My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon - Chapter 79

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈

Chapter 79: Bellium’s Lingering Will

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The radiance that began to bloom from the doorknob spread through the surrounding area in an instant, like ink dispersing through water.

The moment I saw it, I called out to Adil excitedly.

“Adil, it’s the radiance! The one mentioned in that passage from the ancient text!”

“R-Really? But I can’t see anything...!”

“Yes! There’s definitely something in there!”

Judging by Adil’s reaction, it seemed he could not see this radiance either.

Just like the radiance I had seen before, this one appeared to be visible only to me.

It was not merely visible. The dazzling radiance made it difficult even to keep my eyes open.

The light filling the entire space soon began to wrap around my body.

Perhaps because its source was there, this light stabbing at my eyes was brighter than any radiance I had seen before.

Maybe that was why I could feel an intense dragon’s aura flowing through my entire body.

In this state, I could not only use Dragon Speech freely, but perhaps even open that door with it.

[Open.]

Filled with anticipation, I used Dragon Speech and pulled the doorknob with all my strength.

But.

No matter how many times I tried, the door showed no sign of opening.

Instead, the more I tried to open it, the more pain began to shoot through my fingertips, as though they were being scorched.

It felt as if some unknown presence beyond the door was warning me not to enter.

At first, I refused to give up and kept trying to open the door. Eventually, overcome with frustration, I asked Adil’s permission and struck the door with the Dragon Bone Sword as hard as I could.

Still, the door did not budge.

The burning pain only grew stronger.

If it would not open even with Dragon Speech and the Dragon Bone Sword, then nothing I did would make any difference.

As disappointing as it was, I had no choice but to give up.

“Haah...”

The moment I let go, the sharp pain in my fingertips vanished as though it had never existed.

How futile.

There was surely something beyond that door that could answer my questions, yet I had to leave it behind and walk away.

With a heavy heart, I let out a sigh.

Then, just as I was wondering what to do next.

The radiance that had filled the room gathered into a single point and began to take the form of a tiny fairy.

“...!”

Startled, my legs gave out, and I dropped to the floor. Adil rushed over in alarm and helped me up.

“Are you all right? What on earth happened...?”

“J-Just a moment.”

Adil waited anxiously for my answer, but I was in no condition to answer him.

‘Where did that come from?’

The fairy, giving off a clear, beautiful light, looked like a young boy.

He was only a little bigger than my fist.

Could this fairy be a messenger sent by the unknown presence beyond that door to tell me something?

“Adil, can you see this fairy?”

I asked him just in case.

“A fairy?”

As expected, it seemed the fairy was visible only to me.

I briefly described the fairy’s appearance to Adil.

Once he heard the description, Adil could barely contain his excitement.

“Could the fairy you are seeing be a messenger Bellium secretly left here?”

“A messenger from Bellium...”

Now that I thought about it, the theory was not completely implausible.

If Bellium had something to pass on to future generations, leaving it behind this way would not be particularly strange.

When I nodded, Adil excitedly began listing more possibilities.

“It may be another lingering will of Bellium that has never been discovered. Or perhaps, just perhaps, Bellium may have manifested in person!”

Though there was no way to prove any of those theories right away, Adil bounced with excitement, saying this might be an incredible discovery.

Perhaps amused by Adil’s reaction, the fairy gave a faint smile.

In any case.

There was only one way to find out whether the theories were right or wrong.

I approached the fairy, crouched down, and looked into his eyes.

“Who are you?”

Instead of answering, the fairy gave an unreadable smile, then gestured for me to follow and flew off somewhere.

“Adil, the fairy is moving. I think we should follow him!”

“Yes!”

Adil hurriedly gathered his things and followed after me.

As we walked, Adil could not hide his excitement at the thought that we might witness the historic moment of Bellium’s manifestation.

The fairy even looked back from time to time, as if checking that I was still following.

And finally.

The fairy stopped.

He had led me to...

“Adil, is this...?”

“The passage leading to the lowest level, where Bellium’s remains are kept.”

Could this really be a coincidence?

No, it could not be.

“I had planned to show you this place last, after we looked around everywhere else...”

Adil put his hands on his hips and let out a strained groan.

“Since we have come this far, we should change our plans and visit the lowest level where Bellium’s remains are enshrined first. We were going there anyway. However, this place is also protected by layers of security magic, so it will take at least several minutes just to dispel the magic and open the door.”

Just as Adil said, a magic circle so complex and difficult that it made my head ache blocked the passage down to the lowest level.

Considering that the place where the holy relics were stored had also been covered in layers of magic circles, it was not surprising.

Adil had said that an artifact serving as a pass was necessary to enter.

But that was not all.

The magic circle here was far more intricate and complex than the ones elsewhere, so even with the artifact, it would take several minutes just to dispel it.

While Adil searched through his bag for the artifact used to disable the security.

The fairy suddenly reached out toward the magic circle.

The moment he did, an opening large enough for one or two people appeared in the magic circle as though it were nothing.

“Where did I put it...?”

Even now, Adil was so busy searching for the artifact that he missed the incredible sight.

“Adil. Adil!”

Excitedly, I called to him and pointed at the already dispelled magic circle.

“Good heavens, what is this...?”

Adil trembled as goosebumps rose on his skin.

“T-That cannot be opened so easily...”

Adil muttered blankly.

But regardless of how difficult it should have been to dispel the magic circle, the way to the lowest level was already open.

“Let’s go for now.”

I took the hesitant Adil and followed the fairy down the path ahead.

After descending the long, narrow passage for some time, I finally reached the lowest level of the secret Sanctuary.

It was a massive space that looked at least ten times the size of a soccer field.

And in the center lay Bellium’s skeleton.

“Ah...”

A gasp escaped me as I stood before the enormous skeleton.

Its size alone was overwhelming, but that was not the only overwhelming thing about it.

Perhaps it had been preserved well, or perhaps dragon bones possessed something humans did not.

As I looked at Bellium’s remains, I could feel an indescribably majestic and overpowering aura.

Standing beside me, Adil looked at Bellium’s skeleton with tears welling in his eyes.

“Perhaps because it has been so long since I last saw Bellium, I feel deeply moved.”

Though he had seen it several times before, the awe he had felt then had clearly not faded.

“At the same time, I am also looking forward to this. According to the ancient text, Bellium must have waited for countless years to meet you, Minjun.”

“That makes me feel strange.”

“Come to think of it, where is the fairy now?”

Adil asked about the fairy that had guided us here, the one only I could see.

“Now that you mention it...”

He had definitely been here just moments ago, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Where did he go?”

Then.

A light very similar to the radiance I had witnessed was shining from Bellium’s skull.

The radiance leaking from inside the hollow skull looked almost like an eye that had suddenly opened wide and was emitting light.

Before I could say anything, Adil pointed at it first.

“Could that be...!”

“Can you see that light?”

From the first time I witnessed the radiance until now, Adil had said that no one in Elysium had been able to see it.

But.

Judging by Adil’s reaction, he could see it clearly now.

“Of course! That is the lingering will of Bellium I told you about!”

“T-That light?”

At last, the identity of the radiance had been revealed.

“That is correct!”

Like a devout worshipper meeting the god they worshipped, Adil dropped to his knees and prayed toward Bellium’s skeleton, tears gathering in his eyes.

“Ah, Bellium! Our father, our savior, our eternal friend!”

How overwhelmed he must have been.

“Adil, that beautiful light is the same one I said only I could see.”

“...Ahhh!”

Ecstasy. Surprise.

Adil’s eyes widened.

Then.

“If that is true, perhaps you may be able to hear Bellium’s message?”

Before we came to the Sanctuary, Adil had told me that Bellium’s lingering will remained here, but it was so faint that communicating with it was practically impossible.

This time, however, it might be possible.

“Then I’ll give it a try.”

I stared at the radiance shining from the skull like an eye and slowly moved closer, as though meeting its gaze.

The closer I came, the brighter the radiance became, if only little by little.

At the same time, my heart felt as though it might burst, and my entire body felt like it was boiling in a furnace.

At that moment, I knew.

Whatever it was, I would gain something meaningful here.

Before I knew it, I was standing right in front of the skeleton.

Thump-thump-thump!

My pulse began racing almost madly, as though it had reached its limit. When I came to my senses and looked down, my entire body was wrapped in radiance bright enough to blind.

As if I had been bewitched, I unknowingly reached out toward Bellium’s skeleton.

I should have asked Adil first whether it was all right to touch these sacred remains, but I did not even have time to consider it.

Without realizing it, I had reached toward it.

And the moment my hand touched the skeleton.

An unknown light began to pour out from my body.

However, that light was slightly different from Bellium’s.

If Bellium’s light was a blinding, magnificent supernova.

The light coming from my body was like the Milky Way.

It was like a Milky Way formed from pitch-black space and gathered starlight.

Then, immediately afterward.

Something I could not tell whether it was a hallucination began unfolding before me.

It was the form of a dragon, one that appeared to be Bellium in life.