It’s the worst situation. Really.
The suffocating heat, the wyvern squad descending while pushing air aside, and the Dragon Hunter charging in with a massive sword. And behind me is the towering cliff with nowhere to retreat.
I am cornered.
In a world that feels like it’s forcing death upon him, Belnoa closed his eyes. He took a breath. When Belnoa opened his eyes again, his body was already covered in shadow.
Shadow Armor, physical enhancement, dragon claws.
Gathering all his remaining mana and all ten fingers, Belnoa reinforced his body. Replacing his broken fingers are the claws of a dragon. As he slammed his feet into the ground with a thud, the Goddess warned him.
[You know this is likely to be the last transaction…]
This will be the last deal.
With your current body, you won’t be able to endure any more transactions. The Goddess muttered, and Belnoa responded briefly, “I know.”
Magic Addiction. Injuries. Infected wounds. Oozing pus. Blood. Thirst. Hunger. Exhaustion. Physical fatigue. Mental erosion from magic. Dazed and blurry consciousness.
Have I ever fought in a situation as maddening as this? Have I ever been cornered like this before? Belnoa thought, probably not. That’s why for him, this situation is ‘new’.
Something he has never experienced.
An area he has never reached.
To challenge that area, Belnoa pushed his already exhausted body even further. Hoping that this battle would hold out just once.
‘The probability of winning is, of course, nonexistent.’
I know it’s nonexistent.
Yet, I cannot give up. I must return. Because I promised. To keep that promise, Belnoa opened his eyes wide.
Time, which had slowed, resumed its pace.
Belnoa reached out towards the oncoming wyverns. First, I must deal with these.
*
The Dragon Hunter, Asterio, is ignorant of magic.
He doesn’t know how to handle mana and obviously lacks the ability to read magic. Instead, he has superhuman senses. The sense of feeling the flow of power.
“…huh.”
Therefore, Asterio chuckled.
A human on the brink of death. A human who seemed about to collapse was at the center of a swirling current. A colossal flow of power. Indeed, a force comparable to a superhuman, overwhelming and fierce.
Is it the last sparkle of a candle about to extinguish, or had it conserved its strength until the last moment? He couldn’t tell the reason, but…
‘I must not be careless.’
Asterio knew.
Those cornered on countless battlefields have always created variables. He must not be careless to avoid being swept away by those variables.
Fwoosh!
The flames spewed out by the wyverns swept across the ground. The soaring flames surrounded the wyverns as they launched a charge, vanishing into the fire.
Swish.
Five blasts of wind split the flames.
The thin, sharp winds twisted through the fire, and the trapped wyvern was sliced apart. The wyvern, which had just hidden in the flames, returned as a dismembered body.
Slowly, the flames receded.
From within the embers emerged Belnoa, arms drooping, posture lowered, eyes gleaming. His gaze was monstrous. Like the eyes of a beast.
The Shadow Knight, Belnoa.
True to his name, Belnoa’s body was cloaked in shadow. The Shadow Armor shielded him even amidst the raging flames and constantly regenerated.
‘Just as the rumors say.’
With that realization, the Dragon Hunter charged.
Asterio slammed his feet into the ground as he swung his sword. The tip of the sword sliced through the air, creating a cutting sound. As a deadly blow sliced him, Belnoa chose to evade.
But wyverns were already waiting in his escape route. The Dragon Hunter, Asterio, never overestimates his own strength. Before being a warrior, he is a commander.
A superhuman who has survived on the battlefield for centuries. He cannot rely solely on his own power to last that long in combat. He uses everything he has. That is Asterio’s method and strength.
Crack!
A wyvern bit into Belnoa.
Gnawing at his ankle, his torso, and legs. Of course, their teeth and claws could neither penetrate Belnoa’s Shadow Armor nor hold him tightly.
They only drew out time.
The head of the kicked wyvern shattered, and it hung limply on a spear, but they still bought time. Just a second’s worth of time.
And Asterio’s sword swallowed that second.
The incoming strikes battered Belnoa. As the wyverns caught in the onslaught burst apart, Belnoa crossed his arms to block the blows. Of course, he couldn’t possibly block them entirely.
Thud, crack, crack.
The Shadow Armor cracked, and the sound of bones breaking echoed from Belnoa’s arms. Pushed back by the force, Belnoa crashed against the wall he had been leaning against, which caved in dramatically.
“…cough!”
Blood spewed from Belnoa’s mouth as his body lurched. Asterio stepped forward, getting struck by the raining bits of wyvern flesh.
Thud!
The earth resounded with a heavy boom.
Asterio’s sword sliced across the ground as he propelled himself skyward. With flying clods of dirt, the rough blows came crashing down on Belnoa.
Strike, crash.
Taking everything that touched him, Belnoa swung his hands. His broken arms regained shadow claws, and it looked like ten gusts of wind were slicing apart the incoming strikes…
Smash.
The following blows tore through the storm Belnoa had conjured. The moment Belnoa threw his body to the side to escape the area, the cliff he had just leaned against exploded.
‘…what the hell.’
What kind of swordsmanship is this?
A sword meant not to cut, but to crush. Yet, that wasn’t the only problem. Belnoa frowned at his throbbing side.
Swish.
Slipping away, just as he was about to catch his breath, someone pierced through the dust before Belnoa’s eyes. He widened his gaze.
“…!”
The Dragon Hunter was right in front of him.
The Dragon Hunter had ditched all armor save for his gauntlets and greaves. Shedding his heavy armor, he charged forward holding only a single sword, his speed… far outmatched the cloaked Belnoa.
Even wielding such a massive sword, his movement showed no signs of slowness.
With his sword swung close beside him. As Belnoa ducked to evade, the trajectory of the blade abruptly turned and pierced into Belnoa’s shoulder.
Crunch!
The sound of shattering bones.
The agony of flesh tearing under the strike. Belnoa gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He reached out to grab the sword embedded in his shoulder, but in that moment, the Dragon Hunter let go of the sword and seized Belnoa’s head with both hands.
Crack!
A knee drove into Belnoa’s skull.
The moment Belnoa’s head was thrown back, the Dragon Hunter kicked into Belnoa’s abdomen and twisted the sword lodged in his shoulder, pulling it free. The wound ripped open, and blood spattered onto Belnoa’s eyes.
“…ugh.”
As the Dragon Hunter pushed him away, he chuckled, looking at the blood flowing from his palms and knees. Even in that state, the determination to inflict injury was commendable.
“Impressive.”
As the pushed-back Belnoa clutched his shoulder, catching his breath, the Dragon Hunter slowly raised his sword. Leaving him be would mean a young man poised to become a superhuman, and the Dragon Hunter sneered.
“Then, I must put an end to this.”
Gripping his sword horizontally with both hands, the Dragon Hunter narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t that he let his guard down, but rather he did not want to get swept away.
“Fire.”
With a short phrase.
Immediately, a fierce torrent of flame fell from the sky. A fire so immense and potent compared to the flames emitted by the wyverns. The dragon’s breath engulfed Belnoa.
Fwoosh!
The intense flames melted the ground.
The ground sizzled and transformed into sludge, as Belnoa’s body burned away in the flames. Although Belnoa swung his arms, the storm could not fully dispel the fire. It must be the limits of his body.
“…”
The Dragon Hunter tilted his head.
A shard of shadow pierced through the flames, barely grazing the Dragon Hunter’s cheek. He was merely astonished at the fact that the man had counterattacked amidst all this.
To respond to that strike, the Dragon Hunter opened his eyes wide.
…Asterio read the flow of power.
With sharpened eyes, he perceived the flow of the dragon’s breath sweeping across the ground. The great sword he wielded plunged into the current of that flow, bending its direction and propelling it with greater force.
That is Asterio’s swordsmanship.
The trajectory of Asterio’s swinging sword absorbed the dragon’s breath. Now it was not an opaque blade, but a glowing, swirling heat-filled edge.
Slice.
The blade dug into Belnoa’s shoulder.
The shadow wrapped around Belnoa burnt away, drawing a line from his right shoulder to left rib. Sizzle, the sound of skin burning echoed. Following that was the overwhelming storm filled with heated rage.
Boom!
With a tremendous sound, Belnoa crashed against the cliff.
The focus in Belnoa’s eyes faded as his body lurched forward. As if they had been waiting for that moment, the wyverns flying low dove toward Belnoa.
Chomp!
The hordes of wyverns tore at Belnoa’s body like hyenas. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.
2.
Even if one does their best, there is no guarantee of reward. This is, of course, often the case.
Belnoa sensed defeat closing in.
He could not rise, and his senses dulled.
Chomp! Only the intermittent sounds of things biting into his body echoed. Flesh was torn, blood flowed, and consciousness slowly dimmed.
…He must return.
But it seemed impossible now.
“In the end, it comes to this.”
Amid his consciousness, he heard someone’s voice.
Lying face down, Belnoa rolled his eyes to see the Goddess kneeling.
Time slowed to a crawl.
In the moment for a transaction with the god, the Goddess smiled sadly. Her fingers caressed Belnoa’s face.
“Child.”
She spoke to Belnoa.
“What you desire, hasn’t changed since that day, has it?”
To protect that child.
And to walk beside that child.
Belnoa attempted to speak, but no words would come. Yet, as if hearing him, the Goddess nodded.
“Yes, then…”
The Goddess pressed her forehead against Belnoa’s.
“Now I shall ask you for your resolve.”
With their foreheads touching, she closed her eyes.
As her closed eyes slowly opened, those thin eyelashes revealed not the same night sky blue but blood-red irises.
The crimson Dragon Eyes stared straight at Belnoa.
“If you move on, you may not return. You will lose much. However, losing will always fall upon you.”
She smiled sadly.
“I will take many things from you. To grant you the power you wish for, it must be this way. It will not merely stop at sacrificing your body.”
More than what he has. A road he cannot return from.
Nonetheless, the Goddess questioned.
“Perhaps your sanity may falter. You may become a beast. You may become nothing but a mere creature. Still, do you intend to pray to me?”
Under the gaze of the red eyes.
The crimson light filled his retina and spoke.
“If you wish, just this once, I could bear the entire cost of power. However, the contract with you would be severed. I will fulfill your wish if you desire it.”
The Goddess asked.
“Do you wish to live, or do you wish to move forward?”
He wouldn’t blame either choice.
The Goddess asked gently.
At the crossroads of choice, Belnoa slowly closed his eyes and then opened them. One path was simple and enticing, the other rough and daunting. As he gathered both roads in his sight, Belnoa recalled the voice of someone he had heard a few days prior.
“One day, you too will have to make a choice.”
“But remember.”
“Your prayers must come from yourself, not a god. Sometimes, you should pursue the ideal over reality.”
The deliberation didn’t take long.
Belnoa chose the ideal over reality. A boy who had lived with compromise refused to compromise at this moment. For he could not stand beside her, who seeks only ideals without compromise.
“…”
Belnoa opened his mouth.
His voice did not echo.
Yet, that word reached the Goddess’s ears.
“Therefore…”
The Goddess smiled wryly.
“In the end, it comes to this.”
Belnoa made his choice.
As if affirming that choice, the fragments of the Holy Grail bloomed, and Belnoa’s soul began to shine brightly. The darkness he cast off began to illuminate. It signified the fulfillment of his qualifications.
“Child.”
Ascending to the realm of superhumans signifies the fulfillment of qualifications. He was ready to move to the next step. The Goddess whispered into Belnoa’s ear.
“Then, wish for it.”
If you seek the unreachable.
If you desire a miracle.
If you are ready to pay any price.
“The gods are beings who listen to wishes. They bring miracles and grant desires. So, speak. Your wish.”
Say it like this, the Goddess whispered.
What the Goddess whispered was a language of wishes that humanity had cried out to the heavens since time immemorial. Humans have always yearned for the strength to overcome adversity and trials, yet the gods could only respond this way.
“There is no power in this world without a price.”
To the god saying this, humanity answered.
“I offer.”
So, grant me the power to fulfill my wish.
3.
Asterio exhaled deeply.
The ground was littered with the bodies of wyverns.
To resist so fiercely despite his condition is truly astonishing. Had they clashed in perfect form, he would have had to brace himself for losing an arm.
‘Determination, combat sense, techniques…’
All were traits of a genius.
Had he let this opportunity slip by, the next time they met, the boy would have been a superhuman. Wiping the blood from his cheek, the Dragon Hunter stepped forward.
“…This could have been a good fight, perhaps.”
Had the great being not given orders, he might have let them go. As he felt regret, Asterio moved towards the wyverns tearing into Belnoa.
Thud, thud.
He could leave them be, but wanting at least a warrior’s end for Belnoa, Asterio drew his sword closer.
And then he stopped abruptly.
Instinct warned him.
A superhuman’s senses rang alarm bells. Don’t get too close to that human. But he felt no flow of power. Caught between instinct and reason, Asterio hesitated for a moment, and in that brief moment, a change occurred.
Creeeak, creak, creeeeak.
The air trembled.
The space creaked, sending echoes across the ground.
Boom!
The wyverns that had gathered suddenly stiffened, and they all began to bury their heads into the ground. Lowering their heads, folding their wings, and tucking their claws, they trembled in their entirety.
The wyverns that had been soaring fell.
Even the dragon, who had been looking down from above, fell to the ground ungracefully.
Boom! A great rumbling echoed as the fallen dragon trembled, its head lowered. Their gazes were not towards their master, the Dragon Hunter. What they looked at was the human lying in a pool of blood.
‘…Why?’
These were the very dragons Asterio had broken their horns and instilled fear in for training. Yet, they were now bowing to another being. Submitting to an almost dead human.
Why on earth.
That question was fleeting.
A dry wind blew. A parched breeze like that of a desert arrived. Asterio’s eyes widened as he grasped this flow.
The storm-controlling Ancient Dragon, Belial.
Caught in the flow reminiscent of that great being, Asterio’s eyes widened, watching Belnoa slowly rise from the pool of blood. The blood swirled around, being drawn into Belnoa. An abnormal recovery.
At last, amid the sounds echoing around him, Belnoa opened his eyes.
The crimson irises that split vertically focused squarely on the dragons, and they could not meet his gaze, lowering their heads in submission. Before the primal fear, the dragons could not resist. No matter how far the creature strayed from its original nature, it could not fail to recognize its master.
The master of all dragons.
The contractor of the oldest god who created dragons had appeared. The dragons bowed before this immense being.
【Show me, your pride.】
The goddess swirling around Belnoa smiled.
Though her voice would not reach reality, all the dragons turned their heads. Their eyes fixed on the Dragon Hunter, Asterio. Yet it was not the gaze they usually directed at their master.
“Wow.”
The Dragon Hunter sighed.
“It truly is turning.”
As the wyvern squad charged toward him, Asterio looked at the dragons and broke into a hollow laugh.
To be continued…
