Chapter 157

Jenkinson was embarrassed because Minjun had just looked at him with a very pitiful expression. For a moment, he suspected that the other person might not be a friend but someone else in disguise. 

It was because there is no way that Minjun would refuse Talents. Perhaps he should have asked for more Talents. 

However, Minjun had a reason for that. He was sure his prisoner account would soon be frozen. Even remitting talents with special gift tax on top of that would only increase the committee’s stomach. 

In addition to this, Minjun no longer needed a Talent that existed as data, or a Talent that was deposited into an account. However, it didn’t seem like Jenkinson would be able to deliver anything of any meaningful quality that he needed. And the last reason… 

“Anyway, I think this will be the last time I can do your favor. For now.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Stay here for a while. Don’t even think about following me.” 

Considering what the people at the Tax Collection Headquarters who caught and killed said, they must be the ones who had been messing around in Inais. It was a good opportunity – an opportunity to steadily reduce the number of troops when they dispatched only the size they thought was appropriate. 

“Wait a minute! Minjun!” 

Jenkinson was taken aback by the darkness that enveloped his eyes. He lost sight of Minjun.

“Even if you know the coordinates… How can you get there by yourself?!” 

Teleporting to the other side of the globe consumed a huge amount of mana. It was a kind of magic that must be performed by an ancient dragon or an ancient race. “Minjun!” 

Leaving Jenkinson behind, Minjun reached out into the air. Then, something flew out of the darkness. It was a heterogeneous race with blood flowing from the middle of the forehead while fainting. While holding Yuntus by the scruff of his neck, Minjun tampered with the artifact he had been holding with his other hand. 

It was a space condensation magic tool. With this, the Toads broke containment and, unable to escape, were annihilated while trembling in irrational fear. He manipulated the magic tools while complaining about the crude structure and uncomfortable handling. It was so that the barrier imprisoning Jenkinson would then be released on its own over time. 

If he didn’t do this, Jenkinson would ignore him and follow him all the way to the Amazon. Minjun furrowed his eyebrows. Until the day they were to meet again, that dragon would probably live on. That was, unless there was an unexpected accident. 

‘But the others?’ 

Several faces flashed through his mind. And there he tried to count their remaining lifespan. “…” 

With deeply sunken eyes, Minjun raised his strength. There was no incantation of spells. There was no slow activation peculiar to black magic-type space movement. Minjun and Yuntus disappeared in an instant. 

*** 

Inais felt the limit approaching. ‘My eggs… my eggs…!’ 

To protect the eyeballs, the eyes were tightly closed. There was no fire to be seen on all sides. All he could feel was the intense heat. In an abyss where no life other than a dragon could survive, she endlessly repeated herself. 

Her mind was in a half-dazed state. Inais was afraid. He feared that her own life would end like this, but he feared even more that the shield he had concentrated on her egg before that would break and lose it. It was hopeless that if things continued like this, it would only be a matter of order, and the fearful future would come true one after another. 

‘No. I can’t do that.’ Now she was pouring her eggs into her eggs, drawing on her mana that had kept her alive. Thanks to this, the hellish heat running down her back didn’t pass into her eggshell. All she had to endure in return was the agony of being burned alive. 

The hunters were tenacious. They were truly worthy of being called dragon hunters. Toad wasn’t interested in efficient slaughter. He even seemed to enjoy this process of pushing the dragon into a dead end and slowly cooking it up. The tenacious hatred towards the dragon, accumulated in the last war, made him savor the opportunity that had come after a long time. 

‘They’ll come,’ she said simultaneously to her egg and to herself. They will come to help us.’ 

That was their last hope. Unknowingly, she thought of the dead dragon once again. 

‘Inais, you know that, right? The egg you laid this time is very special to me too. All of my children are special, but this time, it will be even more special.

‘Yes, you understood. They didn’t agree or sympathize with me, but they knew I wanted it and respected it. I want to leave as many children like me in this world as possible. It may sound arrogant, but I think it will be an important asset for the dragons’ future. Few dragons are interested, even though they are biologically designed to give birth to as many children as possible. We need to increase our numbers to beat the ancient races. And… in order to prepare for further threats that may come in the distant future.’ 

‘Hmm? I don’t know what the risk will be. We didn’t expect the ancient races to return in the first place. What if other nightmares that we dismissed as myths and superstitions also come true…? Oh, forget that word. It feels a bit paranoid even after saying it out loud.

‘In that sense, this egg is special. Both in terms of increasing my children and in terms of increasing the number of my own people. I’ve looked through the records again, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. If we can uncover the secret behind this egg’s genes…’

‘Ah, don’t worry! I won’t be able to do anything until the egg hatches. And until then, you’d better keep it a secret from the other dragons. You might be suspected of some type of malformation. Anyway, I’m already preparing for that day. Well, look at this. This time, it’s a magic tool I got from Raymond as a bet. It was made by Endelion. …Ah, don’t be so serious. You don’t have any war experience anyway, do you? And it’s not a weapon, it’s the kind that protects the wearer. So, now that you’ve heard the use, are you interested?’ 

‘Why one? Do not worry about it. I’ll study this from now on and make a copy in the exact same shape…’ 

Inais’s thoughts were interrupted. There was terrible pain. The poisonous weeds were all burnt out, and the exposed bare skin was already half-ripe and scorched. With her thoughts of blacking out, she felt a strong urge to twist her body. 

However, she found that she couldn’t. She tried to stretch out the subspace to hide her egg, but she still remained frozen in the space. The pain in her body made it hard to keep her concentration. 

Moreover, it was already close to exhaustion. Little by little, the defenses she had fashioned from her faltered. 

‘No, no!’ 

The layer of skin on her began to make her feel helpless. She focused on the texture of it in her arms. She felt the surface, which she tried not to overheat, getting hotter little by little. She then began to scream in despair.

Hwaat! 

“·······?!” 

For a moment, Inais was so surprised that she seemed to forget even her pain for a moment. Her fever was waning. The flames that burned and roared around her subsided like lies. 

Instead, what filled the space was thick darkness. It was astonishingly fast. Dense darkness covered all sides. Soon, Inais couldn’t hold anything but herself in her gaze. Her voice penetrated inside her head. Read the most updated version of this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at – “ ”

=Keep crouching there, dragon.= 

She didn’t know who the opponent was, but of course she wasn’t going to move even if she didn’t say that. She felt the frozen space thaw. 

Nevertheless, the completely exhausted dragon couldn’t even dare to wriggle her body. It just pulled together her struggles to harden her body and protect her eggs. She thought in the midst of sadness, joy, and astonishment rushing in like a tide. 

Was it Jenkinson? Did Jenkinson help? The guess was soon confirmed to be true. 

= The creditor of this debt is Jenkinson. That’s all you need to know.=

With that voice at the end, her unknown mind drifted away from Inais. Then all around her was quiet. The darkness that covered the severely damaged skin was considered calm and even cozy. Also, for some reason, Inais felt as if her pain was gradually subsiding. Her skin was peeled off and she had a miserable appearance, like burnt meat, but it seemed that her skin, which had been horribly damaged and oozing, had a cool feeling. Perhaps the relief and ecstasy tricked her brain. 

Inais thought only so. In addition to this, she curled up her body even more, then whispered to her egg. ‘It’s okay now,’ the mind wave within her egg responded. 

=···Really? Are you okay now?= 

=Really? Doesn’t it hurt? = 

The returned mental waves were two strands as before. However, unlike the time when they were confused and terrified, the mental waves of the two resolutions were able to clearly distinguish the contents. Inais perfectly understood her egg’s whispers. She then whispered to the twins that this could be the first time in dragon history. 

‘It’s okay. You’ll be fine now.’ 

***

Minjun managed to take back the lingering gaze he had been spending in the dark. He still had his throat burned, and a motionless dragon lay at his feet. However, he had no intention of laying his hands on that dragon. It was natural not to touch a beast that young. That longing easily turned into irritation and anger. 

“Hey, where is everyone? Damn it, the communicator is dead!” 

“What the hell did this damn dragon… do!” 

“Visibility is impossible! Impossible to see!” 

At this, Minjun turned his head. And he looked at the Toads, who were wandering in bewilderment in the dark. The main culprits who had been slowly learning the dragon until now. 

‘Rod, what did you want from me?’ 

Minjun noticed two souls sharing an eggshell. Multiple embryos following follicular overproduction. In other words, there were twins in one egg. This was something that could not happen among dragons living in this era. 

It was believed, but it was often witnessed in the past. At the time, it was also considered a symbol of good luck. However, to modern Balaur, unexemplified biological traits were ultimately considered deformities. Before hatching, in preparation for an emergency, the Dragon Lord and Inais kept this a secret from their own kind. 

‘There’s no way you’ll make a mistake. There was something I wanted to tell you.’ 

However, he decided to put that question aside for a while. In the darkness, there were noxious beasts that attacked the brooding mother. It had not yet been perfectly decided what kind of future would be presented to the dragon race. In other words, until then, all dragons in this world were theirs. They were still the masters of dragons. And Hae-soo, who touched Minjun’s things, must be saved. 

Roaring! 

With that, the darkness boiled over. 

——-! 

In an instant, terrifying screams began to reverberate through the jungle, where the forest fire had been extinguished. It didn’t last very long. 

*** 

The Prophet opened his eyes, drenched in sweat. “The prophecy has changed.” 

“What? Really?!” The expression of the waiting Orc became serious. Prophecies had been deadlocked for a long time. At this point in time, the days when only the future corresponding to 93 days later were repeated. 

Had something finally changed? Then he might be able to give the agent new information… to the person he trusts most in the world. 

Choi Pan-seok looked at his daughter with a face full of anticipation. Choi Seon-ah calmed down her rapid breathing and gently closed her bulging eyes. She then recounted what she saw. 

“…” Then, she was silent for a while. 

“How did it go?!” 

She sounded unsure. “No… has it not changed?” 

For the first time since his foster daughter had graduated from puberty, the Orc felt violent impulses towards her. However, he simply restrained himself. “…Is it the same scene?” 

She explained her words slowly and calmly, chewing on her own words. “Compared to the past, the scene has definitely changed. But.. I can’t tell if this means the future has changed or if the metaphorical scene she saw before has become more concrete.” 

After hearing the following words, the orc understood the meaning. “Okay.” 

There came deep silence.

“I understand that you will need some time to think.” With this, he got up and looked out his window. The Orc and his daughter both thought in their own ways. 

Choi Pan-seok opened the window. In October, the chilly wind tickled his flat nose. He flipped through the calendar in his head. 93 days later. 

Coincidentally, that day was December 31, 2020. Although ‘New Year’s Eve’ already had many meanings, this year was even more special. 

‘The day the Earth’s new Dragon Lord is elected.’ 

This fact was already known through the media.

He recalled the prophecy Choi Seon-ah had just heard from her. The timing was the same. Last day of 2020. The appearance of the dragons moving somewhere in a row was no different from before. However, at the end of it, the appearance of the existence that awaited has changed. The shadows that flooded the world were still there, but it was said that in the middle there was a person the woman knew and was waiting for them. 

‘Agent Ye Minjun.’ 

Even when only a shadow was visible in the prophecy, Choi Seon-ah guessed that it was the agent. This was because it was a prophecy centered on Minjun, the result had no choice but to come out that way. However, this time the face was clearly revealed, proving that guess true. 

Upon hearing this, the Orc found himself to be very confused. ‘There’s no way that agent could really break the dragon’s goal… could they?’ 

The appearance of the dragons approaching in a line seemed to be respecting someone far away. It was Minjun who was sitting in front of them. Upon closer inspection, the chair Minjun was sitting on looked like a kind of throne. The dragons were approaching him one after another in a row as if they were having an audience with the king. 

At the moment when all the dragons in the world, without exception, gathered, they lay down on the floor. And with infinitely deep respect and respect, he shouted.

‘Guide me. Let me go on the right path. My lord, be praised forever. My Lord, who has transcended time and returned to this place!’ 

The language the dragons were singing was not Korean. The Orc pondered over the meaning of those words. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t deny it. 

In Wisdom, Minjun had risen to the status of a very important being to them. On modern Earth, that position was more important as a representative of the Balaur than as a ruling monarch. The actual election process also chose the democratic method of voting. 

However, what about in the distant past? The Orc quietly meditated on those words. “Dragon Road.” 

Just as the owner of a slave need not be a slave, and the owner of livestock need not be a livestock. A dragon’s lord didn’t have to be a dragon either. “My God… You.,,” 

The Orc desperately realized what kind of existence Minjun had become in the future Choi Seon-ah saw. He was Earth’s new Dragon Lord. 

***

D-93.