Episode 123. The Subjugation of Behemoth (3)

A massive power erupted from the crown and poured straight into Behemoth's corpse.

Forced vitality took root in its mangled flesh. Golden motes of light gathered toward the heart that should have been crushed by the spear, and bit by bit, it began to regenerate.

Hwaaaah!

The obsidian-like outer shell slowly bleached white, and light rekindled in the once-blank eyes. At the same time, the crown's form warped and reshaped itself — into something like a halo, the kind angels might wear.

"You've got to be kidding me…!"

Elpiros had said she would make Behemoth's body her avatar. Which meant—

Was her soul mixed into that crown, the one that had served as the seat of domination?

When the domination failed and Behemoth died, she must have freed that fragment of her soul and hijacked the dead flesh.

Whatever stood there now was no longer the Sky-Reaching Demon Dragon. It was the avatar of Elpiros, Cardinal of the Advent Church — Behemoth.

"……"

A pair of haughty eyes gazed down at me. The aura they carried was different from before — not arrogance, but hostility sharpened to its extreme limit. It looked ready to lunge and swallow me whole at any moment.

And yet the thing didn't move. It only glared.

Its regeneration isn't finished yet.

The organs and shell I had destroyed were slowly being restored by that light. For a short while, at least, it would stay like that.

"If I'm going to attack, now's the…!"

I raised my hand — and nothing was there. Now that I thought about it, I'd thrown my spear at its heart at the last moment and never reclaimed it.

Damn it all.

The situation was even more desperate than I'd thought. I forced my thoughts to pivot and sprinted toward my rear —

"Miss Ayase!"

Toward where she had collapsed.

"Are you all right?"

"Kehk… Ya… Yamamoto…?"

Ayase lay crumpled, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. When I took her hand to steady her, a chilling cold ran up my fingertips — startling in its intensity.

"This is…"

"The… the dragon… what happened to it…?"

"…I'm sorry, what?"

Sensing I was close, she blurted out something absurd.

"Did the subjugation… succeed…?"

We were well within plain sight of each other. She'd been able to see everything — Behemoth's subjugation, and its resurrection. And yet Ayase tilted her head, utterly baffled.

"I'm sorry… everything's been… blurry… for a while now…"

"?!"

The instant I heard that, I checked her eyes. They had already clouded over completely, unable to focus. Tears of blood dripped steadily from ruptured vessels.

The mutated mana has already reached her eyes!

For the corruption to have spread this far meant her death clock was already counting down. Even with immediate treatment, she'd have days. Without it — the mutated mana would reach her brain within hours, and she would die.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I can't see… *cough!*"

Blackened, dead blood surged up from her throat. The aura of death was so vivid that even I, standing beside her, could feel it plainly.

"Kgh…!"

I ground my teeth until they ached. By her original fate, Ayase had months yet to live. Not long — but enough time to settle whatever regrets she had left. She was never supposed to die cooling on a battlefield, coughing up blood in the middle of a warzone.

Then an item flashed through my mind.

If I used it, Ayase could be healed completely. Even the mana tumor gnawing away at her life would vanish without a trace.

And yet my body refused ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to move.

Should I really spend the Bronze Bell on Ayase?

To put it coldly, she was a total stranger. She didn't even know I was Lee Tae-hyun, and we belonged to different guilds, different countries. Even if I saved her with it, I'd never see a shred of profit or advantage from it. Wouldn't it be better saved for someone in my own guild who'd face a brush with death down the line?

Baek Seo-ha. Shin Min-woo. Shin Yeon-hee. Ah Seo-ah.

If I spent the Bronze Bell on Ayase now and, because of that, couldn't save one of those four later — would I be able to live with that guilt?

…This is no time for this.

The moment I lifted Ayase into my arms to move her somewhere safe —

Hwak!

A fierce light burst from Behemoth. Its bodily restoration was more or less complete, and it was beginning to move.

"Krrrraaaah!"

"That accursed lizard bastard…!"

I spat out a curse and set my feet. Just as the thing wreathed itself in radiance and prepared to strike —

"Concentrated barrage… rapid fire!"

Several arrows streaked through the air.

"Seo-ah, now!"

"You don't need to tell me!"

Then came magic, coiling around the arrows with vast, sweeping mana.

"Mana Copy! Target Explosion!"

The enchanted arrows split into dozens, then hundreds, forming a rain of shafts — each tipped with a target of crimson mana dangling from it like a signpost.

KWAKWAKWAKWANG!

The arrow rain struck home against Behemoth and erupted magnificently.

"KAAAAAAH—!"

Each individual arrow carried a powerful explosive payload, and they hammered into the creature like a deluge, stunning it senseless.

"Wait, isn't that…"

"You said the firepower was lacking, so I figured I'd top it up for now."

After Seong Ju-ah, a voice I hadn't heard in far too long.

"Are you all right, Guild Master?"

"Shin Yeon-hee…!"

Bow in hand, Shin Yeon-hee approached with a faint smile.

"How did you…?"

"Followed that Hunter Bureau woman when she left."

Behind her, an enormous pointed wizard's hat bobbed into view.

"I go on my first overseas trip in ages… and you're fighting some weird monster again!"

Ah Seo-ah heaved a huge sigh — and then a wave of emerald mana washed over me, mending my exhausted body.

"Hyung, how could you end up like this…!"

Shin Min-woo had appeared out of nowhere, casting healing skills over me and Ayase both. Then he glanced sideways at her and swallowed hard.

"…Hup!"

"I've got a ton of questions myself, but I'll pass for now — second in line!"

"…Second?"

"There's someone here whose questions beat mine."

Shin Min-woo looked past my shoulder. Truthfully, an ominous energy had been swirling violently behind me for some time now. I barely managed to turn my head.

"……"

There stood Baek Seo-ha, her eyes gone cold as ice.

"Uh… um…"

"…So you did something in Japan."

Muttering those words, she drew the Chamryongeom from her hip. Mercifully, it didn't look like she intended to gut me with it. She pointed the blade toward Behemoth and strode forward.

"You can explain when that thing is dead."

I stood there dumbfounded. How on earth had they all gotten to Japan? It made no sense — none of it did —

"Everyone, just hold that thing off a little longer."

But there was no time to sort any of it out. When the road ahead opens, you charge without looking back.

"And try not to die!"

This was the Shin Guild's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first raid at full strength.

After the arrow baptism ended, Behemoth spread its wings wide and bared its frenzied fangs. It twisted its body as if to take flight and raze the entire area in one sweep —

"Not happening!"

A colossal gravity spell bore down on it. Not crushing the whole body — the weight poured down with dizzying intensity, concentrated entirely on the wings. Just as Lee Tae-hyun had said, it was a spell focused purely on binding the creature's movements.

"GRAAAAH!"

"Hup?!"

Behemoth's head whipped toward Ah Seo-ah. If it couldn't fly, it could simply annihilate her from long range. It blended dragon mana with radiance at its maw, preparing a breath.

KUUUUUUNG!

The moment its jaws would have opened to fire — a violent impact thundered down on its skull.

"HYAAAAAP!"

Heavy shockwaves layered themselves one atop another through Shin Min-woo's gauntlets.

A single strike that layered three A-rank skills as auxiliary techniques. KUUUNG! An impact powerful enough to crumple space itself slammed into Behemoth's head — and its concentration shattered, the painstakingly gathered breath dying in its throat.

"KRACKH!"

"Not even a scratch?! That was my best move…!"

Shin Min-woo's jaw hung open, plainly stunned by its defense.

"Krrrrk!"

As Behemoth pressed on to continue its assault —

A black dragon appeared.

"Haah…!"

Crimson light gleamed in her eyes as a pitch-black aura seeped into her frigid blade. A sword whose sole purpose was to tear apart the enemy before her.

In an instant, countless thrusts drove themselves into Behemoth. The black dragon's tenacity began shaving away at the white outer shell, fleck by fleck.

Gririk! THWANG!

From far away, arrows that could never miss came shrieking toward Behemoth's remaining eye.

"There's no living creature whose eyes aren't a weakness!"

Shin Yeon-hee's prediction held true — the arrow crushed the creature's eyeball outright.

"—KAAAAAAAH!"

A violent agony bored into its brain. Behemoth thrashed in wild frenzy, unleashing its power without reserve. Baek Seo-ha swallowed dryly and gave ground.

"…I have to hold on."

Lee Tae-hyun had said so. Stay alive — and keep the creature's attention fixed on us.

KWAKWAKWANG!

The full-scale battle between the Shin Guild and Behemoth had begun. For all the fierce momentum of its opening, the damage to the guild members piled higher with every exchange.

"Haah… haah…"

Baek Seo-ha panted hard.

This thing… is strong…!

It went beyond anything words could capture. Against every monster and every hunter she had ever faced—

Nothing… was stronger than this dragon.

KWADUK!

Clocked by a single radiance-wreathed blow, Baek Seo-ha coughed up blood.

"Nuna!"

Shin Min-woo rushed to treat her — and in that instant, his body froze solid. An overwhelming pressure pinned him in place.

"Kgh…!"

Behemoth formed a shell of light and hurled it at the immobilized Shin Min-woo. The blast lifted him off his feet and sent him tumbling through the air.

"Kehk!"

"Mi… Min-woo!"

Shin Yeon-hee froze mid-draw and screamed toward him — and Behemoth's gaze swiveled toward the sound.

"Krrrrr…!"

With its one remaining eye fixed on her, the creature raised its foot. To hunt her down.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Ah Seo-ah, still sustaining her gravity magic, expanded its range and force. If it reached Shin Yeon-hee now, it was over—

And yet that was the wrong choice.

"GRWAAAAAAAH—!"

Behemoth, its whole body sheathed in dragon mana, simply pushed against the spell — and then shattered the still-active magic into splinters.

"Ngh…! KYAAAAAAAAAK!"

Ah Seo-ah clutched her head and screamed. When a spell in mid-incantation is forcibly cancelled, the mana loses its destination — and mana that backflows—

GULP.

—destroys its caster from within. Blood burst from Ah Seo-ah's eyes, ears, and nose.

"Seo-ah!"

Baek Seo-ha pushed herself up off one knee, shouting her name — but it was meaningless. A mana backflow was never a light injury. It was only thanks to Ah Seo-ah's extraordinary potential that she'd escaped with side effects this mild. An ordinary mage whose magic had been repelled by dragon mana would have had every blood vessel in their body explode long before now.

The only one who can still move… is me…!

Gritting her teeth, Baek Seo-ha raised her sword. She could still swing it a little long—

"Krrk…"

And then—

HOOOOOOH!

The radiance and dragon mana that Behemoth had been secretly amassing all this while had finally finished charging. A power so immense that merely beholding it stirred fear and awe gathered at the creature's maw. It soared high into the sky and looked down upon the earth.

GRRRRRRRK!

The halo glowed with a soft light, lending its aid to the final strike.

"N… ngh…!"

She had to stop it somehow.

But how?

No matter how she turned it over, no answer came. Shin Min-woo and Ah Seo-ah were down, and Shin Yeon-hee's arrows weren't nearly enough to face this.

Her eyes squeezed shut without her willing it. Then, with a face etched with grim resolve, she gathered her mana into her blade.

I'll have to meet the breath head-on, ready to be erased.

It was the only way left to limit the damage. If sacrificing herself could save the rest—

"I have to…!"

With her resolve sealed, she tightened her grip on the sword. And at that very moment—

"Good work out there."

Came the voice she'd wanted to hear more than anything.

"The thing fights harder than I expected. Took longer than it should have."

Lee Tae-hyun pulled out a round pill and crushed it between his teeth.

A cool, clean energy spread through his body, and his mana recovered in a rush.

"Lee Tae… hyun…"

He caught Baek Seo-ha as she was about to slump over from exhaustion and lowered her gently to the ground.

"You did well. Leave the rest to your Guild Master."

Lee Tae-hyun lifted his head and fixed his gaze on Behemoth.

No — that's not it.

That thing was nothing more than a fragment of Elpiros's soul squatting inside Behemoth's body. Avatar was just a pretty word for it — in truth, she was playing puppet with a corpse.

"Hey. Did you get permission from this body's original owner before you moved in?"

Lee Tae-hyun curled his lips into a provocative sneer.

"As if. Parasites like you don't observe such courtesies."

"KAAAAAAH—!"

"Then let's settle this with a three-way negotiation first."

He raised a sky-blue energy around himself.

"Regarding the ownership of that body."

Lee Tae-hyun's shadow swelled larger and larger, rippling outward like a raging tidal wave. And then a magnificent pair of wings unfurled into full brilliance.

"Come forth, Moss."

At his command—

"KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"

The spirit of Behemoth appeared — the majestic demon dragon in all its overwhelming glory.