His words felt small in the vastness of the cavern.

The dragon… chuckled.

A deep, resonant sound, like a rolling storm contained within a single breath.

It wasn’t mocking.

It wasn’t cruel.

It was simply… amused.

“You reek of something not born of this world.”

The dragon’s eyes gleamed with ancient certainty.

“A traveler, bound by the threads of another reality.”

Then—

A single term.

One that sent a shock through Lucian’s very core.

“A World Traveler.”

Lucian’s eyes widened.

His pulse thundered in his ears.

He didn’t tell it anything.

But somehow, It knew.

World Traveler.

The term itself sent a cascade of thoughts spiraling through his mind.

He had assumed, suspected, but never had it been outright confirmed.

But this dragon—This being beyond comprehension—

Had recognized it instantly.

Lucian exhaled slowly, steadying himself.

This wasn’t just a random encounter.

This was something more.

And now, for the first time since waking in this dungeon—

He had real answers to chase.

—

Lucian forced himself to breathe.

The words still echoed in his head.

"World Traveler."

The dragon’s golden eyes narrowed slightly, its pupils contracting like a predator studying a curious insect.

Lucian’s instinct screamed at him to stay silent, to not push his luck.

But he had come too far to stop now.

He gathered every ounce of courage he had left.

"World Traveler? What do you mean by that?"

The dragon’s expression didn’t change.

But Lucian felt something shift.

A strange, unreadable amusement flickered across its massive gaze.

Then, with a voice like distant thunder, it spoke.

“You are one of many who have been cast into this realm.”

“You are not the first.”

“Nor will you be the last.”

Lucian’s stomach twisted.

One of many?

Before he could even process that revelation, the dragon continued—

this time, its words carrying an even greater weight.

“And that thing you cling to… that 'System'—”

The dragon exhaled slowly, deliberately.

“It is no divine blessing.”

“It is merely a tool. A law of this world. Nothing more.”

Lucian’s chest tightened.

The System.

The thing that had guided him, identified his skills, labeled his strengths and weaknesses.

The thing that had made him think—**even for a moment—that he was special.

And now…

This ancient, world-shattering entity was speaking about it like it was nothing.

Lucian swallowed hard.

"So… the System isn’t unique?"

The dragon chuckled.

Not a soft, amused sound.

But a low, thunderous laugh, shaking the cavern walls as if it had just heard the most pathetic question imaginable.

“Hah! Unique? Foolish boy.”

“Every living thing in this world is bound by it.”

Lucian’s breath hitched.

“The monsters you’ve fled from…”

The image of the Abyssal Direwolf flashed in his mind.

“The warriors who will one day hunt you…”

His blood turned to ice.

“Even I…”

Lucian’s eyes snapped up, shocked.

“…was once shackled by its constraints.”

Lucian’s mind reeled.

Even the dragon… was once bound by the System?

He had thought it was his power.

Something that made him different. Something that gave him a chance.

But it wasn’t.

It was just another rule.

Like gravity. Like time.

An inescapable part of existence.

The System is not a gift.

It’s not a power meant just for him.

It’s a law.

Lucian had been hanging onto every word.

The weight of the dragon’s truths still settled in his chest, heavy and suffocating.

But suddenly, something changed.

Ignis Aureum’s massive body shifted, coils of obsidian scales pressing against the cavern floor like a great storm settling into stillness.

Not looking at Lucian.

Not acknowledging him.

But instead…

Remembering.

And when the dragon spoke again, its voice had lost the booming authority of a god speaking to a mortal.

Instead—

It carried something Lucian never expected.

Bitterness.

“I am Ignis Aureum—the Eternal Calamity, the Black Sun that once scorched the skies, the being whom gods feared and mortals worshiped.”

The cavern trembled at the weight of those words.

Lucian stilled.

Eternal Calamity?

A being feared by gods?

Before, Lucian had assumed that the Titan Behemoth was the peak of existence.

But Ignis?

Ignis was something far, far greater.

The dragon’s golden eyes burned, but it was not with arrogance.

It was not with pride.

It was with something older.

Something colder.

“Long ago, I stood among the greatest beings of existence.”

“I burned the heavens. I shattered armies. I ruled where others cowered.”

Lucian barely dared to breathe.

This wasn’t just a creature of legend. This was a force of history itself.

“I shattered the gates of the gods,” Ignis continued, his voice like embers in the wind.

“I razed their temples, turned their champions to ash. I was worshiped, feared, loathed.”

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Lucian felt his throat tighten.

“How…” he hesitated. “How did they stop you?”

Ignis fell silent for a long moment.

Then, for the first time, his gaze lowered.

“They did not stop me,” he murmured, the weight of the words like a dying flame.

“They betrayed me.”

Lucian felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

Ignis exhaled slowly.

“The gods do not fight wars,” he said bitterly. “They play games. And when a piece on their board grows too dangerous…”

“…they remove it.”

—

Lucian listened, captivated.

This wasn’t just a creature of legend.

This was a force of nature.

Something that once dictated the fate of kingdoms, of gods, of empires.

The very mention of his name must have once struck terror into the hearts of millions.

Yet—

As Ignis spoke, there was no arrogance.

No triumph in his words.

Only…

Resentment.

“But the world is cruel. No ruler reigns forever. No fire burns eternal.”

Lucian’s breath hitched.

A single truth, spoken with the gravity of something absolute.

“I was betrayed.”

Lucian felt his entire body tense.

“They sealed me here, deep within this prison, far from the skies I once called home.”

The dragon’s voice didn’t rise.

It didn’t snarl, didn’t roar, didn’t rage.

It was quiet.

Cold.

And somehow, that made it all the more terrifying.

Lucian tried to imagine it.

How long had Ignis been here?

How many centuries, millennia, had passed while the world forgot his name?

The thought made Lucian’s chest tighten.

Even if Ignis was once a god among beings, even if he was undefeated in battle…

Time had still beaten him.

And now, he was nothing but a forgotten relic, sealed away in the deepest abyss of existence.

“I have waited eons.”

“My power has waned.”

“I no longer recognize the world outside these walls.”

Lucian felt it then.

The weight of true isolation.

The kind that stretched beyond the limits of mortal understanding.

This wasn’t just a being sealed away.

This was a being erased.

Ignis Aureum lowered his gaze.

The sheer intensity that had once burned in his golden eyes dimmed, replaced by something…

heavier.

Not weakness.

Not despair.

Something far more haunting.

—

“And so, I have but one request, Outsider.”

Lucian stilled.

Every instinct in his body screamed at him—this was important.

“End me.”

Silence.

A silence so absolute, so consuming, it felt like the entire cavern had swallowed all sound.

Lucian’s chest tightened.

Had he… heard that right?

“…What?”

Ignis exhaled slowly, the massive rise and fall of his colossal frame shifting the air itself.

There was no anger.

No pleading.

Only certainty.

“Even if I escape this prison, I will not be free.”

Lucian felt a shiver crawl down his spine.

“The moment I take flight, my enemies will know.”

“They will come.”

The words held no doubt.

No hesitation.

Not a possibility—a certainty.

“I am too weak to fight them.”

“And I refuse to let them claim my corpse as a trophy.”

Lucian’s hands clenched at his sides.

He had heard desperation before.

This… wasn’t that.

This was a being that had already accepted its fate.

A ruler who had seen the end of his reign, long before Lucian ever stepped foot in this cave.

Lucian shook his head.

“But I—”

“You do not need to understand.”

The dragon’s golden gaze sharpened.

“You need only to obey.”

Lucian’s breath hitched.

This wasn’t a request.

It was a command.

But beneath the steel in Ignis’s voice, there was something else.

Something deeper.

A weight that pressed against Lucian’s chest, suffocating in a way that no force ever could.

This dragon—this god among monsters—was not just asking for death.

He was asking for release.

Lucian’s fingers trembled at his sides.

How long had Ignis been here?

Trapped in this abyss, waiting for an end that never came?

How many years, decades, centuries had passed while the world forgot his name?

Lucian clenched his jaw.

No one deserved that.

Not even a monster.

And somehow—he had been chosen to end it.

Lucian felt his throat tighten.

This wasn’t a plea.

This wasn’t begging.

Ignis Aureum wasn’t afraid of death.

He had simply made his choice.

“I refuse to wither away in this prison.”

“If I am to die, I will die on my terms.”

Lucian couldn’t breathe.

This wasn’t just a legendary being asking for death.

This was a dragon god deciding his final moment.

And somehow—

Lucian had been chosen to deliver it.

Lucian stood motionless.

The reality of the situation hit like a hammer.

A dragon—A being of legendary power, once feared by gods themselves—

Was asking him for death.

Him.

A newcomer to this world.

A Level 1 survivor who had barely escaped an A-Rank monster.

And now he was being asked to kill a Dragon God.

How? Why?

And more importantly…

Could he even do it?

“So… what will you do, Outsider?”

The air grew heavy.

Ignis Aureum waited.

Lucian must decide.