Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Mountain Lord (4)
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The Ice Dragon Adara spewed murderous intent.
It swung its front paw, scales and flesh peeled away to expose bare bone.
"Attacks consumed by rage are powerful, but that very fact makes them monotonous."
Federback clicked his tongue lightly.
"Your fundamentals are lacking. No real combat experience, that's the issue."
Capturing and tearing apart prey isn't true battle.
The Ice Dragon Adara had never fought a proper opponent before.
No matter how clever it was, without knowing the rules, it couldn't win at chess—and combat was the same.
Killing foes didn't come down to sheer size or strength.
"I could wield your body far better than you. Why not hand it over?"
Federback dodged the claws and closed in tight.
Then he slashed vertically with the famed sword Baekrin.
Creeeak!
The lava-seared flesh split open with tremendous force.
Adara's movements grew sluggish.
The chain explosions, heat, and debris from the ice plunging into lava had battered its entire body into a molten mess.
Federback unleashed the Meursault Swordsmanship.
These were the secret principles of Meursault Swordsmanship, memorized like scripture through countless demon-slaying battlefields.
And his body reproduced those teachings without the slightest deviation.
Shiiiing!
Meursault 1st Form: BloodlettingMeursault 2nd Form: Skin Peeling
Northern warrior's swordsmanship: Draw hot blood with one thrust, reveal the raw face beneath the hide with two.
To this honorable swordsmanship, the Ice Dragon Adara would see only the needle of a mad torturer.
Crack! Creeeak! Crack! Rip!
Federback's blade stripped away chunks of Adara's flesh while peeling off its remaining scales.
Riiip!
The dragon's scales fell away like old linoleum peeling from the floor.
Dragon scales resisted frontal impacts well but were weak to reverse pulls slicing from the sides.
Riiip! Riiip! Riiip! Riiip! Riiip!
Federback wasn't smashing the scales—he was carving them off with the surrounding flesh.
"Much better for the blade this way. Less wear."
He flicked a finger against the pristine edge.
The clear ring echoed as dragon blood and oil sprayed everywhere.
At that moment, the Ice Dragon ripped open its half-melted maw.
Tsssss...
Deep blue light gathered in its throat.
Breath attack again—the dragon's ultimate weapon.
But unlike before, the inhalation was markedly slower.
Black ash mingled in the breath's blue glow.
"Your lungs are scorched, yet you still try a breath?"
The superheated steam from the lava blasts had cooked the dragon's throat raw.
Firing a breath now would tear away throat flesh in agony.
Adara didn't care.
It unleashed its exhalation, laden with murderous hatred toward Federback.
Kaboom!
The blast wasn't pure frost—it carried shattered bone shards and charred flesh fragments.
Rumble!
The breath gouged a deep scar into the ground.
Hills in the rear collapsed under the devastation.
Adara sensed its foe had taken the breath head-on.
But.
"Burn pain saps your output. That's why it's so lukewarm."
Federback rose amid jagged ice spikes jutting from the earth.
Incredibly, he'd blocked the Ice Dragon's breath directly.
Before the exhalation hit, he'd slammed his shield arm—fixed in place—into the ground at an angle, deflecting most of the impact diagonally.
Creeeak! Creeeak! Creeeak! Bang!
He smashed the shield down, shattering and shedding the frozen frost from its surface.
"Well? Got anything else?"
The Ice Dragon lifted its head, glaring at Federback.
Its body trembled, but the killing intent in its eyes burned as fiercely as ever.
But.
Hiss... Hiss... Hiiiiss...
Its breathing faded to a whisper.
The blue gleam in its eyes dimmed.
Death lingered at its side.
"Nothing? Then begone."
A thrust from Federback's blade tip sliced Adara's nose mid-air.
The Ice Dragon thrashed its tail wildly, but none landed.
Federback darted nimbly, like a mouse weaving between elephant legs.
Each motion carved away flesh equal to his body weight.
The Ice Dragon reared back with a furious screech.
Was it his imagination?
Flinch!
Federback instinctively pulled away from Adara.
Tsssss...
Another breath formed in the dragon's maw.
This one glowed with a pure, brilliant blue unlike before.
"Finally bringing your full power."
Federback saw the surrounding air crack like thin ice.
Creeeak! Crunch! Craaaack!
Through the fractured atmosphere, Adara's form distorted.
One more breath.
This one rivaling pureblood dragonkind.
The Ice Dragon Adara's final frenzy.
"This one's for the shield."
Federback clicked his tongue and kicked off the ground.
Not fleeing—charging.
Against an unblockable, unavoidable attack, only one counter.
Prevent the enemy from completing it.
Grip!
He reversed his grip on the blade.
Grind!
Muscles twisted.
Tendons coiled tight under strain.
Mana spun, generating ultra-high heat.
Heat hot enough to melt a normal blade to slag gathered at the tip.
Federback charged straight for the Ice Dragon's jaw underside.
Crunch!
His powerful step cracked the earth.
Strong legs launched his torso's power straight into the blade.
Left leg forward.
Right leg braced the rear.
Thighs and glutes screamed in protest.
Snap!
Abs and deltoids tore.
Yet he had to thrust.
This strike, burning every muscle like kindling.
Meursault 3rd Form: Bone Extraction
Secret technique unlocked upon reaching 3rd Circle.
A single strike launched at the bloodied, skinned, bone-fractured Ice Dragon Adara.
Flash!
The lightning thrust pierced the breath-filled jaw, erupting through the upper maw.
The dragon tried to scream but its mouth was sealed.
Blocked breath backflowed, exploding everywhere.
Boom! Boom-boom!
Blood-red frost spikes burst through Adara's neck.
Finally allowed a scream—but its throat to lungs had already ruptured from the misfired breath.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Adara staggered back, its chest a ragged ruin.
Through the torn wound, its pulsing heart glimpsed faintly.
...And the seasoned hunter never missed it.
"It's over."
As he dropped from punching the hole in the dragon's jaw, Federback spun his body.
Then unleashed the same strike once more.
Blood drawn, skin peeled, bones broken.
Now, what remained to extract?
The heart.
Federback swung.
Speed to cleave lightning, precision to strip leaf veins from falling leaves.
The butcher's blade carved the dragon heart.
Krunch!
Federback's sword finally pierced the Ice Dragon Adara's heart.
Adara convulsed.
Suddenly, scorching heat erupted from its body.
Gurgle!
A pillar of fire—making a mockery of "Ice Dragon"—engulfed the heart.
"...... ...... ......"
Even as his body blazed, Federback kept the sword lodged in the heart.
Gurgle...
The famed sword Baekrin slowly melted in his grip.
Federback recalled his conversation with Cardina, its original owner, before the Meurso Mountain expedition.
"My most prized blade, 'Baekrin (White Phosphorus).' Take it up the mountain."
"Giving it to me?"
"No. Lending. Return it when you come back."
"......"
"You will bring it back, right?"
"Have a little faith in your brother."
Federback smiled bitterly.
"Can't keep that promise."
The line of one resolved to die.
But Federback's resolve wasn't death—it was the sword's loss.
Gurgle...
Gazing at the melting Baekrin, he apologized to Cardina.
"But in return, this thing dies for sure."
The Ice Dragon Adara.
The culprit that turned the Bovoir Mines uninhabitable for humanity.
Today, slaying it here would reclaim the empire's greatest mine for Meursault Territory.
"Farewell."
Baekrin's molten steel poured into the dragon heart's fissures.
And soon.
Meurso Mountain's lord uttered its final death cry.
This was the end of the Ice Dragon Adara, slayer of countless humans.