Chapter 136: Home (IV)

Louis was utterly helpless. He couldn’t comprehend his current situation.

“How could this be…?” Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that this would be where he’d first lay eyes on his mother.

A memory from long ago flashed through Louis’s mind.

“Could it be?”

He recalled asking Genelocer about her once:

Heh-heh, just wait a little longer. When our Louis is about 300 years old, then you’ll be able to see Mom.

That’s what Genelocer had clearly told him before.

Apparently, after giving birth, dragon mothers went through something akin to postpartum confinement. During this time, it was the father dragons who took over caring for their young ones.

Louis’s eyes widened in realization.

“So does that mean this place—?!” It all made sense now. The moment he broke through the protective barrier, he’d felt an unusually dense yet refreshing flow of mana. Now he understood its purpose.

”…This was a postpartum care center?”

For dragons, recuperating meant replenishing depleted mana reserves. While consuming medicinal herbs was the simplest method, another approach involved resting in areas where natural mana concentrations were exceptionally high, allowing them to absorb energy more gradually.

This method was particularly effective for mother dragons who had just given birth.

Realizing this, Louis bit his lip.

So that’s why there were both a magic circle and barrier here.

To prevent intrusion from the outside world…

And to conceal the presence of dense mana as well as the dragon itself.

The uninhabited island must have been created solely for postpartum care of the mother dragon—specifically, Louis’s own mother.

I didn’t even know…

He’d intended only to ensure his own survival, but somehow he’d ended up disrupting his mother’s recovery process instead.

Fortunately, it seemed like no harm had come to her while she was inside the crystal, but now that the barrier had broken, outsiders would be able to detect their location.

If he wasn’t careful, the existence of a defenseless dragon asleep in this world would be revealed to everyone.

Realizing this, Louis felt uneasy and his face grew serious.

“Come to think of it…” A question appeared in Louis’s eyes. “Why did my fate send me here?”

My destiny has been eager to kill me, so why was I brought to this place? Why?

‘It couldn’t have just been to inform me about my mother’s presence.’

As Louis pondered this, his gaze suddenly shifted towards something else.

”…?!”

His attention was drawn to where the twins and Fin were on the beach.

There was only one reason for Louis’s abrupt change in focus.

“What is this filthy energy?”

Something was approaching from a great distance away.

Though it should have been beyond his perception, Louis could sense its presence with unnerving clarity—a sticky, dense sensation like thick sludge, utterly revolting.

“What… is this?”

The entity moving toward them across the vast sea seemed intent on revealing itself, broadcasting its existence without restraint. Yet there was something extraordinary about that presence.

“A dragon…?” Louis shook his head almost immediately. “No, this isn’t quite right.”

He felt immense pressure and an overwhelming presence, but it was distinctly different from any dragon he’d ever encountered. Moreover, he sensed hostility directed straight at their location.

At this realization, Louis’s face paled.

He made one assumption:

What if fate had deliberately sent me here, where my mother is? What if it was waiting for me to break the barrier protecting her with my own hands?

“No way… Is this what they’re after?!” Louis was now certain.

They must be aiming for exactly this!

Fate wanted him to destroy the barrier his mother had erected to protect herself. That would put her in danger and force him to stay on this island.

If I’d encountered that thing anywhere else, I could’ve just run away…

But now she stood behind him—his mother, exposed to peril because of him.

If I were to teleport her out of here like this…

Despite these thoughts, Louis couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Her body is already weakened from taking my sleeping potion… If she suffers any trauma during transportation…

Crystal had been protecting their mother at great personal cost, which weighed heavily on Louis’s mind.

Cris was our last line of defense and the one concealing us.

He’d shattered that protective barrier, leaving them all vulnerable like a cracked egg about to break open. It seemed impossible to move through space safely now.

I might succeed, but what if something goes wrong?

Louis couldn’t gamble with his mother’s life.

He gritted his teeth. “In the end…we’ll have to fight.” There was no escape route available for them.

Fleeing was not an option. Then his mother would be in danger. He had to protect this place at all costs.

With this resolve, Louis stretched out his hand. Soon, various sacred scriptures began pouring forth from his fingertips. His goal: to safeguard his mother. Around the shattered core of the magic circle, Louis set up numerous safety measures. Even then, he couldn’t relax and repeatedly checked its status several times.

“Mother…”

Although he hadn’t seen her once during these past years, he worried about her incessantly—perhaps because their blood was intertwined.

Louis went overboard with caution, creating a safe zone by casting too many protective barriers around them. As he gazed upon his mother sleeping within the crystal, he finally turned away.

He had to set things right, after all, he was responsible for what happened.

Whoosh!

Louis vanished into thin air as he activated spatial movement.

Whoosh!

Louis appeared out of thin air. As soon as Fin spotted him, she flew towards Louis.

“Louis-nim!” Her face was filled with worry and concern. “Louis-nim! The twins are acting strange!”

At Fin’s words, Louis turned his gaze towards the twins. They were staring at the sea like stone statues, their bodies emanating a menacing aura and faces hardened.

They felt it too.

If he could sense something amiss, then surely they would as well. As Louis approached, the twins finally turned around.

“Ro-ro-ro… Something weird is coming.”

”…I feel sick.” With Louis’s approach, the twins’ tense expressions relaxed slightly. He patted them on the back reassuringly.

“It’ll be okay.”

“Let’s go home quickly, Ro-ro-ro.”

“We don’t want to stay here anymore.”

Louis shook his head at their twins’ words.

“No. I can’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Louis… you shouldn’t be here.”

The twins grabbed Louis’s arm, pulling him along.

Instead of explaining himself one by one, Louis decided to show them directly.

Whoosh!

He teleported through space with the twins and Fin in tow.

Their eyes widened as they beheld the slumbering white dragon within the crystal.

“Huh?! A-A dragon?”

“It’s so pretty… It looks like Louis!”

“Wow… Who is that?”

Fin was startled by the sudden appearance of this holy beast, while the twins’ eyes sparkled at the sight of the beautiful pure-white dragon.

Then came Louis’s voice:

“That’s… our mother.”

“L-Louis’s mother? How did she end up here?”

“I’ll explain everything later.”

As Fin blinked in surprise, Louis spoke to the twins:

“It’s possible that this vile creature approaching us is targeting our mother.”

Or perhaps it’s coming for me.

He hoped it was the latter, but there was an eighty percent chance it was after his mother.

“That’s why I can’t go. I have to protect her. So… you two should go instead.”

Louis had a gut feeling: whatever was approaching them from afar wasn’t going to be easy to deal with. He suspected this might be the biggest crisis he’d faced so far. There was no way he could let his twins face such danger. Even if it meant sacrificing himself, he couldn’t allow them to get caught up in this mess.

That’s why Louis decided to use spatial movement magic to send the twins off the island. But they responded without hesitation:

“No! We won’t leave!”

“We want to help!”

“We’ll help Louis protect Mom!”

Louis shook his head firmly. “Go away.”

“No way!” they protested.

“I’m telling you to go! It’s not safe here!”

“Nuh-uh! We’re gonna help Louis!” The twins stood their ground stubbornly.

How long had he been arguing with these two? In the end, it was Louis who finally gave in. He sighed heavily before speaking.

“Fine… But promise me just one thing.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll listen to everything I say no matter what happens.”

“Yes! We promise!”

“One hundred percent!”

With the twins’ assurance, Louis turned his attention to Fin this time.

“Fin.”

“Yes?”

“I need you to take care of our mom.”

“Huh?”

“If we get overwhelmed, I want you to be her last line of defense.”

“B-but…”

“I’m begging you.”

Seeing how desperate Louis was, a sense of duty blazed in Fin’s eyes.

“I understand! Leave it to me!”

With their roles assigned, Louis once again activated spatial movement with the twins in tow.

Whoosh!

This time, Louis and the twins materialized above a pristine white sandy beach. Sensing energy from across the sea, Louis grimaced.

It’ll take those bastards at least several hours to reach here.

Fortunately, they were approaching from the opposite side of the beach. If they had started charging as soon as he broke through the barrier, there was still some leeway left. From now on, it was crucial to make good use of this time.

Upon seeing the long line of trees forming a makeshift wooden wall along the beach, Louis couldn’t help but chuckle sarcastically.

“Hmph.”

“Louis, why are you laughing?”

“Did something funny happen?”

“No, I just never thought your ‘playhouse’ would prove so useful.”

”…?”

Louis smiled at the twins’ puzzled expressions. He had initially thought they were preparing for some imaginary war when they started making a fortress amidst the scorched trees around them. Who could have predicted that they would actually end up facing a real battle?

In any case, it seemed like their childish games might prove useful this time.

We’ll carve motion crystals into the castle walls.

They needed to confront the enemy as close to the castle walls as possible—a classic defensive strategy known as “castle defense.”

“Let’s do this,” Louis urged without wasting another moment. The more sacred scriptures he could engrave onto the walls, the better their chances of survival. With swift precision, he began moving along the castle perimeter, leaving various motion crystals etched into the wooden fortifications with each step.

One, two, three…

After approximately four hours, Louis had inscribed his thirteenth magic circle.

”…They’re here.”

Louis raised his head.

As he scanned the horizon, a small groan escaped from Louis’s lips.

“How in the world… did they manage to gather this many?”

The horizon was boiling with activity.

Soon, various marine monsters began surging above the water surface.

Their numbers were extraordinary.

“This won’t be easy…”

He prepared for battle.