A line of blood-red text popped up in Lynn’s field of vision.
‘I… glow?’
Lynn practically wanted to curse.
He finally understood why Ignis ignored those three killing machines and charged straight at him.
In the eyes of a Dragon with a Hoarding Habit, he wasn’t a person at all—he was a treasure brighter and rarer than all the gold and diamonds on the floor!
“Let him go!”
Alicia’s voice suppressed a heaven-shaking fury.
Ignis lowered her head, looking at the three people below the mountain.
She tilted her head, her eyes full of confusion.
“Why?” she asked matter-of-factly.
“This shiny thing is mine. I found it.”
Her logic was so simple it was impossible to refute.
“He’s mine!” Lilith stomped her feet, her whole body trembling with rage.
“No.”
Ignis shook her head.
She tightened her arms around Lynn and announced with a serious expression, “Now, he is mine. I’m going to put him on my topmost collection shelf and wipe him clean every day.”
As she spoke, she actually stuck out her tongue, seemingly wanting to lick Lynn’s face to see if she could lick it clean.
Lynn shuddered in fear, desperately leaning his head back.
This scene completely ignited the final powder keg.
“I’m going to… tear you apart.”
Vivian squeezed the words through her teeth, one by one.
She didn’t waste any more words.
Stabbing her greatsword into the ground, she formed a complex seal with both hands.
Crimson patterns began to surface on her heavy armor.
It was a forbidden technique of the Knight Corps, the Berserk Blood State, which granted immense power for a short time at the cost of burning one’s life force.
Alicia also raised her scepter.
She closed her eyes and began chanting a long incantation.
In the air behind her, a giant Six-Winged Seraph Phantom made of light slowly began to emerge.
Lilith took out a small cloth doll that bore a slight resemblance to Ignis.
She drew a dagger and stabbed it into the doll’s heart without hesitation.
“Brother, don’t be afraid. I’ll take you back right away,” she said, smiling sweetly at the air.
At the top of the mountain of gold coins, Ignis watched the aura erupting from the three people below—several times more terrifying than before—and finally frowned.
She sensed trouble.
“You’re all so annoying,” she complained. “Is all this really necessary for a toy?”
She looked down at Lynn in her arms.
“You, as a collectible, seem to attract a lot of flies.”
Lynn wanted to cry but had no tears.
He felt like he wasn’t some treasure, but a piece of Tang Monk Flesh.
Ignis, holding Lynn, stood up from the mountain of gold coins.
Behind her, a pair of massive dragon wings suddenly unfurled.
“Forget it. I’ll store you somewhere else.”
Her legs bent slightly, and then she lunged upward.
Her massive body, carrying Lynn, shot into the sky like a cannonball, crashing directly into the ceiling of the cavern.
Boom!
The hard rock walls shattered like tofu under her impact.
A huge hole appeared in the ceiling, allowing sunlight to stream in from outside.
Ignis flapped her wings and flew out through the hole with Lynn.
“Don’t run!”
Vivian roared.
She also soared into the sky, giving chase.
Alicia and Lilith followed in their own ways.
Lynn was tucked under Ignis’s arm, the wind howling in his ears.
He looked at the three madwomen chasing from below and the receding Dragon’s Den, his mind going blank.
‘What kind of mess is this!’
He only wanted to make up a lie to stall for time.
As it turned out, the lie came true.
Not only was there actually a Dragon, but this Dragon had snatched him away as a treasure.
Meanwhile, those three yanderes, who were originally hostile toward each other, had actually formed a rare united front to get him back.
“Hey, I say…”
Braving the fierce wind, Lynn struggled to shout at Ignis, “Can you put me down first so we can talk?”
Ignis glanced down at him.
“Collectibles don’t talk.”
Her answer left Lynn in complete despair.
He watched the three figures below grow smaller and smaller.
He didn’t feel a hint of joy from escaping; there was only endless fear.
‘Being kept as a figurine by a Dragon vs. being locked in a dark room by three yanderes. Which ending would be worse?’
Lynn didn’t know.
He only knew that his life was accelerating toward a broken direction he couldn’t possibly predict.
***
Lynn felt his body fall heavily onto something soft.
It wasn’t the ground or a rock, but a sensation that was both metallically cold and somewhat elastic.
His ears rang, and the sound of the howling wind receded, replaced by the clink-clink of what sounded like countless coins colliding.
He opened his eyes.
A magnified, curious face occupied his entire vision.
It was Ignis.
The red-haired Dragon Girl was looking down at him, her molten gold pupils calm yet seemingly containing the whole world.
There was still a bit of gold dust on her hands, which she had picked up while carrying him through the cavern ceiling.
Lynn found himself lying atop a mountain of gold coins.
Gold coins, gems, and various shiny things he couldn’t name were piled high, looking like all the wealth in the world.
These cold metals and hard gems felt oddly soft as they cradled him.
[System Notification: The special fluctuations emitted by your ‘Transmigrator Core’ have created a fatal attraction for the ‘Dragon Race’s’ ‘Hoarding Habit’ trait. In the eyes of the target ‘Ignis,’ you appear as a ‘unique, glowing supreme treasure.’]
That line of blood-red text popped up again, flickering on his retina.
‘I glow. I’ve become a treasure.’
“You…”
Ignis spoke again, her voice close and warm.
She reached out very slowly, as if she were handling a fragile work of art.
Her fingertips touched Lynn’s cheek.
It was cold.
Lynn’s body tensed up.
She gently pressed his cheek, her finger rubbing against it.
“Soft,” she said, her voice filled with a touch of novelty.
Lynn felt his heart skip a few beats.
‘I’m lying in a Dragon’s hoard, getting my face poked like she’s appraising a gemstone. What is even happening?’
Ignis didn’t stop.
Her gaze slid from Lynn’s forehead to his eyes, then to the tip of his nose, and finally rested on his lips.
She lowered her head even further.
Lynn felt a wave of heat wash over him, carrying the distinct scent of sulfur unique to Dragons.
He wanted to pull back, but his body was stuck among the coins, and he couldn’t move.
“Mmm…”
Ignis let out a soft sound.
Then, a moist sensation brushed across his cheek.
It was her tongue.
It had a strange roughness to it but was also warm as it swept across his face and stopped at his earlobe.
Every hair on Lynn’s body stood on end.