𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔𝟑
Flash!
The Yeouiju that had been pulled out was tossed into the sky, and Azure Dragon, who caught it in his mouth, circled around and spoke.
『The promise has been fulfilled. I, Azure Dragon, will be your ally until the very end.』
Azure Dragon, who had swallowed the Yeouiju in one gulp, gradually materialized his body that had been like fog, and fierce light blazed from his eyes.
Whoosh!
Zzzzzz!
“W-What is this? This clear and enormous power . . . . . .”
Even Consort Hwi was taken aback and backed away at the unknown energy, and Shin Pyo-eul stared blankly, as if she couldn’t believe what was happening before her eyes.
“. . .Ugh.”
Cheong Juhwa groaned, her expression distorted by the increasingly intense force.
As the contractor of this great Azure Dragon, she was bearing the full brunt of it.
「𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙚𝙤𝙪𝙞𝙟𝙪 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙬 . . . . . .」
But the current her, who had continued to grow, would be able to withstand it.
“Whew.”
As Azure Dragon and I had expected, Cheong Juhwa endured without collapsing, and Azure Dragon was soon able to finish absorbing all the power.
Boom!
『It has been a long time since I have been restored to my complete state.』
The appearance of Azure Dragon, who had transformed, was truly amazing.
He was now larger than when he had materialized before, and powerful energy of a conqueror could be felt from his entire body.
Just his presence was enough to make the surrounding atmosphere tremble, so it was obvious that his ability to control nature was incomparable to before.
“T-This can’t be. Is that really a dragon?”
『How dare you make fun of me? You deny me even when I am standing right before you, you wicked old monster.』
“Even I have never encountered a living dragon in my entire life . . . . . !”
A dragon was an existence known as the divine beast of divine beasts since ancient times, and it seemed that the situation was no different here. Consort Hwi couldn’t hide her astonishment.
I don’t know how it happened, but she now looked as if she had lost her mind.
「. . .𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜’𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚?」
Of course, Azure Dragon is strong.
Not only was his pure level over 70, but he also had the excellent basic specs of the dragon tribe, so he had the power to confront even a great yokai.
However, if you ask if that was enough to overwhelm Consort Hwi the answer would be no.
They were merely at a level where they could fight for victory.
Strictly speaking, Consort Hwi, who had gained the best condition through the ritual, had a slight advantage.
「𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙃𝙬𝙞’𝙨 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬 . . . . . .」
She had completely lost her composure and didn’t know what to do.
Whatever the reason, Consort Hwi was afraid of Azure Dragon. If that was the case, there was no reason to hesitate.
“Azure Dragon-nim. I will assist you.”
『Yes. Leave it to me.』
As Azure Dragon concentrated his mind, the sky soon darkened and thunder, lightning, and a rainstorm began to pour down.
Crackle!
Bang!
Azure Dragon, who had summoned a huge thunderbolt towards himself, combined it with the energy in his body and shot it out of his mouth in an instant.
『Take this, old monster!』
“. . .Ugh!”
Flash!
Poof!
I had thought that Ggong-sam-yi’s Hwadan looked like a dragon’s breath before, but this was no metaphor. It was the breath of a real dragon.
Consort Hwi hurriedly mustered her power to defend, but perhaps because her mind was in turmoil, her reaction was somewhat slow.
The result was disastrous.
Screech!
“Ack!”
The energy that had been swirling around her body noticeably drained away, and this time, she couldn’t prevent all the damage, so wounds appeared all over her body.
“Sevenfold Strike!”
“Cleansing Death Fragrance.”
Consort Hwi desperately blocked our attacks that followed, but she was barely holding on.
The energy that had been surrounding her body grew even fainter.
Perhaps realizing this, Consort Hwi’s actions suddenly changed.
“Take this!”
She pulled out the fan she had in her arms and swung it, and the ground shook and the wind took shape to attack us.
However, Azure Dragon could also control the atmosphere.
With the help of Azure Dragon, we broke through the whirlwinds, and we were soon able to spot Consort Hwi’s back as she hurriedly fled.
『What a petty trick . . . . . .!』
“We can’t let her get away! I haven’t gotten my revenge yet!”
Cheong Juhwa shouted indignantly, but Consort Hwi was already quite far away, as if she had made up her mind.
However, for some reason, Consort Hwi suddenly stopped moving as if she had been blocked by something.
“That’s . . . . . ?”
“I spread a barrier in advance. Ha, but it’s nothing compared to master’s Dream-Illusion Formation, so we have to hurry and chase her.”
Come to think of it, Shin Pyo-eul had been working on some kind of grand spell the entire time that I and Cheong Juhwa were helping Azure Dragon attack.
When everyone looked at Shin Pyo-eul, surprised by her amazing talent, she replied shyly.
“When I was traveling with master, there were often yokai who ran away like that. I didn’t think that even a great yokai would do that . . . . . I had a bad feeling, so I prepared for it.”
Whatever the reason, it was a perfect performance.
We left Shin Pyo-eul, who was maintaining the barrier, and quickly chased after Consort Hwi.
When we faced her again, Consort Hwi bit her lip with a completely defeated expression.
“Ugh, this can’t be . . . . . .”
Bang!
Screech!
Consort Hwi hurriedly tried to break the barrier, but she had already used up a considerable amount of her power, so her power wasn’t the same as before.
『Die obediently!』
In the end, Consort Hwi couldn’t properly respond to our combined attack and collapsed after suffering a fatal blow.
Cheong Juhwa, with a cold expression, approached Consort Hwi and asked.
“There’s something I’ve been curious about. Why didn’t you kill me and keep me by your side?”
That was certainly strange. Cheong Juhwa was a powerful enough exorcist that she could have gained considerable power just by killing and consuming her.
To that, Consort Hwi replied with a gaze full of emptiness.
“Well . . . . . I don’t know. Pftt! Our first encounter was so strange that I wondered if it was someone’s doing . . . . . .And for some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t . . . . . .”
As Consort Hwi continued to speak, her eyes shook greatly.
Soon after, she spoke with difficulty as if she had realized something.
“Death, i, is approaching. But this, what is this . . . . . .”
Her eyes were filled with great despair and anger.
“I-I am just a fake made by someone.”
“Fake . . . . . ?”
In her final moments, she uttered her last words through her blurry eyes.
“Ugh . . . . . ! You are not humans of this era . . . . . ! Only you, only you are the real ones here . . . . . .”
Consort Hwi, who had been holding onto her life with her superhuman willpower, collapsed like a broken doll, leaving only those words behind.
And her body soon began to shrivel up and turn to dust.
Crackle.
Rustle.
“Is it, is it over . . . . . ?”
“Yes. She has been destroyed.”
『She was a really tenacious one.』
And so, the battle of Seocheon Castle finally came to an end.
However, I couldn’t help but ignore Shin Pyo-eul’s slightly confused gaze.
Deep down, I had a strong feeling that something unusual was happening.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
“So, what do you think?”
“. . . . . .”
After the battle, we rescued all the people in the underground of Seocheon Castle, punished the merchant Ryu Geum-cheol and his aides who had joined hands with Consort Hwi and returned to our residence.
And I am currently having a secret conversation with Cheong Juhwa while Shin Pyo-eul is out in the market.
It was none other than about Consort Hwi’s final moments.
“Something’s definitely strange. She clearly realized the truth of this illusory world at the moment of her death.”
“Thinking about the explanation we heard before, the lives in this world are not just simple dolls that have been copied, but entities that can think and judge for themselves?”
“At least that’s what I know.”
Cheong Juhwa made a very complicated expression at that, and soon continued to speak in a serious tone.
“This could be more serious than we thought.”
“. . .I agree.”
“In Consort Hwi’s case, it’s possible that other beings could realize the truth of this world if certain conditions are met.”
It was possible for Consort Hwi.
Then, the yokai who were stronger and more advanced than her could also experience the same thing.
“And if they find out that we are humans from the outside, like Consort Hwi . . . . . .”
“We’ll become targets in an instant. They’ll want to go outside too.”
Of course, that didn’t make sense in theory.
No matter what, they were existences of this illusory world, and it was naturally impossible for them to return to reality, except for us.
“But they won’t believe that. The moment they learn the truth, it will be their only hope . . . . . .”
Cheong Juhwa trembled as if she was horrified just by imagining it, and I continued to think in silence.
And I told Cheong Juhwa one conclusion in a firm voice.
“. . .No, it might be possible.”
“What? What is?”
“For an existence of this illusory world to escape to reality.”
Cheong Juhwa was startled by my words, and I continued to speak with a sigh.
“I’m not sure . . . . . . but there’s definitely a chance that it will happen.”
“W-What is it?”
“Remember the yokai named Sori-soe that I told you about before?”
“Yes. You’re still using him as your shikigami.”
And only then did Cheong Juhwa seem to realize what I was trying to say.
“D-Don’t tell me, if he takes over your body . . . . . .”
“Yes. Even in that state, he could be judged as an outside existence and included in the target of the return spell.”
To put it simply, this was the problem.
What would happen if someone from here took over my body, controlled my mind, and tried to use the return spell?
Did Sancheon’s illusory technique have the ability to perfectly distinguish and block it?
I couldn’t be sure for now, but I had to assume that such a trick was possible.
“It’s getting more and more complicated. I thought I just had to find clues about Polar Night while practicing . . . . . .”
“It’s still just a theory, but it’s not a situation we can just watch.”
If that’s the case, we need to find our other colleagues as soon as possible, no matter what.
Otherwise, a real disaster could happen.
“We realized the truth through Consort Hwi but the others probably haven’t noticed.”
“. . . . . .”
It was a very slim possibility, but in the worst case, there might already be someone who had noticed the truth of this illusory world.
In other words, a great threat was approaching, and it was likely that our colleagues, except for us, didn’t know about it.
“. . .I guess I need to change my approach.”
We had to prioritize joining forces, no matter what.
The moment our immediate goal was rewritten.
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