‘Damn the Sword Saint!’
The top dragon Kubartos, an Absolute being, with his ambition to stand above the old dragons, had seriously been wounded twice today.
Biban’s mental world proved to be the decisive factor. After suffering the slash made by the Heart Sword containing an incomplete but useful dragon killing energy, Kubartos suffered immense damage and was greatly weakened.
His body didn’t suffer that much damage, but the blows to the blood vessels and his consciousness were critical, making it difficult to use magic power or true energy. The power of his Breath and magic also decreased.
Around thirty percent of his overall power had fallen. A more severe problem was that his perception had been damaged. Sound, touch, spatial awareness, and the flow of divine energy, which he used to take for granted, became fuzzy. He was unable to display the full extent of his power anymore.
He was weakened, his consciousness divided into hundreds or thousands of fragments. Because of this, he’d allowed the humans to land their attacks on him several times. Kraugel’s use of the fire dragon’s fire energy also caused his scales’ durability to weaken rapidly.
The fire energy was the polar opposite of metal. Of course, this didn’t mean he was going to lose or die to the humans. He hadn’t used Dragon Words yet. But…
‘Rebecca’s hope.’
Grid’s son was very annoying.
He performed a sword dance that imitated his father’s, the technique flawless, making it difficult to defend against or evade. It also seemed to exert a certain gravitational pull. It was hard to understand the principle but… Lord’s sword dance attracted other people’s magic and skills and made them act as one, thus doubling its power.
‘What is the nature of this union? Is it a fate created by the goddess’ protection? Was it leadership created by Grid’s lineage? Or was it the result of a combination of both?’
The principle for Lord’s unity was his ‘human connections.’ His behavior and convictions captured people’s trust and hearts, serving as the foothold for the formation of a great bond. Thus, the sword dance became the pivot for their connection.
To put it in player terms, it was an ‘exclusive skill’ that a super named NPC awakened. From the worldview’s perspective, it was a ‘power.’ Just as Piaro was born with the qualities of a farmer, Braham with a talent for magic and Kyle with electricity, Lord’s power was created when his innate qualities blossomed after stumbling upon the opportunity to make connections.
This was why Lord’s sword dance induced the ‘skill fusion’ of his colleagues. However, a dragon didn’t understand concepts such as emotions and connections.
Dragons were complete when they worked alone, so they didn’t feel the need to interact with others. Consequently, they couldn’t experience the infinite variety of emotions and relationships. It was impossible for them to understand the principle of connection that stretched out like the branches of the World Tree around the person called Lord.
‘I’m going to catch him and dissect him.’
[The horn of the most faithful dragon was cut off…]
Just in time, Grid’s epic was updated.
Haranbeka, the faithful dragon. The ‘horn’ of an earth dragon, who surpassed a top dragon in terms of defense, had been cut off. It seemed hard to believe, considering that there were several lower-ranked dragons following Haranbeka.
Grid had achieved something that even Kubartos couldn’t do.
‘The situation here is equally unbelievable.’
Unexpected results kept occurring…
Kubartos felt anxiety overtake him, so he adjusted his tactics. The first sign of change was in his magic. Kubartos released rain and rivers of flames. The magicians responded by making corresponding ice barriers and vortexes, but…
“Remove the magic immediately!”
Braham was shocked.
Jessica and Euphemina were the only magicians who acknowledged his command immediately.
The rivers of flames pouring toward the mountain ranges were replaced with lightning. The ice and water magic cast by the magicians ended up amplifying the lightning’s power. The Overgeared members were swept away without being able to fight back.
“What is this…? He changed the attribute of the magic he cast halfway?”
The situation changed for the worse. The top forces, who barely managed to secure a gap between themselves and a giant dragon in the sky, were all electrocuted and collapsed.
Someone needed to pull the aggro to create an opportunity for the rest to charge forward again. However, Lord, Kyle, and Chris were seriously injured.
“I…”
“There is no need for that.”
Kraugel had recovered and was about to fly on his sword, but Abellio stepped in. He waved his brush through the air and a miracle unfolded. The ridges of the huge mountain range turned into easy to climb stairs, stretching all the way to the golden dragon in the sky.
There were tens of thousands of stairs, but now everyone could walk instead of having to climb. Jessica and Betty’s magic reinforced the stairs, and thousands of Overgeared members began rushing up the stairs.
In the center was Lord.
Faker and Kasim, who had melted into his shadows, raised dozens of shadow soldiers at each step to block the storm caused by the flapping of Kubartos’ wings.
“Grid’s Sword Dance.”
Lord’s gift for creating harmony came from observing his parents, teachers, Overgeared members, Rebecca’s Daughters, the subjects and people of the empire…
Fortunately, thanks to having great parents, Lord had created countless connections from the moment he was born up until now. He’d gained so much biased love. Therefore, the child was also capable of showing love to others. Because of this love, he did his best to be benevolent, devoted, and do acts of service. At some point, understanding and remembering each subject’s personality, habits, and abilities became second nature to him.
“Transcended.”
Lord’s sword dance was unfolding rather slowly. It was in complete sync with his surroundings, its power of transcendental level. In other words, a powerful force that raised his hierarchy to a higher level started to accumulate not only in Lord, but also in Faker and Kasim in his shadow.
“Linked…”
“……!”
Zik and Mir’s eyes widened as they followed close to Lord’s side.
Surrounded by shadows, the sword energy gathered at the tip of Lord’s dark sword split into tens of hundreds of pieces and, rather than attacking right away, he maintained them on the tip of his sword.
Lord’s sword energy spread to even those who arrived late.
The sword energy held the mystery of Transcend. Transcendent power was given to anyone who climbed the stairs and was at eye level with Lord.
‘It is different from Grid’s Link?’
Grid’s Link was ‘swinging the sword continuously.’ However, Lord’s Link had the effect of ‘connecting and interweaving people.’
It wasn’t like Lord denied or further developed Grid’s sword dance.
Lord only recreated what he had witnessed in his father’s life.
The power that his father considered the most important thing since he met Khan.
Relationships.
In other words, the power that his father possessed, the ‘backstory’ of his father was expressed through Lord’s sword dance.
“Kill…”
Now most people had climbed the stairs, meeting Lord at eye level.
The magicians cast acceleration magic on their allies, infusing their weapons and the spells they cast with genuine killing intent.
[Just like a first-born hybrid, you wield a strange power. Dirty, disgusting mutant. I am going to dissect you alive.]
Kubartos frowned. He was wary of Lord’s sword dance, which held a ‘contagious’ power.
So far, four sword dances unfolded the moment they became one… Kubartos instantly raised his power to prevent the last sword dance from being completed.
Thousands of spells poured out simultaneously.
The magicians were unable to respond properly because the spells changed attributes midway, or multiple attributes were overlapped from the beginning.
“No, this doesn’t make any sense?”
The tanker line, led by Vantner, suffered badly. The basis of tanking was to utilize the compatibility between attributes. Since that was impossible, they had to rely purely on defense and resistance.
The elite members like Kraugel, Peak Sword, and Chris, who were extremely good at wielding certain weapons and could cut through spells, destroyed some of the magic. But it was only a small number, the equivalent of barely cutting dozens out of thousands of spells.
Of course, it was a tremendous achievement just to endure or cut through the magic of a top dragon. This meant that people’s status was rising in real time, but…
‘We are going to be wiped out.’
The amount of magic was overwhelming.
The staircases drawn by Abellio collapsed like dominoes. Most of the players in the lead turned to ash.
Lord paused for a moment to catch his breath. Strangely enough, he closed his eyes. He appeared to be in agony, unable to face the death of his comrades.
People were reminded of Lord’s age. He was still too young to fight against an enemy considered to be the strongest in the world. His body might be different, but his mind was soft. No more pressure should be placed on him. It was time for them to step up.
The artillerymen stationed on several ridges fired the Overgeared Cannons one after another under Yura and Jishuka’s commands, who had a bird’s eye view of the battlefield from a distant peak, constantly activating their skills.
They didn’t save any resources, instead investing everything into destroying at least one more spell. They used their ultimate skills to weaken Kubartos’ Absolute Defense even a little bit further.
[Miscellaneous things.]
Kubartos felt the shock to his scales and his gaze momentarily shifted to Yura and Jishuka. He shot a Breath in their direction.
Just then—
[How many times do you think I will fall for the same trick?]
Using a technique inspired by the gods, Braham rose to the status of a temporary Absolute. Thus, he was able to gain insight into magic cast across the mountain range, allowing him to intervene.
He noticed thousands of spells, each with 2-3 spells imprinted on them, stopping at all once. They changed their form and function, and poured back toward their caster, Kubartos…
This phenomenon transcended even imagination, let alone common sense…
Everyone was mesmerized–the Overgeared members, the knights of the empire, the tower members, the apostles.
Kubartos was the one who was the most shocked. Dragons were the masters of magic. Their race had given birth to magic.
However, his magic was taken over by someone else.
Thousands of spells at once. Even complicated, multi-element spells!
[What is this…?]
“Wave…”
As if waiting for this exact moment, Lord opened his eyes again and took the steps that had stalled temporarily.
The startled Kubartos used Blink.
The sky was full of dark clouds drawn by Abellio while the ground was filled with waves of human skills. This made it impossible to secure his field of view to use Shunpo.
Even this Blink…
It was turned into Punishment and struck Kubartos.
[Cough!]
Step.
Lord walked up the last stairs. All the Overgeared members had reached the top. Hurent, Toon, Ibellin and Pon had joined them before they knew it.
“Pinnacle.”
The five fusion sword dance. It was Lord’s first time trying it. However, he wasn’t afraid of failure.
“Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”
This sword dance was capable of being performed by a clone who reproduced the body and techniques of his father.
In his case, Lord had inherited his father’s blood, skills and spirit.
‘I am also a clone of my father.’
Success! Without fail!
Lord’s movements as he combined five sword dances were completed.
Everyone on the battlefield attacked Kubartos together.
[Lord’s ‘Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle’ has fused your skills.]
[Lord’s ‘Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle’ has fused your magic.]
[The power of your skill is amplified!]
[The power of your magic is amplified!]
Golden scales cracked. The enormous wings that obscured the sun and the moon were torn off. The tail was twisted at an odd angle, and the golden dragon’s huge body plummeted to the ground.
The injury was critical.
Kubartos’s mind turned blank. He was momentarily defenseless. The empire’s elite were about to jump down the stairs and link attacks…
Kurarararara!
However, Kubartos drew strength from his Dragon Heart and shot a Breath that flowed like a river of gold, sweeping the battlefield and heading for the humans. Its power was tremendous.
Thousands of gray pillars rose up.
The people who survived were dazed for a moment and swayed on their feet for a bit.
[I, Kubartos, the dragon who defies the natural order, will chew you all to death.]
The title, which had been hidden to avoid provoking the old dragons, was revealed to the world. As the Dragon Words unfolded, a brilliant blinding light enveloped his body.
[Time regression.]
The power of a golden dragon was to intervene in time.
Kubartos rewound time.
The severed wings, the ruined tail and the torn scales were all restored to perfect condition.
Just then—
[Mother’s hope. You exceeded my expectations.]
Golden clouds materialized in the sky, and a god descended.
[Judar, I don’t need your help… Cough!]
Asura burst out of Judar’s body and attacked the agitated Kubartos.
[Your power is far inferior to Raider’s. It doesn’t seem like a complete rewind, but rather a brief one, right? Plus, if you don’t fulfill the agreement… You will truly become weak.]
[You, are you really going to betray me…?]
A chill went down Kubartos’ spine.