The Traitor’s End (2)
Thud…
A heavy echo reverberated through the silent underground cavern.
Rumble…
To anyone living in the mountains, it would sound like the ominous warning of a landslide. Though the word “landslide” seemed out of place in this sunless subterranean world, there was no mistaking the sound of something breaking and collapsing.
And soon enough…
Rumble!
The moss-covered forest that densely filled the cavern began to sink, and something long and slender shot up through the fractured ground.
[Roar!!]
What emerged from the cavern floor was the massive form of a centipede-like creature. Its body stretched hundreds of meters, with dozens of legs attached to each segment.
The enormous creature, flapping its four pairs of wings, soared urgently toward the cavern ceiling, its body marred with countless torn and charred wounds.
[―――――!]
The subterranean dragon, having risen just below the ceiling, let out a long, resonant cry. As it uttered its draconic incantation, the cavern’s magical energy surged violently, transforming into a deadly spell aimed at the ground from which it had just emerged.
Hundreds of magical blasts heated the air, and massive boulders fell like a giant’s wrath. The ferns of the moss forest revealed hidden fangs, and the subterranean creatures residing within unleashed primitive spells in a frenzy.
━━━━━━━━━━
Yet, the heat ray that shot up from beneath the collapsing ground erased all those attacks in an instant.
Crackle!
The dark crimson flames consumed the forest, and the sweltering heat filled the elongated cavern in no time. The moisture clinging to the cavern walls and ceiling evaporated, and even the solid rock began to soften and melt.
Amidst the falling earth and rocks, a dark crimson dragon surged upward, sinking its teeth into the subterranean dragon’s body in the blink of an eye.
[―――――!!]
The elongated dragon screamed, its desperate will manifesting as a whirlwind of spells. Magical crystals exploded from all directions, the very shape of the cavern twisted, and the bedrock was flung about in a chaotic maelstrom.
It was a hellish transformation beneath the earth, an environment where survival and escape were impossible for ordinary life.
“Damn it.”
Feeling slightly nauseous, Dalen cursed as he leaped into the air amidst the chaos.
Thud—
He zigzagged through the air, deftly avoiding the threatening whirlwinds of magic and flying boulders, rapidly closing in on the two entangled dragons.
[Roar!]
Even at that moment, the subterranean dragon’s screams echoed through the cavern. Dalen narrowed his eyes, tracking its movements.
[We have found the body of the Dragonbone Sword’s master.]
Amidst the cascade of falling rocks and earth, a notification window appeared clearly before him. The creature’s body below was covered in new wounds within minutes.
In contrast, the scales of the enemy dragon bore only minor scratches, remaining largely unchanged from the start.
[How is this possible? You weren’t this strong before!]
[You’re full of nonsense. You only managed to land a lucky blow at the end, after being overwhelmed by the combined assault of the White Sword and the Dragon God.]
Crunch!
With a mocking laugh, one of its wings was bitten off and fell away. Having been shattered several times already, the wing’s regeneration was noticeably slower.
This was evidence that even among the closest aides of the Dragon God, there was a clear distinction in combat prowess.
The problem was that this one-sided assault wouldn’t last forever.
‘The enemy dragon hasn’t regained its full strength.’
True dragons are beings based on the mystical essence of spirit and flesh. However, the dark crimson dragon before him was a manifestation based on Dalen’s domain.
It was the same when fighting the lightning sorcerer Daltarian. While there was no limit to the peak output in a moment, sustaining that power for long was impossible. As long as the domain wasn’t at the sixth level, there was no helping it. In this battle, she couldn’t do it all alone.
Clench!
Riding the wave of magic, Dalen climbed onto the back of the enemy dragon’s neck. Gripping its scales, he quickly conveyed his intent.
‘How much time do we have left?’
[Only a few minutes at most.]
The dragon’s voice pierced his mind.
[But don’t worry. I’ll bring it down before then.]
As soon as the words were spoken, it opened its jaws wide and bit into the subterranean dragon. A leg dangled and fell off, and the hard scales shattered, spilling blood.
Dalen nodded and leaped from the enemy dragon’s neck. Landing on the subterranean dragon’s body, he sprinted along its elongated form toward its head.
[Fall, you wretched…!]
[Silence!]
Crackle—!!
Sensing Dalen’s intent, the enemy dragon’s claws struck without giving it a chance to continue its incantation. With each scream and shout, thousands of spells swirled, battering the scales of both dragons, and raw magic combined and exploded in a grand spectacle.
[Master!]
In the midst of the clash of sixth-level true dragons’ magic, Dalen advanced, anchoring himself with Arvor’s chains to avoid being swept away by the storm.
The enemy dragon knew well that it couldn’t hold out for long. Manifested through a human’s domain, no matter how overwhelming the power, it couldn’t be unleashed indefinitely. That’s why it had been dodging and avoiding fatal blows since the enemy dragon appeared.
‘The moment the enemy dragon shows its limits, it’ll try to turn the tables and bite back.’
Dalen had no intention of just watching that happen. Summoning a being beyond the enemy dragon’s level made reopening the domain difficult, but…
Using what he’d gathered so far, it wasn’t hard to half-bite through the exposed neck of the true dragon.
‘Arvor. Bring out what we’ve prepared.’
Dalen swiftly retrieved two items from the subspace: a slender, smooth rapier and a small vial containing a pitch-black potion.
The former was an item inherited through the corpse of the ‘Paladin Buried in the Sea of Blood,’ recovered from a demon under Suum’s command not long ago. The latter was the ‘Elixir of the Fallen Star,’ recovered from Calcas’s hell long ago.
‘The dark sword Tyrdingol has a hidden one-time ability. It can absorb the power of an elixir or potion and amplify it when striking an opponent.’
Swoosh!
Without hesitation, he uncorked the vial and poured its contents onto the blade. The dark sword reacted violently, emitting acrid smoke, and the slender blade was stained with the same dark hue as the elixir.
「Ignition: Heavenly Thunder」
The holy flame ignited at his fingertips, burrowing into the subterranean dragon’s scales and exploding, causing several scales to dangle momentarily.
Crunch!
The blade pierced without delay, shattering inside the flesh, and immediately amplified the elixir’s power to deliver it.
[What have you done?!]
The blackened wound and the startled dragon’s cry indicated the effect had taken hold.
‘It worked perfectly.’
The Elixir of the Fallen Star. A legendary item said to elevate one to the brink of the next realm. Even if an ordinary soldier consumed it, it could boost their abilities to the edge of the fourth level in an instant. Though the duration was short and the side effects severe, it was an ideal last resort in dire situations like war.
However, a lesser-known feature was that when used on a transcendent being, the effect was reversed. For those already at the fifth or sixth level, consuming the elixir would temporarily lower their abilities to the fourth level.
‘When I went to hell as a curved sword warrior, I brought the elixir to try and conquer Calcas somehow.’
Though it failed at the time due to the difficulty of forcing a high-ranking demon to drink it, recovering the sword from the paladin’s corpse completed a sort of one-time combination.
Having used it frequently in subsequent rounds for demon hunting, there was no doubt about its efficacy.
Of course, given the resistance of a true dragon, a being of pure mysticism, expecting perfect effectiveness was unrealistic.
‘But who cares.’
His role now was merely to create an opening. That alone allowed the enemy dragon’s fangs to easily bite through the subterranean dragon’s neck, driving its massive form into the collapsed ground below.
Crash!
The collapse ensued. The weight of the two massive forms pressing down, combined with the heat generated by the surrounding magical vortex, shattered the ground, causing the cavern to break apart and sink into the endless subterranean world.
A feat of destruction that could shatter an entire world. It was a level of devastation that even most transcendent beings or demons couldn’t hope to replicate.
Considering the formidable power of Jeokchang, one of the top-tier warriors among the thirteen dragons named after the dragon gods, it was a sight to behold when he unleashed his full strength.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the ceiling and ground crumbled in succession, the deepest cavern of the dragon’s lair was revealed.
Jeokchang didn’t hesitate. With a fierce determination to destroy the very heart of the earth dragon, he unleashed a massive wave of heat from his mouth, still clamped onto the dragon’s neck.
━━━━━━━━━━
A fiery bloom erupted in the center of the cavern.
Splitting into four streams, it shattered the walls and floor, disrupting centuries of accumulated spells and magic in an instant.
The resulting storm from the backlash of spells and the distortion of hundreds of enchantments was a spectacle, like a grand display of petals blooming from afar.
[Kyahaaa…!]
The earth dragon, struck directly by the converging streams of heat, was torn apart, its body scattering in all directions.
Crash! Boom! Boom…!
Falling with the debris of the collapsed caverns, it created a massive crater on the cavern floor.
[Hoo…!]
Jeokchang had already reverted to human form.
Amidst the endless rain of debris from the shattered underworld, a woman with dark red hair sighed heavily.
“Wind Shadow Barrier.”
Dalen descended beside her, stepping through the air, and cast a barrier above them to shield against the falling debris.
[Such a considerate man. How could I not be drawn to you?]
“Seems you still have the energy to joke.”
[Alone in a barrier unseen from the outside, just the two of us, a man and a woman full of life… It’s not a bad atmosphere.]
“For someone who’s lived for thousands of years, you’re hardly full of life. Stop talking nonsense and recover your strength quickly.”
Having exhausted his one-time ability and discarded his broken sword, Dalen continued.
“That creature isn’t dead yet. Surely you plan to finish it off yourself?”
[Indeed.]
It was some time before the rain of massive boulders subsided. Dalen dispelled the barrier and walked with Jeokchang to the center of the cavern.
Along the way, they saw the severed body of the earth dragon.
Even after being shattered into pieces and crushed under thousands of tons, the remains twitched incessantly, like the severed limbs of an insect.
Jeokchang frowned at the sight.
[The reason the earth dragon could be a close aide to the dragon god was its near-immortal regenerative power.]
“That seems to be the case.”
[Among the thirteen great dragons, none could match it. It could even regenerate from wounds inflicted by another mystical being, a true dragon.]
Only a power within the same realm of mystery could wound a dragon, a being of pure mystique.
Among such powers, the strength of a true dragon was one of the most lethal to another true dragon.
Even Dalen, before reaching the rank of a transcendent, had borrowed Jeokchang’s black flame to sever the neck of the fallen blue-scaled dragon.
Seeing the earth dragon regenerate even from the wounds inflicted by Jeokchang in his true form, it was understandable why it was considered nearly immortal.
[Huff, huff…!]
Of course, in the end, the creature was barely clinging to life.
The earth dragon lay sprawled in the center of the shattered cavern, reduced to just a head and a single limb.
[Quite a sight, isn’t it?]
[Jeok…!]
[What do you think will happen if I leave you here? Will the dragon god you so faithfully serve, or his right hand, the White Sword, come to save you?]
[Huff…]
Jeokchang chuckled softly. She slowly approached and stood directly in front of the earth dragon’s face.
[If you want to live, tell me. Why did you, my loyal subordinate and friend, stab me in the back that day?]
[…]
[And what became of my body and soul, stripped of their name?]