Chapter 114
Oliver Raiders, the head of the Raiders Family—one of Europe’s most prestigious noble houses—was mired in a single worry.
The reason was that Helena, the precious jewel of the Raiders Family, had not stepped outside her room for several days.
Not long ago, there had been a massive terror attack by Pandemonium targeting Sirius Academy.
That incident had touched upon his daughter’s trauma.
Crunch.
Gritting his teeth, he burned with rage toward Pandemonium, which had wounded his daughter.
What if his daughter had been injured by Pandemonium—or even lost her life?
Just imagining it made despair and hopelessness surge, as though the world itself were collapsing.
His blue eyes slit vertically, and a powerful aura began to shake the entire mansion.
From all around the estate, small screams rang out under the dragon’s power he released.
“Head of the House. You must suppress your power.”
When the butler beside him hurriedly restrained Oliver, he finally came back to his senses and suppressed his strength.
“Haa…….”
Letting out a deep sigh, Oliver asked Alfred, his longtime friend and butler.
“Helena is still not coming out of her room?”
“Yes. Today makes it the fifth day. She has even been skipping her meals.”
“This is all my fault.”
Overwhelmed by despair at the fact that there was nothing he could do for his daughter, Oliver covered his face with his hands.
That Helena had come to fear Demons, and even his own power, was all his fault.
He had tried, even now, to mend his relationship with his daughter, but as time passed, the door to Helena’s heart only grew more firmly shut.
This rift had begun when a Demon of Pandemonium killed his wife.
Oliver had been, quite literally, insane.
To forget the grief that welled up within him, he had devoted his entire being to revenge.
He wandered the streets without even sleeping, slaughtering every Demon he came across.
When he finally tore apart his wife’s killer with his own hands, he had been granted the title of a top-tier Hero.
But he had failed to protect what mattered most.
Helena.
He had lost his beloved wife, but she had lost her mother.
More than anything, at the time when she needed attention and love the most, even her father had been indifferent, roaming outside instead.
In the end, Helena came to regard her blessed power as a curse and developed an extreme fear of Demons.
At that moment, a tearing scream echoed from within the mansion.
Hearing it, Oliver sprang to his feet.
It was Helena’s voice.
Oliver’s figure vanished, and in the next instant, he appeared in front of Helena’s room.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Helena’s scream, drenched in agony, rang out.
The servants who had been standing guard had collapsed unconscious on the spot.
Oliver flung Helena’s door open.
The door had been locked, but to a top-tier Hero like him, such a lock was nothing more than decoration.
Bang!
With a rough explosion, the door burst open, revealing Helena kneeling on the floor, spasmodically releasing mana.
“Grrrrrgh!”
Her eyes glowed purple as they split vertically.
Oliver’s eyes met Helena’s.
Soon, Helena planted her limbs on the ground like a beast and let out a low growl.
The mana rising from her was anything but ordinary.
An unrefined aura, like that of a ferocious beast.
The dragon’s power she had suppressed until now had instantly swallowed her whole as her emotions destabilized.
“Kraaaaaah!”
Helena lunged at Oliver.
Sorrow filled his eyes.
The sight of his suffering daughter stabbed at his heart.
But that sorrow was only momentary.
Soon, the true bearing of a top-tier Hero unfolded without reservation.
With a fierce aura erupting from his entire body, blue scales sprouted across his flesh, and long horns grew from his head.
Transforming into a half-human, half-dragon form, he received Helena’s power head-on.
No—he completely crushed it.
Oliver was not violent by nature.
This was the power Helena herself had suppressed through her own reason until now.
However, once reason cracked even once, no matter how much she was subdued, the dragon’s power would rampage whenever it found an opportunity.
That was why Oliver sought to exhaust Helena’s power.
He received her strength head-on, forcing her to expend it until she no longer even had the capacity to rampage.
Helena’s elongated claws raked across Oliver’s body.
As if venting all the resentment she had accumulated until now, she poured every ounce of her strength into Oliver.
No matter how top-tier a Hero he was, his essence was still that of a human with a half-human, half-dragon body.
And Helena’s physical conditions were identical to his.
Helena’s claws mercilessly tore wounds into his body.
At times, they left deep scars; at times, they left injuries severe enough to threaten his life.
And Oliver silently focused on enduring her power.
After a long while had passed.
Alfred, having realized that the commotion had ended, opened the door and stepped inside.
Faced with the scene before him, he pressed his lips together and could not bring himself to speak.
Traces of battle scattered everywhere, and blood splashed across the room.
With worried eyes, Alfred walked toward his master.
“Head of the House.”
“Shh.”
In Oliver’s arms, Helena—having poured out all her strength and collapsed from exhaustion—was sleeping soundly.
Oliver gently stroked his daughter’s hair.
“Head of the House. Your injuries are severe. Don’t tell me you received all of Lady Helena’s attacks head-on?”
“Her claws have grown quite sharp. It hurt. But I imagine this child’s pain is far greater.”
Seeing this, Alfred let out a sigh and looked at the two with eyes steeped in regret.
To him, both father and daughter appeared foolish.
A father drowning in regret, unable to deal with his daughter, and a daughter who said nothing until her heart rotted away.
Having made up his mind, Alfred spoke bluntly to Oliver.
“I understand your guilt toward Lady Helena, but isn’t this far too painful for both of you? Do you think Lady Helena would be happy if she saw this?”
“…….”
Oliver could not answer.
Alfred’s blunt words continued.
“I, too, am the head of a household. But to my eyes, Lord Oliver, this does not look like an attempt to mend your family—it looks like nothing more than an effort to lessen your own guilt.”
“……Then what is it you think I should do.”
“Please teach Lady Helena how to use the dragon’s power. Do what you should have done as her father.”
“But Helena will not want that. Would that not be the same as turning this child into someone like me? What if Helena were to use her power to hunt Demons…….”
“You should rather let her do so. How long do you intend to treat Lady Helena like a child? Lady Helena is already a student of the Academy. If you do not help her unfold her abilities, you will end up ruining her instead.”
At Alfred’s blunt words, Oliver fell silent.
He felt his thoughts grow complicated.
His daughter resented him and hated him.
The words exchanged between the two were extremely few, and the moment she turned seventeen, she had even left for her mother’s homeland without consulting him.
Even knowing this, Oliver did not stop her actions.
He had merely supported her from afar as she tried to stand on her own.
But he realized that his actions had been nothing more than neglect.
Helena entered Oliver’s sight.
She was a daughter so precious that even placing her in his eyes would not hurt.
Oliver’s eyes grew moist.
“It seems you are right. I was foolish. She is still a young daughter, yet I should not have simply stood by, thinking that the path she chose was right.”
As he said that, he once more stroked Helena’s head.
Now, he truly had to do what he must as a father.
Warm sunlight poured down through the thicket.
The chirping of birds between the trees tickled my ears.
Hiding my body within the darkness, I had completely erased my presence, controlling even my breathing.
Pashsuk, pasuk.
I heard the sound of something moving across the ground.
I held my breath as much as possible, praying that the presence above would pass by.
Kugung.
Damn it, of course it would turn out like this.
With a massive vibration, the ground beneath rumbled violently.
At the same time, a hand pierced through the earth.
From beyond it, a clear voice was heard.
“Did you truly think that merely digging a tunnel would allow you to avoid this one.”
A powerful suction emanated from her hand, and my body was lifted with a whoosh.
I had been using the Mask of the Deceiver to disguise myself as a worm—how on earth did she figure out that it was me?
Drawing up Demonic Authority, I wrapped my hand in the Flames of Gehenna.
Fwoooosh!
The roughly blazing flames of Gehenna scorched the air.
As the Heavenly Demon’s spatial grasp was severed and control over my body returned, I fled without even looking back.
After escaping to a fairly distant point, the Heavenly Demon’s presence vanished.
But I did not relax and continued to remain on guard.
I recalled the situation from this morning.
After spending the night at the Heavenly Demon’s residence, I headed to the training grounds as soon as dawn broke at 5 a.m. for training.
There, the Heavenly Demon was watching the sunrise.
“You arrived without being late.”
“I could not make my master wait.”
The Hour of the Rabbit that the Heavenly Demon spoke of.
It referred to between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., so I had come out as early as possible—fortunately, it seemed to be the correct answer.
“So what training will we be doing from early morning?”
To be honest, I could not guess how she intended to train me.
From my memories, her training was extremely harsh.
Spending the entire day on physical conditioning, or operating the Asura Divine Art beneath a freezing waterfall.
Or learning how to handle weapons all day long to become familiar with countless arms.
But I did not think any of those would be particularly effective training for me right now.
After letting the moment simmer, the Heavenly Demon answered my question.
“From today onward, the training you will undertake is tag.”
“Tag?”
Was she talking about the tag that I knew?
That game kids played in my snot-nosed days—except for me?
“The tag you are thinking of is correct.”
The question of why tag, out of nowhere, came to mind, but I remained silent for the moment.
There was no way the Heavenly Demon truly meant to play tag.
As expected, she began to elaborate.
“From today, for one month, I will chase you with the intent to kill. For twenty-four hours without rest. The disciple’s task is to survive for one month while avoiding me. Is it not simple?”
“……Ah.”
Wait a second, did I hear that right?
So I was supposed to play a life-or-death game of tag with the strongest being in the world?
Could this even be called training in the first place?
“Then does there happen to be any penalty placed upon you as well, Master?”
“Penalty?”
“The gap between your strength and mine is far too great, is it not? If you truly wished it, you could catch me in an instant.”
At my words, the Heavenly Demon’s emotionless gaze turned toward me.
“Disciple, if your enemy is stronger than you, would you ask them to fight at a level that suits you?”
“…….”
Put that way, I had nothing to say.
After all, the reason I had asked her to train me was precisely so I could become stronger than those stronger than myself.
“From now on, I shall grant you a day’s grace. For twenty-four hours, try fleeing to your heart’s content, as long as you do not leave the bounds of Mount Baekdu.”
And thus, the deadly game of tag between the Heavenly Demon and me began.
At that moment, the Heavenly Demon’s voice sounded beside me.
“For the next month, do not die.”
Huh—when did she get here?
Her voice sounded like a pronouncement of death.