90

Hamel ran forward without hesitation.

But it wasn’t that he had no plan at all.

Imagine a human fighting a bee.

There is an overwhelming gap in size and mass between a human and a bee.

It would be impossible for a bee to beat a human by sheer strength.

So how can the bee win against the human?

The answer is simple.

Avoid the human’s attacks, then deliver the stinger.

If once isn’t enough, do it twice, three times, however many times it takes.

Tadak

The moment Hamel pushed off the rock and leapt, Karalxis’s tail struck down.

The rock that collided with the tail shattered into pieces in an instant.

Still, Hamel kept his gaze fixed on Karalxis and continued to run.

Stopping would mean death.

However.

‘At this rate I can’t get close.’

No matter how he dodged and looked for an opening, there was none.

Contrary to the claim that it was just a shell, Karalxis handled things very skillfully.

As if it had lived for thousands of years.

‘So, what should I do then?’

Hamel, thinking, gave a short nod.

Because the answer was simple again.

“Ss-eup.”

Hamel drew a deep breath and stomped with a bang.

The wind tore fiercely across his cheeks and head.

After dodging in all directions, Hamel now sprinted in a straight line.

David scoffed when he saw it and shouted.

“However fast he is, isn’t his movement predictable?!”

Indeed, Karalxis brought down a massive forepaw at the straight-running Hamel.

And in the next moment.

Thud!

Hamel narrowly avoided Karalxis’s forepaw and kept running.

No, to be precise, he passed by it.

“…What?”

David frowned as if he couldn’t understand.

After a moment, he realized when he saw the direction Hamel had run.

From the start, Hamel had run toward Karalxis’s flank, not its front.

That’s why Karalxis’s attack, which expected him to come head-on, missed.

He’d successfully dodged, but why waste energy for nothing?

David muttered, puzzled.

“What on earth are you thinking?”

Hamel didn’t pay any attention to that reaction and kept running.

He focused only on running and increased his speed.

He added acceleration upon acceleration.

Bang bang bang!

Every time Hamel struck the ground with his foot, a thunderous noise rang out.

The earth burst up like bombs at intervals.

Hamel’s acceleration left even faint afterimages.

David’s eyes widened as he watched.

He sensed something was off.

But it was already too late.

Finally, drawing a large arc, Hamel’s gaze turned toward Karalxis.

His running speed increased, and the world itself seemed to accelerate.

The surrounding scenery blurred from lines into planes.

Overwhelmed by a speed of a different order, David shouted urgently.

“Crush them. Karalxis!”

Karalxis raised its forepaw again and slammed it down at the human charging at it.

However.

Thud!

Karalxis’s paw struck only the ground in vain.

On the other hand…

“He finally got hold of it.”

Hamel murmured low and thrust his talisman upright.

He had thrust it up beneath Karalxis’s belly.

Drawing out his aura, Hamel thrust his blade with all his strength.

Clang!

But what returned was an empty metallic sound.

Karalxis’s blue scales did not budge, even against aura that could slice steel like tofu.

……

Despite the unexpectedly tough scales, Hamel did not flinch.

As soon as his sword was stopped, he struck the scale with his fist.

Naturally, Hamel’s hand was torn and bled.

Even so, Hamel did not stop.

Hwareuk

Hamel wrapped his fist in the blue flame that rose from his wound and swung again.

With a bang, the blood splattered onto the scales and flared blue.

But even the Azure Flame couldn’t budge the scales.

‘Is this as far as it goes?’

Hamel gave up further greed and ran toward the dragon’s rear.

The next moment, the dragon’s sharp claws swept the spot where Hamel had been with storm-like force.

If he’d hesitated a moment longer, it would have been Hamel’s body torn apart, not the ground.

‘This is a dragon.’

Hamel admired Karalxis’s hardness.

Neither aura nor the Azure Flame worked.

Surely it was a being that once struck fear into demons and ancient gods alike.

If a mere imitation is this strong, how powerful must the real thing be?

It was beyond imagination.

Grrooo.

Karalxis growled lowly at Hamel and closed the distance.

It seemed to have recognized Hamel as a threat after the recent strike.

What should they do now?

They could close the distance again.

They still had the stamina.

But this opponent was immune to both aura and the Azure Flame.

He had no idea what to do.

‘There’s still that left…’

Talisman control technique, Form 2.

Shadow Thunderbolt.

Among Hamel’s single techniques, it held the greatest destructive power.

But the problem was that it required a long preparation time.

You couldn’t create such an opening with Karalxis right in front of you.

Thud thud thud

Even as he worried, Karalxis relentlessly closed the distance.

A choice had to be made.

‘What should I do…’

Just as he pondered.

“Get out of the way, Hamel.”

A deeply split voice came from behind.

Hamel turned his head reflexively.

There stood Ono, his arms and eyes emitting a golden light.

“Root of All Wisdom…?”

Hamel wasn’t the only one to react to that.

David, perched atop Karalxis, muttered in surprise.

He had the expression of someone who didn’t know why it was with Ono.

Regardless, Ono did what he had to do.

“Rise, deep roots. Grow, thorns and branches. Awaken from millennia of sleep to protect the Root of Wisdom.”

Ujik ujjijik

As if answering Ono’s prayer, a rumble came from deep beneath the earth.

Green grass sprouted thickly around him, and wind whipped about.

Ono reached out his hand and continued his prayer.

“Your proud name is Guardian of the Angorn Forest,”

The earth roared in response to those words.

Goooooo.

In an instant, the ground surged upward with terrifying force.

High.

Higher.

A massive form rose far above Karalxis’s head.

From a distance it might have looked like part of the mountain; it shook off the soil clinging to its body.

Then a giant figure appeared, covered in a crown of thorns, hard bark, and countless vines.

“Thorn Giant, Colossus.”

Ono called out from atop the giant’s head, radiating golden light.

“Subdue that lizard. Colossus!”

“Gooooooo.”

The Colossus swung its massive, thorn-filled hand at Karalxis.

Karalxis lifted its head for a moment, then in an instant bit off the Colossus’s arm.

Kwahjijik

The Colossus’s arm, made of hard wood and vines, was torn like paper.

David, who had been tense, finally found his smile and shouted.

“It’s not just a big hulking specter. Tear it apart, Karalxis!”

Grrr

As if understanding, Karalxis tore at the Colossus’s arm, then its neck and chest with its paws and jaws.

“…It’s not over yet.”

Ono, already exhausted and bleeding from the nose, continued to animate the Colossus.

With its remaining arm it firmly bound Karalxis, and vines grew from the ripped-off limb and chest, tangling onto Karalxis.

Karalxis thrashed wildly against the vines that covered it in an instant.

It whipped its tail and twisted its body, and the Colossus was shredded in moments.

“Is that all you’ve got?!”

“…I see. Very well.”

Ono replied calmly and let go of the Colossus.

Then the Colossus slowly collapsed as if its power had been cut.

At the same time, the radiance that had enveloped Ono faded.

The golden glow that had burned from his arms dimmed gently.

“Still, it bought us enough time.”

Ono murmured softly with the expression of someone who had done what he could.

“What…?”

David paused and turned his head.

Then something flashing caught his eye in the distance.

Hamel, who had been separated from the two giant combatants, stood apart.

He was now holding something in his hand.

“A black… spear?”

As David murmured his question, Hamel opened his mouth.

“Talisman control technique Kai (Open), Form 2.”

A pitch-black spear that seemed to swallow light flashed, emitting a gleam in an instant.

“Shadow Thunderbolt.”

In an instant.

A spear tore through the void, piercing the world.

It struck precisely the center of Karalxis’s chest where its core lay.

Boom!

With the sound of an explosion, Karalxis’s body shook violently.

“Krararrrr!”

Karalxis staggered back in pain.

Thud thud drop

A shard of the dragon’s scale broke off and fell to the ground.

“Calm down, Karalxis! Take to the air!”

“Grrooo.”

Karalxis obeyed David’s command and flew into the air.

Then it slowly calmed its excitement.

Hamel, who had been rapidly sprinting toward Karalxis, bit his lip hard.

“Couldn’t finish it off.”

Talisman control techniques are limited by how much magi they consume.

That meant it couldn’t be used again right now.

“Huff. Huff.”

Ono, who had strained himself using his power, also seemed incapable of further combat.

They had landed an effective blow, but it was Hamel and the others who were now in peril.

They had clearly fought well, so why had it come to this?

‘….’

The reason was simple.

From the beginning, the gap between them and the foe had been too large.

‘If only we could get close once more…’

He noticed the place where a scale fragment had fallen.

A tough hide still covered the flesh, but at that point maybe aura could pierce it.

There was hope.

However, the problem was that…

“Karalxis! Freeze them all like this!”

David and Karalxis would no longer be caught off guard.

Hooouk

Mana surged from Karalxis’s mouth as it spun once through the air.

It was a phenomenon seen before.

It was the breath of the dragon.

A breath, a breath weapon.

If it used it while standing still, perhaps it could be handled.

At the lake it had clearly glided and unleashed its breath.

Hamel lifted his head slightly.

Faint stars shone in the dark night sky.

Under a sky like a vast ocean.

There was no way to avoid that from the mountain’s summit.

Isn’t there some way?

Something…

Thunk

Then something caught on Hamel’s fingertip.

A flask filled with dragon’s blood hung at his waist.

Hamel glanced down at it for a moment.

It wasn’t a coincidence.

Hamel felt it unconsciously as well.

What the only solution to this situation was.

“…I was complacent.”

He should have been ready to stake his life from the start.

Like the wild men who waited for Hamel, risking tens of thousands of lives.

Like Daniel and Rupert fighting gargoyles down below.

Like Ono, collapsed and barely able to hold himself up.

This was no time to hesitate out of fear of risk.

Hamel roughly pulled the cork from the last flask.

Then, without hesitation, he poured it down his throat.

The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth and at the same time…

Thud

A dizzying shock spread through his heart.

Thump thump thump

One.

Two.

Three.

His heart beat like war drums, sending shocks through his entire body.

“Guhhh.”

Hamel spat the blood he couldn’t bring himself to swallow out of his mouth.

He couldn’t tell if it was his own blood or dragon’s blood.

His stomach lurched and he felt dizzy.

And the next moment.

Snap

Something snapped inside his head.