Chapter 201 - 200 : Arise
Barbatos, in his full dragon form, now looked every bit the Dragon of Destruction his name implied.
His colossal black body coiled above the shattered cavern, wings spread wide enough to blot out the light. Each scale was edged with faint violet lines, as though molten energy pulsed beneath his hide. His claws dug into the rock, carving deep trenches with casual ease.
He raised his head toward the sky.
His roar tore through the air.
The ground shook. Distant trees rustled violently. Loose rocks tumbled down the mountainside. Even the clouds seemed to shiver and ripple from the sheer force of his voice.
Arthur stared up at him, breathing hard.
His left arm dangled uselessly at his side, broken bones throbbing with sharp, steady pain.
He reached into his inventory with his good hand.
He pulled out a healing potion—a small vial filled with glowing liquid—and downed it in one smooth motion.
The potion burned down his throat.
Heat spread through his body.
His broken arm started to realign itself, bones knitting together with incredible speed, muscles reconnecting, and skin tightening. Within seconds, the pain dulled and then vanished, replaced by a faint tingling sensation.
Arthur flexed his fingers experimentally.
"Looks like it’s not gonna be easy, huh..." Arthur muttered.
He suddenly felt a gaze on him.
Heavy.
Focused.
He turned his head.
High above, standing atop one of the branches of the World Tree, Astarte watched everything.
Her pure black eyes followed his every move. A small smile tugged at her lips, her posture relaxed—like someone watching a thrilling match rather than a life-or-death battle.
To Arthur, it felt like she was watching a football match between the Netherlands and Brazil—and she was absolutely overjoyed watching Neymar lose.
Arthur’s mouth twitched.
’Sick bitch,’ Arthur thought. ’I’ll get you back for this.’
From the forest below, new shadows rose into the air.
A flock of wyverns burst out from between the trees, their wings beating furiously. Answering Barbatos’s roar, they flew toward him before hovering around him in the sky, as though drawn under his command.
Seven of them.
They circled him briefly before turning their attention toward Arthur.
Wyverns were weaker than true dragons, but they were still dangerous.
They were smaller, leaner, and far more agile in the air. Their wings were narrower, built for speed, their bodies covered in duller scales of green, brown, and grey. Their tails ended in spikes or clubs, and their snouts were shorter, but they still possessed the ability to breathe fire—albeit far weaker than a true dragon’s breath.
The next second, Barbatos looked down at Arthur.
His voice echoed from his massive jaws.
"I’ll make sure to tear you apart limb from limb, boy," Barbatos said.
He flapped his massive wings once and launched himself higher into the sky, gaining a better vantage point.
Looking down at Arthur, he commanded the wyverns.
"Tear him apart," Barbatos ordered. "Just don’t give him an instant death."
The wyverns roared in response.
They dove.
All seven wyverns spread out, hovering around Arthur in a loose circle, surrounding him and cutting off every obvious escape route.
Barbatos watched from above, his eyes never leaving Arthur.
To get the egg back, he needed the boy alive—at least for a while. The wyverns should have been enough to handle the job. He had already learned that Arthur was no ordinary opponent; getting angry would accomplish nothing.
This needed to be handled calmly.
’Let the wyverns tire him out,’ Barbatos thought coldly. ’No matter how extraordinary he is, he has limited stamina and mana. Once he’s exhausted, finishing him will be a piece of cake.’
The system’s voice came quietly.
[ Well, we are surrounded now, Host. ]
Arthur rolled his shoulder.
"It’s also an opportunity for us," Arthur said under his breath.
All seven wyverns opened their mouths at the same time.
Fire gathered in their throats—orange and red, pulsing with heat.
They breathed.
Seven streams of fire shot toward Arthur from different directions, converging where he stood. It was a coordinated attack meant to leave no room for escape.
Arthur’s eyes glowed faintly.
Foresight.
He saw it two seconds before it happened—the exact angles, the gaps, and the safe zones between the flames.
He moved before the breath even left their mouths.
He slipped between the converging streams of fire with precise steps, the flames grazing past him but never quite touching him. Heat licked at his clothes, but no burn marks formed.
In the same motion, he turned and sprinted toward the forest.
Barbatos’s eyes narrowed.
"Don’t let him get away!" Barbatos roared.
The wyverns screeched in response, their wings beating fiercely as they shot after Arthur, flames trailing behind some of them as they closed in.
Arthur smiled.
’Good... come closer,’ Arthur thought.
Just as he reached the tree line, instead of plunging into the forest, he stopped suddenly and spun around.
His crimson eyes flashed.
Behind him, hundreds of blood spears materialized, hovering in the air like a crimson storm.
He thrust his hand forward.
The spears shot outward, screaming through the air toward the onrushing wyverns.
The wyverns reacted quickly.
Some breathed fire to destroy the incoming projectiles, burning several spears to ash. Others twisted their bodies midair, dodging as many as they could. Their agility kept most of them from being directly skewered—
But not all.
Two of the wyverns, unable to dodge in time, were impaled.
Spears punched through their chests and wings, tearing flesh and bone apart. Their screeches turned into choked cries as their bodies went limp and dropped from the sky like kites with cut strings.
They hit the ground with heavy thuds.
Dead.
The surviving wyverns roared in fury, their cries echoing across the battlefield as though mourning their fallen kin.
Arthur didn’t let the opening go to waste.
The Desert Eagle still in his hand, he raised the pistol and fired.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Five shots.
Each bullet found its mark.
Each bullet pierced a wyvern’s skull—
One between the eyes.
One beneath the jaw.
One through the temple.
One through the back of the head.
One straight through an open maw.
One by one, the remaining wyverns dropped from the sky, lifeless, crashing into the ground with dull, final impacts.
Notifications flickered through Arthur’s mind.
[ Remaining Mana: 530,000 ]
[ Remaining Mana: 531,000 ]
[ Remaining Mana: 532,000 ]
His Mana Heart continued to hum, slowly replenishing the mana he had spent.
Barbatos watched his flock fall.
He scoffed.
"Useless lowborns," Barbatos said. "They can’t even do one job properly."
His wings beat once, stirring the air violently.
"Looks like I’ll have to step in after all," Barbatos said.
Far away, Astarte was impressed.
She watched from her perch atop the World Tree as Arthur handled the wyverns with ruthless efficiency, a hint of surprise flickering in her eyes.
"Not bad," Astarte murmured.
Then her eyes narrowed.
Arthur was walking toward the wyverns’ corpses.
Barbatos noticed it as well.
His brows furrowed.
’What is he going to do...?’ Barbatos thought.
Whatever it was, he had a bad feeling.
He needed to stop it.
Now.
This was the perfect chance.
Arthur was walking casually across the battlefield, seemingly relaxed, his back partially exposed.
A perfect target.
"Time to end this," Barbatos said.
Mana surged around his gigantic body, swirling like a storm. He inhaled deeply.
Black fire gathered inside his mouth.
Not ordinary flames.
A fire made of pure darkness, thick and heavy, swirling like liquid night. It crackled with malevolent energy, devouring the light around it. This was not a flame that died once it burned out—it continued burning until its user willed it to stop.
Command of Netherflames.
The talent Barbatos had been born with.
A power that even dragons of his own lineage envied.
He only needed to burn off Arthur’s limbs, leaving him barely alive.
Victory would be his.
The flames grew thicker.
Dark.
Terrifying.
Arthur stood before the wyverns’ corpses, watching the massive dragon charge his attack.
"Emotions have no place on the battlefield," Arthur said quietly.
The system’s voice crackled in his mind.
[ Host, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re about to get roasted alive at this rate. ]
Arthur’s lips curled into a faint smile.
"Don’t worry," Arthur said. "Nothing’s gonna happen."
He lifted his gaze toward the World Tree, meeting Astarte’s distant eyes.
His lips moved.
No sound.
But Astarte saw it, her curiosity piqued even further.
Barbatos unleashed his flames.
A pillar of black fire erupted from his mouth, surging downward like a torrent of night, aimed straight at Arthur. The heat distorted the air, burning everything in its path and scorching stone into molten puddles.
It was about to swallow Arthur whole—
BOOM.
The flames slammed into a massive barrier that appeared around Arthur in an instant.
A barrier made of pure darkness.
Not Barbatos’s.
The darkness shuddered before beginning to swallow the black fire bit by bit, devouring the Netherflames like a bottomless void and stripping them of their destructive power.
Arthur smiled from within the barrier.
"I knew it," Arthur said. "She really wants to see what I can do."
As the last of the flames were absorbed, Arthur’s eyes gleamed.
"Alright," Arthur said. "Now it’s my turn."
He took a breath.
"System," Arthur said in his mind, "activate the Shadow System. I’m itching to try it out."
A cold, mechanical chime echoed through his mind.
════════════════════════════
DING!
════════════════════════════
[ Shadow System has been activated. ]
[ New User Confirmed... ]
Name: Arthur Celestian
[ Compatibility Analysis Complete... ]
[ Shadow Affinity has been successfully acquired. ]
[ Shadow Element synchronized with the user’s mana. ]
[ Maximum Shadow Summons: 10 ]
[ Final Configuration Required... ]
[ SET A KEYWORD FOR THE EXTRACTION PROCESS TO ACTIVATE. ]
════════════════════════════
Arthur silently read each notification.
A faint smile spread across his face.
His crimson eyes glowed with anticipation.
Without a hint of hesitation, he spoke a single word, the one most fitting for this moment.
"ARISE."
════════════════════════════
[ Extraction Keyword Registered Successfully. ]
[ Keyword: "ARISE" ]
[ Shadow Extraction Process bound to User Arthur Celestian. ]
[ Initialization Complete. ]
════════════════════════════
The next second, the wyverns’ corpses stirred.
Their shadows rose from the ground—inky silhouettes peeling away from broken flesh. The shadows twisted and stretched, taking form before Arthur.
One after another, dark wyvern figures emerged—
Their eyes glowing with an eerie light—
Waiting for their new king’s command.