Chapter 719: Isaac’s Goal, Betrayal

The dragon refused to move, no matter how many times Isaac tried to convince her. He seemed to want to say something else, but he stopped himself and simply accepted her decision without arguing further.

Time continued passing, and the attacks from Nova Etra did not stop. Each group that arrived was stronger than the previous one, and some of them possessed abilities that were particularly troublesome for the dragon, making every battle increasingly difficult.

The dragon’s strength had already declined considerably after the Thousand-Year Stampede, and the corruption had only made matters worse. Battles that she could have ended almost instantly in the past now required its full attention, and even then, it often suffered injuries before defeating its opponents.

Isaac continued helping whenever he could, even though his own condition was becoming worse. His body was no longer as strong as it had once been, and the corruption inside him continued spreading with every passing day despite everything he did to suppress it.

The dragon hated watching him fight. It had told him to leave several times, and when he refused, it had even threatened to kill him if he continued interfering. Isaac never took those threats seriously, however, and whenever another group attacked, he would simply stand beside it and fight as though its warnings had never happened.

For some reason, that made the dragon extremely angry, but there was another emotion mixed with that anger that it did not want to acknowledge. Every time Isaac returned despite its attempts to drive him away, it found herself feeling slightly happier, and it could not understand why the presence of another person had suddenly become so important to it.

The dragon had spent countless years alone, so perhaps it had simply become accustomed to having someone around. It refused to think about it any further because admitting that it enjoyed Isaac’s company felt strangely embarrassing, especially when it had spent so much time pretending that his presence was nothing but an annoyance.

Eventually, however, the dragon decided that remaining in the same place was no longer an option. The anniversary was approaching, and regardless of everything that had happened, it needed to return to its hometown.

One day, the dragon approached the place where Isaac and Kaela were resting after their latest inspection. Isaac was sitting against a ruined wall while Kaela rested nearby, and he seemed to be concentrating on something rather than paying attention to his surroundings.

[What are you doing?] the dragon asked as it walked toward them.

Isaac turned in her direction and smiled before answering. "I’m learning transformation magic art."

The dragon stared at him for several moments but did not bother asking why he was learning transformation magic art. It had already made up her mind about something far more important, so there was little reason to waste time discussing his strange hobbies.

[I’m leaving this place.]

"Really? We are finally moving?" Isaac asked, raising a brow as his expression immediately became more interested.

The dragon nodded before looking toward the distant horizon. [Mhm. I am returning to my hometown.]

Isaac’s enthusiasm noticeably dimmed after hearing those words. A rare moment of annoyance appeared on his face before he quickly hid it behind another smile and said, "That place is near Nova Etra. We shouldn’t go there."

[I’m not afraid of them,] the dragon answered without hesitation. It had already decided to return, and the fact that Nova Etra might be nearby was not enough to change its mind.

Isaac’s mana slowly rumbled around him, and the dragon immediately understood that he was warning it. It did not back down, however, and after several seconds of silence, Isaac finally let out a tired sigh.

"Fine, let’s go," he said.

The dragon glanced at him with some surprise before asking, [You are coming with me?]

Isaac nodded as though there was nothing unusual about the question. "Of course I’m coming with you. Someone has to make sure you don’t get yourself killed on the way there."

The dragon huffed and looked away, pretending that his answer had annoyed it. Deep down, however, it felt strangely good knowing that Isaac had decided to accompany it.

It knew that going against Isaac’s wishes, particularly after he had risked his life for it more than once, was not entirely fair. Even so, the anniversary was getting closer, and the dragon needed to return to its home city no matter what dangers waited along the way.

The trio began their journey together, moving through the ruined Sector while remaining alert for any possible attacks. Contrary to what they had expected, however, there was no attack from Nova Etra, and the complete lack of resistance made the journey feel somewhat eerie.

Still, they continued moving without dwelling on it for too long. Whatever Nova Etra was planning, the dragon would deal with it if they eventually appeared.

Currently, the dragon was resting while Isaac and Kaela were away conducting their periodic inspection. Normally, only one of them went on these inspections, but Isaac had recently been trying to find a chance to be alone with Kaela, and took her along for the same reason.

The dragon could not rest properly whenever the two of them were gone because its thoughts kept returning to the same question. Isaac had been trying to spend time alone with Kaela for quite some time, and, either consciously or unconsciously, the dragon had repeatedly found excuses to remain nearby whenever the opportunity arose.

The dragon did not understand why it was doing it. It tried to convince itself that there was a simple explanation, because there was no reason for it to care about whether Isaac and Kaela were spending time together.

’It must be because I feel indebted to Isaac.’

That had to be the reason, because there was no other explanation that made sense. The dragon hated the idea of owing something to another person, but it could not simply ignore everything Isaac had sacrificed to protect it.

His body had become considerably weaker because of the corruption, yet he continued putting himself in danger whenever the dragon was threatened. It could not turn a blind eye to that, even if it wanted to.

’Yes, I must protect him.’

The dragon slowly raised its head and looked toward the direction in which Isaac and Kaela had gone. So what if the two of them were alone together right now? It still needed to make sure that Isaac was safe, and that was the only reason it needed to go after them.

There was no other reason.

The dragon spread its wings and rose into the sky, quickly leaving the ground behind. Its senses were still powerful despite its weakened condition, and if it exerted itself, it could locate Isaac and Kaela regardless of how far they had traveled.

It found them quickly.

However, instead of approaching, the dragon concealed its presence and remained at a distance. It did not understand why it felt the need to hide, but it wanted to know what Isaac had been trying to accomplish by trying to be alone with Kaela.

After waiting for a while, the dragon finally heard Isaac’s voice.

"What are you doing? Why is there no progress?" Isaac asked, and his voice carried an unusual amount of coldness.

The dragon immediately noticed the difference in his mana, which was boiling beneath the surface like a cold rage. It surprised the dragon because it had always seen Isaac wearing a smile, even when he was suffering, but right now, he seemed a completely different person.

"Do you really not know?" Kaela asked, looking at him with a strange expression.

"What do you mean?" Isaac frowned as he turned toward her.

"What is the Dragon Lord’s name?" Kaela asked.

The dragon froze after hearing the question. It had not expected them to suddenly start talking about it, so it remained completely still and listened carefully to their conversation.

"Alice Calloway," Isaac answered.

"That’s a female name," Kaela said, giving him a look.

Isaac stiffened. For several seconds, he opened and closed his mouth as though he could not decide what to say.

Finally, he spoke in a strained voice, "...I’ve checked several records, and all of them referred to the Dragon Lord who attacked them as a male."

"Well, they were clearly wrong," Kaela replied with a shrug. "The name itself is a pretty clear indication."

The dragon remained hidden in the distance, staring at the two of them with complete confusion. Why were they talking about its gender, and why did Isaac look so distressed and frustrated?

"Dammit, I thought the feminine name was just a cultural thing. After all, different places have different naming norms," Isaac said while massaging his brows, clearly frustrated by the situation. He sighed before adding, "Now I need to look for male dragons. Dammit, I don’t have enough time."

The dragon stiffened where it was hiding, and although it could not hear everything they had been discussing before this moment, it could understand enough from Isaac’s words to realize what was happening. Several things that had confused it over the past few months suddenly began falling into place, and the realization made an heavy feeling settle inside its chest.

Isaac had suddenly brought Kaela to it, even though there had been no obvious reason for doing so. Kaela had acted shy around the dragon and had repeatedly tried to get closer to it, only to suddenly stop, likely after discovering that the Dragon Lord was actually a female.

The pieces fit together far too easily.

Isaac had brought Kaela because he had wanted to find the dragon a partner. The dragon’s expression became colder as it thought about that possibility, and it found itself becoming irritated by the fact that Isaac had apparently believed it was male all this time.

It had never cared about his assumptions regarding its gender before, so it could not understand why the realization bothered it so much. It was also annoying that Isaac had tried to arrange a relationship for it without ever asking what it wanted, as though its feelings were something he could simply decide for himself.

Yet that was not what hurt the most.

The dragon felt a strange heaviness spreading through its chest, and breathing suddenly seemed more difficult despite there being nothing physically wrong with it. Its heart felt as though someone had wrapped their hand around it and was slowly squeezing it, and the more it thought about Isaac’s actions, the stronger the feeling became.

Why?

Why had Isaac gone through all this trouble?

The dragon already knew the answer, and accepting it made the pain inside its chest become even worse. It desperately tried to reject the conclusion forming in its mind because admitting it would mean accepting that everything it had believed about Isaac had been nothing more than an illusion he created to trick it.

’No, that cannot be.’

The dragon clenched its claws as it remained hidden from their senses. It desperately tried to convince itself that it had misunderstood the situation, because Isaac was its friend and he would never intentionally use it after everything they had experienced together.

’Isaac is my friend. He wouldn’t have—’

Its desperate hope was crushed by the next words it heard.

"What are you planning now?" Kaela asked cautiously.

"What else? I’ll look for male dragons," Isaac answered while rubbing his forehead. He continued, "We need the Dragon Lord to have a child, because only then can we get a species that carries the Dragon Lord’s bloodline and has a chance of surviving in this Sector."

The dragon froze.

"Isaac, how about not looking for someone else and becoming the Dragon Lord’s partner yourself?" Kaela asked after a brief pause, choosing her words carefully. Her question sounded almost casual, but there was enough hesitation in her voice to suggest that she already knew Isaac would reject the idea.

Isaac immediately waved his hand. "That’s not possible. I don’t have much time left, and—"

His voice continued, but the dragon no longer listened to what he was saying because one sentence had already drowned out everything else.

Only then can we get a species that carries the Dragon Lord’s bloodline.

Those words repeated inside the dragon’s mind, and the more it heard them, the more everything seemed to collapse around it. Isaac Hargraves was the first person it had befriended in decades, the first person it had trusted enough to allow into its territory, and the first person it had slowly begun opening its heart to.

He had never seen it as a friend.

The dragon’s claws slowly dug into the ground as it remembered all the time they had spent together. Every conversation, every meal, every time Isaac had returned despite its threats, and every occasion when he had risked his life to protect it suddenly seemed to have another meaning.

He had only been doing it because he needed something from it.

It was the same as before.

People approached the dragon when they wanted something, and once they had gotten what they needed, they would leave. It had thought Isaac was different because he had stayed even when it gave him nothing, but now it understood that it had simply been too foolish to realize what he was really planning.

The dragon desperately wanted to believe that it had heard something incorrectly. Perhaps Isaac had another reason for what he had said, or perhaps there was something about the plan that it did not understand.

However, the words had been too clear, and no matter how much it wanted to deny them, it could not find another explanation that would make them less painful. The truth had already reached it, and there was nothing it could do to make itself unhear those words.

Just like the mastermind that killed its person, just like the awakeners that came to it after hearing its infamous reputation, just like Nova Etra that was after it, Isaac simply saw the dragon as a tool to be used.

Something inside the dragon began to burn.

For decades, it had believed that it had lost the ability to truly care about anything. Its family had died, its home had been destroyed, and the desire for revenge had eventually faded into the emptiness that followed, but now that emptiness was disappearing.

Rage was taking its place.

The dragon slowly turned its head toward Isaac’s direction while keeping its presence concealed. It had spent months allowing him to approach, trusting him, and gradually becoming accustomed to having him around, yet now all it could think about was how easily he had deceived it.

It wanted revenge.

It wanted to crush the man who had entered its life, gained its trust, and treated its feelings as nothing more than a tool for achieving his goal. The thought filled it with anger unlike anything it had felt in decades, and for the first time since meeting Isaac, the dragon no longer cared whether he was trying to protect it.

All it could see was betrayal.