Hunters Keep Coming To My House - Chapter 169

Chapter 169

The atmosphere, which had been chillingly still, suddenly became tense. It was because the dragon, who had been watching me closely anyway, lowered its head to the ground just before it touched the ground.

Allen, the culprit behind all this, was standing stiffly with a wry smile, but he couldn’t ask for forgiveness with a pitiful expression even if he had any sense. From the beginning, he was shamelessly the mastermind behind deceiving me.

Eventually, the anger that had cooled down surged back. I wanted to grab Allen’s collar right away and shake him until his head fell off… but I knew my strength well.

The dragon’s skin was impenetrable by any means. Not to mention its weight, which didn’t need explaining.

Even though my reason was engulfed by anger, I didn’t recklessly charge because I knew Allen could read my mind. I wished Jung Tae-il was here to ask him for help, but unfortunately, he wasn’t.

If there are no teeth, you should use your gums. If you lack strength, expressing anger verbally is the best to do.

I glared fiercely at Allen with mana.

“Are you laughing now?”

“…Haha.”

“Allen.”

“There’s a reason for everything.”

“…Cut the crap.”

Allen still looked at me with a fantastic smile. Come to think of it, he had scratched me inside out with that expression the first time I met him.

Is that guy… doing this on purpose? What is he hiding this time to pull off such a stunt?

“Hey, Allen, tell me properly before I kick you all out. What are you up to?”

“It’s nothing now, Yeon-oh.”

“How can I believe you?”

“I’ve committed many sins, haven’t I?”

“…And yet you’re still doing this knowing that?”

Giving me an incredulous look, Allen awkwardly smiled and turned his head away from my gaze. Considering what he did to me, it was a natural reaction.

There was silence for a while.

I was so dumbfounded that I lost my words, and Allen, without making excuses, just looked elsewhere.

It wasn’t like a battle of who would speak first, but even as time passed, no one spoke up.

Eventually.

“…This is childish, what are we doing?”

Evan, who had been watching, began to mediate.

With a look of boredom as if he had seen children fighting, he slowly began to sort things out.

“Allen, why did you act without the owner’s permission? And Yeon-oh, it might be something you can’t understand, but Allen must have had his reasons. Let’s not hold grudges now, shall we?”

Evan was the dragon with the gentlest personality. Although it was unclear whether his past as a lover of the Black Dragon would continue into the present, it was clear that he was the most communicative among us.

“You may have your own circumstances, but what’s urgent now is not the fragments, isn’t it? Isn’t it more urgent to stop Inu right away?”

“.…..”

“…She has obtained all the keys. Now, the final apocalypse will unfold.”

“…Ah, yes, it seems so.”

Allen understood, but I didn’t.

“…The final apocalypse?”

I furrowed my brow at the chilling name itself. Although I heard it for the first time, it was easy to anticipate what would happen after the “end” was unleashed. It would be the end itself as everything disappeared.

The anger that had risen to the tip of my head suddenly vanished, and I turned sharply to Evan.

“What is the final apocalypse? Please explain properly.”

“…Don’t you already have a guess?”

“A guess and a definite answer are different.”

Evan glanced at Allen for a moment before slowly opening his mouth with his characteristic calm voice.

“It’s something with the power to destroy everything. It’s something we created back when we were system administrators.”

“…You created it?”

“We didn’t start this with vague hopes.”

“So, does that mean you equipped a self-destruct device?”

Evan answered by turning his head. The sight of him tightly gripping one arm with his hand looked pitiful.

While watching him, Allen sighed and put his hand on Evan’s shoulder.

“Yeon-oh, that’s enough now.”

“What did I do?”

“Your questions are bothering Evan.”

No, is that what you understand?

I was about to blurt out how irrelevant that was when I closed my mouth as I saw Evan’s pale face.

There was a significant connection between the final apocalypse and Evan.

That means…

‘It seems to be heavily related to the Black Dragon.’

So Evan is begging like a sinner because of that.

I alternated my gaze between Evan and Allen and let out a deep sigh.

“Let’s leave it at this for today. Every piece of information is precious now, so let me be the one to look into it…”

As I was about to continue speaking…

Woosh!

In the place decorated by dragons, the large crystal at the center vibrated strongly. It was dyed black and showed nothing, but soon a bright light emerged from the crystal and began to show a scene.

Crack! The scene where gold was already fading into the sky.

At the same time, black things flowed out of the crevice and gradually gathered into the form of a figure.

It happened in just a few minutes while we were looking at the crystal.

“What in the world…”

In a small mutter, Evan trembled. He twisted his expression and muttered.

“Isn’t this too fast, Inu?”

Even so, isn’t this too fast? 

Evan kept muttering the same thing. For a moment, he wobbled, then collapsed.

Allen, who was beside him, managed to catch Evan safely, preventing him from hitting his head on the ground.

With sudden events happening one after another, my mind couldn’t keep up with them. My eyes shook rapidly with confusion.

“Allen.”

“…Since then, Evan’s condition hasn’t been good. It’s probably because he’s been in an unsuitable place for a long time… but anyway, this time it seems to be a mental illness.”

“A mental illness?”

“Guilt that he couldn’t stop Inu. Evan was willing to give her what she wanted, even if it meant giving her his flesh.”

Allen chuckled bitterly and lifted Evan into the air with mana. Wrapped in golden mana, Evan whimpered as if having a nightmare.

“…Looks like things will go your way today.”

“What do you mean?”

“The final apocalypse. You seemed curious about it, didn’t you?”

“Is it appropriate to discuss it now when someone is unconscious from hearing it?”

“The situation isn’t favorable either. She’s accelerating faster than expected.”

Allen gently laid Evan down and turned to me. Then he snapped his fingers.

A large golden space surrounded us, reminiscent of a skill I had used in my house before. The only difference was the large crystal in the center before us.

“The final apocalypse is indeed a self-destruct device, just as you guessed. It was created when we, who live for eternity, became entangled in desires without a clear purpose. It was Inu’s suggestion.”

“…”

“During that process, Inu and Evan’s power was used more than half. Because of that, Inu couldn’t leave her space, and Evan could barely maintain his form.”

“Why sacrifice so much to create it?”

“…That’s something you need to figure out. Everything is contained within the fragments.”

As I stared at him with a look that said, ‘What story are you selling with those fragments?’, Allen chuckled lightly.

“Even if you don’t glare at me with your axe-like eyes, you’ll soon encounter the fragments.”

“So, you’ve hidden it in something like the final apocalypse?”

“….”

“Seriously?”

It was meant as a joke, but it seemed to hit Allen hard.

“Hey, are you trying to kill me with stress right now?”

“…No.”

“Then why hide it there?”

“…There’s a reason for everything.”

“Damn reasons. I’m just a human living a short life, so I don’t understand big intentions like that. I prefer things that are clear and fast.”

I couldn’t understand why things had to be so convoluted. This wasn’t even a country where administrative processes took a week. Oh, but maybe dragons don’t have the concept of administrative processes…?

As my expression gradually soured, the situation inside the crystal was changing rapidly.

The black mass was growing, transforming into something like a gate.

It was darker than the darkness I had seen in the Black Dragon’s space, a gate emitting an overwhelming power even through the crystal.

Allen remarked as he watched it.

“At this rate, it’ll open tomorrow at the earliest, within a week if it’s slow.”