Chapter 617
Chapter 618: Dragon
Squeeze.
I looked around my body.
After repeating the movements a few times to confirm.
There was no abnormality in my left arm. The internal injury felt the same.
‘How can it be this clean?’
I was wondering how to deal with this.
The regeneration had completely finished.
‘What the heck happened?’
This internal injury was supposed to last at least three months.
If anything, it should have taken half a year to heal.
Not even a god could fix something like that in such a short time.
Yet here I was, healed all at once.
‘Moreover…’
I glanced at my left arm.
It was the arm that had been torn apart by that guy’s hand.
But now?
‘It’s perfectly fine.’
It looked as clean as if it had never been torn in the first place.
There wasn’t even a hint of discomfort.
How could this be possible?
‘The place I just came from was the same.’
I surveyed my surroundings.
Sure, there was plenty of snow, but there had been a garden vibe at a glance.
Now, it was just a field of snow.
Could it be that I hadn’t actually moved from the original spot?
‘It’s possible, but.’
I didn’t think it was that simple.
The previous space, it felt like it was a lie.
The reasoning was simple.
‘That feeling.’
The sensation when the space collapsed.
And the atmosphere that space had.
It was a sensation I had definitely felt somewhere.
There was no need to think long.
It was a feeling firmly etched in my memory.
‘The domain of the King of Demons.’
The black space the King of Demons conjured.
The place where I had died hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
That was exactly how it was.
‘Is this what they call power?’
The power bestowed upon dragons.
The King of Demons had declared that strength as his own power.
The memories of dying countless times yet continuing to come back to life felt eerily similar to my current situation.
‘Then, the powers I felt before were kind of like that?’
It somewhat explains how my arm was restored.
I didn’t understand why the internal injuries were healed as well, though.
“Phew…”
After checking my body, I let out a sigh.
No matter what happened, the important thing was.
‘I survived.’
The fact that I had kept my life.
My arm wasn’t torn apart, and I hadn’t lost my life.
Thinking of it made a cold sweat run down my back.
How long had it been?
A situation where my life had been so threatened.
Let alone, I was alive because of the mercy of my opponent.
[Are you pure-blooded?]
The words left by my opponent floated in my mind.
‘Pure-blooded…’
What on earth did they mean by that?
That being was also a dragon.
Every phenomenon seemed to say so.
‘What does pure-blooded mean? Does it imply he isn’t one?’
Pure-blooded.
The meaning enclosed within that word puzzled me.
After all, I had shattered my vessel and shed my skin.
It was rather ambiguous to be called pure-blooded.
Yet, he referred to me as such.
‘More accurately.’
The moment I unknowingly used dragon words.
He called me pure-blooded after hearing that.
What could the difference be?
‘Is it that he cannot use dragon words?’
I thought of dragon words as my own power, simply enough.
The reaction he had after seeing me use dragon words bothered me.
As if there was something hidden within dragon words.
And the instant I thought I was pure-blooded, the way he reacted flashed into my mind.
‘As if he discovered something.’
Is being pure-blooded really that important?
Questions piled up.
The most important thing here was.
‘In the end, it means there are other dragons besides me.’
That was what mattered most.
Not the King of Demons or the Demon Lord, but beings I could recognize as dragons.
Not counting the Blood Demon, there was another one who had emerged.
Moreover.
One that had become a dragon through shedding skin like I did.
No, wait.
‘Isn’t it that dragons are not born, but evolve into one?’
That thought crossed my mind.
With that in mind.
Crack.
I clutched the shackles in front of me and crushed them.
Crash-!!
With a bit of force, the shackles shattered easily.
It didn’t feel like any other issues had arisen from breaking them forcibly.
‘They said it had the effect of suppressing energy.’
I felt nothing unusual.
I brushed away the debris.
“…Huh…?”
I looked at the broken shackles, and in front of me, Nangong Bi-ah showed a strange reaction.
Her eyes were wide in surprise.
“What’s wrong?”
“They… They shouldn’t have broken…”
From the looks of it, she had been trying to break them repeatedly.
Based on her reaction, it seemed they had some effect.
“…”
Nangong Bi-ah’s wrist, where the shackles had been, was red.
I gently grabbed her wrist while looking at it.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“I know.”
I just wanted to do that.
At the same time, I inspected Nangong Bi-ah’s upper body and waist.
I noticed bandages tied through the gaps in her martial robe.
It was different from the compressing bandages she usually wore.
“…How’s your body?”
“I’m fine.”
She looked anything but fine, which is why I asked.
“Hah…”
I rubbed my forehead with a sigh.
Fortunately, I had met what I could call a ‘living’ Nangong Bi-ah.
Considering how anxious I had been, wondering if anything had happened to her, it was a relief.
But still, not all outcomes were good.
I held Nangong Bi-ah’s wrist and asked.
“…What happened to get you in this state?”
“…”
I felt a tremor in the wrist I was holding.
“I told you to behave and not get into trouble. Didn’t we promise?”
Don’t do anything unnecessary.
If something goes wrong, ditch everyone around and escape fast.
Also, don’t get hurt.
Eat well.
Those were promises made when Nangong Bi-ah insisted on going to the North Sea.
“What have you kept from that list?”
“…I ate well…”
“Don’t joke around, it’s obvious you lost weight.”
She looked even thinner than the last time I saw her when she claimed to be eating well.
“If you’re going to ignore my words, then what are you doing here?”
She hadn’t kept a single promise.
I was dumbfounded.
“I told you if anything happens, don’t look back and run away. You nearly died because you recklessly stepped in.”
“…”
“Moreover, what’s this about guarding the princess? What were you even doing? I wouldn’t have said to go if I knew it would end up like this…”
As I continued to vent, I suddenly closed my mouth.
Because Nangong Bi-ah had grabbed my arm.
“…I’m sorry… Don’t scold me.”
I had so much to say. Really, there was so much.
Yet, this simple act caused my lips to close lightly.
“…Hah….”
Well then.
I tried to force myself to think that way.
‘As long as I’m alive, it’s fine.’
As long as I was alive.
At least, it didn’t matter if I wasn’t dead.
But.
“…Okay, let’s just put it off for now.”
That didn’t mean I wouldn’t talk about it.
It was just not the right time.
“…”
Nangong Bi-ah, upon hearing those words, subtly averted her gaze.
I then decided to stand up.
This wasn’t a time for idle chatter anyway.
“First… I need to wake that guy up.”
I took a step sideways.
There lay Yuri, unconscious.
I approached her nonchalantly, touched her forehead, and sent energy into her.
Woom-! The energy flowed out.
And then.
“Gulp…!”
The fainted Yuri instantly regained consciousness and shot up.
Her large eyes darted around.
“Where is this…?”
“Feeling better?”
“Gu Gongja…?”
Her gaze shifted to me.
Before long, she tightly held onto my sleeve.
“W-Where’s Biwaegun? What happened to him? How is he?”
She immediately asked about Woo Hyeok as soon as she woke up.
Seeing her reaction, I instinctively bit my lip.
I recalled Woo Hyeok being taken away by that bastard.
“I lost him.”
“…You lost him…?”
“What happened to you? Why did you suddenly appear captured?”
“Captured?”
Yuri looked puzzled at my question.
From the looks of it, it seemed she hadn’t even realized she had been captured.
‘Considering she didn’t notice anything approaching, I suppose that makes sense.’
No matter how badly injured I was, I hadn’t sensed anything moving close to me.
Whether it was a huge gap in our levels or some different method they used, I didn’t know.
Still, the fact remained that I’d lost track of that entity.
“…Your bloodline intervened. They must have knocked you out.”
“E-eh…?”
“It looked like a man. So, it must be either the First Prince or the Second Prince.”
As Yuri expected.
The white-haired young man who appeared to be a dragon.
I had lost against him, and it was nearly equivalent to being unable to resist and having Woo Hyeok taken from me.
[How trivial.]
The words that guy had said echoed in my ear.
I thought I had long cast aside my pride, but being trampled like this felt terrible.
It was an overwhelming defeat.
Moreover.
[It seems you still haven’t decided.]
[So, that’s how it is…]
It appeared I had reached this point because of unresolved issues inside me.
It only made me more irritated.
‘What does he know?’
What was the reason for taking Woo Hyeok?
What did he intend to do with him?
Also, how did the Bloodline of the Ice Palace come to be a dragon?
What could his objective possibly be?
Did he find out something about me?
Those thoughts lodged in my mind.
The gaze that had been pressing down on me. The contemptuous look he had given.
The instinct of my being that wanted to kill him still lingered, making my head spin.
Suddenly.
I felt a touch on my hand.
It was Nangong Bi-ah’s hand.
“Calm down…”
“…”
I looked at the area around Nangong Bi-ah’s waist.
That was the injured part.
Seeing it made my head cool down.
I realized this wasn’t the time to be doing this.
“…First, we need to head back.”
Not just for my sake, but for Nangong Bi-ah’s condition.
Furthermore, there was something I needed to ask the Gungju.
Remembering that, I tried to get up.
“Wait a moment…”
Yuri stopped me with her words.
I let out a shallow sigh as I looked at her.
It seemed to be an issue about losing Woo Hyeok.
“It’s impossible to search for him right now. For the time being…”
“No, who is that Young Lady…?”
“Eh?”
I was confused at first, but Yuri was pointing at Nangong Bi-ah.
What in the world?
“What do you mean? Didn’t you say you were her guard? What are you talking about?”
Yuri had clearly said that Nangong Bi-ah had served as her guard for a short while.
But now she didn’t recognize her?
I questioned her with a puzzled expression.
“Guard? What does that even mean…?”
Yuri still sported a bewildered expression.
“Princess.”
“Eh?”
Her eyes widened suddenly at Nangong Bi-ah’s words.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Seemingly realizing something late, she had forgotten she had fainted and suddenly stood up.
“Is that the White Fox…? Are you the White Fox?”
“Yup.”
Nangong Bi-ah nodded at Yuri’s words.
And upon hearing the answer, Yuri covered her mouth with her hand.
“What is this…?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Why… why? You’re beautiful?”
