My gaze was sucked into the dragon called Bardumkus as if it were mesmerized. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
Yongrin, whose webs were wriggling like maggots, was black with an unholy color, and the ribs that tore the muscles and bones and protruded out of the body spread like wings on the back.
As the frost drags along the white-clad entrails, its eyes glow with a cursed, repulsive color—
“—Arakish?”
Could it be that my eyes are broken? What the hell am I just saying? Shar’kath raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah. It used to be that name. Although I have given you a new name befitting a servant of the king.”
Cassena, who was gasping for breath while pressing her left chest with her right hand, began to tremble.
“No, no… … .”
As if unable to accept this cruel reality, Cassena shook her head and looked back at me.
“That, that, can’t be Arakish. yes? Right, Lane?”
Seeing Cassena’s purple eyes eagerly looking at me as if asking for consent made me feel sick to my stomach.
「Ha, hahahahaha, hahahahaha… … .」
Cassena’s… … It was the sound of laughter that mercilessly trampled on the wish that could not come true. The sound of laughter imbued with an evil yogi, enough to make your eardrums bleed.
“You lowly hybrids haven’t developed in 1,400 years. That can’t be my friend, that can’t be my father… … It’s like crying while denying reality.”
“shut up… … .”
“hmm? Are you angry now? Why? It was a relationship that hadn’t even been half a year.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up——!”
“It is a trivial habit of you humans to deny reality without being able to face it.”
Cassena, whose face was contorted with anger, let out a vicious scream and frantically drew a line in the air.
Like a conductor leading an orchestra, whenever light was formed from his fingertips, magic resonated and created miraculous power.
Again and again and again and again… … Shar’kath’s arms were scorched and his legs charred by fireballs that flew in, spitting out white smoke.
It is the flame of the dragon’s words learned from Arakish, the deathbed of the ephemeral bond that was formed for a long and short time in this cold empire.
But to no avail.
To no avail.
The limbs that had been burnt always sprung up anew in the webs of the abyss. The same was true of the wide dark blue coating.
Shar’kath, who had just walked forward as if it was neither worth stopping nor worth avoiding, shook his head as the attack subsided.
“Is this the end?”
Was it helplessness or despair?
Tears flowed down from Cassena’s eyes as she trembled as she drew runes in the air, then sat down helplessly and immediately froze.
Recalling all the moments with Arakish… … The warmth of the day I embraced them under my wing on a cold night, the gentle voice of the day I taught them how to say the word, and even the shy smile of the day I wanted to cook delicious food for my daughter.
“It’s a mystery, how that troublesome girl’s lineage can be so insignificant.”
Shar’kath stretched out his hand, and the ground shook as a swarm of primal spiders, brukkudums, prowled disgustingly behind him.
“Prisvia, please evacuate to the wall with the others as agreed.”
“hehehe, you?”
“You have to buy that time.”
Laine passed by as she lightly placed her hand on the crying Cassena’s shoulder. There was a strangely expressionless expression on his face.
“My lady, this may be the last lesson, so let me teach you the most important one.”
A blue light glowed softly from the five glass bottles hanging from the jingle.
It was a magic potion that I received at the request of Kiran Wolf Vlado.
As soon as Pippi opened the cork with his beak, he poured the half-frozen liquid into his mouth.
“Third lesson, a mage never gets emotional in battle.”
As the thick liquid melted into my body, I felt the pain of a cold needle piercing my esophagus.
Forcibly replenishes the consumed mana. It forcibly generates impossible magic power and begins to pulsate the main crystal vigorously.
By the time that series of processes were taking place, Lane had already taken off the glove on his left hand and loosened the bandage.
“Image Building.”
Just as paint spreads on white paper, the image of the boy begins to paint over the image of the world.
Five circles stretch out to the ground. Liu in the north, Liang in the east, Se in the south, John in the west, and Gyeong in the center.
The rune engraved in the center of the circle emits light, and at the same time, countless mathematical formulas are written around it to draw geometric patterns.
“Yoo Ryang Sejon: Sir.”
It was Shar’kath, Baek Doryong, who showed the most surprising reaction to the power that dominated the world, ignoring even the providence of the world.
‘This power is definitely Karenden’s… … ?’
Even before that thought was formed, a light so intense that it burned my retinas was pouring down. Brook Kudum, who was running at the forefront, burst into flames with fierce flashes.
“Rune change. Ryun (綸), mountain (散).”
Image Barrier: The circle of flow sprinkled light, and the fire that poured from the sky was released into rings and strands of flame innumerable, and then dispersed.
The strands of flame entwine like ropes around the legs of the Brukkudums who followed, burning terribly fiercely.
The old ones struggled painfully in the raging waves of flames so intense that their skins were burning with burns.
“Ryun, Ryun, mountain, mountain.”
“Pippi, I’m fine, so stick with Cassena. And help Barlzen.”
Pippi lovingly rubbed her beak on Lane’s cheek, then spread her wings and flew back.
“Captain, that’s… … .”
Everyone was surprised by the powerful feast, but the ones who were shocked even more were the subordinates of Frisvia, who had grown up as adventurers.
“hehehe, that kid, did you mean that earlier wasn’t a fluke?”
It’s an image barrier… … I don’t know much about magic, but I know very well where it can be used.
It’s not as bad as I thought.
Was Arakish’s decision to entrust the dragon egg to such a kid not only for personality reasons, but also for ability reasons?
‘Rain, are you planning to stop all of that by yourself?’
Varlzen’s fists trembled as he watched the old ones entangled in Shar’kath’s fire.
“Let’s continue the admiration later and move to a vantage point for now, huh.”
Cassena, who had been staring blankly at Lane’s back while sitting on her knees, was caught by Frisvia’s subordinate on her shoulder, and Cassena blinked her eyes.
“Now, wait… … Where, where are you going?”
“It gets in the way. So you have to get out of the way.”
“Bikini… … I will fight with Rain too! Get down, get down!”
Then Frisvia stopped her steps for a moment as if she was really dumbfounded, and smiled coldly.
“Fighting, heh, how are you going to fight? A little boy who can do nothing but cry. With dreams and hopes? hehehehe, there is no such miracle on this floor.”
“But, still, leaving you alone… … !”
“Rather than helping you, you are just a lump of baggage that needs help. If we remain here, we will soon be dead or scattered in bloodstains.”
Again, a pillar of fire erupted from behind, and Cassena’s fur cloak fluttered violently as a raging heat wave raged.
“But it’s not him.”
“… … ?”
“With that skill, don’t you have a corner to believe in something? Heh, go back to the base and warm up by the fire.”
Frisvia suddenly turned around and grabbed the head of the dead man who had rushed into it at that moment.
At that moment, steam spurted fiercely from the device hanging from the wrist, and the iron stake was extruded, crushing the head into countless pieces.
So the next, the next… … .
The fighting method of masterfully violating even the old one and then driving a wedge into its head to finish it was truly a masterful skill itself.
“and… … .”
Cassena admired his fighting prowess, but bit his lip in helplessness.
I, I… … .
The next moment, Cassena roughly escaped from the adventurer’s shoulder and fired a fireball at the same time, burning the dead approaching behind Frisvia.
“Would you like a fire? The fire is here!”
Frisvia shed a sinister laugh at that bold appearance.
“hehehehe, if you die like this, will that black sheep forever be mine? It wouldn’t hurt to just let them die here.”
Meanwhile, Lane, who was urgently breathing, felt a stinging pain, like being stabbed with a needle.
Is it already depleted of mana… … He took a second glass bottle from his waistband and unscrewed the cork.
As a reaction to the act of forcibly activating it by artificially pouring fuel into it, a tearing pain occurred on the main side and the back was wet with cold sweat.
‘Protect, protect.’
At that time, then, I should have fought like this. With Arakish… … .
As I hurriedly crossed my hands with that thought, the bodies of the old spiders that had been running close to me were engulfed in flames and emitted a smell of burning flesh.
As the air rippled with the heat of the explosion, he swallowed breathlessly and drank the third potion. Now there are seven potions left… … .
“I see, now I vaguely understand.”
Along with the pain that seemed to hit the brain directly, Shar’kath’s voice was suddenly heard from the side.
“The reason why Her Majesty sought you as soon as she woke up, and why Karenden saved you with only a handful of strength left.”
The flames that ignited Brukkudum, scattering deflagrations, Shar’kath put his hand over the flames with an expression of interest.
The flames immediately swallowed that little hand as well, but as if mocking it, a spider’s web protruded from the cut surface and elaborately weaved it into a new hand.
Perhaps it was the composure peculiar to the old rulers, but the fear imprinted deep in the genes of the ruled class made the hairs all over the body stand on end.
“She looks very similar to Karenden.”
“… … ?”
“I can tell by looking into your eyes. He pretends to be quite calm, but his personality is captivated by passion, and the use of power is… … Is it something like Karenden’s alter ego?”
The figure of Karenden, who had been building similar strength by putting his hands together on this street and this gap fourteen hundred years ago, was superimposed on the boy’s face.
“You are an existence that shouldn’t exist in this era, an existence that goes against the law of causality.”
If so, exclude it right here and now. Shar’kath lifted his chin backwards.
“You take care of the rest of the hybrids. Don’t touch Emmitsa’s bloodline. There is something to be read from the memory of the soul.”
I watched with bated breath as Arakish leaped high, creasing the stratum with the giant.
‘The spider’s web got stuck to my ribs… … Do you want them to act as wings?’
It was known that he couldn’t fly, but he definitely had the ability to jump. I had no choice but to watch Arakish block the group’s escape route.
No, it would be more accurate to say that there is no time to stop it.
At the same time as Arakish leaped, Shar’kath began walking straight toward me, flapping his sleeves.
「Where and how much should I test it?」