#110
Mad Dragon Hunt (2)
The Bone Dragon, cracking and shattering yet restoring itself without pause as it clung to him; the Immortal King, firing off magic that pierced through his anti-magic power and battered him senseless.
The vampire targeting weak spots like the wing joints to hinder his movement, and even some pseudo-human whose nature he could not begin to guess... no, a single parasite.
[Kiyaaaah——!]
Overwhelmed by frustration and rage at the stifling situation, Heratos twisted his entire body again and unleashed mana from every part of himself.
Goooo—!
That hostile mana poured out like a raging torrent, and the closer one was to it, the more destructive it became. To minimize the damage, they had no choice but to put distance between themselves and him.
Heinz, who had been ceaselessly slicing into the Mad Dragon’s body with sharp blood, withdrew without hesitation, but...
“Whoop!”
Puuuk—!
Harley, who had no intention of abandoning this prime spot, endured the force trying to push him away and turned his fingernails and toenails into hooks, driving them into the creature’s wound.
Crrrack— riiip!
Pressure containing an extraordinary amount of mana burst outward with the creature’s body at its center.
Harley’s body, which had evolved repeatedly until ordinary attacks could barely scratch it, began to tear and contort in places.
Even if he recovered with 「Regeneration」, it was a situation that required a tremendous amount of energy. Yet Harley, bleeding from all over, paid it no mind and burst into a hearty laugh.
“Uahahaha! The finest nourishing food is spread out right in front of me! Wounds like these are nothing!”
He pushed 「Body Transformation」 to its limit—his mouth split all the way to his ears, his jaw stretched like a snake’s, and sawtooth-like teeth densely filled the inside.
Crunch! Craaack!
Harley busily worked his mouth, coveting the dragon’s blood and flesh, without caring that his own body was being destroyed.
Those supreme ingredients were endlessly absorbed into his body through the power of 「Monstrous Eating」, becoming an enormous amount of energy that regenerated his collapsing body even more powerfully.
And as that act continued to repeat...
《The individual has met the conditions and will grow. The skill 「Monstrous Eating」 evolves into the special skill 「Gluttony」.》
At last, the skill 「Monstrous Eating」 broke past its limits and evolved.
‘Well, of course. He devoured that much dragon blood and flesh.’
To evolve a skill, each one required a certain “feat” of its own, apart from proficiency.
And clinging to the chest of a Mad Dragon of this caliber and tearing into its flesh while it was still alive was already a splendid feat in itself.
On top of that, considering how constantly he had used it to maintain Harley’s monstrous body, the small bits of accumulated experience must not have been insignificant either.
Taking advantage of the moment when the torrent of mana gushing from the Mad Dragon’s body stopped, he quietly checked the information on his newly acquired skill.
「Monstrous Eating」 had the effect of helping him absorb things that were difficult to digest, allowing him to eat larger quantities faster.
It was an essential skill for him, as maintaining his combat power required a vast amount of energy.
But the newly evolved 「Gluttony」 was on an entirely different level.
‘This is going to have ridiculous synergy with Harley, isn’t it?’
He lowered his gaze to the Mad Dragon’s scales, which had begun to grow back from the wound.
Until now, he had pulled them out and taken only the flesh beneath, but...
Gape—
This time, he simply opened his mouth as wide as possible and bit down.
Crack!
The dragon’s scales, which had already been hard to begin with, were further strengthened by the influence of “Madness,” to the point that even Heinz, who had surpassed True Blood, would have had to use his full strength to break them.
Crunch! Craaack!
Yet they could not withstand Harley’s teeth for long and shattered like glass.
It was thanks to the powerful correction granted by 「Gluttony」, limited to the act of putting something in his mouth and chewing it.
And at the same time that he devoured part of the Mad Dragon, something flowing through the creature’s body was torn away along with that act of “eating.”
‘What is this?’
The effect could immediately be confirmed with his eyes.
Unlike before, the regenerative ability of the area he had bitten into had dropped significantly.
‘This is amazing, isn’t it?’
It did not simply end at allowing him to eat better than before.
‘Does that mean I can even take in concepts belonging to the target of 「Gluttony」?’
To put it simply, just now he had not only eaten Heratos’s flesh, but had also torn away and devoured the “regeneration” and “madness” dwelling in that part whole.
‘Maybe because its rank or proficiency is still low, the effect doesn’t seem perfect... But in this situation, this much is more than enough.’
Moreover, for him, the meaning of “eating and digesting completely” was not simple.
When 「Mutation」 engraved the new information and used 「Body Transformation」 based on it—
A single dark crimson scale sprouted from one of his arms.
‘...A Mad Dragon’s scale.’
Originally, if he wanted to create a horn, he had to eat the target’s horn. If he wanted to create a tail, he had to eat a tail.
Naturally, scales were the same.
The reason he had not done so until now was because it was a problem that would be solved naturally if he consumed the magic stone, which contained all genetic information, to its limit.
‘Before this, I wouldn’t have been able to make scales until I ate the Dragon Heart.’
No matter how impressive 「Monstrous Eating」 had been, it had not been enough to fully digest even dragon scales, so that was only natural.
‘It’s still not complete. Still, if one scale is enough for this, the absorption efficiency has risen quite a lot.’
Even until now, he had been chewing through the dragon’s body and continuously evolving his flesh based on that information, but since it was not the magic stone, the efficiency had not been very high.
Yet judging by the completeness of the scale he had just assimilated, the absorption rate seemed to have increased severalfold.
His thoughts stretched further.
Harley’s 「Mutation」 had been created with the goal of collecting the genes of various species and becoming a fully evolved lifeform.
It was a miraculous product made using the blood of a dragon existing in another world—one with a nature entirely different from the dragons here.
And in this world of Auterica, dragons were the race closest to the pinnacle of all living beings.
Furthermore, the Mad Dragon right now had been eroded by “Madness” and had achieved physical evolution surpassing even the limits of an individual, so...
‘Setting aside the penalties that come with it for now, of course.’
This body was anything but ordinary, so Harley would surely be able to overcome that much.
“Slurp— That makes my mouth water. Khuhuh!”
Naturally, eating the creature’s Dragon Heart would not make him completely into a dragon.
Even if the efficiency had risen, there would still be some loss.
But what mattered now was this:
The fact that the Mad Dragon’s heart would allow Harley to approach completion a little further...
And the fact that, just in time, he had gained the ability to do exactly that.
“Khahaha! You bastard! Let’s have a look at that heart of yours!”
The excited Harley bit into the Mad Dragon’s wound again.
With the power of 「Gluttony」, he had barely moved his jaw a few times, yet wherever his teeth touched, flesh fell away, slid down his throat, and was absorbed.
Crunch! Craaack!
He devoured the dragon’s blood and flesh as if digging a tunnel, forcing his body into the wound.
Normally, the wound should have regenerated rapidly and blocked any intrusion from the outside, but...
Now that the creature’s regenerative power had been suppressed, there was nothing that could stop him.
***
[Kyaruruk——?]
Mad Dragon Heratos, who had been rolling around tangled with the Bone Dragon in the black chains Hans had summoned, sensed that something was strange and looked down at his chest.
Since earlier, some pseudo-human had been hanging from him and gnawing at him like an insect, but he had trusted in his own sturdy body and near-infinite regenerative power, doing no more than keep it in check as needed.
But now.
Along with the pain he felt once more, something flowing through his body was torn away.
[Kiyaaaah——?!]
Blood flowed from the wound, and unlike before, the speed of regeneration had slowed dramatically.
The parasite clinging to his chest was slowly burrowing into his body, trying to make its way toward his heart.
Sensing danger, the Mad Dragon twisted his body violently, but there was no way Hans would simply let him.
[Kuoooo——!]
To block the Mad Dragon’s hand as it tried to dig into its own chest, Entracio launched himself forward and embraced him.
Amid the fierce embrace of the two fallen dragons, Harley’s lower body thrashed between the spread ribs of the Bone Dragon as he burrowed into the creature’s body.
[Khuhut— Stay still. It will be over soon. Thinking that the work I painstakingly created is nearing completion puts me in a very good mood.]
Hans, who could be called the father who had created the current Harley, spoke proudly and activated magic to suppress the creature again.
Subduing a dragon steeped in madness while keeping it alive was quite a burdensome task even for him, but now he was beginning to feel a sense of reward.
[Kyaaaak——!]
Perhaps because his life was in danger, Heratos began to thrash about more madly than ever before.
In response, the surrounding madness gathered once more, strengthening his body even further.
Crrrack! Crrrackle!
Swelling muscles and roughly blazing dark-red mana.
Mad Dragon Heratos bit and tore at Entracio, who was embracing him, twisting his entire body.
At the same time, in order to kill the parasite that had burrowed into his chest, he not only controlled his body and tightened his muscles, but even projected high-density mana directly into his body, despite the damage it would cause him...
Yet it still continued, little by little... burrowing deeper.
Kwaaang! Crunch!
Realizing that removing the parasite was difficult, the Mad Dragon’s resistance grew even fiercer.
Entracio focused solely on clinging to him with tenacity, pouring all his mana only into defense and restoration.
Because of that, he could not really resist and was gradually being broken apart, but the one in the more urgent situation right now was actually Heratos.
[Huuuuup——]
He was so desperate that he even showed signs of trying to use his Breath.
However.
“You intend to use Breath at such close range? It seems you truly can’t see anything anymore.”
Beneath the creature’s jaw, Heinz II was already waiting.
Fully prepared, having even used 「Concealment」 and 「Invisibility」.
“I feel like I haven’t accomplished much so far, you see. Even if my opponent is a dragon, ending things like this would hurt my pride.”
The greatsword of blood gripped in his hand rippled quietly.
That sword, into which he had invested every last bit of the extra blood he had gathered to use 「Refined Blood Essence」, was filled with Heinz’s vampiric factor that had evolved to its limit under the influence of 「Mixed-Blood Evolution」—
And it was the finest medium for drawing out the effects of 「Blood Mystery」 to the extreme.
‘He isn’t paying any attention to me. Does he not have the presence of mind, or does he think that, as before, it won’t matter even if he leaves me alone?’
Considering the creature’s perception, it should have been able to see through Heinz’s 「Concealment」 with just a little focus.
Yet even in this situation, it only kept Hans and Entracio in check and did not even cast a glance at him.
Either way, it would come to regret it.
His eyes, glowing blood-red, 「Perceived」 the flow of mana surging as the creature prepared to use Breath.
Because of the difference in their levels, it was impossible to see through the Mad Dragon’s body completely. But with mana flowing this violently, there was no need to see in that much detail.
‘There.’
Heinz slowly moved the sword to his left hip and gripped it with both hands.
It was the ready stance of swordsmanship that Heinrich had learned through 「Comprehensive Weapon Arts」.
‘I couldn’t imitate 「Logia Sacred Combat Method」 at all, but even this much is something to be grateful for.’
In any case, what he had to do now did not require particularly impressive swordsmanship.
Just—
———!
Using 「Acceleration」, he swung with all his might.
The instant he swung, the greatsword of blood stretched long like a whip and sharply split the space—
And the tip of that sword, surpassing hypersonic speed, smoothly brushed past the Mad Dragon’s neck without making a sound.
Then.
After a very brief moment.
Shiaaaak——!
Kugugugung—!
With the sound of air being torn apart, a shockwave spread along the trajectory of the sword.
Puhwaaaak—!
Half of the Mad Dragon’s enormous neck was cut away, and blood poured down like a waterfall.
[Kheoeok——?!]
On top of that, the mana he had been gathering to unleash Breath burst out through that opening.
Needless to say, the already fatal wound was left in tatters by the aftermath.
[Kek, kheok——?!]
The Mad Dragon, having suffered the greatest damage so far, staggered in a daze.
But even in that moment, the wound was regenerating rapidly...
‘It can regenerate even from a fatal wound like this. Disgusting, really.’
Heinz lightly clicked his tongue as he recovered as much of the blood he had used as possible and stored it inside his body.
Of course, with 「Super Regeneration」, he could do about that much himself, but honestly, with a body that size, wasn’t that level of regeneration cheating?
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now.’
Yes, now it did not matter whether the creature regenerated or not.
Because Harley—
Had finally reached the very threshold of the creature’s heart.