Chapter 110 – Red Dragon’s Lair (16)

No one responded to him. Saying

‘I will slay the dragon on your behalf.’

must have not appeared feasible in their eyes. Sungjin glanced around. Luckily, there was a corpse (well, closer to a pile of rubble) of Magma Golem nearby.

Sungjin pulled out Moon Specter and walked up to it. Then, he picked a suitable spot before swinging his sword. The Magma golem’s body was cut like a hot knife through butter.

‘Clank’

At the same time, the hunters had their jaws

‘Clank’

Drop to the ground. Sungjin swung his sword around and pointed to his scale armor to say

“I already killed that dragon twice now. This armor I am wearing is proof of that. So, I ask once more. Where are the trolls?”

Then someone answered

“Earlier when we were killing mobs... someone missed their mark with an arrow, and a Dragon Demihuman came running towards us. We had to face two Dragon Demihumans at once. Meanwhile, three hunters died in combat... and while the others argued and bickered over whose fault it was, another three died. Yes there was a troll earlier... but there are only the four of us remaining now.”

“Really?”

Sungjin frowned. He had come with the aim of hunting trolls, but there was no troll to be had.

‘Well, I expected this to happen at some point...’

“Haa...”

Sungjin’s motivation ebbed, so he sat down in front of the others. There were certainly some raids more difficult than the others, but this raid was feeling especially long.

Cleared the Dragon, found the hidden piece, tested by the dragon’s mother, reunite with Serin during troll hunt, and kill the dragon a second time.

‘So many things happened...’

The hunters looked nervous when Sungjin continued to sit in place.

“So...uh... are you really going to kill it for us? That dragon?”

Sungjin looked up at them. They were pitiful people. Anyone less skilled than the previous ‘final 10 survivors’ would find it near impossible to kill that dragon with just four members. If Sungjin chose not to help them, they were guaranteed to go to the Purgatory. But there was also no real benefit for Sungjin to help them.

‘I did promise them but...’

It wasn’t easy facing that dragon, even for him. And he would have to fight without the help of Cain or Soldamyr. If he was unlucky, it could become quite dangerous as well. Sungjin couldn’t help but seriously reconsider.

‘What should I do? They were originally going to die, should I just let them be?’

Challenging the dragon would require Sungjin put his life on the line. But in return, there was nothing to be gained. One of the hunters seemed to realize what Sungjin was thinking, and began to beg

“Please save us”

Once one hunter started pleading, the others joined in.

“Please”

“Sir Helper, please save us”

Sungjin scratched the back of his head. He couldn’t say no after hearing their sincere appeal. But, their desperation reminded him of something. Sungjin looked down at the ‘Ring of the Warlord’.

‘If they willingly and knowingly kiss the ring... I can obtain a white coin.’

They were facing imminent death. There was not a single person who would refuse the ring if it were to save their lives.

“Ah well... A promise is a promise. But... you four must promise as well.”

“What kind of...?”

“Kiss my ring before I go to fight him. Just know that you will take a permanent 10% penalty to black coin rewards every raid. What will you do?”

The hunters didn’t hesitate to nod.

“I’ll do it”

“I’ll do it too.”

They came up one by one to kiss Sungjin’s Ring.

[You will take 10% penalty to all future raid Coin rewards.]

The Operator warned them, but they didn’t heed her words. Losing 10% later was supremely preferable to dying now. Thanks to the hunters, Sungjin obtained four additional white coins.

‘Perfect... This might actually be a better outcome than if I had killed four Trolls instead...’

Sungjin thought as he prepared to clear the dragon one more time. He first allocated the 23880 stat points he had obtained earlier. He had told himself that he would immediately apply the points as soon as he gets them to boost the bonus Nada and Franz received from ‘Chosen One’ title, but he had forgotten about it due to running into Serin.

“Operator, apply 5000 to Strength, 5000 to Dexterity, 5000 to Endurance, 5000 to Magic power, and 3880 points to Mind Power.”

[Applied.]

“And then...”

Sungjin took out the Star of the Nameless.

“Rename. To Dragonslayer.”

[Applied.]

Master Hunter title was great, but against Dragons, this title was superior due to the X4 damage bonus.

Sungjin took out his two swords and took a deep breath. And then he was reminded of another item, ‘Aio – Ring of the Great Sage’. Sungjin held it up.

‘Empower magic... should I try it out now?’

The Empower Magic increased his magic power by 5 times for 30 seconds. Sungjin had promised to try it after discussing with Soldamyr, but trying it out now didn’t seem like a bad idea.

‘But if the mana consumption jumps up by five times... the expenditure is going to be immense...’

Sungjin asked the Operator

“Operator, what does my stat look like now?”

Soon Sungjin’s status screen opened up.

Title: Dragon Slayer

HP: 153120 MP: 157840

Strength: 21749 18912 (+2837)

Dexterity: 22532 19593 (+2939)

Endurance: 15312 13315 (+1997)

Magic Power: 12787 11119 (+1668)

Mind Power: 15784 13725 (+2059)

Unallocated Points: 0

When the Hunters saw the status screen, their jaws dropped once more. They seemed even more surprised than when they had seen him slice apart the Magma Golem’s body. Sungjin didn’t mind them as he quickly did math in his head.

‘Five times the current magic power...’

Then the magic power would surpass 60,000. And with such high value of magic power, there was only one spell he could use. The 2nd Circle spell Frost Bite.

‘Well... since there’s nothing else I could have used anyway... I guess I could try it out now.’

Sungjin finished his preparations for the fight and walked towards the dragon. The hunters watched him leave as they asked

“So... what should we do?”

Sungjin faced them and saidn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“If you’re not in danger, feel free to use ranged attacks.”

“Ok.”

“Yes”

Sungjin, once again, walked into the cavern of Khal Gal. The dragon of this dimension was still sleeping.

He prepared his swords

“Whew...”

And took a deep breath before beginning his charge towards the Dragon. Hearing someone run towards him roused the dragon. Upon seeing Sungjin, it said

“Hmm? What’s this? You? How did you obtain an armor made of the scales of my brethren?”

‘It’s actually your own scales’

Sungjin thought as he ran towards the Dragon.

“Well... whatever die.”

A half-asleep Khal Gal was not very threatening. His arrogant personality also made his attacks slow(at least in comparison to later on) and the attack pattern was simplistic.

Most importantly, this was the fourth time (once before regressing, three times this round) they fought. An enemy he was now very familiar with. Sungjin was already used to Khal Gal’s attacks.

He expertly dodged the dragon’s attack and swung his blade. But

“Ahhh!”

The effects were far better than he had expected. It was probably because the ‘Dragonslayer’ title was the most effective title to use against Dragons. After a few strikes from his blade, Khal Gal ran away by flying into the air.

“I’ll burn you all!”

Sungjin already knew what he was trying to do; Khal Gal was readying his breath attack.

‘Aio... should I try it now?’

Sungjin reached out with his hands towards Khal Gal and said

“Empower Magic.”

The Ring on his finger suddenly lit up as the material contained within began to glow with blinding lights. Meanwhile, Sungjin began to feel a change.

His mind felt like it was becoming cloudy, yet focused. And although it wasn’t tangible, he could feel a tremendous amount of power settle inside his body.

‘Is this... the effects of Empower Magic?’

Sungjin immediately followed up by shouting towards Khal Gal

“Binding Frost! Frostbite!”

And an unbelievable amount of cold left his hands. The magma instantly hardened in place, and Khal Gal who was hit head on by the wave of cold air flapped a few more times before freezing up and plummeting towards the ground.

‘Boom!’

Sungjin looked down to stare at his hands which released the cold.

‘What the...’

The numerical value was increased by five times, but the effects seemed to be more than five times as powerful. Khal Gal was surprised likewise. So he forced his unresponsive chin to say

“You....Hu...man...how....”

Sungjin decided to finish him off for now. The Dragon’s lower half had completely frozen solid while in mid-air before, and he was unable to break free. Sungjin shouted as he ran up to the dragon

“Frenzy”

Besgoro’s vision turned red, and Sungjin’s blades began to move faster and faster. And it only increased.

Khal Gal desperately tried to escape, but after being hit by a spell produced by the ridiculously high value of Magic Power, he was unable to put up even an iota of resistance before he died where he landed. From the other hunters’ cubes, Sungjin heard

[Congratulations. Boss Monster]

[Red Dragon Khal Gal is cleared.]

Sungjin who defeated Khal Gal for the third time,

“Whew...”

Let out a short sigh.

‘I am getting stronger aren’t I’

He felt this more clearly in this round than any other before. The first time he faced Khal Gal, the dragon was barely overcome after a difficult fight. But on the third fight, he had defeated the dragon without the dragon being able to respond in any way.

The growth of stats, Dragon Scale Armor, and the Dragonslayer Title all contributed greatly, but the most memorable was the effectiveness of the ‘Aio – Ring of the Great Sage’.

Since it single-handedly took down a dragon with a 2nd circle spell.

‘If... I can just find out how to use this effectively...’

Just like Ariane said, it might be enough to change his destiny. Sungjin turned the ring around in place. He wanted to watch the material floating on the inside.

But the other hunters came running at him, hugging and yelling

“Thank you!”

“We are saved thanks to you, Dragonslayer!”

“You are my savior!”

“Thank you so much! Thank you!”

Sungjin became surrounded like a victorious baseball coach. This marked the end of the long and exhausting exploration of the Dragon’s Lair.