Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Mad Dragon Hunting (1)
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Swaaa—
Immense black mana surged through the surroundings, forming a barrier to block any escape.
After going to all this trouble to set the stage, there was no way they could let the bastard slip away now.
As the black energy enveloped everything around them, only the four of them remained inside the barrier.
Crunch—!
"Kuhahat! Alright, let's just see what happens!"
Harley, his entire body spewing white steam as it swelled up like a wild beast.
"Hm, as expected, directly manipulating its blood is proving difficult. Even driven mad, a dragon is still a dragon, I suppose."
Heinz 2nd smacked his lips lightly while drawing out his own blood and sharpening it to a razor edge.
[Oh? Traces of absorbed life force from other creatures. Is that the source of its madness? Even so, with a dragon's mental barriers, it should have ignored that much... but it must have been in hibernation.]
Hans, emanating an eerie aura as he calmly analyzed the specimen with an experimental gaze.
And finally...
[Grrr... I-Immortal King... Immortal King—!!]
Herathos, the dragon who had been frozen in place without so much as twitching since Hans appeared.
But then, like a paused screen suddenly glitching, he began to convulse bit by bit.
The red flames of madness blazing in his eyes swelled gradually before exploding outward as if about to burst.
Whoooosh—!
Air from all directions was sucked toward him at the center, whipping up a gale of madness around them.
At the sudden shift in air currents, Harley glanced around and quickly pinpointed the cause.
'The air's just caught in the aftermath. What's actually moving is the madness particles scattered in the atmosphere.'
The fine particles of madness permeating the area were all drawn inward at once, absorbed into the dragon at the center.
[Kyaaaaah—!]
Herathos unleashed another roar laced with insanity.
And the three facing him off...
Did nothing as he grew steadily stronger.
There was no need to.
'Oh! Nice, nice. It's even concentrating it on its own. What a jackpot. Even I couldn't do that.'
Perhaps due to dragons' innate trait of growing by absorbing surrounding mana throughout their lives, this one was voluntarily gathering the nearby madness—unlike typical monsters.
Why interrupt when it was boosting the reward all by itself?
[Immortal King! I'll kill you! I'll tear you apart—!]
As the storm gradually died down and the Mad Dragon Herathos had gathered all the energy, he glared at Hans and spat his fury.
The red scales covering his body had deepened to a bloody crimson, and his constantly writhing flesh had bulked up massively, unleashing its inherent violence without restraint.
'Madness erodes the host's sanity, forcibly shaving off lifespan and vitality to grant immense power. And when the host is a dragon that's lived thousands of years, the effect is beyond words.'
On top of that, the process earlier had condensed an unimaginable amount of madness in its dragon heart.
The aftermath had noticeably thinned the concentration in the surrounding air...
'It won't recover quickly, so the effect must have spread over a wider area than I thought.'
If the range had been narrower, madness from elsewhere would have soon filled the void.
It was a phenomenon possible only because it was a true Mad Dragon.
[Kyaaaaah—!]
Herathos, eyes rolled back, charged at Hans like a missile.
The overwhelming mana cloaking him boosted his speed, defying the limits of his massive bulk.
[Hmm, it's extremely agitated. Does it hold a grudge against the previous Immortal King?]
Of course, such straightforward movements couldn't possibly catch him.
Hans had already slipped out of the attack path, shifting to the side. Feeling the air ripple from the passage of that massive weapon of flesh and bone, he sorted his thoughts.
Capturing it wouldn't be hard.
After all, wasn't he the successor to the Immortal King, who had hunted dragons countless times?
But if he did it that way...
[Yes, better to take it easy, then.]
If Hans went all out, the creature's body would inevitably be corrupted, leaving him with at best an undead dragon.
Not a bad outcome, but with a more efficient option right there...
'To make that work, I need to tie its legs first.'
Conveniently, the perfect tool for the job was available.
[Entracchio.]
A low murmur heavy with black mana echoed out.
At the same time, a vast swamp of shadow rapidly blanketed the ground.
And then.
Splurt—!
From the writhing darkness coating the earth, a colossal dragon skeleton rose.
[Groooaaar—!]
Its roar, brimming with the energy of death, shook the space.
[Kyaaaaah—!]
The cry soaked in madness followed right after.
Entracchio and Herathos, the gazes of the two corrupted dragons clashed in one spot.
Once kin, now enemies facing off.
What happened next went without saying.
[Groooaaar—!]
[Kyaaaaah—!]
Boom—!
The two giant monstrosities soon collided fiercely.
Entracchio's frame was about thirty percent larger, likely from a specimen of considerable age in life.
But fighting Herathos—bolstered by madness in his flesh-and-blood body—with just bones was unrealistic in close quarters, especially with its death energy sealed away. All Entracchio could do was restrain its movements.
Of course, that's exactly why he'd summoned it.
'If it overexerts, the meat and blood will spoil.'
It was nutritious food for his kids—organic might be off the table, but minimizing pesticides was a must.
Hans watched the tumbling dragons while drawing up his mana.
Countless magic circles adorned the space around them, swiftly weaving all manner of spells.
'Skip the curses for now.'
Gravity chains, spatial fixation, impact absorption.
All spells designed to minimize contamination.
An undead summon stubbornly clinging with its massive bulk, black mages constantly interfering with every attempt to act.
An assassin slipping sharp strikes whenever it blinked, a berserker wildman glued to it like a maniac.
Thus began the one-sided, utterly unfair Mad Dragon raid by their multi-species party.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Krunch!
The Mad Dragon's massive jaws tore into the bone dragon's neck.
Its jaw muscles and fangs, empowered by sacrificed life force, channeled the tremendous mana from its dragon heart...
Krrrk—Crunch!
...Enough destructive power to pierce the defensive barrier ingrained in the bone dragon and reach its vertebrae directly.
[Grooo—!]
Cracks slowly forming in Entracchio's neck bones.
Black mana constantly reinforced and repaired the damage in real time, but leaving it unchecked risked a full break.
'Not that it matters—I can just reattach it.'
That immortality was the undead's greatest strength, after all.
Battered by all the restrictions, Entracchio was being pushed back, but it wasn't some weakling.
'Tougher than expected, though.'
Dragons were infamous for magic resistance already, and this Mad Dragon's was amplified further—Hans's black magic could barely hold it for long.
'Hunting it isn't hard. But I can't use my usual methods... A real dilemma.'
Past Immortal Kings hunted dragons easily thanks to their death energy.
That lethal poison to the living would work fine on the Mad Dragon too, but with restrictions on Entracchio, he couldn't wield it himself.
[Hmm, let's observe a bit longer.]
As Hans leisurely watched the fight from above, he slowly raised one hand.
Hummm—
A barrage of spells poured from the countless magic circles conjured instantly with vast mana.
Dozens of black beams pierced the Mad Dragon's body, lightning from the sky electrocuted it.
A massive explosion rattled its head, millennia-old ice froze its joints.
In that moment, as the storm of magic—piercing even its absurd resistance—drew its attention,
Slash—!
Heinz appeared like a ghost, slicing its jaw muscles with an elongated blade of blood.
"Uahaha!"
Harley scrambled up in a flash and slammed his body into the jaw like a missile.
[Kraaak—?]
Entracchio yanked its neck free and sank its teeth into the Mad Dragon's throat first.
Its heavily cracked vertebrae already repaired.
But the Mad Dragon's jaw was similarly severed, and the bite to its neck wasn't fatal either.
'Intellect degenerated, so no spellcasting, it seems.'
Yet dragons could wield mana like an extension of their bodies with will alone.
Less efficient than spells, but with its boosted stats, far from negligible.
Boom—!
Highly compressed mana exploded near where Entracchio clung to its neck.
Ignoring damage to itself, the Mad Dragon thrashed wildly, unleashing shockwaves nonstop.
Riiip, splatter—!
Flesh tore from its teeth, blood spraying everywhere.
It escaped the bite, but any normal creature would have died instantly from the wound.
...Though real-time regeneration rendered it meaningless.
'Instead, its raw mana manipulation has advanced.'
Physical prowess already amped by madness, now mana poured in for explosive strength, agility, regeneration—base level.
Mana barriers like armor, reinforced fangs and claws, shockwaves condensed like bombs.
And...
[Huuuup—]
The Mad Dragon leaped back with explosive speed and inhaled the surrounding air in an instant.
Vast mana concentrated in its throat simultaneously.
'Breath...! Too fast!'
The destructive mana flow gathered far quicker than anticipated.
Its power went without saying.
Belatedly, Entracchio hurriedly prepared its own breath to counter.
As mana surged on both sides, the air trembled violently.
And finally.
KABOOOM!
The clash of red and black light birthed a massive explosion sweeping everything.
The dragons' breaths mutually eroded midway, limiting damage to slight terrain shifts.
'...That was close.'
Amid the raging storm, Hans watched the dragons clash again and inwardly sighed in relief.
Its breath charge speed and output exceeded expectations.
In the end, Hans had to intervene with Entracchio, forcibly drawing out power to fully cancel it.
[That thing's full of energy. Excessively so.]
As he casually flicked his hand to bind the Mad Dragon with black chains, Hans pondered deeply.
He was just resigning himself to killing it outright when...
Unexpectedly, the solution came not from him, but another party member.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A lone figure strode silently atop the Mad Dragon's wildly thrashing body.
Slash—!
Its sharp blood claws rent scales and drew blood.
But only for a moment—the wound closed rapidly, new scales growing back.
"Ptoo! The dragon blood itself is prime, but the madness tainting it is a problem."
Heinz spat out the dragon blood he'd tasted and scowled.
The original owner's lingering will, crushed by madness, prevented proper blood absorption.
Its scales so tough he needed full power to wound it, yet the blood gained was useless—hardly worth it.
The worst matchup imaginable for a vampire.
But someone was enjoying the exact opposite...
Krrrk! Crunch!
"Kuhahat! No matter how much I eat, it never ends! Infinite regenerating meat!"
Harley, scaling its chest, ripping off scales and tearing into the flesh beneath.