'Where is this…'
I looked around.
Unlike just before I lost consciousness, I was no longer in a cave ringed by dragons.
All I could see were a forest, a wide river, and an endless stretch of land.
I stared blankly at the sight, then pushed myself up.
“Grr…”
It was hard to steady my waddling body.
I’d felt tall even while sitting; when I actually made up my mind to stand, my field of view was far—too far—above the ground.
Every time I moved, trees were wrenched up and the earth shook as if from an earthquake, and the distant river heaved.
'So it really wasn’t a dream…'
I raised my hand.
It wasn’t my human hand; it was a dragon’s hand, monstrous in size and covered in black scales.
The one mercy was that I was no longer wrapped head to toe in the chains that had bound me before I blacked out.
Thanks to that, my body felt free instead of stifled like before, but my head throbbed with a dull, splitting ache.
All right, calm down and sort this out.
With a long sigh, I dropped onto my rear.
I was so huge that even sitting down, I could see the tops of the forest’s trees.
It felt like I alone had become a giant inside a world of tiny toys.
The trees and stones spread beneath my eyes were so small it was almost funny.
'For now, this is… if my guess is right, a dungeon inside a Gate.'
My role would be the boss that waits inside that Gate.
Countless Espers would come to get rid of me, and in the end I’d be killed and eaten by the protagonist.
That my reason for existing was to be eaten by the hero—wasn’t that just too much?
I grabbed my head with both hands, then yelped and dropped them when I bumped into massive horns.
'I really became a dragon…'
First, I should at least see what I look like.
No way there’s a mirror in this forest…
Hold on—if I’m a dragon, shouldn’t I be able to use magic?
I remembered reading that dragons handle Mana the way they breathe…
“Grrr.”
The moment I called magic to mind, a pain like my skull splitting surged through me.
Right after, a method for using magic slid naturally across my mind.
'Is this the dragon’s memory?'
Dazed, I stared at the magic knowledge filling my head, then, without thinking, opened my mouth.
“Grah.”
I grimaced.
I had clearly recited a spell, yet what came out of my mouth wasn’t an incantation but an animal’s cry.
Luckily, it seemed to work anyway; I felt a fingernail’s worth of Mana drain from my body, and then a gigantic mirror rose to reflect me.
“GROOOAR!”
My first spell—huge success.
I was practically giddy, then froze stiff as I took in the figure in the mirror.
“Grr?”
What is this.
That enormous dragon… is really me?
A dragon that looked a bit younger than the one in the webtoon tilted his head at the mirror.
'Okay, that’s insanely cool…'
The black-tinted scales were beautiful, each one like a piece of luxury ornamentation, and the ruby-red eyes shone mysterious and lovely.
Most striking of all were the wings on my back.
A deep, gray-black pair of wings flared behind me with extravagant presence.
'I thought he was cool in the webtoon, but seeing it in person is on another level, huh?'
Dragons really are busted. The looks and the abilities, everything’s absurd.
And this perfect dragon is supposed to die at the protagonist’s hands…
'…Am I crazy?'
I clenched my teeth.
I’d finally escaped that loathsome mayfly life and become the strongest creature alive—a dragon—and I had zero intention of becoming the hero’s convenient opportunity like in the webtoon.
Sure, in my heart I was a fan who cheered for the protagonist. But not to the point of handing over my heart.
But if I defied the webtoon’s path, that world would be destroyed.
The protagonist needed the dragon’s power to save the world.
'…Dying isn’t the only way.'
I turned my thinking in another direction.
Instead of me, the strongest, becoming his elixir, why not become his ally?
As the hero’s companion I could guard him while he grows, and on the side get a look at human society in this dimension, and save the world, and have fun doing it—what’s not to like?
No need to overcomplicate this.
I wasn’t a crazed, corrupted dragon like in the webtoon!
The webtoon hadn’t finished yet, so I didn’t know the latter parts, but I remembered it had an original novel.
I’d skimmed that novel, so I had a rough idea of how things would go. I was confident.
I’d survived vicious odds as a killer.
Now that I’d become a dragon, the strongest being, there was no way I couldn’t survive.
'…First, become human.'
I couldn’t spend forever in dragon form.
All the dragons I’d seen in the cave had human forms. That meant I should be able to transform too.
As expected, the moment I resolved to become human, a spell to take human form surfaced in my head.
“Gra-graaah.”
I chanted the Polymorph spell.
Of course, what came out sounded like a creature having its throat cut, but I was used to it now and didn’t care.
Just like when I made the mirror, I felt Mana draining from my body.
Bathed in blinding light, I squeezed my eyes shut on instinct.
How much time passed?
I figured I must be human now, and slowly opened my eyes.
'Huh…'
For some reason, my body was the same. I was still looking down over the forest.
I looked at my hands. Still covered in black scales—definitely still a dragon.
'…Weird. Why didn’t it change?'
Did I mess up somewhere?
I rummaged through the knowledge in my head, but couldn’t figure out the problem.
I was pretty sure I did it right… Fine, try again.
I repeated Polymorph several times.
“Gra-graaah.”
“Gra-GRAAAH!”
“GRAAAAH-graaaAAAANG!”
'…Damn it!'
All the color drained from my face.
What the hell—why can’t I turn into a human?
This wrecks my entire plan.
I can’t speak human language, I can’t become human—who would accept a terrifying dragon like me as a companion?
Anyone who saw me would either attack on sight or run.
At this rate, I really might end up as the protagonist’s tasty supplement, just like in the webtoon. The thought made me scream.
“GRROOOOAAAAAAAR!”
At my scream the forest heaved, and animals that had been hiding, along with bizarre life-forms I assumed were dungeon monsters, burst out and bolted in panic—but this wasn’t the time to worry about them.
I had to find a way.
A way to survive…!
My eyes began to glow red, burning with the resolve that I would live.
***
What a pain.
I don’t want to do anything.
Kim Wooju stared vacantly at the people in front of him.
“Hey, shield. Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for you to be alone?”
“An S-rank strutting around all high and mighty… You think you’re something? Guys like you are nothing but gum. Gum!”
“Hey, hey! Answer us casual like last time. Huh? You’re a junior by a mile!”
Childish.
This wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with idiots like this.
Usually if he ignored them, they either wandered off or flew into a temper and rushed him. This time they were especially talkative.
It’s not like he wanted to be an S-rank Esper, so why wouldn’t they shut up?
He already felt like his head would explode from not being able to find a Guide with a matching rate, and now they just kept needling him right beside his ear, poking his nerves, making him want to kill them all.
“Look at that face—like he’s gonna kill us, huh?”
One of the Espers who’d been picking a fight flicked Wooju’s face with his fingers.
Wooju stared blankly at that hand.
'He hit me?'
“…Then I can hit you too, right?”
“What?”
Wooju grabbed the hand that had been tapping his face and bent it straight back.