Chapter 147
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: For Escaping Solo Life (2)
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Boom!
Aura's cutting power was loaded into the Blasting.
It scorched and sliced through space as it surged forward.
In a single strike, it pierced the dragon's shoulder.
“……Kuaaaack!”
Red Dragon Solitas screamed involuntarily.
His shoulder had been run through in an instant.
A hole about fifty centimeters in diameter had formed.
Of course, compared to his overwhelming bulk, it was a small hole. And since it was in the shoulder, it wasn't a life-threatening wound.
If it were a human, it would be like a single pencil or pen stabbed into the shoulder—exactly that level of injury.
But just because it wasn't fatal didn't mean it didn't hurt.
It hurt.
It hurt like hell, sincerely.
Solitas, born as a proud dragon of this land, had never suffered an injury like this.
His mouth gaped open at the unprecedented pain he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
He didn't even have time to hold back.
“Kr, gruaaaack!”
Tears nearly burst out involuntarily.
He desperately wanted his mom.
Recovery magic or anything else didn't even cross his mind.
“Uwaaaack! Graaaack!”
Panicking, he staggered back dozens of meters.
Cold sweat oozed profusely from between his scales.
‘What kind of human is that guy?’
He was flustered.
It made no sense.
Solitas's gaze turned to Haviel.
‘That guy's a human, right?’
He definitely was.
There were no traces of another dragon using polymorph.
So he was a pure-blooded human, yet he'd pierced Solitas's shoulder in one strike with what was essentially a toothpick of a sword.
‘If that attack just now had flown somewhere else instead of the shoulder…….’
For example, if it had gone for the head, neck, or chest?
If a hole had been punched right through his brow or windpipe?
“…….”
It wouldn't have ended with mere pain.
He would have been in far graver peril than this.
‘It doesn't make sense. How is this possible? He's a human. I'm a dragon. Yet a human pierced my shoulder in one blow?’
If this were written as a novel, it'd be dismissed as utter nonsense amid waves of ridicule.
Yet that absurd nonsense had become reality.
Along with the pain came surging bewilderment and dismay.
Soon, another emotion began to well up.
Gradually, anger.
‘How dare you.’
Tssshaaa!
Red Dragon Solitas's eyes changed.
At the same time, his massive body was enveloped in a white glow.
A powerful healing spell activated.
The pierced shoulder healed in an instant.
But his pride did not recover.
‘You think you'll get away unscathed after humiliating me like this!’
He spread his cliff-like wings wide.
He charged, whipping up a gale that could blow away houses.
With every step, the ground crumpled, and the entire dungeon shook.
His head, like a siege ram magnified hundreds of times, swung in full force, sweeping through the space where Haviel stood.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-!
Neck and head combined for a full forty meters in length.
It was a strike loaded with overwhelming size, weight, and the miraculous power supporting it.
The floor cracked.
The walls crumpled.
The ceiling collapsed.
In a single blow, part of the dungeon's interior plaza was utterly demolished without a trace.
Yet Solitas did not halt his onslaught.
It was because of that human—the one who had pierced his shoulder.
The one who had dunked his pride in the mud.
That loathsome human had leisurely dodged his attack.
“Insolent flea!”
Whoosh!
Like an eagle chasing a housefly.
Like a polar bear flailing to catch a snowflake.
Solitas wildly swung his wings and limbs.
He whipped his head and neck, kicked off the ground with his hind legs, clawed at the air with his talons, and flapped his wings to stir up a storm.
It was a vivid scene of living destruction.
The dungeon's interior plaza crumbled and smashed in real time.
Yet Haviel remained uncaptured to the end.
He dodged every one of the red dragon's ferocious combo attacks.
Like a mosquito appearing by the bedside on a summer night.
Like ultrafine dust slipping through a winter mask filter.
He evaded all of Solitas's attacks.
And with considerable leisure at that.
“…….”
Haviel felt a touch of bewilderment.
He wasn't even out of breath.
He could read that dragon's attacks so clearly.
Dodging the dragon's descending forepaw, Haviel suddenly had a thought.
‘Is that dragon weak?’
Or was he just strong?
He was confused which it was.
But one thing was certain.
Dealing with that dragon was less burdensome than he'd feared.
‘Yeah, definitely manageable.’
Haviel let out a faint smile.
An enraged dragon was rampaging like mad.
Pouring out destructive attacks with its enormous bulk and weight.
Yet it wasn't particularly scary.
Not burdensome in the least.
The dragon's attacks were fast and destructive, but he was faster.
Even as the dragon's wondrous attack range, fitting its massive size, bore down on him, there was always an opening to dodge.
He just had to slip that way.
And then thrust a counter into the dragon's openings.
Tadadak!
He kicked off the ground.
Leapt into the air.
The dragon's massive tail came sweeping down.
He dodged it by a hair's breadth.
A roar exploded from below.
Debris flew up with the shattered floor.
Hundreds of lethal rock shards.
He read the speed and trajectory of every single one in an instant.
Sensation and reaction.
Flowing like water.
He stepped sequentially on seven incoming shards.
Kicking and stepping in midair like climbing stairs, he changed direction seven times. No, he ran through the air. And fired Blasting.
Thwack!
Blasting's recoil pushed his entire body.
His midair dash halted abruptly.
He dropped straight down.
The dragon's forepaw plummeted past right in front of his nose.
Whoooosh!
The dragon's massive forepaw grazed past him by a razor-thin margin.
Seeing it, Haviel naturally thrust out his sword.
He summoned aura.
Tsshhat, kagagak!
A scratch marred the dragon's forepaw.
Five scales were sliced off.
Blood sprayed out like a large kettle tipping over.
“Ouch!”
Solitas, who'd been nicked like a pinky finger, reflexively pulled back his forepaw.
It stung enough to bring tears to his eyes.
But Haviel showed no mercy.
Slash! Skakakak!
He dropped right onto Solitas's wrist.
He brought down his aura-infused sword without hesitation.
Three lines of blood welled on Solitas's wrist.
“Graa, ack!”
He hurriedly shook his forepaw.
Rubbed it with his other forepaw.
But Haviel had already completed his leap and landed far away on the ground.
‘What the hell! Kraaack!’
Solitas was going mad with frustration.
He finally understood the agony of humans thrashing about in their sleep like sleepwalkers, trying to swat mosquitoes barehanded on a summer night.
No matter how he swung his forepaws.
No matter how he lashed with his tail or shook his wings.
Even as he swept and destroyed every inch of space around him.
He couldn't catch that tiny human.
‘Is that guy one of those Swordmasters I've only heard about? No, he's nothing like the Swordmasters Mom told me about. Even so, they weren't supposed to be this strong. That human seems way stronger than any Swordmaster in the stories?’
Amid the shock, Solitas had no choice but to admit it.
He couldn't win in a melee brawl.
No, even using magic too.
To that silver-haired human, he was just a giant sandbag.
One with tough hide that even hit satisfyingly like premium meat.
So the conclusion was one.
‘Run away.’
Solitas resolved himself.
Dragon pride?
He'd die if he stayed like this.
No matter how he rampaged, he couldn't catch that human.
Meanwhile, that human was steadily dealing damage to him.
A prolonged fight would mean his defeat in the end.
He hated to admit it.
But he had to.
‘Life is way more important than pride!’
He had over nine thousand bright years ahead of him.
He didn't want to throw it all away over momentary pride and die pointlessly here.
‘Does pride put food on the table? Living realistically is the smart way!’
So run away.
Before suffering more humiliation.
Build a new dungeon in a more hidden place.
Grow stronger, then get revenge.
‘Fifty years should be enough. By then, that human will be old and weak. Then I'll torment him so he can't live or die, paying back today's humiliation.’
Once resolved, action was needed.
Solitas immediately executed his escape plan.
The first step was Breath.
“Arrogant human scum! Die! Huuuuuuh!”
Fwaaaaaack!
He shouted menacingly on purpose.
Drew in a massive breath.
Mixed mana from his Dragon Heart into his lungful of air.
Fiery energy colored his breath.
Then he exhaled with all his might.
Kwaaaaaaaa-!
A hellish blaze of thermal breath poured out.
It engulfed the silver-haired human who'd been dodging so annoyingly.
But Solitas didn't rejoice.
The Breath was just a feint.
He moved to the next phase of his premeditated plan.
‘Now!’
Paaat!
He quickly manipulated his Mana Heart.
Overwrote the mana array with an artificial one.
At the same time, his massive body rapidly transformed.
Shaaaaaa……
Mystical light enveloped his form.
When the light faded.
Solitas had taken human form.
Polymorph, the special magic allowing transformation into any race.
‘Perfect, slip out in this gap.’
His enormous dragon form was gone.
Just a tall, red-haired young man remained.
Having completed polymorph, Solitas moved stealthily.
He sprinted full-tilt toward the dungeon exit.
‘Hurry, faster!’
Before the Breath's aftermath settled.
Before the silver-haired human spotted him.
He had to escape the dungeon.
Once outside the exit, use spatial transfer magic to flee.
That was Solitas's escape plan.
‘Damn. If only I could use spatial transfer right here……!’
He grumbled as he dashed toward the exit.
Spatial transfer magic.
The wondrous spell that let one leap across vast distances in an instant.
But he couldn't use it in this dungeon.
Because he'd meticulously installed magic formations to block spatial transfer.
‘Stupid me from fifty years ago!’
When building this dungeon, he'd never imagined this scenario.
Never dreamed he'd have to abandon it and flee from someone.
He'd just followed the standard like other dragons.
Dungeon-building guides from Mom.
Or model dragon dungeons.
He'd built this place faithfully referencing them.
Focused only on blocking external invaders.
So he'd laid anti-spatial-transfer formations thoroughly.
‘Damn! Damn!’
The blocking formations prevented spatial transfer.
Using it recklessly would tangle and twist the coordinates.
In the worst case, his body could disassemble and teleport in pieces—a catastrophe.
Knowing this better than anyone, Solitas ran even harder. Toward the dungeon exit. For survival's dream. Trusting only his two legs.
And he ran into a nightmare of a human.
“Dragon?”
“……!”
A silver-haired knight had appeared ahead before he knew it.
Already aiming his sword this way.
Tilting his head as he asked.
But his eyes held utter certainty as he looked this way.
You're that red dragon from before, aren't you?
Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?
Solitas blurted out involuntarily.
“I'm not a dragon?”
“…….”
The silver-haired knight's expression hardened.
Solitas felt his sixth vertebra tremble as he regretted it.
That retort sounded idiotic even to him.
Shouldn't have polymorphed into such an obvious redhead.
But it was too late for regrets.
The silver-haired knight raised his sword.
Advanced step by step, aiming for the throat.
Solitas sensed intuitively.
‘I'm screwed.’
Cornered with no escape.
No time to revert to his true form.
He'd get his throat slit before transforming.
Resisting with magic? No chance.
The instant he moved mana, his throat would be severed.
Sudden melee ambush?
That was doomed too.
‘Couldn't beat him even in true form—now even less…….’
No chance of victory.
‘If only I'd aged another millennium.’
He wouldn't have lost to a mere human like that.
Solitas lamented, intuiting his end.
He prepared his final act of defiance against the approaching silver-haired knight.
Might as well self-destruct.
He steeled his resolve.
Slowly activated his Dragon Heart.
Altered the internal mana array.
Set all his contained mana to collide.
To chain into a destructive explosion.
Prepared to sweep this whole area, and braced himself.
Finally, when the silver-haired knight was three steps away.
‘Now!’
The young dragon clenched his molars.
Poured power into the final trigger for self-destruction.
A single tear welled at his eye corner.
‘This is unfair.’
Now I'll go boom.
Meet my end alongside that loathsome human.
Without ever marrying.
Without dating a girl once.
Holding forepaws tight on dates, walking her home to the dungeon and kissing, exchanging love letters via telepathy, breath-blasting cream off lips with a hoo, kneeling for proposals then shyly smashing a mountain peak, etc.
Without tasting that sweet romance even once.
I'd become a forever-single bachelor dragon ghost.
The thought filled him with injustice.
His trembling eyelids threatened to burst into sobs.
No, tears were just starting to stream down.
“Hey, you there, dragon sir? Wanna hear my proposal? Guarantee you'll be married within ten years.”
Suddenly, a sweetly tempting voice came from somewhere.