The Foreigner on the Periphery

Sea Dragon Kalisenar was not happy.

She considered the very phrase "a happy dragon" to be an oxymoron.

Some might argue that beings holding absolute wealth and power had no reason to be unhappy, but the vast majority of dragons kept their distance from happiness. Consumed by desperate, ceaseless struggles to claim even a fraction more, their daily lives were a battlefield.

Of course, the moment they seized what they desired, an electrifying wave of pleasure and intoxication washed over them. But to an Ancient Dragon like her, achievement and happiness were two entirely different concepts. The former was a fleeting thrill; the latter, a lasting sense of stability.

Even knowing this, dragons could never escape their fate as slaves to their own desires.

They were simply born that way.

Kalisenar had long concluded that dragons were a species capable of self-realization only by trampling everyone else and endlessly feeding their cravings.

At any rate, thanks to this inability to bask in happiness, her stress levels had been rising rapidly as of late.

'These arrogant fools keep coveting my territory.'

Meanwhile, if the dragons—who claimed wastefully massive territories as their private estates—were complaining about overpopulation, the situation for the other races was painfully obvious.

Stripped of all the good land by the dragons, the other intelligent species were crammed into tight, restricted zones. With already scarce resources distributed so unfairly, competition was fierce and prices skyrocketed. The rise of tightly packed ultra-high-rise buildings was a natural consequence.

For the record, land reclamation was out of the question. Sea Dragons like Kalisenar reacted hysterically to the very idea.

However, at some point, permits were no longer issued for those hyper-dense skyscrapers—the ones built so close together you could count the pores on a neighbor across the street. The dragons had poured out complaints, claiming the buildings were a nuisance during flight.

Eventually, the Non-Dragon Races began building their homes underground. Unable to build any higher, they had no choice but to look downward. Thanks to this, their modern residential environments displayed an intuitive, vertical stratification based on economic power. The wealthier they were, the higher into the sky they rose; the poorer they were, the deeper into the earth they burrowed.

This reality birthed a consequence not even the dragons had predicted. Or perhaps they had known and simply turned a blind eye. The Non-Dragon Races—or, to use the favorite expression of her younger sister who had emigrated to Earth, those "slaves"—seemed to be attempting a form of species-wide suicide these days.

'As if the falling tax revenues and plummeting working-age population weren't stressful enough!'

Whether rodents or primates, creatures simply refused to breed in hostile environments or oversaturated habitats.

The Ancient Dragons faced similar difficulties due to the declining productive population, and they tried to solve the problem by stealing from other dragons.

Kalisenar was one such Ancient Dragon facing that very threat. She couldn't help but be incredibly sensitive to anything happening in her territory.

Which was why she had been startled out of her wits this morning.

'Who is it? Who do they think I am to pull such an insolent stunt!'

The ultra-precise tracking Magic she deployed once a day to sniff out incursions from rivals had detected an anomaly.

'A barrier this massive in my own front yard?! Not on my watch. Do you really think you can blind me!'

It was a colossal barrier, one that even an Ancient Dragon would have to exert their full power to manifest.

No Ancient Dragon would put forth such effort just to test the waters against a rival. Kalisenar treated the unknown entity's actions as a declaration of war.

'You dare provoke me? Fine. Let's fight!'

Furious, she immediately stormed out of her Lair. She tore straight across the ocean and located the barrier near the coastline, right on the border of her territory.

She didn't hesitate.

"Reveal yourself!"

Armed with all manner of spells, her massive dragon body slammed into the barrier's wall.

Craaaack!

The power shielding the space collapsed. The barrier erected to toy with the senses of others shattered away.

But the moment she saw the scenery laid bare beyond the boundary...

"...!"

Kalisenar froze solid.

   *

"What is this?!"

She couldn't have imagined 'this'.

She hadn't doubted for a second that she would find a familiar face.

But the entity that appeared before her wasn't an Ancient Dragon...

"An Endelion?!"

Floating limply on the ocean surface was a creature grotesquely massive even by a dragon's standards.

The tentacles splayed in every direction were one thing, but its sheer size was the hallmark of its species.

"Why is an Endelion here?!"

She checked its condition.

"Is it dead? No, it's not."

The entity appeared to have lost consciousness.

How such a heavy body was floating on the sea was beyond her, but it didn't look like it was going to suffocate and die out there either.

She'd heard that an Endelion could go a month or two without breathing with no threat to its life. Finding the motivation to do so was the hard part; if they wanted to, those tentacles were capable of swimming through the sea of stars itself.

An unconscious tentacle monster.

As she muttered this, a certain piece of information flashed through Kalisenar's mind.

"Wait, could it be?!"

Her face lit up.

"I'm sure of it!"

'To think I would have such luck!'

A wave of pure pleasure surged through her draconic nervous system and veins. An immense sense of intoxication was already overflowing from within.

It was electrifying.

Yes, perhaps dragons truly lived for moments like this.

"That's the tentacle monster the Committee placed a bounty on!"

After losing them in the Shutan Kingdom, the Committee had changed their strategy.

They had broken away from their approach of utmost secrecy and issued a wanted order across the entire universe.

However, there was a specific condition regarding Dell: anyone who found her was to report it to the Committee without touching her. A massive amount of Talents was guaranteed just for the tip-off.

"There's no mistake. It couldn't possibly be another tentacle monster!"

At a time like this, there was no way another tentacle monster would be found unconscious outside of its home world.

"Hold on, rather than going to report it right away, I should hide it first!"

A giant creature like this was far too conspicuous.

Those rivals who were always eyeing her territory could easily transform into competitors gunning for the bounty at any moment.

Then, where to hide it? The tentacle monster was right in the middle of the open ocean.

The answer came easily, and once her decision was made, her actions were swift. The Sea Dragon focused her mind.

Chwaaash!

Vibrational waves rippled out from the row of pores along her submerged flank.

The waves pounded the surface relentlessly. Under her guidance, the calm ocean began to churn as if struck by a massive storm.

Chwaaash! Crash!

The swirling seawater wove together into a net-like form, blanketing the tentacle monster. It immediately dragged the colossal, grayish-blue mass beneath the surface.

Watching the sight, the Sea Dragon smiled.

   *

At that moment, in a place beyond the Sea Dragon's sight.

Deep within the Endelion's central body, several kilometers away, a priest stared at the scene unfolding before him, his pupils trembling.

"G-God!"

What he was facing was a tsunami rising in the middle of the ocean.

And a tsunami with a very blatant purpose, at that.

"I must report this to the avatar...!"

As he prayed, an auspicious light was summoned and enveloped his body. It was a measure to prevent himself from being swept away by the waves.

"Avatar!"

He called out, but Minjun seemed to already be in a realm beyond the reach of his telepathic waves.

The priest felt a profound sense of despair. Despite having served the proof of God by his side for quite some time, his Divine Power remained exactly the same, and even his desperate, prayerful cries couldn't reach the avatar.

He debated whether to attempt astral projection—just like when he had harvested the Divine Blood—even if it meant risking the death of his left-behind physical body.

The priest's gaze locked onto a single point in the air.

He cried out in absolute ecstasy.

"Avatar!"

   *

The Sea Dragon also noticed the sudden arrival.

"...?!"

A man looking down from the sky.

On the outside, he was a "slave" who looked just like an ordinary human.

But the moment he appeared, Kalisenar could feel the surrounding mana churning in an extraordinary manner.

Someone wielding that level of power appearing near the tentacle monster?

Kalisenar easily guessed his identity.

"It's that escaped convict!"

It seemed today was a day where hundreds of years' worth of good luck were piling up all at once. Kalisenar was so overwhelmed with electrifying joy that she could barely think straight.

Toward her, Swoosh!

Minjun came flying in.

Tracing a sharp, straight line, he closed the distance in an instant. Recognizing his speed far surpassed her expectations, Kalisenar suddenly remembered a question she had briefly forgotten in her joy.

'Come to think of it, why is that criminal being treated the same as the Endelion?'

What was the reason behind guaranteeing a massive fortune just for reporting his whereabouts, rather than capturing and turning him in?

Next, she saw the tools the man held in both hands. She grew puzzled once again, as one of them was hardly the sort of thing you'd expect in a situation like this.

Gripping a black Dagger in one hand and a silver Frying Pan in the other, Minjun's goal was crystal clear. First, he needed to shove that Sea Dragon as far away from here—as far away from Dell—as possible. His eyes had already caught sight of Dell's body, half-submerged in the seawater. His expression twisted, burning with a thick, visceral rage.

Minjun's form plummeted toward the seawater filling the gap between the Sea Dragon and the Endelion's tentacles. The dragon reflexively twitched her tail, taking aim. She fully intended to swat away the tiny creature barreling toward her.

But Minjun was faster.

Out in the middle of the open ocean with not a single piece of cover in sight, the silver pan reflected the pouring sunlight blindingly. Gripping it flat so its wide bottom faced forward, Minjun slammed it down against the surface of the sea. Decisively.

—!

At that moment, the Ancient Dragon felt an intense pain, as if her eardrums were bursting. But she had no time to focus on that. The spectacle that unfolded after the roaring noise—one that even a dragon's hearing found overwhelming—was just that urgent.

From the edge of the Frying Pan, a gargantuan tsunami whipped up, looking as though it could swallow an Ancient Dragon of Kalisenar's caliber in a single gulp.

"Dammit!"

Kalisenar was a Sea Dragon. Out on the ocean, she was an opponent no one could take lightly.

At least, she was supposed to be.

She should have been.

Roooar!

In a flash, she lost sight of the millions of Talents she had been anticipating.

The sky, sea spray, then the sky again, sea spray.

The world spun wildly, over and over.

The tsunami had swept Kalisenar up completely, shoving her back with terrifying momentum. The direction was exactly as Minjun intended: away from Dell and closer to land.

Rumble!

Battered by shards of crashing seawater, her scales wearing down from friction against the water until they snapped, the flesh beneath tearing away—even amidst all this, the dragon couldn't understand it.

He had merely struck the surface of the sea once with a Frying Pan. So how on earth?!

Just as Minjun had realized once before, the weapon Dell had made for him was a masterpiece that perfectly embodied her philosophy: it protected its owner without letting a single hair be harmed, while thoroughly pulverizing adversaries so not even dust remained. For Minjun, who had just unleashed this tsunami, and the tentacles behind him, the seawater merely rippled calmly.

In stark contrast, a violent water storm that looked ready to cleave the ocean itself in two had been summoned toward his target, Kalisenar.

A wave laden with astronomical power.

Despite her formidable species, Kalisenar was swept far, far away. The Sea Dragon, who looked like a seal's body attached to a giraffe's neck, skipped violently across the water's surface like a skimming depth charge, twisting awkwardly. She survived only because she was a dragon; any other creature would have been crushed to a pulp instantly.

Eventually, true to her nature as a Sea Dragon, she barely managed to regain her posture. As usual, she kept her plump body half-hidden beneath the surface with her neck rising high above. But even then, the natural disaster wrought by the Frying Pan hadn't lost its strength, continuing to push her backward.

"...?!"

Her gaze landed on the criminal chasing after her.

Instead of approaching the dragon on a direct trajectory, the escaped convict traced a parallel line, keeping a distance of several dozen meters. At that speed, he had more than enough time to close in and land a direct strike. Yet, he continued sprinting from afar, carving a path like the number "11".

Why?

Kalisenar soon saw the answer. In Minjun's other hand—the one not holding the pan—he wielded a black Dagger. Exploding shadows coated its blade.

Today, Minjun didn't shroud himself in his monstrous form as he usually did. Instead, he concentrated the essence of the monster into the blade. A black ripple—neither spiritual body nor physical matter—sprouted along the knife, stretching out longer and longer.

The moment the blackened blade grew right up to the Sea Dragon's silhouette, Minjun, who had been flying in a parallel line, ramped up his speed. Suddenly and explosively!

Slaaash!

The dragon let out a wretched scream, a sound she had never even heard from herself before.

Kalisenar's left flank was sliced cleanly off at an angle.

Shhk-shhk!

The blade dug beneath her smoothly curved underbelly. Following Minjun's motion, it sliced cleanly upward like a butcher filleting meat, before exiting her body right below the armpit. It was a cut that felt both endlessly long and agonizingly short. As a result, the excised slab of flesh became something resembling a dragon-skin blanket large enough for hundreds of trolls to sleep under together.

However, if his goal had been to skin her, the meat attached underneath was far too thick. It was a cloudy mass, improperly separated from the scales and hide. The raw slab of meat was violently tossed onto the sea surface, already stained crimson with blood.

The dragon thrashed and shrieked in agony. Watching the sight, Minjun retracted his shadows. Shrinking the elongated blade back to the length of a Dagger, the criminal touched the tip of his tongue to the drops of blood clinging to the edge.

It was a taste that made him desperately chew over the vow he had made to himself not long ago.

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