Chapter 166

A dragon's nest.

This would be an accurate expression to describe the place where the dragon soldiers were guarding human-sized eggs.

They didn't have time to count the numbers one by one because they were trying to fend off the dragon soldiers, but even at first glance, a few hundred of them could be spotted.

"Did the dragon soldiers move all of them to one place?"

"I think so. There's no way the dragons would have all gathered here to lay eggs during the war."

It was as they said. As it seemed that the soldiers here had gathered the hidden eggs from each place. No matter where their original location may be, wouldn't it have been easier to protect them all this way?

'Or maybe it's the instinct of the dragon soldiers.'

All of a sudden, Sirka had a strange question pop into her head. "But why would your husband leave all these eggs intact?"

"Leave them?"

"Well, the Shadow Monarch is famous for incorporating his enemies into his shadow army unconditionally when he kills them."

"Ah!" Cha Hae-In also realized something from Sirka's words.

The souls of countless dragons that died here had already become shadow soldiers that served Sung Jin-Woo as their king. Therefore, they wouldn't have any reason to keep the existence of the eggs a secret from Sung Jin-Woo. Even if the dragons hid the eggs in secret places before serving Sung Jin-Woo, after that, of course, they would have no choice but to still tell him their location.

As Sirka said in other words, Sung Jin-Woo knew that these eggs were here, so they both came to the conclusion that he left them here on purpose.

'But why?'

Cha Hae-In eventually found the reason.

"...Ah."

The moment she inadvertently touched the dragon egg.

Pass~

!

Surprisingly, the surface of the egg that seemed hard as stone began to scatter like dust at her touch.

"Wait, what?"

Cha Hae-In and Sirka's eyes widened.

The inside was empty.

"How can it be empty?"

Seeing this, Sirka hurriedly made her way to the other eggs and started touching them one by one.

Passeuk

Passasak~

The eggs scattered like ashes into the air without much effort. It was striking just how they managed to maintain their original form.

An ashen blizzard filled the tombs of these berserk dragons.

"Even these are hollow!"

"Is that so?"

"Could it be that your husband knew these things were dead and didn't care much about it?" Sirka's guess was quite plausible. However, Cha Hae-In still had a serious expression.

"Sirka, is it normal for a dragon egg to be empty even when they die without hatching?"

"Well, so far I don't…" As an ice elf, Sirka didn't know much about a dragon's biology. There was only one, highly possible, guess that came to mind. "Maybe the dragon died before it could be born and your husband has the souls of these eggs? What if they were all taken in as shadow soldiers?"

"Wouldn't their corpses still be inside the eggs, then?"

"They would."

Cha Hae-In was silent for a while at Sirka's confirmation, mixed in with a sigh. Aside from logical thinking of whenever or not the eggs had been nurtured, the mystery still lingered as to why they looked normal on the inside but were empty on the outside.

And also, what would be the reason the dragon soldiers were guarding these empty eggs?

"Let's look around for now."

Cha Hae-In and Sirka began to touch all the remaining eggs. Unfortunately, there was no change ‌as the eggs began to scatter and disappear one by one.

At the same time, Cha Hae-In was also coldly watching the behavior of the dragon soldiers.

'These eggs are the owners of the dragon soldiers, so why hasn't their number decreased?'

There was a slight connection though. As the numbers of the eggs decreased, the bloodlust of the dragon soldiers was becoming ever more present.

'Could they be from another owner? Maybe there are still some living eggs around here?' Thinking of many various hypotheses, Cha Hae-In continued to reduce the number of eggs.

And finally.

"This…"

She found it.

"Isn't this a bit small?"

Cha Hae-In's eyes sparkled when she found the ostrich-sized egg hidden among all the human-sized eggs. The egg also smelled of mana, a difference from all the other hollow ones. When she grabbed the egg, she could feel a fairly heavy weight on it.

¡Aaaaa!

The mana around the dragon soldiers also became extremely thick.

"Cha-cha! These guys are getting mad! We have to evacuate to a safer place—huh?"

[Purrr]

Out of nowhere, the shadow wyvern Kaisel, who had been sleeping quietly all this time, suddenly woke up.

[Kyaaa~]

Kaisel spread his wings wide while stretching on Cha Hae-In's shoulder and yawning. Then, he pulled the real dragon egg that was in Hae-In's hands into his arms, twisted himself into a coil and embraced it as if it was his egg.

"Ah.."

The bloodlust of the dragon soldiers suddenly faded in an instant. Cha Hae-In and Sirka looked around with puzzled expressions at the sudden change.

Chuck! Chug!

The soldiers all the sudden bolted towards them to kneel on one knee and lower their heads as they surrounded Cha Hae-In and Sirka.

To be more precise.

[Purrr~]

They were kneeling down at Kaisel, who was cuddling the egg.

Seeing this, Cha Hae-In and Sirka muttered to themselves with bewildered expressions.

"I guess we can count this as a win, right?"

"Cha-cha, should I pray for this?"

"Yeah, let's tell Suho."

It seems they have found the last dragon egg in this entire universe.

*****

Koo-goo-goo-goo-goo!

Meanwhile.

[Little lord! The entire shore is surrounded in a whirlwind of sand!]

Haeundae was caught in an unexpected natural disaster, as Beru reported.

The sandy whirlpool wasn't the only thing to worry about as people got sucked downward. There was also a sandstorm upward that raged in all directions, as if it was a barrier.

'It's similar to the dungeon of Harmakan, but much more explicit.'

Harmakan, a member of the demonic tribe, had also placed a barrier around the entire village to create the 'instant dungeon'.

The barrier was so subtle that even those who entered wouldn't even notice it.

However, he didn't know if this was another kind of style or the demons that appeared this time had been clumsy with their magic, but they openly created a barrier that trapped people inside a sandstorm.

"Sung Suho!"

A voice called Suho from behind.

Lim Tae-Gyu, the guild master of the Reaper's guild and S class hunter, was running furiously through the sandstorm.

"Get out of the way!"

He said while hunting a magic arrow at the reaper's bow and aiming towards the center of the sandy vortex.

Kwa oh oh!

The powerful magic arrows grazed Suho's body as they flew towards the center of the barrier.

Ku kwa kwa!

At that moment, one of the arrows pierced its target and exploded.

[Ahh!! How dare a measly human being!]

Screams echoed in all directions. So were the angry shouts of the demons heard.

"There you are!" Like an eagle that caught his prey, Lim Tae-Gyu's eyes sparkled as he rained down the magic arrows again.

¡Pooh!

Kikekekeke!

Countless skeletons also emerged from the sandstorm to attack Lim Tae-Gyu from all sides. He snorted with a laugh as he hit the skeletons that tried to disturb him with the reaper's bow.

Kwajangchang!

The reaper's bow, an S class weapon, was harder than other weapons, so he smashed the skeletons with a delightful ease.

"I only need this much to kill you!"

[It can't be.]

!!!

Lim Tae-Gyu rapidly alerted his surroundings to the eerie voice that came right behind him.

[You are quite strong for a human.]

Among all the hunters, the gloomy voice kept ringing exactly in Lim Tae-Gyu's ears.

[Oh well, it doesn't matter how much magic you have. Humans are just a weak race.]

'He' laughed at Lim Tae-Gyu.

[A human's soul is inferior.]

Whoa!

As soon as he finished speaking, the scenery changed in front of Lim Tae-Gyu's eyes.

[The Demonic Illusionist Javier uses the skill: Mirage]

'Mirage?'

Suho gained two pieces of information thanks to the system's message. One, the culprit behind this situation was Javier, a magician from the demon tribe, and two, he could use a skill called 'Mirage'.

[Little lord! Beware of the illusions!]

Beru's urgent voice began to fade far away as the landscape around Suho's eyes changed.

****

Javier was a magician from the demon tribe.

He never once doubted his victory. He had to win.

He had been experimenting with the souls of the people he collected in this beach, and as a result came to one simple conclusion.

'Humans are weak.'

The demonic tribe was a race that enjoyed doing various research on the nature of souls. To them, it was just an experimental material with an infinite potential. With their use they could create really interesting spells.

Although it might be terrible for the victims, 'Mirage' was a powerful illusion that brought out the most terrifying or intense moments from a target's memories.

Through his demonic magic, Javier had enjoyed the colorful fears hidden within the human's subconsciousness.

'They are quite an interesting race.'

Since humans were fundamentally weak, the fear they felt was more fundamental and primary than that of the other races.

'The other races only fear death at best.'

But look at the humans gathered in front of him! Look at the many colorful fears that they could express!

'For example… That one.'

"Honey."

"No, no, it can't be…"

Lim Tae-Gyu, who had the most magic among the hunters, fell into the greatest despair.

That was because his 'dead wife', no, the wife 'he killed with his own hands', appeared in front of him. His wife's body was enveloped in a blue smoke, burning her away.

Slowly, Lim Tae-Gyu's wife approached him with a sorrowful look on her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You were the one who killed me."

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…"

'Kehehe.'

How delightful it is to watch a soul struggle in despair!

Javier felt extreme pleasure while he appreciated Lim Tae-Gyu's despair and fear.

[Kahaha! They cannot resist their absolute fears, just look at how beautiful this is!]

S class or whatever, the soul was just another equally insignificant human soul, while his illusions were on another level from simple illusions. For Javier, he could bring out intense memories deeply engraved into the victim's soul and turn them into reality. It was to the point that the illusions could exert physical power on their own.

[This moment was bound to come, S class hunter, so don't struggle anymore and accept your demise.]

He mocked and giggled at Lim Tae-Gyu until a sudden chill made him turn his gaze quickly to somewhere else.

He couldn't help but doubt his eyes.

[That–What is that?!]

It was from the young hunter who caused that blizzard earlier. He, too, had been watching the illusion that was deeply engraved in his memory from afar.

And yet, something was strange.

[What the hell is that!?]

A being in Suho's memory was slowly revealing itself, covered in the black void of the abyss itself.