NOVEL WEB Chapter 135
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“Insane…”
Her twisted expression perfectly represented her feelings. It was nothing like the flesh of the forest. She wasn’t just grazed or slightly missed; she was hit squarely and yet was still very much alive. Not even crumpled over…!
“—There’s damage.”
“What?”
“The breath has stopped.”
At that, Hong Yu-ri frowned but glanced back at the dragon. Just as the wolf said, the dragon showed no significant movement. To be more precise, most of the dragon’s scales had been torn off and flames were burning the dragon blood within. On top of that, its breath had stopped. So there was clearly some damage. Yet, despite this, Hong Yu-ri nervously chewed on her lips.
‘No surprise she can’t stay calm.’
The wolf understood her. They knew all too well what Great Magic meant to a mage. The fact that she had failed to knock it down after direct hits, not once but twice, was a matter of pride. It could have felt like despair or a wall closing in on her.
But regardless, they couldn’t stop. If twice wasn’t enough, then it had to be three times. If that still failed, until there was no more magic power left. The wolf’s gaze held that unyielding determination. The moment their eyes met, Hong Yu-ri unconsciously gulped.
“Keep chanting.”
“……Se înroșesc.”
Instead of wasting words, Hong Yu-ri put the spell on her lips. “Become red”—following the command of the spell, the crimson magic power turned an even deeper shade of red. Although she understood the feeling, she needed to prepare for what was next. That was the only way to bring it down.
Knowing the dragon had regeneration skills, dragging it out would only lower their chances. Confirming that the mage was continuing her chanting, the wolf once again scrutinized the dragon.
It was natural to avoid getting too close, but they had to deal a constant amount of damage to prevent it from regenerating. Thus, they needed to close the distance.
‘Void and Black Magic.’
Mirage shimmered and black mist crawled. The moment the strong wind burst forth, pushing both spells, the dragon, jolted awake from the shockwave of Great Magic, turned its body. The remaining scales on the beast’s enormous frame bristled defensively.
‘It hasn’t used its transformation yet.’
There was no significant change. As the dragon’s jaw gaped wide, its gaze turned toward them—at that moment, despite the loud noise of something bursting behind him, the wolf didn’t look back. Instead, he dashed forward and hopped onto the dragon’s back. A moment later, the dragon’s tail swung around to strike where the wolf had just been, but it only shattered the spot he stood on. The dragon’s condition was bad; most of its scales were destroyed, and even without using their piercing skills, they could easily see inside.
‘If only I can stop its regeneration…’
It wouldn’t easily breathe out fire. The black mist swam through the shattered scales, gnawing at the dragon, while the void consumed it gluttonously.
—Against all odds, they might actually win.
But the wolf didn’t entertain such delusions. He knew how ridiculous that thought was. A monster that had withstood the Great Magic not once but twice. As he jumped from platform to platform, he worked hard not to fall off the dragon’s back.
‘…The unknown is the transformation.’
Moreover, maintaining distance would mean getting hit by its breath attack. One undeniable fact was that if he took the dragon’s breath, there was no way he would survive.
“Puterea cuvintelor mele Acoperă lumea.”
So, the distance needed to be just long enough to avoid the backlash of Hong Yu-ri’s Great Magic during that brief moment. Just as the beast began to move, he stumbled but soon regained his balance. Watching new flesh sprout and scales reform, the wolf frowned.
‘…?’
Though the wounds were healing, the speed was slow. It couldn’t keep up with how fast black magic and the void devoured it… Why?
‘Surely it has recovery too…?’
It had not only E-rank regeneration but also C-rank recovery. That question would soon be answered.
‘I wondered why it hadn’t used its recovery…’
—It wasn’t that it hadn’t used it; it had already done so. It hadn’t just withstood the two Great Magic attacks, it had utilized rapid recovery to endure.
‘But that doesn’t change a thing.’
It seemed that it had been used excessively because it couldn’t use recovery right away, but it would soon be able to utilize it again. It appeared to have spent quite a bit of magic force forcing the recovery, yet with C-rank magic regeneration, it wouldn’t take long.
“Prin urmare, Ceea ce vreau estedevenit realitate.”
—He realized once again how unreasonable a skill could be. The wolf ran with all his might, and from him, a deep shadow spread out. The energy that expanded to its limit enveloped the dragon’s back, and with each step, the energy tore, pierced, and devoured. —Magic was used without reservation. No, he couldn’t afford to hold back. The internal chaos due to outputs exceeding physical limits was being covered by relaxation and regeneration.
He needed to use it again and again. Only then could he drain the dragon’s magic, the magic needed for rapid recovery. If the wounds from the Great Magic healed, the current balance would collapse.
‘Conversely, if I can just stop its magic usage…!
Without using magic for rapid recovery, it wouldn’t be able to recover its enormous body. Tearing, biting through the bristling scales — at that moment, as the dragon stomped its foot, lava erupted, rising dozens of meters, ready to cover its entire body. Not just lava, but shattered ground shot up in fragments high into the air.
Such absurdity could only be achieved by such nonsensical power.
Sight of the roaring lava and fragments made the wolf frown. If alone, he might have been able to vanish into the shadows, but with Hong Yu-ri present, that was impossible. As the lava and fragments rained down, the wolf instead closed his eyes.
—The foot stomps didn’t end with just one. It was already challenging to endure on the dragon’s back as it started to run, intent on obliterating everything.
‘Still.’
Instead of invoking the void, the wolf predicted all trajectories of the fragments and lava. A flood of information overwhelmed his brain, but he didn’t stop. He kept predicting and predicting. If that still wasn’t enough, he drew on instinct. If it was something he couldn’t comprehend, he’d react before thinking. He unleashed strong winds to push the lava away or swatted the fragments aside with his tentacles, enduring minimally and dodging effectively. Neither the dragon nor the wolf stopped. One aimed to bring the other down while the other aimed to withstand it — in the end, victory belonged to the dragon.
“―――!”
The dragon turned its head and roared to leave, devouring the air that had been whipped up into a void. Then, taking another breath, magic power began to gather.
—Even if it caught itself up in it, it intended to breathe. Also, realizing its body was slowly heating up, the wolf hopped up again. Alone, he might have withstood it, but the sweat pouring down Hong Yu-ri was soaking her entirely.
“Acoperit în foc negru―”
With just one final line to chant, the spell’s completion was imminent. Just as the dragon turned its head, vigilant of the resurfacing evil star, it inhaled, drawing in black mist.
‘……!’
He thought they might be able to block the breath, but the dragon inhaled the mist deep into its throat and kept gulping for air. As it seemed to inflate, the wolf began to pull away with all his magic force.
The dragon dipped its tail into the lava and swung it around, sending a spray of lava flying toward the wolf. The moment the wall of void was created to shield him, the dragon released its drawn breath.
The huge breath that filled its body was undoubtedly a weapon, but it kept gathering more power, turning redder.
—Breath.
When the dragon’s breath, infused with great magic power, shot out, the wolf gritted his teeth and exerted his strength. He tried to hold onto Hong Yu-ri and absorb some of the impact, but—
“……!”
With forced momentum, her ribs cracked. While Euna could endure the shock, Hong Yu-ri couldn’t. The breath soared as if to pierce the very ceiling of the dungeon, rising without limit.
Scorching hot air— ribs shattered and sweat flowed down, but Hong Yu-ri continued chanting. She knew that regular spells wouldn’t affect the dragon. What she needed was Great Magic.
‘But…’
The wolf gritted his teeth and looked up. Although he avoided the breath, the evil star floating high above was pierced. He wondered if perhaps the Great Magic had come to a halt — could she still complete the spell in such a state? The dragon seemed to read the wolf’s thoughts and spoke up.
“Put me down. And…”
The moment their red eyes locked, the crimson gaze seemed to tremble but then steadied.
“Just buy me some time.”
Nodding at her request, the wolf understood her resolve to finish the magic no matter what— because it was clear that a regular attack wouldn’t suffice to take down the dragon.
“Ascunde.”
Hong Yu-ri, floating in the air, melted into invisibility, starting to stitch together her spell. She rewove the fragmented evil star using magic threads. As the hot heat surged upwards, the wolf caught his breath.
‘…She asked for time.’
At those words, the wolf looked down at the dragon— in its last moments, its body was heating up. Whether that was due to the accumulated shocks or for another reason, the dragon’s skill, the transformation, finally began to reveal itself.
The same rank skill, Gangsiny, had transformed the Baphomet into a completely different being. The tiny executioner had become a massive goat that crushed down the plaza.
—The transformation was different.
The lava that had filled the dungeon’s floor began to rise, moving according to its will. Not only that, but even the wolf’s black flames began to be subjugated by it. The avatar, just as its name suggested, was the dragon wrapped in fire, appearing more like a divine being to be worshipped than a living creature.
‘…Did I underestimate it?’
—He thought he was being rational. He believed he could bring it down. But he had never predicted it would be able to endure such hits from Great Magic. Ultimately, it was a miscalculation.
‘I can’t use transformation.’
Because it would ultimately lead to him being subjugated. The sight of scales that had disappeared beginning to regrow made the wolf stop thinking. With strong winds and momentum, he continued forth— the lava subjugated by the transformation became a dragon whirlpool and split into dozens of streams, chasing after the wolf.
Including the fragments, the lava couldn’t reach the wolf. What the wolf saw and what the dragon saw were entirely different. Instead of the present, the wolf viewed the future— thus, the dragon’s attacks could not possibly touch him. No matter how threatening the attack was, if it couldn’t touch even Great Magic, it was meaningless.
‘I’ll dodge everything.’
Hong Yu-ri asked for time. — He wouldn’t settle for just that. The wolf, now utterly alone, bounced, twisting his body on the platforms to move in three-dimensional space. The speed, hard to even follow with the eye, left behind vague afterimages, making the wolf appear as a black line.
“――. ―――?!”
The dragon, about to scream, panicked when no sound came out. What slipped out with its breath wasn’t air but black mist. The black magic that had earlier been swallowed was devouring the dragon’s interior with relentless, tenacious determination.
The soundless wrath of a volcano— the flames that had wrapped around the dragon erupted explosively, and the streams of lava chasing after the wolf collided and fanned out into a wide wave. As the veil of lava spread across the sky, covering everything, the crimson eyes glowed.
—In the next moment, the fiery explosion of the volcano and the covering lava disappeared. The dragon, standing tall, bore a look of confusion. But that was to be expected. If the transformation was an A-rank skill, then so was the void. Skills of the same rank could not prevent each other.
As Marang bared her fangs to tear into the dragon, the tremors of the volcano reawakened, and something began to pulse from the dragon.
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