Chapter 75: Dragon

“Mya!?”

“Hey, you really have to speak well of me to your mom, okay!?”

“Miya…?”

Only nonsense came out as he forced his trembling body to run.

“Young Master…!?”

In the midst of it, there was someone who seemed surprised to recognize him and tried to talk to him.

“Out of the way!”

Udangtangtang.

Since his body wasn't properly under control, he ended up hitting the cart the man was pulling as he passed by.

"Sorry! Bill the lord for it!!"

“But…”

There was no time to spare a thought for the frowning domain resident.

He felt such a great pressure that, for this moment, he wished he couldn't feel demonic energy.

Compared to this, the witch who had threatened his life just a few hours ago was just a bug.

Even the demonic energy of the giant beast, Behemoth, which had made him instinctively feel that his father was in danger even from a distance, felt like a cute cat.

‘How on earth did those magician bastards steal the egg from something like this?’

A shivering sense of fear was pressing on all the nerves in his body.

"Damn it, everyone out of the way!!!"

Chwareureuk.

The chains were better than running with a body that wouldn't move properly.

Having judged so, Muno extended the chains from his limbs and pushed his own body up.

Kung. Kung. Kung.

He landed on the roofs of the surrounding buildings and ran on, then.

“Young Master!?”

He wrapped the chains around the railing of the city wall and jumped over the north wall.

“The Young Master is going to war…!”

“It’s not a war!”

“...Us too, huh?”

Kooong.

“Everyone, stand by! Don’t even think about coming out! And keep your heads down!”

“Mya?”

“Ah, no. I wasn't talking to you, Miya. There, there.”

The moment he landed, he forcefully pulled out his legs that were stuck in the ground again and soothed Miya.

Only after seeing that his hands weren't trembling did he realize that he had adapted to the extreme fear to some extent.

Yes, it wasn't gone, it had adapted.

"X-bal……."

His instincts were still screaming at him to turn back and run, with the sense of crisis still coldly drenching his chest.

The only reason he could refrain from doing so was.

- Grrrrrr.

It was thanks to the Demon Devourer, which always expressed endless hostility towards beings with demonic energy from a corner of his soul.

"Alright, let's die."

“Mya?!”

“I wasn't talking to you!”

“Mya?”

"We're going to your mom! No, is it your dad if it's this bloodthirsty? X-bal."

“Mya?!”

"I said I wasn't cursing at you!?"

Pababak.

Muno's running, with Miya in his arms, gradually picked up speed.

However.

'Ugh, it's so fast.'

The speed at which Miya's mom-dad(?) was approaching was overwhelmingly faster than his own progress towards the northern mountain range.

'It's getting closer and closer. It's flying. Damn it.'

What if the monster flying from over there attacked without asking any questions?

He felt that the aftermath alone would turn Drasen into the same state as the small forest in the southern plains that had been devastated by the witch's bombardment.

There was only one way.

So that the approaching monster would focus only on him, not Drasen.

He had to get as far away from Drasen as possible.

'Acceleration.'

Woodeudeudeuk.

Breaking through the air resistance that had increased with the increased speed, Muno ran on.

Kwaaaang!

He could hear the sound of the earth exploding under his feet, and he began to feel that his body was moving faster than ever before, to the point where every wisp of passing wind felt stinging.

It wasn't to fight an unknown being that he didn't even dare to face just from the aura he felt.

It was only to get further away from Drasen, to get closer to that monster.

'Even if I die after returning Miya, I will have repaid my debt with this.

Father, Mother……. No, is that not it? Did Miya come this way because of me?'

He squeezed out his strength, even having such useless thoughts.

How long had he run with all his might?

Just as his sense of time was about to blur due to the accelerated time and the slowed surroundings.

When he was right in front of the gorge below the mountain range, he gritted his teeth at the huge and overwhelming demonic energy he felt at a very close distance.

‘Just a little more!’

It might not have any meaning, but for some reason, he had a stubborn thought that he had to at least stop that monster from coming out of the northern mountain range.

Pababak.

Kwakwakwa.

At some point while running, feeling like he was digging through piles of dirt with his feet and breaking through a barrier of air.

Peoooong!

He heard a sound like the air exploding in his ears, and suddenly felt his speed increase from just before.

'What is this…?'

At that moment, the key to one of the secret arts of the Drasen Greatswordmanship, which his father had been drilling into his ears since he was a child, came to mind.

- The empty air is filled with invisible air.

And the lighter the air, the more strongly it repels when pushed hard.

The principle of Wind Slicer is to ride the grain of the air with a thin sword blade and achieve full speed without resistance.

- And Space Slicer aims to break through that resistance itself in the first place.

If you can properly execute it, you can split any metal or object.

In theory, that is. The specific key is….

- Therefore, even to execute it at a minimum, your body will have to be at least at the 4th evolution to withstand it.

And that's only possible if you can learn the Corporeal Arts of Gluttony….

‘Space Slicer?’

He was only at the 3rd evolution.

But he had already succeeded in Space Slicer.

Of course, this felt like breaking through space with his body, not a sword, so it seemed like a different story.

‘Anyway, my body is what it is. It's practically a weapon itself.’

If not, there was no other way to explain it.

He still didn't have a clear idea of what 'his own path' meant, but at this moment, he had clearly taken another step forward.

A small smile appeared amidst the thrilling sense of accomplishment.

As soon as he entered the gorge, he felt small demonic energies from all directions.

However.

‘They’re not moving?’

From goblins and gnolls to monsters with much larger demonic energy, all of them were standing still in their places, as if they had frozen at the same time.

And the few goblins he could see were even lying prostrate in the bushes, trembling.

To Muno, that scene didn't seem strange at all, but rather natural.

Because it was understandable.

"Keu…."

Rapidly draining strength. A sense of time returning to normal.

As he propped up his body that was about to collapse and looked at the northern sky.

As soon as he raised his head, he saw pitch-black darkness.

"Heup…!"

How should he describe it?

It was a time when the sun had risen long ago and was heading towards midday.

A darkness that was sweeping in, covering even that day.

The darkness that filled the northern sky was blocking even the light of the sun and gradually expanding its range to the south.

And the unbelievably huge demonic energy felt within it.

Was this what the great demons in the legends were like?

The overwhelming demonic energy that seemed like it would collapse a part of the world just by existing was right in front of him.

'Shi, shiX….'

And at some point.

He had the illusion that a pair of full moons were rising in that huge darkness.

No, those were someone's 'eyes'.

'D-damn it.'

He had expected it, but facing it in person, he felt an even greater pressure than he had thought.

Could this just be called a monster?

Wasn't it a god, or a demon?

- Grrr.

The Demon Devourer in his head was struggling, pushing back the fear.

But his frozen body could barely lift a finger.

The moment he felt the two large full moons split vertically and reveal black irises, directly looking at him.

Thump.

A shock that felt like his heart was stopping came over him.

“Keu….”

“Miya!?”

Feeling Miya in his arms raise its head in surprise, he barely held onto his dizzy mind.

And he saw the vertical irises gently curve into an arc.

'It's smiling? At me? No, it can't be. It must be because of Miya.'

Kwajik.

When he forced himself to bite his lip and draw blood, his body slowly came back under control.

At that moment, he held Miya up towards the full moon.

“Mya!?”

“It's your mom. Probably, I think so. Don't be scared. Miya.”

“Miya…?”

Only then did Miya tilt its head and look at the sky.

And the huge moon, no, the eye that had been gently curving into an arc looked down again.

Thump.

“Keok.”

He was choking from the pain that was tightening his chest.

- …to think that the bloodline of… is still left in the human world.

Thump.

“Keu….”

Along with the violent heartbeat, someone's voice, no, will, echoed in his mind.

- I wondered why I had my egg stolen by such insignificant beings, but it was to find this connection.

…What did you say?

Before his fear-stricken mind could even comprehend the meaning.

Suddenly, he could breathe freely.

“Mya?!”

Miya, whom he had lifted up, floated gently into the air.

“Mya! Mya! Miya!!!!”

Miya cried pitifully, looking at him, and Muno also felt a heart-wrenching pain for some reason.

It was only a relationship of a day, but he wondered if it was possible to feel this way, no matter how much comradeship had been built.

Even in the midst of it, he felt that he could move his body again.

But he didn't move his body, nor did he extend his chains.

It was by no means due to fear.

"It's okay, Miya. It's your mom. This is the natural order."

He forced himself to smile at Miya.

But strangely, his heart ached again.

However.

At that moment, the will of that huge being echoed in his mind again.

- Did you name it Miya? Why?

I just named it that because it cried like that.

But for some reason, he felt that if he answered that way, it would be a big problem.

Fortunately, Miya's mom immediately made her own judgment.

- Miya means 'mystery' in a forgotten language. Is it a coincidence? Or is it the power of that bloodline after all.

- If it's that bloodline, I can forgive it for gaining the useless power of humans in its imprinting authority.

After all, our species ends with this child…. Hm?

Whatever Miya's mom(?) was saying, Muno was captivated by Miya flying up.

“Mya! Mya!”

Miya cried as it rose into the distant sky.

Then it met the huge, full moon-like eyes, widened its own, and then, as if it had felt something, it smiled bashfully.

He could see that from so far away.

'Hey, you're making me sad…'

Even though it had found its real mom, he felt a little sad for some reason.

- The authority of the Coordinator!? This can't be…!

- You have engraved in this child the primordial power that we had lost!

- Is it really as the prophecy said, that hope will arise to break the shackles at our end….

Miya's mom's admiration, no, cheering will was conveyed.

But of course.

'Coordinator? Authority? Primordial what?'

Muno, who was captivated by Miya, couldn't understand those words at all.

But at that moment.

Miya, who had gone high up into the sky, began to descend slowly and approach him again.

“Huh?”

There was no time to think about what that meant.

“Mya?”

Muno hugged Miya, who had suddenly come back in front of him as if a child who had left home had returned.

“Miya~!”

He was so happy to see Miya, who had been smiling bashfully in front of its own mother, licking his cheek as if glad to see him again.

“Eigugu. My baby…”

He inwardly flinched at the words he had naturally blurted out while rubbing his face against it.

He wondered what he was doing in front of its real mother.

But the full moon in the sky seemed to be smiling silently again.

- Feed that child your blood, human.

"…Yes?"

A polite, respectful tone came out without him realizing it.

- Only then will a perfect contract be formed, and only then will that child be able to find you later.

The will of the huge being was clearly conveyed.

"Ah…."

“Mya?”

“Miya, just a moment.”

Chwareureuk.

He removed the armor on his arm.

Seuk.

He cut his forearm with a knife and squeezed out blood.

The burning pain of the moment he made the wound dissolved into the tension of the situation.

“Mya!?”

“She told me to give it to you. Your mom.”

“Miya?”

Miya looked back and forth between the full moon in the sky and Muno's forearm.

Then it suddenly nodded and licked the blood flowing down his forearm.

Jiiing.

At that moment, he felt the invisible bond with Miya, which had felt strangely sticky from the beginning, become even more tightly woven.

And.

- The contract is formed, human.

“Huh?”

“Mya!?”

Miya's body floated up again and began to rise into the sky.

"No, if you were going to do this…!"

- This child will find you again someday. And when that time comes….

The smiling full moon in the sky was scattering a proud thought and then trailed off.

'Why do you stop talking in the middle of a sentence….'

He just stared at the sky with an uneasy feeling.

Whether it knew his gaze or not.

- Wait with a joyful heart, human.

- That time will not be long, even by human standards.

The huge darkness, leaving only a smiling thought, began to retreat endlessly to the north at that moment.

And in the place where that huge darkness had disappeared.

"Heo…."

Muno, who had been staring blankly at the sky for a long time, finally came to his senses with a sigh after a long time had passed since that huge darkness had completely disappeared.

"This is…."

And as soon as he realized where he was, he instinctively pulled out his sword again, but.

At the same time, he knew.

That all the monsters within a certain radius around him were already dead.

"A gift…I guess?"

Muno gave a bitter smile and then realized another surprising fact.

That the huge demonic energy, which had made him feel like he would suffocate just by looking at it, had not left a single bit of pollution on the rest of the nature of the northern mountain range.

'Is something like this possible…?'

A very surprising, and also absurd, experience.

An event that he wondered if anyone would believe even if he told them.

Muno, feeling both the surprise and the sadness of Miya's disappearance, stared blankly at the sky again for a while.