C868
As Raon’s Sword Mastery and Matirus’ Sacred Light Breath collided, a golden pillar seemed to connect heaven and earth. Sparks flew in all directions due to the tremendous clash of powers, and completely black cracks appeared.
‘As expected…’
Raon bit his lip as he watched the Sacred Light Breath falling as if to destroy the world.
‘Are they pushing me back?’
With gravity added to the Sacred Light Breath, even the Crack of the Heaven couldn’t completely pierce through it. Even as he attacked with his Sword Mastery, the light breath continued to advance.
- Raon!
Wrath looked at him with worried eyes.
‘It’s okay.’
Raon shook his head calmly.
«I knew from the beginning that it wouldn’t be easy.»
Even in his best physical condition, the chances of losing in a one-on-one duel with Matirus were high. It was natural that he was being pushed back in his current state of exhaustion.
[Foolish creature!]
Matirus, seemingly thinking he had won the game, mocked him and unleashed an even denser Sacred Light Breath. The increased pressure seemed to crush every bone in Raon’s body.
“Mmm…”
Green Serpent, perhaps due to his previous experience, remained tense and licked his lips.
‘I’m sorry, but…’
Raon advanced with the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer’s sword, putting strength into his toes.
«I haven’t used all my power yet.»
Facing the terrifying pressure of the Sacred Light Breath, he brought to light the emotions sunk deep in his soul. <Sloth>, <Envy>, <Gluttony>, <Lust>, and the greatest of them all, <Wrath>. He infused the Demon King’s Authority into the Crack of the Heaven’s sword as it was pushed back by the Sacred Light Breath.
Demon King Authorities are powers that normally manifest through negative emotions, but I am different.
Just as a sword can turn someone into a savior or a murderer depending on who wields it, the Demon King’s Authority blooming in his hands became darkness to save people, infusing the Crack of the Heaven. The bright golden glow of the Crack of the Heaven began to change color. (E/N: Sloth - Motivation. Envy - Admiration. Gluttony - Flavor. Lust - Affection. Wrath - Righteous Anger)
It wasn’t the dawn of a rising sun, but the sunset. The true intent of a swordsman who had experienced the passage of time and understood the world spread through the two swords.
The twilight that lingers in the night. A golden and dark sword that encompasses both light and darkness cuts through the Sacred Light Breath. It didn’t matter how much mana Matirus condensed; it was useless. The Sword Mastery, imbued with a new value, advanced, cutting through even the concept of gravity that had been propelling the Sacred Light Breath.
[W-What is this?!]
For the first time, a confused voice emerged from Matirus’ enormous maw. The eyes of the creature who had been confident of victory widened as if they were going to split.
“As expected, he won’t give up without a fight.”
Green Serpent nodded, saying he knew this would happen.
“This is what we expected from Raon Zieghart.”
[Don’t just stand there! Finish him off!]
Matirus, seemingly feeling a sense of apprehension from the continuous sword strikes that were advancing, yelled at Green Serpent to help him.
“Are you sure? A dragon’s pride…”
[Shut up and go!]
“…Understood.”
Green Serpent nodded slightly and entrusted his body to the wind. He appeared on Raon’s right side with a thin gust of wind.
“Don’t take it personally. After all, you killed us three times.”
Green Serpent revealed a calm gaze as he thrust his wind-infused sword towards Raon’s chest. Just as his sword was about to pierce Raon’s heart, a blue-tinged arrow flew, and a red magic circle appeared.
The red magic circle blocked Green Serpent’s sword strike, and the blue arrow pushed his body back relentlessly.
“Ugh…”
As Green Serpent let out a low groan and raised his head, he saw a woman wearing an old woman’s mask standing in front of Raon.
“Don’t interfere in my man’s fight.”
Merlin’s red eyes shone as if she were saying she would kill anyone who came near.
“I will protect this child even if it kills me.”
Sterin raised his bow as he spat black blood from his mouth. A desperate determination could be perceived in the arrow that flickered with blue light.
“It’s not easy even with a Guardian…”
Green Serpent raised his hands as if he were going to retreat and took a step back. Raon focused solely on his battle with Matirus, paying no attention to Green Serpent. He unleashed an even sharper Sword Mastery, harmonizing the Demon King’s Authority with the joys and sorrows he had obtained by achieving Transcendence.
In the end, the Sacred Light Breath that Matirus had poured out with all his strength reached its limit first, and the flow of mana he had forcefully gathered also ceased.
But Raon’s sword had not yet stopped. Enveloped in a sharp aura that seemed capable of piercing the world, it soared towards the sky.
[Cough!]
Matirus swallowed dryly as he watched Raon’s chilling Sword Mastery.
‘This is dangerous.’
This sword strike was more filled with murderous intent than pure power. Dodging it could lead to a fatal mistake, so blocking it seemed like the best option. Matirus cast a series of high-level defensive spells called “Absolute.”
He also summoned four Orbs of Light simultaneously to create a thick mana wall.
[This should be enough… huh?]
He thought he could easily block Raon’s weakened sword strike, but Raon’s sword shattered the wall of orbs and defensive magic as if it were glass and hit his neck.
He barely managed to turn his neck in reaction, but he couldn’t prevent a chunk of flesh from being torn off. A piece of flesh as large as a human house erupted, and red blood spilled like rain.
[Queeeeeogh!]
Matirus let out a monstrous scream that seemed to shake the entire Great Forest as he flapped his enormous wings.
‘What pain!’
It was a pain he had never felt since his birth. He had fought many battles with humans, but he had never been injured like that before.
‘But…’
Matirus shook his head and let out a low groan.
‘I’m alive.’
Just before Raon’s sword hit him, he had moved his Dragon Heart from his throat downwards. Thanks to that, although the wound itself was serious, he had avoided death.
‘Now it’s my turn.’
His mana and stamina still had some reserves, but that human’s physical and mental strength had already reached its limits. If he healed this wound and counterattacked now, he could easily kill them all. Matirus healed the wound on his neck while simultaneously creating another powerful gravity field towards Raon.
It was an ability that consumed a lot of mental energy, but now wasn’t the time to be conservative. As he crushed Raon with gravity, he summoned an enormous spear of light capable of erasing all life below it.
Raon swung his two swords as if he were in a frenzy. Hundreds of flower petals bloomed on the blade, scattering thousands of flames.
Those petty tricks won’t work!
Matirus manipulated gravity to make the scattered flames explode in the air. He didn’t want even the slightest spark to touch him. Thousands of flame fragments exploded, filling the air with thick gray smoke.
Matirus took advantage of the obscured vision to simultaneously bring down ten spears of light he had summoned in the sky.
It was a high-level chain magic that caused powerful explosions from where the spears hit, God’s Wrath. As God’s Wrath fell towards the World Tree, a single sword rose through the gray smoke. A silver blade imbued with powerful mana. It was the highest level of martial arts that humans called Sword Control.
Raon Zieghart’s Sword Control shot shattered God’s Wrath in an instant and rushed towards him. Matirus tried to suppress the Heavenly Drive by concentrating gravity, but it was ineffective against the intense willpower contained in the sword.
[Stop! Stop!]
He had no choice but to use not only gravity but also the Dragon Words, which demanded a lot from the mind, to stop the Heavenly Drive. The Heavenly Drive trembled as if it wanted to keep going, but, blocked by gravity and the Dragon Words, it slowly lost its power and began to fall.
[Fighting to the end… huh?]
It was when Matirus was about to summon God’s Wrath again. From behind the falling Heavenly Drive, a blade-shaped sword imbued with wind shot out.
[St-Sto…]
The moment he tried to utter the Dragon Words, the blade sword disappeared and instantly appeared in front of his neck. Rimmer’s sword cut Matirus’ neck at a speed he couldn’t react to. Right below the Adam’s apple. It was exactly where he had hidden the Dragon Heart.
[Ah…]
Matirus spat dark red blood from his mouth and wound, his neck snapped. His wings folded, and his enormous body began to slowly fall. Matirus collapsed as quickly as the gravity he had unleashed, crashing headfirst in front of the World Tree he had tried to burn.
* * *
“Huh…”
Raon coughed up black blood and died as he fell to his knees. He clenched his fist weakly as he watched life fade from Matirus.
‘It’s, it’s done.’
Although he had injured Matirus with his Sword Mastery, it wasn’t fatal, so the beast still had the strength to fight. To avoid missing the last chance before Matirus could heal his wounds, he fired Sword Control with the Heavenly Drive, and immediately after, he hid Rimmer’s sword behind him and launched them together.
The moment Matirus brought down the Heavenly Drive with all his strength, he used Rimmer’s sword to unleash the Gentle Breeze, piercing the vital point of the unsuspecting beast.
It was a method that was no different from a gamble, but fortunately, it worked perfectly.
[I, I to a mere human…]
Matirus’ enormous eyes trembled as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“You lizards always say that when you’re dying. It’s getting boring.”
Raon twisted his lips as he stabbed Matirus’ eye, which he had disliked from the beginning.
[Kuuaaaaah!]
Matirus let out a heart-wrenching scream, uncommon for a dragon with such an enormous body.
“Now I feel a little better.”
Raon exhaled heavily as he caught Rimmer’s sword slowly descending.
[W-Wait! Let’s make a deal. If you spare me, I will give you information that could be useful to you! No, I can even give you gold and jewels…]
Matirus showed a shameful side, unlike when he treated non-dragon beings as insects. He had thought of him as a lizard, but now he seemed worse than a worm.
“I don’t make deals with worms.”
After shaking his head firmly, Raon cut Matirus’ throat.
[Kuuugh…]
Matirus’ life ended without even being able to properly scream one last time.
“What the…”
Raon dropped both swords and collapsed. He no longer had the strength to even hold a sword.
“There’s nothing to say except that it was luck.”
In truth, even if they had both been at their peak, Matirus would have won. There was a huge gap between them. But due to that power difference and his exhaustion, Matirus had underestimated him. Thanks to continuously aiming for that opening without fail, he was able to win.
-It’s not luck, but skill.
Wrath shook his head with a long smile on his face.
-I can’t call you a young lad anymore!
He patted Raon’s shoulder as if to tell him he had done well and that he was happy. It seemed he rarely acknowledged him.
“Ha.”
Green Serpent let out a hollow laugh.
“I didn’t expect it to come to this…”
He shook his head as if he hadn’t really thought Matirus would fall.
“Three dragons. Although one fell a little short, the other two were ancient dragons. To think you caught them all by yourself, it’s so unbelievable that I’m speechless.”
Green Serpent narrowed his eyes, saying it seemed things had changed too much.
“Shut your mouth.”
Merlin fired a bolt towards Green Serpent as she put a finger to her lips.
“Don’t interrupt the moment when our Raon savors victory.”
“…You’ve changed even more.”
Green Serpent clicked his tongue briefly.
“I will have to retreat for today. It would be troublesome if I died now.”
He moved his finger as he said he had to escape.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Merlin snorted as she surrounded Green Serpent with a magic circle. Sterin also tightened the string of his bow to the limit as if he wouldn’t let him escape.
“Let him go…”
Raon weakly waved his hand.
“If we try to catch him, there will surely be casualties.”
Although Green Serpent was tired and injured, he was still a Transcendent. Raon couldn’t move a finger now, and Merlin alone couldn’t catch a Transcendent. Sterin was also severely injured, so continuing to fight wasn’t a good idea.
“Alright! I understand!”
Merlin nodded cheerfully in response. However, she didn’t release the magic circle, just in case.
“Wise indeed.”
Green Serpent nodded as if to say it was a good choice.
—But let me ask you one thing: how did you join forces with the dragons?
Raon gestured with his chin towards Green Serpent. Since he wasn’t going to answer anything else anyway, he asked what intrigued him most at the moment.
“It wasn’t difficult. The dragons hated them all.”
“You mean their hatred for humans?”
“Both humans and Ziegharts.”
Green Serpent muttered something incomprehensible and then wrapped himself in the wind as if it were a cloak.
“Zieghart? What does that mean?”
“Next time, one of us will die.”
He disappeared with the wind without answering the last question.
“I-is it over?”
Dorian lay down on the spot, panting heavily.
“It seems so.”
Burren also sat down beside him, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
“The tree survived too…”
Runaan tilted his head, praising the World Tree that remained intact until the end.
“We came back after killing hundreds of monsters, but to think he caught three dragons all by himself…”
Martha shook her head in disbelief as she looked at the corpses of the dragons of different colors.
“It’s unbelievable. How the hell did you do it?”
She shook her head as if she couldn’t understand.
“It’s all thanks to the instructor.”
Raon slowly turned his gaze towards the Requiem Sword caught in the roots of the World Tree.
-That’s right. It wasn’t just me.
As the World Tree filled with an intense glow, Rimmer’s wind blew from the Requiem Sword. It seemed he was still worried about them and hadn’t left, so Raon fought to the end to let go of any lingering attachment.
‘You can rest easy and leave now.’
As Raon closed his eyes and opened them again, hoping that Rimmer could leave without worry, a blue message appeared before his eyes.
[You have achieved an impossible feat.]
[All skills increased by 40 points…]
[New trait…]
[Trait <Snow Flower…]
The reward messages appeared much faster than usual.
-Kook!
Wrath shouted as he saw the messages.
-W-what?! Why is he giving them to him so fast? Doesn’t it look like he was waiting for this moment?!
‘You’re right.’
Raon smiled slightly.
-Ah, but it doesn’t matter! You’re not looking at them anyway, right!
Wrath let out a sigh of relief, as if he were grateful.
-No, I think I can look at them now.
After Rimmer’s death, he had deliberately avoided checking the messages, but now he felt he could look at them.
-Huh? Why, why look! Just don’t look!
Wrath shook his head, telling him to leave them alone forever.
“Because now I’m a little satisfied…”
Raon collapsed in the warm breeze of the World Tree, with a smile that surpassed bitterness.
-
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