Dragon Poor

An attribute filled with all sorts of power buffeted them, and a mighty force that transcended that of humans constantly battered the earth. The proxies were truly strong and couldn’t be compared to ordinary foreigners. 

But that was it. 

Although the proxies’ skills and physical abilities were clearly strong, the proxies themselves were ridiculously inadequate.

They would hit out with their skill and move their bodies and each time, the earth vibrated and the sky shook. However, there wasn’t any sense of anticipation that was peculiar to the superhumans who had reached the highest state.

The proxies were randomly using the power they borrowed from the Transcendentals. 

The path they had walked was clearly visible. Kim Seon-Hyeok couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably at the insubstantiality of these people who had developed and grown by simply doing whatever the Transcendentals told them to do without any worries or crisis.

“Ack!”

When he saw the proxy screaming his head off as he would die from a single punch, Kim Seon-Hyeok felt pathetic as he thought about how vigilant and wary he had been of such people.

“Die, you monster!”

He stared at the man who was charging forward with his sword in a fit of rage. Seon-Hyeok roughly grabbed the blade. The energy that filled the blade was destructive to the point that it even cause the War Dragon to feel tingling in his hand as he gripped it tightly 

Although it may not be as bad as the Holy Sword Balmung, it was still an unusual sword.

“Did you think it was a sword?”

With that sudden remark, the man’s expression distorted as he twisted his sword. In an instant, Seon-Hyeok’s hand became tattered at the sharp energy that came from the sword. 

But instead of tossing aside the sword, Kim Seon-Hyeok grabbed it even tighter.

“I bet you consider everything easy because your level rose and you got stronger just because you did everything you were told to do.”

“What’re you talking about?!”

Seeing Kim Seon-Hyeok’s bloody hand, the man shouted triumphantly. The proxies’ eyes brightened as they rushed in, intent on not missing their chance.

Kim Seon-Hyeok stared at the proxies as they charged at him. 

“I bet they felt like an NPC in a game. That it wouldn’t matter even if you killed them. Since for you, this world most likely felt like a game to you.”

The images of the nomads who had been killed before he arrived were clearly visible to his eyes.

The wails of the nomads who mourned their lost arms and legs, and the bitter cries of the children who had lost their fathers and mothers resounded in his ears.

“Kill him! If we kill this bastard, it’ll all be over!”

“Die!”

Compared to the nomads’ screams and wails, their ire-filled shouts were frivolous and superficial.

“Whew.”

A gust of wind began to rage around Kim Seon-Hyeok’s body. 

“Eughh!”

The proxies who had been charging forward scattered to escape the bitterly cold air from the storm.

“Ack!”

The only one still stuck in the middle of the bitterly cold storm was the man who couldn’t escape because his weapon still remained in Seon-Hyeok’s hand.

“S, save me!”

The man began screaming at the sight of his body freezing up from his toes.

“They were not people you should have dared to kill. No, there is no one in this world that you can belittle and kill as you did them.”

The War Dragon reached out and grabbed the man by his throat.

“They are people just like us.”

“Cough, cough! I was wrong! I was wrong!”

He couldn’t adapt quickly enough to the circumstances to drop his sword, nor was he ready to give on one of his frozen legs. The only thing he knew how to do was beg for his life fearfully.

“I wasn’t the one to kill them! The one who killed those people already died by your hands!”

He wasn’t wrong. But that didn’t mean the man wasn’t responsible for the numerous deaths that occurred today. While he didn’t have blood on his hands, it was clear that he was an accomplice.

“I just wanted to help my Companion come back into the world!”

“So you don’t know even know what you did.”

“I know! I do know! I killed people. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

An apology spoken to get himself out of trouble had no value to Kim Seon-Hyeok. No, even if there was an ounce of sincerity in it, nothing would change. 

It wasn’t like the people who were already dead would come back to life with a single word.

“Eek!”

The man struggled to resist the cold that was engulfing his body. However, the Bitter Frost storm, which combined the Lord of the Deep Sea’s attribute Bitter Frost and the power of the fierce wind of the Dragon Lord, was too strong and severe for the proxy, who had been forcibly awakened by the Transcendental Being, to endure. 

“Ah… save me, please.”

“If you bastards really wanted to live.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok looked around. He took in the sight of the proxies who were anxious and at a loss for what to do as they watched their comrade die. Their appearance wasn’t that much different from the man in his hand. 

“At the very least, you shouldn’t have brought in innocent people into this as you went around trying to take over.”

“Guhhh.”

Already frozen to just below his neck, the man let out a groan of despair.

“If you bastards really wanted to live.”

Even though he looked like he was going to die at any moment, he showed that he was truly a proxy as he continued to breathe with a tenacious vitality. But he looked like he would be better off dead than to stay alive.

“You should have lived in hiding instead of stepping forward.”

The proxies, who had been watching the painful death of their comrade, looked blankly at him without even daring to think about rushing forward. 

“At the very least, if I hadn’t noticed you, then you would have been able to enjoy what little power you have.”

The man died when the chill finally reached the top of his head with his face frozen in terrible pain and terror. The proxies stepped back fearfully.

Kim Seon-Hyeok only grew angrier as he watched them. 

They had never imagined themselves dying. Since falling into this world, even the smallest crises they might’ve had to face must have been dealt with by the Transcendental Beings.

Otherwise, how could people who have been wandering in this barbaric world for over 10 years not have determination or resolve. 

The proxies avoided him and stepped back as they glanced up at the sky. 

The battle between the dragons and the Transcendentals was one-sided. The Transcendentals, each of whom was progenitors and originators of a race, were clearly powerful beings, but just because they were Transcendentals didn’t mean they were all the same. 

There was a clear superiority even between the Transcendentals, and all those gathered here were, at best, only strong enough to deal with one or two Fragments of Chaos.

In front of the ferocious dragons, these Transcendentals were nothing but mere sheep.

Even those who didn’t know anything could clearly see that the Transcendentals’ fight was only noisy and seemed like a massive battle, but it wouldn’t take long for the battle to be over. Only an idiot wouldn’t be able to clearly predict who would be left standing in the end. 

The proxies watched the battle between the Transcendentals and the dragons with despairing faces before they finally tried to persuade Seon-Hyeok.

“Alright, we’ll do as you say! We’ll go back and live as quietly as a mouse.”

“Woah, woah. Calm down. Gilgamesh and his Companion who released the monster are already dead by your hand.”

“There’s no point in fighting us”

No, this wasn’t persuading. It was more like begging. And it was also very much like empty words. 

Perhaps it would be different if no one died, but their current situation was one where countless nomads had already been sacrificed. The sins committed by the proxies were too great for them to bring up coexistence now. 

“Unfortunately, there are no ‘save’ and no ‘load’ in this world.”

The War Dragon’s fighting spirit began to burn more fiercely. Even the War Dragon’s body was affected by his spirit as it became even bigger and red flames began to blow out from between his lips. 

“Because this isn’t a world inside a game”

“W, wait! Hear us out a bit longer…”

The proxies shouted urgently.

“Don’t be mistaken. I’ve been talking until my throat hurts so that the nomads could have enough time to escape. It wasn’t to rehabilitate you.”

However, Kim Seon-Hyeok had already made a decision long ago.

“Keaaaaaah.”

The War Dragon opened his mouth wide and a fire great enough to bring about the end of the world poured out of it. At the same time, the dragons breathed out all at once.

The Transcendentals were powerless in the face of the dragons’ strength that had torn through Chaos in the past. They died with the realization that the dragons were truly powerful and that they had been too ignorant about the dragon race.

However, there was still someone who survived - it was the Lord of the Underworld. He had quickly escaped through the shadows.

Of course, Thanatos couldn’t completely escape the dragons’ breath. Even his hidden world wasn’t safe in the face of the Dragon Lord’s golden breath that could erase shadows. Even in his sanctuary where nothing could invade it, he had barely managed to survive. 

However, Thanatos’ power was death itself and the Ruler of the Underworld ate even the dead vanquished Transcendentals. 

Although it wasn’t anywhere near the dragons, his spirit grew with Transcendents’ death, which was powerful on its own. For the Lord of the Underworld, it was the most powerful food.

A great deal of spirit gathered to restore the body of the wounded God of Death and became his source of power. 

The death of the Transcendentals actually increased Thanatos’ power.

“So this was what he was aiming for from the beginning.”

 Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned as he recalled the God of Death’s Companion who had been strangely passive in the fight.

“Unlike the other dunderheads, Thanatos remembered the power of the dragon clan.”

Like her own Companion, Han Jin-Hee had fully developed after resurrecting. Now, she spoke calmly. In other words, she was saying that she knew from the beginning that she wasn’t enough to be his match.

“And what’s different?”

Kim Seon-Hyeok questioned her. 

After all, she, like the other Transcendentals, had watched innocent people die. No, she even personally went out to fight against the warriors of the North, including Darun, and the blood on her deformed scythe in her hand hadn’t dried yet. 

She had turned simple and honest men into headless corpses and even taken an arm from Darun. Kim Seon-Hyeok had no intention of letting her go. 

“If I wanted to, all of your friends would have died before you even arrived.”

“Are you praising yourself now? Wow, I’m so thankful for your consideration.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok prepared to fight again when she started praising herself nonsensically.

“No, that’s not what I meant”

Han Jin-Hee frowned. It looked like she was picking through her words because it hadn’t come out the way she thought it would.

“If I hadn’t done that, the other idiots would have. And they would have chosen to kill them all at once instead of taking them on one by one like I did.”

It was a vague explanation, but it wasn’t difficult to understand what she meant.

“Are you trying to say that you purposefully dragged things out and wasted time?”

“My Class is the Apostle of Death, and Death is who I serve. I do not insult the one I serve.”

Her words continued to be ambiguous. She seemed to know that she wasn’t the best at talking because she looked frustrated. 

“Wait.”

Before he could even respond, she gestured into the air. It wasn’t an aggressive gesture, it was a solemn and reverent one.

“Just what are you trying to do?”

Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned at her incomprehensible behavior. A greyish and indistinct mass suddenly appeared from the land that had been devastated by the Dragon’s breath.

“Hm…”

The energy coming from it was too weak and insignificant to say that she was playing a trick. He stopped stepping back and watched what she was doing. 

The hazy mass gradually took shape as it became clearer. Soon, it was fully formed.

‘Why am I… I definitely died.’

The figure looking around with a bewildered face was one of the men who followed Darun. 

‘Seon-Hyeok?”

The man was among those who had been decapitated by Han Jin-Hee and was also a close friend of Seon-Hyeok. 

“This…”

[Thanatos is the Lord of Death and it seems like she has summoned his soul.]

At Edda’s words, Kim Seon-Hyeok stared at Han Jin-Hee.

“I can help you say your farewells.”

***

‘Even if I’m not there, listen to your mother and grow up to be a good man.’

“I will.”

‘And you too, my love. In the end, your wretched husband is leaving behind a big burden for you to bear.’

At the hazy whitish man’s words, the woman shook her head. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t stop her sobs and answer him. She could only cry without stopping. 

‘Elder brother, please take good care of my family.’

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of Karina. I’ll find her a good match and marry her well.”

‘Oh, that girl. She’s got such a temper, I wonder if she can even get married. Rather than that, please watch over her so that she doesn’t cause any accidents.’

It was a conversation between two men who were twins. The only difference between the two was that one of them was a whitish blur. 

‘As your mother and father, we’re so sorry, my dear. Still, you have to persevere.’

A hazy man and woman stroked the hair of a child half their height. However, it was in vain. Their lovingly stretched-out hand passed through the child and they couldn’t even feel the warmth of their child. 

The elderly wept before the soul of their child who had passed before their old parents. In another location, brothers, sisters, and comrades said their goodbyes.

Sobs and cries were heard everywhere.

Kim Seon-Hyeok watched all this with a sad face. 

‘Thank you. Because of this, I was able to nag my troublemaking son one last time on my way.’

One of the souls approached him and expressed their gratitude. Kim Seon-Hyeok glanced around at that sincere acknowledgment.

At that moment, Han Jin-Hee turned her head. Their eyes met. He smiled bitterly at her unfathomable gaze.

This service where the living and dead exchanged their farewells was a scene she had created. 

This miraculous act of breaking the boundaries between life and death so that the dead can momentarily speak to those left behind was the price she paid to keep Thanatos and herself alive. 

Although his resentment towards her didn’t go away, he didn’t want to take revenge against her for the men who had died at her hands. For them, this fight to the death had been one of the most honorable deaths.

Of course, as someone who believed that everything was over the moment he died and didn’t put much meaning into death, this wasn’t something that Kim Seon-Hyeok could understand. But he couldn’t take away the time or opportunity for the dead to say their goodbyes to their families. 

“At least half of the deaths I ate are gone. So keep your promise.”

Without a doubt, during a fight, she was a demon who hid in the dark and wielded scythe. In fact, she was the Companion of the Reaper and had developed from eating deaths. 

But now, she was like a little girl who was afraid that someone would harm her. It was difficult for him to guess which one was her true self. 

Kim Seon-Hyeok sighed. 

“I feel like I made something amazing and then gave it to someone else.”[1]

The battle against the Transcendentals, which he had been so wary about, had ended much more easily than he had expected, but that didn’t mean he gained anything from it. From the start, it had been a fight that had to be won. 

On the other hand, Han Jin-Hee had taken in an enormous amount of spirit, broken through her limits, and successfully saved her life. 

For some reason, it felt as if she was the only one who had benefited from this.

[Even if you have to pay the price, it’s by no means a trivial thing to have been promised cooperation by the Lord of the Underworld, so don’t be so bitter.]

Kim Seon-Hyeok frowned. It would be an unfortunate thing if he ever had to receive the help of the Apostle and the God of Death. He hoped that the day would never come where he could have. 

While he was finishing the battle against the Transcendentals and clearing the battlefield, the Empire fell into turmoil. 

1. The original phrase was “죽 쒀서 남 준 느낌이네” which is directly translated as ‘I made porridge and gave it to someone else.’ It’s a proverb that means that someone else owns something that you worked hard to make.