The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 150: Star, Abroad (7)

‘It’s not a bird?’?Chang-Sun wondered.

There was a divine bird named Yukdeokwi that gave courage and various buffs to its master and their colleagues. Chang-Sun actually hoped that divine bird would hatch from the [Jigwis’ Egg] instead of a demonic creature that was classified as a disaster. However, a long lizard tail covered with navy blue scales came out of the shell instead, so it was definitely not a bird.

‘Wait, the messenger that Mephistopheles told me about is…?’ Chang-Sun thought.

[The ‘Jigwis’ Egg’ that holds the <Darkness> is hatching!]

The creature annoyedly smacked the eggshell with its long tail.

Bang!

The eggshell of the [Jigwis’ Egg] was so sturdy and thick that Chang-Sun even wondered if it could be destroyed with pure strength. However, it was destroyed right before his very eyes, revealing the creature’s bottom. Shortly after, the creature blew away the side of the eggshell as if a firework had gone off. In doing so, its cute wings were revealed, covered with a thin film.

Kiyooo!

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has appeared!]

It was a Dragon. More accurately, it was a very small Dragon known as a hatchling in Western countries. It was as big as Chang-Sun’s head and had a pair of wings that were bigger than its torso. The Dragon’s navy blue scales sparkled beautifully as if they were made out of gems. The Dragon’s scales were very wet while it was inside the egg, but they had already dried up. When it moved, it amazingly sounded like jewels bumping against each other. The baby Dragon raised its head and looked at Chang-Sun with its green eyes, shining with emerald-colored light.

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ is looking at the person who awakened it!]

Kiyooo, kio! Kiooo!

As if it was saying it was glad to meet Chang-Sun, the baby Dragon noisily howled and flapped its wings. Meanwhile, Chang-sun was having trouble figuring out how he should handle the Dragon because he really didn’t expect one to hatch out from the egg.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ watches the Dragon with sparkling eyes, saying a cute creature has been born,.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ vaguely remembers something upon seeing the Dragon’s appearance, so he urgently goes through the books in his old library.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ snorts, saying that a tiger is way braver and auspicious than a Dragon.]

Kiyyuuuu!

“What am I hearing?”

“Hyung?”

“Woah! That’s cute! Oppa, what are you holding?”

The baby Dragon howled so loudly that it attracted the attention of the people sitting nearby, and they crowded around Chang-Sun’s seat as soon as they saw it. Shin Eun-Seo’s eyes were especially sparkling. It was as if stars were going to pour out from them.

“I don’t know. I acquired a divine creature’s egg earlier, but I didn’t expect a Dragon to hatch out of it…” Chang-Sun quickly made excuses, although he wasn’t really lying.

Meanwhile, the baby Dragon had already gained enough strength to stand up and start roaming around Chang-Sun. It climbed onto his shoulder and crawled up to his head in such a painfully adorable way. Even Baek Gyeo-Ul, who usually didn’t really express himself, looked at the Dragon with a slightly reddened face.

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ pompously parading!]

“S-sir?You are disturbing other guests…!” A flight attendant carefully approached after receiving a complaint from other guests about the sudden commotion.

Kiyo?

The baby Dragon looked at the flight attendant and tilted its head, wondering what happened.

“… but I will talk to them. I-if it’s not too much, can I take a picture with it?” The flight attendant immediately walked away, having decided to solve the complaint in a different way.

‘… It’s distracting.’ Chang-Sun sighed and grabbed the baby Dragon on his head with his hands to force it to come down.

The Dragon swayed from side to side, as if it was telling him to let it go.

[A Subquest has been updated!]

[Verification Test Ⅰ(Updated)]

Type: Subquest. Linked quest.

Description: The messenger of the ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ has arrived just now. Put all your effort into raising the messenger and earning its recognition.

Quest Failure Penalty: Fail the Scenario Quest.

Quest Rewards: Subquest ‘Verification Test II.’

Chang-Sun dumbfoundedly chuckled when his speculation turned out to be true, but that wasn’t the end of the message.

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ is very hungry, having just hatched.]

[Feed it. The fuller its belly, the higher its Affection will be. ]

[Raising the Dragon’s Affection will gradually give you the ability to read the thoughts of the ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ and predict its next move better.]

Kiyoo!

While Chang-Sun read the message, the baby Dragon’s movements significantly lessened. It soon joyfully shrieked, asking for good food.

Grrrr.

.

Its small belly rumbled.

‘Food?’?Chang-Sun had definitely not expected it to be the next thing that he should do.

The problem was that he was inside an airplane, not a Dungeon or the Changgwi Cave, so he couldn’t just get any food. Eun-Seo, who happened to be secretly eating cookies, pulled out a piece from the box and put it before the baby Dragon. “Ah, you’re hungry, aren’t you? You’re a lively one. Do you want to try this?”

With sparkling eyes, the baby Dragon put its nose on the cookie and sniffed it, but it didn’t seem to like the cookie, considering it abruptly turned and swung its tail to slap it aside.

“No! That’s an expensive cookie!” Eun-Seo said with hands trembling due to shock.

Kiyoo! Kiyooo! Kiyo!

Meanwhile, the baby Dragon pounded the airplane table with its small front paw, asking for another food.

“Uh? Huuh?”

“Is the Dragon hungry right now?”

“It does look like it. What should we feed it?”

“It was born just now, so shouldn’t we feed it baby formulas or something? It won’t be able to digest solid food.”

The people were now having a heated discussion about what they should feed to the baby Dragon.

“Wouldn’t it be able to easily digest food since it’s a Dragon?”

“Y-you have a point. What does a Dragon eat, then?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Let’s search the internet or look it up in books.”

“I found nothing. I didn’t get anything out of the internet either.”

Unless it was a dragon-type monster like Drakes, it was almost impossible to encounter Dragons, even in Dungeons. Even if one did, they mostly reigned as uncleared Dungeons’ horrifying boss monsters, like Tiamat of the ‘Den of Evil Dragon.’ It was even more difficult to run into baby Dragons, so not much was known about them, not even what they ate.

“Bring anything edible first!”

“How about milk?”

“It’s not eating. I already put it before the Dragon, but it won’t even smell the milk. Is there anything else?”

“It’s not… eating meat too?”

“Is it because it’s chicken breast? I admit it’s a bit dry, but it’s pretty good.”

Even the flight attendants came forward and brought the food they had stashed, but whenever someone put food before the baby Dragon, it turned its head away from the food or slapped it aside using its tail.

The baby Dragon became tired after whining about not liking the food for a while, so it lay down on its stomach and coiled up. It looked so plaintive that even the people around the Dragon felt sad.

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ complains that it is so hungry.]

It didn’t eat milk or meat, making Chang-Sun ponder. He didn’t know much about dragons either.

‘From what I remember, Dragons are born with high intelligence, so they can speak within days. Some dragons are even wiser than humans because they become smarter as they grow up,’?Chang-Sun thought.

The ‘Thousand-Year Slumbering Dragon,’ who used to be Chang-Sun’s colleague, was technically a dragon but on a totally different level since he was a Dragon deity. He was an Ancient Dragon and was also known as the Dragon King, which meant he was the first ancestor of all the Dragons that existed around the planes.

Right after their births, Dragons acquired divinity, so they were also classified as transcendent beings. Moreover, they considered it an insult to consider dragon-type monsters as Dragons. This ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon,’ which Mephistopheles had sent as his messenger, looked similar to Ancient Dragons. However, it exuded a completely different type of aura.

‘Everything aside, this dragon is sent by Mephistopheles, who is called the absolute evil’s will, so there is no way it’s similar to ordinary Dragons.’?Chang-Sun shook his head.

He shouldn’t consider the Dragon to be the same as the ‘Thousand-Year Slumbering Dragon,’ so Chang-Sun ended up turning his head to look at Joachim, who was also watching him with worried eyes. Among the many beastification skills, Joachim could use the most advanced one: Divine Beastification. That was why Chang-Sun thought Joachim would know something about the Dragon. However, he shook his head too.

“I’m sorry. It might have been different if we were talking about wolves, but I also know nothing about Dragons. I can at least ask the Druids in France once we’ve landed, though,” Joachim said.

Was all he could do just wait until he landed in France? No, even if the Druids had information about Dragons, it would be useless if they didn’t know what to feed it.

‘And I can’t wait. The plane won’t land for at least eight hours.’?Chang-Sun bit his lower lip.

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has entered the ‘Poor’ state!]

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has entered the ‘Starved’ state!]

…

[Its Affection has decreased by 5.]

[Its Affection has decreased by 3.]

…

[Warning! If its Affection point continues to decrease, it will damage the bond between you and the ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon.’]

[The chance of failing the Subquest (Verification Test Ⅰ) has increased.]

If Chang-Sun continued to leave the baby Dragon alone, he was going to fail Mephistopheles’ test, so Chang-Sun quickly thought, ‘This is the messenger that Mephistopheles sent to test me about the <Darkness>... Then the answer will be in the <Darkness>.’

Should he just feed the <Darkness>? He drew up the navy blue energy from his stigma and put it before the baby Dragon, but it just blankly stared at Chang-Sun, wondering what he was doing.

‘Is it not the answer?’?Chang-Sun thought.

Just then, Jaegal Hyeon-Ryong, who had been quietly watching everything, abruptly said, “I think it’s an Evil Dragon.”

When he heard the word ‘Evil Dragon,’ Chang-Sun turned his head to look at Hyeon-Ryong. He had not heard about such a type of Dragons. Fixing his glasses, Hyeon-Ryong continued, “Evil Dragons refer to the high-ranking Dragons that have signed <Contracts> with devils to get what they need or have gone through <Falling> for some reason. They’re different from ordinary Dragons and become hostile to Dragons once they have fully grown up.”

“Do you know a lot about Dragons?” Chang-Sun asked.

“Just a little. I raised something similar before.” Hyeon-Ryong shrugged.

Did he raise an Evil Dragon before? Although Chang-Sun wasn’t sure what Hyeon-Ryong meant, he understood what Hyeon-Ryong was saying about the baby Dragon.

‘If the Dragon holds demonic energy… then it’s better suited for something conceptual, rather than something physical,’ Chang-Sun thought.

In terms of objects, they would have to be very valuable or used to accomplish great achievements, so Chang-Sun pulled out the [Zhan Lu Sword] and held it out before the baby Dragon, thinking it could be the answer.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ springs up from her seat, asking what about you’re doing!]

However, the baby Dragon just quietly looked at the [Zhan Lu Sword] and showed no reaction.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ heaves a very long sigh of relief.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ complains that if you are going to use valuable treasure like that, you should just give it to her instead…!]

Pzzz―!

Pabilsag couldn’t continue because Chang-Sun had already activated his stigma and infused the [Zhan Lu Sword] with <Darkness>, turning the sword pitch-black.

[<Darkness has drenched the ‘Zhan Lu Sword,’ suffusing it with pitch-black darkness!]

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ drools and looks at the tasty food with sparkling eyes.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ screams in surprise, telling you not to do that!]

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has put the ‘Zhan Lu Sword’ into its mouth!]

The baby Dragon opened its mouth wide and took a big bite out of the [Zhan Lu Sword]. Since the sword was very long, the dragon couldn’t swallow it whole, but it seemed a lot happier than the time when it was given other food.

Crack, crack―!

The sound of the [Zhan Lu Sword] breaking down into pieces loudly echoed throughout the plane.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ cries out, telling you to please stop!]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ thinks you have your reasons and that a certain Celestial is acting pathetic.]

…

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ becomes happy after eating good food!]

[The ‘Hungry’ state of the ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has been removed.]

[Its Fullness has increased by 10.]

[Its Happiness has increased by 15.]

[It has become slightly more loyal to you.]

[The Affection of the ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has reached a certain level.]

[The ‘Baby Black Darkness Dragon’ has accepted you, who has given it tasty food, as its partner.]

[Will you give it a ‘Name’?]

“Haha, the Dragon really likes it, but is that okay? That sword looks quite expensive.” Hyeon-Ryong laughed, looking at Chang-Sun with amazement, but Chang-Sun just nodded since he didn’t have any lingering feelings.

Besides, Chang-Sun wasn’t sure how to deal with the [Zhan Lu Sword] anyway, so it was more beneficial for him to feed the sword to the baby Dragon and raise its Affection to complete the quest faster.

‘It doesn’t look like it’s going to be destroyed completely.’?Chang-Sun shrugged.

Chang-Sun, who had been working on the Hidden Quest named ‘Ou Yezi’s Secret,’ received no message that told him he had failed the quest. Hence, he was certain that he could still use the sword even if the baby Dragon digested it, although Chang-Sun still wasn’t sure about its mechanisms.

‘Maybe I’ll be able to use the [Zhan Lu Sword] that has been upgraded using another way.’?Chang-Sun smiled faintly.

Creak, creak.

While the baby Dragon was enjoying the [Zhan Lu Sword], Chang-Sun patted the baby Dragon’s head. It had been noisily complaining and causing a commotion, so it looked really cute now that it had quieted down. The nearby people also happily watched the Dragon because the sight was really therapeutic.

“What are you going to name the Dragon?” Hyeon-Ryong asked.

Ever since the message about naming the baby Dragon showed up, Chang-Sun had already been pondering about it. He replied, “I’m thinking of ‘Dragony.’”

…

The business class turned silent. With frozen faces, Hyeon-Ryeong and the nearby people looked at Chang-Sun. He felt the tension in the air and unwittingly trailed off. “Or…”

They stared intensely at him.

“Growly?” Chang-Sun asked.