Dragon Poor

When Kim Seon-Hyeok took a moment to gather his thoughts, the Grand Duke of Iberia continued to talk.

“Since ancient times, it's been said that you should think ten times and then another twenty times before making the decision to advance or retreat when fighting against an enemy who is fully prepared and has solidified their defense. Now that you know it’s a trap, I suggest that the Indomitable Grand Duke reconsider it carefully and come up with a better plan.”

When Seon-Hyeok continued to remain silent, Diego Velazquez added another word of caution.

“Indomitable Grand Duke, weren’t you in a great deal of trouble before? Of course, at the time, it was difficult for you to concentrate on the battle because the situation was unfavorable to you, but there’s no rule saying that it won’t happen again.”

In the past, Kim Seon-Hyeok had been defeated by the Demon King while he was escaping the West with the Qeishas and the refugees. 

While he had done his utmost best, he had only succeeded in cutting off a corner of the Demon King’s clothing. At the time, if the timid and wary Demon King hadn’t capriciously changed his mind, then that day would have been the day Seon-Hyeok died.

That was how strong the Demon King was. 

“That’s why…”

“I still think the same.”

However, Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t change his mind.

“I have no intention of leaving Joon-Min, no, the Warrior, alone as he is.”

“Grand Duke!”

Startled by Seon-Hyeok’s resolute answer, Diego Velazquez jumped out of his seat.

“The Empire will suffer irreparable damage should something happen to you! Iberia will immediately lose the connection with the Empire and who knows what will happen to the Qeishas who followed you and settled in the Empire. And do you think that’d be all? You have a finger in all the changes that have taken place in the Empire, and if something happened to you, then everything would become a mess!”

Perhaps Diego Velazquez was afraid that the Empire wouldn’t be able to properly keep the Holy Kingdom in check should the Imperial power shrink. His voice got stronger and louder as he tried to persuade Kim Seon-Hyeok.

“If someone has to look for the Warrior, it should be the Holy Kingdom. I do not understand why you, the Grand Duke, are insisting on taking such a risk! Even if we consider this as a gamble, this is a gamble you would lose unconditionally!”

The Iberian Grand Duke, who had always been careful in consideration of his pride, abandoned his cautious attitude.

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never gambled.”

Diego Velazquez trembled at Kim Seon-Hyeok’s ridiculous answer. But Seon-Hyeok didn’t seem to care how Diego had taken his response as he continued to talk blithely. 

“However, I do know that when gambling with cards, there’s the Joker.”

“What on earth are you talking about right now…”

“And that the Joker is a badass card that can overturn the table.”

Diego Velazquez’s eyes widened. He finally realized that based on Seon-Hyeok’s expression, he wasn’t simply being stubborn. 

“Do you have a plan prepared?”

Instead of responding with an explanation, Seon-Hyeok simply smiled and nodded.

Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t stay in Granado for long. He only stayed in Granado for a total of three days.

“You must still be tired from your journey, why don’t you take a few more days before leaving?”

Diego Velazquez tried to get Kim Seon-Hyeok to rest a little longer, but Seon-Hyeok flatly refused. 

“The longer I take to leave, the more elaborate the trap laid by the Demon King can become.” 

From the start, if Marek hadn’t been so exhausted from the long flight, he wouldn’t have stayed in Granado for even those three days.

Now that Marek had recovered from the flight, there was no reason for him to waste any more time.

“I wish you good luck.”

For a moment, Diego looked at Marek, whose face was hidden under a cloak, before wishing them a safe journey.

“Then, I’ll see you once I return.”

With that short farewell, Seon-Hyeok grabbed Devon’s reins. 

“Let’s go.”

At his words, Devon began flapping his wings vigorously.

***

At one point in time, the West had been a barren land where not even a stalk of grass could grow because of the demonic energy. But that had changed. While the desolation and gloom hadn’t disappeared yet, the demonic energy that made it difficult to breathe was gone.

Of course, that only applied to the portion of the West that the Alliance had recovered.

After two more days of flying, they passed through the newly formed Western front and saw a black sky unique to the Demon King’s realm.

“How terrible.”

“That’s why I can’t understand it. Shouldn’t this have shattered the balance of the West? I’m curious as to what the hell the Western Adjuster is doing.”

Although Marek had been an Adjuster, he had lived his entire life in the East and so, he had no knowledge of the situation in the West. 

Nevertheless, Kim Seon-Heok couldn’t help but complain about it because the horrors he was facing in the West once again were so terrible.

“Anyway, stay alert and be careful. Nothing good will happen if the demonic energy enters your body.”

With that warning to Marek, Kim Seon-Hyeok stopped at the edge of the clear blue sky. The division between the clear blue sky and the black sky was so stark it might as well have been cut by a knife. 

“No matter how much weaker I’ve become, this isn’t enough to overpower me. So enough with the prattling and continue.”

Even if he was weak, he was still powerful.[1] Although he had handed over all the powers of an Adjuster to Julian, Marek was still powerful. Just as he said, Marek didn’t show any signs of fearing the demonic energy.

“Then let’s go.”

The moment Devon crossed the border, overflowing demonic energy rushed towards them as if it wanted to swallow them. At the same time, a brilliant light erupted from Kim Seon-Hyeok’s body. 

As a result, the evil demonic energy couldn’t get close to them. The swirling golden force dissipated the demonic energy mercilessly.

“Did you wander around the West like this before?”

Kim Seon-Hyeok grunted when Marek clicked his tongue as he looked at Seon-Hyeok with a face full of absurdity.

It was great the golden force made it impossible for the demonic energy to touch them. Thanks to that, Devon hadn’t suffered from it. 

But that was only if things were reasonable. 

The light surrounding them was so bright that it could be seen from a distance of several tens of kilometers. With this, the fact that they had flown to this far place stealthy without informing anyone else became irrelevant.

“By now, even that Demon King or whatever must’ve noticed that you’re here.”

When he heard Marek’s words that were either teasing him or disapproving of him, Kim Seon-Hyeok began making excuses. 

“All the demonic energy spread across the West is the Demon King’s eyes and ears. Even if it weren’t for this light, he would still have noticed a guest visiting.”

“Whatever the energy surrounding us is, it’s definitely connected to something bad.”

Even after losing his position as an Adjuster, Marek, who had temporarily broken the link between adversaries in the past, hadn’t lost his unique ability to sense Qi.

After staring at the northwestern sky for a moment, Marek frowned and criticized him.

“Either way, you should do something about that light. It’s dark everywhere else; it’s embarrassing to see you shining alone like this.”

Even if Marek hadn’t said so, Kim Seon-Hyeok had been struggling to rein in his energy. But for some reason, the more he tried, the stronger the light became, until in the end, he was enveloped by a light bright enough to illuminate the dark western sky. 

It was as if the sun was rising in the sky covered by demonic energy.

“I’m gonna go crazy.”

It was obvious that the force was pushing back the demonic energy. In the past, the demonic energy had been overwhelming and uncomfortable, causing his insides to twist uncomfortably, but now, it had no effect on him.

But even so, this was too much.

This was no different than going around telling everything that he was here. He had to suppress the light somehow.

“Well, let’s go back for now.”

In the end, Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t find a way and left the land under the demonic energy’s influence. The moment he did, the auspicious dragon’s energy surrounding him disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with.

“Ha, I’m gonna go insane.”

But it was only momentary. The instant they set foot in the Demon King’s domain, the light that had gone out appeared once again.

“It seems like the pure dragon’s energy cannot tolerate the evil energy.”

Seon-Hyeok nodded at Marek’s words.

“I agree. The force rushes out before I’m even conscious of it, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Having been at a loss on what to do with the force that came out instinctively, Kim Seon-Hyeok could only give up on his plan to enter the West with as little fuss as possible.

“It’d be best to find Joon-Min and get out as soon as possible.”

Surrounded by the conspicuous light, Seon-Hyeok headed towards the direction Diego Velazquez had told him, but Marek's words stopped him.

“I don’t know where the Warrior is, but.”

The entire time, Marek’s gaze was fixed somewhere to the northwest.

“I think I know where the Demon King is.”

Unintentionally, Kim Seon-Hyeok followed Marek’s gaze and turned his head.

“Hm.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok was a Dragonian Knight who could dart through the blue sky and never miss a single target. Yet, he couldn’t find anything suspicious.

“That trap you were talking about, we may come across it sooner than you think.

Marek said that bluntly, then asked him a question.

“What do you plan to do. If you want to avoid it, then there’s no reason we can’t. But if things go wrong, we’ll be caught right away.”

“It’s not like there’s only one trap. If we avoided all of them, then we’ll never find Joon-Min.”

“Then?”

Instead of answering, Kim Seon-Hyeok grabbed the spear made from the Mother Tree that had been tied to Devon’s saddle.

“We’ll just destroy everything that gets in our way.”

As soon as he finished talking, Devon shot forward.

“W, wait. Are we fighting while riding this guy?”

Until a moment ago, Marek didn’t look like he was worried at all about the traps, but now, he turned pale.

“Then, did you think we’ll dismount and fight?”

With that short response, Seon-Hyeok accelerated Devon’s speed. Marek screamed.

“Let me down! I wanna fight on the ground!”

However, Devon had already started accelerating and didn’t plan on stopping. Soon, he became a spear that pierced through the air as they continued shooting forward. 

The first trap wasn’t a big deal.

Once, when Kim Seon-Hyeok and Najima had been heading West, numerous flying monsters had attacked him. The same ones attacked him again.

In the past, he hadn’t been able to receive the help of Atiya, who hadn’t been able to use her powers in the Demon King’s realm, and as a result, he had suffered for a while from the annoying monsters’ attacks.

But now, he was different. 

As long as she was inside the golden energy that was spreading around him, Atiya could exert her full power. Thanks to that, he succeeded in wiping out hundreds of thousands of demons surprisingly quickly.

“This Demon King. He isn’t as good as I thought? Is he really trying to stop you with a trap like this?”

Considering how his face was completely pale from the violent flight, Marek sure could talk.

“If I was the same as when we had first met in the past, then I would have struggled quite a bit with this, so I can’t completely agree.”

Of course, there was no way the Demon King would have prepared only this kind of trap. If it was the Demon King Kim Seon-Hyeok had encountered once before, then the Demon King was a being who was cautious enough to keep in mind the possibility of Seon-Hyeok achieving rapid growth.

The flying monsters Seon-Hyeok had just dealt with were simply being used to test the waters. Nothing more, nothing less.

“The real trap is probably from now on.”

But, there was no fear on his face as he said that. Marek seemed to have noticed it because he had a strange look on his face.

“Somehow, you seem to be enjoying this.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok readily acknowledged his words. 

“Isn’t it always fun to destroy someone who looks down on you?”

Especially if it was a person who had once brought you to the brink of death.

For some reason, it felt as if Seon-Hyeok’s goal was changing from searching for the Warrior to pushing back the Demon King. 

1. The Korean proverb 썩어도 준치 was used here. It means that valuable objects retain their original value even if they are damaged.