A few minutes before the dragon would chew Gracius up and swallow him whole.
The black-scaled dragon lay sprawled flat as if exhausted, eyes closed, quietly breathing.
Two people stood watch close beside it, carefully checking on its condition — Han Su-yeong and Minerva.
Han Su-yeong ran her fingers cautiously over the dragon's scales and glanced sidelong at her companion. Right next to her stood Minerva, examining the black-scaled dragon with a conflicted look in her eyes.
"So what you're saying is... Ji-hyeok's worn himself out?"
Minerva nodded at her question. She'd casually torn the hem from her own dress and was using the strip to wipe around the dragon's eyes.
"Indeed. To be more precise... 'overflow' would be the better word than 'exhaustion'."
"Overflow, huh."
"Dragons are creatures who well deserve the title of 'strongest'."
"There may be differences between individuals, yet ordinarily speaking, there is scarcely a creature that can best a dragon. Boundless vitality, tireless endurance, hard scales and sharp teeth and claws, an agility that belies their immense size, that vast bulk itself.... Yet a dragon's greatest weapon hath yet to be named. Thou who walkest the path of magic must surely know what it is."
Han Su-yeong nodded and answered.
"Mana."
"Aye. Mana. Mana so endless thou couldst draw from it forever without running dry.... Not for nothing is a powerful dragon's heart counted among the finest of materials and catalysts."
Minerva tapped along the dragon's body, deftly wiping it clean. Mid-motion, a contented purr rumbled from the dragon's throat.
Han Su-yeong felt a small pang of envy. Minerva didn't show it on her face, but she couldn't quite hide the way her tail swayed.
"...He bathed in my lifeblood, and devoured my heart whole. And in the course of accepting my power as one of the Seven Calamities, he learned the technique of donning my outer skin."
At those words, Han Su-yeong's expression turned startled and she looked up at the dragon. She knew well how dangerous a dragon's lifeblood and heart could be.
Don't tell me the reason he's like this is...!
As her expression grew serious, a small laugh came from beside her.
"Mm, what thou worriest about hath naught to do with this, so do not fret. As I said before, the reason he is like this hath nothing to do with it either. He is in this state because he just poured forth his breath with all his might."
Minerva had picked up on Han Su-yeong's thoughts and casually offered the reassurance. As though the dragon's bulk had been blocking her view, Minerva had risen onto her tiptoes and was leaning her upper body out to peek over. Han Su-yeong pressed her lips firmly shut at the sight.
She really is something, she muttered — but only in her mind.
"To put it simply... he overdid it because it was his first time taking dragon form."
"He overdid it?"
"To put it in human terms — it's as if someone who had just learned to walk for the first time then spent a whole day sprinting at full speed. It would be strange if he weren't worn out. ...And more than that, this was a first for me as well. I had no time to warn him in advance."
So saying, Minerva gently stroked the bridge of the dragon's snout.
"...The fault lies in my own foolishness. Thanks to it, I have caused thee needless trouble. I cannot bring myself to meet thy gaze."
At her sorrowful murmur, Han Su-yeong quietly blinked.
The string of unexpected developments left her bewildered, but at least a few things had become clear to her.
This is insane, really.
She let out a small sigh, quiet enough that Minerva wouldn't hear. Countless faces flickered through her mind. Jin Ye-seul, Lee Ye-eun, Lee Yu-na....
And then there were others — Yuzuki Horie, who was just a female friend Yu Ji-hyeok happened to know, and Alice Blesbuck, and so many more.
Then suddenly, right in the middle of all of them, Minerva's face was etched. And vividly so.
After everything else, now a Calamity too...? Honestly, who's going to believe any of this?
Whether or not he could sense her feelings, the dragon tilted his head toward Minerva, as if begging for more.
She let out a soft laugh at the sight and murmured, "What a great spoiled thing thou art. There, there — I shall humor thy whims to thy heart's content," carefully wiping at his scales.
"......"
Watching her, Han Su-yeong took out her handkerchief too. She reached for a scale that had been catching her eye for a while now — the way the various streams of mana tangled around it made her think it might be the spot where, if he were a person, the muscles knotted up.
"Kyaaah!?"
But the moment her hand touched the scale, the dragon flinched in shock and thrashed, and Han Su-yeong shrieked along with him.
The dragon, mid-thrash, must have remembered that Han Su-yeong and Minerva were right beside him, because he barely managed to stop himself.
His eyes were wide with surprise as he looked down at her, and when their gazes met, Han Su-yeong — flustered — waved her hands quickly to placate him.
"S— sorry. Did I scare you? I was just trying to help clean you too...."
"Looks like thou hast touched his reverse scale."
Beside her, Minerva stared with wide, fascinated eyes and murmured to herself.
"Even with deliberate searching the reverse scale is hard to find, yet thou hast struck it on thy very first touch.... In any case, take care. To a dragon, the reverse scale is an exceedingly sensitive and tender place."
Seeing Han Su-yeong's face flush red, Minerva gave a slight shake of her head. Then she circled around the dragon — who was still blinking in startled confusion — and nodded.
"In any case, it is as I expected. His body's state right now appears to lie somewhere between hatchling and adult. With further refinement of his power, he ought to be able to take the form of a fully-grown dragon. Or perhaps he may even take the form of a young drake, much like a hatchling."
"H— how can you tell that?"
Minerva answered the question without any sign of impatience.
"Why, because I myself was once a dragon. When thou lookest upon thy fellow humans, canst thou not tell whether one is a child, an adult, or an elder? Understand it in much the same way."
So saying, Minerva pointed to various places on the dragon's body.
"Behold — dost thou not see how the joints between his wing-segments appear curiously bent? That is the most telltale sign of a hatchling on the cusp of adulthood. Add to that the shape of his claws, the color of his wing-membranes, the form of his tail.... All of it proves that he is in the process of moving from a young hatchling into a full-grown beast...."
Han Su-yeong was nodding along to Minerva's explanation when she caught a strange sound.
A sharp intake — gulp. Like someone hastily swallowing back drool that had started to escape.
"...Hm?"
"Hm? What troubles thee?"
Faced with Minerva's perfectly composed expression, Han Su-yeong tilted her head. What had that sound just now been?
"Uh... nothing. I must have heard wrong."
"How dull thou art."
Minerva pressed a hand to her chin, working hard to maintain an unruffled expression. Thankfully, no one seemed to have caught her earlier slip. She gave a small nod and looked over at the dragon, who had already started drifting back into another doze.
"In any case, his body is still no more than a child's, but his insides are filled with my heart and blood... that is to say, with things so concentrated they cannot be compared to those of any other dragon."
Han Su-yeong nodded in understanding.
"So an imbalance happened. Between his body and his insides."
"Just so. And in that state, he loosed a breath at the output meant for my body. That is not something a young hatchling's frame can withstand.... It seems he has used up most of his stamina trying to make up the difference."
"That's why he keeps drifting off and groaning like this, then."
Han Su-yeong looked at the dragon with pity. Even now, he was nodding off and struggling to keep himself awake — shaking his head, rustling his body. Then she noticed he had begun cutting his own body with his claws, as if harming himself, and that blood had started running from the corner of his mouth. Her expression turned even graver.
"...So what should I do now?"
Han Su-yeong remembered clearly how Minerva had bowed her own head to ask her for help.
Judging from everything she'd seen — and as much as she really didn't want to admit it — Minerva genuinely did care about Yu Ji-hyeok's wellbeing. That was reason enough to trust her.
"What do you need me to do?"
"It is simple. Be his guide."
"His guide?"
Minerva nodded.
"In his current state, asking him to move on his own is too much. He has already pushed his body's strength past its limits. But if I touch his body, circulate the mana within him, and steer its flow... he can keep moving according to his own will."
Here she rubbed a finger against her lip and murmured playfully.
"Hm... yes, let us say I am the oarsman. Dost thou now grasp, roughly, what thy role would be?"
"...Are you saying you want me to give Ji-hyeok directions and steer him?"
Han Su-yeong asked back in disbelief, and Minerva gave her a satisfied smile.
"Precisely."
"H— how am I supposed to control a dragon? Even if his true form is Ji-hyeok, the form he's in right now is a dragon! There's no way I can do something like that...!"
"Nay. It is because it is thee — only thou canst do it."
Minerva spoke with utter conviction in answer to Han Su-yeong's panic.
"It was not by my own choice, but during my time spent within his shadow... I came to know much about his friends. Thou wert among them, and I came to know that thou possessest a remarkable talent for the space-related arts."
"Withered and diminished though I am, I swear by my name — what little of it still remains — that I have never once seen anyone with talent the equal of thine. Such a one as thou couldst surely direct his movement and action with skill, without ever placing a burden on him."
"...Aye, if it were a matter of bridling a wild dragon and leading it, that would have been impossible. But he, as thou knowest well, is a human. Not a dragon. I will hold his mind steady, and so long as thou guidest him true, there is no chance he will stray."
"For he could not refuse a request from thee."
"......"
Han Su-yeong fell silent for a moment.
"All right."
And then nodded slowly, as if to say she understood.
At that, Minerva broke into a smile so bright it nearly took Han Su-yeong's breath away.
"Good — then there's no reason to dawdle any longer."
"Wha— wait... eeek!"
In a flash, Minerva had scooped Han Su-yeong up and leapt right onto the head of Yu Ji-hyeok in dragon form. Then, by some means or other, she landed as lightly as a falling feather and stood between his two horns, whispering playfully.
"As it happens, we are two, and his horns are two as well."
So saying, and still wearing her bright smile, Minerva tapped one of his horns and went on.
"Aren't they magnificent and enormous? One of the simplest ways to gauge a dragon's stature is by the size of its horns. From these alone, one can tell that he is of high rank as a dragon."
"Uh, yeah... I guess so."
Han Su-yeong nodded, her face slightly flushed. Minerva had no idea why she was blushing.
...And that was how it had happened.
Han Su-yeong gripped one of Yu Ji-hyeok's horns tightly and looked around them.
Jaws snapping and crunching without pause, Yu Ji-hyeok brought his foreclaws crashing down on the undead before him and swept his tail through their ranks.
With every motion, dozens of undead were swept aside like leaves before a broom. Some clung to him and sank their teeth and claws into his scales, but none of them so much as scratched him.
"Calm down, calm down...."
Han Su-yeong drew in several deep breaths.
Minerva held the other horn, her eyes closed as if meditating, and said nothing. Once he'd come to, Yu Ji-hyeok had begun moving at Han Su-yeong's direction, just as Minerva had promised.
His memories from his human days were intact, but his instincts as a dragon were also strong.
That was how Minerva had described Yu Ji-hyeok's present state.
And true enough, Han Su-yeong could see he had turned so combative she could hardly believe this was the same Yu Ji-hyeok she knew. It had taken a fair amount of effort to bend him to her will. She'd broken into a real sweat just keeping him from charging straight at his enemies without a thought for anything else.
Honestly, she couldn't quite say how she'd managed to coax him up to the surface in one piece.
And on top of that....
The first thing they'd run into the moment they'd broken up through the ground had been none other than the lich.
In her panic, she'd shouted at him to bite Gracius — an impulsive command if there ever was one — but from the noises that kept coming out of his mouth, sounding very much like screams, it seemed to have been a fairly good call.
"Huh? Huh? Wait — don't tell me you just swallowed that?"
She saw the lump in his throat bob as if he'd just choked something down with a gulp, and Han Su-yeong panicked, slapping at his head with the flat of her hand.
"Ji-hyeok, spit it out, hurry! That's icky, icky! Come on, spit it out! Spit, spit! Hurry! Good, spit! Good, spit!"
Goaded by Han Su-yeong's pestering, he made a kruk sound and expelled his breath like a sneeze. A moment later, something shredded into pieces flew out of his mouth.
It was only by the color and pattern of the now-ragged robes that Han Su-yeong recognized it as Gracius.
Lich or no lich, isn't he just better off dead at this point?, she was thinking when Yu Ji-hyeok raised a forepaw and brought it crashing down on the remains.
THUD!
The blow shook the ground. Yu Ji-hyeok lifted his foreclaw and stared intently at what was now little more than dust.
A low, displeased rumble rolled out of his throat. Han Su-yeong could feel the mana churning inside him.
Before she could think to stop him, he loosed a breath at the remains like he was firing a shot.
She watched the scene in silence for a moment, then carefully patted his head.
"...Yeah. Good job."
At Han Su-yeong's praise, he seemed to grin.
He was already turning to clean up the remaining undead when, from her perch on his horn, she suddenly felt a throbbing at her temple.
"...Ah!"
A crystal hovered just above her, gleaming with an eerie light.
If she'd been able to read system notifications the way Yu Ji-hyeok could, she'd have seen the following messages pop up before her eyes:
[! An error has been detected.]
[! An error has been detected.]
[! An err...@$@&%#~ed.]
[! Part of 'Han Su-yeong's awakening condition has been fulfilled. (1/3)]
[! 'Han Su-yeong's eligibility for 'The Nameless Book' has been updated.]
[! Information on 'Han Su-yeong' is being updated.]
But she wasn't Yu Ji-hyeok, and so she could see none of it.
All she could see was the crystal, once eerily lit, now beginning to glow more brightly.
"......"
When she silently held out her hand, it drifted toward her as if drawn. She rested her hand on the crystal and quietly closed her eyes.
As if to apologize.
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