Chapter 706 – What Comes to Light (2)

Terrifyingly so—
There was no trace of emotion in the young boy’s eyes.
What kind of ordeal had he gone through?
His emotions seemed so dulled, so worn out, that the emptiness in his pupils reflected it perfectly.

‘But still…’

Was it because of Akshan’s warning?
Or perhaps because he had faced Hoyeol’s family?
Whatever the reason, Nam Taemin was certain.

“Thank goodness.”

The boy standing before him was Hoyeol.

“If I’d hesitated again, I would’ve regretted it this time too.”

But more importantly—

‘Does he even see me?’

The black-haired boy, strangely unfamiliar, neither responded nor even looked his way.
But Nam Taemin spoke on, unfazed.

“As expected, when my brother’s not around, it’s better to let the wild take over.”

[Wild Instincts]—a power that clouds rational judgment.
Yet, without it, he wouldn’t have realized that this boy was indeed Hoyeol.
Nor could he have sensed it.

His heightened sense of smell only deepened his certainty.

‘No doubt about it. This is the Hoyeol I know.’

That conviction—

Clang.

Even before a horde of dragons, it gave him the courage to raise his sword.
Eunaxus’s gaze swept over him.
A distortion of space and time caused by the curse.
A flicker passed through the Elder Dragon’s draconic eyes.

“An adventurer.”

In the depths of endless darkness—Claudi.
He knew this was part of the arrangement meant to alter a predetermined outcome.
The question echoed in the Elder Dragon’s ancient mind.

‘I do not know this adventurer.’

Lee Hoyeol.
Other than him, there had never been another adventurer who had reached him.
But Eunaxus did not realize—
that this truth applied only to the timeflow reflected by the curse.

Nam Taemin’s perspective was no different.

However—

“It feels strange meeting like this, Lord Eunaxus.”

Both of them bore the marks of their shared history.

“Let’s see… the wounds I left you… Hmm. None, it seems.”
“?!”

Even traces that reversal magic couldn’t fully erase.
Whether they were carved into flesh, soul, or merely revealed by Hoyeol’s influence—no one could tell.
But one thing was certain.

“It won’t be easy this time. At least, not like before.”

A clash was inevitable.
And somehow, the moment they faced each other, a phantom ache pulsed in his unscarred side.
Eunaxus gritted his fangs.

‘So… I’ve already been swallowed by the darkness.’

Was it because the darkness was too deep?
He couldn’t even fathom the extent of the schemes at play.
Worse yet—he alone among his kin seemed aware of it.

“KRRAAAAAAAHHH!”

Eunaxus hadn’t given the order.
Yet the dragons all began to roar, releasing waves of Fear and torrents of Breath.
Their target—
the Holy War Alliance that had appeared to support Nam Taemin.

Fsssshhh—

“Are you out of your mind?”

Out of the haze of disintegrating mana, Leonie appeared.
She darted forward, trying to grab his collar—
but even stretching her arm, her hand only brushed his chest at best.

“If you wanna die, die quietly! Why drag everyone into it?!”
“Can’t you at least let go before yelling?”
“Let go? If I do, you’ll just cause trouble again—!”

Suddenly, Leonie’s words trailed off.
Because over Nam Taemin’s broad shoulders, she caught a glimpse of him.
The boy’s face—so hauntingly reminiscent of that man.

Swish.

Without realizing it, her grip loosened.
Nam Taemin whispered.

“Not everyone needs to know, right?”
“!”

He was right.
What unsettled the Holy War Alliance more than the dragons was the boy.
After all, Eunaxus had once said—
that the boy had driven the Arcana continent to ruin.

…Nod.

Leonie silently nodded.

“It’s not that I don’t trust him,”

Nam Taemin said softly.

“I just worry about those who can’t.”

Indeed.
Both Nam Taemin and Leoni had already resolved themselves.
Whatever the path may hold—they would follow Hoyeol.
But expecting everyone else to make the same choice would be selfish.

‘I don’t completely understand him either.’

Now, like Senor Bellier before them,
Leonie and Nam Taemin found themselves wrestling with the same question:
Was this all part of Grandfell’s arrangement?
Why show them this scene?

To grasp that intent, their minds raced—
even in the middle of battle.

Foolish thoughts, especially against dragons—
the sovereigns of Arcana’s world.
Ordinarily, they’d already be dead for such a distraction.

But—

“The strongest in Arcana, huh? Then we’ll show them the strongest of Seorn.”
“Excuse me—who said Arcana was strongest? Everyone knows money rules all! In that sense, the scariest force in Arcana… is my Diamond Trading Merchant!”
“Let’s see how far we’ve come since the Dragon Mage War, shall we?”

Indeed, the Holy War Alliance now possessed power greater than ever before.
And one fact couldn’t be overlooked—
Leonie glanced at the boy again.

‘…I don’t know why he’s in that small form.’

But the Supreme Commander—their commander—was with them.

“You’re in the way.”

Eunaxus’s irritation was palpable—and he didn’t bother to hide it.
Could it be that Bellier had told them a comforting lie?

Nam Taemin asked casually,

“Senior Bellier, you knew he wasn’t corrupted into an Evil Dragon, didn’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just… he looks even scarier than before.”

Crunch.

Eunaxus clenched the air itself—and the ground beneath them began to quake.

Someone shouted,
“By the way, does anyone know Eunaxus’s elemental attribute?! If our analyst were here, I’d ask him—but there’s got to be one, right?!”

They had to exploit an elemental advantage.
A single mismatch could swing the victory by dozens of percent.

Then, amidst the snowstorm descending from above,
a voice rose—the senior Ice Mage, Kotain Revle.

The Phenomenon of Frost, Absolute Zero.
He slowed the froststorm created by the Ice Dragon, reducing its destructive force as if in slow motion.

Kotain glared at Eunaxus.

“To understand it… we’ll have to watch carefully.”

In the real world, the corrupted Eunaxus had never revealed his full ability.
Even as an Evil Dragon, he had restrained himself—
carrying out his duty to the end.

But this Eunaxus was different.

“He’s coming!”

An explorer’s cry.
The senior mages were already forming in order of elemental compatibility.
Among them, the most restless—Bensch—murmured.

“Well now, this is… unexpected.”

KUOOOOOM!

From the air Eunaxus gripped, a vortex began to form.
A whirlwind? Then he must be a Wind Dragon?
No—no storm could distort space itself.

“A dragon that manipulates dimension…!”

Space itself was being swallowed.

In Arcana’s terms, it was an ambiguous concept,
but to the players, the sight was all too familiar.

Nam Taemin’s eyes widened.

“A black hole…!”

Eunaxus—the dragon who ruled over gravity and repulsion.

Indeed, even with his frail, aged body,
he could still glide freely because he bore the weight of time through his own power.

Swish!

Fabian, the President of the Explorer’s Federation, threw a rope.

“If you’re not tethered, you’ll be sucked in!”
“Is this really going to work?!”
“Looks can be deceiving—it’s an official League artifact!”

Magical Tool – “Binding Rope.”

“Phew.”

A black hole that devours everything.
Yet the moment the rope touched their bodies, they felt anchored, grounded.
Fabian steadied his breath as he explained:

“You’ve heard it—‘united we live, divided we die.’ This rope keeps explorers from being abandoned in dungeons.In short—it’s our insurance.”

A restraint against desertion in unexpected crisis.
Of course, that wasn’t its intended purpose here.

“This will do!”
“Better than I expected.”
“How much for one of these, assistant?”

The Holy War Alliance barely had time to exchange comments before—

CRACK.

Eunaxus spread his massive claw wide.
At once—
the forces of attraction and repulsion collided.

KWAAAKAAAAK!

“?!!”

The space that had shrunk to a point detonated.
The resulting shockwave—a miniature Big Bang.

Even the sheer pressure of displaced air alone—

“Ghhk!”

—was enough to sweep the Alliance off their feet.
As they were flung through the air, the senior mages cast in unison, layering twilight mana over their shields.

Thanks to that, the impact was lessened—
but not by much.

Drip.

Serious.
Each breath came ragged, blood threatening to surge upward.
The Dune Clan’s crimson eyes burned brighter still.

Yet the first to recover, Shahin, scanned the surroundings swiftly.

‘…The boy?’

He found him easily.

“Are you unharmed?”

The boy stood tall—admirably so.
When their eyes met, Shahin spoke.

“Commander Lee Hoyeol.”

Even he could now distinguish it clearly.
The senior mages had used their final mana to shield Hoyeol.

Shahin spoke.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. You seem to be safe.”

Now that he knew the truth—

‘How am I supposed to treat him?’

To Shahin, Hoyeol—
especially this young Hoyeol—
was an existence hard to approach.

Even so, he silently raised his sword.
He would not retreat before Eunaxus, even at full strength.

‘Well, the others probably feel the same way.’

Even the senior mages likely had no certainty.
Perhaps they had simply acted on instinct—protecting the boy without thinking of the curse’s cost.

For instinct was like that.

Then, finally—

“Why.”

The boy spoke. For the first time.

“Why would you protect someone like me…?”

It wasn’t a question heavy with hidden meaning.
Just a plain, honest question a boy his age would ask.
So Shahin answered just as directly.

“Haven’t we received enough already?”
“…Received? What do you mean?”
“So now—it’s only right that we return it.”

It was pure sincerity.

“No matter what it is that you desire.”

.

.

.

Grandfell had a plan.
If one could interfere with the past, the present would change.
And if the curse could reach into the past—then perhaps it could alter the present as well.
If so, maybe everything could finally be brought to an end.

‘If I could remove the part of me that binds you…’

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
No one knew that stubbornness better than he did.
But Grandfell also understood something else.

‘The special one isn’t me.’

He was merely someone who happened to catch that person’s eye.
That was why Grandfell sought not someone who would understand him,
but someone who would understand Lee Hoyeol.

Click.

Grandfell set his teacup down.
The flavor and aroma—refined over countless ages—were so familiar they should have been comforting, not bitter.

And yet—

“What you need is not me, but them.”

It tasted unbearably bitter.