“This is a curse. It’s for imprisoning Amaneser.”

“This will disappear soon. Then Amaneser will escape from here, and afterwards, there’s nothing that can stop him.”

Recalling the man’s words, Zion bent his knees. Then he placed his hand on the black and smooth ground, feeling a faint pulsation. It was the heartbeat of Amaneser concealed by this curse.

Zion, feeling Amaneser’s pulsation, remembered the past battles.

Three weeks ago, Zion had tried to separate from Amaneser and put an end to it. However, mysterious figures rising from the black ground blocked Zion’s path, and in the meantime, Amaneser disappeared somewhere again.

“Will it end next time?”

Looking at the black ground as if ink had been spilled, Zion thought futilely.

That man said this was the curse of the relic to imprison the insane dragon in the east.

However, in the past few years of fighting against Amaneser, Zion had reached a new conclusion.

“It’s not just imprisoning; it’s protecting.”

Whenever Zion tried to tear through Amaneser’s scales, he was obstructed by the interference from the ground. In the meantime, he missed the opportunity to capture the dragon, repeating the process for years.

Zion felt frustrated in this deadlock.

If he could kill Amaneser before the curse spreading on this land disappeared, more than half of the problems he took on alone would be solved.

But Amaneser wouldn’t die easily, and the predetermined future was getting closer.

As Zion quietly sipped his drink, a fierce wind sound was heard. Following the sound, the watchers and Tardeus’s sons and daughters, who were coming this way, appeared.

It was rare for them to enter the boundary and search for Zion. So, Zion sensed that something urgent had happened in the sanctuary.

“Your Highness, the point astrologers have predicted a typhoon.”

It was an urgent report. But it wasn’t bad news.

Zion immediately mounted his counterpart’s back. Then, in an instant, he crossed the mountain range and descended to the rooftop of the sanctuary, where the astrologers were casting spells on Amaneser’s altar.

Amaneser’s altar was a solemn space open to the sky, resembling a temple.

It looked like something to worship, but in the center, instead of an altar, there was a sophisticated structure resembling a weather vane and compass.

It, tinged with golden light, slowly moved in place, and the astrologers in black robes examined the movement, extracting wisdom.

Its name was the Wheel of Virtue. It was made from a fragment of Amaneser to read the flow of the atmosphere.

“Your Highness, a typhoon is coming.”

Approaching Zion, the astrologer who observed the wheel came and reported cautiously.

“The direction is northeast, and it is expected to reach our jurisdiction shortly after dawn tomorrow. It’s a wind that can bring rain.”

The voice of the astrologer speaking like that was careful yet excited. It was due to the anticipation of being able to see precious rain.

The astrologers of the sanctuary were the ones who inherited Amaneser’s role.
They divine the weather by observing the Wheel made from a fragment of Amaneser. They foresee the approaching typhoon and tidal waves to this precarious floating continent.

However, their role is only to foresee; breaking it is the responsibility of Count Laurell. For this reason, Amaneser’s altar belonged to the Tardeus sanctuary.

The astrologers of the sanctuary are all wise and cautious individuals, but Zion felt a bit strange whenever he saw them.

It was because of the man who covered his face, turned his clothes inside out to approach young Ivi, and had a peculiar hobby.

“In Ivi’s world, such things shouldn’t happen.”

When the man spoke with a gentle tone, Zion accepted it with a distant feeling.

The fact that this guy is insane.

Then, resentment and anger towards the man disappeared like melting. It was possible with someone with certain expectations. The crazy guy was, of course, excluded.

So, instead of getting angry, Zion now felt genuinely frightened.

“Why go that far?”

“What?”

“Why go that far for that person?”

“I told you. She’s everything.”

Looking at the man who spoke calmly, no, proudly, Zion unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.

‘What on earth is this?’

Love? Affection? Devotion?

No, such common words don’t suit. What that man had was something much more eerie and sinister.

Zion, who had recoiled from the man’s nature, suddenly felt this situation was cruel.

Just a few minutes ago, he had been bitten by a dragon, and he was still bleeding profusely. Amidst that, he suddenly came to his senses, realizing he was a pitiful sacrifice.

Even with just that, the shock was not ordinary, but the man in front of Zion was pushing him further into a corner.

If he were an ordinary person, Zion would have defined him as an incomprehensible existence and moved on. However, he was Zion Laurell, and thus, the man’s condition became the most serious problem for Zion.

Zion didn’t feel that this guy who was pretending to be fine and laughing had ever looked normal.