‘Was it about a hundred years since the Dragon King came to this world?’
Not after the worldly collisions, the Dragon King descended into this world.
He led the confused Dragon Clan people to stabilize the Dragon Palace.
With the advent of the Dragon King, the Dragon Clan quickly accepted a new era and adapted to the present world.
At that time, it was the Dragon King Shamans who led the advent ritual.
‘This one’s worse than then. There’s no official shaman among the five of us, and there’s no one from the Dragon Clan to help.’
Those who are selected to be the Dragon King’s Shamans are assigned their ogansaek color and power from the Dragon King.
As of now, it is Imoogi’s shamans who hold that power.
On top of that, the situation where we have to perform the ritual isn’t very good.
The Black Dragon Palace is close to the divine world, but there was a better place to do this.
It’s the Yellow Dragon Palace, the center of the Dragon Palace, but that is where the shamans preempted Imoogi.
Besides, they’re trying to summon something that isn’t the Dragon King.
The Dragon Palace is filled with Imoogi’s energy.
‘Knowing that, Jeokryong, Heukryong, and Baekryong must’ve been very determined to intervene.’
They condensed their powers into scales and handed them to me.
Although indirect, it is still an intervention on the part of the superior beings.
If we succeed in this advent ritual, those three will pay the price.
And something else made me anxious.
“I’ll take care of it if something happens. Even if something unexpected happens, please don’t stop the ritual.”
When I finished speaking, Yoon Yeorang cupped her lips as if she wanted to say something, but I nodded toward the youngest dancer before she could speak.
She seemed to know that anxiety factor and the unexpected event I was referring to.
There was a faint hint of worry on her tired face.
Still, perhaps she thought there was no other way, the youngest shaman who received my signal raised her energy waves and began the ritual.
“God of the Dragons.”
The youngest shaman began a prayer to the Dragon King.
The advent ritual began as she recited a prayer that would open the way from the divine world.
The five colors of Yoohwang (Sulfur), Byeok (Jade), Hong (Red), Ja (Purple), and Nok (Green) are supposed to light the way for the Dragon King, but that’s impossible now.
The energy waves of us five are way different, not at all similar to ogansaek.
It’s much different from the Dragon King’s shamans who can fill their spots regardless of the original color of their energy waves.
The two candidates’ voices have become smaller as if their confidence has disappeared.
‘We can’t open the way if this goes on.’
Perhaps having the same idea, the youngest shaman looked at the two candidates alternately.
Then, she raised her fist holding Jeokryong’s scales toward them.
Soon, the scales reacted and a red energy burned high.
Hwaaaareuk!
A power in the form of a flame spread out around the youngest shaman.
The candidates saw this and hesitatingly grabbed the scales that they received.
Soon enough, the force was released from the scales with the sound of the wind.
Jeokryong, Heukryong, and Baekryong also worked hard to send their powers to the five of us who are calling the Dragon King.
As the power of the three dragons was added, light rose straight from the magic circle toward the sky.
Gooo…
A roaring voice memorizing the prayers spread wide.
A road that could not be seen opened to greet the Dragon King.
Just thinking about the end of that road brought a distant sensation.
‘The road for the Dragon King’s advent is opened, but there are obstacles.’
Yoon Yeorang and the youngest shaman were looking in the same direction as me.
Something was interfering with the advent.
It would’ve been the same force that prevented the Dragon King from approaching the palace.
Imoogi.
“Dragon King…!”
Yoon Yeorang’s voice sounded brighter than ever.
She smiled as she called the Dragon King, and I wondered if she was confident that she would be able to meet the Dragon King if that obstacle was gone.
In response to Yoon Yeorang’s strong hope, the obstacle cracked with a sound.
The youngest shaman looked at Yoon Yeorang with a weary face.
She seemed to find it absurd that Yoon Yeorang’s smiling faith could crack the interference.
The others were encouraged by Yoon Yeorang’s attitude and raised their voices.
As the obstacle that blocked the Dragon King was being dismantled…
Crack, crack…
An ominous sound was heard above the praying voices.
Something was stuck to the surface of the Black Dragon Palace.
It wriggled and moved to find the entrance.
What I was anxious about seemed to have come this far.
‘The advent ritual isn’t done yet.’
It hasn’t grasped the structure of the Dragon Palace that Hwangryong restructured.
I wanted it to wander a little longer, but my hopes soon collapsed.
Kwaaang!
It found the entrance to the Black Dragon Palace.
In the distance, I heard the door of the palace being smashed.
The two candidates who were reciting the prayer hard were distressed, but I quickly raised my hand and shook my head.
They gave me a frightened nod, perhaps thinking of what I mentioned earlier.
Crack, crack!
It wandered and looked for us directly because the shamans’ colors couldn’t reach the Black Dragon Palace.
The place where we held the ritual wasn’t far from the entrance, so it quickly reached us.
Kugugugu… kwang!
The door opened roughly, the floor shaking in the aftermath.
Those who saw it through the open door looked blue.
It was a translucent form of a monster.
The monster was so huge that we couldn’t see the lower half of its body from this side, and its form was distorted.
If I hadn’t remembered the shape of the scales that covered this monster’s body, I wouldn’t have recognized it as Imoogi.
‘They were going to replace the Dragon King with this?’
I was reluctant to even call it Imoogi, which is usually depicted as a middle form between a snake and a dragon.
Is this Imoogi, which was expressed by the former head of the association through the hands of Painter Hong Kyungbok, grown using the desires of the shamans as its nutrient?
The monster is yet to be fully substantiated because the ritual hasn’t been completed yet, but it has enough power to annihilate us here.
It had enough power to break down the main door of the Black Dragon Palace, it could easily smash the candidates’ bodies.
‘I prepared for a fight against a dragon-like being.’
In fact, I have already fought a very powerful dragon — Cadmus, the Dragon-Dragon Slayer.
By invoking Professor Ham Geunhyung’s light skill, I used Apollo’s arrow that killed the dragon-like Phyton.
But Phyton wasn’t a dragon.
It was, at least to my own eyes.
Kiiiiik!
The monster howled and ran toward us.
‘I can’t treat it as a dragon, so the dragon slayer’s weapon won’t be too effective.’
I saw it as nothing more than a sordid monster.
There was something else that I could do.
Instead of using another light skill through the Fate of the Unknown card, I decided to keep borrowing Yoon Yeorang’s power.
<Using character’s light skill, Summoning Ritual Instruments.>
I summoned two ritual fans, the Sun-Moon Blue Dragon Fan and the Blue-Yellow Fan which Yoon Yeorang devised after meeting the two dragons in person.
Seeing the fans in my hands, Yoon Yeorang blinked very quickly.
The monster was about to rush in after gathering strength to wipe out all five of us at once.
<Using character’s skill, Ward Off Evil Spirits.>
Fwaang!
As I swung the two fans toward the monster, the latter felt danger and made me its target.
The clear energy from the fans flew to stop the monster.
Although they were two dragons, the energy that appeared from the fans was much smaller than the monster summoned by the shamans.
Soon, the two dragons and the howling monster collided.
Fwaaaa!
A shock wave hit my body.
On top of the physical shock, the sense of my energy waves being sucked in at once seemed to empty my mind.
That monster was created to replace a superior being, so it’s not something that can be stopped by a single skill.
The Yellow Dragon and the Blue Dragon energy from the fans were about to disappear.
‘But even if it’s just once!’
I’m not foolish to hand others the scales without a backup plan.
I still had one more precious gift from the dragons.
<Using item Black Pearl of the Dragon Palace.>
As soon as I heard the system notification, the feeling of my energy waves being sucked out of my body stopped.
Instead, the black pearl that I held was pulverized and scattered.
It was the item that Yong Jegun suggested that Hwangryong gift to me as the Dragon Clan’s benefactor.
As power emitted from the Dragon Clan’s gift, the monster could no longer move forward.
Shwoooo…
When the shockwaves stopped completely, the monster also stopped moving.
I looked down at my hand and saw the two fans were burning black.
The skill was about to be deactivated because the two fans couldn’t handle the monster’s rush.
Since the fans only have the same effect every time, it’s difficult to summon them again.
‘I’ve already used the Black Pearl.’
The monster hasn’t fallen yet.
It looked at me without hiding its hatred and anger.
Once it pulls itself together, it’ll rush back at me.
‘Can I block it one more time?’
Fortunately, that monster will go after me first.
But how long can I last?
Imoogi’s shamans are conducting a ritual too, so that monster will rush in even harder.
There wasn’t much I could put in front of this overwhelming force, but what I had to do now was clear.
I should take my time and protect the others.
Knocking down this monster with my own hands is impossible, but there are plenty of ways to drag this out.
I had to concentrate and prepare for the next move.
“Euishin oppa!”
Yoon Yeorang’s voice brought me to my senses.
She called my name, which means she stopped praying.
Even if it’s just one person, if one of them stops praying, the ritual will halt.
If they have to do it all over again, it would be no use.
There would be no time.
I have to let them run away while I distract this monster.
While I tried to decide between ‘Don’t stop the ritual,’ or ‘Run away,’
Fwaaa…
I felt a change around me that I didn’t immediately detect because my attention was fully on the monster.
My body quickly warmed up, much different from the chilly air of the Black Dragon Palace.
There were clouds of five colors around.
It wasn’t the clouds that Imoogi’s shamans could do.
I’ve seen this in person.
I’ve seen this when I met the Dragon King.
“The Dragon King is here!”
Yoon Yeorang smiled broadly and looked up at the road opened by the advent ritual.
On the other side of the road covered by the clouds, the scales of the Dragon King were seen subtly.
The ritual was successful.
The Dragon King came to this world.
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