“Ah, finally, we’re done.”
“Oh, so we don’t have to leave with her to complete the mission.”
“If she’s this powerful, she probably won’t have any trouble escaping, but… hmm. It looks like she’ll lose consciousness and any sense of reasoning. Will she still be able to escape?”
With their experience in numerous quests, the three users tilted their heads in thought. This was because, in any regular rescue mission, it was not considered cleared until the rescued subject was taken to safety. Of course, some missions only had the players release the rescued subject and eliminate every enemy for the mission to be cleared, but that was under the assumption that the rescued subject could escape without any roadblocks or threats.
“Ah, now that I recall, there was one time when the mission completion was awarded like this.”
“What mission was that?” Merlin asked.
Arthur soon answered.
“A mission where some other being showed up to save the rescued subject.”
Rumble!
As soon as Arthur finished explaining, the surrounding air and space glitched as if screaming. Like paper being crumpled in someone’s hand, an opening formed from a crinkled space, and a woman soon appeared.
“This, this oppressive force….”
“Crazy. This isn’t an aura that I’d like to remember.”
“A dragon!”
Since they’d experienced Igniz the Red Dragon’s oppressive force during the beta period, the three party members instantly recognized the source of the aura. Moreover, it was a Worm Rank dragon that had lived for at least 2,000 years.
“There’s nothing to be anxious about. We have Arthur.”
Toothless had teleported through space to join Merlin and Ilyia, and he spoke in a bemused manner. However, Ilyia had no thoughts of fighting such an overpowered foe. She’d already hidden half her body in the shadows while gritting her teeth.
“That’s crazy talk… Arthur is strong, but it’s not enough to stand against a dragon! Igniz was only taken down because we had everyone fighting and were buffed to the heavens!”
Obviously, Toothless clicked its tongue.
“Tsk. You really don’t know anything.”
“What don’t we know?”
Merlin inquired with a confused expression. Yet, at that moment, the black-haired woman approached Lucy.
“Lucy! Are you alright?!”
“Ugh! Argh!”
“Lucy….”
Bearing a sad expression, the black-haired woman extended her hand toward Lucy.
“It seems like they’re family.”
“It looks like she’s a black dragon, but she seems relatively gentle and mild. However, when faced with the threat of harm to a family member, even a black dragon would-”
As the players spoke, the black-haired woman slapped Lucy’s head.
“Come to your senses, you dumb girl!”
Boom!
With a resounding bang, a large indent formed on one wall where Lucy’s head was embedded.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The three were left speechless as they observed the unfolding scene. The black-haired woman had grabbed onto Lucy’s head as if it was a handball and continually slammed it into the wall.
“Always doing whatever you want!”
Bam!
“Running away from home!”
Bam!
“How could you even consider such a thing!”
Bam!
“Really… you get caught by humans of all things, and you become an experiment subject?!”
Boom!
“How much more embarrassment do you have to bring our demonic draconic species before you’re satisfied?! Huh?! Huh?!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sheer force of Lucy’s head banging against the wall made it entirely crumble to bits. This wall wasn’t any standard wall either; it was a metal alloy wall that could sustain a tremendous amount of force. If the black-haired woman wasn’t hitting a member of the dragon species but anyone else, their head would have been pulverized into a mist of blood long ago.
“Wow, this is horrifying. We might die by just being here.”
“It’s a bit weird though… we already completed our quest, but….”
With dull, sick expressions on their faces, Merlin and Ilyia looked at the black-haired woman as her monstrous magic power exuded outwards, tickling and shocking their faces. Though Arthur and the others were strong, they were no match for this woman. She had lived a long life, an amount of time unimaginable for humans, and had nearly reached transcendence.
“You don’t have to fret. As long as we have Arthur, things might become cumbersome, but the situation won’t turn deadly.”
When she heard Toothless’ laid-back comment, Ilyia’s gaze hardened.
“What the heck are you talking about? Even Arthur-”
Toothless cut off Ilyia and replied, “Arthur is a Heavenly Draconic Being.”
“Heavenly Draconic Being?”
Evidently, Merlin and Ilyia had never heard this term before, so they both expressed their confusion. Toothless explained, “Don’t worry. That woman is a high-level draconic being, but in front of her master….”
“Oh! I got it! That guy isn’t human, right?!”
“Was he a member of some sort of hidden species?”
After witnessing Arthur do various unexplainable things, the party members had always thought that his origins were mysterious, so Ilyia and Merlin voiced their conjectures. However, Toothless merely sighed and looked at the two as if they were pathetic.
“Ugh, a member of a hidden species… don’t spin stupid stories. It seems like both of your minds have gone into hiding.”
“T-then, what is it?”
“It’s nothing complicated. Arthur is a human who was born with a Heavenly Draconic spirit.”
As if she overheard Toothless’ explanation, the black-haired woman suddenly turned around.
“What? Why are you guys still here? I’m having a bad day, so why don’t you guys scurry off and- huh?”
The black-haired woman was speaking in a belittling and aggressive tone when she abruptly stopped as she spotted Arthur. Her gaze trembled as if she was seeing something unbelievable.
“What the… you….”
The black-haired woman started to stutter as she continued to stare at Arthur. However, that only lasted a moment, and she soon started laughing provocatively.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Me? Arthur.”
Since the aura that the woman emitted was considerable, Arthur had gathered his aura around him to protect himself and to be prepared for a fight if one were to break out. The standoff felt fierce, like standing on a knife’s edge, but the woman seemed to think that Arthur’s response was cute.
“Arthur, how nice. Hey, do you want to be my husband?”
“… What?”
Seeing the unfolding scene and Arthur’s perplexed expression, Merlin asked Toothless a question.
“Toothless, is a Heavenly Draconic Being….”
“Fufufu, I guess there are some quick-witted humans after all. Yeah, my master possesses an innate talent that can rarely be found in the entire universe. It’s often called Heavenly Draconic Being… but the Union also calls it….”
Toothless broke into a smile before continuing.
“… a being adored by all species of dragons, a Dragon Lover.”
*** Erosion of Reality ***
Yongno opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Miho….”
Extreme disappointment and sadness washed over him. Yet, Yongno knew that this feeling was no different from how one felt after watching a sad movie or drama.
However, the problem was that Merlin felt a high level of emotional connection and empathy within the virtual reality. These feelings ran deep, so deep that his in-game emotions seemed to follow him into reality.
Clank! Beep~
Once he took a shower, Yongno promptly left his house. He wanted to meet someone. It didn’t matter who; he just wanted to meet someone and talk. He needed to vent.
“But who?”
Yongno laughed bitterly. Who could he meet? He had already alienated everyone, and in turn, everyone alienated him. Even his family, which was usually a haven for most people, meant nothing to him. A father and mother who suffered from guilt every time they saw him, and an older brother who constantly smirked at him with a twisted, bitter smile. Paradoxically, the only one who treated him like family was his older sister, and she was the family member that he’d interacted with the least.
“… Damn it.”
Unconsciously, Yongno retrieved his phone and looked at it before breaking into a wry smile. He felt a brief sense of happiness when he realized that his sister still treated him like family. Yongno wondered why he put up a front and shunned any meaningful relationship with anyone if he was going to end up feeling this way. Did he do all this because he found everything troublesome and annoying?
“If I had even a single iota of closeness with my family, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice to rush over to their house… even at this late hour.”
Having rushed out of the general vicinity of his apartment complex, Merlin felt drained, so he sat in an outdoor restaurant seating area. During the day, the street he was on would be relatively crowded, but it was currently two in the morning. Only 24-hour businesses like internet cafes and convenience stores were open at this hour. So, outside of the occasional streetlights strewn across the road, everything was dark.
“I’m correct, right?”
“Yeah, I think you are.”
“Really? Wow!”
As he laid back on a hard wooden seat, Yongno turned his head, hearing a commotion. In a dark side street, a girl with a beanie cap pulled down to her eyebrows quickly walked while ten or so teenage boys followed behind her. The boys were high schoolers who had spiked hairstyles dyed in flashy colors.
“Why are you walking so fast? You’re making it hard to follow you.”
“H-huh? M-me?”
“‘H-huh? M-me?’ Hahaha! Your voice is so cute!”
When a boy with a piercing spoke, the girl tried to scurry away hurriedly, but by that time, she had been surrounded with no way out. The boys giggled as they moved closer.
“Hey, you’re Leaf, right?”
“Leaf? The singer Leaf? Hahaha. Of course not. How could I be… thanks for complimenting me on my looks, but-”
“You think you can trick us with that shitty get-up?!”
“Ah!”
The same boy grabbed the girl’s beanie and removed it, allowing golden hair to fall. The girl screamed and started to tremble. This yell was too loud to be from surprise; instead, it was one that expected a passerby to come and help. Though a rotten egg, the boy with a piercing wasn’t stupid, so he soon frowned menacingly.
“Do you expect us to take advantage of you or something? Ah, you have such a flat chest, yet you still think we’d be physically interested in you.”
“What?”
Leaf flinched for a moment. Even from Merlin’s distance away, he could see a vein popping out of her forehead. She made a fierce expression as if she was going to go berserk and destroy everything in sight.
“Did you just say ‘what’? What are you going to do about it?”
However, no matter how mad Leaf felt, she couldn’t compete with the boys in terms of strength, so she had to keep her cool.
“Ah, I didn’t mean anything. Hahaha. Uh, you know, I’m a bit busy right now… can I just leave?”
“No.”
“No.”
“Do you think we’ll let you leave?”
The boys surrounding Leaf giggled once more. A few of the boys remarked something along the lines of, ‘Ah, why are you trying to leave so soon? Your fan service sucks~,’ as they tried to get a rise out of Leaf.
“What should I do….”
Normally, Yongno would have left without hesitation. He wasn’t a person who burned with fervor to correct the wrongs of society, nor did he like conflict. Actually, he was closer to being a scaredy cat.
Yongno had extraordinary innate talent that would likely never be seen again, but his mind was as weak and brittle as a glass window. Furthermore, he didn’t possess a strong will - the readiness to overcome hardship and adversity to achieve some desired result. He was afraid of even the most minor things and easily gave up when faced with slight difficulties.
He grew bored of things quickly, gave up speedily, and had a stronger proclivity than the average person to avoid danger and seek comfort. Even if a bully raped a woman, let alone harassed her, Yongno didn’t have the courage to stop it. He would only go so far as to call the police after feeling sorry from afar.
“Phew….”
However, Yongno stood. He wasn’t his ‘usual’ self at the moment. Yongno experienced Miho’s death and tried to run away from everything by letting go, but the only thing that occupied his mind was the avatar in the game. When he woke up, Yongno still remembered Miho and her last dying moments. Yongno had always run away from pain and suffering, but now, he was finally boxed in without a way out.
In other words, Yongno currently wasn’t of sound mind.
“Ah, finally, we’re done.”
“Oh, so we don’t have to leave with her to complete the mission.”
“If she’s this powerful, she probably won’t have any trouble escaping, but… hmm. It looks like she’ll lose consciousness and any sense of reasoning. Will she still be able to escape?”
With their experience in numerous quests, the three users tilted their heads in thought. This was because, in any regular rescue mission, it was not considered cleared until the rescued subject was taken to safety. Of course, some missions only had the players release the rescued subject and eliminate every enemy for the mission to be cleared, but that was under the assumption that the rescued subject could escape without any roadblocks or threats.
“Ah, now that I recall, there was one time when the mission completion was awarded like this.”
“What mission was that?” Merlin asked.
Arthur soon answered.
“A mission where some other being showed up to save the rescued subject.”
Rumble!
As soon as Arthur finished explaining, the surrounding air and space glitched as if screaming. Like paper being crumpled in someone’s hand, an opening formed from a crinkled space, and a woman soon appeared.
“This, this oppressive force….”
“Crazy. This isn’t an aura that I’d like to remember.”
“A dragon!”
Since they’d experienced Igniz the Red Dragon’s oppressive force during the beta period, the three party members instantly recognized the source of the aura. Moreover, it was a Worm Rank dragon that had lived for at least 2,000 years.
“There’s nothing to be anxious about. We have Arthur.”
Toothless had teleported through space to join Merlin and Ilyia, and he spoke in a bemused manner. However, Ilyia had no thoughts of fighting such an overpowered foe. She’d already hidden half her body in the shadows while gritting her teeth.
“That’s crazy talk… Arthur is strong, but it’s not enough to stand against a dragon! Igniz was only taken down because we had everyone fighting and were buffed to the heavens!”
Obviously, Toothless clicked its tongue.
“Tsk. You really don’t know anything.”
“What don’t we know?”
Merlin inquired with a confused expression. Yet, at that moment, the black-haired woman approached Lucy.
“Lucy! Are you alright?!”
“Ugh! Argh!”
“Lucy….”
Bearing a sad expression, the black-haired woman extended her hand toward Lucy.
“It seems like they’re family.”
“It looks like she’s a black dragon, but she seems relatively gentle and mild. However, when faced with the threat of harm to a family member, even a black dragon would-”
As the players spoke, the black-haired woman slapped Lucy’s head.
“Come to your senses, you dumb girl!”
Boom!
With a resounding bang, a large indent formed on one wall where Lucy’s head was embedded.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The three were left speechless as they observed the unfolding scene. The black-haired woman had grabbed onto Lucy’s head as if it was a handball and continually slammed it into the wall.
“Always doing whatever you want!”
Bam!
“Running away from home!”
Bam!
“How could you even consider such a thing!”
Bam!
“Really… you get caught by humans of all things, and you become an experiment subject?!”
Boom!
“How much more embarrassment do you have to bring our demonic draconic species before you’re satisfied?! Huh?! Huh?!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sheer force of Lucy’s head banging against the wall made it entirely crumble to bits. This wall wasn’t any standard wall either; it was a metal alloy wall that could sustain a tremendous amount of force. If the black-haired woman wasn’t hitting a member of the dragon species but anyone else, their head would have been pulverized into a mist of blood long ago.
“Wow, this is horrifying. We might die by just being here.”
“It’s a bit weird though… we already completed our quest, but….”
With dull, sick expressions on their faces, Merlin and Ilyia looked at the black-haired woman as her monstrous magic power exuded outwards, tickling and shocking their faces. Though Arthur and the others were strong, they were no match for this woman. She had lived a long life, an amount of time unimaginable for humans, and had nearly reached transcendence.
“You don’t have to fret. As long as we have Arthur, things might become cumbersome, but the situation won’t turn deadly.”
When she heard Toothless’ laid-back comment, Ilyia’s gaze hardened.
“What the heck are you talking about? Even Arthur-”
Toothless cut off Ilyia and replied, “Arthur is a Heavenly Draconic Being.”
“Heavenly Draconic Being?”
Evidently, Merlin and Ilyia had never heard this term before, so they both expressed their confusion. Toothless explained, “Don’t worry. That woman is a high-level draconic being, but in front of her master….”
“Oh! I got it! That guy isn’t human, right?!”
“Was he a member of some sort of hidden species?”
After witnessing Arthur do various unexplainable things, the party members had always thought that his origins were mysterious, so Ilyia and Merlin voiced their conjectures. However, Toothless merely sighed and looked at the two as if they were pathetic.
“Ugh, a member of a hidden species… don’t spin stupid stories. It seems like both of your minds have gone into hiding.”
“T-then, what is it?”
“It’s nothing complicated. Arthur is a human who was born with a Heavenly Draconic spirit.”
As if she overheard Toothless’ explanation, the black-haired woman suddenly turned around.
“What? Why are you guys still here? I’m having a bad day, so why don’t you guys scurry off and- huh?”
The black-haired woman was speaking in a belittling and aggressive tone when she abruptly stopped as she spotted Arthur. Her gaze trembled as if she was seeing something unbelievable.
“What the… you….”
The black-haired woman started to stutter as she continued to stare at Arthur. However, that only lasted a moment, and she soon started laughing provocatively.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Me? Arthur.”
Since the aura that the woman emitted was considerable, Arthur had gathered his aura around him to protect himself and to be prepared for a fight if one were to break out. The standoff felt fierce, like standing on a knife’s edge, but the woman seemed to think that Arthur’s response was cute.
“Arthur, how nice. Hey, do you want to be my husband?”
“… What?”
Seeing the unfolding scene and Arthur’s perplexed expression, Merlin asked Toothless a question.
“Toothless, is a Heavenly Draconic Being….”
“Fufufu, I guess there are some quick-witted humans after all. Yeah, my master possesses an innate talent that can rarely be found in the entire universe. It’s often called Heavenly Draconic Being… but the Union also calls it….”
Toothless broke into a smile before continuing.
“… a being adored by all species of dragons, a Dragon Lover.”
*** Erosion of Reality ***
Yongno opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Miho….”
Extreme disappointment and sadness washed over him. Yet, Yongno knew that this feeling was no different from how one felt after watching a sad movie or drama.
However, the problem was that Merlin felt a high level of emotional connection and empathy within the virtual reality. These feelings ran deep, so deep that his in-game emotions seemed to follow him into reality.
Clank! Beep~
Once he took a shower, Yongno promptly left his house. He wanted to meet someone. It didn’t matter who; he just wanted to meet someone and talk. He needed to vent.
“But who?”
Yongno laughed bitterly. Who could he meet? He had already alienated everyone, and in turn, everyone alienated him. Even his family, which was usually a haven for most people, meant nothing to him. A father and mother who suffered from guilt every time they saw him, and an older brother who constantly smirked at him with a twisted, bitter smile. Paradoxically, the only one who treated him like family was his older sister, and she was the family member that he’d interacted with the least.
“… Damn it.”
Unconsciously, Yongno retrieved his phone and looked at it before breaking into a wry smile. He felt a brief sense of happiness when he realized that his sister still treated him like family. Yongno wondered why he put up a front and shunned any meaningful relationship with anyone if he was going to end up feeling this way. Did he do all this because he found everything troublesome and annoying?
“If I had even a single iota of closeness with my family, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice to rush over to their house… even at this late hour.”
Having rushed out of the general vicinity of his apartment complex, Merlin felt drained, so he sat in an outdoor restaurant seating area. During the day, the street he was on would be relatively crowded, but it was currently two in the morning. Only 24-hour businesses like internet cafes and convenience stores were open at this hour. So, outside of the occasional streetlights strewn across the road, everything was dark.
“I’m correct, right?”
“Yeah, I think you are.”
“Really? Wow!”
As he laid back on a hard wooden seat, Yongno turned his head, hearing a commotion. In a dark side street, a girl with a beanie cap pulled down to her eyebrows quickly walked while ten or so teenage boys followed behind her. The boys were high schoolers who had spiked hairstyles dyed in flashy colors.
“Why are you walking so fast? You’re making it hard to follow you.”
“H-huh? M-me?”
“‘H-huh? M-me?’ Hahaha! Your voice is so cute!”
When a boy with a piercing spoke, the girl tried to scurry away hurriedly, but by that time, she had been surrounded with no way out. The boys giggled as they moved closer.
“Hey, you’re Leaf, right?”
“Leaf? The singer Leaf? Hahaha. Of course not. How could I be… thanks for complimenting me on my looks, but-”
“You think you can trick us with that shitty get-up?!”
“Ah!”
The same boy grabbed the girl’s beanie and removed it, allowing golden hair to fall. The girl screamed and started to tremble. This yell was too loud to be from surprise; instead, it was one that expected a passerby to come and help. Though a rotten egg, the boy with a piercing wasn’t stupid, so he soon frowned menacingly.
“Do you expect us to take advantage of you or something? Ah, you have such a flat chest, yet you still think we’d be physically interested in you.”
“What?”
Leaf flinched for a moment. Even from Merlin’s distance away, he could see a vein popping out of her forehead. She made a fierce expression as if she was going to go berserk and destroy everything in sight.
“Did you just say ‘what’? What are you going to do about it?”
However, no matter how mad Leaf felt, she couldn’t compete with the boys in terms of strength, so she had to keep her cool.
“Ah, I didn’t mean anything. Hahaha. Uh, you know, I’m a bit busy right now… can I just leave?”
“No.”
“No.”
“Do you think we’ll let you leave?”
The boys surrounding Leaf giggled once more. A few of the boys remarked something along the lines of, ‘Ah, why are you trying to leave so soon? Your fan service sucks~,’ as they tried to get a rise out of Leaf.
“What should I do….”
Normally, Yongno would have left without hesitation. He wasn’t a person who burned with fervor to correct the wrongs of society, nor did he like conflict. Actually, he was closer to being a scaredy cat.
Yongno had extraordinary innate talent that would likely never be seen again, but his mind was as weak and brittle as a glass window. Furthermore, he didn’t possess a strong will - the readiness to overcome hardship and adversity to achieve some desired result. He was afraid of even the most minor things and easily gave up when faced with slight difficulties.
He grew bored of things quickly, gave up speedily, and had a stronger proclivity than the average person to avoid danger and seek comfort. Even if a bully raped a woman, let alone harassed her, Yongno didn’t have the courage to stop it. He would only go so far as to call the police after feeling sorry from afar.
“Phew….”
However, Yongno stood. He wasn’t his ‘usual’ self at the moment. Yongno experienced Miho’s death and tried to run away from everything by letting go, but the only thing that occupied his mind was the avatar in the game. When he woke up, Yongno still remembered Miho and her last dying moments. Yongno had always run away from pain and suffering, but now, he was finally boxed in without a way out.
In other words, Yongno currently wasn’t of sound mind.
