Ch.927Mixer Punch

「 Breathing fire and flying through the sky…? That rune is no ordinary item! 」

Even if he seems a bit slow-witted, a dragon is still a dragon, I suppose.

Kudsedra was shocked the moment he saw me spewing karma flames, immediately recognizing it was thanks to rune magic.

“If you’re jealous, get one yourself!”

I shot upward into the sky, blasting even fiercer flames from my back. I needed to make sure his wide-open mouth, ready to breathe fire at any moment, was pointed at me rather than the castle walls.

– KWAOOOOO!

If I get hit, I’d just feel a bit hot, but the castle walls and ground couldn’t withstand his breath.

So to minimize damage, I needed to lure his head to face upward rather than downward.

「 Karrrr…! That firepower, how many insects did you grind up to achieve it?! 」

Kudsedra raised his head, watching me rocket into the sky.

“Dunno, man.”

After reaching an altitude equal to his, I abruptly changed direction at a right angle and charged straight at him.

「 And you claim to be humanity’s protector? Krr, Khah! Truly, this is absurd! 」

“What of it?”

From the way he’s talking, he seems to think I’m some crazed mass murderer… Well, if he knows the principles behind runes, I can see why he’d misunderstand.

To create powerful runes, countless humans must be sacrificed as living offerings.

To achieve output at the level of my rune, you’d need to massacre at least a city or two.

“Why is your tongue so long? Is it because you’re red?”

Of course, that’s none of my business. I simply acquired runes left behind by ancient human civilization.

If you want to condemn someone as a slaughterer, blame the ancients, not me. Right?

“If you have time for such nonsense, open your mouth wide and scream instead!”

The distance closed rapidly. Inside the red dragon’s mouth, wrapped in blue mana light, magma-like crimson flames bubbled over.

“Just like a lizard who hid in the mountains, afraid of holy swords!”

「 You monkey insect! 」

Kudsedra took a deep breath. The air rushed in like a gale, touching the flickering flames and igniting into a massive blaze.

The next moment,

「 KRAAAAAAAh-! 」

With a thunderous roar that shook the atmosphere, a river of sun-like flames exploded toward me.

– KWAAAAAAAA!

Clouds touched by the flames disappeared as if torn away.

The superheated breath that vaporized everything it touched. It was devastatingly destructive and overwhelmingly intimidating, no matter how many times I’d seen it.

[ Here it comes. What will you do? ]

‘Obviously, charge straight through!’

Even if that might be a meaningless, futile action for me.

“Haa…!”

With Durandal resting on my shoulder, I pulled back my left arm wrapped in Frosting, filling it with the power of karma.

– Wooooong…!

The condensed power disturbed the air. Enormous pressure on my arm. Frosting creaked and screamed.

Pressure that would have broken my arm before. But my body, evolved through absorption of divinity, easily withstood it.

And then.

“gal-laaaz―!”

Awakening the rune’s seal that greedily devoured mana from the air, I launched my clenched fist like a shell toward the approaching river of flames.

Absolute Void.

The karma technique that fires vacuum blades erupted from my arm like a massive projectile, wrapped in destruction mana that roared like an engine.

– GOOOOOOO!

A single strike combining an invisible vacuum shockwave with destruction mana that pulverizes everything it touches.

It collided with the dragon’s breath, creating an explosion that shook heaven and earth.

「 What…?! 」

The red-scaled dragon widened his eyes in shock.

It must have been the first time in his life witnessing such a sight—his breath temporarily blocked and disintegrated.

“Haha!”

I laughed heartily as I hurled myself toward the magnificent scene I’d created.

Yes, while others were devoted to training, I wasn’t just playing around.

This was one of the results. A technique designed to counter Demian’s holy sword beam without time-stopping.

A spiral strike that combines Absolute Void executed with a fist rather than a sword, wrapped in destruction mana that grinds everything it touches.

I call it—

“How do you like that? This is my Blender Punch!”

Yes, the Blender Punch.

[ Stop that nonsense and call it Destruction Fist instead. ]

Hersella, disliking the name, stubbornly insisted on the bland technique name “Destruction Fist.”

‘But that sounds too simple, doesn’t it? Lacks impact…’

[ You think your name has any impact? It’s so childish it makes me nauseous every time I hear it! ]

Is it that bad…?

‘Fine, fine, we’ll argue about this later.’

Well, what does the name matter anyway? The name of a technique isn’t particularly important.

What matters is how effective it is against enemies.

“Grind it up-!”

In that regard, this “Blender Punch” qualified as a worthy new technique in my arsenal.

– KWADDDDDDD!

The strike collided with the dragon’s breath, exploding with a thunderous boom and scattering whirls of flame.

It looked like shoving a burning carrot into a blender.

The vacuum projectile filled with immense karma pierced through his breath like an awl, while the destruction mana rotating around it shattered the superheated flames into pieces.

– GOOOOOO…!

The scattered flame fragments swirled like cherry blossom petals, flickering before disappearing.

After several seconds.

The vacuum projectile, having advanced about twenty meters through the dragon’s breath, finally dissolved as its karma and mana were depleted.

“…One strike wasn’t quite enough.”

Well, that’s to be expected. Even Carlos the Great wouldn’t have attempted to neutralize a dragon’s breath with a single punch.

– KWARRRRRR…!

The flames merged back together like the Red Sea after Moses passed, once again becoming a river of fire. My entire field of vision was covered by a massive wall of flames.

– HWARAK!

Flames erupted across my winter armor, unable to withstand the heat transmitted through the air.

Rurik’s fur burned and regenerated repeatedly. The scale armor covering it began to glow red-hot.

Though the rune’s protection would prevent burns, at this rate I’d be naked again in front of countless people with my clothes burned off.

“Then, one more shot!”

But my left arm was already loaded with a second strike.

– KWAOOOOO!

Once again, the vacuum projectile carved through the dragon’s breath, opening a straight path toward the beast’s mouth.

「 You withstand my breath’s heat, scatter it, and approach…?! An insect?! 」

In the swirling tunnel of flames.

Kudsedra blinked in shock at the sight of me, perfectly fine except for some flames catching on my armor.

What a Mr. Shock. First he underestimates humans, then is shocked, then underestimates again, then is shocked again.

Is that all you know how to do?

“Hey, are you some kind of sheltered maiden or something?”

「 What…? 」

“I mean, you can’t even kill one bug. That’s exactly what you look like.”

Charging along the path created by my vacuum strike, I taunted him with my usual mocking tone.

“You’re not actually claiming to be male with that performance, are you? A man who can’t kill a single bug—how do you live with such embarrassment?”

As I reached Kudsedra’s vicinity, I leaped upward through the flames and shouted my taunt. He stopped his breath and raised his head to look at me.

“If I were you, I’d cut ‘it’ off. You don’t deserve to have one.”

I didn’t mean to, but I actually did cut it off. Or rather, it got cut off? Anyway.

「 Krrrrr. I was wondering what nonsense you were spouting. Gender is a concept irrelevant to us. 」

“That sounds like the excuse of virgin guys. They say similar things—maybe it’s not irrelevant to ‘us’ but just to you?”

「 Not even worth responding to such drivel! 」

Unfortunately, this taunt didn’t seem very effective.

Seeing Kudsedra claim they were originally genderless with nothing to cut off.

“I guess that’s right. You want to cut it off but can’t because there’s nothing—”

[ Please… please watch your language! ]

Actually, it was effective.

[ You are a queen, a queen! Not some street thug! ]

Just not on my intended target. Instead, Hersella, who had been quietly listening, seemed irritated and snapped at me.

‘Fine, I’ll be a street thug then.’

I answered nonchalantly while gripping Durandal with both hands, infusing it with spatial cutting power.

I was somewhat doubtful whether the severing power would work, given Ismenios’s defensive magic was still in effect…

Well, I needed to attack anyway to figure out what kind of barrier it was.

「 Gender? Such a concept is for insects like you who cling to each other to reproduce! 」

Kudsedra raised his front paw toward me and shouted again.

With a tone suggesting that noble dragons are fundamentally different from reproductive byproducts like us.

Well… even if that’s true now, didn’t dragon-born have genders before ascending to dragonhood?

“Ah, I see. That thing about dragon-born ascending to become dragons—was it actually like gender reassignment surgery? They say you gain weight after that… hmm, you have gotten quite fat.”

「 KRAAAH-! You insect, your vulgarity is astounding! 」

What, did I hit a nerve?

Kudsedra, face contorted with rage, swung his clawed front paw as if swatting a fly.

– WHIOOOOOO!

Thanks to the dragon’s massive body, even a simple swipe produced a sound like the world was being torn apart. The power behind it was equally formidable.

“That’s the gesture of a fat pig!”

I twisted my waist in rotation and swung my greatsword like lightning.

– HWUUUNG!

A blue-silver arc leaving a long scar in the air.

Durandal, imbued with severing karma, collided with the dragon’s mana-covered claws like lightning striking a lake.