Summoner Online: I Became the Tutorial Boss with a 999+ Villainess-Chapter 97: Do you remember me, Dear Dragon?

"Before we proceed, I want to commend you."

Fanny blinked.

"Your performance against the human army was exceptional. You held your ground against Sir X and Sandra, two of the Duke’s strongest combatants, and you did so without sustaining any lasting damage. That is no small feat."

Fanny’s face turned an even deeper shade of red. She opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. Instead, the teddy bear in her grasp suddenly jerked to life.

"See?! I told you he would praise us! I told you, I told you, I told you! The Supreme One recognizes greatness when he sees it!"

Fanny quickly shoved the bear behind her back, but it was too late.

Kai chuckled softly.

"In any case, you have earned something the others do not yet have."

Her eyes widened.

"From this point forward, you are free to roam all floors of the dungeon as you please. You are not bound to any single floor like the other Pillars. Consider it a reward for your service."

Fanny stood there, frozen, as though the words had short-circuited something inside her brain.

The teddy bear poked its head out from behind her back.

"She is crying. She won’t say it, but she is absolutely crying right now."

"I-I am not!" Fanny whipped around, wrestling with the bear.

Kai let the moment linger for a second before his expression shifted back to business. He turned his gaze toward the far end of the chamber, where the four dragon corpses lay in a row.

"Now then. Let us discuss why I am really here."

He walked past Fanny and approached the bodies, stopping directly in front of the Blue Dragon.

It was the largest of the four, its sapphire-colored scales now faded to a pale, almost grey-blue.

Its body was riddled with the evidence of their fight. Cracked scales, shattered horns, a wing that had been nearly torn off at the joint.

Kai crouched down beside it, resting his hand on the dragon’s cold snout.

’These four were Level 350 Calamities. In terms of raw materials, their bodies are worth a fortune. Dragon scales can be forged into high-tier armor. Their bones make excellent weapon cores. Their blood is a catalyst for advanced potions and enchantments. And their mana organs can power entire cities.’

He paused, his fingers tracing the ridge above the dragon’s closed eye.

’But materials can be gathered over time. A living dragon, on the other hand, is irreplaceable.’

He stood and turned to face Fanny.

"I intend to resurrect one of them."

Fanny’s eyes widened, and this time, the surprise was genuine enough that even the teddy bear went silent.

"The remaining three will be processed for materials. Teriam will handle that. But this one," he gestured to the Blue Dragon, "will serve a different purpose."

’The Dungeon’s Death Creation allows me to revive any being that has been marked as a resident of my dungeon. These dragons were not residents when they died, but their corpses have been sitting inside my domain for days now. With the Residence blessing, marking them is simple enough.’

He opened his system interface.

[Blessing: Residence has been activated.]

A faint blue glow pulsed from Kai’s palm and seeped into the dragon’s body, spreading across its scales like veins of light before fading.

’Good. Now for the hard part.’

[Dungeon’s Death Creation has been activated.]

[Warning: Reviving a Calamity-class entity requires significant mental fortitude. Proceed?]

’Yes.’

The moment he confirmed, a crushing weight slammed into his mind.

It felt like someone had wrapped a steel chain around his skull and was slowly tightening it.

His vision blurred for a split second, and a thin trickle of dark mana leaked from the corner of his eye before he blinked it away.

’Tch. This is heavier than I expected. The monsters I revived after the Goblin incident were all below Level 100. This thing is Level 350. The mental cost is... considerable.’

He gritted his teeth and pushed through it.

The chamber trembled.

A deep, resonant hum filled the air as mana surged from the dungeon’s core, funneling into the Blue Dragon’s body like a river finding its course.

The dull, ashen scales began to regain their color, shifting from grey back to a deep, vibrant sapphire.

Cracks in its bones sealed themselves with audible snaps. The torn wing membrane knitted together, fiber by fiber.

The shattered horn atop its skull regenerated, spiraling upward until it gleamed under the dim torchlight.

Then, the dragon’s chest expanded.

One breath. Slow and ragged.

Then another.

And then its eyes snapped open.

Two massive, golden irises stared up at the ceiling, wild and unfocused. The dragon’s pupils were slits, contracting and dilating rapidly as its brain tried to catch up with the fact that it was, impossibly, alive.

[The Blue Dragon has been revived under the Dungeon’s Death Creation.]

[Species: Blue Calamity Dragon]

[Level: 350]

[Status: Confused. Hostile.]

The last word barely registered in Kai’s mind before the dragon moved.

With a deafening roar that shook the walls of the chamber and sent dust cascading from the ceiling, the Blue Dragon lurched upward.

Its massive body twisted violently, its tail sweeping across the floor and smashing into the stone wall hard enough to leave a crater.

Its golden eyes locked onto the nearest figure, Kai, and its jaws opened wide, blue flames already gathering at the back of its throat.

It remembered nothing but fear and rage.

The last thing this creature recalled was being enslaved, forced to fight, and then beaten to death by a man whose power it could not comprehend.

And now it was awake, cornered, and terrified.

It chose violence.

The blue flames erupted from its mouth in a concentrated beam aimed directly at Kai’s chest.

Fanny moved before the fire could cross half the distance.

She appeared in front of Kai like a blur, her body shifting mid-step as her right arm distorted and expanded into its monstrous form.

The massive, scaled limb absorbed the full brunt of the dragon’s breath attack without so much as a flinch.

The flames scattered against her palm, dissipating into harmless sparks that rained down on either side of her.

But Fanny was not satisfied with merely blocking the attack.

"You dare..."

Her voice came out low, barely a whisper, but it carried more weight than any scream could.

"You dare try to harm the Supreme One?"

Before the dragon could even register her words, Fanny’s monstrous arm swung sideways with terrifying speed.

The back of her massive hand connected with the side of the dragon’s skull.

CRACK!

The Blue Dragon’s head snapped to the right, its entire body following as it was launched off its feet and sent crashing into the far wall.

The impact shattered the stone behind it, and the dragon crumpled to the ground, dazed and whimpering.

Fanny’s arm trembled with anger. Her pale blue eyes had shifted to a darker shade, and the mana leaking from her form was dense enough to distort the air around her.

She took a step toward the fallen dragon, her intent clear.

"Fanny."

Kai’s voice cut through the tension like a blade.

She stopped.

"Stand back."

"But Master, it tried to—"

"I know what it tried to do. Stand back."

Fanny’s jaw tightened. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to finish the creature off. A mere Level 350 beast had dared to attack her Master in her presence.

The insult alone was enough to warrant erasure.

But Kai had given an order.

She retracted her monstrous arm, the dark flesh shrinking back into her normal limb, and stepped aside with visible reluctance.

"...As you wish."

Kai walked forward, stepping over the debris that Fanny’s strike had scattered across the floor.

The Blue Dragon lay on its side, its chest heaving as it struggled to breathe. One of its horns had cracked again from the impact, and a thin stream of blue blood trickled from the corner of its mouth.

But its eyes were open. Wide and terrified.

It stared at Kai as he approached, its pupils dilating with every step he took.

The dragon’s body was trembling from the overwhelming presence it could sense radiating from the dark, mist-like figure standing before it.

’Good. Fear is good. Fear is the foundation of obedience. And obedience is the first step toward loyalty.’

Kai stopped just a few feet away from the dragon’s face.

He looked at the creature for a long, silent moment.

Then, without saying a word, he activated his transformation.

The dark mist that cloaked his body began to recede.

The shadowy tendrils pulled inward, condensing and reshaping until what stood before the dragon was no longer the ethereal, glowing-eyed entity known as the Shadow of Victims.

In its place stood a man.

A human man, tall and composed, dressed in sharp black clothes with a simple black mask covering his face. His posture was relaxed, his hands tucked casually into his pockets.

The transformation was seamless, and the shift in the atmosphere was instant.

The Blue Dragon’s reaction was immediate.

Its golden eyes, which had been filled with primal terror just moments ago, suddenly widened with a different kind of fear.

Recognition.

The dragon’s pupils shrank to pinpoints as its gaze locked onto the mask.

aIt had seen this man before.

It had seen this man standing on top of the pile of dragon corpses in the burning ruins of Rambosa, seated on the head of the Red Dragon like it was a chair, looking down at the screaming humans below with the same calm indifference he displayed right now.

This was the man who had killed them all.

The Blue Dragon’s mouth opened, but no fire came out this time.

Instead, what escaped was a sound no Calamity-class monster should ever make.

A whimper.

Kai looked down at the trembling beast, his expression hidden behind the mask, but his voice carried clearly through the chamber.

"Do you remember me?"