It wasn’t hard for Jamie or Jin to notice the existence.
Even so, they could feel it. There was a sense of presence as if the sea was created in the sky.
And not an actual sea.
To put it bluntly, it seemed as if a wide ocean of mana had spread out. The gravity felt stronger and it felt like their body was being pulled down.
“Jamie Welton.”
Jin called for Jamie as he pulled out his blade. He had goosebumps on his skin.
His instincts seemed to be telling him to run away. Fortunately, he was now a Sword Master so he could endure this to some extent.
Jin said, ignoring the trembling feeling.
“We should avoid this. We cannot handle this.”
Jamie didn’t answer. He just looked at the place where the presence could be felt.
And then…
“It disappeared.”
The presence suddenly disappeared.
Jin tried to expand his senses as much as possible but something absolute made even his detection falter. If what they were thinking did appear, then escaping from here would be impossible.
It wasn’t known what it was, but it was certain that dealing with it or crossing paths with it would lead to a dog’s death.
Jin couldn’t help but grab Jamie’s wrist.
“We need to leave. It is really dangerous this time.”
It didn’t matter if the opponent was hostile or not. It was a serious adventure gone wrong to meet this strong being.
Jin had a lot more to accomplish under Isis. So there was no need for him to risk his life here.
As long as the moon had risen, no matter how powerful this opponent was, he could run away.
“Hurry!”
As he dragged him, Jamie pulled his hand away.
Shocked at his actions, Jin asked,
“What are you doing?”
“We can’t run away.”
“It is possible with Moonlight Resonance. Under the moonlight it is possible. No matter how good the tracking is, it will be difficult to chase us.”
“It isn’t a race with that skill.”
“What is that…”
“The opponent is a dragon. This whole mountain range is his realm. It is true that Moonlight Resonance has power, but it is impossible to escape from his realm. Would you still do it and get caught sooner?”
“Dragon?”
Jin’s eyes trembled.
Why was there a dragon here? No, there were rumors of a dragon lair but it was only said to indicate that the place was dangerous.
A superior species and absolute race for humans. There was a record of them taking down the human world several times. Because of this, people would never even get close to a dragon lair.
Even if they had to, they would be very careful about it.
It was good to hear about the rumors of the dragon, because people wouldn’t try to enter that area.
“But how come we didn’t know?”
“Because each dragon is different.”
He probably made the entire mountain range with cognitive dissonance magic preventing people from finding his lair. Even if it wasn’t necessary, for a dragon who lived close to eternity, such magic wasn’t difficult.
But Jamie’s question wasn’t whether the lair was known or not.
“The question is what color is it?”
If it was a blue or white dragon they could pass from here. They were the most docile among the dragon clan.
But the other ones were dangerous. In particular, if it was black or red then being in this place was putting their lives at risk.
Because these dragons were the strongest, Jamie and Jin were not strong enough to defeat the dragon.
‘But where did it go?’
He thought the dragon would come for them.
But the presence had suddenly disappeared. Yet, they couldn’t take the chance and run away.
No matter how cautious the dragon was acting now, it could change its nature the next moment.
‘In the worst case, we will have to fight.’
Was there a chance to win against a dragon?
If it was a younger one, maybe the fight was worth it.
‘If it is an older one… our strength isn’t the answer.’
Dragons got stronger as they aged. If that dragon settled here is over 5,000 years old…
Jamie decided not to think about it.
Kenji was descending without looking back. It didn’t feel like anyone was chasing him.
Go all the way to the kids, and then run to another nation with the help of someone. He had enough money saved to do that.
If he went to another nation and washed up his identity to a new one, no one could find him.
‘Let’s move to the northern continent itself. Right. We move to the north.’
Before that, what should he do with the Blood Bringer? As long as it was on his arm, he could never live a normal life.
A skilled magician could help him out if he paid extra money. It was difficult to find things which couldn’t be bought with money.
At least Kenji thought so, and he managed to feed the children like this.
‘Kids, wait a little longer. Daddy is coming.’
The descent wasn’t too high. Rather, he couldn’t speed up as he went down the path at night. If only there was a flying scroll, he could have gone down easily… At that moment, he felt something above him.
Kenji stopped right away and looked up. He didn’t know if the mana sensitivity he had was low or if something did happen.
‘Is someone pursuing us?’
It looked like this team was quite capable. Even though he surrendered himself to the Blood Bringer he was barely alive.
Even then, he had been helped by strangers, and if those people didn’t find him he would have died in some ditch. Suddenly, he thought it was luck.
‘… ridiculous.’
An absurd idea for him. To think he had luck on his side with this thing on his arm. It made him wonder if he had gone crazy.
Kenji moved his legs to clear useless thoughts and head back.
It was then.
“The smell of blood was strong, so I had to do something, a bug with an interesting thing.”
An unfamiliar voice came from behind him. And when he turned around, a very handsome man was standing there with a smile.
A rare appearance.
His hair was red like lava and his eyes were the same color as his hair but his form had charisma. With a sharp chin and high nose, it was an unbelievable beauty for a man.
And such a handsome man said,
“What are you staring at? Well, the beauty must be high by human standards.”
The man spoke this with his own mouth. Kenji wasn’t too shocked with the words but he didn’t respond to the man.
And the man looked at Kenji. Then smiled while looking at the Blood Bringer.
“You were eaten by it.”
“… do you know this?”
“I don’t know. But just because I don’t know doesn’t mean I don’t feel the essence.”
The man, Kairos, raised his lips into a smile and pointed at Kenji. And the Blood Bringer moved freely.
“W-what!?”
Kenji was perplexed as he saw the sudden movement of the weapon. Originally, it tried to steal the owner’s body from time to time, but it had blood just a little while ago.
Blood Bringer was like a beast, so if it was full it wouldn’t hunt again. Judging by the amount eaten, it shouldn’t rise for two more days.
“Kuak!”
The nerves attached to Blood Bringer began to twitch and take over Kenji’s consciousness. Kairos looked happy and said,
“The sword, to put it bluntly, is like a parasite. And parasites try to take away the body of the host to be able to move freely. You would think it snatches your body when it wants and drinks blood, but you are wrong. It is just that whenever there is a chance to snatch the body, it will do it. Just like the chance I gave it now.”
“Kuaaak!”
Kenji’s veins all began to change. Blood Bringer was taking over him again. If it takes control of the nerves, it will slowly extend the influence to muscles, organs and bones.
It would have been difficult normally, but Kairos forcibly increased the output of the weapon. So suppressing it was a problem now.
“It has been a while since I saw this type of Demon sword. Who made it? It is quite a good trick to stick to the human body.”
Kairos was admiring it.
He wasn’t sure if this was done with a human skill. It wasn’t an item that a human could make. Maybe a dwarf?
There was also a chance of it being a true demon item too. Dwarfs were known to be scary people.
“But the most important thing was the output.”
Kairos looked at Kenji.
“Kuaaak!”
His whole body was dyed red and he couldn’t see if the eyes were turned away. The muscles were pumped up and it was 1.5 times bigger than before. Although he didn’t look good on the outside, his nerves were wriggling and it felt like worms were moving around in his body.
“Kuak!”
Kenji was completely being taken over and screamed as he ran for Kairos. His brain was taken over so he wasn’t conscious anymore.
The body tilted to the destructive power of Blood Bringer.
Kairos smiled when he saw that.
“Actually, this will be the first time it has taken over the host’s body, so I guess the power should be tested for a while. I understand its intent. But…”
Kairos smiled.
“You should look at the opponent and then attack.”
Bang!
Kenji’s body was buried deep in the ground. Kairos did nothing, just an invisible force crushed him.
“Kuaaak!”
He struggled to get up but couldn’t move.
Kairos squatted down and said,
“But I praise you for being brave. I didn’t know you would dare attack me.”
As the fingers moved, Kenji’s face was lifted up.
“But this is the only time you can attack my body without fear. I won’t forgive you next time. Don’t forget that I am being tolerant because you are an interesting one. Understand?”
“Uh…”
Kenji nodded.
Blood Bringer realized the difference it had with the opponent and Kairos nodded with a smile.
“Should we put your strength to the test? There are too many bugs polluting my realm. I cannot forgive them. But it doesn’t look good if I go to catch the bugs right? So you go clean them up.”
“Uh?”
“And, there aren’t all bugs here. Let’s try cleaning the others too. If you clean them up, I will give you a nice thing.”
“Kuaaak!”
Kenji screamed.
Kairos liked it, got up and smiled.
“Go ahead and run wild, bloodthirsty beast.”
Kenji soon disappeared.
And Jamie who felt something said,
“Be ready to fight.”
“The dragon?”
“No. Probably…”
Jamie answered thinking of the demon sword.
“The one trying to repay the favor.”
He seems to have a death wish.
