The Butcher of Dragons
Apophis, aiming for an early retirement, tilted his neck to show me the spot. "Here. This is the reverse scale. You just need to pierce this in one shot to kill it. If you fail, this child will wake up again. And then, the opportunity is gone."
"Ah..."
"You have to finish it in one go."
Apophis opened his chest to reveal a red dot. The spot where his heart should be was the very reverse scale. So that’s where the reverse scale forms when in a polymorphed human state. It was a fact I hadn't known, as I’d never stripped Hilde down before.
"Even if it's a reverse scale, it’s absurdly hard. I’ll say it again: if you don’t kill it in one strike, it’s over. If you happen to stab somewhere other than the reverse scale, you’ll be crushed... or if you pierce through, the heart or the inner core will be damaged."
"Aha... that reverse scale... it sounds like a target meant for slaughter..."
"Hehehe... indeed. I suppose if they didn't provide such a device, the balance would be completely ruined. It’s an unavoidable weakness... Now, begin."
"Yes... then... excuse me."
I swallowed hard and drew the Ghost-Wailing Blade. As I gripped the hilt, the blade’s spirit tried to speak to me, but it was nothing but gibberish, so I ignored it. 'One chance... if I fail, I have to run immediately...'
If I failed, Apophis would break free from his restraints and go on a rampage, and if that happened, I, being at close range, would be blown to bits within five seconds.
"Here I go!"
I soared up using my imperfect membrane. I planned to dive from the air to deliver as much damage as possible.
'Please...!!'
My concentration reached its peak. With my vision modified to compensate for my degraded eyesight, I plunged and drove the sword toward the reverse scale.
-THWACK!!!!
-CRUNCH!!!!
"Gah...!!!"
Apophis vomited blood. The blade pierced through his chest and out his back. The reverse scale was destroyed. I had succeeded in cutting off his life. Attacking that tiny dot during a fierce battle would have been difficult, but hitting a stationary target was manageable enough. Thanks to Apophis, I’d gotten something good.
"Hehe... cough... then... good work... guhh..."
Apophis smiled brightly as he bid me farewell and slipped out of the Dragon King’s child. He must have been trying to clock out since he’d finished his quota.
"Yes!"
As expected of the Dragon King’s child! I even got a free level-up. 'They really give you everything, liver and gallbladder included...!'
I had even obtained the Dragon King’s child almost entirely intact, and Apophis could clock out because he didn't need to fight anymore. I think this is what you call true mutual benefit.
'Apophis has vanished from the battlefield, but I killed a Dragon King’s child in his place... The battle has been going on for nearly 40 minutes, but... looking at the situation, it feels like they’ll be clashing for at least three more days...'
There were no more dragons entering the black market, but there were still quite a few left... and above all, the Dragon King’s child that Apophis had faced was just a particularly weak specimen; in other places, they were still fighting like madmen.
'Still... if I drag this out as long as possible, I can farm corpses for at least another 20 minutes...'
I plucked the eyeballs from the corpse first, intending to swap them out in the Infinite Hell later. Then, I immediately accessed the auction house.
'Anna...'
I registered the duffel bag and backpack on the auction house. I was sending these to Hyoseon Girls' High School.
'Empty the bags... and receive them back again...'
That way, I could keep packing items. It was necessary, as the bags were already full after just packing the golden dragon’s corpse.
'I’ve already put the inner core and heart I’ll eat later into the side bag...'
I planned to send all the dragon bones, meat, skin, and other internal organs to the high school and have Hellus and the others sort them out.
The playground of Hyoseon Girls' High School.
"Do we not need to send any more items?"
"Yeah. Jojun said he doesn't have any more requests."
"Aha... whew... I can finally rest a little now... what a mess this is."
Ever since Jang Jojun was trapped in the black market, most of the people at Hyoseon Girls' High School hadn't been able to sleep, waiting anxiously for news of Jang Jojun and Mer. Fortunately, because Mer communicated quickly, they were able to grasp the general situation. The news was mostly that Jang Jojun had successfully survived and was still safe. There were also a few letters saying not to expect him back for about a week, so they should be careful.
"Oh? Hey! Over here! Check the auction house!"
While everyone was sitting and resting during a brief lull, the American trio, who were tasked with monitoring the auction house, announced that new items had been uploaded.
"It’s from Miss Anna!"
"Ah... then..."
Because Jojun had purchased items from the auction house at high prices to distribute coins to Mer and Anna, both Mer and Anna were currently holding tens of thousands of coins. Thanks to that, they could receive the items immediately.
"This is... the bag we sent earlier, right? Why did it come back?"
"Who knows... let’s open it first."
Kang Hee-sun acted as the representative, lifted the duffel bag, and dumped the contents into a corner of the playground.
-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!!!
"Uwaaah!! What is this!!!"
"Kyaaah!!! The lungs are the size of a person!!!"
"H-help!! It keeps coming out!!! Kyaa!!! Blood!! Ugh!!"
About two tons of dragon corpses poured out of the bag. Inside were dragon scales, dragon bones, and various other scraps of dragon. Only after Han A-ram, who had received the bag, shook it out thoroughly and pulled out the last remaining dragon brain did it finally finish pouring out.
"Huu..."
"Crazy... what is all this..."
Those gathered on the playground couldn't hide their astonishment. Before they could even grasp what this massive pile of corpses was, they were overwhelmed by the unbelievable stench of blood, the musky smell unique to lizards, and the enormous size of the entrails. Helgen, in particular, ended up wetting himself while standing. The moment he saw the corpses, he realized. Dozens of dragons had been delivered, chopped into pieces and packed into backpacks. From the perspective of Helgen, the only dragon here, this was shock and horror itself. Imagine it. You open a bag, and dozens of corpses pour out endlessly... that’s probably a sight quite difficult for an ordinary person to endure, right? In any case, unlike Hilde, it was a truly gruesome sight for a young dragon who hadn't yet experienced such a horrific battlefield. And Jang Jojun, who was running around not even knowing he might die, trying to squeeze out every bit of profit in the middle of such a chaotic melee, was a bit of a madman.
"Sob... I'm scared..."
"It's okay... it's okay..."
In the end, Helgen shed tears. Because of the gruesome sight, Helgen, who had been in the form of a red-haired teenager while learning to polymorph, forgot about his puberty and buried his face in the arms of Kim Ye-won, who was like a mother to him, crying endlessly. If Jang Jojun had witnessed Helgen crying in Kim Ye-won's arms... Helgen would have become a female dragon that very day. From Helgen's perspective, it was fortunate in many ways that Jang Jojun wasn't there.
"W-wait... but these... won't they rot if left at room temperature?"
"Ah, you're right. Hey, Jin-seong!"
Kang Hee-sun, Lee Eun-ji, and the other members of Jojun's harem were flustered as they looked at the dragon fragments spilled all over the playground. Then, at Kang Hwa-young's remark about them rotting, they hurriedly called Ha Jin-seong, the supply officer, administrator, building manager, and Jang Jojun's right-hand man.
"Ah, yes. Noona."
Ha Jin-seong was no longer in his underwear. He had changed into a blue tracksuit and came running at Kang Hee-sun's call.
"Hiiik...! What is all this..."
"It seems Jojun just sent them blindly to empty his bag... look at this."
"Uh... red dragon scales... dragon? Crazy..."
"The scales and bones, too... and the entrails and meat... I think we need to put them in the refrigerator."
"Ah... with this amount... f-first, let's put in as much as we can right now... Hey!! Wake the others up!!! Go around the cafeteria and take all the refrigerators!!"
From then on, they became busy. Jang Jojun, who had begun to use the auction house in earnest, mindlessly dumped an absurd amount of goods onto Hyoseon Girls' High School, and because it was too much to handle, Ha Jin-seong had to take his subordinates and drive around to strip everything from commercial refrigerators to the kimchi refrigerators in ordinary houses.
"Haa... haa... generator capacity insufficient!!"
"Damn it!! Take out everything you've got!! If even one of these rots, human sacrifice begins!!"
"Ugh!! Damn it, run!!! Run!! If you don't want to die!!!"
The slaves were dying under Jang Jojun's infinite desire and endless greed.
"Jin-seong hyung-nim!! We found five cold storage warehouses 20 minutes away by car!! They look like they're for storing fruit, what should we do!"
"What about electricity?"
"Uh... i-if we strip the generators..."
"Hey! You idiot!! You can't use regular generators for such big warehouses!"
"Hyung-nim!! We have three industrial generators stripped down! Should we gather the construction guys?"
"Oh? Really? Hey! Call them quickly!"
Soon, they moved to the cold storage warehouse with trucks loaded with dragon meat. Some of the bones flowed into the Abyss forge, and the meat that was too much to handle was shipped to the U.S. through the Abyss. The Americans had already forgotten about the likes of Nick. To them, the Oriental man who provided dragon meat along with high-quality crops was like a savior hero. Although it was a dictatorship... still, since their bellies were full, praise naturally followed.
A reddish sky. A place filled with the scent of rotten egg yolks. Jojun, who had been dropped alone into a place where Yokai ran wild and monsters capable of blowing a human to bits in one hit were everywhere.
"Haa... haa... damn... almost died..."
Jojun, his left arm almost completely burned away, was sitting alone in the Infinite Hell. While picking up corpses near Kyseria, he had been caught by a Dragon King’s child and almost burned to death. Half of his hair was burned off, but he managed to save his hair roots and scalp thanks to Rising Flesh. He quickly healed his burned arm and emptied the water bottles in his bag one after another. As the temperature of the black market rose, he had sweated too much and was suffering from mild dehydration. Still, drinking the water made him feel a little better.
"Oh! More achievements. Wow... they're just handing them out..."
Before checking the achievements, Jang Jojun leaned against a red rock and checked his status window first. It was because his level had gone up again before entering the Infinite Hell. He had two skills waiting to be assigned. He had to deal with that first.
For reference, he was able to raise his level by one more thanks to his summons. Since the distance had become too great, the experience points shared by the summons would no longer come in, but still, reaching level 22 already was a huge achievement. Now, he just had to spend time in the Infinite Hell and raise his level to 24, the limit for the Infinite Hell. Then, if he killed the 'boss' hiding somewhere here, he would be able to break through the next limit of 25. Currently, he was the only human who had entered the Infinite Hell. More would be coming soon, though.