◈ Episode 518. Natural Enemy and True Calling (2)
The momentum shifted abruptly.
“Kichi.”
“I’m listening, fatty.”
“You know. How about we postpone this bet for later?”
Enough to make even the great Rockid take a step back.
“Well, it’s not like we can’t.”
Swoosh.
The hair she had cut short had grown, now reaching her shoulders before she knew it.
The strands brushing the nape of her neck began to bother her.
Death’s door.
The senses she had honed crossing it countless times were telling her.
‘He’s not an opponent I can afford to take lightly.’
Tight.
Kichi tied up her loose hair.
Shing.
She raised her dagger in a reverse grip so it would not slip from her hand.
Glint.
The edge had still not lost its shine.
Akshan’s relic, [Oil of Valor].
An effect that greatly increased attack power when cutting down demons.
The dagger was still soaked in oil, but—
“How are we supposed to reach him like that?”
The beast that had been rampaging on instinct had gained a rider to control it.
The only saving grace was that he, too, was a demon.
Kichi gave the signal.
“Wolf, Herkiora, Alkari!”
A small elite force.
Not only that, but they were the Shadow Mercenaries, who had carried out countless missions in groups as small as one, or at most two. Yet their coordinated attack was flawless in every respect.
Clack.
The moment Wolf’s silver bolt was fired toward the evil dragon, Herkiora, their only mage, added destructive force with mana, and Alkari threw a potion bottle to conceal the strike.
Crash.
The bolt pierced through the potion bottle and vanished in an instant. That was not all. At the same time, Isabelmar’s hair rippled with mana.
“Open the way.”
Necromancer.
At Isabelmar’s command, the lives of Jeju Island, which had burned and gone out in flames, were revived.
As if venting their grudge against the demon who had burned away their lives, they surged toward the evil dragon and the corps commander Copper riding atop it.
Attacks flew in from every direction.
Including Kichi and Rockid Henderson’s bare-handed assault, there seemed to be no escape route for the evil dragon, which had only just begun its dive. But everyone had overlooked something.
“……!!!”
That dragons were beings that tore through dimensions.
“H-how can this be! The mixture wasn’t wrong……?”
Alkari froze and looked inside his cloak.
Empty potion bottles.
There had been no mistake.
He had not forgotten the obsidian extract that suppressed mana manifestation.
Then that was……?
“……It’s Dragon Speech, Kichi!”
“Dragon Speech? What the hell is that, old man?!”
Rockid spat out informal speech, but there was no time to answer.
He had thought it was nothing more than an old man’s needless worry.
Yet it felt as if his ominous imagination was becoming reality.
“A language that only the king of all things can utter…….”
Alkari immediately warned them.
“He hasn’t merely climbed on and put a leash on it.”
“Then what?”
“That demon is fully wielding the dragon’s power!”
“……!!!”
Wolf immediately made a judgment.
“This is an emergency. The reason we, and only we, were confident of victory was because the evil dragon showed no sign of reason. We’re used to dealing with enemies that only have their instincts left.”
The Shadow Mercenaries had eliminated countless targets.
A target placed before death moved only according to instinct.
Wolf explained in the language of players he had learned through the exploration of the strange.
“The patterns we had memorized have completely changed.”
Of course, the other members did not understand.
“……What kind of bullshit are you suddenly talking about?”
But that was not a problem.
The threat was already pressing against their skin.
Kichi clenched her fist.
“It means we’re screwed. What else?”
Her prediction was accurate.
【I shall burn everything to ashes】
Dragon Speech echoed through the air.
“……Get down!!”
At Kichi’s words, the former Shadow Mercenaries—
The current members of Akshan—
threw themselves flat by reflex.
An intense heat swept past over their heads.
“Ah, hot!”
Herkiora hurriedly manifested an intermediate ice spell, “Winter’s Veil.” But it was not enough. That was a dragon breath that could not be blocked by a mere intermediate spell.
Crack.
“!”
But over the shattering ice, even colder ice crystals layered themselves. Herkiora realized it at once. There was no doubt. Someone capable of manifesting magic like this was a considerable expert even in the Magic Tower.
“My mana is not infinite, gentlemen of Akshan.”
“……?”
“If you understood that, hurry and move!”
Senior of Ice Magic, Curtain Reble.
“Whew.”
Crack.
With the manifestation of ice magic pushed to its limit,
he exhaled a chilled breath.
Beside him stood Maia, his sharp eyes raised.
Maia brought up the past of the new demon hunters.
“The Shadow Mercenaries.”
“What, you can recognize us even with these cloaks on?”
“Shut up for a bit, Rockid.”
“What? Dschev, you little runt, telling me to shut up……!”
Maia once again exercised his patience.
“I still cannot trust you.”
However, Chief Lee.
I will trust you and watch.
Whether they have truly changed.
‘As you said.’
Whether they have proven Akshan’s pride.
‘And to do that, of course.’
I, too, will have to stake my life.
Having steeled his resolve,
Maia drew up his mana, putting aside his old emotions for the moment.
“Do you remember?”
“Sorry, but I’m not good at remembering the faces of living people.”
“That is not what I meant, Rockid.”
Dschev swallowed a snort of laughter.
“He called this big lump ‘Rockid.’”
“Hey, I told you to shut up, rat! And you stuck-up scholar.”
But Rockid, too, was exercising patience.
The strange hostility he had felt from the moment he set foot on Jeju Island.
He had realized that its source was Maia before his eyes.
He had simply kept his mouth shut because the sins he had committed were too great.
“Magic Tower, I’m holding back because I owe you people a lot. Especially, who was it……? Green hair, right! Senior Mage Bellier, was it?”
Curtain made a fuss.
“Wh-what?! How do you know Lady Bellier……?”
With a lift of his hand, Maia stopped the unnecessary chatter.
“No, what I wish to ask now is not about my identity.”
“What?”
“Nor is it about what happened in Lainas, the City of Dawn.”
Lainas, the City of Dawn.
“……!”
The only ones who reacted to those words were Kichi and Wolf, the leaders who had read the Shadow Mercenaries’ list of commissions. The two of them could guess why Maia had shown hostility.
‘Is he someone connected to Lainas? If so…….’
There was no excuse they could make.
Even if the Shadow Mercenaries had disbanded,
the sins branded into them would not be washed away.
‘We have no choice but to accept whatever insult he throws at us.’
But the words that followed were unexpected.
“I am asking whether you remember Chief Lee’s teachings.”
“Chief Lee, as in…… Commander-in-Chief Lee Hoyeol?”
“That is correct.”
The moment their misunderstanding was cleared up—
【Descend, king of all things】
Once more, space tore apart, and Copper the Evil Dragon Knight appeared.
There was no leeway.
Moreover, Maia no longer wished to exchange words.
Instead of words, he acted.
Rumble.
Maia manifested earth magic.
“……This is?”
That was right.
It was a staircase of stone leading to the sky.
According to “someone,” it was the most basic of basics: construction magic.
Kichi raised the corner of her mouth.
“I understand Chief Lee’s teachings.”
“Do you? Then prove it.”
“Of course. You’ve set the stage for us.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Kichi recalled the memory of coordinating with Hoyeol in the past
and kicked off the stairs, leaping into the sky.
Behind her, Rockid and Henderson followed in order.
‘……Damn it. What are you doing, Maia?’
To think he had offered himself as a stepping stone for the Shadow Mercenaries.
Where had the resentment he had swallowed down while looking at them until just now gone?
Now that they trusted him and were climbing the stone staircase,
there was no need for any grand manifestation.
A dizzying stone staircase that seemed to reach the sky.
If they fell from that height, even the Shadow Mercenaries with their sturdy bodies would not come out unscathed. There would also be more than enough room for excuses.
……
Tremble, tremble.
It must be the aftereffects of the high-level spell “Reverse Earthquake.”
Wasn’t his manifestation ability and mana efficiency already scraping the bottom? If he said he had failed to maintain the manifestation because of that, then even Chief Lee would be unable to hold him responsible.
However—
“……How disgraceful, Maia.”
Chief Lee.
You have changed me far too much.
Maia gritted his teeth and maintained the manifestation.
So much so that Curtain, who was watching beside him, flinched.
“……Are you all right, Maia?”
“Do I look all right to you?”
“Seeing as you can talk back, you still seem all right for now.”
“Yes. I saw that well, Senior Curtain.”
Maia gave a faint smile.
“Instead of worrying about me, please protect them.”
“Of course.”
Curtain nodded.
The residual heat of the dragon breath still writhed in the air.
To block it, he cast a high-level ice spell on them.
“Sherpa’s Protection.”
“Haa…….”
An even whiter breath poured from Curtain’s mouth.
Enough to drive two senior mages to mana exhaustion.
Yet even as they poured out their mana, the two seniors did not expect much.
Maia thought.
‘Are you not afraid of dragons, the victors of the Dragon-Demon War?’
You truly have staked your lives, Shadow Mercenaries.
But then, an unbelievable scene unfolded.
He had thought they could never possibly reach.
Thud.
“Got you, you bastard!”
“!!”
Their blades had cut through the dragon skin and lodged in its flesh.
At that moment, the two seniors exchanged glances.
Yes, now that they had proven their potential.
Maia opened his mouth.
“……At this point, haven’t we done our part?”
“That’s right. We are only the advance party, after all. Even if it isn’t Senior Maia and me, our Magic Tower has plenty of talent, doesn’t it? Bangrit, Benshee, Senior Matisse. And lastly…….”
“Even Chief Lee.”
Even if some other demon crawled out,
there was no need to worry about what came next.
Even if they collapsed from exhaustion here,
there were allies to whom they could willingly entrust the rest.
Thump, thump, thump……!!
His heart pounded as if it would burst.
He was forcibly squeezing out a circle that had not yet fully formed in order to manifest magic. As an aftereffect, he might have to spend several months in a private room of the Healing School.
Even so, there was no hesitation.
“So I ask this of you.”
Maia murmured.
“This is our best. Shadow Mercenaries.”
Rumble.
The stone staircase the Shadow Mercenaries were stepping on began to expand rapidly. Thanks to that, their eye level changed, and the natural enemies did not miss that opportunity.
Whoosh.
A view looking down from above.
The rider who had been hidden by the evil dragon’s body.
The nape of Fourth Corps Commander Copper’s neck was exposed.
Without anyone needing to go first, all of Akshan surged forward.
“!”
Slice.
At the same time, Copper’s head flew off....
Nam Cheolmin muttered.
“……Something’s strange.”
It had clearly been a blow more than enough to finish him off.
Everyone, the cameras, the entire world was watching.
The community feeds being updated without pause were proof of that.
-Wow, that combo takes me back lolololololololol
-That déjà vu is insane lololololol
-Don’t tell me Lee Hoyeol taught that to the Magic Tower too?
-But who are those black-clad people???
-idk? Dunno about anything else, but they sure went hard on the edgy look lol
And yet.
“……The kill message didn’t appear.”
It was not something to simply be surprised about.
This was a “curse” they had not yet properly grasped.
What kind of phase and gimmick a monster would show—
no one could say for certain.
“Frankly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if his severed head reattached.”
Any player who had experienced The Chronicles of the Arcana Continent would undoubtedly have sensed it. But the Shadow Mercenaries and the senior mages of the Magic Tower had neither a player’s knowledge nor a player’s field of vision.
“So it’s dangerous. They need to get some distance right now!!”
Even if it had to be through Taemin……!
It was the moment Nam Cheolmin hurriedly adjusted his headphones.
Evil Dragon Knight, Copper.
The hand gripping the reins twitched.
At the same time, the evil dragon spoke.
【Remember the lesson of the Dragon-Demon War, humans】
Suddenly, Nam Cheolmin’s vision flickered.
[Status abnormality, “Mana Exhaustion,” has occurred.]
He hurriedly adjusted his glasses.
“An area-wide Mana Burn……?”
Wait, then what about that stone staircase……?
……
Rumble.
This time as well, his ominous prediction became reality.
The aftermath of Mana Burn.
Maia’s earth magic was dispelled.
The Shadow Mercenaries began to fall miserably from midair.
Nam Cheolmin choked up.
“This is too unfair…….”
The worst possibilities were all coming true.
It felt as if his mental strength were being gnawed away.
As if it were truly a “curse.”
But it was still too early to despair.
Even if it was a curse that could break even a strong mind,
it could not make a lunatic, someone already mad,
submit.
“……What is that, Analyst? Someone is approaching!”
At the pilot’s words, Nam Cheolmin steadied his ragged breathing and raised his head.
And he witnessed it.
A man clinging to something small and yellow,
approaching Evil Dragon Knight Copper.
The man’s name slipped from Nam Cheolmin’s lips.
“……Skal?”
*
Something small and yellow.
Proznax, who had changed his form into a chick, spoke.
“From here on, it depends on your ability. Prove yourself.”
Skal’s eyes shone clearer than ever.
“Of course, Lord Proznax.”
And Sir Hoyeol.
No, Commander-in-Chief Lee Hoyeol.
Please watch me.
It was something even a curse could not stop.
An emotion belonging to an upper Demon King of a different rank.
An emotion even the Ten Thrones had guarded against.
“The moment I am reborn as a true dragon knight.”
Yes, it was the flap of wings toward “pride.”