His transcendent senses woke up from where they had been sleeping for a while and warned Grid. It happened the moment Grid was gulping...
Flas.h.!.+
A huge spear of light appeared in the sky. It was Disintegrate. The ident.i.ty of the spear that fell toward Helena’s head was the spell of the highest level that rarely appeared even in legends. For some reason, it was a technique that Braham had kept hidden.
‘As expected of Braham!’
It was an exquisite and deadly attack worthy of a legendary magician.
“...!”
Grid admired Braham’s attack and antic.i.p.ated Helena’s death, only for his heart to sink. A s.h.i.+eld of hard magic that spread around Helena blocked the spear of light. He could hear Braham clicking his tongue. “That enemy is under the protection of the dragon. The magic won’t work until you get rid of that protection.”
“Huh...? Again?!” Why didn’t magic work at every important moment? Grid felt resentment at Braham’s diminished power since becoming his teammate. He felt frustrated because he didn’t know about Braham slaughtering the yangbans at the expense of one arm.
Braham scoffed at the bewildered Grid. “You have to break her protection first if you want me to play an active part.”
Braham wasn’t bluffing—originally, the dragon species itself was the worst enemy for a magician and Helena was endlessly close to a dragon.
“Cough...”
Grid was reminded about how Braham merely ‘survived’ Fire Dragon Trauka and recognized the seriousness of the situation. Now it was time for Grid to play an active role, not Braham...
Grid hardened his determination while recalling his battle with Teruchan. The peak person of a species received tremendous level benefits. Since the half-draconians appeared much later than the Twilight Orcs, Helena’s level was clearly over the mid-500s.
‘It will be tough.’
Braham was the only person in Grid’s party who had achieved level 500. However, Braham was helpless against Helena. Those who could fight had to take into account the level difference. There would certainly be a gap due to the difference in awakenings. Additionally, Helena neutralized one or more of his teammates every time she fired a Breath and it would be a tougher fight than expected.
Indeed, Helena proved to be a formidable opponent and Mercedes was floating in the sky helplessly. She had been aiming for a pincer attack the moment Braham’s magic was launched. However, the magic didn’t play any role and she suffered a setback alone. She dropped to the ground with a bit of her health consumed. Grid confirmed her s.h.i.+eld was crushed and tapped on it a few times with a hammer.
In exchange for repairing the equipment that had lost a significant drop in durability, Grid gained 0.002% experience and Mercedes’ s.h.i.+eld became as good as new. Mercedes wiped away the blood on her mouth and stared at Helena with distinctive eyes.
Rather, it was Helena who was the agitated one. “You reacted to this?”
The half-draconian families named after Bun or Hel—among them, those who were qualified as the lords had two powers each: Bunhelier’s Curse and Bunhelier’s Blessing. The Bun family had the curse placed on their claws, allowing them to completely ignore the defense of the target while causing abnormal conditions. Meanwhile, the blessing allowed their wings to maintain the speed of the wind.
On the other hand, the Hel family’s curse was in their Breath, incapacitating the target. The blessing filled their scales with magic and allowed them to ignore the magic attack of the other party. It was hard to say which one was stronger as they each had different advantages. It was why the Bun and Hel families had been forced to cooperate for many years.
In fact, the Bun and Hel families were inseparable—it was only when the two families cooperated that the half-draconians became the strongest race. If Bun and Hel were together then the half-draconians would’ve easily eliminated the sanju who were resistant to their curses. They would be able to properly deal with Grid.
However, the current Helena was alone and she felt nervous. Grid and Piaro resisted some of her curses while Mercedes read and stopped her tail attack. Helena’s tension reached an all-time high as she alternated looking between the three people.
‘There are three legends. I might get killed this way.’
Duguen, dugeun, dugeun...
The concept of defeat and death was familiar to Helena. She was smiling. Perhaps this was her last battle. This was a blessing for half-draconians.
“...Okay, let’s have fun.”
Death was the fate of all living beings—since it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience she had to go through eventually, it was better to fight splendidly than to experience a meaningless peace. Helena’s entire body became covered with dark scales. A huge shadow cast by the long, outstretched wings covered the snowy field and it seemed like darkness had come to the world.
“Ohh, Helena!”
The four senior warriors fighting the 10 meritorious retainers were thrilled to see Helena in her transformed state. It had been decades since they had witnessed Helena’s transformation. Her beautiful appearance they thought would only be seen when she encountered the grandmaster thrilled the senior warriors.
“What...”
All the 10 meritorious retainers except for Yura trembled. A huge fear dominated them. It was due to the overbearing effect of Helena’s transformation.
“Hahahat!”
The c.o.c.kroach-like humans started to fall down one by one and the momentum of the senior warriors rose. They, too, started to transform. It was a game-changer for the battlefield. The unsuspecting senior warriors, believing in their victory, approached the 10 meritorious retainers with a commanding presence. They were prepared to kill these frightened humans.
It was at this time...
“h.e.l.l Summoning.”
Yura reversed the s.p.a.ce—she brought all the 10 meritorious retainers, including herself, and the senior warriors to the depths of h.e.l.l.
[The evil dragon’s evil spirit has disappeared.]
The 10 meritorious retainers were freed from Helena’s terror.
[All stats are reduced in h.e.l.l.]
A new penalty caused their bodies to become heavy but it was the same for the half-draconians.
“This place...?”
There was a red moon with hundreds or thousands of eyes, a lava river, and hot earth that hurt their throats every time they swallowed. It was the worst environment that made the difficult to live in Chaos Mountains feel like heaven to the senior warriors.
Yura’s sniper rifle was aiming for their scales that were hot from the heat of h.e.l.l. A magic bullet was fired and left behind an emerald trail. The half-draconians couldn’t respond to the attack that would’ve been difficult to read even in perfect condition.
“...Keok!”
A pained scream echoed. A senior warrior was shot in the chest by a magic bullet and had his scales broken. Then he saw a human pulling at a bow while ridiculing him.
“Come on, is this your first time in h.e.l.l?”
Jishuka mocked the enemy in place of the reticent Yura and her arrow rotated as it flew and precisely embedded in the chest of the senior warrior. The senior warrior had already lost his scales due to Yura’s sniping and felt a terrible pain as his skin, flesh, and then heart were penetrated in turn.
In Grid’s absence, his companions were playing an active role.
***
The moment the momentum of the half-draconians rose and the battlefield changed...
“...?”
Helena shook her head as all the senior warriors suddenly disappeared. Still, her doubts only lasted a moment and she didn’t hesitate. She knew that if any of the senior warriors were left behind, they would only be victims of Braham.
‘Rather, this is better.’
It wasn’t just the senior warriors who disappeared. 10 humans who wouldn’t stand by had also disappeared, making Helena feel relieved. Helena’s long tail unfolded as her eyes fixed on a man in a straw hat. Helena was most wary of the man squatting and digging up the snow field with a hoe. Her instincts as a combat race was warning her to be most vigilant of him.
However, this was wrong. She was wary of the variables that would result from Piaro’s unknown behavior but in fact, she should be wary of Mercedes’ Keen Insight.
“...!”
Helena’s eyes widened. Her attack on the man in the straw hat was once again blocked by a silver-haired female. It was already the second time. This absolutely couldn’t be a coincidence.
“You were the problem.”
Helena finally realized it and the scales on her chest rose like a hedgehog’s spikes. Unlike the other half-draconians, she had several layers of scales and she could fire them like bullets at her target. The continuously fired scales suppressed Mercedes. Mercedes was forced to defend against the scales that continued to be shot without stopping. She crouched behind her s.h.i.+eld and bided her time.
However, Helena didn’t give her a chance. The Breath that was mixed in with the bombardment of scales neutralized Mercedes. No movements for five seconds—Mercedes was bound due to the irresistible curse and her eyes could only follow Helena as Helena flew toward Piaro who was still using a hoe. Her gleaming claws were poised to tear Piaro’s body into six pieces.
Of course, Piaro wasn’t an easy target. He wasn’t ploughing the field for no reason.
“Super Growth!”
Green buds that had never been seen before in the Chaos Mountains rose in unison. The land Piaro was stepping on was no longer a snowfield but an agricultural field.
“Sweet Potato Battering!”
Piaro swung a large uprooted plant and countered Helena. At the same time...
“Pounding Mortar!”
A huge concentration of pure energy fell from the torn sky. He used a secret technique and his ultimate technique at the same time. Piaro developed agricultural techniques based on the Matchless Heart Technique and reached a new level.
“...!!”
Helena looked fl.u.s.tered as she was briefly tied up and hit in the face by the flying sweet potatoes. Then the sight of a tool, commonly used by humans to grind grain, was instead being used to reproduce a G.o.d’s hammer caused her to feel strange, bewildered, and thrilled at the same time. For some reason, the belief that she could take another step forward if she won this battle made her act.
“Dragon Blade!”
“...!”
“...!”
“...!”
The trio of Mercedes, Grid, and Piaro were stunned and raised their eyebrows. It was because they saw a destructive energy emerge from Helena’s claws to become like a blade. There was a creepy cutting sound and cracks soon covered the mortar. Piaro’s ultimate technique, which should’ve crushed Helena and destroyed the mountain, was literally split in half and scattered into pieces of light.
“......”
“......”
Clearly, Pounding Mortar wasn’t invincible. It was possible to offset or destroy it with an equal or greater attack power. Even so, Piaro was the pride of the Overgeared Kingdom. Pounding Mortar was his signature. The collapse of Pounding Mortar came as a huge shock to Grid and Mercedes.
Helena was laughing. “Hahat!Hahahat! I am stronger! I have become stronger!”
All combat races had something in common. The more they fought, the stronger they became. In particular, if they overcame difficult trials then they developed rapidly and felt pleasure. Despite the sweat, there was a refreshed expression on her face as she fell to the ground after destroying the sweet potatoes with a Breath. She looked forward to the despair of the man in the straw hat.
Surprisingly, his eyes were s.h.i.+ning. It was just like herself right now.
‘Smiling?’
Helena was fl.u.s.tered. She instinctively realized that this person was the same as her. He would probably be a big threat if she didn’t get rid of him here...
“Hoo...”
Helena’s breath emerged like a mist. She had taken a step forward in the battle and learned how to use the Breath more diversely. Rather than using the Breath as a simple attack, she used it to set up an environment suitable for herself. It was the blossoming of field magic. She already dominated Piaro and Mercedes due to the stats difference and now she would be reborn as an overwhelming presence.
The tense Grid’s thoughts reached up to here when he suddenly questioned something: If the biggest problem right now was the level difference... it wasn’t a big problem? The reason was simple—the biggest problem with the level difference was the difference in stats, but Grid had stats that went beyond the level difference.
“Storm of the Fire G.o.d.”
Flames were overlaid in the area that Helena’s black magic power was encroaching on. An infinite silver sword energy spread out amidst the flames. Grid, covered in fighting energy, and Helena, covered in dark magic power, faced each other in the midst of the flames.
“Get lost, young one. Your turn is last.”
Helena fired a Breath with a smile and Grid gave up on responding. He would become stiff the moment it collided with him so it was right to give up.
“......!”
Helena witnessed the Breath she fired being blocked by black-gold hands and quickly used Dragon Blade on her claws. As the name suggested, it was a sword that embodied the aura of a dragon. Her ultimate technique that cut even Pounding Mortar aimed at the rus.h.i.+ng Grid.
Grid confronted it head on. “Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”
A five fusion sword dance possible due to Open Potential. One sword filled with the energy of a dragon collided with several blades of sword energy, producing a huge shock wave. The silver sword energies that existed in Storm of the Fire G.o.d shook violently like they were going to fade away. Even so, the pressure around Grid didn’t die down.
[The effect of G.o.d"s Command has reset the skill’s cooldown time!]
“Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”
“...!”
Helena’s layers of scales were broken one by one. Her eyes widened and she desperately tried to straighten her mind. Normally, after Grid consumed a lot of sword energy, he had to endure the pain, gritting his teeth to maintain his posture while dealing with the aftermath. However, in this s.p.a.ce, Grid’s sword energy was infinite. There was no aftermath for him to deal with.
Helena couldn’t withstand the offensive that consisted of four fusion sword dances, three fusion sword dances, two fusion sword dances, and single sword dances in succession. She tried to buy time using her Breath but that repeatedly failed due to the intervention of the G.o.d Hands. In the end, she could only rely on Dragon Blade.
The dragon’s energy that she constantly created to reverse the situation was imprinted on the infinite sword energy.
[The possibilities of a new sword dance ‘Dragon’ has been seen.]
Along with the notification window—
“Kuek...! Kuaaaak!”
Helena wanted to withstand Grid’s onslaught with her absurd defense and health but she eventually collapsed. She screamed as she fell, turning to gray ash in the Storm of the Fire G.o.d.
“...Sigh.”
Grid appeared in the remnants of the scattered flames and showed almost no signs of exhaustion. It was the power of Storm of the Fire G.o.d that gave him infinite sword energy.
Braham stared at him and questioned him, “If you were going to kill her alone anyway, why didn’t you come forward earlier?”
“...I didn’t know I could win by myself.”
“You are someone who can’t grasp the target.”