Chapter 153: Fighting The Dragons
"So, does that mean that... human..." one of the elders began, his voice faltering with disbelief.
"How... could you not tell us something so important?" another elder asked, his tone filled with a mix of confusion and frustration.
"Yes, he is the one the King told me about," Alarion replied steadily, his eyes firm as they met the others. "When Taylor informed me about the stolen egg, the token reacted for the first time in all these years."
Hearing his words, a deep silence fell over the place. No one spoke. Every elder stood still, their minds overwhelmed, trying to process what this revelation truly meant.
"So, if it wasn’t the egg of our race... then which race does it belong to?" the Grey Dragon Elder asked, his expression filled with concern and uncertainty.
Alarion shook his head slightly and replied, "I don’t know. The King never told me about that."
He looked down for a moment before continuing, "In fact, what worries me more is that the King explicitly warned me not to harm the one who takes the egg. And yet, without knowing, we have already tortured him..."
His words seemed to cast a heavy shadow across the chamber. Taylor’s expression darkened, his gaze dropping to the floor. Even Kristos looked visibly troubled, his face tense and full of regret.
Taylor gritted his teeth before speaking again, "Then... why don’t we just kill him? He’s still weak. If we finish him off now, all of this mess will be over. We won’t need to think about what comes next."
But his words were abruptly cut off.
-SLAP!!
The sound echoed loud and sharp as Kristos struck him across the face. Everyone flinched at the suddenness.
"Did you not hear what I just said?" Kristos growled, his voice filled with restrained fury. "The King said no weapon will work on him, no force can stop him. Are you seriously letting your rage blind you so much that you’re ready to throw away the words of our King?!"
His hands were clenched tightly at his sides, his voice low but trembling with the force of emotions he had been holding back.
In truth, Kristos had never wanted to harm Ash. Even back then, he suspected that Ash was chosen by the Throne.
And now, hearing Alarion confirm what he had always suspected, there was no more room for doubt in his heart.
"What should we do now, Alarion?" Kristos asked, his voice low but heavy with the weight of uncertainty.
Everyone looked at him with silent expectation, hoping he could find a way to fix what had already spiraled out of their control.
Alarion let out a long breath, his expression calm yet solemn. "We apologize," he said firmly, without hesitation.
"There’s no other choice. What’s done cannot be undone. No matter how bitter it may taste, we must put our pride aside and apologize."
He looked at each one of them, his voice unwavering as he continued, "You all know what kind of dragon our king was. He never lied. Not even once. Every word he spoke were truths. And if he entrusted that egg to us... and warned us about its bearer... then every action we take from here on must reflect the trust he placed in us."
***
"Where did that human vanish to?" one of the black dragons asked, scanning the surroundings with sharp, narrowed eyes.
"I don’t know. He was just here a moment ago... and then he disappeared," the red dragon replied, his tone a mixture of confusion and frustration.
The other three young dragons were equally baffled. They continued looking around, their keen senses stretching outward, yet not finding a single trace of him.
A few minutes passed like that, the air tense with uncertainty.
"What should we do now?" one of them finally asked, breaking the silence.
"The Elder told us to follow him... but not to harm him."
"But now we’ve lost him. He’s gone."
"Shouldn’t we contact the Elder and ask for instructions?"
"But what if he gets mad at us for losing him? We were told to track him, not to lose sight of him. We have to find that human."
As they kept arguing among themselves, Ash suddenly appeared in mid-air, high above their heads, and began falling down rapidly due to gravity.
Now that the egg is safe... I should make sure to escape the moment any of the Dragon Elders arrive... but before that...
I want to fight these dragons. I’ve got too many pent-up emotions swirling in my head. I need to release some of it right now.
I should also avoid using any mana.
He deactivated his Absolute Concealment, letting his concealment fade away entirely. As he did, he muttered to himself with quiet resolve, "Let’s see how strong I really am... compared to a young dragon."
The moment he muttered those words, or rather, the instant he deactivated Absolute Concealment, all five dragons instinctively looked up toward the sky
"There he is!"
"But... the egg is missing!"
"Why is he just falling like that from such a height?!"
His clothes fluttered wildly in the wind as he descended rapidly, his body angled downward in a pose that looked like a fist ready to slam down from the heavens.
"Is that human planning to fight us?" one of the dragons asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Shouldn’t you dodge, Black Dragon Bjorn?" the Green Dragon suggested with concern.
"Are you seriously asking me to dodge the attack of a human? And he’s not even using mana. Do you think humans can match us in terms of physical strength?" Bjorn scoffed, his pride evident in his voice.
"But the Elders always warned us not to underestimate humans," the Blue Dragon reminded, his tone cautious.
"Hmph! Let me show you just how weak humans truly are," Bjorn said with a snort, and without waiting another moment, he launched himself upward toward Ash.
Is he really planning to clash with me head-on?
Ash thought as he narrowed his eyes and pulled his fist back even more, tension building in his body like a drawn bow.
And in the next second—
They clashed.
BOOM!!!
The clash shook the air around them. A powerful shockwave burst out from the point of impact, scattering dust and leaves in every direction.
Ash was flung backward like a stone skipping across water. His body spun mid-air before he managed to stabilize himself, landing gracefully as his boots dug into the ground, dragging along the surface with a rough screech.
He clenched his fists tightly, a dull pain radiating through his arms.
My bones didn’t break, but the pain is sharp... so that’s the physical strength of a young dragon...
I am still weak in the contest of strength, but there is no doubt my endurance is really tough now, there is not even any injury..
He flexed his fingers slightly, shaking off the sting as he looked back up.
But the shock didn’t only hit Ash.
Bjorn, the black dragon, was flung backward like a cannonball. His massive form crashed into the rocky ground with a loud boom, sending cracks racing across the earth beneath him.
His wings twitched violently, and before he could stabilize his form, his body forcefully shrank down—returning to his humanoid state with a heavy gasp.
He knelt there, clutching his head, his eyes wide as if lightning had struck through his skull.
What was that? My brain feels like it was hit by a bell hammer... That force—wasn’t weak...
Though the pain vanished almost instantly, and he recovered within a second, Bjorn couldn’t help but glance at Ash with a slightly more serious gaze now.
"As expected of the dragons, you do not have even a single injury."
Although Ash spoke with a calm tone, to Bjorn, it felt more like a hidden insult than admiration. The silence that followed was heavy.
At the same time, the other four dragons also shifted back, their forms shrinking as they returned to their humanoid shapes one by one.
None of them replied right away, but their serious gazes spoke volumes. The red, blue, and brown dragons were male, while the green one was a female, and each of them now stood in front of Ash with a restrained yet fierce aura.
Ash didn’t flinch. Instead, he looked at all five of them and said slowly, "I don’t mind if you all come at me together. I am about to test something."
"I don’t know what will happen though, since this will also be the first time I’ll be using it."
Saying that, Ash took a step forward, his posture relaxed but his presence slowly growing sharper with every movement.
The dragons stared back, fury flickering in their eyes, the tension thick enough to feel in the air.
"I feel like he’s underestimating us far too much," the green dragon said quietly, her voice low but irritated.
"Yes, he’s being far too arrogant for someone who just ran away moments ago," the blue dragon agreed.
"Let’s leave this to Bjorn," the red dragon added, "he should be able to handle him alone."
"No," Bjorn interrupted, his voice steady but with clear resolve, "Let’s fight together. The elders told us not to let him out of our sights. If we capture him now, they might even reward us. Rather than wasting time on pride, it’s better to finish this quickly."
Hearing his words, the others exchanged glances. After a brief moment, they nodded one after another, reaching an agreement without needing to say much more.
"Let’s do that then."
"Yes."
"Alright."
Ash tilted his head slightly as he listened to them, then said with a calm expression, "Are you done talking? If so, let’s begin. I don’t have much time left, you know."
The moment those words left his mouth, his figure blurred with a sudden shift of energy, and the air around him turned deathly quiet.
He whispered softly, almost like reciting a sacred chant.
Divine Arts of Eternal Silence
Fifth Form: Fear
***
A/N: I decided to simplify the name from "Art of Suffocating Fear" to just "Fear" . Personally, I feel it sounds cleaner and more impactful this way. But hey, if you’ve got a cooler or more fitting name in mind for the martial art, feel free to drop it. If it clicks with the vibe I’m going for, I’ll definitely consider using it.