Chương 112: Chapter 110: Baiting Dragons

Once the wagon is full to overflowing, we push it back onto the road. In retrospect, it would've been smarter to put it back on the road before we loaded up with all the extra weight, but we didn't think of that in time. We got the wagon full and got it onto the road. That's really what matters. Then, just as she said she would, El started pulling the wagon, basically putting herself in the horse's position and dragging the wagon down the road. The wagon itself, filled as it is, probably weighs close to two tons.

It's easier to move being on wheels, but it's still super impressive, tantamount to El dragging a car down the road. As we walk, I keep my eyes on the sky, hoping we'll see a dragon flying by and this will only take us a few minutes. But of course, nothing is that easy, so we end up walking down the road, pulling the wagon for several hours. El and Ash end up switching places to give El a bit of a break, and I'm starting to wonder if it's going to be my turn soon when we finally do see a dragon flying towards us.

I don't know how good their vision is. Just in case, I wave with both of my arms, trying to get the dragon's attention. I gesture to the wagon and then try to wave it closer. The dragon circles around us a few times, gradually getting closer and bleeding off altitude as it tries to decide what to do with us. I'm sure it's contemplating using its breath weapon on us, but I really hope that it doesn't. We've all got our Shells up, so I doubt it will do all that much, but the principle of the thing still stands.

I don't want to get fire breathed on me. And I'm guessing it would be fire. The dragon is as crimson red as the demons were, shining in the sunlight and absolutely unmistakeable. When it finally circles close enough, I get a good look and actually identify the dragon. Red dragon. Legendary Special dragon, level 50. HP: 250, 000/250, 000.

"Hello there great one!" I shout as it gets close.

"We were hoping to be able to talk to you." The dragon circles again. I think it's looking around to see if this is some kind of ambush. Interesting that it would be so worried, given the massive hit points it has. This dragon is orders of magnitude stronger than Wrax, but it's way more cautious than he ever was. Eventually, the dragon seems to decide that it's safe to land, and it settles down in front of us, blocking our path. It's huge, so big that it would block traffic on a four lane highway.

So big that it can probably carry our wagon in one set of claws, leaving the other set free to do what it wants to. So big that it's eye is about the same size as my torso.

"You speak my tongue," it says. The words don't sound surprised, impressed, or worried. It's just stating facts.

"And you carry a dragon forged blade. Speak, mortal." I knew the blade would come in handy.

"My name is Caleb," I say.

"Caleb Strong."

"My name is Balak," the dragon says.

"Balak also strong." I shake my head.

"No, that's not what I mean. Sorry. Strong is my surname. I wasn't just claiming to be strong."

"Yet you are," the dragon says.

"Presumably. Your women friends are doing the job of a pack horse. Does that mean you are all stronger than most adventurers?" Balak is already a few steps ahead of me.

"Yes it does," I say.

"We've been through a few training cycles with another dragon, called Wrax."

"Wrax?" Balak says.

"I know Wrax. Is he still convinced that the god slayer is going to start coming for the dragons?"

"Yes," I say.

"In a nutshell, that's exactly what he's worried about. Are you not?"

"I am a mighty dragon," Balak says.

"I am nearly a god myself. What fear would I have of one mortal?" Balak looks at the three of us.

"Or three of them."

"Do you know about the loophole that allows us to grow to immense power?" I ask them.

"I do. The god slayer, presumably, has been through that loophole many times. Have you?"

"Enough times," I say.

"Then you are nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you noticed any changes that happen to you as you die?" Balak asks.

"Changes to your personalities, to your connection with the world."

"What're they saying?" Ash asks.

"Apologies," Balak says, raising a claw the size of a tool shed.

"I will speak in your tongue so that your companions understand me as well. I was asking if you had noticed any changes in the core of your being as you go through the death cycles."

"I knew it!" El says, slapping Ash across the shoulder.

"And you wanted to keep going."

"I have noticed that we seem to be more and more of this world the more often we die," I say.

"But I don't see how that would mean that we are nothing to worry about."

"It's a subtle change," Balak says.

"But the more you do it, the more connected to this world you become. The more one of us you become."

"One of you?" Ash asks.

"Like a dragon?"

"You can only aspire to such things," Balak says.

"No, I mean a native to this world. One who has a vested interest in its continued existence." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"We had a vested interest in its continued existence before we went through the death cycles," I say.

"Our old world is destroyed; this is the only world we have now."

"You certainly seem to believe that," Balak says.

"But how true is it? How much of this feeling did you have when you first came to this world? Were you invested in saving the world, or were you just trying to survive and learn about this new world?"

"Are you saying that the god slayer won't kill any more gods because they don't want to destroy the world?" I ask. I hope I'm jumping forward in this conversation. I don't want to go over the stuff we've already considered, even if Balak is confirming the truth about our suspicions.

"I think it is incredibly unlikely that the god slayer will do anything that might harm this world," Balak says.

"Though I do think there is a good chance that she will want to slay the three of you, until she knows that you have no intention of harming the gods either."

"I knew it was a she!" El says, pumping her fist.

"Two for two."

"Wait, why would she want to kill us?" I ask.

"You say you have been through the cycle of death and rebirth several times. There is a threshold. Once you have been through the cycle enough times, you will be firmly a member of this world. Your ties to your old world will dissolve into memory. You won't care that your old world is gone." I didn't care that our old world was gone before it ended. I've been having trouble with the world for a long time before it ended. If anything, the end of the world was a relief.

But is that really how I felt, or do I just remember feeling that way?

"So we become protectors of the world the more times we resurrect?" Ash asks.

"Precisely so," Balak says.

"It is subtle at first. You know that you are no longer the same species you were in your old world. But as you become more and more one of us, that other side of you will take over in more and more obvious ways. You will become more real than you had been before, and it will change your very opinions on the world." I did feel weird harvesting those giants. Weird enough that I didn't do it. Is that what Balak is talking about? I wanted to defend Elmspire from invasion.

Was that because I've gone native, because Elmpsire is the closest thing I have to a home, or just because my friends were there? Was it coincidence?

"How do you know this?" I ask.

"How do you know this isn't just a single case based on limited evidence? I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm really happy to learn that the god slayer, whoever she is, isn't looking to destroy the world. But how do you know that isn't just her choice? How do you know that she is actually changed by all those death cycles?"

"Because we reincarnate," Balak says.

"That is how we become gods. Wrax does not know this, because he does not remember. But we become gods through our deaths and rebirths."

"So all the gods are dragons who died a whole bunch of times?" Ash asks. Balak shakes their head.

"Not precisely. Dragon form is one step in our cycle. God form is another. We are called minor gods because we can be killed. And when we are, we are reborn once again as dragons. Younger, smaller, weaker. We don't always remember much from our prior lives. As I said, we reincarnate. We do not resurrect. Some day, I will die. And I will be reborn as a god. Eventually, even that god will die, and will be reborn as a dragon. Potentially one who is worried about the other gods being killed."

"What?" I ask.

"Wrax is worried about the other gods being killed because of how he died the last time around. He fears that his death will not be the only death among our kind, and fears what will happen if the pattern continues."

"Are you saying," I scratch my cheek, rubbing the stubble there.

"Are you saying that Wrax used to be a god?"

"I am saying that Wrax was a god until about a week before the last of the humans from your world entered this realm," Balak says.

"Did you three go through the tutorial level without a god? Then you are the three that Wrax failed in his former life."

"Wrax was the tutorial god?" El asks.

"That's. That's kinda cool."

"Explains why he was so eager to help us," Ash says.

"Something that lingered from his last life."

"Gods die," Balak says.

"Same as anything else. It is part of the cycle. Just as I will someday die, so too will all the minor gods. Only the greater gods escape that fate. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure that's true. I would not be surprised to find that the greater gods are part of an even greater cycle themselves."

"So that's why no one knows how many minor gods there are," I say. I didn't exactly check on that information; I didn't talk to any religious figures or scholars to find out. Maybe someone does know the exact number of minor gods.

"There are theories," Balak says, "that it is possible for outsiders like you to become gods yourselves. That, I believe, is what the god slayer is doing."

"She's trying to become a god?" El asks.

"Maybe that's what the greater god cycle is," Ash says.

"Maybe you have to be an adventurer to become a greater god."

"But then wouldn't the greater gods have to die to become adventurers?" I ask.

"Not necessarily," Balak says.

"There are only five major gods. Maybe they become something else after their cycle. Maybe it is very, very rare for an outworlder to become a major god. Maybe it has only happened five times."

"I suppose that's possible. Does every dragon become a minor god?" I ask.

"No," Balak says.

"That takes dedication, power, and the right death."

"What's the right death?" El asks.

"A mighty battle might do it," Balak says.

"If the three of you were able to slay me in a fight, then I might ascend. But it would have to be a very intense, very protracted battle."

"How protracted?" I ask.

"How long would it take you to deal enough damage to kill me?" Balak asks. They settle down onto the road, crossing their front arms and laying their massive head on top of them.

"If I did nothing to defend myself, how long would it take you just to deal the damage?" Based on how long it took us to kill the giants?

"Twenty minutes, maybe," I say.

"Depends on if you really did nothing to defend yourself."

"You are powerful," Balak says.

"And how many times would you need to strike me to make that happen?" With my bow, I can do it a lot faster. But let's stick to the sword. My sword will do about five hundred damage per hit on average. And that's if I don't use any abilities. So to do two hundred and fifty thousand damage, I would need to strike Balak five hundred times, give or take. At my fastest, that would take me eight solid minutes of attacking. So probably less than twenty minutes.

But that's assuming that Balak did nothing to protect themself. No dodging, no healing, no spells of any kind.

"I would need maybe five hundred strikes," I say.

"If we were to battle, you would need to be able to survive at least a hundred of my strikes in that time," Balak says.

"Do you think you'd be able to do that?" Wrax did about three thousand damage per strike. I'm guessing that Balak would do more. Let's say double. That means I'd have to survive six hundred thousand damage. I shake my head.

"Not a chance," I say.

"Not in that same time frame."

"So you are unlikely to be able to give me the kind of death I would require to ascend," Balak says.

"Though you are still rather impressive. Maybe the three of you together?" Before El can volunteer, I hold up a hand.

"So a dragon needs to die in a fair fight to become a god?"

"More or less," Balak says.

"Those who perish from the effects of the world in general do not become gods. No dragon who dies of old age ever becomes a god. They escape the cycle." Okay, so it's definitely possible for a dragon to not become a god.

"Do you really think the god slayer is looking to become a god?" I ask.

"She did seem to be on that path when I spoke to her," Balak says.