Chapter 78
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Chapter 78: I Can Tell That You Are A Dragon Spy At A Glance
The original ten-person hero team formed to rescue Zelan was divided into two groups when implementing the plan to kidnap Illya.
Leo led four people, while the other five observed from hiding.
This included the reconnaissance vanguard who could see and hear from afar, who did not participate in the battle with Illya.
They watched helplessly as Leo was captured by the Dragon Queen Iris, and as their other four companions were killed.
They wanted to go rescue them, but without Leo’s guidance, they didn’t know how to act.
Rashly going to the island would be tantamount to suicide.
So they waited on the shore, discussing plans to save Zelan and Leo.
Until today, when they discovered a lone black dragon flying towards the coast. They thought they could capture this dragon, tame it, and ride it to fly to Minglong Island.
If that failed, they could force information about the island’s palace from the dragon, which would help them formulate a more detailed rescue plan.
Now, after shooting this dragon down from the sky and watching it transform into human form, they realized.
This dragon was actually Zelan?
“It’s me, don’t attack.”
“You, how are you a dragon?”
“It’s a long story, don’t attack, just listen to me explain.”
Five humans nervously held their weapons pointed at Zelan.
Zelan knew it would end up like this, but he believed that if he explained properly, they would understand his experience just like Leo did.
Oh right, where was Leo?
Why didn’t he see that blond man?
“It’s like this, after my battle with the Dragon King, she turned me into a dragon. She wanted the power within me, wanted to win me over, but I resisted to the death, persevering until now. Today, for some reason, she let me return.”
“……”
His former comrades still held their weapons, on high alert as they pointed them at Zelan.
Zelan maintained his surrendering pose with both hands raised.
He hoped to slightly ease his brothers’ concerns.
But they didn’t seem to believe Zelan’s words.
“Brothers, say something. I, I really was forced to become a dragon. You have to believe me, I’m still the same Zelan, I’m still the human Hero.”
“Why were you able to escape on your own? Did the dragons just let you go for no reason?”
“That’s really how it was.”
“Don’t take us for fools!”
Cold sweat dripped down Zelan’s forehead.
He recalled Veltia’s words, and seemed to realize why she had released him.
It was to make these humans – his former comrades – doubt his identity and allegiance.
“You have to believe me, I’m really still Zelan, I’m still fighting for humanity. The dragons released me to test whether you would still accept me after I became a dragon. They want to make you hostile towards me, to make me feel I have no place among humans anymore, to become disillusioned with humanity and sincerely join the dragons. So you must stand on my side, believe me, give me a chance to prove myself.”
“Where is Lord Leo?”
“Leo, right, I wanted to ask you about that too. Why did Leo suddenly lose contact?”
“Brothers, get him! Capture him!”
However, his former comrades showed no mercy.
They raised their weapons and rushed at him. Zelan covered his head with both hands, not resisting at all from start to finish, allowing them to beat him and bind his hands and feet with magic chains.
He must not let Veltia’s scheme succeed. He believed that if he explained properly and made his position clear, his former comrades would still accept him.
One of them, a muscular blonde man, walked up to Zelan and pinched his dragon tail and dragon horns.
Watching Zelan’s body tremble slightly in reaction to his actions.
“Well well, you really are a genuine dragon.”
“I… it’s shameful to say, I don’t know what methods the Dragon Queen used to turn me into this.”
“Leo was captured by the Dragon Queen while trying to save you. Will he become a dragon too?”
“What?!”
“You little bastard, how long are you going to keep up this act? Originally only you were supposed to die, but now we’ve lost so many brothers, all because of you!”
The blonde man slapped Zelan.
“In the end, you tell us you’re a dragon! Our brothers died in vain, and Leo was captured by the Dragon Queen because of you. Your real goal was to wipe us all out, wasn’t it, you detestable dragon! As expected, there’s not a single good dragon!”
Zelan raised his head, staring intently at the angry blonde man before him.
“I’m not a dragon, I was just turned into one by Iris. My heart is still human. Uncle Hyde, you have to believe me! Don’t let the dragons’ scheme succeed!”
“Yes, to prevent the dragons’ scheme from succeeding, that’s why we can’t believe you. First you lured Leo and our brothers over to be killed, and now you come back, using these words to try to rejoin us as a dragon, to be a dragon spy and wipe us all out, right?”
“You… Hey! Jed! Nissen! Polly, Turner! You don’t believe me either? We’ve fought side by side for so long, don’t you trust my character? I’ve sacrificed so much for the Kingdom of Dia, for humanity, haven’t you all seen that with your own eyes?”
“Yes, we believed in who you used to be. But now you’re a dragon, now you’re a spy planted among us by the dragons! There’s nothing more to say. You were in the dragons’ prison and came out without a scratch. You tell me you’re still on humanity’s side? If there were signs of torture on your body, we might believe you struggled for your former identity as a human Hero, we might think you were a Hero with backbone. But looking like this! You still have the nerve to say you resisted to the death? Are you trying to insult our intelligence? As expected, Zelan, after becoming a dragon, you’ve inherited the dragons’ arrogance.”
Now Zelan truly had no way to explain himself.
As expected, there was a reason Veltia had released him for nothing.
His excuses were too unconvincing.
If he had known it would be like this, he would have knocked his head on the ground a few times, rolled around to scrape himself up before coming, so he could claim he had fought a bitter battle and barely escaped.
At the moment of his release, his heart was only filled with anticipation and joy at seeing his comrades. He completely overlooked the conflict between different races.
Damn it! Damn it!
He had been outmaneuvered by Veltia!
“Uncle Hyde… Brothers…”
Zelan looked at this group, his former comrades, with tear-filled eyes.
How should he explain?
“If we had known you’d become a dragon, we never would have come to save you. Locke, Hume, Joya, and Robert wouldn’t have died, and Leo wouldn’t have been captured.”
“Locke and the others… are dead?”
“Well boy, your acting is pretty good.”
The blonde man crouched down and grabbed Zelan’s black hair.
“Nissen saw with his own eyes, they were thrown into the sea to feed the sea monsters. Jed heard their cries for help from the bottom of the ocean, he heard the sound of them being torn apart, it was agonizing.”
Zelan looked at Jed nearby. The man closed his eyes, nodded, looking sorrowful.
“And Leo, he’s like you, possessing equally powerful abilities, so he still has use value and wasn’t killed, right?”
Zelan swallowed.
Yes.
Leo, like him, possessed an ability called the “System”.
“The one who truly resisted to the death should be Leo, not you, you traitor who was released! We need to take you back to the Dia Kingdom and have the King execute you in front of the whole kingdom, to pay the blood debt of the brothers you betrayed.”
“That’s… right, I’m also a transcendent Hero, you can’t treat me like this. So, Uncle Hyde, I had the ability to resist just now, so why did I let you capture me obediently? I really had no intention of harming you.”
“Us few high-level Heroes probably don’t have much use value for you dragons. Your real goal is to return to Kingdom of Dia as a spy, and then kill all of our country’s transcendent Heroes.”
“Hey hey hey, Uncle Hyde, there’s a limit to speculation!”
“Enough talk! One less transcendent Hero like you, we can train more later. But if we lose the root of our kingdom’s Heroes because of you, that would be an irreparable loss.”
The blonde man looked around, then picked up a wooden stick as thick as an arm.
Then he swung it at Zelan’s head with all his might.
Crack!
The stick broke.
The blonde man looked at the half stick in his hand and clicked his tongue lightly.
“So this is a dragon?”
The blonde man looked at Zelan, who was unharmed except for a slight scratch on his forehead.
After a long silence, he drew the large machete from his back.
“Uncle Hyde, what are you doing?!”
“First I’ll cut off your hands and feet, to prevent you from struggling.”
“Why! Why must it be like this? Why won’t you believe me!”
Zelan felt all the blood in his body boiling. With a roar, his form began to expand, turning into a black dragon, breaking free of the chains binding him.
The five people around him were violently thrown back.
“I will prove myself!”
After saying this, he spread his wings and took flight.
His eyes glistened with tears.
He flew towards the human kingdoms.
As he flew, his heart grew more and more anguished.
Would anyone on the human side still believe him?
Even his former comrades who had fought side by side with him thought he was a spy sent by the dragons.
Not to mention those humans unfamiliar with him – what would they think when they saw this giant dragon?
Zelan dared not imagine the looks of terror in their eyes when they saw him.
Leo…
Had he been captured by the Dragon Queen? Would he become a dragon too?
Should he just fly far away like this?
Leo had been captured by the Dragon Queen while trying to save him. Could he really abandon this one comrade who was willing to believe in him?
Zelan stopped at the edge of the forest, transforming into human form to temporarily hide inside.
[System, can we repair the Holy Sword now?]
[Activating the backup power source can repair it.]
[Then activate it now! I want to repair the Holy Sword now.]
[The host should first seek out earth vein energy and use that to repair the holy sword. Using the backup power source is a last resort that will deplete this System’s lifespan.]
No, he couldn’t delay any longer.
He couldn’t dawdle around looking for earth vein energy.
If Leo truly resisted the Dragon Queen’s threats to the death, would Leo have such good luck as himself?
[Can we contact Leo again?]
[I’m sorry, host, but the signal is blocked. The Dragon Queen has the ability to suppress teleportation. Leo’s fate is uncertain. Host, please don’t act rashly. Now that you have a dragon’s robust physique, train slowly and one day you’ll be able to avenge Leo.]
Avenge?
Zelan didn’t want revenge. He didn’t want to be a deserter. He didn’t want to live on with regrets.
[No! How many more days or years would that take? Now, while Leo was just captured yesterday, I should go rescue him as soon as possible!]
Zelan believed.
The reason he was able to be released was because Leo had replaced him as the test subject.
As a brand new lab rat, if Leo’s use value was squeezed dry like his own had been, it would only lead to death.
After all, if they released Leo, he and Leo would have each other as companions. They could support and acknowledge each other, and wouldn’t be driven to desperation by humanity’s rejection and turn to the dragons instead.
[Host, please don’t act rashly.]
[Damn it, shut up, give me the energy, I’m going to save Leo! Hurry up and repair the Holy Sword!]
Zelan was very angry now, very worked up.
Thinking about how his comrades had just treated him, how they had misunderstood him, he felt extremely resentful.
He had never for a moment abandoned his heart as a human Hero.
His pure and sincere heart had been so wronged.
He would prove to his brothers now how clear and righteous his heart was.
[Since the host is so insistent, let it be as you wish.]
System energy poured forth continuously from the void, dazzling white light enveloped Zelan’s body, flowing into his brain, merging with the damaged holy sword in Zelan’s consciousness.
Until the Holy Sword was restored to its original perfect state.
“Holy Sword Alpha!”
Zelan raised his hand, green light gathered in his palm, and a long sword appeared in his hand, radiating holy light as beautiful as an emerald jewel.
Zelan held the holy sword in his hands, his eyes full of admiration.
As if seeing it for the first time.
He recalled Uncle Hyde’s words.
The Dia Kingdom could train another transcendent Hero to replace him. After all, he was just a dragon now, he could never gain the acceptance of humans.
But if he could exchange himself for Leo’s return.
He felt it would all be worth it.
After all, Leo was the faith of all dragon-slaying Heroes, the star that always shone above their heads. Whenever people spoke of Leo, they would think.
Ah, it’s that guy, the Hero who persevered in fighting the Dragon King day after day, year after year.
Just mentioning Leo would make everyone think of slaying dragons.
Leo was undoubtedly worthy of being called a Hero.
As for himself, he was just a latecomer junior who had gained a bit of fame merely from slaying one master-level giant dragon.
Recalling the Holy Sword.
Zelan transformed into dragon form, spreading his huge black wings. Like a terrifying bat, he soared through the sky, flying back the way he had come.
Crossing over hundreds of kilometers of ocean.
The five human Heroes who were preparing to pack up and go home looked up at that black dragon, their expressions filled with sorrow and resignation.
“As expected, that boy Zelan has betrayed humanity.”
He must be going back to report the failure of his spy mission to the dragons now.
The blonde man patted his luggage, taking one last look at the sky. That black shape grew smaller and smaller, finally swallowed up by the dazzling afternoon sunlight, disappearing into a blaze of brilliant daylight.
A teammate beside him sighed.
“But that boy didn’t kill us. He must still have some lingering feelings for our old friendship.”
“Perhaps. But from now on, whether it’s Zelan or Leo, they have nothing to do with us anymore.”
After all this trouble over the past few days, they were exhausted. Trying to rescue someone from the Dragon Palace was a fool’s dream.
Besides, Leo might have become a dragon too. Would they still insist on rescuing a dragon? Wasn’t that a joke?
They should pack up and go home early, to start anew.
Rimuru
Lol they got bamboozled real hard