Chapter 179: The Result of the Hostage crisis (2)
When I saw her vomiting blood, I hurriedly began to shout.
“Hands… Hands off, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”
I had no choice but to put on a furious expression. Dialugia looked as if she would die on the spot if someone were to touch her. The soldiers around me looked disconcerted, wondering what this was about. However, I didn’t have the time to explain.
“You need to return to the front line. I will detain her, myself.”
“Yes… Yes!”
There was nothing they could do but follow my orders at this point.
Meanwhile, I didn’t know if Dialugia would recover with the potion I had, but this was the only one that could heal her. Currently, she continued to mourn over her child with what little energy she had. As I approached her with the baby in one arm, she reached out.
I worried about her attacking me, but I knew she wouldn’t dare try upon checking her status window.
‘I was completely fooled.’
The fact that she could transform into a human form was less important than the fact that she tied my life and hers together; I had been lured into a complete checkmate.
The only explanation was that Dialugia had really used her brain. She knew that, if she died, her baby was likely to die as well. Thus, she tried to conserve her life by choosing me, the one who had held her baby hostage, and the one who commanded the enemy forces, as her spouse.
I didn’t know if she had realized that I was the type of person who wouldn’t sacrifice my life for the sake of mankind, but her gamble proved to be successful.
As she had expected, I didn’t want to make any sublime sacrifices.
She understood that saving herself was the way to save her baby; and that holding my life would be the most reasonable way to survive.
‘There was too little information about her in the first place.’
What I missed was the ecology of a race cla.s.sified as a dragon.
I at least learned four facts about them with the day’s events. Of course, I didn’t know if this was applicable for all dragons, but it was at least applicable to Dialugia.
- A female dragon can produce children on her own. In the first place, their s.e.x might be meaningless to them. Considering their spa.r.s.e population, this was probably the case.
- Dragons had a way to transform into a human form. It was not magic. It would be correct to call it their race’s unique ability.
- Though the means were unclear, a dragon has the right to choose their spouse. I didn’t know if I’d be able to resist it or not, but it was meaningless to try, as my resistance was comparable to that of an automatic door.
- A dragon’s spouse shares its life with the dragon.
‘My body is evidently the biggest evidence.’
Though I did not understand them, I knew they were not simple creatures. They lived a life that had evolved in a different direction from humans.
‘In a way, they should be called high-ranking individuals.’
I had a lot to research about this, but for now, I had to save Dialugia.
As I poured the potion over her wounds, she started to recover, albeit very slowly.
In the end, it didn’t seem effective at all.
As her original body was enormous, recovering in human form had ma.s.sive drawbacks. If an actual human needed one potion to recover, this one would need at least a few hundred.
Though Dialugia drifted in and out of consciousness, I could see that the potion had at least helped somewhat, as liveliness was gradually returning in her eyes.
Instantly, she turned her attention to her precious baby, still in my arms.
“Ba… Baby!”
“Kie-eh-eh-eek…”
The thought of granting their reunion crossed my mind, but as I didn’t know what action she would choose to take right after, I had to be cautious. I approached her slowly, and she looked up at me before speaking in a sad voice.
“P… Please return it. My… child… Please return my child.”
‘f.u.c.k…’
“Please. Please return my child. Please.”
‘Do not cry…’
“Please…”
Her tears flowed down freely, like a waterfall. I felt like such a sh*tty person.
I had expected her to rush into me as Cha Hee-ra did, but she lay flat as if she knew her situation well. I had also expected her to threaten me by taking both our lives, but she deviated from my expectations. She knew that choosing me as her spouse was her last resort.
‘Is this her original personality?’
Perhaps it was, considering her disposition as Docile Mother. Seeing that there had been no record of her invading Castle Rock while being over 4,000 years old, it was right to think that she only came here in the first place because of her child.
‘Song Jungwook, you evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d.’
To feel less guilty, there was no choice but to blame Song Jungwook. As I mulled over what to do, a Red Mercenary member approached me before speaking up warily.
“This person is…”
“It’s that monster from just now. Apparently, she can take on a human form.”
“I haven’t heard of anything like this…”
“I can’t believe it either. I’ve never thought anything like this would be possible. Perhaps it was because of this child that she invaded Castle Rock.”
“I-I see.”
“The pre-war defense is still going on. First, I will detain that monster, no, that woman. The situation at pre-war defense…”
“I think it’s almost cleared.”
“That’s a relief.”
Dialugia continued to reach out to me even as I spoke with him. She proved to be hard to ignore. I felt pity for her even when she was still in monster form, so my guilt only doubled upon seeing her as a human.
Dialugia’s situation was indeed heartbreaking.
Not only was her egg stolen, but her baby had also been taken as a hostage. Humans had also almost beaten her to death.
“P-Please, return…”
“…”
“Baby… Mom is here…”
“… …”
“Everything will be fine. You can rest a.s.sured. Baby… You can rest a.s.sured.”
“…”
“Baby…”
“Kie-eh-eh-eek…”
As much as I had to avoid returning her child, this scene was just too heartbreaking to bear. Dialugia’s whole body was a wreck, and although the possibility of her returning to her original form and destroying us after we gave the baby back crossed my mind…
‘There was no possibility.’
Dialugia had already lost most of her combat capabilities. The potion I had given her was just for first aid purposes. She knew that if she ended up dying now, her baby would be next.
With this thought, I knew it wouldn’t be bad to let her hold the baby. For now, I had to form some semblance of a good relationship with her.
I didn’t say anything; I just placed the little monster into her arms. At once, Dialugia cradled the baby tightly to herself.
“My baby… My baby!”
“Kiek!”
The Red Mercenary member next to me looked worried.
“Will this be okay?”
“There will be no other problems. She has already lost almost all her fighting abilities, and holding a baby wouldn’t make any difference. Rather, it will help her mental state.”
“I see.”
Already, I could feel her mental state improving.
After a few moments, Dialugia’s eyes snapped to us, evidently wary of us possibly taking her baby away again. She was more sagacious than I had initially thought.
At this point, it wouldn’t be bad to have a conversation.
She was definitely different from us. There was no way that those two big horns on her head were human. Neither were her eyes.
“Can you understand me?”
“…”
“Excuse me?”
It took her a while to answer.
“I can…”
“That’s fortunate. It would be better to introduce myself first. I am Lee Kiyoung.”
“Dialugia…”
“Well, there seem to be some misunderstandings between us. I want to give you several explanations, but not right now. For now, I think you should follow our constraints.”
“…”
“I don’t know if you believe it, but it wasn’t us who stole the child. From our perspective, Ahem… The obvious thing is that you attacked us first.”
“…”
“If you don’t follow the constraints, we may have to use a somewhat rough method. Of course, your child will be safe the whole time. I promise I won’t do any harm to the child.”
“I-I can’t believe in humans…”
“You have no choice. Whether or not you choose to believe, you can only follow what we say.”
“Ah…”
Dialugia’s expression harbored serious doubt as she stared at me. If I were in her shoes, I would’ve felt the same.
I decided to look at her with Mind’s Eye once more. I had to find out what type of att.i.tude she had to make it easier for me to talk to her.
[Checking the unique characteristics of the legendary-grade monster Dialugia.]
[The Giving Tree]
‘Huh?’
It had been a while since I’d seen a normal characteristic. As her existence itself was dangerous, I was worried about whether she was kind of like Jung Hayan or Cha Hee-ra, so this came as a surprise.
‘That’s good.’
Until now, I couldn’t figure out the situation, but, naturally, various thoughts came into my mind as soon as I saw her characteristic. Dialugia had Docile Mother as a disposition and Giving Tree as a unique characteristic. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen someone with such a normal combination.
‘Isn’t this a very good thing?’
Considering the fact that she and I now shared a lifeline, this proved to be very advantageous to me. Although I wasn’t sure as to whether my life expectancy would increase or not, Dialugia was in a position where she had to keep living for the sake of her child.
If I died, her precious child would be thrown in immediate danger. Thus, to care for her child’s life was to care for her own. She could create monster waves, possessed huge magic and high intelligence, had steel-like horns and tails for an appearance, and had a breakthrough skill that could pierce the western wall.
In short, she had successfully fooled me. However, I saw this as an opportunity.
‘Dragon spouse!’
Because of this, I had received 5 points in magic power, which was difficult to obtain given my stats.
‘It’s not just that.’
As an alchemist, who else would get the chance to study a living dragon?
If I could get Dialugia’s cooperation, I would have a living subject instead of a corpse. Of course, considering the fact that she and I now shared a life, it would be impossible to do rough things to her, but this would still be of great help.
A smile formed on my face.
Dialugia stared at my sudden change in expression warily. At this, I gently grabbed her shoulder. She groaned a little, but I was able to lift her.
“Let’s keep the promise.”
“Yes…”
“Many humans died here, too.”
“…”
“Of course, I understand the situation, but I was in a position wherein I couldn’t help.”
“Yes… Okay.”
“First, I will go and arrest the recruits. I hope you understand that we have also been very considerate.”
“My child…”
“You don’t have to worry about your child’s safety.”
“…”
“It’s my child now as well, after all,” I whispered this part into her ear.
Realization dawned on Dialugia’s face, and she began to get pale. Of course, it would be better to keep this fact a secret. I didn’t want to acquire any more trouble.
However, love for this baby monster had genuinely bloomed in my heart.
In the end, it was Dialugia, not me, who had been checkmated.
‘Dad will be good to you!’