Chapter 10

The dragon had spoken in its native tongue, so only Theodore could hear what it was saying since he has the 'All-Speak' attribute, even Merlin with the 'Animal Empathy' skill couldn't understand its words, all that was heard from the dragon were broken growlings that slowly went silent.

[You killed a Red-Scaled Dragon. Gained 1 Million EXP.]

[Level Up! You're now Level 17!]

The ginger frowned as he turned towards him, clearly confused as to why he'd suddenly gone silent. "Theo?"

As his name was called, Theodore would snap out of his bewilderment and look at his friend. He didn't even have time to care about the level he'd gained.

"Ah…I'm okay. What happened anyway? I thought you were supposed to be at school." He decided to think about the dragon's words later since he had a more important matter at hand.

Merlin scratched the back of his head. "I teach 'Hunting' class, remember? I need to demonstrate the techniques so I figured the outer perimeter of Delphi was safe enough…"

Theodore glanced towards the six youngsters still shivering on the ground. "…To think a dragon would show up."

"Teacher!" A familiar voice sounded from behind him as the blonde teenager emerged from the bushes, his face red and sweaty from running. He continued to breathe heavily for a few seconds before his eyes landed on the red-scaled dragon's frozen body. "H—Huh? What's going on?"

"Atlas!" One of the dark-hair male students spoke as he got up, a sigh of relief escaping his bloody lips. "Thank god you're okay! That snake saved us!"

"???" The sandy-haired boy, Atlas, blinked at his friend with confusion. He shook his head with disbelief. "You mean…Mister Snake killed that dragon?"

"Yeah! It was so frickin' awesome! Our teacher has the coolest friend, I'm glad he's on our side!" The raven-hair turned to looked at the snake with a smile before bowing. "Thank you for saving us!"

Normally, Theodore couldn't care less about compliments, when he was still human, he used to be showered with sweet words from people hoping that he would protect them. It'd pretty much become the norm for him.

However, this was a totally different case, for once, those words sounded genuine. "…It's good that no one died." He didn't speak in the human language just yet and instead directed those words at Merlin, who was checking his students' injuries.

"Yeah…These will heal in just a few days or about a week."

When the teenagers had finally calmed down a little, they all turned towards Theodore with a relieved expression on their face. "Thank you, Mister Snake, you saved our lives!"

"His name's Theodore." Merlin suppressed a chuckle as he watched his students surround their savior. "You can pet him if you want."

"Hey!" Theo tried to protest, but it was already too late.

Almost instantly, the four girls of the student group dragged him out of the circle, their combined strength was enough to pull his large body with ease. The boys could only dumbfoundedly stare at their female classmates' sudden burst of power even while they were injured.

"Kya~! Can we really pet him?"

"Awe, his body is so soft!"

"Hey! Let me pet him too!"

Theodore didn't let them touch him for more than a few seconds though, as soon as he found the slightest opening, he used his speed to spring himself out of the trap before crashing into Merlin at full force. "Damn you Merlin! I'll kill you!"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" The red-hair's desperate cries didn't stop him from coiling around his body and constricting him, a pained wince escaped from the ginger's mouth as he shouted. "I yield! I yield! I'm sorry! Theo please!!!"

[You've successfully cleared the Hidden Quest: "This Snake can kill Dragons". Would you like to view your rewards?]

The System's voice made him stop trying to crush his friend into a pile of meat. He glanced towards the notification window that'd appeared next to his field of vision and was immediately intrigued.

"Lucky bastard." He muttered after giving Merlin a glare before slithering down his body.

The ginger began panting heavily as he clutched at his ribs. "Bro…Take a joke…"

"Shut up, you're not very smart for someone named after a wise man."

The students were laughing and talking to each other, it seemed that his arrival had caused a positive atmosphere despite them having just experienced a life-or-death situation. Either way, he was glad that they were all mentally okay. "Merlin, tell them to group up for me."

"Hm? Oh, um, okay? What are you going to do?"

"My fire can heal them, you go stand there too."

The ginger let out a sigh before clapping his hands loudly, gathering the attention of his students. "Hey, you guys! Gather around! Theodore will heal your wounds!"

"Oh? Teacher is still alive?"

"I thought Mister Theodore had already eaten him by now."

"Haha! He jumped him so fast I thought we wouldn't have hunting class again until they could find a substitute!"

Despite trash-talking their own teacher, they still did as they were told and gathered around in a group. It took a few minutes longer than expected since some were still limping from the wounds on their legs.

Once Theodore had seen that everyone, including Merlin, was within range of his skill. He took a deep breath and activated a Bloodline Skill.

[Divine Blaze]

[The Bloodline Skill had detected your intentions! You're rewarded with a new skill!]

[Uriel's Blessings.]

A column of pale yellow flame shot from his mouth and engulfed the surprised group from head to toe, the magnitute of this attack would've surely have the potential to burn down small forests.

But luckily for them, this fire wasn't meant to cause harm, instead, they would soon find out that their wounds had begun healing and the pain dissipated as if they were never there in the first place.

"This is…!"

"Hey! My legs feel fine now!"

"Healing magic? Mister Theodore can use healing magic too!?"

The cheerful exclaims of the students confirmed that his new skill was indeed working as intended. After a few more seconds, Theodore closed his mouth and the flames disperse into smaller sparks. The group of people that was once covered in blood and injuries no longer had any wounds on them.

The students began checking out their bodies and once they'd affirmed that they were indeed as healthy as they could be, they joyfully thanked him once again for helping them.

"…You're famous again." Merlin shook his head. "You were popular then and now you're popular again! What's your secret!?"

Theodore would've shrugged if he could, although he didn't say anything in return as his focus shifted towards the notification that'd rang out earlier. "System, show me the rewards for the hidden quest."

With that thought, a light panel appeared in front of him.

<<Hidden Quest: This Snake can kill Dragons

Difficulty: A

Status: Completed.

Details: [Unnecessary, but can be viewed.]

Rewards:

-A new Personal Attribute 'Greater than Dragons'

-Adds 10 Points to every Stats.>>

<<Personal Attribute: Greater than Dragons [NEW!]

Lvl. MAX (Can evolve into another skill)

Type: Passive Skill

Requirement for Upgrade: [Unknown]

Cooldown: None

Description: Even the mightiest of dragons fear the venom of the Serpent, your strength had shown these mythical beasts that even the ones they thought were as insignificant as bugs could rise to the top and slay dragons. With this attribute, your presence can cause fear and uneasiness to dragons while those who aren't your enemy will instead respect you. Your attacks will also deal more damage to anyone with draconian blood and you'll have a higher chance of victory when facing against them.>>

Theodore hummed quietly to himself as he scanned his eyes through the description. It wouldn't be as useful against anything else other than dragons, but since the System has hinted that they're amongst the most powerful out of all the other gate creatures, he doesn't mind having a possibly useful skill for the future.

"Merlin, tell the kids to keep my powers a secret." After things had calmed down, he could now properly think about what to do, since he'd shown his magic in front of outsiders, he needed to make sure the information didn't get out—especially to Rhys Griffins, as he could definitely recognize his magic.

Merlin nodded, seemingly understanding his reasons without needing to be told. "Hey guys! Please keep Theodore's strength a secret okay? Think of it as returning the favor."

The teens turned towards their teacher with a mocking smirk on their faces. "We know that! How can we betray our own savior?"

"Yeah! We don't want Mister Theodore to be captured by the government!"

"They'll freak the hell out if they find out about him!"

"Boo! Teacher, are you insulting our intelligence?"

The ginger's eyes widened with surprise at the sudden attack from his students, he put his hands out in front of him in a defensive gesture. "H—hey? I'm just making sure!"

"Making sure? Pfft. More like making excuses!"

"Right Mister Theodore? Our teacher's really lame!"

Of course, after Merlin had treated him like a pet snake, he frantically nodded at the kid's statements and immediately the whole group bursted into laughter, filling the entire area with a lively atmosphere.

Despite the festive mood, Theodore couldn't shake off the feeling of nervousness. He felt uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen, like how certain animals could sense a natural disaster before they occur.

He shook his head and tried to get rid of the negative thoughts, but in the end his mind couldn't help but wander to the red dragon's final words. "Who exactly am I fighting against here?"

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.

.

A middle-aged man stood with his backs against the wall, in his shaking hands gripped an old, short sword that's not been used in at least five years. He didn't bother maintaining it since the original owner had already passed away—and he didn't want to revisit the old, painful memories.

However, that very same sword became his only hope of survival.

"I might be seeing you again soon, son." He thought to himself before sucking in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and stabilize his hold on the weapon. "Ah…Damn, how can you do it?" It didn't help stop his racing heart at all and instead it might've caused him to tremble even more than before.

'Thump! Thud!'

The sound of footsteps came from outside of the room that he was hiding in—It was his son's bedroom—A small space meant for nothing more but studying and sleeping, the shelves were filled with dust-coated books and the walls hung pictures of him and his son, who had the same black hair and green eyes as him.

The man suppressed his emotions when his eyes had caught sight of those images, right now he had something else to worry about. He'd been thinking about escaping through the windows, but he was up on the fourth floor and jumping down from that height at his age would certainly not make things better.

'Thud!'

"Bro, be careful with the vase!"

"Sorry!"

A conversation between two younger men came from outside of the room. The man swallowed nervously as he carefully made his way over to the curtained window. He pushed away the fabric, letting the light of the evening flow into the room before sliding the glass door open.

"Sh*t…"

His green eyes looked down from the balcony, at the bottom was pure concrete and parked cars, there was nothing soft he could use to cushion his fall.

"Have you checked this room yet?!" A shout came from within the apartment, causing his eyes to widen with shock, he knew he didn't have much time left and contemplated his decision one last time.

He had to jump.

But where?

He wasn't an awakening, heck, he could barely lift anything heavier than a table these days. "So much for being an ex-soldier!" He thought bitterly to himself, but despite the lack of strength, the military training he'd received was still etched in his bones.

"A bush…anything!"

He could've used the fire escape stairs, although that was on the other side of the building, he would need to go out of the bedroom and run over there first.

But he doubts that he would be fast enough to outrun two awakens.

"Hey you!" A young man's voice spoke directly behind him and he momentarily froze.

Gritting his teeth, he began climbing over the railing. "You're not getting me today, son!"

"Stop!" After a panicked shout, something shaped like a dart shot towards him, but it was already too late, the old man threw himself over the balcony and immediately began to fall. "No!"

The short sword fell off his hand as he felt his back hit the hard concrete floor, causing a loud 'crack' to echo through the alleyway. Intense pain coursed through his body, but he couldn't move an inch as somehow he was still alive after such a fall. "F*ck!"

He thought he would die in an instant but now he would need to suffer the pain for a few more seconds before he could go, his back went numb from pain and time seemed to have significantly slowed down.

His emerald eyes stared up at the sky while a pained chuckle escaped his lips, the action caused him to choke up blood.

His mind wandered to the only thing he could think of; his son. Like how one's life flashes before their eyes, the first thing his mind wandered to was the old memories of him and the person he loved the most. "…I'll be seeing you soon."

…

The old man frowned as even after a minute had passed he was still alive. He soon realized that the pain from earlier had completely disappeared and the injuries from having his back and legs split apart by the impact had magically healed up.

His eyes widened at the miraculous sight as he slowly got up from the bloodied floor, picking up his short sword and stared at it. "This is…awakening?"

The process of a regular human becoming 'heroes' had already been described in detail by the media. Usually only 60% of people could awaken, but ever since the 'First Gate' incident, all of the heroes had spoken about their experience in a very similar matter.

'It's like gaining a chance to fulfill your wishes!'

'I didn't want to die, so I really didn't die! It was like a miracle!'

The old man didn't care about his life all that much, he'd been living alone ever since his son had passed away, and he'd already been prepared for his time to come.

He just didn't expect himself to die from a manhunt.

"I have no idea what they want from me…"

Either way, he could only guess that his desire to meet his son again had caused his awakening. However, if this power truly grants the wishes of humans, then why not let him die?

He didn't have much time to ponder about his questions right now as suddenly a loud shout was heard from above him. "He…! He's still alive!"

"Bro, what?" Another voice spoke. "Did he awaken? At this age?"

"It doesn't matter! It's good that he's not dead!"

The old man frowned. "So they want me alive…huh."

From his experience in the military, wanting a target alive would mean only one thing.

Interrogation.

As soon as he realized that, he didn't just idly stand there and wait for himself to get captured. He took a deep breath and immediately broke out into a sprint, running at the speed that even his top-soldier self couldn't compete with.

"Dude! He's getting away!"

"After him!"

A smile crept up his wrinkled face as the wind swept back his half-gray hair. It felt as if he was riding the fastest horse in the world. "So this is what being an awaken feels like!"

The strength and energy he once had during his primes flowed into him the moment he began running, now he knew why most heroes loved comparing their prowess with each other so much. "This power is addicting for sure."

However, with 56 years of experience under his belt, he wasn't going to lose himself in the awakened powers that easily, besides that, he'd served several years in the military and had seen first hand what 'authority' feels like, the strength coursing through his body at this moment is similar in one way or another.

He didn't even realize how far he'd run, when he'd finally stopped to look behind him, none of his pursuers were there, like they didn't follow him at all.

The old man was standing alone in an empty parking lot, leaving only a few people who'd started coming out of a building up ahead, it was some sort of company he didn't bother to read the name of.

Perplexed, he scratched the back of his head while looking in the direction where he'd ran from. "…Was I too fast for them?"

.

.

.

"He was too fast for us, sir!"

"That old man suddenly awakened! He seems to be at least C rank!"

"Quiet you idiots!" Rhys threw a glass of liquor towards the two young men. It immediately broke as soon as it hit one of them, causing sharp shards and drink to fly all over the two men, cutting their faces and arms which were subconsciously put up to block the glass. "You guys had one job! How hard is it to kidnap an old man?"

"S—Sir."

"Shut up!" The tanned pulled out a sheathed sword by his belt and pointed it towards the terrified lackies. "Get the f*ck out of my room and go do your job! The next time you enter my office you better have that man with you or else!"

"Yes…Yes sir!"

As the two men hurriedly left the room, Rhys put the sword back in its scabbard before making his way to sit down on the chair behind his desk. Seeing this opportunity, a butler that was standing by the door quickly went over to clean up the mess he'd made earlier.

"F*ck's sake…Not only that the bastard Theodore is back and now his dad awakened?" He leaned back against his seat, frowning as he closed his eyes. "Sh*t…Nothing is going as planned…"

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Theodore's father—Lawrence Varon—was sneaking around his apartment. He was being especially careful not to be seen by anyone, as currently he doesn't think that there's anyone that he could trust right now.

"At the very least, if I can't stay, I need to take as much money with me as possible." Lawrence thought as he moved closer to the apartment, his room was on the fourth floor, so he would need to either go through the front door or climb up the fire escape and enter through the window.

He obviously chose the latter choice, since the fire escape is located at the far side of the building, not many people would walk through this particular alleyway. With this plan in mind, he began scaling the stairs until he reached his destination.

"Hmp!" The former soldier easily leaped onto the balustrade before landing on the platform. "Ah, I can get used to this." He admired his newfound strength and dexterity for a moment before carefully peeking through the window to see if the two men had returned to ambush him.

After a minute of cautiously looking and listening for abnormality, Lawrence would finally feel comfortable enough to open the unlocked window and go into his apartment.

He immediately made a beeline for his safe and hidden boxes, taking out and stuffing as much money as he could into the pockets of a brown trenchcoat he'd picked up from his son's bedroom. He'd been wearing only a yellow shirt and pants so the extra coverage would be needed if he wanted to disappear from the enemy's radar.

It took a bit of time since he needed to carefully navigate through the messy apartment. Lawrence had struggled a bit with the two awakens, but luckily at that time he was cleaning up the place and happened to be holding his son's short sword, with a weapon in hand and military training that was stuck in his instincts, he could at the very least keep up with the low-rank heroes and buy just enough time to escape.

"Bless my military instructors."

After he was satisfied with the amount of cash he had on him, he grabbed an old fedora resting on a coat hanger and prepared to leave through the fire escape ladders.

Although, something from the corner of his eyes caught his attention, prompting him to stop in his tracks; It was a landline, next to it was a thick contact book that had been opened to a specific page. Usually he wouldn't leave it open like that, so out of curiosity, he walked towards it.

When he'd read the sole number on the page, he immediately had an idea.

After all, the name written next to the phone number was the only person that he knew he could possibly ask for help.

'Merlin Everhart'