Lakeleaf City, the capital of the Sky Blue Mountain Kingdom. Inferior Plane.
"This concludes the report."
"You may leave."
In the throne room, only the king, the princess, and the royal knights remain.
"The concentration of demonic beasts attacking the cities cannot be explained by any apparent means. Every day, hundreds of hunters die trying to protect the city walls. It will take four days to annihilate the beast legion in one of the cities. What do you think of this, Euphony?"
Reminiscent Euphony knows the man before her asks this not as a father, but as Gray Solstice, king of the Sky Blue Mountain Kingdom. She holds the consolidated throne, her brother was long ago slain by her hand, despite all she lost by it. Still, the trials of the current king are not yet over.
"It's not coincidental, something is behind all this. Previous legions only focused on a single city, but now all are suffering the same issue."
"Finding the cause may not bring the solution. Do you understand the implications?"
The princess looks to the ground and then responds.
"Those who witnessed it don't remember the complete picture, but the fact that all the villagers have lost consciousness, not just one, but four towns in total... A high-level demonic beast is moving through the kingdom."
The King Gray Solstice nods, but there is no joy in his face.
"A dragon... Why the Sky Blue Mountain Kingdom?"
Reminiscent Euphony remains silent, knowing the king is speaking to himself. This time, he does not expect a response from her.
"Euphony, do nothing. Until the beast has settled, this problem concerns only the legion of demonic beasts."
"My level 200... Isn't it enough?"
"It's not."
"…"
"Your marriage is near, he is a good young man, go to him."
"Yes, your majesty."
Her beautiful golden curly hair sways subtly, as Reminiscent Euphony leaves the place, her expression changes. Her blue eyes turn towards the windows and, rather than seeing the outside, she thinks about what is happening beyond what her eyes can see.
All the cities in the kingdom are on high alert, the demonic beasts are relentless, and large-scale magic is incapable of eliminating the threat. Only the lives of the hunters can be exchanged for the lives of the enemies.
While some cities raise their weapons in victory, the next announces the start of the battle.
When the dragon advances, the demonic beasts go into a frenzy. Indirectly the damage comes from it, but the kingdom is destined to fall into doom if it attempts to solve the cause of the problem.
Days continue, and the uproar reaches the ears of neighboring kingdoms.
In the weeks that follow, the cities conclude their battles, until certain information reaches King Gray Solstice.
The dragon has settled.
+++
Divine Plane.
The battle between Lawrence and Coldness Divine lasts several minutes. Their fight goes unseen due to the importance Coldness Divine holds for the superiors, the more sought after by clients, the better her residence.
Just like with Serene Will, her residence is located far away from the rest. With beautiful landscapes outside and near the place.
"I'll stop attacking under one condition."
"Which is?"
They pause in the air and converse.
"How is it possible you have a sword with you?"
"If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll tell you."
"Ha? Humans have no right to argue before me, speak and then I will decide."
Lawrence looks into her eyes and falls silent for a few seconds, then sighs.
"It is a sword and yet it is not, the barrier cannot discern ambiguities. It's made of bamboo, so frail in constitution that it's impossible to fight with or harm anyone, but that's not the point. Because it's still a sword, I can use sword magics on it."
In the investigation conducted, it was never considered possible that Lawrence could have used sword flight to meet Serene Will, because simply bringing a sword here is impossible.
This is a very important secret, so why did he reveal it so easily?
'I'm sure Coldness Divine won't tell anyone, because if she did, this security loophole would be patched. Besides, I'll gain some of her trust with this.'
She snorts, then turns around. "Hmph, fine. You can sit and guard the entrance, be a good dog."
They both descend to the ground and cease their fight, but while she enters her residence, Lawrence is only allowed at the entrance. He isn't even permitted access to the main courtyard.
Inside her residence, Coldness Divine puts away her fan and casts a spell on it.
"I knew it, it doesn't work. I'll have to make some modifications before it's recognized as a weapon. Only then can I use my magics on it."
In her fight against Lawrence, she kept it in her hand because it feels more comfortable than being empty-handed, but after learning the human's information, this fan might cease to be merely an accessory.
"Coldness Divine, see you tomorrow."
"…"
The human's voice echoes through her house, she wrinkles her nose for a second. She feels nauseous just thinking that she'll see this human every day.
+++
"Coldness Divine, good morning."
He greets her from the entrance, not daring to step inside. He thinks she has accepted him, as although there's no response, she's also not expelling him.
Minutes pass, and he senses something odd.
"I'll go in to check that everything is in order, answer me if you don't want me to do it."
A slight sound comes from inside, but it doesn't qualify as a response, so boldly, Lawrence enters the house. He uses the excuse of checking her health.
Upon entering the rest room, he sees Coldness Divine squatting on the floor, clutching her head as if it might explode.
"Human... leave... this doesn't concern you... K- Kuh…"
Contrary to her words, she thinks: 'Did he help me? Why?'
Her mind is a mix of chaos and confusion, but even more so in complete pain. Just opening her eyes is enough to magnify the pain a hundredfold, speaking snatches away much of her consciousness.
"I'll take you to bed, you're trembling."
"Don't touch me! Agh! Kuh!"
In her state of weakness, she remains a fierce beast, so Lawrence uses magic on his body to prevent being harmed by her.
'This ungrateful dragon bitch, you wriggle in my arms as if I were carrying the plague.'
He bathed before coming here, she has no excuse to call him filthy.
"Go... leave…"
"I'll put a damp cloth on you."
After returning from the bathroom, he places a cloth on her forehead.
"You had soup in the kitchen, I just heated it up. I'll leave it here, if I try to feed you, I'm sure you'd throw it in my face."
"…"
After doing this, Lawrence leaves her residence, but waits in the backyard. While Serene Will had a water fountain, Coldness Divine has a fish pond and some wooden chairs near it.
He sits down, minutes pass, and then he feels someone using mana behind him.
He quickly turns around and defends himself from the attack, but against all odds, what falls into his hands is a bowl of soup.
"I wouldn't eat this even if I were on the brink of death. All yours, go ahead. Ah, don't you dare return the dish, nothing will remove the filth of having touched you."
After expressing her thoughts, Coldness Divine enters through the sliding balcony windows, with no intention of hearing his opinion on the matter.
Lawrence looks at the bowl in his hands and narrows his eyes. 'I ate before I came, but spurning it would have the opposite effect... Tsk, whatever.'
Without appetite, he eats the bowl of food.
He's the type of person who, if you give him a hand, he takes the whole arm. Coldness Divine allowed him to enter her house just once exceptionally, but the next day, he boldly steps just inside the entrance.
Coldness Divine is seated on the roof swinging her feet, pauses for a moment then continues.
Lawrence takes another step, then another. Then brazenly, he walks toward the backyard and sits near the fish pond, takes out a packet from his storage ring, and feeds the fish.
Anyone would think it was his own house.
She watches him for a second with complex feelings.
Coldness Divine closes her eyes and then snorts.
"Hmph, as long as you don't interfere."
Lawrence feels a piercing gaze on his back, but shamelessly pretends not to notice and leans back in the chair to soak up some sun.
In the following days, this situation repeats over and over. Coldness Divine has a hobby of sitting in high places and feeling the wind breeze. One day he couldn't find her anywhere, but for some reason felt compelled to look at a distant tree, and there she was, sitting on the highest branch of the tree.
From this vantage, Lawrence realized.
Coldness Divine has a nice ass.
+++
"That dragon bitch has a terrible temper, I wanted to talk about the outside but she immediately shows a face of contempt, how much disdain does she feel for humans?"
The peaceful weeks were about to end when Lawrence tried to start a conversation and Coldness Divine immediately shows signs of fighting.
"Hah, the day is over. I already defeated some demonic beasts to absorb their life, though it wasn't enough to level up."
Levels are interrelated with life, as beasts or humans are defeated, it's possible to absorb their life when they die. This amount of absorption is limited, the cycle of life only delivers a small portion to the killer and the rest is returned to the world, so that new living beings are born and continue the cycle.
This is precisely why there will never be a race in extinction, because after the death of one, the next ones are born. It is said that the death of a level 999 hunter can give life to ten thousand people, though this has never been confirmed.
"That bitch still hasn't returned, tsk."
The mansion is as empty as yesterday.
He takes off his clothes, steps out onto the balcony, and was about to dive into the lake when he sees something shining on one of the nearby mountains.
"No, no… Don't you dare establish your territory here, stupid dragon!"
A golden dragon moves its claws, cutting through all nature in its path.
Lawrence quickly dresses and takes flight to meet that dragon. If this were the Divine Plane, Lawrence wouldn't have the guts to seek out a fight, dragons are known for their strength surpassing levels, fighting one is no different from assisted suicide.
But this is the Inferior Plane, the level difference makes him the strongest in the world!
"Get out of here, dragon! Fighting won't benefit either of us!"
Dragon is a dragon, Lawrence must give it face before pulling out the butcher knife..
The golden dragon looks at him and then squints its eyes. Its majestic aura influences Lawrence despite the level difference.
'Tsk, if a mere level 231 dragon causes such pressure, I won't be able to hire builders when my mansion is damaged!'
The dragon then asks: "Who are you?"
"Lawrence."
The dragon remains silent for a moment then shakes its head, he wasn't asking for his name, but since things turned out this way, it's not bad to introduce oneself.
"Celestial Firmament."
"Well, Celestial Firmament. Will you leave this place willingly or unwillingly? A certain dragon has caused me plenty of trouble, I'm not in the mood to deal with another."
"Do you know another of my kind?"
Lawrence smirks, looking down on Celestial Firmament.
"You're trying my patience, giant lizard, answer!"
His shout shakes the heavens and earth, in a plane where all beings are limited to level 300, casual words from an immortal of level 446 cause havoc in the world.
Celestial Firmament remains calm and then opens its maw.
"This is my answer."
Mana gathers, creating a small golden sun, a Dragon's Breath.