Chapter 179

I had thought our meeting before was a coincidence, a chance encounter.

But now I knew it wasn’t.

It was the one who had summoned me into this dream.

The transcendent being that parasitized the fate of the Winslet family. The Demon of Cold Verdantus.

– It pleases me that this ignorant mortal can finally hold my name properly in his mind, but know this: it is the dragon’s scheme that has led you here. Be on your guard.

“On my guard? Why?”

– Previously, I made my existence known to you, yet the moment you awoke from the dream, you forgot everything. That was to avoid stimulating the geas bound to your heart. But now that you have fully remembered my name, another thick thread of causality has become entwined between your fate and mine. A thick thread cannot pass through the eye of the needle, and thus it agitates the ring of the geas all the more.

So in short, Monastrell deliberately told me the demon’s name to strengthen the geas and burst my heart.

No wonder the pain in my chest had been getting worse.

– I summoned you because your life stands at the brink. I do not desire your death, so accept the favor I bestow here.

Hooosh.

With the sound of rushing wind, a small blue light blossomed before me.

It flickered like a flame, yet it was not hot to the touch.

Verdantus spoke.

– Swallow it. It shall save you from death.

I could tell at a glance.

This was the essence of tremendous power.

Verdantus’s goal was to be resurrected in the mortal world, and for that, he needed me.

That was why he was granting me power capable of opposing the heart-destroying geas placed by the dragons.

But a demon’s gift would never be given with goodwill alone.

“If I swallow this, what happens?”

– You will become more complete. And you shall break the geas and ascend.

“You won’t take control of my soul?”

– Raindrops gather to form rivers, and rivers merge again into the sea. It is the law of the world that the small is absorbed by the great. There is no need to resist.

In other words, shut up and hand over control of your body.

“Get lost. I’m not giving you this body. It’s mine.”

– You have no choice in the matter. No one but I can save you from death. I am the lone branch jutting from the cliff, the only refuge beneath the storm.

The moment those words ended, a cold wind began to blow.

Within this abstract space with no sky or ground, a blizzard surged.

A biting chill tore at my flesh, followed by an agony that felt like my chest was being ripped apart.

The demon’s cold, and the dragons’ geas triggered by it, were both trying to destroy me.

Neither of them was on my side.

– Submit. Then I shall grant you everything you desire.

“You think you know what I want?”

– Survival. Peace. Stability. Were those not the things you’ve been chasing for the past ten years? I’ve seen it clearly…you’re the kind of human who would do anything to achieve them.

That likely tied into the reason why Winter Winslet became a villain in Judgment of Candela.

To survive, Winter Winslet discarded everything else.

Morality, conscience, and even the dignity of others.

That was how he became a villain.

But the person I am now is no longer that Winter Winslet.

“You don’t know me. You don’t know what I want, Verdantus.”

– It doesn’t matter. Once you become one with me, my desires will become yours. And you will never question them again.

“Keep dreaming. You can’t kill me, and you can’t let me die either, can you?”

If he tried to consume me by force, the dragons’ geas would activate and destroy my heart; he’d lose his vessel.

– But I can still make you suffer.

Once again, the cold returned, followed by the searing pain in my chest.

Holding me just at the brink of the geas bursting my heart-

That was how he tormented me.

And it was the only way left for him to lash out.

“You really think this kind of pain is enough to break me?”

– Your pain in this dream shall never end. Can a mere mortal like you even fathom the weight of what ‘eternity’ means?

“That word suits you more than me. Why don’t you mull it over on your own?”

I had something to rely on.

Before being pulled into this dream, Monastrell had said, “There is a way.”

Trusting in that, I closed my eyes.

And I gritted my teeth and endured.

How much time had passed?

Suddenly, my toes began to itch.

It was a promising sign.

Because the extreme cold had dulled all sensation in my body.

For feeling to return meant warmth was returning.

And changes were happening in the dream as well.

Thud, thud, thud!

The blizzard that had been raging melted into rain.

It drummed against my body, as if trying to wake me from sleep.

Roaaaaaaagh!

A roar of fury echoed from beyond the darkness.

“Looks like I won this round.”

– I am in no hurry. What difference does it make to add another eternity onto the eternity I have already endured?

“What an impressive bit of mental gymnastics. At this rate, I’ll probably die of old age before you manage to beat me.”

– You will be mine. Your fate is like that of a prisoner marching toward the gallows. As long as you remain a mortal, you will tremble in fear. And when you finally beg for salvation with your hands clasped in prayer, I will smile and reach out to you gladly.

“Do what you want.”

– You cannot escape me. You cannot escape me. You cannot escape me. That is fate.

***

I woke up with the sensation of falling.

And this time, I remembered the dream vividly.

Thank god I woke up.

If I hadn’t…

I raised a hand and felt around my chest.

The pain had been truly unbearable.

“Hah, looks like you pulled it off. You lucky bastard.”

I heard Monastrell’s voice.

Turning my head, I saw her looking down at me with a displeased expression.

“Where am I?”

“See for yourself.”

She jerked her chin toward the window.

When I pulled back the curtains, I saw a sunset over a harbor city.

It was Maronford.

“How long has it been since I collapsed?”

“Hmm… about six hours?”

“Only that much?”

It usually took at least three full days on horseback without rest to get from the Winslet estate to Maronford.

“How did we make it in just six hours?”

“Have you forgotten what I am?”

Ah.

Monastrell was a dragon.

“You flew through the sky carrying me?”

“Are you crazy? Like I’d let someone like you ride on my back. I just carried you in my mouth. Ugh, it’s been ages since I flew in my true form. My shoulders are killing me.”

Monastrell stretched her body, looking stiff and sore.

I raised my arm and brought it near my nose.

I had a feeling something smelled musty.

“Be honest. When’s the last time you brushed your teeth?”

“Do you want to die? Pact or no pact, I swear I’ll kill you.”

“Ha. Go ahead and try. As long as I have this, you can’t—”

I stopped mid-sentence, a chill running down my spine as I reached for my chest.

The dragon scale was gone.

Monastrell’s mouth stretched into a wide grin.

“Looking for this?”

“Why do you have that?”

The dragon scale was in her hand. The proof of the pact between the dragon race and the Winslet family.

She replied,

“Payment. I saved your life, didn’t I? With this, the three times the dragons agreed to help your family are officially used up.”

“I didn’t know the proof of the pact could be used like that.”

“Unbelievable. I can’t believe this thing was still around. The previous watcher said there weren’t any left. What kind of handoff was that? Just wait until I get back…”

Monastrell muttered irritably to herself.

I asked,

“Even though I don’t have the scale anymore, you’re not attacking me.”

“Why? Want me to?”

“……”

“Tsk. I can’t kill you unless Verdantus’s power has grown strong enough to trigger the heart-destroying geas. And since the demon’s presence has weakened while treating the cold, the geas has stopped working too.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Don’t expect another dose.”

“Because you used up all the scales that were split up as proof of the pact?”

“That, and we’re out of the cure now.”

The cure.

Come to think of it, just before I collapsed, this one had asked where Dahlia was.

“Where is Dahlia now…?”

She was right beside me.

Slumped over on another patient bed.

She didn’t seem conscious, and she was sweating and letting out faint groans of pain.

“What did you do to Dahlia?”

“What do you think? I drew some of the heat-based mana from her body. That’s what I used to neutralize Verdantus’s cold.”

“That’s even possible?”

“She’s got a unique constitution. Because of her illness, her body’s basically like a container overflowing with heat mana.”

It was true. Dahlia had a disease that burned her body alive from the inside. She was only surviving by using magical tattoos to barely suppress its progression.

Monastrell spoke.

“But looks like one more use of that, and she’s done for.”

“What?”

Instead of answering, Monastrell pulled back the blanket covering Dahlia.

A deep red, necrotic wound was revealed.

On top of the original plague scars, already blackened and burned, a new heat-blistered injury had formed.

Monastrell said,

“Well, it’s only natural. To draw out heat mana, I had to stoke the embers that the magical tattoos were keeping in check. What did you think would happen? Stoke a fire and expect it not to burn?”

“Then…”

“Her organs are still intact for now, luckily. But if we try that again, before we can get the heat we need, her brain will cook and she’ll die.”

I fell silent.

Maybe she misunderstood the look on my face, because Monastrell sneered and said,

“Shame, isn’t it? That the rare specimen you went through so much trouble to find is going to be useless now. Was it five years ago? When you spread the fire plague across eleven villages just to experiment on the residents?”