Chapter 181

: The traces of Diablo (4)
Translation: Nadu
Edit: Lesurous
 
 
A giant body.
If it wasn’t Muyoung, it wouldn’t be possible to catch it with just a crude fishing rod.
Like the technique of riding the river on a leaf, the technique of reeling in the catch required complete control of your strength, but to Muyoung it was as easy as breathing.
‘The Guardian of the Spring of Light, Ballon d’Or.’
However, what interested Muyoung were the words that popped up.
For it to be the guardian of the Spring of Light.
Did you just catch fishes that were in sync with the person fishing at the Spring of Light?
Or it might mean that only it was the only fish that was able to handle Muyoung.
Because he wasn’t sure, he tossed his rod once again and instantly, a fish started to bite.
 
<You have caught ‘the baby of Ballon d’Or.>
 
After Ballon d’Or was caught, the next fish was its baby.
The size of the baby fish was only up to Muyoung’s shoulders.
Gulp! Gulp!
Ballon d’Or continuously moved its mouth.
When Muyoung caught its baby, its movement became more violent.
It was surprising for a fish to have a name but for it to be a guardian.
Muyoung spoke as he released its baby.

I need you to be the sacrifice.

Although it might be a guardian, it was no more than a sacrifice as it was caught for that use.
The results might be worthwhile to look forward to if the fish he had caught was this great to be used as a sacrifice for the blessing of a moon.
Graaaaaaag!
The Ballon d’Or tried to go back into the spring as it moved its body.
It was like a last-ditch effort.
But, because it was so big, even the ground shook.
‘I should make it unconscious before I take it back.’
Muyoung lightly clenched his fist and punched Ballon d’Or’s side.
Thud!?
Ballon d’Or’s side curved in quite a bit.
At the same time, Ballon d’Or’s body stretched out.
Muyoung grabbed Ballon d’Or’s tail.
Thump!
Then, he started to move as it dragged on the ground.
Gulp!
With her eyes widened, Ain raised her head.
As if she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Ballon d’Or.
This was also the same for other elves in the surrounding.

Ballon d’Or…!


Oh my gosh! For the Guardian of the Spring!

The elves thought highly of Ballon d’Or.
The reason was simple.
Few hundred years ago, before Shandalton started to live at this place, Ballon d’Or had lived at this spring. It was the oldest and most mysterious fish that no one had caught.
So, the elves even gave food to Ballon d’Or whenever they went to the spring to pray.
But now, that mystery had been solved.
The mysterious fish that no one could catch and instead ate up 20,000 people who tried to catch it was right now shown in front of everyone in broad daylight.

How, how did you catch it?

How did he catch it?
Muyoung handed his fishing rod.

You caught it with this fishing rod? That can’t be possible…

High elf Ain was still in disbelief.
Did she think Muyoung had forcibly caught Ballon d’Or?
It was better to show them than to explain it to them.
He once again tossed the fishing rod he held.
Then with a ‘thud’ sound, the rock on the other side was pierced through.

In conclusion, it was about movement and the balance of strength.
Muyoung was very confident in the movement and balance of strength.
As he needed to do those things well in order to hide his body and erase his presence.
However, Ain still couldn’t say anything.
She also knew that Muyoung didn’t use any magical powers or any other tricks.
A fishing rod made out of bamboo pierced through a huge rock and popped out on the other side. Logically, it wasn’t possible.
Muyoung slightly frowned as he pointed towards Ballon d’Or.

Offering.


We, we can’t sacrifice the guardian as an offering.


You said that you would sacrifice what I caught.


I certainly did say that but… for this to happen…

All mountains, rivers, etc. had owners.
Ballon d’Or was the owner of this Spring of Light.
Although Shandalton took his spot that didn’t really change anything.
And by looking at the nature of elves who lived around the Spring of Light, it seemed like they couldn’t kill and sacrifice Ballon d’Or, and only could thank it.
Of course, he was going to understand their respect for it but they couldn’t force the same thing to Muyoung.
As for Muyoung, Ballon d’Or was just a slightly big fish.

Its baby is already in the spring. If I can’t sacrifice Ballon d’Or, I shall sacrifice its baby.

It was the only compromise he was going to make.
If Ballon d’Or was the guardian, its baby was just a slightly big fish.
However, it still morally troubled their minds.
Elves couldn’t do one thing or another.
Grrrawwwwwl!
Then, the awakened Ballon d’Or cried loudly.

The guardian says to use it as a sacrifice.

Ain who raised one of her ears started to speak.
Muyoung spoke as he grinned.

Did you understand it?


It is mind communication.

Mind communication. It was like understanding of the opponent.
High elves had high empathy. As they tend to accept everything from their opponents, they normally died fast. That was also the reason why there were only a very few of them in number.
Normally, high elves were limited to people or animals, but Ain seemed to be able to communicate even with a fish.

You take care of the rest.

Muyoung turned his back.
Now was the time for him to retract the footsteps of Diablo.
He went around the spring once.
However, he was unable to feel anything that resembled his footsteps.
‘Although I can’t feel it, the fire dragons can?’
Until now, Ain and the elves stopped the fire dragons with their strength.
However, the fire dragons were continuously after the spring and attacked.
It meant that there were after something specific.
And it was highly likely that it was related to Diablo.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t like he could just wait for the fire dragons to appear.
A rest in a while was definitely great but to Muyoung, rest was virtually torture.

Pa!

Snow leaped around Muyoung.
After eating up a young fire dragon, she was more energetic.
The red wings that appeared caught his eyes more.

Do you know what the fire dragons are looking for?

Snow ate a fire dragon.
Perhaps she might know what the fire dragons were after.
However, it was a bit awkward to ask.
It was because he was still unsure how to deal with Snow.
Of course, he didn’t have much expectation.
After she was born again, everything was reset for Snow. Her memories and her ability to speak didn’t return to normal. There were a lot of times when she couldn’t even understand Muyoung’s words.
Humm?
Snow stopped for a moment.

Pa! Paa!

Then, she grabbed Muyoung’s hand and started to move.
‘Did she understand?’
Muyoung moved and for now acted as Snow wanted him to.
 

 
Through instinctive attractions, the Fire Dragon Muspell settled near the Spring of Light.
The attraction that led it. It wasn’t only for Muspell.
There were at least 10 fire dragons that gathered near this place.
They also arrived near the Spring of Light as they followed their instincts like Muspell.
However, Muspell tried his best to contain its instinct.
It was because he was quite older than other dragons.
He was an adult dragon that lived for thousands of years.
On top, there was a need to approach the spring more carefully.
‘For there to be such a high elf.’
The high elf in the Spring of Light was strong. It was difficult for one dragon to attack.
But, the dragons didn’t normally work together. They existed and acted on their own.
If they gathered their strength, they would have already conquered the Spring of Light.
However, they had no thoughts of doing so.
‘Not too long ago, a young fire dragon had died.’
All the fire dragons knew that one among them had been killed at the Spring of Light.
He was unsure if the elves killed it or something else but this was important information.
So, Muspell gathered all the creatures in the surrounding.
The numbers that were gathered reached a certain level.
‘It hurts my pride to fight mere elves but…’
Muspell wanted to find out what was leading him here.
To do this, he needed to know how to remove a bit of pride.
If it was a fire dragon with a brain like Muspell, they would also do the same thing.
‘If there are this many in number, we can just wipe out all the elves.’
Muspell was pleased. Either way, he did gather fighting power and he would be able to gain a result faster than other fire dragons.
Keyaaaack!
Shhiiickk!
It was at that moment.
From afar, he was able to hear cries of monsters.
Muspell spread its wings.
And ran out of his dwelling and went towards where the screaming came from.
‘That is?’

Pa! Pa!

Clap clap clap!
A girl clapped her hands.
A human was slaughtering monsters with a sword.
‘Bastard…!’
They were monsters he scraped up.
He literally gathered all the monsters in his surrounding.
The monsters that were supposed to face the elves were dying off by the hands of some unknown human.
How could Muspell not get mad?
On top, he was a fire dragon. Once he got mad, he needed to release his anger.
Blaaaze!
He let out a breath of fierce fire.
The breath of Muspell who lived thousands of years could erase even a mountain.
‘Oh dear, I was too worked up.’
The problem was due to this, he burned up all the surrounding monsters.
Almost a hundred monsters burned with only their bones left.
It was when Muspell was planning to head back after believing he had repelled the invader.

You have led me to a fire dragon, and not Diablo.

Muspell looked into the flames.
As the man stretched out his hand, he sucked in all of Muspell’s flames into his hand.
Muspell was able to see it.
The appearance of his flames flowing and absorbing into the man’s body as if it was nutrients to him.
How dare he absorb his flames!
Kyaaah!
Muspell burned up.
He let out a horrible shriek and once again breathed out.
This time, he didn’t look back.
Maximum output!
His breath really did have the powers to even blast off a mountain.

Tasty.

However, the man was fine.
He wasn’t just fine, he even made a remark about the flames as he tasted it with his tongue.
It was tasty?
Not painful or scary, but tasty?
Muspell was dumbfounded. His ego took a hit.
‘What’s with that man?’
It was the first time he experienced something like this.
There was rarely anyone who survived after they received his breath while he was living for thousands of years.
Even more, there weren’t any who absorbed his flames.
Afterwards, the man looked at Muspell and spoke.

Fire dragon hunting isn’t bad at all.

The man smacked his lips.
At the same time, the man jumped up.
No, when Muspell thought he jumped up, the man stood beside him.
Three pairs of grey wings spread as it spread light.
Thud!
Muspell’s body greatly shook.
It was painful!
His body let out a cry.
His scales were torn off and his flesh was dug out.
Although he was just hit once, he was able to feel the difference in their strength.
‘He isn’t a human!’
Even though Muspell thought the man was human, by looking at the wings that sprouted, he could never be human.
The man wasn’t anything at all.
Muspell was unable to figure out what he was.
However, the flames within Muspell shivered.
He quickly used magic to the light of tens of thousands of flames into the surrounding.
Explosions of light that exploded on impact and ripped apart bodies!
This type of flame was Muspell’s specialty. There wasn’t anyone who pierced through his explosions of fire.
But, the thing he faced fearlessly held one of the flames that were thrown and grabbed it with his hand.
And swallowed it as is.
Gulp!

This flame tastes like really fermented kimchi.

The flame didn’t explode.
The moment he swallowed it, it instantly became nutrients.
Even further, he kept making remarks about the taste of the flames.
Although Muspell didn’t know what fermented kimchi was, this was unheard of.
The unknown was fear. Muspell hasn’t felt fear in a very long time.
That was right. The man seemed to be fire itself.
Muspell felt like the man was closer to its essence than a fire dragon like himself.
Muspell spread his wings and began to run away.