Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 532 (Part 2)



532 (Part 2)

Let’s just say that much is acceptable.

‘Dragons and all that… that’s settled for now.’

No matter what I’ve turned into I could think about that later.

Right now I needed to understand why this human in front of me was acting this way.

As that terrifying human changed his tone and approached the fear I had barely suppressed began to rise again.

“First senior… please get up…”

“I humbly beseech to meet such a great being.”

I tried to pull away from Ddoldoli and stand the Dark King up.

But the Dark King only continued his words.

“Have pity on this humble blood.”

My hand touched his shoulder.

Suuuu….

“…!”

As my hand made contact with the Dark King’s body a change occurred in his flesh.

Startled I pulled my hand back.

I hurriedly tried to distance myself but the change did not diminish; instead it spread further.

His skin was changing.

Just as the Dark King’s pupils had transformed his flesh was also undergoing a change.

It was dark.

The bumpy skin that had risen looked just like my right arm.

The difference was that his color was golden unlike the blue I possessed.

As I looked at the Dark King with trembling eyes.

Huuuu-!

A change was happening in my own body.

My heart began to race fiercely.

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The blood felt hotter than before beyond comparison.

How should I express this?

As I struggled to define it clearly.

– It’s instinct.

For some reason the words of the Blood Demon from the past came to mind.

This was something he had said while observing me unable to control the boiling blood when I faced him.

– That’s how it is.

– A proud being that does not wish for other equal beings to exist in the same world.

He had definitely said that while looking at me.

Then does the feeling I have towards the Dark King now signify hostility?

‘No.’

That was certainly not the case.

This was not hostility.

Rather it was a lower colder emotion.

If I had to express it in words.

‘Worthlessness…?’

Yes worthlessness.

I was feeling a sense of worthlessness while looking at a martial artist several times stronger than me.

Why was I feeling this way?

It was a feeling so frustrating that I wanted to dig it out.

Moreover considering the Blood Demon’s words that came to mind now.

‘He must have known from the moment he saw me.’

Or perhaps it meant that the Blood Demon knew I would end up like this.

That even before I completely shed my skin the Blood Demon had known I would become a dragon.

That meant….

‘Is the blood energy the problem?’

Seeing my flame transform into the blood energy’s blue flame it certainly seemed so.

But amidst that the words the Blood Demon had said lingered in my mind.

– You are not my fragment yet how did you begin to awaken?

This meant that my transformation was not his intention.

Since I couldn’t fully trust the Blood Demon’s words I merely kept it in mind.

Looking at this.

‘Could the Blood Demon also be… a dragon?’

That meant he was also an unknown race called a dragon.

Yes if that were the case the Blood Demon’s words would also make sense.

– I am the seed of the Dragon Emperor.

If the blood energy originated from the Blood Demon then I could understand what he had said.

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That statement was akin to proof that the Blood Demon was indeed a dragon.

‘…Wait. Then….’

I opened my eyes wider at the gradually connecting words.

In the first place.

What were the beings that originally had the word dragon attached to them?

They were the high-grade demonic beasts.

In the past those who resembled their appearance and power were called dragons.

Now when one speaks of dragons it refers to imaginary beings or the high-grade monsters that exuded a powerful presence in the past.

The problem is that such monsters have not appeared in the Central Plains since the Blood Demon disappeared.

The red demonic beasts began to appear in the previous life but I had not seen a high-grade one until the moment I died.

While this was a good direction for peace.

Was this truly a coincidence?

Then what could be the reason for the appearance of red demonic beasts unlike in the previous life?

Could there be some issue with this as well?

The more I thought the more my breathing became slightly ragged.

The blurry events began to take shape.

However the outline of the story I had so desperately wanted to know appeared much larger than I had anticipated.

At the moment when the pieces began to align my mind started to flicker.

“…Please.”

I heard the Dark King’s dry voice.

Only then did my eyes stop thinking and look at the Dark King.

As I looked at him my brow instinctively furrowed.

It wasn’t because of his grotesque appearance.

I simply couldn’t understand.

The heroes saved the world.

Though they couldn’t kill the Blood Demon they sealed the corrupted officials and saved the world.

Leaving aside the fact that he viewed me as a disaster I respected his achievements in their own right.

A man who tried to save the world by turning back time.

That was certainly the perception of Yeon Il-cheon.

‘Why?’

Why on earth?

“Please lift the curse bound to my blood…”

Was the heir of Yeon Il-cheon who stood at the forefront reduced to this state?

For some reason that thought made me feel quite dirty.

Sins are passed down through blood.

That was something the Dark King had heard from his father when he was young.

The sins of the ancestors accumulate as karma for them.

The most frequent words the Dark King heard from his father were apologies.

[I’m sorry for giving birth to you.]

[I shouldn’t have given birth to you.]

In a way those were bitter words but the Dark King understood as he listened.

It was a situation that couldn’t be helped.

A monster that wanted to be human gave birth to a monster.

The child born wished to be human but the blood was too thick for that.

That was the father’s wish.

Regardless of his regrets the reason the Dark King was born a monster was due to his father’s wish.

About twenty years after the Dark King was born.

His father passed away.

As always he offered apologies to the Dark King as he died.

For some reason he wore a happy smile.

The Dark King who sat in front of his father’s grave wore a blank expression instead.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t sad.

He felt emotions but they didn’t overwhelm him enough to distort his expression.

Only then did the Dark King realize that he was indeed a monster.

Moreover he began to understand why his father had left with such a smile.

“Are you happy now that you’ve passed?”

He asked looking at the gravestone.

This curse of blood is cruel.

It suppresses emotions and can make one’s appearance grotesque at times.

While proving one’s monstrous physical abilities it merely remained a monster.

His father called this curse the curse of dragon blood.

It was said to be a curse laid by dragons.

Having the blood of a dragon but failing to become one falling into ugliness.

Such a thing was not frightening. It didn’t matter whether I became a dragon or not.

The problem with this curse was one.

Because he could not become a dragon he yearned for it while also crying out to live as a human.

Yet at the same time.

It was a curse that made him despise and look down on humans.

A power that incited chaos including all sorts of contradictions.

That was the essence of dragon blood.

Moreover when this blood awakens a voice begins to echo in one’s head.

– Serve the dragon.

A voice from someone unknown constantly spoke.

You who cannot become a dragon serve the dragon.

A terrible voice that echoed every day.

No matter how tired and desperate I became it was an echo that would never disappear.

There was only one way to escape this curse.

That was to give birth to a child and break free from the curse.

The cruel blood that prevents one from dying unless they give birth to someone to take their place.

The Dark King’s father had given birth to the Dark King to escape this.

To pass on the curse one must give birth to a child.

Only then can one be liberated and die. It was truly a dreadful curse.

The mother who gave birth to him died.

His father never spoke of the Dark King’s mother until the moment he died.

The father who passed on the curse of dragon blood closed his eyes in the year the Dark King turned twenty.

The one who only offered apologies saying he was sorry wore the happiest smile in the world at the moment of his death.

Now what remained was the life of the Dark King who had turned twenty and awakened his blood.

In front of his father’s grave the Dark King made a vow.

To lift this curse.

Not passing it down to the next generation like his father but to meet his own death.

And so he lived.

– Serve the dragon.

Even as the voice echoed in his ears he endured and lived.

– Kill that worthless lower being.

His emotions were dry and twisted.

Perhaps because he had become a monster his gaze towards humans was endlessly cold.

It was the same when facing this so he had no qualms about killing.