207. Unblockable Attack
207. Unblockable Attack
Lightning struck from a clear sky.
[What an insolent human you are.]
Like the falling lightning, it revealed itself.
Golden scales that shone far brighter than the full moon floating in the sky, a massive body, and golden electric currents swirled around it.
To put it elegantly, it was a golden-shining dragon; to put it cheaply, it was a gold-shitted lizard.
[I was listening to an interesting story... That was merely a pact not to attack humans directly. This is a human attacking a human, what does it have to do with anything?]
The Gold Dragon spoke, releasing currents in all directions.
Hearing that, I was certain.
It was definitely a brat.
Even if not, with a head that young, treating it as a brat was fine.
"A Gold... Dragon??"
Perda couldn't close his mouth when he saw the Gold Dragon that appeared, cleaving through the night sky.
Among dragons, which ordinary people might never see once in their lifetime, the golden color symbolized the most noble.
The Gold Dragon was the species called royalty even among dragons.
A wyvern was worthy of being called noble.
'But so what?'
Was everything supposed to be forgiven just because it was a Gold Dragon?
"What, so what if you're a Gold Dragon? Did you think I'd just hand over the airship because of that?"
"Atlaaaas...!!! It's a Gold Dragon, the Gold Dragon!! The same bloodline as the Dragon Lord!!"
When I spoke nonchalantly, Perda panicked and grabbed my collar.
He seemed to want to plead with me to let this go, but I had not the slightest intention of doing so.
[Yes... It is true that it is not common for me to appear before humans, but the reason I deliberately showed myself is entirely because of you!
Not just once... this insolent fool..! How many times have you spoken the Lord's name!
Daring... daring!! A mere mortal to speak the Lord's name without hesitation...!! Sacrilegious bastard!! I will not forgive you!!!]
I didn't know what the hell that was supposed to mean.
It wasn't like the Dragon Lord and I were strangers either.
A Master was an extremely rare existence.
Meaning a Master was an SSS-class rare being, of which there weren't even ten on this vast continent.
Those who defined themselves as Masters and proved it to the world received love calls from all over.
In other words, they'd call you over, saying they wanted to get acquainted and give you gifts, even if you didn't join anywhere in particular.
As soon as the Empire announced that I had become a Master, the elves of the forest, the dwarves of the mountains, the beastmen of the plains, and the dragons of the highlands all sent letters saying they wanted to have a conversation with me.
The Gold Dragon and Dragon Lord, Caesar Aurum, was someone I met through that connection.
He was a tremendous person befitting the position of Dragon Lord.
He was a great being from whom I felt the magnitude of his character, not the strength of his power.
If I were told to serve under someone without any personal interest, I thought I would choose him without hesitation.
Therefore, seeing these stupid bastards who went against the will of one who chose peace by suppressing his own desire to collect shiny things for the sake of balance made me angry.
And for it to be a Gold Dragon of the same species? It made me angrier.
[Die!!!]
The Gold Dragon blasted lightning.
The golden lightning embroidering the black sky lit it up like broad daylight even in the middle of the night.
In response, Squete's trajectory flashed and split the lightning.
Even without being clad in Aura, Squete was made of Adamantium.
With precise technique, splitting lightning wasn't difficult.
Since it strikes in the blink of an eye—there's even a saying about lightning speed—when I split such lightning, everyone's eyes went round.
Splitting the lightning wasn't the end of it.
-Seogeok!
[Kyaaack!! My body's scales??]
"What, you punk. Did you think I couldn't hit you because you're a Gold Dragon?"
Riding that momentum, I cut off the scales attached to the Gold Dragon's forearm.
The Gold Dragon scales—known to be over ten times more expensive than gold of the same weight—sparkled as they fell to the ground.
[You cut my beautiful scales!! I've never even been hit by my father!!]
"So that's why you had such an attitude? I might not know much else, but I'm an excellent teacher of manners, so you're going to receive some education today."
--------------------
The people aboard the airship Titanic couldn't tell if what they were seeing was real.
"Uh... aaaaah.... He's really... really fighting a Gold Dragon, that crazy bastard...."
A single small human was fighting against the dragon of dragons, the golden Gold Dragon.
He wasn't just fighting; he was gaining a considerable advantage and showing overwhelming strength.
A human fighting a dragon wasn't exactly a strange spectacle, but the opponent was the issue.
The problem was that he was fighting a Gold Dragon.
They were incredibly special beings even among dragons.
"What if he really ends up killing it?? Someone who kills a Gold Dragon gets into trouble for a long, long time!!"
Anyone who killed a Gold Dragon was placed on a wanted list by all dragons.
There was no such law—the Dragon Lord himself had said that all dragons wouldn't do such a thing just because one of their kind was killed—but such incidents had actually happened several times.
Like the adventurer who killed a Gold Dragon hatchling and sold its materials, turning into a lump of charcoal from the breath of a Red Dragon that appeared over the city...
Or the story of a famous Dragon Slayer who killed a Gold Dragon and then melted along with the guild that received the delivery, struck by a Black Dragon's breath — these anecdotes were well-known among people.
Nivas Perda had observed Atlas closely for an entire semester.
He knew Atlas was a strong person fully capable of a one-on-one fight with a dragon, as it was certain he possessed skills at least on par with a top-tier Expert at that age.
The problem was that he was a person whose limits were impossible to perceive.
It wasn't that he had interpersonal problems.
It wasn't that he lacked morals.
It wasn't that he couldn't empathize with others' pain.
But he would invariably punish anyone who provoked him, no matter who they were.
Most of the time it ended with cutting off their ankles... but looking at the bandits earlier, he had no aversion to killing people either.
The way he skillfully severed the body parts meant he had done such things many times before.
His heart pounded now too, wondering if he was about to deliver 'punishment' to that Gold Dragon.
Judging by how he talked about dragons, he seemed to know full well what would happen if he killed a Gold Dragon... but thinking back on the extreme behavior he showed at the academy, if he just beheaded the Gold Dragon right then and there, it wouldn't have been the least surprising.
And there was another person despairing for a different reason.
"Really... this is absurd."
He knew Atlas was strong, but Edgar was bewildered as Atlas always showed him something new.
The Gold Dragon was by no means weak.
It moved through the air at incredible speed and shot lightning recklessly that seemed deadly just to brush against.
The dark night sky lit up like broad daylight from the golden lightning.
Edgar imagined in his head how he would have dealt with it, but whatever he did, the result was only defeat.
No matter how he struggled, he wouldn't have lasted more than 10 seconds.
No matter how much he deflected the lightning filling the sky, he would be caught up in it and killed.
But Atlas cut through the lightning as if it were nothing.
What he thought impossible, Atlas proved possible with his entire being.
[Kyaaack!! You... you insolent bastard!!!]
Once again, Atlas's sword cut the Gold Dragon's scales.
Atlas held the sword in a reverse grip and struck down on the Gold Dragon's head with the cross guard.
It was the technique he had used when sparring with Edgar.
Back then, it had only seemed like it would hurt, but this time it was different.
A bizarre phenomenon was witnessed where all the lightning bolts striking down around the cross guard were refracted.
Just like the Rock Sword, it contained the principle of the heavy sword.
-Kwang!!!
A sound echoed as if a battering ram had struck a castle gate.
The Gold Dragon fell.
----------------------------------
After the attack from the sky thieves and the Gold Dragon, several people gathered in the cabin, racking their brains.
The cause was a single girl lying on the bed.
Every time the girl, with her beautiful blonde hair tied in twin tails, took a breath, her large chest rose and fell in rhythm.
"Ah, shit. Aaaaah, I kind of expected this halfway through...!"
Curses came out involuntarily.
The beautiful blonde girl sleeping like the dead had never boarded this ship.
That was because she was the very Gold Dragon that had attacked the airship.
"This... is the Gold Dragon?"
"You were too harsh...!!"
"You should be relieved it ended this way."
The fallen girl... the Gold Dragon, had a huge bump on her head.
It was a trace left from being struck on the head by my cross guard and falling.
Lucia, who had been looking at the girl, spoke to me.
"Atlas... do you know who this is?"
"I know. I've never seen her, but I've heard of her."
To my knowledge, there was currently only one 'young female' Gold Dragon like this.
I had bet on it being a male, but there's no turning back now.
"Who is she?"
"The Dragon Lord's only daughter."
When I said she was the Lord's only daughter, Perda's eyes widened again.
"Not just anyone, but the Lord's only daughterrrr??? You beat up something like that???"
"That's why I said I'm fucked."
The Dragon Lord was good in all respects, but he was a terribly over-indulgent father.
I'd beaten her up quite a bit. Was she going to be okay?