Chapter 645

- ......Yes, I remember everything.

The corners of Su-ho’s mouth rose.

It was thrilling.

Yes, this was it.

That feeling of being formally bowed to and treated with respect by a bastard who had looked down on him his entire life.

It did not matter even if there was no sincerity in it.

What mattered was that he had made him submit.

At the thrilling sense of conquest he had not felt in a while, goosebumps prickled all over Su-ho.

Su-ho smiled and said,

“Nice. You finally have the right attitude. You damned old lizard. Just how much time and strength do I have to pour in just to have one proper conversation with you?”

- .......

“Oh? Not answering?”

- ......I am listening.

He could hear the sound of something boiling inside Omega all the way from here.

That made it even better.

In any case, Su-ho and Omega were like water and oil, unable to mix.

So it was better to form a clear vertical relationship like this instead.

But Su-ho knew.

No matter how much a contract or promise forced something, some things simply could not be forced.

Especially when there were breeds that would break before they ever bent.

Omega was exactly like that.

So Su-ho had no intention of teasing him too much.

After all, Omega was not someone he could boss around and crush underfoot like a certain mutt who had become his dog, but a fairly useful collaborator.

With the corners of his mouth still lifted, Su-ho said,

“You really stay stiff to the end. Fine, let’s talk business now. I have a lot to ask you and a lot I’m curious about.”

- ......Understood.

“I don’t want to hear it, so speak the way you usually do. Do you think I’ll treat your attitude differently just because your way of speaking changed a little?”

At Su-ho’s command, Omega remained silent for a moment, then opened his mouth.

- ......Thank you.

At the word thank you, Su-ho smiled in satisfaction.

Omega was surprised as well.

He had thought Su-ho would keep hounding him like a rat to make him reap the karma he had sown.

So he had resigned himself to simply behaving like a servant.

Although he was the one who had written it, that contract written in Dragon Words had exerted far more power than he had expected.

But Su-ho did not do that.

That was why he could say thank you more comfortably.

Soon, Su-ho also leaned back comfortably and said,

“Anyway, what should I ask first? Now that I’ve got an all-day pass, I can’t tell what ride I should get on first.”

- At times like that, you can just get on anything that catches your eye first.

The one who gave the advice was Jack.

He was right.

At an amusement park, an all-day pass was literally an all-day pass.

There was no need to calculate cost-effectiveness or order.

So Su-ho accepted it right away.

“Good idea. As expected of a strategist. Then first question. This one’s a bit obvious, but why were you trying so hard to make me into a True Dragon?”

Omega’s objective had been to make Su-ho into a True Dragon from beginning to end.

In truth, Su-ho had roughly figured out why that bastard wanted to make him into a True Dragon.

He had also more or less heard it from Omega’s own mouth.

But Su-ho wanted to hear a more detailed story.

More precisely, he wanted to know about Omega.

Whether they cooperated or Su-ho received help from him, the beginning of all of this had come from the Dragon Blood skill.

Omega spoke.

- ......Because I still thought the dragon race was the strongest.

His voice lacked confidence.

It was not simply a voice diminished because he had agreed to treat Su-ho respectfully.

The momentum that had been broken once now carried the nuance of someone who had resigned himself to everything.

“But it wasn’t, was it? In the end, I won.”

- ......Yes. That is why I feel empty.

“Then aside from that surface-level reason, what’s the deeper one? Why did it have to be the strongest dragon race? Don’t tell me it was really for some reason like carrying on the line or whatever, like you said before.”

- That reason is not entirely absent, but strictly speaking, it was for a sense of belonging. Only then would you fight with all your heart.

“With all my heart...... So you want revenge on Overment too, don’t you?”

Omega looked at Su-ho with a strange gaze.

Then he soon nodded.

- Yes. Overment took everything from me. Taking revenge on them is my goal.

“Yeah, I figured. Then this story becomes easier. No, why didn’t you just do this from the beginning? It was all what I expected anyway.”

- That is......

Omega, who was about to answer, closed his mouth.

Right.

What meaning would any of that have now?

In truth, if one looked at it a certain way, Su-ho could understand it to some extent.

He must have wanted to deny it.

He must not have wanted to admit it.

That Omega, who had been full of elitism, and his dragon race had lost because they were weak.

That was why he had postponed it until the end, and even at the very final moment, he had not easily bent his will and had put forward a condition like a duel.

And he had lost.

He, who had thought himself the strongest living creature.

He, who had despised other races and regarded them as inferior.

Even if correction by the System had taken place, he had still been that kind of being.

And yet, of all things, he had lost to a bastard like a mongrel, mixed with several different bloodlines, among the humans he despised most.

He had lost.

Completely.

Since there was even a contract written in Dragon Words, now he truly had no choice but to accept it.

Omega closed his eyes.

- Hoooo......

His heated head slowly cooled.

In truth, his mental preparation had begun from the moment the final Absolute Death had failed to work.

However, just as time flowed differently for every living creature, he, a gigantic long-lived species, needed far more time than humans to accept everything.

And only now, thanks to his emotions cooling, had his reason begun to stand upright.

Snap!

Omega snapped his fingers.

Then a bottle of liquor appeared in the air as if it were being drawn.

This was liquor that had been brewed by an old dragon he had been close with, one who had loved alcohol particularly much and had died a very long time ago.

Pop—

The stopper opened through telekinesis.

Omega did not pour it into a glass and drink it, but brought the bottle to his mouth and drank directly.

Gulp—gulp—

Su-ho watched the sight impassively.

It was a strange scene.

He was full of elitism, so one would think he cared tremendously about courtesy and formality, yet the sight of him drinking with the bottle to his mouth was naturally fitting in a way that did not suit him.

Before long, Omega, who had emptied the entire bottle without stopping, set it down.

The bottle did not fall to the floor, but slowly vanished again, just as it had first appeared.

For some reason, after finishing the whole bottle, his expression looked much lighter.

“That must be some seriously strong liquor. No matter how much alcohol relaxes people, I didn’t think it would even relax the tension of a Lord-class dragon.”

At those words, Omega let out a faint laugh.

- As if that were possible.

“You look much better. I didn’t know you could make that kind of face.”

- It took a long time.

“But what matters is that you managed it. Some things can’t be done no matter how much time passes.”

Omega looked at Su-ho again.

- You are quite good at saying things like that. Is it because you are human?

“It’s not because I’m human. It’s because I’m me. And honestly, I didn’t say anything that impressive, so why are you so surprised?”

- ......I see.

Omega’s expression changed subtly once again.

Su-ho said,

“Anyway, to organize things, I beat you, became Half Blood in the process of fighting you, and obtained something called Dragon Master as the final authority. But seeing as the options still haven’t been opened, it looks like something else is needed...... You know, don’t you? What I have to do and how.”

- I know. But did you say Dragon Master?

“Yeah, Dragon Master.”

- My god, in the end......!

Dragon Master.

At those six syllables, Omega’s expression grew even more complicated.

“Judging by your face, you know what it is.”

- I do. How could I not? That is why I am even more surprised.

“What’s so surprising?”

- You know what my role is, do you not?

Of course he knew.

As the price for losing to the System, Omega had been trapped in this place, playing a role like an NPC.

When Su-ho nodded, Omega continued.

- A Player who can meet me must have seen the ultimate essence of dragon blood. That is why I am also very familiar with the six authorities of dragon blood possessed by a Player. But while everything else is the same, only the final sixth authority is not of a single kind.

“There are several? And you know all of them?”

- Because that is my role. And among those several authorities, I wanted to make you into the direction I desired.

“Turning me into a True Dragon? If things had gone your way, what sixth authority would I have obtained?”

- Arc Dragon.

“Ah?”

- After Hatchling comes an adult dragon. And among them, the final evolutionary process is Arc Dragon. I intended to make you into a new Lord who would succeed me.

A new Arc Dragon Lord.

That would be insanely strong.

But since he had defeated a Lord-class Arc Dragon, and one who was a veteran among veterans at that, Omega’s intention and choice had become completely wrong.

Because Su-ho had won.

Su-ho gave a small laugh and asked,

“In that sense, how is Dragon Master?”

- By my original standards, it was absurd, and I could not even understand why it was among the choices in the first place, but.......

Glance—

Omega’s eyes swept over Su-ho, then he soon let out a faint laugh.

- From the moment you defeated me, I understood it now. I began to think that perhaps the authority I had neglected the most might be the answer closest to my goal.

“Listening to your explanation, it sounds like a pretty human-friendly authority. Could you explain what it is?”

- Dragon Master. It means exactly what it says. To become the master of dragons.

“Ah?”

Indeed.

It really was an authority Omega would have neglected the most.

And yet, it was quite ironic.

He had inherited dragon blood, but the final authority was the master of dragons?

“That sounds kind of funny. A half-dragon like me becoming the master of dragons. No, is that even possible in the first place? Even you are this prideful right now, so I can’t imagine being subordinated to a human.”

- Among humans, there are occasionally those who reach an inhuman realm.

“Well, if I think about things like Dragon Riders or Dragon Knights, I can accept it. But if it’s categorized as an authority, I guess there have been quite a few cases like this?”

- There have been from time to time. However.

Omega’s gaze turned toward Su-ho.

- In the history of the Dragon Realm, you are the first human to defeat an Arc Dragon, and a Lord-class dragon at that.