Chapter 674

Book 1 Chapter 674

674

Swoosh—

A suffocating, ominous gust of wind swept across the land.

In the days of old.

Throughout the Era of Calamity, the relentless gales themselves carried the stench of mortality.

“You claim Lisinas is the Dragon Lord?”

Gimeon burst into a mocking roar of laughter at Leo’s statement.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! What a ridiculous farce. Do you truly believe a Black Dragon crawling out of the shadows is worthy of being called the Dragon Lord?”

Shielding his face with his palms, Gimeon gave a dismissive shrug.

“The title of Dragon Lord belongs to the most majestic entity in existence. A chosen ruler, blessed by the divine. Yet you claim that brainless, idiotic female holds that rank? Ha-ha-ha-ha! What a comedic performance! Truly hysterical!”

Halting his manic laughter, Gimeon pointed an accusing finger straight at Leo.

“I give you credit for providing entertainment. However, it also offends me.”

Snap— His amusement vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, detached tone.

“For that pathetic jest, I will ensure your demise is agonizing.”

Flash—!

A brilliant beam of light erupted.

Gimeon was entirely certain that this single strike would tear one of Leo’s limbs clean from his torso.

Leo casually raised the arm that wasn’t gripping his blade.

Thud—! Boom—!

With a heavy impact, a dense cluster of arcane energy deflected toward the heavens, detonating in a violent shockwave.

Gimeon’s eyelids twitched in disbelief.

Leo had easily brushed away Gimeon’s sorcery with his bare hand.

“An insignificant lesser creature.”

“Hearing that from a mere oversized lizard isn’t particularly pleasant.”

“Insolent fool! You dare call me a lizard once more?!”

Gimeon’s gaze flared with pure malice.

Leo rolled his neck slightly, keeping his eyes locked onto Gimeon.

The blessed entity, Gimeon.

Prior to the Era of Calamity.

He had been the very dragon selected behind closed doors to inherit the title of Dragon Lord.

Consequently, he commanded an immensely potent mastery over Dragon Speech magic.

Even in the current age, the Dragon Lord stood at the pinnacle of global authority.

The sovereign ruler of Dragonia, responsible for choosing and training legendary champions.

Quite literally, an individual capable of steering the fate of the world.

‘Yet his current standing is nothing compared to what it was before the Era of Calamity.’

In those ancient days, the supreme power wielded by the Dragon Lord was absolute.

A mere utterance from the Dragon Lord could obliterate an entire kingdom in the blink of an eye.

The sovereign race favored by the gods.

The sentinels of the world.

Such was the nature of dragons, and the Dragon Lord commanded them all.

If the Dragon Lord of the present era lived to protect the realm.

The Dragon Lord of that bygone time existed to dominate it.

‘And yet, all of that unparalleled authority crumbled entirely because of this creature.’

Leo’s eyes burned with profound loathing.

The sovereign who preceded him had perished in a desperate conflict against Erebus and Tartarus.

He offered up his own life to preserve existence.

But following the demise of the previous Dragon Lord in combat.

Gimeon’s appointment as the successor completely shattered the fragile equilibrium of the world.

He swore fealty to Erebus, turning his back on all living things.

The treachery of the Dragon Lord—unquestionably the most formidable entity alive—was a devastating blow that paralyzed the nations with terror.

Furthermore, Gimeon harbored absolutely no remorse for his betrayal.

“Indeed, it appears you suffer from the same delusional, moronic perspective.”

A suffocating aura of magical energy began to cascade from Gimeon’s form.

“Believing that I should have thrown my life away for the sake of the world.”

Flash—

His irises shifted, transforming into the slitted eyes of a reptilian predator.

“Why should I sacrifice anything? I am the anointed one.”

Swoosh—!

An endless array of complex spell formations materialized around Gimeon.

“Creation itself exists to serve me! To serve Gimeon! You pathetic mortal!”

An ear-splitting shriek tore from Gimeon’s jaws.

‘Dragon Fear.’

A psychological assault capable of instantly shattering the psyche of anyone lacking absolute mental fortitude.

Exposed to the full brunt of the pressure, Leo merely pinched his eyebrows together.

“Tiresome.”

“What did you say?!”

Gimeon gasped in sheer disbelief.

Leo flashed a grim, menacing smirk as he stared at his opponent.

“Anointed, my foot.”

From the moment he came into the world, Gimeon had known nothing but absolute adoration.

Born as a celestial White Dragon, his innate capabilities were staggering.

From his infancy, the higher powers showered him with blessings, decreeing that he was destined to rule over all creation.

As a result, he felt neither hesitation nor guilt when he turned traitor.

‘To a creature like him, it was merely his birthright.’

During the Era of Calamity.

Operating from the shadows, Leo had personally executed a countless number of turncoats.

‘And out of all of them, this particular reptile stands as the most detestable.’

Because of Gimeon’s defection, the mortal realms lost all faith in the dragon race.

The precise instant the esteemed Dragon Lord abandoned humanity.

An untold number of souls plunged into utter hopelessness.

Yet it was Lisinas, a member of that very same species, who stepped forward to offer a glimmer of light.

Shouldering the immense weight of the skepticism and hatred Gimeon had sown.

Lisinas endured a grueling, solitary campaign for an immense duration of time.

‘Right up until our paths crossed.’

Leo’s fist tightened into a rigid knot.

Even after Dweno aligned with them and the Arhi party was formally established, Lisinas continued to bear the burden of Gimeon’s sins for a long time.

The frigid scorn and mockery directed at her whenever she spoke of salvaging the realm.

The legendary champions understood more than anyone else how deeply that pervasive mistrust had broken Lisinas’s spirit over the years.

‘Which is precisely why I intended to end his life with my own two hands.’

It wasn’t just Leo who felt this way.

Luna, Dweno, and even Arion.

Every single one of them had ground their teeth in fury, swearing an oath to bring Gimeon down.

However, in his previous incarnation, Gimeon did not meet his end at the hands of the legendary champions.

Once Fafnir was purged by the party of heroes.

Gimeon scurried away to Tartarus, fleeing from the champions’ wrath.

It was there that the Lich King executed him, reanimating his corpse into a mindless, obedient thrall.

It was Gimeon who had bestowed the swarm mentality, unnatural multiplying capabilities, and accelerated evolution upon Fafnir, who had originally been nothing more than a mid-tier beast.

Once Fafnir was destroyed, Gimeon was deemed entirely useless and was promptly discarded.

An appropriate demise for a backstabber.

Nevertheless, neither Leo, nor Luna, nor Dweno had ever found closure in that conclusion.

Leo dropped his center of gravity.

Swoosh—!

In an instant, Leo dissolved into thin air.

Slice—!

Materializing directly behind Gimeon, Leo’s blade cut through the air with a chilling hiss.

“You honestly thought I would fall for a mere afterimage?”

Gimeon mocked, having already repositioned himself behind Leo’s new location.

Thud—!

“……!”

“I anticipated that.”

“Gah?”

A massive spear was now gripped firmly in Leo’s opposite hand.

Having conjured the polearm, Leo thrust it blindly backward while simultaneously delivering a brutal reverse kick straight into Gimeon’s midsection.

Boom—!

Accompanied by a violent detonation of force, Gimeon was sent hurtling backward through the air.

“Insolence! A wretched human dares to inflict a wound upon me, the Dragon Lord?!”

Pure, unadulterated fury cascaded from Gimeon’s body.

“Who in their right mind would respect a treacherous lizard like you as a sovereign?”

Leo sneered in response.

Attempting to reason with him was completely pointless.

Yet he chose not to simply pass over Gimeon’s arrogance.

He rejected it utterly.

Not a single soul across the land viewed the reptile before him as a true Dragon Lord.

‘That matters little to me. What truly matters is…’

It was deeply repulsive that this lizard dared to act as though he were superior to Lisinas.

Flash—

Leo’s irises darkened into an absolute, pitch-black hue.

Gimeon’s expression twisted into pure terror as he watched Leo’s gaze mirror that of a dragon.

“What is this? You aren’t merely channeling a portion of Lisinas’s essence?!”

“I will demonstrate the true might of an authentic, primordial dragon.”

Draconic energy began to swirl violently around Leo’s frame.

Dark magic manifested at the tips of his fingers, rippling outward like sharpened blades.

‘Could this be… Dragon Fear?’

Gimeon’s entire body locked up in terror.

Standing right before his eyes was.

A dragon—a perfect fusion of man and dragon itself.

“Duran! Provide covering fire for Sector 3!”

Crackle, crackle, crackle—!

A brilliant cascade of lightning erupted in tandem with Kal’s command.

Duran, traversing the distance to Kal’s specified coordinates with staggering velocity, discharged a volley of electrical energy.

“Haha! Impressive work, boy!”

The Dwarf brawler roared with laughter at the sight.

Thump— Thump— Thump—

Right at that moment, a colossal fiend of titanic proportions charged straight through the wall of flames, clawing its way onto the fortress rampart.

Kal beamed with amusement upon witnessing its approach.

“Just as I foresaw, you managed to break through! Driana!”

Hearing Kal’s shout, Driana directed her gaze toward Ar, who was currently gripping the very edge of her massive hammer’s head.

“Brace yourself! You ridiculous feline!”

“Who are you calling a ridiculous feline?!”

Driana smirked, spinning her body in a rapid, dizzying circle in midair.

The momentum of her spin amplified Driana’s already monumental physical strength.

With Ar still clinging tight, she launched the heavy weapon directly at the titanic fiend.

Roar—!

A shimmering golden energy erupted from Ar’s form.

Ar, balancing his feet against the apex of the rapidly advancing hammer, arched his back, focused his gaze forward, and forcefully extended his legs.

Thwack—!

The sheer physical power of Ar’s kick, merged with the momentum of the hammer propelled by Driana’s strength, triggered a phenomenal burst of speed.

“Hyaaaaaaaah!”

Ar’s silhouette rocketed forward like a projectile, tearing a clean hole directly through the giant fiend’s core.

Thump-squelch—!

“Gahhh?!”

A desperate agonizing cry slipped from the monster’s throat.

Ar, having claimed the monster’s life instantly by punching through its chest with his kick, altered his trajectory straight toward Dweno.

“Master Dweno! Assistance has arrived!”

Thud—!

Stomping onto the solid stone, Ar executed a sweeping kick that crushed the skull of a fiend creeping up on Dweno’s blind spot.

And then…

“Yikes, this is burning hot!”

Ar yelped in pain, finding himself stationed squarely within the raging inferno.

Dweno barked back, casting a glance toward Ar.

“What are you whining about a little heat for?!”

“It feels scorching to me!”

“Perhaps you require a stint inside the forge to toughen up!”

“How did we even arrive at that conclusion?!”

Ar scrambled away in a panic, thoroughly alarmed.

Utilizing his protective energy shroud, which bolstered his immunity to intense heat, he managed to avoid suffering injuries from the friendly flames.

Even so, that didn’t mitigate the discomfort of the blistering temperature.

“The monstrous hordes are arriving without pause! We should probably fall back to the battlements!”

“Hmph! Now that we’ve disrupted their vanguard, let us make our retreat!”

Right then, a grim smile spread across Dweno’s features.

CRASH—!

A deafening shockwave reverberated through the atmosphere.

And then…

Boom—!

“A dragon?!”

Ar gaped in shock, staring at the massive dragon that had plummeted from the sky directly in front of him.

“Where on earth did that come from…”

“Gimeon.”

A deep, gravelly murmur escaped Dweno’s lips.

“Is that a beast from your past?”

“Indubitably.”

As Ar shifted his attention back to Dweno, a cold shiver ran the entire length of his spine.

Dweno’s countenance had contorted into an expression of unmitigated ferocity.

“That is the degenerate reptile that turned its back on creation.”

[You miserable, lowborn human trash! How dare you strike me!]

Gimeon, utterly blinded by madness, shrieked at the heavens above.

His flesh was completely mangled.

It was, in every sense, an entirely one-sided slaughter.

In terms of raw capability, Leo and Gimeon were virtually evenly matched.

Yet a vast, uncrossable chasm separated the legendary savior who fought for existence from a coward dragon who begged for survival, hiding away to save his own skin.

“What are you goggling at, lizard?”

[Now even a wretched dwarf presumes to lay hands on me!]

Thwack—!

A sickening crunch severed the air instantly.

The heavy blade of the war axe wielded by Dweno sliced directly through the socket of Gimeon’s wing.

[Screeeeeech!]

Gimeon’s agonizing wail of torment rent the air.

Without a moment’s pause, Dweno’s heavy axe began to rain merciless blows upon Gimeon’s form.

Thud! Crunch! Smash!

Mounting the dragon’s massive frame, he repeatedly slammed his axe down as though hacking meat to pieces.

He deliberately and systematically decimated Gimeon’s physical body to an extreme degree, ensuring the strikes remained just short of lethal.

Ar, along with the nearby monsters, stood completely paralyzed by the sheer brutality of the display.

Thunk—!

Dweno shifted his war axe so it rested casually against his shoulder, then lifted his gaze.

“What is the meaning of that stare?”

Leo, who had pursued Gimeon all the way down to the earth, was observing Dweno with a piercing look.

“Do you… possess your past recollections?”

“Recollections? I haven’t the slightest clue what nonsense you are speaking of.”

“Then what possessed you to butcher him in such a fashion?”

Dweno knitted his brows in confusion, looking entirely perplexed, before driving his war axe downward one final time.

Thwack—!

Gimeon’s failing head was cleanly lopped off by the descent of Dweno’s weapon.

Dweno spat on the ground, glaring down at the now lifeless, decapitated form of Gimeon.

“This particular creature is the foul lizard that betrayed all living things.”

Dweno stared at the severed head of Gimeon with a gaze full of unadulterated revulsion.

He then turned a bewildered expression toward Leo.

“I happen to believe this sort of demise is entirely appropriate for him, wouldn’t you agree?”