CH 67

The dragon proceeded to smoosh Richard with its foreclaw and forcefully ground its claw against the floor several times before turning around. Many creatures were huddled up in one corner of the room. Although just born, the dragon possessed enough knowledge to identify things. Those creatures were humans, feeble little things. Even if there was a strong individual among them, they would be incapable of so much as touching the tip of its scale. However, there was something among them that appeared human but was not. The people had called him the emperor. ‘That one looks a tad troublesome to deal with.’

Moreover, he had a sword forged out of black steel. Still, it seemed there was nothing aside from the emperor that seemed capable of harming itself. After grasping its surroundings, the dragon chortled in satisfaction. ‘I’ll definitely become the toughest of them all. I’ll climb to the top and slaughter things every day, and I’ll kill every living thing on the continent.’

The newly born dragon formed such a solid plan for the future that if an adult dragon was around to hear, it would have given praise along the lines of, ‘Now there’s a good whelp. You have a bright future ahead of you!’ But just as the dragon spread its wings and was about to commit its first murder, the door behind it suddenly opened.

“…!”

Sensing a strange presence, the dragon held its breath and looked back where it saw a woman coming through the door. The woman looked at the dragon and, with a fierce frown, cried out, “Hey, what’s the final boss of the story doing coming out here!”

* * *

Everyone, from Estian to the dragon, was lost in bewilderment, but the most confounded of them all was the saintess. She had come in joyously at hearing the phantom beast being born as she had written, but what she found was not a run-of-the-mill beast but a dragon. The saintess yelled at the dragon again in her incredulity. “I never wrote for a dragon to come out!”

This was wrong. She was sure that, according to her writing, a phantom beast called Garum was to be born after Estian touched the phantom beast egg. Garum was a huge wolf that served as gatekeeper to the entrance of the underworld, preventing the living from sneaking past its watch. For that reason, it happened to hold hostility towards all living things. This was why the saintess expected a wolf to be running wild on the other side of the door to the audience room, yet what entered her sight instead was a gigantic tail, four wings, and leathery skin covered in black scales.

She could tell what it was just by looking at its back—the last dragon of this world, Girgantia. How could she not know? That thing was a disaster designed to strike at mankind, to appear in the final phase of her story to devastate the world halfway and be defeated by the power of love between Estian and herself, ‘Cecile’. Moreover, dragons were divine beings in this world, so they were not even included in the list of phantom beasts.

‘It shouldn’t have even appeared here either! Why did it show up in the imperial palace when it’s supposed to be encountered in the Dark Mountain Range?’ The saintess screamed internally.

In terms of games, it was like a field boss suddenly appearing in a beginner zone. Although, the saintess was inspired to make Girgantia the final boss while she was actually playing a game, thinking, ‘The last boss has gotta be a dragon, after all!’

‘How am I to defeat that?’

In her story, Girgantia died in the innermost area of its nest in the Dark Mountain Range.

‘It can’t be killed without the anti-dragon weaponry prepared there by the ancient ones! So what am I supposed to do in the imperial palace!’ She mentally shrieked.

The dragon was created to be so powerful that quite a few items were required in defeating it. The saintess vaguely recalled this was why the middle part of her story was about Estian and Cecile roaming the lands to prepare those items. Of course, they would not simply go roaming about. There would be many developments, causing Estian to burn with jealousy as Cecile chanced upon meetings with the sub male leads; Kane the knight commander, Richard of the Mage’s Tower, Ruin the imperial prince of the Hyun continent, so on and so forth.

So why is the dragon here? How can it end right after beginning? When I haven’t even tasted the sweet parts of the story? The saintess suppressed the anger boiling in her as she glared at the dragon.

‘Let’s see. How was the dragon killed in the novel again?’

But upon recalling the final moments of the dragon in the novel, the color drained from her face. “Freaking bloody…”

She remembered. The dragon was killed by the saintess—at the cost of her life. Richard was useless as the creature was immune to magic, so it was Estian, Kane, and Ruin who went at it. They still did not have enough strength to finish it off, however, which was why the saintess mustered all of her holy power to die together with the dragon. Also, she vaguely recalled writing that even the saintess’ remains could not be found afterward…

“That’s ridiculous! I haven’t even slept with the male lead or the sub leads! I can’t die here, not like this!” She suddenly shouted.

As the saintess clutched her head in despair, the dragon, who had been watching the entire time, asked, “Human. What’s up with the nonsense you’ve been uttering this whole time?”

“You shut up, Girgantia! I’m being serious here!”

“…!”

The saintess’ shriek startled Girgantia, causing the latter to shrink back. The dragon was a newborn. It had yet to leave its name in history, so how did this woman know its name which was supposed to be known to none other but itself and its parents? She was wearing what they called a ‘maid uniform’, so she should not be such a powerful individual among humans. It was also suspicious how her aura was brimming with power from the moment she entered.

“Ahem, hem-hem. Well… I’ll kill you slowly later. I think I’ll deal with the other humans first.” Now feeling somewhat uneasy about killing the saintess immediately, Girgantia turned its head toward the corner where the humans were gathered from before. It was then that the dragon turned wide-eyed.