I Raised A Black Dragon

“…Okay. I promise” Kyle Leonard responded a beat late and then pushed Park Noah down the hall. Not long after, she began to trudge across the corridor after narrowing her eyes at the butler. 

You better keep your promise.

When she was quite far away, Kyle Leonard faced the other side of the corridor. 

“I have to hurry. It must be between three or five in the morning.” Park Noah muttered, biting her bottom lip, and hastened her steps across the hall. She had spent too much time down below. 

As she walked, she thought of Kyle Leonard. He was a type of investigator that wouldn’t disregard the tiniest details. Once he had a suspicion, he was certain to confirm it, even if it meant he would have to go to extreme lengths just to do so. However, he never neglected the public’s safety in doing an operation. 

He didn’t elaborate his situation to Park Noah, assuring her there was no problem, but she wasn’t a fool either. There was one reason why Kyle Leonard couldn’t climb up after her even though there was a way to trap his opponent in an enclosed space.

Two of the ten mana vessels had already been broken. Kyle Leonard urgently needed to stop the ship, but what if the remaining culprits underneath could still overload its power? The result was obvious: a major explosion.

It was clear what would happen if the ship’s engine were to explode in the middle of a vast sea.

Park Noah could vividly recall Lenia’s words, saying she wouldn’t want to be buried here. It was evident that she already knew as soon as she got on board that someone had already put a spell on the ship and that someone who was in control had been hiding in the mana operating room.

Still, Park Noah had faith in Kyle Leonard’s skills. Her head said he wouldn’t fail to subdue the criminal. Strangely, however, her instinct flashed a red light. 

No, Noah. There’s something more. There’s something I can’t miss…

Even as she was rushing across the hall, her head was spinning. Kyle Leonard was an excellent marksman. He didn’t miss his targets. 

But of course, in the present case, it is presumed that his accuracy would drop considering he was against plenty of enemies. The bullet holes that Park Noah had discovered on one of the mana vessels were likely missed shots. 

What about the bullet in the scrap metal that Mu dragged along?

There was no place in the mana operating room for scraps of metal to fall off. Hence, it was safe to assume that Kyle Leonard had not missed a target, but had intended to shoot to the metal in the first place. 

“Mu, were there a lot of other pieces of scrap that you found earlier?”

“Yes, I haven’t seen it all, but a lot. Some were long, some were short, some were just a finger. Even some were completely shattered.”

“Kyle must have shot it, right?”

The child nodded. Meanwhile, Park Noah was still deep in her thoughts. So, what did Kyle find and try to destroy? What was he threatened with?”

“There were traces of mana.” Muell added after hesitating for a while. 

“Oh, magic… Maybe it was a mechanical device that went back to the mana.”

They turned to a corner, with Park Noah organizing in her head the questions she would ask Kyle Leonard when they met again. 

At a distance, there was a staircase just as Kyle Leonard had said. Park Noah headed to the stairs in a hurry. However, they were stopped by an invisible barrier.

“What is this?”

Muell immediately extended his hand to the wall but was blocked as well. He then jumped off Park Noah’s arms and began to fiddle around the invisible wall, circulating around the stairs.

“…Ugh.” Park Noah’s chest throbbed and ached. Although it was calmer than before, she still felt like her heart was about to burst, and the medicine would still take long to take effect. In the first place, the medicine was only a stopgap measure.

She watched as Muell fumbled on the barrier, inwardly swearing at Lenia. The more Muell touched, the barrier turned black. It seemed to cover the entire entrance to the staircase.

“Can you do it?”

“I can do it…” Muell trailed off, looking up at her with anxious eyes. Then, he whispered.

“I don’t know if Noah will be okay.”

“It’s all right.” She answered firmly. “Even if it’s not okay, it’ll be fine as soon as we get up there. Release it, Mu.”