Chapter 2: Legendary Boss Taming

The 41st, 42nd, and 43rd parties were infamously known as Rebel Joe.

Every one of them had attempted escape at least once, which is why, instead of the usual three years of service, they had been serving for five to seven years.

Despite this, these guys had managed to survive until now.

Thanks to this, they had been working with Brother Younghak for a long time, making them an incredibly well-coordinated team.

“Sungho! Use Abyss Worms to grab its legs! Focus on restraining it!”

“Yes, brother.”

Following my command, the Abyss Worms from the ground rose up and coiled around the dragon’s legs, which had been disdainfully watching us.

As we restrained it, the melee damage dealers, including Brother Younghak, immediately charged.

“Use blunt weapons!”

The hunters sheathed their blades and drew blunt weapons.

Only Brother Younghak wielded a long sword.

Without needing instruction, the hunters began targeting the dragon’s joints.

“Where do you think you’re looking?”

While Brother Younghak drew its aggro by slashing its face with an aura blade, the rest of the party focused on its legs.

In the back, archers equipped with compound bows shot arrows imbued with various piercing abilities and auras.

The mages cast various debuffs to hinder the dragon’s movements.

Up to this point, the battle was proceeding exactly as we had planned and as we had always fought.

[Abyss Worm has died. It can no longer be summoned.]

“What the hell?”

Just as the dragon’s health was steadily decreasing, it suddenly used its strength to easily tear apart the Abyss Worms holding its legs.

The massive and powerful Abyss Worms were shredded like paper.

Then, the dragon began swinging its forelegs.

“Dodge!”

The melee damage dealers easily evaded the attacks.

But this was just what the dragon intended.

As soon as the melee damage dealers moved away, it opened its mouth wide without hesitation.

The surrounding air and mana were sucked into its mouth at tremendous speed, and shortly after, an overwhelming high-temperature breath was expelled.

“Into the barrier spells!”

The mages quickly cast protective spells, and the melee damage dealers took shelter within them, thus avoiding harm from the breath attack.

However.

“The mana consumption is enormous!”

“Brother Younghak! We can’t withstand this more than twice! We need to finish it before then!”

The tremendous power of the breath attack had greatly depleted the mages’ mana.

Younghak paused momentarily at the mages’ words.

He was probably quickly revising his strategy.

“Archers, draw its aggro! Mages, keep casting debuffs! Sungho!”

“Yes, brother!”

“You hit where the melee damage dealers and I are hitting.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Younghak charged.

Together with the melee damage dealers, he mercilessly pummelled one of the dragon’s rear leg joints.

Just by looking at this, we could understand what Brother Younghak was trying to do.

“He wants to immobilize it!”

“Ranged attackers, keep drawing its attention to its face!”

The archers continuously shot arrows at the dragon’s eyes and eyelids, preventing it from opening its eyes properly.

Meanwhile, the melee damage dealers and the horde of monsters I controlled all converged to batter the rear leg joint.

Even though it was protected by tough dragon scales, the joint was structurally a vulnerable point.

When Younghak’s aura blade, the melee damage dealers’ relentless blunt weapon attacks, and the strength of my monster horde were combined, it didn’t take long before we heard the chilling sound of bones breaking.

Roar!!

The dragon let out a cry of pain.

It limped, making it clear that it could no longer move properly.

Seeing this, it seemed the dragon intended to take to the skies to create some distance.

It spread its wings wide.

This was exactly the moment Younghak had been waiting for.

“The wing membrane is exposed!”

Our party had hunted dragonkind multiple times before.

We knew exactly what actions they would take in different situations.

As the previously folded wings spread and the membrane was exposed, the archers’ aura-infused arrows and the mages’ attack spells struck with full force.

Even though it was just a membrane, it had overwhelming durability and was protected by the magic flowing around the Ancient Dragon’s body.

However, the attacks, empowered by both the piercing skill and the powerful magic infused in the arrowheads, hit the membrane without difficulty.

The membrane burst open in an instant, rendering the Ancient Dragon incapable of flight.

At this point, the creature seemed a bit flustered.

“It’s an Ancient Dragon, but since it just molted, its difficulty level isn’t any different from that of a Wyvern! The pattern is the same; only the attack power is enhanced!” shouted Brother Younghak, boosting the morale of the raid party members.

“Attack its body! Keep accumulating damage! Lower its HP below 10%! Don’t kill it!”

The damage dealers started attacking its body.

With blunt weapons enhanced by defense-ignoring skills, they began to accumulate damage, easily penetrating the dragon scales and magical defenses.

The archers persistently aimed for its eyes, while the mages continued to stack various debuffs.

Unable to fly and limping, the Ancient Dragon couldn’t escape.

KRAAAAK!!!

The creature eventually changed its strategy, wildly swinging its forepaw imbued with immense magical power.

The swings were incredibly fast, far faster than a Wyvern, and getting hit even once would mean instant death due to their overwhelming power.

But that was all.

The actions did not deviate significantly from a Wyvern’s patterns.

With the experience and skills honed over many years by Younghak the close-range dealers, it was manageable to dodge.

Even in dangerous moments:

“Block!”

[The Twin-Headed Ogre has died. You can no longer summon it.]

I sacrificed a monster to block the attack.

Even in a degraded state, it was still an Ancient Dragon.

Despite being newly molted, it was still a formidable foe.

My precious monsters were quickly dying, and the close-range dealers were exhausted from dodging the lethal attacks.

The mages’ mana was depleting, and the archers were running out of arrows.

After three breath attacks and dozens of forepaw swings that devastated the surrounding area, the Ancient Dragon’s health bar finally dropped below 10%.

“Sungho! Now!!!”

As the last remaining Twin-Headed Ogre perished, shielding the close-range dealers, Brother Younghak shouted at me.

I reached out towards the Ancient Dragon.

Please.

Let’s end this in one go.

“Chains of Obedience!”

My special skill activated.

The Elder Dragon, on the verge of its final struggle, suddenly halted its movements.

[Casting Chains of Obedience on target <Despair Flame Dragon>!]

[Warning! Target’s level is extremely high!]

[The target is beginning to resist!!]

“Damn!”

As expected, it wasn’t going to be easy.

The Ancient Dragon’s immense willpower desperately fought against my Chains of Obedience, its resistance beyond my imagination.

But I was desperate too.

Pouring all my mana and mental strength into it, I continued the tug-of-war with the dragon.

When it resisted, I tightened the chains even more.

The dragon responded with even stronger resistance.

“This damn bastard… is resisting… like crazy.”

The tug-of-war continued for over ten minutes.

Both the dragon and I were exhausted.

But I gritted my teeth.

I scraped together the last of my mental strength and mana.

The memory of Sangmin’s death surfaced.

The bastard Cho Geunsung and what he did to us also came to mind.

Fueled by anger, I squeezed out the last bit of my strength to crush the dragon’s spirit.

The tide turned.

I could feel its mind coming under my control.

‘Do you think I’m gonna die, you bastard?’

Never.

I’m not going to die miserably.

I’ll survive boldly.

And I’ll live well.

This time, we will treat you, who treated us like disposable tools, as disposable tools instead!!!

“Stop pretending… Bang your head, you f***ing bastard!!!”

With my roar, the dragon’s mind finally comes fully under my control.

•The dragon’s previously glazed-over eyes sharpen.

And then.

[Successfully tamed the first legendary boss monster!]

[Experience points are calculated at twice the rate as a reward!]

[Achieved level 20! You are now over level 1000!]

[Acquired unique skill !]

[You can now use one of the skills from the monsters you tamed with the unique skill!]

“Cancel summon.”

With my single command, a magic circle forms beneath the injured dragon’s feet, and it disappears.

This meant it was tamed.

[The Despair Flame Dragon is recovering in a subspace!]

[Complete recovery in 3 days and 12 hours.]

“It’s done!!!”

At my shout, everyone else also started shouting together.

We hugged each other and laughed for a long time.

Miraculously, there were no deaths or severe injuries.

The only injured person had a claw mark on his chest, but the wizard quickly healed him with magic.

“Let’s return to the base.”

After treating the injured and destroying the rift stone to block the rift to Earth, I summoned three wyverns and started heading back to the base.

“What did you mean by what you said earlier?”

On the way back to the base with the three parties, Brother Younghak asked me.

“I saw the news. In the US, they refined magic stones to create a substance called Elixir. They say it can create room-temperature and pressure superconductors.”

“Magic stones… are worth money? Weren’t they just rocks?”

“They’re not, apparently. If the news I saw is accurate.”

Hyung’s face brightened.

“There are tons of them piled up in the base warehouse.”

“Exactly. And we’re going to take all of it.”

“What?”

“Why shouldn’t we? We risked our lives to get them.”

Brother Younghak shook his head.

“The base commander and the female soldiers managing the base have the warehouse keys. What are you going to do? Rob them?”

“If necessary.”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“What if they resist?”

I was silent for a moment at Hyung’s words.

But from my grim expression, it seemed Hyung understood what I was planning.

“Are you really willing to go all the way?”

“If I couldn’t go all the way, I wouldn’t have started.”

“The public opinion might turn against us.”

I laughed at those words.

“Hyung, when has the media ever been on our side? When one of our party members dies, they release celebrity news at the perfect timing?”

“Has this country ever been on our side? They want to take all the magic stones we’ve risked our lives to gather over the past 10 years, and we’re just supposed to watch? Those stones are ours. We’ll sell them. To the country that offers the best price.”

“And we’ll take the money?”

“Yes, we’ll take it. We’ll split it fairly.”

Hyung was silent at my words for a moment.

But what he was going to say was already decided.

“Alright. Let’s take it. Damn it.”

Hyung smiled at me.

I smiled back at him.

In the distance, the base started to come into view.