Chapter 1886

“Bunhelier, you don’t have parents, do you?”

‘Has he been taught by Huroi?’

At the Tower of Wisdom…

Kraugel was in the midst of sparring with Sword God Biban. It was to get used to the controls of his new ultimate skill.

Speed was the basis of power, so it was a technique that had a very large rebound if it failed. Just like right now.

“It isn’t like you to lose your concentration.”

“……!”

Kraugel’s vision flipped around and his face fell to the ground. This was the aftermath of being hit with the perfect counter by Biban. Biban had sealed the ‘strength of an Absolute,‘ as promised, but he easily aimed at the weakness of Kraugel, who was distracted.

“Let’s take a break.”

In the first place, your new swordsmanship carries too much risk…

Biban held back the urge to give this warning and extended a hand. There was no way Kraugel could be unaware of the problem with his swordsmanship. It was about trusting him.

“I’m sorry.” Kraugel stood up using Biban’s hand and shifted his eyes in the direction of the disturbance.

In the midst of the murmuring tower members, Bunhelier was calm. “Parents? Of course not. Those are lower creatures born after the beginning of time… no, they are a necessary concept for all living things except the Old Dragons and the Gods of the Beginning.”

“Yes, that is right…”

Grid nodded.

Everyone at the scene felt that his mind had slipped away. Discussing the parents of an Old Dragon? It was very bizarre, but the tower members respected Grid. They left their spots one by one so as to not distract him. Time was running out to track down Betty, whose whereabouts had just been found.

“But from what I’ve seen, you might have parents.”

“……”

The tower members’ steps stopped again and Kraugel was convinced.

‘I’m sure he learned something from Huroi.’

Kraugel knew all of Grid’s advantages. One of them was the ability to learn. Every time he learned something new, he might not be able to learn it all at once, but he didn’t give up until he mastered it. Yes, mastered. Grid must digest his learning. He burned the firewood of time and pursued perfection.

‘Is he trying to reach the point of provoking an Old Dragon? Certainly… it must be a necessary skill at times.’

Kraugel interpreted every word that Grid threw at Bunhelier as a provocation. It was the same with the other tower members.

Everyone looked at Bunhelier. Fortunately, Bunhelier didn’t seem too offended.

“How interesting. What type of creature do you think could’ve existed before the beginning of time?” he responded with a snort.

The Old Dragons had existed since the beginning of time. If an Old Dragon had parents, the very concept of the beginning would be turned upside down. Grid’s argument was like claiming that ‘there is no gravity and mana in the world.’ It was such an empty argument that it wasn’t even worth refuting.

“How ignorant do you have to be to harbor such a delusion?”

Grid stared at the hand of Bunhelier, who was shaking his head in disbelief, and continued speaking, “Your front feet resemble those of the Blue Dragon.”

“…What?”

Bunhelier’s expression hardened for the first time.

“I… thanks to human aspirations, there are insignificant things that exist and… looks similar…?”

The front feet happen to be one of Bunhelier’s complexes. It was right to say that it was right below Dragon Words. It was to the point where he almost felt hostility toward Grid, who was unpleasant digging into that area. However, Bunhelier had grown up.

He had learned patience in the process of running away from Nevartan for quite a long time. He clung to the humans who he regarded as insignificant, and polymorphed into a mouse to get out of various crises. Thanks to this, he was barely able to suppress the anger that surged in him.

“You guys… you resemble elves to me.”

Humans and elves were the same creatures to Old Dragons. They didn’t feel much of a difference between goblins, orcs, and trolls, who were all bipedal. They couldn’t even differentiate the appearance. It was the same logic as humans distinguishing a dragon just by looking at their color.

“Elves? I see… it might seem like that…”

One of the greatest forces that could transform human beings was love—Grid’s confidence had skyrocketed since he recently shared deep love with his wives. Bunhelier’s claim that he resembled a beautiful elf wasn’t dismissed as nonsense, but was accepted gently.

“……”

Bunhelier closed his mouth.

The elves—it was a species that was facing extinction due to the intensifying gender conflicts. They were too few in number to be the subject of the world and their quality wasn’t outstanding. It must be a species that would be treated as insignificant even by humans. It was even more so from the perspective of Grid, who had become a god.

However, he calmly accepted that they resembled each other. He didn’t find the malicious insult unpleasant and instead mused on it. It was a very cautious and humble attitude.

Bunhelier suddenly became ashamed. He reproached himself for not being able to hide his anger the moment he heard the insulting remarks.

‘I didn’t have the attitude that an Absolute should have.’

Bunhelier was smart. As an Old Dragon, he was naturally highly intelligent and understood the principles of all things. The problem was that his emotion preceded reason every time. He kept losing his cool and easily made mistakes. It was a problem that he was aware of himself. He even knew why he was so easily agitated.

An inferiority complex—Bunhelier was inferior when compared to other Old Dragons. He had many shortcomings. Why were their innate powers different when they were all Old Dragons? Bunhelier felt very frustrated and resentful. He was always full of dissatisfaction and he became increasingly sensitive.

‘Grid, there is no way…’

Did he deliberately provoke me? Is it to give myself a chance to reflect on my usual self, who is easily agitated?

“…Hmm. Now that I think about it, I understand what you are saying. It seems that my front feet bear some resemblance to those eastern creatures.”

‘Is this really an Old Dragon…?’

Kraugel admired it as he had been nervously watching the situation. He thought it was great that Bunhelier was able to withstand the onslaught of Grid many times when Grid was specially trained by Huroi, who acquired provocation-related skills through the Martial God’s Secret Techniques.

“We really have to hurry.”

Radwolf was urging the tower members. He was relieved to see Bunhelier maturing through Grid’s provocations. Bunhelier’s statement that he was trying to live with humans didn’t seem to be a lie. Grid tested Bunhelier really thoroughly and there was a strong feeling that they were growing together as a duo. Finally, as the relieved tower members left in a hurry—

“I always wondered why you are so small and helpless among the Old Dragons. Isn’t an Old Dragon’s hierarchy too high to just say it was bad luck? Are the few ‘innate Absolutes’ in the world affected by luck? Are you convinced?”

Grid got back to the main point. It was enough to grab Bunhelier’s attention.

“My thoughts were the same.”

Empathy led to honesty. Bunhelier felt a certain emotion when Grid fully understood his position.

An understanding person that he was meeting for the first time in his life…

Toward such a Grid, Bunhelier started to confess all sorts of truths.

“I was suspicious of the other Old Dragons. There is something called compatibility among the Old Dragons. I suspected that one of them might be the cause of the weakening of my power.”

Bunhelier put the Old Dragons into the ecosystem. He realized that just as all things ate each other and were eaten, they were the same.

“That is why I made a plan to get rid of them.”

“……?”

Wasn’t that too extreme? He was the Evil Dragon for a reason…

Bunhelier’s explanation continued as Grid was feeling flustered. “However, I couldn’t do anything on my own. It is very difficult for me to even approach the flames that Trauke sincerely raises. Even if I break through the flames, the chances of damaging the body of a naturally powerful creature is extremely low.”

Trauka’s flames. Recently, humanity had also experienced it vaguely. Just by Trauka temporarily releasing his power, the rivers around the world evaporated and the ecosystem changed…

“Nevartan isn’t easy either. Finally, I didn’t have the courage to confront the destructive power of the guy who can overlap hundreds of Breaths.”

Hundreds of Breaths overlapped…? Didn’t it mean that the world would disappear without a trace the moment he shot it? Grid couldn’t imagine it even though he knew the greatness of an Old Dragon.

“I judged it was possible to get rid of Raiders, but…”

Bunhelier suddenly closed his mouth. He hesitated because his pride was too hurt to explain further. However, it was the moment to confess to the only person who understood. It was right to be honest.

“…In fact, even though the odds of winning are low and if I was lucky enough to succeed in a surprise attack and kill him, I felt it was meaningless. Due to his personality, he must have insurance.”

“Insurance?”

“It is an insurance policy that turns back time the moment he dies or reverses the outcome.”

Turning back time. It was an explanation that was familiar. For example, summoning one’s past and future self. Grid actually witnessed Baals’ power to intervene in the concept of time.

Besides Baal, there were several other beings with time-related abilities. Right now, even Picasso of the Overgeared Guild could draw a picture with the ‘save’ function. This was also technically an intervention in the concept of time. Grid wasn’t shocked that Raiders could turn back time. He surprisingly accepted it calmly. However, the explanation of reversing the outcome was unfamiliar.

“What does it mean to reverse the outcome? For example, if you kill Raiders, will the result change from ‘Raiders is dead’ to ‘not dead’?”

“That’s right. Or perhaps he can make the result so that I die instead.”

“What type of fraudulent ability is that?”

Grid’s gaze toward Bunhelier was affectionate. Why was he the only one born alone and ugly among the great beings? He projected his past self by empathizing and sympathizing with Bunhelier. This brought great comfort to Bunhelier. He gained a companion named Grid and was no longer alone.

There was just one thing that bothered Bunhelier. “Why do you use an honorific when talking about Raiders…?”

“Did I do that? I guess I owe him so much that I naturally came to use respectful honorifics for him.”

“Aren’t you indebted to me as well? Honestly, could you have guaranteed a victory against Baal without me?”

“We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Hmm… In any case, I couldn’t do anything for many years while alone. Then I met Baal and sought cooperation. I lured in Nevartan, who was overconfident in his own strength and cursed him.”

It was the madness that the world was familiar with.

“As a result, Nevartan was unable to function properly, but the result was no different. My strength was still weak.”

“It means Nevartan wasn’t the cause of your weakness.”

“That’s right.”

“In order to make sure the assumption that someone among the Old Dragons is weakening you is correct, you have to target Raiders or Trauka.”

“Yes.”

“It is impossible.”

“It was all because of that angel with a lot of wings. If they had cooperated with me, I could’ve taken Nevartan’s heart and aimed at Trauka. They ruined my plan.”

“……”

Grid looked at Bunhelier, who blamed others until the end, like he was pitiful. Then he cautiously said, “Let’s look at other possibilities.”

“Other possibilities?”

“As I said before, your front feet resemble the Blue Dragon. It isn’t just the Blue Dragon. The dragons of the east have short and small feet. Maybe you are a mix between a dragon and an eastern dragon? If so, that explains why you are weak. It is likely because you don’t have a yeouiju.”

“……”

Let’s end our relationship.

Bunhelier could barely swallow down the words that rose up in his throat. If Grid hadn’t shown such humility in accepting the insult that he resembled an elf, Bunhelier would’ve become impatient and ran out of control. Grid’s argument was that futile and insulting.

It was no wonder why Hayate and Biban averted their gazes.

Kraugel was the only one who was impressed. ‘He mastered it.’

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