Chapter 35
Crunch—
Crunch—
A giant centipede was moving.
For all its massive bulk, it was slow.
He could use that.
Dragon Flowing Movement.
His body rose into the air.
He shot upward toward the centipede’s head, a grotesque tower as tall as a five-story building.
The centipede moved first at the sight of him.
For an instant, it looked like a building collapsing in slow motion.
“Geoung—!”
At Dohyun’s call, Geoung answered at once.
“Geoung—!”
He wasn’t alone.
The orcs moved as one.
Eleven orcs gripped one another’s weapons and brought their clubs down in a single, crushing strike.
Eleven clubs.
BOOOOM—!!
The impact was strong enough to crack stone.
The giant centipede’s body flinched for a split second.
It stopped.
Dohyun took the opening and flew toward its eye.
If the eye regenerates...!
Then he would destroy it again.
His sharp claws flashed, and a streak of cloud seemed to cut through the air.
Shraaaak-!
The red eye burst, and opaque fluid spilled out.
It blocked its vision.
Twist!
As the huge body convulsed and recoiled, something like whiskers near the centipede’s face shot toward Dohyun hanging in the air.
When they split into thousands of phantom afterimages and surged at him—
“Kko-kko!”
Like a red comet.
A single line of light.
It slammed into the right side of the centipede’s head.
Clack-clack-clack-!
When Gyetoo’s red foot struck the centipede’s carapace, a harsh metallic screech rang out.
Gyetoo-!
Dohyun saw the red comet shatter from the collision.
He worried as it fell toward the ground, but—
Thump-
It landed safely.
“Gyetoo... warrior...”
He seemed all right, given that he was still speaking.
Then, like a black shadow, the Chongyojok sprang from the ground and aimed for Gyetoo as he landed.
Thud—
But they were stopped by the spear formation surrounding them, like a ring of stakes.
Thud!
The goblin leader thumped his chest as if to say the defense was his to handle.
The Chongyojok kept bursting up from the ground to aid the giant centipede lord, but—
Wooooong—
They were blocked by the Grand Suppression Formation spread by the goblin warriors, a formation made of hundreds of spears.
I can do this.
Dohyun’s eyes flashed.
...As long as it’s a living thing...
Its eyes would regenerate again.
If I keep cutting it, it’ll die sooner or later!
Gyetoo raised his red claws once more, and—
BOOOOOM-!
The orcs met the centipede’s mountain-like body with their clubs and held it back.
Thud—
The centipede swayed.
Kko-kko-!
Red light was drawn through the air again.
The dragon’s five fingers took on a brilliant white glow.
The two lights crossed.
I’m ending this.
“I’ll kill it.”
“Geoung—! Break it—!”
Their wills converged.
KRASH-KRAAAASH—!
It was a huge, fearsome enemy.
But if they kept hitting it, it looked like it would eventually break.
Crack—
It reached Dohyun’s ears.
The carapace around the centipede’s neck, already battered countless times, had begun to crack.
There.
Dohyun thought it over for a heartbeat.
Yokai.
For a yokai, raising its realm meant filling its entire body with blood and energy.
But Dohyun had chosen a slightly different path.
At his fingertips.
Light rippled across his claws.
At some point, a jade-colored energy had begun to gather there.
It was called dungeon energy, or spiritual energy, depending on who spoke of it.
But it was a power different from ordinary energy.
This is it.
The calculation was complete.
The cracked carapace was already enough to pierce, enough to strike deep into the body beneath it.
The dragon’s claws could certainly skewer an enemy—
Crunch—
“------”
As the shell split and a sound that was dizzying just to hear shook the earth,
the heavens and the ground trembled.
A shriek itself, a monster’s howl that made the world quiver.
Even Dohyun’s head swam for a moment, but a curved line formed in his eyes.
This is possible.
That was what he believed.
But then—
Crack-!
“Geoung...?”
Geoung’s leg, which had been holding back the centipede’s thrashing body, snapped.
Blood poured from his head.
“Hold it!”
“No!”
The orcs rushed to shove Geoung back and take his place, but even they were flung away bloodied.
“Kko-kko...! I’ll kill it—!”
Gyetoo, racing across the field like a red comet...
SPLASH—
He was struck by one of the centipede’s whiskers, black and whip-thin, and tumbled downward coughing blood.
It all happened in an instant.
...!
For Dohyun, it was the first time.
The lord monster.
It was definitely strong.
But for Geoung to be brought down so abruptly...
And Gyetoo too.
BOOOOM—!
Then the centipede shifted again, colliding head-on with the goblin warriors’ formation.
Shudder... shudder...
At the leader goblin’s shout, the goblin warriors moved in perfect unison.
They thrust out their spears.
They aligned their angles.
They reestablished their stance flawlessly, but—
BOOOOOM—!
Once more.
BOOOOOM—!
Again.
It was being crushed.
Crushed beneath the pressure of the assault.
...It’s collapsing.
The formation was not invincible, and it looked as if it might break at any moment.
“Kko-kko... not yet.”
Red light streaked through the sky.
“Geoung... hurt.”
Geoung, his leg hastily splinted, stepped forward again.
Go.
The jade spiritual energy thickened as it climbed his claws.
Clouds wrapped around the dragon’s body.
In the meantime, there was another crash from overhead.
“Kko... kko...”
Gyetoo fell from the sky to the ground.
He was soaked in blood.
“...Again... go...”
Still refusing to give up, he forced out the words.
With a trembling body, he stood up once more.
“Geoung—!”
Geoung gave a battle cry that was nearly a scream and barely managed to raise his club before bringing it down.
The centipede’s body swayed for a moment.
Dohyun took that sight in and flew toward the cracked neck he had marked before.
The centipede did not sit still, either.
Its two whiskers filled the air like whips.
Fierce.
Complicated.
Dizzying.
Whips.
But the dragon’s clouds were swift, and free.
Dragon Flowing Movement raced forward, writhing through the air like an eel.
He passed through dozens of whip-like phantoms made by the centipede’s whiskers.
Through the gaps in the shattered shell, he saw the black skin beneath.
I can do this.
The carapace around the neck had cracked open.
If it’s alive—
I believe it.
His claws shone jade.
The spiritual energy surged so densely through them it almost hurt.
Die.
Dohyun poured all his will into his fingertips.
Crunch-!
It worked.
...It went in.
He could feel it.
The inside.
Soft flesh, and the throbbing vessels beneath.
This is the end—
He drove his claws deeper.
If he could reach the nerves...
Then the creature’s body would be paralyzed.
And then his opponent would—
Flinch-
...Move.
His claws would not go in any farther.
Flinch.
...They wouldn’t enter.
He pushed again.
...It didn’t budge.
He applied more force, but...
It did not move at all.
Instead, it did not come out either.
It was trapped.
It wasn’t moving.
What the—
Then he saw something black approaching in his field of vision.
He tried to dodge, but...
Too late.
He couldn’t avoid it.
SPLASH—
With the impact came the dreadful sensation of his ribs twisting as something slammed into his side.
When he opened his eyes, his mind was blank for a moment.
He couldn’t even remember what had happened.
Only...
Why am I looking at the sky?
A piercing horn blared all around him.
For a moment, he heard nothing else.
Time dragged.
And then he understood.
Dohyun was lying on the ground, and a fierce pain was burning in his side.
Ghhhhh—
As awareness returned, pain and reality came with it.
He had been hit in the side.
Looking down, he saw that the dragon scales had shattered there, and jade-colored blood was seeping out in drops.
Ha... the blood isn’t even red.
With a bitter, disbelieving thought, he pushed himself upright.
...This doesn’t add up...
His mind had gone cold.
It was wrong from the start.
The creature had not been in pain.
From beginning to end, it had been consistent.
...It had never intended to kill them.
The thing...
From the very beginning.
Not once.
Had it been chased.
This wasn’t—
A hunt.
In that instant, he met the giant centipede’s red eyes, newly regenerated.
...
Sound vanished.
No one moved.
Only the sound of breathing remained.
Gyetoo, no longer able to fly, was left panting in place.
Geoung had both legs broken, and leaned on his pillar as he struggled to catch his breath.
The goblin warriors, their formation shattered, barely managed to hold back the Chongyojok.
The giant centipede slowly looked down at them, then slowly turned its red gaze.
It looked at the dragon.
“Grrr... dragon... I’ll eat you whole...”
Its eyes were filled with madness.
At the end, after all those calculations, Dohyun had never imagined it would come to this.
—Awooooooo.
A howl.
It split the forest in two.
The wind changed.
The stench of blood scattered.
The giant centipede’s red eyes trembled.
Dohyun felt it too.
...Something’s wrong.
His vision slipped out of alignment.
Something was blocking his view.
Then he saw it.
...To the side.
On the black earth.
Another shadow stretched long.
...No.
It had been there from the beginning.
A massive body like a small building.
Gray.
No.
Fur mixed with silver.
A body crouched low.
Eyes burning red.
Gwiwolrang.
He stood beside Dohyun and stared at the giant centipede.
Then the forest shook.
Awooooo—
Behind Gwiwolrang.
More shadows appeared.
Silver wolves.
Dozens of them lined up in silence.
...
Dohyun looked at them and forced himself back to his feet.
“I told you not to come, and yet you insisted on entering.”
His gaze swept across the battlefield.
“...Look at the state you’re in.”
He paused.
“...Still, you didn’t run.”
Then he heard the words, barely audible, behind him.
“...That just makes you more troublesome.”
Gwiwolrang said no more.
He turned his head toward the giant centipede.
“...Yong... so you really were here.”
There was a great many emotions in those words.
The centipede’s gaze, fixed on Gwiwolrang, held not only madness but something else as well.
Gwiwolrang took a step forward.
BOOOOM—!!!
The air split apart.
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