Demon King's Kingdom II-5

The imprisoned monster I saw at the Puetji ruins.

It had sealed a powerful monster for hundreds of years.

I wondered if we could recreate that ancient technology using today's methods to suppress dragon activity, so I had investigators and many others conduct research on it.

Fortunately, we're beginning to gather useful information—remarkably similar to the magic-energy detection system I developed. If we scale it up, it might actually be usable.

Leave the analysis to the research facility and divide up the tasks.

Days pass without incident, consumed entirely by research.

Today’s study focuses on the next predicted location of emergence.

According to data from the research facility, there are several places around the world showing an increasing trend in black spots.

Overlaying these locations with the positions where dungeons have appeared and where dragons have emerged so far.

So far, dragons do not appear in the same place twice.

As a result, the list of potential locations was narrowed down to a few.

Among them, the place most likely to be the site.

A mountainous region near Nihon.

Exactly the same location where the hero of 400 years ago defeated the beast.

Is it a biological instinct? It's moving in a pattern remarkably similar to past records...

It's fine—this is a living creature. Though it possesses transcendent power, it's still a being of this world.

I'll be heading to the empire soon.

I need to form a team to deal with it and prepare concrete measures for action.

Until then, I must gather more information...

Having concluded my investigation into the emergence site, I begin reading through the materials on the monster defeated by the dragon I found recently.

It was already dead, but not from its injuries.

It had virtually no magical essence—far more abnormal than usual.

I knew that there were dungeons beneath the sea surrounding the country, and that powerful monsters had been spilling out from those dungeons.

Those monsters possessed an enormous amount of magical essence.

Given my past experiences, it was highly unlikely that they had lost nearly all of their magical essence.

So why was this the case? It was still likely that the dragon was involved.

Perhaps the dragon had absorbed the magical essence from the monsters.

There's no direct way to confirm it, but based on circumstantial evidence, it seems plausible that the dragon has been traveling across various locations, collecting magical essence to build up its power.

Could it be that the dragon itself is magical essence?

Yes!

I took out the degraded magic stone and the dragon scale I obtained from the previous battle. Since the dragon might be magical essence itself, I wondered if it could absorb magical essence.

I decided to test this right away.

However, or rather, as expected...

The world isn't that kind.

The magic stone showed no reaction at all, and there was no change in the scales.

Thanks to having worked with the stone for so long, I could barely sense a slight shift in magical essence—but that was all.

This isn't even worth talking about.

But I can't give up here.

If I have an idea, I'll go as far as I can with it.

I'll take it straight to the research facility and share it with the researchers.

Fortunately, the researchers were incredibly motivated and eagerly joined me in thinking through the idea.

We ended up continuing our verification until late at night.

I returned home in the middle of the night.

I went back to my room.

When I opened the door, the light was already on.

There were two women inside.

I knew at a glance—both were furious. Really furious.

My wives.

"Uh, w-what's going on? Both of you...?"

"What's there to do about it? You're not pushing yourself too hard lately, are you?"

Recently, thanks to spending time together, they’ve developed a默契 (unspoken understanding).

Thank you both, but we can't stop here. Dragons are that powerful.

I understand that, but... The children are lonely too.

You're right... I always appreciate it. I really need to make the most of it before heading to the Empire...

Saying that, he drapes his jacket over the chair.

Sitting down on the bed, his entire body naturally relaxed.

Without realizing it, the two wives had taken seats on either side of him.

"If you keep doing that with your clothes, you'll get scolded again."

"I'm not saying that! Look, change your clothes before sitting on the bed."

Encouraged by both, he changes his clothes.

After returning, he feels both of them are dressed more lightly than before.

"Loneliness isn't something only the children feel."

"Isn't it fine as long as the children are asleep?"

The two of them were exhausted, but it had been a pleasant day.

A few days later.

Reading a report from the research facility while swaying with the waves.

Unusually, the sea was rough for this time of year.

Yet, the content was so shocking that he couldn't care about such details.

Analysis of the specimen collected from the dragon had progressed.

As expected, the dragon's body was largely composed of mana.

It seems that by utilizing large quantities of materials such as magical stones and liquid magical stones, the specimen became capable of rapidly absorbing mana particles.

This wouldn't be possible with ordinary matter.

At the same time, the specimen that absorbed mana particles was reported to have significantly shrunk.

The dragon's body appeared to be in a state similar to a sponge, capable of absorbing mana and growing stronger and larger without limit.

After reading through the report to a certain extent, he rubbed his head in frustration.

The longer we leave that dragon alone, the stronger it will become.

But we have no idea where it is.

We need to find it soon...

Perhaps the dragon that existed 400 years ago absorbed a massive amount of mana.

That could be why there was such a widespread battle across the entire continent?

Four hundred years ago, after fighting the hero, the dragon was severed in half by a great sword. Even then, it continued moving, and the remaining half vanished into the sea.

Judging by the obvious damage and the fact that the dragon hadn't appeared for several years after the battle, it seemed the beast had been defeated.

But then, the dragon reappeared.

And this time, there was no hero's sword.

We would have to fight it with nothing but our own strength.