Ssssss.
Blue flames flickered over the spearhead.
They were a concentration of immense qi—powerful enough to pierce even the Wyvern’s steel-like hide and scales.
There was no way they would fail to penetrate its eye, the Wyvern’s only real weakness.
“What are you looking at, you fucking bastard?”
Without the slightest hesitation, I drove my spear into its enormous eye.
Crunch! Ssssss!
Hide? Scales?
Nothing could stop the spearhead.
Blood gushed out as the Scorching Yang Qi burned through its retina. Its vertically slit pupil dilated, and its maw stretched so wide it looked ready to tear apart.
“Graaaaaaaah!”
It was a howl from the depths of its soul.
An inhuman shriek I had never heard before burst from its mouth, which was stretched wide enough to split.
That nearly blew out my eardrums.
Even after raising my internal energy to protect my hearing, my ears were still ringing.
Leaving the spear embedded in its eye, I landed lightly on the ground and watched the creature writhe.
Boom! Kwooooom!
It thrashed wildly, swinging its one intact wing and tail in every direction. Then it suddenly jerked its head up.
“Grrrrr.”
The head of the house-sized monster.
Black blood poured from the eye, which had been half crushed.
It was a horrifying sight—enough to make even a fairly gutsy person step backward. But as I watched, I felt refreshed, as if someone had opened a hole in my chest.
“You’re one dumb son of a bitch. You still haven’t learned your lesson after what happened three years ago?”
Even if it had lost both eyes, it still had other senses.
Its head trembled with pain as it turned directly toward me.
“Hu. man.”
“Why, Wyvern?”
“How. did. you. even?”
I grinned at the disbelief in its voice.
It was almost a shame the bastard couldn’t see my smile.
“If you wish hard enough, the whole universe will help you. Something like that.”1
“My. ma. gic. was. per. fect!”
“Oh, I’ll give you that. You caught me by surprise.”
What kind of monster was a Wyvern?
It had a body and wings as large as a building, a hide tough enough to deflect most attacks, and even the ability to use Breath.
It was terrifying enough on pure physical ability alone. I had never dreamed it might know magic too.
Or that one measly Slow spell would cut my Agility by fifty.
According to the System notification, its magic had been amplified several times over by the dragonkin trait.
But I still had one trump card left.
“I’ve saved up quite a few points. Saving is a habit of mine.”
Back when I was a rookie in Murim, I had raised my stats with every point I earned.
I had been weak then, and my situation was so precarious that there was no telling what might happen the next day.
But as I grew stronger, I realized something.
These points could be a weapon too.
Just as martial artists concealed their ultimate techniques until the very end.
“What. kind. of. orc. shit. is. that?”
“What do you think? It means your magic won’t do a damn thing to me.”
I leisurely opened my Inventory and pulled out a new spear. When I tapped the spearhead with my fingernail, a clear ring echoed through the air.
The blind creature jerked at the sound.
“What. are. you. plan. ning?”
“You already know. Why ask?”
Step. Step.
With every step I took toward it, its tightly hunched body flinched.
“We have an outstanding debt to settle. With three years of interest.”
There was no room for compromise. This fight would end only when one of us died.
And I wasn’t the one dying here today.
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Kraaaaaah!”
But the creature wasn’t about to take it lying down.
It had lost one wing and both eyes to me, but it was still a Named Monster. It had enough strength left for one final struggle.
“Heal!”
Sssssss.
Black mana once again enveloped its enormous body. The bleeding stopped at once, and new flesh began to fill the wounds. It was far faster than any healing magic I had ever seen.
And it wasn’t finished.
“Dark. Bin. ding!”
Shrrrrrrk!
Thorny vines erupted without warning from the dusty wasteland and wrapped tightly around my entire body.
At the same time, a System notification sounded.
Beep!
System
Lv.??? Carus has used Binding Magic!
Due to the dragonkin trait, the magic is enhanced!
Strength temporarily decreased by 10!
Stamina temporarily decreased by 10!
Agility temporarily decreased by 10!
The thorny vines crept upward from my ankles, coiling around my legs, waist, arms, and finally my neck.
Sawtoothed thorns pierced my thin leather armor and dug into my skin.
Beep.
System
Paralysis Poison has entered your body!
Nerve Poison has entered your body!
Status abnormality: Poisoned!
“…Huh. What the hell is this?”
“Grrrrr.”
The creature—or rather, Carus—laughed triumphantly. Its mangled eye was already beginning to return to its original form.
“You. let. your. guard. down. hu. man!”
“Let my guard down?”
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah. I did let my guard down.”
“……Why. are. you. so. calm?”
“When someone acts calm in a situation like this, it usually means one of two things. Either they’re bluffing their ass off, or…”
Ding.
System
The effect of Unaffected by a Hundred Poisons has been applied!
Paralysis Poison has been neutralized!
Nerve Poison has been neutralized!
Status abnormality: Poisoned has disappeared!
“Or they have a good reason not to worry.”
The instant I finished speaking, I stepped forward.
The thorny vines, each as thick as my thigh, tightened around my entire body, but they couldn’t stop me.
“While I’m at it, I’ll splurge on a bonus. Fifty Strength. Fifty Stamina.”
Ding.
System
100 Bonus Points have been consumed!
The points have been applied to your stats!
Crack. Crrrunch.
I tore and shattered the vines with overwhelming power and Strength.
Carus’s magic had been greatly amplified by the dragonkin trait, but the magic itself wasn’t particularly advanced.
“Slow magic, binding magic. What’s next?”
Its eye had already almost completely healed.
When Carus saw me emerge from the vines unharmed, its maw fell open.
“You…you!”
I brushed the pieces of vine from my arm.
“Don’t you have any other spells? You were so confident, I thought you’d at least know how to factor, but it turns out you’ve only mastered addition and subtraction.”
“How. did. you?”
“My own magic.”
“Your. own. ma. gic?”
“Yeah. Magic.”
I shifted the iron spear in my hand into a reverse grip.
That was all the preparation I needed. This spear was my magic, and the creature would never be able to stop it.
“Huuup.”
I drew a deep breath. Every muscle in my body meshed together like tiny gears, and the world slowed.
I leaned back and snapped my arm forward, casting a spell I hadn’t quite memorized.
“Burst, sesame.”2
Whoosh! Fwoooooosh!
Against the red sunset staining the horizon, a blue flash plunged into the creature’s eye, which was dyed an even deeper shade of blood.
Burning. Shattering. Bursting.
Crack!
“Graa…aaaaaaah!”
I walked toward it as its agonized scream tore through the air. With every step, familiar faces flashed before my eyes.
Faces I would probably remember until the day I died.
Ever since that day three years ago, shackles had weighed down my ankles.
Anger. Guilt. The desire for revenge. Emotions piled one atop another, layer upon layer.
Their weight had been crushing. So heavy I couldn’t take a single step forward.
But now…
At some point, I had grown strong enough to bear that weight.
At long last, I could offer some comfort to the spirits of those who had died before me.
Yes. Finally.
Just as I murmured those words silently in my heart, mana rippled around the creature writhing in pain.
“Kraaaah! Slow! Dark Binding! Magic Arrow!”
Three spells erupted in rapid succession.
I kicked off the ground and charged forward. The instant I shot beyond Slow’s area of effect like a streak of light, thorny vines and dozens of mana arrows rose to block my path.
Sssshing! Shrrrk!
Everything was sliced apart along the arc of blue flame. Sensing that its attack had failed, the creature beat its one remaining wing.
It was such an enormous target that I didn’t even need to aim. Another flash shot from my hand.
Swoooooosh! Thud!
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Whoooosh!
A shrill scream rang out. Then its spike-covered tail came hurtling toward me with a terrifying roar as it tore through the air.
Boom!
But I had already leaped half a beat ahead of it.
The rocks scattered across the wasteland like reefs rising from the sea shattered into powder.
Open Inventory. Equip.
As I descended, I swung my spear.
Shraaaak.
The severed tail rolled through the dust with black blood spilling from it.
“Kraaaaah!”
Shrrk. Shrrk. Shrrk.
It was like perfectly meshing gears.
I blocked, dodged, and cut through every attack the creature unleashed in its desperate struggle.
Then I realized that no more attacks were coming and stopped.
“Krrk. Grrrk.”
Two severed wings. A severed tail. Two eyes that could no longer function.
The creature lay submerged in a vast pool of blood, ragged breaths rasping from its maw as though each one might be its last.
I watched it for a while before opening my mouth.
“Do you want to live?”
“…….”
“Then use your healing magic. I’ll wait.”
“Will. you…save. me?”
“No. It just feels like a waste to send you off like this.”
“……!”
“Hold out ten more times. I’ll kill you after that.”
The creature’s body trembled. Its gaping eye, pouring dark-red blood like a waterfall, turned toward me.
“You. are. cruel. hu. man.”
“Compared to what you did, this is nothing.”
“I. only. did. what. I. had. to. do.”
“I know.”
Humans killed monsters, and monsters killed humans.
The two sides had been killing each other for decades. It was both history and an inescapable cycle. And…
“I’m no different.”
Completing my revenge—that was what I had to do now.
After a brief silence, a resigned whisper escaped its maw.
“……Kill. me.”
The strength slowly drained from its twitching body.
I aimed my spear between its blood-caked eyes and whispered softly.
“Thank you.”
For staying alive until now.
And for dying by my hand.
With those barely audible words, I drove the spear forward.
Shnk.
The Scorching Yang Qi flowing from the spearhead as it gently pierced through the center of its brow rampaged like a wild beast, devouring and burning everything in its path.
A skull harder than steel. Flesh. Brain matter. Everything else.
Ding.
System
You have defeated Lv.115 Carus!
You have achieved the Achievement Named Monster Defeated!
You have achieved a great Achievement. A corresponding Reward will be granted!
You have perfectly cleared the A-Rank Gate, The Black Wyvern’s Nest!
Calculating all Rewards…
You have acquired an enormous amount of EXP and Fame!
Level Up!
Level Up!
.
.
.
System notifications washed over me like waves. I released the scorching-hot spear shaft and thought,
I did it. Finally.
What more was there to say?
The shouts of other people brought me back to myself as I stood there in a daze.
“Mr. Jin Taekyung!”
“Taekyung!”
Team Leader Choi. Butler Kim. Im Kkeokjeong. Song Song.
The guildmates I had met through new bonds.
My people.
As I watched them race toward me, I let out a weary laugh.
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