Chapter 612: Dragon Raid (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 612: Dragon Raid (10)
Kim Do-jin had a small epiphany from Irina’s attempt to console him.
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
If the enemy made itself this hard to find, then he just had to make the enemy come to them.
But how?
His eyes, filled with contemplation, scanned the surroundings.
‘It’s watching us.’
With every step we took, vicious traps appeared and path markers vanished.
This was proof that the cunning dragon was tracking their movements in real time.
He was curious.
‘How exactly is it monitoring us?’
The world was engulfed in a raging blizzard that made it difficult for even him to secure a clear line of sight.
What could it be?
What was the medium that served as its eyes, or something equivalent?
He found the answer soon enough.
‘The snow.’
The pure white snow that was scattered everywhere in this world.
This very snow, which blocked their path, made them lose their sense of direction, and raged all around them—wasn't it the perfect substitute for the creature's eyes?
Moreover, this snow hadn't accumulated naturally; the beast had created it with its own mana.
Suddenly, a particular spell flashed through his mind.
Familiar.
If it was that magic, which involved taming a small animal as a familiar for reconnaissance…
If all the snowflakes falling from the sky and piling up were no different from the creature’s familiars…
‘It’s entirely possible.’
Beyond possibility, he was almost certain.
He thought again.
‘If I could just get rid of this snow…’
Wouldn't the path to the beast become much easier?
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
‘Impossible.’
The snow piled up in this world was undoubtedly a trap the creature had built over decades.
Getting rid of all of it would be impossible even if he collapsed from mana exhaustion hundreds of times.
He changed his line of thinking.
‘Then let’s use this snow to our advantage.’
Strictly speaking, the snow here was only a substitute for its vision; it couldn't be its real eyes.
To use a more precise analogy, it was like the Ki Sense used by warriors who have reached a certain level of mastery.
A higher-tier version of the art of spreading one's mana like a net to quickly detect an opponent's presence.
It would be more expansive, more detailed, and clearer.
But it still couldn't replace sight.
It wasn't seeing directly, but merely painting a picture of the form in its mind.
Of course, that picture was likely so vivid that it was almost indistinguishable from seeing with its own eyes.
‘There’s plenty of room to exploit.’
If he dug into the fact that it was a substitute that was almost as good as sight, he could use it in any number of ways.
For example, by creating an excellent substitute that the creature would mistake for them.
And there was someone here who was perfect for that kind of work.
Having organized his thoughts, he immediately gathered everyone and spoke.
"How about we put on a little play?"
A play where everyone here was a lead actor, and the only audience was the snow.
* * *
Irina Borisovna Orlova.
Those who had witnessed her combat firsthand would all give a thumbs-up and say one thing.
That it was ‘beautiful.’
It wasn't because of her face or figure, which possessed both beauty and strength.
It was because the artistry she displayed itself evoked a sense of beauty in people.
Someone else might say this:
Her ice was alive and moving.
Ice is inherently hard and cold, a substance with absolutely no flexibility.
But the ice she created was different.
If she made a bird, it would move by perfectly mimicking the bird's structure. If she created a human form, it would operate smoothly, following the principles of human movement.
Of course, creating such a delicate form required a significant amount of time, but still.
The dragon was looking down at them, its eyes filled with an indescribable fury.
"Look over there."
He showed it.
The true identity of what it had firmly believed to be me and old man Merlin.
A look of bewilderment spread across the beast's face.
"...Ice?"
"That's right, it's ice."
From the moment I decided to use its own senses against it, Irina and I began to sculpt.
Our subjects were me and old man Merlin.
We went through a lot of trial and error.
We couldn't allow even a 0.1mm margin of error in order to properly deceive its senses.
"You have no idea how much we struggled."
"Hmm… it was one of the toughest moments of my life."
Irina agreed with me.
We walked by day and sculpted by night.
After several days of this, we finally completed them.
Ice dolls that were completely identical to the real thing.
Then, we embedded a fragment of Gluttony into them to synchronize their bodies and filled them with our mana.
And then we hid.
We dug out all the snow so its gaze couldn't reach us and remained buried under the earth.
The rest is as you see.
"Phew, it was so cold. If we'd stayed there any longer, we would've frozen to death."
Still, it was well worth the effort.
After all, the opponent we had been searching for so desperately had appeared right before our eyes.
Clap, clap!
I clapped my hands, drawing the attention of the party members who were laughing and celebrating.
"Alright, everyone, the play is over."
We were busy, so we'd skip the closing ceremony.
"Prepare for battle."
We quickly shifted our stance.
The play was just a ruse to lure the enemy out.
The real show started now.
Shhhng
A powerful aura began to rise.
The frustration from rolling around in the snow and worrying for the past few days had, ironically, become their strength.
Facing the sharp killing intent of the humans, the dragon's fury also deepened.
"How dare mere humans trick me…!"
It was getting old.
Why did every monster capable of speech have to tack on phrases like ‘for a mere human’ or ‘you humans’?
Especially when they were the ones who always lost.
I provoked it further to fuel its anger.
"Your dad was killed by one of those 'mere humans' too, you know."
"You bastard…!"
Flames of fury erupted from the center of the sky, where the blizzard raged.
Even though it was at least 100 meters away, the intense heat was palpable.
I felt a sense of relief.
"Thankfully, it really is a Red Dragon."
It seemed at least one of our damage dealers wouldn't be useless.
Krrrrraaaaaa!
After letting out a fierce roar toward the sky, the creature shouted coldly.
"Just because the battlefield has changed doesn't mean anything is different."
In an instant, hundreds of ice chunks the size of human heads were aimed at us.
"You will all die here."
The moment it finished speaking, the hail poured down.
Just as Ju-yeon was about to cast a barrier, old man Merlin cast a spell a step ahead of her.
「Twisted Space.」
A large hole formed above our heads, and another in a space slightly farther away.
The hail was sucked into the first hole and came out through the other, piling up neatly on the ground.
As expected of old man Merlin.
He was worth bringing along.
"I'll go first."
With a short signal, Irina shot upwards.
Large wings made of ice sprouted from her back and flapped powerfully.
Her cold gaze and the tip of her sword were aimed at the enemy.
「Cold Fury (холодный гнев).」
A white Sword Aura frosted over her sword.
With a single swing, the Sword Aura, imbued with chilling energy, shot out towards the enemy.
Swoooosh!
The dragon's mouth opened.
A breath attack?
The thought was fleeting.
Instead of a torrent of flames, the creature spat out a single, cold word.
「Disappear.」
As soon as the word was spoken, the surrounding mana moved on its own, clinging to the flying Sword Aura.
Then, something incredible happened.
The mana that had been tightly bound in the form of the Sword Aura began to disperse.
"……!"
The Sword Aura vanished without a trace.
Everyone was stunned by the incredible sight.
"What in the world just happened…?"
"The dragon uttered some unknown word, and the Sword Aura just disappeared."
"C-could it be some kind of dragon-exclusive magic?!"
No, wait a second.
"...Did you just say an unknown word?"
When I asked old man Merlin, he replied in an excited voice.
"Yes. I've never heard it before in my life. Have you?"
"……."
He'd never heard it before?
But I had.
Didn't it clearly say, ‘Disappear’?
As I stood there, bewildered by the strange discrepancy between us…
"Hah!"
Irina continued her fierce assault.
「Blizzard (метель).」
Dozens, hundreds of white Sword Auras poured out, obscuring the dragon's vision.
I couldn't help but be impressed.
To think she could produce so many instances of Sword Aura, a technique that already consumed an immense amount of mana.
But it was meaningless.
「Shatter.」
As the creature spoke, the Sword Auras that had been raging from all directions began to break apart on their own.
Crack!
Boom!
Shatter!
Seeing this, Irina's eyes widened as if they would tear.
An attack of that scale must have been executed at great cost to her.
For such an attack to be blocked by a single word, her reaction was understandable.
The dragon, its confidence restored by its successive victories, coldly uttered a word towards Irina.
「Fall.」
The same phenomenon that had occurred when the Sword Aura vanished happened again.
The surging mana in the area responded to its word, moving on its own to cling to the ice wings on her back.
Crack!
The wings melted away in an instant.
"No…?!"
She began to fall.
Just as the creature had declared a moment before.
I threw myself towards her falling point and caught her in my arms just as she reached me.
Thud!
"Ugh."
Even for a superhuman, catching someone falling from the sky isn't easy.
Held in my arms bridal-style, she asked me.
"Did you get any information?"
It was a pre-arranged move.
She would attack first, and I would watch from behind to identify its weakness.
Unfortunately, I hadn't found a weakness.
However, I did learn one thing.
How that young dragon manifested its magic—no, its power.
"I think that thing uses Word Spirit."
Word Spirit.
It seemed the creature had mastered the art of imbuing its words with power to an extreme degree to compensate for its own shortcomings.