Book 8 Chapter 21
Episode 195
“Dur-Maurice, the Dragon Slayer. Death to all dragons.”
His arms and armor were woven from the scales of dragons he had slain so far, and his Dragon Bone Spear was said to be forged solely from the sharpest part of a dragon's bone: its clavicle.
“You'll bring this to a conclusion? Who are you to say that? Come, it's dragon hunting time.”
Though his face was hidden by dragon scales covering his entire body like heavy armor, he was instantly recognizable.
That this man was the supreme being of ancient times, the Dragon Slayer.
Perhaps it was due to the confrontation with an overwhelming powerhouse, but a slight tremor ran through his fingertips.
‘No, it wouldn't be just because of the confrontation with a formidable foe.’
When he briefly turned his head from the front to the right, he saw a woman in dirty and shabby attire.
Is that Mirea?
According to the explanation Pipi gave, that's Miria's elder sister.
‘She’s wearing the chains Link used on both wrists.’
The approximate structure could be seen with Bell Quirius.
There were 5 main arrays of the spell.
The rune symbols used were a combination of the formulaic Rutishen and the forbidden Orbios. The combination ratio was 4.4:5.6.
Size 28 Axel, range 45 Kimite.
She was completely eroded by Link's power.
However, there was one strange thing. It was a 6-star curse, close to an art, that bound Link's power to Link's relic.
On the other hand, what was forcibly connecting that power to her body was the 5-star black magic he had just observed.
‘6-star, who is the caster?’
What Zernix did would have been 5-star black magic.
To be able to weave such a perfect spell using only one incantation-type Altigma without mixing in any forbidden Orbios…
- Rin.
Suddenly, the back of Friede, who had laughed playfully with her red hair fluttering, flashed before his eyes.
“Don't even think about being forgiven.”
I will not forgive your very existence, you who have defiled Link, and Link’s descendants.
“Forgiveness?”
At that moment, a pillar of fire, accompanied by a blast of heat, pierced through the ground where the Dragon Slayer stood and shot up.
“That's ridiculous. By what right do you forgive me?”
As the Dragon Slayer evaded with a light movement, embers from the pillar of fire rained down on him.
“What orders did Zernix give you to pull off such a stunt?”
He neither blocked nor avoided the embers that would incinerate the body the moment one touched him.
“Good grief, that's absurd. Do I look like someone who would take orders from a lowlife like that?”
He merely leisurely tapped his shoulder with the Dragon Bone Spear. The embers vainly shattered upon his dragon scale armor.
“This Arthur Brius takes orders from someone far higher than that Zernix fellow!”
Shouldn't the damage be dispersed?
Does that mean a 5-star magic must be focused on a single point to penetrate and be an effective hit…?
Thinking so, he shattered the magic circle that had been rotating on his palm.
“Jeseosaeran-yeon, Revised.”
What rose, swirling with flames, were twelve strands of chains, and those chains pierced through the souls of the Slayer boy soldiers.
“The children… are collapsing?”
The voices of the Special Ops magicians, who had struggled to subdue the boy soldiers, were heard muttering blankly.
“They’re not outside the island. Take them inside that pyramid!”
“……?”
“There are many people who need protection inside there too! I will guard the pyramid, so you all—”
There was no way he would just quietly watch that.
Absolute power dazzlingly concentrated on the blade of the Dragon Bone Spear, and when he swung it with all his might, it became a lightning-strike sword energy that rushed in.
Flash Fire Heaven Strike Cannon, he immediately countered that wave of power with the dragon's breath he had just newly created.
‘Naturally.’
Amidst the fierce winds swirling from the clash of lightning and fire.
‘It wouldn’t end here.’
Crackling… with the sound of electricity sparking, the Dragon Slayer closed a distance of over twenty paces in an instant, with a speed that defied common sense.
He twisted his body.
The Dragon Bone Spear pierced through where his head had been just moments before. That simple thrust, *bang*, created a wind pressure so immense it was difficult even to steady one's body.
“Now I understand for sure!”
Then, as the Dragon Bone Spear and the Staff of Flame collided, a heavy pressure, as if his tendons would snap, overwhelmed both his arms.
“Even before you possessed the power of a dragon, no, from birth, you must have had overwhelming talent. Just like me!”
Close combat was clearly disadvantageous.
The difference in physical strength was several tens of times.
He needed to create distance.
“You are the same type of human as me. You have an infinite craving for power. That's why you killed a dragon and stole its Yeouiju, right?!”
Killed and stole?
That guess drew a cold sneer, close to mockery.
“Stole this power? For the Dragon Slayer to think I'm that powerful, he must not be as much as I thought. Did you only hunt weak dragons?”
“Haha, I gave you a compliment just for show, and you're boldly running your mouth.”
“This power was given. Along with a new life.”
Yes, he received it purely out of goodwill, even though he didn't deserve it.
- Rain Ludwig, you have the same scent as Lord Kalenden.
In the face of absolute despair named Sharr’kas, it was merely about giving up his own life and kindling a new flame in my life.
- I entrust Alakish's daughter to you.
All the strong people he had met so far had a unique scent about them.
“I am not strong. Not before, and not now.”
Dean Auntie, Rista, Friede, Kiese, Link, Alakish, Niels….
“And you are no different.”
Looking at their backs, leaving a scent even in the places they briefly stayed, he felt a longing.
“You’re not strong. What Dragon Slayer? You’re just a pipsqueak who only knows how to trample others.”
This was not an opponent to be complacent with. He would go all out from the start.
Imaginary Construct, Flowing Radiant Flame Lord.
As the ultimate magic, said to be a sage's symbol, a defensive formation of flame, spread out, encroaching upon the area.
“Imaginary Construct, you say.”
In contrast to Doran's eyes, which were shaking.
“To a magician—”
The Dragon Slayer rushed in at a speed where only electricity was visible in his movement trajectory.
—do you think I’d give you time to pull off a trick?!”
He had aimed for precisely such a reaction.
In an instant, less than a blink, pillars of fire erupted from the runes of Flow (流) and Lord (尊).
Defense (防) and Direction (方). A wall of flame stopping the Dragon Bone Spear's slash, thrust with transcendent weight.
‘And one more. Rank (列), Scatter (散), Dig (鈒).’
Beyond the wall of flame, he constructed magic with properties that broadly unfolded and dispersed.
──!
As hundreds of fire projectiles rained down, striking the dragon scales, Arthur's eyes widened.
‘What casting speed…!’
Among the renowned battle mages he had met on the battlefield, had there been anyone who wielded magic at this speed?
‘It's not just a simple defense; there's some kind of ulterior motive.’
He's trying to bind the Demon Slayer, who rushed from the opposite side, with a binding-type spell. Does he have a way to break the brainwashing?
He couldn't just let that happen.
Electricity fiercely sparked from the surface of the Dragon Bone Spear, and a golden sword aura covered the blade. Then, a lightning spear pierced through the wall of flame.
“I told you!”
He instinctively raised his staff, but it was not an attack that a magician's physical strength could block.
“I'll equip myself and take care of you properly!”
The moment he felt a fierce impact strike his arm bone, his body was flying through the air.
As if not even giving him a chance to roll on the dirt ground, a heavy shadow loomed over his head.
The moment he stretched out the staff he held with both hands, a weight as if a giant rock had been brought down struck his shoulder blade.
“For a magician, you were somewhat enjoyable to fight, but somehow, you're less than I expected.”
In the pain as if his shoulder had been dislocated, goosebumps ran from his spine to his neck.
Where did she go?
Mirea, whom he had captured with Jeseosaeran-yeon earlier, was nowhere to be seen.
Kigigigigigigiging──.
Instead, a chilling metallic sound, scratching the ground, flew from a distance and brushed past his ears.
“Dragon scales won’t be pierced by one hit from those chains. But you, who have no armor?!”
Crazy. This is crazy.
He had to escape, had to get away from this place.
But there was no way he could defeat a warrior in a test of strength. It wasn't a weight or size that he could shake off or push away.
“Ughh… Aaaah!”
Pipi, spreading wings of flame, dive-bombed towards him, but another stream of flame enveloped Pipi, altering her trajectory.
“Well done, Bisl.”
It was the Dragon Slayer's companion bird, the Beast Slayer.
“You're not the only one with a Sun Parrot, are you?”
Pipi's painful cries tore at his skin more cruelly than his own pain.
“Bisl is a Sun Parrot who's been through nearly 10 years on the battlefield! Compared to her kin, a hothouse flower like that is no match!”
The metallic sound of the chains, so close that cold sweat streamed down.
Pipi's heat gradually moved away.
The staff slowly gave way, and the spear blade, clad in sword aura, surged right before his eyes at that very moment.
“Aki Punch.”
A strike at point-blank range; dragon's flame erupted from the fist that met the dragon scales.
If it had been an adult dragon's flame, it would have incinerated the very formation of the target, whatever it might be, but Aki, still a juvenile, lacked such power.
For now, merely sending him flying far away was the most she could do, but in this situation, that alone was enough.
“What in the—?!”
The Dragon Slayer, sent tumbling across the ground by the explosion.
“Avavva!”
“No, Aki! Don't come here!”
In that gap, chains rushed towards Aki, who was running to Rain.
—Seojin-ryu, Seventh Form.”
That chain was blocked by the magician in the old fedora, who stood in front of Rain and Aki.
As soon as a snowflake magic circle spread on the ground where he stood, the chain that should have crushed Rain into a lump of flesh was deflected.
The secret art of Seojin-ryu runes forming a physical law conversion, an ultimate technique that converts damage into attack power.
“We will hold that one down. Master Rain, please focus on that monster!”
Doran Slade.
And from the barrier on the other side, Valensidis, supported by Cora, swung his fan.
The lower part of the Demon Slayer's knee was severed as he was about to unleash a second strike.
…….
He toppled onto the ground, but tendons and blood vessels sprouted from the severed section, and his body rapidly regenerated.
‘If he can use Link’s power as is, that super regeneration ability will persist in his frenzied state.’
Doran and Valensidis were clearly at their limits; it was miraculous that they were both still moving.
If they couldn't end it quickly, it would be annihilation.
At the same time as he felt a flickering sensation of flame from inside his dislocated shoulder blade, he felt the bone rejoining and the tendons restoring.
‘Is Alakish’s will telling me to fight?’
Is it pushing me forward?
Doran, avoiding and striking away the Demon Slayer's chains that flew relentlessly, dominating the vast space.
‘Truly a master of formidable physical techniques….’
Valensidis cleverly leaped across dimensions each time an attack came, then bought time by severing the leg.
So Doran handles defense, and Valensidis handles offense?
After watching that scene for about two seconds, he turned his head to Aki.
“Aki, absolutely do not step into the front line.”
“Tat?”
“Only step in when you think I'm truly in danger, like just now. Understand?”
He couldn't drag Aki into a dangerous fight… Without even a moment to finish that thought, he grabbed Aki by the scruff of her neck.
As he threw Aki backwards, he simultaneously unleashed the magic that the 'Quantity (量)' of the Imaginary Barrier had measured.
He blocked the Dragon Bone Spear that the foe had thrown with fiery spear-like projectiles, while simultaneously rolling his body back to create distance.
Kagagagang… a chain flying in from the right.
*Bang*… Doran blocked it.
Kigigiging… a chain that shot up vertically then slammed down onto the ground.
As he was dodging that attack diagonally, the Dragon Slayer's form transformed into lightning.
Without time to even tremble, he simultaneously summoned chains of flame across the entire Imaginary Barrier.
Those chains, at some point, wrapped around the blade of the Dragon Bone Spear that had surged within inches of his neck.
“Do you think such a paltry binding would work on Lord Dragon Slayer?!”
It was an instant when he confirmed that the foe was holding the Dragon Bone Spear with one hand.
‘This is it.’
It was also an instant when he confirmed a golden blade, a heart-sword, weaving itself from the hand that had released the spear.
‘The mind game of the supreme being.’
That thing from back then is coming.
Cold sweat drenched his back.
The swift sword technique that instantly shredded dimensions into countless fragments was coming.
“I’ll finish you off, Half-Dragon.”
It was at that very moment, just as a lightning blade was about to dance from his fingertips.
“Dragon Slayer!”
A sharp metallic clang seemed to pierce his ears, then a weighted wire wrapped around the foe's arm.
Miria.
It wasn't enough to completely overpower the strength that wielded that insanely heavy spear, but it was enough to twist the trajectory of the slash.
Chachachachachachachang!
The next moment, twelve flashes of light swirled before his eyes, tearing dimensions apart.
“Wha—?!”
The trajectory of the slash that chilled his heart… a power that would have easily dismembered his body if control had been even slightly off.
But with this, thanks to Miria, the right to attack returned to him.
He crossed his hands, activating all the runes of Flow (流), Quantity (量), and Lord (尊) of the Imaginary Barrier.
“Rune Engraving Multiple Conversion, Fire (火), Field (場), Throw (投), Fall (落), Slash (剡).”
He converted as many as five of the seven Jeseosaeran-yeon that had been wrapped around the Dragon Bone Spear into 'Hwajangbanghyeol'.
‘I’ll end it.’
Since both were 5-star magic, two seconds were enough for the conversion.
‘I’ll end it here.’
Before he could unleash lightning upon the master of that Dragon Bone Spear, who was relentlessly charging, breaking the Jeseosaeran-yeon chains one by one with sheer physical strength.
“Finish him, Rain!”
A rampage of flame, incinerating everything – spirit (靈), flesh (肉), and form (狀) – that constitutes all creation, reducing it to ashes.
Lightning manifested as the source of flame.
A power of ultimate destructive force struck the ground in the form of a lightning bolt.