Translator: AkazaTL Pr/Ed: Sol IX
***
“……As expected.”
The dragon Kaluah looked at the Karavan. The Karavan who had seemed as though he would revive endlessly— his embers were fading. His flesh regenerated, yes. But that power would not last much longer.
At best, six or seven seconds remained.
“Your struggling ends here.”Kaluah
Kaluah spread his wings. He intended to rise— upward, far upward.
There wasn’t much time left for the Karavan. Knowing that, there was no reason to continue the fight. If Kaluah simply circled high in the sky—far beyond Karavan's reach— the human would pay the price for defying the laws of nature. Once the embers completely died out, Kaluah could descend and finish things. That was the method of a sentinel.
But.
“You…?”
When one second passed. When the remaining time dropped to five seconds. Kaluah sensed something was wrong.
‘Strange.’
The collapsing body of the Karavan was being reconstructed. As if a blacksmith were repairing a broken sword. The shattered, ruined body regained its shape— no, not its original shape. Stronger, harder than before.
The dragon’s eyes saw through the middle realm, the spirit realm, and the spiritual world alike. And at this moment, Kaluah saw the grotesque transformation of the Karavan.
‘What… is that.’
A body seemingly forged of Steel.
A Steel soul housed within it.
A being so solid that nothing approaching it could leave even a scratch. The moment Kaluah saw the transformed Karavan, his heart thundered violently. At the same time, the dragon blood flowing through him screamed.
Run.
‘Why?’
The instinct animals feel when facing their natural predator. A blood-engraved instinct. Fear of the absolute enemy remembered by the genes.
The memory imprinted into cells for survival shouted: Get away. Get even a little farther from that existence.
As Kaluah hesitated for a brief instant, old memories brushed across his mind— memories of a forgotten age, imprinted in the lineage of great dragons. The image of a young man with beautiful golden hair overlapped with the face of a lion-like man. Along with terror beyond words.
‘Kaluah.’
At that moment, Kaluah remembered.
‘You do not know the true fear of the Karavan.’
The warning the ancient dragons had left behind.
“No, I won’t be swayed by some—”
And.
“—past—”
Slice. A crisp sound, and Kaluah’s body staggered. He turned his head and saw that one of his wings was gone. The proud wing that made dragons rulers of the sky. The severed wing fell, tumbling downward.
Kaluah couldn’t grasp what had happened. As he struggled to regain balance and looked forward again— the Karavan stood there. A young man clad head-to-toe in Armor, so changed he seemed like someone else.
Ah.
This was what happened at the five-second mark. And 0.3 seconds after.
***
I had reached a new realm. A small realization. But the change brought by that “small” difference was anything but small. Not even when I first formed the second heart, or first forged the Path, or first gained Wings had the transformation been so dramatic.
‘Light.’
I felt as if I had broken out of a shell. Everything composing my body felt changed— as if flesh, bone, and blood had all been replaced with steel. As if I had become a human made entirely of steel from head to toe. As if nothing could scar me now. As if I were a walking fortress.
‘Solid.’
A new body. But unlike when I first forged the Path and gained “superhuman” strength, this was different. The base physique itself was beyond what a human possessed. It felt like being reborn. Not human— but something superior.
「A privilege of the Karavan.」
The dragon, flailing with its severed wing, swung its forepaw. The same terrifying forepaw that had crushed my body with a single strike. But it no longer posed a threat.
I thrust my sword into the descending paw. Clang, and the dragon’s paw ricocheted off.
「Reconstruction of the body.」
There was no longer a difference in physique. No— a new difference in physique existed. I was now above.
The dragon below.
「The Armor a Karavan forges grants new power to the body itself. From the outer flesh to muscle, skin, meat, bone—everything is remade like Steel.」
Slice. A clean sound, and the dragon’s forepaw flew through the air. A choked gasp—keh! Cutting through the scales that had once been impossibly hard now felt like slicing ingredients in a kitchen.
「And that’s not all.」
The dragon stuck out its tongue and widened its eyes. Elemental mysteries did not work on me. With its greatest weapons sealed away, the dragon had only one choice. If pushed back in physique, it had to use its strongest weapon— the power of absolute destruction.
Breath.
The dragon opened its jaws wide. The breath—elemental and destructive power intertwined—rushed toward me. Earlier, I barely endured this with the legend of 「Indomitable」.
But now, I don't need to endure anything.
With a crack, the Armor protecting my body fractured. Cracked—then shattered apart. But the breath could not harm my body beneath the broken Armor.
Why?
「The heart of the Karavan, the Steel Heart, instantly restores any wound its bearer receives. Tenacious life. As long as a Karavan is breathing, they somehow survive. And the Armor inherits that property of the heart.」
The shattered Armor restored itself in less than a second. The scattered fragments flew back, as though with a will of their own, reattaching to my body. Scratches, cracks—everything vanished instantly.
The dragon’s eyes trembled wildly. As if saying this was impossible.
“-!”
It flapped its one remaining wing to soar upward. Caught off guard, it seemed intent on escaping—putting distance between us.
I had no intention of allowing that.
I had to follow him. To do that, I needed something to step on in midair. The moment I thought that, the Armor wrapped around my soles detached and formed footholds beneath me. The Wings had no physical form, but the Armor did. Formed from condensed Steel Mana, it was naturally something I could step on—and so I did.
Slice— I leapt, stepping on the airborne Armor.
A line carved through the air as I sprang forward, and the dragon lost its remaining wing.
Elapsed time: 3.1 seconds.
“……!”
With both wings gone, the dragon was no longer ruler of the sky. Any lifeform that ceased to rule the sky became bound by gravity. By the law of nature, the dragon fell—from the sky downward, far below. But even if left alone, the dragon wouldn’t die. Below was the sea.
A dragon would never be crushed by its own weight. Despite its enormous size, a dragon’s body wasn’t heavy. It was filled with mystic crystalline Dragon Blood.
So what should be done? I had to finish it.
“Hoo.”
I inhaled.
The reconstructed body took in far more Mana with a single breath. As my entire being filled, the Armor on the back of my hands detached. The pieces floated to both sides of my blade and scraped along its edge like whetstones.
Clink— A grinding sound, sparks flying— and my sword shone. Magwang—Third Steel.
The ruler of the sky, the dragon, plummeted. Wingless and falling, while I—merely human—stood above it. Only our positions had reversed? No—strength and weakness had switched as well.
And there was something I had to return to him.
Holding the shining blade, I dove after the falling beast, drawing a line.
When enough speed built up, a small spark flickered at my sword’s tip.
The tiny spark became a single stroke of lightning. Lightning burst from the shining blade— Tom’s “Thunder,” the mystery he had forged through lifelong obsession with dragons, was unleashed.
Like lightning crashing down from storm clouds, it poured from above to below.
My body became a streak of light and wrapped around the dragon. Jagged lines sliced through the air, and the dragon caught between them was severed into pieces. Its separated body was consumed by exploding lightning and turned into black ash. Splash—the shattered fragments rained down into the sea. Amid the crashing of seawater, thunder soon followed—KR-BOOM.
‘……It’s over.’
Yes. It was over. Surprisingly easily.
“Master! Young master!”
The endless ocean. Floating atop the water, I felt the overwhelming force roaring inside me.
The dragon that pushed me to my limit— that mighty foe— I had killed it with absurd ease. With no sense of crisis. As easily as hunting a rabbit.
‘So this is Sword Expert.’
Puhuhu— I let out a laugh without meaning to.
A realm that once felt as high as the sky.
Swordmaster.
“Master! Young master! Are you alrigh—”
Now, only one step remains.
“……!”
And then. Five seconds passed. My world went dark.
***
Old caretaker Tom. Stripped of the great power he once wielded, the old man pushed through the sea toward the boy. He had no sailboat. Dragging along his battered old body, he swam desperately to rescue his friend adrift in the middle of the ocean.
He swam poorly.
The old man had lived his entire adult life as a powerful man. So it felt strange that his thin arms could not cut through the waves. Strange that such a short swim left his aged body gasping. Strange that dizziness washed over him. But he did not stop. With clumsy strokes, barely moving limbs, Tom finally reached his friend. He shook the drained boy over and over. Telling him to wake, begging him to wake.
“P-please, come to your senses, young master.”
He had swallowed a lot of seawater. Salt filled his mouth. His whole body felt pickled in the ocean. Even so, Tom ignored his own condition. He shook Arhan again and again until he confirmed that the boy was breathing—not dead. It looked like Arhan had only fainted.
Tom let out a long sigh and looked around.
“…….”
On the sea floated the dragon’s corpse. As though sliced like a radish in a single stroke.
Tom understood. Arhan had reached the realm of Sword Expert. But something was strange.
The power Arhan had shown was not what Tom knew of a normal Sword Expert.
‘He was strangely strong.’
Sword Expert was not that powerful. What Arhan demonstrated exceeded the laws of the world. No Sword Expert could move that fast, possess that much strength, or have a body that solid.
And the sword he swung— Tom’s old mystery, “Thunder,” was not that strong either. Not strong enough to pierce dragon scales and burn everything inside to ash. And what was that final mystery? Controlling Armor piece by piece?
Tom had never heard of such a thing. Armor was just Armor—a protective gear for its bearer.
If Armor broke, you needed at least a week of meditation to restore it. It was a mass of Mana, and gathering that much again was difficult.
But Arhan? Arhan shattered every bit of Tom’s knowledge of Sword Expert. What Arhan showed resembled the myths in epic tales— a hero of steel and blood, who killed dragons with one strike, flew through the sky, and never fell before any foe.
“……?”
As he sank into such thoughts, Tom heard a rumbling KUR-RRUNG.
He turned—The sky was collapsing. From the spot where the dragon had broken through, the heavens were slowly falling apart.
What…?
‘Ah.’
Was this the aftershock of the dragon’s sudden intrusion? Ernest—this place that was like a small world—was collapsing.
Tom quickly hoisted Arhan onto his back to swim. But where could he flee? Up through the hole in the sky? Tom had no wings. All he could do was swim. Like a fish.
‘Ah.’
The sky collapsed in an instant. Even the vast sea surged and shattered.
The small island trembled, broke apart, and sank.
Tom knew he and Arhan would soon follow. Imagining that horrific fate, Tom clutched the unconscious Arhan tightly and shielded him from the collapsing world.
And then.
「Old man at the boundary of worlds.」
「Go to where you must be.」
When Tom next opened his eyes.
“……Huh?”
Soaked from head to toe, Tom found himself in the familiar Karavan territory.
Dazed, he looked around.
The residents of the Karavan lands—faces he now recognized well—stared at him in shock.
Tom pushed past their hands and desperately searched for Arhan. Even after collapsing from exhaustion and barely recovering, he continued searching. But Arhan was nowhere to be found. Not even a trace.
With nothing to go on, Tom recalled the strange voice he heard in Ernest: Go to where you must be.
Then.
‘Young master Arhan… went to where he must be?’
But that was strange. Where else would Arhan be meant to go… other than the Karavan lands?
***
“Grand General, this human…?”
“Yes. It’s him.”
In an impregnable fortress. Amid damp mud and piles of stone—patrolling soldiers. And their commander— the Dwarf Grand General.
Dwight grinned broadly.
“The heir of Steel has arrived.”
Arhan had been sent to the kingdom of the dwarves.
“Having completed Immortality.”