In the storage area of the Immortal Pseudo-Dragon, a strange woman was crouched down.
Completely naked, without a single thread covering her.
At that moment, the crouched woman slowly raised her head.
Messy green hair sticking out wildly in every direction.
A sharp jawline and fierce, wild features.
In that instant, our eyes met.
Bright yellow pupils with vertically slit irises reminiscent of a snake’s eyes.
But only for a moment.
“……!”
The woman’s face instantly flushed with embarrassment.
Then she shot up to her feet and shouted.
“You…! Warehouse Keeper! I begged you so earnestly, yet you dared to peek after all!”
The woman’s face twisted with rage.
Inside her slightly parted lips, sharp teeth like a shark’s were densely packed.
Come to think of it, her way of speaking…
“You’re the Pseudo-Dragon?”
Indeed.
Upon closer look, patches of lizard-like scales covered parts of her chest, groin, and buttocks.
Moreover, a huge tail sprouted from her rear.
So that’s why she asked for blackout curtains?
I had roughly guessed she would shed her skin.
But I never imagined she would turn humanoid.
Anyway.
“……You were female?”
“Grrrrrr~!”
The Pseudo-Dragon growled sharply.
Even her voice had become subtly thinner.
Before, it used to sound like phlegm boiling in her throat.
Then the Pseudo-Dragon let out a scream that seemed to tear through eardrums.
“KRRRAAAAAHHH~! I’ll kill you! Warehouse Keeper!”
The Pseudo-Dragon charged at me.
Rushing forward on all fours, closing the distance ferociously.
Even though her appearance had changed to human-like, her physical abilities remained the same.
At that moment.
Ding-dong!
<Hostility toward the Warehouse Keeper has been detected!>
<Appropriate measures have been taken against ‘MRG-682’!>
From the ceiling, acidic liquid poured down like a waterfall.
KWAAAAAHHHHH—!
The greenish acid instantly engulfed the Pseudo-Dragon.
Her flesh began to melt and drip away.
“KRRRAAAAAHHH~! Warehouse Keepeeeerrrr~!”
The Pseudo-Dragon roared in agony.
Yet even then, she desperately stretched her arm toward me beyond the iron bars.
Of course.
KWAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!
The closer she got to the bars, the more violently the acid rained down.
“G-, GRAAAAHH—!”
Writhing in pain, the Pseudo-Dragon eventually pulled back quickly from the bars.
The stream of acid gradually weakened.
<Appropriate measures against ‘MRG-682’ have been lifted!>
I looked at the Pseudo-Dragon.
She lay trembling on the floor.
The flesh and muscle melted by the acid were already bubbling and regenerating.
Then Featherback’s logbook opened, and a page floated up.
Ding-dong!
<MRG-682 Ecological Report>
-The specimen cataloged as MRG-682, also known as the Immortal Pseudo-Dragon, sheds its skin approximately every 7–8 weeks.
This is part of the Dragonification process required to evolve into a true dragon; the Pseudo-Dragon must shed its skin and accumulate essence for a near-eternal span of time.
Additionally, after shedding, the Pseudo-Dragon temporarily assumes a half-human, half-dragon form.
The exact reason is unknown.
However, one thing is certain.
Pseudo-Dragons consider this half-human, half-dragon form utterly shameful.
Probably because it resembles the human form they despise.
Furthermore, if a third party witnesses them during shedding or dragonification, real harm occurs.
If their true form is seen by an outsider, they lose their original appearance and must live in half-human, half-dragon form for approximately 10,000 years.
“Ah.”
Now I understood why she was throwing such a fit.
In human terms, it was like having all your assets seized overnight and turning into a monkey.
And because of someone else’s mistake, no less.
…That would suck.
Baring her sharp fangs, the Pseudo-Dragon spoke.
“To spy on the process… I resent you. I resent you so much! My essence was nearly complete for dragonification… Only 12,497 years remained until I became a Death Dragon…!”
“?!”
That’s… still a lot left?
Come to think of it, this guy’s sense of time has always been weird.
Then the Pseudo-Dragon began shedding tears.
“To live even a hundred years in this hideous form… Even if it’s an exceedingly short time, the shame will chip away at my will to live…
What meaning is there in living like this…”
I had never seen the Pseudo-Dragon so dejected.
Since it was partly my fault to begin with, I apologized first.
“Uh… sorry.”
“Grrrrrr~!”
The Pseudo-Dragon raised her head.
Her eyes flashed as she growled.
…Like she was saying, Does sorry end military service?
Nothing I can do about it.
I raised my index finger and spoke.
“Ten thousand years.”
“?”
I continued.
“Every time I summon you from now on, I’ll reduce your sentence by ten thousand years.”
The Pseudo-Dragon frowned and closed her mouth.
She seemed to be thinking hard.
Soon, she opened her mouth and began laughing.
“Kha-ha-ha~! Ten thousand years is more than a hundred, isn’t it! Good! Warehouse Keeper! I shall specially forgive you! The time to plunge the world into ruin is near! Now only 89 eons, 3021 epochs, 8921 trillion, 9876 billion, 1185 million, 2828 years, 301 days, 19 hours, 33 minutes, and 48 seconds remain! Kha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“……Yeah. Sure. Sorry.”
“It’s fine! This one’s heart is as vast as the sea, so I shall forgive you! Kha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha—!”
She really is simple-minded.
Whether a hundred years, a thousand, or ten thousand, I could throw reductions around like a retreat instructor, and she wouldn’t care.
Humanity would go extinct long before her sentence ever ended, anyway.
Around the time my dramatic compromise(?) with the Pseudo-Dragon ended.
[Fiiiiniiiished~! Ha ha ha! A masterpiece, a true masterpiece! Ha ha ha ha ha—!]
From far inside, the booming voice of the Yama Raja Armor echoed.
Looks like the task I gave them was finally complete.
Soybean sauce and sesame oil.
The strongest sword in history had been born.
***
The storage area of the Yama Raja Armor and Tyrfing was filled with steaming heat like a sauna.
The Yama Raja Armor lay sprawled helplessly, spewing blazing flames.
Beside it, Tyrfing leaned against the wall, trembling.
[Uuu…….]
Tyrfing let out a low groan.
It seemed exhausted from continuously emitting freezing aura during the forging process.
Soon, the Yama Raja Armor pointed at the newly forged sword and spoke.
[Warehouse Keeper! I forged it exactly as you instructed! Ha ha ha!]
“Oh. Good work.”
[A truly splendid sword! That damned woman wouldn’t even dare hand over her name card before this masterpiece!]
At the Yama Raja Armor’s words, Tyrfing snapped back.
[Hah! A masterpiece indeed! Enough to shatter that dull lump in one clean blow!]
[What did you say—!? You think this Yama Raja Armor would break? You have no manners before your heavenly husband!]
[Heavenly my foot! Shall I send you up to the heavens right now?]
[Why you little—!]
The Yama Raja Armor and Tyrfing began bickering again.
Each time their voices rose, roaring flames and fierce blizzards whirled around.
Leaving the two to their squabble, I examined the newly forged sword.
It was closer to a greatsword than a one-handed sword.
And it had a very unique shape.
A single hilt with two blades extending from it—one black, one white.
A bizarre design.
Occasionally, black-and-white auras swirled and merged over the sharp edges.
Ding-dong!
-<Soy Sauce Sesame Sword> / Two-Handed Weapon / S
A greatsword infused with harmonized yin-yang energy, designed by a legendary blacksmith.
It is said to be capable of splitting even Mount Tai in a single strike, and no fragment will ever cling to whatever it cuts.
– Attack Power +6270
– Skill ‘Five Elements (五行)’ available
S-rank.
Just seeing the artifact grade made a wide grin form on my face.
There were only around fifty known S-rank artifacts in the entire world.
Weapon-type artifacts among them were even rarer.
Korea didn’t even have a single S-rank weapon holder until now.
In other words, I had just become the first person in South Korea to possess an S-rank weapon.
I lifted the Soy Sauce Sesame Sword.
“…!”
Heavy.
My body staggered under the weight of the blade.
I hadn’t expected it would be this hard just to hold properly.
No matter how good a weapon is, if you can’t wield it, it’s nothing but a pretty decoration.
In that case…
Ding-dong!
<Skill ‘Super Strength’ activated!>
“Now, how about this?”
The Super Strength skill absorbed from an ogre.
Instantly, my muscles hardened like steel, and power surged through my entire body.
At that moment.
WUUUUUM— WUUUUM—
The hilt and both blades vibrated fiercely.
As if resonating with my strength.
A line I once read in a book suddenly came to mind.
Famous swords choose their own masters.
Black mana began pouring from the dark blade, white mana from the light blade.
DAAAA— DAAAA— DAAAA—
Warm yang energy gently caressing my skin, and bone-chilling yin energy.
Two opposing auras were felt simultaneously.
The moment the two energies merged into one.
I swung the sword forward.
From top to bottom.
A plain vertical slash with no technique whatsoever.
At that instant.
KWAAAAAAA—!
A violent gust erupted along the sword’s trajectory.
Toward the Yama Raja Armor and Tyrfing, who were still arguing.
Toward the flames and blizzard swirling around them.
KWAAAAAAA~!
The raging sword wind instantly blew away both fire and ice.
At the same time.
[UWAAAAAHH—!]
[KYAAAAHH—!]
The Yama Raja Armor and Tyrfing were sent flying in opposite directions, crashing into different walls.
Whooooosh…
The fierce sword wind gradually died down.
The ground was gouged deeply, as if a giant excavator had plowed through.
On either side of the clean bisecting sword mark, scattered embers and ice shards rolled about.
I stared at the Soy Sauce Sesame Sword and muttered.
“So this is an S-rank weapon.”
Monstrous destructive power.
It sent the Yama Raja Armor and Tyrfing—artifacts comparable to A+ rank—flying like straw, with nothing more than the pressure from a simple downward slash!
“Hmm.”
I looked at the Soy Sauce Sesame Sword and thought.
It felt wasteful to end the test with just a swing in the air.
When a man draws his sword, he should at least cut a radish.
And there happened to be a place overflowing with things to cut.
I opened my inventory and took out the key to the Observation Zone.
Ding-dong!
<Opening Morgue’s Magical Warehouse, Second Layer — ‘Observation’ Zone!>
“Well then, shall we go test this item properly?”