Chapter 50

Chapter 50

“Iblis Leonia?”

“Please just call me Iblis. Haieltun calls me that too.”

“Aren’t you Haieltun’s subordinate?”

“That’s right. I was forcibly kidnapped by Haieltun and turned into a Chimera.”

“Kidnapped?”

“Who would willingly end up in a state like this?”

Iblis wore a sorrowful expression.

Originally, she had been the heir of a noble family in Kurayan.

From an early age, she had been recognized as a talent who would revive her family through her outstanding beauty and ability. But before her talent could fully bloom, she was kidnapped by Haieltun.

Immediately afterward, she crossed over to Earth together with Haieltun. Then she was modified into a Chimera.

When she came to her senses, she saw her lower body, which had become a spider’s, and went mad with fury. Haieltun used mental restriction magic on that Iblis and made her his steward.

In that way, Iblis lived for more than a hundred years as Haieltun’s steward, regardless of her own will.

Two egos existed inside her mind.

One was the ego of the human Iblis Leonia, and the other was the ego of the steward Chimera Iblis.

Among them, the ego of Chimera Iblis was stronger, so she had no choice but to faithfully carry out Haieltun’s orders.

She had fought Deioden for Haieltun and ended up like this.

Deioden had cut her body in two without the slightest mercy.

Once her fusion with the spider was undone, she could finally regain her whole self.

The ego of the human Iblis Leonia, not the Chimera.

“This day has finally come. I thought I would never escape his grasp forever. Do not look at me with those eyes. I feel freer now than ever before.”

“I am sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. I am grateful instead. Thanks to you, I have found rest.”

“Mm!”

“Will you grant me one request? If you do, I will give you a gift.”

“What kind of request?”

“If the people of my family crossed over to Earth, please give them this necklace.”

Iblis handed Zeon the necklace hanging around her neck.

It was a necklace engraved with a red rose pattern.

A blue jewel was embedded in the center of the rose pattern.

“It is an item that symbolizes the head of the Leonia family. It has no meaning to anyone else, but to the Leonia family, it is more precious than anything. It can awaken the ability contained in our bloodline......”

“I cannot promise. But if I ever meet them, I will give it to them.”

“Thank you. In return, I will give you this.”

STAB!

Iblis suddenly stabbed her white hand into her own chest.

At the sight of her hand sinking into her chest up to the wrist, Zeon furrowed his brow.

A moment later, what she pulled out was a round jewel as red as blood.

“This is the Red Dragon’s Eye that Haieltun placed inside me in place of my heart.”

“A dragon’s eye?”

“Haieltun hunted a young dragon of the Red Clan in Kurayan. It was for the sake of researching Chimeras later. Every Chimera in this lair contains tissues from the dragon he dissected.”

“Mm!”

“He processed the last remaining eye into a small form and made it replace my heart. Although a long time has passed, the mana contained inside remains unchanged. It should be useful.”

It was nothing else, but a dragon’s eye.

Though it was not as great as a heart, it contained a tremendous amount of mana beyond anything an ordinary monster could even imagine.

Zeon accepted the dragon’s eye.

As befitting the Red Dragon’s Eye, intense heat could be felt in his palm.

“Then please......”

As if she no longer had the strength to endure, Iblis closed her eyes.

That was Iblis’s final moment.

“Phew!”

Zeon let out a sigh.

He did not have good feelings toward the humans who had crossed over from Kurayan, but after hearing Iblis’s circumstances, it was true that he felt pity for her.

Zeon stored Iblis’s necklace and the Red Dragon’s Eye in his subspace.

That was when it happened.

CRAAAAASH!

With an explosion that shook the enormous underground cavity to its foundations, Deioden crashed down near him.

“Grrgh!”

“Are you all right?”

Zeon hurriedly tried to help Deioden up.

“Do not touch my body.”

Deioden rejected Zeon’s hand and stood up by himself.

“Mm!”

A groan escaped Zeon’s mouth as he looked at him.

That was because Deioden’s left arm was missing.

The shoulder area had been crushed as if seared by fire.

He had been struck by Haieltun’s Breath.

It had to be tremendously painful, yet Deioden showed no trace of it.

Rather, he was burning his fighting spirit with madness as fuel.

Using Crayon as a staff, Deioden rose and said to Zeon,

“Cripple!”

“Yes?”

“Heh-heh! It seems this is as far as I go.”

It was the first time Zeon had heard Deioden say anything weak, and he could not say a word. Then Deioden glared at Haieltun and continued,

“He is terribly strong. If the other dragons are all as strong as him, then humanity has no future.”

Haieltun was strong enough to make one’s flesh tremble.

For over a hundred years, Deioden had wandered the desert and used every possible means to grow stronger. Even so, he could not seize a definite advantage.

Haieltun’s Magic existed in a distant realm beyond human reach, and his body was stronger than any monster Deioden had faced until now.

If not for Crayon, he would not have been able to leave even a scratch on Haieltun’s scales.

Red flesh was exposed in many places across Haieltun’s gigantic body.

From Deioden’s attacks, his scales had been torn away, and he had suffered considerable damage. But he was still standing strong.

After facing Haieltun directly, Deioden instinctively realized it.

The real battle began now.

From this point on, he truly had to put his life on the line.

“Cripple!”

“Yes!”

“If you die, you die.”

“What?”

“I am telling you not to think about what comes after. You think too much. You calculate too much, and you read the room far too much.”

“That is......”

“Sometimes, there comes a time when you have to crash forward with all your strength without thinking at all. Just like now......”

As Deioden gripped Crayon tightly, illusions appeared on both sides of him as if by a lie.

One was someone Zeon knew as well.

‘Akaruk!’

The being who had been forcibly turned into undead by Haieltun.

He had appeared as an illusion.

The one who appeared on the opposite side was someone Zeon was seeing for the first time.

He was a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

A typical handsome white man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a tall, well-proportioned build.

“Crayon?”

At Zeon’s words, the handsome white man smiled and nodded.

Deioden looked surprised.

“Heh-heh! You can see him too? My friend......”

“So he was real. I thought you had gone mad and were talking to yourself.”

“It was a short time, but I enjoyed being with you, cripple!”

“I enjoyed it too.”

“This is my final lesson. From now on, watch closely as I hunt the dragon.”

“Yes!”

Zeon answered through gritted teeth.

Deioden did not permit Zeon to join the battle until the very end.

He intended to hunt Haieltun with his own hands until the last.

Zeon respected his will.

Deioden walked forward and said,

“If you die, you die. Let go of any lingering attachment to life, just as sand slips through your fingers, and crash into him with all your strength. That is the only way to hunt a dragon.”

“I will never forget it.”

“Of course you should not. Heh-heh!”

Deioden laughed and quickened his steps.

Deioden shouted loudly,

“Let’s go! My friend!”

On either side of him, the illusions of Crayon and Akaruk ran together, then soon merged into one.

BAAANG!

A strike containing the authority of death slammed fiercely into Haieltun’s body.

At the enormous impact that even Absolute Shield could not block, Haieltun’s gigantic body shook violently.

But Haieltun did not simply take it.

He fired countless spells wildly and unleashed Breath to attack Deioden.

BAAANG! CRAAASH!

At their clashes, the magically reinforced lair collapsed.

The enormous bedrock crumbled, and the sand covering it poured down.

At that moment, dozens of men appeared from behind the collapsing bedrock.

With identical faces and identical clothes, as if stamped out from a mold, they were the Chimeras Haieltun had created as clones.

The Chimeras, receiving Haieltun’s will, attacked Deioden all at once.

“Is this all you have, lizard?”

Deioden shouted as he cut down the clone charging at the front.

―Arrogant human! I shall bring divine punishment upon you.

“Do not make me laugh. Who is a god? A lizard like you? I will not allow it.”

―This body is the god of the new world, foolish human.

RUMBLE—!

At that instant, a gigantic lightning bolt struck down from the sky to the earth.

The lightning bolt struck Deioden through the wide-open ceiling of the underground cavity.

With no time to dodge, Deioden was struck directly by the lightning bolt and turned black as charcoal. All his flesh was cooked, and all his hair vanished.

It was astonishing that he was still alive in that state.

Deioden took a small bottle from his chest and bit it in his mouth. Then he crunched the entire bottle.

It was the stimulant made by the mad alchemist.

A potion that instantly removed every status abnormality and restored stamina and mana.

Without hesitation, Deioden swallowed the potion along with powdered glass. Then his charred skin peeled away, and new flesh grew.

It was truly an insane effect.

“Kraaaah!”

Deioden let out a beast-like roar and swung Crayon.

At that instant, an enormous cluster of light gathered over Crayon’s gigantic blade.

It was Sword Aura, mana condensed into a sword.

Deioden infused the authority of death into the Sword Aura and launched it at Haieltun.

SLASH!

A great wound appeared across Haieltun’s enormous body.

As a tremendous fountain of blood poured out, Haieltun let out a monstrous cry.

―Kraaaaaah!

At Haieltun’s rampage, the lair, already half-collapsed, completely gave way.

Haieltun moved his gigantic wings and soared high into the sky.

Deioden also flew up to the same height as Haieltun with Crayon before him.

BAAANG! CRAAASH! RUMBLE—!

Thunder boomed again and again across the dry desert sky.

The aftermath of a battle between one human and one dragon was truly tremendous.

The lair completely collapsed and vanished, buried beneath the sand, and an enormous amount of sand shot into the air all at once.

The sand covered the sun and plunged the area into darkness.

Zeon’s body soared into the sky.

The sand on the ground had risen like a pillar and supported him.

When he rose high into the distant sky, he could see Deioden and Haieltun fighting.

Zeon took in all of it with his eyes, missing nothing.

Deioden had no way back.

He had no thought of surviving.

“Heh-heh! If I die, I die.”

The final battle of his life.

Deioden burned everything he had and fought Haieltun.

From Deioden’s figure, Zeon saw the end of humanity.

How far a human could become strong.

How much a human filled with venomous determination could evolve.

He saw every possibility in Deioden.

“You dogshit old man. Truly......”

Zeon could not finish his words, and small tremors ran through his shoulders.

Before he knew it, his eyes were bloodshot red.

BAAANG! CRAAASH!

The battle between dragon and human was racing toward its end.

The raging fierce gale, the sky flashing endlessly with lightning, and the air heated to scorching proved that fact.

In Zeon’s eyes, he saw Haieltun and Deioden gathering their final strength and clashing.

BAAANG!

As if the end had arrived, the entire desert shook, and the clouds in the sky were torn apart.

After a sandstorm swept across the area like a tidal wave, the world became silent, as if by a lie.