Cheers erupted from the human survivors inside the invisible UFO.
Some of them shed tears as they watched Van, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, regenerate and stand upright once again.
Their cheers grew even louder when Van waved at them.
Van burst into laughter as he jumped up and down with his bare feet.
His long golden hair swayed continuously while he threw punches into the air as though ready to fight again at any moment.
One of his eyebrows rose as he looked at Kalula, who was still in her dragon form, merely staring at him instead of trying to devour him.
"Come on!! Are we continuing or not?! I’m ready again... if not, then let’s just talk."
Kalula blinked several times as the sound of birds chirping echoed across the sky, which had begun turning pink.
Kalula’s voice sounded different in her dragon form.
"You... can speak our language?"
Van clicked his tongue and immediately cut Kalula off while still bouncing lightly in preparation for another fight.
"Of course! The process just finished. Now I can speak your language—"
Van cut himself off.
He stopped jumping as his eyes widened, staring at Kalula’s dragon form.
"I can speak your language!!"
Van bit his fingernail as he suddenly realized that the words coming out of his mouth felt unfamiliar.
He simply tried thinking in his native language while his mouth continued speaking the same language as Kalula.
"Potato, meat, camera, lunch, breakfast..."
Van continued testing every word that came to mind to see how much of Kalula’s language he was truly able to speak.
Meanwhile, Kalula simply let out a sigh while looking at the pink sky that had driven away the dark night.
Steam slowly began rising from Kalula’s body, covering her entire figure.
On the other side, Van continued testing different words, completely unaware that a dwarf had landed silently behind him.
He only noticed when the dwarf walked past him while laughing heartily.
"If you could speak our language, why didn’t you talk from the beginning, lad?"
Van was slightly startled as a short old man walked past him, carrying a black robe that he threw toward the spot where Kalula had been standing.
Van swallowed and looked at the dwarf before him.
It was Dorn.
"I only learned it a few seconds ago..."
Dorn laughed in disbelief after hearing Van’s answer, while Van looked toward the cloud of steam that gradually revealed Kalula’s silhouette as she transformed back into her horned human form.
Van covered his eyes with his right hand as Kalula put on the black robe Dorn had given her.
Meanwhile, the sun began rising from Van’s right side, signaling the start of a new day.
Van waited for quite a while before Kalula finally walked toward him wearing the black robe.
The two of them stared at each other in silence for a long time.
Meanwhile, Dorn simply looked back and forth between them as he stood in the middle, with neither of them saying a single word.
Kalula looked at Van’s face, now able to see it clearly after all of his wounds had disappeared.
She could even see Van’s toned muscles since he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, his bare feet still dirty.
Kalula cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Turns out you’re quite handsome..."
Van opened and closed his mouth several times. He felt confused about how to respond to a dragon who had just fired destructive energy at him moments ago.
Still, Van forced an awkward smile.
"Ah... yeah... thank you. This is the first time I’ve been called handsome by..." Van looked at Kalula’s face, with her pair of red reptilian eyes and horns growing from the top of her head. "...a horned woman—uh, I mean, a dragon."
Kalula smiled, and silence once again enveloped them as the chirping birds of the morning seemed to mock the awkward atmosphere.
Dorn sighed as he looked at the two of them, neither saying another word.
"Can we treat the others first... and continue this awkwardness later?"
Van and Kalula looked at Dorn at the same time. They quickly agreed and immediately went their separate ways.
Van looked toward Beluga, who was still playing with his water gun while sitting on top of the unconscious Cheetah, with Ryu still unconscious inside his water prison.
"Oi, whale!! It’s over!! Come here and release them!!"
Beluga clicked his tongue. He stood up and stretched while letting out a lazy groan, then walked toward Van as the water prison trapping Ryu began to collapse, causing the unconscious Ryu to fall face-first onto the ground.
The flying ships of the other races also landed on the land that had previously become the battlefield that created storms and earthquakes.
Van also brought down his invisible UFO, landing it on the opposite side of the other races’ flying ships.
The human survivors immediately surrounded him. The small children hugged both of his legs, making Van feel ticklish. They cried because they had been afraid Van would die and they would never witness the miracles he had shown again.
Van laughed loudly as he watched the various reactions he received from everyone beneath the morning sunlight.
The prince approached him and whispered,
"My lord... what happened? Have they surrendered?"
Van glanced toward the other races, who were treating their wounded, nodded several times, and whispered back.
"Of course... didn’t you see them all kneeling earlier? I mean, that bull and that elephant—"
Van’s legs were shaken by several small children, including Andis.
Arsy raised the bottle containing the soap solution used for his dolphin bubble gun.
"Uncle Van!! Give me more of this magic liquid!!"
Van chuckled and took out more than a dozen bottles of soap solution because he couldn’t resist the children constantly shaking his legs.
Meanwhile, the adults told the children not to bother Van after witnessing how the man they regarded as a god had fought in a battle beyond even their wildest imaginations.
The noisy crowd suddenly fell silent when someone tapped Van on the shoulder. Everyone raised their heads slightly to see a man who was a full head taller than Van.
Beluga whispered to Van, ignoring everyone’s stares.
"Hey... bring out the buffet."
Van’s expression changed instantly after hearing Beluga’s whisper. He looked at him with a strange expression.
"Huh? What?"
Beluga clicked his tongue while rubbing his stomach.
"Bring out the buffet... I’m hungry."
Van, still shirtless, stared blankly at Beluga. Everyone else wore the same confused expression, unable to understand what the two of them were talking about.
"Do you even know what a buffet is?"
Beluga rolled his blue eyes, unable to believe Van was looking down on him with such a question. He wrapped an arm around Van’s shoulder and whispered,
"Just bring it out... that’s the payment for summoning my human form."
Van sighed. He wanted to answer, but Arsy started shaking his leg again.
"Uncle Van... who’s this giant?"
Everyone looked at Van curiously. Van wrapped an arm around Beluga and pointed at him.
"This is the beluga whale from before! The white one with the round forehead... the one who wears jewelry and likes ice cubes..."
Arsy and several other children snorted while pointing at Beluga.
"He’s not cute anymore....
Arsy’ words made Van burst into laughter.
They chatted lightly amid laughter while Van brought out even more ingredients than before. He also created more ice clones to do the cooking.
Meanwhile, the cheerful atmosphere surrounding Van’s group never reached the camp of the other races, which remained shrouded in gloom despite being not far away.
Several elves carried the unconscious Ryu and Cheetah away, while Bong and Bartaz received treatment while still conscious.
Dorn began coordinating his entire force, which consisted of many different races.
Meanwhile, Kalula stood before Elena, who remained trapped inside the prison of ice.
Kalula transformed one of her fingers into a dragon claw, then stabbed its sharp nail into the ice prison surrounding Elena.
The sound of cracking ice echoed, followed by the prison—roughly the size of a small car—shattering apart.
Elena collapsed but was immediately caught by Kalula. Her body trembled as water dripped from it, her lips wrinkled from the cold, and her already pale skin turned even whiter.
Elena’s elf attendants immediately wrapped her body in warm towels while Elena grabbed Kalula’s clothes with trembling fingers.
Her white eyes stared at Kalula with murderous intent.
"Did you manage to chew that ugly man to pieces?"
Kalula sighed and finally explained everything that had happened after Elena had been trapped inside the ice prison.
Elena simply listened with an empty expression while her hair was dried with warm towels.
She even looked around, seeing Bartaz, Ryu, and Cheetah all receiving treatment amid the gloomy atmosphere of their army.
Elena looked at Kalula. Her lips were no longer pale or trembling.
"So... we lost?"
Kalula smiled faintly and shrugged.
"Lost at what? We were never fighting to win... we fought to see what kind of person he was, and to communicate the hard way if necessary..."
Kalula’s nose caught a delicious aroma.
"Besides, we managed to beat him to a pulp... and in the end, he was the one who learned to speak our language."
The noisy commotion nearby interrupted Kalula’s conversation with Elena. The two of them turned toward where their army had gathered, facing the human survivors.
Curious, they pushed through the crowd and discovered Bong already standing at the very front, directly in front of Van, who was holding a white plate along with a spoon and fork.
Kalula frowned. The delicious aroma of food became stronger as hundreds of ice clones lined up dozens of tables covered with white cloth stretching for an entire kilometer between their army’s camp and the human survivors.
The ice clones began placing countless steaming dishes onto the tables, making soldiers from every race swallow their saliva—including Bong, who stood at the very front of the line.
Van summoned white plates and spoons into the air to attract everyone’s attention.
He was now wearing a black kimono and a pair of sandals.
Van smiled faintly.
"These are called plates and spoons... come have breakfast first, then we’ll talk seriously afterward."
Now that Van could speak their language, he was immediately criticized by the various races.
"This crazy human... does he think we don’t use plates and eating utensils?"
"Whoa... I can’t believe this... but it smells amazing."
"Is it really okay to eat their food?"
While the soldiers of the various races were still busy discussing among themselves, Bong stepped forward first and stood in front of Van, forcing Van to tilt his head upward because he was only half of Bong’s height.
Bong pointed toward the buffet table, then pointed at himself.
Van smiled and nodded. It was the first time he had communicated with the elephant after previously doing nothing but getting punched around by him.
"Ah, yes... elephant, I mean, whoever you are." Van pointed toward the tables. "Take as much as you want."
Bong immediately walked toward the buffet tables, which looked tiny compared to his enormous body.
Van chuckled as he scratched his forehead.
"I don’t think the plates will be big enough... should I use giant cauldrons instead?"
Van sighed and looked toward the army of the other races, who were all watching Bong, who had gone first.
"What are you all waiting for? Hurry up and eat... are you really going to let that elephant finish all the food?"
The soldiers of the other races, who had been hesitant, finally followed Bong’s lead and lined up at the buffet together with the humans.
Meanwhile, Kalula stared in disbelief at what Van was doing after they had fought a battle where they had all wagered their lives.
Kalula suddenly felt someone pinch the sleeve of her battle dress.
She turned and saw Elena pointing toward the back of Van’s kimono, where a picture of an icy mountain known as Mount Fuji was embroidered.
Elena looked at Kalula with her mouth hanging open.
"Who is he?"
Kalula’s expression turned strange.
"He’s the one who froze you..."
Elena stood frozen for several moments.
Meanwhile, Kalula dragged her, along with her elf attendants, toward the buffet line, which was already packed with thousands of people.
Everyone waited patiently in line beneath the watchful morning sun, which had only just begun its duty.
The clattering sounds of eating utensils echoed through the air like a huge family reunion that had not happened for a very long time.