âItâs been a while since I last used a spearâŠ.â
He hadnât had a lot of opportunities to throw a spear recently. The Dragon Slaying Spear was basically a consumable item, so he had to preserve them as much as possible, and also, lately, he hadnât run into a powerful enough enemy that he needed to use the spear, either.
Was it because it had been a while? The spear gripped in his hand felt just a little different, a little fresher than it had before.
âOne.â
Su-hyeunâs body arched back like a bow.
âTwo.â
His body leaned forward like a released spring, andâŠ
âThree.â
His arm, cocked back, swung forward powerfully and threw the spear.
Swiiiiiish-
Spliiiiit-
The three spears split apart and turned into tens of thousands of smaller spears before stabbing into Karneâs body.
Stab, stab, stabâŠ
Kiii-aaaaah-!
Karne screamed and tottered precariously. He straightened his legs and tried his best not to fall, but it wasnât enough in the end.
BOOM-
Eventually, the dragonâs legs gave way.
KrrrrâŠ
Bits of drool Karne couldnât manage to swallow trickled down the orange dragonâs maw. Even then, he continued to growl, a low rumble, causing Su-hyeun to roll his eyes.
âHow persistent are you? Seriously.â
In defensive capability alone, Karne wasnât as sturdy as a Titan Turtle. But his automatic recuperation ability, the defenses offered by the scales, plus the surrounding barriers that continuously regenerated, meant that the orange dragon possessed a truly incredible defensive ability.
âM-mm.â
Su-hyeun poured out attacks without rest until he staggered somewhat from dizziness. He too had no choice but to stab his sword into the ground to support his weight that way.
Now that all the tension and adrenaline had deserted him, not just the feeling of lightheadedness, but even a sense of enervation washed over his entire body. He felt drained.
Even though various defensive skills were layered on top of his body, and despite cutting the Breath down with his sword, it was still impossible to completely avoid getting damaged from Karneâs attacks.
An orange-colored dragon was right below the level of the red color, after all. Karneâs Breath wasnât something one would normally face head-on.
<< I wonât be able to withstand a second hit from that. >>
Should he have changed his attack method to one where he took his time a little more? But if he did that, how would he have gone about countering Karneâs flight ability?
Just as all sorts of possibilities popped up in his headâŠ
Flap-
Karne unfurled his wings once moreâeven as blood continued to flow from the thousands, nay, tens of thousands of spears stabbing into its massive body.
âThis crazy son of aâŠâ
Su-hyeun thought this wouldâve been enough to suppress the dragon, but, somehow, his quarry still managed to move.
He knew that the dragonâs recuperative power was considerable, but this easily exceeded the word ârecuperate.â
The tenacious will to survive. That was what kept Karne moving.
âYouâre really stubborn, arenât you.â
Pak-
Su-hyeun yanked his sword out of the ground. But, right at that momentâŠ
Chwa-rurururuk-
Squeeze, tighten-
Dozens of chains flew in at Karneâs body as he tried to take flight and held him in place. That wasnât all, however.
Hundreds of varied magics, such as round bands that grabbed at his wings, shadows rising up from the ground to cling onto the body, etc., simultaneously tightened around Karneâs figure.
Su-hyeun looked up to the sky. âThey sure came fast, didnât they.â
Hundreds of dragons had come chasing after Karne. Their magic had imprisoned the orange dragon.
GrrrrâŠ
Karne crashed back down to the ground and growled angrily.
Dragons arriving late on the scene looked between Su-hyeun and the grounded Karne in surprise.
-What kind of situation is this?
-Why does Sir Karne look like thatâŠ.?
-Did this human stop Sir Karne alone?
Although there were many dragons giving chase, it was never going to be easy to catch up to Karne, who was determined to escape from them and had even gotten a head start by flying away without warning.
It was obvious why. Not only was there a difference in their flight speed, Karne could even use teleport as long as a small window of opening presented itself to travel a far distance.
If he had willed it, he couldâve hidden away for dozens, no, hundreds of years.
ButâŠ
-It seems⊠they did really fight?
He made a fatal error of not paying attention to Su-hyeun. The moment he tried to teleport, the human blocked him.
And so, time passed and other dragons were able to track Karne down to this spot.
If it werenât for Su-hyeun currently looking like a piece of charcoal from Karneâs Breath, none of the arriving dragons wouldâve thought that a measly human could have driven a mighty orange dragon to such a wretched state.
<< A human did that? Really? >>
<< Siegfri getting done in wasnât a lie? >>
<< No, wait. Even if that wasnât a lie, thisâŠ. >>
Theyâd all heard about the green-colored dragon, Siegfri, tasting defeat at the hands of this human. But fighting an orange dragon was on a completely different level than that.
The difference between a green-colored dragon and an orange-colored one was so great that they might as well be members of different species.
The orange-colored dragons were the closest existence to the red dragons.
-Wait, thatâs not important right now.
The matter of figuring out who stopped Karne should be reserved for later. Blanc approached Karne, currently tied down by the hundreds of other dragons.
-Now, explain yourself, Karne. Explain the meaning of this, and why you tried to flee.
-âŠIf you canât even figure that out by now, then it could only mean that youâre all morons.
There was a hint of laughter mixed in Karneâs voice. His reaction didnât suit the current situation at all.
-Heh, hehehe.
Karne chuckled with his distorted mouth. Blanc staggered back, creeped out by that laughter.
Karne, he⊠seemed to be completely deranged. How could he laugh in a situation like this? He looked so different from his usual past self, always majestic and dignified.
-I⊠I finally managed to escape from their shadow, yetâŠ
-Shadow? What are you talking about?
-Blanc, you have no idea. No, wait. Not just you, but everyone else, too. You donât know how I⊠We had been overshadowed by them for centuries.
Karneâs voice began to growl again.
-I too have devoted and sacrificed my whole being for our kind. I spent my entire lifetime serving our kin. I delved even deeper into research and did my best to serve our race! But, butâŠ. dammiiiiit!
Clank-
The heavy cage confining Karne shook as he struggled mightily. His roars pierced the heavens and his rage swept across the land.
-In the end, what good was it?? Ellid and the red dragons!! What happened to all of my hard work? They continued to lead our kind wonderfully, didnât they?! Without paying any attention to all the hard work we put in!
-Effort? Dedication?!
-Right. It was the same story even after they were all dead. All of you kept waiting for the red dragons to return. Saying that they need to lead our raceâŠ
Wuduk, snap-
The bindings tying Karne down snapped and broke, one by one, as he continued to struggle against them.
-Dammit all to hell! Open your eyes and see for yourselves! See who is standing before you right now! Not the ones that died in the past!
-Thatâs why you insulted the noble dragons who sacrificed their lives for us??
-They are already dead, anyway! Whether theyâre insulted or forgotten, what difference does it make?!
Karneâs voice was full of resentment. And his words shattered, in one fell swoop, the faith of all the dragons that had believed in and followed him until now.
Step-
âYou know, I wouldnât normally try to interfere in this sort of things, since itâs a matter concerning your kin. I mean, itâll be like Iâm sticking my nose in a strangerâs family quarrel, almost.â
Su-hyeun observing the situation from afar suddenly began walking toward Karne.
Fuu-wuu-
He spat out a lengthy sigh towards the skyâas if he was letting out the anger building up inside him.
âBut then, I just canât sit back and listen to this anymore. What did you just say??â
His eyes burned with pure rage. Even then, he was doing his best not to lose his reason.
The dragons around him immediately realized that. And, they also figured out the reason for Su-hyeunâs rage, as well.
Gya-ohohohk-
It was all because of Miru, curled up in a distant corner after hearing Karneâs roars.
A young dragon hatchling, with its body curled up into a ball and crying as if it was terrified of something.
When the dragons noticed Miruâs state, they all collectively sucked in their breath from the realization. No matter how young it looked, it was still old enough to understand what they had all been talking about.
âWell, sure. Fine. Let me concede hundreds, thousands of times and say youâre not wrong. The thing about your dead ancestors, since they canât hear you anyway, it doesnât matter if you insult them or forget all about them. Fine. But, thenâŠ.â
Step-
âWhat about Miru?â
Grrr-rrng-
Su-hyeun shifted his gaze over to Miru crying all by itself in a spot on the ground not too far away.
Miru, who didnât belong anywhere. Seeing how it was ostracized by other dragons from its own race, Su-hyeun could no longer contain his anger.
âFor now, youâŠâ
Pah-ahk-
Su-hyeunâs figure shot forward in an instant.
âYou get a beating.â
-Wait!
Swiiiish, smaaack-!
Despite the urgent voices coming from behind him, Su-hyeun still swung his fists.
-Kah-ahk!!
With fists laden with a ton of magical energy, no less.
âWhy should an innocent little kid beâŠ.â
Smack! Bam! Bang, crack-!
-Stop! Please stop!
âWhy should he get his heart broken by your rotting, stinking mindset, you son of a b*tch?!â
Chwa-rururuk, clank-!
Chains rose up from the ground and bound Su-hyeunâs body. To stop his fists from flying, his arms were constricted and the bindings even wrapped around his neck.
Even if Karne had insulted the red dragons, each and every surviving dragon was precious to their kin. If punishment was to be handed out, they should be the ones to do it, and if that meant Karneâs execution, then a human shouldnât be allowed to carry it out.
[Third Eye- Neutralization]
Wuduk, wududuk-
The chains from the dragons began snapping, bit by bit. The Third Eyeâs power weakened the effects of the magic and the chains began to rust rapidly.
âDonât you dare try to stop me!!â
Rumble-!
Enraged magical energy instantly spread through his surroundings. At the same time, the pressure suppressing his body disappeared. All the magic confining him had scattered away.
The dragons stepping forward to stop Su-hyeun all flinched at his furious aura. None of them could explain how their race was frightened silly by a mere human. But they were unable to even consciously recognize that fact at that moment.
Because of what Su-hyeun said next.
âWhat right do you have to butt in here?! Did you even try to comfort the little kid crying all alone? What have you done, anyway?!â
Su-hyeunâs head spun away.
Just like he said, no one was paying attention to Miru. The fact that no one even bothered to go over to Miru and try to comfort it really ground Su-hyeunâs gears to no end.
And his anger reached an uncontrollable level after learning that this misunderstanding stemmed from nothing more than Karneâs greed and pride.
Grab, swooosh-.
KA-BOOOM-!
-Kah-ahk-!
Su-hyeun grabbed the scales right below Karneâs jaw and, just like that, slammed the orange dragonâs head to the ground. The latter didnât seem to have enough energy to mount any resistance, its body riddled with grievous wounds.
âArenât you all ashamed? You worry about a jerk-off like this guy, claiming heâs your kin and whatever, yet you push away a little kid that you should be welcoming with open arms?â
No one could reply to Su-hyeunâs pointed questions.
They were all too embarrassed.
He wasnât wrong. Only after hearing Su-hyeun did their guilty conscience toward Miru grow larger than the anger felt for Karneâs actions.
And that fact made them even more embarrassed than before.
Karne mustâve blacked out a while ago as he didnât even scream anymore. Su-hyeun, still not satisfied, tried to yank out his sword.
âPleaseâŠ. stay your hand.â Blanc approached him and grasped Su-hyeunâs shoulder. âWe were wrong. I apologize. We are⊠truly sorry.â
Blanc slowly bowed to Su-hyeun. Hundreds of dragons followed his example and bowed, as well.
They bowed to Miru, as well.
The entirety of the dragon race bowed to one human and one young dragon hatchling. Such a thing had never happened before in the lengthy, unaccountable history of the dragons.
Su-hyeun pushed his half-unsheathed sword back into its scabbard.
Fuu-woo-
He stared at the unconscious Karne, the dragonâs head still rammed deeply into the ground. Then, he shot a sharp, piercing glare at the silent dragons around him and raised his voice. âFine. Iâll stop for today. But you better punish this bastard properly. If you donâtâŠ.â
Squeeze-
Su-hyeun gripped the swordâs hilt still held in his hand tightly.
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âIâll kill him myself.â
His murderous, cold glare left the dragons unable to say anything.
Only one individual among them, Miru, staying at the corner until then, flew toward him while opening its mouth wide.