Holy War (1)
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The colossal dragon that heaved itself up from the earth was nothing less than the mythic age reborn. Its once-beautiful flesh had rotted away until bare bone showed through, and the radiant wings that had once split the sky hung in tatters riddled with holes—yet its majesty was pure violence. From that enormous body, a deep-blue death aura surged and spilled like waves, and the cold of death itself shook the minds of everything it touched.
"Wh-what the fuck... wh-what the hell is that thing!!"
"Runrunrunrun!!!"
"A-aaaah!!! No no no no!! I don't wanna dieee!!"
"Ghk— ghhk... huff!"
The holy knights and warriors who brushed against the Frost Ancient Dragon's death aura broke like a rabble. Some fled screaming, some collapsed and wet themselves, some raised their own weapons to try to end it, some gasped as if their breath itself were being stolen.
In the middle of that chaos, Kenis somehow kept her wits.
What in the world is that...!
Her hands and legs shook violently; she felt ready to drop to her knees at any second. She endured it.
But enduring was all she could do.
Alone, there was nothing she could accomplish. Alone she could neither quell this panic nor stand against the Frost Ancient Dragon.
"My lady...! Commander!!"
She scanned the surroundings for Friga and the commander, but Friga was already caught in the dragon's rolling death aura—eyes vacant, body trembling.
"Ah... ahh..."
"My lady! Snap out of it!! My lady!!"
—Slap! —Slap!
In her urgency she struck Friga's cheeks hard, yet those unfocused eyes showed no sign of returning; they only stared into empty air. Pupils contracted tight with terror, fixed on something only she could see.
It's no use...
Kenis forced her violently shaking hands still and looked down at the holy sword. The hero's burden given to her. The oath that she would never again yield to evil.
She clenched her teeth and dragged her trembling legs forward, step by forced step.
If not me...!
There were things no one else could do. If she did not step forward, everyone would die. She forced her shaking hands up and advanced, one step, then another, toward the Frost Ancient Dragon.
The girl drew her sword and stood alone before the vast ancient dragon.
"Look—at me—!!"
Hwaaaak—!!
Dazzling light flared from the raised violet holy sword. A pillar of radiance climbed as if it would pierce the sky itself.
"Look—at me—!!"
As if goaded by the holy power, the Frost Ancient Dragon loosed a tremendous roar straight at Kenis.
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—Whooooom!
The Frost Ancient Dragon's massive foreleg swept down over Kenis's head. Razor bone claws sliced the air, descending as if to shred the girl's flesh to ribbons.
—Kwaaaaaang!
"Khhhk!!"
The dragon's single blow cracked the earth open and gouged a crater as if a massive bomb had detonated. No one could doubt that a slender girl had been burst apart by that merciless strike.
Kenis survived that violent force.
"Khup— ugh!"
The instant sword met claw, she barely managed to wrap a swarm of stars around the blade and hold. The power of the star swarm canceled most of the force, yet the residual shock that slipped through was more than enough to thrash the girl's organs.
"Ugh!"
Bright-red scraps of organ spilled from her mouth in a rush.
O Five Gods and the Sixth God...
Kenis stared up at the Frost Ancient Dragon with trembling eyes.
——————!!!
As if roaring in triumph, the Frost Ancient Dragon hurled a colossal bellow toward the heavens.
"Ah, time to run Monster Subjugation again."
By now it was a daily routine he never skipped. There was only one hero—Kenis—but the gold it raked in was decent enough that he never missed a run.
Ba-bam—!
The moment he tapped the familiar Monster Subjugation, a flashy fanfare blared.
Monster Subjugation Stage 1 Boss Unlocked!
"Oh, a boss? They had these?"
A boss had unlocked—the kind of thing that always feels missing once you're deep in a game. Clearing Stage 1 would probably open the next Monster Subjugation stage.
"Gotta try this right away."
First boss raid, so it shouldn't be too hard. With that complacent thought he entered the boss stage.
Adventurers who die in boss battles cannot be revived!
"Huh? No, you can't just tell me that after I start!"
A warning window popped up on the boss-loading screen. Die once and it was over. Nervous, sure—but it was a Stage 1 boss, so it shouldn't be that bad... right?
Whoooosh—
A majestic snowy mountain filled the screen, and a gigantic dragon tore up through the ground with a roar.
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"Holy shit. The Stage 1 boss is a dragon?"
Kenis stood alone before the terrifying dragon. Just Kenis, standing there by herself—it looked precarious. Somehow he already felt like she was going to lose.
Kwaaang—!
"No, what the hell!"
The dragon brought its foreleg down on Kenis once and her HP plummeted to the brink of death. A sliver of health left—and she was stunned on top of it.
"This goddamn trash game! How is this a first-stage boss!"
A Stage 1 boss was supposed to be a cute slime king or a giant rat or something, right? What the hell were these insane developers thinking, dropping a boss like this from the start?
On screen, Kenis stood frozen in stun while the ancient dragon prepared its next attack. If this kept up, she was guaranteed to lose.
"Ah, shit. Is there anything—"
In a panic he tapped all over the screen. No matter how frantically he hammered, the game gave no response.
"I'm going crazy for real!"
At this rate his one and only hero-rank adventurer would vanish for nothing. Was there any way?
Ba-bam—!
As if reading his frantic mind, a message window appeared.
Let's help the adventurer in crisis!
Use a skill to heal the injured adventurer!
The game screen froze in gray, and a blinking cross-shaped button appeared.
"Yes, this is it! I knew it. Felt way too strong."
Thankfully the developers had stuck a dragon in as a tutorial boss. Right—having a dragon that looked that nasty as a Stage 1 boss made no sense otherwise.
"Take the heal, Kenis!"
He pressed the cross button and healed her. The emptied HP bar shot back up. That bought him a moment of relief.
"Ah, but the basic attacks are still too strong."
Even with healing, if she kept getting stunned there was no way forward. He needed something besides healing Kenis—yet the game had given him no other skills.
"...These bastards, don't tell me?"
He paused the boss fight and opened the shop. Just a hunch, but if these were the money-crazed developers he knew...
Swipe—swipe—
He tapped through the shop tabs, scanning the list—and found it. He had found it.
"Wow, these guys are truly insane for money. Ruthless. Absolutely ruthless."
He had discovered user-exclusive boss-battle skills for sale in the shop. The names were all over the place.
"Instant Death Strike? What even is this. Nanomachine Injection?"
Skill names that had completely abandoned the fantasy framework. Skills so powerful he almost wondered if they were allowed.
"The prices... holy shit. 109,000 won?"
Any skill with a name that looked even slightly strong started at a murderous 100,000 won. He clicked his tongue at the developers' greed.
"Anything cheaper..."
Scrolling down the list, he found skills that looked reasonably cost-effective. Skills sold at the rational price of 9,000 won each. He started dropping them into the cart one by one.
"Lightning Strike, throw that in. Sacred Protection? That too..."
Picking this and that added up to a decent total. A price that stung a little. Visions of ketchup and bean sprouts floated before his eyes.
"Hmm..."
He clutched his head and fretted for a moment. Money could be earned again; bean sprouts and ketchup were temporary. But Kenis, the character he had treasured so carefully—once this moment passed, she would never come back.
"Fine! Screw it, I'll eat bean sprouts!"
Bean sprouts were temporary, but a character that left never returned!
With a resolute face he hit the payment button.
Woooom—
The fruit of his resolve arrived on his phone. He checked the text with trembling eyes.
Ah, shit. Maybe I should've taken a few skills out?
"Khup! Uweeeek!"
Organ scraps kept spilling from Kenis's mouth without end. One of her ribs must have broken; every wheezing breath brought a sharp spike of pain.
O Five Gods and the Sixth God...
Despair flooded Kenis's eyes, and the Frost Ancient Dragon, certain of victory, roared at the sky.
In that instant, a vast pressure crushed down upon the entire area from the heavens.
Invisible, intangible—yet every living thing knew it by instinct.
A transcendent being was watching this place.
"We're gonna die! Gonna di—... huh?"
"Ghk!! Ghhk... wha?"
The moment that colossal gaze swept across the people who had been raving under the Frost Ancient Dragon's death aura, they snapped clear in an instant.
———?! ———!!!
A pressure so vast that even the Frost Ancient Dragon—ruler of the mythic age, incarnation of violence—was thrown into confusion.
Within that pressure, Kenis felt the gaze that was looking upon her.
Ah—aah! O Sixth God!
A handful of starlight drifted down from the sky and gently enfolded her. From the warm swarm of stars she felt a parent's cherishing love.
—Hwaaaaak
Wrapped in starlight, her body knit itself back together as if time itself were rewinding. A divine miracle embraced her.
"O-ohh..!! The Sixth God watches over us!!"
"Th-that's a god...?"
"We are living in the age of myth!"
"The Hero has been raised again by a god's miracle!!"
Holy knights and northern warriors gazed in awe at Kenis, wrapped in glittering stars.
Clench—
Kenis looked over her restored body and gripped the holy sword firmly. The vast Frost Ancient Dragon still glared down at them with murderous intent.
Yet not one of them was afraid any longer.
"God is with us!!"
"Holy War!! This is a Holy War!!"
Morale soared among the holy knights and warriors. And true to the name of that holy war—
—Kwarrrung!!
—Kwagwang!!
Dazzling lightning crashed down upon the Frost Ancient Dragon's head, and Kenis drew her sword and charged. At last—
"In the name of the Sixth God!!"
—the Holy War began.