Chapter 258: The Offspring of Manryong (5)
Step.
A single step.
Yongshin’s lips curled into a smirk as he took a step forward, seemingly intrigued.
”······!”
With that simple gesture, the air that had been boiling around him suddenly grew heavy. He had reached the pinnacle of the seventh hierarchy, a presence that bent the very order of the world by existing.
A low, beast-like growl echoed across the sky.
The crimson-stained sky rippled like waves, then converged into a single point, swirling into a vortex.
[It’s the power of the Great Dragon War. Yongshin has decided to act.]
Jeokchang spoke.
Dalen, who shared her blood, could instinctively feel it too.
The dragon blood coursing through his veins burned with an unusual heat. The heart and bones, modified by Bourbon, reacted similarly.
Amidst the strange exhilaration enveloping his entire body, the faint voice of the blood spirit emerged.
‘The sixth hierarchy can overlay its world upon the existing one. The seventh hierarchy goes a step further.’
“···The power to move worlds.”
The ability to move the world itself was said to be a divine privilege.
Worlds built upon the infinite possibilities of a fantastical realm had the characteristic of rewriting the laws of reality entirely.
So, this exhilaration felt from the dragon blood and bones must be because the Great Dragon War, Yongshin’s infernal domain, was drawing near.
And if even he, who was not one of Yongshin’s followers, could feel such a change…
Then surely the army of the Great Dragon War, numbering in the thousands, would feel the same.
[―――! ―――――!!]
[―――― ―――!]
The city resounded with the chorus of dragon tongues. There was no time to dwell on thoughts.
As if to guard their sovereign, the seven great dragons, led by Baekgeom, descended to the ground.
Boom―!
A man clad in heavy armor landed with a thud. It was a face Dalen had seen beyond the monitor.
[We have found the corpse of the berserk sorcerer.]
Rather than wearing the armor, it seemed more accurate to say he had entered it.
The man who wielded the armor itself as a weapon was the human form of Yongshin’s breastplate.
“Ice Crystal”
“Blossom”
“Clear Wave”
With a swift motion, the breastplate deflected the barrage of ice spears, then stepped forward, throwing a punch.
Boom─
The sheer force of the punch distorted the air, splitting the ground and revealing its raw surface.
The shockwave tore through the space, sweeping away two of Dalen’s clones. Yet, Dalen did not retreat.
‘Yongshin’s breastplate. Immune to ice-based techniques. Armor forged from magic. Vulnerable to lightning.’
Instead, he recalled the information he had memorized from beyond the monitor, enveloping his body in blue electricity as he advanced.
“Technique Armor: Blue Thunder Armor”
“Blue Wheel”
Crackle!
From the knee that kicked up into the air, blue lightning shot out like a drill, slicing through the air.
“Erasure”
The faint energy at the tip of his sword obliterated the remaining shockwave, closing the distance to the breastplate to less than a sword’s length.
“Combined Strike: Piercing Blow”
As he extended his left fist, the power resonated from his shoulder blade, coursing through to his fist.
“Heavy Smash”
The spiraling energy transformed into a sharp spear, shattering the armor’s plating and defensive techniques.
Boom!!
With a scream, the breastplate was flung back. But there was no time to catch his breath.
A swordsman with four arms thrusting skewers of swords.
A rider unleashing hundreds of techniques with each swing of a massive banner.
‘The swordsman is Yongshin’s right shoulder. That one is…’
[Yongshin’s cloak. Think of it as facing a multi-system sorcerer!]
With Jeokchang’s help, Dalen recalled the times he had faced the dragons in their forms beyond the monitor.
He had only fought Yongshin twice in hundreds of encounters.
But he had clashed with the great dragons, whether in dragon or human form, at least once.
Based on his experiences and memories from beyond the monitor, he restructured the magical currents in the area, instinctively reorganizing techniques and abilities to gain a strategic advantage.
“Ice Crystal: Hundred Roots”
Crack!
Ice flowers bloomed from his fingertips, sending white crystalline roots to entangle the paths of the four swords.
“Red Flame Pillar: Triple Force Reversal”
“Clear Wave Cleave”
Boom!!
Massive waves mixed with three pillars of fire, pushing back the intricate chain of hundreds of spells with heat and pressure.
‘The sorcerer and spearman in the rear! Who are they?’
[The sorcerer is the First Breath. The spearman charging from the side is Toguni!]
Boom!
Massive fireballs fell from the sky like a meteor shower, and the spear held by Yongshin’s helmet twisted like a living snake.
The very terrain crumbled, creating a storm of debris and chaos that distorted the senses.
Amidst the distortion of magical currents that made even sensory perception unreliable, Dalen quickly assessed the dragons charging at him with Jeokchang’s help.
He had faced the breastplate, right shoulder, and the knight on the twin-headed horse in human form.
Baekgeom, the cloak, the First Breath, and the helmet were ones he had fought in dragon form.
[Seven out of nine! The shield and wing armor haven’t come. It seems they’re maintaining neutrality!]
The silver lining was that not all thirteen great dragons had sided with Yongshin.
The earth dragon Tateankat Parzium had fallen by his hand, and Cheongrin and Jeokchang were Dalen’s allies.
Yongshin’s first roar, Kylebercus Arburn, had also declared himself Sienna’s protector, so he wouldn’t side with them.
With four of the thirteen great dragons excluded, only seven of the remaining nine had joined Yongshin in this final stand.
If the great dragons, each on par with a grand demon, had effectively been halved, their chances of victory had increased proportionally.
“Flame Serpent”
Whoosh!
Even so, it wasn’t easy.
He conjured a serpent of flame in the air, sending it toward the cloak, while binding the repaired breastplate with Arvor’s chains, then looked up at the sky.
Rumble…
The red vortex in the sky grew larger by the moment. The dragons’ states changed accordingly.
An alien cry, impossible for human vocal cords to replicate, slipped through their teeth.
Their vertically slit reptilian pupils dilated grotesquely, as if intoxicated.
Their movements followed suit.
They abandoned their human forms to breathe as dragons, then reverted, transforming only parts of their bodies to attack.
The battle, which had shown glimpses of intelligence moments ago, was becoming increasingly primal.
What had been a coordinated attack by individual entities with their own minds now moved as if they were a single body.
Though they were seven, it felt like fighting a single dragon, yet they split into seven paths, blocking escape routes and forcing choices.
Clang──!
As Dalen twisted the spear thrust by Yongshin’s helmet with his holy sword, he glanced over the creature’s shoulder.
The boy was watching him.
A sharp fang glinted between his crookedly raised lips.
[Power that disregards one’s hierarchy and touches divinity. The strength to withstand my servants’ combined assault without a domain.]
A forked tongue licked his lips.
[I must personally step in to glimpse the scenery beyond your mind.]
A red ripple spread slowly from his step.
As the vortex in the sky resonated with the red ripple beneath his feet, the forms of the seven great dragons, including him, melted away.
Dalen instinctively looked up.
Beneath the blazing red currents of the Great Dragon War, a small dot hovered high in the sky.
”······.”
The small dot was Yongshin. The ashen boy floated in the air as if it were the most natural thing.
Unlike before, his pale body was now adorned with a myriad of colorful armaments.
A dark breastplate, sleek greaves, and helmet. A spiked shoulder guard firmly secured, a cloak embroidered with thousands of magical formations.
Black flames flickered between his slightly parted lips, and the murderous aura emanating from his white sword even made Dalen’s body tense.
Grit.
He bit the inside of his mouth with a trembling jaw. The warm taste of blood trickled down his lips, snapping him back to reality.
Dalen lightly leaped up to meet Yongshin’s gaze. The boy smiled and spoke.
“Those dragon names were a bit odd, turns out they’re like some kind of combining robot?”
[Combining… what?]
“Oh, right, you wouldn’t know. You outdated lizard.”
The boy’s brow furrowed slightly. He spoke.
[That was a dull joke.]
“That’s why they call you an old-fashioned lizard…”
[It seems you care for your comrades. Let’s see the limits of that nobility.]
Crrrrr—
The figure raised its sword.
As the blade traced a slow arc, the sky seemed to crumple like paper.
The sheer force gathered at the tip could, quite literally, obliterate a mountain range.
The moment she realized the sword was aimed at the entire headquarters of the Holy Knights, and at her comrades locked in battle with the dragon army in the center—
“Damn it…”
The white sword, lifted high and creasing the sky, swung down as if it were a mere wooden practice sword.
Crack━━━━━╋╋╋╋╋
The city was split in two.
Rumble.
The sound of destruction overhead. Sand and pebbles trickling down onto her face.
Sienna opened her eyes, coughing up the grit lodged in her throat.
“Cough! Cough!”
Am I alive? That was her first thought.
A quick check of her body revealed she was in better shape than expected. Then came the question of how.
‘First, a vortex appeared in the sky. Then the dragons suddenly grew stronger. And after that…’
As she pieced together her memories, her eyelashes trembled.
The last emotion she felt before losing consciousness was an overwhelming terror.
A boy had appeared beneath the crimson vortex that filled the sky, wielding a gleaming white sword.
Neither the spells unleashed by a thousand dragons nor the domains her comrades conjured to counter them could overshadow his presence.
’…Dragon God.’
One of the five heralds of the world’s end.
The master of the Great Dragon War, the dragons’ infernal battlefield.
The power gathered at the tip of his sword was enough to cleave through a mountain range.
With a single strike, he had sliced through the vast city like a cake, exposing the depths of the underground ruins hundreds of meters below.
A force beyond human comprehension, beyond even that of transcendents.
Yet, in her memory, someone had stood in the path of the Dragon God’s descending blade.
”…Dalen.”
Crash!
She summoned her magic, pushing away the debris that blocked her path.
Sharp stones tumbled down, scratching her arms and legs, but Sienna paid them no mind.
The sword strike had literally split the ground in two. Even for Dalen, surviving that seemed impossible.
“It can’t end like this… It just can’t.”
Images of the man flashed through her mind.
His back, always charging to the front lines without regard for his own life. Yet his eyes always seemed a step removed from the world.
She feared he would leave, but not like this.
He had danced on the edge of death countless times, but he couldn’t cross that line here.
Thud! Rumble!
Muttering frantically, she worked her magic and hands. She had already climbed several meters.
Then, a faint light seeped through the debris. It wasn’t from her spell.
[Come up.]
A voice pierced her ears.
Boom!
As her body was lifted into the air, the debris above her exploded away.
Bright light and fresh air hit her face. Sienna squinted against the glare, staggering to regain her balance.
If she wasn’t mistaken, the voice she heard was familiar.
So familiar, yet it had been a long time since she last heard it.
”…Bourbon?”
[Yes.]
A dragon with eyes of green and brown answered.
[I’ve come to fulfill our contract, Witch of the Feathers.]