Episode 50
“Iblis Leonia?”
“Please just call me Iblis. Haieltun calls me that too.”
“Aren’t you Haieltun’s subordinate?”
“That’s right. I was forcibly kidnapped by Haieltun and made into a chimera.”
“Kidnapped?”
“Who would want to end up like this?”
Iblis made a forlorn expression.
Originally, she had been the successor of a noble house in Kurayan.
From an early age, she had garnered attention as a talent who would revive her house with her outstanding beauty and ability. But before her talent could fully bloom, she was kidnapped by Haieltun.
Immediately after, she crossed over to Earth with Haieltun. And was modified into a chimera.
When she came to her senses and saw her lower body had become a spider, she went mad and thrashed about. Haieltun used a mental restriction spell on Iblis and made her his butler.
And so, regardless of her own will, Iblis had lived as Haieltun’s butler for over a hundred years.
Inside her head, two egos existed.
One was the ego of the human Iblis Leonia, and the other was the ego of the chimera Iblis, Haieltun’s butler.
Because the ego of the chimera Iblis was stronger among them, she had no choice but to faithfully carry out Haieltun’s orders.
She had fought Deioden for Haieltun and ended up like this.
Deioden showed no mercy and cut her body in half.
Once the fusion with the spider was undone, she could finally reclaim her whole ego.
The ego of the human Iblis Leonia, not the chimera.
“So this day has finally come. I thought I would never escape his clutches. Don’t look at me like that. I am lighter of heart now than ever before.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m rather grateful. Thanks to you, I’ve found peace.”
“Mm!”
“Will you grant me one request? Then I’ll give you a gift.”
“What kind?”
“If any members of my house have crossed over to Earth, please deliver this necklace to them.”
Iblis took the necklace hanging from her own neck and handed it to Jeon.
It was a necklace engraved with a red rose pattern.
A blue gem was embedded in the center of the rose pattern.
“It is an object symbolizing the head of the Leonia house. It means nothing to others, but to the Leonia house, it is more precious than anything. It can awaken the abilities contained within the bloodline….”
“I can’t promise. But if I ever meet them, I’ll deliver it.”
“Thank you. In exchange, I’ll give you this.”
Stab!
Iblis suddenly stabbed her own chest with her pale hand.
Jeon furrowed his brow at the sight of her chest being pierced down to her wrist.
After a moment, what she pulled out was a round red gem, like blood.
“It is the eye of a Red Dragon that Haieltun implanted in place of my heart.”
“A dragon’s eye?”
“Haieltun hunted a young Red Clan dragon in Kurayan. For the sake of studying chimeras later. All the chimeras in this lair contain the dragon tissue he dissected.”
“Hm!”
“He processed the last remaining eye into a small thing to replace my heart. Although a long time has passed, the mana contained within is intact. It will be useful.”
It was none other than a dragon’s eye.
It was not quite on the level of a heart, but it contained an enormous amount of mana that ordinary demonic beasts couldn’t even imagine.
Jeon received the dragon’s eye.
As befitting a Red Dragon’s eye, intense heat could be felt in his palm.
“Then my requ….”
As if she no longer had the strength to endure, Iblis closed her eyes.
That was Iblis’s final moment.
“Hoo!”
Jeon let out a sigh.
He had not held favorable feelings toward the humans who had crossed over from Kurayan, but after hearing Iblis’s circumstances, it was true that he felt pity.
Jeon stored Iblis’s necklace and the Red Dragon’s eye in his subspace.
It was then.
BOOM!
With an explosion that shook the massive underground cavern to its core, Deioden crashed down near him.
“Kgh!”
“Are you okay?”
Jeon hurriedly tried to help Deioden up.
“Don’t touch me.”
Deioden refused Jeon’s hand and rose to his feet.
“Ungh!”
A groan flowed involuntarily from Jeon’s mouth as he looked at him.
Because Deioden’s left arm was gone.
The shoulder area was mangled as if seared by fire.
It was from Haieltun’s breath.
Though it must certainly be excruciating, there was no sign of it on Deioden at all.
Rather, he was burning with fighting spirit fueled by madness.
Deioden used Creion as a cane to stand up and spoke to Jeon.
“Bastard!”
“What?”
“Heh heh! It seems this is as far as I go.”
Because it was the first time he had heard Deioden speak weakly, Jeon could say nothing. Then Deioden glared at Haieltun and continued.
“He’s one hellishly strong bastard. If all other dragons are as strong as him, then humanity has no future.”
Haieltun was terrifyingly strong.
He had grown stronger by wandering the desert for over a hundred years and using every means possible. Even so, he could not gain a definite upper hand.
His magic existed in a distant realm beyond human reach, and his body was stronger than any demonic beast Deioden had faced until now.
If not for Creion, he wouldn’t have even been able to leave a scratch on its scales.
Red flesh was exposed in various places on Haieltun’s massive body.
The creature had also suffered considerable damage, its scales flying off from Deioden’s attacks. But it was still intact.
Having fought Haieltun directly, Deioden instinctively realized.
That the real battle started now.
From now on, he had to truly stake his life.
“Bastard!”
“Yes!”
“If you die, you die.”
“What?”
“I mean don’t think about what happens after. You think too much. You calculate too much and read the room way too much.”
“That’s….”
“There are times when you must charge with everything you’ve got without a single thought. Just like right now….”
Illusions appeared like lies on either side of Deioden, who was gripping Creion tightly.
One was someone Jeon knew as well.
‘Akaruk!’
A being who had been forcibly turned into an undead by Haieltun.
He had appeared as an illusion.
The figure that appeared on the opposite side was someone Jeon was seeing for the first time.
He was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties to early thirties.
A handsome white man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a tall stature.
“Creion?”
At Jeon’s words, the man smiled and nodded.
Deioden made an expression of surprise.
“Heh heh! You can see him too? My friend….”
“So it was real. I thought you were insane, talking to yourself.”
“It was a short time, but I enjoyed being with you. Bastard!”
“I enjoyed it too.”
“This is my final lesson. From now on, watch closely as I hunt the dragon.”
“Yes!”
Jeon answered through gritted teeth.
Deioden did not permit Jeon’s participation until the very end.
He intended to hunt Haieltun with his own hands until the very end.
Jeon respected his will.
Deioden walked forward and spoke.
“If you die, you die. Throw away every attachment to life like sand in your hands, and collide with everything you’ve got. That is the only way to hunt a dragon.”
“I’ll never forget.”
“Of course you must. Heh heh!”
Deioden smiled and quickened his pace.
Deioden shouted loudly.
“Let’s go! My friend!”
The illusions of Creion and Akaruk at his sides ran together and soon merged into one.
BANG!
A blow containing the Authority of Death struck Haieltun’s torso violently.
The massive impact, which could not be blocked even by the Absolute Shield, caused Haieltun’s huge body to shake greatly.
But Haieltun did not simply take it lying down.
He unleashed countless spells and fired his breath to attack Deioden.
BANG! BOOM!
The magic-reinforced lair collapsed from their clash.
Giant rock formations collapsed, and the sand covering them poured down.
Then, from behind the crumbling rocks, several dozen men revealed themselves.
All with identical faces and identical clothes, as if stamped from a mold—they were the chimeras Haieltun had created as avatars.
The chimeras who received Haieltun’s will attacked Deioden all at once.
“Is this all you’ve got? Lizard!”
Deioden sliced through the avatar charging at the front and shouted.
—Arrogant human! I shall deliver divine punishment upon you.
“Don’t make me laugh. Who’s a god? A lizard like you? I cannot tolerate that.”
—This body is the god of the new world. Foolish human.
RUMBLE!
At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning shot down from the sky to the ground.
The lightning struck Deioden through the wide-open ceiling of the underground cavern.
Struck by the lightning with no chance to evade, Deioden turned black as charcoal. His flesh was completely cooked, and all his hair vanished.
It was astounding that he was still alive in such a state.
Deioden took a small bottle from his bosom and put it in his mouth. And he crunched it down, bottle and all.
It was a stimulant made by a mad alchemist.
A potion that instantly dispelled all abnormal status effects and restored stamina and mana.
Without hesitation, Deioden swallowed the potion along with the glass powder. Then his charred skin peeled away, and new flesh sprouted.
Truly, it was insane in its efficacy.
“Kraaah!”
Deioden let out a bizarre scream and swung Creion.
In that instant, an enormous radiance gathered on Creion’s massive blade.
It was Sword Aura, condensing mana into the sword.
Deioden launched it at Haieltun, containing the Authority of Death within the Sword Aura.
SLASH!
A large laceration appeared on Haieltun’s massive body.
As an enormous fountain of blood poured out, Haieltun let out a bizarre scream.
—Kraaaah!
The lair, which had already been half-collapsed, completely caved in from Haieltun’s thrashing.
Haieltun flapped his huge wings and soared high into the sky.
Deioden also took to the sky, raising Creion before him until he reached the same height as Haieltun.
BANG! BOOM! RUMBLE!
Peals of thunder echoed continuously across the dry desert sky.
The aftermath of a single human and a single dragon fighting was truly tremendous.
The lair completely collapsed and disappeared, buried in sand, and an enormous amount of sand shot up into the air all at once.
The sand blotted out the sun and plunged the area into darkness.
Jeon’s body shot up into the sky.
The sand on the ground rose like a pillar to support him.
As he rose to the dizzyingly high sky, the sight of Deioden and Haieltun fighting became visible.
Jeon took it all in without missing a single thing.
Deioden had no retreat.
He had no intention of surviving either.
“Heh heh! If you die, you die.”
His final battle in life.
Deioden burned everything and fought Haieltun.
In Deioden’s form, Jeon saw the limit of humanity.
How far a human could grow strong.
How far a human filled with killing intent could evolve.
He saw all those possibilities in Deioden.
“You crazy old bastard. Really….”
Fine tremors ran through Jeon’s shoulders as he failed to finish his words.
His eyes were already bloodshot red.
BANG! BOOM!
The battle between the dragon and the human was rushing toward its end.
The raging gusts, the sky ceaselessly flashing with thunder and lightning, and the scorching air proved that fact.
In Jeon’s eyes, he saw Haieltun and Deioden gathering their final strength and crashing into each other.
BANG!
As if the apocalypse had arrived, the entire desert convulsed, and the clouds in the sky were torn asunder.
After a sandstorm swept through the area like a tidal wave, the world fell silent, as if by a lie.