Chapter 168: 168

After waking up from his hibernation period, Blanc searched for the red dragons . Because the first person he could think of that their race could rely on in this world devastated by the war was none other than Ellid himself .

But…

“The red dragons have abandoned us . ”

The words spoken by the returning Karne were more than enough to drive a cold dagger into Blanc’s heart and twist it ruthlessly .

“They are no longer our kin . No, they’re just traitors, that’s all . ”

Karne’s rage against the red dragons exceeded everyone’s imagination .

His animosity towards the red dragons was stronger than any of his kin’s, and he even forced this view onto the newer generations of dragons .

He said that the red dragons were traitors that had abandoned their race .

Of course, some dragons didn’t believe him . They were the ones that remembered the red dragons and Ellid . Just like Blanc, they truly believed the red dragons had not forsaken them . But, over the centuries, it became hard to not doubt .

This was where their differing beliefs had led them .

“Explain yourself, Karne . ” Blanc’s heavy, low voice growled like a wild beast’s .

None of his kin present failed to understand where his emotions and rage came from . Those who knew how long Blanc had waited for the red dragons’ return easily understood his feelings .

To make matters worse, Blanc had believed that Ellid and the other red dragons were still alive somewhere—that there was a reason why they had to run, that they could not have abandoned them without a solid reason .

That’s what he believed and told the others .

The red dragons had a reason to leave . That was true . There were waiting somewhere and maybe, just maybe, they would come back one day .

That was as wrong as Karne saying the red dragons were traitors .

They hadn’t run away .

Because they were all dead .

“I said, explain yourself . Now!!”

Blanc’s naked killing intent spread out everywhere . But it wasn’t just him alone—the same could be said of his kin that had believed Karne’s version until now .

The sense of betrayal .

Karne’s brows shot up as he received the brunt of the overwhelming emotions of hundreds of his kin .

“Hold on, everyone . You’re all too agitated right now . ”

“Without a doubt, there must’ve been some kind of misunderstanding . You know that Sir Karne isn’t that type of person, don’t you?”

As was the case with everything, blind loyalty and faith always persisted . But that extended only up to a point . And it’d take only a single moment to betray such loyalty .

“Everyone, just calm down and let’s hear from… . ”

Kyah-aaaah-!

A loud dragon’s roar resounded over the crowd .

Seizing the opening created by the commotion, Karne instantly leaped up into the air . At the same time, his body ballooned and his previously human-like appearance transformed into that of a dragon sporting the ‘orange’ color that was far closer to gold in hue .

“S-sir?!”

“Sir, my a**! Catch him!!”

Blanc roared at the top of his voice .

Learning more about what happened in detail was nice and all that, but right now, apprehending the escaping Karne took priority .

Unfortunately, no one was capable of catching up to Karne once he was deadly serious about running away . He must’ve planned his escape from the get-go, because he even activated short-distance teleportation magic several times in a row to fly far away .

“That son of a…!!”

Blanc urgently transformed . The same thing happened to the other dragons, as well . Their human-like appearances couldn’t produce the kind of speed necessary to pursue Karne .

>

As he transformed back into a massive blue dragon, Blanc continued to grit his teeth .

And so, many, many dragons began their heated pursuit of the escaping Karne .

…All the while completely forgetting about the existence of a lone human who had vanished from the spot earlier .

Act 7

Flap-

Swiiiiiish-

A massive figure quickly scythed through the air, his huge wings beating away .

The dragon with the near-golden hue, Karne, issued an enraged roar, his sharply curved fangs on full display .

-Dammit, dammit!

Karne’s roars continued for a while .

He thought his heart would explode from the indignation . One measly human he didn’t even pay much attention to ended up pouring ash all over his well-prepared feast .

“Man, I finally caught up with you . ”

-…?

Karne was stunned silly by a soft voice coming from above his head, and hurriedly looked up . But, at that exact moment…

Craaaack-!

Stagger-

The powerful force emanating from his head caused Karne’s flying body to shake greatly .

-It can’t be…

“Where are you in such a hurry to get to, I wonder?”

Craaaack-!

Fists laden with magical energy slammed down on Karne’s head once more .

“Before you leave… . ” Su-hyeun, straddling the top of the fleeing dragon’s head, mercilessly pounded down on the dragon with his fists held high . “You should’ve apologized to Miru first . ”

Swiiiiish-

Crack, boooom-!

That terrifying punch finally forced Karne’s body out of the sky .

Kyah-aaaaah-!

-Just when…!

“It was really hard catching up to you . When I saw you looking so shifty-eyed, I wondered if you really were planning to run, but, man, I was so right . ”

-Dammit!

As he fell to the ground below, Karne angrily shook his head . At the same time, his entire body began glowing red-hot .

[Armor of Conflagration . ]

A heat that would make even boiling lava feel lukewarm caused Su-hyeun to hurriedly leap away from the dragon’s body . If he insisted on staying there, then his butt resting on the dragon’s head might have gotten royally roasted .

CRASH-!

Right after that, Karne’s body crashed on the ground . Su-hyeun put some distance between himself and the stifling heat he felt from the fallen dragon’s figure, then landed safely back on solid ground .

“Whoo, whoo . ”

He urgently blew at his hands after feeling the heat still lingering there . But, when he thought about it for a second, the heat wasn’t the real issue here .

>

The orange-colored dragon . Just one grade below the red dragons . But Karne was also the oldest of all orange-colored dragons, too .

After the war, most of the old dragons died out, and only those youngsters who were in their hibernation periods at the time survived to this day . Still, there was little doubt that Karne’s scales were incredibly tough .

Even if he used a sword and not his bare fists, penetrating Karne’s scales would still be a challenge .

Grrrr… . .

Karne pushed his crash-landed body back up and glared at Su-hyeun . Now that they were face-to-face like this, the latter couldn’t help but see the former in a new light .

>

A size that easily rivaled the average skyscraper . The thick, heavy concentration of magical energy emanated from his skin and scales .

Orange color, and the oldest of the lot—that was Karne .

>

This was a fight against a real dragon, in other words .

Sha-shing-

Su-hyeun unsheathed his sword . And then…

“Come out . ”

Riiiip-

The moment he called out, Miru tore through space and emerged beside Su-hyeun .

Gya-ong-!

…With its mouth still biting into the Cintamani .

Miru’s sudden entrance shocked Karne slightly . But then he began glaring murderously at the Cintamani in the young red dragon’s maw .

-It’s all because of you two .

Grrrrr…

An enraged roar exploded out from Karne’s maw .

-You ruined everything!

Ruuuumble-

An incredible wave of killing intent enveloped everything along with the dragon’s roar .

The scorching heatwave flooded the surroundings . Su-hyeun hurriedly raised his hand and shielded his face from the heat .

“Hey, this isn’t even a case of anger management issues, so what gives? What are you suddenly getting angry at us for?”

Of course, it wasn’t as if he didn’t understand Karne’s motivations . Well, Karne did lose everything he had built up for centuries because of their actions, after all . But the matter being understandable didn’t automatically make it justified, either . Also, there was no real reason to understand it, either .

“You know the saying, you reap what you sow? That’s exactly what’s happening here . ”

Slash-

Clang-!

Su-hyeun swung his sword downward, but the sword energy stretching out was blocked by the several layers of barriers protecting the area around Karne’s body .

“Hey, Miru . ”

Gya-ong-

“Fly up and keep your distance, okay? Don’t stick too close but still support me from the rear with your Breath and buffs . You get it, right?”

Gya-ong-!

“Alright . Well, then… . ” Su-hyeun said, his eyes locked on Karne, currently amassing an incredible amount of magical energy inside his mouth . “Let’s go . ”

Paht, flap-

Su-hyeun and Miru moved simultaneously . At the same time, a massive Breath attack shot out of Karne’s mouth .

Ruuuumble-!

For a moment, the whole world was dyed a golden color .

Su-hyeun leaped up high in the air and observed the ground below . A small hill near his original position was vaporized in an instant . As far as destructive power was concerned, that Breath was the real deal .

>

Gu-woooo-

But the attack didn’t end there . Su-hyeun’s flying figure was suddenly suppressed by an oppressive feeling . He began tottering while raising his arms and lost his balance . In the meantime, Karne unfurled his wings and was about to fly up again .

It was a gravity-type magic . He must’ve been planning to restrict Su-hyeun’s movements first and then fire another round of Breath .

>

[Leap . ]

Su-hyeun stepped on the air once more . His body felt several times heavier, but that didn’t really matter to him .

>

Ruuuumble-

The Breath soared by in front of him .

>

Karne was a completely different type of opponent than the Titan Turtle .

When you fought a Titan Turtle, you had to fight for a long time, gradually shaving down its ridiculous defenses . Karne was the type of opponent armed to the teeth with hundreds, if not thousands, of different magic spells as well as a powerful weapon called Breath .

Even if Su-hyeun’s magic resistance was on the high side, he didn’t know how well that would stack up against an opponent of Karne’s caliber .

More importantly, if the fight was taken to the air, Su-hyeun would suffer from an overwhelming disadvantage . He made up his mind quickly, having already witnessed the power behind Karne’s Breath .

>

Giiii-iiiing-

Magical energy began gathering on his sword .

[Explosion Style . ]

The magical power coalescing in one point began expanding, as if to shatter the blade at any second .

[Indomitable Body . ]

[Armor of the Mage . ]

[Sky King’s Feather . ]

Su-hyeun even enveloped his body with specialized anti-magic skills, as well . Although these skills didn’t see much use when battling against monsters, they sure came in handy when he was fighting against a dragon .

Skills that weren’t very effective against physical attacks were now just about perfect for the situation .

Not only that…

[Dragon God’s Protection . ]

[Reflect . ]

Miru’s skills were overlaid on top of his .

>

There was no more need to hesitate . Su-hyeun dashed straight into the Breath fired by Karne .

Kwa-aaaaaaht-!

The huge Breath swallowed Su-hyeun up . Karne, firing the attack with everything he had, looked flustered .

>

For a moment there, he even thought something preposterous, too .

But, soon enough…

Split-!

He realized how utterly wrong his thoughts were .

Kyah-aaaaaah-!

Because, Su-hyeun broke past the Breath, penetrated the barriers protecting Karne’s body to dig deep into the dragon’s front . And, while in that position, he swung the sword in a big arc, slicing up Karne’s scales from his shoulder down to his belly .

“Miru!!”

Su-hyeun didn’t skip a beat and shouted . Miru, preparing for this moment when he had entered Karne’s barriers, finally released its own version of Breath .

Ruuuumble-

[High Breath . ]

Miru’s Breath definitely didn’t lose out to Karne’s . Such a powerful attack rained down on the orange dragon staggering from Su-hyeun’s sword strike .

Kiiiaaaaaaah-!

Karne writhed violently from the pain before he curled up into a ball . He urgently spread out protective barriers around his body, but they were just not enough . Miru’s Breath melted the barriers down, pushed past the scales and began scorching the flesh underneath .

It was hard to believe that a Breath of this magnitude came out of such a small body . The attack’s power managed to exceed Su-hyeun’s expectations once more .

But he thought he knew why Miru’s Breath had suddenly gained a power-up like this .

>

The Cintamani was supposed to strengthen the power of the dragon race . And only the red dragons, the descendants of the dragon king, could control the mysterious red marble .

Miru getting stronger after gaining the Cintamani made perfect sense, in a way .

>

No matter how powerful Miru’s Breath had gotten, in the end it was still a power based on magical properties . Meaning Karne, boasting an excellent resistance against magic, wouldn’t lose his combat capabilities from Miru’s Breath alone .

>

Su-hyeun grabbed the spears tied to his back .

Jiiii-iiiing-

The moment he gripped the tightly-fastened spear, the weapon suddenly let out a keen, angry howl .

[Dragon Slaying Spear . ]

The weapon passed down from ancient times, designed and crafted solely for the purpose of killing dragons . Three such throwing spears Su-hyeun used often in his previous life were now held firmly in his hand .