Chapter 387
Chapter 387
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 387
Chapter Title: Fire and Ice (1)
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‘Not bad?’
Rokan, who had infiltrated the area around the Red Dragon’s lair without a single ally except for Kai—no mercenaries or anyone else—wore a fairly satisfied expression.
‘No, this is a jackpot!’
The newly acquired power of frost was functioning perfectly.
Crackle!
Even in the lava zone where sweat poured down just standing still, ice formed on every spot he was hit.
Not only was the damage amplified, but the flame attack abilities—a defining trait of the monsters inhabiting the lava zone—were completely sealed off.
Of course, due to the terrain effects, the aura from [Power of Frost] that reduced movement and attack speed didn’t affect the enemies either, but it was obvious who held the advantage when both primary and secondary attacks were nullified on his two opponents.
“Haap!”
Psssh!
It wasn’t just close-range attacks that were neutralized. Magic spells like hurling fireballs or summoning pillars of flame were equally powerless.
The ground where Rokan stood felt not like a lava zone, but the Arctic itself—chillingly cold, with steam billowing wildly.
A mere fireball fizzled out and vanished the instant it touched his battle axe.
Kieeeek!
The lava lizardmen, who had been swaggering around Rokan, freaked out. They felt primal terror toward this man who charged at them unscathed even after being doused in all sorts of flame attacks.
They were no match for him in raw stats or control to begin with, and now with their special attacks blocked, they lost all will to fight.
“Salamander!”
In the end, they resorted to their final bastion.
They summoned enormous fire lizards, offering themselves up to bring destruction upon their foe.
Fire lizards flicked their scarlet flame tongues from all directions.
Rokan grinned ferociously at the sight.
“Frozen Field.”
Pssshhhh!
In that instant, the surroundings rapidly cooled. These were salamanders created by a creation skill, yet they couldn’t stand up to the power of frost, which carried even a faint trace of divinity from the White Dragon.
The flames that had blazed like a wildfire flickered like candlelight, and Rokan’s wildly swung battle axe cleaved through their cores.
One swing, two pieces.
The salamander’s body split cleanly in half from a single blow and vanished.
[You have leveled up.]
After two straight days of relentless hunting.
As a result, Rokan achieved yet another level up.
“Heh heh heh. Easy!”
What Rokan had accomplished wasn’t just a level up.
The key was that his body wasn’t that of a giant when he cleaved the salamander.
He hadn’t even used Storm Incarnation, and he’d cut down a creation skill besides.
At first, he fought fully doped up with every buff, but thanks to the power of frost—or perhaps his control still improving—he found himself able to hunt while dropping skills one by one as time passed.
Storm Incarnation, Blood Awakening, Martial Soul Awakening. All of them offered huge merits for short bursts of combat power due to their time limits and aftereffects, but they weren’t suited for sustained fights. That was why his experience gain was speeding up.
Now at level 444. Just five more levels, and he could challenge Majesty Master.
Rumble!
“……!”
At that moment, a fierce tremor came from the volcano.
He’d heard it was a dormant volcano—had it erupted again?
Staring tensely into the distance, Rokan’s face crumpled horribly.
“Damn it. Am I supposed to be happy about this?”
Far off, a red dot appeared. And it grew larger and larger.
It was swelling in size as the distance closed.
Still far away, but Rokan immediately recognized its identity.
Red Dragon Halshtark.
His fourth prey was approaching first—the one he intended to hunt.
Gulp.
Power surged through his body, and his heart clenched.
With the Green Dragon and White Dragon before, he’d inflicted fatal wounds on them while they slept to start the fight. The Black Dragon had been Grand Master tier, a whole level below in intensity, but this time it was a head-on clash.
The silver lining was that he’d built up proficiency, allowing him to conserve skills.
“Alright, let’s do this!”
When the beast drew somewhat near, Rokan unfurled his wings of gale fully.
To meet it head-on, he charged at full speed.
Storm Incarnation, Blood Awakening, and Martial Soul Awakening activated in sequence.
Whooooosh.
“You’ve gotta be kidding……!”
But that boldness didn’t last. The moment the Red Dragon Halshtark spotted Rokan, it gaped its massive maw and began gathering terrifying energy.
Dragon Breath.
Not a creation skill, but the inherent racial power—potent enough to feel faintly divine, a violent force exploding toward Rokan.
“Frozen Field! Full-Body Charge!”
Dodging was already too late. Even Blink wouldn’t work now; his vision was filled with the flame breath, making evasion impossible.
If he couldn’t avoid it, he’d smash through.
Super-Extremity flashed in his mind for a moment, but he suppressed it. Using it now would leave him truly screwed afterward.
Endure as long as he could, and if it got dire, then Time Regression!
With that judgment, Rokan unleashed chilling energy at maximum output. He endured the flame breath with his body and charged at the beast.
Psssh. Roooar!
It was cold enough to smother even a salamander’s flames, but it paled against a dragon’s breath.
For a split second, it seemed to counter the flame breath, shrinking to barely protect Rokan’s body—then it gave out, and flames engulfed him entirely.
His extreme flame resistance kept his body from melting away, barely holding out.
“T-Time…….”
Even so, it felt like his whole body was melting. The sensation of his skin softening and dripping was something even Rokan couldn’t endure lightly.
The moment he prepared to use Time Regression out of necessity, something unexpected happened.
Kyuuut!
[Elemental Big Bird Kai has used Tetra Elemental on Violence King Rokan.]
[You gain immunity to all elemental attacks for a certain duration.]
“……!”
Buried in flames, Rokan’s body shimmered rainbow-like, and the heat vanished in an instant.
His already-melted skin was beyond saving, leaving severe burn scars, but it didn’t diminish his combat power.
“Thanks, Kai!”
The moment he grasped the situation, Rokan swung his battle axe wildly. Using Annihilation Slash, he cleaved through the still-massive energy cluster of the breath and leaped into its maw.
“No!”
This was a dragon that had reached Majesty Master. Who would dare face its breath head-on?
Never imagining someone would punch straight through, Halshtark startled only when Rokan closed in, whipping its head—but Rokan wouldn’t let it go that easily.
“Blink! Aura Bombardment!”
He slipped right into its closing jaws and unleashed merciless barrages.
“Grrrrraaah!”
Halshtark writhed in agony. It rolled Rokan around like candy in its mouth, trying to crush and devour him.
“All or nothing!”
But the more it did, the deeper Rokan pushed into its throat.
Staying in the mouth felt like he’d get bitten to death anyway, and there was no clear answer outside.
So he went deeper, sliding down the esophagus.
Before reaching the stomach, he jammed his battle axe in and clung stubbornly.
“Ugh, it’s shaking like crazy!”
Wounded in the throat, Halshtark thrashed in pain.
If he weren’t Rokan, he’d have been flung off long ago—the rodeo-like shaking jolted his entire body.
Roooar!
And another massive blaze.
The beast was using breath from inside its throat to burn Rokan alive.
[Tetra Elemental renders you completely unaffected.]
But it was futile. The ongoing Tetra Elemental effect let not even a single point of flame damage through as it flowed harmlessly.
Unaware of this, Halshtark had no way to harm Rokan.
‘Gotta hurry.’
But he couldn’t afford to relax.
He didn’t know when Tetra Elemental would end, and if Kai outside got taken out, the effect could vanish before the duration was up.
‘Found it.’
Clinging to his battle axe, Rokan focused his mind. To locate the source of the mana the beast used, including its dragon breath.
As it began its final third breath of the day, Rokan pinpointed the dragon heart’s location.
“Super-Extremity.”
A dragon’s innards were like metal infused with immense mana.
Some might dismiss it as mere flesh, but why else would there be talk of forging it like metal to produce magic weapons rivaling mithril?
Still, it fell short of the dragon’s scales, said to make the ultimate armor.
And Rokan’s ultimate move, Super-Extremity, had a track record of crushing even those scales effortlessly.
Crackle!
The thick wall of flesh offered no resistance.
It cracked the mana vessel stronger than dragon scales, devouring a huge portion of its mana and divinity.
“Urgh!”
The immense mana and divinity dormant in the dragon heart burst out in an instant, even pushing back Rokan, who had used Super-Extremity.
The explosion’s shockwave hurled the massive energy clump at him.
“Steps of Resolve!”
But he couldn’t yield. Getting bounced out here meant falling into the dying dragon’s gastric acid lake—his body would melt, and he’d lose a golden opportunity.
“Hraaah!”
Repeating every charge skill, he advanced step by step toward the dragon heart.
He thrust in Heart-Devouring Jaw.
[Heart-Devouring Jaw devours Red Dragon Halshtark’s heart.]
[Absorbing the power in the target’s heart and soul.]
[Absorbing Red Dragon’s blood.]
[The power of hellfire settles in your body.]
He filled the final slot of Heart-Devouring Jaw and claimed its power.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have acquired a massive amount of divinity.]
Along with another level up!
It was going so perfectly according to plan it was almost scary.
This brought the Dragon Killer quest conditions to 4/7.
‘But the real prize is this.’
[Impossible feat! You have claimed the power of hellfire.]
[Title ‘Hellfire Sovereign’ acquired.]
And finally, he snagged a Legend-grade title as expected.
Hellfire Sovereign following Power of Frost—what a broken combo, but was there a more useful pairing?
Opposing forces meant some foes might resist one, but none would resist both.
“Huh? What’s this?”
But then, Rokan’s face twisted.
Instead of new title info, excruciating pain hit—like his body was freezing and burning at once.
[Warning! You possess extreme ice and flame energies simultaneously. These powers cannot mix. Fail to discard one, and you risk losing both.]
[Will you discard Absolute Freeze or Hellfire?]
Even with Heart-Devouring Jaw’s power, he couldn’t hold two pinnacle opposing forces at once.
The pain intensified, and the system demanded a choice.
[Delaying the choice risks the worst outcome.]
[Choose. Which power will you discard?]
Rokan gritted his teeth.
How could he lose powers he’d fought so hard for? Absolutely not.
He bellowed a scream-like refusal.
“Fuck that!”