Chapter 522

Swaaa!

The one that surfaced along with a huge tidal wave wasn’t the mad dragon Kaibar, it was a sea serpent.

However, it wasn’t an ordinary sea serpent. Its head and body were around twice as big as the one that had run away after Kuberad’s weapon had landed. It was a king sea serpent.

The powerful pressure spreading around from it was befitting of its title as the demon in the ocean.

Raon bit his lip while looking at the king sea serpent’s poisonous fang, which was even longer and thicker than a long spear.

‘Yes, I remember. They said it was among the enemies.’

Raon remembered that Rabawin had told him of the king sea serpent’s existence when he explained the enemy’s lineup. It looked like the king sea serpent decided to take action because the monsters had begun to lose.

“Ah…”

“K-king sea serpent!”

“How can a monster be so huge?!”

The sailors swallowed nervously, surprised by the king sea serpent’s size.

“Even if it’s huge, it’s just a monster! Hold the line! We can win!”

Kuberad wasn’t intimidated by the huge size of the king sea serpent. He raised his wrinkled hand and encouraged the panicking sailors.

Whoosh!

A furious wave rushed towards them from a simple movement of the king sea serpent’s tail. The defensive formation of the twelve warships swayed violently, as if it were about to break.

“Fire!”

Kuberad gave the order and the sailors took action. Their movements were still slow, implying that their fear remained, but they fired the anti-monster weaponry with precision.

Whaaam!

The harpoons and hooks made by Kuberad pierced through the king sea serpent’s thick scales and embedded into its flesh.

Blue blood gushed from it, but the injury wasn’t too deep. It seemed to have a thick layer of flesh and skin, befitting its size.

“Kiaaah!”

The king sea serpent roared and raised its tail. Its sharp scales rose in a thick layer, forming the shape of an iron club.

“Hmm…”

Raon placed his hand on the hilt of Heavenly Drive as he watched the king sea serpent’s shadow extend over the warship.

‘They can’t defend against it.’

They would’ve been able to if Rabawin had been there, but he was fighting to the death against the Seafog chief on the ocean. Raon judged that no one would be able to defend against it.

“I’ll go.”

Raon unsheathed Heavenly Drive and was about to stop the king sea serpent’s tail attack when Aries shook her head.

“No, we won’t take action here.”

“But…”

“The geezer told you when we left the harbor, didn’t he? We have to focus solely on the mad dragon. This battlefield isn’t ours.”

She even crossed her arms, showing her intention to not take any action no matter what happened.

“The king sea serpent is attacking!”

“Get ready!”

“Magicians, get into position!”

None of the sailors were looking at them to ask for help. They seemed to agree with Aries.

Even though they were afraid of the monsters, they were well aware that they had to deal with it on their own.

Rumble!

The king sea serpent managed to slam its bladed tail down. It was a simple movement, but it was as heavy as a mountain.

Whoosh!

Just as the king sea serpent’s tail was about to split the Azure Wind into half, a translucent light radiated from the center of the twelve warships.

Whaaam!

The barrier made from the mana that the magicians had stored in the ship clashed against the king sea serpent’s tail, resulting in a tremendous shockwave that stormed around the surrounding area.

Kieeeh!

The king sea serpent withdrew in surprise, but the shield defending the warships shattered like glass.

“Kuh…”

“Is one all we can manage…?”

“Damn it!”

The magicians weren’t looking good at all. Their expressions revealed their disbelief at the fact that the shield was broken from a single clash.

“Do it now! Hit it with everything we’ve got!”

Kuberad realized it was the best opportunity to slay the king sea serpent and ordered the crew to fire all of their weapons.

With the defensive formation destroyed, the warships turned around and fired the harpoons, hooks, and sea spears.

Whaaam!

Dozens of weapons flew like a ray of light and pierced into the king sea serpent’s body.

The countless weapons caused severe injury, but it wasn’t enough to kill it or weaken it because of how huge it was.

“Kieeeh!”

The sea serpent screeched and rampaged like crazy. Apparently, that only ended up irritating it. It pulled the ropes connected to the harpoons, causing the warships to sway to the point of sinking.

“K-keep balance!”

“Level out the ship!”

The captains of each warship tried to withstand it by connecting the ships with lines of mana and chains, but the king sea serpent was far too strong.

Rumble!

The twelve ships started to be pulled towards the king sea serpent.

“W-we have to cut the ropes and chains!”

“No!”

Kuberad shook his head as people suggested they cut the ropes connected to the harpoons.

“It’s going to rampage as it pleases and kill us all if we cut the ropes!”

He was reading the flow of the battle properly, which suggested that it wasn’t his first time participating in a battle.

However, the king sea serpent managed to raise its tail despite being shackled by the harpoons. It was a performance befitting its notorious name as the demon in the ocean.

It slammed its tail down to the warship at the very right before they had the time to stop it.

Whaaam!

The warship was split in half and started to sink under the ocean like a wet piece of paper.

“Aaaaah!”

“M-monsters are approaching!”

“Damn it! Why did it have to be this ship?!”

“Save me!”

The sailors that managed to survive the impact shouted from the ocean for help.

However, the monster claws were faster than the help from other ships.

Kieeeh!

The marine monsters like shark moles and rain lizards nimbly swan under the ocean to tear the flesh and crush the bones of the sailors.

“Fire!”

Kuberad forced himself to avert his gaze and fired the reloaded weapons.

Since the target was too big, the harpoons and the hooks managed to hit the king sea serpent’s body, but it didn’t collapse despite the blue blood gushing from its wounds.

“Kieeeh!”

The king sea serpent screeched loudly and breathed out a dark cloud from its poisonous fangs. It advanced towards the warship on the left. It was even bigger and faster than the poisonous cloud of the previous sea serpent.

Whir!

The warship’s yellow iron plate was unable to withstand the poisonous cloud as a hole appeared. In the end, even the warship itself started to melt from the poison.

“J-jump down! The poison is going to kill us at this rate!”

“Kuh!”

“Damn it!”

The sailors jumped to the ocean or onto other ships before the ship melted completely. They managed to avoid the poison, but the opening in the defense made the monsters rampage even more.

“Kuh…”

Raon bit his lip while watching them die.

A child even smaller than Yua was stabbed to death by a shark mole’s claws, and an old man who seemed even older than Glenn perished as his flesh was gouged out.

The lives of the warriors who came all the way there while prioritizing vengeance over their own lives were fading away.

Raon was well aware that he needed to suppress his urge, but he couldn’t do it because he’d seen them during the journey.

“I know, but this is difficult to endure…”

The assassin Raon would’ve easily managed to endure, but it was difficult to do nothing about because he’d learned to value people during his new life. His hand trembled intensely.

“You still need to endure it.”

Aries shook her head, saying that it wasn’t the time to act.

“You have to.”

Her trembling lips made her appear as if she was too cold. She seemed to be enduring the fury and sadness of a situation where she couldn’t take any action.

‘Yes, it should be even worse for her than me.’

Raon had only gotten to know them during that trip.

However, they were Aries’s subordinates, ones who she had personally recruited. It was obvious that she would be in even more pain than him.

Not bad for a female thief.

Wrath twisted his lips while looking at Aries.

The King of Essence despises those who abandon their subordinates, but the female thief is right in this case.

‘……’

The lizards are nothing but meat for the King of Essence, but they are pretty much natural enemies for you humans. They will be annihilated in an instant if she isn’t preparing against it.

‘I know.’

Raon sighed and lowered the hand that was clenching Heavenly Drive’s hilt.

“Aaah…”

Even from the Azure Wind, people started to get injured. Nuan, who was carrying out Kuberad’s orders, was pierced by a rusted spear of a balax.

“Nuan!”

Morin threw his hammer and ran towards her to save her.

“Cough!”

However, he was also stabbed by a spear in his thigh and rolled on the ground because he hadn’t properly trained in martial arts either.

The two children, who seemed even younger than Yua, had previously told him that they were risking their lives to watch the death of the mad dragon who had destroyed their village and families.

However, it looked like they were going to die before they could achieve that dream.

“You damn monsters!”

Kuberad seemed to have concluded that strategic orders were pointless at that point. He picked up his sledgehammer and stood in front of the children.

The balax stabbed its spear at him without missing the opening from his hand trembling in exhaustion.

Shunk!

The rusty spear pierced into Kuberad’s waist. However, he grabbed the spear and didn’t let it go.

“You shall not pass!”

* * *

Since the battle on the deck was a tussle and the monsters were far more numerous than the humans, no one could afford to help them.

Kuberad seemed to be well aware of that fact, as he wasn’t asking for anyone’s help or looking in Raon and Aries’s direction.

“Uhh…”

Raon looked at Aries while grinding his teeth, but she never moved, her hand placed on the hilt.

‘I have to suppress my urge. Just a bit longer…’

Raon controlled his emotions by using the Ring of Fire, and the king sea serpent raised its head.

It was so powerful that the ropes and chains attached to the hooks were broken, and the warships swayed violently.

“Kieeeh!”

The king sea serpent opened its huge jaw. Poison poured from its dark throat.

The entire ship was going to melt if it wasn’t stopped.

“……”

Aries even closed her eyes, showing her determination to not take action.

Boom!

A huge amount of aura exploded from the air just as the poison cloud was about to devour the ship.

Whaaam!

More than half of the king sea serpent’s head was blown up before it fell into the ocean. The wave spreading out as a result was the biggest one in the battle.

Swoosh!

A powerful sword of wind stormed across the ten warships along with the furious wave and severed all the monsters on them.

It was Rabawin’s doing. He had returned after breaking the skulls of the Seafog chief and the king sea serpent and bowed in front of Aries.

“I’m back.”

“…You are late.”

Aries sighed quietly and pulled her lips into a smile.

“I beg your pardon.”

Rabawin lowered his head. His body was full of injuries, implying that his battle was intense.

“I’ll take the lead once again.”

He pulled the spear embedded on Kuberad’s waist out and quickly stopped the bleeding before going onto the main deck.

“The king sea serpent is dead! Prioritize the rescue of the people drowning in the water!”

He wiped out the marine monsters gathering around while prioritizing saving people’s lives.

Rumble!

The sailors were throwing ropes from the warships to save those who had fallen into the water when bubbles emerged once again from the ocean where the king sea serpent had fallen.

The flow was even bigger than when the king sea serpent had appeared.

Whaaam!

The surface of the ocean exploded, and legs the size of the warships burst from it. Eight legs with a disgusting amount of suckers and a head with a horn pointing out like a blade revealed that it was a kraken, the colossal marine monster.

“Ah…”

Raon gasped while looking at the kraken.

‘Did a kraken really just appear?’

He’d thought that it was about time for Kaibar’s appearance. That was why he was confused about the kraken.

He couldn’t understand what it was even thinking. After all, the monsters were all being slaughtered.

“I’ll take care of the kraken! Warships, get rid of the monsters!”

Rabawin didn’t even have any breathing room as he mustered his aura once again. He was about to tear apart the kraken’s leg with his astral sphere blade.

‘Huh…?’

A tremendous amount of coldness undulated from deep under the kraken.

It was extremely stealthy. Raon wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for the Ring of Fire and Glacier.

“Raon.”

Aries uncrossed her arms and placed her hand on her hilt. A frightening light sparkled from her eyes.

“It’s coming.”

Raon nodded rapidly.

‘My intuition was right.’

The mad dragon Kaibar was moving from deep under the ocean. With the kraken and the other marine monsters thrown as bait, it was preparing to annihilate everyone with an ice breath.

Aries and Wrath were right. If he had participated in the battle, he would’ve turned to ice and died before he even realized it.

Cring!

Raon unsheathed Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem and dashed towards the kraken. Aries was already advancing in front of him.

“Huh?”

Rabawin, who was heading in that direction to slay the kraken, turned around with widened eyes.

It looked like he didn’t notice the coldness under the ocean because he was too focused on the kraken.

“Is it…?”

“Retreat with all the warships!”

Aries gestured with her head and continued her advance.

“We’ll take care of it now.”

Raon glanced at Rabawin to commend him for his work before he used the Supreme Harmony Steps.

Whir!

The moment he was about to step onto the surface of the ocean, the water started to turn blue.

Crackle!

The ocean froze, and the breaths of the marine monster under the water faded away. It was a breath of death capable of freezing the soul from the smallest contact. If it was allowed to happen, not only the monsters but also the humans were going to be annihilated.

Cring!

Aries drew her sword while stepping into the air. The colorless glimmer of her aura and will twisted the space.

Crack!

Her space sword managed to cut Kaibar’s ice breath in half as it soared towards her, but the aftereffect remained.

Whap!

Raon surrounded both Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem with the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. The fire dragon’s breath extended from the two blades at the same time, clashing against the ice breath trying to devour the world.

Whaaam!

A tremendous explosion occurred from the clash between heat and coldness on the ocean surface. White steam spread all around the ocean. It was even thicker than the fog made by the Seafog tribe.

“Kuh…”

Raon bit his lip. The ice breath was damaging him through his water resistance since it was the strongest attack of the dragon race. He felt like his bones and flesh were freezing.

‘But I’ll endure it! It’s meaningless if I can’t endure it now.’

He’d been doing nothing as he watched the others die in order to save many people. If he couldn’t do anything against the breath, there was no reason for him to exist on the battlefield.

Rumble!

Raon unleashed all his energy of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, amplified by the Ring of Fire.

The flame on the blade had started to subside but spread around like a bird’s wings and made all the coldness disappear.

Whaaap!

In the end, Kaibar’s ice couldn’t even kill a single person and faded away after only freezing the kraken and monsters.

However, Kaibar’s attack wasn’t over yet. A powerful flow of mana from under the ocean implied that he wasn’t trying to hide the next magic explosion.

“Move back, everyone!”

As soon as Rabawin’s shout could be heard, dozens of rays of light emanated from the turbulent ocean.

Cring!

Aries pointed her sword at the ocean. Her blade distorted the space, and the spells rising from the ocean were severed diagonally at the same time.

Rumble!

Even though she managed to cut them down before they surfaced, a huge shockwave burst out from under the ocean because Kaibar’s mana was far too pure.

‘As for this one…’

Raon extended his two swords while using Glacier. A silver tree grew from the blades, and the ice flower blooming from it became hundreds of flower petals and spread around.

It was the Flame Spirit activated with the energy of frost.

Crackle!

The pieces of ice descended like cherry blossoms and froze the surface of the ocean to drastically reduce the effect of the mana explosion caused by Kaibar.

“Huff…”

Raon exhaled roughly and looked at the kraken that had exploded after freezing.

‘I’m glad I suppressed my urge.’

If he had been distracted by the king sea serpent or the kraken, the dragon’s breath or magic would’ve annihilated the crew.

It was because he’d followed Aries and Wrath’s advice and suppressed his urge until the very end that he managed to defend against the mad dragon’s underhanded attack.

“Good job.”

Aries smiled faintly, showing that she’d believed in him all along.

“There would be no reason for me to be here if I couldn’t even do this much.”

Raon exhaled roughly and looked behind him. Fortunately, the warships had gone far back at Rabawin’s order.

Rumble!

A wave occurred. Or rather, the entire ocean started to tremble.

The presence was on a whole different dimension from the king sea serpent or the kraken. It felt like the entire world was screaming.

Whaam!

A majestic shadow spread around from the ocean surface as if a moon were rising from it, and a neck soared into the sky, as endless as the waning sunlight.

“Ah…”

Raon swallowed nervously and raised his gaze.

‘The mad dragon, Kaibar.’

Its scales were sparkling mysteriously as if it were wrapped in the ocean, and the scaled neck was as thick as the entire fleet combined. It was also as long as an avenue of a royal palace, making it difficult to see at a glance.

Fish fins were rising like blades on its neck, which seemed capable of reaching the sky, and the dignity and elegance made it look like a piece of art.

Rumble!

Kaibar leaned its neck forward, and its head could be seen. The sunlight was blocked by its diamond-shaped eyes protruding from the thick scales, which seemed even capable of withstanding astral energy. The entire world became darker, as if night had fallen.

Its horn was the most peculiar part. Unlike its right horn, which looked like a spire, the left horn was broken in half.

However, it seemed to be displaying its madness even further.

“Is this…”

‘The mad dragon, Kaibar?’

As Aries had said, a human being couldn’t do anything about its size. Raon could guess that he wouldn’t be able to cut its head off even if he unleashed his astral energy endlessly.

Hmm, that lizard looks familiar for some reason…

Wrath stroked his chin while looking at Kaibar. Raon ignored him because he felt like Wrath was going to say something strange again.

“The real battle is starting now. Focus.”

Aries exhaled quietly and fixed her grip on her sword. Her furrowed brow showed that she was also nervous.

Anyway, what a nice and plump dragon.

As Raon had expected, Wrath started to spout some bullshit once again. The insane statement was unbefitting for the situation, but it managed to relieve his tension, at least.

Grawwwr!

Kaibar roared towards the sun. The surface of the ocean caved in as if it were being crushed by its pressure, and a tremendous storm occurred to make the sun disappear.

No sound could be heard for a moment. It was as if their eardrums had been torn from the tremendous noise.

[You vermin!]

Kaibar glared at the sun and lowered its head. The ferocious eyes of a reptile were looking down on Raon and Aries.

“Hmm…”

Raon’s fingers trembled.

‘Was that the dragon words?’

The fear tightening his heart seemed to be from the power of the dragon words dwelling in its voice.

However, he could still withstand it because he’d experienced the other demon kings and Glenn’s pressures in the past.

“What are you even saying when you are just a lizard who went for a surprise attack because you were afraid of ‘vermin’?”

Raon provoked while pounding his trembling chest with his fist.

“Raon?”

[……]

Aries’ eyes widened, and Kaibar’s gaze was directed at him.

“They called you a mad dragon and whatnot, but I can see that you are just a loser lizard.”

Raon’s arrogant voice almost sounded like Wrath had suddenly taken over his body.

[There’s no reason to fight fair and square against vermin who endanger this world.]

Contempt and murderous intention started to emerge from Kaibar’s eyes.

“Are you introducing yourself? You are the one who destroyed the city and ruined nature!”

Raon clenched his back teeth tightly. He was furious that the dragon was spouting such bullshit because he’d seen countless corpses in the destroyed city of Aikar.

[Human, your eyes are similar to his.]

Kaibar’s narrowed eyes were also expressing his contempt towards Raon.

“His?”

[Did you know?]

He pulled his head back. That was enough for the sunlight to descend once again and create a storm.

[Humans are the only ones capable of summoning the demon kings of Devildom upon this land.]

“……”

Raon didn’t respond.

‘That’s…’

He’d heard countless stories of humans summoning demon kings with their negative emotions, and the demon king himself was right next to him, but he’d never heard of other races summoning a demon king.

“So what?!”

Aries furrowed her brow. She apparently hadn’t heard of other cases either.

[Humans’ nasty emotions are the only things that can summon the demon kings who destroy the balance of this continent. That’s why you are the pests of this world.]

Kaibar’s voice became louder, and the atmosphere vibrated loudly. Raon felt like his ears were going to fall off because of it.

[And demon kings should never exist in this dimension!]

You arrogant lizard, do you want to die?!

Wrath’s fist trembled furiously, as he glared at Kaibar.

“You sound like you’ve seen a demon king before. In my perspective, you are even worse than the demon kings.”

Raon twisted his lips while looking at Wrath.

[That’s because you’ve never seen a demon king before.]

A frightening amount of coldness emerged from Kaibar’s eyes.

[Demon king. The blue demon king has slain my kin, who had been working for the balance of the continent, and…]

It violently ground its teeth while reminiscing on the past.

[Grilled the corpse and ate it. You need to shut your mouth unless you’ve witnessed that pure malice, that barbaric behavior.]

“Ah…”

Raon’s chin trembled intensely and he turned his eyes to the right to look at Wrath.

‘So the reason why that dragon became a mad dragon was… Because of him?!’

White breath came out of Kaibar’s mouth. It looked like ice was leaking out because of its wrath.

[He broke my horn when I tried to save my kin and even laughed at me, telling me that he would do me a favor by eating me if I became more plump! Humans need to die because they are the ones who summon such a thing!]

Raon became certain of it and nodded his head.

‘That’s him. It was because of this useless glutton of a demon king…’

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]