Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Dragon Hunt
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I climbed up to the rooftop of the building.
A cool breeze was blowing across the rooftop.
The sky was impeccably clear and blue.
I bent my legs and leaped straight toward it.
-Thud.
My body rocketed upward, soaring into the sky in an instant.
As it did, mana rapidly enveloped my body, forming black armor.
It was something I had to do unless I wanted my clothes shredded and end up buck naked.
"Suni."
I pulled a B-rank Dimensional Rift core from my Inventory.
I could have used my own mana.
But I was heading to face what was expected to be an A-rank monster.
Saving mana was definitely necessary.
Reading my thoughts, Suni used the core to create a round black mana halo behind my back.
It formed faster and more smoothly than before—her proficiency must have gone up.
-Hum. Hum.
An enormous amount of mana was sucked from the core and condensed in the center of the halo.
For a moment, it felt like the surrounding air was being drawn in.
Then, the halo ejected the mana outright.
Explosive instantaneous acceleration.
The pressure exerted on my body was something no ordinary human could endure.
In the blink of an eye, I broke the sound barrier, entering supersonic speeds and generating a shockwave.
Following the shockwave came a massive sonic boom.
-Kwaaang!
It was a sonic boom.
-Shrieeek!!!
Drawing a black line across the clear blue sky, I streaked through the heavens at supersonic speed.
It probably looked like a black rocket or missile.
'How long will it take?'
[Considering the distance to Busan, no more than 5 minutes at most.]
Hearing Suni, I looked down at the ground.
My superhuman body could even spot ants crawling on the surface below.
I could see people on the ground pointing up at the sky.
I was apparently more visible than I'd thought.
'Can I crank the speed higher from here?'
[Yes, but it wouldn't be efficient.]
Feeling the scenery whip past, I crossed the skies over Korea in a flash, heading for Busan.
True to Suni's word, it wasn't long before I spotted the massive dark-red dragon laying waste to the area around Busan.
I needed to make use of my current speed.
Reading my mind, Suni didn't slow down—instead accelerating even more as we traced a parabolic arc straight down toward it.
I drew my greatsword and wrapped it in mana.
As the boiling mana from my body flowed in, the greatsword grew even larger.
I sharpened the tip with mana and plunged toward the dragon at tremendous speed, leading with that point.
The target was its head.
True to A-rank form, it seemed to sense me hurtling in—but I charged its massive eye even faster.
-Boom!
The colossal impact sent a shockwave rippling outward.
-Craaack!
The shockwave shattered the glass of nearby buildings and shops, sending abandoned cars tumbling.
Just shy of its huge eye, I felt strong resistance from its mana defense.
-Crackle.
But the destructive power of the absurd speed shattered the mana defense in an instant, stabbing straight into the dragon's massive left eye.
-Splurt!
The eye burst, spraying a volume of blood befitting its size.
-Kyaack!!
The dark-red dragon let out a roar of pain.
It reeled from the impact, but as expected of an A-rank, killing it in one blow had been too greedy.
My keen senses warned me of an incoming attack.
I swiftly yanked out the sword and dodged downward.
The dragon's long, tentacle-like tail whipped past overhead.
I grew the greatsword with mana again and swung at its thick leg.
-Whoosh!
-Bang!
It landed solidly, but the tough mana defense kept it from being severed.
I couldn't replicate that initial destructive power, so all I could do was whittle down its mana defense enough to damage the body beneath.
Dodging the dark-red dragon's attacks with my mana-enhanced greatsword, I hammered away relentlessly.
It spewed breath attacks, but it would be weird if my abilities let such obvious strikes land.
The aftermath explosions from the breath were easily blocked by the mana armor covering my body.
-Bang! Bang! Boom!
After pounding on it for a while, I could feel its mana defense weakening.
It was time to wrap things up.
The already massive sword began to grow even larger.
I also controlled the mana more precisely to boost its cutting power.
-Boom!
A nearby building got caught on the greatsword, getting scraped and demolished.
It was a building that would've been destroyed by this thing anyway, even if I hadn't done it.
Besides, I couldn't afford to worry about every little thing in a fight.
The huge sword slammed unhindered into its thick left leg.
-Thud!
But the greatsword embedded only halfway into the dragon's leg before stopping.
I'd swung with the intent to cleave, but whether due to its rank or draconic nature, its hide was tough.
-Kreeck!
The beast roared in agony and lashed out with its massive tail.
Dodging was out of the question now.
I planted my foot firmly, stabilizing my body, and grew my fist with mana before punching back.
-Kwaang!
The monster's tail bounced right off.
Even after blocking that huge tail, I felt no particular shock to my body.
Truly a body beyond human limits.
It had been worth pouring absurd amounts of mana into physical reinforcement.
'Gotta ramp up the output.'
Seeing it stagger, I infused even more mana and swung the greatsword once more at its wounded leg.
-Slash!
Finally, that thick leg was severed.
Losing one leg, the massive body tilted precariously.
As if refusing to fall, it flapped its enormous wings.
A fierce gale kicked up.
I involuntarily staggered in the wind. Then it took to the skies.
'Trying to flee?'
Corrupted Beings from Dimensional Rifts were usually single-minded attackers until death.
This was a fresh sight.
Did A-ranks develop some kind of survival instinct?
Of course, I couldn't just let it get away.
I kicked off the ground with all my strength.
-Boom!
My body shot up rapidly, overtaking the fleeing beast in an instant.
Its massive wings came into view.
I enlarged the sword with mana and slashed, cutting off half its left wing.
-Kyaack!
With its wing severed, it screamed in agony and plummeted to the ground.
"Huuup!"
I fell alongside the dragon, swinging the greatsword with all my might to decapitate it.
The headless dragon spewed a massive fountain of blood as it crashed into the ground.
-Thud!
A flood of experience points poured in.
But the rewards still felt stingy.
+ Skill Points +1
Looking around, the area was left in ruins from my battle with the dragon.
It was regrettable, but unavoidable.
For a monster that even nukes couldn't handle, stopping it with this level of damage was a bargain.
Regrets aside, I had to collect what was mine.
'Mana stone?'
[It's near the heart.]
Fitting its draconic appearance, the Mana Stone was annoyingly located in its heart.
I sharpened the sword's blade with mana, sliced open its chest, and extracted the stone.
The Mana Stone was smaller than expected.
Smaller even than a B-rank one.
But its color was deeper and more iridescent.
Were A-rank Mana Stones normally like this?
I'd know if I'd seen one before.
I contacted Hanna.
"You were watching, right?"
Dozens of drones were filming busily from a distance, wherever they were.
Some were probably from broadcasting stations doing live coverage.
"Y-Yes? Yes!"
"Can you handle disposing of the corpse?"
I wasn't sure if it was a real dragon, but it sure looked like one.
Its tough-looking hide alone would fetch a hefty price.
This was different from the B-rank monster before.
Now that I'd decided to reveal my abilities, I had to cash in what I could.
"L-Leave it to me!"
Her response was brimming with vigor—Hanna sounded strangely disciplined.
It was a flashier debut stage than I'd anticipated.
From Seoul to Busan in an instant, slicing through the sky like a black meteor crashing into the giant dragon.
I hadn't realized it at the time, but seeing the footage now, it looked way more spectacular than I'd thought.
Maybe it was the slick editing.
The problem was that not just TV channels, but all of Nutube was flooded with news about me.
Korea was hitting peak national pride overdose because of me.
It was enough to overshadow the devastation in Geoje and Busan to some extent.
The Jeju Island raid had been put on hold for now.
The Jeju team, thought to have been wiped out, had surprisingly survived intact.
Even so, dodging responsibility for this incident wouldn't be easy.
It was only natural—without me, the damage would've been uncontrollably worse.
I hadn't revealed my face by covering myself in armor.
But pinpointing my identity wouldn't be that hard.
There weren't many Awakeners in Korea over 2 meters tall, to begin with.
Above all, since I'd had Hanna collect the corpse, it'd be weird to think they wouldn't figure it out.