My Tamed Beast Returned with a Dragon Chapter 56 - The Cross of the Lonely

Woo-oo-oo-oo.

The ghosts sensed Belquior’s approach and began to wail threateningly. He waved his hand lazily, as if swatting away bothersome flies.

“Pathetic.”

Belquior reached out and seized a ghost’s head. Normally, physical attacks wouldn’t touch a ghost—but his opponent was a dragon.

As he channeled mana into his grip, the ghost’s head began to cave in, as though crushed by invisible pressure.

Woo! Woo!

The ghost thrashed wildly, realizing instinctively that it was in mortal danger.

Pop!

Under Belquior’s crushing power, the ghost imploded and vanished. Soon after, the other ghosts met the same fate.

Pop, pop!

Each ghost burst like a fragile balloon. Watching Belquior erase them so effortlessly left Eun-sae and her team stunned. Seo Horang hiccuped audibly.

Beep-beep!

“No, Bom.”

Bom, trembling in Eun-sae’s arms, seemed to find it amusing and tried to fly toward Belquior. Park Doyoon approached with a grim face and whispered to Eun-sae.

“Hunter Yu Eun-sae… is it normal for a mage to grab undead monsters with their bare hands?”

“No… I think only he can do that.”

“Thought so.”

It was a relief he was on their side, not the enemy. Park Doyoon exhaled in relief and stepped back.

Woooo…

The remaining ghosts, terrified, dared not approach Belquior. When his golden eyes flicked toward them, they scattered in panic.

Then, his gaze turned to the banshee.

Huuuuh…

The weeping banshee slowly lifted her head. Belquior stood before her, mana swirling around his hand. Her mournful face twisted into fury at the sight of an intruder.

Kyaaak!

The banshee slashed at him with razor claws, but Belquior sidestepped with ease. A few quick exchanges followed—fast, silent, and precise.

Eun-sae and the others swallowed hard, watching tensely, ready to move if he gave the signal.

“Uh… should we, uh, assume this one’ll vanish just as easily?”

Seo Horang poked his head out from behind Park Doyoon, his voice trembling. Lee Yena clicked her tongue.

“Seo Horang, does that look easy to you?”

“No, ma’am! It’s just—he’s amazing, and I’m curious how he’ll do it!”

Normally, ghosts and banshees were among the most troublesome undead monsters—immune to physical attacks, requiring holy abilities, consecrated water, or sacred relics to defeat.

But Belquior was fighting them with his bare hands—or rather, with mana so refined the others couldn’t even see it.

He deflected the banshee’s attacks like one might handle a tantrum-throwing child. The team watched in awe; not one of them thought Belquior could possibly lose.

Only Eun-sae was uneasy.

Why is Belquior stepping in personally this time?

He had never done that before. Even if a banshee’s “Death Wail” was dangerous…

For him to act directly, something had to be different. Her eyes stayed fixed on him, tense.

Then—

KYAAAGH!

Enraged by her failed attacks, the banshee unleashed a torrent of black energy. The shadow behind her grew, swelling until something began to crawl out of it.

Creatures—shapes unlike any ghost—emerged, surrounding Belquior and moaning in eerie tones. Eun-sae shouted in alarm.

“Belquior-nim!”

She spun to the others.

“What are those?!”

“No idea!”

“I—I think they’re spirits! I saw something like that on Hunter TV!“

“What, spirits?! Since when does a banshee summon spirits?!”

In this world, spirit summoners existed, though rare. But an undead banshee summoning spirits? That was unheard of.

Given her dark-element nature, these must be shadow spirits.

Belquior, unfazed, raised his hand. Fire bloomed there—though unseen by the others, it was no ordinary flame, but one imbued with holy light.

“You dare trifle with false tricks.”

Behind him, the sacred fire spread wide like a fan. Belquior summoned night itself, consuming the negative emotions feeding the shadow spirits, and burned them one by one.

Screeeee!

Skreee—eek!

The dark spirits shrieked like nails on a chalkboard as they were purified into nothingness. Had Eun-sae’s group faced them, the battle would have been grueling.

“That’s no spirit… that’s a wraith.”

“Doesn’t really make much difference, does it?”

Just as they were focusing on Belquior’s battle—

Ding!

A system message appeared before them.

[Team A’s King has stolen Team C’s Beast 1 (Lesser Dragon) score!]

“What?! Those Gold Star bastards!”

“So this is what it feels like to have your score stolen… Fine. It’s war. Let’s see what happens when we meet face to face.”

“Wait—why did they steal Dodari’s score? Not Hunter Yu Eun-sae’s, or even the team leader’s?”

Park Doyoon paused for a moment before answering.

“Because it’s the most stable target. Dodari never sits out of a fight, while Hunter Yu Eun-sae or I might’ve deliberately yielded credit to others in the team. Just like how we didn’t steal points from Guildmaster Baek Chan-min or Vice Guildmaster Yuk Jae-hee.”

Oh Jong-hwan clapped his hands, rallying the group.

“Doesn’t matter! We’ll be fine! Because we have him!“

All eyes turned toward Belquior. Though he was busy deflecting the banshee’s attacks, he clearly felt their gazes and frowned.

They didn’t even understand why he had stepped in—and yet they were acting so blissfully naïve. It was almost amusing.

Kyaaaah!

At that moment, the banshee expanded her field. The ghosts that had cowered in fear moments ago suddenly went berserk.

Woo! Woo-oo!

The hunters instantly noticed the change. The ghosts’ eyes glowed red, as though they were under the banshee’s command, and they charged at Belquior and the others with manic fury.

Those fighting with holy-water-coated weapons soon realized something was off.

“What the—?! Why are they stronger?!”

“It’s not just me, right?! Since when could a banshee control ghosts?!”

“No way. This one’s definitely… different.”

The awakened ghosts pressed them harder and harder. Since physical attacks barely worked, Eun-sae and the team were soon covered in shallow cuts.

“This won’t end like this.”

Park Doyoon bit his lip and summoned a holy artifact—the Cross of the Lonely Pilgrim.

As he fastened the cross necklace around his neck, his pupils flared with golden light. In an instant, sacred energy surged through his body and weapon.

“Foul, lowly wretches! How dare you defile the ground beneath my feet! Touch not this body of the righteous!”

His voice changed completely, his tone commanding and imperious.

“Oh wow. There it is—the sovereign version of the team leader.”

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen that side of him.”

His teammates let out impressed murmurs. Park Doyoon snorted haughtily, but inside, he was dying of embarrassment.

The Cross of the Lonely Pilgrim was a powerful holy item—but it came with one side effect: it temporarily altered his personality.

When he swung his weapon, ghosts were sliced apart like blocks of tofu.

“Judgment shall be delivered! As long as the Lord watches over me, no vile creature shall bar my path!”

The cross around his neck shone brighter with each self-righteous declaration, as if his power scaled with his dramatic flair.

It looked impressive—but compared to his usual self, the change was… drastic. His teammates were seconds away from collapsing in laughter.

“Judg—Judgment—pfft… hahahaha…”

“Hey, guys—don’t tease the team leader too much.”

“Lee Yena, put your hand down. You’re not hiding your smile.”

“I—I wasn’t laughing!”

“Seo Horang, you are still breathing, right?”

That version of Park Doyoon never failed to cause chaos. While the others struggled to contain their laughter, he continued fighting through sheer humiliation, his expression cold but his face steadily turning red.

Meanwhile, the banshee was being driven into a corner. Belquior showed no mercy, and the hunters fought back fiercely using holy-infused items against the maddened ghosts.

Finally, desperate, the banshee unleashed her last attack—her infamous skill, “Death’s Wail.”

Kyaaaaaaah!

The hunters quickly raised their shields, ready for it. But the outcome was unexpected.

Even with shields deployed, the curse debuff hit them full force.

“What?! How—?!”

“Team leader… I feel dizzy…”

“Urgh, my head…”

Park Doyoon and the others began to stagger as the banshee’s curse swept over them.

“Agh…”

Even Eun-sae—whose natural resistance to curses was high—felt her vision dim.

And then, memories she’d long buried surged up all at once.

“Mom! Dad! Eun-hyuk!”

Collapsed buildings. Bloodied bodies. Captured beasts thrashing in their restraints. Her family—trapped amidst the chaos.

“Please, save them! Please save my family!”

She had clung to a soldier in desperation, but he shook her off coldly.

She knew, deep down, that the soldier had no choice. But knowing didn’t stop the grief that tore through her heart as she watched her family die.

‘Hunter Yu Eun-sae, are you still hesitating? Every second you delay only wastes time. Do you not wish to survive?’

‘Eun-sae, we’ll be fine. Don’t you ever kneel to anyone. You’re our pride.’

When she had been kidnapped in a foreign desert.

‘Hunter Yu Eun-sae, you must go. Save yourself. We’ll be fine.’

When her party was slaughtered in a dungeon run.

The memories flashed before her eyes like a reel of film—except none were happy ones. Only pain, only loss. And they were all so vivid it hurt to breathe.