The Young Dragon Awakens
Heh heh heh heh. What magnificent talent! Absolutely magnificent! Talent of this caliber!
Blood Zen possessed a peculiar hobby—one that mixed a necessary reason with an entirely unnecessary one. At the start of every battle, he always fought one full stage above his opponent’s true strength.
Part of it was to gauge just how gifted his prey truly was. The rest was pure, twisted satisfaction: the chance for a man born without talent to feel superior to those who had been gifted from birth.
Look at me! A third-rate martial artist! The one everyone scorned for having no talent! Watch me crush you prodigies who were born with everything!
Blood Zen had once possessed enough grit and venom to bleed himself dry training in a minor sect. Yet will alone could not make up for talent. He belonged to that most common and most pitiful class of martial artists—the ones the murim barely noticed.
Disciples who entered around the same time improved day by day. Even the less gifted among them advanced every few months. He, meanwhile, spent years just to crawl along the path they had already walked.
In time even juniors of lower rank looked down on him.
The day he truly understood how utterly talentless he was came when a junior disciple ten years younger than him beat him into the dirt.
An ordinary man would have given up. Blood Zen’s venom, however, ran deeper than most. That venom curdled into rage at his own lack of talent, then into hatred for every gifted soul.
He swore that if talent would not come to him, he would seize fortune itself and grow strong. Whether that resolve summoned luck or not, he eventually discovered the hidden refuge of the Blood Dan Palace—a sect long ago wiped out as a public enemy of the murim.
There he learned a forbidden art that refined human beings into pills and absorbed their talent. He began with beggars and the sick, slaughtering them to strengthen himself. Through trial and error he grew steadily more powerful, until the day he turned his own mocking fellow disciples into raw materials. That was the moment he shed the last scrap of humanity and became a true monster.
A brat is still a brat. No matter how gifted, look at him cowering behind my aura.
Blood Zen smiled as he pressed his assault, watching Kaisent hide behind the strange doll-like figure.
I’d love to savor this longer, but that woman might arrive. Better finish it here.
If the Guardian Order under Charlize surrounded him, even he would be in danger. He had already measured the two girls’ talent well enough. Time to end it.
Those knights are still frozen with fear. I can subdue these brats first and deal with the rest afterward.
Akina’s knights had formed a tight turtle-shell formation—whether out of wariness toward Blood Zen’s blood arts or to protect Merencia and Patisha was unclear.
“Stop.”
“Tch.”
Merencia, shielded by the surviving knights, felt Blood Zen’s gaze and warned her sister. Patisha, carefully containing her mana while preparing something, had no choice but to lower her head and pretend to be terrified.
“Done.”
“Hooo—”
The usually mischievous-eyed Patisha now wore a deadly serious expression and returned to her work. She drew multicolored jewels from her robes and fed them mana. They melted, flowing into the earth.
“How long?”
“About two minutes. We have to pray they hold out until then.”
A warrior’s battle was decided by skill. A mage’s battle, however, could let the weak topple the strong if the preparations were right.
She glanced toward the Wolf Mercenary Group to see how long they could last.
As expected, a kid is still a kid.
Only Lillian, Priscilla, and Lilith were fighting properly. Kaisent stood frozen behind Arty’s protection.
Disappointing—but expecting too much from a child had been her mistake. Gifted or not, a brat was still a brat.
Blood Zen’s assault continued—until the atmosphere suddenly shifted.
“Haaaah!”
For the first time a raw battle cry tore from Blood Zen’s throat.
Kaaaang! Kaaang!
“Khuk!”
“Ugh!”
Sword Gang clashed against Sword Gang; the shockwaves warped the space around their blades.
“Hheup!”
Kuuung!
He slammed down with a follow-up strike that cracked the ground beneath Lillian and Priscilla’s feet.
“Li Mus Bel Lu!”
Sensing that Blood Zen was finally going all-out, Lilith chanted rapidly and raised a massive barrier between him and the others.
“His games are over! Forget stamina—pour everything into this!”
“Hahahaha! That’s right! Playtime’s finished!”
Blood Zen shattered the magical wall and stomped a powerful foot technique into the earth. Jagged earthen spikes erupted upward.
“Don’t dodge! Stay together!”
Lilith knew that scattering would mean being picked off one by one. Lillian and Priscilla silently agreed and cut the spikes aside with their swords.
Kaaang!!
Mana? No—the earth turned to steel!
The unexpected impact of steel-hard earth drove both women backward. In the same instant Blood Zen closed the distance so fast it looked like teleportation. His arm vanished—or rather, swung so quickly it seemed to disappear.
Kang! Kakangkangkang! Ziiing!
Wherever weapons met, space itself warped from the force. Lillian and Priscilla were no longer blocking by sight; half their defense was pure instinct reacting to killing intent. Without Akina’s training they would already have lost limbs to the relentless barrage.
Pichit! Pichuk!
Yet against an opponent who had reached a realm near Origin and absorbed countless talents, cuts began to open across their bodies. Prioritizing fatal blows meant surrendering less vital places; the wounds multiplied.
“Drel Magrida!”
Lilith, whose support from the rear had been the only reason the two were still alive, chanted again. The ground beneath Blood Zen’s feet turned soft; his balance faltered for a heartbeat. Lillian and Priscilla, covered in wounds, ignored the risk of counterattack and swung with everything they had for a killing blow.
Kududud!
Blood Zen only smiled, sank into the earth, and vanished, leaving nothing but a single hole.
Kwaaaaaang!
“Aaaagh!”
“Ugh!”
“Hup!”
He erupted between the three of them in a blast of raw force.
So strong…!
I can’t read the next attack!
Swordsmanship, archery, spear arts, and that bizarre magic—he’s impossible to handle.
The three were still trying to recover when Blood Zen moved even faster. Having flung them apart, he charged Lillian first.
She poured everything into a sword barrier against the twin blades racing for her chest and throat—only for Blood Zen to hurl both swords mid-swing.
“Lillian! Behind you!”
“Khut!”
In the split second her attention locked on the flying weapons, the man in front of her vanished. She spun and slashed behind her—only for Blood Zen to reappear right in front of her again.
“Surprised?”
He drove a fist into the abdomen of the woman still frozen in her reverse-strike stance.
“Keheok!”
Pupupupupuk!
Having created the opening with the thrown blades, Blood Zen unleashed fist and foot techniques, battering Lillian’s body before finally smashing her knee joint from the side.
Bagaaak!
“Aaaagh!”
“That’s one.”
Confirming that one of Lillian’s legs now bent the wrong way, Blood Zen left the woman screaming a distorted male cry through her helmet and stretched his body in an optical illusion as he flowed toward his next target.
“Khuk!”
Lilith formed a rapier and counterattacked, but Blood Zen retrieved his twin swords with telekinetic force, parried her elegant thrusts with superior skill, and broke her stance. He slipped inside and struck her abdomen with a palm technique that crushed her organs. Lilith vomited blood.
“Cough! Khak! Ugh!”
“Two.”
Having disabled both, Blood Zen smiled and strolled leisurely toward Priscilla, who still refused to yield.
“Hoo—huff—”
“Hmm. Finished faster than I expected. I still have energy to spare.”
“Khut…!”
She had fought with everything she had and still been crushed. The casual contempt in his voice made her bite her lip hard enough to draw blood while her mind raced.
Whatever trick he used, most of the Guardian Order’s strength is still intact inside the cave. That’s why he can afford to act so relaxed.
Then every second she could buy mattered.
“Why leave those two alive?”
“Living prey yields talent far more efficiently. Which is why I have a proposal for you, girl.”
“A proposal? Surrender so I can stay fresh and juicy for you to eat?”
“You are different from the women of the world I came from—and that difference gives you a unique charm.”
A perfect woman forged by a god’s curse could stir even a man from another world.
“Become my woman.”
“…What?”
“Obey me and I will cherish you for life. When the mood strikes me, I might even grant you talent equal to my own.”
His eyes crawled over Priscilla’s body with open lust. A wave of pure revulsion rose in her throat.
“A foreign beauty, yet your face and figure are perfect enough to catch even my eye. And that sensuality that says you already know men… I want to see you gasping under this one’s cock.”
“Shut your mouth! I’d rather die than become your woman!”
Akina’s knights, watching from a distance while preparing their own measures, knew she had been cursed into a woman. They assumed her violent rejection came from still being a man inside.
Lie in the arms of any man other than Kaisent? I’d rather kill myself first!
The mere thought made her skin crawl. Facing a man who both desired her and possessed the power and will to take her, Priscilla’s eyes hardened into the gaze of someone ready to die.
“That look alone is answer enough. Fine. Then I’ll tear off your arms and legs so you can’t resist, and I’ll fuck the three of you together.”
“Ah.”
Kaisent, frozen like a frog before a snake, felt the words jolt his senses awake.
What did he just say? Fuck them? My women?
Someone was trying to steal and defile his treasures.
“U…ugh…!”
“Cough! Cough!”
Next came the sight of Lillian trying to rise on a leg twisted the wrong way, and Lilith still spitting blood. The young dragon who had cowered before a predator felt rage at the thought of losing what he held most precious. That rage began to shatter the curse Blood Zen had planted in him.
“Get clear!!”
At that moment Patisha, still under the knights’ protection, shouted toward Priscilla, who was about to face Blood Zen alone.
“Hm!?”
A translucent wall suddenly sprang up and trapped Blood Zen. He could not hide his shock.
Kwang! Kwangkang!
He hammered the wall several times. Only the faintest cracks appeared. Believing continued force would break it, he struck harder and harder—until strange metal plates etched with magic circles erupted from the ground and sealed him together with the wall.
More metal plates shot up, forming four layers that began to crush inward.
“Everyone this way! We break through the wall together and get inside the cave!”
Led by Merencia, the knights poured every ounce of strength into carving a path into the cave, weapons be damned. They had first planned to flee relying on the sealing magic, but Blood Zen was shattering it far too quickly. Escape outside would only get them caught. Joining the Guardian Order deeper inside was the better choice.
Mother said that if things went wrong I should rely on the woman named Charlize! Even if that man is strong, a powerhouse Mother herself acknowledged won’t fall easily. This is the only way!
An all-or-nothing gamble that Charlize could not possibly lose.
“Haa… thank goodness! Kaisent! First we—Kaisen…t…?”
Priscilla moved to gather the wounded and rejoin Patisha. The moment she saw Kaisent’s face, she froze without meaning to.
The boy who had broken Blood Zen’s curse through pure rage wore an expression she had never seen before—a face twisted by fury.
What the hell was I doing? Hiding behind Arty while everyone else fought for their lives?
If he had fought beside them, Lillian’s leg would never have broken. Lilith would never have been spitting blood mixed with organ fragments. The subtle curse had been the true cause, but Kaisent did not know that. He believed only his own weakness was to blame.
He walked first to Lilith, who looked worst of all. Her crushed organs could not be healed by ordinary magic. So he poured sacred power into her internal wounds.
“Cough. Hooo—”
“I’m sorry. From now on I’ll handle this. Just rest.”
“What?”
The metallic rasp vanished from Lilith’s breathing thanks to Kaisent, yet she could not immediately process his words.
“Ka…Kaisent…. We have to…run…now….”
He moved next to Lillian. She cared more about his safety than her own pain and wanted him to join Patisha’s group. Blood Zen’s power and talent simply transcended ordinary limits.
The boy healed her leg in silence, then said:
“Get somewhere safe.”
“Yes, somewhere safe… wait, what?”
Something in Kaisent’s tone made Lillian seize his shoulder.
“You’re planning to face that man alone?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not! You saw what he did to us!”
“That’s exactly why!”
The boy who had been paralyzed by fear only moments ago was now swept by an even greater passion.
“Everyone got wrecked by that bastard and I just stood there like an idiot!”
“……!”
“If we run now we’ll lose Blood Zen. And if that happens… I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”
“Then we’ll—”
“You burned almost all your mana fighting at full power.”
They had been forced to pour every drop into desperate defense; the slightest opening would have meant death.
“…All right. But the second you’re in real danger, we’re joining you.”
“Yes. Recover as much mana as you can until then.”
The healed women moved to rejoin Merencia’s group so they could rest.
“I will assist you.”
“I’m counting on you.”
They could leave only because Arty remained. They trusted that even in the worst case she would protect Kaisent.
Pakak! Pagagagak!
Moments later, the sound of the seal shattering began to echo.