Dragon Fight (1)

With Ryu Han-bin on board, Effir crossed the sky, approaching Nakterion and lowering her altitude.

Han-bin jumped from her back once a certain distance had been reached and blasted red Aura towards their opponent.

“I wish you good luck in your battle, Sir Felard!”

After cheering for Han-bin, who landed in front of the Golden Dragon, Effir flew back up.

The large Wyvern began to make huge circles around the entire battlefield.

Knights and soldiers from both sides were still fighting throughout the vicinity.

However, there were large spaces left empty amid the war.

It was the place where Han-bin’s party and the Ancient Dragons fought. No one dared get near them.

‘Fortunately, they seem to be the only Dragons.’

It was such a good opportunity, but if there were more of them with the ability to invalidate Polymorph Necklace, there was no reason to save them in that situation.

Looking at the war situation, Effir felt nervous.

‘But it’s still a close call…’

The Templar Lords fighting against the Fire Dragon seemed to be in quite a precarious situation.

At the level of high 90s, they were all better than before, but they were not even above level 100 yet.

They did their best to hold out, but it was obvious that they would eventually lose as time passed.

However, Effir didn’t support the Templar Lords.

‘My seat is here, the sky.’

It was the order of Leon Hart.

He told Effir to stay in the air. Her role was to distract the Dragons as soon as they flew.

What if one of the Ancient Dragons flew up?

At that time, she could fly up with her partner on board. They would then fight an air battle and shoot them back down.

Just staying in the sky made her a powerful deterrent against any of their winged opponents.

‘I feel sorry that I’m the only one who seems to be staying in a safe place, but…’

At that point, the level 75 Wyvern was much more powerful than the level 115 Magic Swordswoman.

‘I can’t mess things up with emotion!”

Firmly determined, Effir continued to scout around the battlefield.

The sound of the wind rang softly, tearing through the atmosphere.

* * *

Looking at the Wyvern hovering overhead, Nakterion murmured.

“So clever. How can the Wyvern be so intelligent?”

At that point, it was too much to attack in the air to create an opportunity.

He had no choice but to focus on land-based battles with all his strength.

The Dragon’s eyes turned to the Valtara warrior in front of him.

“Felard Bean, the descendant of Baotolt and the new Sword King.”

The roar of the Dragon vibrated through the atmosphere.

“I’ve heard how strong you are. Of course, I don’t intend to look down on human beings.”

Most of Latna’s Dragons were arrogant. That was why they often looked down on humans and Elves as weak beings.

However, the Valtara warrior in front of him could not be ignored.

Even though he was only in his 20s, his estimated level was over 140.

If he were in his 120s, he wouldn’t have dared to come at him.

‘But it’s different now.’

The current level of Nakterion was 145.

Even the Fire Dragon King, who was called the strongest Dragon ever, didn’t have a level as high as his.

“The great Queen of the Mado Kingdom has given me strength, and I will punish you with it! Hahaha!”

Looking up at the Golden Dragon smiling brightly, Ryu Han-bin gave a sour reply.

“Well, whatever.”

He was sorry for the triumphant Nakterion, but Han-bin had been listening to him with half an ear the whole time.

He had learned from his long experience.

“If I want to have a sincere conversation with the enemy, I have to beat them first.”

The more he beat the tongue, the softer it got!

“Let’s fight for now!”

Aiming with his Gigant, Han-bin drew out Aura from his entire body.

The flames flared and swept his entire body, throwing off a formidable shockwave.

“As expected, Valtara barbarian, I respect your spirit!”

Glaring, Nakterion stomped on the ground with four feet.

Vast Mana came out like fog and turned into magic.

“Poison Cloud, Aggressive Reflect, Mass Arcane Ray!”

Poisonous green fog spread all over the place, blocking the view.

At the same time, twelve magic circles unfolded, and dozens of flashes were reflected in all directions, flying into a seemingly random orbit.

Ryu Han-bin’s eyes flashed with admiration.

‘Oh?’

There was no avoidable angle at all.

Like Artis, the attack itself was very subtle, not just focused on firepower. He seemed to be a much more experienced wizard than he thought.

‘Or maybe it’s because Artis only uses flame-type magic?’

At that moment, Han-bin’s right hand moved like lightning.

-Crosscut!

Red tidal waves stretched out through the sword in his hand.

Dozens of rays of light blew in unison and exploded in the air.

Boom!

If he couldn’t avoid it, he could just crush everything.

“I knew you’d stop it!”

Waiting for that moment, Nakterion moved the giant body.

He continued his magic by swinging his big front claws at Ryu Han-bin.

“Firestorm! Terra strike! Death Touch!”

A fiery typhoon blew and heated the surroundings as the earth melted ad spilled into dozens of spears. In the gap, the Dragon’s front paws flooded in, imbued with a dark curse.

It wasn’t just a physical attack, but it was a combo made with three magic spells.

Now wanting to rush in recklessly, Han-bin backed down for the time being.

His desire to avoid the ongoing offensive gradually hardened.

‘What is it?’

Running around Nakterion to avoid the offensive, Ryu Han-bin agonized.

For some reason, he felt like he was caught in a fine battle with the enemy.

It wasn’t hard to avoid or fight back, but there was a strange sense of being slightly off.

‘I see.’

After a while, he found the answer.

‘It’s my first time dealing with a Dragon since I learned the Dog-Beating Swordsmanship.’

He had just dropped everything with the Polymorph Necklace.

Dragons themselves had always been easy to deal with. Hence, he swung Gigant without much thought, almost like a habit.

He realized something due to that.

‘Is this the difference between familiarity and proficiency that Leon Hart said?’

He was certainly able to deal with Dragons before.

But he couldn’t deal with it as skillfully as he did with Demon Dogs.

It had already been pointed out, but he could slowly feel the part that he couldn’t learn with his body what he wanted.

Ryu Han-bin smiled.

Strictly speaking, the Dog-Beating swordsmanship was not a technique that made a person beat anything the same way the destroyed Demon Dogs.

Rather, it was a style that made everything beatable like Demon Dogs.

If the battle with the Dragon before him changed from familiarity to proficiency, he would also grow one step further.

“Good for me!”

Han-bin pulled up Aura as much as he could while holding Gigant.

Terrible flames spread across the planes, painting them with a brilliant red light.

“You! You should be my practice partner!”

Nakterion’s expression hardened. Being able to say something like that against a level 145 opponent only meant he was confident.

“What a Valtara warrior.”

Amazed, the Ancient Dragon continued.

“Your colleagues are fighting for their lives, and you’re going to practice swordsmanship? What an arrogant and cruel being you are. You are like Baotolt. The rumor that the new Sword King is humane and just was also a lie.”

Han-bin just snorted.

“They’re not people I have to protect! They’re trustworthy companions fighting side by side with me!”

“No, how can that even be?”

Ryu Han-bin slammed into the ground toward the bewildered Nakterion.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

A red light devoured the huge savage warrior as he split the earth apart.

* * *

Somewhere else on the battlefield, a Dragon with black scales burst into a roar.

“Growl!”

Each time, the soldiers of Allendia turned pale and stepped back.

“Argh!”

“Argh!”

It was the effect of the Dragon Fear brought forth by Latna’s Dragon race.

The problem was that such an ability couldn’t tell friends from foes, so the Kaldris and the Mado Kingdom soldiers were equally terrified.

Thanks to that, Spianon, The Ancient Black Dragon, had gained space.

Only the Mage of Incineration was standing boldly, waving his staff.

“What a spirit!”

As he looked down at the Mage, Artis, Spianon spoke in admiration.

“Naturally holding up against the Dragon Fear…”

Holding the Fire Dragon King’s staff, Artis wore an ambiguous look.

“Oh, it’s, uh…”

Although Dragon Fear was said to be frightening, he was also a Dragon in essence.

For Artis, it was just a middle-aged man screaming.

“There’s no reason why I can’t stand it…”

Artis answered without much thought, but it was provocative enough for his opponent.

“How dare you, mere human?!”

Excited, Spianon shouted, raising his four powers.

“Let me show you the power of great Dragons!”

The Black Dragon spread its wings and raised its neck up. With such a strange form, he used his Force.

-Magic Swordsmanship Technique: Martan of the Apocalypse!

Dozens of black spheres poured down like meteors.

Quickly, Artis spread a flame shroud to stop the offensive.

However, his momentum was so strong that more than half of the curtain was pierced in an instant.

‘Ugh! The flame magic is too weak in terms of defense compared to his attack.’

Spianon exclaimed triumphantly.

“Hahaha! What do you think? This is the power of a true Dragon!”

Additional Mana was injected to strengthen the shield, and Artis smiled bitterly.

‘It’s so weird.’

Artis wanted to change from a human and shout, ‘I’m a Dragon too, you know!’

But he couldn’t.

‘If I go back to my original form, I’ll lose a lot of levels, damn…’

Artis’s current level was 114 after almost catching up with Effir.

Unlike the Wyvern, who devoted herself to flying throughout the war, he was in charge of the extensive bombing. That was why they had consistently killed their enemies and eaten their energy.

Artis could also use magic in his Dragon form.

If so, it would be normal to transform since the physique of their kind was superior to that of humans’.

However, his level in his true form, after being confirmed by Han-bin, was…

[Race: Fire Dragon Lv. 91.]

It was much lower than his human version!

It was because the rise in physical ability became too weak for magic.

Of course, the difference in physical ability between humans and Dragons was still enormous. If the ability of a human being were 1, it would be 100 in his true form.

The problem was, his magic power had slowly reached about 10,000.

As a Dragon, his magic power would be far too stretched out to be utilized in the same way as having a small vessel.

In addition, he trained only using his alternate form, making his skills far less competent in his original body.

‘Am I alright? Isn’t this too out of balance?’

Even so, a 150-year-old underaged Dragon was up against an over 650-year-old Ancient Dragon, and he couldn’t dare throw up a complaint.

Artis opened his mouth as he pulled up Mana.

“I couldn’t agree more. I do not doubt that the Dragon race is great.”

“… Hmm?”

He gave the Fire Dragon King’s staff to Spianon, embarrassed by the unexpected response.

“But that’s not for you to say, servant of the Archmage!”

His vast Mana was concentrated at one point, turning into an incinerating object.

“Come forth, Destroyer of Hell, the fearless creature that penetrates the sky!”

A ray of heat pierced through the atmosphere.

Excessive concentration of heat distorted the landscape.

Rumble!

It was so fast he couldn’t even stop it. A hole in Spianon’s left-wing caused him to bleed.

“Oh, my God!”