The laughter of the three men did not last long.
The earth suddenly trembled beneath them.
Cracks raced across the ground like lightning tearing through stone.
Then,
BOOM!!!
The ground exploded upward.
Rocks and dirt blasted into the air as a colossal body burst from beneath the earth.
The wounded wyrm had returned.
Its deep navy scales were cracked and bleeding, orange veins of mana pulsing violently across its body. Its serpent-like head rose high into the sky, towering above the three men like a living catastrophe.
It roared.
The sound alone shook the forest and sent flocks of birds fleeing into the night.
For the first time in a while,
Kael cursed.
"Fuck."
The dragon's eyes burned with fury as it stared at the three insects who dared challenge it. Its massive figure stood bathed in moonlight, those furious eyes dripping with bloodlust.
Mana began gathering around its body.
The air grew heavy.
Dorian's expression darkened.
"Move!"
But before they could reposition—
The dragon opened its mouth and fired a beam of mana straight into the sky.
For a moment, silence fell.
Then the beam shattered into hundreds of fragments.
Mana rained down from the heavens.
|Terror Rain|
The battlefield turned into a storm of destruction.
Blinding lances of mana slammed into the earth, blasting open craters everywhere.
Kael dashed between the blasts, his body moving like lightning.
Julian swung his chains wildly, barely deflecting several falling beams.
Dorian charged forward, his axes smashing incoming mana strikes apart.
But the dragon was far from finished.
It lifted its head once more.
Mana circles began appearing across the sky.
One.
Ten.
Fifty.
Hundreds of glowing circles filled the heavens like an army of suns.
Dorian's eyes widened.
"Not good…"
The circles blazed with terrifying energy.
Then,
|Final Judgement|
Beams of condensed mana rained down simultaneously.
The forest was obliterated.
Entire hillsides exploded as the beams struck the ground.
Julian reacted instantly.
|Blooming Chain|
His chains erupted outward, spinning rapidly as he infused them with mana. The chains formed a rotating barrier around the three of them.
Still, several beams slipped through.
Kael raised his hand.
|Law Breaker|
The remaining beams twisted apart, their mana dismantled before they could reach them.
When the barrage ended, both Kael and Julian were breathing heavily.
Julian wiped sweat from his brow.
They both knew.
To defeat the creature before them,
They would have to risk everything...
Even Kael felt the sheer terror of the dragon's power.
But through the chaos he noticed something.
On the dragon's chest,
Among the dark blue scales,
One scale shone differently.
A golden scale, completely reversed from the dragon's natural pattern of scales.
It glowed faintly between its chest plates.
The dragon's core...
The dragon inhaled deeply.
Mana began compressing violently inside its body.
The ground shook harder than before.
Julian froze.
"No way…"
Dorian clenched his teeth.
"That's a Mana Surge…"
If it released....
Everything within kilometers would vanish.
With no other option left, Kael reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small golden mana crystal.
Julian's eyes widened.
"Kael… you're not thinking of—"
CRUNCH
Kael crushed the crystal between his teeth.
Golden light exploded across his body.
Raw mana surged through his veins like burning fire.
His irises glowed faint gold.
Blood trickled down from his nose.
Dorian stared.
"You insane boy…"
Kael wiped the blood from his mouth and smiled.
"Just hold it down."
Then he ran.
The dragon roared and released another shockwave.
But before it could unleash its Mana Surge
Dorian stepped forward.
Mana erupted from his body like a raging storm.
His clothes bursted and got torn apart.
His hair and beard grew wildly, floating upward as lime-green energy wrapped around him.
His pendant began glowing with the same lime-green mana, revealing a single magical inscription.
It read.
'Protection'
His eyes burned with glowing power.
Tears formed in his eyes,
And instantly vaporized.
Behind him,
A colossal twenty-meter silhouette appeared.
The spectral image of a towering god formed from lime-green light.
The Mountain God.
Dorian roared.
|Mountain God's Trade|
The ground shattered beneath his feet as he charged.
The dragon lunged.
But Dorian grabbed its throat.
His fingers dug into the dragon's jugular like iron claws.
The gigantic Mountain God behind him mirrored the motion, its massive hands gripping the wyrm's body.
The dragon thrashed violently.
But Dorian held firm.
Like a mountain itself.
Julian pushed his body to its limit.
Blood dripped from his palms as he hurled his chains forward.
|Binding Chains|
The chains, glowing with sky-blue mana, shot across the battlefield like the roots of a blooming flower and wrapped around the dragon's tail.
Julian clenched his teeth as the dragon struggled.
He could barely hold it.
But it was enough.
Dorian and Julian shouted together,
"KAEL!!"
Kael ran forward, sword blazing with golden mana.
But when he reached striking distance,
He stopped.
Dorian was directly above the dragon's chest.
If Kael struck.
Dorian would die.
And for the first time since he had arrived in this world,
Kael hesitated...
His hands trembled.
Julian's grip weakened as blood soaked his chains.
Dorian noticed Kael's hesitation.
And laughed.
A huge, fearless laugh.
"What are you waiting for, boy?!"
His body was already breaking apart from the strain.
Yet his grip tightened even more.
"A hunter doesn't hesitate!"
The dragon began gathering mana again.
Dorian roared,
"FINISH THE HUNT!!"
Kael closed his eyes for a moment.
And a memory resurfaced.
A land that had looked like a graveyard.
Flowers rotted.
Grass turned to ash.
Even the air itself felt poisoned.
At the center of that wasteland stood a monster.
A being people called the 'Omen of Death'.
A Death Star.
Its ribs protruded through rotting flesh.
Its stomach was hollow, only a twisted spine hanging within.
Three grotesque heads fused into a single nightmare.
And its eyes...
Dead white.
Soulless.
Wherever it walked, life itself withered away.
In front of that monster stood Kael.
Behind him lay a dozen injured men and further form that a village full of innocent people...
Too wounded to run.
Too weak to fight.
If Kael moved,
They would die.
If Kael hesitated,
They would die.
For the first time in his life, Kael fought not for honor.
Not for pride.
But purely for survival.
His grip tightened on his sword.
A thought crossed his mind.
A monster like this exists…
A being whose darkness could swallow even a burning star.
Kael smiled.
Not because he was fearless....
But because he knew he could not falter.
A knight protects what he swore to protect…
Even if it means slaying a star.
And in that moment,
A path was born.
Not a road carved by tradition.
But a desire path.
A path created not because it existed—
But because someone chose to walk it.
That was the moment it was born.
Kael opened his eyes.
He inhaled slowly.
His gaze sharpened.
The blade in his hand began glowing like a falling star.
He swung his sword.
|Star Slayer|
He launched forward.
Mirroring the same strike he once used against the Death Star.
Past and present overlapping.
The attack fell like a meteor.
Blinding white mana, hauntingly beautiful... engulfed his blade.
As if the sky had split open and the gates of heaven and hell had opened above and below.
The blade sliced through the reverse golden scale.
For a moment....
The world went silent.
Then,
The dragon's core shattered.
Light exploded across the battlefield.
The dragon's head separated from its body.
The colossal corpse collapsed to the earth.
When the light faded,
The dragon lay dead.
Kael stood silently.
Julian slowly approached.
Then they saw Dorian.
Still standing.
Still gripping the dragon's throat.
But the glow of the Mountain God faded.
The silhouette vanished into thin air.
Yet as it disappeared, its eyes seemed to linger on Dorian with a mysterious expression.
Perhaps sorrow.
Perhaps respect.
No one would ever know.
Then Dorian's body finally gave out.
He collapsed.
The mountain had fallen.
Kael dropped to his knees.
His sword had shattered.
His armor broken.
Golden veins still glowed faintly across his body.
Julian had already fallen unconscious upon the once-green field, now a ruined battlefield.
With what little strength he had left, Kael dragged himself toward Dorian.
When Dorian saw him, he tried to speak.
But he coughed up blood.
"Don't speak, damn it," Kael muttered. "You want to die?"
Dorian laughed weakly.
He motioned for Kael to come closer.
Kael leaned in.
"I… know… I don't… have much time…"
"Shut up," Kael said quietly. "You're not dying."
Dorian smiled.
"Yes… I am… I burned… my whole life force…"
He coughed again.
"So… one final wish…"
Kael squeezed his eyes shut.
Dorian looked toward the rising dawn, its warm golden light shining across the barren and broken battlefield.
"I… have… a daughter…"
"In the town… of Ashmorg…"
"Tell her… I was sorry…"
"And that… I loved her…"
"And give… my belongings… to her…"
His chest rose one final time.
Then stilled.
Silence filled the battlefield.
Kael slowly raised his trembling hand.
And gently closed the eyes of a warrior.
No....
A knight.
A man who fought to protect the ones he loved.
A true knight.