How to Survive as a terminally-ill Dragon

Chapter 16. A Bewildered Dragonling (3)

Lois barely managed to suppress the urge to cry, exhaling a faint sigh as he shook his head.

“Haah… You two, a true leader of an adventure has to be smart. Do you think you’re smarter than me?”

At Lois’s words, Khan and Kani’s cheeks puffed up to twice their size.

“But Lois is shorter than us!”

“…”

“Right. And you’re younger!”

“…”

Lois’s eyelids twitched at the twins’ assault. With superhuman patience, he managed to continue speaking through clenched lips.

“I, I will grow taller too. And as for age…”

Lois offered a lame excuse.

“…It’s common for those born late in the year to be friends with those born a year earlier. And there’s only a month’s difference between you and me!”

Lois was born in January, while the twins had been born the previous December, one month earlier. After some bickering, Lois was established as the leader of the group, Finn as his assistant, and the twins were deemed the burdens.

Lois’s first directive as party leader was straightforward.

“Search thoroughly!”

Though they had subspace storage, it mostly contained food and books, not items that could serve as seed money. The valuable items they did have were of such exorbitant worth to humans that selling them would certainly draw suspicion, especially since Lois appeared to be only seven and the twins looked about ten.

Hence, Lois aimed to find something that could easily be converted to money.

‘Given it’s a place tied to dragons, there’s bound to be something valuable here.’

With that thought, Lois began to comb through the cave in search of valuables. However,

“Damn! It’s completely empty.”

There was nothing to be found. The only thing of any value was the bastard sword that had been stuck in the stone platform, but it looked too expensive to sell.

Accepting defeat, Lois was about to store the bastard sword into his subspace when Khan whined.

“Lois, give me that sword!”

“I’ll keep it safe for you until you’re bigger.”

Lois pacified Khan with a response akin to a parent taking their child’s New Year’s money, and then called out.

“Let’s depart.”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Departure!”

Excited by the captain’s command, the twins responded with enthusiasm, and Finn naturally found her place by Lois’s side. Thus began the ‘Runaway Hatchling’s Safe Return: A 10-Year Project’ in the blizzard-swept foothills of the Winter Continent.

* * *

When Lois’s party emerged outside, the snowstorm that had been raging had already ceased, replaced by a clear sky.

“Huh?”

Exiting the cave and descending the mountain, Lois’s gaze turned skyward, only to let out a deep sigh.

“Right… I had a feeling it was too quiet.”

Clouds, dark as ink, started to gather against the sunny sky. Their presence was an omen of the nonsensical death flags that seemed to trigger without rhyme or reason.

Despite the large, ominous clouds, Lois remained unfazed, merely checking the lightning-imbued bracelet on his wrist.

“I haven’t been able to gather storm attribute energy lately because it’s been too calm. This is perfect timing.”

Lois spread his arms wide, ready to be struck by lightning. The twins, born with the storm attribute, benefited from lightning and had often watched Lois with envy during such times. They now scurried toward him, eager to join.

“Are you going to get struck by lightning again, Lois?”

“Me too, me too!”

To the twins, a lightning strike was an exciting and helpful phenomenon. Lois gave up trying to detach the clingy twins and turned his gaze back to the sky. The gathering clouds were alarmingly dense.

“Oh? This one seems pretty big.”

The larger the lightning strike, the better, especially since he had to share it with the twins. Lois and the twins awaited the lightning with a mix of anticipation and excitement.

Boom!

The world flashed brightly with a massive rumble, and a thick bolt of lightning struck down.

But…

“Huh?”

“What?”

“What’s going on?”

The bolt had not hit where Lois and the others were. Lois’s head tilted in confusion.

“What’s this? A misfire?”

Both Lois and the twins wore baffled expressions, having never experienced such a thing before.

‘I’ve never seen lightning miss its target.’

After contemplating the misplaced lightning strike and concluding such oddities do happen, a low rumbling reached Lois’s ears.

Rumble, rumble…

Upon hearing the sound, chills ran down Lois’s spine. A familiar noise sparked a dreadful assumption.

‘Please, not that…’

Despite his hope, Lois’s fears materialized before his eyes.

Whoosh!

A violent white avalanche surged into view.

‘Was this the goal all along?’

The lightning hadn’t been a misfire; it had been a trigger for the avalanche.

As the fast-approaching wall of snow bore down on them, Lois acted quickly.

“Transform now!”

“Gah?! Lois!”

“Wow, look at all the snow!”

“The snow’s huge!”

While Lois quickly assessed the situation, the twins remained oblivious, clapping their hands in excitement at the oncoming avalanche. Lois’s exasperation was palpable.

“You idiots!”

Lois tried to shout them down, but the avalanche was already upon them.

“Damn!”

It fell to Lois to protect everyone. His Dragon Heart surged with energy.

Whoosh.

As the avalanche threatened to engulf them, Lois calmly executed his magic.

“Sever!”

At his command, a cubic barrier enveloped Lois and his party. The avalanche crashed into their shield.

“Aaah!”

“Waaah!”

“Whoa!”

Inside the tumbling protective cube, cries of distress, fear, and even fun echoed chaotically.

* * *

Swish.

Once the avalanche subsided, four small heads popped out of the expansive snowfield.

“Ugh!”

“Are you okay, Lois?”

Lois, shaking off the snow from his head, and…

“Hahaha!”

“Lois, that was fun! Let’s do it again!”

The twins, who mistook the terrifying avalanche for a fun sled ride, were unharmed thanks to Lois’s quick actions.

“Again, Lois, again!”

“Let’s do it again!”

Irritated beyond endurance by the twins’ frivolous demands, Lois lashed out.

Thump.

“Ow!”

“Lois hit me!”

With each twin clutching their forehead, Lois finally allowed himself a breath of relief.

“…Get a grip, you two.”

Finn also wore a look of satisfaction at Lois’s reprimand. Once calm, Lois surveyed their surroundings.

“…Where are we?”

On the Winter Continent, where it snowed all year round, the volume of snow displaced by the avalanche was staggering. They had been carried so far by the immense wave of snow that it was impossible to guess their location. The ubiquitous snow made it challenging to discern one place from another.

“Phew… Deep in the mountains.”

The sighs escaping Lois grew heavier by the day. Unaware of Lois’s internal turmoil, the twins had already forgotten their sore foreheads and were swimming through the snow.

Watching this, Lois let go of all his concerns.

“Fine… Do as you please.”

Unfailing cheerfulness, no matter when or where.

Could that be both the twins’ greatest strength and their weakness?

As Lois observed the twins playing, he shook his head in resignation. That’s when it happened.

“Wah?!”

“Khan?”

Swimming through the snow, Khan’s head suddenly sank below the surface. Sensing something amiss, his sister Kani paddled over to where he disappeared.

And then…

“Gah?!”

Kani’s head too dipped beneath the snow. Watching the scene, Lois let out an incredulous mutter.

“What kind of game are they playing now?”

As Lois made his way over to scold the twins, he approached where Khan and Kani had vanished.

“Stop messing around and come out… Whoa!”

He suddenly sank down. The bizarre sensation of his legs floating caused him to grab Finn in panic.

“Uh, ugh?! Lois?!”

But petite Finn couldn’t possibly hold up Lois’s weight.

“Aaaaah!”

“Yeeek!”

Together, Lois and Finn plummeted down through the snow.

* * *

Swoosh.

The sound of rough wind rushed past Lois’s ears as he slid down an icy chute at breakneck speed.

“What in the…?!”

Though Lois shouted in shock, he couldn’t stop his rapid descent. How long had he been sliding down?

“Huh? Aaaaah!”

What appeared to be the end of the slide was a daunting cliff. By the time he realized this, he was already airborne.

‘Got to transform!’

Lois attempted to transform in a hurry. That’s when…

Click.

Someone grabbed Lois’s feet, halting his fall.

“Lois is here too!”

“Hi, Lois!”

The ones who caught him were none other than the twins, Khan and Kani, who had fallen first. They had transformed into their silver dragon forms and each held onto one of Lois’s feet.

Suspended upside down in mid-air, they slowly descended to the ground.

“Oh no, my poor heart…”

“That was fun!”

While Lois clutched at his pounding heart, the twins looked at each other and grinned.

Lois looked at the twins with a nauseated gaze.

“Finn… I think I’m starting to respect them…”

“Quite remarkable beings indeed…”

A shared look of commiseration passed between Lois and Finn. Once he had composed himself, Lois stood and looked around.

“…And where are we now?”

It was one misadventure after another, having been swept away to an unknown place by the avalanche.

“Damn death flags!”

Lois cursed the event that had thrown them into this unforeseeable circumstance. But it was only a brief respite; he had to mobilize. The sooner they escaped this place of mystery, the better.

With that thought, Lois started moving again, with the twins bustling behind him.

“Hmm…”

As he walked, Lois scanned his surroundings. The ceiling had a hole in it, and the walls shone like glass. Though transparent, Lois recognized it as ice.

‘This doesn’t look naturally formed?’

The hole in the ceiling was a mystery, but the space they were in was not something that could naturally occur.

‘Is this a passage?’

It seemed like a corridor, with walls and a neatly arranged floor. Lois tilted his head, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

“What’s this… Where have I seen this before?”

Lois tried to recall his past memories, but to no avail.

Creak creak.

Scratch scratch.

Something that appeared in front of him interrupted his reminiscing.