“Where are you, Elise?”
The communication stone in Elise’s ear flickered, and Karan’s voice was heard.
“Your Highness, are you awake?”
Elise answered briskly while scratching the stone floor. However, unlike her voice, her body was drenched in sweat.
Last night, after figuring out how to kill Ragnaros, Elise rushed to the gate with only Uls.
She wasn’t afraid of monsters. That’s because Uls was the king of monsters from the picture book.
As expected, when Uls appeared, the monsters cleared the way. Thanks to this, Elise safely reached the center, called Ragnaros’ nest.
It was midnight.
From then until dawn, Elise carved a magic circle on the floor.
It was a magic circle to turn back time, which she had drawn only once in the past.
“Elise, why did you go alone?”
“I’m not alone, Your Highness. I’m with Uls.”
Elise could feel Karan sighing through the communication stone. She fully understood his concern. If the situation were reversed, she would have been angry.
Elise tapped the floor with her hand.
“I had something to do, Your Highness.”
She needed a little more time to complete the magic circle.
“And you don’t feel like telling me what it is?”
“…”
“Alright. Are you unharmed? You’re really okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine and safe. And please leave my warriors to Haltbin.”
From the beginning, Elise had no intention of fighting Ragnaros alone. There was no chance of winning.
“I’m really grateful that you at least remember you have a unit.”
Karan’s words were sarcastic, but his voice lacked any strength, so it didn’t sound like sarcasm.
Rather, helplessness and worry were more strongly felt.
Elise traced the clearly engraved lines on the floor and stood up.
“Your Highness, please be careful. I’ll wait safely until you arrive.”
After finishing her words, Elise ended the communication.
Looking at the magic circle, easily ten times larger than herself, she felt a sense of pride. At the same time, she felt impatient.
‘I need more time to complete it.’
Elise took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. She gripped the dagger made of skeleton bone tightly and scratched the floor.
Every time the stone caught, the impact transmitted to her wrist and elbow. However, Elise didn’t mind and silently continued her work.
It was a frightening level of concentration. Even when Uls whimpered beside her or pulled at her collar, her concentration didn’t waver.
There was only one set time when her concentration would break.
Rumble.
When the ground shook. It was the writhing of Ragnaros preparing to wake up.
****
“Everyone, step back!”
As Ilaria shouted, the knights retreated.
“It’s a spider-type monster. Attack the body at all costs!”
Seeing the spider-type monsters rushing in swarms, the knights were overwhelmed with the urge to turn away.
The black spider-type monsters with eight legs were extremely hideous.
Though they were only about the size of a child’s head, their attack power was considerable. Especially, the randomly shot spider webs were troublesome.
“Agh, it’s stuck and won’t come off!”
The adhesiveness of the web was extraordinary, so once it stuck, you couldn’t detach yourself until you killed the main body.
The more you struggled against the web, the tighter it constricted, eventually taking the prey’s life.
“Stay still! Avoid the webs as much as possible and don’t get close! Shoot arrows!”
The sound of arrows being fired was clamorous.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The knights advanced slowly but steadily towards the center.
At Gate 2.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
A Bedrokka knight approached the staggering David.
David nodded roughly and rummaged through his clothes to pull out a potion.
It was a potion given by Parrish before departing for the gate.
While Leber’s medicine was good, nothing was better than potions for immediate effect.
As David swallowed the potion, the burning sensation beneath his bandages disappeared.
[The gate could become Your Highness’s grave.]
Leber’s words came to mind. He had been following David around, opposing his decision since he resolved to go on the expedition.
However, David never gave up on the expedition.
As the crown prince of Bedrokka, he had to fulfill his responsibility. That was the way to repay the privileges he enjoyed and the love he received from the kingdom’s people as a prince.
Exhaling deeply, David raised his sword high.
“From now on, darkness will be waiting for us. If you’re afraid of the dark, rather close your eyes. And thrust your sword straight ahead no matter what. Remember. Always straight ahead. First unit, move out!”
What awaited the Bedrokka subjugation force was the so-called monster curtain.
It surrounds the area with curtains, blocking out even a speck of sunlight, and makes strange noises to drive people into fear.
People fallen into fear attack indiscriminately, ending up killing each other.
It was a monster with a nasty attack pattern.
“When you hear the whistle, this unit will depart!”
David gripped his sword hilt tightly, desperately praying for the first unit to safely escape the monster’s trickery.
At Gate 1.
The momentum of the subjugation force led by Parrish was frightening.
“Fire Magic Arrow!”
As Parrish shouted, arrows of light split the air.
Bang, kaboom, kaboom!
Clean impact sounds rang out and dust clouds rose. All that remained when the dust settled were monster corpses.
However, the advance of the Gate 1 subjugation force was not easy.
As it was the first gate to open, the number of monsters was greater compared to other gates.
As monsters kept appearing endlessly no matter how many they killed, even the previously relaxed Ivory Tower magicians began to tense up.
The situation at Gate 4 was quite different. They advanced with Karan clearing the front with magic while warriors dealt with the smaller monsters.
The know-how accumulated from facing monsters so far also proved its worth.
“Still no contact?”
As Joseph asked, Karan fiddled with the communication stone. The stone remained silent.
What could Elise be doing?
Could Haltbin not have joined up with Elise yet?
Should they break through first at this rate? He wanted to meet Elise quickly and confirm she was safe.
As Karan was thinking while absent-mindedly twirling his sword:
“Magnus nest entrance reached, huff.”
“Ivory Tower nest entrance reached.”
“Bedrokka nest entrance reached.”
“Tetris 2nd unit, nest entrance reached. We see Lady Elise!”
Finally, the long-awaited messages came.
The corners of Karan’s mouth turned up.
“Tetris 1st unit, nest entrance reached. Let’s go raid the nest.”
The warriors all rushed into the narrow passage connected to the nest.
The passage was connected to a massive hall presumed to be Ragnaros’ nest.
As soon as he arrived, Karan searched for Elise. Though it was a vast space, he found Elise quickly. She was in conversation with Haltbin.
“Elise!”
As soon as Karan confirmed Elise was standing firmly on her two legs, he embraced her tightly.
“Elise!”
“Your Highness, you’ve worked hard.”
Karan exhaled a sigh of relief. After holding her for a while, he let go.
“What on earth have you been doing here?”
Elise hesitated and lowered her gaze. Karan’s head naturally lowered as well. And he saw it.
The magic circle drawn on the ground where she stood.
“I just drew a simple magic circle. It’s… for defense.”
Karan’s eyebrows twitched.
‘Elise is lying.’
He had seen this magic circle before.
Isn’t this the magic circle Elise completed as she was dying!
“Elise…”
Karan wanted to know the reason for drawing the magic circle.
Was there something she knew that he didn’t? Would someone die in this battle, so this magic circle needed to be used again? If so, what would happen to her and him?
He had so many questions, but there was no time to ask.
“It’s Ragnaros!”
The ground began to rumble and split. Then, a black head popped out from the center of the hall.
Ragnaros’ main body had awakened.
****
Ragnaros had been asleep for a very long time.
Even by human standards, two thousand years was an excessively long time even for dragons known to live eternally.
It felt even longer because it was a period of sleep brought on by betrayal, not his own will.
He was angry, bored, and irritated. Meanwhile, the one who betrayed him had established a country, and humans had forgotten about him.
The arrogant dragon, once the ruler of the world, could not accept this fact.
He vowed that once he woke up, he would completely destroy this world.
Sleep is death that promises resurrection. His resurrection was, in a sense, predestined.
And when that time came, suddenly the flow of the stars reversed.
Something suddenly pulled at part of Ragnaros’s power. His body took a severe hit.
The reason was soon revealed.
Someone who had reversed time had appeared.
He had avoided being reversed in time, but his plans were twisted.
His mind was fully awake, but having lost part of his power, he couldn’t move his body.
He was more irritated than when he was just sleeping.
Should he wait for his body to recover?
As Ragnaros was contemplating, he was startled.
What was he afraid of, to postpone what he wanted to do?
He was the ruler of all things.
Ragnaros proceeded with his plan.
He opened the gates’ barriers, stimulated the monsters to send them out, and shared his power with them.
However, the stupid monsters failed repeatedly.
Each time he opened a gate, he lost power instead. Anxiety about possibly falling back asleep overwhelmed him. That’s when he met Iris.
Ragnaros received help from Iris.
It hurt his pride to receive help from a human, but thanks to Iris sacrificing humans, he gained the strength to move his massive body.
Ragnaros shared part of his power with Iris.
He hesitated, having been badly betrayed in the past after sharing power with a wolf, but he gave Iris a chance.
Because she was more vicious than monsters, and had an extraordinary attachment to life.
Did she say she wanted revenge?
That foolish being didn’t realize that her misfortune was the fruit of seeds she had sown herself.
Humans are indeed foolish.
Whether they are useful to him or not.
Useless things.
Ragnaros raised his tail and lightly struck the ground.
The earth rippled like waves. Iris’s body bounced into the air and fell to the floor.
“Aaagh!”
Iris woke up with a death scream.
“It’s time to go out.”
Two pairs of Ragnaros’s three pairs of eyes flickered open. The remaining pair was set to open soon.
Stones fell whenever Ragnaros moved. Iris retreated as far back as possible, dodging here and there to avoid being hit by the stones. Iris’s eyes filled with awe as she looked at Ragnaros.
A huge and powerful being had fully awakened.
Ragnaros swung his tail in different directions. He raised his front paw and spread each finger. As he applied force to his feet, his claws dug into the ground.
Ragnaros’s mouth spread wide open. Saliva dripped from his exposed pointed fangs.
Ragnaros spread his large wings and flew upwards. Iris barely managed to cling to the tip of his claw.
He rammed into the ceiling that was blocking above his head. As the ground split, human screams seeped through the cracks. Ecstasy enveloped him.
