Chapter 68

They were once inseparable brothers-in-arms.

Now, meeting again as enemies.

“You… are?”

“Who I am, you should have already guessed.”

Leo looked at Naya, his expression complicated.

The person before him, aside from the silver-white hair, no longer bore any resemblance to his old comrade.

White dragon horns, pointed ears, a long silver dragon tail resembling that of a great serpent—all clear signs of her being a dragon.

But he remembered the only spearman who had ever fought alongside him.

“You are… Monet?”

“Hmph! I thought I was just cannon fodder in your eyes. Turns out, I was important enough for you to remember my name.”

Seeing Leo grip his staff and begin to mouth a spell, Naya lunged forward, interrupting his incantation. Leo deftly moved his staff to parry the tip of her spear.

“Even after all these years, you’re still the same, always scheming. Look at me, Leo. Look at the… ‘comrade’ you backstabbed six years ago…”

Naya said the word “comrade” with a bitter lightness.

“I’m sorry, Monet. But the path to godhood is paved in blood. There can only be one dragon-slaying Hero.”

“For that reason, do you saw me as a threat?”

For that reason, he lured her into challenging the Dragon King, only to betray her at the critical moment.

“No, I never saw you as a threat. You were always the best companion I had. I was curious about the Dragon King—what kind of being she really was. After fighting alongside you for so many years, I lost sight of the direction I should be heading. I didn’t know if killing the Dragon King was even possible, or where I should focus my efforts. So, I needed to understand the Dragon King, and I needed you to scout out her power for me.”

Leo’s golden eyes reflected a hint of sorrow.

“But after that day, I realized there was an insurmountable gap between us and the Dragon King. I didn’t leave you behind on purpose—when the Dragon King transformed into her dragon form, I could sense the overwhelming surge of magic from her. At that moment, I knew that if I didn’t leave you behind, we both would have perished.”

Is that really a justification?

Abandoning hope at the first sign of difficulty—can that even be called heroism?

“You didn’t even try!” Naya shouted angrily.

“It was a guaranteed loss. I couldn’t risk a 1% chance of success against a 99% chance of failure.”

Naya clenched her teeth.

“How could I have not known you were so cowardly? You disgrace the title of Hero.”

“I’m not a coward. If I were, I would’ve abandoned the dragon-slaying path after that battle. Monet, I’ve always felt guilty. But since this has already started, I can’t let your sacrifice be in vain. That’s why I’ve been pushing forward all these years, working to fulfill our old vow. I didn’t expect you to still be alive, let alone…”

“Enough!”

Naya shouted, not wanting her daughter or maid to hear about her former life as a human.

Leo, mistakenly thinking he’d struck a nerve, smirked slightly.

“So, where do you stand now, Monet? After all these years, why haven’t you come for revenge? Why haven’t you gone back to see Lina?”

“Lina! How… How is she now?”

Tears welled up in Naya’s eyes.

“Well, that’s enough talking. If we keep going, then…”

A purple magic circle suddenly appeared beneath Leo’s feet.

He had prepared teleportation circles in advance throughout the area, so he didn’t need to chant to move freely.

Naya was taken aback and stabbed her spear at Leo, but as expected, he vanished before her attack could land.

Turning around, Naya saw Leo reappear by the shore and begin chanting.

If she charged at him now, he’d finish chanting before she could close the distance and teleport to the other side of the sea.

“Damn it!”

Naya watched helplessly as the purple light around Leo grew brighter.

She summoned every last bit of strength and sprinted toward him, trying to catch up.

Just as she was about to fail again, Naya blinked—and saw Iris already gripping Leo by the throat, flipping him and slamming him to the ground.

What the…?

The Dragon Queen? Where did she come from? When did she arrive?

Leo grasped his staff, attempting to cast another spell, but Naya kicked it out of his hand.

“Hmph! Trying to run?”

She raised her foot and stomped on Leo’s right hand, while Iris pinned his other hand.

“Let him go, Naya. Don’t reward him.”

“???” Naya was confused for a moment before catching on. “Oh…”

She released Leo’s hand.

Iris quickly bound both of Leo’s hands behind his back, pressing him down firmly.

Seeing Leo was still struggling, a red glow appeared in Iris’s hand.

She raised it and smacked the back of Leo’s head, slamming his face into the sand.

Leo’s head of beautiful golden hair disappeared into the ground, and he stopped moving.

Did he just die?

Naya stared blankly at the motionless Leo.

“I only knocked him out. You must have many questions to ask him. Letting him die too quickly would be no different from letting him escape.”

To Iris, people like Leo were nothing but ants.

In the past, she hadn’t bothered to capture him because she didn’t consider him a significant threat. She didn’t feel the need to go out of her way to catch an ant. In fact, the boy had occasionally brought her Heroes with special energy to use as test subjects.

“Mmm.”

Naya glanced up.

The young dragons who had been watching from above have disappeared, and in the distance, Illya was still in dragon form, hiding behind Bella. Meanwhile, Fran and Nitiya, in human form, were rounding up two surviving Heroes.

Those two had clung to Illya during Naya’s earlier meteor strike and had survived under her protection. Others farther away weren’t as lucky, having been obliterated by Leo’s magic.

“This isn’t the best place to interrogate him. Let’s take him back to the palace.”

Iris said nonchalantly, as if capturing Leo had been as simple as taking a sip of water.

“I’ll prevent him from playing tricks and escaping suddenly, I will deal with him myself.You go comfort Illya. She must be really scared right now.”

When Illya was mentioned, Iris couldn’t help but smile a little.

Seeing her own daughter hiding behind Bella, bedraggled and as pitiful as a drenched kitten, Iris couldn’t help but feel secretly happy—her daughter finally experienced the first trial of her life.

In reality, even if Naya hadn’t arrived in time, those high-level spells were nothing more than a sprinkling water for Illya. The only difference was that this sprinkling water was scalding hot and would leave Illya crying in pain, but it wouldn’t be enough to actually kill her.

However, if she dared to say in front of Naya that this was just a prelude to Illya leaving the “novice village”, not something to be overly concerned about, she could forget about sharing a bed that night.

“Make sure you keep a close eye on him, don’t let him escape.”

“Relax, I told you, even if it were the moon in the sky, I could catch it for you. A mere human is no trouble at all.”

“Right, you too, be careful. If you come back and I find even a scratch on you…”

Naya looked at Iris with a stern expression. Although she knew Iris would never lose to Leo, if he played dirty and Iris ended up getting hurt, Naya would still feel heartache.

But Iris, with her usual nonchalant air, replied.

“Alright, alright, I’ll let you check me all over in bed tonight.”

“You… You’re too much! I… I’m going to check on Illya!”

Naya’s face flushed red, and she quickly scurried away, taking small hurried steps toward her still-trembling daughter.