled was the illusion dungeon. Because even Espers with excellent mental-type abilities could get trapped in illusions if they weren’t careful.
And Raon had also experienced terrible illusions. Everything received through the five senses had absolutely no difference from reality. Things like the rustling wind, the region’s unique scent, the humidity and temperature felt on the skin and throughout the body.
Things like the heart-tearing pain felt every time Jaehwi was hurt or died.
Anyway, opinions were coming out one after another that only dragons could create illusion spaces from which there was no escape method through physical means if not helped from outside, which could only be escaped through an ability user’s mental strength alone.
Anyway, he and Jaehwi also hadn’t seen the end of that illusion dungeon.
They had only regressed through his death.
A being that could twist space-time like that.
A being that could create something from nothing.
The dungeon that had nothing worthwhile was instantly densely packed with tremendous rare ores.
Besides, what did it mean that a dungeon where not even a passing ant was detected was now full of monsters?
That’s why Raon had been vaguely guessing that the master of this dungeon might be a dragon.
But he couldn’t tell Jaehwi that fact. Why would a dragon, of all monsters, be looking for him? Compared to the power the name dragon held, he was a common existence inferior to even dust fragments inside the dungeon.
Wasn’t a dragon something that could do anything?
However, while stroking the egg that maintained silence and trembled slightly, Raon let out a deep sigh.
If it was a dragon that hadn’t even hatched from its egg yet, and on top of that, a water-attribute dragon incompatible with Jaehwi? It might well lack power. But there was no time to fall into such contemplation and soothe the frightened dungeon master.
“If you’re scared, at least transmit your voice to Jaehwi. I’m fine. No wait. Make it so I can speak directly.”
—He won’t listen.
“What?”
—He won’t listen to me.
At the sullen voice, Raon shook his head. Our Hwi is a bit of a one-man army.
The content he had first spoken to him about was also that. To make Jaehwi stop… Did he block off all his senses?
When he didn’t listen, the most ideal thing was to voluntarily go out before the lightning struck, rather than dealing with a guy who wouldn’t listen even if it went in one ear and out the other.
“Then. I’ll definitely not let go and hold on tight, so let’s release the barrier. I’m stronger than him!”
—No you’re not.
Raon, who had become embarrassed at the sharp short answer that came back after speaking at a child’s eye level, insisted “Even if he’s strong, he listens to everything I say!”
—Really?
“…Really.”
He listens well except in bed. Ah! Except when interfering with eating.
“So let’s go out. You know where you were originally, right? We just need to go there… Before that, make the barrier as thick and solid as possible. You can do that… Hup.”
Raon, who had been making more effort as he was gradually coaxing, quickly raised his head to look up. At the same time, the egg shook violently. Raon, who had almost dropped the egg, curled his body and wrapped around the egg.
A streak of sharp blue light penetrated the space that had been filled with gently bright light.
He already found this place even though it doesn’t seem like we’ve been here that long? Raon thought urgently while looking around. The bluish light wasn’t disappearing with a flash but was creating a single crack.
“Hurry. Hurry.”
While urging, this time a lightning bolt accompanied by a tremendous sound shook the space. The entire space literally trembled so that Raon had to grasp the egg even more firmly.
“This isn’t the time to endure.”
You can’t run away because you’re scared and expect things to work out. Did it really want this space to shatter to pieces? As Jaehwi, who was destroying this, used his abilities, it was natural for the being who created this space to take damage. There wasn’t even a space to hide his body, and Raon’s breathing became rough in a situation where he had to watch this place being destroyed.
After forming a bond with Jaehwi, he could know his condition without making much effort. It was a phenomenon as natural as breathing and as such, doing guiding was also comfortable. Even though there was a barrier between them, the distance between him and Jaehwi shouldn’t be far. Right now, he couldn’t feel anything.
The fact that he couldn’t feel Jaehwi’s condition or emotions also approached Raon as fear.
At first he would have used his ability to check, but Jaehwi’s strikes after discovering this place were becoming too fierce. Countless lines overlapped above his head and those cracks created new small cracks.
The trembling of the egg he was holding became more severe, and at the being that had completely hidden as if fallen into panic, Raon bit his lower lip tightly and released it.
“Hwiyaa~!”
And then he put strength in his belly and called Jaehwi’s name as loudly as possible. He didn’t know if it would be heard by him or not, but it seemed better than staying still. Even if he couldn’t feel him, couldn’t Jaehwi, whose five senses were far superior to his, feel it?
Then he would know that he wasn’t that anxious or scared, and that it wasn’t dangerous either. So this voice too…
At the same time as calling his name, a stronger lightning bolt struck the space. Along with that sound, Raon’s neck shrunk in surprise. This crazy bastard. Right now I’m not surprised or scared because of monsters but because I’m scared to death by your power.
“Min Jaehwi!”
Clearly just moments ago it had been a soft tone with a drawn-out ending, but this time Raon’s voice filled with temper echoed in the space.
“If you strike down one more time, I won’t kiss you!”
Not knowing whether it would be heard or not, Raon, who had shouted wildly, lifted the egg and carefully stood up from his spot. The space that had been white until now was garishly covered with blue cracks because of what Jaehwi had struck down. At this level, couldn’t he break out from inside?
The egg that seemed to shake greatly and be surprised at first didn’t even move. No way, is it dead? It’s not dead, right? It hasn’t even been born from the egg yet.
While the lightning bolt that had been striking down noisily stopped, Raon quickly moved his feet.
“Min Jaehwi. I know you can hear my voice. I’m going to come out, so please just stay still. I’m fine. You know it, so why are you like this? Do you really not know?”
Raon’s brow furrowed as he kept looking around in case lightning struck again in the meantime. The boundary of the barrier wasn’t very far. At first, since it was all white, he thought it was a wide space close to infinite, but now the shape of the blue cracks was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Should he call it a round dome-like barrier? Raon’s mouth fell open as he looked at the fine cracks that had spread near the strong crack Jaehwi had made.
“Baby. Are you okay?”
And then he stopped his urgently moving steps and touched the egg. It had clearly been smooth, solid, and seemed to have a bit of warmth…
The cracks newly formed on the egg were clearly felt at his fingertips. Once around the surroundings, once at the egg. And stroking the egg several times.
“Fuck. They’re all crazy.”
Raon’s voice, which had been gentle to the egg until just now, changed in an instant.
“This is why I can’t live kindly.”
He had to stop here. Because this barrier breaking meant. This egg breaking.
The bastard forcibly breaking a dragon’s egg with ignorant strength and abilities, and the bastard using its own egg itself as a barrier because it was urgent—both were six of one, half a dozen of the other.
