Ch. 91
Most of my mana was drained in one go. It had been a long time since I felt so lacking in mana.
A strange sound echoed around Rai, and a massive gray light blocked the people’s path.
Shoooaaah.
It was a piercingly painful sound.
Like scraping metal, yet deeper and even stranger.
Suddenly, the light from the breath attack cast a dark shadow in front of me.
The thing creating the shadow was a massive shield, which I assumed was Rai.
With a deafening noise, Rai had transformed into a gigantic shield.
“A shield?”
The shield, about half the size of the dragon, was plain and round with no patterns or decorations—just immensely large.
The ugly, dark shield was hard to believe, but it was blocking the breath attack.
Around the edges of the shield, where it collided with the breath’s light, white remnants of the breath leaked out.
And wherever that light touched the ground, it turned everything to dust without a trace.
I was stunned at the power of the breath and amazed again at Rai, who was blocking it. Grabbing the king’s wrist in a hurry, I started moving back.
“What is that…!”
“Get up!”
The king stumbled after me, but Rai was being pushed back by the force of the breath, scraping along the ground.
Kagagagak!
“What?”
“Ah, get back! Move!”
People panicked and started running in confusion at the sight of the sudden, massive shield.
Did they realize that rough shield, Rai, was saving their lives?
A flicker of hope appeared on people’s faces as they realized they had survived, but that relief didn’t last long.
The breath attack wasn’t something that stopped after one shot.
“That’s insane!”
No wonder it’s called the strongest weapon in the Middle Realm.
With the breath continuing nonstop, I shoved the king toward the outskirts and ran toward Rai.
A huge crack started to form on Rai’s shining shield.
“Rai! Don’t die!”
[Ma…ster, ugh…]
I wanted to survive, but that didn’t mean I wanted Rai to die while I alone survived.
Others might see it as just a chunk of iron, but I could see Rai desperately struggling to hold on.
No matter how heartless I was, I couldn’t abandon my spirit and run away.
Standing there felt like defying gravity itself.
I forced myself to walk forward through the crushing pressure, when someone grabbed my arm.
It was Rashamu.
“What are you doing! Get out of the way!”
Most people had managed to escape while Rai blocked the breath.
Seeing people scatter in all directions made me a bit relieved, and I also wished everyone would recognize how remarkable Rai was.
The situation had flipped, with the dragon and Rai now facing off directly.
“Rashamu!”
“Let’s run!”
“I’m fine! Please take care of His Majesty!”
“What!”
A little distance away, I could see the king desperately signaling to me.
But I couldn’t leave Rai behind.
“I need to… stay by that shield!”
-Pakakakak!
An ominous sound.
Unable to withstand the continued pressure of the breath, the edges of the shield began to crumble.
What happens if Rai shatters like that? Will Rai get forcefully sent back to the spirit world, like Undine? But Rai… this was his real body.
He said he was different from Undine.
“Rai!”
I shook off Rashamu’s hand and ran behind the shield.
I’d long since kicked off my shoes, so I was barefoot.
[Ma, Master! I… can’t…!]
“Stop it! So what if you’re a dragon! How long are you going to keep coming at us! Enough already!”
Rai’s going to die!
I yelled, and at that moment, as if it were a lie, the breath stopped.
At the same time, Rai melted into a shapeless puddle at my feet.
[Will you… praise me this time…?] (T/N: Awww, my boy Rai. You did an awesome job!)
You’re really trying to make me cry!
Before I knew it, with tears in my eyes, I picked up Rai, who had reverted to the shape of a snake.
His once-white body was gone, replaced by a pitiful, broken, tailless form. It hurt to look at.
“Rai.”
[I… did my best… please, no more… being a snake…]
Rai was mumbling nonsense, clearly exhausted.
I carefully held Rai so he wouldn’t crumble away.
For a moment, I foolishly forgot about the dragon.
[What is that? Huh? What is that, what is that?]
“Uh?”
The dragon, who just moments ago had been raging and unleashing deadly breath, now pushed his head toward me with sparkling eyes.
Panting like a giant puppy, his breathing was loud enough to hurt my ears.
[What is that? Huh? It’s really tough!]
I hadn’t planned on revealing Rai’s true nature to anyone, but since everyone had run far away and the one asking wasn’t even a person but a dragon, I finally opened my mouth.
Reluctantly, not wanting to die.
“It’s… a spirit?”
[A spirit!]
“A metal spirit, Rai…”
[Give it to me!]
The dragon’s sudden change in attitude left me speechless.
The dragon’s huge hand grabbed me. My bones hurt. I felt myself being lifted off the ground.
“Kyaaah!”
In an instant, I was far from the ground, in the air.
I was caught in the dragon’s hand.
Wait! This is too high!
Why did it grab me!
I couldn’t process what was happening, and suddenly being flown up made me dizzy.
Looking down, I felt sick as I saw the palace reduced to the size of a fingernail.
And below my feet, the mountains of jewels stretched out like the Milky Way.
The jewels were being sucked one after another into a black hole.
To see so many jewels and mithril in my lifetime…
No, to see a dragon! And now to be caught by one… Huh? Is this even real?
Did I maybe fall asleep in the bath this morning and start dreaming?
It’d make more sense if this was all a dream.
[Teleport.]
Tele… warp! Huh? Aaaagh!
Nooo!
* * *
[Hey! Wake up.]
At the sudden voice, my eyes snapped open as if I had never been unconscious.
It felt like my sunken consciousness was being pulled to the surface, and my body began to move on its own, against my will.
Why was that? For a moment, my body felt strangely disconnected from myself, as if it didn’t belong to me.
Before I knew it, I was sitting upright with my eyes open.
“Ughhuhh.”
But my vision was spinning and my head was so dizzy that I couldn’t see anything at all.
I was too disoriented to even figure out where I was.
It was the after-effect of teleportation magic—a near taboo for me—leaving me completely out of it.
Nonsense sounds kept slipping from my mouth, and my head wobbled uncontrollably like a newborn. I couldn’t control my body at all.
“What’s wrong with them?”
Should I wear a sign on my face or something?
No Teleporting for This One—like that?
How far did we even travel for me to feel this terrible?
[Get a hold of yourself!]
That voice again.
There was an irresistible force in the tone, as if it struck the back of my head.
How should I put it? Every cell in my body felt compelled to obey.
Like an animal going flat against the ground when it senses a life-threatening danger.
Ignoring my own will, my body simply followed the command.
I get it. This must be [Dragon Tongue].
The language dragons use, infamous for its overwhelming compulsion.
“Huh?”
As if by magic, my mind cleared instantly, dulled senses came back to life, and everything around me rushed into focus.
Without moving from my sitting position, I rolled my eyes around.
I was probably inside a cave—a vast, endless space where even the far end was lost to darkness.
It was so huge, you could probably fit dozens of palace banquet halls inside.
And embedded in the distant, high ceiling were countless glowing magic stones, scattered like grains.
‘Is this… could this be the legendary dragon’s lair?’
Then where was the dragon? Where was Rai?
Just as I realized I couldn’t see what should have been by my side, Rai’s voice rang out.
[Master!]
“Whew, I’m exhausted after using [Dragon Tongue] twice. Hey! Human!”
A deep, raspy, throaty voice followed.
There was no doubt it was the dragon, and I tensed up as I looked around.
