He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 206

“Hahaha, I like how straightforward you are. Good, Emperor of another world. We are the Dragonkin – hybrids of dragons and humans.”

“Dragonkin, huh…? So that’s why you were so strong.”

Come to think of it, I had seen a message about them before.

It said that Dragonkin and dragons had appeared in the Western Territory. But the message didn’t specify whether they were hostile forces.

Clearly, there were dragons with the Dragon Slayers earlier.

“More importantly, if you’re going to hire us, what can you offer in return? Just so you know, we charge a high price.”

“Hmm? Didn’t you say earlier that all you wanted was a good fight?”

“Hahaha, come on, that’s just talk. Of course, we sometimes help the weak for free, but you’re an emperor, right? We have to get a good price from an emperor.”

“Well… I suppose so. So, what do you want?”

*Do they want a lot of money? I have plenty of money, but if they ask for too much, that’s going to be a problem.*

“Booze.”

“Huh?”

“Meat. And beautiful women! Ah, don’t worry, I’m not saying you have to offer women. We’ll seduce them ourselves, haha!”

“…So you don’t need money?”

“Ah, we don’t really need money. What do we need it for if we can fight, eat, and drink to our hearts’ content?”

*These guys are complete… macho men. Well, that’s good for me. It means I can hire them cheaply.*

“Ah, one more thing. This is a bit of a special request…”

“Special?”

“We don’t take orders from those who aren’t qualified. So you have to prove your worth.”

“Interesting. How am I, the Emperor of the Empire, supposed to prove my worth?”

*Surely they don’t want me to prove that I’m the emperor. That would be easy to prove since I didn’t lie about it.*

“A test. You must take the Dragon’s Trial to prove the strength of your soul.”

*That sounded like a quest.*

* * *

The Dragonkin weren’t as primitive as I thought.

The clothes they wore were similar to the leather clothes of the Northern people, whom they once treated as barbarians, so I was mistaken. But when I went to their village, I found that they were closer to a decent medieval civilization.

“Hmm? This is just *matched* to the average level of civilization in this world. As you can see, we’re not a dimensional force with technical knowledge. We’re a warrior race.”

It seemed that they were often mercenaries in the places where the Gods’ Games took place.

They said they had traveled to worlds with various levels of civilization.

“The previous game world was a pretty advanced modern world. I worked as a hunter closing gates there. It wasn’t bad, but the exciting thing is a fantasy world like this!”

They were quite interesting fellows. Like cheerful Vikings… but they weren’t as pointlessly cruel as Vikings and were genuinely jovial.

“So, what exactly is the Dragon’s Trial?”

“Ah, that. Think of it as a kind of personality test. It’s simply to see if the soul of the person we’re hired by is strong, or if it’s wicked.”

“I understand checking for a strong soul, but is wickedness a problem too?”

“Hoo hoo hoo, of course, it is. No one wants to be hired by a nasty employer, right?”

*Well, that’s a very relatable point.*

But even if my soul is strong, it’s hard to say whether I’m objectively a good guy.

“Don’t worry too much. Unless you’re a really trashy villain, you’ll pass easily. Then… let’s begin.”

After finishing his story, he and the other Dragonkin warriors surrounded me.

Then, before I knew it, the world had changed. I was standing on top of a mountain with a clear view.

“This is the soul world. It seems like a familiar feeling to you.”

“Your appearance is…”

“This is our true form. The form of a half-dragon. We have the soul of a dragon, but we are not true dragons. Only half of us are dragon.”

Their appearances had changed.

The appearance of half-humans with dragon scales, dragon wings, tails, and horns.

“So we yearn for the purity of the soul.”

“You mean you admire real dragons.”

“Hmph… do you think so?”

“Isn’t that right?”

“I’ll refrain from commenting on that. If you finish the test, you’ll automatically know what it means.”

With those words, they spread their wings and flew into the sky.

Then, before I knew it, dragon souls appeared in the sky.

-This is the world of souls. You can only face trials with the power of your soul.

-Face our trials with the power of your soul. Emperor of humans.

“Here they come.”

The dragons flew as if they were performing a *yunmu* [a type of Korean dance or martial arts form], and soon began to rush toward me.

I was already familiar with the soul world, so I tried to unleash the Empire Soul.

Soon, I spread my wings of light and flew into the sky.

-Hooh, as expected, you are already familiar with handling the power of the soul.

-But what we are testing is your inherent power.

-We will not allow the power of those who support you.

[The Empire Soul is restricted by the ‘Dragon’s Trial!’]

[You cannot unleash the Empire Soul except for some functions including flight ability!]

“Damn it!”

I had been keeping my distance by flying, but I felt that my power was greatly restricted.

My flying speed also slowed down, and the mana heart output, which had been compensated by the Empire Soul, was lowered, so it was no longer possible to outrun the souls of the dragons.

“Alright, then I’ll face you directly.”

In the end, I took out Silver Rose.

-Krrr!-

Chwaak!

The first dragon that flew in tried to bite me, but I dodged it acrobatically and cut its nape.

The strong dragon soul didn’t disappear with that, but it was enough to take it out of the battle for a while.

Of course, the souls of the other dragons poured down on me immediately without any room to spare.

“Damn it, I can’t do it with flight!”

Gliding was too slow to react, so I had to fold my wings for a while. I stepped on them as supports and spread my wings again only when necessary, performing a precarious evasion.

Of course, I swung my sword to counterattack between evasions.

[The mana heart is being excessively overloaded.]

[If the overload continues, the output will be forcibly lowered.]

“Damn it! It’s really hard without the Empire Soul!”

It was clear how much I usually relied on the Empire Soul.

When I think about it, the Empire Soul can’t grow anymore, but I was relying on it too much.

Kwaduk!

“Keuk!”

Painful self-reflection always comes late, and one of the dragon’s souls bit me.

Soon, the other dragon souls began to bite me, and it became impossible to control.

*Is this the end…? Is this the strength of my inherent soul?*

-Pitiful. Have you already given up even after taking my power?

Hmm? This voice was… definitely familiar.

It was the voice of Kerebres, the Underworld Dragon who gave me the Dark Blood.

He was whispering to me from the distant soul world.

-My blood flows in your heart. Your Empire Soul is certainly *weakened*, but is your heart *powerless*?

Ah, that’s right. I forgot.

Kerebres’ Dark Blood.

The power of his blood, the power of the dragon, was dwelling within me.

“Return the Empire Soul to the Abyss Heart.”

[Transfers all available Empire Soul to the Abyss Heart.]

My heart is one but two. One is mine, the other is the Abyss Heart in the distant abyss.

The Abyss Heart was one large reservoir. In that reservoir, Abyss Mana could be converted into Empire Soul.

Thanks to that, the Abyss race could also be affected by the Empire Soul.

“Convert the Empire Soul gathered in the Abyss Heart into Dark Blood.”

[Converts Empire Soul into Dark Blood.]

[The output of Dark Blood is rapidly increasing.]

But if you use the Abyss Heart, you can infinitely produce strong Dark Blood using the Empire Soul.

All you have to do is send the Dark Blood converted from the Abyss Heart to my heart infinitely.

Paah!

-Hmm?

-No… that is!

The power of the soul became enormous.

Although it was the power of darkness, this power was my inherent power.

When the dark energy exploded, the dragon souls that were biting me were all knocked away.

“This is… this form is…!”

[Learned the form of the Dark Dragon.]

[Gains great resistance to attacks by dark energy.]

[Can inflict stronger damage to all attributes except light.]

[Can use Dark Authority. All existing skills that handle dark energy are enhanced.]

[Can inflict more damage to soul beings.]

My appearance had also changed.

Black wings and horns, dragon scales and tail.

I had become similar to the Dragonkin.

But something was different.

-A pure human soul.

-Only a truly pure human soul, not half-humans like us…

-Can even fully control the power of the dragon.

That was it.

Unlike them, I am a 100% pure human soul.

But a being who has obtained the power of the dragon and can completely control it.

-Finally, we have found someone we can truly follow.

“So that was it.”

The reason why they crossed the battlefields beyond dimensions was for that reason.

To find a human who is a true dragon.

“Then I will become such a person.”

[Deploy Shadow Storm of Annihilation]

Shuuuuuuuuuu-

The overflowing power of darkness surged.

The power of darkness became a huge storm, and countless dragon souls were swept away like boats in front of a storm.

Soon, even the world of dragons was torn apart.

“You pass, Emperor.”

* * *

“It was originally meant to be a simple test… but to think you would awaken your power with it. It was unexpected for us too.”

I had overcome the Dragon’s Trial, but the attitude of the Dragonkin did not change so dramatically.

“It’s not a complete form yet. If you ascend as a true dragon, we will gladly serve you as our lord.”

“Well, you don’t necessarily have to. It’s welcome just to be an ally of the Empire.”

“Haha, you have to have a big heart. By the way, I want you to help this place… that is, the Western Territory according to your Empire’s standards?”

“Yes, it seems that the Beastmen are causing problems.”

I said, recalling the Beastmen who were fighting the Rangers.

“Those guys are probably small fries, extremely low-level warriors. But you have to be careful of the Beast Lord, the King of Beasts.”

“Is he strong?”

“He’s strong. Definitely compared to you.”

“Compared to me…?”

*I already thought I was quite strong… Well, it wouldn’t be strange if he was stronger since he was an external being brought in by the Great Change.*

“It won’t be easy to kill him even if you try. He’s stronger than the Dragon race in terms of *physical strength*. That’s why he dominates the Dragon race.”

“The Dragon race? Ah… come to think of it… I was holding one dragon earlier.”

If he was dominating them, it was definitely difficult.

If you think about operating those strong dragons as an army… it’s definitely not easy.

Of course, if there are powerful war weapons, there’s no need to think about it difficultly… but it will take time for such weapons to come from the Central Territory yet.

There was every possibility that a large army would rush to the Western Territory before that.

“Don’t worry. There is a way to buy time. The King of Beasts has a significant weakness.”

“What is it?”

“Taking away his territory.”

He pointed to the map. It was the rear area where dungeons and gates were being created.

“Beasts get stronger in their territory. Conversely, that means they can’t exert their power properly outside of their territory. That’s why he’s recklessly summoning dungeons and gates.”

“Could it be that those places are all… a sign of his territory?”

“Yes. But that can be taken away by someone who is qualified to be a wild *ruler*.”

He said with a bitter smile.

“You just proved that qualification.”