Chapter 215
Physical and magical resistance had reached its peak within the dragon’s bones.
Yet the curses of the evil spirits controlled by Chronos were easily shattering even that.
The Bone Dragon’s bones were corroding, and its hearts were decaying along with them.
The Bone Dragon’s former self was the dragon Arcana.
Dragons leave their hearts behind when they die.
The Bone Dragon would be no different.
‘The hearts must be preserved intact.’
A dragon’s heart is the finest material.
It is a tremendous aid in manipulating Mana.
Embed it into an equipment core and your Mana output skyrockets, dragon magic can be added as an option, and casting high-level spells becomes far easier.
And that’s not all.
Made into a tool, it functions as an infinite power source.
Used in barriers or talismans, its effects can be applied permanently, making its applications nearly limitless.
Consumed, it can even grant a Class related to ‘Dragon’ on rare occasions.
It was a treasure that could never be discarded.
「……」
Chronos suddenly stopped moving.
All attacks and curses ceased at once.
But dissatisfaction remained in his posture.
Chronos was determined to destroy Arcana of Despair.
Naturally, Park Chan-woo could feel that emotion as well.
Chronos’s tangled feelings toward Arcana—the Bone Dragon—were a mixture of hatred and affection, pure ambivalence.
…Chronos stared at Park Chan-woo with eyes full of disappointment.
‘You stopped me over a single dragon heart?’
Why would he stop him?
There was only one reason.
Because he coveted the dragon’s heart.
Though hideously corrupted, that heart was real.
It belonged to Arcana, the former leader of the Tribe of Despair.
The Mana sealed within it was enough to shake heaven and earth.
And a dragon’s heart was renowned as an omnipotent treasure for a reason.
A supreme prize no magician—no one—could refuse.
There was no way Park Chan-woo would miss this chance.
‘…Did I expect too much?’
The first recognizer.
The very fact that he recognized Chronos proved he contained an error.
Park Chan-woo had mastered Transcender Lil’s Authority.
He had achieved what should have been impossible for a mortal.
He even possessed the Sealed Demon God’s Grail.
Any one of those was unprecedented.
Yet all of it existed within a single human.
What was more shocking was that it didn’t end there.
Park Chan-woo’s existence was truly incomprehensible.
Chronos could not approach his true nature.
Whenever he tried, an instinctive fear stopped him.
Unknowable. Impossible to figure out.
A great error.
And so, Chronos had expectations.
Someone beyond the common sense of a being who had lived for eons.
He believed Park Chan-woo might be able to mend his curse and his errors.
He thought that upright will and brilliant soul might even be able to save the Abyss.
‘It was a delusion.’
It had all been a delusion.
Park Chan-woo was nothing more than a madman obsessed with power.
A man who lived only for the desire to grow stronger.
Could Arcana’s hideously corrupted heart truly be intact?
It was saturated with curses to the point it couldn’t be used properly.
More than anything…
…Park Chan-woo would have understood Chronos’s tangled feelings.
He could not have been unaware of Chronos’s desire—to erase the Bone Dragon and preserve the dazzling Arcana in memory.
Yet he ignored that sincerity.
He chose his own greed.
In the end, Park Chan-woo was just another human.
A human inevitably wrapped in desire and stubbornness.
Thud.
Park Chan-woo walked toward the fallen Bone Dragon.
Standing close, he slowly reached out.
“Arcana.”
He did not touch the dragon’s heart.
He placed his hand on the Bone Dragon’s cheek—its body toppled and sprawled on the floor—and spoke its name.
“Do you have something you want to tell me?”
…What was he doing?
Both Ataraxia and Chronos could only stare, baffled.
The Bone Dragon was a false existence made from a dragon’s corpse.
Its mind and body were merely being controlled.
Its soul was already gone, and it should have no will remaining.
Speaking to it should have been impossible.
But—
‘I can hear it.’
Park Chan-woo could hear it.
Arcana’s voice—the sound of a vengeful spirit trapped within a curse.
—Yo, ur, H, ighness…….
Arcana’s last remaining will.
It raised its head toward Park Chan-woo.
—Sa, ve… th, em… I, wa, ited… Dr, agon, G, od, Sephiro, …!
Arcana’s will hovered above the Bone Dragon’s head, then seeped into Park Chan-woo.
And then he saw it.
The entire hidden history.
Why Arcana became a Bone Dragon.
Why he was on the 20th floor of the Tower of God.
—
There was only one way to end the meaningless war.
The Great Ten Lords.
The gods of the demons who ruled the Abyss.
If he negotiated with them, the war could be ended.
At least, if he could find even one who was reasonable.
After that, Arcana did everything he could to reach the Ten Lords.
“Arcana of Despair. You’ve managed to enter my domain.”
“Lord of the Great Evil! I earnestly beg you—please end this war.”
He was one of the Great Ten Lords.
A being known as the Lord of the Great Evil.
Arcana stood before him in tatters.
He had barely made it here, yet he still dared to stand before the Lord of the Great Evil, in a state where dying at any moment would not have been strange.
The Lord of the Great Evil sneered.
“Haha! You want to end the war? Then go tell your master. Tell him to bow his head before us.”
“Dragon God Sephiro has no interest in this war.”
“How amusing. The one who started the war has no interest in it?”
“……”
“You know nothing, do you? Well, he’s a man who only cares about himself. There’s no way he’d share his plans with you.”
“What exactly are you saying…?”
“Tsk, tsk. Poor fools who don’t even realize they’re puppets being controlled. Sephiro isn’t as holy as you think. However—”
The Lord of the Great Evil studied Arcana with interest.
“You’re a little different. You’ve broken free of Sephiro’s spell, just a bit.”
Spell?
Did he mean he had been placed under magic?
The Lord of the Great Evil smiled.
“Let’s make a bet. If you win, I’ll do my best to end this war. But if I win, you are mine.”
“…What kind of bet?”
“I want to see whether Sephiro will take interest when a proud dragon falls.”
“You’re going to corrupt me?”
“Yes. I’m going to make you a Bone Dragon.”
“……What?”
Turning a dragon into an undead.
It was madness.
To turn a dragon undead, it had to be done while it still lived.
In other words, it could only happen if the dragon consented.
“It would be unprecedented in the history of the dragon race. What do you think? Wouldn’t Sephiro find it interesting?”
…That was why it was possible.
Because it had never happened.
A dragon becoming undead by its own will.
A disgrace that could never be allowed, even if it meant death.
But it might draw Sephiro’s attention.
Arcana hesitated.
His death was inevitable.
Having come before the Lord of the Great Evil, he could not leave alive.
“Can you swear before the Shadow Reaper of the covenant?”
“Of course.”
The Lord of the Great Evil nodded.
A vow before the Shadow Reaper of the covenant bound even the Great Ten Lords.
It was not a bad bet.
And if he could win—
‘I can end this war.’
No more of his clan would have to die.
No more young dragons would have to be sacrificed.
But…
Would Sephiro truly care?
Dragon God. Master of dragons. An absolute being the Great Ten Lords could not touch lightly.
A being who cared only for what interested him.
‘One last time.’
I want to believe.
Lord Sephiro.
My master.
“…All right. If my death can end this meaningless war, I will gladly do it.”
Please watch over us dragons.
—
Arcana became a Bone Dragon.
Time flowed without mercy.
A long time passed, and then more time passed.
The Sephiro he had waited for never appeared.
Arcana waited.
And waited.
He believed Sephiro would come and end the war.
He didn’t even need Sephiro to be interested in him.
If the Dragon God saved the dragons, Arcana could die smiling.
“Sephiro doesn’t seem to care about you.”
Even the Lord of the Great Evil abandoned Arcana after he became a Bone Dragon.
Forgotten by everyone, Arcana drifted through the rifts.
Still, Arcana waited.
He waited and waited.
And finally—
—Se, phi, ro, …!
…He appeared.
Sephiro appeared.
The holy one had not forgotten him.
Now the war would end.
This meaningless war would finally be over.
“You’ve suffered.”
What?
“I will not forget your noble will.”
Ah…
“Arcana, leader of the Despair Clan. Your sacrifice has saved all dragons.”
Ahhh…!
“The war is over, so you can close your eyes in peace now.”
Whirr, whirr, whirr—!
The curse surged out.
A vast curse accumulated over countless eons burst from the Bone Dragon’s body.
“……!”
「Arcana……!」
Ataraxia and Chronos could only stare in shock.
Scales formed over the Bone Dragon’s bones.
Soon, the Bone Dragon regained the appearance of Arcana in his prime.
The Dragon of Despair.
Arcana, master of despair, stood upon the ground.
His majesty overwhelmed everything in an instant.
But—
Fssssssss!
Thud, thud, thud!
It didn’t last.
Bones and scales fell in heaps, losing shape.
Before long, everything shattered, leaving no trace of a dragon.
“…I think he wanted to show us one last thing.”
Ataraxia spoke in a trembling voice.
The reason Arcana had briefly completed his true form—
“He wanted to show the great one it wasn’t over… that the dragon’s will is eternal…”
He had proven it.
Though he became a Bone Dragon.
Though he was hideously corrupted and lost his original form.
He wanted to prove to Sephiro that he had not truly been corrupted.
Was that why?
The corpse did not disappear.
Not the bones, not the scales—nor even the hearts.
Arcana’s noble will had overcome even the curse of the Abyss.
Ting!
[You have hunted the ‘bone dragon.’]
[One of the five wills of the Tower, the ‘Will of Mana,’ is greatly moved.]
[You have acquired the Scale of Despair, the Bone of Despair, and the Heart of Despair.]
[You have acquired a ‘Platinum Box (★★★★★★).’]
[You have acquired 1 ‘Special Spirit Stone.’]
[You have perfectly completed the ‘Epic of Dragon Arcana.’]
[…Arcana wandered through the rifts and was captured by the ‘Illusion Lord.’ Afterward, he entered the ‘Tower of God’ and waited endlessly for someone.]
[You have satisfied all the ‘Hidden Pieces’ that exist up to the 20th floor.]
[Arcana’s curse has been lifted, and his soul has been saved.]
[Arcana’s soul begins to shine brilliantly.]
[The Divine Stigmata, ‘Easter Egg(003),’ has been completed!]