Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 15 - Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Humanoid Irregularity

A letter

To the one who reads this:

I do not know your name. I will never see your face.

You will never see mine either.

But that is simply how we are.

As long as I exist, you cannot, and by the time you come into being, I will be gone.

And because this is how we are, I write down these words to be imparted to you in this letter.

If the current or succeeding emperor considers my will, it should eventually arrive in your hands.

There are two things you must know.

We are not human. We cannot be human.

This is an important truth.

This world is dominated by the relation between humans, jobs, and monsters, but we are an exception in this system.

We are the incarnation of an abnormality our ancestors etched onto the world in the distant past.

Because of this, we might eventually disappear due to the world’s autopurification activity.

However, if you are reading this, it did not happen in either of our generations.

You might be at a loss of what to make of the power you were born with.

I once felt the same way as you.

Perhaps, though, that was only because I was born at an inopportune time and was frequently compared to my predecessor.

My predecessor likely utilized this power better than any one of us so far.

I was unable to match him. Perhaps you will. Regardless, know that there is no need to strive for that.

Our power is vast. We receive it by merely being chosen, without any effort on our part. We have exceptional power without ever having to gather it like others do.

Because of this, you might make grave mistakes in your youth.

You might have been born bathed in blood.

That would be a harsh reality that cannot be changed. Our power might be vast, but we have no means of bringing back those who are lost. Not even my predecessor was capable of that.

That is why I hope that you who are reading this will possess both power and will.

Do not be bound by sins hailing from a time before you.

Be aware of your power and carry a will of your own.

Our nature is affirmed when we use our power according to our own will.

It does not have to be for the protection of this country.

That is a choice we can make, but are not forced to.

Perhaps someone told you that you are a hero who will dedicate his life to protecting the country, but know that that is wrong.

I dedicated my life to protecting the country because I wished to make up for the civil war that I caused, and because I myself could not abandon the nation.

Thus, there is no need for you to follow this same path.

You are not obligated to do as you are ordered.

You should live the way you find suitable.

We are not human. We cannot be human.

Therefore, you cannot be bound.

Protect what you wish to protect.

Accomplish what you believe you must.

Do not be afraid to do as you will.

No one can ever bind you.

The power and talent you have exists only for the future you desire.

◇◆◇

Royal Castle, Underground Shelter

There was a large hole in the prince’s chest.

Burned by unfathomable heat, the wound had instantly cauterized. However, it was clear that the beam had taken his heart, making his fate obvious.

“Cang... CANG!” With tears in her eyes, Elizabeth shook Canglong’s body, but the boy wasn’t even bleeding, let alone breathing.

It seemed like all signs of life had left him.

“Did I hit something? I can’t see,” said a faint voice from within the steam. “I’ll just keep doing this.”

Like a moment earlier, beams fired in all directions, devastating the shelter and scattering people and objects alike, nozzles included.

Screams echoed throughout the premises as Ignis continued firing his searing beams indiscriminately. The sounds of melting, sounds of evaporation, sounds of flesh being burned, and the shrieks of the maids overwhelmed the soundscape.

Eventually, most of the nozzles were destroyed, freeing Ignis from his cage of steam explosions. It didn’t seem like he had been hurt all that much.

“Such destruction... You wretch!” Findle barked as he glared at Ignis. A beam had taken his right arm.

Only two people remained unhurt — Elizabeth, who was clinging to Canglong’s body, and Milianne, who just happened to be in the right spot to avoid the beams.

Everyone else was injured to various extents. Many were no longer even capable of movement.

As things were, Findle couldn’t even take Elizabeth and escape.

“Where is the Arch Sage?” asked Ignis. His words hadn’t changed even after causing all this devastation.

He was seeking the Arch Sage like a broken machine, making him seem barely human.

He began to approach Elizabeth.

“Your Highness! Please run! Save yourself at least...!” someone shouted, but Elizabeth remained by Canglong’s side.

Eventually, Ignis was right in front of her.

“Where is the Arch Sage? If he doesn’t show himself, I will kill the princess.” Voicing his warped, yet unbending desire, the Idea reached towards Elizabeth with his hand, hot as a soldering iron.

Shrieks and roars of anger filled the crumbling room, but there was no one left to stop him.

The moment Ignis touched Elizabeth...never came, for another hand grabbed his.

“Hm...?” For the first time since he gained this inhuman form, Ignis displayed something that seemed to be confusion.

The hand that had grabbed his arm was burning. Ignis was clad in searing armor, and it set the offending limb on fire.

Despite that, it didn’t let go. Just how much power was held within this tiny hand? It was tearing through his hardened skin, his wounds leaking blood which was promptly evaporated by his own heat.

Faced with this strange sight, Ignis asked, “...What are you?”

“...Cang?” Elizabeth opened her mouth at the same time.

The owner of the small hand was none other than Canglong himself — the boy who should’ve been killed by the hole in his chest.

Still lying down, he had raised his right hand and grabbed Ignis by the arm before it could reach Elizabeth.

But there was another thing that confused Ignis.

What is happening to his magic? It’s as vast as the Arch Sage’s... No... It might rival even mine... Ignis had dedicated all his power and talent to fire magic, rendering him unable to use Reveal, but as an experienced caster, he could sense Canglong’s power nonetheless.

However, if he did have Reveal, he would have seen a truly bizarre sight — the boy’s level and stats growing at a terrifying rate.

And the changes weren’t just limited to the numbers.

“...Don’t you dare touch Elizabeth.” The boy who was presumed dead said these words as he rose to his feet.

He was now between Ignis and Elizabeth, ready to protect her.

There was still a hole in his chest, but it seemed to have mostly closed.

His evaporated heart and lungs were regenerating at an extreme speed. The hand that was holding Ignis’s arm was also restoring itself as it burned, letting it maintain its form.

However, the black bandages that had been tied on him had been reduced to ashes.

“...My Self-Sealing Wraps have burned away. I suppose I will not be able to seal this away until they regenerate,” he whispered as he looked down at the burning black bandages. They were an MVP special reward that he had picked from Huang He’s treasury, and when worn, they limited the wearer’s own stats and skills.

The item that he had worn to hide his true identity from the locals and Caldinians while in Altar...was now broken.

“No... I will not seal it away.” Right now, he didn’t actually mind that. What he needed now was not to hide it, but to use it.

“It” being the power he possessed...and his true self.

“Cang...are you okay?” Elizabeth asked. Rather than being confused by the oddity of the situation, she seemed to merely be happy that a friend she thought was dead was actually alive.

Canglong looked back at her and smiled before turning back to Ignis.

“Elizabeth... Let me finish what I wanted to say earlier.”

With his back to her so she couldn’t see his expression, Canglong spoke.

“I am not a prince. I do not have the right to inherit the throne of Huang He. I do not qualify for that.” He continued his statement from before. “And...I am not even human.”

He revealed to her the secret that he had been keeping hidden for so long.

A moment later, his bones creaked and his limbs grew.

His height and width...his entire frame transformed into something that was entirely unlike a young boy.

Muscles grew under his skin, while scales sprouted over it.

Ultimately, he was transformed into a creature that seemed to be a mix of dragon and man.

“Cang...?” He did not reply to her. Canglong now looked more like the Idea he was facing. His appearance could easily be called “monstrous,” and it was one he didn’t want to show anyone...especially not Elizabeth.

Before he left Huang He, his father — the emperor — strictly forbade him from showing this true form.

Despite that, he chose to reveal it now.

By his own will, he chose to do this so he could protect those whom he wanted to protect.

“You’re—” Just as Ignis opened his mouth to speak, the dragon-man swung his arm, flinging Ignis’s body into the wall opposite Elizabeth.

“Gh-ogh...” Overcome by shock far greater than the one from the steam explosions, Ignis coughed blood.

Looking at him, the thing that was Canglong began walking to a particular place — the spot where Golem Bellcross was destroyed. There, he reached for the floor and touched the metal giant’s molten Mythical metal remains.

In his hand, it quickly changed shape to form a mask.

“Zifu Longmian,” he said in a voice quite unlike the one he had spoken with before his transformation.

Meaning “word-hiding dragon mask,” this was the name of a mask that a certain Special Superior Job would wear for important occasions.

As the person who knew what that meant better than anyone else, he placed the mask upon his own warped face.

“What are you...?” Most of those present here also wanted to hear the answer to Ignis’s question.

The being standing before them was by no means a human boy.

He was not the slender young prince of Huang He.

He was a creature with a robust, draconic body, and a mask over his monstrous face.

However, if anyone here was from Huang He, they would recognize him at a single glance.

Over there, this creature was akin to a god.

Indeed, he was the strongest gulong ren — the ancient dragon kin.

“Draconic Emperor, Canglong Renyue.”

With a name that meant “blue dragon, beyond mankind,” he was the humanoid Irregularity — the Draconic Emperor.

Ignis was quick to action. It wasn’t clear how well Ignis understood the gravity of Canglong’s declaration, but the power behind it was more than enough for him.

For the first time since coming to the shelter — no, since arriving at the castle — Ignis truly prepared for battle.

He judged that the entity before him was far above Bellcross and everyone else that stood in his way along the path to the Arch Sage. Canglong was not merely an obstruction for him, but an enemy that matched, if not surpassed, his target.

“Crimson Sphere!” Ignis started out with a distraction that took the form of over ten high-rank ultimate job skills.

Ignis had witnessed Canglong regenerate even his heart, but no matter how powerful his regeneration was, it should’ve been impossible for him to do so with his entire body reduced to nothing. This distraction wasn’t something Canglong could ignore or evade.

The Crimson Spheres sped towards Elizabeth and the rest of their immobilized entourage. If Canglong wanted to protect them, he had no choice but to use himself as a shield.

And while he was busy doing that or regenerating the damage he sustained from it, Ignis would shower him in another Fixed Star Rain, leaving nothing behind.

However, faced with the Crimson Spheres, Canglong merely set his feet wider, assumed a strong stance, and repeatedly punched the air, creating shock waves that dispersed every single ball of flame.

That was over double the amount of Crimson Spheres that had melted the castle’s main gate, yet they had just been snuffed out like the fires on a match.

The absurd sight left Marquis Findle and the royal knights speechless, but Ignis understood what had happened.

He released magic along with his punches... Ignis thought. Indeed — Canglong had extinguished the flames using his MP.

The punches were imbued with an amount of magic several times greater than in the Crimson Spheres, forcefully pulverizing the magical structure that composed them.

A means to release magic that doesn’t involve spells... I did hear that Huang He possessed something like that... There existed a skill grouping called “Fa jin.” The strikes of this skill grouping were normally used to drive magic into the target, creating shock waves that pulverized the insides regardless of how tough the outsides were.

However, that wasn’t what Canglong had done — he had instead pulverized the airborne spells directly using his vast magical power.

That was a fundamentally different action, even if the movements he used to do it were similar.

No normal person would be able to release that much magic at once. In fact, even caster Superior Jobs would struggle with it.

This absurd amount of magical power rivals even mine... Is this the strength of the Draconic Emperor? Wait...the magic he released isn’t quite like normal magic...

Ignis did not understand the true nature of Draconic Emperor as a job.

He had no idea if it was focused on stats, or what kind of skills it had.

In Huang He, the Draconic Emperor was considered a mystical entity akin to a living god, and even an experienced caster like Ignis knew next to nothing about him. The Draconic Emperor was the top of the duel rankings there, but the means by which he reached and kept the throne were a mystery.

Without saying a word, Canglong walked towards Ignis.

His movements were flawlessly graceful and his center of gravity was perfectly stable, making it clear that he had mastered the martial arts.

Why is he not running? Is his AGI low? Or is he moving in a way that will let him protect the princess and the others however he needs? Ignis tried to guess Canglong’s intentions while weaving a spell in preparation, but before he could finish, Canglong’s massive frame loomed right in front of him.

Supersonic speed?! The difference in speed between his walking and his movement just now was too great for any ordinary person to perceive, let alone counter.

But despite his shock, Ignis was able to react to it by reflex.

Battle casters who fought solo had to have the ability to stand their own against vanguards, who were generally faster than them; as one who’d walked that path for decades, Feuer Lazburn was able to weave a spell against Canglong as easily as he breathed.

He supplemented his Prominence Aura with Fixed Stars maintained on the tips of his fingers — the same technique he’d used to melt Bellcross’s arm.

Canglong swung with his left fist, but entering Prominence Aura caused his entire body to catch fire.

That wasn’t all — his fist flew right into Ignis’s Fixed Stars like a moth to the flame.

Unlike before, he couldn’t disperse it with magic, so his hand evaporated in an instant.

However, the hand was restored in a split second and immediately crushed the limb that held the Fixed Stars.

“Ghuh! Hhuh?!” Having lost one of his arms, Ignis let out a cry of pain and shock.

The impossibility of what was happening before his eyes made it difficult to to even speak coherently.

The Draconic Emperor had tried to punch him and had his arm evaporated — only to instantly regenerate it and use that momentum to finish the strike.

It seemed simple, but it was clearly impossible.

Absurdly fast regeneration...? No, it simply cannot be this fast! It matches the Hierophant’s Mercy of the Holy! How can he regenerate this quickly without even calling out a skill...?! Ignis hastily backed away and began to shoot countless balls of fire in every direction. It wasn’t an attack on Canglong or an act of desperation — he was actually trying to finish off the immobilized Altarians.

Canglong said nothing, his expression hidden by the mask, but his very aura made it obvious that his face had twisted with emotion.

Instead of following Ignis, he rushed to protect the others, just as he had before.

Ignis had done all of this solely to limit Canglong’s actions and prepare for another assault.

The self-restoration function La Crima gave me can fix my arm to a certain extent...but the result will not be as good and will not come as quickly. Clearly, he is the outlier here.

Ignis was even more confused about the nature of the Draconic Emperor job than before. He could cancel magic, move at supersonic speeds, and regenerate just as fast, and his frame was rippling with muscles that let him easily pulverize even Ignis’s enhanced body.

It was so well-rounded that it was impossible to guess what, exactly, the job was focused on.

...No, wait. Could it be?

Ignis’s many years of combat experience and honed senses led him to believe that he did have an answer.

...I know something like this, do I not...?

The train of thought moved...

The power to neutralize magic...to negate attacks. Draconic Emperor... Draconic... Dragon?

It led him to a certain guess...

...Dragon King Aura?

A power possessed by a certain kind of monster.

Is the Draconic Emperor actually...? Treating this guess as a definite answer, Ignis’s brain connected the dots.

The power to negate weak attacks, stats that could not be achieved by humans, extreme regeneration...

These features would remind some of certain entities faced by a select few champions. The strongest warriors of Altar might recall the great three-headed dragon.

Indeed, Draconic Emperor could only be...

“A human bearing the power of dragons and their kings?” Ignis guessed that Canglong was a humanoid with the abilities of the strongest monsters.

Canglong said nothing in response, focused on protecting the Altarians.

However, in his mind, he gave an answer.

Close, but not quite.

◇◆

The Draconic Emperors were the descendant of gulong — ancient dragons — as well as gulong themselves. “Gulong” was another name for the strongest Pure-Dragons on the eastern side of the continent.

While the Border Mountain Belt in the west was inhabited by western-style skydragons, the ancient dragons of the east were more like the serpentine beasts from Chinese mythology in the real world.

Dragons with a similar appearance still lived in Tenchi, but the gulong were on an entirely different level. They were extremely intelligent and well-versed in the arts, and had lived alongside humans since ancient times as guardians or rulers. The gulong ren — ancient dragon kin — that still existed to this day were the descendants of gulong-human hybrids; back then, the gulong used them as representatives of their rule.

The gulong were monsters that had existed since the very first stages of the world. Thus the name ancient dragons, which they used to refer to themselves as well as being called this by others.

You could say that the previous observers had put them on this world to act as part of the world’s system — as both tyrants and refiners of mankind. They understood the truth behind this world and were aware of multiple ways of managing this game.

As a result of all this, the people of the east saw them as wise and fearsome sovereigns of the land.

However, things had changed two thousand years ago, when the Incarnations attacked.

Back then, it quickly became clear that the gulong knew things too well.

The Incarnations had abilities far outside the norm for the world, as well as vast amounts of Resources to support them. The dragons immediately understood that they could not win against the men.

That was why they chose to take their leave without fighting.

They ran away, fearing the ultimate end they would face if they stood up to the Incarnations, and began searching for a way to survive into the future — to continue to exist.

What they arrived upon was one of the ways to control the very world — the ability to influence the job-managing Archetype System.

They quickly manipulated the Archetype System and disappeared, leaving behind only the gulong ren born from the union of dragons and humans — and the being known as the “Draconic Emperor.”

This was a job that appeared only after the gulong vanished, which was because the Draconic Emperor job and the gulong were one and the same.

The gulong had turned their very existence into a job and left it to their future descendants.

Jobs couldn’t be destroyed — they would exist for as long as this world did.

What mattered to the gulong wasn’t their awareness or life, but their mere existence.

The Draconic Emperor was the aggregation of everything that made up the monsters known as gulong. It was their remains, their continued existence, taking the shape of a job.

And those born with this job had two special skills.

The first was “Gulong Cells.” It gave the bearer of the job an ancient dragon body said to be tougher than even that of dragon kings.

Being the aggregate of all the gulong, the Draconic Emperor had life force that matched them...if not surpassed them.

Because of this, the Draconic Emperor was nigh-invulnerable. Wounds that would be fatal to anyone else were mere scratches to them. If a crushed heart or a burnt body was enough to kill the Draconic Emperor, then first in Huang He’s duel rankings would’ve been Xunyu, not Canglong.

This immortality had been demonstrated even in this battle against Ignis.

Additionally, as a side-effect of Gulong Cells, the bearer’s body was “dragonized,” turning him into a Dragon King.

With their genetic makeup and resistances rivaling those of the highest-tier dragons, they were able to turn their magic into the defensive aura characteristic of Dragon Kings, simply called “Dragon King Aura.”

The nigh-immortal Draconic Emperor himself scarcely needed it, but as Canglong had demonstrated with Elizabeth and the other Altarians here, it could be used for support.

Gulong Cells was an immensely powerful skill even just on its own.

However, what made Draconic Emperors truly a force to be reckoned with was their other special skill.

This skill was the reason why those who knew the nature of the job would call the Draconic Emperor an abnormality. Its name was “Draconic Heritage.”

The gulong had created Draconic Emperor as a vessel — it was a job, yet not a job, for it didn’t fully adhere to the world’s rules.

Unlike other Superior Jobs, the Resources gathered for it were not emptied for the next inheritor — meaning that Draconic Emperors were born with the levels and stats of their predecessors.

The job’s stat growth was uniform, and thanks to this skill, there was no limit to how high its stats could grow.

The magic that nearly matched Ignis Idea, the AGI that let him move at supersonic speeds, the STR that let him shatter Ignis’s enhanced arm, and even the vast reserves of HP — all were the result of the levels Canglong had inherited.

The Draconic Emperor that had come before Canglong’s predecessor was considered the strongest one ever, but that was because he exercised incredible control over his own powers.

In terms of pure stats, the current one — Canglong — was the strongest by far.

His level easily surpassed 3,000.

This was the Draconic Emperor — a shapeless, abnormal vessel created by the gulong from their own existence in order to escape extinction at the hands of the Incarnations.

It was the humanoid Irregularity they had etched onto the world.

Born transcendental, the bearers of this abnormal job were human, and yet not.

They could not be human.

That was why the names given to them — Renwai, Renchao, or Renyue — had meanings like “inhuman” or “above man.”