Chapter 252: Sacrifice

"For the Kingdom, what are you willing to give?"

"Hero Laina is indeed me, but also not me. At least, not all of me. His story is real, and his life was too."

For those swept up by emotion, there is no talking. The Evil Dragon first sought to clear up some misunderstandings.

Hero Laina's life as a hero, from birth to death, was that of an ordinary human, a good person who lived out a complete life.

"This story probably starts way back in the Dragon Era. I know you have no interest in hearing me talk about the past, so I'll skip all of that. One must look forward. Due to the foolish actions of some fool, I am willing to make some amends, but interfering with fate requires a price, and I cannot pay that price."

But perhaps he had been holding it in too long, or perhaps he had seen through everything, knowing Laina could not leave with her memories, the Evil Dragon appeared remarkably patient and talkative.

Although they had not spent much time together, Laina already had a deep understanding of the dragon's twisted sense of humor.

"If you are willing to let go of me, or give me a complete set of clothes, I am willing to listen."

Her beautiful body remained motionless; she was deliberately maintaining her composure, ignoring the tentacles coiling and writhing around her.

As a hero, she had suffered countless wounds: freezing, acid corrosion, burning. Obstacles of this level were nothing; just treat it like a wild dog bite.

And Li En, who was "nakedly observing from the sidelines," covered his face. He was becoming increasingly familiar with the D-09 Great Red Dragon before him.

Unlike Sul, Kuk, and Laina from before, this twisted character was one hundred percent Li En Sudar!

That was a personality almost identical to his own! The expression on his face as he spoke, his logical thinking habits—it was Li En himself!

"Ah!!"

Suddenly, the restraints tightened, causing the complaining female hero to let out a soft moan.

The next moment, the female hero, furious with shame, glared fiercely at the "man" before her.

And that familiar yet strange face made her feel as if she were in a dream.

"Who exactly are you? Laina, the previous hero Laina, was just your disguise?!"

Laina, with her low level of education, could not be open-minded. If everything was just a trick, just a play, then wasn't her own life just a joke?

The Kingdom didn't matter at all! What exactly was going on with Laina!

"Pfft, have you already forgotten your original goal? Truly a good woman of true feelings."

The Evil Dragon laughed, playing with the hero's crown symbolizing infinite courage, feeling somewhat nostalgic, yet somewhat weary.

"No, Hero Li En not only existed but was real. He was a good man. That truly was a beautiful memory, uh, except for the ending."

"Snap."

With a snap of his fingers, the "man" with black hair transformed the scene.

The original dragon's lair turned into a vast library, an immense hall of books stretching as far as the eye could see.

The bookshelves suddenly opened, and books of all colors flew up, transforming into "butterflies."

And upon the pages, Hero Laina saw faces that were identical, yet in different scenes and different eras.

At the edge of the battlefield between giants and dragons, the giant's camp was arguing over battle deployments, and that giant king's recent attendant, a small giant, actually had the same face as this Evil Dragon!

Under the starry sky on a high ridge, a black rat-man with a similar appearance was adjusting astronomical equipment, calculating the distance between stars and directions. The next moment, he squealed strangely, "I've calculated it! The star trajectories are interlocking rings! I can create a new astrolabe; interplanar travel has new guidance! My discovery will be engraved in the annals of the Astronomical Society."

Laina remembered; she had seen a statue of this rat-man in the Court Mage Tower. That was the legendary Great Sage who forged the Theory of Stardust.

The next scene: a man of the wasteland, draped in lion skin, followed a tall figure wearing a crown as he raised the banner of rebellion. The war cry of "Dragonborn shall never be slaves" echoed across the entire wasteland.

Laina did not recognize the man's identity, but she recognized the object he followed and the banner. That was the King of the Dragonborn, the pioneer of an era, the key figure in countless history books. It was he who ended the age of the great dragons.

In the magnificent fortress city within a volcano spewing magma, a bearded dwarf craftsman summoned thunder and fire with one hand, forging a divine artifact in his hand. It was this very spear that ended another great era.

The next scene was very familiar to Hero Laina, because that was sixteen years ago.

On the battlefield of despair, Hero Li En faced a beast that blocked the sky, raising the sharp sword in his hand.

And the crown on his head was exactly the same as the one the Evil Dragon held now, just like two identical faces.

Finally, the faces merged together, becoming one.

Only the Evil Dragon remained, smiling with a hint of amusement.

"He, and him, him, him, are all me. For certain reasons, most of the time I seal away everything, turning 'Traveler Li En Sudar' into an ordinary member, throwing myself into the torrent of the times. Only in very rare cases, like now, do I get awakened. Uh, does waking up just a fragment count as awakening? Never mind, it makes no difference."

"Great Red Dragon" Solgalen (D-09) was not lying. Every Li En Sudar, until death, whether soul or body, was an ordinary member of that era.

Their experiences, their lives, were all real.

Their pain, their despair, were all part of the times.

And everything they ultimately gained would become the legacy of the era, and also become part of the Thousand-Faced Dragon.

"You, you, why... are you crazy? Are you playing with lives?!"

"No, no, how could you think that? I have always loved life, I have always loved this world."

The Evil Dragon laughed, speaking words the hero would probably never understand in her lifetime.

"I am an ordinary person, Li En Sudar, the child of coal miner Li Fen Dou and company accountant Fang Yun."

"I have an older brother, Li Yong, two years my senior, and a younger sister, Li Xiaoyu. I am called Li En Sudar (Uncle) because when I was born, heavy snow blocked the mountain. Without the miner uncles pushing bread carts out of the mountain, I would never have been born."