Chapter 246

‘Dragon King?’

Lloyd’s eyes went wide the moment he saw the other party.

There had definitely been no one around just a moment ago.

Javier had even checked personally.

And yet something had arrived.

No, it was an animal.

More precisely, it was a lion.

A body larger than an elephant.

Forepaws so massive that even the slightly visible claws looked terrifying.

An enormous mane befitting the dignity of a king.

And on top of that, it had bat-like wings and a scorpion tail.

But its belly was plump and chubby.

It looked so soft and squishy just from looking at it that he almost wanted to touch it once.

So, if he had to infer its identity from that overall appearance…

‘A manticore?’

The moment Lloyd thought of the monster’s name—

The manticore opened its mouth.

“Purr?”

“……”

“Purrr, purr!”

“……”

What was it saying?

Was that supposed to be growling?

Or was it actually trying to say something to him?

But Lloyd showed no reaction at all to the manticore’s roar—or greeting.

He didn’t flinch and step back in fear.

He didn’t let any bewilderment or confusion show on his face.

To be honest, he was confused.

Even so, he endured it with all his might.

He would not show even the slightest sign of agitation.

With that determination, he forcibly locked down his facial muscles and controlled his expression.

The reason was simple.

‘You never know with life. What if that manticore really is the Dragon King?’

That thought crossed his mind.

Thinking about it, it was entirely possible.

‘Dragons are beings that wield powerful magic. I heard that if they want to, they can transform into the appearance of any race.’

So transforming into a monster instead of a human should also be possible.

The moment that thought came to him, he could no longer risk making a careless reaction.

‘Of course! If the Dragon King really has some freaky taste and showed up looking like that, huh? And then I go and get startled or scream or make some weird reaction for no reason, then my first impression score is dead on arrival, isn’t it?’

He absolutely wanted to avoid that worst-case scenario.

He had gone all the way to Hell just to earn the qualifications for Dragon King Sponsorship Membership.

He had spent months suffering through Hell’s heat that rivaled tropical nights while doing construction work there.

And now he was finally about to meet the Dragon King.

He didn’t want to lose first-impression points because of one small mistake.

‘That absolutely cannot happen. The Dragon King has to become the biggest sucker in the world for me.’

An extra life.

Endless wealth.

And on top of that, unknown additional rewards.

The Dragon King was the one who would put the dazzling finishing touch on a sweet-life setup.

So he absolutely did not want to leave a bad impression on the Dragon King.

That was why.

“Ahem, ahem! Javier, wait respectfully.”

First, he restrained Javier.

Just in case the guy drew his sword without reading the room.

After stopping the silver-haired knight, he politely folded both hands together.

Standing there with impeccable manners, he looked up at the manticore with bright, sparkling eyes.

And perhaps that strategy of polite courtesy (?) worked.

The manticore’s expression as it looked at him softened.

It stood up on its hind legs.

It raised its plump body.

Then it began making gestures with its forepaws.

“Purrr? Purr! Purrr!”

“……”

“Purr! Purrr!”

“……Ahaha, ah, yes.”

“Purrr? Purr! Purr?”

“Mm, is that so. Ahahaha.”

An awkward smile cracked across Lloyd’s lips.

Javier quietly sidled up beside him.

Then he whispered in his ear.

‘Lloyd-nim.’

‘Ah, what.’

‘Can you understand what that manticore is saying?’

‘No.’

‘Then…’

‘Just shut up for now. I’m losing my mind too.’

Lloyd wiped away the cold sweat pouring down in waves.

This manticore was different from Ppodong and the other mystical creatures.

He genuinely could not understand in the slightest what this giant chubby lion was babbling about, what its gestures meant, or what it wanted from them.

‘Ugh, old enough to have a balding stomach, and yet…!’

Suddenly, he felt like crying.

If he could, he wanted to pinch that manticore’s pink, round belly, exposed by its bald patch, as hard as possible.

Then, all of a sudden, Lloyd remembered something.

‘Oh, wait.’

Come to think of it, there had been beings mentioned in passing in Iron Blooded Knight.

Dragon King Verkis.

And the story of the five magical beasts who served the Dragon King.

‘Right. It said the Dragon King had attendants like that.’

He couldn’t recall every single one of the five magical beasts.

But he did remember something about the leader of the five being an eight-meter-tall manticore.

‘Then this guy…?’

Lloyd looked up at the manticore again with renewed attention.

A suspicion that had started as a mere possibility gradually turned into certainty.

Then confirmation came first.

“Excuse me.”

Lloyd carefully asked the manticore.

“By any chance, were you sent by Dragon King Verkis?”

“Purr!”

The manticore broke into a wide grin and nodded.

As if relieved that they could finally communicate, it gestured even more energetically.

“Purrr! Purr? Purr!”

“Ah, excuse me, could you gesture a little slower…”

“Purr? Purrr! Purr!”

“So, you’re saying you came as a messenger from Dragon King Verkis?”

“Purrr! Purr!”

“Ah, and that means you’ve come to take me with you?”

“Purr!”

The manticore nodded again.

Then it stuck out its thick, plump rump toward them and flopped down.

After that, it glanced back at them and jerked its chin toward its own back.

“Purrr!”

“……You want me to get on your back?”

“Purr!”

“……”

Apparently that was exactly what it meant.

Lloyd exchanged a look with Javier.

Javier also nodded.

‘If anything happens, I will protect you.’

A manticore was undeniably a top-tier magical beast.

An enraged manticore could wipe out an entire elite human army on its own.

It had a body size similar to Ppodong’s, but its combat power far surpassed Ppodong’s.

And if it was a manticore that old, then it would surely be a battle-hardened veteran with immense experience.

If Javier had not been by his side?

He would have had to pray he didn’t end up as an impromptu snack.

‘Still, thank god this guy’s here.’

He suddenly felt much more reassured.

Thanks to that, he was able to trustingly (?) climb up onto the manticore’s back together with Javier.

“Uh, mm, I look forward to your help.”

“Purr!”

The manticore snorted as if telling him to leave it to him.

And then a run far beyond imagination began.

Thwoooom!

“…Mmph!”

Acceleration so sudden it was absurd.

The ground vanished in an instant.

No, the surrounding scenery was being shoved away at overwhelming speed.

Only because he instinctively grabbed a fistful of mane was he not thrown off.

Only then did Lloyd properly grasp the situation.

‘Why is this thing running so fast?’

The manticore’s sprint was truly outrageously fast.

He was used to riding Ppodong while running.

He was used to flying on Ggoming too.

But the manticore’s sprint was far faster than either of theirs.

How fast?

Fast enough that it became difficult to breathe because of the headwind.

‘Guaaah!’

Fwooooooosh!

The headwind came blasting at him with overwhelming force.

All the muscles and skin on his face were pressed and warped by the gale.

The air entering his nostrils felt like an invading army.

It felt as if the wind pressure had forcibly expanded his nostrils threefold.

Only after hurriedly lowering his head could Lloyd barely manage to breathe out.

And then he wondered.

‘What about Javier?’

This was his chance.

That thought suddenly occurred to him.

A monstrous headwind was crashing into them hard enough to flatten and distort even the skin and muscles of the face.

No matter how much of a Javier he was, surely even now he’d be wearing a gloriously humiliating expression, right?

Lloyd felt his heart pound with anticipation.

‘At times like this, I need a smartphone!’

Then he could take a humiliation photo and keep it forever for the rest of his life.

Filled with a mixture of anticipation and regret, Lloyd tossed his gaze toward Javier.

And then he had to discover Javier calmly looking back at him with a perfectly normal (?) face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…Huh?”

“For some reason, your eyes seem much brighter than usual.”

“……”

Lloyd was left speechless.

Because Javier’s face was completely fine.

Even in this storm-like headwind, his face was not distorted in the slightest.

Not even a single eyelash fluttered.

‘This is cheating!’

Unable to believe it, Lloyd screamed inwardly.

But perhaps Javier had somehow noticed how he was feeling.

He let out a faint smirk.

“You seem to be wondering why my face alone is completely unaffected right now.”

“……”

“It’s because I’m a Grand Master.”

“……”

“I’m circulating mana. As it happens, lately I’ve been researching a technique to raise the body’s external resistance to its limit. According to my calculations, it seems I can raise the skin’s strength, elasticity, and toughness to roughly the level of steel. Like now.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“It isn’t.”

“How?!”

“Like this.”

Sssshhh…!

Javier raised one hand.

He held up his index finger and lightly traced the air.

A thin line of shining Aura flowed from the tip of his finger.

Following the motion of his hand, it began drawing a picture in midair.

But the picture was strange.

It was a person’s face.

It was hideously ugly.

It looked like someone had pulled a stocking over a face and then stretched it a hundred meters.

Lloyd furrowed his brow hard.

“What is this half-formed shriveled face?”

“It’s your current face, Lloyd-nim.”

“……”

“It’s true. Quite impressive, really. Usually, you have a fairly ordinary face with nothing much to see, but right now, with the wind crushing, flattening, and flapping it all over the place, it gives off such an intense impression that even one passing glance would be unforgettable for life.”

“……”

“How should I put it? It looks like a reinterpretation of the human face as a material from an entirely new perspective. It’s incredibly intense and dynamic, while at the same time brimming with asymmetrical uniqueness and specificity. That peculiar disharmony is creating a dimensional quality and distinctiveness that escapes uniformity. Very impressive. It feels as though I am witnessing a new standard of intense asymmetry.”

“……”

Could you not marvel at someone else’s face like you’re describing modern art?

Lloyd swallowed a groan.

He couldn’t even bring himself to argue.

At that moment, the manticore slightly changed the direction of its run.

The wind slammed straight into his face.

And in that instant, his lips flapped wildly.

So even if he loaded up a rebuttal, he couldn’t fire it.

So all he could do was swallow tears of blood inwardly.

Someday, he would repay this humiliation.

He engraved that vow in his heart.

Beside him, Javier continued in a serious tone.

“At any rate, the truly impossible thing here is this unbelievable sprint of the manticore.”

“…Mmgh, y-yeah, I was thinking that too.”

He answered with his head ducked hard against the wind.

Javier’s reply came back.

“I suspect the Dragon King has cast some special magic on this manticore.”

“Seems likely, right?”

“Yes.”

That had to be it.

No matter how top-tier a magical beast a manticore was, this kind of sprinting speed made no sense.

This was simply a speed that cleanly surpassed biological limits.

‘The Dragon King really is something else.’

What did it feel like to be born as a being like that?

What kind of golden spoon—no, diamond spoon—did one have to be born with, after accumulating merits over three lifetimes, to be born as such a powerful and enviable existence?

‘Would saving a country a hundred times in your past life do it?’

He felt jealous all over again.

While he was thinking that, the surrounding scenery flew past.

They crossed hills and rivers.

They cut through fields and wilderness.

They passed several villages and cities.

They leaped over lakes and passed through valleys.

Finally, they climbed a massive mountainside.

There, a huge cave awaited them.

‘The Dragon Cave?’

Gafel, the neutral independent city.

The Dragon Mountain said to be there came to mind.

The place where Dragon King Verkis quietly resided.

Apparently, the cave before his eyes was that very Dragon Cave on Dragon Mountain.

“Purr!”

The manticore’s sprint continued straight into the cave.

Soon, it passed without hesitation through a complex set of well-maintained corridors.

Lloyd’s gaze grew serious as he looked around the passageways.

‘As expected.’

This really was the Dragon Cave.

And more than that, even though everything was passing by too fast to inspect closely, this place was an extraordinary structure.

‘They carved out and hollowed out the entire inside of the mountain. They’ve used the entire bedrock mass making up the mountain as the outer shell of the dungeon.’

To carry out construction on this scale—

To dare attempt engineering of this sort—

Exactly how much capital and manpower would it require?

Just thinking about it made him feel dizzy.

No matter how much he had skills like Underground Scanning and Blueprint Output.

Even with the help of mystical creatures.

If he had to carry out a transcendentally massive project like this, one that used the mountain’s very bedrock as the material, he felt it would take at least ten years.

‘No, this wouldn’t even be possible in ten years. This is seriously insane.’

Seeing the interior of this dungeon with his own eyes made the absurdity of the Dragon King’s existence hit him in the skin.

It couldn’t even be compared to Solitas’s dungeon back when he had just become an adult dragon.

That was how overwhelming this place was.

And so Lloyd felt excitement rise in him.

‘That kind of being is going to become my sponsor.’

There are a few realistically important elements in life.

A warm and loving family.

Enough assets to live well.

And powerful backing you can rely on at any time—school ties, hometown ties, blood ties, and the like.

But now, as for him?

He was about to secure the final element—backing—at an endgame-boss level.

The warm and loving people of the Frontera family.

The ample assets of the estate.

And on top of that, the Dragon King’s sponsorship.

Now his sweet-life setup was truly on the verge of being complete.

‘Lululululu, heh-heh-heh!’

A tune naturally escaped his lips.

That humming did not stop even when the manticore’s sprint finally came to an end, nor even when he got down from its back.

As soon as he stepped onto the ground, he even went so far as to do a small step of joy.

He was guided to the deepest part of the Dragon Cave.

“Purrr! Purr!”

At the final bend in the corridor.

The moment he turned the corner, an enormous cavern greeted him.

Its length and width each looked to be several kilometers at the least.

Even the ceiling was dizzyingly vast.

It was a space large enough that several dragons with body lengths of around two hundred meters could team up and play a full-court basketball game.

That space was covered in countless treasures of gold and silver.

But Lloyd did not have his eyes stolen by that vast space, nor by the overwhelming amount of treasure filling it.

He couldn’t.

At the center of the dungeon cavern.

There, placed without any care at all, was a sofa.

And the being sprawled across that sofa seized his gaze far too strongly.

Was it because of Dragon King-like charisma?

Or overwhelming dignity?

No.

‘Why is a shut-in couch potato showing up here…?’

Like a father lying down on a weekend afternoon with a baseball game on, saying, “Dad’s not sleeping.”

That kind of complete unity.

A being literally sprawled there as one with the sofa.

Was this a sofa, or was it the Dragon King?

A being that looked like it might mutter in its sleep that there had never been a Dragon King like this before.

That was Lloyd’s first impression of Dragon King Verkis.