~ Side Story: Between sanity and insanity ~

[Dankyun’s point of view]

 When I came through, I was in the middle of the forest, somewhere far away from Fellyore Magic Academy, or at least what was left of it after my battle with that accursed Dungeon Lord.

My body was cold, and I felt pain everywhere. It was hard to move even a finger, let alone an arm or a leg. My vision was blurry, and I could barely pull the air into my lungs. To make things worse, I was dressed in nothing but the loincloth covering my shame.

Magic Energy was hard to gather as well, but little by little, I could do it. Unfortunately, I had no more crystals on me to help speed up the healing process, so I had to rely on casting a spell instead. A very unfortunate situation, but as long as this body of mine still held a breath of life within it, I undoubtedly had a chance of survival.

Minutes, maybe hours came to pass, with only me staring at the clouded sky and thinking about nothing. My mind was empty, void of any and all thoughts. The battle left me drained of all of my power, and in the end, I came out on the losing end. It was frustrating, but I had no energy left to feel frustrated, angered, or even afraid of that terrible monster I ticked off…

I closed my eyes and another hour, maybe more, passed. When I opened my eyes again, it was nighttime. With a great deal of effort, I focused on an Intermediary Rank [Heal] and cast it on myself. A shining light covered my body, and I could feel my muscles and bones repairing themselves. It hurt so badly that I wanted to scream as loud as I could, but what sort of draconian was I to make such a cowardly gesture? I gritted my teeth and glared at the starry sky above me as if it could actually answer my anger and fight back, as if it was the one responsible for my pain.

What great draconian? I failed… I thought after my wounds were mostly healed.

With a groan, I stood up and looked around. I was in the middle of a small crater, and not that far away from me was a tree with a few broken branches. It must have been the one responsible for breaking my fall. Still, I had no idea where exactly I was.

Without a map, a guide, or even the smallest idea of where to go from here, I was lost.

I need to find a way out of this place… I thought as I started to move.

At the very least, there didn’t seem to be any sort of monsters around me. It was a fortunate situation, but then… I remembered.

“Dankyun, you pathetic little piece of garbage. Rejoice! I’m not going to kill you right now. Oh, no no no.” the monster shook his head, looking straight into my eyes, glaring at me, binding my soul and sealing my fate. “What I’m going to do is something far worse than you can even imagine. I’m going to let you go, and I’m going to hunt you down like the piece of garbage you are!” he told me with a grin.

Those words of his sent shivers down my spine, forced fear to take hold of me. And that darkness of his, that darkness that surrounded him was made out of pure killing intent. I never saw anything like it in any dungeon, it was almost like I was staring right into Death’s eyes. It was frightening and sickening.

My stomach lurched in a painful way. I felt like throwing up, and I did, but the only things that came out were the juices of my stomach. It smelled awful, forcing me to take a step back and stumble on the ground.

I’m pathetic… I thought and clenched my fists.

That Dungeon Lord managed to actually scare the living daylight out of me. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was scared, I was frightened of that monster, but as long as I was alive, I could fight back. I could get up and then hunt him down and kill him.

As I thought about this, I had another flashback.

Holding me by the throat, barely letting me breath, the monster said “What I’m going to do to you is something far worse than you can even imagine. I’m going to let you go, and I’m going to hunt you down like the piece of garbage that you are! You saw it yourself, I merely toyed with you now! I can kill you any time and anywhere I desire! You are nothing but a weakling when compared to me. A weakling!”

Those words sent shivers down my spine. As he said, I witnessed first-hand what sort of frightening monster he was. Even after unleashing all of my power on him, I still wasn’t able to defeat him. Not with [Boost], not with my Godlike armor and sword, not even with my Spell Crystals was I able to defeat him.

No wonder I was still seen as a Lower Supreme… I had an incredible strength, but my skills were weak and barely trained when compared to others of my rank. I could defeat them, maybe, if I was lucky and carefully used my Spell Crystals, but when faced with a Godlike Dungeon Lord in humanoid form, those proved to be completely useless.

If I launched another Supreme Attack inside his last floor, maybe I could have gotten rid of some of those pesky traps, but… I would have ended up too weakened to defend myself against those monstrous attacks of his. I thought as frustration and anger could be read on my face.

I hated my situation. I hated how weak I was compared to him. What I hated the most, however, was how a Dungeon made a fool out of me by stripping me of my armor and weapon! ME! The Supreme Draconian on his way to become the ruler of ALL draconians!

I hated it! I hated that Dungeon Lord! I hated that pathetic Princess! I hated Nanya! It was only their fault!

“Ugh… I’m going to kill them… I’m going to kill them all!” I growled as I stood up and looked ahead.

In the forest, I saw a shadow. It was humanoid in shape, but the fear it invoked inside my heart sent me crumbling down on my feet. In there, hidden among the trees, I saw the Dungeon Lord. I saw that monster who defeated me so easily.

“N-No.” I said in a trembling tone of voice.

He smirked, and I swear I heard him say those words again “You saw it yourself, I merely toyed with you now! I can kill you any time and anywhere I desire! You are nothing but a weakling when compared to me. A weakling!” he squinted his eyes at me and then laughed.

“NO!” I shouted and picking up the nearest rock, I threw it at him.

The shadow dispersed in the night, and I remained there, breathing hard and trembling.

What has that monster done to me? I asked myself as I looked at my hands.

Never in my life was I faced with such a situation before. I was afraid for my life, of the shadows around me, of that monster jumping out at me intent on finishing me off. That was what he said after all, what he whispered to me in that last moment before he tossed me into the air.

“That’s why I’m going to use ALL of this godlike power of mine just so I can hunt you down! I'm going to watch you from the shadows and strike you down the moment you let your guard down. When you will hear someone laughing, that’s going to be me! When you will think that you saw a shadow moving, that’s going to be me! When you will hear the wind rustling, that’s going to be me reminding you again and again that I’m there, enjoying my hunt and preparing to kill you!”

Just remembering those words made me grit my teeth and clench my fists. I was defeated and hunted down like an animal, a beast or a monster no less. The shame and anger boiling inside of me made me want to scream, and so I did…

“CURSE YOU DUNGEON LORD!!!”

I shouted and shouted again and again until I collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.

There was no way to come to terms with my current situation. I was the hunted animal, and he was the monster who was trying to hunt me down, but I wasn’t going to let him. No, I was going to stay out of his sight, hide among the people and not even let one single spec of my power be felt. I was going to train in secret. Train like I never did before, and not in just any usual way, I was going to push myself to the limits, so I would learn even the things which, until now, I saw as useless… I was going to retrain all of my skills. That was my plan, that was my resolve, but until I put it into action, I had to get out of this forest. I had to find a way back to safety, to civilization and return to Teslov or Paramanium.

No… going back there would only make me a bigger target. I even failed to bring back Ayuseya and lost all of my soldiers in the process… If they send someone to the Fellyore Magic Academy to find out what happened, they are going to find the dungeon, they are going to find out what I did and make it public… Curses! I gritted my teeth and pushed myself off the ground.

With a wobbling walk, I moved deeper into the forest. My only chance was to leave these two continents: Allasn and Thorya. I had to go to Sorone, the third continent. There, I could be safe. My only worry would be meeting some of my former enemies or my sister… If that wretched woman was still alive, she would come after me in the blink of an eye. Nonetheless, she would be a hundred years by now… an old hag. I had nothing to worry about even from her.

Yes… Sorone. He won’t find me there… He can’t… I thought as I wobbled my way through the dark forest.

“So know, little draconian, that from now on, wherever you will look, wherever you will turn your head, I will be there, watching you!” I heard his voice again.

“SHUT UP!!!” I shouted and punched a tree that for a moment turned into his shadow.

What’s happening to me? I asked myself as I looked at my bleeding hand.

I even forgot to activate my Magic Armor. Whatever that Dungeon Lord did to me, he was right… He was hunting me down, and I saw him in every shadow and at every turn I took. For the next couple of hours, I merely punched all the trees in my sight, attacking the shadows that were laughing at me, but after a while, I learned to keep myself from jumping on them.

My current situation angered me. They riled up the fear that was currently stretching its pesky tendrils through my heart, ripping it out and letting me know constantly that I was nothing but a weakling when compared to him.

Was there any way for me to fight back against this? To recover my strength and ability to fight against a haunting shadow?

“I will be everywhere… a peasant walking by you, or the very noble you will speak with, I will be him or her, disguised or hiding right there in plain sight or in the cover of their shadows! Sometimes, I will let you see me, sense me and know that I am still there watching you, following you, and hunting you! There’s no escape from me now, Dankyun, you just HAD to piss me off!”

Those words of his kept haunting me. Whenever I closed my eyes, I felt like he was there. When a leaf fell on my shoulder, I actually believed it was him and ran away screaming in fear. Such a pathetic sight I was, but how could I fight against something like this?

He was there, in the shadows…

When I closed my eyes, he was right in front of me. I could feel his breath, I could feel him staring and grinning at me like a monster, but when I opened my eyes again, he was gone.

How can I flee from him? How can I flee from him? How?! I asked myself countless times, but I was starting to believe that even stepping into a village was a bad idea.

What if he was there? What if he paid a guard or some other villager to spy on me? I was a draconian with brown scales, not that uncommon, but certainly a big sight to remember in a country where humans were the dominant species.

I have to stay away from people… I have to stay here until I recover my strength… I thought.

At one point, the idea of traveling to a city or meeting anyone was met with a shiver down my spine. The thought of him appearing under the guise of someone else frightened me beyond belief.

That day, I couldn’t bare the thought of eating anything. I was starting to consider if not by any chance, he was somehow poisoning the beasts around me. As luck would have it, I did manage to find a small cave where I could fall asleep, but my dreams were soon turned to nightmares. I experienced again that fight, my defeat, my pain, my anguish. I saw my soldiers laughing at me, and I couldn’t even kill the weakest one of them. Even Ayuseya was laughing at me, saying that even with her curse, she could put me down like a rabid animal.

My pride was shattered to pieces. The once dominant and mighty Supreme draconian was reduced to nothing but a laughing stock, a pathetic man unable to slap even a woman. I cursed myself and those who laughed at me in that nightmare.

The night ended with me shivering and sweating. I slept in shifts of a few hours each. Even closing my eyes was hard, and I felt like he would suddenly attack me the moment I did so.

The next day, I decided to hunt. My stomach was hurting too much, and if I didn’t eat anything, I would end up dead from starvation. The little bit of pride I had left could not permit me to fall in such a disgraceful way.

If I died killed by a Godlike Dungeon and word spread about my battle, then I would at least have an excuse for being defeated like that. Besides, I would count as the first ever Draconian Supreme who fought one in who knows how many hundreds or thousands of years now. Some may even view my death as an honorable one, but like this… I was just a loser. The pathetic draconian who ran away or was left alive by this Dungeon because he was too weak.

“Now here’s the best part. I’m not going to be the one to kill you. No. No. No.” I remembered him saying these words, shaking his head slowly while keeping his black, poisonous claws tight around my neck “I’m going to offer that pleasure to Nanya, Ayuseya, and Shanteya. Next time you will see them, THEY will be the ones to kill you.” that was his most hateful threat.

To think that those shikaks had even a drop of power to fight against me was blasphemous, but he seemed to be certain of this. Well, Ayuseya’s punch was surprising and certainly not something a woman without any training or experience could have pulled off. Not to mention the strength behind the punch was actually enough to crack my Magic Armor and allowed her to scratch me. It was ridiculous!

He wasn’t lying… she really does have that power. He gave it to them somehow… I thought as I prepared myself to attack a rabbit.

The furry critter stood no chance against me, and I ate it on the spot. I didn’t even bother to cook it, I was that hungry…

The Dungeon Lord did threaten to kill my family as well, but I had no parents… I was born as an orphan on the Sorone Continent. Technically, my guardians there would have been my parents, and the other orphans my brothers and sisters, but they weren’t draconian. That was why I killed them all… Well, everyone except for that human girl. I can’t even understand how she survived because I clearly remembered burning down the entire orphanage.

Heh… good times. I thought with smile as I wiped the blood off my mouth.

My hunt continued until my stomach was full. I tried to use their fur to make myself some clothes, but drying the leather and then properly preparing it was a bit harder than I had initially thought. Thus, I ended up ruining it all with my oversized claws. To make it work, I had to hunt something bigger, so I went searching for a Dayuk or some other monster.

Finding one was pretty easy, but when I tried to use a magic attack to kill it, I heard his voice again… It sounded in my ears as loud as possible.

“Now don’t even think that I’m pulling your leg here, you pathetic little draconian! I’m a Godlike Dungeon! I’m more powerful than you could possibly even imagine!” I covered my ears, trying to make it go away.

“Shut up…” I growled and closed my eyes.

“Why should I?” he replied “With one snap of my fingers, I can kill YOU and your ENTIRE family! You saw it too, right? I didn’t even use a spell other than a lousy fireball, and that was only because I didn’t feel like punching through your pathetic attack back then.” he then laughed.

“SHUT UP!” I shouted.

The Dayuk noticed me and growled menacingly.

“I didn’t even flinch when you cast all those fireballs at me. NONE of your attacks was even able to shatter my Magic Armor ONCE, let alone scratch me!” I saw him in the shadows around me, telling me all of those things again and laughing at my face.

When I looked at the monster preparing to attack me, I saw the Dungeon Lord instead.

“You… how?” I said surprised.

“You are pathetic, Dankyun! Everything you can do and scheme is useless against me! Useless!” he laughed, and in a fit of anger, I cast a [Fireball] at the Dayuk.

The monster went up in flames, killed in one shot, but the Dungeon Lord’s laughter didn’t stop.

“ARGH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, while his words kept on repeating all around me, laughing at me, mocking me.

“Pathetic! Weakling! You lost to me! You will lose to Ayuseya and Nanya! You will die! I’ll hunt you! I’ll haunt you! Die! Run! Weakling!” I heard him say those things from everywhere around me.

He was hidden behind the trees and rocks, away from my sight, but somehow still there, in the corners of my eyes.

His words angered me, they fueled my rage and fear. I punched left and right until I bled from my knuckles and heaved from effort, but I was fighting only against ghosts and shadows.

The Dungeon Lord wasn’t there… What was his name again? I didn’t know, I couldn’t remember…

After that event, one thing became clear to me. He was out there, somewhere, stalking me and hunting me like he said. He was using some sort of illusion spell to make me see these apparitions of his, but when I slept, and when I was trying to hunt, he was there… somehow, someway, keeping me at the edge of sanity and insanity.

Time slipped away from my grasp as days passed by with only a repeat of the previous one. I was running around in circles in this forest. When I thought I reached some sort of village, I saw his face in the guards and the people walking down the road. Instead of confronting him there, I ran back into the forest. I ran away from that village because every one of them could be the Dungeon Lord. He could kill me anytime and anywhere…

My hours of sleep were very few. An hour, maybe two when I had the chance and felt like he wasn’t there, hunting me down like an animal. I couldn’t even train properly, but every day, I pushed more Magic Energy into my Magic Armor, trying to make it more powerful and denser than before. If I were to combat that monster again, chances were I would die from one punch.

I couldn’t let that happen…

There were plenty of monsters around these parts and the deeper I went into the mountains, the stronger they became.

Maybe it was a month or so after I found that village, but the next thing I stumbled upon was the ocean… I reached the edge of the continent, and out there, in the horizon, I saw him laughing at me. The Sun had turned into his face. I focused all of my Magic Energy into one big [Fireball] and cast it at him.

It flew up into a bolt, but I had no idea where it landed, it certainly didn't hit the Sun… The bastard was still laughing at me, pointing his finger at me and reminding me how weak and powerless I was against him, how easy it was for him to defeat me when I was at my strongest…

“That’s why I’m going to use ALL of this godlike power to hunt you down, to watch you from the shadows, and strike you down the moment you will let your guard down. When you will hear someone laughing, that’s going to be me! When you will think that you saw a shadow moving, that’s going to be me! When you hear the wind rustling, that’s going to be me reminding you again and again that I’m there, enjoying my hunt and preparing to kill you!” these were the words I kept hearing, that kept reminding me that he was there, somewhere, laughing at me, enjoying his hunt while somehow, someway, making Ayuseya and Nanya stronger than before.

It irked me to know that those two shikaks could defeat me in combat, but… what if it was true?

I couldn’t take the chance to find out, so I ran back into the forest, trying to hide from his laughter, from his shadows.

The trees could hide me. The caves could cover me, and the monsters would feed me with their flesh.

In a way, I could survive, but when was it, I wonder… When was it that such thoughts became logical and normal for me?

I couldn’t remember…

Months or maybe years passed since I fought against him, but who cared? I was still alive and kicking! I could run away from him. I could flee his shadows, but one day… something different happened.

While I was preparing to hunt down a wild Mauller, a huge gorilla with three jaws and standing taller than me by almost one meter, someone struck me from behind. My body felt numb, and I fell on my knees.

For a moment, I thought that maybe some monster attacked me from behind, but I still had strength in my limbs and there was no scent of fresh blood. Looking back, I saw two humans. One was wearing a long robe with gold and dark patterns, while the other was wielding a big, red sword. He was covered in thick armor plates from head to toe, similar to my previous armor.

“Who knew you would be so easy to capture, Dankyun. Did you lose your touch?” said the warrior.

“Who are you? Did the Dungeon Lord send you?” I asked in a trembling voice, while looking behind them. I think I saw him snickering next to one of the trees. “SHUT UP! I KNOW YOU’RE THERE!” I shouted at him.

The shadow vanished, but the two humans looked surprised. Of course they were. They couldn’t see the monster, only I could… he was there… right there!

“Yeah… no. We’re here because you are wanted for crimes against the Teslov, Paramanium, and Shoraya Kingdoms. Look, that’s your face, right?” he said, showing a wanted poster of myself.

“What? Why? I never betrayed the Teslov Kingdom or the Paramanium Empire!” I retorted.

“You do know that threatening and attempting to kill a member of the Pleyades Royal family is considered a crime, right?” asked the one donning a robe.

“What? But she’s a weakling! She deserves only to be bred and killed!” I retorted, stating my righteous cause.

“What the?” the warrior looked angry at me and lifted his sword up.”

“Stop, Dreziurne. It’s clear that he’s not in his right mind, and we need to bring him back alive.” said the other.

“Dreziurne?” I said squinting my eyes at him.

The name sounded familiar.

“Yes, I’m Dreziurne, the Supreme of Shoraya Kingdom. And this here is Pendaros, the other Supreme who is weaker than me… at chess.” he said, but who cared who was better than who at some stupid game?

“You will win someday, my friend. For now, let’s put the Magic Inhibitors on him and take him back…” he told him.

“Sure, but you do it. He smells like he hasn’t washed for a year. Ugh.” the warrior commented waving his hand in front of his face.

Of course, I didn’t. What if the Dungeon Lord came from underneath the water and drowned me? Or what if the rain water was suddenly turned to acid? I thought while excusing myself of what was legitimate defense in my mind.

“What other crimes am I accused of? Shoraya Kingdom shouldn’t be bothered if one or two foreign princesses die.” I told them.

“Oh, that? Well, you see… political games change in a year, so now we are sort of allies with Paramanium and by extension Teslov. That being said, your crimes there are crimes here. However, you destroyed a royal approved Magic Academy in Shoraya Kingdom and killed a couple of our citizens, among which, some were relatives to certain nobles.” Dreziurne explained, but I couldn’t remember killing anyone of importance.

“I don’t think he even knows whom he killed…” said Pendaros.

“I’m innocent.” I tried to claim.

“Sure you are, buddy. One of your own commanders actually vouched against you and unveiled your crimes and intentions towards the Teslov Kingdom and Shoraya Kingdom. What was his name? Oh yes, Zarus Dennekar, a Godlike Commander.” said Dreziurne with a smirk.

“Zarus? Zarus isn’t a Godlike! He’s an Emperor Rank! And how dare he betray me! I’ll kill him!” I growled.

“Sure you will. Besides, he WAS an Emperor Rank, but now he’s a Godlike. Now be good and don’t make me paralyze you again. Still, I have to say, I’m surprised you can still move and talk after one shot with that.” he told me.

“What, that weakling? And how did you get past my Magic Armor?” I asked glaring at him.

It wasn’t possible to get past it that easily. After all, I had been strengthening it all this time. Was I really that weak?

“Easy. I used a Magic Enchanted Arrow with [Ignore Magic Armor]. Pendaros here fired it and then I struck it with my palm. The arrow went straight through and entered your flesh.” he smirked.

“You’re lying, I’m not feeling any blood.” I growled at him.

“Magic Enchant [Instant Wound Seal].” Pendaros added.

“What?” I tried to reach back, and it was true, the arrow was inside by my body, but there was no sign of injury around it, not even a drop of blood.

“Actually, you don’t need to paralyze him again, the arrow will maintain its effect as long as it’s inside you. Don’t worry, we missed the vitals on purpose.” Pendaros explained again while Dreziurne nodded in approval.

I hated it, but it was true… Nonetheless, it wasn’t something just anyone could pull. Only a Supreme was able to do something like that. But to think it needed two of them to stab that arrow in me, it was incredible, and this could only mean that my Magic Armor was far stronger than before. If I were to guess, maybe two or three times stronger than when I fought the Dungeon Lord?

Thinking about that, I started to laugh.

With this… I have a chance… I just need time… I thought and laughed, ignoring whatever the two said as they bound my hands with heavy-metal cuffs, enchanted with a spell able to disperse any Magic Energy I tried to form around my body, even a part of my Magic Armor.

[Pendaros’s point of view]

 Dankyun Alttoros The Supreme Draconian had lost his mind from the looks of it. On the way back to civilization, he only muttered words of revenge against a so-called Dungeon Lord. Initially, we didn’t believe him. We couldn’t believe him. He was only a madman haunted by shadows and ghosts, who mercilessly killed innocents and tried to usurp the throne of the Pleyades family.

Nonetheless, something or someone defeated and beat him to the point where he had lost every weapon and armor he had… He looked no different than a bandit, but with one punch, he was powerful enough to turn a Master Ranked Adventurer into dust. Well, it wasn’t our job to judge him, but considering his crimes, there was a high chance he would be faced either with the death penalty or life incarceration in the worst Criminal Detention Fortress out there.

Honestly, I didn’t really care, but I didn’t want to hunt him down again. It took us an entire year to actually find him… If he didn’t attack like an idiot a merchant’s ship with an oversized [Fireball], I might have never found him. Well… only the gods could tell his fate now. I just hoped he would really get the punishment he deserved for destroying a Magic Academy and killing those people.