Flames surged to life.
“Suho!”
“Kieeek! Young Monarch!”
Time, which had been frozen, began to move again.
In an instant, Suho was thrust back into reality. As he opened his eyes, he saw people running toward him with worry. His grandfather and Beru were there, and even Ammut was staring at him with a startled expression.
It was no wonder. Crimson flames had been erupting from Suho’s body. As it turned out, this was not some hallucination that only he could see—these were flames caused by Antares himself.
“Ugh!” Suho groaned, collapsing as the searing pain coursed through him.
The flames soon died away, turning to smoke and dissipating, but his HP was still on the brink of gone. This was no illusion—he needed a way to recover.
“Status recovery… Accept!” There was a blinding flash and Suho, who had teetered on the brink of death, felt his strength returning as though he had just leveled up.
“Suho! Are you all right?” his grandfather shouted, rushing to help him to his feet.“I’m fine,” Suho sighed, relief washing over him. Good thing I saved the daily quest reward for later. It had been a close call—too close. However, because he had used bandages and potions to deal with the side effects of Iron Body technique training, the reward was still there.
Ilhwan’s expression softened. “You’ve been pushing yourself too hard lately, haven’t you?”
Suho shook his head. “No, it was… an encounter with Antares.”
“Kieeek?! Antares?!” Beru exclaimed, visibly shaken as he hovered around Suho. “Potions! You need to take more potions!”
“I’m fine now,” Suho reassured him.
Meanwhile, Arsha had already fled the moment she heard the name“Antares,” and Ammut’s gaze seemed to linger with keen interest.
Though Suho’s health was restored, his clothes remained in tatters from the flames. Looking him over, Ammut bared his teeth and snickered. “Hehe. If you’ve met the dead King of Dragons and survived, consider yourself fortunate to be here in one piece. So did he willingly tell you the location of the World Tree?”
“Oh, the World Tree…” Suho smiled in dismay, thinking of what his father had told him in that other world.
“Suho, I can tell you the location of the World Tree myself.But getting there will not be easy.”
Antares wasn’t the only one who had roamed the dimensional rifts during the wars. Jinwoo had done the same. Still, even though he knew the location of the World Tree, he couldn’t simply show his son a shortcut. ＲаŊꝋＢƐṥ
“But at your current level, you will only expose yourself to danger by reaching the World Tree.So for now, focus on growing stronger.”
In the past, Jinwoo had earned the Fragment of the World Tree as a trophy after defeating Vulcan at the Demon Castle. However, that was a reward orchestrated by the system, so it didn’t apply to Suho now. Ultimately, he would have to use his own strength to find the actual World Tree and not just its fragment.
“The rest will be explained by Antares.”
With that, Sung Jinwoo tampered with the system and created a new quest for Suho.
Suho stared at the window.
[A job change quest has arrived.]
[Would you like to accept the quest?] (Y/N)
He swallowed hard. The words “Yes” and “No” flashed before him, and his heart raced along with the blinking.
Suho could hardly believe it. A job change quest was an opportunity he had never dreamed of having, and he had earned it through his own efforts. I accept.
Ding!
[You have accepted the job change quest.]
The moment Suho made his choice, the quest window unfolded.
[Job change quest: The Trial of the King of Dragons 1]
[The King of Dragons, Antares, scoffs at your weakness.
If your fragile body were to receive the power of the Dragon Sovereign now, you would be reduced to nothing but ashes. Prove yourself worthy of becoming Antares’ heir.
Objective: Reach the required level of 99.]
Level ninety-nine… Suho thought he could understand how this number had been decided. It reminded him of the “dream” he’d had as a teenager. In that dream, he had engaged in an endless fight with his father’s shadow army, which included Beru, to increase his level.
In hindsight, I suppose they were all going easy on me. But at the time, the challenges had felt so overwhelming and intense that he hadn’t even realized it. It had been a constant uphill battle. Fighting through countless giants and dragons and leaving a mountain of corpses behind, he had followed a long path through the fields to eventually reach his maximum level.
[Level: 99]
That had been his limit back then. No matter how hard he fought, no matter how skilled he became, he couldn’t progress beyond that point. It was as if one hundred didn’t even exist. He had thought level ninety-nine was the end—but what if it wasn’t?
Suho realized something. Was that just my limit, mine alone?
Ah… Suho felt a renewed determination rise within him, and he bared his teeth in a grin. So I start from here, huh?
The small lizard who had still been calmly perched in Suho’s hand suddenly peeped. It was Ragna. The newly hatched baby dragon stared at the hunter with round eyes, blinking dazedly.
“He said to ask Antares for the rest,” Suho muttered.
The creature chirped again. Suho grasped its small body and locked eyes with it.
A contract had been sealed between Jinwoo and Antares. That contract established both the objective that Suho had to achieve to become the heir of the King of Dragons, and at the same time, the necessary process by which he would achieve it.
If there was to be an heir, there also had to be a shaman to guide their progress. And if Suho was to inherit the King’s power, then Ragna would serve as the shaman.
“Open your eyes, Antares.”
Ragna made another squeak. As Suho spoke, a powerful spirit ignited within the tiny dragon’s body, accompanied by a blaze of hot flame.
[“Antares” has entered the body of the shaman.]
At that moment, the vacuous eyes of the dragon deepened with newfound focus. That gaze looked absently above. He murmured softly, “What a strange-looking ceiling…”
Antares had awakened and took in the unfamiliar surroundings. He felt the rough beating of a heart pounding inside the tiny body and sensed the holy dragon’s blood pulsing through its veins. Then he breathed in for the first time, savoring the fresh air filling his lungs. Indeed, all these sensations were proof.
Ah. I see. At last, Antares understood. He was certain—he had truly returned to life.
“Hehe… Hahaha!” Antares laughed exuberantly, overcome with joy. “I have returned! It is I, the King of Dragons! I have overcome death itself and returned from the Sea of the Afterlife! Hahaha!”
The overwhelming aura of his laughter shook everyone in the Shadow Dungeon with its energy.
“I know that power!” Ilhwan said, readying himself to use the power of the breach, even if it meant risking danger.
“A-Antares?” Even Ammut grew tense, maximizing the gravity to its fullest extent.
The earth began to rumble.
“Kieeeeeeek!” Beru, who had fought countless battles against Antares’ Army of Destruction, reacted more intensely than anybody else. “Young Monarch! Let go of that creature! I will protect you!”
Antares found their reactions immensely satisfying. “Heh. Yes. Fear me. Bow down before me.”
He was the first Monarch born from primordial darkness, the strongest of them all. He was the king who ruled over all dragons, a symbol of terror and destruction. Those who knew him spoke his name with awe and reverence.
“I am Antares, the King of Dragons!” he declared.
Everyone but Suho readied themselves for battle. The only reason they refrained from attacking immediately was simple—Antares was currently in Suho’s hand.
However, it was only for a moment. He slipped out of Suho’s grasp and jumped down. Then he slowly rose, taking his first great step as a monarch who had returned from the Sea of the Afterlife. It was a grand stride for such a small creature.
“Heh. A fitting body, as one might expect of a hatchling of Kamish.” Antares couldn’t hide his satisfaction, even as his short legs wobbled. This was his second attempt at life. What other dragon could, after hatching from an egg, walk this competently from the start? It was only possible for someone as great as he was.
In fact, the principle was simple. His little wings had to be opened wide to import balance, and he had to counter the weight of his body with his tail so that he would not fall backward. Of course, his muscles were still weak, and the mere act of standing made his legs quiver like jelly.
“But this I can easily overcome with a bit of mana.” Antares skillfully drew mana out from Ragna’s heart and took another powerful, if adorable, step. “Hahahaha! Did you see that? Exhilarating! To think I’d live a second life in the body of a newborn hatchling!”
Antares shivered with joy. In his previous life, he had already reached a height that no one else could hope to achieve. His power had reached such an extreme level that further growth was impossible. But now, with all his experience and talents, he had the opportunity to grow anew, starting from a hatchling. Talk about a second chance at life!
“Hahaha! Ha— Eh?” Antares’ eyes suddenly turned glassy in the middle of his evil laughter.
[Ragna’s mana has been depleted.]
[The spirit of Antares is detaching from the shaman’s body.]
The tiny dragon blinked and began to chirp again, tilting his head from side to side as if confused.
It suddenly dawned on Ragna that many people were surrounding him, ready to pummel him into the ground. He hiccuped and shrank back in fear. Then he burst into loud, pitiful cries, like a newborn baby.
No one spoke.
Hmm.What wasallthat? Without saying a word, Suho picked up the crying Ragna and patted him on the back. Well, I guess I should calm him down for now.
Only then did the tiny dragon, feeling reassured, gently close his eyes and fall asleep. As everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief at the unnecessarily cute sight, an indignant cry came from a distant world, directed at Suho.
[The Monarch of Destruction begins an angry outburst, saying this is simply not fair.]
[The Monarch of Destruction considers ways to increase Ragna’s mana capacity.]
[The Monarch of Destruction begins to contemplate the best practices for dragon-rearing.]
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