Chapter 268.
The surging light quickly disappeared and as if there was an earthquake, the earth. A mountain suddenly rose from the ground once the shaking had completely subsided.
Grrrrr.
The s.h.i.+ning golden mountain could be seen even through the dark western land. The mountain trembled, then its eyes opened.
This was the moment the earth dragon, which had been left behind in Mangsk, appeared in response to the Dragonian Knight’s summon.
“Why is this guy here?”
From next to him, Marek’s eyes widened in question. He couldn’t understand how a dragon that should be in Mangsk had appeared here.
“Let’s just say it’s the power of a skill.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok was looking at Marek calmly as he responded, but the corners of his mouth twitched. It seemed like he was quite surprised by a skill he had used for the first time as well.
Although he was only able to summon a single dragon right now, the fact that the dragon had been able to jump over a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers made it a tremendous ability.
The Dragonian Knight’s power was so formidable that it completely destroyed all the common sense that he had built up throughout his life.
Since the situation was like this, he tried to pretend to be calm, but even he couldn’t stop himself from turning his head to look towards the east where Mangsk was.
However, right now wasn’t the time for him to admire his new ability. He had something else to deal with before that.
“Will you tell me the direction?”
Seething anger could be clearly heard in Kim Seon-Hyeok’s voice. Marek pointed somewhere into the dark cloudy sky.
“What are you planning?”
Instead of answering, Seon-Hyeok jumped on top of Goldrake.
“You can’t be planning on fighting?”
Marek stood in Goldrake’s path when it seemed like Seon-Hyeok would rush towards the Demon King at any moment.
“Did you ever think that this could all be a trap? This is just a low-level provocation. Even if we fight the Demon King, now is not the time.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok’s eyebrows twitched at Marek’s words.
“Low-level provocation…”
His angry glare landed on the mounds that appeared here and there, his gaze pa.s.sed from one mound to another. Each of those pitiful piles of dirt was a tumulus of knights and crusaders who had been sacrificed in the name of gaining land, no different than a dirty grift.
“That’s right, a low-level provocation. The Demon King is scheming to infuriate you and lead you to a trap. So please, suppress your anger.”
Marek tried to persuade him as Seon-Hyeok continued to stare at the tumuli. But it didn’t work.
“Move.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok spoke curtly in a freezing voice.
“It’s foolish to fall for such provocations…”
“So what if I’m a bit foolish?”
Seon-Hyeok responded before Marek even finished talking.
“So what if I lose a bit?”
His voice was quieter than before, it was as if it was the calm before the storm. .
“I’m saying, is there any reason to take a loss when you don’t have to?”
Marek didn’t give up and continued to stop him. But despite his persistent dissuasion, Seon-Hyeok wouldn’t give up on a course of action once he had made up his mind.
“Even if I am an idiot to take a loss, I must twist off the neck of that d.a.m.ned Demon King right now.”
As he finished talking, Goldrake stomped his foot threateningly.
“Move.”
“Why can’t a person like you see reason?”
Even though the monster’s foot dropped right in front of him, Marek didn’t blink an eye and continued to try and persuade him.
Of course, that didn’t work a single bit.
“So what about it? From the start, this is how I am, and this is what I learned once I got here.”
Although he had ascended to the position of a duke and become an unparalleled person compared to his past, his origin had been a heavy-armored cavalry. The heavy-armored cavalry was a manic who would charge without hesitation at an enemy several times or even ten times bigger than them if necessary. And at this moment, Seon-Hyeok had realized that he was surprisingly just like them.
“Move. If you don’t want to see me tiring myself out before I even fight the Demon King, move. “You really…”
Marek must’ve had a lot of things he wanted to say, he opened his mouth several times, but then, he signed and closed it.
“You are terribly obstinate.”
“I hear that often.”
Marek shook his head in response. Then, instead of stepping aside, he got on top of Devon.
“You’re going to come with me?”
“Since I came here with the intention of doing just that, yes.”
Marek sighed once more as he grumbled.
“I’m telling you this again, but if I ever go anywhere else with you, I’ll change my surname.”
However, contrary to his words, Marek had already summoned his iron sword and was gripping it. He was ready to charge forward at any moment.
“Let’s go. I’ll support you from behind.”
“Thank you.”
With that brief thanks, Kim Seon-Hyeok gave a command to Goldrake.
“Let’s go, Goldie.”
Immediately after he finished talking, Goldrake’s ma.s.sive feet pounded the black earth.
Roooaaar.
A furious roar that seemed to tear through the entire world resounded in the West. With that, the Dragonian Knight and the Sword Star began charging towards the evil master of this black land.
And as if they had been waiting, a large army of monsters rushed towards them.
“It’s not too late. There must be an easier way.”
Marek must have been regretting it still because he continued to mutter, but Seon-Hyeok pretended not to hear it. Instead, he quietly grabbed the spear of the Mother Tree and glared at the demons.
“Huu.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok took a deep breath. While he was doing that, Goldrake had already collided with the monsters in the front.
Bang!
Due to the overwhelming difference in physique, the strong demonic creatures were crushed and the corpses of the creatures who were lucky enough to maintain their shape were thrown in all directions.
“Huu.”
He took another deep breath. The anger and excitement that had heated his head flowed out with that single breath.
Gaaaah!
After that first clash, Goldrake, who had burrowed himself into the midst of the demons, smashed through them as if parting the ocean.
No monster could slow down a dragon who was as ma.s.sive as a mountain and hard as a rock. Even as he pushed through the never-ending black waves, Goldrake never showed any signs of being overwhelmed, and the monsters that rushed in roaring continued to be ripped apart by the dragon’s relentless rush.
We can do it.
Kim Seon-Hyeok breathed in deeply once again as he watched the monsters being crushed by Goldrake before they could even reach him.
We can do it.
Their current charge forward was by no means a reckless act in anger.
When he had first entered the West, he instinctively knew it.
He knew that he had gotten stronger.
The demonic energy that had once bound his limbs to the point where it was difficult to move his body no longer restrained him. As a matter of fact, it didn’t bother him in the slightest.
The same held true with the owner of this terrible demonic energy.
This wasn’t a difference caused by an increase of a couple of levels. Before he had become a Dragonian Knight, he had been nothing more than a sh.e.l.l. He was the real thing now.
Pah.
The golden force surrounding him began to spread out in all directions. It was a force completely different from the energy he had spasmodically exuded in the past in order to fight against the Demon King’s force.
The monsters froze in fright when faced with Seon-Hyeok’s force, and they were trampled to death by Goldrake. The fortunate monsters who escaped Goldrake’s movements didn’t think about rus.h.i.+ng at him, and instead, fell to the floor trembling.
The black waves are breaking.
Now, the demons were making a path for him before they even collided with him.
“What on earth…”
Since he was flying in the sky on top of Devon, Marek was able to see far off into the distance that Seon-Hyeok couldn’t see.
Hundreds of thousands of the undead and demonic monsters were slowly retreating to avoid the golden monster. Even in the far-off places where the dragon hadn’t reached yet, the demons were opening the way for him in advance and fell to the floor.
The raging black energy forced the demons to stand up again, but the demons quickly collapsed after facing Seon-Hyeok’s light.
This was an incredible sight that he would never see again in his life. It was as if the whole world was bowing down and wors.h.i.+ping in front of a king’s procession.
No, maybe he’s a tyrant?
Marek corrected himself as he watched the monsters who couldn’t escape the dragon’s path being kicked and crumpled under his feet.
This was truly an absurd situation.
He was beyond admiration when hundreds of thousands of demonic monsters, which should have forgotten to fear death due to the demonic energy, became terrified and started retreating.
But as his admiration grew, his doubts also rose.
Was the strength of the Dragonian Knight normal if it could cause hundreds of thousands of demons to lose their will to fight before even fighting in the stronghold of the Demon King?
The answer had been decided from the beginning.
Marek himself was a special cla.s.s, a Sword Master, and he had seen and experienced numerous foreigners. Amongst those, there had been strong people who had awakened a special cla.s.s like himself. They were people who were considered exceptionally strong even when compared to the many superhumans that existed back in the day.
All of those people had incredibly high levels and the war that had swept through the entire continent had made them stronger.
However, Marek was positive that even those people couldn’t have reached the imposing aura that Kim Seon-Hyeok was showing right now.
That was why it was stranger.
The Dragonian Knight that he knew hadn’t reached level 50. It wasn’t normal for him to show such formidable power.
“If only I had the power of an Adjuster…”
He was regretting having pa.s.sed on most of his powers to the next Adjuster. If he still had all the powers of an Adjuster, then he could have found out the reason for the scene unfolding before his eyes.
But even if Marek regretted it, it was pointless. He had already handed down an Adjuster’s important abilities to the next Adjuster, the Countess of Mangsk, and now, he was just an ordinary foreigner.
The only thing he could do now was to follow the golden monster that was currently galloping towards the center of the demonic energy.
Even if he knew that, Marek still couldn’t let go of his questions.
Kim Seon-Hyeok was in the same situation.
He knew he had progressed quite a bit, but the demonic monsters’ fear was too great. At the very least, the demons, if not the demonic monsters, should have bared their teeth and charged towards him.
But even the powerful demons, who were incomparably stronger than the demonic monsters, only growled low and couldn’t stop Goldrake. While they didn’t collapse like the other demonic monsters, they were still afraid.
“Hm?”
Lost in thought, Kim Seon-Hyeok had been swaying as he sat on top of Goldrake when he suddenly looked up at the sky. Something didn’t feel right.
Then, he froze.
The demons weren’t afraid of him or Goldrake. The demons who had always been free of the fear of death were afraid of something ma.s.sive that had appeared high above the griffin in the sky.
“Ah…”
Even though it was a vague and intangible form, it was a being he still remembered.
“Dragon!”
The day he had awakened as the Dragonian Knight, a huge dragon had appeared in the sky above Mangsk. That same dragon was looking down on the blackened earth from high up in the sky.