Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Zeon did not dare look at the old man.

That was because everything about the old man frightened him.

It was not simply because the old man was large or because his gaze was fierce.

From the old man, some kind of force that made people afraid was being emitted with terrifying intensity.

It felt as though he were standing naked before an enormous desert storm.

The old man was showing him just how small a human being could become when faced with the irresistible power of nature.

When Zeon could not answer and only trembled, the old man asked again,

“Are you a mute cripple? If you do not tell me your name, I’ll make you like that flame crocodile.”

“Z-Zeon.”

“Zeon? What a crippled name.”

Even at the old man’s mockery, Zeon could not offer any objection.

If he objected carelessly, he felt as though the sword that had reduced the crocodile to pulp would be swung at him.

The old man asked again,

“Good! You cripple! How did you enter this dungeon? It should no longer be possible to enter through the entrance I used.”

“That is......”

“If you stammer one more time, I’ll cut off your head.”

“I-I came in through an underground shaft.”

“A shaft?”

“Yes! I was working at the Mana Stone Mine, and the dungeon entrance appeared behind a collapsed wall and dragged me in.”

“Keke! It seems the snare activated.”

“Snare?”

“Occasionally, there are dungeons where mana becomes oversaturated and reaches the verge of bursting. To protect themselves, they create another entrance and release mana outside. That is the snare. It releases mana while also catching living creatures.”

“Something like that......”

“Khehehe! You are a fellow followed by terrible misfortune. Most people never encounter a snare even once before they die.”

The old man openly laughed at Zeon’s misfortune.

Zeon could not offer any objection.

Because just as the old man said, terrible misfortune had been following him.

Gathering his courage, Zeon asked the old man,

“Who are you? Where is this place?”

“My name is Deioden.”

“Deioden?”

“And from now on, this place will become my hunting ground.”

“Hunting ground?”

At the arrogant words of the old man, Deioden, Zeon’s body trembled.

That was because he felt that they were not simple bluster or nonsense.

The old man’s fierce gaze and all the stormlike madness emitted from him said that it was the truth.

That was when it happened.

GUSH—!

Suddenly, giant crocodiles burst through the lava and revealed themselves.

They were beings called flame crocodiles.

The flame crocodiles charged with their enormous mouths gaping wide.

Even after seeing a sight that made his knees weaken, Deioden laughed.

“Hehehe! Crayon.”

No sooner had his words ended than the enormous sword stuck in the ground floated gently into the air.

Deioden grabbed the sword he had called Crayon.

WHOOOM!

At that instant, a sword cry burst from Crayon.

The sword cry spread throughout the entire dungeon, creating concentric ripples.

Zeon’s face twisted.

That was because his heart was pounding violently.

It was not because of excitement.

Rather, the emotion he felt was closer to displeasure.

The cry of the sword was ominously scraping at his nerves.

Zeon was not the only one to feel that.

Perhaps stimulated by the sword cry that stirred their hearts, the flame crocodiles also let out ferocious roars.

KROOOAR!

The flame crocodiles were not the only ones stimulated.

ROOOAR!

Monsters appeared from all across the volcanic region.

From flying monsters that covered the sky in black to giant monsters larger than the flame crocodiles, all of them were charging toward Deioden.

Crayon’s sword cry had stimulated every monster that existed inside the dungeon.

At the unbelievable sight, Zeon could not close his gaping mouth.

“Insane!”

The truly insane thing happened next.

Deioden leapt into the midst of the monsters with Crayon leading the way.

SHAAAK!

The flame crocodile’s enormous body was split in two.

The sight of a monster’s exceedingly tough flesh being cut apart like a sheet of paper was unreal.

It was not only the flame crocodiles.

All kinds of monsters whose names he did not know were being mercilessly cut down.

CRRRAAASH!

Deioden was a storm.

As though swept up in an enormous storm, the monsters were blown away.

The river of lava flowing along the ground and the volcanic ash filling the air were also caught in the storm called Deioden and sent flying in every direction.

“What grade is he, exactly?”

It was a level of force that Zeon could not believe even while seeing it with his own eyes.

He did not seem to be using any particular Skill.

He was simply relying on the strength inherent to his human body and the greatsword called Crayon as he slaughtered the monsters.

Before long, the corpses of monsters were piled high around Deioden.

“Kahaha!”

Deioden’s madness-filled laughter echoed through the dungeon.

Covered in the monsters’ blood and flesh as he swung Crayon, he did not look human at all.

He was something wearing a human shell.

Zeon was overwhelmed by Deioden’s madness.

He could not move a single finger, nor could he even breathe deeply.

THUD!

A monster resembling a rhinoceros was the last.

There were no longer any monsters standing on the ground.

Deioden had annihilated the army of monsters all by himself. Yet even then, Deioden’s breathing had not become rough in the slightest.

Gulp!

Without realizing it, Zeon swallowed dryly.

That was when it happened.

KROOOOAR!

Suddenly, a roar erupted from the summit of the volcano.

The moment he heard the roar, Zeon’s mind grew distant.

Barely holding on to his consciousness, he saw an enormous monster burst out from the summit of the volcano.

At the majesty of the enormous monster, which reminded him of a dragon from myth, Zeon could not move.

Deioden smiled as he looked at the monster.

“So you have come out. Crimson Drake!”

It was a giant monster whose body was wrapped in deep blood-red scales.

From its head to its tail, it was thirty meters long, and the length of its wings when fully spread was even greater than that.

‘That’s not a dragon?’

Zeon trembled at the presence of the drake he was seeing for the first time in his life.

At the drake’s Fear, his mind grew distant and both his legs shook.

It was a wonder he did not collapse onto the ground.

A blue aura, ill-suited to the Crimson Drake’s body as it emerged through the lava, hung over its entire form.

Monsters of Grade B or higher had traits, just like humans.

Blood-colored, that is, red light, meant that a monster had a martial-type trait. Conversely, a creature with a blue force field had a magic-type trait. In other words, it meant that even though it was a monster, it could use magic.

The Crimson Drake that had now appeared was a monster of Grade B or higher with a magic-type trait.

Deioden tightened his grip on Crayon and said,

“That thing is this dungeon’s Final Boss.”

Even though he was facing the dungeon’s Final Boss, there was not the slightest sign of intimidation on Deioden’s face.

Instead, he wore a madness-filled smile, as if he were enjoying himself.

Zeon could not understand Deioden at all.

He could not tell whether all high-ranking Awakened gained that kind of madness, or whether only the mad could become high-ranking Awakened.

KROOOAR!

The Crimson Drake flapped its wings and flew into the air.

Its target was Deioden.

The Crimson Drake flew toward Deioden at terrifying speed.

Even though the Crimson Drake had not yet arrived, blades of wind were already swirling.

Deioden bent his knees slightly and said,

“Cripple!”

“Yes?”

“Survive on your own.”

“That is......”

At that instant, Deioden kicked off the ground and soared.

BOOM!

It was shocking enough that a person was flying through the sky, but a sonic boom erupted as well.

Deioden had broken through the barrier of supersonic speed and appeared in front of the Crimson Drake in an instant.

BAAANG!

The enormous monster and the small human collided in midair.

The aftermath shook the entire dungeon from top to bottom.

The quietly flowing lava overflowed as though it had become a tidal wave and splashed in every direction, while the volcano spewed black smoke even more violently.

The corpses of the monsters Deioden had killed melted into the lava as they were. The force fields that had protected them from the heat of the volcano while they were alive had vanished upon death.

Lava surged toward Zeon as well.

“Damn it!”

Zeon hurriedly moved to avoid the lava. However, lava surged even toward the place he had dodged to.

At this rate, he too would melt in the lava like the other monsters and vanish without a trace.

BANG! BAAANG!

Even at that moment, Deioden and the Crimson Drake were fighting fiercely in midair.

The Crimson Drake spat Breath, and Deioden swung Crayon to deflect it.

The problem was that the Crimson Drake’s Breath, deflected by Deioden, fell right near Zeon.

KABOOOM!

With an explosive roar, lava splashed, and Zeon had to endure the entire aftermath.

“Grrgh!”

Zeon thrashed this way and that like a madman.

The lava was surging so terrifyingly, and the situation was so urgent, that he could not think at all about how to use his ability.

In order to survive, he had to somehow get away from the place where Deioden and the Crimson Drake were fighting.

Zeon leapt over the rivers of lava and ran across the black volcanic rocks.

Then suddenly, the volcanic rock he had stepped on collapsed. Beneath the crumbling rock, crimson lava was flowing.

If he fell like this, it was over.

“Haaah!”

Zeon instinctively drew in the sand around him.

Just as he had avoided the flame crocodile’s attack, he created a sand foothold.

Zeon made sand footholds one after another and ran.

Because he kept creating sand footholds, his mana was quickly depleted. Even so, fortunately, before his mana was completely exhausted, he was able to land on solid volcanic rock.

“Haa! Haa!”

Zeon fell to one knee on the volcanic rock and breathed roughly.

His heart felt as though it would burst, and the smell of blood rose from his lungs.

It was the aftereffect of pouring out everything in a single instant.

That was when it happened.

RUMBLE!

The entire dungeon shook violently.

When Zeon turned his head and looked toward the source, the fight between Deioden and the Crimson Drake was rushing toward its climax.

“It ends here.”

Together with Deioden’s madness-filled shout, tremendous energy gathered into Crayon.

In Zeon’s eyes, Crayon seemed to grow several times larger in an instant.

Deioden threw Crayon at the Crimson Drake.

SHAAAAK!

Crayon flew like a meteor and pierced straight through the Crimson Drake’s chest.

KRAAAH!

The Crimson Drake let out a mournful scream and plummeted.

BOOM!

Its enormous body, over thirty meters long, slammed straight into the lava-covered earth.

Deioden descended onto the body of the drake that lay sprawled without strength.

The Crimson Drake, whose breath had not yet fully stopped, panted heavily and looked up at Deioden.

Looking down at the Crimson Drake, Deioden said,

“I scoured the desert for a full year to catch you. To temper Crayon with your heart....... So die quietly.”

Deioden raised Crayon high into the sky, then drove it straight into the Crimson Drake’s heart.

SQUELCH!

KROOOAR!

At the pain of having its heart pierced, the Crimson Drake writhed. But the Crimson Drake’s final struggle was too feeble.

Crayon, embedded in the Crimson Drake’s heart, was dyed red. As befitted the dungeon’s Final Boss, the Crimson Drake held an enormous amount of fire-attribute mana in its heart.

Crayon was heating up fiercely with that fire-attribute mana from the Crimson Drake.

It was to the point that one wondered if it might melt.

When the heat reached its peak, Crayon suddenly changed.

CLACK! CLACK!

It separated into individual parts, then began reassembling itself.

The reassembled Crayon had become larger and sharper.

“Heh-heh!”

Deioden smiled in satisfaction at Crayon’s transformation.

The Crimson Drake’s heart, robbed of all its mana by Crayon, lost its light.

The Crimson Drake’s corpse also lost its force field and dried up wretchedly.

Then the dungeon began to crumble.

The Final Boss was the dungeon’s origin.

Having lost its origin, the dungeon could not maintain its form and had no choice but to perish.

A dark red portal appeared before the Crimson Drake’s corpse.

It was the passage out of the dungeon.

Just before stepping into the portal, Deioden turned his head and looked at Zeon.

“Aren’t you leaving? You cripple!”