Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 222 - 221 - Lia’s Overtiming.

Chapter 222: Chapter 221 - Lia’s Overtiming.

The plot had changed completely.

It was something Raven didn’t need anyone to tell him because he knew. He had stopped expecting anything from the plot to happen.

That was until he saw the ’humans’ fighting his group and heard Siris’s words.

’They are the Doctor’s imperfections.’

Raven didn’t even need to think about it because these ten beings—or, more like, twenty in total—had always been an annoyance to the Raven in the original plot.

They were all famous because no matter who they fought, they killed them.

After all, they were unkillable. No matter what you did—burn them to a crisp, fry their brains, eat them alive—they would reform to their original shape.

Worse, they grew stronger every time they died.

If Raven had to explain their existence in simpler terms, then they were a low-budget, imperfect, and disgusting form of Graye.

However, unlike Graye, they didn’t die.

That was until you found their weakness—their only weakness.

They depended on each other to stay alive.

All of these beings shared a link, and that link kept them from dying.

This link connected all twenty of them, but it only worked when they moved.

If someone knew their weakness, which was to kill all of them at the same time to make it impossible for them to regenerate again, then the fight would be an easy win.

Of course, there were ways to make use of them even if your target knew their weakness, but not in a plain field like the Ashen Expanse, but in a crowded area.

Raven, however, didn’t need to think about it right now because, after all that chaos, the cave was finally peaceful.

The soft rustle of leaves under their backs replaced the howling wind and mana-screams of battle.

Lia had worked overtime by using her power to create the world’s most comfortable, natural beds for them.

She had manipulated the dead plants in the cave. She gave them life and made them into grassy beds.

Raven lay sprawled in the center like the world’s most exhausted mattress.

Selena was curled up on his left arm like a sleepy cat, hair splayed across his shoulder as she absently traced circles on his chest with her finger.

On his right, Clara had commandeered his other arm, resting her head there and clinging to his sleeve like it might float away without her.

Meanwhile, Siris had claimed his chest like a throne, arms crossed and a smug smirk fixed in place as she used him as a squishy assassin-shaped pillow.

Raven let out a long sigh. "You know... I can’t feel my ribs anymore."

"Shh," Selena murmured, her eyes closed. "The ribs are the most comfortable part."

"They really aren’t."

"They are now," Clara added, snuggling deeper.

"I am the ultimate weighted blanket," Siris said proudly, patting his chest. "I come with emotional baggage and stabby skills."

"I regret nothing," Raven muttered.

In a corner, Jessy was upside down, legs propped on the wall, eyes twitching. "I swear... one more undead and I’ll personally un-invent necromancy."

Rufus was half-buried in a pile of moss with one foot sticking out like a fallen hero statue.

Alex had melded into one of the walls for a nap.

Jake was snoring while holding a melted scythe.

Graye had passed out mid-stretch, drooling slightly with her arm draped over Lia’s vines like she was cuddling a salad.

The only ones awake—well, upright—were Valeria and Nibbles.

Valeria sat at the cave’s entrance, armor gleaming faintly under the moonlight. She had her knees drawn up, arms resting on them, and eyes scanning the tree line like a silent sentinel.

Nibbles, wearing a tiny leaf hat, held a stick like a war general’s cane and scratched out crude battle diagrams in the dirt.

His latest masterpiece involved ten stick figures labeled "Zombois" getting exploded by smiley faces with huge fireballs.

Valeria raised an eyebrow. "You added sound effects."

Nibbles held up a sign: "Kaboom intensifies."

"...Appropriate."

A few quiet moments passed, the post-battle stillness settling in like a warm fog.

Everyone was too tired to speak. Too tired to move.

Until—

Crunch.

A footstep.

The plants outside rustled.

Valeria was up in an instant. Nibbles vanished behind a bush.

A moment later, a familiar broad-shouldered figure stepped into view, silver armor marked with old scars and a sword hilt poking over his shoulder.

Argon.

His eyes swept over the broken ground, the charred earth... and then narrowed at the ten now-permanently-dead husk craters outside the cave.

He rushed inside, his expression filled with worry until he saw Raven.

Then, as he stepped inside the cave, in a calm but edged voice, he spoke. "I leave for a while..."

Raven opened one red eye from beneath the three-girl cuddle pile.

"Oh. Hey, father."

Argon ignored the fact that his son was being treated as a bed. "Why are there ruptures in the ground, signs of high-level magic discharge, and ten puddles of ash stuck to the ground like goo right outside this cave?"

Everyone groaned.

Jessy raised her hand weakly. "Not it."

Graye rolled over. "Zombies again."

Argon turned to Raven. "I told you to keep Talon and the others nearby in case of an emergency. If you had listened, then you wouldn’t have had to move."

Raven stretched under the weight of Siris. "Wouldn’t have helped."

Argon’s brow twitched. "What?"

"I’m saying," Raven said, lazily gesturing upward, "that no matter who stayed behind, they couldn’t have done anything. Talon, your guards, or even a parade of dragons—they wouldn’t have figured it out. They’d have just made the zombies angrier."

"They weren’t zombies," Clara mumbled. "They were Wi-Fi corpses."

"Exactly," Raven said. "And I knew exactly how to kill them."

Argon’s eyes narrowed further. "How?"

Now, most people would stutter. Or maybe explain using logic.

But Raven... Raven merely activated his Soul Power.

A golden glow surged through his eyes like molten starlight.

He dramatically pointed one glowing finger at the nearest wall.

"These eyes."

Everyone blinked.

He turned to Argon. "These eyes can see things no one else can. Diagrams. Patterns. Forbidden memories etched in the flow of mana. I call it... Divine Vision Ultra Premium Plus."

Selena opened one eye, side-eyeing him as she knew he was lying. "I thought you called it ’Soul Stare Deluxe’ yesterday?"

"Marketing update," Raven whispered.

Siris snorted on his chest.

Argon stared at him. "...You’re lying."

"No," Raven said with a straight face, "I’m dramatically exaggerating for morale."

Graye peeked from under a leaf blanket. "Wait... so those golden eyes can see... everything?"

"Oh yeah," Raven nodded, turning it up a notch. "I once looked at a mimic pretending to be a chair and saw the trauma of all the butts it had bitten."

Jessy choked on air. "Pfft—"

Graye gasped. "Wait, that’s AMAZING."

Siris smirked. "He’s totally making this up."

"I choose to believe it," Graye declared.

Argon looked heavenward like he was asking the gods for patience.

"Fine," he sighed, rubbing his head. "I’ll stay here from now until you vanish again. For now, rest."

Raven gave a thumbs-up from under the weight of three girls. "We’re totally resting. The most horizontal anyone’s ever rested."

Argon turned to sit on a boulder, muttering something about "damn children and divine eye nonsense."

Nibbles, still behind his bush, flipped a sign: "No dad jokes?"

Valeria, on the other hand, stared at everything going on.

’W-What the hell’s going on?’

Why was Raven calling Argon father? That guy didn’t deserve to be called father!

Also, why did it seem like Argon was worried about Raven?

How can that unfeeling father be worried about his youngest son?

There’s no way she could believe it, unless—

’He has some ulterior motives,’ she concluded, her eyes turning cold.

However, she wasn’t strong enough to do anything about Argon yet, so all she could do was stay alert and always be ready to defend Raven.

It is then that Raven, who had lain back down, suddenly spoke, staring at the cave’s ceiling.

"Father," he called out, and Argon, who had sat down on a boulder and started meditating with his huge sword on his lap, cracked open his eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"I suddenly had this thought, and I felt like I should ask it while I can," Raven hummed, making Argon raise a brow.

"Why are you stretching it so much? Ask whatever you want to ask."

That reply made Raven sit up straight, with Siris now on his lap, while Selena and Clara, who lost their armpillows, stared at Raven’s back with a blank gaze.

"What happened to Gerax?"

The moment that question was asked, everyone stiffened, especially Siris.

After all, Gerax, the ex-principal of the Velmoria Academy, was the first person who had almost shown them the door to hell if not for Argon’s timely arrival.

Everyone, except Graye, who didn’t even know who Gerax was, turned toward Argon.

They had all forgotten about the guy, thinking that he would be taken care of by the family, and maybe they would be able to find the one behind everything.

Argon’s expression, for a second, would falter before he tilted his head. "...Why are you curious about him all of a sudden?"

"It is because the person who had sent Siris to Gerax to make her fight me was the same person who had sent that undying group of beings to us," Raven answered without missing a beat.

Argon’s expression tensed as he heard it.

Raven, on the other hand, pressed on. "So? What happened to Gerax? Could you guys get anything out of his mouth about his backer or the person who was behind whatever had happened to Siris?"

Argon stared at Raven for a second longer before he sighed. "We could get nothing out of him."

The moment Raven heard those words, he exhaled, lying back down. "I should’ve expected that."

He paused, but before Argon could say anything, he added, "He died before you guys could even question him, didn’t he?"

Argon’s shoulders loosened as he nodded. "...Yes."

Raven’s tattoo on his hand trembled as Omni’s voice echoed, "Welp. That’s one more dead guy who can’t spill tea. Classic villain move."

With that, the cave was enveloped in silence once again.