Episode 212

Angel stared straight into Su Jin’s eyes and was shocked to find that Su Jin wasn’t kidding. He really intended to kill her.

“You really want to kill me?”

“Of course. I’ll be honest with you – I’ve actually come here to slay dragons. You’re not at your best now, so killing you would be the smart thing to do.” Su Jin smiled brightly at her. This was his best chance at completing the Challenge, but since he had uncovered the secret behind this Challenge, he had the opportunity to complete the Challenge perfectly. But of course, it depended on whether Angel was willing to cooperate with him.

“You… fine, I’ll answer your question.” Angel could see the murderous intent in Su Jin’s eyes and dared not agitate him. “The reason why I saved those humans is simple. It’s because I used to be a human.”

“Just like what I guessed.” Su Jin tapped a finger on his nose in a strange rhythm. He had guessed as much earlier, so Angel’s admission was just confirming his guess.

Angel was surprised by his reaction. “Don’t you find it ridiculous?”

“Ridiculous? Not at all. After I sorted out all the bits and pieces of information I had, I had already guessed that some dragons could possibly be humans before. You’ve merely confirmed this as a fact,” said Su Jin with a laugh.

Angel didn’t believe him and said sarcastically, “Wow, that’s amazing! You said you guessed it earlier right after I said so! Incredible!”

Since she didn’t believe him, Su Jin tried to explain, “Actually, it really wasn’t hard to arrive at this conclusion. I got my hands on this book earlier on and I think you can read the words inside it.” He threw the book to Angel and continued, “The book contains some information about dragons. For example, it says that there were brave warriors who slayed dragons, but the number of dragons never went down. And every time a warrior died, a dragon would come to take revenge on the warrior’s family, but these revenge attacks never affected anybody else.

“That alone sounded really strange to me. The number of dragons didn’t go down, there were warriors who slayed dragons, and dragons who were very focused on their revenge plans.” Su Jin tapped his nose more quickly, then his finger paused. He looked at Angel and said, “That doesn’t make sense. If dragons got killed, they would go down in number. Also, dragons are recorded to be greedy and cruel. I saw the sort of temperament Klaus had earlier. There’s no way a dragon like him would care who died as long as he got his revenge.

“But even though none of this seems to make sense, I just need to add in an extra condition and everything will make perfect sense – those who have killed dragons will become dragons!”

Angel’s entire body froze and she stared in disbelief at Su Jin. He took note of her reaction and nodded. “Your expression tells me that my hypothesis is correct.

“When a warrior kills a dragon, the warrior will become a dragon. One died, but one took its place, so the number of dragons will never go down. But the warrior probably only turns into a dragon when their life is almost coming to an end. That’s also why a ‘new’ dragon would come to take revenge only after a warrior dies. There’s probably something that compels all of you to take your loved ones away, and that’s why the dragons who have supposedly come to take revenge never hurt anybody who’s not from their family. Am I right to say that?”

Angel was in a daze as she nodded. Su Jin had guessed everything right. It was unbelievable to her that Su Jin could have guessed all of this based on a few notes in this book.

Su Jin looked at her a little curiously and was puzzled as he asked, “Can you tell me now why you have to take your loved ones away? Why don’t you tell them that you used to be that brave warrior who slayed those dragons?”

Angel scoffed. She clenched her teeth and said, “Aren’t you very intelligent? You can keep guessing the reason why!”

“Oh, you prefer me to guess?” Su Jin began tapping his nose again and laughed. “It’s not that hard to guess, right? When it comes to this sort of thing, you’re either being threatened or you’re being tempted. If the other party isn’t that capable, they’d just use either one. If the other party is more capable, they’d use them both.”

Angel was surprised by his guess again and was feeling pretty annoyed, but she couldn’t help but feel sad inside as well. She nodded and said, “You’re right. The lives of the warriors who become dragons no longer belong to us. The ancestral land of the dragons have a Dragon Soul Crystal which can control the souls of those who became dragons after death. If the dragons want us dead, we will die immediately.

“Of course, the threat to our own lives isn’t enough to actually threaten us, since we were prepared to die when we went forth to slay the dragons. But… this crystal is able to link us to anybody related by blood to us, so it is also able to kill our family or torture their souls.

“We’ve been told that we must never tell anybody who we really are. In order to placate us, the dragons have set aside a wonderful place for our families to live in within their ancestral land. As long as we don’t die, our families won’t die either.”

“Oh really? I suppose such benefits must come with certain limitations,” said Su Jin with a chuckle.

“Indeed. They need to make sure that we don’t rebel against them and we can’t let our family know that we’ve actually turned into an evil dragon either, so we’re not allowed to visit our family. We can only pray and hope that they live happy lives.” Angel looked more and more depressed as she spoke. Su Jin could practically feel it.

But Su Jin shook his head at these words. “Haven’t any of you suspected something?”

“Suspected something? Like what?”

“That your families are already dead?” said Su Jin with a shrug.

Angel froze for a moment, then snapped, “That’s impossible! Our families… our families are alive! I just used the magic mirror to see how they were doing and they… they were doing well! They’re happy and living worry-free lives!”

“I didn’t think you brave warriors would be so simple-minded.” Su Jin scoffed, then said quietly, “I don’t know much about this world, but… does that sort of power really exist? Something that can tie a human’s life to the dragons?”

Angel started trembling. Su Jin didn’t know much about this world, but as someone who used to be one of the most powerful humans in this world, Angel knew a lot more about this world. It was true that despite having magic and dragons, this world had never known such a power.

“But… but they’re dragons, and they’re the most powerful creatures in this world. Perhaps… perhaps they…” retorted Angel indignantly.

Su Jin merely sneered at her. “Is that so? If you were that confident of their powers, why are you getting so hysterical? Why do you look so uneasy?”

“You’re saying that they’ve lied to us, but… why? Why would they do that? The Dragon Soul Crystal already has control over our lives, so there’s no need for them to lie to us.” Angel stared intensely at Su Jin, as if she was going to slit his throat if he didn’t give her a satisfactory answer.

Su Jin paused to think, then said, “Actually, I think… perhaps this Dragon Soul Crystal doesn’t even exist. The dragons don’t actually have any control over your lives.”

Angel raised her voice immediately after he said that, “That’s impossible! My comrades have tried rebelling before, but they ended up dying at the hands of this crystal. The Dragon Soul Crystal definitely exists.”

“Oh? How does this crystal kill you guys then?” asked Su Jin curiously.

“The crystal will lead the souls of those who rebel to the graveyard for all dragons and kill them there,” replied Angel.

“The graveyard for all dragons? Have you been there before?”

“That’s a place where dragons go only when they’re about to die. I wouldn’t go there.”

“Then how do you know the crystal took their lives in that place?”

“The head of the dragons threw their severed heads in front of us. That’s proof.”

Su Jin sighed heavily and looked at Angel with a sad smile on his face. “Does your IQ go down after you turn into a dragon? Or are you warriors not intelligent people in the first place? Hmm… that actually makes sense. Anybody who would go all out to fight a dragon can’t be thaaat smart.”

“What do you mean?! What a rude fellow! How dare you disparage warriors like that!” said Angel furiously.

Su Jin chuckled and said, “That’s definitely it! None of you have ever seen the Dragon Soul Crystal kill anyone, yet all of you believe it with all your hearts.”

“Even if the crystal can’t kill us directly, it can control our souls. Isn’t that the same as killing us?” said Angel.

“Is it really the same? There’s a big difference, isn’t it? How many dragons can this crystal control at one time? How long can it control dragons for? Is it possible to get out of its control? None of you have bothered to understand any of this properly and you’ve just allowed yourself to be manipulated like that?” Su Jin shook his head. These fellows were so simple-minded, he felt bad for them.

Angel looked like she really hadn’t thought so deeply about this matter. But after giving it more thought, her expression became grimmer and grimmer. She suddenly got up and growled, “This damned draconic race! That’s why they wanted us to bring our families to them. They were afraid we might discover their secret, so they used our families to stop us from thinking too much about this matter?”

Su Jin started clapping and looked surprised as he said, “Wow! After teaching you a thing or two, you’ve actually become so much smarter!”

“Don’t you dare take me for a fool! I was once the most powerful ice wizard in the empire!” Angel declared proudly. She glanced at Su Jin and scoffed. “Why are you saying so much anyway? What schemes are you up to?”

“Schemes? I guess you could call it that. But at least it’s way better than the scheme you’re currently part of. Oh, by the way, I found some children hidden in a storehouse in one of the valleys. Are they related to you guys?” asked Su Jin casually.

Angel’s gaze turned frosty as she said sternly, “Do not hurt them! They’re…”

“They’re the children of some of the warriors who turned into dragons?” Su Jin finished the sentence for her with a smile.

She didn’t say anything, but Su Jin was pretty sure he was right. He asked another question, “Also… I wanted to ask about those people you froze. If they’ve been buried alive, I mean, like if they’ve been buried in soil, will they be alright?”

“Wait, what? What do you mean by that?” Angel did not understand what Su Jin was talking about.

Su Jin laughed awkwardly and said, “Well, I meant exactly that. I thought the people you froze were dead, so… I buried all of them.”