◈ 678. [STAGE 40] A little while before Gigantomachia
.
Lake Kingdom Area 1 ‘Dry Drainage’.
“It’s not normal to crawl all the way out here…”
Ash grumbled as he just got off the small boat.
At the time of the great flood, black rain poured down on the Lake Kingdom, and the underground drain pipes were filled with black water.
Ash, who climbed through this drain pipe and boarded a boat driven by Sword Demon and Chang Demon, reached the safety point of Area 1.
This is because the teleport gate closest to the bottom village was installed here.
When Ash activated the teleportation gate without saying anything more, the nameless person who followed urgently stopped him.
“ash! Where are we going now-”
“To the black dragon.”
Ash declared without hesitation, as if he had made up his mind from the beginning.
“Now is the only chance to kill him. I don’t have time to ask for cooperation from others, and I don’t have the energy to coordinate. go alone.”
“How could that mighty black dragon live alone…”
“Even though I’m a weak guy with no talent for combat. As the years go by, you get the hang of it. “There is a way.”
If there is any more delay, if the black dragon moves north even a little longer.
This chance cannot be used. So, although it may seem reckless, Ash was planning to confront the black dragon alone.
Nameless hurriedly followed.
“Then Ash! “Me too…”
“You can’t do that.”
Ash coldly refused and looked at the unknown with his golden eyes.
“Don’t fight anymore, princess. “It’s already at its limit.”
“….”
In the last battle, Nameless consumed a lot of ‘light’.
Chains of shadows were already connected to her entire body, connecting her to the darkness beneath the Lake Kingdom.
“You’ve held up well so far.”
Ash spoke in a bleak voice, but with a faint affection.
“Actually, you would normally be exhausted by now due to lack of sleep, but seeing you looking so well… I’m glad to see you. “You must have been quite strong.”
“Ash…”
“There are times when you and I can have a full conversation with each other like this… it hasn’t been that often.”
Ash, standing in front of the fully open teleportation gate, raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
“Don’t lose that shine, princess.”
“ash!”
Unknown spoke in a trembling voice towards Ash, who had already turned his back.
“You may have forgotten what I said before… but no matter what you change into, we will…”
“Friend.”
Ash whispered softly. Unknown’s eyes widened.
“We are friends no matter what we are like.”
After saying the same promise we made in a long-ago episode.
“See you again.” “Princess and… prince.”
Ash waved his hand and disappeared into the teleportation gate.
“Especially Prince, you keep doing what you’re doing-”
Flash-!
The teleportation gate emitted magic light and soon became quiet.
“Tsk…!”
Nameless collapsed in front of the teleportation gate, looked around at the chains wrapped around his body, then gritted his teeth and hit the ground with his fist.
“….”
Crown, who had followed the unknown figure, could only watch quietly.
Crown, who was called ‘prince’ by Ash, thought carefully about Ash’s last words.
‘That’s what I used to do…’
He lowered his gaze and looked at the flute in his hand.
‘…is this really working?’
Googoo googung!
Once again, the entire Lake Kingdom shook violently.
Crown sighed, grabbed his flute tightly, and headed towards the teleportation gate.
Although he was an unpleasant child, Ash was doing what he had to do.
In that case, the Crown also had to do its job.
***
Currently.
《Is it the same as the previous player, but a different entity?》
The Night Bringer let out an interesting voice as he looked down at Ash who was standing in front of him.
《Is that why it survived even when the spiritual core was broken? “It’s amazing that there are so many different shadows within one being.”
Then Ash sneered cynically.
“Is that so? I am more amazed by you. “How come they always act the same way?”
《Because your beliefs are firm, your thoughts and actions are consistent.》
Lightly accepting the response, Night Bringer easily noticed what was flowing inside Ash’s body.
“So… it looks like you stole my blood and heart and became a ‘dragon’, so you set out to fight me just because you gained that much power?” “You’re not angry at me for
stealing my blood?”
“Is there any need to care about every drop of blood or scale I scatter? The dragons who claim to be my children are not that different from you to me.》
The Night Bringer laughed lowly.
“Still, my blood must be quite thick… I endured it well and became a ‘dragon.’”
“Compared to the poison I drank over the years, your blood was no better than plain water.”
Ash rolled his eyes as if he were tired and glared straight at the Night Bringer.
“It’s because I’m a bit busy, so let’s not chat for a long time and just keep the business brief.” “Let’s kill each other.”
“Hmm, I have a lot of time left…”
The Night Bringer said leisurely and winked at the breath forming on his chin.
“Can I shoot this first?”
Ash glanced at the breath and then gestured north as if he had no choice.
“As you wish.”
“Okay then.”
The next moment.
Kwaaaaaa!
Terrible heat and enormous energy converged at the tip of the monster’s mouth, distorting the surrounding space, and the Night Bringer fired its breath, which had reached critical mass, towards the north.
Fifth breath after royalties landed.
A strong gust of wind blew up and tousled Ash’s hair. Ash calmly faced the gust of wind and watched without bothering to block the breath.
It took too much strength to block or change the direction of that breath.
I don’t know if the Night Bringer would have shot at him, but since he didn’t, it made sense to just let go.
‘Breath just hopes that Crossroads will stop it on its own.’
What Ash is aiming for now is the Night Bringer right after the breath is fired.
In essence, breath is an attack method that consumes the dragon’s being and soul. No matter how much a black dragon is assimilated into the night of the world, it cannot prevent a certain level of exhaustion.
To unleash its power and attack the Night Bringer at his weakest moment.
Ash arrived here via the teleportation gate just in time for the breath to be fired.
Gooooo…!
The breath emission that seemed to last forever came to an end.
The Night Bringer slowly turned his head, emitting enormous heat and steam.
“Thank you for waiting.”
“Nothing much to say.”
“I’m excited because this is the first time someone who has been defeated by me comes to me to seek revenge.” It
was only natural because, except for the Red Dragon, all of those who faced him died in the first battle.
Night Bringer, with his head erect, made a puzzled voice.
《Anyway, how on earth are you going to defeat me when you come from me?》
“Anyway, if all I did was become a dragon with your blood, would I risk my life and death directly on you?”
Ash smiled and put his hands on his waist.
The equipment currently strapped to his waist is a ceremonial longsword that can be converted into a flagpole.
And – there was a long thorn stick that had not been there before.
《Is that…?》
A look crossed the Night Bringer’s eyes. Ash bit his lower lip, smiled, and pulled out his wand.
In fact, Ash didn’t come here straight from the dried up ditch. In the meantime, I stopped by a dungeon in District 8.
A secret warehouse in the dungeon ‘Magic Tower’.
The magic tower had already collapsed, but the warehouse hidden underground nearby was safe. And now that Byakuya was dead, Ash was the only human who knew of the existence of this warehouse.
Inside the warehouse, some of the equipment stored in the magic tower remained – among them was one guardian tree for each of the four major races.
Ash was put together on the spot in the warehouse.
An artificial guardian tree created by combining the four major guardian beasts of different races –
‘Everblack’!
“Everblack. Activation.”
Ash activated Everblack and closed his eyes.
Everblack’s basic function is the ‘magic lighthouse’. Provides future information to users.
With a small wand like this, you can only tell what’s happening a few minutes in the future, let alone the distant future… but that’s enough.
The fragmented information found by the magic lighthouse poured into Ash’s mind. Everblack bombarded Ash with images of the future, the order of which was randomly mixed up.
And Ash had already mastered how to use this lighthouse.
The fragmented pieces of information were organized one by one, creating a map in his head.
After gathering all the information, Ash opened his eyes with golden eyes flashing.
It seemed.
‘The future’.
“I’m not as good at swords or magic as my older brother or my gangster second brother, and I don’t have as big of an ambition as my father, and I’m a nerd with no talent whatsoever…” Ash took a breath while mocking himself
.
“No matter what, if you accumulate this much experience, it becomes useful.”
There is no need for sense.
No need for talent.
All you need is extremely skilled experience, endless accumulated data, and an indomitable will.
Even if all that is held in one’s hand is a twig, a human can fight an evil dragon.
《Then, shall we take a look? Its usefulness-!》
The six heads floating around the center head of the Night Bringer all flew towards Ash.
Each of the six heads had a fierce look in their eyes and each loaded their own breath and magic dragon lore.
However, Ash did not blink an eye and calmly held out his wand forward and then-
Scream!
He emitted magical power from the tip of the staff, shot it into the air, and then slammed it to the floor.
Then
boom! Coogung! Kugwagwang…!
All six heads flying towards Ash lost the light in their eyes and fell with the same momentum as they had been flying.
All six heads stuck out their tongues and rolled on the floor around Ash. Shock flashed across the Night Bringer’s face.
《What…?》
“Your blood is flowing through my body now, evil dragon. “My magic pattern is also the same as yours.”
All six auxiliary heads are dead.
The Night Bringer only moves under the control of its own magic power.
“It’s not that difficult to interfere and cause confusion…!”
Ash made it seem like it was an easy task, but the Night Bringer knew. This was not something that could be done simply by matching the magical power pattern.
This was impossible unless he mastered the entire magic system of his dragon species.
《There is no way something like that is possible…》
Taaat!
Ash was already running towards the Night Bringer.
Goosebumps –
There’s no way goosebumps would appear on a dragon’s body, but the Night Bringer experienced a similar sensation in the face of this small human’s advance.
Night Bringer spread its huge wings and launched a barrage of feathers.
Patter-patter!
Tens of thousands of feathers swept across the ground with the sound of pouring rain.
And Ash is
《…?!》
Literally just a piece of paper apart.
I moved forward, avoiding all the bombardment of the feathers.
I didn’t deploy a magic barrier or even cover my head with my hands. He calmly ran through the rain of bombings, as if he knew he wouldn’t get hurt.
As if the entire future can be seen in detail…!
《…Hehe. Hahahaha-!》
Smiling with satisfaction from deep within his soul, the Night Bringer prepared his magic this time. “ It’s
quite a lot
! ”
Dozens and hundreds of magic circles appeared on the left and right sides of the Night Bringer’s head.
All of the ancient magics were fired one after another, aiming at Ash.
However, Ash still did not stop running and stared at the flying magic with his eyes wide open.
Inside Ash’s golden eye, magic circles with complex diagrams emerged one after another, and
he was defeated! Return to school! Going to school-!
He dispelled all the magic that flew in front of him right before it reached his body.
The magic that was shattered in the air scattered in all directions, leaving only magic light like finely broken stardust.
The Night Bringer looked at Ash moving forward while being hit by fragmented magic particles, and opened his mouth small in bewilderment.
《How on earth?》
“Dismantling magic is just a matter of formal memorization… Do you think I can’t do something that vampire king bastard can do?”
Before we knew it, Ash was close to the Night Bringer.
Ash lowered his posture and gathered strength in his legs. A halo of black magic gathered at Ash’s feet, and in the next moment, Ash soared into the air.
In an instant, the tall black dragon’s head and the soaring Ash’s eyes were at the same level.
“That’s what I wanted to say from the beginning…”
Ash smiled faintly and stretched out his hand. Then, along with the movement, intangible black magic coalesced and took the form of a giant dragon’s paw.
The Night Bringer tried to avoid it, but he had absorbed as much night as he could and was now too big.
Quack!
The front paws of the giant dragon summoned by Ash grabbed the base of the Night Bringer’s neck like a collar and
pinned him down just like that –
《…?!》 .
Kuwagwagwang…!
The head of the huge black dragon fell to the ground, spewing out thick dust in all directions.
The Night Bringer, who was shocked and unable to come to his senses after experiencing this for the first time, heard a voice right in front of him.
“Hold your eyes down, you rude bastard.”
For the first time, he looked down at the Night Bringer, who was lower than him. He placed one foot on his head.
Squinting his golden eyes that glowed even in the dark, Ash bared his teeth and grinned maniacally.
“Because I’ve lived through a lot of years of old age.”
