Chapter 178

She looks like a young woman, but inside her is a dragon whose age is beyond reckoning.

How many of the Winslet family ancestors has Monastrell killed with her own hands?

And those ancestors…each one could’ve been a genius who made their mark in the world of magic, just like Winter Winslet.

“What a cruel thing to do.”

“Cruel? You should be grateful, actually. If that demon had managed to resurrect even once, your bloodline would’ve been completely wiped off the face of the earth. Honestly, it would’ve been easier to just do that from the start.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because the elders of our race decided otherwise. They say they owe your ancestor a debt. What a joke. Owing a debt to a mere human? I’d rather owe a stray dog passing by.”

Monastrell scoffed and shook her head.

“Think about it. I’ve been chained to your family for centuries, doing the same dull, thankless task over and over again. It’s like being sentenced to an eternity of weeding. I have to regularly snuff out the sprouting threat whenever the demon looks like it might revive and keep an eye on whether the heart-destroying geas is working properly.”

“So I’m supposed to be grateful for that?”

“Exactly. I’m stopping blind fools from throwing themselves into fire, not even knowing it’s fire.”

I couldn’t agree.

Is strangling someone from behind to keep them from jumping into the flames something to be thanked for?

And from the victim’s side, they never even get told why they’re dying, or when.

All that’s left is the record: died young of heart failure.

“Humans have the right to choose their own fate. Even if that fate leads to destruction.”

“That’s just what you think. Or should I say, what humans think?”

Monastrell was a dragon, not a human.

Which meant that something like the free will of mere creatures wasn’t her concern.

That’s what she meant.

“And it’s not just you who dies. The fire spreads. You think a demon borrowing your body for resurrection is going to live out the rest of its life quietly and die of old age or something? Those things commit massacres as naturally as breathing.”

Even so, I still had no intention of quietly letting myself die.

So I asked,

“Who sent you as a watcher? Who created the geas?”

“What, are you planning to go talk to them or something? That’s hilarious.”

“You mean the elders of your race… the elder dragons, right?”

Monastrell’s brow twitched.

“Ha, yeah. This whole mess started because of a pact that old geezer made with the first Winslet. If you’re old, you should just die already instead of making a mess and dumping the consequences on young dragons. Not that I have much room to talk. I’m only doing this job as punishment for the trouble I caused…”

“A pact?”

“Yeah. A pact between the dragons of old and human heroes, formed to drive demons out of this land. Because of that damn oath, I can’t just wipe out your family as I please. I can only step in once your body has been overtaken by the demon. Hell, the contract even requires me to help you if you’re in danger. How’s that for unfair?”

I remembered what had happened before.

Was that why she saved me during the Caraphine explosion?

Monastrell cracked her knuckles with a sharp sound.

“Anyway, that’s enough explanation. I went out of my way to show you some kindness, so you wouldn’t die clueless and bitter. Now it’s your turn to return the favor. How about showing me the kindness of dying without a fight?”

“What a joke.”

“If you die, I can finally take a break until the next vessel is born. Maybe I’ll go traveling. Where should I go? Chasing you all over the continent for surveillance ten years ago was the only time I had a bit of fun. Maybe I’ll take fifty years off in some warm tropical region?”

She spoke as if my death was a given and planning a vacation was the real priority.

Sensing a chilling intent, I turned my focus inward to examine my mana.

The uncontrollable cold still swelled inside me, and when I tried to move my mana, it felt like my heart would be torn apart.

It was the geas placed by the dragons.

I slipped a hand into my coat and felt the elixir bottle.

I’d made four. Used one against the demon cultists and another to save Joseph in Maronford City. Only two remained.

If I drank one and pushed through just once…

Could I buy enough time to land a single blow on Monastrell and escape?

“You’d better not be entertaining any stupid ideas.”

“Why didn’t you say that sooner?”

I raised the elixir bottle to my lips, already casting my spell.

[Casting the Secret Spell of Half-Dragon Catalayud — the Dragon-Slaying Spell]

At the same time, Monastrell’s arm shifted…just slightly.

It swung faster than my eyes could follow.

I realized instantly that I’d lost.

The spell collapsed before completion, shattered by the pain in my heart from the geas.

Monastrell’s hand plunged toward my chest without meeting any resistance.

And then…crack!

With the sound of muscle fibers snapping, blood sprayed into the air.

“What…?”

A voice filled with confusion—

It was Monastrell’s.

Her hand, which had definitely struck me, was flung back by a powerful rebound.

And her hand… was in a grotesque state.

All five fingers were broken, each twisted in a different direction and dangling limply.

Monastrell showed no sign of pain.

Instead, she stared at her shattered hand with curious fascination.

“Ha… unbelievable. How did you pull that off?”

I didn’t know either.

But I had a hunch.

I reached into the left breast pocket of my coat and pulled out a small item.

A thin, translucent shard, about half the size of my palm.

Tough and firm, reminiscent of ivory—

It was a large scale.

Monastrell spat on the ground.

“So the proof of the pact still existed? That damned old geezer. If he’s not going to help with the job, the least he could do is stay out of the way.”

A dragon scale.

This was the item my father, Count Winslet, had given me the night we spoke about the family’s secrets.

Right before we said our farewells, he had stopped me and taken out an old book.

On the very last page, glued in with resin, was this.

– Take it, my son.

– What is this…?

– I don’t know exactly what it is either. But after looking through the records of our predecessors, I believe it’s important. The book said this:

– It may be the key to breaking the family curse, but the opportunity never came for me. So I leave it for the next Winslet.

– Maybe it’ll help you someday.

And just as the Count had said….this item had saved my life.

Humans invoke the name of gods when making solemn vows.

But dragons do not.

They simply swear on themselves.

Because they themselves are already semi-divine beings.

That’s why the elder dragon’s scale possessed supernatural power as a symbol of the pact.

To prevent Monastrell, a dragon, from harming me, the one bound to that ancient alliance.

“Stand down for today. As long as I have this, you won’t be able to harm me.”

“You’d best just give up. Even if you hang on a bit longer, the outcome won’t change. The moment the demon inside you takes full control of your soul, the pact loses its power.”

“Then come back when that happens.”

Monastrell glared at me with murderous eyes.

“You bastard. Do you think dealing with demons is easy? And the one clinging to your soul isn’t some run-of-the-mill demon, either….damn it. Why am I even talking? None of this will get through to you.”

“If you’re done rambling, then do something useful. Help me deal with this cold, will you?”

The chill surging from within me was growing stronger by the second.

It felt like water gushing from a hole in a dam.

My hands couldn’t plug the hole entirely, and the pressure only made it widen.

Monastrell responded without hesitation.

“I can’t. I know you’ve used all sorts of methods to suppress the cold until now, but that only works in the early stages. At this point, the hole’s too big. It won’t do any good.”

“So there’s no way at all?”

“To plug a hole that big, you’d need to bring in a force that neutralizes the cold. Something like a divine artifact infused with solar power, or a spirit herb or sacred relic that holds intense heat. You’d have to cauterize the wound shut with fire. But where would you find something like that on short notice? Unless you planned ahead, it’s impossible.”

A divine item infused with the power of the sun…

You could probably find that in Holy Epee, the heart of Eon, the Church of Eternity.

Whether the church would lend it out was another question entirely.

As for heat-infused spirit creatures… where could one find those?

I tried to dig through my memories of Judgment of Candela, the game I once played.

That’s when Monastrell muttered,

“Ah, wait. One thing comes to mind…”

“Hurry up and tell me.”

The cold made my mind go hazy, and my heart felt constricted from the seal placed on it.

Just when I was about to lose consciousness, Monastrell finally spoke.

“Where is she?”

“What?”

“That small one you usually have with you.”

“You mean Dahlia? She’s in the city of Maronford…”

I was about to say I left her there.

Ah.

The dam burst.

My consciousness was sucked away beneath the flood of surging cold, and everything before my eyes went dark.

***

This was the second time I’d had this dream.

A dark, freezing, distant place I’d seen once before when I lost consciousness after getting caught in the Caraphine explosion.

And then, a voice.

– We meet again, mortal.

The Demon of Cold Verdantus spoke to me.