Chapter 240: The confusion of a certain Ancient Dragon
◇White Dragon Helemerck POV◇
It has been several thousands of years since I received flesh in this world.
…The dragon family has been spreading the rumor that I am an Ancient Dragon that has lived for 10,000 years.
I am not at that age yet though… Well, that’s fine.
I don’t like conflict, so I have been living peacefully at the deepest floor of Laberintos.
I don’t like the fact that the light of the sun doesn’t reach here, but the surface is covered in pitch black clouds.
That’s why I can’t bask in the sun on the surface which is depressing.
This unchanging lifestyle.
A life where boredom reigns over it; days of degradation.
I don’t hate it, but it was giving birth to weariness.
One day strange intruders appeared.
One was a half-vampire.
One was a Hero of the Goddesses.
One was a mage woman with a massive amount of mana.
The other one was…what’s with this one? A man that I feel no power from.
Is he a servant of the Hero?
It was a strange party composition.
They must be what they call adventurers.
I thought ‘well, I won’t even need to waste my time on them’…but from all of them, the weakest looking man asked me to lend my help.
So stupid.
Why should I lend my help to humans?
I ignored the words of the human.
The human must have noticed it would be a fruitless endeavor, so he was going to leave.
That’s good.
The Deepest Floor isn’t a place that humans should be coming to.
At that moment…the youngest dragon from the dragon family meddled with the humans.
‘That child, geez…’, is what I was thinking, but that dragon was frozen in an instant.
The one who did that was the female mage.
(Wa?!)
At that moment, I noticed…
That mage woman…isn’t a human.
That’s…the Great Water Spirit Undine.
But this Great Spirit has…incarnated?
No way… That spell is supposed to have been lost in the eons.
Even I haven’t seen the actual thing.
The ones who can use that lost magic are the Apostles of Evil Gods.
But that was a story of the long past.
There should be no users of this spell living in the present.
But the Great Spirit is calling him ‘Our King’.
The remains of the war between Gods.
The one who freely controls Spirits.
The Great Spirit is obeying this man? free(w)ebnov(e)l
This man is an Evil God Apostle?
No, that’s not it.
There’s another Evil God Apostle.
The Black Knight Cain that has been rampaging in the surface world.
He calls himself the Apostle of Noah.
I have seen him once.
That’s broken.
He couldn’t endure the affection of his God.
An Apostle that has received the favor of an Evil God breaks or perishes.
What about the one in front of me?
From what I can see, he is a plain normal human.
But a Great Spirit is serving at his side.
There’s no way he is just a normal human.
Is this guy the actual Apostle of the Evil God?
No, that’s not the issue here.
The question is whether it is okay to oppose him…
That question crossed my mind, and the next instant, it was blown away.
Five Undines appeared.
I-Impossible!
Great Spirits are the very personification of the raging nature.
A pseudonym of natural calamity.
And there’s 5 of that.
In other words, there’s currently 5 natural calamities in this place.
All of Laberintos is going to be sunk!
A-As if I can oppose something like that!
“Everyone st—”
I was too late.
“Ahahahahahahhaha!”
“Fufufu…”
“Kusususususu…”
“…Fufu!”
The voices of the Great Spirits resonated as if they were having fun.
A torrent of mana that felt like it could engulf the whole Deepest Floor of Laberintos.
It gave me shivers.
No, this is already not mana anymore.
A sinister power that made me think that maybe it is the Anima that Gods utilize.
And then, a ridiculous spell (miracle) activated.
“XXXXXXXXXXXXX (Stopped World).”
A chant of ancient times in Spirit Language.
I have lived for thousands of years, but it is the first time I heard about that spell.
The Deepest Floor of Laberintos was covered completely in ‘white’.
The ground, walls, and even the air froze.
I can’t hear the breathing of the dragon family.
It became a silent…world of death.
(T-That was dangerous…)
I deployed a barrier before being hit by that attack.
Because of that, I somehow managed to avoid falling victim to that spell.
But my dragon family is…
(E-Everyone…is…)
When I look around, I see that all of my dragon family was frozen.
I slowly direct my gaze at the very person that did this.
The one standing there was the Evil God Apostle surrounded by six Undines.
I can barely feel mana from him, but there’s no doubt he is the one that’s the leader of those Great Spirits.
Eyes that could freeze were being directed at me.
(Y-You…) (Helemerck)
The moment I tried talking to that man with a trembling voice…
“You bastaaaaaaard!!”
The young red dragon that got hit by the first spell had recovered.
We Ancient Dragons don’t die so easily.
But…
“Oh my, Lizard, nice to see you being energetic. But you are being rude to Our King, you know?”
The freedom of his body was taken away once again by the Great Water Spirits.
“Guh! …Uh, I wonder about that…”
The young red dragon is no match against Undine.
“Our King, what should we do about this arrogant lizard?”
“Right… Let’s replenish the lifespan that I lost.”
The man that was silent until now muttered this and took out the dagger at his waist.
The moment I saw that blade, I was attacked by a fear that felt as if a stake had been driven unto my heart.
What’s with that dagger?!
It was a very small blade.
But the fearsome mana that was coiling around that blade…
It was different from the Holy Swords of Heroes.
It is a weapon that’s too much for mortal hands; a weapon that shouldn’t be in the hands of a living being of the Mortal Realm.
It feels like the weapon of the Divine Realm God that I met just once in the past…
The man that held this dagger slowly approached the red dragon.
“Hiiih!! D-Don’t come here…!!”
The red dragon must have had a bad feeling about this, it tried to escape, but the spell of the Great Spirit wasn’t allowing that.
What in the world is he trying to…
The future shows in my eyes.
A Divine Protection that a Goddess of the Divine Realm gave me before.
The magic eyes of clairvoyance.
It activated and I peeked at the future slightly ahead.
For some reason I couldn’t see the future of that man.
But I could see the future of us.
[Today, we of the dragon family will perish by the hands of XXXXXX]
The moment I saw that, I turned over.
(Please wait!! Please don’t kill my dragon family!)
I threw away my shame and lowered my head to the Evil God Apostle.
◇Takatsuki Makoto POV◇
(Please, don’t kill my family!!)
The voice of the white dragon that resonated loudly in my head.
It wasn’t the voice filled with majesty, but a flustered voice.
Dia and I looked at each other.
“What should we do, Our King?” (Dia)
“Let’s not go any further.” (Makoto)
There’s no need to continue if the opponent has no will to fight.
“Dia, thaw the frozen dragons.” (Makoto)
“Yes, Our King.” (Dia)
Dia gave orders to the other Great Water Spirits.
The ancient dragons regained their breath not long after.
The ancient dragons that had been brought back were looking from afar as if scared of the Great Water Spirits.
‘Is this good enough?’, is what I thought and looked at the white dragon, and it lowered its head as if relieved.
(Thanks. Use my power as you please. I will lend you my help in whatever you need.)
Ooh. I managed to get it to promise.
It was different from planned, but it looks like we will be able to get the help of the Holy Dragon-san.
“Then, looking forward to working with you, Holy Dragon-sama.” (Makoto)
(U-Umu…)
I tried my best in giving it a friendly welcome, but the response was hesitant.
It was thorny just a while ago, but it can’t be helped I guess.
Let’s slowly get along.
“Then, about our plans from now on…” (Makoto)
The moment I tried to continue our talk…
“M-Master, this is bad!” (Momo)
“Hm?” (Makoto)
Momo pulled my clothes.
When I turned around, I saw Hero Abel collapsed with his eyes rolled over.
Wait, eh?!
“Abel-san? What happened?!” (Makoto)
“Abel-sama isn’t breathing!” (Momo)
“…Huh?” (Makoto)
H-Hold on.
What happened?
Could it be an attack of an ancient dragon?!
I hurriedly glared at the white dragon and the dragon shook its head to the sides.
(I-I think it was because of your magic. Leaving aside that vampire girl, if someone were to be bathed by the magic of a Great Spirit from up close, their body wouldn’t be able to endure it.)
“Geh!” (Makoto)
It was me.
Or more like, the magic of Great Water Spirits has friendly fire?!
“W-What should we do, Momo?!” (Makoto)
“I don’t know, Master! What should we do?!” (Momo)
Momo and I were getting flustered, and the White Dragon-san spoke.
(Let’s see. I will heal him.)
When the white dragon muttered this, the body of Hero Abel began to shine.
Red slowly began to return to his pale face.
I could hear his quiet breathing again.
“W-What a relief…” (Makoto)
Abel dying from my magic…wouldn’t be funny.
The world would end.
Althena-sama would kick my ass.
“You saved me there…Holy Dragon-sama.” (Makoto)
When I thanked it, the White Dragon made a puzzled face.
(It has been bothering me for a while now but, what’s this Holy Dragon you speak of?)
It asked me as if confused.
Eh? This white dragon isn’t the legendary Holy Dragon?
Could it be that I got the wrong dragon?
“By the way, can you tell me your name?” (Makoto)
(My name is Helemerck. The ruler of the Deepest Floor of Laberintos.) (Hele)
Helemerck…
That name is the same as the legendary Holy Dragon.
In other words, Holy Dragon was a name given to it in the future, huh.
“Helemerck-sama, thank you very much for saving Abel-san.” (Makoto)
I lowered my head deeply.
(You spared our lives. No need to thank me. Also, it would be better to have that Hero rest for a bit. He must have been pushing himself quite a lot. Fatigue has accumulated. I have made a place for humans to rest at the side of the Spring of Life. Have him lie over there.) (Hele)
There was a super out of place bed at the side of the spring that shines in mysterious colors close to Helemerck-san.
It wasn’t there a few moments ago…
Did it make it in an instant?
Counting the healing magic of before, it seems like the white dragon-san is a user of diverse magic.
I carried Hero Abel to the bed together with Momo.
Abel was still sleeping.
When I looked by my side, I could tell that Momo was also tired.
“Momo, it is okay to rest for a bit.” (Makoto)
“Y-Yes… But you look tired too, Master.” (Momo)
“Yeah…” (Makoto)
It may be because my lifespan was sucked from me, my body has been heavy for a while now.
I want to lie down right this instant.
“I will keep watch.” (Dia)
Dia was the only one who was energetic here and she proposed this.
“Thanks, Dia. Then, I leave it to you.” (Makoto)
“Yes, Our King.” (Dia)
The White Dragon made beds for me and Momo too.
Momo went straight for it and slept just like that.
I slept as if leaning on the bed of Momo and closed my eyes.
I soon dozed off.
◇◇
I woke up.
How long was I asleep?
I don’t have a clock so I can’t tell the time.
There’s still some fatigue left, but the dullness in my body has recovered a bit.
“Suuh~…Suuh~.”
I heard cute breathing from my back.
Momo was still sleeping.
(You are awake now, huh, human.)
A low voice resonated in my head.
Uo! That scared me!
The giant body of the White Dragon-san in front of me made me shake.
I just woke up but this blew away my drowsiness completely.
“I managed to get a bit of rest thanks to you.” (Makoto)
(Umu.) (Hele)
The White Dragon-san nodded exaggeratedly to my words.
Now then, where’s the Great Water Spirit that said she would be keeping watch while we sleep…
“Eh, where’s Dia?” (Makoto)
I can’t see Dia who should be keeping watch.
(If you are talking about the Undine, she has returned to the Spirit Realm. But she said that she will be watching from the Spirit Realm, so if we were to do something strange, she would jump out instantly.) (Hele)
“I see…” (Makoto)
Where’s the Spirit Realm?
Well, that’s fine.
I should thank her later.
Dia has been helping us out a lot.
Now then, I hope Hero Abel wakes up later.
I approach the bed in order to check the state of Abel.
The person on the bed was still sleeping.
I peek at him at a distance enough to check his face.
“Eh?” (Makoto)
My legs stopped.
At the place where Hero Abel was sleeping…
There’s an unknown woman sleeping.
“……Huh?” (Makoto)
I blinked several times wondering if I am still half-asleep and shook my head, but what I was seeing didn’t change.
I once again observe the person sleeping on the bed.
Glossy blonde hair.
Silk-like skin.
Angel-like sleeping face.
The eyes of the beautiful woman slowly open.
“…Hnngh, eh? I…just what in the world…?”
She rubbed her saphyre-like eyes as if sleepy.
Her hair is a bit disheveled because she just woke up.
She said this while I was shocked.
“Makoto-san? Uwa! Why am I sleeping at a place like this?! Moreover, right by the side of an ancient dragon!”
The attire of the woman that jumped off from the bed was that of Hero Abel.
That body was slender from the very beginning, but it looked even smaller than before.
That figure and that face as if going ‘awawa’ was…
(P-Princess Noel…?) (Makoto)
It was the spitting image of the Princess-sama of Highland.
There’s no way that’s possible.
We are currently 1,000 years in the past.
There’s no way Princess Noel would be here.
(So you have woken up, human Hero.) (Hele)
The relieved voice of the White Dragon-san resonated.
But I didn’t have the leeway for that.
“Uhm, Makoto-san? What’s the matter?”
In front of me…
The woman that looks exactly like Princess Noel had a shocked face in the clothes of Hero Abel.
Judging from her clothes and her way of talking, she must be Abel.
That’s why I had no choice but to ask.
“……Are you…Abel-san…?” (Makoto)
When I nervously asked this, her face went ‘ah!’.
She hurriedly looked around and noticed there was a spring.
She ran there and confirmed her own face.
And then, it seems like she noticed.
Her own change.
She returned here looking awkward.
Her eyes were swimming around, and she looked at me with upturned eyes.
Those eyes were the same as Hero Abel.
“Yes… I am Abel…”
She said this while fidgeting a bit and with both hands at her back.
H-Hero Abel turned into a woman?!
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