Chapter 241

The circular shadow originating from beneath Jin-Woo's feet widened until it swallowed the ground beneath the Dragon Emperor's feet. The Dragon Emperor's expression hardened. 'This bastard was aiming for this moment from the very beginning...?' Appearing on the battlefield alone, turning the Shadow Army back to mop up the west, and luring him here—all of it had been for this single moment. Even as an enemy, the Dragon Emperor was momentarily impressed by the Shadow Monarch's meticulousness. He had made it so the Dragon Emperor had no choice but to move, used an obvious ploy to catch him off guard for a split second, and with an unexpected move ultimately achieved what he wanted. '...To think he would use Dragon Fear from there.' The Dragon Emperor looked as though he'd taken a solid hit. Seeing that expression, Jin-Woo tightened the grip on the arm he was holding onto the Dragon Emperor. 'It's done.' There had been no mistakes. Just a few more steps forward and... Soon the shadow swallowed both Jin-Woo and the Dragon Emperor. The darkness that had briefly engulfed the two of them passed quickly, and they emerged through an exit to the location he'd predetermined. Having successfully invited the Dragon Emperor to his true battlefield, Jin-Woo quickly distanced himself. Now separated from his soldiers, the Dragon Emperor surveyed his surroundings with an intrigued look. [This place is...?] "The opposite side of where you were." It wasn't exactly the opposite, but it was just as far away. It was Japan. A land where enormous quantities of mana had seeped densely into the earth as the Giant King died. The mana-reinforced ground and air would be able to withstand the tremendous impact that would result from a fight with the Ruler of Destruction. Where the Shadow soldiers' efforts had cleared away all the once-numerous trees in the Forest Sea region, nothing remained but a desolate plain stretching endlessly in every direction. Among it all, what stood out in particular was the massive white fortress built atop a hill. The Dragon Emperor pointed at the white castle bearing a black banner. [Is that your castle?] "...Yes." [For the Shadow Monarch's castle, it's a pitiful size.] He wasn't sure why, but for a brief moment he felt a twinge of apology toward Beru. However. There was no need to play along with the dragon's tune. Whether it was audacity or bravado, the Dragon Emperor was putting on an oddly composed air, and Jin-Woo issued a genuine warning. "I think it's the perfect size for a monument to your death." At last, the Dragon Emperor's gaze locked onto Jin-Woo. Jin-Woo did not look away. [...] The Dragon Emperor stared at Jin-Woo, then briefly closed his eyes and attempted to communicate with his subordinates. Sure enough, not a single signal came through. A sorcery powered by the Shadow Monarch's strength was jamming all communication. The Dragon Emperor realized, with full weight, that the Shadow Monarch had prepared everything from the start to isolate him here. He slowly opened the eyes he'd shut. Before him, the entirety of the Shadow Army surrounded him. What should have been a battle of a hundred thousand against ten had somehow flipped and become twenty thousand against ten. The Dragon Emperor was encircled. [So that's it... A battle of whether I can hold out until my soldiers find me.] But the Dragon Emperor's expression was not as dark as the situation warranted. While he enjoyed battles where he crushed the enemy with overwhelming numbers, a battle where he pushed back against the enemy against the odds was equally enjoyable. In short, he was a being born for war. The incarnation of destruction who would not hesitate even his own annihilation for the sake of war—with its blood, screams, madness, and destruction all swirling into one. That was why. The Ruler of Destruction smiled. [Let me show you the real thing.] The smile vanished from the Dragon Emperor's face as he finished speaking. Jin-Woo sensed something too. Warnings from senses far beyond the limits of humanity continued to ring out. A chill. A cold shiver ran up his spine as goosebumps erupted across his entire body. Then. As if it were an unreal scene, from the Dragon Emperor's mouth erupted a terrifying roar—one that alone could have stopped your heart just by hearing it. KAAAHHH— The Dragon Fear of the Dragon Emperor, ruler of dragons. A terror never before experienced in their lives struck the Shadow Army like a powerful shockwave. AAAAAH— The ceaseless vibrations shook the atmosphere countless times. The ground shook too. Sensing the extreme fear, pain, and confusion the soldiers felt amid the earthquake-like trembling, Jin-Woo hastily recalled the Shadow Army. AAAAAH—! In the process. Jin-Woo felt a dizzying wave of vertigo and staggered briefly. Having finished his roar, the Dragon Emperor looked at the pale-faced Jin-Woo and curled one corner of his mouth upward. [This is the real thing.] The real Dragon Fear. To shake off that horrifying impact, Jin-Woo shook his head violently. The Dragon Emperor calmly continued speaking. [When you grabbed my arm, I could have broken free of that grip.] But the reason he hadn't— The Dragon Emperor spoke. [Was because I was impressed by you, who had backed me into a corner like this.] Jin-Woo looked at the Dragon Emperor, who was praising him, with a puzzled expression. Yet in the Dragon Emperor's solemn eyes, there was not the slightest trace of mockery. [As a fellow Monarch, I find myself wanting to have a quiet conversation with you.] Jin-Woo, whose breathing had returned to normal after being shaken by Dragon Fear, straightened his posture without letting his guard down. As Jin-Woo continued to keep his lips firmly sealed, the Dragon Emperor's words continued. [You would know this too, if you inherited the Shadow Monarch's memories... Our true enemy is not on this land, but beyond that sky.] The armies of the Rulers. The first and last mission given to them was the extermination of the Monarchs born of darkness. Naturally, the Shadow Monarch could be no exception. [I intended to eliminate you and prepare for them. But after seeing you fight, my thoughts changed. You possess a talent unlike Ashborn's. I saw our great victory in that talent.] The Dragon Emperor extended his hand toward Jin-Woo. [If you take this hand, I will do as you wish.] Jin-Woo's gaze dropped to the hand the Dragon Emperor offered. [If you wish to save your family, I will make it so. If you wish to save your country, I will make it so. If you wish for me to leave this land, very well. I and my soldiers will depart quietly.] Jin-Woo's gaze, which had lingered on the Dragon Emperor's hand, gradually rose until it stopped at the Dragon Emperor's face. He wore an expression full of benevolence. [Become the master of this land. Not of some small castle on a hill, but of the entire planet. You have that right. You are, after all—] A gentle smile appeared at the corner of the Dragon Emperor's mouth. [All you need do is take this hand.] If they combined their strengths to defeat the armies of the Rulers, then Jin-Woo, his family, his country—and furthermore every being on this land—would gain peace and freedom. That was the promise the Dragon Emperor made. [What do you say, Shadow Monarch?] Had he been swayed by the offer? A faint smile drifted across the face of the Shadow Monarch, who had been quietly listening to his words. The Dragon Emperor smiled in kind. [Will you join me?] But Jin-Woo answered flatly. "Don't make me laugh." To the Dragon Emperor, whose expression had hardened, Jin-Woo shot back bluntly. "You want me to trust a guy who's looking at me with eyes that say he's dying to kill me but doesn't know what to do about it?" [Hahaha... Ahahahahaha!] The Dragon Emperor clutched his forehead and burst into roaring laughter. As if mana were carried in the very sound, each time the dragon laughed, Jin-Woo's heart pounded with heavy thuds. When he finally pulled his hand from his forehead. In his wide-open eyes, reptilian pupils gleamed. [That much, at least, I truly cannot hide.] Persuasion had failed. If it could not be deceived, the only remaining path was to destroy with everything he had. The Dragon Emperor revealed the true intentions he'd been concealing. Malice that could not be restrained overflowed from every part of his being. [Throw everything you have at me, Shadow!] Jin-Woo's eyes went wide. In that instant, a suffocating wall of heat surged inward. He leaped away just in time and looked from a distance. Before him, a burning mountain had appeared. Was this what a body of bubbling lava, infused with life force, might look like when it took the form of a dragon on its own? As Jin-Woo watched the endlessly burning dragon, he recalled the appearance of the "Demon Castle" that had always been ablaze. A living castle and the fight of humans. Despite a majesty that followed an entirely different trajectory—one could easily have grown tired of it—but Jin-Woo calmly gripped "Kamish's Wrath." BOOOM— The Dragon Emperor stomped one foot and the entire ground shuddered. 'Here he comes!' Jin-Woo dodged the dragon's attempt to trample him to death and sprinted outside its range while summoning the shadow wyvern "Kiseul." KIAAH! The wyvern, already prepared to take flight, burst from the shadow and rose into the air immediately. Jin-Woo mounted it. He adjusted Kiseul's direction at maximum speed, turning it toward the Dragon Emperor. As if waiting for that very moment, the Dragon Emperor fired off a Breath of Destruction. "Dive!" Almost simultaneously with the blinding flash erupting from the Dragon Emperor's mouth, Kiseul plunged into a steep dive. An all-erasing flame. A chilling, pure-white light grazed past the area just above Jin-Woo's head. KWAHHH— Deftly dodging the streaming breath this way and that, Kiseul pressed onward toward the Dragon Emperor on the master's command. WHOOO... When the breath ended, Kiseul had already closed in right above the Dragon Emperor's forehead. Jin-Woo gathered every last shred of mana atop the wyvern. 'Well done, Kiseul.' The mana flowed into "Kamish's Wrath" gripped in his right hand. A dark aura surged—the final blow. With everything he had— Jin-Woo swung the dagger at the Dragon Emperor with all of his strength. SHHHK— The dark aura that had cleaved through anything in a single stroke scattered like a beast's claws, raking across the Dragon Emperor's head in multiple streaks. KWAGAGAGAGAGAG—! But. 'No way!' Jin-Woo's eyes flew open. The Dragon Emperor, his thick burning scales not even scratched, was lifting his unscathed face toward him. Jin-Woo's brow furrowed. 'Another breath?' Having prepared to dive in anticipation of another Breath of Destruction, Jin-Woo heard a deafening, terrifying roar that threatened to tear his eardrums. KRAAAAAHHH—! Dragon Fear! Unlike Jin-Woo, who had developed some resistance from his first experience, the wyvern could not withstand the Dragon Emperor's roar and froze rigid. Before Jin-Woo even had time to recall Kiseul, the merciless flames the Dragon Emperor spat forth engulfed them. FWWWW— Even as Kiseul plummeted downward, it twisted its body to shake Jin-Woo off to one side, and took the full force of the Breath of Destruction head-on. "No!" Jin-Woo screamed as he watched Kiseul disintegrate into nothing in an instant. But despite Jin-Woo's wishes, Kiseul was erased without a trace. Gkh. Biting down hard on his lower lip, Jin-Woo fired a burst of mana and flew at the Dragon Emperor in an instant, arriving near the dragon's chest. He then clung tightly to the dragon's scales so he wouldn't fall off. KSSSSEEEEEEK! The palm of Jin-Woo's hand began to scorch from the extreme heat. "Ugh!" Gritting his teeth, Jin-Woo raised "Kamish's Wrath" in his other hand high above his head. Dark aura flickered along the tip of the reverse-gripped dagger. KWHACK! The dagger, driven down with full force, pierced through the scale. But that was all. KWHACK! KWHACK! KWHACK! No matter how many times he struck, it only managed to leave small marks on the dragon skin beneath the scales. Then. A chill ran down the back of his neck, and Jin-Woo looked behind him. '...!' The Dragon Emperor's massive arm was closing in. Jin-Woo dodged and leaped downward. The mana cushioned the impact of hitting the ground, but the Breath of Destruction poured down upon him mercilessly once more. KWAHHHHHH—! Having narrowly dodged the Breath of Destruction again, Jin-Woo gasped for air. "Hah, hah, hah..." He had launched attack after attack, yet the Dragon Emperor remained right where he was, immovable as a mountain. A defense and offense that dwarves beyond anything the Giants could offer. He couldn't tackle the Dragon Emperor the same way he had them. 'I need a stronger power...' He needed greater strength. The strength to bring down an armored giant with his bare hands. Just as an insect too small to be seen could do nothing to a person, to seize a mountain he himself would have to become a mountain. And yet. 'Wait... armor?' Something flashed through Jin-Woo's mind like lightning. If he could use the power of darkness to create armor of ordinary size, couldn't he make it far larger and far thicker? The moment that thought reached his mind. A shadow began to spread outward from beneath Jin-Woo's feet. [...?] The Dragon Emperor sensed the change too. A black, liquid-like substance rising from the shadow wrapped around the Shadow Monarch's body in layers, swelling its size rapidly. 'What trick is this bastard pulling now?' But instinct came before curiosity. The very instant the Dragon Emperor finished preparing to unleash the Breath of Destruction at the amorphous black mass— He felt a light tap on his back. '...?' He looked behind him. Chomper, who had been hiding in a corner for the sake of a sorcery, was blasting a pillar of fire at the Dragon Emperor's back. The moment their eyes met, the Orb of Greed slipped from Chomper's hand. Tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk. A killing aura poured down upon the trembling Chomper. [You, a mere insect, dare—] The Dragon Emperor shifted his direction. Naturally, the breath followed toward Chomper. Just before the breath was about to erupt from the Dragon Emperor's mouth— A colossal black shadow, already risen to the sky, smashed down on the Dragon Emperor's head with tremendous force. THOOOOM—