Rita called out to the Long with extreme caution. If it were true that it had spoken to a villager, then it meant the dragon could understand human language. There was no need to provoke it with a rude tone.
The dragon’s gaze shifted toward Rita. She flinched, but thankfully, the Long didn’t appear to have any immediate intention of opening its mouth to swallow her whole.
Perhaps feeling relieved, Rita’s voice came out clearer.
“Say something, will you…?”
“What on earth are you doing?”
Edward, who was standing beside her, scolded sharply. Rita scratched her neck awkwardly.
“Well, there’s nothing else to say.”
“We came here for a reason.”
Just as Edward was about to give her another lecture, the Long lifted its head. Rita and Edward simultaneously stepped back.
The Long rose very slowly. ‘Isn’t it going to hit the ceiling at this rate?’ Satin’s idle concern turned into reality. The Long continued to stand, pushing up against the ceiling as it did.
“If that thing collapses…”
The moment Rita murmured those words, the surroundings began to crumble.
“We need to get out of here!”
“And where exactly are we supposed to go?!”
Edward shouted frantically, to which Rita snapped back. Satin hadn’t even had time to grasp the situation yet.
“Waaah!”
Cain suddenly lunged forward. One blink later, Satin found himself slung over Cain’s shoulder. His stomach was pressed hard against his firm shoulder, and it hurt, but this wasn’t the time to complain about that.
“Cain, I—urk!”
He had been about to ask to be put down when the ground jolted violently, cutting him off. If he’d bitten his tongue, it might’ve been sliced in half.
‘That was close. No—honestly, it feels like I’m already dead…’
Satin bounced around on Cain’s shoulder, trying to take in their surroundings. Cain seemed to be searching for somewhere to escape to, but just like Rita said, there was nowhere to go. Now even the walls and floor were collapsing along with the ceiling.
Through his shaking field of vision, Satin saw Edward pull Rita close. The two of them clung to each other, supporting one another. It was… oddly romantic.
‘If they make it out of this, are they going to get married or what?’
Even in a crisis, his brain was more than capable of wandering off in strange directions.
As the collapse accelerated, Cain pulled Satin in tightly and whispered.
“Bite down.”
If it had been any other time, he would’ve thought he meant to hit him. But not now. This was advice to avoid smashing his jaw or biting off his tongue during the fall.
Satin clung to Cain and clenched his teeth. As the hem of his robe flapped overhead, he squinted up at it—and then realized something.
‘He doesn’t even seem to be considering the possibility that we might die.’
If Cain truly thought they were going to die, he would’ve said his final words by now.
‘Is this… faith?’
Faith that things would never end badly? Like the High Priest had said, that this was merely a banquet thrown by the gods for their chosen hero?
No way. Cain wasn’t a believer. If he had faith in anything, it wasn’t in a god.
‘He must believe in me.’
Or rather, in the real Satin, the one who had disappeared.
Cain’s calm resolve stemmed from conviction. The determination not to die meaninglessly here. The determination not to let Satin die. The will to survive—together.
At last, Satin hit the ground. He and Cain tumbled across the earth in a tangled heap. For the moment, everything was a blur—he didn’t even notice where he was hurt from the impact.
‘Where… is this?’
He surveyed the scenery through the lingering dust and tried to figure out their location. They had clearly been descending from the Rocky Mountains, but somehow, they’d ended up back where they started. The officer at the southwest gate they had greeted earlier and his subordinates were now staring at them in shock.
‘But why does it feel so… off?’
Only when the dust fully settled did he realize what was wrong. The people were too far away.
“The mountain… where did the mountain go?”
Rita’s muttered question made Satin turn the other way. The spot where the Rocky Mountains had been… was now completely empty. In their place, the enormous Long hovered midair, looking down upon the group.
“It looks like the mountain has collapsed…”
Edward’s tone was uncertain. There were no remains. It wasn’t just the mountain that had vanished—despite all of them having witnessed the ceiling, walls, and floor crumble, there wasn’t a single trace left behind.
It was now a wide open space. A massive clearing, spacious enough to house the Grand Temple that had once left Satin speechless. The sunset light poured down like a spotlight, illuminating the vast ground.
Satin murmured vacantly,
“It’s like… a stadium…”
The guards from the southwest gate were watching from afar. And now that he looked more closely, there were people on the other side as well. Probably the evacuated villagers. He couldn’t make out their expressions due to the backlighting, but they were all facing this way.
It really did feel like they were on stage with the Long in an arena. Not a soccer stadium—but a coliseum. His stage fright began to creep in again, stronger than ever.
“This isn’t the time to just stand around. We need to figure out how to attack that thing.”
Even before Satin could fully process this absurd turn of events, Rita had already snapped to action. She was thinking about how to attack a flying Long. Hearing her voice, Edward also rose to his feet.
“Is everyone alright?”
Satin was about to answer when Cain grabbed him by the shoulders. As if conducting a security check, he patted his face and limbs before answering on his behalf.
“He’s fine.”
“That’s a relief.”
The Long seemed to have no interest in the distant onlookers and kept its gaze fixed solely on Satin’s group. It showed no signs of attacking just yet.
Rita cautiously moved backward while conjuring a flaming arrow. The Long didn’t react, even at the sight of fire.
“Huh… I think this might actually reach.”
Rita bobbed her head slightly, measuring the distance to the Long. Its sheer size made judging distance tricky, but when she calmly calculated the angle, the Long wasn’t that high up.
Its lowest parts—belly and front legs—were at the height of a two- or three-story building. Definitely within range of a thrown weapon or spell.
“It’s not about whether we can hit it. What matters is whether we can actually hurt it.”
“True.”
Rita nodded in agreement at Edward’s remark.
If that Long was anything like the monsters they’d faced so far, there was no telling whether fire magic would work.
So far, fire magic had worked about 50% of the time. It worked on the monkeys they’d encountered in the Demon King’s castle. But it didn’t work right away on the monstrous serpent in the same location—it only had an effect after they struck its weak spot, the tail. It worked on werewolves, but not on the horse-headed beasts.
“Do you know any other spells? If we try a few, maybe one will work.”
“Uh… hail magic?”
“And?”
“A spell to detect magical traces…”
“Next.”
“Whirlpool magic for underwater use.”
“Sounds powerful. What does it do?”
“I use it when mixing powder tea…”
Of all the spells Rita knew, the only potentially useful ones right now were the flaming arrow and hail. And that was only if they actually worked.
Edward turned to Cain next.
“Cain, aside from fire magic, do you know anything else?”
“A spell to raise the dead. They move for about three seconds.”
“…Anything else?”
“Mind control magic. Never used it on a person, though.”
“……”
“There’s also a summoning spell that brings forth the Demon King with a proper sacrifice.”
“We’re good, thanks.”
That concluded their assessment of available combat power—with no helpful results. Edward, perhaps out of disappointment, didn’t even bother asking Satin what he could do. Not that it would’ve made any difference.
Unlike the increasingly discouraged Edward, Rita remained as upbeat as ever. She stepped forward, rallying the group with her usual energy.
“Let’s just try attacking first! We’re not gonna die anyway. I believe in the High Priest!”
Just as Rita shouted that and aimed her flaming arrow, the Long finally moved. Not just Rita—everyone tensed immediately.
The Long slowly began descending. But its movement was strange. Its tail stayed high in the sky while only its head lowered, bending its massive body into the shape of a giant slide.
“What’s it trying to do?”
Rita murmured. Satin had the same question—until he suddenly let out a small gasp.
“Ah…”
“What is it?”
Cain hadn’t noticed yet. Satin raised his hand and pointed toward the Long’s tail.
“There’s something there.”
Cain followed his finger, squinting. His brows furrowed as he muttered,
“…A person?”
Just as Cain had said, it did look like a person. But there was no way it could actually be a person. A human couldn’t have suddenly appeared like that—let alone stroll so leisurely across a Long’s back.
Soon, Rita and Edward noticed the figure atop the Long as well. Rita was so shocked that her conjured flaming arrow dissipated into thin air.
“Wh-Who is that…?”
As if answering Rita’s question, the Long spoke.
—The Master of Evil has come… to punish you humans.
Its voice was loud enough for not only Satin’s group but also the distant onlookers to hear clearly. It echoed in a bizarre, reverberating tone that sent a chill down everyone’s spine.
Satin rubbed his goosebumped arm and thought to himself:
‘There’s got to be a limit to reading aloud like it’s from a schoolbook.’
The Long’s voice was menacing, and what it said was definitely threatening—but the tone? It was painfully stiff. Worse than an amateur actor. It sounded like a poorly-programmed voice assistant.
But it seemed Satin was the only one whose immersion had been broken by the Long’s bad acting. Rita, Edward, and even Cain all wore serious expressions.
‘Maybe because they didn’t know what a voice assistant was.’
Whether Satin was thrown off or not, the situation continued to unfold.
