The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 361

Mythical dragons are often depicted as arrogant rulers.

If they had heeded the gods’ warnings, they could have avoided their species’ destruction.

They were consumed by arrogance and pride, ultimately ignoring the gods’ warnings.

They resisted the gods until the very end, leading to their demise.

Rather than be oppressed, they chose death. That is the nature of dragons.

Such a dragon is currently under the control of the Villain Alliance.

This fact implies only one thing.

‘The Red Dragon has not yet regained its self-awareness.’

The Red Dragon is under their control because it has not yet regained its identity as a dragon.

And the fact that the Red Dragon has not yet regained its self-awareness means that it has not yet been fully resurrected as a complete dragon.

In other words, the fact that the Red Dragon is under their control is proof that the Red Dragon is in an incomplete state.

“If the Red Dragon were not under anyone’s control… If it had regained all of its self-awareness and was acting as a true dragon, then we would have been truly helpless.”

What if that Red Dragon were at its full power?

Then we would have been truly helpless.

“But now, if it’s in an incomplete state, it’s a different story. We can defeat it with our current strength.”

I can’t express how relieved I was when I saw Destroyer’s broadcast earlier.

“…But, just because the dragon is under their control, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s in an incomplete state.”

Commander Charles voiced his doubts.

“What if they succeeded in perfectly controlling the dragon through some method?”

“In this case, that’s not possible.”

Normally, that possibility wouldn’t be out of the question.

They succeeded in resurrecting a mythical dragon, after all.

It wouldn’t be strange if they had found a way to perfectly control the dragon.

However, in this case, that’s not possible.

“Earlier, Destroyer broadcasted live to the entire world. Do you remember him showing the dragon there?”

The evidence is the internet broadcast that Destroyer sent out earlier to threaten the world.

“What about it?”

“In that broadcast, the Red Dragon was sleeping, wasn’t it?”

“It was sleeping, but…”

Destroyer briefly showed the dragon on camera for the sake of intimidation.

At that time, we could see the Red Dragon sleeping.

Sleeping means it’s exhausted.

In other words, the fact that it’s sleeping is proof of its incompleteness.

“Just because it was sleeping, it’s hard to conclude that it’s in an incomplete state, isn’t it? Maybe they just put it to sleep for control purposes.”

“That might be the case with other monsters, but dragons are different.”

“Why?”

“Dragons don’t sleep.”

“…Not at all?”

“Yes. They are a race born with the blessing of mana [magical energy]. You know? The effect of my Aeth [a personal energy source]. You can think of it as a similar state.”

It’s like how I don’t need to sleep when I’m using Aeth.

Dragons can maintain their best condition at all times without sleeping.

“In addition, dragons don’t experience mental exhaustion. They are a race born from mana, so their bodies are structured in such a way that they don’t experience any burden when handling mana.”

“…That insane breath… You called it a breath? It’s okay even if they shoot it dozens, hundreds of times?”

“Well, they probably can’t use it a hundred times. Before mental exhaustion, all the mana in the vicinity would be completely depleted.”

“…What kind of crazy race is that?”

“They wouldn’t be called monsters of the mythical era for nothing.”

Dragons were undoubtedly the strongest beings in the middle realm of the mythical era.

If it weren’t for the gods’ intervention, they would have remained the strongest to this day.

“Anyway, such a dragon was sleeping as if it had fainted, right?”

“So, you’re saying this?”

Commander Charles tapped the table twice with his index finger and continued.

“If it were in a complete state, it wouldn’t have been sleeping?”

“Yes.”

“…That makes sense.”

Commander Charles stroked his chin with his thumb, lost in thought.

He was trying to understand my words and see if there were any logical flaws in them.

“May I ask you one question?”

At that moment, Kim Kang-in, who had been quietly listening, spoke for the first time.

He had a look that said he was curious about something.

“I understand the uniqueness of dragons. But that doesn’t answer Commander Charles’s point. If they found a way to control the dragon through some method, and if that method included forcing it to sleep, then all the arguments are broken.”

It was a sharp question, befitting the Blue Magic Tower Master.

Indeed, my answer doesn’t address that hypothesis.

“I got a bit sidetracked while explaining about dragons.”

But it’s not like I changed the subject because I didn’t have an answer to that question.

There was so much to explain, and as I explained this and that, I got a bit sidetracked.

“That matter has already been verified.”

“How was it verified? May I ask?”

“Of course.”

I displayed the official documents that representatives from various countries had sent to Destroyer on the hologram monitor in the center of the conference room.

“Here. Do you see these documents?”

“These are official documents from various countries.”

Documents close to declarations of war sent by representatives of various countries.

More than 80% of the countries declared that they would not surrender to evil.

“This is the evidence.”

Kim Kang-in’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He had a look that said he was thinking about how these documents could be evidence.

“If Kim Kang-in were Destroyer, Lofer, or Marco, what would you have done immediately after receiving these documents?”

“If I were them? Of course, I would retaliate… Ah.”

Kim Kang-in’s eyes gradually widened.

“They haven’t retaliated despite receiving these responses…?”

He seemed to have realized it.

“Yes. Despite each country showing their willingness to fight, they haven’t moved the Red Dragon so far.”

If they could freely control the Red Dragon, two or three more countries would have been destroyed by now.

They should have made an example of two countries to break the will of other countries to resist.

But they didn’t move the Red Dragon.

Even though they have the switch to launch nuclear missiles, they didn’t launch them at hostile countries.

What could be the reason?

There’s only one answer.

“They are currently unable to use the Red Dragon.”

There’s no problem with the nuclear missile switch, but there’s a problem with the nuclear missile.

That’s all there is to it.

“From the legends of the mythical era, to the information I have, to the current situation, all factors suggest that the Red Dragon is incomplete.”

Everything fits perfectly.

The Red Dragon is in an incomplete state.

“If it’s incomplete, we can defeat it.”

Hope has not yet completely bowed its head.

* * *

After the strategy meeting ended.

Commander Charles approached me as I was getting some air outside the building.

“Why are you moping around here?”

“Just… I was taking a breather and getting some air.”

Commander Charles stood next to me.

“What about you, Commander?”

“I’m the same.”

The night breeze was blowing gently.

Even though such a tragedy had occurred on the other side of the world, the breeze blowing on the Korean Peninsula was as refreshing as ever.

“Really… It’s so hard to live in this world.”

He looked up at the sky with a bitter smile.

“I tried so hard, even doing things I wouldn’t normally do, to get some praise when I met Madam again. But it’s not working out.”

The emotions in his expression were so diverse and complex.

It was an expression that was hard to describe.

“…When I meet her again, I’ll get another earful. What have you been doing for two years? What were you doing while the dragon was resurrected…?”

Even though he was saying unpleasant things, his expression didn’t seem that unpleasant.

Rather than disliking it, he had an expression that seemed to be expecting something.

“All night… I’ll be nagged until sunrise, right? Ah, I hate it.”

Even if he had to be nagged, he wanted to meet Sophia again.

He wanted to hear Sophia’s voice.

That was the kind of expression he had.

“What can you do? If you did something wrong, you have to be scolded.”

“You’re so heartless.”

Commander Charles glared at me.

“When a woman says something like that with a heartbroken expression, shouldn’t you say something sweet like, ‘I’ll take the scolding with you’?”

“I do that when there’s a heartbroken woman in front of me.”

“Then why don’t you do it to me?”

“You’re the Commander, aren’t you?”

“What?”

Commander Charles turned to face me, looked me straight in the eye, and gave me a scary smile.

“So, that means you don’t see me as a woman?”

I subtly avoided his gaze.

“You little… ?”

Commander Charles immediately lunged at me and put me in a headlock.

“Alright. If you think of me as a man, I’ll treat you like one.”

It didn’t hurt.

It wasn’t that he was intentionally using less force, but rather that his injuries were so severe that he couldn’t exert much force.

“If you move so violently, your wounds will open again.”

“Is that my problem?”

I could smell the metallic scent of blood from Commander Charles’s side.

It wasn’t that the wound had opened now.

It was the scent of blood from the wound that had opened slightly earlier.

‘…He’s really going to open his wound if this goes on.’

I applied force to Commander Charles, within a range that wouldn’t strain him.

I broke free from the headlock and grabbed both of Commander Charles’s hands.

“You’ll really open your wound again if you do that.”

Commander Charles glared at me with a ‘Oh, really?’ expression.

“I’ll listen to your complaints after your wounds have healed, so please calm down for now.”

“I’m calm enough now, so let go.”

“You’ll just attack me again if I let go.”

“Of course.”

“Then I can’t.”

I moved my body back and forth, matching Commander Charles’s movements as he tried to break free from my grasp.

After about three minutes.

Commander Charles finally gave up.

“Aish.”

He must have realized that he couldn’t break free from my grasp in his current state, no matter what he did.

“Where did that cute Shin Ha-yul go, and now only the sly Shin In-hyuk 2.0 is left… Sigh. Sigh!”

He clicked his tongue loudly, as if for me to hear.

Then, he let out a deep sigh.

“…”

A moment of silence passed.

I didn’t know what to say. Commander Charles had that kind of expression.

I probably had a similar expression.

“…Um, this just suddenly came to mind. Couldn’t we contact Madam and ask for her help?”

“You mean Sophia?”

“Yeah. I heard that she cut a dragon in half at the Rid furniture factory. If Madam and Sein Vinoche help, wouldn’t it be easy to solve this?”

“It would certainly be easy to solve if those two helped.”

Sophia is one thing, but Sein’s combat power is unparalleled.

An incomplete Red Dragon like that.

They would erase it from this world in an instant.

“But. It probably won’t work.”

But it won’t work.

“Sophia and Sein are not in a position to move because of the Black Magic King.”

As he approached me, the Black Magic King began to awaken in earnest.

The two of them are doing their best to suppress that Black Magic King.

They don’t have the time to pay attention to anything else right now.

‘If they could move, they would have moved to deal with the Red Dragon before I could even say anything.’

The fact that they haven’t moved despite France being destroyed is proof of that.

In this case, it’s hard to expect help from Sein and Sophia.

“…Yeah. I guess it won’t work.”

Commander Charles lowered his head.

“That’s a shame.”

He thought it was a chance to meet Sophia.

It was a shame that he couldn’t.

That was the kind of expression he had.

“Then. It looks like the four of us will have to carry out the Red Dragon subjugation operation.”

Me, my father, Commander Charles, and the Blue Magic Tower Master.

He must be referring to those four.

“No. There will be five people deployed for this mission.”

“Five?”

“Yes.”

“Who else is there? Ah. Adela Steart too?”

“Adela is included.”

“…Huh?”

Commander Charles tilted his head, looking confused.

“If you include the four of us and Adela Steart, that’s five, isn’t it? What do you mean by ‘included’?”

“There are a total of five people deployed for this mission. Me, my father, Adela, Soon-chan, and Stella.”

“…What?”

Commander Charles widened his eyes and leaned his face towards me.

“What about me?”

“Commander Charles and Kim Kang-in, please focus on treating your injuries.”

“I’m fine. These injuries will all heal by tomorrow, the day of the operation…”

“Your mana. You can’t move it properly.”

The injuries of the two of them are by no means minor. They are not in a condition to fight.

In addition to not being able to move their bodies properly, they also cannot move their mana properly.

“It’s not a problem.”

“If it’s not a problem, try using telekinesis now. Like usual. If you succeed in guiding the magic I use with telekinesis, I’ll be convinced.”

“…”

Commander Charles closed his mouth.

He knew it himself.

That in his current state, he couldn’t even use proper telekinesis, let alone bend the trajectory of my magic.

“I, I can’t use it now, but I’ll definitely be able to by tomorrow…”

“Even if you get a little better.”

I glared at the Commander with somewhat cold eyes.

“That’s just a little better. In that state, you’ll be more of a hindrance than a help to the mission.”

I feel like I’m being a bit harsh.

But it can’t be helped.

If I don’t say it like this, Commander Charles won’t give up.

“So. Please rest this time. There will be countless battles in the future. Please focus on recovering your strength for that time.”

This is a preliminary battle.

The prelude to the war with Veil Stole that will happen in six months.

Now is not the time to give it our all.

“The Mafia, the Anti-Magia, Destroyer. And finally, the Red Dragon. I’ll take care of it all somehow.”

The current time is 1:30 AM.

The Red Dragon ambush operation is 5 hours away.