38 – Struggle

[Item, ‘Dragon Slayer’s Millennium Armor (S+)’ is equipped.]

There was no magical girl transformation sequence with light swirling around and clothes materializing.

In the blink of an eye, Derkael’s Immortality had changed into the newly acquired armor.

As an SS-rank item, the Dragon Slayer’s Millennium Armor boasted overwhelming performance.

After all, only a tiny fraction of people possessed SS-rank skills, weapons, or artifacts.

Anyway, the effects included physical resistance, elemental resistance, mental interference resistance, attack power boost, increased fire attribute attack power, increased mana manipulation proficiency, and so on.

There were a ton.

And among them, the most outstanding were the ‘Dragon Slayer’ trait and ‘Karmic Justice.’

A massive boost to attack power against dragons and a massive boost to attack power against evil attributes.

And the guy included both.

The boost was doubled.

Moreover.

[Skill, ‘Sacred Haze (S)’ and ‘Dragon Slayer’s Millennium Armor (S+)’, title ‘The One Who Lulled the Divine Beast’ are linked.]

[Light attribute-related abilities are greatly increased.]

[One of the special ability unlock conditions for the equipment has been met.]

One by one.

Synergies meshed.

[The equipment’s ability greatly reduces the side effects of the epithet, ‘Sword Demon’.]

[Skill, ‘Hver’s Evil Eye (A)’ and ‘Northern Demon Swordsmanship (A+)’ are linked, greatly increasing mana.]

[One of the special ability unlock conditions for the equipment has been met.]

[All unlock conditions have been met.]

As if the armor existed for me.

[Skill, ‘Dragonkin Who Hates Dragons (S+)’ has been unlocked.]

[A certain level of stats has been exceeded. Hunter ranking has increased from 21 to 20.]

[Stats are temporarily greatly increased.]

“Feeling great.”

From the back, which was completely exposed due to the armor’s design, huge wings sprouted.

And on both sides of the head, two stylish horns grew.

The blonde hair was dyed silver.

Although the wings were newly formed, I knew how to use them.

As I spread those wings wide and soared into the sky.

[Constellation, ‘Moon-Cleaving Flash’ bestows skill, ‘Leadership Qualities (A+)’ as a bonus.]

[This is a passive skill. The stats of nearby ‘allies’ are increased.]

I drew the Immortal Longsword.

A torrent of mana enveloped the longsword, exuding a tremendous sense of pressure.

[Constellation, ‘Moon-Cleaving Flash’ advises that you currently possess power comparable to Rozettel.]

[Constellation, ‘Moon-Cleaving Flash’ says that you have the most mana here.]

As if expecting this.

I smiled faintly at the Constellation’s explanation and prepared for battle.

Seeing that, my companions, who had been momentarily stiffened behind me, also prepared for battle.

-Kuhahaha! Now this is a fight worth having!

The guy shouted, spreading his wings of the abyss.

Undeterred by that, Ha-yeon also began to fly.

“Exorcising Sword.”

The battle began.

A sacred aura flowed from the sword.

A unique swordsmanship born from the newly acquired ‘power to suppress evil’ and Northern Demon Swordsmanship.

It was a bit strange that someone with the epithet Sword Demon was using an Exorcising Sword, but good is good.

Anyway, Duke deflected the breath the guy shot with Ascalon, and in the gap created, Ha-yeon unleashed a slash.

‘Wow… insane.’

Having ascended to Dragonkin, the already abundant amount of mana had become even greater, yet an enormous amount of mana was still being drained.

Thinking that this concept of ‘Exorcising’ was a higher concept than expected, Ha-yeon continued to insert slashes in response to the incoming attacks.

“Sun Flame.”

Ultra-high-temperature flames poured down from the sky.

With nearly divine control, the flames never touched allies, only reliably incinerating the enemy.

-Pathetic!

Even so, it wasn’t enough to inflict fatal wounds.

‘Where’s Kaede…’

She had already left to eliminate all the Monsters around.

Kaede’s attribute was ‘Darkness.’

It was clear that it wouldn’t be very effective against that guy, and it was also clear that the Knights and assassination squad alone had limitations in dealing with all the Monsters.

In that situation, her heading there was a good choice.

-Sword of Pitch-Black Calamity.

Just by saying that, a terrifyingly sharp blade of darkness was created right in front of where Ha-yeon was running.

“Something like this!”

Ha-yeon released mana.

Then, unlike Derkael’s Immortality, a bright blue light swirled around the cloak-like cloth that extended from her waist.

The Sacred Haze, which had only been white, turned sky blue for the first time as the amount of mana released exceeded the aura of light.

Bang!

That overwhelming mana shattered the sword blocking her path in an instant.

-Ugh!

The guy groaned, seemingly shocked by the shattering of the magic he was casting.

[Constellation, ‘Moon-Cleaving Flash’ advises to cut off the wings first.]

“I was thinking the same thing…!”

Ha-yeon said, dodging the incoming attacks.

Few could properly fight the guy who was flying high in the sky right now.

And the guy didn’t have legs, and it was practically a given that tearing off his wings would mean victory.

However, it was difficult to destroy the wings with long-range firepower, and the only way was for Ha-yeon to fly up and cut off the wings herself.

Knowing that, the others who could launch ranged attacks all aimed at the wings, covering her.

“Veronica!”

“Understood.”

At Ha-yeon’s words, Veronica instantly enveloped her sword in flames.

She infused the flames with mana and charged towards the guy, and although there were many attacks blocking her.

“Nowhere to go.”

Most of them were swept away by Veronica’s Hongyeom and Rozettel’s Flash.

Of course, both of them were breathing heavily, indicating that they were pushing themselves.

Not much left now.

“Exorcising Sword.”

-You!

Blood vessels appeared through the blazing flames.

All her blood.

An epithet that enhanced stats depending on the amount of blood, no matter how it was obtained.

This was the best shot.

She didn’t just infuse mana into the flames and the sword, but also frantically injected mana into her arms, waist, and everywhere that boosted strength.

And a huge slash aimed at the wings!

Kwaang!

A louder noise than before.

It was blocked by the barrier the guy hastily erected.

Pajik.

-….!!

Cracks began to appear in the barrier little by little.

-Get away!

Knowing that it would be dangerous if the barrier was breached, he desperately cast magic.

“Hey, our dealer lady is about to put in some damage, can you stop moving so much?”

Duke also unleashed a slash with Ascalon, which was infused with overwhelming mana.

As if seeing the future, he accurately attacked and destroyed the point where the magic was being created.

Well, that’s because he really was seeing the future.

‘Future Sight.’

The reason he was called the Black Magic Swordsman, a cheat skill that allowed him to see up to 10 seconds into the future.

He was called the Black Magic Swordsman because he had to consume his own blood every time he used it, which was considered ominous.

“Light Rail.”

Rozettel also joined in.

The torrent of massive mana destroyed the attacks that Duke had missed with its overwhelming quantity.

Jjeok.

And in the meantime, the barrier cracked even further.

Just a little more, just a little more and it could be broken.

‘The amount of mana is also running low.’

The mana, which had been like an ocean, was disappearing in an instant.

Not much left.

‘Just all at once!’

Ha-yeon accelerated the consumption of mana.

And as if inversely proportional to that, the output continued to increase.

Pang!

And the barrier shattered.

The sword of flames that broke through the barrier did not slow down and flew straight to the wings.

-Kuaaak!

It cut off the wings.

A huge darkness fell from the sky.

A huge roar and dust covered the surroundings, but even in that situation where visibility was not secured, Ha-yeon spread mana to check the surroundings.

“Ha…”

Mana was almost completely depleted.

It was already difficult to maintain the Dragonkin state.

But she couldn’t release it because she didn’t know what the situation was.

After a while, when the dust cleared and the guy’s figure was visible.

-Kuhahak!

The guy burst into laughter as if he had given up on everything.

The guy, who was a dragon without legs, was now almost like a serpent with his wings gone, and since most of the starting medium for that overwhelming magic seemed to be the wings, he probably couldn’t use it now that the wings were gone.

It was practically over.

If it were any other time, she would have just killed him without hesitation.

But something didn’t feel right now.

-I just needed to kill you all anyway. Especially you! You dare imitate our great dragon race, you Dragonkin!

“…Me?”

And he was saying it as if he had received a request from someone, what was going on?

“Just killing is the end?”

-Yes… Even if it costs me my life…

The guy said, closing his eyes.

At that moment.

“….!!”

All the mana around was sucked into the guy.

Even the little mana left in her body was sucked away, and Ha-yeon’s Dragonkin form disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground as a human.

-I’ll kill you all!

Suicide bombing.

That was probably it.

She had to kill him before that.

She tried to move with that thought, but her body wouldn’t move.

Side effects.

The price for using power that was overwhelmingly higher than her original strength.

‘Someone!’

The Hunters around her were also not moving easily, probably because their mana had been taken away.

Moreover, Veronica, who had the most mana, had used most of it during the cover fire earlier, and the Lord of Flame had been dispelled, and she was kneeling on the ground.

In that desperate situation.

“Looks like… I’m a little late.”

A certain bloodthirsty killer.

Cut off the guy’s neck.