C982
-Hmm, you're not wrong.
Wrath narrowed his eyes as he looked at the sand mountain that was shaking violently.
-If we had continued like that, we wouldn't have been able to save the dwarves and humans.
—That's right. The Light Wind division would have been in danger, and some of the hostages would have died too.
Raon nodded as he shook the sand off his hands.
"Because Dsiouros' lair has boundary magic."
Dsiouros had placed defensive magic in his lair built in the sand that could incinerate both the outside and the inside. It was a cruel trap that would turn to ash not only intruders but also hostages trying to help from within.
"If we had dug into the sand like that, Latiru and the other dwarves waiting for us would have died."
As Latiru had said, the Dsiouros dragon wasn't simply strong, but a cunning lizard.
"Hey! You crazy bastard!"
Martha emerged from the sand as if she were swimming and shouted.
"Why are you really doing this?!"
Burren also gritted his teeth, his patience seemed to have reached its limit this time.
"Haaa..."
Runaan calmly shook the sand off his clothes, as if he thought there must be a reason for all this.
"By now, he's an enemy! An enemy!"
"Why is he interfering after giving us the mission himself?"
"What the hell are you trying to do, you damned demon spawn?!"
The other Light Wind Palace swordsmen also shouted as they emerged from the sand.
-Even among the demons, there's no one like him!
Wrath frowned, wondering why they were comparing him to demons and those monsters.
-But today I can understand how those kids feel.
He closed his eyes tightly, feeling sorry for the Light Wind Palace kids.
"If you had continued in that state, not only you but also the hostages who were inside would have been roasted alive."
Raon pointed his chin at the frowning Light Wind Palace swordsmen.
"What...? Seriously?"
Martha's eyes widened as if she didn't know anything.
"I've been constantly spreading the perception of my aura, but I didn't feel anything like that..."
Burren's fingertips trembled as he said he hadn't felt any flow of magic.
"It seems like there was something very weak..."
Runaan narrowed his eyes as if he had just felt the flow of the magic.
"Then..."
"For our sake?"
"Palace Master..."
The Light Wind Palace swordsmen bit their lips slightly as if they had realized Raon's intentions.
"We are dealing with an ancient dragon. He can easily use magic to deceive your perception of the aura."
Raon shook his head as he looked at the Light Wind Palace swordsmen.
"Latiru gave you a heads-up beforehand that Dsiouros is not only strong but also a cunning lizard. You should have searched more thoroughly in the area around the lair. Points deducted."
He clicked his tongue and said that while the plan itself wasn't bad, the preliminary investigation was deficient.
'If they had really searched the surroundings in detail, they could have found the flow of magic.'
Dsiouros, the dragon, must have also underestimated the hostages, as he hadn't perfectly hidden the boundary magic. There were places where the flow of magic was distorted here and there, so if the officers had concentrated until the end, they would surely have found it.
-To be honest, it's not an easy task.
Wrath lowered his eyebrows as he looked at the surprised Light Wind Palace swordsmen.
-For those kids' level, detecting the flow of magic while avoiding the dragon's eyes is as difficult as passing through the eye of a needle.
He nodded, understanding why they couldn't find it.
"So, Palace Master, you were trying to save us..."
Dorian clasped his hands, seemingly moved.
"Not exactly?"
Raon shook his head firmly.
"I don't particularly care if you die burned, but I have to keep the promise I made to Latiru."
While it was good to break the trust of the Light Wind Palace swordsmen and teach them a lesson, even if it wasn't for the promise with Latiru, he couldn't let the hostages die burned.
"Since we've come this far, I'll go rescue the hostages. You try to keep that lizard at bay."
Raon waved his hand slightly and entered the sand again. The ground trembled as if it were about to collapse, the sand mountain sank, and a transcendent being covered in disturbingly red scales appeared.
A neck so long that it seemed endless shot towards the sky, and enormous wings that could cover the earth spread out, causing a gray sandstorm.
A red glow brighter than the sun shone in the sky, dripping with murderous intent. The dragon's aura, the terror that only dragons possess, invaded the Light Wind Palace swordsmen. The Light Wind Palace swordsmen trembled, their hands holding their swords sweating profusely as they felt the transcendent murderous intent emanating from the Ancient Dragon.
They all had the same thought as they felt Dsiouros' immense malice.
'Raon Zieghart, you crazy bastard!'
How are we supposed to kill that?
* * *
Dsiouros frowned as he looked at the humans cowering under his aura.
'These worms dare...'
He had been satisfactorily appreciating the new displays he had received from his slaves when he was insulted as a lizard by these humans whom he considered insects. It was the first time in thousands of years that he had been mocked, so he had destroyed his lair and revealed his true form to crush them one by one. However, looking at the humans, they weren't complete vermin after all.
«There are more than one or two Grand Masters».
The humans in front of him possessed enough power to easily chew and spit out a mature dragon, even if they couldn't reach him.
"Though they are not difficult opponents."
The human swordsmen were trembling all over, terrified by his aura. If he swung the tail he was hiding behind him, he could kill them all with one blow.
'I'll kill half of them first and keep the rest alive to extract information.'
No one, except those of his own kind, knew he had made his lair there. That meant information had leaked from somewhere, so he decided to torture them to extract information. As Dsiouros was about to raise his tail, which seemed longer than the desert itself...
"Bastards! Don't cower!"
The black-haired human woman roared as she drew her sword.
"We've endured that madman's training! We can surely tear apart a mere lizard!"
She stomped her foot forcefully, telling them not to think about losing before they even fought.
"Yes, we will win."
The silver-haired human woman raised her sword, which was wrapped in a chilling murderous intent despite her blank stare.
"We can do it..."
She calmly took up a battle stance, seemingly unaffected by his aura.
"That's right. Raon, no, the Palace Master wouldn't give us an impossible task. Let's save the hostages and catch that lizard!"
The blue-haired human man stepped forward.
"Formation!"
As he shouted "Formation!", the humans who had been cowering in fear gathered in one place, emitting a powerful aura.
As the human swordsmen raised their swords, an aura of a completely different caliber than before rose from them. A chill ran down his spine at the chilling sword aura that could certainly reach him.
«This could be dangerous...»
While he wouldn't die, he could suffer serious injuries fighting them. The Lord had told him to take care of his body for the upcoming war, so it seemed better to avoid a direct confrontation.
'Should I use the hostages?'
Judging by the words and actions of these humans, it was clear that saving the hostages in the lair was their priority before killing him. If he used magic while placing the hostages in front of him, he could easily kill them.
[Come out.]
He gestured towards the lair and called out to the slaves. The slaves were so afraid of him that they couldn't refuse his voice, as if they were bewitched. But even after hearing his call, not a single slave appeared.
[What is this...]
Dsiouros frowned and sent mana flowing beneath the lair.
'Not a single one?'
Impossible! It hadn't been long since he revealed himself, but at that moment, there wasn't a single person left in the lair. All the dwarf and human slaves had disappeared, and the guardians watching over them were all dead. It seemed like a nightmare.
'This is impossible...'
His lair had his boundary magic and protective magic. If anyone opened a path carelessly, they would die roasted by the ninth-circle magic, but he couldn't understand where they had disappeared.
[What have you done?!]
As Dsiouros glared fiercely at the human swordsmen, the sand behind him exploded violently.
"Ah, luckily I got here in time."
A golden-haired, red-eyed human emerged from the sand dune that had exploded, clicking his lips. Behind him were the dwarves and humans he had been using as slaves, with bewildered expressions, as if they couldn't comprehend the current situation either.
[So it was your doing!]
Dsiouros gritted his teeth and stared intently at the golden-haired, red-eyed human.
[I don't know what method you used, but it's all useless. None of you will leave this place alive...]
Normally, he would have shouted that he would kill them all and unleashed his magic, but strangely, his hand didn't move.
'What is this?'
Although the human seemed weak enough to kill with just a ninth-circle magic spell, he felt a strange sense of uneasiness.
"That guy... something is different."
An alien presence emanated from him, but he couldn't stay still. As he was about to use magic to assess the abilities of the golden-haired, red-eyed human...
"Is it okay to just focus on me?"
The golden-haired, red-eyed human shrugged as if asking if it was really okay.
[Shut...]
As he was about to say "Shut up," he felt a pain that pierced his flesh from his toes. The human swordsmen, who had somehow gotten closer, had created deep wounds in his legs, piercing his mana barrier and his scales.
[What!]
Dsiouros' eyes widened. He had felt their threatening aura and had raised a three-layered mana shield, but he hadn't expected them to penetrate it.
"We've managed to break through!"
"If we amplify the power of the Astral Ring with the Light Wind Sword Formation, it's enough to work!"
"Let's keep going!"
The human swordsmen, feeling that their attack had been successful, raised their morale even higher.
[Worms!]
Dsiouros frowned and summoned a rain of fire. Although the range wasn't wide, it was powerful magic that could turn all those humans to ash.
"Scatter!"
The blue-haired human raised his head and gave the order to scatter. The human swordsmen, without a moment's hesitation, abandoned their sword formation and scattered in all directions. They avoided the enormous rain of fire that fell on the center and cut the thin flames that followed with their swords.
"Regroup!"
As soon as the rain of fire ended, the human swordsmen gathered again in the center and unleashed a barrage of sharp cuts towards him.
[You, you bastards!]
Dsiouros twisted his mouth and summoned a huge fire lance that distorted the air. When the fire lance that even a god could wield fell to the earth, it caused a huge explosion that engulfed the Light Wind Palace swordsmen.
[You are a vermin!]
Just as Dsiouros was about to look away, expecting the annihilation of the humans, the Light Wind Palace swordsmen broke through the storm of flames and once again plunged their cuts into his body.
[Defense!]
Dsiouros uttered a dragon word and created a barrier that the humans' swords could no longer penetrate.
'This is crazy...'
Fortunately, the dragon word barrier prevented their swords from penetrating further. If he had been a little late, they would have cut his leg.
[Escape!]
Dsiouros used a dragon word to summon a storm that pushed all the human swordsmen away.
"Does this really work?"
The black-haired woman clicked her lips as if she couldn't believe it was actually effective.
"The training in the sand field paid off. If we wrap ourselves in aura, we can withstand even the heat of a dragon."
The blue-haired human nodded in satisfaction.
"But it's still hard..."
The silver-haired woman stuck out her tongue, saying it was hard to withstand the heat.
[Damn you all!]
Dsiouros gritted his teeth as he watched the humans muttering that it was manageable.
'Those worms are a problem, but the biggest problem is that guy.'
The golden-haired, red-eyed human standing in the back. Because of him, his movements were restricted.
"I can always gather more slaves. Let's kill him first."
No matter how special he might be, he's still just a human. He decided to completely erase him and opened the Dragon Heart mana to the maximum. Dsiouros raised the transcendent magic Crimson Radiance to fall on the head of the golden-haired, red-eyed human.
The Crimson Radiance is a magic that causes chain explosions by containing the light attribute within the heat that melts everything.
No matter how strong that human was, he couldn't block all the explosions. The Crimson Radiance exploded in front of the golden-haired, red-eyed human, melting the gray sand like molten iron, and red lava erupted around him.
However, even in the midst of that massive explosion, the golden-haired human and the slaves behind him suffered no damage.
[Eh...?]
Dsiouros' eyes widened as he looked at the golden-haired, red-eyed human.
[What did you just...?]
The human had simply raised his sword, but his magic had been cleanly cut off. He couldn't understand what had happened.
[What did you just do?]
As Dsiouros roared at the golden-haired, red-eyed human, the human swordsmen behind him once again broke his barrier and attacked.
[Ouch!]
Although the wounds weren't deep, feeling pain repeatedly for the first time in hundreds of years irritated him deeply.
"Don't mind me, focus on those guys. Let's play according to our level."
The golden-haired, red-eyed human nodded his chin arrogantly.
[You insolent worm!]
The Dsiouros dragon spread its enormous wings. As its wings moved, the powerful wind pressure pushed back the attacking Light Wind Palace swordsmen. The Light Wind Palace swordsmen fired Astral Rings and Astral Energy, but Dsiouros had already risen into the sky, deflecting all their attacks.
[I wanted to leave you alive for a little affection, but I have no choice. I'll erase them all!]
Dsiouros revealed his bloodthirsty gaze as he gathered mana from the atmosphere.
[Blame them! Their deaths are all those humans' fault!]
With a malicious shout, he opened his enormous maw that could swallow the sun. From the dragon's open, black mouth began to pour out a heat that could burn the entire world. The Red Dragon's most powerful weapon, the Flame Breath, was about to be unleashed.
* * *
"As expected..."
Raon clicked his lips briefly as he watched Dsiouros concentrating large amounts of mana.
"He's reacting exactly like that."
Dragons, born as the strongest species, cannot contain their anger at the mere thought of humans equaling them. Even now, instead of thinking about fighting wisely by buying time, he was only thinking about eliminating them with power.
—R-Raon! Shouldn't we block it now?
Martha stomped her foot and asked what he was doing.
"Y-yes. It looks like it's coming..."
Burren swallowed hard as he looked at Dsiouros.
"Wow! Two suns..."
Runaan blinked as he looked at the sun and Dsiouros' Flame Breath compressing beside it.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"Kyaaaaaah!"
Dorian and Kerin screamed as they hugged each other.
"Look at that damned bastard standing there!"
Trevin also gritted his teeth, as if he had given up.
"Flame Breath..."
"W-what are we going to do now?!"
"We're all going to die!"
"That's why we shouldn't have come out! We should have stayed down there!"
The humans who had been held captive by Dsiouros screamed, asking why they had been rescued.
"No, this might be better."
"At least it's the end of suffering under that damned dragon."
"We are the proud people of the earth. We will not beg even here."
Although some of the dwarves felt fear of death, most clenched their burned hands into fists, saying it was better to die than to continue living like this.
"Don't give up, friends."
Latiru, the chief of the Brown Beard Clan, stepped forward and shook his head.
"They are people sent by Borgos. He wouldn't have spoken of us without a plan."
He showed more faith in Borgos than in Raon or the Light Wind Palace swordsmen.
"You mention Borgos' name..."
Raon turned towards Latiru and smiled briefly.
"Then I can't act carelessly. I will definitely keep my promise."
With that said, he plunged both the Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem into the burned gray earth.
[This is the end!]
Dsiouros opened his mouth wider and released the Flame Breath he had been concentrating. Even before the Flame Breath touched them, a wave of heat fell on them, preventing them from breathing, further weakening the humans' fighting spirit.
[To be completely erased... Hm?]
As Dsiouros continued to spew his Flame Breath, a golden sun and a silver moon appeared on either side of him.
[I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's too late!]
He seemed to believe in his own flames as he exhaled until the end, pouring the Flame Breath at its end. Just as he was slowly closing his mouth, expecting the disappearance of the arrogant human's face, the swordsmen who had injured him and the slaves he had used so badly...
A clear, icy wind brushed his nose, and in that moment, time seemed to stop as the breath froze in the air without reaching the ground.
[What...]
As Dsiouros blinked at this strange situation he had never experienced in his life, the Flame Breath that had been spreading as if it wanted to swallow the entire desert shattered into thousands of pieces, frozen and blue. The golden-haired, red-eyed human twisted his mouth into a smile amidst the rain of ice with red flames embedded in it.
"I told you. Pay attention to that side."
Raon pointed his chin at the Light Wind Palace swordsmen, his eyes gleaming with a cold light.
"You and I are not on the same level."
-
More Ch4pters on KoreanPlayer
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
Thanks for the support
"You and i are not on the same level" Yeaaaaaaaaaaa thats what i like to hear
ReplyDelete