Chapter 524

The explosion occurring from Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem’s energies inside Kaibar’s neck wasn’t simple.

Raon had increased the destructive power to the maximum by using the Flame Dragon Art with Heavenly Drive and the Heavenly Heavy Cannon with the Blade of Requiem.

It was the most powerful twin blade technique he could use in his current state. The explosion inside Kaibar’s body was good enough to make Aries admire it even though she was a transcender.

Whaaam!

The tremendous wave of aura spreading in all directions was powerful enough to even remove the storm, blood raining down like a red shower to seep into the ocean.

“Kuh…”

Raon twisted his lips while observing Kaibar’s injury, which could be seen in between the falling blood.

‘It survived that?’

The mad dragon Kaibar was still alive. Half of the flesh and bones were torn from its neck, but it wasn’t completely snapped.

The body itself must’ve been sturdy because he was close to being an ancient dragon. Raon was honestly dumbfounded to see that it had managed to withstand the two attacks occurring inside the body.

‘No, it’s my fault. I should’ve aimed slightly higher.’

He’d targeted the thick part of the neck right above Kaibar’s body because he had to land the attack before it regained its senses. However, that ended up being the issue.

‘Damn it…’

He wanted to tear off the other half of the neck to finish it off, but his body wouldn’t move because he’d used too much power at once.

[Kuaaah!]

Raon was forcing himself to raise his arm just as Kaibar let out the loudest scream so far and started to rampage. It almost looked like a desperate struggle of a savage beast trying to get out of a trap.

[Ack…]

Kaibar hurriedly turned its head towards the ocean and jumped into it, trying to survive.

It had realized that running away deep under the ocean was the only way to survive.

“You can’t leave!”

Raon gritted his teeth and stabbed Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem into the soft flesh next to Kaibar’s injury.

Whaaam!

At that moment, Kaibar’s neck submerged into the ocean. Raon almost lost the grip on Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem because of the movement and pressure of that huge body.

‘Holding out is my specialty.’

Raon activated the Snow Flower Attraction and stuck himself to Kaibar’s body. He would never let it go.

Just as he was about to attack once again with the small amount of energy that had regenerated, the flesh that was destroyed by the Flame Dragon Art and the Heavenly Heavy Cannon started to regenerate in Kaibar’s neck.

‘A regeneration spell? No, is it a healing spell?’

He wasn’t too sure what it was, but its bleeding was stopping, its flesh was regrowing, and its bones were regenerating. It seemed to be trying to run until it healed.

Raon twisted his lips while watching the flow of mana working on Kaibar’s wound.

‘If it’s just a spell of this level…’

Raon shoved Glacier’s coldness into the Blade of Requiem and activated the Ghastly Flow of Mana.

Rip!

The flow of mana that was healing Kaibar’s injury was as if with scissors, and it started to bleed once again.

Raon clenched his hand holding the Blade of Requiem while watching the scene.

‘So it worked.’

It was too difficult to read the flow of Kaibar’s mana so far because it had been using either eighth- or ninth-circle spells.

However, the healing spell that it had used a moment ago wasn’t using any profound formula even though the density of mana was high. That was why Raon had managed to cut off the flow with the Ghastly Flow of Mana.

[A magic forcefield? How dare you!]

‘And I’m not done yet.’

Raon twisted the Blade of Requiem and made the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s heat explode on Heavenly Drive’s blade.

Whaaam!

Crimson flame burst out from under the ocean before it subsided, and Kaibar’s wound became even larger.

[Kuaaah!]

Kaibar screeched and swam even faster, but Raon focused on the Snow Flower Attraction to stick to it like a leech.

Crack!

Kaibar tried to use the healing spell once again, and Raon immediately activated the Ghastly Flow of Mana to cut off the mana’s flow.

[Y-you bastard! How long are you planning to disturb me?!]

[Until you die.]

Raon bit his lip and unleashed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s Flame Spirit through Heavenly Drive. The sphere of heat concentrated around the tip of the blade and bared its fangs towards the small amount of flesh and bones left from Kaibar.

Whaaam!

The Flame Spirit exploded, and Kaibar’s wound was deepened.

The bone was completely visible, and only a third of the flesh was left, but the head was still attached.

‘How is it even surviving in this state?’

It’s coating the inside and outside of the body with mana to prevent its head from falling.

‘Ah…’

Raon hadn’t even realized that because he had he was too focused on attacking Kaibar while putting up with its rampage.

It would be nice if the meat were as toothsome as its toughness.

Wrath was still spouting some bullshit despite the situation.

‘Seriously, you…’

Stay strong! The end is near!

He was cheering Raon on for the first time in anticipation of the dragon meat. However, Raon felt like he was regaining some energy for some reason.

Whir!

Raon cut off Kaibar’s mana, which was trying to activate the regeneration magic once again, and slashed its flesh with Heavenly Drive.

The blade wasn’t cutting too well because he didn’t have much aura left, but he pushed through by force with his transcendental will.

Swoosh!

Magic made from ice was raining down from the direction of Kaibar’s head.

Raon could defend with the Blade of Requiem’s Ghastly Flow of Mana because they weren’t high-ranking spells, but he couldn’t pull out the Blade of Requiem if he wanted to cut off the regeneration.

‘I need to take it with my body.’

Raon instantly changed the River Footwork into physical movement.

He dodged the spells rushing towards him by moving his body like a reed fluttering in the wind.

Rip!

His clothes were torn, and his flesh was gouged to create bloodstains, but fortunately, he didn’t get any lethal injuries.

‘I’m also running out of stamina. I need to finish it off quickly.’

Raon grit his back teeth and unleashed Glacier’s coldness on Heavenly Drive’s blade.

Rip!

There was only a small amount of flesh and scales left on Kaibar. The end was near.

[Kuh!]

Kaibar groaned in pain and came to a halt. It opened its mouth, which had been scarred by Aries’s sword, in Raon’s direction.

[Get lost!]

The dragon words were activated for the first time inside the ocean. Raon tried to hold out with the Snow Flower Attraction and his physical strength, but his limbs were shaking to the point of breaking.

The dragon words truly had a frightening amount of compulsory power, but it was drastically decreased compared to when they were used against Aries because Kaibar was also very exhausted.

‘I need to hold out. I have to!’

Raon could predict that Kaibar would fully recover and return if he ended up being pushed back.

That means that the sacrifices of their companions’ lives would be in vain, and that couldn’t be allowed to happen.

Rumble!

Raon rotated the Ring of Fire to increase his soul level. The achievements he’d gained so far and the emotions of demon kings combined into one and started to push back the compulsion affecting his body.

‘Don’t ever let go!’

Wrath had told him that surrounding himself with the opposing will allowed him to withstand dragon words and divine words. Raon recited his will as if he were pledging it to himself, not letting go of Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem.

[Go away!]

Kaibar’s dragon words continued. The spell was even more powerful because it was on the verge of death.

‘That won’t happen!’

Raon withstood it while biting the inside of his cheek to the point that it bled.

[Just go alre—]

[You are afraid of the blue demon king, aren’t you?]

Just as Kaibar’s dragon words were about to continue, Raon started to speak about Wrath.

[Wh-what kind of bullshit is that?!]

[The blue demon king has appeared at the center of the continent. However, you are still just killing humans over here, which means that you are afraid of him!]

Raon stopped the dragon words from activating by provoking Kaibar and finished his preparations to unleash his energy in a powerful explosion once again.

[That won’t work a second time! Stop it!]

However, Kaibar wasn’t an idiot. It made Raon unable to move his body through the dragon words and unleashed its magic. Raon had to admit that it was a formidable opponent, considering how much mana it was controlling despite its state.

‘Even so… I have to endure.’

He shouted in his mind and covered his immobile body with his will. His limbs regained their vitality, and Raon clenched his right hand around Heavenly Drive.

[H-how are you moving your body?!]

Kaibar’s long, vertical pupils trembled in disbelief.

[You are just a garbage lizard who acts strong against the weak. This is as far as you go!]

Raon stabbed Heavenly Drive even deeper while meeting the mad dragon’s trembling eyes. The blade unleashed a storming fire despite being underwater, and the raging fire shone brilliantly.

Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, Hundred Flames.

Flame Dragon Art.

The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation technique, which had done the most damage to Kaibar so far, breathed out its fire once again under the ocean.

Whaaam!

The flame dragon’s breath gnawed at the water dragon’s neck and shattered its bones and flesh despite its desperate resistance.

[Kuaaah!]

However, Kaibar was still alive, even though its head was separated from the body. A huge amount of mana was moving from the thin part of the neck under its chin, somehow keeping it alive.

‘Is it the dragon heart?’

Raon stabbed Heavenly Drive into Kaibar’s broken neck. He dashed along the neck and climbed while cutting it with Heavenly Drive, following the scar left by Aries.

Crack!

Once he reached the end of the neck, he executed Frost Pond to stab the scale under the chin, which was where the flow of the mana had the highest density.

Whaam!

Kaibar’s flesh was torn apart, and a round bone surrounded by rainbow-colored mana was revealed. It was the dragon heart, the coagulation of mana which was often called the dragon’s life.

[St-stop!]

Kaibar was focused on regenerating the body but suddenly started to scream.

[I-I was in the wrong! Please stop it!]

[…Really?]

Raon raised his head while holding the dragon heart in his hand.

[Yes! I’ll never kill humans ever again. No, I’ll never appear in front of humans!]

Kaibar shouted for Raon to spare its life, saying that it would never leave its nest in the future.

[That’s a good idea. However…]

Raon bared his fangs like a beast and clenched the dragon heart to the point of breaking.

[You should’ve said that before the start of this battle!]

He mustered the small amount of aura and strength left in him to pull the dragon heart from Kaibar’s flesh.

Psssh!

Kaibar’s flesh and blood gushed out like a fountain and turned the ocean a bloody red color.

‘Huff…’

Raon raised his gaze while sinking under the ocean with the dragon heart in his hand.

[Gaah…]

Kaibar groaned quietly on death’s door and wriggled like a worm.

[I-I…]

The light disappeared from its eyes before it could leave its dying wishes. Its breath couldn’t be felt anymore. The persistent life had finally perished.

‘Haa…’

Raon closed his eyes. His limbs were completely powerless. He wasn’t going to lose consciousness, but he had no way of leaving the ocean for the time being.

‘I’m going to die if I can’t leave…’

He could feel Kaibar’s dead body touching his back. Raon raised his eyelids with difficulty and saw Aries with her sunset-colored hair fluttering into the water and an octopus with a sparkling head approaching him.

‘I guess not.’

Raon let his guard down for the first time since the start of the battle. He waved his hand towards Aries and the octopus—or, rather, Rabawin—who were swimming towards him.

‘It’s over.’

* * *

“Kuh…”

Kuberad’s hand trembled as he held onto the deck railing.

‘What’s even happening right now?!’

After that critical blow from Aries and Raon, Kaibar even threw away its pride as a dragon and escaped underwater.

Kuberad had thought that they should withdraw for the time being because it was a bad situation, but Raon stabbed his swords into Kaibar’s body and followed it.

Two warships had capsized because of the hide tide occurring as if there were a cyclone. Raon and Kaibar seemed to be continuing their frightening battle under the ocean.

Aries and Rabawin had dove into the ocean to save Raon as soon as they recovered a small amount of stamina, but it couldn’t be helped that he was still worried.

‘I’d be too ashamed to face Vulcan if you end up dying. Please…’

Kuberad bit his lip while watching the ocean roil once again.

‘Please just return alive!’

It wasn’t Raon’s battle to begin with. Aries had said that Raon would be helpful, but there would’ve been no issue even if he’d returned to Zieghart, to be honest.

The guilt started to take over him. After all, he’d been the one to ask a young man with a bright future ahead of him for help in such a desperate battle.

“Uhh…”

“Sir Raon.”

Nuan and Morin seemed to be praying for Raon’s safe return, their hands put together and their eyes closed. They weren’t the only ones. The sailors from every warship were also watching the ocean while praying for Raon and Aries’s safe return.

Whaaam!

A loud splash was the only thing disturbing the silence, and the center of the ocean erupted as if an explosion had occurred, revealing Kaibar’s head. There was a deep laceration on its lips and the area around its eyelids, but it still seemed alive.

“K-Kaibar…”

“Aaaah!”

“It’s back!”

“But that means the others…”

“Aah…”

The sailors on the warships sank to their knees while watching Kaibar’s face, which had become even more atrocious from the intense battle.

“Ah…”

Kaibar also exhaled roughly, his face turning pale.

‘Does that mean that Raon and Aries… died?’

Kaibar’s return pretty much signified that Raon had died, and the same went for Aries and Rabawin, who’d gone to save him.

Rather than the despair over his upcoming death, the fact that the youngsters had died in vain was even more painful.

“I’m sorry…”

Kuberad lowered his head while hugging Morin and Nuan. He turned around while hoping that a painless death would visit the two children.

However, Kaibar never attacked, nor did it say anything no matter how long he waited.

He turned his trembling head, and Kaibar’s neck was starting to surface. The violent cut on its neck looked like a rough brush had drawn a line, and there was a wound at the central area, which looked like it was gouged out by an explosion. It was the location of the dragon heart.

“D-does that mean?!”

Kuberad suddenly stood up, and Kaibar’s face and neck fell powerlessly instead.

Whaaam!

Kaibar’s head floated on the ocean with its neck torn from its body, and Kaibar’s body—which could even hide the horizon—surfaced after a huge wave struck the ships.

Raon, Aries, and Rabawin were sitting on Kaibar’s headless body.

“Th-the head is completely cut off. Which means…”

“It’s dead.”

“I-it’s dead! The mad dragon is dead!”

The sailors cried, hugging each other while sitting on their backsides.

“Uaaaah!”

“It’s over now!”

They shouted loudly in joy at slaying the mad dragon, the sound a requiem to appease the lost souls.

Kuberad lowered his head towards Raon while listening to the people’s roars stirring up the ocean.

“Thank you. I’m really thankful to you…”

* * *

“Huff…”

Raon exhaled roughly while spitting out the salty water filling him up to his throat.

‘I’m glad it ended nicely.’

Kaibar was as powerful and tenacious as its notoriety implied. Since it was even willing to throw away its pride as a member of the strongest race to escape, he wouldn’t have been able to win if he’d made any mistakes with his body and mind. Raon finally felt relieved.

“Good job.”

Aries smiled cheerfully and patted his shoulder.

“I was planning to finish it off, but you ended up doing it instead.”

She looked proud of him rather than being saddened as she nodded at him.

“Sir Raon!”

Rabawin bowed at ninety degrees.

“I was impressed from the bottom of my heart! I would’ve followed you for the rest of my life if I didn’t serve anyone yet!”

He went on his knees and pounded his left chest where his heart was located.

“It’s all thanks to Lady Aries for damaging it enough beforehand.”

Raon shook his hand with a weak smile on his face.

“Don’t be humble. It’s all your doing.”

Aries snorted and pointed at the mad dragon Kaibar’s corpse, which was split in half.

Raon smiled without saying anything while looking at Kaibar’s empty eyes devoid.

Hnng!

Raon caught his breath to try and quickly recover his stamina, only to suddenly hear Wrath’s laughter.

We don’t even need to season it since it’s in the ocean already!

Wrath smiled happily, saying that it could be immediately grilled once they returned.

‘Seriously, I’m so tired of… Hmm?’

Raon shook his head and was about to push Wrath away…

Whir!

A huge amount of mana entered his body from Kaibar’s dragon heart, which he was still holding in his hand.

A tremendous amount of high-purity mana spread throughout the mana circuits all over his body in an instant, adding to the energy in his lower and middle energy centers before flowing into his upper energy center.

Whaap!

Raon closed his eyes and focused on his mental world.

The pure energy of water from Wrath that was freezing his mental world faded away, and the endless dark hole was filled with blue water. The fissured land was reinstated, and the swords embedded in the ground were sparkling in a different color.

The coldness that had been continuously stimulating his brain completely disappeared, and Raon felt like all of the shackles binding him had been undone.

Whir!

The divine and demonic swords that had disappeared after Wrath’s advent had reappeared.

‘Nice to see you again.’

Raon was smiling while looking at the dazzling yet deadly blades when a sword surfaced from the hole that was being filled up. It was a blue color that looked like it was made of water.

‘That sword…’

***

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]