The wind blew in.
Ranion’s hair swayed in the breeze.
While on her way back to the base, she suddenly turned around. The wind, blowing from a distant place, brushed through her hair, and she cocked her head in contemplation.
It felt like a familiar wind.
Dry and parched… a rough wind.
There was a being that carried this very wind. As she recalled that presence, Ranion muttered absentmindedly.
“…Belial?”
*
The Dragon Hunter saw the dragons and wyverns rushing toward him. They were all part of an army he had painstakingly tamed over a long time by breaking their horns one by one. A loyal army willing to sacrifice their lives at his command.
Among them was the largest dragon.
That dragon had been his companion since the days when the Dragon Hunter was just Asterio, not a superhuman. They had shared countless battlefields and forged a bond. Now, even that friend bared its teeth toward Asterio.
The dragons, spewing fire and clawing with their talons, were trembling in fear. Not because they were rebelling against their master, but because of the single human standing behind them.
Watching this, the Dragon Hunter chuckled.
“…Hah.”
He tightened his grip on his great sword and clicked his tongue.
‘It’s pointless to tame them for centuries if they don’t even recognize their master.’
The Dragon Hunter felt no sense of betrayal from the dragons. After all, dragons follow the strong. If they recognized that human as a stronger being than he… then…
“I am Asterio.”
This was just a demonstration.
“The nightmare of dragons—the Dragon Hunter Asterio.”
To remind them of the nightmare they had forgotten.
The fear that had eroded over the years.
“Once more, your horns shall be broken to shake you awake.”
He would engrave it in those beasts’ minds once again.
2.
His vision was clear.
The fog in his mind had lifted.
Belnoa, having obtained the Red Dragon Eye, felt things he had never seen before. Flow, essence, and traces of the unknown entered his sight.
【It must be because your soul has stepped into the next level.】
The Goddess whispered in Belnoa’s ear.
【Now that you have surpassed your limits and moved on, I can lend you my power entirely.】
With the connection to the Goddess now stronger, Belnoa slowly raised his arm. The lost flesh that had been chewed off was being replaced by shadows. The swaying shadows were a symbol of life, a blessing from the divine.
【But you must think carefully.】
The Goddess warned.
【From now on, you will have to bear much greater costs, and you may never return.】
Belnoa briefly replied to that warning.
“I understand.”
Belnoa chose his path with his own will.
He had made a choice, solidified his resolve.
Not through coercion, but his own decision.
“I have no regrets.”
As his body was restored, Belnoa narrowed his eyes and gazed ahead. Dozens of wyverns and dragons obscured his view, but that too was just temporary.
Vroom, vroom, vroom!
With a roar, the great sword emerged, ripping apart a wyvern’s body.
Blood and flesh rained down like a heavy downpour as the great sword never ceased. It tore through the wings of the charging wyverns and shattered their spines. A man, drenched in blood, was ripping apart all the attacking wyverns.
The Dragon Hunter, Asterio.
Asterio grinned devilishly as he chewed on a mouthful of wyvern flesh. Spitting out the eye of a wyvern, which rolled on the ground, Asterio sprang upward, kicking off the earth.
Grabbing the horn of a wyvern, which was spewing fire while in flight, he redirected it to take down another wyvern. He snapped the neck of the resisting wyvern and leaped from the falling wyvern’s back to mount yet another.
Crushing bones with his great sword, he tore through thick hides. He looked even more beast-like than the beasts themselves.
Why was he called the Dragon Hunter?
Why was he termed the nightmare of dragons?
He intended to show them the origin of this title as he rampaged among the dragons. After all, Asterio had brought down even the towering dragons of the sky, plunging a great sword deep into its chest.
“Huff.”
As he pulled the sword out, the dragon’s heart came with it. Grinning, the Dragon Hunter chewed on the pulsating heart.
“Now it seems like the balance is finally in place.”
His body, marked by the ferocious battle, was covered in wounds. Scratches and burn marks. Despite bleeding, the Dragon Hunter showed no signs of pain as he chewed on the dragon’s heart.
Splish, splish, splish!
Blood from the dragon poured down like rain.
On the scorched earth stained red with the blood of dragons and wyverns, Asterio slowly raised his sword.
“Now I can finally fight like a warrior.”
His eyes, brimming with competitive spirit.
Having slaughtered all his foes and left him alone, the Dragon Hunter thrust his sword toward Belnoa.
“I have shown you everything I have.”
He asked the question.
“What do you have?”
Instead of answering that question, Belnoa raised his arm. A half-transformed arm bearing dragon-like scales that were almost like armor. Sharp scales.
“Indeed.”
The Dragon Hunter chuckled.
“You resemble a dragon.”
Red eyes, emerging dragon scales.
A chilling aura that sends shivers down one’s spine.
Truly, it made sense why dragons felt fear toward that human. However, to tremble in fear before a dragon meant the title of Dragon Hunter would merely be a joke.
The Dragon Hunter charged with his great sword drawn.
Belnoa readied himself.
With the rush of wind, the two clashed.
*
As the great sword cut through the air, slicing the wind, Belnoa’s response was different than before. Instead of awkwardly defending or evading, he closed the distance and dug into the Dragon Hunter.
‘Look at this guy.’
The Dragon Hunter realized.
The future sight he relied on no longer worked on the human before him. This meant two things. One, he had lost the upper hand he had as a superhuman, and two…
The young man before him had ascended to the position of a superhuman.
Superhumans can sense other superhumans.
Not merely by instinct, but because their vision is altered. When a superhuman sees another superhuman reflected in their foresight, that future gets twisted and shattered. The opponent can also act based on their foresight.
And this moment was no exception.
With no more reliance on future vision, the Dragon Hunter swung his sword, relying on his instincts and reflexes. He wasn’t only swinging the sword. As is usual with great swords, they have many openings.
Swish, swish!
To fill those openings, the Dragon Hunter moved his hands and feet tirelessly. Occasionally even letting go of his sword. Thus, he and Belnoa engaged in close combat.
But the one suffering damage was the Dragon Hunter.
Every time Belnoa’s dragon scales brushed against him, the skin of the Dragon Hunter tore. He swung his great sword at the scales, but it only slid by with a clink.
‘This is truly what it’s like to face a dragon.’
It felt like fighting a dragon compressed into human size. Naturally, this was a horrific experience. Though normal-sized dragons made it easier to look for openings, how could one find an opening in a dragon shrunk to human size?
Even if the range of each strike is reduced, fighting in close combat becomes extremely troublesome.
Moreover…
With a thwack, shadows spiked up from his feet and pierced the Dragon Hunter’s thigh. The shadows were sharper than before. The Dragon Hunter furrowed his brow and kicked to disperse the shadows, but they merely coalesced and continued to advance.
What if that dragon used its binding techniques?
It would indeed become a troublesome opponent.
But the Dragon Hunter was a superhuman who had lived for countless years; he knew well how to navigate unfavorable battles. Even while sustaining injuries, he continued to push Belnoa back. Consistently and messily.
Thud! Belnoa’s back slammed against a wall.
The moment he cornered his opponent, the Dragon Hunter’s momentum shifted. His body sped up, and he began to move with almost acrobatic proficiency, using the wall as a springboard.
Clang, crash!
As the walls crumbled and dust flew, Belnoa’s eyes darted quickly. He was in a period of adjusting to his body.
A transformed body, unfamiliar movements, and strange sensations.
Although Belnoa had just stepped into the realm of superhumans, the adjustment to his changed body was uncommonly swift. At this moment, what popped into Belnoa’s mind was… the techniques laid out for him by his senior.
The dragon sorcerer, Belial.
The hero said to have been active centuries ago had truly left behind much. There were plenty of provisions made for his disciple, including knowledge on how to wield a dragon-transformed body.
However, those were techniques that suited Belial’s body.
Instead of awkwardly attempting to replicate those techniques, Belnoa sought to employ the methods he excelled in. Slowly, the arm of Belnoa cornered by the wall began to move.
Hiss!
A low sound echoed. As the Dragon Hunter leaned back with his superhuman reflexes, a gust of wind surged from the ground to the heavens. The sharp wind pierced through the dust, turning it to powder.
‘…Wind?’
The Dragon Hunter’s pupils widened.
Where the wind had passed, a whirlwind of powdered stones danced. While the Dragon Hunter panicked, Belnoa’s hand moved once more. This time, even faster.
Fingers clad in dragon scales pulled the wind.
What was formed were five strands of wind.
The swirling wind resembled thin lines. As the Dragon Hunter twisted his body to evade the strands, he couldn’t completely escape their path, and one grazed his side.
“…Kuh!”
The slender lines, which the Dragon Hunter had expected to be merely a blade, proved to be even more threatening. The skin that grazed the swirling lines was torn by the wind.
Stumbling.
As the Dragon Hunter took a step back, Belnoa lunged forward boldly. Despite the Dragon Hunter swiftly swinging his great sword, the moment Belnoa’s claws touched the blade…
Clank, clank, clank!
With a raucous noise, the edge of the great sword began to chip away.
The great sword made of rare metal, indestructible, showed cracks. The swirling wind made the blade tremble violently, and before long, it began to spin. As the Dragon Hunter’s wrists couldn’t withstand the force, they twisted halfway around, leading him to make a choice.
Thud.
He let go of the great sword.
Immediately after, the swirling wind whirled along with the spinning great sword, lifting dust into the air. Though visibility was obscured by the duo, the determined gaze of the Dragon Hunter still saw a hazy figure.
It was the shape of a human charging at him.
Surely, this human would boldly charge him, who had lost his weapon. However, the Dragon Hunter was a seasoned warrior. He pulled out a hidden card—a dagger made from a dragon’s tooth.
Although the great sword was accustomed to his hand, he was undeniably a master of swords. If he had a weapon in hand, he could unleash first-rate techniques with anything.
Whirrrrr!
A blade of energy formed at the end of the dagger.
Drawing the blade, the Dragon Hunter thrust the dagger forward. It was an unexpected strike that caught Belnoa off guard. The Dragon Hunter felt victory was imminent, but… he had made one crucial mistake.
The adversary before him was not a knight.
Not even a warrior.
Far from honest combat techniques, this was an opponent proficient in sorcery and grappling that created variables. The obscured view behind the great sword and swirling dust suddenly cleared, and the Dragon Hunter chuckled.
Whoosh! The dagger sliced through shadows.
The figure seen from the dust was merely a decoy made of shadows.
Belnoa hunched low and dove into the Dragon Hunter, who was stabbing with the dagger. Fingers dragging the ground approached, swirling with a furious storm.
He was overwhelmed in the bout.
Then, relinquishing a part of his physical self and fleeing, he prepared to…
Thwack!
Something gripped the Dragon Hunter’s ankle.
A shadow spiked up from the ground. The shadow decoy he thought he had destroyed just flowed onto the ground and ensnared the Dragon Hunter’s foot.
“Ha.”
At the last moment, the Dragon Hunter burst into laughter.
Clawed hands surrounded by the storm plunged into his abdomen. His body, reinforced by the blood and flesh of dragons, was utterly useless in that moment.
Whoosh!
The wind surged from within.
To Be Continued
