Chapter 269
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 269.
The temple was collapsing.
Fellia was staring at the result her magic had wrought.
“I never imagined it would be destroyed in this manner.”
The magic circle was incomplete.
There were still shortcomings, so she thought it might not be enough to destroy the temple.
That’s what she had believed.
‘The power protecting the temple has weakened.’
Whether it was because the sealed depths had opened or not, that was the case.
Thanks to that, even an incomplete magic circle was enough to destroy the temple.
Rumble, crash!
The temple continued to crumble, and soon, it began to collapse entirely.
Rumble!
Falling debris. Those inside would surely be completely buried.
“Are they dead? No…”
She had no intention of underestimating her opponent.
Fellia had learned who she was dealing with through her summoned creatures and reports from her subordinates.
‘Yoo Baek-jun. If it’s that bastard…’
He had interfered with the Black Shadow’s plans multiple times already. A formidable enemy who could not—and must not—be ignored.
Fellia was convinced that man wouldn’t die so easily.
However,
‘From what I glimpsed, the interior was a labyrinth. The time it took for the temple to fully collapse was mere minutes.’
For a temple of this scale, the labyrinth’s passages wouldn’t be short.
There was no way he could navigate an unfamiliar labyrinth in just a few minutes.
That was enough.
“Is he dead?”
“No, he probably isn’t. But the chances of him securing his target are slim.”
The Dragon Slayer’s equipment.
If she had merely prevented him from obtaining it, that was enough.
In fact, this was an opportunity.
‘Eliminate the factor disrupting our plans. Here and now…’
Kill him.
Fellia gathered her magic.
“Stay here. I’ll finish them off and return.”
“Understood.”
Fellia expanded her magic to sense the presence around the temple. She was trying to locate Yoo Baek-jun.
But instead, she detected others—unexpected ones.
“Dragonkin! So this is where you were!”
Lizardmen who appeared from behind pointed their weapons at Fellia.
The High Priest and the joined War Chief as well.
Fellia slowly turned her head, a vicious smile curling on her lips.
“…What a gathering of desirable prey.”
Her greedy eyes locked onto the High Priest and the War Chief.
“We will reclaim our kin!”
“Foolish moths. You don’t even realize you’re flying into flames.” She laughed aloud. “To think you’d come to me willingly.”
She unleashed her magic.
Was she using magic? The High Priest tensed. But no.
“That’s…!”
Fellia’s form began to change. Into something monstrous, no longer human.
Her transformation differed from Dante’s.
While Dante resembled a fusion of human and dragon, she was—
“A… dragon?”
Closer to a pure dragon.
Groooowl!
Fellia, now the size of a house, stomped the ground.
—You are the last. Just like the Naga who served us faithfully.
A massive body.
Reptilian eyes brimming with killing intent glared at the Lizardmen.
—You too shall submit.
“Ugh…?!”
Fellia’s eyes glowed red.
An indescribable roar—Dragon Fear—emanated from her maw.
The Lizardmen’s bodies stiffened.
‘That’s no Evil Dragon… But then, why?!’
Their bodies wouldn’t move.
This sensation reminded them of being dominated by the Evil Dragon in the past…
The High Priest trembled.
“Grrrgh!”
—Yes. Submission suits you wretched creatures.
Fellia sneered at the kneeling Lizardmen.
—Pathetic. You’re nothing more than breeding tools anyway.
Her eyes curved like crescents.
—I won’t kill you outright. You’ll suffer excruciating pain, be used until you’re spent, and then discarded.
Thud! Thud!
Fellia took a step forward.
The closer she got, the more oppressive the pressure on the High Priest became.
“Grah! I won’t fall to this!”
The War Chief forced himself up, resisting the pressure.
But it was meaningless.
—Kneel.
A single word from Fellia.
Her gravity magic crushed the War Chief, slamming him into the ground.
‘Without even a chant…!’
The High Priest was stunned.
Fellia was a master of magic. Among the Black Shadow’s Dragonkin, her knowledge and skill in magic were unparalleled.
“Grrgh…”
“Ugh… ugh.”
The Lizardmen groaned.
Their faces gradually lost will—and intellect.
Fellia and the Black Shadow members laughed at the sight.
Whoosh!
Then, a spear flew.
From a blind spot, at an imperceptible speed.
Fellia looked down at her body.
—Kyaaaah!
The spear pierced her leg.
A wound as if struck by a cannonball tore through her, accompanied by excruciating pain.
Fellia staggered.
“L-Lady Fellia!”
—Grrgh, ugh!
The Black Shadow members panicked.
Fellia’s eyes widened as she glared at the source of the spear.
There stood Yoo Baek-jun.
—You… bastard…
The spear impaling Fellia’s leg returned to Yoo Baek-jun’s grip.
He tapped the spear against his shoulder, calmly meeting her gaze.
—That weapon…!
“The Dragon Slayer’s Spear. What, happy to see it?”
—Dragon Slayer!
The spear, carved from bone, emitted a sinister glow.
Fellia shuddered.
‘Am I… trembling?’
Never before had she felt fear toward anyone.
As a Dragonkin, she had gained overwhelming power, and no matter how strong her foes, they had all knelt before her.
—Hahk!
But now was different.
An unbearable fear gripped her—a terror she hadn’t felt since becoming a Dragonkin.
‘I might die.’
The fear of death.
Yoo Baek-jun strode toward her, spear in hand.
—S-Stay back! I’ll…!
Fellia unleashed her magic.
Flame, ice, wind—three supreme-tier spells manifested simultaneously.
A display of astonishing magical prowess.
‘What the—?!’
But Fellia frowned, sensing something wrong.
Her magical flow was disrupted. The spells felt weaker than they should be.
And it wasn’t her imagination.
“…!”
The spells’ activation was delayed.
Normally, they would have triggered instantly without a chant, but the tangled magical flow slowed them down.
Yoo Baek-jun didn’t miss the opening.
—Gyaaaah!
The Dragon Slayer’s Spear pierced Fellia’s torso mid-cast, disrupting her spells.
Yoo Baek-jun charged.
—Hahk… ugh!
Fellia beat her wings.
A fierce gust shook the surroundings as she soared upward.
Yoo Baek-jun kicked off the ground and landed on her back.
—Kyahaaa!
Fellia spewed breath from her maw, but it was too late.
Yoo Baek-jun had already cleaved her wings apart with the spear.
Groooowl!
Fellia plummeted.
Without even time to scream, her massive body crashed into the ground with a pathetic thud.
—Ugh… grrgh…
The humiliation. The helplessness.
Her Dragonkin scales, which should have blocked any attack, were useless against the Dragon Slayer’s Spear.
—P-Protect me… Khahk!
Fellia frantically called for her subordinates—Black Shadow members, Lizardmen, and Naga alike.
But those who could aid her were still pinned under Dragon Fear.
‘Then.’
Yoo Baek-jun retrieved an artifact.
A necklace woven from bone emitted a pure white light.
Fwoosh!
The light spread, seeping into the dominated Lizardmen and Naga.
Their reddened eyes returned to normal.
Their blank expressions regained reason.
“W-What was I…?”
“What was I doing? Where… am I?”
Freed from the Evil Dragon’s control.
The artifact’s power—this necklace could break the Evil Dragon’s domination.
“What are you doing, slaves? Move! Protect Lady Fellia!”
“H-Hey, wait. Something’s wrong.”
The Lizardmen and Naga snapped back to their senses. The panicked Black Shadow members stared at the monsters they had once enslaved.
“…….”
“…….”
A tense silence.
Rage twisted the faces of the formerly dominated monsters.
“You filthy trash!”
“I’ll tear you apart with my own hands! Die, all of you!”
“Raaagh!”
The Lizardmen and Naga swarmed the Black Shadow members.
The Black Shadow members scrambled to defend themselves, leaving no one to protect Fellia.
“Now it’s just you.”
—How… how did this…
Yoo Baek-jun stood before Fellia.
The Dragon Slayer’s power gnawed at her body. She glared at him, her face pressed into the dirt.
—You cleared that labyrinth in minutes? How…!
Fellia’s words cut off.
Yoo Baek-jun thrust the spear again, uninterested in her questions.
The strike pierced her heart.
—Hah… gk!
Fellia’s breath hitched.
Yoo Baek-jun raised the spear for another strike.
—W-Wait. Human, listen…
Fellia muttered. Yoo Baek-jun stared coldly.
‘The spear’s power is impressive.’
If she had been like Dante—half-human—the spear’s full power wouldn’t have manifested.
But Fellia was a Dragonkin, more dragonlike than human.
Thus.
—Gyaaaaah!
The spear’s power reached near its maximum potential.
Yoo Baek-jun struck again, and Fellia screamed in agony.
The massive Dragonkin trembled.
Her eyes glared at him, but not for long.
Groooowl!
Her pupils dimmed.
Her colossal body went limp, lifeless.
She was dead.
“Phew.”
Yoo Baek-jun flicked the blood off his spear and sighed.
“They’ll handle the rest.”
He watched as the Lizardmen and Naga overwhelmed the Black Shadow.
Then, exhausted, he plopped down.
* * *
As Yoo Baek-jun expected, the Lizardmen and Naga took care of the rest.
After dealing with the Black Shadow members, he roamed the swamp, freeing more Lizardmen and Naga from domination.
‘No time to rest. Not a moment.’
Meanwhile, Delowin and Baimar worked with the War Chief to rescue the Naga trapped in the temple.
“Where is this…?”
“Coming to your senses?”
“Senses? I don’t know. It feels like I was trapped in a nightmare.”
Since they had been confined in traps, they survived the temple’s collapse with minimal injuries.
Not all were unharmed, but given the scale of destruction, it was an unbelievable outcome.
“This is the last group, right?”
“Probably.”
Yoo Baek-jun freed the final Lizardmen from the Evil Dragon’s control.
The Black Shadow members who surrendered were captured; those who resisted fiercely were executed.
‘No need to keep them alive.’
Only after everything was settled could Yoo Baek-jun finally catch his breath.
He looked up at the sky.
‘Well, I took down two Black Shadow executives easily with the Dragon Slayer’s power, but…’
The Evil Dragon wasn’t a fool.
Having been defeated by a Dragon Slayer once before, it would have spent centuries preparing countermeasures.
The next executives would come armed with defenses against the spear.
‘But it doesn’t matter.’
This spear remained the ultimate weapon against Dragonkin—and the Evil Dragon itself.
“Maybe I’ll let others do the work.”
Yoo Baek-jun pondered how to deal with the Evil Dragon.
He had a method he’d used multiple times before.
‘I’ll use Thanatos.’
He smirked darkly.