Chapter 660
Sitting on her favorite sofa and drinking the tea sent by the High Elves was Teserina’s most cherished daily routine.
During this brief period of time, she healed herself and gained the energy to live through the day.
It was a feeling she had never experienced when she was a dragon.
From the moment of birth, a dragon’s powerful body required neither care nor rest.
A dragon was a being with a mind so steadfast that it could spend the entire day researching and casting magic without being affected in the slightest.
Naturally, there was no need for separate rest.
But the human body was different.
Though she was a chimera, she closely resembled a human, which meant she needed rest and sleep.
At first, she found such things inconvenient, but once she became accustomed to them, she found them far better than her life as a dragon.
Magic that she had once cast naturally as a dragon now came with many limitations in a human body.
As she researched magic to overcome those limitations, her achievements became far greater.
Teserina was satisfied with life as a human.
She liked the city of Neo Seoul, and she liked her lair within it.
Visiting the Forest of Origins or World Tree Village from time to time was nice, but the thing she enjoyed most was spending personal time like this in her own lair.
“Phew! Then shall I do a little more research on the Teleport Gem?”
The Teleport Gem she had obtained from Behemoth held limitless possibilities.
The more she researched it, the more new discoveries she made, satisfying her intellectual curiosity.
Many secrets still remained hidden within the Teleport Gem.
Teserina had no intention of stopping her research until she uncovered every one of them.
Just as she set down her teacup and rose from the sofa—
Bang! Bang!
Someone knocked on the door of her house.
Teserina tilted her head.
She had not been expecting any visitors at this hour.
If it were Zeon or Brielle, there would be no need for them to knock.
The door would open for them automatically.
“An unexpected visitor?”
With an expression that clearly showed her displeasure, Teserina headed toward the door.
Bang! Bang!
Even then, the visitor continued knocking.
“Alright. I’m coming out now... I ought to roast you with Hell Fire.”
Grumbling, Teserina opened the door.
At that moment, her expression stiffened.
The one knocking at the door was someone she had never expected.
“How did you get here?”
“It’s been a while, Teserina.”
The person greeting her with a weary face was a giant at least five meters tall.
The giant, clad in black armor covered with scales, looked far from healthy.
A closer look revealed that many of the scales attached to his armor were cracked or missing, exposing flesh beneath, and deep wounds were etched across his face.
What shocked Teserina was not his appearance, but his identity.
“Lord Nigel... is that really you?”
“Yes. It is, Teserina.”
The man answering with a strained expression was none other than the half-dragon Nigel.
His unexpected visit left Teserina unable to hide her confusion for a moment.
His arrival was an event far beyond anything she had anticipated.
“How did Lord Nigel come here?”
“I’ll explain the details inside. May I come in?”
“Of course. Please, come in.”
Teserina quickly ushered Nigel into her lair.
It was by no means common for one dragon to visit another dragon’s lair.
From the moment they were born, dragons lived independent lives.
For that reason, even ancient elder dragons did not look down on young dragons.
Naturally, when visiting another dragon’s lair, asking permission came first.
Once inside with her permission, Nigel let out a sigh.
“Phew.”
At a glance, Teserina realized that Nigel had suffered serious injuries.
The black scales covering his body were dragon scales.
The fact that those scales had been shattered and broken was proof enough of how badly he had been wounded.
Unlike Teserina, who had been forced to abandon her dragon body, Nigel had willingly evolved into a half-dragon.
No matter how she thought about it, she could not easily imagine a being capable of inflicting such severe injuries upon him.
“What happened?”
“I fought Raykas.”
“You mean Lord Raykas, the Chaos Dragon?”
“That’s right. Thanks to him, I received several fatal wounds.”
“What happened to Lord Raykas?”
“He also suffered injuries that were far from light. He won’t be able to move for some time.”
Nigel gave a bitter smile.
His battle against Raykas had been a defeat.
As he said, he had severely wounded Raykas, but Nigel himself had suffered far worse injuries.
They were wounds inflicted by another dragon.
Even Nigel’s authority as a half-dragon could not easily heal them.
If Raykas found him before he recovered, he would have no means of resisting.
If Raykas killed him and absorbed the crystal containing Krasias’s thought-form, then no one would be able to stop him.
That was why, after much deliberation, Nigel had come here.
To the human city of Neo Seoul.
With twenty million residents, Neo Seoul provided the perfect environment for Nigel to hide.
Moreover, Neo Seoul contained the lair of another dragon—Teserina.
Even though she had transferred her consciousness into a chimera instead of retaining her true body, she was still a dragon.
There was no hiding place more perfect than a dragon’s lair.
In fact, even Nigel, who had entered Neo Seoul in secret, had been forced to expend all of his remaining mana just to locate Teserina’s lair.
As a result, his injuries had worsened, leaving him on the verge of collapsing unconscious.
Even now, he was only enduring through a dragon’s powerful willpower.
“I want to stay here for a while, Teserina. Can you hide me?”
“As long as you need.”
“Thank you.”
“No, it’s nothing. Of course I have to help you, Lord Nigel.”
Teserina answered with a serious expression.
She knew as well.
She knew what would happen if Raykas absorbed every crystal containing Krasias’s thought-form.
Nigel spoke.
“He will seek out the crystal left behind by Dantal first. It is far more efficient that way. After that, he will certainly come here looking for me. I must recover before then if we are to prevent a disaster.”
“If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do it.”
“Thank you, Teserina.”
“I prepared a recovery chamber beneath the lair. If you stay there, you’ll heal much faster.”
It was a recovery chamber created through dragon magic.
Covered with top-grade mana stones and magic circles, it greatly accelerated recovery.
She had built it just in case, but she had never imagined it would actually be used.
And certainly not by another dragon instead of herself.
That was how urgent the situation was.
“I will never forget this kindness.”
“There’s no need to call it kindness. Just focus on recovering quickly.”
“I shall.”
Guided by Teserina, Nigel descended into the underground chamber where the magic circles had been installed.
As she closed the door behind him, Teserina sighed.
“Ha! There goes any chance of resting peacefully.”
The first person who came to her mind at that moment was Zeon.
- - -
Whoooong!
Accompanied by a bright flash of light, Zeon, Jin Geumho, and the others stepped out of the portal.
“Phew.”
Jin Geumho let out a sigh and looked back at the portal.
He still could not believe he had visited World Tree Village.
The visit itself had been a tremendous shock.
He could hardly believe that such a colossal tree and a forest filled with countless playing spirits actually existed.
Above all, the most astonishing thing had been the existence of the enormous dragon known as the Guardian of the World Tree.
The existence of a dragon over two hundred meters long from head to tail had shaken him deeply.
Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed such a giant dragon could exist.
Arisedon’s presence was so overwhelming that Jin Geumho could not even imagine Cheonbeol being capable of hunting it.
He still could not forget the sight of Arisedon slowly descending from above the clouds.
Looking at Arisedon had made all the effort he had poured into creating Cheonbeol feel pointless.
But he quickly steadied himself.
There were always beings beyond classification.
Beings who existed in places unreachable by conventional methods.
Dragons were like that.
Zeon was like that.
They were all existences beyond common sense.
Arisedon merely added one more to that list.
Excluding such exceptional beings, there were almost no monsters Cheonbeol could not defeat.
That alone justified Cheonbeol’s existence.
Jin Geumho spoke to Zeon.
“Thanks to you, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll launch Cheonbeol soon.”
“Wasn’t it still unfinished?”
“It was. But that doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“I wanted Cheonbeol to think and judge independently. I believed that would allow it to operate more efficiently. But even without AI, it can still be controlled from the ground, so there won’t be a problem. Efficiency may drop somewhat, but...”
“I understand. Then please let me know the launch schedule.”
“I will.”
Just as Jin Geumho nodded—
“Mayor! Zeon!”
Someone hurried toward them.
The one approaching while rapidly tapping his cane against the ground was Old Man Go.
Jin Geumho asked with a puzzled expression,
“Surely you didn’t come all the way here to greet us?”
“That’s correct.”
Old Man Go answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Has something happened?”
“Yes! You need to come with me to the prison.”
“The prison?”
At the unexpected word, Jin Geumho frowned.
Outside the Central District where City Hall stood, there was a separate prison.
It was a facility used to confine criminals and scavengers who had committed serious crimes against Neo Seoul.
Built using the full extent of Neo Seoul’s technology, the prison blocked the flow of mana.
As a result, no matter how powerful an Awakened was, they could not use their abilities.
Countless criminals were imprisoned there.
“Did someone cause trouble?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then?”
“You’ll understand when you get there.”
“Very well. Let’s go.”
Jin Geumho knew Old Man Go better than anyone.
If Old Man Go was speaking like this, then something serious had clearly happened.
Zeon said to Jin Geumho,
“It sounds like something serious. I’ll take my leave first.”
“You need to come as well.”
“What?”
“In fact, you’re the key figure.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll understand when you see. Come with us.”
At Old Man Go’s words, Zeon looked at Jin Geumho.
“If there’s no problem, you should go too. If Old Man Go is talking like this, it must be something quite serious.”
“Understood.”
Having little choice, Zeon followed Old Man Go toward the prison.
When they arrived, a strange light appeared in Zeon’s eyes.
He could see the Numbers stationed all around the prison.
The strongest force under City Hall.
It was rare for them all to be mobilized at once.
Yet every single member of the Numbers was present, positioned around the prison.
“It seems there’s an important figure inside.”
“A very dangerous individual entered the prison today.”
“And?”
“He’s looking for you.”
“For me?”
“That’s right. Zeon—you.”
“......”
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