Dragon Poor

The entire world was full of death.

The ground looked as if something massive had passed by, it was so scratched up and torn apart that it was impossible for Kim Seon-Hyeok to step foot anywhere. Puddles filled with dark and rich blood were scattered everywhere. 

Death continued without an end.

Droopy monsters with all their tentacles cut off, giants who lost their flesh and became mere blackened bones, bizarre-looking creatures that didn’t look like beasts or anything recognizable - monsters that looked just like the ones that had been hostile inside the storm of time and space were scattered around, dead. 

And in the place where there were the most corpses and the earth was destroyed the most, was a corpse of a dragon.

A sky dragon [1] had his wings broken and was buried in the ground, and yet, his claws still didn’t let go of the enemy’s body he was gripping. A sea dragon with half of his body melted was pressing his front paws down on a corpse that was several times bigger than himself to stop it from rising. An earth dragon was holding his head high with half his jaw crushed, staring out with his eyes wide open as if he was still looking at an enemy in front of him. A white dragon with a gaping hole through his chest had his wings spread wide, looking as if he was blocking something. 

Although their scales were stained black and half-melted as if they had been infected by the plague, and the brilliance normally visible while they were alive was nowhere to be seen, the dragons didn’t look contemptible or unsightly. 

[Long ago, a race fought against a great evil that no one dared to resist to the bitter end, and this is their tomb.]

Kim Seon-Hyeok had been through countless battles, but he had never seen such a tragic yet majestic death. 

[As it was here that Chaos lost its form and was torn to a dozen pieces, it was here that it lost the majority of its power.]

Previously, Kim Seon-Hyeok had heard that in the past, no one ever thought of fighting against Chaos, and only the dragons had come forward to fight against Chaos. As it was something that had happened in the past, Seon-Hyeok had let the information trickle out one ear. But now that he was faced with the dragons’ grave, he felt different about it. 

Kim Seon-Hyeok couldn’t take his eyes off the dragons who died alone while still holding onto thousands of demons. 

“You’ve truly saved the world.”

Even though only one Fragment had appeared, a quarter of the continent turned into a land of death. All the countries located in the West had collapsed, and people who had lived there died and became food for the rotten earth.

The Warrior, who had been chosen as the master of the powerful Divine Spirit, struggled against one Demon King while the Illusionist who would wield the illusionary beasts of the illusionary realm struggled to completely block the incoming horde of demonic monsters. Even if the mages and the knights worked together, they could only stop the demonic beasts from crossing the frontline. 

Could it have been much different in the past? It was difficult for him to know.

But one thing was certain. If the Dragons who died here on this site hadn’t broken Chaos into pieces with their lives, then even if the current era was full of superhumans, their destruction couldn’t be avoided.

“Ha. This f*cking world.”

The moment he realized this fact, Kim Seon-Hyeok’s anger erupted at the unreasonableness of the world.

The Dragons who had stopped the destruction to the point of extinction had been repaid with oblivion. Now, no one remembered the sacrifices and devotions of the Dragons and seeing how there weren’t any records left of them, their deaths were truly lonely and forsaken. 

“After all this, the world is trying to stop you from even coming back.”

The Adjuster of the East had tried to bind him, Kim Seon-Hyeok, to the Adjuster’s fate and separate him from the world. And to say that it was the will of the world, there couldn’t have been someone more ungrateful than that.

“If only to give the world the middle finger, I must make a contract with you.”

[Once a contract is made, it cannot be broken unless one of us dies. Knowing that, your will remains unchanged?]

Ever since he had become a Dragonian Knight, he had been so concerned about the changes to his body and the scales growing on his forearm that even on the day his child had been born, he had been more worried than delighted.

Even on his way here, he thought over and over again that if he made a contract with the Dragon, he may become something other than a human.

But at this moment, he didn’t have any more hesitations.

“If I was planning on going back like this, then I wouldn’t have come this far.”

With that answer, he stood in front of the motionless white gold dragon who was still crouched on the floor. 

[The last member of the White Gold clan left behind in the dark. The ruler of the end of the world where the northerly wind and cold snow blows. The Dragon Lord of the fallen generation. I am Edda, the last survivor of the White and Gold clan.]

The heartbeat that had subsided began to violently beat again.

Pah.

A golden light that seemed to light up the entire world surrounded him and the Dragon.

[That is the name of the one who will share eternity with you.]

And with that, the oath was complete.

    - You have finally achieved full qualifications and succeeded in completing the contract with the Dragon.

    - As the companion of Edda, the Dragon Lord of your generation, you take part in her origin and share her eternity.

    - The 5th class Dragonian Knight has evolved into the final class to become the Dragon Knight of Pledge. 

He had been exhausted from wandering through the storm of time and space, but as always, new energy welled up in his body. And even as his body was recovering, messages continued to echo endlessly in his head.

But at that moment, the endless messages ringing in his head didn’t matter.

“It’s great to see you, Edda.”

All his attention was directed at Edda, who was slowly waking up before his eyes.

Shaaa.

Edda’s tightly closed eyelids lifted up, and gold and silver pupils rolled to look straight at him. 

The different colors on the left and right eyes were very mysterious and beautiful. If time permitted him, Kim Seon-Hyeok would probably have admired those beautiful jewel-like eyes forever. Unfortunately, he wasn’t given the time to enjoy his meeting with Edda.

“Kyaaaak! That damned storm! I’m finally free!”

“I’ll burn everything!”

The storm of time and space had disappeared with the flash of light, and the prisoners that had been trapped in it were pouring out into the world.

And as soon as they came out, they spewed their ugly malice, showing their hatred towards the world.

Each of them was a monster who held powers that didn’t lack when compared to the Demon King Park Sang-Jin. If even one of them were released into the world, then perhaps the Eastern region would survive it, but the Central region who had exhausted its power in the war against the Demon King would not be able to last even a second.

But it wasn’t just one such creature. It was a horde of them. No other catastrophe could compare to this terrible disaster. However, that was only if they were able to escape this place intact.

[Not too bad.]

Edda responded to him in the midst of the monsters clamoring with excitement after being released into the world.

Kwaaaaaaa.

Edda raised her body. As if a mountain was rising, a huge presence instantly spread out and overwhelmed her surroundings.

Halt. 

Until a moment ago, the monsters had been babbling with excitement, but now, as if they had prearranged it, all shut their mouths. 

At this moment, it was Edda who ruled the world, and the vicious monsters were frozen like frogs in front of snakes and they didn’t dare move anymore.

[There is no better opponent than these to announce the start of the unfinished war of the past.]

Simultaneously, she spread her wings wide and flew.

That was the start. The frozen monsters screamed and jumped in all directions. All of them ran in the opposite direction of Edda. 

“We have to stop them!”

Kim Seon-Hyeok watched as the monsters escaped in different directions. He climbed on top of Redvern, who until then had been prostrating in front of Edda as if worshipping her. 

“Summon dra…”

[They cannot escape.]

Before he could finish his call, a gentle breeze swept over Redvern and pressed him down just as he was about to take off.

[As long as I do not allow them, they cannot leave this place.]

As soon as the Dragon finished talking, the powerful storm that had disappeared reappeared and surrounded them from all directions. The huge tornado built up walls of wind everywhere. It didn’t lack at all when compared to the storm of space and time that had previously disappeared.

“Ah…”

Only then did he remember. He finally remembered who had given him the power of the wind.

[Roar, wind.]

It was neither a command nor an order. It was spoken in a soft whisper. However, the result of the whisper was neither soft nor trivial. 

Kaaaaaaaaa. 

The screams of monsters whose limbs were cut off by the sharp wind could be heard everywhere. Soon, even that couldn’t be heard any longer as they were drowned out by the sound of the wind.  

However, a few of the monsters managed to survive the storm.

They were the most vicious of the prisoners who had been roaming in the storm of time and space. They were the Apostles of Chaos who could corrupt the world just by their mere existence. 

“The Cursed Clan! You made us the lost beings of the space and time storm, and now, you’re going to end it in such a miserable way!”

“I should have killed you then!”

The surviving monsters cursed. From what they were saying, it seemed like Edda had something to do with why they had been flying around inside the storm of space and time. 

But that secret held no value now.

Ooooooooh.

As long as Edda, who was flying towards them with breathtaking grace, sentenced them to death, their only fate was inevitable death.

Woosh.

Edda opened her mouth wide and spat out a stream of dazzling golden lights. The monsters who were engulfed by that brilliance were erased from the world without a trace.

“Ah…”

Kim Seon-Hyeok’s mouth dropped open when he saw all the powerful monsters being dealt with so easily. 

“Isn’t this too much?!”

It was only then that he began to understand why the world was trying to prevent the Dragon from returning. 

If such a mighty being had a different mindset, the disaster created by the Demon King’s actions would be nothing compared to the disaster that could be caused by the Dragon.  

Of course, that was only natural. 

The Dragons had waged war against Chaos itself, a complete being that couldn’t be compared to the Fragments. It wouldn’t make sense that Edda, the Lord of such a Dragon race, would struggle against such Fragments.

[Those servants of Chaos are easy as pie.]

Edda returned from slaughtering the monsters with her head held high. The only reason she didn’t sound like she was bragging was that there wasn’t a single part of her that seemed arrogant.

Indeed, Edda really looked like she regarded those powerful monsters as nothing. 

“Then, instead of fighting those small fries, shall we go to a real fight?”

Now, it was time for him to return to those who were desperately waiting for them. Of course, he didn’t know if there was anything there that would really satisfy Edda.

“Let’s go out into the world.”

The northernmost tip of the continent had been separated by the battle against Chaos merged with the world and time began to flow in the Dragons’ tomb, which had stood still for over a thousand years.

In it, the Dragon Lord spread her wings and flew.

1. The word the author used was 비룡 which is defined as a flying dragon. But the other dragons also have wings, so I translated it as sky since it’s related to flying.