Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Dragon Slayer
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“Dur-Morris, Dragon Slayer. Death to all dragons.”
Armor woven from the dragon scales of the dragons he’d slain thus far, shaped like plate mail, and a dragon bone spear forged from the sharpest part of dragon skeletons—the clavicle.
“You’re the one who said you’d settle this? Who are you to talk? Now, it’s dragon hunting time.”
Even though his face was hidden beneath heavy armor that covered him head to toe like full plate, I recognized him immediately.
This guy was the supreme being of the old era, the Dragon Slayer.
Was it because I was facing such an overwhelming foe? A faint tremor ran through my fingertips.
‘No, it’s not just that.’
I glanced to the right from straight ahead, and there she was—a filthy, bedraggled woman.
That must be Mirea.
According to what Pipi had told me, she was Miria’s older sister.
‘She’s wearing the chains Link used on both wrists.’
With Bell Quirius, I could peer into the rough structure.
Five spell formations.
The runes used were a combination of formula-type Ruticen and taboo-type Orvios. Ratio 4.4:5.6.
Size 28 Axels, range 45 Gimites.
Completely eroded by Link’s power.
But there was one strange thing. A near-miraculous 6th-circle incantation was binding Link’s power to Link’s relic.
On the other hand, the thing forcibly connecting that power to her flesh was the 5th-circle black magic I’d just glimpsed.
‘6th circle? Who cast that?’
Zerniks had done 5th-circle black magic.
To weave such a perfect spell formula using only incantation-type Altigma without a single taboo-type Orvios.
—Lin.
Suddenly, an image flashed before my eyes: Fride’s receding back, her red hair fluttering as she grinned mischievously.
“Do not think you will be forgiven.”
I will not forgive you—the very existence that mocked Link and Link’s descendants.
“Forgiven?”
In that instant, a pillar of fire carrying a blast of heat shot up from the ground where the Dragon Slayer stood.
“Pathetic. On what authority do you presume to forgive me?”
The Dragon Slayer dodged it with a casual motion, and embers from the fire pillar rained down on him like arrows.
“What orders did you get from Zerniks to pull this crap?”
Not a single ember touched him—he didn’t block or evade them.
“You idiot, I’m dumbfounded. Do I look like the type to take orders from a punk like that?”
He simply tapped his shoulder leisurely with the dragon bone spear. The embers shattered futilely against his dragon scale armor.
“I, Arthur Brius, take orders from someone higher up than that Zerniks scum!”
Damage has to be concentrated, huh.
Does that mean I need to focus a 5th-circle spell into a single point to land a hit…?
With that thought, I shattered the magic circle spinning in my palm.
“Jesa Saeryeon, modify.”
Twelve chains of flame rose, whipping through the air and piercing the souls of the Slayer boy soldiers.
“The kids… are collapsing?”
I heard the stunned mutterings of the special forces mages who’d been struggling to subdue the boy soldiers.
“This isn’t outside the island. Take them inside the golden pagoda!”
“…?”
“There are a lot of people we need to protect in there too! I’ll guard the golden pagoda, so you all—”
As if he’d just sit there and watch.
Absolute power gathered dazzlingly at the tip of the dragon bone spear, and when he swung it with all his might, it came hurtling as a slash of lightning.
Island Flower Heaven Strike Cannon—I countered the wave of power with the dragon’s breath I’d just newly created.
‘Of course.’
Amid the fierce winds whipped up by the clash of lightning and flames.
‘No way it ends here.’
Crackle… With the sound of electricity sparking, the Dragon Slayer closed over twenty paces in an instant, at speeds beyond comprehension.
I twisted my body.
The dragon bone spear pierced the space where my head had been a moment ago. That simple thrust generated a blast of wind pressure so fierce—boom—that it was hard to even keep my footing.
“Now I see it clearly!”
His dragon bone spear clashed next with my flaming staff, and a crushing pressure like my tendons would snap enveloped both arms.
“Even before you gained the dragon’s power—no, from the moment you were born—you had overwhelming talent. Just like me!”
Close quarters was clearly disadvantageous.
Our strength differed by dozens of times.
I needed to create distance.
“You’re the same type as me. Infinitely hungry for power. That’s why you killed dragons and stole their orbs!”
Killed and stole?
A sneer close to mockery escaped at that guess.
“Steal this power? If I look that strong to you, then Dragon Slayers aren’t all that impressive either. Guess you only hunted weak dragons?”
“Hah, you’re getting cocky just because I complimented you a bit.”
“This power was given to me. Along with a new life.”
Right. I received it out of pure goodwill, even though he had no right to it.
—Rain Ludwig, you carry the same scent as Lady Karenden.
Before the absolute despair of Shar’kas, she sacrificed her own life to ignite a new flame in mine.
—I entrust my daughter Alakish to you.
All the strong people I’d met so far had a unique scent.
“I’m not strong. Not back then, and not now.”
Dean Aunt, Rista, Fride, Kies, Link, Alakish, Nils…
“And neither are you.”
Watching their backs, leaving scents even in the brief moments they stayed, fills me with longing.
“You’re not strong. Dragon Slayer? Don’t make me laugh. You’re just a small-time bully who only knows how to trample others.”
No time to play it cool. Full power from the start.
Mental image construct, Flame Chant Flow Amount Sovereign.
As the flames of the sage’s symbol—the pinnacle of magic—spread, devouring the area.
“Mental image construct, huh.”
In contrast to Doran’s eyes shaking.
“To a mage—”
The Dragon Slayer charged at speeds where only electricity trailed his path.
“—you think I’ll give you time for nonsense?!”
Exactly what I’d hoped for.
In an instant too brief for thought, flames erupted from the flow and sovereign runes.
Defense and ward. A wall of fire blocked the transcendent weight of the dragon bone spear’s thrust.
‘And one more. Array, scatter, spear.’
Beyond the wall of fire, I constructed a spell that spread wide and dispersed its form.
“—!”
Hundreds of fireballs poured down like rain, battering the dragon scales, and Arthur’s eyes widened.
‘What casting speed is this…!’
Among the renowned battle mages I’d faced on the battlefield, was there any who could cast this fast?
‘It’s not just simple defense. He’s aiming for something.’
He’d tried binding the charging Demon Slayer from the opposite side with restraint spells. Did he have a way to break the brainwashing?
I couldn’t let that happen.
Electricity crackled fiercely along the dragon bone spear’s surface, golden blade aura enveloping the tip. Then the lightning spear pierced the flame barrier.
“I told you!”
I instinctively raised my staff, but no mage’s strength could block that strike.
“I’d gear up and give you a proper thrashing!”
The moment I sensed the ferocious impact slamming my arm bones, my body was airborne.
No chance to roll on the dirt—heavy shadow loomed overhead.
The moment I thrust out my staff with both hands, a weight like a boulder crashing down struck my shoulder blade.
“For a mage, you were fun to fight, but somehow, you’re falling short of expectations.”
Amid pain like my shoulder was dislocated, chills ran from my lumbar to my neck.
Where’d she go?
Mirea, whom I’d bound with Jesa Saeryeon earlier, was nowhere in sight.
Kiiiiiing—
Instead, a metallic screech scraped the earth from afar, chilling my ears.
“One hit from those chains won’t pierce the dragon scales. But you, without a single piece of armor!”
Crazy. This is insane.
I had to escape, get out of here.
But there was no winning a contest of strength against a warrior. No way to shake off or push back that mass and scale.
“Guhhh… Aaaahhh!”
Pipi spread fiery wings and dove at him, but another fiery tendril swatted Pipi, altering its trajectory.
“Well done, Bisel.”
The Dragon Slayer’s familiar, the Beast Slayer.
“Sun parrots aren’t exclusive to you, you know?”
Pipi’s agonized cry cut into my skin more painfully than my own suffering.
“Bisel’s a sun parrot that’s rolled through battlefields for nearly ten years! Your pampered greenhouse flower can’t even compare!”
The metallic clang of the chains grew closer, close enough for cold sweat to trickle down.
Pipi’s heat faded into the distance.
As my staff slowly gave way and the blade aura-clad spear tip rushed toward my face.
“Aki Punch.”
A point-blank strike—flames of the dragon erupted from the fist touching the dragon scales.
If it were an adult’s flames, it would incinerate anything, even the spell’s foundation itself, but the juvenile Aki lacked such power.
For now, just blowing him away was the best it could do—but in this situation, that was plenty.
“What the—?!”
The Dragon Slayer tumbled across the ground, pushed back by the explosion.
“Avabat!”
“No, Aki! Don’t come here!”
In that gap, chains lunged toward Aki rushing to me.
“—Serjinryu Form 7.”
An old man in a worn fedora stepped in front of Rain and Aki, blocking the chains.
The moment an ice crystal magic circle spread from where he stood, the chains that should have shredded Rain like mincemeat bounced off.
Serjinryu’s secret rune altered physical laws, converting damage to attack power—an ultimate technique.
“We’ll handle that one. Young Master Rain, focus on that monster!”
Doran Slade.
And from the cover on the other side, Valensidis—supported by Cora—swung her fan.
The Demon Slayer’s knee was sliced off just as it attempted a second strike.
“…”
It collapsed to the ground, but tendons and blood vessels sprouted from the stump, regenerating the limb in seconds.
‘If it can use Link’s power directly, that super-regeneration persists in berserk state.’
Doran and Valensidis were clearly at their limits—miraculous they could still move.
If I couldn’t end this quickly, it’d be total annihilation.
As flames flickered inside my dislocated shoulder blade, I felt the bone realign and tendons restore.
‘Is Alakish’s will telling me to fight?’
Is she pushing my back?
Doran dodged and parried the Demon Slayer’s chains raining down ceaselessly, dominating the vast space.
‘A true master of body arts…’
Valensidis nimbly leaped through dimensions whenever an attack came, buying time by severing its legs.
Doran on defense, Valensidis on offense?
After watching for about two seconds, I turned to Aki.
“Aki, never step to the front.”
“Chirp?”
“Only when I’m in real danger, like just now. Got it?”
I couldn’t drag Aki into this deadly fight… Before I could finish, I grabbed Aki by the scruff.
I hurled Aki backward while deploying the magic quantified by the mental barrier’s amount.
I blocked his thrown dragon bone spear with bars of flame, then rolled back to create distance.
Kagagang… Chains flying from the right.
Boom… Doran blocks.
Kiiing… Chains shooting up vertically then slamming down.
As I dodged that at an angle, the Dragon Slayer’s form turned to lightning.
No time to shudder—I summoned chains of flame across the entire mental barrier.
The chains coiled around the dragon bone spear tip that had closed in unnoticed.
“You think these pathetic bindings will work on this Dragon Slayer?!”
I confirmed in that instant he gripped the spear one-handed.
‘This is.’
In the instant his free hand wove a golden blade—heart sword.
‘The supreme close combat.’
It was coming.
That technique.
Cold sweat chilled my back.
The swift sword that rent dimensions into countless shreds in an instant.
“I’ll end you here, half-dragon.”
The moment lightning blades danced from his fingertips.
“Dragon Slayer!”
A sharp metallic ring pierced my ears, and wires wrapped around his arm.
Miria.
Not enough to fully restrain the strength wielding that insane spear, but enough to twist the slash’s trajectory.
Chachachachachang!
The next instant, twelve flashes whirled before me, shredding dimensions.
“What…!”
Trajectories that froze my heart… A slight deviation in control, and my body would’ve been diced.
But thanks to Miria, the advantage swung back to me.
I crossed my hands, activating all flow, amount, and sovereign runes of the mental barrier.
“Rune inscription multi-switch: fire, field, hurl, fall, blade.”
Of the seven Jesa Saeryeon chains binding the dragon bone spear, I converted five to flame field blood.
‘I’ll end it.’
Both 5th-circle spells—two seconds to switch.
‘Right here.’
Even as the Jesa Saeryeon chains snapped one by one under sheer physical force from the spear’s master, until.
“End it, Rain!”
The rampage of flames that incinerated spirit, flesh, and form—reducing all creation to ash.
Falling thunder manifested as the origin of flames.
A force of ultimate destruction struck the ground in thunderbolt form.