V53C2P4 – Dragon Hunt

‘The scars on his waist and front paws… The parts without scales could be a weakness but are not going to end the game.’

300 meters. Weed flapped his wings and moved cautiously. He observed the openings as his eyes skimmed across the back of Kaybern’s head, his wings, back and tail.

‘Should I just start beating him down?’

He felt a powerful urge to strike as he looked at the rear of the head.

200 meters. Kaybern felt his presence and turned his head. The bone dragon reflected in the enormous eyes of the black dragon!

– I can smell a foul stench. Begone!

Kaybern did not attack him as there were still many humans left, but was disturbed nonetheless.

– My, my apologies.

Weed drew back but did not give up, prowling near him. He finished off the Hermes guild members attacked by Kaybern’s magic and continued to make profit.

“Kill Weed!”

When the Hermes guild approached to attack, he quickly hid behind Kaybern. Cunning at its finest! He ended up getting on the nerves of the impatient dragon.

– Blizzard!

In a short moment, the temperature fell far beyond freezing point and snow and ice began to flurry. Weed saw the blizzard coming towards him and attempted to fall back, but it had already surrounded him.

< Cold snap!The body is freezing.

2,896 damage to health points per second!

Movement speed is reduced by 36%. >

Kaybern’s magic had been targeted not on the humans, but on Weed. Even as a bone dragon with high magic resistance, he took considerable damage. Weed also planned to return the favor.

‘I knew it as well. The dragon was not to be trusted in the first place.’

He had saved up a significant amount of mana and health points. He took a deep breath and released his attack on Kaybern who was nearby.

– Corrosive breath!

The breath in a straight line from Weed’s gaping mouth and drenched Kaybern’s body.

– How dare….!

Many seconds later the breath ceased and Kaybern’s body was uncovered. The slick and lean body of the black dragon was dirty like it had been stained. His health points also took a fair amount of damage, but not enough to be a threat.

“Wh, What the.”

“Weed attacked the dragon.”

The Hermes guild members were with wide open eyes, as the bone dragon and the black dragon clashed.

– Incineration!

An advanced fire magic spell. Kaybern activated a spell that burns away the opponent. A powerful spell that turns targets with low magic resistance into complete ashes. The bones of Weed’s frozen body lit up in fire.

< The body is burning.

5,317 damage per second!

Endurance and magic resistance is declining rapidly.

Decreases by 3% per second. >

The mighty physique of the bone dragon remained in good state. Even so, he would take consistent damage to his health points if he does not relieve himself from the incineration spell applied on his body.

‘An eye for an eye.’

Weed spread his wings from the ground and hurled his body towards the dragon. Engulfed in flames, he flew at maximum speed and collided. Kaybern was startled and tried to avoid him, but both of them were an enormous 200 meters wide in size.

The dragons crashed into one another with resounding force.

The bone dragon and black dragon tangled and tumbled. The land shook like an earthquake and the Hermes guild members were buried under the dragons.

< Health points are reduced by 97,000, due to a ma.s.sive impact. >

The bone dragon’s body was comprised of over 2,300,000 health points, but his life was limited as he could not lift the incineration spell.

“Die. You ugly lizard!”

Weed wrapped around on Kaybern’s back with all four legs and bit into his nape.

< Attack on weakness!

Your bite landed on the opponent’s weak spot.

You have diminished 42,385 health points. >

< The durability of your fangs has declined. >

– How daring of a rotten, crumbling set of bone picks!

Kaybern tried to shake him off from his body, but it was not too easy. One of the best skills of the bone dragon was its bite.

“You’re a coal-black lizard!”

Weed wildly bit into Kaybern’s body. He felt as if he was chewing steel due to the st.u.r.diness of the black dragon, that that was unimportant. He crunched tenaciously and scratched the body ruthlessly with his claws.

*Tak-tak-ta-tak!*

A succession of merciless attacks.

– Get off me!

Kaybern thrashed in an outrage, but it was futile. Weed had wrapped tightly around his body. The Hermes guild members were genuinely surprised.

“Geez! What is happening.”

“The dragons are fighting one another. What’s more, that bone dragon is Weed.”

“Holy. It’s like watching a monster film.”

Even the Hermes guild was stupefied by the scene. Two dragons entangled, a dog fight! Weed usually preferred clean battles using a sword. At times he took hits intentionally to increase his endurance, but those instances are calculated. When he got deeply engaged into a fight, he would fight aggressively while keeping his head cool.

“Kwaahh!”

– Go. Begone!

Kaybern and Weed rolled on the ground.

‘This lizard. He can’t fight as well as I expected.’

Weed tightened his concentration. When would a dragon have experienced such a dirty fight? In the battle against the humans, it displayed a typical pattern of combat. But when a huge bone dragon stuck to its back like a hunting canine and bit into the nape, it was unable to break free.

‘The dragon’s combat skills are rather sloppy.’

Weed traced his memories back to when he attended the Kendo dojo.

***

Jong-b.u.m Choi! He was the dojo master and went by the name Geomchi3 in Royal Road, his body a lethal weapon in its entirety. Muscles, scars and a savage face!

“Hmm. Popsicles get me through the summer.”

The time when he and Lee hyun went to a nearby convenience store with their tops off during the practice at the dojo, remained a legend.

“Huk.”

“Wha!”

“Gkk!”

The people in the streets could not look away in surprise. The muscular body under the beaming sunlight was defined like valleys. Sweat streamed down between the muscles. Men, women, the seniors and children all observed his beautiful physique.

“Brother. It seems all that you do is exercise. What was your hobby as a child?”

“Boxing.”

“When you were 10 years old?”

“Yep. The uppercut was my specialty because I loved the feeling of blowing away the older brothers that were bigger than me in a single hit.”

He practiced martial arts for a hobby. He had many certifications but he himself did not remember well. He fell for kickboxing and jiu jitsu, spiking his interest in mixed martial arts.

“I qualified in tournaments too. I fought 7 times and won all of them with K.O.”

“But you didn’t become an athlete.”

“Yup. It did not give me that sharp tension of fighting with a blade, so my interest faded away. All I had to do was beat them up with pure strength and stamina.”

Jong-b.u.m Choi was the cla.s.sic example of an aggressive infighter. The problem was that no one could fend off his monstrous charges. No one in the dojo could beat him in a hand-to-hand combat.

“Youngest one. Sword techniques are great too, but you must train the body. Any kind of skill is based off on your physical abilities. There are no sword techniques that can be executed with a weak physique.”

“Yes. Brother.”

Lee Hyun played around with various mixed martial arts with Jong-b.u.m Choi during rest breaks.

‘This is turning out to be quite useful.’

The reason for attending the dojo was to hunt better in Royal Road. He learned everything from how to take hits by spreading the opponent’s power across a larger area to the variety of ways to break down a stance.

“The blade is sharp and powerful, so you only need an attack to succeed once. Though, that is the most difficult part…”

“Can’t you finish someone off with just a single fist strike?”

“Definitely can. However,if the opponent is also skilled they will know how to take hits. Precise attacks will never be allowed. That is why attacks lead into submission techniques…. Hmm, hmm. You will find it helpful once you learn these.”

“When should I use the ?”

“Whenever. A drunk man could pick a fight with you for no reason, and this world can be quite harsh. In those times you must be able to protect yourself, don’t you think?”

***

– Kuahhhhh!

Weed roared as he continued to crunch away at Kaybern’s nape. He pressed down on the dragon’s tremendous body with his four legs, s.h.i.+fted his body weight instinctively and held his advantage.

‘The ground techniques that I learned from bro are proving their usefulness.’

His entire body was engulfed in flames because of the magic, but the deed had to be done.

< You bit into the opponent’s weak point.

Successive threatening attack!

You have diminished 67,387 health points.

The defense of the wounded region is reduced by 2.6%. >

Every time he bit, shook around and rolled on the ground with Kaybern, health points declined by several thousands. The matter came down to Kaybern’s ridiculous amount of health points and defense. Weed pressed down with his body and crunched away, but the attacks were nowhere enough for the dragon to die.

“Fire energy.”

“Eternal Shot!”

That moment, the attacks from the Hermes guild members struck. For them, Weed was also an enemy and therefore attacked without distinguis.h.i.+ng Kaybern and Weed. His body was on fire, taking damage each time he rolled on the ground, and now the Hermes guild members were attacking on top of all this. Weed realized that he could only hold for 2 or 3 minutes.

– I will rip you to shreds!

Kaybern wallowing on the ground also staggered and straightened up. Weed pressed down with all his might, but Kaybern stood up with just the might of his hind legs. The bone dragon was similar in its enormous size, but was made of nothing but bones. Kaybern’s weight and power were greater.

– Lightning Tempest!

Kaybern quickly cast a spell. Then, hundreds of lightning struck down in proximity.

< Struck by lightning!

Jolting power of electricity pierced through the body.

Health points reduced by 126,183. >

He was struck by ice, fire and lightning.

‘In order to attack me, he gladly threw himself into the line of fire.’

Weed knew his intentions but he was out of options. Kaybern’s scales negated lightning with its immense magic resistance. The bone dragon felt a s.h.i.+vering pain in its joints. This was the difference between a real dragon and a bone dragon! Weed shouted out to everyone in the region.

– All Hermes guild members focus down the dragon! Kill Kaybern first, then me! This is the best opportunity to kill the dragon.

The Hermes guild and Weed were of such ill-fated relations.h.i.+p, but it was necessary to put it behind them against a dragon that could plunge the entire Versaille continent into danger. Despite his words, he may be able to escape alive once the dragon is defeated. He knew he could not overcome this dragon alone, so he asked a.s.sistance from the Hermes guild.

“Just kill both of them at once!”

“Don’t trust anything Weed says.”

The reaction from the Hermes guild opposed his expectations. A dragon was indeed an amazing deal for them, but there was just as much significance in killing Weed who had won against Bard Ray. They ignored Weed’s request and bombarded with attacks.

“Kill him here and now!”

“Weed is a petty trickster. You never know what stunt he is going to pull. In the least, make sure he is dead!”

The Hermes guild were aware of Weed’s nature. Weed ignored their attacks and bit the dragon, and he felt his chances of succeeding in this hunt fading away. Not a sliver of hope was left in the given situation.

– Forceful Rift destruction!

Kaybern used a magic spell again, shattering Weed’s body completely. Solid rib bones broke and rained down on the ground.

< Body was destroyed by magic.

Maximum health points reduced by 55%.

Remaining health points reduced by 30%. >

It was a ridiculously powerful magic spell. Weed crumbled and Kaybern broke free. The huge body of the bone dragon fell apart into pieces of arms, legs and wings – turning into tatters. Kaybern let out an explosive roar of rage.

– I will not leave a trace of your remains!

Fueled by his hatred towards Weed, he refused to finish him with magic and instead inhaled deeply. Weed witnessed firsthand as the black dragon’s body bloated like a balloon. It clearly was readying a breath attack.

– This lizard, we’ll see about this!

Kaybern gaped his mouth, struck Weed’s body with the gus.h.i.+ng breath.

(To be continued…)