Chapter 769 – Guardian of the Dungeon
It would have been unusual for a normal dragon to be curious about the boundary between life and death. Even if Seongil is a dragon, he is a follower of a god who governs darkness, souls, and death. If it was also an apostle of that god, then you realize that it is not particularly strange that dragons indulge in death and souls.
“By the way…Why did you become ‘cold’? From what you’re saying, you seem to still respect the moon god.”
When Seong-il seems to explain things about himself in a friendly manner, Seong-il asks a key question as if blatantly poking around. At such a fastball on a holy day, the dragon slightly dissipated his naturalization and looked at Adalan, saying that he had made up his mind after being slightly displeased.
『Hmm… That’s quite… There’s a story I can’t tell. Adallan. Would you mind stepping aside for a moment?”
“Ah, yes I will.”
At the words of the great necromancer’s godfather, Adalan took a humbling attitude as if he had no idea, then shook his head and got up from his seat. As if to help him, a mercenary soldier appears and politely takes him somewhere.
『Now… I will tell you that I will send away any uninvited guests. Be honest. I realized that this world returns endlessly.”
“…!!”
Surprisingly, when the Dracolich in front of him knows that the world of the dungeon’s guardians will be reset based on a specific starting point, Seong-il looks really surprised.
Even so, there was no one in the game who knew that the game would return in any form. Even the players knew that the game progressed only to the level of the ‘2nd round’ perk, but did not think that it would be ‘reset’, so Seong-il was shocked to hear his dracolich’s insight.
“Ho… Do you know that this world is returning?”
Dracolich, thanks to his sensitive senses, realizes that Seong-il’s surprise focused on his ‘recognition’ rather than the regression ‘ itself’, and is very interested in that fact. At his words, Seong-il realizes that he cannot hide the truth and agrees with Dracolich.
“That’s right. I know that the world will return to a certain point in time when the war has progressed to a certain level.”
“I guess it’s easy to say, you know. It is simple that I became apathetic. Because I felt skeptical about this eternal war, and at the same time I was disappointed in my master who led it.”
After answering that, the Draco Lich explains to Seong-il how he realized the truth. As he was a necromancer before dragons, he says that he studied the soul and death deeply for a long time.
Then quite by accident. He explains that he discovered the magic of foreseeing the future through his soul, and used it very usefully when fighting the army of light.
『Based on that magic, I had a lot of fun predicting the place where the army of light would descend and ambushing it. But let me tell you…”
In the meantime, Draco Rich fought a fierce battle with the enemy’s great sword and won a fairly large victory, but he tells us that apart from that, he himself has also suffered great wounds.
『Originally… I should have prayed to the moon and received his blessing to restore my body, but I happened to encounter an incident that prevented me from visiting the moon sanctuary at that time. Oh. Therefore, I tried to solve the problem by reading the ‘past’, ‘present’, and ‘future’ using my soul as a medium to solve the problem.
“…Is there a problem?”
『Right. Really by chance. Quite coincidentally, a magical phenomenon that occurred while the three spells resonated momentarily showed me my image from the ‘last round’.”
The dracolich explains to Seong-il that he has partially penetrated the truth of the world by chance.
“The moment was short, but it was very shocking. To see the moment of life, not the life I lived.”
From that moment on, the Draco Rich explains to Seong-il that he became more indulged in soul magic. However, even after recovering from his injuries, he tried to use the same magic to see the same sight, but when the situation did not repeat, he said that he was confused because he did not know whether the sight he saw was a simple magical hallucination or the truth. Give.
『Well… So at that time, I thought what I saw was just an illusion, so I would focus on my mission as an apostle again.』
In fact, the reason the situation did not repeat was because the magic did not resonate when used in a place linked to the life of the previous round, but Dracolich said that at the time, he did not deepen his understanding of the magic, so he simply passed it off as happening. Give.
『That time when I was working hard on my mission as an apostle again. While I was preparing to face off against the Great Swordsman of Light, I really ‘accidentally’ saw the previous phenomenon again through the soul magic I used on the battlefield, and I had to use that magic in a place where I exerted intense power in the previous round to resonate with the soul. I realized that it was magic that was activated.”
“Aha… So…”
『Right. It was still difficult once I understood the mechanism, even roughly, but… But I was able to summon my memories of the previous rounds sparsely.”
Through repeated experiments, the dracolich says that he fell into a deep sense of doubt when he realized that he had gone through an infinite number of lifetimes, all of which had been involved in a tedious war between the gods of light and moon.
“Is that why you became aloof this episode?”
It was an understandable situation, so Seong-il asked him a question with an expression of sympathy. Then, the dracolich laughs and explains to Seong-il that the life he has been through is not just this once.
『If I recalled old memories for the first time in this life, how could I have helped my old friends like Adalan? It’s hard to even take care of my own body.”
“…What do you mean?”
『Right. I tried desperately to keep the memories from my first life. And through a great sacrifice, he succeeded in fixing some of his small memories at a specific point in time ‘forever’.』
Surprisingly, Seong-il is astonished at Dracolich’s words that he has been able to retain his memory to a certain level regardless of repetition. As if the reaction was amusing, the Draco Richie explains his secret technique with a triumphant expression on his face.
『I have sacrificed half of my soul and succeeded in creating a beacon of soul that will guide my mind regardless of the world repeating itself. The lighthouse allowed me to detect the location of my soul no matter what dimension, time, or space I was in.”
Seong-il senses that the spell is quite important to him through the explanation of the dracolich. I don’t know what it is, but it’s clear that it’s important to me anyway, so Seong-il tries to savor his words with a nervous expression.
“What type of esoteric, exactly?”
“You told me earlier. It’s a secret technique that cuts off half of my soul and fixes it in a dimension. That’s it. But despite its seeming simplicity, the effect is sure and powerful. But…”
Draco Lich explained that he was a powerful dragon who had lived for a long time and was a powerful apostle favored by the moon, so he could produce powerful effects only with his cut off soul, but apart from that, serious side effects came over him.
『The problem is… The aftereffects of cutting off half of my soul were too great. I misunderstood that since I am a powerful being, even if half of my soul is lost, I will be able to withstand it even if my authority is weakened.”
“…Isn’t that bad?”
“Exactly. As I cast my occult, I felt a void fill my soul, gradually numbing my senses and starting to drain the vitality of my soul. If it was a simple physical side effect, I would have tried to resolve it somehow with the blessings of God…』
The dracolich explains that since the soul is in the realm of the gods, no matter what you do, you cannot heal the scars from the gutted soul. However, the one who did not want to lose the truth contained in the great sorcery and the lighthouse of the soul made with it explains that he eventually touched the forbidden power.
『I made my body into a dracolich by sacrificing the power of being an apostle of the moon. Otherwise, I couldn’t stand it.”
In the end, Seong-il listens with his mouth open when Dracolich says he made himself a lich to protect his soul from collapsing.
『I made my body into a dracolich by sacrificing the power of being an apostle of the moon. Otherwise, I couldn’t stand it.”
“…Then have you solved the problem?”
『Well… From a certain point of view, it can be said that it has been resolved. However, if you look at it in an absolute standard, it is correct to say that I have failed.”
The Draco Lich explains to Seong-Il what is difficult about him, saying that sometimes his soul goes mad after he turns into a lich.
“Actually, it is natural. Being a lich means that the soul is directly exposed to death and darkness.”
