Long-Awaited Desire (10)

“What, what’s going on? Ne-noooh!”

The Elder of the Red Dragons gave an attack command with an angry expression.

Thus, it was a moment right before the Elder’s magic and the dragons’ breaths were about to pour onto the ground.

El prepared to block the attack, his mind full of complicated thoughts.

“Everything was tangled from the start, like a thread. Over there, the Black Dragons and Red Dragons, and also Rurin.”

It took some time to get here because he had just met Sereina.

El stopped by Sereina and asked about the identity of the Red Dragon that died on Greek Mountain.

That dragon was the previous Elder of the Red Dragons.

The current Elder framed him and drove him out, where he lived in seclusion on Greek Mountain and died in solitude.

The sorrow and solitude created the Red Dragon’s orb.

“So, to put it simply, the orb left by the Red Dragon that died on Greek Mountain has circled around and completed this sealing formation. And it will circle back and bring failure to the Red Dragon Elder. Therefore, this tangled web will conclude as a result of his own doing. The Elder he expelled created this orb, which I absorbed, ultimately shattering his plan. In the end, everything was in the hands of the Dragon Lord. Well, it doesn’t matter. Thanks to that, I met Rurin. So, I will fulfill the Lord’s wish with a happy heart.”

Rurin couldn’t achieve full absorption, so she could only use a flying kick, but El was different.

The dragon orb used in the sealing formation was just a medium. It didn’t use all the absolute mana.

But El absorbed both dragon orbs. So, this is a battle of absolute mana.

“And in this battle, the winner is me.”

The wind El summoned created a ripple on the surface of the water, calling forth a mighty storm.

That wind snuffed out all the breaths exhaled by the Red Dragons, as if blowing out a candle.

There was no grandeur, but this wind already contained mana that had surpassed its limits.

When the amount of mana breaks through the class limits, complicated incantations become meaningless.

The magic cast by the Elder was also blown away by the wind and vanished. The momentum that pierced Medidana was nowhere to be found.

The momentum that seemed like it would sweep across the ground disappeared, and all attacks were neutralized on the battlefield.

“What, what is this!”

The Elder of the Red Dragons was horrified, his face that of a typical small-minded person.

The other Red Dragons didn’t understand the situation and just blinked their eyes.

The Black Dragons were stunned and frozen in place.

Because of that promise to make them apologize for life.

That promise had already become a shackle for the Black Dragons, and the weight of those words was now proven in this moment.

By absolute power.

Therefore, not many beings are rejoicing at this moment.

The Gold Dragons welcomed this situation purely.

Medidana, who despised the idea of his granddaughter being harmed, was also pleased.

Rurin had a face as if it were obvious.

In this situation, El still shouted with a blank expression.

“Who is Rihaim?!”

“How dare you!”

The one who shouted back in silence at El’s call was Rihaim, the ancient dragon next to the Red Dragon Elder.

“Rihaim”, the name that belongs to Rurin’s direct enemy, whom she had heard about through eavesdropping.

The mastermind behind everything was the Red Dragon Elder.

And Rihaim was the enemy who had directly acted against them.

The two dragons who couldn’t be spared.

“Ugh, enough! Attack again!”

In the meantime, the Red Dragon Elder refused to give up and attacked El again with the strongest magic he could use.

The Red Dragons also followed the order and used their special magic this time.

But it was all in vain.

The magic that erupted with great force was easily extinguished with a whistling sound, vanishing in an instant.

And this time, El used an attack spell aimed at Rihaim.

At that moment, an explosion occurred on Rihaim’s body.

Caught in the explosion, Rihaim couldn’t resist and fell to the ground.

“You, you! How can you use magic? How can you do this with just wind! This can’t be!”

The Red Dragon Elder couldn’t understand the situation and babbled with the same old expression, but El completely ignored him.

El simply approached Rihaim, whom he had just knocked down.

“Rurin.”

Rurin nodded and approached as well.

“This one. I’ll kill him.”

“I won’t stop you. I dropped him intentionally so you could fulfill your grudge.”

“It’s not my grudge. It’s my Mother’s grudge.”

Rurin glared at Rihaim. She kept glaring at him.

“Wait a moment. I’ll let you use your mana.”

El, leaving Rurin’s anger behind, cast a barrage of meteors into the sky.

With a rumbling sound, meteors ravaged the sky.

The meteors that overturned the sky also blocked the sun, and as a result, the ground was shrouded in darkness.

All the dragons were shocked by the unprecedentedly powerful attack magic.

Some of the Black Dragons had seen this magic before, but even then, they were astonished again.

Soon, a meteor fell at the edge of the sacred ground.

Kaa-aaang!

The impact of the meteor hitting the ground caused an earthquake, and the earth trembled.

Since it didn’t fall from the atmosphere or space, its power wasn’t enough to split the planet.

But the power was more than enough to destroy the sealing formation and kill dragons.

The sealing formation surrounding the sacred ground was shattered by the meteor, and at that moment, El signaled Rurin.

Rihaim was buried in the ground, cursing, while Rurin simply performed a flying kick.

Pwooooosh-!

She didn’t control her strength. It was her full power.

With the flying kick, Rihaim’s body soared into the air.

Rurin, with her mouth shut, unleashed a barrage of magic.

Bang-bang and crack-bang-!

Kwang-!

Kraa-aaack-!

Rihaim exploded multiple times in the sky with screams, turning into ashes, and Rurin didn’t stop attacking even the ashes with her still-angry face.

At the same time, the Black Dragons and Gold Dragons, having regained their strength, immediately began attacking the Red Dragons.

Frightened by the overwhelming power of the barrage of meteors hanging in the sky, the Red Dragon Elder shockingly chose to flee.

“Where do you think you’re going?! You won’t escape!”

The Red Dragon Elder, attempting to teleport, was struck by Rurin’s breath and fell with a scream.

“Ha, don’t make me laugh! My plan can’t end this emptily…so easily!”

El gestured toward the Elder’s other wing.

Then, black smoke appeared, and in that moment, the Elder’s wing disintegrated.

Kra-aaack-!

The Red Dragon Elder screamed in agony and began rolling on the ground, his face twisted in pain.

The dragon without wings resembled a dinosaur.

El, preventing the Elder from even thinking of teleporting, gestured toward his legs this time.

Black smoke rose again, and the Elder’s two legs immediately vanished.

To be precise, they didn’t disappear.

It was the high-temperature mana melting his legs. The speed of the melting made it appear as if they disappeared in an instant.

The Elder had to feel the agony of his legs burning and turning to ash.

“Goddammit! Kraaack!”

He had no time to regret messing with the wrong person.

El gestured once again.

This time, black smoke rose from the Elder’s whole body, but it didn’t disappear. Only the burning pain consumed him.

“I don’t want this… I hate it, save me! Save me!”

The last desperate struggle began, and El spoke to the Elder.

“Your mistake was toying with Rurin. The price for that is your life.”

Then El whispered in Rurin’s ear. Rurin nodded firmly and performed her signature flying kick toward the Elder’s upper body, where black smoke was rising.

Kraa-aaack-!

The greatest scream yet echoed.

Where Rurin’s kick passed, the place immediately vanished. The body that had already melted when the black smoke rose had disappeared too quickly for the eye to catch, leaving only the trace of it.

The afterimage from the kick disappeared, and the true form was revealed.

The Red Dragon Elder thus returned to nothingness.

Rurin stared at the scene for a moment before walking back to El and holding his arm tightly.

The Red Dragons who witnessed the scene clearly began trembling with completely horrified faces, having completely lost their will to fight.

Among the Red Dragons lying face down on the ground, the Gold Dragons walked up and asked El.

“Are you the one who received the Dragon Lord’s Heart?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Oh!”

At El’s answer, the Gold Dragons looked at each other and then knelt before him.

The scene of the Gold Dragons, the highest-ranked among dragons, kneeling before a mere human had never happened before and would be hard to see again.

The high-ranking Gold Dragons, the leaders of the sacred ground, had spent the same time as the Dragon Lord and inherited his philosophy of peace, which he advocated among Dragons.

That’s why they had taken on the role of mediating between the Red and Black Dragons.

Of course, El had never seen such important figures like the high-ranking Gold Dragons outside of the Dragon Lord, and the Gold Dragons hadn’t seen him either.

Unlike other dragons, the Gold Dragons showed respect toward El as if they were addressing the Dragon Lord. It was a sign of respect for the Lord.

“The Lord said, ‘When you meet the one who inherits my power, help them regardless of their race’. Of course, I must honor the Lord’s will. But may I ask one thing? It seems that the culprits who caused the Red Dragons to be like this are all dead, so could you spare the remaining Red Dragons? If the Lord were here, he would have done the same!”

“Is that from the Lord?”

“Yes! I won’t simply release them. Those who were deeply involved will be thoroughly investigated and punished. They will be imprisoned deep beneath the sanctuary. As for the simple participants, we will give them a chance to live quietly, so their race may be preserved. Would you agree? They will be strictly monitored to ensure nothing like this happens again.”

At the Gold Dragon’s request, El looked at Rurin.

Rurin answered nonchalantly.

“I killed the enemy. I don’t care about the others! As long as you’re here, that’s enough!”

“That’s what she said.”

“So?”

“Yes. Do as you wish.”

El nodded, and the Gold Dragons let out a sigh of relief.

Just as it seemed the Gold Dragons were retreating, the one who seemed to be the highest-ranking among them, the one who had been leading the conversation, stepped closer to El and spoke.

“The position of the Dragon Lord is still vacant. What do you think? Since you possess the Dragon Lord’s Heart, I believe you are also a dragon. So, before the official Dragon Lord appears, perhaps you could temporarily…?”

A request to take the position of Dragon Lord.

El, of course, rejected the offer without hearing it all.

“I politely decline. I’m a restaurant owner.”

“Oh… I see? A restaurant owner? How strange.”

The Gold Dragon answered with a disappointed expression.

“Well, if you marry a dragon, the child born from it will certainly inherit the Lord’s Heart, so don’t be too discouraged. Of course, it will be up to the child born to decide.”

“Is that true? A child who will inherit the Lord’s Heart?”

“It might mix a little, but of course, they will inherit it.”

“Oh, is that so? I see, that does make sense.”

The Gold Dragon’s disappointed expression lifted, and he nodded repeatedly.

“Then I hope you’ll have heirs quickly. Hehehe.”

After saying one more thing, he laughed and turned around to leave.

“You! Did you just say…m-marriage?!”

Rurin, who overheard the conversation, stared at El with wide eyes, on the verge of being shocked.

El simply shrugged his shoulders.

Anyway, the meteors were still floating in the sky.

The Red Dragons had no intention of resisting.

The Gold Dragons began giving orders to the Red Dragons.

Of course, the Black Dragons didn’t stay still.

They had attacked their sacred ground, so they insisted on retaliation, but El spoke up.

The Black Dragons had no right to do so.

Especially when El glared at Diehegma, the Black Dragons became as silent as mice and began to back away.

This alone showed that El had almost taken control of all the dragons.

No dragon dared to ignore or treat El recklessly anymore due to his overwhelming power.

Medidana polymorphed and entered Elena’s clinic.

As the situation settled, El sent all the meteors back to space.

The bustling sanctuary soon quieted down. As the sun set, the sky above the sanctuary turned red.

Below, Rurin was still puffing her cheeks.

“You! The noisy ones are all gone now! So about earlier, that thing! That thing!”

“That?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know!”

“Shall I?”

“Huh?”

At Rurin’s shout, El suddenly changed his attitude.

Rurin was taken aback instead.

But El was straightforward.

He lifted Rurin’s hand and, while she was still stunned, quickly took off the pink ring.

Rurin, caught off guard, shouted in surprise.

“W-what…what… What is this! You?”