CH 317

The muscular body covered with bristly fur was limp and strength couldn’t be felt from it any longer. It was even covered in blood and was impossible to recognize its original color.

That’s why it took some time for the proxies to recognize the identity of the bloody bag of meat.

“Gilgamesh!”

That chunk of meat was Gilgamesh, one of the Transcendentals of the Anti-Dragon Alliance.

He was a Transcendental who was called the most ruthless hunter and tyrant who ruled over all four-legged beasts, but now, like a hunted rabbit, he appeared as a wretched creature.

The proxies all turned pale.

There weren’t any signs of an engagement, nor was there any time to properly fight in the first place. It hadn’t been long since the Dragon’s presence had been first felt for the Dragon to reach this place.

That meant that Kang Tae-Jin and Gilgamesh had been suppressed without them even being able to resist.

“This is impossible…”

One of the proxies spoke with a dazed look on their face.

Even though the Transcendentals had formed an alliance because they knew of the Dragon’s power early on, they didn't think that the gap between themselves and the Dragon would be this big. 

“No matter how strong the Dragon is, this is still ridiculous!”

No matter how many times they denied it, reality didn’t change. Gilgamesh was limp and couldn’t move, and Kang Tae-Jin, who had turned into a bloody mess, was still unconscious.

But something was missing.

“Huh?”

The proxies were disconcerted when they belatedly realized they didn’t see the War Dragon.  

“Ack!”

Before they found the whereabouts of the missing War Dragon, they heard a sharp scream.

The owner of that scream was Han Jin-Hee.

Until recently, she had been playing with her opponent, Darun, but now, was struck by the War Dragon who had suddenly appeared in front of her. Now, she flew back so far away that she couldn’t even be seen.

“When?!”

The startled proxies stared at the War Dragon, but the War Dragon didn’t seem to care about them. 

“Sorry, I should have gotten here much sooner.”

The War Dragon held Darun up, but it was Kim Seon-Hyeok who spoke. It was a soft voice that didn’t match the tense battlefield.

“Crazy bastard. You knew perfectly well that this a trap, but you ran straight for it once again.”

Darun’s voice was as weak as a faltering candle that seemed to extinguish at any moment.

“Darun, your arm…”

“Enough. I only have one arm, but the others couldn’t even keep their lives. So don’t make a face like that.”

Grief flashed in the eyes of the strong nomadic man. At the end of his gaze were all the bodies who had their heads cut off and were no longer complete.

The War Dragon took in the sight of the corpses with Darun. His yellow eyes started to burn again.

“I’ll get revenge for you.”

“I want to help, but ‘cause I’m like this, it’ll be difficult.”

Perhaps it was because he had shed so much blood, but Darun looked like he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

“Be careful. Those guys are really strong. Especially that woman you just blew away. She’s a real monster…”

Towards the end, Darun’s voice became so small that if Kim Seon-Hyeok didn’t focus, he wouldn’t have heard it.

“Alright, I got it, so you go get some rest.”

A blue light that started from his wound seemed to spread all over Darun’s body, then, his eyes closed and his head dropped.

“D, Darun!”

The men who had been watching from nearby were all startled and shouted.

“The bleeding has roughly stopped. The severed arm can’t be restored, but there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

Kim Seon-Hyeok reassured them.

“Stay away. From now on, this will be a fight you can’t endure.”

At his words, the proxies finally came back to their senses and growled wildly at him.

“Who says we’ll let you?!”

However, their momentum soon disappeared without a trace in the face of the Dragon’s rage that seemed hot enough to burn the world.

“Step forward only if you want to immediately die by my hands.”

Just one sentence, but at that one sentence, the proxies could only watch the nomads retreating far away.  

Kim Seon-Hyeok watched the nomads retreating far away, then he turned his head. Ko Eun-Bi trembled when their eyes met.

“What about you? Will you stay and fight? Or would you like to escape with them?”

Ko Eun-Bi didn’t hesitate.

“I will fight.”

Nodding, Kim Seon-Hyeok held out three fingers.

“Three.”

When Ko Eun-Bi’s eyes widened at his abrupt words, he continued to explain. 

“There are three who have shown their strength, one of which I made a bloody mess of, but if you add in the guys standing over there and those who are hiding nearby and watching, then there are at least seven enemies. You take care of at least three of them.”

Voltecino tried to interrupt, but Kim Seon-Hyeok was faster.

“If you can’t even do that, then forget about being allies. I wanted an alliance with a trusted ally, not being a nanny to a snot-nosed brat I have to take care of.”

Ko Eun-Bi’s face hardened when he showed a completely different attitude to what he showed Darun.

“You tired? Then just come under me. I’ll protect you then.”

“No, I’ll show you. Just like you said, I’ll prove to you that Cino and I are worthy.”

Ko Eun-Bi gritted her teeth as she replied. For her, it must have been quite a resolute determination, but Kim Seon-Hyeok took it for granted. 

“Good. That’s how you should respond,”

As soon as he finished talking, a blue flash of light covered Ko Eun-Bi and Voltecino. It was the Water’s Qi, something that could be called the source of vitality.

“I’ll give you time to recover. It’ll be awkward if I have to hear that you couldn’t do your part because of the injuries I gave you.”

Having said that, Kim Seon-Hyeok turned his head and threw out his fist.

Bang!

A huge scythe that had approached silently struck the War Dragon’s fist and bounced off. 

“You. You’re much stronger than I expected.”

“Yeah? You’re much weaker than I expected, though?”

Instead of denying his words, Han Jin-Hee looked at her feet. She was quite surprised by the fact that she had been the one pushed back even after making a sneak attack.

“Alright, I acknowledge that. I don’t think I can handle you on my own.”

Han Jin-Hee had lowered her posture as if she was going to try charging forward again when she took her scythe and backed away. Two proxies stood by her side after she retreated. The men held a hammer sparking with lightning and a spear flickering with flames.

Kim Seon-Hyeok was looking at them like he was going to make a comment when he raised his head and looked further away. 

Flare.

Who knows when it had appeared, but there was a huge bird covered in flames and a one-eyed giant as massive as a mountain.

Two? No, there were three. 

There was something hidden in the giant’s shadow. Unlike the other two Transcendental Beings who revealed their presence, that third being was an insidious one who continued to hide their presence away in the shadow, looking for an opportunity.

[So it’s the Spirit Bird, a phoenix who repeats death and life in the ashes left behind; Surtr, the King of the Giants and the master of all metal weapons that exist in the world; and Thanatos, the ruler of the underworld.]

It seemed like the three Transcendentals were rather well-known amongst the Transcendentals because Edda knew their identities.

“Are they strong?”

[As they are rulers who were each in charge of establishing a new race, it can be said that they have a higher rank than Gilgamesh who claims to be the king of mere four-legged beasts.]

It was a rather vague answer to the question of whether they were strong, but it was enough for Kim Seon-Hyeok.

No matter who his opponent was, it didn’t matter since he’d just destroy them anyways.

“Edda.”

Edda put some strength into her jaw at his soft voice.

With a sound of shattering bones that was uncomfortable to the ear, Gilgamesh’s waist seemed to be crushed, and not long after, the ferocious white lion’s waist was cut in half. 

It was the moment when Gilgamesh, a tyrant who ruled over the four-legged monsters and one of the dignified Transcendental Beings died a quick death. 

“Ahhhhk!”

At the same time, Kang Tae-Jin, who had been staggering in a puddle of blood, screamed before his eyes rolled back. Then, he didn’t move anymore. 

“First one.”

After staring at the motionless Kang Tae-Jin, Kim Seon-Hyeok turned his attention back to the proxies. 

As if they had arranged it, the proxies who made eye contact with him all began to move.

***

In the blue energy full of vitality, Ko Eun-Bi watched the Dragon’s contractor and the other proxies fight. 

“He was going easy on me.”

She had been beaten unilaterally in countless fights, but she never thought that he was someone she could never win against. She had believed that she could lessen the gap between them with more effort and charged at him with an anxious mind. 

But she was mistaken. 

Seeing how he was overpowering three proxies instead of being pushed back, she realized how absurd her belief had been. 

“You think you’re all that great?”

“You’re just a guy who married well and didn’t have to suffer.”

Her face burned. She had thought he was a man who had never experienced a fight that was like an actual battle; that he had simply met the Dragon and gained his present fame; that he had grown as a flower in a greenhouse all thanks to his wife. 

But she was wrong. The one who was truly the flower in a greenhouse was her. 

If it was her, she would have cowered away in the face of such powerful flames and thunderbolts, but he was courageous. At times, his scales fell off from the intense blows and even his body was scorched, but he still endured it all and returned all the damages, and more, back to his opponent.

It was a tenacity that only those who had encountered and overcome fatal situations countless times could have, and it was a calculative method of attacking that could only come from experiencing countless battlefields.

[He is not truly fighting yet.]

At Voltecino’s words, Ko Eun-Bi nodded.

Even while dealing with as many as three proxies, the Dragon’s contractor was still able to give off a relaxed vibe as he took in the situation on the battlefield. He didn’t seem to be dropping his vigilance in case the proxies who hid their presence could appear and interfere in the battle.

The same was true with the Dragon Lord. 

With a single flap of her wings, the Dragon flapped aside the flames that the phoenix spat out, and easily took the lightning-covered hammer attack by the giant. Even the gigantic scythe that would occasionally pop out of the shadows didn’t faze her.  

[I was mistaken.]

Even Voltecino, who usually didn’t show emotion, exclaimed in admiration. 

[The Dragons only appeared during the war against Chaos. After that, they disappeared so I couldn’t properly judge their capabilities.]

It wasn’t only the Ruler of the Plains who hadn’t properly gauged the strength of the Dragon Lord and her Companion.

“It can’t continue like this!”

“Come out! All of you, come out! I won’t let it go if you break your promise!”

The unsettled proxies screamed out. It was evident they were aware that the other Transcendents were hiding somewhere nearby and watching the fight.

It was a disgusting move, but it was certainly effective.

The Transcendentals of the Anti-Dragon Alliance who had been hiding and watching the situation now appeared all at once.

“Were you planning on coming out after we died?”

By this time, the Transcendentals who had been fighting the Dragon Lord and her Companion had already suffered quite a lot of injuries. 

“...Eight, nine, ten. Eleven. That’s a lot.”

Although at least ten more proxies appeared, the Dragon’s contractor was still very calm. He simply counted the number of additional proxies in a composed manner. 

“You can’t count? There’s a total of thirteen.”

As though he found Kim Seon-Hyeok pitiful, one of the proxies who appeared later scoffed at him.

“Seems like you learned how to add, but not how to subtract.”

The proxies frowned at those words; they just couldn’t understand what he meant. Meanwhile, the Dragon’s contractor whispered softly.

“Summon Dragon.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a yellow and blue flash of light burst out. But of all things, it was right by the weary giant and phoenix.

Kaaaaaaaaaah.

The Golden Dragon protruded out of the ground and tore into the wounded giant. The bewildered giant tried to resist, but the Golden Dragon dragged the giant into the ground.

Kwak!

At the same time, the Blue Dragon that had suddenly appeared wrapped itself around the phoenix. The phoenix lit itself on fire and resisted fiercely, but the fire quickly died out when the Blue Dragon’s energy touched it.

Psssst.

The water vapor generated when water and fire met quickly spread out like a mist.

“Now that two’s gone, there’s eleven.”

A cold voice was heard from inside the hazy mist. 

“Then let’s start round two now.”

As soon as his words finished, the Dragons roared. It was the first time since the war against Chaos that the Dragon clans participated in a war together on the same battlefield. 

For the enemy of the Dragon race, this was no different than a disaster.