Chapter 166 (1/2)
Act 6
Gu-wuwuwung-
KA-BOOOOOM-!
A thunderous noise echoed through the forest. It was the sound of the struggling, howling Titan Turtle finally falling to its side.
“Fuu-woo- Now that was tough.”
No longer feeling tense, Su-hyeun, still stuck inside the Titan Turtle’s shell, used the back of his hand to wipe away the blood and sweat caked to his forehead. It sure had been a while since the last time he had to focus so much in a fight against a single monster.
How fortunate that he knew a way to kill this creature. Otherwise, things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.
<< It would’ve been far harder for dragons to kill this thing. >>
The best way to fight a Titan Turtle was to use blunt weapons. Swords were the next best thing, if you insisted on it. And the worst thing you could do was to indiscriminately pour magical attacks at it.
Meaning, no other creature would be as fearful to a dragon as a Titan Turtle.
Gya-ong, gya-oh-ohng-
It was then that the fatigued-looking Miru began flying toward the Titan Turtle’s carcass. The red dragon looked quite excited about something.
Su-hyeun quietly stared at Miru. His dragon had been excited about something ever since the Titan Turtle appeared.
<< Is he going under the shell? >>
Miru slid inside the Titan Turtle’s shell, where Su-Hyeun had just been. He followed the dragon back inside. Underneath the shell was a mess of blood and flesh, with the Titan Turtle’s severed head slumped over, unmoving.
“Talk about stink,” Su-hyeun muttered with a frown while looking for Miru. Thankfully, the dragon wasn’t far away.
Gya-ohng, gya-ong-!
Miru cried in Su-hyeun’s direction while tapping on the side wall of the shell with the horn on its head.
“You want me to break that?”
Gya-ong-
After hearing Miru’s reply, Su-hyeun pulled out Balmung, which he had sheathed just a few minutes before. The job at hand still wasn’t easy due to the toughness of the shell, but at least the Titan Turtle wasn’t alive and rampaging around, so it was a bit more manageable.
He pounded on the shell for a few minutes on the spot Miru pointed at and it began breaking apart, bit by bit. A short while later….
<< Uh? >>
Su-hyeun discovered a fist-sized reddish marble stuck within the inner part of the shell.
“Is that the Cintamani??”
Su-hyeun’s hands moved even quicker.
Clang, claaaang-!
He continued to break the Titan Turtle’s tough shell down, but in a far more cautious manner, as if he was working on a precious jewel. If this marble was really the Cintamani, then he had to be extra careful not to leave even a small nick.
<< It’s done. >>
For the next hour or so, Su-hyeun worked carefully at extracting the red marble embedded in the monster’s shell. He then cautiously brought it near Miru.
“Hey, Miru. Is this really the Cintamani?”
Growl, grooowl-
Miru stared at the red marble Su-hyeun brought before its nose. And then…
Chomp-
….It bit down on the marble.
Rumble-
Rays of light exploded out from the marble, brightly illuminated the dark interior of the Titan Turtle’s shell.
* * *
It had been three days since Su-hyeun and Miru departed for the Cintanami Forest.
There hadn’t been any news about them so far. Just like always, Karne stared outside the window of the castle while holding a teacup.
“Can you even see anything while doing that?”
Karne turned his head after hearing the voice from behind him. An uninvited guest, Blanc, was sipping tea, just like him. The latter had barged in without warning, saying that he had some good tea with him and personally brewed it for the both of them.
“Of course, I can,” Karne replied.
“Makes sense. I heard that orange-colored dragons can see and sense things the rest of us can’t. Tales of a world far removed from mine.”
Blanc chuckled while saying that and started sipping on his tea again. Fitting for his unfathomable age, he sounded like he had done everything there was to do in this world.
Even though they were quite close in age, Karne still couldn’t understand Blanc.
“Why did you come here today?” Karne asked. “Blanc, I know that you’re not my biggest fan.”
“Indeed. So you do know.”
“So?”
“It’s just that I’d like to know more about the future of our species you have envisioned.”
“I’ve heard that question dozens of times by now. Even now, do you still see me as a selfish bastard who only lives for himself and not for the rest of our people?”
“Well, that’s not really being selfish. But that doesn’t mean I accept your actions to belittle the sacrifices our ancestors made for our sake.”
“You’re still going on about that? Just how much do you distrust me?”
“You already know this, don’t you?” Blanc put the teacup down, the light in his eyes sharpening in an instant. “That they’re not the type to do what you said they did.”
“….I witnessed this all myself.”
“No.” Blanc shook his head. “You were also in hibernation, just like me.”
“Looks like there’s no need to talk about this any further, as it’s the same story as before.”
Karne shook his head, no longer interested in talking, and turned his body away.
But then, Blanc said something different from what had had said in the past. “A red dragon has returned.”
“…”
“And now, it only needs to recover the Cintamani. Then…. we can take this world back.”
Karne’s expression hardened. The Cintamani—Blanc brought up something he’d forgotten about long ago.
“Is that the reason why you’ve been waiting for the red dragons?” Karne asked.
“Well, that’s not the only reason, but…”
“The Cintamani is long gone.” Killing intent spread out from Karne’s eyes. “And the red dragon will definitely die.”
“Karne!!”
“It doesn’t matter what you say, my decision, and the end result, will not change.”
“Even if you’re telling the truth, you can’t destroy our future because of your personal feeli…..”
Blanc couldn’t finish his sentence. He fell silent when he saw Karne’s face suddenly change as he stared out the window.
Seeing Karne stiffen, Blanc began grinning widely, instead. “Looks like they’ve returned.”
Karne.
Out of the current crop of surviving orange-colored dragons, he was easily the oldest of the bunch. He could see and feel what other dragons couldn’t.
And so…