True Invincibility
The smile etched at the corner of Isera’s lips deepened.
A treasure had truly rolled right into his lap, vine and all.
For a Dragon God only just born, that courage is almost admirable.
That courage alone deserved praise.
Like dragons themselves, a Dragon God was a being that accumulated rank over long years of life. The mana of the heart and the power of a wish bead were intimately tied to “age.” Naturally, a Dragon God only moments old could not possibly possess any particularly miraculous ability.
In a situation where she should have been hiding for dear life, she had instead revealed herself of her own accord.
No need to destroy the Dragon Vein myself.
Restoring a completed Dragon Vein to visibility required a complicated process. But if the Dragon God died, the Dragon Vein would be destroyed as a matter of course.
“By the way…”
With a wet shhk, Isera pulled free the blade of bone that had pierced his heart, then tilted his head.
That the attack had dealt damage rather than being nullified by immunity meant it had pierced his weakness. Was it simply because the bone blade was part of that Dragon God’s body?
That explanation felt far too shallow. Even when Lucaria had used both her eyes as mediums, she had failed to inflict a fatal wound. The weakness he had set—“self-detonation”—was something that only worked when life itself was wagered in the attack. A mere body part could never deal this much damage.
“Seems she possesses some peculiar ability.”
Well, whatever. It did not matter. As long as he did not take any further hits, that was enough. Uncovering a Dragon God’s weakness was tedious, but it was only a matter of time.
Isera had already hunted two Dragon Gods. Naturally, every preparation for hunting one more was already in place.
Shall I start with every natural-attribute attack?
The commonly known four elements: water, fire, earth, and wind. Most Dragon Gods based their power on natural attributes. The larger the land and world they protected, the more troublesome their weakness tended to be—but this “Earth” was already firmly under the grip of Lucaria, one of the Seven Dragon Gods. The weakness of a Dragon God born on such a tiny scrap of land would be obvious even without looking.
At best, the four elements. Or something nearby.
Of course, even if it was not the four elements, that was fine.
“Legion.”
Isera issued the command to the tens of thousands of demons still remaining.
“All of you—attack.”
…Attacks from demons of every different attribute would soon expose the weakness.
Huuup—!
Park Taewoo planted a hand against the ground. He could barely keep his body upright anymore. The “fragments of the Golden Rule” he had gathered were nearly exhausted as well.
Even one more…!
But he could not fall. The Dragon God Lucaria he had trusted had already been defeated. If he collapsed here, those demons would head straight for Korea. They would turn the country into a wasteland and finally destroy it.
The sudden appearance of a new “Dragon God” had delayed Lucaria’s death, but Isera was an invincible monster that could never be defeated. Therefore, while the demons’ attention was fixed on that new Dragon God, he had to cut down even one more of them.
“Now! Everyone, fall back!”
…What?
What the hell did that bastard just say?
Park Taewoo glared at Drakestar with eyes full of disbelief. The moment the demons’ attacks shifted toward the new Dragon God, Drakestar seized the chance and began to flee.
“Lord Drakestar! We must fight alongside that Dragon God!”
“The signs of defeat are already clear! Better to take time to regroup than be annihilated here!”
Drakestar, too, was certain the new Dragon God would lose. The current Isera possessed a strength on an entirely different dimension from the time of the Great Expedition. Even if Wilhelm were revived, he would not be able to defeat Isera as he was now.
“You know the actual casualties are not that high! The Guardian of the Black Egg warped out most of the players who took fatal wounds or whose transformations were released…”
“That is not everything! At this rate, the only thing that will increase is people dying pointlessly!”
Park Taewoo was floored by Drakestar’s excuse. Barely a thousand players remained on the battlefield. Tens of thousands had already withdrawn—all thanks to the “Guardian of the Black Egg.” By forcibly warping out those who could no longer fight, actual losses had been kept far lower. Knowing that, Drakestar was still thinking only of escape.
“Isera is not unharmed either! This is the perfect chance to kill that thing!”
After fighting Lucaria for four days, Isera must have expended a great deal of strength. If they joined forces with the new Dragon God, there might still be a chance.
“All units! Fall back!”
…Ignoring everything, Drakestar made those his final words and fled. Watching him vanish from sight in an instant, Park Taewoo’s face twisted in disgust.
Run-kestar, that son of a bitch.
It seemed the old habit of being called “Run-kestar” still had not left him. Following Drakestar, nearly half the remaining players left the battlefield. Yet there were still those, like Park Taewoo, who intended to keep fighting.
Huu… Huuuuu…
No more words were needed. They confirmed one another’s gazes. Then the warriors who had nodded charged once more toward the demons.
The invasion war was a matter of global concern. Most nations were using satellites to broadcast the fighting in real time. The survival of humanity itself hinged on the course of this war.
“Why don’t they just drop a nuclear bomb while they’re all bunched up like that?”
“Idiot. Modern weapons don’t even work on those monsters.”
The people watching were just as tense. Countless experiments had already confirmed that neither modern weapons nor nuclear arms had any effect on monsters from another world. The only ones who could kill monsters were the Dimension Warriors—the warriors of another realm.
The longer the war dragged on, the more people’s faces hardened.
“…Can we even win this?”
“Wasn’t that white dragon on our side?”
“Ahh…”
When Lucaria fell, sighs of despair rose. The number of warriors had already dwindled noticeably. Then—
“Drakestar is running away!”
“Why is he running?”
“He decided they can’t win!”
To make matters worse, Drakestar and nearly half the warriors began to retreat. It was as good as a confirmed defeat. With the commander leading the alliance ordering withdrawal, it was only a matter of time before those monsters crossed the sea into Korea.
“Reporter Kim Hana. If those monsters cross into Korea… what will happen?”
CK Broadcasting Station. Reporters were gathered around the live feed. Kim Hana, who specialized in player-related interviews and stories, was among them.
“….”
But Kim Hana kept her lips tightly sealed. The answer to that question was already decided. Ruin. Korea would become a wasteland.
“Let’s trust in Park Taewoo.”
“If Park Taewoo dies, the situation becomes even more hopeless…”
“Don’t say things like that.”
Kim Hana shot back sharply. Park Taewoo, Korea’s representative warrior, was continuing to fight in defiance of Drakestar’s orders. It was a sight worthy of being called the very model of a warrior—but if even he died, there would be no one left to protect Korea.
No—there was still one person.
Gracia.
He was still in Korea, was he not? She did not know why he was not on the battlefield, but if she made contact and requested help…
Just as Kim Hana turned her back, resolved to leave the station—
“Aaaah!”
“No!”
Deep sighs of despair from the people. Boom! Boom! Kwa-rrrrung!
Looking back at the feed, countless demons were pouring attacks onto the newly appeared Dragon God. Concentrated fire in the purest sense. Black smoke covered everything.
Had she failed to dodge? Even the Dragon God Lucaria had never taken an attack head-on. Their newly appeared last hope… had it been a worthless hope after all?
“W-what?”
“She’s fine?”
“The attacks aren’t working!”
When the thick smoke finally cleared and the figure of the Blade Queen was revealed, people on every side cried out in wonder. There was not even a single scratch on her.
I have to find Gracia while there’s still time!
Kim Hana quickly left the broadcasting station. She had to locate Gracia while she still could. Fortunately, she had a good idea of where he might be.
The place where the Dragon Vein was generated.
There was a high chance Gracia would be there. She had seen related content in the “Hermit’s Diary.”
“Hmm…?”
Isera tilted his head. Tens of thousands of troops had pounded her for a long while, yet the Blade Dragon God remained completely unharmed.
So ordinary attributes are not the weakness.
He had not limited himself to natural attributes; he had slammed her with a good several dozen different attributes. That she was still fine meant “attribute” itself was not the condition.
A mutant is a mutant, is that it?
Indeed. There must have been a reason she had appeared so confidently. If she possessed a troublesome condition, it might take longer than expected. But that was fine.
“Wish bead.”
He need only use the wish bead to learn the condition. And this was the wish bead of Miron, one of the Seven Dragon Gods. How could a Dragon God only just born possibly have accumulated more rank than Miron?
Huu-aaaaang—!
A massive wish bead suddenly floated before his eyes. Amid intense light, Isera spoke toward the shining wish bead.
“Tell me that woman’s ‘weakness.’”
Huuuung—!
The light soon vanished. The wish bead had granted Isera’s wish. Yet when he saw the letters that appeared, Isera could only frown.
Observation is impossible.
…Unable to observe?
Even Miron’s wish bead could not observe her? Did that make any sense?
That ring. That thing is even blocking the wish bead’s observation.
But he had found the cause. The ring the Blade Dragon God wore on her index finger. That ring had made the wish bead’s “observation” impossible.
What kind of ring is that?
It was not an option for conditional observation block. Merely wearing it blocked “all observation.” He had never even heard of such a ring existing.
Still, one thing is certain. It means a condition that absolutely must be hidden.
A condition that must never be discovered. The moment it was revealed, it would be irreversible. A Dragon God’s conditions were all more or less the same. There were limits to conditions. Even he could not set “every possible condition.” If that had been possible, he would have set things like “100% penetration rate” or “only I can attack.” A Dragon God’s strike conditions were only possible within a realistic range. The same would hold for that Blade Dragon God.
“…I will see just how long you can keep it hidden.”
One day passed.
Isera still had not found the Blade Dragon God’s weakness. Moreover, the Blade Dragon God had not moved so much as a single step.
Not moving is the condition for invincibility!
Then he need only force her to move.
“Legion! Head to the location of that bitch’s Dragon Vein.”
She would not be able to stay still once the Dragon Vein was about to be exposed. If the Dragon Vein was destroyed, the Dragon God would lose her power as well.
Shwik! Shwiiiiik—!
But he soon realized his thought had been wrong. Walking through the air, the Blade Dragon God unfurled her wings. Hundreds of blades began to roam the empty sky, slaughtering demons.
“….”
The Blade Dragon God had only pretended she could not move, draining the strength of Isera and the demons. As if she were confident the condition would never be discovered. In that case, she was a more cunning bitch than expected.
…Three more days passed.
Isera still had not uncovered the Blade Dragon God’s condition. His mana was slowly being depleted as well.
I had intended to take the heart in the freshest possible state.
Isera looked at the sealed Lucaria. He was supposed to consume Lucaria only after handing the heart over to the Demon King. If he ate Lucaria now, he could recover his strength, but the heart’s freshness would drop.
What kind of ridiculous condition is it?
Irritation was beginning to rise. He could not figure out the condition no matter what. He had poured every condition he knew at her, yet she remained unharmed. Still, it was not over yet. There was still time.
…And when six days had passed, Isera felt that something was wrong. There were no more experiments left to try. The Blade Dragon God had single-handedly slaughtered half the remaining demons. At this rate, those blades would soon reach him as well.
A battle that had already lasted more than ten days. Both Isera and the demons were completely drained. In the end, Isera could not help but speak a single sentence.
“You… don’t tell me you have no ‘condition’ at all?”
She was weaker than Lucaria, yet that Blade Dragon God was truly invincible. If the weakness could not be found, she was no different from invincible. Moreover, she even knew his own weakness. It seemed a reorganization would be necessary.
“Everyone… withdraw to the ‘Ark.’”
It wounded his pride, but there was no choice. That Blade Dragon God was alone, after all. She would not be able to stop all of them from fleeing by herself.
Jjeooooeok—!
At that moment, a vast shadow suddenly formed beneath the Blade Dragon God’s feet. Then, one by one, things began to emerge from within the shadow.
“…Demon Blood Species?”
What came out of the shadow were Demon Blood Species. More than a hundred thousand of them burst forth in an instant, beating their wings and surrounding every last demon.
She summons soldiers now, of all times? And Demon Blood Species at that?
That damned bitch. Had she been waiting for him to grow exhausted and try to flee?
“You… just what the hell are you?”
He could not help but ask. The opponent was a mutant Dragon God—a monstrosity that far exceeded his imagination. Truly invincible.
At last the Blade Dragon God opened her mouth for the first time.
“I am the Legion.”