Chapter 209
Translator: penny
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: Flame of Valkyrie
"Groooar!"
The hatchling let out a roar with its neck stretched long.
The space, modest by dragon standards, resonated with its cry.
['Faint Dragon Fear' converts to 'Hatchling's Fear.'
The defensive effect of 'Dullahan's Curse' (A) is further reduced.]
A notification window appeared before Jeong-hyeon's eyes.
He bit his lip.
Dragon Fear was Dragon Fear—what kind of nonsense was it to just swap out the modifier in the middle?
The moment the notification popped up, the oppressive pressure on Jeong-hyeon's body intensified in an instant.
It was because 'Dullahan's Curse,' which had steadfastly protected his mind until now, was relatively overwhelmed by the Dragon Fear.
And that meant the Fear's effect on his party members had become incomparably stronger.
"Urgh..."
The one hit hardest by it, right up close, was none other than Won-ho.
He had just buried his axe into the hatchling's massive wing membrane.
Mid-air, the suddenly intensified pressure made it hard to stay composed, so he groaned and plummeted to the ground like a crash landing.
Ji-myeong and Ye-rin's probing attacks and gaze diversion.
Followed immediately by Won-ho's wing strike.
They had hoped the joint might be a weak point, but the plan was laid out.
'Failure.'
The thought flashed simultaneously in the minds of the hunters who checked the hatchling's status.
Even Won-ho, the lowest level among them, was an A-Rank Level 4 powerhouse.
With his strength enhancement trait to boot, he arguably had the raw power in the party.
Yet Won-ho's strike hadn't left a mark on the hatchling.
After magic, now its scales' defense surpassed even Royal Erke.
"Grrr."
Now the creature fully spread its wings and rose to its feet entirely.
Not only had its previously suppressed Fear fully bloomed from its sleepy state, but its actions screamed intent to not let the humans before it live.
"Stay calm, move to the next phase!"
But Jeong-hyeon immediately called the next step.
Coldly assessing reality.
They weren't actually hurt; the Fear had just spooked them prematurely.
Ji-myeong and Ye-rin had endured the hatchling's magic barrage unscathed, and flying off from a wing hit was an acceptable risk.
The damage was far below what they had anticipated.
'What about Seung-jun?'
Jeong-hyeon glanced back while trying to perceive the situation through his senses.
"......"
There, Seung-jun was still muttering his incantation since the battle's start.
Even to Jeong-hyeon, the mana flow felt unnatural.
Seung-jun's role from the outset was to unleash the party's strongest spell while the three vanguard drew the hatchling's attention.
Won-ho's strike had been opportunistic, but in a way, it was also a smokescreen.
Delay it further, and the smokescreen would naturally dissipate.
Fortunately, Seung-jun completed the spell without much delay.
Flash—
His back lit up in an instant, and a fireball erupted.
Rising fiercely as if to touch the ceiling, it took form mid-ascent: a warrior with wings.
'Flame of Valkyrie.'
The hallmark of high B-Rank fire magic, rivaling a rank higher in pure destructive power excluding cast time.
Whoosh—
The warrior floating in the sky had locked onto its target from birth.
And the target had fixed its gaze on the Valkyrie since its appearance.
Of course, the Valkyrie's form solidifying and its charge beginning were practically simultaneous.
"Go!"
Seung-jun screamed like a banshee as he launched the fireball.
Whether a trigger to control the Valkyrie or self-hypnosis to endure the intensified Dragon Fear, who could say.
Casting attack magic on a dragon—a being that wielded magic manipulation—enough to drown one in self-doubt.
But the Valkyrie's momentum was undeniably ferocious.
Less a warrior's charge, more a projectile fired at full force.
'High B-Rank magic, as expected?'
Even Jeong-hyeon, watching, thought so.
He had only seen Flame of Valkyrie in videos before.
A common trait in those videos: they used high-speed cameras for the demonstration.
The Valkyrie, spear aimed at its target, flew so fast that only such footage captured it for the naked eye.
To ordinary viewers, it looked like the fireball rose behind the mage and instantly lasered the target.
Swoosh—
The next moment, the Valkyrie slammed into the hatchling's neck.
No explosive roar or blinding blast typical of fire magic.
The collision was eerily quiet.
The Valkyrie seemed sucked in, condensing to a single point on impact.
No wonder if one couldn't grasp why Flame of Valkyrie was top-tier fire magic from that alone.
But its true power unfolded moments after impact.
Like the legend of glorious Valhalla after death.
Sizzle—
Just when it seemed nothing would happen, the magic finally revealed itself.
The hatchling's red dragon lineage meant its scales were already crimson.
"It's here."
But from the condensed point, it glowed an even brighter scarlet.
"Kuaaaah!"
Soon after, it unleashed a roar on another level from Ye-rin, Ji-myeong, or Won-ho's attacks.
Flame of Valkyrie's moniker: 'Crimson Brand.'
If the Valkyrie's inescapable speed named the spell, the expanding inferno until total annihilation named its alias.
Siiiizzle—
True to the name, the scarlet mark on the hatchling's neck spread, burning ever outward.
Ye-rin's eyebrow twitched.
It was working.
The hatchling's scales, unmarred by Ji-myeong's sword, Won-ho's axe, or her trusty martial arts, now burned visibly.
Awe-inspiring to the watching hunters; for the hatchling, unprecedented agony.
"Kraaaack!"
Sure enough, it screamed human-like, save for size.
Not just that—it thrashed its massive wings and tail, expressing torment through its body.
At this rate, even a hatchling would burn to death.
Sizzle—
But it didn't take it lying down.
Survival instincts kicked in.
Blue hues clung to the burning scales.
Instinct or intent, it had granted itself water affinity.
But hasty attribute enchantment couldn't handle the brand's horror.
Steam rose briefly, then the watery sheen vanished from the scales.
The brand mocked the young dragon, burning fiercer.
Ji-myeong kicked off the ground again.
'Can't miss this!'
Earlier targeted sleepy carelessness; now a far greater opening.
No easier prey than an enemy writhing in unfamiliar pain.
Ye-rin across from him seemed to think the same.
She exchanged glances with Won-ho, who had retreated for distance, then charged anew.
This time, she planned to stick closer longer.
'Because there's something to find.'
Meanwhile, the hatchling, still convulsing in brand-inflicted torment, realized enchantment's limits and tried another way.
"What?"
It caught the watching hunters off guard.
"Grraaah..."
Whoosh—
As Seo Hwi-gon had predicted early, the hatchling unleashed hundreds of basic spells.
But unlike before, they were water-attribute.
And those hundreds of Water Bolts targeted...
Thud thud thud—
Its own burning neck from the brand.
Siiiiizzle—
Amid agony, it held its long neck rigid to not miss.
Steam billowed incomparably fiercer than before.
To an outsider, it looked like a mad hatchling flamboyantly suiciding—enough to make the three charging hunters falter unconsciously.
Meanwhile, Seung-jun, scrutinizing the neck, gasped in shock.
"My god..."
Hitting itself with water attack magic to counter self-inflicted fire on its neck.
Such a brutish countermeasure, unheard and unseen.
The issue: it shockingly worked.
Possible only because basic spells—even thousands—couldn't scratch dragon scales.
Unthinkable for a human like Seung-jun.
As his shock lingered, the last Water Bolt hit and vanished.
The flames on its neck extinguished completely.
One scale fully charred.
Surrounding ones half-burned.
"No problem!"
Seung-jun hadn't watched the neck like that, but the hatchling's calmed movements told the outcome of its bizarre magic use.
But Ji-myeong and the others pressed the charge undeterred.
Slash—
Wings whipped at speeds incomparable to shrugging off Ji-myeong and Ye-rin earlier.
Collision now wouldn't end in a simple fly-away; but that was for surprise attacks.
This time, Ji-myeong and Ye-rin watched the hatchling's moves closely.
They weren't pushovers to take foreseen attacks.
Both slid forward low, dodging wings without slowing.
The dim interior darkened further as wings—large enough to cover a big tent—passed overhead like nightfall.
Like travelers following stars in a dark sky, they closed in on the glinting scales amid shadows.
Meanwhile, Won-ho up front reached the body more easily.
Boom—
First a commemorative strike each upon reunion.
"Groooar!"
Irritated by pesky bugs again, the hatchling roared.
'Where is it...'
Ignoring the now-familiar bellow, the close-range hunters interspersed attacks while scanning around relentlessly.