In a world where the continent is vast and the unexplored areas are abundant, adventurers are always a popular profession.
In the central part of the continent where the empire is established, even the areas called conquered by humans still have unexplored territories.
No one would know that a dragon's lair is right under their feet in the place they live.
A boy entered a huge cave where only a little light seeped in.
The space was so quiet and vast that the sound of a kicked pebble echoed in all directions.
The boy walked for a while and stood in front of a huge rock.
The sun is in the middle of the sky, pointing to noon.
A beam of light entered through the narrow gap and tilted in front of the rock.
With a dazzling golden flash, the dim interior was instantly brightened, revealing the shape of the rock.
A long tail and large wings that could cover its back even when folded.
It looked like a lizard, but it had a presence that no other creature could imitate.
It was a gold dragon.
The golden eyes rolled and faced the boy standing in front of it.
The huge eyes were enough to take in the small boy completely.
The air felt as heavy as water, suffocating one's breath like sinking in water.
Despite the overwhelming pressure that would make even the top knights feel like children, the boy did not flinch.
Instead, he boldly said this.
"Bow your head. Your master has returned."
The gold dragon's pupils narrowed further.
It thought the boy was ignorant, but the familiar energy was radiating from his body.
The gold dragon scanned the boy's body. A noticeable white scale climbing up the boy's neck not covered by the robe caught its eye.
- You possess the same power as my master, but your form is different. You are not my master. Who are you?
Then the boy raised his head.
"My name is Roderick Astheria. Your master entrusted everything to me."
The boy's voice carried a sense of experience.
The gold dragon felt uneasy upon hearing those words.
They had only exchanged a few words in this encounter, but it could feel his ambition.
- I cannot understand. Are you saying that my master handed over their power to a human?
"You don't need to understand."
The boy said.
"I didn't come here to demand understanding from you."
-Hmph!
The gold dragon's body shuddered greatly.
It tried to move, but its body was stiff and no longer able to move.
Its body was already immune to all magic and attacks.
The only way to inflict damage on it was to break the barrier with a fatal blow and take advantage of a few seconds of vulnerability.
That meant it wasn't magic or a normal attack.
The gold dragon knew.
This was due to its instincts.
It was an instinct etched in its blood that it shouldn't go against him.
This man had already become skilled enough to suppress the dragon's instincts.
The gold dragon barely managed to speak to him.
- Overpowering with force will not help. Do you think you can gain our favor with this attitude?
"I know it's impossible. I'm not that stupid either."
The gold dragon frowned.
It had already seen through his intentions long ago. Now was the moment of certainty.
- You plan to gather power in one place.
At that moment, the sound of teeth grinding from the gold dragon's mouth echoed like an earthquake.
- You say you're not a fool, but it seems like a foolish idea. In essence, you're no different from the utterly foolish humans. Do you think you can defeat the humans if you gather all of our power?
The gold dragon's pupils contracted lengthily.
Dragon's fear. Its throat tightened, and his entire body became soaked with cold sweat as it emitted a thick killing intent.
If he had been in a half-dragon state, he would have been trembling, but Ludrick's face was spreading into a smile instead.
"Of course."
He said.
"I've been thinking about why my master failed to conquer this world. I've drawn dozens of scenarios, but the answer always came down to one thing."
He raised his index finger.
"It's because it wasn't just one."
- Not just one?
The gold dragon raised one corner of its eye.
"Do you know what is needed for absolute power and governance? A consistent set of values, and even stronger than that, a consistent mentality. That's what I'm trying to gather power for."
- And you concluded that's the reason we failed?
Despite its physical submission, the dragon laughed. The narrow cave vibrated.
- I thought you had grasped some profound truth, but you've merely touched the surface, foolish human.
Ludrick didn't like the dragon's laughing demeanor.
As he flicked his finger, the dragon's mouth was forcibly closed.
If he restrained it further, he could block its throat as well.
Even with that knowledge, the gold dragon did not stop talking.
- Tell me, do we look like we're hiding and living in fear of humans? Do you think we can't rule them because we can't be united? That's not the case. We have a weapon they cannot possess.
"What is the weapon you have?"
- It's immortality.
"Immortality is a weapon?"
- When peace persists, weapons rust. We intended to rule this continent by giving them despair at the end of that peace. That's what our master told us.
Roderick frowned.
It wasn't that his thoughts were being contradicted, but that he didn't like the gold dragon babbling while under his control.
- Humans will destroy themselves. So why should we interfere and create variables?
"Indeed, human time is finite."
He had the power to subdue the gold dragon, and the power to aim even higher.
"But within that finite time, they create things that can defeat you and more. Weapons so powerful that they even covet the power of gods! That's why infinite time is no longer on our side."
Roderick smiled.
His eyes looked upon the dragon as if it were a trifle at his feet.
"My master entrusted everything to me. The power to control this continent and even the authority to seize the power you possess. So I can do this."
As Roderick gestured, red steam rose from various parts of the gold dragon's body and gathered in Roderick's hand.
The red essence of light gathered vigorously in Roderick, but there was no sign of it ending anytime soon.
However, the gold dragon would soon lose its life. Before its vitality ran out, it warned Roderick.
- Your rash judgment will ruin everything. Your existence will rally humans, and the world your master desired will meet its end.
Soon, it became difficult to even breathe as its power drained away.
- Why would you take such hasty action... knowing that humans will ultimately fall into their own foolishness... what are you afraid of...
With its last lament.
The gold dragon's head, which had barely been raised, fell to the ground.
And its body decayed rapidly, rotting and disappearing.
The existence of the dragon had vanished entirely.
Roderick put the condensed crystal into his chest.
Roderick closed his eyes and savored the power.
"Is this the power of the flawless gold dragon?"
A hot energy that could melt his whole body enveloped him.
Like refining a heated iron, he was getting stronger.
"Five more to go."
He already knew their locations.
Finding them, or subduing them, was no big deal.
The gold dragon, said to be the strongest, had been completely defeated in front of him; there was no difference for the other dragons.
Roderick smiled.
'If the essence of the gold dragon is this powerful, how strong will I be when I combine the power of the other dragons?'
He always wanted to solve such questions.
Roderick, who was honest with his desires, tried to solve all the mysteries.
He had a personality that could only be satisfied by obtaining the answers through experimenting with everything, not just acquiring forbidden knowledge and prohibited magic.
Like an untamed camel in the Thamud, he would not stop until he chased himself into the sand desert.
'I will rule this continent.'
His ambition grew darker along with the shadows.
***
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Tower Master Conference Hall.
An emergency meeting was held, not a regular assembly.
It was the first emergency assembly since the Yggdrasil rapid growth incident.
Helios, who called all the Tower Masters, explained the situation to them.
"I've gathered everyone here because there have been reports of strange noises echoing in various places."
"Strange noises, you say?"
Then another Tower Master raised his hand and spoke.
"I reported it to the chairman. It sounded like something dying."
"Did you also hear such noises?"
"Yes. It was yesterday for us."
"For us, it was the day before yesterday. And one of our workers recorded the sound. Would you like to listen to it?"
Chairman Helios nodded.
"Let's listen."
He took out a crystal ball and rolled it to the center.
As it was placed in the center of the table with the continent drawn on it, the crystal ball emitted light.
After a long period of quiet static, the problematic sound echoed.
-Ahhhhhh!
It was faint.
The sound of birds chirping and fluttering was even louder.
The Tower Masters listened to the sound but shook their heads, unable to grasp its nature.
"It's a strange sound."
"Is it some kind of monster being created somewhere?"
"Monster... the unique sound they have is a bit different. It sounds like a voice soaked in sorrow."
"That's right. It was like... a wailing sound."
They listened to it again at that remark.
The roar-like sound was closer to a wail.
While listening to the sound quietly, Freesia, who rarely spoke, opened her mouth.
"I think I know what it is."
"Have you figured it out, Black Tower Master?"
"You youngsters wouldn't know. Helios, you know, don't you?"
Helios nodded his head.
"It's the sound of a dragon dying."
"Do dragons make such a sound when they die?"
"I'm not talking about the garbage with diluted blood from breeding. It's the sound of their ancestors."
"How can you be sure?"
Freesia answered that question.
"You youngsters might not know, but there used to be a musical instrument that made this sound. When the horn blower blew, it produced an unpleasant and sorrowful sound."
"They say there was an instrument made to mimic the memories of people who witnessed the death of a dragon, called the dragon-slaying horn. It was used in the past, but now it's been destroyed as it's considered an ominous sound of disaster."
The Tower Masters of the new generation all looked puzzled as if they were hearing it for the first time.
"Then, even if we assume that's the sound of a dragon's cry, there are still unanswered questions. Does it mean someone touched the hidden dragons?"
"Did someone attack the dragons?"
"But with what?"
"There have been no reports of anyone creating weapons capable of taking down dragons."
Dragons are different from ordinary monsters.
They were once the rulers of the world, and the absolute beings.
In order to escape from that ruler, humans began to arm themselves, cooperate, and finally made the continent their own.
At that time, and even now, the conquest was possible only because there were weapons that could not be made.
And there was not a single sign that such a weapon had been made so far.
"It isn't a good sign anyway. It's unlikely that dragons would die naturally, so is it a territorial dispute?"
"Or maybe something powerful enough to kill dragons has appeared."
"I'd rather the conclusion be that the dragons fought among themselves..."
The appearance of an unknown being is not a welcome event.
Most of them disappear for unknown reasons after wreaking havoc.
"What should we do?"
"The workshop and the order side would have already known, and it seems they are also waiting for us to decide what to do..."
The reason they were looking at the Tower's mages was simple.
The items created by Reed and Helios were the only weapons capable of overcoming the current situation.
Helios stroked his beard and suggested a solution to them.
"I'll talk to the Empire and the Order side. Now that we've concluded it's the sound of the dragon's cry, there's nothing we can do."
Just as it seemed that the emergency meeting had come to a conclusion.
Kugugung-.
A vibration was felt in the quiet Tower Master Conference Hall.
"Is it an external attack?"
"What's the situation outside?!"
A worker opened the door and entered.
His face was pale.
"It's, it's a big problem! Ou, outside...!"
He couldn't finish his stuttering words and fainted on the spot.
The Tower Masters picked up their weapons and stood up.
Each of them used defensive magic, preparing for all situations as they moved outside.
In the parking lot where sky chariots were lined up.
Something was standing there, dominating the vast plain all by itself.
They could understand why the workers had fainted.
"Are we, are we seeing this wrong?"
"No, it's definitely that."
"We're witnessing a living... legend."
With a length exceeding 70m, including its tail, and a height of 10m.
The largest creature on the continent, an existence of disaster that was once called the absolute being.
The dragon, which had long hidden its tracks, now stood before them.
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