Chapter 344

Chapter 344
## Chapter 344

Pantheon (3)

A live broadcaster.

This was a career path that had surged in prominence during the current tech-driven era, driven by the expansion of digital streaming services and the booming creators’ market.

It was an environment rapidly heading toward extreme congestion, as a relentless tide of individuals, enticed by visions of massive paychecks, rushed to claim their share.

“…Honestly, that dining spot was… a letdown. The presentation was decent, but the flavors were completely masked by artificial enhancers. I can only give it a 4 out of 10! My anticipation was quite high, but the online hype was clearly… bloated.”

Hong Doo-sik, a young man delivering commentary to his mobile device balanced on an extension rod, belonged to this wave of internet broadcasters.

His primary focus was… uncovering obscure dining establishments.

He possessed very little actual culinary expertise, but he maintained absolute faith in his capacity to… spin an entertaining narrative.

‘Why is my viewer count completely flat right now? Do I need to pivot toward something more… provocative?’

His baseline viewership struggled to even hit double digits, and the performance metrics on his poorly produced uploads were practically non-existent.

He had resorted to asking his relatives and close acquaintances to engage with the content to manipulate the recommendation metrics, yet the outcome remained stagnant.

“Moving on to the sweet treat! We are heading toward a crepe vendor currently generating significant chatter across digital networks. Let us discover if it lives up to the reputation…”

The afternoon started out as an uninspired routine, indistinguishable from any other.

An unexciting, routine day—so entirely lacking in flavor that he was actively pondering throwing in the towel to seek traditional hourly employment.

Indeed.

Right up until the moment ‘it’ transpired.

Zzzt—!

A sharp, abrupt crackle, reminiscent of a high-tension electrical discharge.

“What…?”

A prickly sensation rippled across his skin simultaneously with the bizarre acoustic vibration.

His boots locked in place, a sudden wave of goosebumps breaking out across his forearms.

His physical response was far from unique.

The pedestrians surrounding him abruptly froze in their tracks, turning their faces toward the firmament with expressions of deep bewilderment.

He instinctively mimicked their upward gaze.

Zzzt—!

A literal lightning bolt from a clear sky, as the phrase goes.

Vivid discharges of energy crackled and arced against the backdrop of an unclouded, brilliant afternoon.

‘Hold on, could that be…?!’

A sudden wave of dread washed over him, his consciousness jerking into hyper-focus.

This was unmistakably an unnatural event.

An immense, localized release of supernatural force occurring without a single preliminary alert!

Which indicated…

‘A strike by an Awakened extremist group!’

An immediate sensation of terror gripped his chest.

Due to the recent defensive efforts of rogue heroes like Hahoe Mask and Phantom, the domestic security framework within South Korea, particularly across Seoul, had seen massive reinforcement.

That exact stabilization was the primary reason he felt secure enough to produce outdoor broadcasts in the first place!

Zzzt! Crackle—!

The atmospheric distortions overhead expanded, growing far more violent and blinding.

He was merely a baseline human, entirely disconnected from the hidden society of supernatural entities… yet his biological survival responses signaled a warning.

If that concentrated energy discharged, he would be instantly reduced to ash, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

‘I haven’t even experienced a romantic relationship yet!’

His consciousness spun rapidly, a chaotic swirl of unfulfilled desires and panicked thoughts.

Even amidst this terror, his physical reflexes took over as he redirected the lens of his device upward, capturing the terrifying atmospheric anomaly.

It remained uncertain whether this was driven by a content creator’s hardwired behavior, an obsessive need to log ongoing events, or a deeply buried biological imperative to preserve a record of his final seconds.

Flash—

In an instant, an explosive radiance of pure gold erupted from the epicenter of the electrical arcs.

Immediately following,

[“Rooooar—!”]

…An earth-shattering acoustic blast, saturated with an absolutely suffocating weight of authority,

…rippled across the entire district.

Rumble—

“Eek!”

“Watch out!”

“What on earth is that?! Look up!”

A violent atmospheric surge, an instantaneous tempest, threw the entire thoroughfare into absolute disarray.

The disruption extended far beyond the immediate street corner.

Every single citizen within line of sight of the colossal entity, every individual capable of perceiving that vocal blast, felt the psychological impact.

Hong Doo-sik remained frozen on the pavement, his limbs vibrating uncontrollably and his analytical faculties paralyzed under the crushing pressure radiating from the skyward entity.

An immense organism, measuring tens of meters from head to tail, its hide shimmering with gold defensive plating, propelled itself through the air with massive, rhythmic strokes of its wings.

“A dragon…?”

He had never encountered such a specimen in reality, yet the classification surfaced in his thoughts instantly.

It was a legendary creature, universally recognized from gaming titles, cinematic features, and popular culture.

However, a singular detail disrupted his understanding—.

‘What is that object?’

…A massive, gleaming sphere cradled between the creature’s jaws.

This was another element completely alien to his personal experience, yet its designation manifested automatically in his thoughts.

“…A Dragon Orb?”

A sense of intellectual friction hit him.

The physical framework closely resembled a Western mythical dragon, yet it carried a Dragon Orb, an artifact traditionally tied to Eastern draconic mythology. What sort of… cross-cultural entity was he looking at?

‘No, hold on. That is just my own uneducated assumption… ’

He possessed no academic understanding of draconian biology. His entire framework was built on entertainment media.

Now that he was standing beneath the genuine article…

His mind, previously muddled by pop-culture assumptions, cleared instantly.

“A-an actual dragon?! In this location?!”

His cognitive functions finally adjusted to the reality of the crisis.

To put it plainly,

A dragon.

A living, breathing dragon of myth,

…was currently drifting through the airspace directly over Seoul.

-Is this actual footage?

-Wait, are we watching a live broadcast right now?

-Oh my god, look at the sky! The broadcast networks are cutting in!

-What is happening?!

His rolling commentary section erupted into total pandemonium, the lines of text scrolling at an unreadable velocity.

The counter marking live viewers began climbing at a geometric rate.

The entire digital audience was reeling from the draconic entity captured on his feed.

‘…This vantage point is flawless.’

Sufficiently removed to avoid immediate danger, close enough for visual fidelity, and completely devoid of structural blockages—it offered the ultimate angle to frame the entire creature.

The paralyzing dread that had locked his muscles was rapidly overtaken by a massive surge of adrenaline, an overwhelming realization of profit.

‘This is… my defining moment!’

The absolute premier documentation of a living dragon! It represented the ultimate journalistic achievement of the generation!

He swallowed hard, his fingers clamping tightly around the edges of his mobile device.

Reason dictated that he should be sprinting for the nearest subterranean shelter… but he had completely moved past concerns for his personal longevity.

‘My broadcasting career truly begins today!’

‘This is monumental! I cannot lose this framing!’

‘The ultimate win! The engagement metrics on social media will be unprecedented… ’

He was far from the only individual making this calculated risk.

Dozens of citizens, discarding basic self-preservation protocols, were actively recording the creature, a sea of lenses tilted toward the sky.

True to the hyper-connected era, the digital data transmitted at lightning speed, expanding beyond domestic networks…

…and traversing the international web within minutes.

All driven by the awe-inspiring, magnificent form of Horus, the Gold Dragon.

—

‘The intended reaction has been fully realized.’

It had been a somewhat… unscripted choice to manifest Horus without prior coordination.

Furthermore, deploying the 「Elder Dragon’s Heart」 immediately to force the manifestation of his fully developed biological stage…

‘Yet this approach promised the absolute maximum psychological impact.’

A strategy of pure awe and intimidation.

Any combat-capable individual possessing a baseline sensitivity to energy would instantly comprehend, upon observing a dragon navigating the upper atmosphere,

…that such an entity was fundamentally foreign to this world.

That the natural laws of Earth should make the existence of such a creature an impossibility.

This was no mere humanoid variant like a vampire, a lycanthrope, or an undead manifestation—entities that originally diverged from baseline human genetics.

This was an entirely separate classification of life, its fundamental composition sourced from an entirely different reality.

A dragon, the absolute pinnacle lifeform across countless cosmic planes.

‘Utilizing Harris would have provided an alternative path, but Horus commands a far superior… visual presence.’

There was simply no equivalence between a slender, human-proportioned elf and a colossal draconic predator spanning dozens of meters.

The objective had been successfully met.

Nevertheless, the action had generated a handful of… minor complications.

Inside the corporate suite where the negotiations with the Pantheon delegates had been taking place.

“…”

“…Phew…”

The individuals who had observed the abrupt arrival of the Gold Dragon, their countenances previously dominated by sheer reverence and shock just minutes prior, were currently mopping perspiration from their skin, their physical postures projecting immense exhaustion.

In contrast to the earlier phase of the meeting, the headcount within the space had expanded to twice its original size.

Furthermore, the collective attention of the room remained anchored predominantly toward a singular spot in the far corner.

Chomp, chomp.

The faint, rhythmic sound of a child enjoying a snack cut through the heavy, stagnant atmosphere.

A small youngster, positioned upon an elevated seat with his diminutive legs swinging back and forth, was casually consuming finger foods, completely unbothered by the intense scrutiny of the gathered executives.

Horus, the Gold Dragon.

He remained the absolute focal point of the environment, entirely eclipsing the presence of Heinrich.

“…I must extend my deepest regrets once more for the disruption. My actions were overly impulsive, resulting in uncalled-for complications for your organization.”

Heinrich, observing that every eye in the room remained locked onto Horus, offered a respectful nod of contrition.

Naturally, the sudden materialization of an immense draconic entity within the airspace of Seoul was not an event that could simply be overlooked.

“Ha… Haha…”

“…Do not dwell on it. The situation has stabilized.”

“It was unavoidable under the circumstances. The fault lies with us for not accelerating the briefing process.”

The immediate aftermath had been… incredibly intense.

Emergency sirens had resonated across the district, defensive sorcery boundaries had snapped into active status, and high-tier Awakened response teams, alongside specialized Guardians, had flooded the sector.

Even Yoon Ji-yoon, known universally as the Lightning Empress and recognized as one of the three most powerful Awakened assets in South Korea, had converged on the coordinate, her physical form crackling with high-voltage plasma.

Naturally, Horus had immediately dampened his passive pressure and dissolved his draconic state, cutting off any further release of exotic particles.

This was, after all, Seoul—the dense heart of South Korea.

Had the creature manifested its unbridled spiritual weight, the collateral consequences would have been catastrophic!

The vast majority of the civilian populace in this urban center possessed negligible defensive capacity against raw supernatural radiation. It possessed the potential for a localized disaster.

‘My intent was strictly to capture public focus and dominate global media feeds… but I had no desire to inflict genuine casualties. Given that Heinrich was positioned to manage the situation, the parameters remained acceptable.’

A degree of structural disruption had occurred, but it remained within manageable bounds.

Though the logistics personnel tasked with handling the public relations and cleanup operations were facing an immense workload.

“That small youth… was the actual draconic entity…?”

“To consider that an apex organism from an alternate realm has transitioned to Earth… This could signify that another Great Calamity is breaking upon us.”

“It defies standard logic… A physical frame that compact, maintaining such an astronomical reservoir of force… I would have dismissed the claim as fantasy had I not observed the transformation firsthand.”

“…He is quite endearing.”

Regardless of the secondary complications, the overarching objective had been achieved.

The skepticism regarding Heinrich’s declarations of an extra-dimensional origin had completely evaporated.

This applied equally to the personnel gathered within this office and the global population that had viewed the digital feeds.

—

Pantheon US Headquarters.

“Pfft—!”

Scribe, who had been indulging in a quiet moment with a cup of tea, instantly sprayed the liquid across the space, her eyelids snapping open in profound astonishment.

“What… am I looking at?”

Her gaze remained locked onto the digital display, where a massive and awe-inspiring beast, gripping an enigmatic sphere within its teeth, propelled its massive bulk forward, its sheer output of power dominating the recorded frame.

The broadcast data originated from the opposite hemisphere.

“A dragon…? What parameters allowed for its materialization on Earth…?”

Furthermore, the event had transpired precisely within Seoul, Korea.

The exact geographic coordinate where Heinrich, the Saint of Auterica, was scheduled to interface with the Pantheon investigative agency!

A dark intuition, an icy wave of cognitive dissonance, began to wrap around her thoughts.

Her analytical perceptions, refined over decades of high-level threat assessment, signaled an immediate alert.

‘…Hold on, this development… ’

The situation had deviated from the expected model.

Deviated catastrophically.