Chapter 255
Chapter 255
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 255
Chapter Title: Heavenly Dragon Barbatos (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Oh-jin… I-I’m so scared.”
Caught in Barbatos’s grip, Isabella called out to Oh-jin, her voice trembling faintly.
But contrary to her terrified voice, the corners of her lips were curled high, as if she could barely contain her laughter.
[Khahaha. Did you hear that, human?]
Unable to see her expression, Barbatos wore a smug look, certain he had the upper hand.
Humans are social animals.
He knew well how much value they placed on their relationships with others.
Some humans would even commit the irrational act of sacrificing their own lives for another.
*‘Foolish creatures.’*
Dragons do not form societies.
They are complete as individuals, perfect on their own.
Therefore, from Barbatos’s perspective, the sight of humans sacrificing their lives for others seemed utterly foolish and ignorant.
Creatures that can only exist through the presence of others.
The human race was inherently weak by design.
“H-Help me, Oh-jin!”
The woman in his grasp let out a pitiful scream.
A pleasant scream to hear.
Barbatos twisted his lips into a smirk and leisurely turned his head toward the human who had dared to wound his sacred body.
Surely, by now, he would be trembling, his face pale with fear…
[…Hmm?]
Barbatos’s brow furrowed.
The smirk that had twisted his lips in anticipation fell.
The expression of the human who had burned one of his wings was not one of terror, contrary to his expectations.
“Uh… Hmm. You want me to save you?”
He looked somewhat perplexed.
Seeing Oh-jin let out a hollow laugh and scratch his head, Barbatos looked completely baffled.
“Even so, I don’t think I can let Barbatos live.”
[What?]
Barbatos’s expression contorted.
He was the one who had taken a hostage.
Why was his own name suddenly being brought up?
“Oh, is that so?”
And why was the hostage nodding her head as if nothing was wrong?
It was all incomprehensible.
Barbatos narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth.
[What nonsense are you spout—]
“I understand. I’ll kill him then.”
Isabella let out a peal of laughter and gently placed her hand on the one Barbatos was using to hold her.
The soft touch of her hand felt through his scales.
Just as he’d thought, it was a frail, delicate hand.
“I wonder… what does dragon’s blood taste like?”
However.
It took less than ten seconds for that feather-soft touch to transform into excruciating pain.
[Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!]
*Crunch, crack!*
The violet scales crumpled.
Skin was torn asunder, and crimson blood gushed out like a fountain.
[Wh-What in the world is this!]
Barbatos hurriedly looked down at his arm.
His scales were cracked like a mirror struck by a hammer.
Along with the horrific pain, the hand that had been gripping Isabella was severed into pieces, as if it were a cube.
“Hmm. I had high hopes since it was dragon’s blood, but it’s just gamey.”
Landing softly on the ground, Isabella touched a fingertip to the blood spraying everywhere and put it to her tongue, then frowned in displeasure.
Blood poured like a waterfall from Barbatos’s arm, which had been sliced into cubes, yet not a single drop stained her clothes.
The rain of blood seemed to move like a living creature, avoiding her body.
“If I knew you were this weak, I really could have come alone.”
Looking bored, Isabella languidly waved her arm as if shooing a fly.
*Swoooosh!*
The blood pouring from his wound transformed into sharp blades, lacerating Barbatos’s body.
[Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]
Barbatos screamed and staggered backward.
*Thud!*
The fifty-meter-tall behemoth collapsed to the ground.
The battle was over in less than five minutes.
Oh-jin nodded as he approached the fallen Barbatos.
“I told you. We have more than enough firepower.”
It was an undeniable fact that the Heavenly Dragon Barbatos was a monster powerful enough to have annihilated an entire country.
But that was a story from six years ago.
Compared to back then, the Awakeners had grown incomparably stronger.
And Oh-jin was skilled enough to be chosen as one of the ‘Seven Stars’ among those high-level Awakeners.
*‘And I’m not even the strongest one here.’*
Setting aside Riak and Vega, who couldn’t use their full power due to the Law’s restrictions.
Isabella alone was so powerful that Oh-jin wouldn’t even dare to think of facing her without using Gaecheon.
No matter how famous he was, Barbatos, who was ‘only’ a 9-Star, was no match for this level of power.
*‘We all came just in case… but I guess that wasn’t necessary.’*
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes as he looked at the battered Barbatos.
It didn’t seem like he had any energy left to use curses, so all that was left was to finish him off.
“I’ll finish him.”
“Wait a moment.”
He grabbed Isabella’s shoulder as she started to approach Barbatos.
Not logic, but intuition; not reason, but instinct was screaming at him.
*‘It can’t end like this.’*
[My child.]
Just as he was thinking that.
Vega came up beside Oh-jin.
[From those horns… I sense a deeply unpleasant energy.]
Vega frowned, pointing at the two black horns sprouting from Barbatos’s forehead.
Horns that grew in a bizarre, curved shape.
The horns, which had grown to several meters in size when he transformed into a dragon, were emitting an ominous energy that sent a chill down one’s spine.
[Ah, uh. Aah.]
The fallen Barbatos let out a groan.
[Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]
Writhing in agony, Barbatos began to frantically scrape his head against the ground.
The black horns on his forehead started to glow and vibrate.
Barbatos’s eyes shot open as he lifted his head.
[Ah, aah. Y-Yes, yes. I-I can hear you.]
What could he be hearing?
His face pale, Barbatos was nodding toward the empty air.
They looked where he was staring, but there was only empty space.
Nothing else was visible.
Staggering to his feet, Barbatos respectfully bowed his head toward the empty air.
[My master… bestow your grace upon this humble servant… grant me the great darkness.]
He looked just like an Awakener praying to a Constellation for power.
Had this being called ‘master’ granted his desperate plea?
*Wooooooooong!*
Barbatos’s brilliant violet scales began to turn a murky black.
An incredibly dense magical energy spread around his body like a fog.
[Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!]
Barbatos trembled as if in ecstasy and lifted his bowed head.
An eerie blue will-o’-the-wisp ignited in his amber eyes.
[Khahahaha! Thank you! Thank you! My master!]
Barbatos cried out his thanks to someone unseen.
His entire body dyed black, he glared at Oh-jin’s party and bared his teeth fiercely.
[Indeed, I’ll admit it, humans. You’ve grown incomparably stronger than you were six years ago.]
The wing that had been pierced and burned by Oh-jin’s spear regenerated completely.
Barbatos spread his black wings wide and rose to his feet with composure.
[However.]
*Ruuuuuumble!*
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
A suffocatingly intense aura erupted from Barbatos’s entire body.
[Do not think that I, Barbatos, am the same as I was six years ago!]
A corona of black light raged around him.
“So you did have a hidden card after all.”
Oh-jin clicked his tongue and looked at the black horns on Barbatos’s forehead.
Black horns that didn’t exist in Lee Shin-hyeok’s memories.
The horns that had felt ominous ever since he first saw the picture of Barbatos had finally revealed their power.
He didn’t know who had bestowed this ‘grace’ upon Barbatos.
*‘I guess I’ll just have to beat it out of him.’*
Oh-jin gripped the Spear of Dantalion and drew upon the power of his Stigma.
Blue lightning crackled on the jet-black spearhead.
“Hmm. Is that the ace the Heavenly Dragon was saving?”
Isabella’s eyes gleamed with interest as she looked Barbatos up and down.
The scales had turned black.
The dense magical energy radiating from the fifty-meter-tall body was incomparably more powerful than before, but…
“To think it’s only this much. I’m a bit disappointed.”
With a relaxed smile on her lips, Isabella lightly drew her fingernail across her palm.
Crimson blood trickled down her palm.
The droplets of blood transformed into the shape of a giant scythe.
Twirling the blood scythe, she licked her lips like a predator eyeing its prey.
“Grrr! I don’t know who that bastard’s master is, but a guy who acts all high and mighty with borrowed power can only be so strong.”
Riak snorted and nodded in agreement with Isabella.
Oh-jin let out a short laugh at the sight of the two casually preparing for round two.
*‘Well, he probably thinks he’s gotten quite a bit stronger for his level.’*
No matter how much grace one receives from a divine being, a cat can’t become a tiger overnight.
*‘In the end, you can’t overcome a fundamental difference in power.’*
Oh-jin, who had received Vega’s ‘blessing’ all this time, knew this better than anyone.
The gap that had been as wide as heaven and earth had merely shrunk to the distance between heaven and a mountain.
After all, he’d formed this party considering the possibility that Barbatos had a hidden card.
[How dare you…!]
Was it because their reaction was so different from what he’d expected?
Barbatos’s expression contorted fiercely as he glared at Oh-jin’s party, who stood there calmly.
[Let’s see if you can still spew such nonsense while you’re writhing in agony and dying!]
Barbatos roared ferociously.
“Well then, shall we start phase two?”
Just as Oh-jin let out a smirk and aimed the tip of his spear at Barbatos.
“Oh-jin, wait.”
“Hm?”
Ha-eun, who had been standing still until now, stepped forward.
She grabbed Oh-jin’s shoulder, pulled him back, and took a step forward.
“What’s wrong, Nunna?”
“…”
Ha-eun stared at Barbatos with heavy, sunken eyes.
She turned to look at Oh-jin and spoke in a low voice.
“Can I face him alone?”
“What?”
Oh-jin frowned as if she were speaking nonsense.
“You’re going to face him alone?”
“Yes. Please, Oh-jin.”
Ha-eun nodded.
Oh-jin shook his head firmly.
“If you’re going to say it’s for revenge or something, forget it.”
He couldn’t let Ha-eun put herself in danger for such a trivial reason.
“It’s not because of revenge.”
“Then why?”
“…”
Ha-eun turned her head toward Barbatos.
The dragon radiating a sinister black light.
For some reason.
Even though she had clearly seen him lying there, battered and pathetic, just moments ago.
To her, that jet-black dragon felt more terrifying than any other being.
“If not now.”
Walking toward the Heavenly Dragon, Ha-eun recalled the memory of that day.
The memory of wailing while trapped in pitch-black darkness, devoid of a single speck of light.
A terrible nightmare, etched into her mind, that hadn’t faded even after six years.
“I feel like… I’ll never be able to escape it again.”
As she said this, Ha-eun’s legs were trembling pitifully.
Just like that day, six years ago.