Chapter 315 : Chapter 315
Chapter 315. Dragon Slayer (1)
Leviathan was falling.
Downward.
Ever downward.
In the Demon World, falling had never frightened him.
He was the ruler of the seas of the Demon World.
The abyss.
The sea of the Demon World.
A place where chaos swirled.
The pit into which souls consumed by envy fell—
that was Leviathan’s domain.
But this was not the Demon World.
He was plummeting toward the ground.
If he crashed into that solid earth, his entire body would be shattered.
-Grrr…!
Leviathan drew Magic Power into his tattered wings.
He could not fall like a fool.
Hiss!
The dragon’s wings began to regenerate at a rapid pace.
Feeling the muscles of the wing joint reconnect, Leviathan spread his wings to slow his descent.
Flap!
His massive body teetered precariously in midair.
He narrowly avoided crashing—but only for a moment.
-Kieee!
A griffin swooped down above the dragon as it spread its wings.
The eagle-like griffin’s feathers whipped violently in the wind.
Radel rose from the saddle and shouted,
“Closer!”
At Radel’s command, the griffin edged dangerously close, directly above the dragon.
Judging that this was enough, Radel launched himself.
Whooooo!
The violent air pressure drowned out his own voice, but as he fell, Radel chanted with all his strength.
“O wind!”
This was the opportunity they had all created together.
‘There will not be a second chance.’
He had to land on the dragon—no matter what.
Changing the wind’s direction again and again, Radel barely managed to fall onto the dragon’s back.
Thud!
He sprang up the instant he landed and broke into a run.
His target was the dragon’s wing.
-Insolent wretch!
Sensing Radel’s movement, Leviathan roared thunderously.
“Aaah!”
“Ghk!”
“O Supreme Deity!”
A roar laced with curses.
The humans on the ground clutched their ears, writhing in agony.
Bang!
Radel’s eardrums burst.
Blood flowed from his ears and nose, but he kept running.
Tap-tap-tap!
Radel’s mind was filled with a single thought.
‘The Path of the Sword.’
The advancement condition of Imperial Swordsmanship that had eluded him for so long.
No matter how many times he swung his blade, he had never understood it.
Thrusting, cutting, swinging.
Radel recalled the sensation he had felt when he first learned to face the sword.
Power.
To Radel, a sword was power.
The power to protect someone.
‘And the power to carry out one’s will!’
Clutching the kitchen knife, Radel kicked off Leviathan’s back and leapt.
The blade tip pierced precisely into the wing joint Shartea had torn open.
Rip!
The wound that had barely regenerated burst open once more.
-KRAAAH!
Leviathan screamed.
What dominated him now was blazing rage.
An Archdemon.
One who had obtained the body of a dragon, the strongest of all lifeforms.
And yet he was being wounded by such insignificant beings.
This could not be happening.
-Why?!
As Leviathan roared, the answer surfaced in his mind.
…The wings.
The wings were the problem.
Originally, Leviathan was a demon that dwelled in the abyss.
His nature was to drag souls down into the sea of chaos.
He did not need damned wings.
There had never been a need to fly.
-I was foolish.
His pupils twisted.
-To fear falling.
Leviathan stopped drawing Magic Power to heal his wounds.
He folded his remaining wing as well.
His body plummeted instantly.
At an uncontrollable, terrifying speed.
“Ghk!”
Radel clung desperately to the kitchen knife embedded in the wing joint.
The world spun violently.
Whooooo!
When he finally forced his eyes open, he saw the ground.
No—everything was black.
It was not land.
It was a sea.
Splash!
Radel plunged together with Leviathan into the depths below.
***
In the beginning, there was the Supreme Deity.
And He created life.
Lifeforms became aware of one another.
Emotions arose between them.
Astonishment, curiosity, affection, wariness, joy, sorrow, anger, pleasure…
Countless emotions appeared and vanished.
But some emotions did not fade with time.
They were heavy and viscous, and once trapped within them, escape was difficult.
Grief.
Despair.
Fear.
The Archdemon Leviathan fed upon them and grew.
Gurgle.
The pitch-black abyss.
Radel lay submerged, unconscious.
From the darkness, a sinister presence crawled up Radel’s ankles.
Slither.
-Despair.
Leviathan had no intention of killing Radel outright.
He would make him taste the most dreadful emotions.
The Archdemon of Envy.
The more humans were broken by desire, the stronger he became.
The illusion of being inferior to others.
The illusion that no matter how hard one tried, nothing would improve.
By endlessly comparing oneself to others and to oneself, one would ultimately fall into despair.
And in that despair, the soul would be corrupted.
-Despair at your dark future.
Leviathan intended to make Radel pay dearly for daring to oppose an Archdemon.
Powerlessness.
The gift Leviathan prepared for him was the pain of losing himself.
Once dragged into this abyss, there was no escape by one’s own will.
Radel would weaken, and Leviathan would grow stronger.
Leviathan’s voice echoed through the darkness.
-You can become nothing.
Because you are nothing.
Because you possess no true power.
Leviathan continued to whisper.
-You will die helplessly.
A being endlessly swayed by emotions, constantly comparing itself to others.
A weak existence imprisoned by insatiable desire.
That was what humans were.
The Eighth Prince was no different.
Slither.
The malevolent presence crept into Radel’s head.
He appeared to be completely engulfed by darkness, as though he had become one with the abyss.
Radel’s half-open eyes stared blankly into the darkness.
Two enormous pupils.
Leviathan’s eyes gazed at Radel from beyond the abyss.
Was it the overwhelming terror?
Radel’s arm trembled violently.
-Heh… Suffer more. Fear the great Leviathan!
Just as Leviathan’s laughter echoed through the darkness—
-Guh?!
Rip!
The sound of something tearing rang out.
***
Ding.
[The temptation of Archdemon Leviathan is invading the user’s mind.]
[Status Effect Nullification is activated.]
Ding.
[The curse of Archdemon Leviathan is invading the user’s mind.]
[Status Effect Nullification is activated.]
Amid the flood of warning sounds, Radel struggled to regain consciousness.
It seemed he had fallen into Leviathan’s domain…
The Status Window kept popping up, making it hard to see anything.
It was almost better to relax his eyes entirely.
‘It is incredibly noisy.’
The Status Window was loud enough, but Leviathan was talking far too much as well.
In any case, with his eardrums ruptured, he could not hear anything.
Ignoring the ringing, Radel focused on the sensation at his fingertips.
Within Leviathan’s lightless abyss.
Surrounded by darkness, all his senses were distorted.
But what he felt in his hand was real.
His hand was tightly gripping something.
It was undoubtedly the kitchen knife that had torn Leviathan’s wing.
‘Right. There is no way I would have let go of this.’
It was a custom-made knife commissioned directly from the dwarves.
A one-of-a-kind item.
Something he would never have dropped, even while unconscious.
Radel checked whether strength remained in the hand gripping the knife.
He did not need to know Leviathan’s exact position.
In the darkness, the Archdemon’s eyes glowed.
‘The Path of the Sword.’
He murmured inwardly.
Deep darkness where he could not even see his own body.
How far away Leviathan was.
How he could reach him.
None of it could be judged in this abyss.
Radel closed his eyes.
A sword appeared in his mind.
Before it stretched a rugged path.
Radel held the sword and looked at the road.
It was not straight—it twisted and bent erratically.
An unrefined-looking path.
Entering it would surely be arduous.
Yet for reasons he could not explain, he knew this was the right path.
Then he had to walk it.
He stepped onto the rough road, sword in hand.
And without hesitation, he ran.
‘If there is a path within my sword.’
Then at its end, let there be an enemy.
Rip!
The sensation of tearing.
Leviathan’s scream resounded.
When Radel opened his eyes, he was floating above the abyss, kitchen knife in hand.
The sky was dark.
Everything was silent.
Ding.
[The user’s body has been damaged.]
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, is activated.]
[Warning! Pain is surging.]
It was pain he had not felt within the abyss.
Along with it, Radel felt sensation slowly returning to his ears.
He rose to his feet.
Outside the abyss, Leviathan’s domain was no different from solid ground to him.
Standing atop the sea of the Demon World, he looked at Leviathan.
The dragon, one eye torn open, was thrashing violently.
Purple blood flowed from Leviathan’s eye.
He could not accept that a mere human had escaped his domain—
nor that he himself had been wounded.
-How can a wretched insect…?!
Stabbed by Radel’s blade, Leviathan roared from the abyss.
Crash!
As his rage surged, violent waves rose.
-You deserve to despair.
The waves of despair crashed over Radel.
Splash!
Yet when the water receded, Radel stood unharmed.
His expression was calm.
“Why should I despair?”
Radel asked the Archdemon.
Leviathan felt confusion at the sight of Radel staring back without fear.
-…This cannot be.
Hayden Reinhard Cretian.
The human mage who had humiliated him and sealed him away.
The Great Sage who had been more monstrous than any monster—
his image overlapped with Radel’s.
“Leviathan, is there a reason I must?”
Radel asked as he walked toward him.
One step. Then another.
With every step, Leviathan felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
-No. That man is dead.
No matter how great a sage he had been, he was human.
He had lived out his lifespan and returned to dust.
There could not be another like him.
And even if there were, Leviathan would kill him again.
He growled at the approaching Radel.
-Yes… Even if one exists, I will kill him again.
Leviathan drew up the dragon’s Magic Power.
-Burn.
Fwoosh!
Flames erupted across his domain.
The abyss became a sea of fire.
A blaze no ordinary human could ever extinguish.
Yet Radel kept walking, unperturbed.
Ding.
Ding.
The relentless chime of notifications.
Ding.
[The user’s body has been damaged.]
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, is activated.]
[Warning! Intense pain is surging!]
Troll’s Heart activated—
again and again.
Hiss!
Radel’s shoes melted.
Still, he continued forward.
His body regenerated without pause.
Excruciating pain.
But something mattered more than that.
Ding.
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, is reflecting the user’s will.]
[Trait, Troll’s Heart, is rapidly regenerating wounds.]
[Wounds are regenerating.]
[Stats are increasing.]
[Troll’s Heart (C) has been upgraded!]
“Tell me, Leviathan.”
Ignoring the notifications, Radel approached and asked,
“Why must I despair?”