Reincarnated As A Dragon With Cheats-Chapter 47: Ryenar, The Lost (1)

Chapter 47: Ryenar, The Lost (1)

The dungeon Womb of Endings had ten floors.

Each floor was comparable to a different world, with a very different ecosystem.

There were different monsters with different criteria that set them apart from the rest.

In theory, monsters from higher floors would be stronger than those on the lower ones.

That was true for the boss monsters as well.

So what were the criteria to become a boss monster?

Being extremely strong? Partly.

Being different from others? Maybe.

Being favored by the dungeon? Absolutely.

The dungeon had a say in this, and it directly gave monsters titles and protection.

Some earned it, while the majority received it as ’motherly affection.’

Now surely, a mother should be impartial to all her children, but that’s just a funny dream one can’t even remember.

Even in this world, gods are not impartial.

They say everyone is born equal. But that’s a saying made up by someone highborn or an idiot who licked the boots of the strong. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Raiden didn’t believe in that saying, and neither did Ryenar.

"Psst, I wish I could kill you right now."

A small beast, bipedal and somewhat resembling Azeth, scoffed as he scratched his head.

He was Raiden, the boss of the 10th floor, a lizard pretending to be a dragon.

Ryenar found it extremely amusing.

"The day you stop pretending to be a dragon is the day I’ll die."

A monster was lying on a slab of stone covered in moss, dirt, and the blood of Frill-Mockbirds.

This monster had slit-like eyes like a serpent and the body of a rabbit. His body was covered in pure white fur, while his eyes were distinctively golden, especially his pupils against the white.

He lay sideways, his head resting on his left hand.

"I could do it today," Raiden said, his voice filled with mockery and sarcasm.

Ryenar turned around and lay on his back, watching the black rocky ceiling. He was specifically staring at the red blood stains on it.

"Yeah, right. A fool like you who has everything backwards will surely do unimaginable things."

Raiden scoffed and folded his arms as he sat cross-legged with a thud.

"Hak. Consider yourself lucky. If I were not a dragon and was simply pretending, then-"

Ryenar had enough.

Not a day passed without this bastard showing off his so-called draconic powers.

Ryenar tilted his head to the side when he noticed Raiden, eyes closed, praising himself and boasting about his green scales.

He sighed.

’This bastard wants to restore the glory of dragons? Huff... he’s almost like her,’ he faintly recalled the Shaman.

’To be honest, out of all, her name was the tastiest.’

Then he tilted his head the other way and looked at Raiden again.

He almost licked his upper jaw as he thought,

’I’m pretty sure his name will be delicious too...’

He was thinking of stealing Raiden’s name as well, but for now, all he could do was sigh.

’But this bastard won’t call out my name...’

Ryenar had two conditions under which he could steal someone’s name.

The first was if the victim called out his name. Even the faintest whisper would be enough.

As long as the name was spoken, he could directly teleport to their location and steal it, as if taking a huge bite out of space itself.

The second condition was if he knew the name of someone.

As long as he knew it, he could write it down in a diary he carried in his ’Fox-Space.’ Once written, the victim would begin experiencing hallucinations and dreams.

And in those dreams, Ryenar would have absolute control.

He could make them confess anything and learn everything he wanted.

Additionally, as long as he entered the dream realm, or what he called the Hunting Grounds, he could steal the name.

Ryenar had already tried this on Raiden.

In fact, Raiden was somehow aware of this ability even before they had met and had put up a countermeasure.

’I’m pretty sure Raiden is a fake name.’

He continued to stare at Raiden, whose boasting and storytelling hadn’t stopped.

Ryenar felt like his ears would bleed, especially when Raiden began fabricating yet another convenient story where he had killed some powerful being.

’This foolish bastard is quite smart.’

Ryenar sighed.

Now he tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling.

’These days, nothing is fun.’

He was just lazing around.

The guy had become extremely strong within the dungeon. No monster could challenge his authority, and despite being the 9th floor boss, his strength was close to Raiden’s.

While Raiden did have a slight upper hand, he couldn’t exactly kill Ryenar without suffering heavy losses.

Both had realized this beforehand and came to an agreement.

That agreement soon turned into friendship, and now they were like brothers.

Except... Ryenar was tired of Raiden’s stories.

"Uff, and then, you know, I raised my hand and-"

Ryenar interrupted him.

"Your stories are no fun."

"Hm?"

"It’s not fair that you always win. Think about it. There need to be setbacks. No sane being would listen to your stories if all you mention is winning."

"..."

"In fact, even the Supremes who created us would be utterly bored."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes. If I were to compare you with that bard over there, I’d say she has the edge."

Ryenar pointed toward a small elf girl lying unconscious in a basket made of large leaves.

"Psst, she’s pitiful, small, and weak..."

"Yet she’s better than you."

"..."

Raiden’s expression changed.

He lowered his head slightly.

"Hm... so you want stories about me losing...?"

Ryenar instantly sat up, eyes wide.

For the first time, he might actually hear about Raiden losing.

Now this was interesting.

"I’ve lost once," Raiden said. "Just once."

Ryenar raised his eyebrows, his mouth slightly open.

"And that was losing Mother’s affection."

"Mother...?"

"Ha... there is a monster on the first floor who now has the highest affection of Mother... and rightfully so, because-"

Before he could finish, a burst of killing intent erupted from Ryenar.

Even Raiden was shocked by the intensity.

He could feel it in every fiber of his being.

"Have you lost your mind? What are you-"

"A bastard from the first floor now has Mother’s affection? Haha... those spiders are getting out of hand."

The moment he finished speaking, he vanished.

He shot straight toward the lower floors, leaving behind red embers and a violent gust of wind that pushed everything aside.

Raiden scratched his head.

"This fool will destroy all the floors... and Mother might get angry for that."

Green embers flickered as Raiden began to walk.

Each step left behind glowing footprints.

In the blink of an eye, he too vanished, but his movement was very different from Ryenar’s.

There was no burst of wind. Only silence.

Just a series of faint footsteps, each leaving behind green embers.