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Chapter 15 – The Baby Dragon’s Secret Skill
The Blacksteel Dragon—
A massive magical beast currently asleep, but destined to awaken in three years.
Why was it so terrifying? Simple.
It could summon every single explosive dragon in the world.
Explosive dragons were far more violent and destructive than normal dragons.
To gather such natural disasters in one place… no wonder people said it could decide the fate of the continent.
‘Of course, it only happens if the skill is highly developed.’
Still, the skill was insanely useful.
Volumeually—dangerously useful.
If not handled right, it could destroy entire areas.
‘And now, this innocent little baby dragon has learned such a deadly skill.’
At the moment, the skill was only Level 1, but that didn’t matter.
It was a sign of something far bigger to come.
‘This is a skill you normally couldn’t even dream of getting at this point.’
In this world, secret skills or “techniques” were powerful abilities impossible to learn normally.
“Summon Explosive Dragon” was no exception.
To get it the usual way, the dragon would’ve needed to evolve twice, and even then, kill one of its own kind in a brutal duel.
This baby dragon? Way too sweet and soft to ever get it that way.
Yet thanks to the Twisted Future Orb, it learned the technique early—while it was still young and harmless.
‘Truly a reward from Volume 3. It lets you skip years of time.’
Kranol planned to raise these “mini-disasters” properly.
The downside? Their wild nature might weaken if trained kindly.
But this way, he could raise them right and still give them deadly powers.
He admired the orb’s strength—but it also reminded him just how ridiculous the scale of this world was.
If a mere demon servant like Morgon dropped loot like this, then what kind of absurd items would the leaders of angels and demons give?
“Kryaaaah?”
The baby dragon looked confused and overwhelmed—probably from the sudden knowledge flood.
Kranol crossed his arms and explained.
“I gave you a powerful technique. Stolen from a twisted version of your future.”
“Really? That’s so cool! Teach me too, Mister!”
The little girl tugged on his sleeve excitedly.
But Kranol shook his head.
“Not yet. If you used a secret skill carelessly, you could kill me too.”
“Hmph! So mean! I said I’d be nice!”
She pouted with puffed cheeks.
That was the one flaw of the Twisted Future Orb—
The skills came from twisted, violent versions of the future.
Some were world-ending, others like suicidal nuclear weapons.
If you summoned something too dangerous, it could wreck the present too.
“Anyway, I want to see your new skill. Try using it.”
“Kyaa…”
The baby dragon closed its eyes, focused deeply, and braced itself.
Then it opened its eyes wide and roared.
“Kryaaaah!”
[Unique Skill: Summon Explosive Dragon (Lv1) Volumeivated!]
[But the “Abandoned Baby Dragon” is still weak and immature.]
[No real explosive dragon is answering the call.]
[A very low-level summon will be created instead.]
Magic surged and something appeared in a flash of light.
It was… a rotting hunk of meat.
[You have summoned: A piece of meat stuck in the fang of Reebzaut, the Forest Explosive Dragon.]
“Kryaaaah…”
The result was… pathetically bad.
The baby dragon looked crushed.
The little girl gave it a hug to comfort it.
“Don’t worry! Next time, you’ll summon a super cool dragon!”
“It’s not ‘baby dragon’, it’s Toshil.”
“Kyaaah!”
The dragon teared up—clearly offended by its silly nickname.
Kranol frowned.
‘Is it that bad a name? I thought they’d get used to it eventually.’
Apparently not.
They both wanted elegant, pretty names.
Not goofy stuff like Toshil or Odong.
‘Fine. I’ll have to give them real names soon.’
But first—
“Let’s deal with those guys.”
“Kryaah?”
“Who are they, Mister?”
Kranol gripped his sword handle.
Far away, a group of people approached.
They looked like normal travelers—but Kranol wasn’t fooled.
“We’re being attacked.”
***
The lord of Birshi wasn’t stupid.
He knew Kranol was no average mercenary—
especially after surviving the deadly swirling Cavern.
So he didn’t send thugs—he hired professional assassins.
They wore disguises and planned to poison him.
But Kranol noticed them the moment they got close.
“He saw us!”
“Attack!”
They charged in, closing the distance fast.
But Kranol didn’t move—because he didn’t need to.
“Aaaagh!”
Everyone turned in shock.
That chunk of rotten meat from earlier?
It suddenly came to life and attacked one of the assassins.
“Wh-what is that?!”
“The meat is moving!”
“It’s eating his leg!”
Dragons are strong.
Explosive dragons? Even more so.
And even a tiny piece of one still held insane power.
That rotting meat? It was stuck between a dragon’s teeth—
Yet it still overpowered a trained assassin.
“Kryaaah?!”
“What the heck did the baby dragon summon, Mister?!”
Even Kranol didn’t have a clear answer.
“It’s just meat scraps,” Kranol said. “But mixed with the instincts of monsters it once devoured.”
Great explosive dragons don’t eat just anything.
They hunt ogre warriors, starving yetis, raging giants… even corrupted fairies.
But the real problem is when they eat creatures with tough life force or beings from other dimensions.
When that happens, the different muscle tissues and traits combine—and sometimes turn into slimes.
What’s left is a lump of meat that exists only to fight and devour.
“Don’t be disappointed just because an actual explosive dragon didn’t appear,” Kranol added.
Explosive dragons are far too strong for ordinary people to even resist.
At this stage, it’s normal that the summon failed.
As the skill level increases, so too will the power and danger of what gets summoned.
‘Even then, summoning a fully grown explosive dragon won’t be easy.’
To command them, you need absolute charisma and overwhelming power—not something gained just by growing up.
But still, even getting the skill this early is a miracle.
‘This means we now have a “line of communication” with the explosive dragons. That alone is insane.’
Kranol was already brainstorming crazy ideas.
Just thinking of what he could pull off had him grinning inside.
***
Meanwhile, the assassin who had been attacked was now screaming.
The slime-meat had devoured his lower half.
Even just meat stuck in a fang of an explosive dragon was enough to kill a skilled assassin.
‘This proves how terrifying explosive dragons really are.’
And among them, the Blacksteel Dragon was the most powerful.
Eventually, the slime was slashed to pieces by the others.
It wasn’t strong enough to kill all of them—but it still killed one assassin outright.
‘Of course, these guys aren’t top-tier either. They are just a local lord’s thugs.’
But for a lump of old meat? That was terrifyingly effective.
“Shit! We already lost one!”
“Look! There’s a weird little dragon and a girl too!”
“Don’t panic—we still have the numbers!”
Too bad for them, Kranol wasn’t just standing around.
He held a poison fang sword in one hand and ripped a scroll with the other—
a rare item he got from beast hunters in exchange for sparing their lives.
“Let me guess… the lord sent you.”
They had attacked right after he claimed his prize—way too suspicious.
Plus, their clothes and weapons were local.
But the assassins didn’t answer. They just threw knives.
(No one stupid enough would admit who hired them anyway.)
Yet the knives all bounced off a magic barrier.
“If you won’t answer, I’ll assume it was the lord.”
That was a low-tier protective magic scroll—now activated.
Kranol calmly clenched his fist.
Black electricity started to crackle in his hand.
The assassins tensed.
“What kind of magic is that?”
“Doesn’t matter. Get him!”
They rushed in together, perfectly in sync.
Clang! The barrier shattered, and blades lunged in.
Kranol looked doomed.
But—
Clang!
The blades collided—with each other.
Kranol had vanished.
As the assassins looked around in confusion—
ZAP!
A bolt of black lightning struck from above.
Using his sky boots, Kranol had teleported 7 meters upward.
“Argh!”
Two assassins collapsed, struck by electricity.
But there was a problem—he couldn’t stop himself from falling.
As he dropped, someone grabbed his waist.
“Kryaaah!”
It was the baby dragon, wings flapping, catching him midair.
It was exhausted from the earlier summon and couldn’t breathe fire, but still helped.
“What the hell is that dragon?”
“It’s still small—kill it too!”
“No, catch it! We can sell it!”
But the assassins forgot one thing—the girl.
“Mister! Look what I can do with this—hiya!”
She had been quietly hiding her wings.
Suddenly, she thrust her hand forward—and unleashed a black thunderbolt.
Chains of lightning wrapped around the remaining assassins.
“Aaaaagh!”
“M-my legs won’t move!”
They had no idea such a small child could launch a surprise attack.
Every last one of them was struck by electricity and collapsed.
[Disaster: ‘Half-Blood Heavenly Demon’ has defeated the enemies.]
[Skill ‘Black Lightning’ has leveled up! (Lv. 2 → Lv. 3)]
[A new lightning chain has been added.]
She truly had demonic blood—her fighting instincts were remarkable.
‘If she spreads her attacks, she can paralyze multiple enemies at once.’
This is exactly why Kranol was guiding her down a different skill path.
Even the same power could be used in completely different ways, depending on the user.
The paralyzed enemies couldn’t even stand.
Kranol killed all but one.
The last one, trembling, still gritted his teeth.
“I-I won’t talk!”
“Then I assume it was the lord.”
Kranol had already made up his mind.
He sliced the assassin’s chest with his poison fang sword.
The poison activated—slowly draining his strength.
The assassin would die soon.
‘The place, the timing… it all fits.’
Kranol’s real goal was to find a miracle and cure his madness.
He had no time for petty revenge.
But that didn’t mean he’d let someone who tried to kill him go free.
No—his revenge would be brutal and absolute.
He knelt next to the dying assassin.
And began writing something.
A short note.
“Mister! What are you doing?”
“Calling someone.”
“Kryaaaah…”
The baby dragon drooped its head, disappointed.
But Kranol shook his head.
“Not another explosive dragon. Something worse.”
“Kryaaah?!”
“W-what do you mean worse?!”
Both the dragon and the girl looked shocked.
As if asking: What could possibly be scarier than that?
But Kranol said nothing. He just kept writing.
Because he knew—there was one person.
One madman who, in the original story, had killed the volume 1 Final Boss.
‘Auto-hunting is the best.’
He was going to hire the original protagonist… to do his revenge for him
