Chapter 82

In reality, it must have been an incredibly short amount of time.

But the moment the twins were eaten by the Flame Dragon was burned into my eyes for an unbearably long time.

I couldn’t do anything at that moment.

Countless memories surfaced in my mind before disappearing again.

Memories of the twins.

In the game.

This never happened.

Something like this had never happened even once.

I was certain that this time it would be a happy ending….

A red glow erupted from the Flame Dragon’s body after it swallowed the twins.

It was the light signaling the recovery of its health.

The regenerated scales covered the Flame Dragon like a sturdy armor, then soon changed into a dark crimson color.

At the same time, thick spikes began growing all over its body with cracking sounds.

Spikes also grew between the horns on its head, forming a shape resembling a crown.

A dark crimson energy flowed down from its once-bright red eyes.

The Flame Dragon fully recovered its health and entered a berserk state.

It was power gained by killing its own kin.

The Flame Dragon burst into laughter and looked down at me with eyes shimmering with madness.

Despite the considerable distance between us, the Flame Dragon’s eyes captured me perfectly.

The Flame Dragon revealed countless teeth as it laughed.

I stared blankly at the Flame Dragon.

Strangely, I wasn’t angry. My mind was endlessly cold, and I was in an unusually calm state.

The heat surging through my eyes made my head throb.

But I took my first step more calmly than ever before.

I ran again.

Je Hyun-oh and Captain Kwak were retreating while putting away their weapons.

They were trying to assess the battle situation after the Flame Dragon’s sudden recovery.

The berserk Flame Dragon roared, shaking the space itself.

When the Flame Dragon spread its wings and flapped them once, a powerful gust of wind erupted and pushed my body backward.

Following the wind, flames spread across the entire floor. There were no longer even any footholds left to avoid them.

A system window appeared.

Not only the attack power increase buff, but even the fire immunity had completely disappeared.

I had been thrown into the flames and was continuously suffering from burns.

Defeating a Flame Dragon that had entered a berserk state and regained all of its health was objectively impossible.

‘Divine Protection.’

A golden veil covered Je Hyun-oh and Captain Kwak.

After making them safe, I immediately sent a message.

Captain Kwak stared at the system window that appeared before his eyes with a confused expression, then turned to look at me.

There was no time to explain everything one by one.

I kept running.

I heard the sound of metal wings flapping. Je Hyun-oh grabbed me and soared into the sky.

Soon, Captain Kwak also began acting according to my message.

Kwak Hanmuk extended the rosary beads.

The rosary beads that spread out into several strands multiplied into dozens, then hundreds, and covered the Flame Dragon.

The Flame Dragon, tangled in the rosary beads like a spider web, let out a boiling laugh.

His words clearly revealed the confidence that something like this would never be able to restrain him.

Kwak Hanmuk, sweating profusely from the intense heat, burst into laughter and cursed roughly.

“Bullshit, fuck…!”

The Flame Dragon’s flames swept across the Byeokjomok rosary beads.

However, the rosary beads did not burn despite the flames and endured without damage.

When Kwak Hanmuk pulled the rosary beads tightly, the Flame Dragon twisted its body.

Mo Haein, holding the Black Moon Blade, leapt up nimbly.

Instead of running across the floor filled with lava and flames, she ran along the long-stretched rosary beads.

She moved without any shaking, as if she were running on flat ground despite standing on thin strands made of rosary beads.

After running close to the Flame Dragon, Mo Haein jumped down.

It looked as if she had jumped into boiling lava, but the flames had no effect on her wrapped in Divine Protection.

Mo Haein swung the Black Moon Blade toward its lower abdomen.

It was the area where the scales were the thinnest, making it a vital point.

Clang! The scales crumpled under the Black Moon Blade, then soon became ragged and fell away.

The Flame Dragon tried to twist its body as if annoyed, but it couldn’t move at all because it was bound by the rosary beads.

Mo Haein grabbed the fallen scale, crossed over the lava, and shouted toward me.

“Catch!”

Then she threw the scale like a spear.

Je Hyun-oh easily caught the flying scale.

Because it was the thinnest scale, his metal hand was enough to crush it.

I placed the broken scale fragments over the Ice Dragon’s horn.

When it encountered the heat, the sapphire-colored magic surrounding the horn began trembling unstably.

However, the coldness on the surface weakened, enough that I could touch it with my bare hand without wearing the Crow Gloves.

I firmly gripped the lower part of the horn. Then I took out the Chinese cleaver and sharpened the upper part.

As I shaved the outer surface of the horn, the sapphire-colored magic became extremely vivid.

The magic that had been violently surging since applying the Flame Dragon’s scale was now writhing as if it could burst outside at any moment.

The Flame Dragon opened its jaws.

Sssssss….

I heard the sound of air gathering, and the inside of the dragon’s mouth glowed red.

It was trying to fire its breath again.

It was the correct decision, since even the Byeokjomok rosary beads would not be able to withstand the breath and would melt away.

And it was also the moment I had been waiting for.

Je Hyun-oh immediately flew toward the Flame Dragon at high speed together with me.

An ultra-high-temperature pale white light was gathering.

It was still too early.

I widened my eyes and stared at the thing trembling in the heat.

And the moment the dragon’s breath had completely gathered.

I entered the Flame Dragon’s mouth together with Je Hyun-oh.

A terrible heat rushed toward me, but because I had the Ice Spear, I was able to offset it to some extent.

Inside the Flame Dragon’s mouth, I drove the Ice Spear into the very center, the hottest part that had been heated to the extreme.

A feast for the Flame Dragon.

A sensation of something smoothly piercing through flesh reached my palm.

For an instant, a bizarre silence dominated the battlefield.

The Flame Dragon’s eyes flashed wide open in disbelief.

Je Hyun-oh flew backward as if bouncing away while holding me.

Kwak Hanmuk also wrapped Mo Haein with the rosary beads and pulled her away, running toward the edge of the space with all his strength.

The Flame Dragon let out a tearing scream.

Kiaaaaaaaaaak!

Crack, crack, splitting sounds spread as countless cracks appeared across the Flame Dragon’s scales.

It was the impact caused by the extreme difference between high and low temperatures colliding.

The cracks that began inside its mouth soon spread throughout its entire body, and the heat of the breath it could not release exploded outward from within.

Kuuuuung!

The ground trembled with a heavy rumble. The Flame Dragon collapsed, its own flames having burned its body completely black.

A system window appeared.

Je Hyun-oh slowly landed on the ground and set me down.

However, it was not over yet.

I glared at Infernum.

The enormous body of the Flame Dragon twitched.

Flames spread across the floor, and behind his body, the air split apart, revealing a crack of darkness.

The defeated Infernum was trying to escape.

The Flame Dragon spoke as if grinding out the words through his pain.

His body slowly disappeared into the darkness.

The system was forcing everyone’s movements.

Because this was the event scene after the battle ended, I had to watch helplessly as the Flame Dragon escaped with my body frozen in place.

It was natural that players could not move freely during event scenes in games.

However, this was not a game, and I was not a player.

I did not want the Flame Dragon to escape right in front of me.

I did not want to see that thing run away and recover.

I forcibly twisted away the power restraining me and broke free.

With my regained freedom, I walked toward the Flame Dragon and gave an order.

‘Register Infernum.’

A system window appeared and blocked my vision.

Why?

I gave the order again.

‘Register Infernum.’

I felt pain from the repeated rejection.

It felt like my eyes were burning away.

But I did not stop and gave the command.

I burst into laughter.

I could feel the existence that had entered my grasp.

Now that thing was my possession.

Something whose life and death could both be controlled entirely by my will.

The Flame Dragon’s voice could be heard.

It seemed like he could not understand the situation.

A voice mixed with confusion, humiliation, and disgrace sounded pleasant to me.

I gave my possession an order.

The body that had been disappearing into the darkness stopped as if it had hardened.

Unable to even move its eyes, it was trapped as I gave my next command.

Just as I was about to witness it explode into countless golden fireworks.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

A gentle voice could be heard.

“Shall we stop here? It seems you’re a little too excited.”

“No, Roasted Chestnut. I want to stop here and now.”

“You must not execute the Flame Dragon. Roasted Chestnut is too young to execute an existence of that level. It will leave a wound on Roasted Chestnut as well.”

“Think carefully, Roasted Chestnut. If you execute it, its existence will disappear, but isn’t there a possibility that something may remain inside its stomach?”

…….

“Don’t you want to check?”

…….

“I knew you would be curious. Now, let’s calm down. You did this last time too, so you remember, right? Slowly breathe in and out.”

I blinked while breathing absentmindedly.

Something hot continued flowing down from my eyes.

It gathered at the tip of my chin and fell to the ground one drop at a time, so I lowered my head to check.

Drops of blood were scattered across the floor.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

“…Yes, Dominic-ssi.”

“It’s alright. It’s because you’re young.”

Saying that becoming easily excited was also because I was young, Dominic whispered kindly.

Listening to his voice, I completely returned to my senses.

However, my memory of what I had done was unclear.

The thing that faintly came to mind was that I had done something to Infernum….

“Roasted Chestnut. Let’s quickly cut open the Flame Dragon’s stomach.”

This was not the time for that. I hurriedly ran toward the Flame Dragon.

I had to get the twins out.