The White Dragon Falls
Benjamin's voice was flat.
"Let's head back, Salomon."
"Father? What the hell are you...?"
Whoosh.
A spatial gate tore open in the frozen air.
Benjamin Acraptor stood with an expressionless face.
"This is enough. We've wounded it plenty, and hibernation is right around the corner anyway. It might thrash around for a few more months, but by then the train will be running on the opposite side of the world."
"You're telling me to betray them?"
Salomon's voice trembled.
It wasn't a suggestion. The betrayal had already happened.
The suddenness of it all made his head feel stuffed with cotton.
"Once Untara enters hibernation, we won't have to worry about the tracks getting destroyed. And even if they do break, we can scan and repair them beforehand."
Salomon Acraptor finally lost his temper.
"That's not the damn point!"
"I've already discussed it with the Legion Commander. We'll announce the dragon has been slain, and he'll take the seat of Second Corps Commander."
Sip.
Benjamin exhaled a lazy plume of cigarette smoke, face calm.
"Those 'rats.' They fight better than I expected, but that's their ceiling. Without us, they have no finishing move. They'll buy us the perfect amount of time."
The Light Saber given to Taeyang was the only variable, but even Guhyul—who had consumed a Dragon Heart in his prime—had struggled with the weapon. Benjamin was certain Taeyang wouldn't be able to wield it properly. That calculation was exactly why he hadn't objected when Guhyul offered to hand it over.
"I've never once stopped you from doing what you wanted in your life. I won't ask for much. Just this once, look the other way."
"I can't. Uncle Guhyul devoted his entire life to this train."
Benjamin stared at his son. Salomon didn't look away.
"Father. This is wrong."
"...I figured you'd say that."
Huff.
Benjamin blew smoke directly into Salomon's face.
Smoke Grab
Salomon twisted backward with feline speed, but the smoke was faster. It latched onto his body like living chains.
Smoke Grab—a spell that locked the distance between caster and target. Originally developed to counter warriors and assassins who closed in on mages, it had later become the foundation for group teleportation magic.
"What the—!"
The spatial teleportation circle flared to life at the same time.
Salomon's face twisted as he realized his father's true intention too late. If he returned with Benjamin now, he would be painted as a traitor regardless of his own wishes.
A hazy smoke flickered in Salomon's hand.
Cancel Hand
The hand that forcibly dismantled artificial mana tried to seize Benjamin's smoke.
"Salomon. As I've always told you, your reactions are half a beat too slow."
Casting Acceleration.
Boom.
The spatial circle swallowed Benjamin whole, then reached out and devoured Salomon as well.
Kraaaaaaaaah!
The white dragon roared.
"Taeyang. Behind us..."
"Yeah. I saw."
"Are we going to be okay?"
Ran was asking because Benjamin and Salomon had vanished.
Taeyang gave a stiff nod.
"We'll handle it ourselves. I think we can pull it off."
The moment the words left his mouth, he spotted an opening and rocketed toward Untara.
BOOM!
His storm-infused fist smashed the white scales without mercy.
Paca rode the left wing joint and drove his fist in, only to get smashed by the tail and sent flying.
They had almost brought it down, but actually severing the life of a dragon fighting with everything on the line was harder than expected.
Wind Fang
Ran's spear-like gust of wind tore through Untara's soft underbelly. Perhaps because of the environment, her wind arts looked at least three times stronger than usual.
Taeyang gripped the Light Saber: Type-B slung across his back.
While the Spirit Lord was still possessing him, most of his available mana was being used to support the spirit. If he was going to use it, it had to be now.
'But the timing is annoyingly tight.'
If he was going to cut, it had to be the neck. Taeyang had been aiming for the exact spot the Legion Commander had already mangled.
But Untara was guarding that area with obsessive caution.
"Ran! Push it harder! I can't find an opening!"
"I'm already at max output!"
Ran answered while pouring even more power into her fan.
"Ugh!"
A storm of blades whipped forward.
"Whoa, she actually did it."
"It's still not enough. We need to create an opening here."
The moment Hyeonhye spoke, Paca shot forward.
Kraaaaaaaaah!
Untara, which had endured two previous gales, seemed to find Paca's punches especially difficult to block. It leaped backward.
Thud.
Taeyang's eyes flashed.
In the instant it jumped, the dragon unconsciously fluttered the wing it kept wrapped around its neck. The decisive chance Taeyang had been waiting for had finally arrived.
His hand slipped into his inner pocket.
The Greatest Machinery's mainspring is winding rapidly. (Cooldown: 12 hours)
Player Yoon Taeyang has been granted the Level 2 Fast-Forward buff.
Level Two. Sixfold acceleration for thirty seconds.
Taeyang's body moved at an unscientific speed.
Shing.
The well-worn hilt settled into his grip. He kicked off the ground.
BOOM!
It wasn't a proper step or leap—just raw, ugly mana poured into a jump. Taeyang's body left afterimages as it soared into the air.
He arrived in front of Untara's mangled neck at the perfect tempo.
All that remained was the final strike.
"Not sure if this'll work."
Taeyang adjusted his posture in mid-air. It was simple. From the jumping stance, he bent both arms at ninety degrees so the blade pointed toward the sky.
Anelka-Style Human Severing.
Taeyang's body was wrapped in red energy.
Feeling the flow of mana, he grinned.
"It works."
Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
At the same time, a massive amount of mana was sucked into the blade. The Light Saber: Type-B in Taeyang's hands began emitting a brilliant beam.
"Whoa, hey. Hold on."
This was way beyond what he'd imagined.
Even as Taeyang panicked, he swung both hands downward. The sword path itself was perfectly clean, regardless of his feelings.
Thankfully.
Taeyang looked down at the Light Saber.
"Cuts like a damn hot knife through butter."
Ran nodded in agreement.
However, the better the performance, the heavier the price. Sixty seconds later, the moment the possession ended, Taeyang staggered.
"Watch out! After doing all the hard work, don't die like an idiot from a cheap shot to the back of the head!"
Ran hurriedly caught him.
"Why is he suddenly like this?"
"This thing. The mana consumption is way worse than I thought."
"Ah."
That was when Paca scanned their surroundings.
"The two mages are gone."
Taeyang muttered while staring at the legion commander's corpse.
"From the beginning, the purpose of this battle was different."
Hunting Untara had been the performance. The real goal was assassinating the Legion Commander. Taeyang and the other players had merely been extras caught in the engineers' scheme.
Ran crossed her arms and muttered.
"The Legion Commander never showed up even after we were late. Looks like he was on the engineers' side from the start."
The picture was obvious. There had never been anyone on the Legion Commander's side in this group. When the dragon-type monsters charged in, the Legion Commander would take the three variable players away from the main party. That left the Legion Commander and the three humans from the engineering side.
Benjamin had planned to kill the Legion Commander here from the very beginning and pin the blame on Untara.
"Human scum are always disgusting."
Paca bared his teeth.
Ran quietly gripped her fan tighter. The atmosphere over the snowfield where Untara had fallen suddenly grew heavy.
With only players left, the beastman had become someone they had to watch carefully. Taeyang was exhausted, and Hyeonhye had also overexerted herself with that last push. On top of that, their final trump card—the Greatest Machinery—had been used up to finish Untara.
That was when Taeyang spoke.
"First, let's collect the byproducts."
"What?"
"Byproducts?"
Paca and Ran asked at the same time.
Taeyang smiled calmly.
"A dragon's corpse. It's not something you see every day. We should take what we can."
"Ah..."
Paca frowned.
"You're too greedy, human. Are you saying you'll drag this corpse yourself across the snow with no special facilities and catch up to the train?"
"Of course I'm not saying we'll take everything. Just some claws and a few scales. How about you take some too? It's a rare opportunity."
"I'm not against claiming spoils, but this is excessive greed given the current situation."
Ran asked with a worried expression.
"...Shouldn't we find the train first?"
Taeyang muttered quietly.
"You know. The ghost."
"Ah. That person will find it for us?"
"Yeah. Surprisingly, they already marked the coordinates."
More precisely, he had captured the map the Guardians had shown him. Even the notes taken during the strategy meeting were recorded in perfect detail—the current location, the train's estimated position per hour, everything.
"Human, you can actually locate the train?"
"I'm saying it because I can. Why, can't you?"
Paca bristled at Taeyang's provocation but didn't argue. Finding a train in the middle of this snowfield was an overwhelming task even for him. Moreover, because they had arrived via Benjamin's spatial magic, they couldn't retrace their steps.
"I know how much beastmen despise humans. Let's make a deal. Until we reach the train, let's agree not to antagonize each other."
Taeyang offered a handshake.
Paca hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his hand.
Watching the scene, Hyeonhye muttered.
"Come on, what's there to get upset about? There's no better description than that."
"What, should I have called you an extremely beautiful virgin ghost instead?"
"If not, then never mind."
"Sorry."
"I'm very sorry."
Anyway.
Taeyang licked his lips as he stared at Untara's corpse.
"Hey, this is a jackpot. Isn't this better than even the best route in the prepared scenarios?"
From ancient times, they said there was no greater fortune than a dragon's corpse.
Let's see. Shall we taste some of that legendary opportunity?
