Chapter 120
Chapter 120
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Proving the King's Qualification
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘There are plenty of places to attack.’
It was only natural, given its size of several dozen meters.
It was far larger than the Northern Ice Worms.
Just swinging my sword anywhere would slice into the living target.
Of course, whether I could land a proper hit was another matter entirely.
Kagagak-!
The aura infused with ‘Incineration’ sliced through one of the Night Dragon’s scales.
But Seo Woo-jin’s expression wasn’t good.
The black scale bore only the tiniest scratch and hadn’t split at all.
‘Its durability is beyond imagination.’
‘Incineration’, which had burned Reina’s clone to nothing in an instant, was infused into the aura.
Yet it hadn’t inflicted any damage.
Ordinary attacks wouldn’t work on the Night Dragon.
[Futile.]
The Night Dragon looked down at Seo Woo-jin as if he held no value whatsoever and swung its front paw.
What would it feel like if a mountain collapsed right in front of you?
How could such a massive body move so fast...?
The Night Dragon’s front paw struck Seo Woo-jin in an instant.
Puk-!
It was like swatting away an annoying fly.
“Keuk!”
The massive shock rippling through his body sent Seo Woo-jin flying through the air.
‘Damn... it!’
The Night Dragon’s enormous size was a weapon in itself.
Even with a body that could shrug off most attacks with a laugh, he couldn’t withstand it.
Blood welled up from his throat.
He didn’t even think to suppress it forcefully and spat it out.
“Urk-!”
Seo Woo-jin, vomiting blood, extended his hand toward the Night Dragon while airborne.
‘Sky Sword’.
A skill combining ‘Brand’, ‘Uranus’s Sword’, and the newly acquired ‘Split’.
Twelve enormous swords materialized above the Night Dragon’s head.
Each one brimmed with massive mana and flickered with black aura.
‘If quality won’t cut it...’
Quantity would.
As Seo Woo-jin clenched his fist, the twelve swords rained down on the Night Dragon.
Kwagwagwang-!
The ten-meter swords weren’t negligible in mass.
Crashing down like beams of light, they collided with the Night Dragon’s body, unleashing a massive explosion.
‘Did that do it?’ He didn’t utter such words.
If it were a monster that could be killed with this, he wouldn’t have feared it from the start.
Tak-
Seo Woo-jin landed on the ground and immediately launched himself away.
In the opposite direction from the city.
The Night Dragon would surely follow him.
He judged that fighting farther from the city would minimize the damage, so he was luring it away.
As the dust cloud from the explosion cleared, the Night Dragon’s eyes emerged.
Madness masked as indifference fixed on Seo Woo-jin.
[Vain.]
The unscathed Night Dragon deemed Seo Woo-jin, fleeing from it, worthless.
[Thus, awaiting a new beginning is proper.]
A death sentence was passed on Seo Woo-jin.
Flutter-
The Night Dragon’s massive body lifted into the air.
It was an unbelievably light movement for its size.
At the same time, its body seemed to stretch out long—then it appeared before Seo Woo-jin in an instant.
But he didn’t panic.
No, he had been waiting for it.
“Abyss Chains!”
He activated the prepared skill.
A black hole opened beneath the Night Dragon’s feet.
Chararuk-!
Black chains surged up simultaneously, wrapping around the Night Dragon.
It was a new ‘Demon King’ skill born from combining ‘Abyss’ and ‘Twilight’—which had even startled Gerald—with ‘Aura’.
Hundreds of chains, each as thick as a grown man’s torso, began entwining the Night Dragon’s body.
The power within the chains crawling from the depths of hell was far greater than even the Night Dragon had anticipated.
He could tell just from how the creature’s emotionless eyes twitched.
Seo Woo-jin realized the ‘Abyss Chains’ were working and began drawing up every ounce of mana he had.
Kadduduk-!
The Night Dragon tried to fly into the sky, but the chains dragging it to hell didn’t budge.
The dragon scales, unscratched before, shattered.
Black blood flowed along the chains.
This continued for a few minutes.
Finally, the Night Dragon’s mouth opened again.
[Meaningless one. I send praise to your power.]
Seo Woo-jin’s strength was acknowledged.
[Yet it is still insufficient. Prove your qualification as king.]
Light burst from the Night Dragon’s massive body.
The chains trying to drag it to hell melted away, and the ‘Abyss’ hole blazed.
It was his trump card, yet not only did it fail to stop the beast—he couldn’t even hold it for ten minutes.
Seo Woo-jin urgently channeled his depleted mana to his legs, kicked off the ground, and flung himself backward.
The light spreading in a spherical form from the Night Dragon looked ominous.
Soil, air, stone.
Whatever it touched, the light ‘erased’ all matter.
Even Seo Woo-jin doubted he could endure it.
Tadak-!
Fortunately, using ‘Swiftness’ allowed him to rapidly distance himself from the light.
He glanced back briefly.
The city had already shrunk to a dot.
He was quite far now.
Of course, this distance was negligible; he or the Night Dragon could cross it in the blink of an eye.
But if Seo Woo-jin was careful, he could greatly reduce the risk of the city getting caught in the fight’s aftermath.
Seo Woo-jin caught his breath, slowly watching the light begin to fade.
‘Breathing is key.’
He recalled the teachings of Irene and Ban Slaine.
No matter how grueling, steady breathing allowed him to keep fighting.
Seo Woo-jin consciously steadied his breath and gripped ‘Rune Dea’ firmly.
By then, the light had fully vanished.
The ‘Abyss Chains’ were gone without a trace, and a massive crater had formed centered on the Night Dragon.
‘Fuck.’
Seo Woo-jin cursed inwardly.
The Night Dragon was truly a monster.
In some ways, even more than Gerald.
‘Especially that durability.’
The Night Dragon’s scales were tougher than anything Seo Woo-jin had faced.
Though cracked by the ‘Abyss Chains’, it was only a tiny portion.
Most of the scales encasing its body remained intact.
They hadn’t even scratched under aura infused with ‘Incineration’...
‘How the hell do I fight this?’
‘Swiftness’, ‘Incineration’, ‘Abyss Chains’, ‘Sky Sword’.
None of them worked.
He had only two skills left to use.
‘Berserk’ and ‘Yama’.
But even those had low odds of working on the Night Dragon.
“Huu-”
Could he do it?
He thought he had to somehow, but the more he fought, the less confident he felt.
Less than an hour into the battle, his mana was draining fast, and no solutions came to mind.
At this rate, he might have to pour all his mana into ‘Swiftness’ and just run.
Even that wouldn’t be easy, considering the Night Dragon’s speed.
[Show your true self.]
It spouted more incomprehensible words.
Seo Woo-jin chuckled dryly.
“You’ve been yapping nonstop... I have no idea what you’re saying. Try speaking plainly.”
He tried talking to it.
Not expecting a real reply.
Just to buy a little time.
But unexpectedly, the Night Dragon spoke.
[Being of ruin. Herald of the world’s end. Master of black darkness, bearer of profane trials.]
“That’s what I don’t get.”
It wasn’t entirely unforeseen.
The Night Dragon seemed to know Seo Woo-jin was the ‘Demon King’.
The problem was he couldn’t comprehend what those words meant.
[Ignorance is death. Fail to prove, and only annihilation awaits.]
With that, the Night Dragon moved again.
This time was different.
Its previous attacks had been powerful but probing, as if gauging him.
Not now.
It truly intended to kill.
The air beside him exploded, sending Seo Woo-jin flying.
The strike came without warning, too fast even for his hypersensitive senses to detect.
Blood trickled from his ears—perhaps his eardrums had ruptured.
His head rang, the ground quaking.
His brain must have taken a hit.
He felt like collapsing right then, but Seo Woo-jin endured with superhuman willpower.
The sky darkened.
The Night Dragon’s paw descended to crush him.
Too late to dodge.
It was too fast—far too fast.
And so enormous that every movement dominated the space.
‘Yama’.
Seo Woo-jin gathered his remaining mana to the brink and activated the skill.
Red energy gathered on ‘Rune Dea’.
A skill that drained life force on contact, ultimately leading to death.
But its power scaled with Seo Woo-jin’s level, so it was unlikely to faze the Night Dragon.
‘Still, I can’t just sit here!’
Seo Woo-jin swung ‘Rune Dea’, cloaked in ‘Yama’, overhead.
Seogeok-!
Surprisingly, the Night Dragon’s scale split.
Black blood poured down like a waterfall, drenching Seo Woo-jin.
But that was it.
Such a minor wound couldn’t stop its front paw.
He’d thought it would create even a slight opening...
Despair filled Seo Woo-jin’s eyes.
He had nothing left.
Nothing but to await death...
‘No, one thing remains.’
A way to evade immediate death.
Seo Woo-jin gritted his teeth and opened his mouth.
“Celestial Wing!”
Black wings like the Night Dragon’s sprouted from his back.
His abilities amplified several times over.
He swung ‘Rune Dea’—still wreathed in fading ‘Yama’ energy—upward again.
Kwaaaaang-!
Unlike before, a pillar of red light shot into the sky.
Grooooar-!!!
The Night Dragon’s scream echoed.
Seo Woo-jin looked up.
The front paw that had been descending to crush him was gone.
Overwhelmed by the ‘Yama’ energy and amplified mana, it had vaporized.
Seo Woo-jin didn’t marvel at his own power.
No time for that.
He kicked off the ground, soaring up and slashing diagonally.
Scales split, flesh and bone separated.
Under the unprecedented power, the Night Dragon was pushed back helplessly.
He severed a wing, sliced its belly, and took one eye.
The Night Dragon’s eyes widened at its body slowly disintegrating.
[Aaah-]
Breath escaped its maw.
Still terrifyingly powerful, but ‘Rune Dea’ cleaved it in half.
Then he flew at full force to behead it.
No—he tried to.
“Keuheuk!”
Just three minutes.
That was all the time granted to Seo Woo-jin.
Vomiting blood, he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
‘I’m dying.’
The price of forcibly drawing that power was steep.
He’d known it all along...
The Night Dragon looked down at Seo Woo-jin wriggling like a worm and spoke.
[Proof of qualification has failed.]
Its voice held no emotion.
Like crushing an ant on the road, it brought down its remaining paw on Seo Woo-jin.
And that was the end.
Or so it seemed.
[Hidden condition has been released.]
[Sealed skill ??? has been unlocked.]
[Skill 『Demon King Transformation』 has been activated.]
Words appeared before Seo Woo-jin’s eyes, filled with darkness.