Chapter 315
Chapter 315
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 315
Chapter Title: Dragon Hunt (4)
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Creation Skill: King of Challengers.
Just as with Master Skills, Creation Skills required a story. The more intricate and powerful that story was, the greater the skill's might became.
But it couldn't be just any 'story'—it had to align with the user, backed by logical plausibility.
Simply mixing imagination to boost power or blending various skills could be done with a Master Skill alone.
Moreover, upon reaching Grand Master, one could even wield skills from other classes to some extent.
In that sense, Lion King Gaokan's Creation Skill perfectly embodied his life.
"Impressive."
The fruit of endless challenges.
He had challenged the strong, challenged the spirits dwelling in legendary artifacts.
And in the end, Gaokan had conquered them all.
That history of challenges became his power, seeping into every cell of his body.
But that wasn't all. The Creation Skill King of Challengers willingly supported his new challenge.
A tremendous surge of power infused him once more, granting the strength to confront the green dragon.
Against foes stronger than himself, it granted double buffs.
"Strike of Challenge."
Gaokan's strike, containing everything he had, pierced the green dragon Samalian's reverse scale.
"Kraaaaaargh!"
Overwhelmed by sudden agony, Samalian thrashed wildly, swinging its massive body and destroying everything around it.
"Insane!"
A dragon affiliated with the heavens. A being over level 450. Its struggles alone were akin to a weapon of mass destruction.
Every time its body, covered in tough scales, collided, even the magic-reinforced walls of the lair crumbled.
The troops brought along to deal even minor damage scrambled to evade.
The only one engaged in proper combat was Lion King Gaokan.
'What a shame.'
It had been a golden opportunity. Destroying the dragon heart—the dragons' greatest weakness—could have ended it swiftly, but the beast had curled up, burying its neck, making it impossible.
He'd had no choice but to target the reverse scale. It dealt solid damage, but he couldn't stop the rampage.
At least it was fortunate that, being in a cave, it couldn't even think of taking flight.
As time passed, Samalian regained its composure, but the destructive battle remained too chaotic to intervene in.
"To think lowly things without even divinity dare...!"
The dragon's combat prowess was truly terrifying.
Gaokan somehow blocked and countered the physical attacks, but the magic it unleashed as effortlessly as breathing relentlessly pressured Gaokan's forces.
A solitary being, yet wielding the might of an army.
Faced with the green dragon's majesty—like having an Arch Lich or grand archmage in support—Gaokan's disciples dared not leave their posts.
The moment they did, the remaining troops would be reduced to ashes.
" Astonishing. Both Gaokan and the green dragon."
Rokan watched the surreal battle with utmost seriousness. And he was genuinely awed.
In his eyes, neither had unleashed their full power yet.
Gaokan hadn't matched the impact of his initial strike, and Samalian hadn't revealed anything worthy of a Creation Skill.
"I acknowledge you, human."
At some point amid the ongoing clash, Samalian shoved Gaokan back. It halted its magical barrage and emanated a viscous murderous intent.
"But this ends here. Behold what becomes of human arrogance! This is my true power!"
Creation Skill: Sole King.
The authority of one complete in solitude, a king alone, filled the lair.
"Gasp! The guardians...!"
The king's legion. The guardians destroyed by them revived en masse at his feet.
"Uh?!"
And from Rokan's inventory, the five dormant Legend-grade items burst forth on their own, spinning before Samalian.
"No way...!"
Was it even reviving the mithril golem?
Regret flickered in Rokan's eyes.
Gaokan was somehow holding off Samalian, but if the mithril golem revived too, it would spell disaster.
Hadn't he and Gaokan's four disciples barely taken them down together?
Facing them without their Creation Skills seemed utterly impossible, no matter how he looked at it.
"Damn it, no choice."
No, there was still a way. Storm Incarnation and Transcendent Awakening.
If he unleashed the power of the ten thousand souls he'd gathered on the way here, maybe he could manage.
As resolve hardened in Rokan's eyes, Samalian did something bizarre.
"Combine!"
"Combine?!"
Clank clank. Rumble rumble rumble!
The mithril golem wasn't just revived. The five units merged into one enormous golem.
'Crazy developer bastard.'
Watching it, Rokan inwardly cursed The Lord's developer once more.
The one who made this was definitely an otaku.
A transforming, combining golem? A mithril one, no less!
The moment of combination was prime for attack, but Rokan couldn't move. Their fusion was too swift, and the revived guardians launched an assault.
"Kraaaaaargh!"
[You are exposed to Dragon Fear.]
[Title: Unyielding Will negates all effects.]
"Ughhh."
The ensuing Dragon Fear erupted.
Rokan was unaffected, but the others struggled. They instantly knelt in terror, unable to properly counter the guardians' onslaught.
Moreover, Samalian transformed too. Its 100-meter frame halved in size, but a crown-like object floated above its head.
That had to be its Creation Skill.
'Will he be okay?'
Gaokan weighed on his mind, but there was no time to fret. The battle had begun, and casualties were already mounting.
"Transcendent Awakening!"
Rokan immediately activated Transcendence.
Ten thousand souls became his power, forcibly elevating his realm.
Crack.
And at that moment, the long-serving authority of the Soul Collector shattered.
[The Soul Collector's authority has been destroyed.]
Unable to withstand Rokan's repeated Grand Master-level Transcendences, it broke.
Fortunately, it didn't affect the current Transcendence. But it meant this was the last one.
"Storm Incarnation, Perfect Body Unmatched, Martial Soul Awakening!"
Rokan sequentially unleashed his powers.
He charged forward, annihilating the gargoyles, dark knights, and undead.
Only he could stop that combined golem now.
The other guardians were dangerous too, but Gaokan's disciples would have to handle them.
"Krraaaargh! Blood Awakening!"
With a mad roar to rouse his allies, he faced the approaching 30-meter colossus and unleashed his final power.
The strength flowing through his blood awakened at once, granting Rokan absolute might.
"Drokshy! It's Gaokan!"
"Huh? Oh! Weapon Reinforcement!"
But before swinging his battle axe, he didn't forget to shout to Drokshy.
Drokshy's Creation Skill: Weapon Awakening.
It was needed not for him, but for Gaokan.
Even if he felled the combined golem, if Gaokan couldn't beat Samalian, it was all over.
"Oh! Nice one!"
Gaokan tossed a grateful acknowledgment at the sudden power boost.
"Weapon Explosion!"
Boom boom boom!
But that was it. They focused on their respective battles.
"Light Massacre, Lion Frenzy!"
Boom boom!
Rokan was no different.
He wanted to aid Gaokan like with the black dragon, but he had his hands full. He began trading blows with the combined golem, whose sturdy frame far surpassed his own size.
'Not enough.'
Dodging its attacks and pouring on his own wasn't cutting it. Unlike before, he could damage it without Armor Break, but not lethally.
Worse, its regeneration was leagues better post-fusion. It wasn't pausing to heal—it recovered near-instantly.
"Damn it."
At this rate, even deliberately lowering his HP to max out stats would wear him down.
To silence it properly, he needed one overwhelming, piercing strike.
Of course, he had such a move.
Super Extinction.
His ultimate strike, pouring everything into one blow.
But the problem? Even that might not fell it.
"If only I could find the core..."
Even if Super Extinction destroyed it, failing to shatter the core instantly would be futile.
After Super Extinction reset all skills, would he have the strength left to destroy the core? Doubtful.
'Huh, wait?'
Then, an idea struck.
Did he have to be the one to destroy it?
Rokan's gaze hardened with resolve.
Focusing his mind, the screams around him faded.
One strike.
He staked everything on one strike.
"Full-Body Charge, Blink!"
Boom!
He slammed into the combined golem's chest, stiffening it.
He unleashed Slaughter Strike, wrecking part of its body.
'I see it!'
As it began regenerating, his eyes that pierced all creation read the mana flow.
He couldn't scan inside, but pinpointing where the regeneration mana emanated was feasible.
'There.'
Surprisingly, not the chest—the core was in the head.
He'd guessed head or chest if the developer was a true otaku, and now it was confirmed.
"Backstab... Super Extinction!"
In that instant, Rokan's strike embedded in its head.
Defense? Resistance? All meaningless. The blow, infused with divinity, smashed the head housing the core.
'A bit more...!'
Near-annihilating destruction, yet its armor was thick.
Mithril plus Samalian's personally coated magic barriers resisted Rokan's power.
Scraaaaaape!
Still, the battle axe reached the core, rapidly draining the equipment's durability.
Crack!
But it fell short. Super Extinction exhausted itself, leaving a sliver of durability. The briefly halted golem swiftly swung its fist, sending Rokan flying.
"Urk!"
But that too was within Rokan's calculations.
As he tumbled, he frantically activated one ability.
"Clone Summon!"
The clone, inheriting all of Rokan's power, appeared!
Acting on the original's will, terrifying force gathered in its battle axe.
"...Super Extinction!"
Rokan's ultimate strike was recreated once more.