Ch.117Draig Goch (1)

The Red Dragon suddenly took flight.

Regardless of whether its scales were being stripped away by the fierce attacks of the White-ranked adventurers and knights, the Red Dragon spread its wings wide and soared into the sky. As if it had been waiting for this moment all along.

“…!”

Najin, who had been dismantling the White Dragon’s wing, widened his eyes. A chill ran down his spine. His instincts were sounding an alarm, and Najin knew that following his instincts in situations like this was generally the right choice.

Crack! Crunch!

Najin twisted his sword clockwise, which was deeply embedded in the White Dragon’s wing joint. The flesh tore, revealing the White Dragon’s snow-white bones that ground away with a “crunch!” sound.

『———————!』

The White Dragon writhed in agony, but with one wing immobilized, it couldn’t maintain balance. The dragon’s struggle only slowed its fall slightly, but… that was enough for Najin.

Slash!

He pulled his sword out from the wing joint.

Between the fountain of spurting blood, Najin threw himself forward. Sliding behind the White Dragon’s wing, he thrust his sword in once more. Hanging from the hilt, Najin concealed himself behind the White Dragon’s wing.

That judgment proved correct.

Because the ascending Red Dragon spewed flames from its widely opened maw. Dragon’s Breath, the exclusive property of dragonkind. Flames said to possess the power equivalent to at least a 6th circle spell erupted from the Red Dragon’s mouth.

Heat, hot wind, and surging flames.

The Red Dragon unhesitatingly breathed fire toward the White Dragon. It was attacking its other half, its own kind. Najin couldn’t understand why, but recognizing the situation took priority over understanding it.

Whoooooosh!

Najin crouched behind the White Dragon’s wing.

The flames would have surely melted him if he’d been exposed directly. But because the White Dragon filtered the flames once, he could barely endure it. The heat penetrating through the wing scorched Najin’s skin with a sizzling sound.

The White Dragon’s screaming wail.

The sound of the White Dragon’s skin burning.

The flames caught on the wounds Najin had inflicted. While the White Dragon’s scales could withstand fire, the flames flowing through the gaps Najin had forcibly torn open were burning the White Dragon.

-What… is this? Why?

Merlin’s confused voice could be heard.

A situation even she hadn’t anticipated.

Najin realized something had gone wrong. From now on, he needed to trust his instincts. He moved as his senses warned him.

‘The Red Dragon isn’t targeting me.’

It was targeting the White Dragon. Not me, but the White Dragon.

If that’s the case, this won’t end with just the Breath. The flames would only eat away at the White Dragon, not finish it off. Something else was coming. What would come next? The flames were fading.

Using his body’s momentum, Najin changed his posture. He stood upright on the White Dragon’s back, which still retained residual heat. The soles of his shoes were melting just from the remaining heat of the dying flames, but he had no time to worry about that. With wide eyes, Najin looked beyond the rising heat haze.

‘This is insane.’

And Najin saw it.

The Red Dragon charging toward the White Dragon with its jaws wide open. Closing the distance in an instant, the Red Dragon stretched its claws forward. It grabbed the White Dragon’s neck, which was still disoriented from the Breath.

And then, crunch.

The Red Dragon bit into the White Dragon’s neck. Dragon teeth shattered dragon scales. Scales scattered and blood spurted. As the White Dragon began to writhe in pain…

Swoooosh!

The Red Dragon descended while biting the White Dragon’s neck.

It began diving toward the ground, flapping its two intact wings. At this rate, they would crash into the ground. No matter how skilled a Sword Seeker he was, falling from this height at such speed would break his bones and kill him.

“Tsk.”

Najin clicked his tongue.

He couldn’t understand the situation, but he had to act.

Clank.

Najin threw his extended chain toward the Red Dragon. The chain caught on the Red Dragon’s arm, which was distracted with the White Dragon. After testing the chain’s tension with a pull, Najin began running across the White Dragon’s back.

As they plummeted toward the ground, facing the headwind with his body, Najin pulled on the chain as he ran. Kicking off the White Dragon’s back, he jumped up onto the Red Dragon’s head.

‘I don’t know why they’re suddenly tearing at each other,’

Najin gripped his sword in reverse.

‘But I was planning to bring you down next anyway.’

He plunged his sword into the Red Dragon’s neck.

Gripping the firmly embedded sword, Najin braced for impact. Finally, the entangled White and Red Dragons crashed into the ground. With a thunderous boom, mounds of dirt flew upward.

2.

Boom, BOOM, BOOOOM!

The two dragons that had plummeted headfirst into the ground slid along, tearing up the earth. Dirt mounds flew up, and collapsed stone pillars shattered into pieces. The impact shook the ground, causing the standing knights to fall.

“Fall back!”

“Retreat, retreat!”

Knights in the dragons’ path shouted and began running. Those who had fallen and couldn’t escape were helped to retreat by White-ranked adventurers. The giant crossbows they had set up on the ground were smashed when they collided with the dragons’ bodies.

CRASH!

By the time the two dragons finally stopped sliding, a sound could be heard through the dust cloud that had risen to the sky. Crunch, crack… it was the sound of a beast tearing into its prey.

“What…?”

“What is that…?”

The subjugation team couldn’t hide their shock at what was revealed as the dust settled. What entered their vision was the Red Dragon biting into the White Dragon’s neck, devouring its flesh and blood.

The Red and White Dragons. Weren’t they supposed to be a pair? There were no records anywhere of them fighting each other like this. Rather, there were only abundant records of them moving to protect each other.

This sudden turn of events.

As confusion spread through the subjugation team, they suddenly noticed the Red Dragon’s eyes. Eyes swirling with red. Terrifyingly ominous eyes. The eyes of the dragon biting into its kin’s neck and swallowing its blood were bizarre.

“…holy shit.”

Only one person recognized those eyes.

Only Roseline Askarlo, with her red eyes that matched exactly those swirling dragon eyes. She felt an ominous premonition. The witch’s soul that formed half of her own was trembling.

And then.

The anomaly occurred.

Boom.

Najin, who was mounted on the Red Dragon’s neck, was the first to sense the anomaly. As he was about to swing his sword to sever the Red Dragon’s neck while it was distracted with the White Dragon, his body suddenly stiffened.

A massive and ominous presence.

An incomprehensible, enormous presence pressed down on the area. The entire subjugation team, including knights and White-ranked adventurers, froze. Only Najin was free from the pressure. Najin had experienced ‘this’ kind of pressure before.

His first encounter with Merlin.

The scenery Merlin had shown him.

Back then, Najin had experienced exactly the same sensation. Freed from the restraint, Najin immediately raised his head. Reflexively looking at the sky. In the vast night sky was the source of this massive presence.

A void situated among countless stars.

In that pitch-black place where normally nothing could be seen… a star had appeared. Though Najin had been looking at the night sky every day since escaping the underground city, this was the first time he had encountered this star.

A star that shouldn’t be visible.

A star that shouldn’t exist.

A broken star outside the laws of providence.

It was different from ordinary stars. Unlike stars that shone with platinum light, this one was red. A constellation glowing with dark red light had taken its place in the void. And, like Arthur, this constellation was composed of thirteen stars.

-Witch…?

Merlin’s confused voice echoed in Najin’s ears. Merlin’s eyes were trembling. Only then could Najin understand what that constellation was.

The Malevolent Star, the Star of Camlann.

The constellation of the Witch of Abyss.

The most feared constellation that had brought down countless stars and ended the lives of many great heroes. That constellation scattered an ominous light. One flicker. A moment of light. The constellation that appeared for just a brief, fleeting moment soon disappeared into darkness.

But the light it had scattered remained.

『■■, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!』

The Red Dragon roared. An incomprehensible, sooty voice echoed throughout the area. With the roar came a pressure that lifted Najin’s body into the air. Falling from the Red Dragon’s body and rolling on the ground, Najin raised his head.

Crack, tear… crunch.

The Red Dragon’s eyes, swirling with red, glowed ominously. After breaking the White Dragon’s neck, the Red Dragon tore open its flesh with its claws. It crushed the White Dragon’s ribs and extracted the pulsating dragon heart from within.

Then, chomp.

The Red Dragon chewed and swallowed the White Dragon’s heart.

At that moment, the Red Dragon’s body underwent a dramatic transformation. The sound of bones twisting. The sound of muscles tearing and growing massive. Amidst these grotesque noises, the Red Dragon’s skeleton changed and its size became enormous.

Crack, crackcrackcrack!

More scales sprouted, its wings grew even larger, and the creature’s very nature ascended to a higher level. All of this happened in an instant.

The ascension of nature. From incomplete to complete.

The dragon that was originally one but split into two became complete by devouring the remaining half. As the White Dragon, robbed of its heart, collapsed, the Red Dragon’s head turned. The gaze from its blood-dripping maw turned toward Najin.

The White Dragon was dead.

And, closest to the now-complete dragon was Najin. The moment it saw the white and gold constellation wrapped around Najin’s sword, the Red Dragon’s pupils dilated.

White and gold. Platinum. Star.

The reverse scale of dragons.

With a roar, the Red Dragon charged at Najin.

3.

The ground shook as the Red Dragon struck the earth. With wings spread wide, the Red Dragon charged toward Najin. A charge utilizing its massive body to the fullest. Najin gasped at the sight of the Red Dragon using its mass itself as a weapon.

There was no time to fall into confusion.

Najin’s mind raced quickly. There was nowhere to dodge. He had to either withstand or deflect that charge. A constellation wrapped around Najin’s sword. The compressed sword energy scattered light. Just as Najin was about to swing his sword…

The Red Dragon slammed its limbs into the ground.

Then, it pivoted. Without reducing its charging momentum, the Red Dragon made a half-rotation in place. Kicking up mounds of dirt, the Red Dragon’s tail whipped around like a lash.

CRACKCRACKCRACK!

The dragon’s tail, tearing through the ground and cutting through the air. Najin swung his sword toward the tail approaching with terrifying speed. And, at the moment of collision, Najin had to recall a passage from history.

『A dragon’s tail can shatter even the mightiest castle walls. Before the beast of the sky, all that humans have built is utterly meaningless.』

Najin’s body was lifted into the air. The fingers gripping his sword broke with a crack. He tried to rely on the repulsive force of his sword energy, but the resistance of the dragon’s scales disrupted the energy, making even that impossible.

“Kuh, ack!”

The impact overwhelmed him. Bones twisted and muscles tore. When the tail, whipped around like a lash, completed its arc and lightly flicked its tip, Najin’s body was shot like an arrow.

Boom, BOOM. Boom!

Rolling through and shattering the collapsed stone pillars, Najin was buried in the debris. A single strike. This was the result of allowing just one hit. His head, which had collided with a stone pillar, was cracked and bleeding. Blood flowing from his forehead turned Najin’s vision red.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The subjugation team shouted something, but their voices didn’t reach Najin’s ears. Only a ringing sound, “piiiiing,” resonated in his eardrums.

Crunch.

Najin gritted his teeth and raised his body. His head felt heavy. His vision swayed. Wiping away the blood flowing from his forehead with the back of his hand, Najin exhaled.

‘Merlin. Can you hear me?’

-…Yes.

Merlin’s voice could be heard. It wasn’t a voice heard through his eardrums, but a resonance of the soul. Regulating his breathing, Najin raised his sword. Perhaps because his fingers were broken, his right hand holding the sword trembled.

Crack, crackcrackcrack!

He wrapped his left hand around his right hand holding the sword. Was it the sound of bones breaking, or the sound of them being set? He couldn’t tell. But at least his hand no longer trembled.

Najin raised his head.

There stood the dragon.

The Red Dragon, Draig Goch.

Glaring at the dragon that had reached completion, Najin stepped out from the rubble. Toward the dragon that was roaring at the sky and shaking the earth, Najin took another step forward.

“That lizard bastard.”

Najin spat out.

“I’m definitely going to catch and punish it.”

Well, how could obtaining a star ever be easy?

This much challenge is probably necessary to achieve a great feat.

Brushing back his blood-dripping hair, Najin took his stance.