Chapter 93

Ah aru turned their neck. A menacing crack echoed through the air.

The confidence of Sylkizray and Sigrmund began to waver. They were feeling a ‘sense of threat’ they shouldn’t be feeling according to their plan.

It’s absurd. A dragon with infinite regeneration feeling fear? That’s impossible unless the opponent is the King of a Species.

Yeah, unless it’s the King of a Species…

“Could… could that thing actually be a king…?”

“What?! Kings aren’t that common! There hasn’t been a Wolf King in nearly two thousand years! And there’s only supposed to be ONE king per species – why would one be out here in the boonies?!”

“But if it’s not that, then how do you explain why its regeneration is being blocked…!”

“…Damn it, we didn’t consider the possibility that one could be out here.”

On the continent, humans choose their own kings by their own standards, but this applies only to humans. Every species has its own king who holds the power to lead all species.

Additionally, because species kings have the duty to feed their kind no matter how dire the situation, they possess abilities that defy the laws of nature.

For example, the King of Turtles has a shell that nothing can penetrate.

The King of Horses has hooves that can fold space as they run.

And the Wolf King has…

“Kung, lift me up higher.”

“Are you sure?”

“If I take a breath attack, I’m dead. I can feel it.”

“That’s not what I mean. Those guys won’t just sit there and take your attacks like before after experiencing your skills, Langwang. Are you really going to win if you charge in?”

“Grrr! Stop asking such stupid questions!”

Anything can be hunted with the killing power Oskar remembers from his past life when he made the Wolf King Aru into the god of assassins.

“I haven’t even started yet! Now I’m going to get serious!”

“Really? Even if the heavens split in two, this is a fight we can’t afford to lose.”

“KUNG KUNG KUNG! I’M GOING TO WIN!”

Aru’s confident reply filled with self-assurance. Uriel smirked and let Aru climb onto his back. The shadows of the dragons flying high enough to touch the clouds loomed heavily.

Peeeeeee-.

Mana began to gather in Sigrmund’s two mouths and Sylkizray’s mouth. Though quite injured, Sylkizray was still able to control mana.

“Let’s go!”

“KUNG KUNG KUNG!”

Uriel’s wings flapped violently. They shot straight up from the ground. Watching the approaching Langwang Aru and Uriel moving at near supersonic speed, the dragons aimed their breath attacks.

Fwoooosh-!

First, Sylkizray’s breath exploded outward. Lightning crackled down like a raging storm. However, due to the injury on his right eye, Sylkizray’s breath narrowly missed Aru and Uriel, striking the ground instead.

“…!”

Uriel lowered his head to gauge the power. Moments later, his jaw dropped. The once flat grassy land had become a barren wasteland filled with flames.

“So this is what dragons are about, huh…! Langwang! Fighting at this height like before might be tough, but do you really think you can win just by charging in?”

“KUNG KUNG! I’ve got something left! It’ll kill them in one hit!”

“In that case!”

The remaining distance between the dragons and Aru was about 70 meters – a gap that could be closed with just a couple of wing beats. But the dragons had no intention of waiting patiently.

Woooom-.

“Kung! We need to dodge!”

“We can’t change direction here because of the acceleration! Langwang! We’re going straight!”

“reckless! KUNG KUNG!”

Sigrmund’s red head aimed at the incoming figures, then unleashed the breath he’d been building up. Perhaps because more effort went into it, Sigrmund’s breath was twice as fierce as Sylkizray’s and struck Aru and Uriel directly.

“Groooaaar!”

Sigrmund exhaled in satisfaction. This is a dragon’s flame after all. No matter how great a species king may be, surviving a direct hit from the flames of dragons – the top species – is impossible.

The Wolf King specializes in offense, not having the durable physique of the Turtle King.

“Khh…gghh…”

But Sigrmund didn’t know…

Right here, there exists a being that symbolizes fire itself.

The flames meant to incinerate these insolent foes swirl together in a circle. The sphere-shaped breath begins and ends in a perfect circle. At the endpoint stands an angel with white wings.

KABOOOOM-!

“Where do you get off… shooting fire at ME?!”

Uriel, former Archangel and ruler of the Celestial Realm.

His authority lies in condemnation and extermination of evil. With his sword in his right hand, Uriel cuts down evildoers, then burns them to ashes with the flames in his left hand. All fires in the world belong to Uriel’s jurisdiction – authority granted by the Supreme God himself.

Though the breath surrounded Uriel and Aru, it couldn’t directly harm them thanks to Uriel’s divine power limiting Sigrmund’s interference with fire.

“UAAAAH!”

With a powerful shout, Uriel seized control of the flames. Despite the overwhelming pressure pressing down on him from the powerful energy, Uriel gritted his teeth and endured. He concentrated and condensed the fire into the shape of a long sword – a blade with a white hilt and crimson blade, the one and only of its kind in existence.

“Langwang! Catch!”

“Kung! Why?”

“How could you possibly take down such a huge monster with just a dagger!”

“So you’re not just some ordinary celestial maiden! Uriel! You’re Archangel Uriel!”

“But why does Archangel Uriel look so young? Only two wings! Struggling against mere breath attacks is rather amusing!”

The distance had closed to about twenty meters. During that time, Aru had taken the fiery sword Uriel offered instead of the dagger, while Sigrmund prepared to unleash his final hidden breath attack.

“Tch…! There’s no way we can block THAT!”

Between Uriel’s lips escaped a low groan. A cold, chilling energy filled Sigrmund’s second mouth.

Sigrmund is a dragon born with both fire and ice attributes. While his fire-based breath was nullified by Uriel, he still had an ultimate frost breath attack remaining.

Remaining distance: 10 meters. With utmost caution, Sigrmund fired his breath from a position where it absolutely couldn’t miss.

Zzzziiiiing-!

An insane gale of freezing wind surged forth, freezing everything it touched. With nowhere to stand, Uriel was completely swallowed by the breath.

“Kung!”

“Ho, how…?”

But only Uriel was swallowed. Using their remarkable leaping ability, Aru used Uriel’s head as a springboard to bounce high into the air, putting them at eye level with the dragons. The six eyes of the dragons widened comically at the sight of the wolf standing there.

Clack clack clack-!

Using the ice platform created by the breath as a stepping stone, Aru ran toward Sigrmund. Not expecting Aru to break through all three breath attacks, the dragons tried to create distance too late. By that point, Aru had already crossed the ice bridge and brought both Sigrmund and Sylkizray within striking range.

Shweeewww-!

Aru’s arm, now resembling a wolf’s, swung widely. The longer-ranged sword followed behind. A yellow flash illuminated the scene.

The blade of fire blazed intensely. The scales of dragons, supposedly harder than iron, were nothing more than kindling before the flames.

Whoosh-!

Clang-!

Two lizards died. Three heads were severed.

*

After falling from the sky, Aru first looked for Uriel. Was the angel who they used as a stepping stone truly alright after taking a full hit of ice?

Crackle-.

“Phew! Ha ha… Close call there, almost met my end.”

“KUNG! KUNG KUNG! The angel survived!”

“Yeah, survived. An archangel isn’t going to die in some place like this.”

Uriel appeared from behind Aru, melting the ice encasing her. The impact of colliding with the ground seems to have been absorbed by the ice surrounding her, as there wasn’t a scratch on her body.

“Survived! Survived!”

“Quiet down, Langwang. I know better than anyone that I’m alive – why keep shouting it?”

“KUNG! No, SHE survived!”

“You mean the dragons?”

“KUNG KUNG! One of them lived!”

At Aru’s cry, Uriel turned her head. In the changed view was the sight of three severed heads lying on the ground. Two of Sigrmund’s heads appeared to have passed away, their eyes closed, but only Sylkizray’s head remained open-eyed. His right eye was also cut in a cross shape by Aru, making it difficult to say it was truly open.

“Sylkizray, close your eyes. The battle is over.”

“Kh… Uriel… How did you end up here…”

“Don’t lament. You attacked first.”

“Kuk! Kukukuku! Who would’ve thought the supreme dragons would meet such a pitiful end!”

“I didn’t expect it either. For an archangel to end up like this.”

‘Thinking about it, it’s all that guy Oskara’s fault. A single demon changed the Demon Forest.’

Uriel limped forward to stand before Sylkizray. Her gaze swept over Sylkizray’s charred wound.

‘Anyway, Langwang… What was that final attack? I’ve never seen you deliver a blow of that magnitude during our time together. Was that also Oskara’s doing? Regardless, he’s certainly someone mysterious.’

Just as Uriel’s thoughts began to deepen…

“However! Don’t think this is the end!”

“Hmm?”

“KUNG? Die quietly if you’re dead!”

“The Four-Headed Dragon Nidhoggr is a dragon even Sigrmund and I couldn’t defeat! He was even considered a candidate for the next Dragon Lord among our kind until the Dragon King took him as a servant! Though we may die like this, Nidhoggr will exact our revenge!”

Tuck-.

After expending all his mana and strength to leave a vengeful final message, Sylkizray finally closed his eyes.

Uriel and Aru briefly looked at each other, then simultaneously began heading south as if by unspoken agreement. Uriel flew while Aru ran on all fours.

To the south was Beatrice, who declared she would face Nidhoggr alone.

She was in danger.

KA-BOOM-!

Four beams of light continuously poured forth. These things that destroyed everything in their path relentlessly pursued a single woman.

Knight Beatrice drove her sword into the ground. Her always-pristine ponytail of brown hair had come undone, flowing wildly, and blood trickled from the corners of her mouth. Her insides burned and tasted metallic.

Even trying to stand again, her knees buckled. Her harsh breathing echoed loudly.

In this precarious state where she could collapse at any moment, avoiding the breath attacks was all she could manage, let alone counterattacking.

Knight Beatrice Constantino adjusted her grip on her sword. A grating metallic sound rang out lowly.

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