Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 252 Sacrifice
"What are you willing to give up for the kingdom?"

"The hero Lex is indeed me, but he is not me. At least, he is not my entirety. His story is real, and so is his life."

There's no point in talking to those who are caught up in emotions; the dragon's first step is to clear up some misunderstandings.

The life of the hero Lex, from birth to death, was that of an ordinary human being, a kind person who lived out his entire life.

"This story begins in the very early Dragon Age. I know you're not interested in hearing my historical tales, so I'll omit everything above and move on. Because of the foolish actions of some idiot, I'm willing to make some amends, but interfering with fate comes at a price, and I can't afford to pay it."

But perhaps because he had been holding it in for too long, or perhaps because he had seen through everything, knowing that Lena could not leave with her memories, the dragon appeared quite patient and talkative.

Although they hadn't spent much time together, Lena had already gained a deep understanding of the dragon's perverse sense of humor.

"If you're willing to let me go, or give me a decent set of clothes, I'm willing to listen."

Her beautiful body remained motionless; she deliberately kept calm, ignoring the tentacles that were wriggling and coiling around her.

As a hero, she had suffered countless injuries—freezing, acid, fire—but obstacles of that level were nothing to her; she could just treat them as a bite from a wild dog.

Meanwhile, Rean, who was "nakedly watching from the sidelines," covered his face. He was becoming more and more familiar with the D-09 Red Dragon in front of him.

Unlike Suer, Kuku, and Lex, this guy with the wicked sense of humor is 100% Lee Eun-suk!

That was a personality almost exactly like his own! The way he spoke, his thought processes and habits—it was Rean himself!
"what!!"

The sudden binding caused the complaining female warrior to let out a soft moan.

The next moment, the enraged female warrior glared fiercely at the "man" in front of her.

That familiar yet unfamiliar face made her feel as if she were in a dream.
"Who exactly are you, Rex? The previous hero Rex? Are you just a disguise?!"

Lena, who is not highly educated, cannot be open-minded. If everything is just a hoax and a drama, then her life is a joke.

Kingdoms don't matter anymore! What's wrong with Lex Luthor?!

"Pfft, have you already forgotten your original goal? Truly a woman of strong character."

The dragon laughed, toying with the crown of a hero, a symbol of boundless courage, feeling both nostalgic and weary.

"No, the hero Ryan not only existed but was real. He was a good person, and it was a wonderful memory—well, except for the ending."

"Snapped."

With a snap of his fingers, the black-haired dragon-like "person" transformed the scene.

The original dragon's nest has been transformed into a vast library, a boundless and enormous palace of books.

The bookshelf suddenly opened, and books of all colors fluttered up, transforming into butterflies.

On the pages of the book, the heroine Lena saw the same faces, but in different scenes and in different eras.

On the edge of the battlefield between giants and dragons, the giants' camps were arguing over battlefield deployment, and the giant king's closest attendant, a little giant, actually had the same face as this evil dragon!

On a high hill under a sky full of stars, a black rat-man with a similar appearance to a wheel was adjusting astronomical equipment, calculating the distances between stars and directions. The next moment, he squeaked, "I've figured it out! The trajectories of the stars are mutually interfering rings. I can create a brand new star chart, and there will be new guidance for interdimensional travel! My discovery will be engraved in the history of the Astronomy Society."

Lena remembered seeing the ratman's statue in the Palace Mage Tower; it was the legendary sage who created the Stardust Principle.

In the next scene, a man from the wasteland, draped in the skin of a lion, follows a tall figure wearing a crown, raising a banner of rebellion. The battle cry of "Dragonborn will never be slaves" echoes throughout the wasteland.

Lena didn't recognize the man's identity, but she recognized the figure he followed and the banner he carried: the Dragonborn King, the pioneer of an era, the key figure in countless history books, the one who ended the age of dragons.

A magnificent fortress city nestled within a volcano spewing lava; the golden-bearded dwarf craftsman, with lightning and fire in hand, forged a divine weapon, and it was this spear that brought an end to another glorious era.

The next scene was very familiar to the heroine Lena, because it happened sixteen years ago.

On the desperate battlefield, the brave Ryan faces a colossal beast that blots out the sky and raises his sword.

The crown on his head was exactly the same as the one in the dragon's hand, just like two identical faces.

In the end, the faces merged together and became one.

Only the evil dragon, with a half-smile of pleasure.

"He, and him, he, he, they are all me. For certain reasons, most of the time I seal away everything about myself, turning 'Transmigrator Li Ensu' into an ordinary person, throwing myself into the torrent of the times. Only in very rare cases, like now, will I be awakened. Uh, does waking up only one clone count as being awakened? Oh well, it doesn't matter."

"The Great Red Dragon" Solgalion (D-09) did not lie. Every Lee Eun-suk, until his death, whether in soul or body, was an ordinary member of that era.

Their experiences, their lives, are all real.

Their suffering and their despair are part of the times.

And everything they ultimately gain will become a legacy of the times, and also a part of the Thousand-Faced Dragon.

"You, why are you insane? Are you playing with life?!"

"No, no, how could you think that? I have always loved life, and I have always loved this world."

The dragon laughed and uttered words that the hero would probably never understand in his lifetime.

“I am Li Ensu, an ordinary person, the child of coal mine driver Li Fendou and company accountant Fang Yun.”

“I have an older brother, Li Yong, who is two years older than me, and a younger sister, Li Xiaoyu. I am called Li Ensu (Uncle) because I was born when heavy snow blocked the mountains. Without the miners pushing the vans out of the mountains, I would not have been born.” “I am just a human being, an ordinary human being.”

The bewildered hero stared wide-eyed, utterly unable to comprehend what the dragon was saying.

But a rumor may have been confirmed at this moment.

"The Great Red Dragon is insane."

But at this moment, the great red dragon frowned, seemingly a little unhappy.

"No, no, no, that's so rude! How could you think like that? I'm perfectly normal, completely normal. I'm a guardian of civilization, a human being who loves intelligent beings the most, and a regular dragon who loves humans the most."

Okay, it seems she really is insane.

"And although I am the Great Red Dragon, I am not only the Great Red Dragon; the Great Red Dragon is only a part of me."

Lena instinctively stepped back. This guy has completely gone mad. Such terrifying power has actually been wielded by a madman.

The dragon sighed. It seemed impossible to communicate with someone who hadn't even finished elementary school. He decided to just talk about interests.

"Snapped!"

The dragon clapped his hands, and a mirror appeared before him.

One of them was a young male lizardman who was resting during his journey. He looked exhausted and had wounds on his body.

His eyes were lifeless, and he had been in a coma ever since the "evil dragon" regained consciousness.

"Let me see. Hmm, what a coincidence, 'I' am just about to head to the kingdom, and there's an engagement? Interesting, but too weak, too weak. Let me calculate what he's about to encounter."

The dragon narrowed his eyes, and the next moment, he burst out laughing.

"It's actually a fairly happy ending? It's just a shame that the son-in-law is such a jerk. In the end, the two decided to serve the royal family and perish with the kingdom. Did they die together after their wedding in dire straits? She was such a good girl, it's a pity I didn't get to see her dragon descendant."

The dragon laughed, turned to the hero, and cheerfully recounted the nightmarish end.

"Radiant City will be destroyed in two years. It will serve as the fuse that ignites the complete collapse of the kingdom, leading to civil war and foreign invasion. Everyone will be plunged into a new nightmare. Within twenty years, the population will be reduced to only about 4% of what it was before, and the royal family will be wiped out. This is the fate your kingdom is destined to suffer."

The dragon's eyes saw through everything and proclaimed this terrible end to the hero.

"But you are indeed a bit lucky. You seized even a 0.0003% chance. I can awaken 'me' and make 'me' a pawn to interfere with a doomed fate."

In the dragon's eyes, the chain of cause and effect has been re-established.

Under normal circumstances, one's own rules should not be forcibly interfered with. Currently, there are no clauses that meet the criteria for a fully conscious state, and he hopes to never activate the final clause in his lifetime.

However, the source of this cause and effect lies with Lex (the sleeping reincarnation of the Thousand-Faced Dragon), and the cause and effect between him and her led to this low-probability pursuit. This cause and effect has awakened him again, and he has the possibility of interfering once more.

"A miracle, a miracle of humanity." There is nothing shameful about the desire to survive and the desire for the kingdom's revival. This desire was traced back to its source, and the existence that might save the kingdom was found.

Therefore, as a goal pursued by human nature, one should respond to this "miracle".

"The 'I' that has been awakened is still only a possibility. 'I' may save the kingdom, or I may destroy everything, and as the price for awakening 'me' ahead of time, you must sacrifice everything."

It remains just a possibility, yet it requires a person's entire life and everything.

The heroine Lena will cease to exist; her remarkable life after the fall of the kingdom will come to an end.

“I’m willing! Even if it’s only a possibility.” Lena answered without hesitation.

Thus, the female warrior became a sacrifice, an offering to awaken the "dragon".

The scene in the mirror changed again, and blood and flesh gradually appeared on the "boy's" body.

He appeared to be bleeding from all seven orifices, and his soul and flesh had been extracted.

And a new individual, a seemingly adult male individual, takes shape in his body!

"Snapped!"

The lizardman boy fell to the ground, indifferent to life or death; he was merely an empty shell.

The dream began to fade, and the man regained his senses.
"Oh, right, there's still a little trouble to deal with."

With another snap of the fingers, the awakened "Li Ensu" was eliminated.

The fragments of Rean's memories will infect his complete personality; the Thousand-Faced Dragon in his conscious state does not need any extra impurities.

And these were also taken, along with the offerings of the hero Lena.

The "evil dragon" gradually became transparent. Now that the real dragon had awakened, his virtual personality as a great red dragon would have to fall asleep again.

"and this."

The book swallowed the bound Lena whole and was thrown into the mirror, landing with a thud on the cave floor.

And just as the dragon was about to fall into a deep slumber.
"Hehe." Amidst the laughter, a snake's tail suddenly extended.

Right before the Great Red Dragon's eyes, it took away a part of it—a part that belonged to Rean and a part that belonged to Lena!
"Snake!" The enraged red dragon spewed flames, piercing through space and time, but the snake had already made its escape!
(End of this chapter)