The Dragon Sorcerer, Belial.
This sorcerer, who made a name for himself centuries ago, merged part of his body with a dragon. By sacrificing his own soul and body, he obtained the power of dragons, thus he was called the Dragon Sorcerer.
Dragon Transformation.
Embedding an ancient dragon into his soul and body. The most perfect integration with life. Belial strides into a realm that no one dared to touch or attempt.
Even if he loses himself.
Even if he becomes a beast.
There are values to pursue.
There is a belief that must be upheld.
Belial twisted his soul and flesh. He gained power at the cost of many sacrifices. On the day that Belial first transformed his arm into that of a dragon…
“Step aside, Ganikalt.”
“The place you are stopping is not here. You should not be bound to such a place. It cannot be allowed.”
“Then, I will clear the way.”
Belial overturned the cursed land, the cursed tree that rooted and grew, the old castle entwined by branches, and the blackened earth.
“Go, Ganikalt.”
The cursed tree’s roots were uprooted and shot into the sky.
The old castle entwined by branches was ground to dust by the wind. The blackened earth was pulverized into sand by the raging storm. Everything visible is being torn asunder.
The storm rages darkly.
A black storm like the scales of the Giant Dragon that guarded the God during the far-off chaotic times. As Belial put out that bizarre wind… he was from that day known by a different name.
Black Storm.
Black Storm, Belial.
*
Belial’s left hand stabbed into the gut of the Dragon Hunter.
The tip of his fingers conjured a fierce storm. Belnoa recalled someone’s memory that lingered in his mind—a destructive wind that grinds everything it touches into nothing.
Though still inexperienced and unable to fully realize Dragon Transformation, Belnoa could mimic it in his own way if not perfectly.
Flutter, in a moment, a shadow wrapped around Belnoa’s arm to aid him. If borrowed power isn’t enough, he would simply use what he has. As he said that, Belnoa twisted his shadow-clad arm counterclockwise.
And then.
The howling wind swirling at his fingertips began to rotate.
Crash, Crash Crash Crash Crash Crash!
A fierce wind exploded outwards from the dragon hunter’s insides. The wind whirled violently, devouring the dragon hunter’s organs. The storm ravenously consumed everything—bones, blood, and flesh without discrimination.
“Gurk, Hagh…!”
The dragon hunter’s body shook violently.
The storm that swelled from his abdomen completely demolished the dragon hunter’s upper body. His spine was also swallowed by the storm, and unable to stand on the ground any longer, the dragon hunter was swept away into the air.
Floating in mid-air, the dragon hunter smirked.
Looking down at the ground with a red-tinted vision, he saw Belnoa reaching out with his hand. The storm erupting from the tips of his nails was not only consuming the dragon hunter but perhaps even the corpses of dragons that lay behind him.
Crash, Crash Crash Crash Crash!
As the storm uprooted the dragon’s corpses, the blood of dragons, and the earth soaked in dragon blood, the dragon hunter could only smile in front of the furious tempest.
His lungs ripped, unable to voice his despair.
With a twisted grin, the dragon hunter began to plummet.
Despite having expended all his strength and employing every tactic, and even putting his pride as a warrior aside, the one defeated here was himself. He couldn’t call his opponent merciless.
‘I’ve lost.’
Astirio who had survived for centuries on the battlefield.
Having witnessed countless humans surpass their limits when cornered, he too surpassed his limits from time to time. For just this moment, it was that human who surpassed the limit.
Descending to the ground, the dragon hunter tumbled.
Blood and entrails, fragments of crushed bones fell away. That appearance, losing more than half his body, was indeed grotesque. But death is inherently ugly. The dragon hunter gazed at Belnoa with blurred vision.
Breathing raggedly, Belnoa collapsed on the ground. Blood flowed from Belnoa’s nose, mouth, and eyes. Having used such a technique with a body pushed to its limits, the backlash was surely no small matter.
‘Ah.’
The dragon hunter laughed.
Even to the end, with eyes wide open, he looked at Belnoa. Belnoa, on the ground, also looked at the dragon hunter. The dragon hunter’s eyes made Belnoa feel a chill.
…The expression of someone who is aiming for something.
Or perhaps, the expression of someone who has already achieved that.
But all the dragon hunter had left was death.
Then what exactly? In that moment, a sentence arose in Belnoa’s mind. It was a phrase the dragon hunter often said.
“I am a commander before I am a warrior.”
Commander. One who devises strategies.
And to ensure the success of those strategies, one who spares no means, even if it costs their life.
Squeak, a noise filled Belnoa’s ears.
It echoed from the dragon hunter’s body. As the dying dragon hunter’s skin began to melt away. The moment he sensed the dragon hunter’s death, the circuits etched into the skull were activated.
“…!”
In a hurry, Belnoa threw a shadow dagger to smash the skull, but the instant the protective spell unfolded, it deflected the dagger. Then, slowly, the dragon hunter’s skull wrapped in protective spells began to rise toward the sky.
…The dragon hunter was a superhuman who had lived for centuries on the battlefield.
No one could live for centuries relying solely on the strength of their body; sometimes, one must be cunning, sometimes persistent.
‘Consider every possible scenario, and never drop your guard.’
Prepare for every eventuality.
That’s how one survives.
Astirio had lived this way, so he had anticipated this situation as well. Not believing he would survive forever, he had also prepared for his own death.
‘Great Being.’
Centuries ago, on the day he became a superhuman.
The dragon hunter had beseeched the Great Being. It was an unreasonable request, one that could provoke the Great Being’s anger, but the Great Being graciously granted the dragon hunter’s request.
“Good intent.”
“I shall grant your wish.”
On that day, the Great Being inscribed a circuit into the dragon hunter’s skull. Gave a part of itself to the dragon hunter.
‘Devour me.’
It activated the circuit upon the dragon hunter’s death.
The shard of the existence that embedded deep within the dragon hunter’s skull activated the Life Vessel.
『Well done.』
From the risen skull, a faint blue light flickered.
The form of the skull began to change. Drifting black mist took shape into the existence. As the existence formed, countless circuits expanded.
『Rest, Astirio.』
The ancient mage.
The ancient lich, Skebal, manifested.
2.
With a flash, hundreds of circuits shone.
With a blinding flash that could blind anyone, the spells began to pour forth. Before he could even understand the situation, Belnoa’s body moved. Diving across the cliff, Belnoa evaded the spells.
Whiz!
Not fully able to evade, his skin began to sizzle, but Belnoa clenched his teeth.
‘Truly, how tiresome, next, next, next…’
So tiresome.
Just as he finally dealt with one, a greater being appeared. Clinging to the cliff, Belnoa gazed at the floating ancient mage.
『…』
Skebal silently collected mana.
Just that was enough for hundreds of circuits to emerge. The speed at which the circuits unfurled was in a realm that Belnoa could not keep up with. Belnoa gritted his teeth and moved his body.
His body was already pushed to its limits.
The backlash from wielding the power of the dragon was closing in.
This was an adversary known as a calamity. The ancient lich Skebal. Although he had once experienced victory over him… there was no way he could hope for the same luck now.
‘Having relied on the help of a superhuman in a perfect state, and with Chloe’s support, I barely achieved victory then.’
In this state, victory was impossible.
Fleeing was not an option either. So what should he do? Sacrifice even more and fuse further with the dragon?
[…Impossible.]
The Goddess shook her head.
[At your current state, even this level of fusion is precarious. If you fuse further, your soul will shatter. That will be the end.]
Grind, Belnoa ground his teeth.
The cliff he was running on shook and bone stakes erupted. As one of those stakes pierced his thigh, Belnoa groaned and halted, just then a fierce flash engulfed him.
A massive fireball was hurtling towards him.
Crack! Waving his arms like someone in a horror movie, Belnoa tried to extinguish the fireball with the storm he conjured, but the subsequent spells came in without a pause.
…Skebal was one who had reached the pinnacle of elemental magic—a textbook wizard.
Fierce winds and flames, erupting ice pillars, and bolts of lightning flowing from them, the quaking ground cornered Belnoa in an instant.
Even having reached the realm of superhumans, dodging all this using superhuman physical capabilities was unbelievably difficult.
Thud.
Wounds multiplied on Belnoa’s body.
Though the areas covered by dragon scales remained intact, the rest of his body was exposed to Skebal’s spells and was crumbling. Ultimately, Belnoa fell to the ground, unable to escape, and only then did Skebal open his mouth.
『This is a land of shadows.』
Skebal pointed a finger at Belnoa.
The circuits that had spread in the air began to converge and strengthened a single spell.
『You will never leave this place.』
A flash burst from the tip of Skebal’s finger.
It was the moment when the completed spell took shape.
Exterminate.
The black flash rushed in.
As Belnoa sensed the end drawing closer and instinctively tried to close his eyes, the Goddess whispered in his ear.
[You’ve finally come.]
A voice filled with mirth.
Exterminate.
Immediately afterward, another spell unleashed.
In that fleeting moment, Belnoa saw it.
A platinum flash shot from the top of the cliff severing the black flash. The light flashed first, and the sound followed with a slight gap of time.
Kiiying!
The flash that nullified Skebal’s spell descended onto the ground, and both Skebal and Belnoa’s gazes turned towards the top of the cliff. There stood a girl.
“Belnoa.”
The Hero, Chloe.
“I’ve come to save you.”
As she gasped for breath, Roks, who stood next to her, placed his hand on the cliff.
Cataclysm.
Immediately, the order that symbolized the tumultuous Roks shook the cliff.
3.
The trembling cliff.
Amid the rising dust obscuring the view, Chloe landed alongside knights beside Belnoa.
“Belnoa, Belnoa…!”
As she saw the wounded Belnoa, she groaned, and Belnoa clenched his teeth.
“…Step back, Chloe.”
For a moment, he felt joy to know she had come to save him, but Belnoa’s mind raced quickly. The people here couldn’t possibly defeat Skebal.
Though his wounds healed, Belnoa’s eyes caught the sight of Chloe’s clothes, stained red. She must have also gone through countless battles to reach here.
As evidence, those knightly figures following Chloe looked fatigued. Some among them were even missing parts of their bodies.
“I will hold on…”
“It’s okay.”
Chloe shook her head.
“It’s okay, so rest.”
Her voice was resolute.
Chloe pulled back Belnoa, who was trying to get up. She took a step forward.
『How arrogant.』
The dust that had risen settled, revealing Skebal. He looked down at the ground with a sneer.
『Do you think that just because you have a few more reinforcements, you can escape this place?』
He lifted both arms.
At that motion, black bone soldiers began to rise from the ground.
『This is the phantom territory, my domain.』
There would be no accidental victory as before.
As if to affirm that, Skebal’s eyes glimmered a sinister blue, but Chloe showed no signs of retreating. There was an unsettling feeling for Belnoa in Chloe’s back.
…It wasn’t just Chloe.
The knights standing beside Chloe and those guarding Belnoa did not exhibit any fear in this grim situation. They were far from being ready to sacrifice their lives. On the contrary, it was the opposite.
They were assured of victory.
What the hell are they believing in?
In that moment, Belnoa saw it.
The cubic artifact that Chloe held in her hand. An artifact she had been pouring mana into ever since she jumped down from the cliff. The moment the artifact blinked briefly, a smile spread across Chloe’s face. She threw the artifact into the air.
『Is this your final resistance? With such a puny magical tool…?』
With a scoff, Skebal’s eyes shook violently.
『What…?』
Skebal saw the spell contained within the artifact.
A spell that no one had dared to attempt. The name attached to that artifact, which contained the spell, was simple.
Gate.
The artifact carved out a portion of space along with a blue light. Once it had fulfilled its role, the artifact shattered, but the opened space remained.
Clunk.
From beyond the opened space.
Clunk.
Footsteps echoed.
『A…Aaa…AAAAAA!』
A presence sensed from beyond the space.
At that signal, Skebal screamed and poured spells at the space connected to somewhere. Just before the spells could reach the dimensional door, they were intercepted by the spell Chloe had summoned. The spells that couldn’t all be blocked clawed at Chloe, but the knights gathered their bodies to protect her.
Blood splattered.
Chloe coughed up blood as she chanted spells.
The shields raised by the knights buckled and squealed.
Fingers clutching the shields twisted in agony.
Skebal’s frenzied interception became even more intense, but Chloe and the knights did not retreat a single step. How long did this eternity seem to stretch?
Crackle, crackle.
As the strain from the space transition built, someone stepped out from the dimensional portal. The moment she stepped forward, the air around her grew heavy all at once.
『Why, why, why!』
Skebal groaned.
“Thank you for your efforts.”
The strongest power humanity possessed stepped into the battlefield.
“Leave the rest to me.”
Thud, she patted Chloe on the shoulder and stepped forward. Her azure eyes shined ominously in the dark.
“Hey.”
The Hero, Rania van Trias.
The one who bears the name of the Ashen Mage.
The most feared calamity among the Demon Lord’s Army.
“What are you sulking for, damn it.”
With a grim expression, she clenched her fist towards the air.
“Come down.”
At that moment, a multitude of overlapping spells struck down toward Skebal’s skull from above onwards.
BOOMMMMMMMMMM!
With a deafening noise, Skebal slammed into the ground.
