I Raised a Black Dragon - Chapter 97

“Who is it?” Kyle asked unrelentingly, gripping the man with short, ragged hair by the collar. The stranger who sneaked behind him was hiding himself in the shadow of the broken glass door.

All he could see was the hem of a gray robe that had protruded from the shadow. Kyle asked calmly while he cuffed the man’s hands. “Are you the master of this man? Or…”

The stranger uttered no reply. 

“…Are you just a lump of machinery, too?” 

The gray robes moved. He appeared out of the shadows, but Kyle couldn’t recognize his face still. The stranger wore a grotesque white mask, engulfed by a hood with no significant pattern. He threw something in the air and caught it. Kyle also recognized the object. It was Largo’s eyeball. 

Noah dropped it in the hallway…

While Kyle recalled, a deep lavender scent enveloped the corridor. His face distorted the moment once he identified the smell. It was a dangerous aroma comprising hallucinogens in its magic. 

It was not long before a terrible headache occurred to Kyle. The information he had grasped at the brief moment, including the height, physique, and gait of the man he faced, became muddled in his head.

But that was only for a short time.

The strong scent of lavender was swept away by strong gusts of wind. Kyle returned to his senses, and the man in the white mask stopped walking as he approached. 

The atmosphere had changed. Kyle had only felt this sense once: when he came to Noah’s house, after she had imprinted with the dragon.

He leaned over the railing of the deck in haste, neglecting one of the most important things during a battle, which was to never show his back to the enemy. But it was meaningless at the moment.

Nightfall was beginning to fade in the horizon. Vivid apricot waves breathtakingly swayed on top of the mast, and hovering above it, with its vast wings was…

A black dragon. 

Kyle’s eyes widened in astonishment. How big is it actually if it cannot be covered with my palm, even from this distance. Did that little child become so big?

No, his mere presence was enough to eliminate all traces of magic in the ship. 

“Crazy… Park Noah, what did you-” But even before Kyle could finish his words, the dragon, which circled across the skies, began to descend rapidly. A pair of dark red eyes closed in at a terrifying pace.

Slowly, the masked man retreated and began to run towards the stern. Kyle thought no more; he yanked his revolver from the holster in a lightning motion and aimed at his back. Bang! A gunshot set off. The man’s body, which had just climbed over the railing, stumbled. 

Then, at the same moment, a giant black dragon smashed into the railing of the deck.

Claaaang!

The deafening roar and tremendous impact shook the ferry. The dragon, which halved the deck where Kyle was standing, opened its mouth wide, revealing its sharp fangs, and snatched the man in the white mask who fell into the sea.

The man with ragged hair screamed at the sight and even Kyle was dazed for a moment. 

The beast, covered in smooth, sleek black scales, hovered above the waters and flew back to the skies.

“…Muell.” Kyle uttered the dragon’s name, forcing himself out of stupor. His voice was faint, but the black beast turned to him. Deep red and violet orbs met, peering into each other.

Kyle found in the eyes of the black dragon a mixture of the child’s peculiar innocence and cruelty. The dragon flew straight back to the ship.

“Come here.” When he beckoned, the dragon gently shook its tail from side to side and slammed its head on the crumbling deck. However, as its head was larger than the height of the deck, Muell could not hold him in his arms.

Kyle asked slowly, looking at the dark red eyes that thinned vertically. “You… what about your master?”

[……]

Eyes greater than Kyle’s head blinked excitedly. There was only one thing for a little boy to be so enthusiastic about. Kyle didn’t know when it had happened, but he knew then that Noah had completely broken off the resonance between Muell and Lenia.

“…The imprint is complete.”