Chapter 489

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 489: Balance (6)

Shhhhhhhaaaat…!

The moment Yeongwoo jumped from the transport ship, a tremendous cold hit him like a tidal wave, making it feel as though the air had been sucked from his lungs.

“...Kuh!”

It wasn’t just a feeling—he literally couldn’t breathe.

The altitude was so high that there wasn’t enough air.

Immediately, the adaptation effect of the Vesedel Armor: Legitimacy activated.

Beeeeeep!

【Adaptation possible on any planet.】

Suddenly, Yeongwoo’s airways opened up, and an overwhelming sky—so vast it resembled an ocean—filled his vision.

“This is nuts.”

Yeongwoo had been through all sorts of chaos, but this was his first time in free fall from such an altitude.

Even he felt a flicker of fear.

“Mother, are you okay? You should probably transform into a dragon now.”

He turned his head across to check on her—and saw Jiseon, completely limp.

“Huh? Mother?”

Unconscious.

Yeongwoo could tell instantly.

Whether it was due to the rapid pressure change or the lack of oxygen, even the mighty Jiseon—who was of the dragon race—had fainted.

“Ah, shit!”

Already mid-freefall from a staggering height with his mother’s hand in his, Yeongwoo frantically fumbled with the Aratubank.

“U-Uncle! You can do this, right?!”

∴ Wh-What are you talking about?

“Flying! Our parachute’s busted!”

Inside the shield, Song Jeongho answered in a bewildered tone.

∴ Y-You bastard! What if I pass out too when I get out?!

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo and Jiseon were still plummeting at insane speed.

As they entered a new air current, Jiseon’s limp body flapped like a flag in the wind.

“Ah, looks like we’ve hit a different atmospheric layer. It should be okay now!”

With that, Yeongwoo forcibly unlocked the Aratubank’s latch.

Click!

∴ Hey! You crazy bastard…!

And then—

BOOM!

With a thunderous roar, the cover of the Aratubank blew open, and the red substance holding the blood relative inside burst into the sky.

Fshhhhhh!

∴ These little punks really don’t hold back.

Freed from the Aratubank, Song Jeongho instantly regained the body of a blue thunder dragon.

A massive dragon stretching hundreds of meters long, covered in shimmering blue scales crackling with lightning.

∴ This… This really is different from Earth.

He immediately sensed something off the moment he spread his wings.

Yeongwoo, clinging to the nape of his neck, shouted urgently.

“W-We need to stabilize your flight first!”

Song Jeongho’s massive body was tilting in the air, failing to find balance.

Yet, for some reason, he still couldn't control his flight.

∴ Something's off. I can't fly properly.

“…Why? Is it because we’re still too high and there’s not enough air?”

∴ I don’t know. Let’s just head down for now.

“What?!”

Before Yeongwoo could fully respond, Song Jeongho folded one of his wings sharply.

Fshhhh!

His body tilted dramatically, falling even faster than before.

KRROOOOOOM!

It was around this moment that Jiseon began to stir.

—Wh-What the hell?

Realizing she was dangling from a plummeting thunder dragon, she turned to Yeongwoo and asked,

—What happened?

“You fainted the moment we jumped. So I summoned Uncle to take over, but…”

Even the substitute couldn’t fly properly.

—Don’t tell me that idiot doesn’t know how to fly? He has been locked up for a while.

With a look of resolve, Jiseon let go of Yeongwoo’s hand and shot upward into the sky.

FWOOOOOOSH!

And then—

—Watch closely. This is how a dragon flies!

She returned to her true form, unleashing a silver-white aura midair.

ROOOOAAAAAAR!

She became the massive ice dragon that had once cast a shadow over Metal Seoul.

Frrrssshhh!

With a sound like sails unfurling, her wings spread wide through the air.

Then—

—Eh? What the fuck?

She tilted and began to fall as well.

“…Ah.”

She had also failed to fly properly in Doatel’s skies.

Watching this, Song Jeongho—who was at least somewhat adapted to Doatel’s atmosphere—let out a dry chuckle.

∴ You call yourself a dragon and can’t even fly?

—You bastard.

Still, Jiseon continued plummeting fast, and Yeongwoo barked a command at Song Jeongho.

“Go grab her hand—or, well, her forepaw.”

∴ What?

“You know! Like in skydiving, when two people hold hands and spread their bodies.”

∴ And why the hell would I do that with her?

Song Jeongho’s brow furrowed instantly.

Yeongwoo pointed at Jiseon, who was getting farther away.

“I’m not an expert, but if you two link up, the surface area increases, and with four wings, you should be more stable, right?”

And more importantly—

“If you each fly separately, you’ll end up way far apart from each other. Even if you both land safely, it’ll take forever to regroup.”

∴ You're seriously such a pain in the ass.

Grumbling, but convinced, Song Jeongho twisted his opposite wing and launched himself diagonally toward Jiseon.

∴ Stretch your paws! The great clan leader says we’re skydiving!

—What? Skydiving?

As Jiseon raised her head in confusion, she saw Song Jeongho soaring in from above with his forepaws extended.

—What kind of bullshit is this?

Before she could even finish her sentence, Song Jeongho’s forepaws reached right in front of her face.

∴ Not the worst idea. If we grab onto each other and spread out, it’ll help us stabilize.

This insight came from his days as a human—he used to enjoy skydiving before ever imagining he’d become a dragon.

∴ Grab on, dumbass! Before your body flips!

As Song Jeongho flailed his paws in front of Jiseon, she reluctantly latched onto him with her claws.

CRACK!

It looked a bit ridiculous, but the two dragons managed to form a massive winged platform.

It was stable enough for Yeongwoo—clinging between them—to finally feel secure.

“See? Better than before, right?”

As he slowly stood up and looked around, both Jiseon and Jeongho bared their fangs at him.

∴ What’s better about this, you little brat?

—How long do we have to stay like this?

“Until you can both fly properly in Doatel’s skies. If not, we’ll just glide all the way to the event like this.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

—What?!

At that, Jiseon blinked and suddenly realized something crucial she had completely forgotten to ask.

–Wait, you don’t even know where the venue is.

In response, Yeongwoo sat upright on Song Jeongho’s neck and looked around.

"Why wouldn’t I? Of course I knew where the venue was before I jumped."

–What? How?

"You didn’t see it? One of the captain’s monitors had a map of Doatel."

Then Yeongwoo started scanning his surroundings as if searching for something.

"There was a pottery icon marked on the map. That’s the royal crest of the Shelbir family, isn’t it?"

–So you’re saying that’s the royal event venue?

"Yeah. Probably."

–Probably?

So it wasn’t even confirmed.

Jiseon gaped, her future suddenly looking very bleak, as Yeongwoo tilted his head curiously while still scanning below.

"That’s odd. I’m sure the transport ship was directly over that icon at the time."

∴ Maybe you saw it wrong? What if it wasn’t a 2D map?

"No, it was clearly marked. The prison icon was way further up. And the ship was facing in that direction."

∴ Then that means we must’ve fallen somewhere over the venue... So shouldn’t we be seeing it by now? Honestly, it seems like you might’ve—

Just as the unspoken words "made a mistake" were about to come out, a golden beam of light suddenly shot up from the ground far below.

PCHIAAAAT!

∴ Whoa!?

–What was that?

Though it only flashed by for a second, it was enough to startle the two dragonkin, who were still unfamiliar with flying in Doatel.

FLAP!

Jeongho instinctively folded one wing, causing their combined form to sharply tilt mid-air.

Of course, Yeongwoo was just as surprised.

"What the—was that an attack?"

∴ I—I don’t know?

–No, I don’t think we’re hurt.

As Jiseon turned her head to look at her shoulder, another beam shot up again.

PCHIAAAAT!

∴ Ugh!

This time, it went straight through Jeongho’s right wing—but left no wound.

–It’s not an attack?

Yeongwoo blinked rapidly in response.

"If it’s not an attack, then…"

He peered down into the still-distant, featureless void below.

"Could it be... stage lighting for the event?"

–Stage lighting?

"It’s a royal event, right? Whatever it is, it must be pretty major."

And for such a big event, it wasn’t unreasonable to use lighting strong enough to reach this high.

SWISH SWISH!

This time, two more beams shot past in rapid succession, and Yeongwoo spoke with certainty.

"The venue’s down there. Let’s pick up the pace."

–How?

"Same as before. If you fold your wings, you’ll fall faster, right?"

∴ Then our heads will also hit the ground faster!

"The atmosphere should be close to Earth-like now. If you still can’t manage to fly by then, maybe being a dragonkin just isn’t for you."

Just as Yeongwoo finished speaking, a faint structure began to come into view below.

"There it is!"

From above, it looked like a massive amphora-shaped stadium—some sort of open-air arena.

–What is that? A colosseum?

"As if Doatel would have a colosseum. More like an Olympic stadium or something."

Though one thing was certain—whatever was happening there today, it definitely wasn’t a sporting event.

Because—

<And now, we’ll begin the weigh-in!>

A voice boomed across the arena through loudspeakers—probably the host of the event.

∴ Weigh-in...?

Jeongho tilted his head, baffled by the unexpected nature of the event, as the stadium rapidly came into clearer view.

"Whoa?"

That’s when they saw it—an enormous crowd inside, packed not just with locals but all kinds of aliens.

"There aren’t just Caramels in there?"

In fact, the ratio of outsiders seemed even higher.

Which meant, no matter how you looked at it...

"...Don’t tell me they’re refugees?"

At that exact moment, the host’s voice rang out again, more composed this time.

<This cycle, the state of universal balance is…!>

Suddenly, everyone in the arena turned to look in the same direction—as if rehearsed.

"Huh?"

Yeongwoo followed their gaze and immediately figured it out.

There was a massive scale—like, unbelievably huge—with golden light occasionally shooting up between its two weighted sides.

"So that’s what it was."

His expression turned puzzled at the ridiculous sight.

But that wasn’t the most urgent issue.

–Hey, we’re not slowing down!

∴ T-This is bad!

The two dragons, still unable to fully control their flight in Doatel, were plummeting straight toward the very center of the arena—directly at the scale.

–Aaaaahhh!

Jiseon screamed, sensing imminent disaster. At the same moment, the giant scale started to tilt.

<Ohh, finally the weight of virtue is…!>

The white weight descended, while the black weight began to rise.

The entire crowd erupted into cheers—until a much louder noise thundered from the sky above.

KWAAAAANG!

And then—

THOOM!

Two dragons crashed straight onto the black weight of the scale, flattening it completely.

<Wh-what...? The... the weight!>

The host stared at the scale in disbelief.

The moment the dragons landed on the “sin” side of the scale, the entire thing tilted like a catapult and launched the “virtue” weight straight into the sky.

FWEEEAAAAAK!

With that, the virtue weight was finally freed and soared off into the heavens.

And then—

<……>

Hundreds of thousands of alien eyes fixed directly on Yeongwoo and the two dragons.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]