Evil Dragon, Without a Princess, I Had to Transform Myself!-Chapter 69 : Unyielding

Patunasankus had always been a dragon in the purest sense—a brutal evil dragon, one indulging in base pleasures, a creature who did as she pleased.
Whether it was tormenting the hero, helping Evelyn lift a curse, or sparing a succubus holy knight, her ultimate goal was simply to act on whims and fancies.
And now was no different. As a pure evil dragon, Patunasankus couldn’t care less about undead, refugees, or the safety of Bluefin Bay. To her, these were trivial matters, utterly irrelevant.
An evil dragon simply didn’t care.
But since she was already here, Patunasankus had to find something to do. She couldn’t just stand around like a fool all day—how boring would that be? The lich before her was clearly the perfect pastime.
Hmm… in many ways, it was ideal.
Except for being a bit too fragile.
Oz was getting thoroughly beaten. The evil dragon never held back.
In a battle that lasted barely an instant…
Patunasankus gripped Oz’s skull in her left hand, her brutal, overwhelming strength nearly crushing the lich’s cranium to dust. The once-mighty lich, who had dominated holy knights with ease, now dangled helplessly in the evil dragon’s grasp like a chicken awaiting slaughter.
During the fight, the great lich had tried to resist.
But even its most powerful eighth-circle necromancy, Yamidara’s Withering Death, couldn’t so much as scratch the girl before it.
This vile spell was one that would wither and kill any ordinary creature just by proximity.
Even the Layang Empire’s mightiest holy knight champions had to handle it with extreme caution—a single misstep would leave them a desiccated corpse. At full power, it could consume an entire city’s worth of life.
Yet, faced with this terrifying necromancy, the girl didn’t even bother dodging.
She simply charged straight through the withering spell at an incomprehensible speed, skewering the lich with a crimson lightning blade—effortlessly, without so much as a tear in her clothes.
“…Misunderstanding,” Oz pleaded for mercy.
“Boring.”
Patunasankus yawned, utterly disinterested in listening.
A creature like this? Killing it was no loss.
With a slight flex of her slender, delicate fingers, Patunasankus crushed Oz’s skull into dust.
Amidst the agonized wails of its soul, the headless lich’s body collapsed before dissolving into pure soul particles, scattering into the air.
"..."
Watching as the lich’s soul particles drifted toward a distant mage tower before vanishing from sight, Patunasankus froze for a moment.
She tilted her head slowly, blinking her vacant eyes in confusion.
Hmm… had she just let the lich go back?
Oh no. She might’ve acted a bit too soon.
“…Seems like I really did,” Patunasankus muttered under her breath.   “…Probably not.”
It was just a lich’s remnant soul. Surely… surely it wouldn’t cause any major problems?Patunasankus thought about the useless idiot inside. If she accidentally kicked the bucket, she'd have to find a place to bury her, and just thinking about it was already such a hassle.
She still patted her skirt and chased after the trail of Oz's coalescing soul toward the tower.
Before long, Patunasankus arrived in front of the tower.
She peered into the bottomless pit at the entrance. Thanks to her draconic darkvision, she could easily see Hedica lying peacefully at the bottom, fast asleep. It was just a simple old-fashioned trap, clearly set up by Oz during his lifetime—
Completely non-lethal.
Patunasankus could even hear Hedica snoring, clearly exhausted and now dead asleep.
"Whatever, who cares." The evil dragon ignored her and strode into the mage tower.
Then, she saw Elaphia, covered in blood, collapsed among the bones.
"…So useless." Patunasankus sighed.
○
Loranhir could no longer hear the sounds of Elaphia fighting, but she had finally reached the lich's phylactery.
It was a dark purple metal box, wrapped in parchment covered in magical runes, its surface layered with intricate symbols and patterns that flickered with a faint, eerie glow.
Loranhir lifted her head and slowly took a deep breath.
Once. Twice.
After spreading her hands and steadying her breathing, she prepared to dismantle the thing.
But the air suddenly turned sinister, as though something was gathering here, stirring an icy wind that brushed past her brow.
Oz had returned…
No… Oz's lingering soul had returned.
"Rather than killing me, you should worry about the evil beside you. She… is far more brutal than I could ever be." Oz's voice suddenly echoed in Loranhir's ears, all the words flooding into her mind at once.
"She? Who?"
Loranhir instantly clutched her head and collapsed to the ground.
"Who else? Your Princess, of course," Oz sneered in her mind. "You can't even imagine how cruel and arrogant your Princess is. Compared to her, I'm nothing. It's a wonder you've been by her side all this time and still know nothing."
Oz continued:
"What a slow-witted fool."
"What are you even talking about? I don’t understand!"
"You think she stays with you out of kindness? She's just toying with you—a useless plaything."
Oz's soul gradually coalesced around the phylactery. Just a little longer, and he could gather enough power to cast a lethal spell.
"Sooner or later, you'll feel that terrifying power for yourself, just like I did, and die in despair. I look forward to it."
"You're lying! The Princess… the Princess isn’t like that!" Loranhir denied firmly.
"She is. An utterly wicked existence, beyond your imagination."
"She's not! She could never be!"
"Then see for yourself."
Oz attempted to project his memories into Loranhir's mind.But Loranhir had already closed her eyes, allowing a flood of thoughts to rush over her—all about a girl with hair the color of dandelion fluff.
Her smile, her dance under the moonlight, her sincerity and tolerance toward Elaphia, her carefree spirit in the breeze, her shy face…
How could someone like this possibly be the evil existence the lich spoke of?!
Loranhir stood up, a roar gathering in her throat.
"What does it matter to you what the Princess is like?! I say what she is, and that’s what she is!"
She raised the holy sword—still sheathed, as usual. She had grown used to it, but this thing was still a solid piece of metal. It could serve as a fire poker, and sometimes the scabbard was even good for cracking walnuts. Now, it was just as suitable for smashing a lich’s phylactery that sought to deceive hearts.
With a single strike, the holy sword shattered the phylactery, producing a faint crack—along with the shattering of Oz’s soul.
Amid the dying shriek of the lich’s soul, Loranhir’s ears rang. A symphony played within her body, the main instrument being her heart. Blood surged restlessly, her lips went numb, and her skull felt as if it were splitting open.
The pervasive aura of death and soul-shaking terror could have killed her at any moment, yet miraculously, Loranhir clung to the last shred of her consciousness. She thought—she was about to die.
The last breath in her lungs was about to escape. Her awareness was sinking.
Click, click, click. The sound of leather shoes striking against tiled floors, a steady rhythm like a walking melody. Faintly, she heard a set of footsteps—measured and graceful.
The footsteps stopped. Someone seemed to be standing before her now.
"..."
Words were spoken, but Loranhir could no longer make them out.
"Don’t die."
She thought she heard something like that. A familiar voice, but Loranhir couldn’t think anymore.
Then, something warm was pressed into her palm—a faint heat, a strange pulse within the cold.
Within that sensation, there was an odd mingling of coolness and warmth.
Thump…
Thump, thump…
Thump, thump, thump…
Like a signal, her heart began to beat violently and persistently. The coursing blood grew fervent, surging slowly yet unstoppably, endlessly alive.
Her eyes opened. Her vision was blurred. The figure in a white dress was indistinct yet achingly familiar. It always made her think of the sky after rain—washed into boundless clarity, fresh and pure.
Loranhir couldn’t reach that hazy silhouette. She couldn’t even manage another glance.
Everything before her went completely dark.