Chapter 145
Most caves in the world have owners.
A tiger’s den belongs to a tiger.
A snake’s burrow to a coiled viper.
And in the cozy cave of a bear, a brown bear sleeps through the winter.
The Flame Cavern, located at the southern end of the Eastern Mountains, was no exception.
“I just… don’t want to be single anymore.”
From the deepest part of the Flame Cavern came a heavy sigh filled with regret.
Then—’krggk, kuuung!’
A massive body shifted.
A 170-meter-long creature turned its weight, and the ground itself trembled as if an entire hill had moved.
Just that motion alone, the simple act of rolling over, sent shockwaves through the dungeon.
Six thousand tons of living mass shook the chamber.
The master of the Flame Cavern, the Red Dragon Solitas, murmured bitterly.
“I’m so… lonely.”
His sigh echoed through the vast dungeon, but no one replied.
Only the faraway walls sent his voice back in empty echoes.
That silence made the Red Dragon even more miserable.
‘Damn. If I at least had some treasure piled up, the echoes wouldn’t sound this hollow.’
Solitas’s red eyes swept irritably across the cavern.
It was barren.
There were no crowns, no treasure chests, no jewels, not even a single pile of gold coins.
For a dragon’s den, it was absurdly empty.
In short, he was a penniless dragon.
‘Tch. No wonder I can’t find a mate.’
His mood worsened as he let out another weary breath.
‘Sometimes I wish I wasn’t even a dragon.’
If he’d been born human instead…
Maybe he wouldn’t have had to suffer under this ridiculous pressure—
that to get married, one must first amass mountains of gold and jewels.
‘Humans just till a bit of soil, meet someone, have kids, and live out their lives peacefully, don’t they?’
If any young person from 21st-century Korea had heard that, they would’ve frantically looked around for their lost sense of disbelief.
But Solitas, unaware of such modern irony, simply sighed again.
‘Ahhh… I want to get married. I want a mate.’
But to marry, he needed wealth.
And he had none.
Without gold and jewels in his hoard, how would he feed a hatchling?
Gold and jewels were food for dragon offspring.
And since he had none stored up, no dragon would ever want him as a partner.
That was the problem.
‘If this were the old days, I could’ve just raided a city or threatened a king. Easy.’
Another sigh rumbled out of his massive jaws.
He remembered his mother telling him that centuries ago, dragons had it much easier.
It wasn’t so hard to build a hoard back then.
‘They’d raid cities and intimidate rulers, or kidnap hundreds of dwarven craftsmen for forced labor. Or maybe they’d just steal entire vaults of treasure from greedy nobles. Simple.’
That’s how dragons of the old generation built their fortunes and married easily.
But now?
That was no longer allowed.
Because of the “Dragon’s Law” — a decree established centuries ago by the ancient Dragon King Berkis, supported by the elder dragons of that era.
‘Damn that stupid Dragon’s Law!’
Its enforcement was absolute.
No more raiding human cities.
No more threats.
No more enslaving dwarves.
The law forbade dragons from harming other races without clear cause — a world-spanning peace declaration meant to maintain balance among all species.
‘Peace, my tail! Those old dragons plundered humans to their hearts’ content, stacked up their gold, and ‘then’ decided to play saints? Hypocritical old geezers!’
Sure, King Berkis married a human girl.
Sure, he defeated the Demon Dragon that once burned the world.
Sure, his law brought peace and prosperity to all races.
But to Solitas — a young 1,050-year-old dragon barely into adulthood — none of that mattered.
Especially not the “New Guidelines for Treasure Accumulation” recommended by the law.
‘No raiding or coercion. Seek your own mineral veins. Use your superior strength and magic to mine deep within the mantle, where humans and dwarves can’t reach. Then refine those minerals with your own craftsmanship into treasures… Damn it all.’
That was the problem.
Solitas ‘had’ tried to follow the guidelines.
The moment he left his mother’s care, he went searching for mineral veins.
Dozens of kilometers beneath the earth, deep within the mantle, he found a diamond vein.
He mined tons of diamond ore with his superior strength.
And then… he failed.
‘I couldn’t process them properly.’
He’d tried.
He’d really tried.
But the results were awful.
Every gemstone came out uneven, scratched, and ugly.
He couldn’t cut them symmetrically or polish them right.
Out of a hundred diamonds, not a single success.
The reason was simple.
‘Damn these clumsy hands!’
He cursed his miserable craftsmanship.
No matter how much he practiced, he never improved.
A dragon with the hands of a caveman—
that was him.
He could mine all he wanted, but he couldn’t refine the stones into treasures.
His failures piled up, but his hoard did not.
And flawed gems had no value.
‘So yeah. I’m a failure. I’ve been independent for fifty years and still haven’t built a proper hoard.’
Another sigh.
‘I need treasure. I need it for the hatchlings I’ll have one day. Without it, they’ll starve to death. Who’d marry a broke dragon like me?’
No matter how he looked at it, he was hopeless—
zero competitiveness in the dragon marriage market.
‘Haaah… Maybe I should just give up on getting married.’
Fifty years since reaching adulthood,
Solitas had started to think that way.
And so, as the young Red Dragon scraped the dungeon floor in frustration—
“…Hm?”
He stopped mid-sigh and lifted his enormous head.
Something was approaching from the outer tunnels.
“Intruders?”
They were still far away, near the dungeon entrance.
But his traps had activated.
He could feel them being destroyed one after another.
Someone was breaking through, heading straight toward the core of his lair.
Solitas extended his transcendent dragon senses.
In an instant, he identified the intruders.
‘Humans. Two of them. How dare they.’
‘Kuung!’
He rose, planting four pillar-like legs into the ground.
His wings—each over 200 meters long—unfolded wide.
A dark aura of killing intent burned in his eyes.
‘Perfect. I’ve been stressed lately anyway.’
He’d tear them to pieces.
‘Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu!’
The dungeon shook as the enraged dragon advanced toward the intruders.
♣
‘Pshhht!’
Acid sprayed out from the stone walls—
a flood of burning liquid that filled the entire passage.
But the surge lasted only a moment.
‘Shrrk—sskak!’
A longsword flashed upward, slicing through the air.
The blade cleaved the space itself—
and with it, the acid flood.
‘Kwaaahak!’
The sword wind howled, pushing every drop of acid back down the corridor.
For an instant, a vacuum opened in the air—
and through it dashed a silver-haired man.
‘Tat-tat-tat!’
Three light steps, and he crossed thirty meters.
He landed, swung, and cut through a magic circle engraved on the floor.
‘Ka-gak! Kuung!’
The carved plate split in two, and the acid flow stopped.
“Haaah.”
Javier exhaled deeply.
That was close.
He hadn’t expected acid of that potency to erupt from the floor.
He turned back.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Came the easy reply from behind.
Lloyd appeared, shrugging casually, and Javier let out a quiet sigh.
‘How did I end up doing ‘this’ with this man…?’
They were literally trespassing into a dragon’s lair.
A suicidal mission if there ever was one.
‘So that “picnic” he mentioned… he was serious.’
He still couldn’t believe it.
Ten days ago, Lloyd had suddenly said they should go on a picnic.
When Javier asked where and why, the answer had been—
“The Dragon’s Lair. We’re going to meet a dragon.”
At the time, he’d assumed it was a joke.
Even when Lloyd packed food and camping gear and saddled their horses, he thought it was just another one of his stunts.
Throughout the ten-day journey, whenever Javier asked again where they were going, Lloyd just shrugged.
“Told you. Dragon’s Lair.”
Of course, Javier thought he was being sarcastic.
He figured Lloyd was hiding their ‘real’ destination.
But no—
now, standing here in an actual dragon’s den—
there was no doubt.
“…Haaah.”
Javier felt a deep existential fatigue.
He truly hadn’t realized his young master was ‘this insane.’
“So,” he asked seriously, “is there really no turning back from here?”
Lloyd raised an eyebrow.
“Nope.”
“……”
“What?”
“……”
“I told you, I’ve got a plan. You just keep clearing the traps.”
“…I can certainly clear them, but—” Javier sighed, “—for how long? Until we meet the dragon itself?”
“Bingo.”
“……”
“We keep going until we find it.”
“……”
“I’ve been saying it from the start, haven’t I? The Dragon’s Lair. To meet a dragon.”
“But—”
“It’s fine. I’ve got a plan. A ‘solid’ one.”
Javier doubted that.
But it was too late to turn back.
‘Guess I’ll have to trust him again.’
Whenever Lloyd had that calm look, it meant he ‘did’ have something up his sleeve.
Every time before, he’d proven it.
So, once more, Javier decided to believe.
‘And if it doesn’t work this time… I’ll just do my best to get him out alive.’
He braced himself.
Whatever happened, he’d protect Lloyd first.
With that resolve, he moved forward—
cutting through another barrage of traps.
‘Shrrrik, clank! Kwo-kwak!’
Acid, lightning, flame.
Poisoned arrows, exploding steam, collapsing rocks, illusions of nightmares, freezing gusts, blinding flashes—
an endless gauntlet that tested every human limit.
But Javier was a [Sword Master].
A being who had surpassed those limits.
Each swing of his sword shattered traps, tore illusions, and split magic apart.
No mechanism could deceive his senses.
No trap could harm him.
After who knew how long,
they finally reached an open chamber.
There, a massive creature covered in crimson scales loomed above them.
“So you’re the humans who dared trespass into my lair.”
‘Kwoooaaah!’
The Red Dragon’s voice was just a question—
but its echo became a storm.
Not an ordinary echo.
“…!”
Javier’s whole body shook.
Every cell screamed under the crushing pressure.
Sensing the wave of killing intent, he moved instantly—
stepping in front of Lloyd, sword raised.
‘Tszzzzz!’
Brilliant light wrapped around his blade.
He expanded his aura outward, matching the dragon’s overwhelming energy.
‘Wuuuuuung!’
The air vibrated violently.
Two pressure waves collided head-on—
and canceled each other out.
Javier had blocked the dragon’s ‘greeting.’
He turned sharply.
“Lloyd-nim! Your plan—now would be a great time!”
The dragon’s next move was obvious.
It inhaled deeply.
‘A breath attack.’
The ultimate weapon of dragons.
It was about to unleash it.
Javier gritted his teeth.
There was no time.
“Lloyd-nim!”
“Oh, the plan’s already in motion.”
“…What?”
“The plan’s already running.”
Javier blinked.
Then Lloyd smiled oddly.
“You.”
“…Me?”
“Yeah. You.”
“……”
“You’re up.”
“……”
“Go on. Fight it.”
“……”
“You’ll win. Easy.”
Javier stared at him in disbelief.
He had to be insane.
But Lloyd’s expression was completely calm—
as if he truly meant it.
Confident. Relaxed.
And then—
‘Kwaaaaaaaah!’
The Red Dragon Solitas opened its jaws.
A nightmare inferno burst forth—
A storm of hellish fire swallowed them whole.