The lives of dragonkind have no end, and their greatest torment is finding amusement across such a long lifespan. If they lose that amusement, they gradually sink into a state called "Dragon Torpor," becoming devoid of all desire, until in the end even life itself feels meaningless, and they abandon survival in their sleep and utterly die.
A thousand years counts as a fairly long stretch of time even for dragonkind, and the prophecy that Letishi had originally scorned instead became its method of resisting the curse known as "Dragon Torpor."
Though it had holed up in the Red Dragon Volcano and never ventured out, the red dragons under its command would still report to it from time to time about events happening on the continent — especially when figures like "Heroes," "Champions," or "Great Sages" appeared among humanity, it would grow particularly excited, wondering whether one of them might be the human from the prophecy.
Unfortunately, none of them seemed to have any intention of coming to the Red Dragon Volcano; instead they were remarkably active in every other region of the continent.
Letishi knew perfectly well that it was a mutated red dragon, and any human strong enough to kill it would certainly be no weakling — such a one could surely give it a blood-boiling great battle. As it imagined that scene, the temperature inside the cavern suddenly soared, but thanks to a thousand years of high-heat refinement, the surrounding walls had become as crystalline and translucent as red jade, showing no change whatsoever in the face of such heat.
Its slightly boiling blood soon cooled back down, and its eyes opened a sliver, revealing majestic golden vertical pupils.
It wondered when that fated opponent would finally appear.
A certain father who had successfully ascended to Heaven once said:
An encounter between people is like [Gravity].
Jhin felt that this line described the encounter between man and dragon rather well too.
He and Kyaru had only pushed about a dozen kilometers into the Red Dragon Volcano — still in the outer reaches of the volcano — when they ran into a red dragon flying overhead.
The unique overwhelming pressure that only overlord-class monsters possessed instantly set the monsters on the ground trembling, robbing them entirely of any ability to resist. As one of the Beastmen, Kyaru was equally sensitive to this kind of aura; had she not been supporting herself with her magic staff, she might already have collapsed limply to the ground.
Jhin, on the other hand, felt no pressure at all. The red dragon flashed past in the sky. According to the records in the monster codex, their fastest flight speed was about the same as a modern fighter jet; that red dragon just now was probably flying slowly and leisurely because it was within its own territory, which was what had let the two of them see it so clearly.
He reached out and steadied Kyaru's shoulder. "You okay? Is a red dragon's aura really that overwhelming?"
The suffocating weight that had been pressing on her heart dispersed in an instant. Kyaru steadied her ragged breathing and glanced at him with some surprise. "You mean you didn't feel anything at all?"
"No. I only know that overlord-class monsters have a unique overwhelming aura, but I actually didn't feel a thing."
"You... let go of my shoulder and see."
Jhin did as she said, and the pressure that had not yet dispersed found Kyaru again. She pressed her lips tightly together, clutched her chest, her face going pale, her eyes betraying her discomfort.
Placing his palm back on Kyaru's shoulder, Jhin raised an eyebrow slightly. "So it seems I can even nullify this kind of pressure. That's actually a good thing."
"We've been in the Red Dragon Volcano this long, and you still haven't told me what exactly we came here to do."
"To hunt red dragons, of course."
"Are you insane!?"
"I'm certainly not insane. By the way, it's not the red dragon just now — it's a mutated red dragon that's lived for a thousand years."
"No way! You're courting death — hurry up and leave with me!" Kyaru anxiously tugged at Jhin, trying to pull him outward, but he was as though rooted to the spot, and no matter how hard she pulled she couldn't budge him at all.
She did this not because she feared death, of course. To her, having lost most of her memories, death was merely a way to end her suffering. But she didn't want Jhin to do something that was no different from suicide.
As a "tool," whether she lived or died didn't matter at all, but the "tool's" master had to survive.
It was at moments like this that one could faintly make out her old personality.
Jhin sighed inwardly, then reached back to grasp Kyaru's small hand and told her with a resolute gaze, "I made a promise to Kokkoro and Megumin that I would absolutely come back alive, so... I won't die. I'll get the tool to save Kokkoro and come back safe and sound."
"A promise, huh — that's completely unreliable!" Kyaru turned her head back, tears brimming in her eyes. "Just like back then... back then..."
She didn't go on. The blank in her memory was like a sharp pair of scissors, cutting the once-complete words in half; the part that followed she had no way of knowing at all.
Kyaru really hated this feeling — so many things would come right to the tip of her tongue, only to dissolve into nothingness, impossible to recall, to perceive, to speak.
It was like a story: even though she had listened through it together with her companions, she herself could only remember scattered fragments. Talking with her companions felt like listening to some other story entirely, and even her own existence seemed superfluous in the discussion.
A large hand gently stroked the top of her head, and the warmth transmitted from his palm smoothed out the creases in her heart named "suffering."
"My promise isn't the kind of lie used to deceive people. If you don't believe me... you can ask a promise of me."
"Is that alright — even for a 'tool' like me?"
"It's alright. We've already been promoted from strangers to acquaintances."
"Then..." Kyaru held out her pinky finger. "You absolutely have to come back alive."
Without the slightest hesitation, Jhin reached out and hooked pinkies with her, making the promise: "I promise you."
The pact made, Kyaru no longer tugged at him meaning to leave. The two continued deeper into the Red Dragon Volcano. Jhin's optimization and creation of magic was still ongoing, and all sorts of modern weapons were replicated by him in the form of magic.
A straight, dark-green rocket launcher rested on his shoulder. After reaching out and loading a shell into it, he aimed the muzzle at a conspicuous Demon Flame Wolf pack's den six hundred meters away, then pulled the trigger.
The shell turned into a beam of black laser that melted the den away entirely; the Demon Flame Wolves within the laser's range were annihilated in the pillar of light without even letting out a howl.
The pierced earth soon spewed forth from the crater the vast amounts of magma unique to the Magma Worm, filling the hole. It was estimated that in another ten-odd days this magma would cool down and turn back into solid, hard ground.
Relying on her Eagle Eye technique, Kyaru reported the situation to Jhin: "Every monster outside the attack range has been wiped out. In terms of attack distance and speed alone, this ranks among the very top even within the lightning-element magic renowned for those two traits. Still, compared to the large-scale magic cast by many people working together, it falls a bit short in raw power."
"Understood. Next, I'll find a way to improve the shells." Jhin nodded and let go of the rocket launcher's grip, whereupon it instantly turned into points of light and dispersed into the air.
This rocket launcher was [Dark-Corrosive Thunder: Rocket Launcher], specializing in long-range firepower strikes. Beyond that, there were also [Dark-Corrosive Thunder: Sniper Rifle], [Dark-Corrosive Thunder: Grenade], and other types of weapons for different combat environments.
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