Chapter 126
Chapter 126
Dragon Slayer
“Now–”
From atop a cliff somewhere, Bailey sat with her legs crossed and her chin resting on her hand, smiling as she looked down at the ground below.
What entered her view was Aiden, standing against a dragon.
A deep smile lingered across her face as she watched him.
“Shall we take a look? I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of spectacle he’d show this time—”
Just as Bailey was about to finish her murmur, her head was violently snapped backward.
…Because someone had suddenly flown in from the side and driven a fierce kick straight into her jaw.
“I told you to cut that crap, you senile bastard whose brain’s already rotted out!”
“….”
“And why the hell are you in a female form again, you creepy freak?!”
“….”
It was probably the first time she had heard such profanity at this altitude.
As Bailey reflected on that with mild detachment, she turned her gaze toward the one who had knocked her down.
It was Elisha, her entire face flushed red as she fumed.
“…First of all, we’re mental lifeforms. You should already know that gender distinctions don’t really mean anything for us.”
Bailey let out a long sigh before continuing.
“And what exactly do you think you’re doing? You said you’d let me handle things however I wanted during this ‘Ritual.’”
“Even so, why a dragon of all things?! Is that something he’s supposed to be dealing with at his current level?!”
“It’s only a half-breed that can’t even use miracles. Aiden should be able to defeat something like that. Though, of course, the risk factor will be quite high.”
…Bailey’s jaw was kicked again, her head snapping sharply to the side.
This time, her neck nearly twisted to a truly dangerous angle.
“And what if he ends up dying because of that?!”
“…I really think you should work on that habit of resorting to violence first.”
“It was my foot, not my hand.”
“….”
Suppressing the headache that was steadily beginning to throb, Bailey spoke again.
“Then that would simply be the end of it.”
Of course, the words leaving her mouth were utterly merciless.
“For both you and me, the reason we’re interested in him is ultimately because of that ‘potential,’ isn’t it?”
“….”
Elisha folded her arms with a dissatisfied expression, tapping her fingers against her sleeve.
Still, she did not seem able to refute Bailey’s words.
“To those you guide, and to those I guide, he is someone who could become a source of hope. For that sake, both you and I would be willing to offer him anything—”
Her deeply sunken gaze shifted toward Aiden, who was charging at the dragon.
“But first, he must clearly prove what kind of capability he possesses as an ‘Omnipotent One,’ and how far he can truly evolve.”
“…So what exactly are you trying to see?”
“An attribute.”
Bailey grinned.
“The attribute of Indomitability.”
“Even if any kind of adversity were to come crashing down in any situation, the will to break through it, the ability to carry it out, and the skill to turn it into results. Those are the things I wanted to see from him.”
He had already shown it several times, but even so, it was still just a little lacking to reach the line she had drawn.
So, if—
If that man could display such things all the way to the end of this Ritual, which Bailey herself had interfered with and twisted into a complete mess—
“Then I should give him a reward.”
Offering compensation for his efforts would be the utmost sincerity Bailey could show.
He would likely be given something he had never experienced in his life before, something beyond even what he could imagine…….
“…….”
…As she was thinking that, her jaw snapped to the side yet again.
It was weaker than before, but even so, it was a blow powerful enough to have killed an ordinary person dozens of times over.
“…What was that for?”
“The way you talk is creepy. It makes me uncomfortable.”
“…If you had the chance, you’d do the same as me, wouldn’t you? You need that man just as much as I do.”
“Yeah. That’s why it makes me even more uncomfortable.”
“…….”
“I want to be the only one.”
…Bailey’s headache was reaching its absolute limit.
▣
Even as he charged straight toward the dragon’s breath that was about to pour down on him, Aiden’s mind remained frighteningly calm.
As I’ve said several times, there’s a reason people talk about dragon scales. Even if I’ve decided to take down this dragon, trying to beat it with simple attacks would be nothing short of foolish.
Therefore, to fight wisely, I absolutely had to aim for a vital point.
And what I was about to do now was, in the end, for that very purpose.
“…!”
As a human being, it would be absurd not to feel tension with an attack before me that could split even a mountain apart.
But instead of stiffening from that tension, he advanced forward as if it were something familiar. Seeing that, one might well click their tongue and wonder just what the nerves of the Knight of Dawn were made of.
The first thing that unfolded before his eyes as he rushed toward the dragon’s breath was a divine barrier formed by gathering the Pontiff’s remaining strength in its entirety.
‘…It’s thick!’
It was absurdly thick.
Shaped to perfectly envelop Aiden’s body and concentrated to maximize every possible defensive capability, the barrier seemed to shout at the top of its lungs that deflecting the dragon’s breath earlier had been no fluke.
And following behind it was a reinforcing layer formed once more through Morrigan’s mana. It was not as monstrously thick as the Pontiff’s barrier, but even so, it still felt more than reliable.
I suppose it would be fair to say I’d received every bit of support I could possibly get.
Even so, not even that could perfectly defend against the breath of destruction gathering right before me.
Cracks spread with sharp snaps, and through those fissures lumps of mana forced their way in. It was clear that, in the next instant, I would be engulfed head-on.
Which meant it was time to cash in the ‘insurance’ I had been saving.
-System Message
▶ You have acquired ‘Qi Operation: Regeneration Enhancement.’
▶ You have acquired ‘Qi Operation: Hardening Enhancement.’
▶ You have acquired ‘Qi Operation: Resistance Enhancement.’
They were the Skill Copy Tickets Noel still had left.
In terms of efficiency, they were hardly what one would call extraordinary skills. But at the very least, in a situation like this—where I was about to be exposed to a strike so overwhelming it could kill me instantly—there were few skills more helpful than these.
And on top of that.
-System Message
▶ Activating ‘Skill: Beastification.’
▶ Activating ‘Skill: Primal Power.’
As I forced all of that into my body at once, I felt a monstrous strength take root within me—something that couldn’t even be compared to before.
It was only momentary, but it felt like I could follow, step for step, the abilities of a superhuman who played in the top tier.
And because I had that—
“…Hup!”
With nothing more than a short shout—
I leapt toward the dragon’s breath.
“Hey, heeeyaaaaa—!”
Katya’s scream burst out as she watched from the side, and the mouths of Morrigan and the Pontiff—who had erected the barrier in front of me at my instruction—fell wide open.
“W-wait a second! What in the world is he doing—?!”
“You crazy bastard—!!”
“…….”
While Morrigan stood there, momentarily dumbfounded by the far more explosive reactions erupting around her, the Pontiff and Katya were already charging toward me at the same time.
…Should I say that the similarity in their reactions was proof that like mother, like daughter?
In any case.
If one were a transcendent who had reached a higher realm, responding to something like that would be possible. The Pontiff right beside us had just deflected the dragon’s breath with his own power, hadn’t he?
But no matter how remarkable a transcendent might be, no one would think of charging in while ‘taking it head-on.’ Normally, you would evade and attack from another angle!
The risk was far too great. Even the Pontiff himself could not be certain of survival if he took the full force of that with his bare body!
Even so.
I endured the breath of death pouring down right in front of me.
-System Message
▶ You are affected by ‘Skill: Sanctified Body.’
▶ You are affected by ‘Flame of Regeneration.’
With my elevated base specs, I forced my way through it somehow, clinging to my consciousness just before it slipped away.
In other words, it was like walking a tightrope at a level where the slightest misstep would mean instant death, performed second by second. If I lost consciousness even for a moment here, I would die.
My burning body repeated regeneration and destruction like madness.
It felt as though even my lungs and throat were on fire. As if my breath had been cut off midway, my lungs wrung dry.
I opened my mouth, but the breath was hollow. I couldn’t draw in air. My body was dying. A terrifying pressure crushed my chest.
And yet.
I kept moving forward.
By sensation alone, it would not have been an exaggeration to say I was dying several times per second.
But even while doing something so insane.
In the end, I achieved what I wanted.
I barely landed my mangled body inside the dragon’s ‘mouth.’
-……?
The dragon’s eyes went blank for a split second.
It seemed it had only just managed to register that this human had pierced through its breath and entered its gaping maw.
And.
The best part about doing something no one could possibly imagine—
Was that even the mightiest magical lifeform, spoken of as the ruler of the Old Continent, could not possibly temper its own ‘vital point.’
“……Haa.”
I grabbed my trembling arm and circulated Aether close to my body.
Planting my feet on its slick tongue, I steadied my stance.
Toward ‘upward.’
-……?!
Only then did the dragon sense danger and open its mouth wider, trying to take some kind of action. I didn’t know what it intended to do, but it clearly understood, deep down, that the human inside its mouth was extremely dangerous.
But.
It was already too late.
Aether reshaped into the form of a ‘lance.’
Then Guardian’s Flame was placed inside a chamber I had separately formed within the lance. It was a supernatural ability that would serve as the projectile.
It was a strike etched into memory.
An attack so powerful that even the Pontiff had blanched at its might.
-System Message
▶ A supernatural ability has been imbued into ‘Equipment: Aether.’ The weapon’s power increases.
▶ The imbued supernatural ability is amplified by the effect of ‘Equipment: Aether.’
▶ The power of the released supernatural ability is amplified by the effect of ‘Equipment: Aether.’
And then.
With a faint smirk, I drove the lance-formed Aether straight into the dragon’s ‘palate.’
“Take one yourself.”
Ah, come to think of it.
Even the technique’s name was perfectly fitting.
-Dragonic Burst
From the tip of the spear, a supernatural force that felt like an explosion pierced straight through the dragon’s ‘palate.’
Beyond that—
It tore straight through the ‘brain,’ the vital point that no creature could ever temper.
-…….
Without even time to let out a sorrowful scream, the dragon’s body tilted.
Soon after, its massive frame crashed into the ground with a thunderous roar.
There was no need to appraise it. It was unmistakably an instant death.
A human.
Had felled a dragon in a single blow.
By piercing straight through its breath and destroying its ‘brain.’
It was undoubtedly a feat no legendary dragon slayer had ever accomplished.
“…….”
“…….”
From afar, Katya and Morrigan—even the Pontiff—stared at the scene with their mouths hanging open.
“…So if you keep doing insane things long enough, you can reach that realm.”
“…….”
“…Even the Knight of Dawn probably wouldn’t have thought of that method.”
The Pontiff muttered blankly.
…Considering that Meyer would have absolutely agreed had he been here, it was a rather fitting reaction.