How to Survive as a terminally-ill Dragon

Chapter 17. The Tomb of the Heroic King (1)

“What’s that…?”

Lois’s lips parted ever so slightly as he caught sight of the newly emerged entities. Armor and weapons blanketed in white frost. Skin pallid as if struck by petrification. White frost covering their hair. The 30 figures that had appeared were shooting out red light from their eyes, vein by vein.

“Human?”

“No, humans aren’t that pale and don’t have red lights in their eyes!”

While Khan and Kani speculated about the nature of these mysterious beings, shock took hold of Lois. Though he had never seen such beings before, he knew exactly what they were.

‘Ice Generals!’

Warriors who had given their lives for their king with canine loyalty. They were the ones still being exploited after their death, safeguarding the eternal rest of their king.

The sudden appearance of the Ice Generals threw Lois’s mind into a whirl.

‘Why are they here? No, that’s not the question… If they have appeared, does that mean this place is…?!’

Lois’s pupils dilated slightly. He knew there was only one place where the Ice Generals would appear.

‘The Tomb of the Heroic King?!’

Before the world of the original story began in earnest, there was the legendary Heroic King who was said to have saved worlds. The great king laid to rest in a tomb of ice.

‘The Tomb of the Heroic King is here?!’

In the original story, the Tomb of the Heroic King did appear. However, the author did not explain its location in detail, as it was just a passing moment in the story meant to provide a fateful encounter for the protagonist’s party.

A fateful encounter for the protagonist.

A thought sparked in Lois’s eyes as he realized this.

‘That’s right! It was here, wasn’t it?!’

Stars seemed to fall into his eyes, twinkling with calculation. A smile spread across his face. That was when the Ice Generals, sensing intrusion, charged towards Lois and his party.

“Khan, Kani!”

“Wow, scary guys are attacking!”

“It’s a fight!”

The twins shouted excitedly, drawing their weapons, as they had been bored just moments before. Lois didn’t fall behind either, activating his Dragon Heart.

‘Let’s deal with these things first, then I’ll think about what to do with the tomb.’

Lois decided to handle the Ice Generals before contemplating his next move with the tomb. The twins were the first ones to move.

“Haat!”

“Hruut!”

The twins charged forward, yelling out their battle cries with no hint of tension. Their small bodies and cute shouts belied the brutal results of their actions.

Crunch- Boom!

Crunch- Boom!

The twins’ weapons sliced through the Ice Generals, and the lightning contained within their weapons exploded through the Generals’ flesh. The twins, equal to tier-2 warriors, weaved through the Ice Generals effortlessly as Lois was by no means inactive amidst the chaos.

‘In a situation like this…’

Choosing the right spell for the situation, Lois’s eyes flashed. Time, one of the four attributes he possessed, roared within him. He stretched out his hand, giving a command.

“Slow down!”

Time’s attribute power, heeding Lois’s command, manifested in the world. The same miracle that had once been triggered towards the twins now applied to the weapons of the Ice Generals. The Generals and their armaments, living in lockstep with the real flow of time, were now separated into a completely different timeline.

-What?!

-Argh!

The Ice Generals screamed in horror as their swords ceased to move. How could their weapons, slowed to a hundredth of their normal pace, serve them now? With their weaponry useless, the twins were ecstatic.

“They explode!”

“Pop, pop, they pop!”

The twins cut down Ice Generals right and left, who, deprived of their weapons, crumbled helplessly. It didn’t take long to dispatch 30 Ice Generals.

“This is boring…”

“Not fun at all.”

The twins, whose initial battle ended too quickly for their tastes, wore sullen expressions. Lois, on the other hand, had no time to tend to the twins’ sentiments. He quickly resumed his delayed contemplations.

‘Let’s think this through calmly. If this place is indeed the Tomb of the Heroic King…?’

Lois revisited the contents of the original story from his previous life. The dragon intellect helped retrieve past memories with ease.

‘The tomb’s a sort of dungeon.’

Traps to deter intruders disturbing the king’s eternal rest, guardians such as the Ice Generals, and multiple paths leading to the heart of the mausoleum. A sweet reward awaited those who overcame all adversities, common in many such tales.

Besides, early in the plot, the Heroic King’s Tomb was a place designed to elevate the inadequately powered protagonists.

‘Basically a rewarding dungeon for beginners!’

Although many adventurers had found the Heroic King’s Tomb, the primary treasures had been reserved for the protagonist’s group as the story unfolded.

Rubbing his chin, Lois meticulously recollected this.

‘I don’t know exactly the time difference between the original and now, but it’s clear this place has yet to be revealed to the world!’

The quietly dormant tomb confirmed his belief.

‘Which means… I can monopolize the rewards here all to myself!’

Exhilaration filled Lois’s eyes. The Tomb of the Heroic King, hidden treasures all his for the taking without competition.

How could he possibly pass up such an opportunity?

Lois hurriedly turned to the twins.

“Twins!”

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

The twins, still looking somewhat disappointed, turned to him. Lois gave them a sly smile.

“Want to try something even more fun?”

His offer was an unmistakable bait, and the twins, restless from boredom, snapped it up without hesitation. They eagerly nodded in agreement.

“Yeah!”

“Let’s do it!”

Seeing the twins’ uncontrollable excitement brought Lois a different kind of joy than theirs.

* * *

The first thing Lois did, leading the twins, was to find the entrance leading to the core of the royal tomb.

‘I only remember the paths the protagonists of the original work took. Following their route should ensure our safe arrival at the tomb’s heart.’

They encountered several Ice Generals while looking for the entrance, but they were just as easily taken care of as before.

Then a thought occurred to Lois.

‘Hmm… With this much power, maybe we could just force our way through?’

A tier-1 four-attribute mage and two tier-2 storm attribute warriors, along with an assistant porter.

The current power of Lois’s party surpassed that of the protagonist’s group at the start of the original work.

Nevertheless, Lois shook his head.

‘No, there’s no need to take unnecessary risks when you can’t predict what might happen.’

Used to crossing even stone bridges cautiously due to frequent death flags, Lois adhered to the safest path.

Soon after.

“Here!”

Lois’s eyes glittered with excitement. He took in the sight before him.

Fifteen pathways with fifteen animal statues guarding their entrances. Lois stood in front of a horned bird of prey statue without a moment’s hesitance.

‘It’s certain. This is it!’

Each of the fifteen animal statues was unique, and only one depicted a horned bird of prey. And the path that lay behind it was precisely the one taken by the protagonists of the original story.

As Lois smirked to himself, the usually quiet Finn cautiously asked.

“Lois, where exactly are we?”

“King Valor’s Tomb.”

“The Heroic King? You don’t mean King Valor of Valencia?”

Startled, Finn cried out, but Lois paid no heed, thinking inwardly,

‘There’s going to be a lot more surprises down the line, no use getting shocked now!’

With these thoughts, Lois turned his gaze to the twins.

“Ready, twins?”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Give us the word, sir!”

The twins saluted playfully, completely enraptured by their adventure.

Lois played along.

“Alright, troops, charge!”

“Charge!”

If encouragement was needed for the trials the twins would face, Lois was more than willing to provide it.

‘I’m counting on you, twins! If this all goes well…’

He’d forgive all the hassle they’d caused!

Muttering to himself, Lois followed closely behind the twins.

* * *

As soon as they entered the passage, Lois and the twins sprang into action.

“Khan! Arrows spewing from the right, get ready!”

“On it!”

“Kani, blades darting from the left, watch out!”

“Got it!”

“There’ll be rolling stones ahead, kids!”

“Smash!”

“Me too, smash!”

With Lois’s command and the twins complying, the centuries-old defense mechanisms of the Heroic King’s Tomb were being dismantled.

“Hah…”

Finn watched from a distance, chuckling awkwardly.

‘To think, even though they’re young, a dragon is still a dragon…’

Their average physical age might have been just over eight years, but the traps and Ice Generals, destroyed effortlessly by the children’s tiny hands, were a blaring contradiction.

Meanwhile, Lois, leading the twins, silently rejoiced in his strategy.

‘This was indeed the right answer!’

Following exactly the path the protagonist group had traversed in the original work’s traps set within the dragon’s memory, and any new traps were easily handled by Lois’s powers.

Together with his spatial awareness and magic, the group’s advance went unhampered.

Then, a short while later, the group’s speed slowed as they entered a section free of traps.

“Stop!”

“All done!”

“That was fun!”

The 1 km-long trap-filled corridor took them mere 15 minutes to traverse, and not one of them was even slightly out of breath.

As the twins clapped their hands in delight, Lois dashed forward.

‘We’re almost there!’

This trap-free area was merely a breathing space before the real final zone beyond.

Now, with the trap-less corridor behind them, Lois and the twins came to a halt.

A spectacle unfolded before them, causing the twins to gasp.

“Lois, Lois, there’s something up ahead!”

“There are a lot of ugly things, Lois!”

“I see them too.”

Their advance was halted by numerous Ice Generals filling their view.

‘A thousand?’

The number mentioned in the original story was around a thousand Ice Generals, but more troubling than them, blocking their path, stood ten towering giants.

Twice the size of an average Ice General.

‘Let me see… Where was it?’

As Lois’s gaze passed beyond the ten giants, a small door came into view.

‘There!’

His eyes sparkled at the sight of the door. A delicately carved stone door that looked more like art than stonework.

Beyond that ornate door was Lois’s ultimate destination.

Yet a daunting array of obstacles stood between him and his goal.

Lois turned his glance slightly. He looked at the twins by his side and smiled.

‘Brave little ones!’

Even faced with a thousand-strong force, the twins were not intimidated. They seemed to be eagerly waiting to fight, tapping their feet in anticipation.

“Oh-ho?”

“Ho-ho?”

Dragons were creatures born destined to rise to the pinnacle of lifeforms, and in this moment, young sovereigns gazed down upon those vastly inferior to them, with no fear, baring their teeth as if ready to tear into their adversaries’ throats.

Reassured by the twins’ reaction, Lois asked,

“How about it, twins? Fun, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! Totally!”

“Lois is the best!”

“Let’s go!”

“Charge!”

”Charge!”

With a ferocity befitting dragons, the children charged forward, ready to engage. Lois followed after them.

And Finn, left a little behind, could see.

Why dragons were labeled the strongest beings on the earth and had received countless reverences throughout history.