“Aaargh!”
“Save me...!”
“Why is the relic killing us? Why?! Why us?!”
*Thud! Thud!*
The scene was chaos. Absolute pandemonium.
To Draw, it looked as though everything was spiraling into an inferno.
The members of the Gang Brotherhood were dying one after another, like flies.
Some were skewered by countless bone spears, others reduced to pincushions by arrows.
The ground beneath them was slick with their blood.
Where had it all gone wrong?
They had come here simply to avenge their fallen brothers.
And as residents of the Floating Archipelago, they believed Kriemhild's power was rightfully theirs to claim.
“Kriemhild...! O great ancestor, why do you grant us such trials...?”
Draw’s whispered words were filled with despair and confusion.
*Thunk!*
* * *
*Whistle, whistle—*
“Well, this is something.”
As Theo noticed the bone spears and arrows targeting him, he summoned a fierce wind to whirl around him.
It seemed his presence had been detected.
*Squawk! Squawk!*
*Click, click, click!*
What were they saying?
Perhaps they were giving orders to capture the intruder on sight?
**<Storm God’s Gale Step>**
*Whoosh— Whoosh—*
*Crash! Crash! Crash!*
Every branch Theo passed was struck by bone spears that narrowly missed him.
The Dragon’s Tooth soldiers, irritated at losing track of him, stomped the ground in frustration, then rushed off in the direction Theo had taken.
‘Even though they’re charging forward, their formation doesn’t falter.’
The phalanx of spearmen, shield-bearers, archers, and swordsmen moved together like clockwork, fitting together like a well-oiled machine.
*Boom! Boom!*
And hidden mages peppered their attacks with sharp precision.
Theo deflected their spells with his Drake Blade, quickly pinpointing the mages’ locations.
**<Thunder Calling>**
*Rumble! Rumble!*
Lightning bolts struck down the mages one by one.
Some were caught off guard, unable to believe Theo could wield magic.
However, as time passed, groups of shield-bearers formed protective barriers, rendering his attacks ineffective.
‘It’s no easy task. They’ve got sheer numbers on their side. I’ll have to break their formation.’
No matter how many of these Dragon’s Tooth soldiers he cut down, their overwhelming numbers made his efforts seem pointless.
In that case, he’d have to target the leader and disrupt their chain of command.
Theo’s gaze instinctively shifted.
Far off in the distance.
A towering Dragon’s Tooth soldier, three times larger than the others, stood clad in gleaming armor atop an armored horse.
Beneath the soldier’s helmet, a pair of glowing blue eyes seemed to lock onto Theo.
“Let’s start with that one.”
*Whoosh—*
Gathering power in his legs, Theo shot forward like an arrow.
At the same moment, four knights surrounding the Dragon’s Tooth commander leaped into the air, swords raised.
*Clang!*
Theo twisted his body midair, raising the blade of his Drake weapon to deflect two of them.
Another two attempted to strike him from his blind spot.
One of them was pushed back as Theo drew on his telekinesis to hurl his Deathbeat daggers, while the other was swiftly cut down by a single stroke of his Moonlight Blade.
*Boom!*
“One down.”
Theo kept his momentum.
Spinning counterclockwise, Deathbeat ignited, releasing a surge of lightning.
The electrified breath decapitated two of the knights.
Then, Theo closed the gap with the last knight, who was struggling to regain his balance.
“Last one.”
*Flash!*
**Dragon’s Claw** burst forth.
*Crash—*
The knight’s sword and helmet shattered, disintegrating into dust.
A storm of bone spears and arrows rained down, but Theo blocked them effortlessly with his lightning dragon.
There was now nothing standing between him and the commander.
At that moment, Theo thought he saw a smirk beneath the commander’s helmet.
A strange feat for a skeleton lacking facial muscles.
*Clang!*
His downward strike aimed at splitting the commander’s skull was blocked.
This commander was not only a capable leader but seemed to possess significant personal strength as well, as he remained steady on his horse, countering Theo’s attack with ease.
The commander spurred his horse, preparing a **Lance Charge**.
The lance, with its sharp tip and the horse’s powerful momentum, magnified its destructive force.
*Thud, thud, thud—*
“Hmph!”
*Boom!*
Theo raised the blade of the Drake weapon like a shield, meeting the blow head-on.
It felt like being hit by a sledgehammer, shaking his very core.
And it pushed him back—a rare defeat in a test of strength since he’d acquired [Monstrous Strength] and [Divine Spirit].
‘No, it’s more than just strength suppression. It’s as if something is forcefully restraining my magic flow...!’
*Thump, thump, thump!*
Theo tightened his grip, squeezing the power from the dragon’s heart within him, causing his core to resonate with magic.
Gritting his teeth, he deflected the lance upward, then drew the Moonlight Blade with his left hand, slicing through the horse’s legs.
The commander seemed amused, abandoning his lance in favor of a broad sword hanging from his saddle.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The broad sword struck the Moonlight Blade repeatedly, showing no sign of giving way.
Agitated, Theo unleashed the aura of the Moonlight Blade, but the commander’s broad sword radiated its own lethal energy, pushing back Theo’s blade.
In fact, the commander was even gaining the upper hand.
‘So, it’s true—my magic is being suppressed!’
Theo could sense that the strange magic emanating from the commander was not only restricting his own power but also the Moonlight Blade’s aura.
Each clash sent a painful jolt through his body.
Then, the horse began its charge once more.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
*Neigh!*
*Vroom, vroom—*
Each time the Moonlight Blade vibrated, the broad sword seemed to wail more intensely.
*Ziiing!*
[“Skill: Lesser Drake Fear” is being suppressed by the enemy’s Dragon-Slaying trait.]
[The Moonlight Blade is unable to exhibit its full potential.]
‘Dragon-Slaying!’
*Thump, thump, thump!*
This place was tied to the mysteries of Kriemhild and the Dragon-Slayer Sword.
That meant every element here—the environment and even the Dragon’s Tooth soldiers—bore the traits of a dragon-slayer.
As the dragon’s chosen companion, armed with the relics of an ancient dragon, Theo had essentially stepped into the jaws of his natural predator.
But Theo still squeezed every ounce of magic he could muster.
With tens of thousands of Dragon’s Tooth soldiers still out there, if he couldn’t defeat a single undead born from mere essence, he’d hardly be worthy of being called the dragon’s companion.
Gripping the Drake Blade in his right hand and the Moonlight Blade in his left, he crossed the two blades swiftly.
[“Skill: Fairy Buff” has been activated, maximizing your strength buff.]
[“Skill: Worm Eater” has been activated, enhancing your attack power.]
[The “Fairy” and “Worm Eater” are devouring the enemy’s Dragon-Slaying trait.]
The sparkling light from his earring and ring intensified.
*Flash!*
A blazing gust and a surge of lightning exploded from the intersecting blades, pushing everything around him backward.
*Boom!*
*Whoosh—*
As the broad sword shattered, the skeletal horse’s skull was obliterated.
[The Dragon-Slaying trait has been nullified.]
The commander, startled, kicked off the saddle to leap away from the blast, but—
“Not so fast.”
With a cold smirk, Theo scattered the fiery whirlwind in all directions.
**Seven Claws of the Dragon – Rapid Strikes**
*Swish— Swish—*
The Drake Blade and the Moonlight Blade moved in synchrony but from different directions.
Fourteen beams of light crisscrossed, spiraling into a whirlwind.
It was a sword technique Theo had never managed to unleash before.
A pure manifestation of swordsmanship.
A nameless remnant of an ancient rival’s obsession with the blade, drawing Theo into a trance.
A subconscious pathway forged from an unwavering dedication to the art of the sword.
*Crack!*
The commander was shredded by the whirlwind, and when the storm finally ceased, only a single bone remained—a femur, lying alone on the ground.
*Thud!*
“Hah... hah...!”
Theo panted heavily as he picked up the bone.
[You have recovered part of Kriemhild’s remains. (1/206)]
“Hah... seriously... this is like a treasure hunt...”
It seemed the commander’s unusual strength was not merely due to his rank but because he held part of Kriemhild’s remains.
Just then—
[“Skill: Hatchling Syncro” has been forcibly activated, allowing you to glimpse a fragment of memory.]
*Whoosh!*
Theo’s vision flipped.
* * *
A rolling shoreline, waves crashing onto the sand.
A young girl examined a strange creature washed up by the waves.
It looked like a dragon, poisoned and cursed by an ancient blight, on the verge of death.
“Stay away from me... This is a curse of the forgotten god... It’s not something a mere human like you can overcome... Leave before it’s too dangerous... Hurry...!”
A curse from the forgotten god, not the god of death.
The dragon’s lament continued with incomprehensible words, but the girl refused to leave its side.
For her, a girl who had lived her whole life enduring prejudice and mistreatment, the dragon was her only friend.
So, she dedicated herself to breaking the curse, doing everything she could to heal it.
And her efforts paid off as the dragon slowly recovered some of its strength, resisting the curse bit by bit.
However...
“Is it true there’s a dragon hiding here?”
“Yes, absolutely. You know that creepy slave girl at the butcher’s?”
“Oh, that gloomy-looking one?”
“Yeah. Every night she sneaks over here with something, like she’s bringing supplies. Kanth saw it.”
“If it’s true that there’s a dragon here...”
“Then we’ve struck gold, haven’t we?”
Misfortune struck, as always, without warning.
At that moment, Theo’s consciousness snapped back to reality.
“The dragon must be the Sea King... and that slave girl, she was Kriemhild?”
He murmured to himself as he gazed at Kriemhild’s femur.
It seemed that the connection between Kriemhild and the Sea King was more complicated than he had initially thought.
[You have successfully read the memory.]
[Kriemhild’s conviction has been partially imprinted on you.]
A small symbol appeared on the back of his right hand, glowing with light.
[You have gained resistance to the Dragon-Slaying trait.]
Although the symbol was only a simple curve, Theo sensed it contained Kriemhild’s power.
If he continued gathering her remains, the symbol’s strength would likely grow.
“So, I’ll have to keep hunting commanders like that one... But how am I supposed to fight them all?”
Theo brushed a hand over the symbol, glancing out over the forest.
Without the commander, the Dragon’s Tooth soldiers’ formation had faltered, and a significant number were converging toward him.
Even with his newfound resistance to the Dragon-Slaying trait, taking on that many soldiers alone would be suicide.
‘Maybe I should use the Garuda’s Heart now?’
For a moment, he thought of the heart of the dragon’s ancient rival, given to him by Hilda.
‘No. The Garuda’s Heart is my last resort.’
He shook his head, quickly discarding the idea.
That left him with only one viable option.
He needed to alter the terrain to make it work in his favor.
This was a forest.
And that meant he had one method left to try.
Fire Attack.
[“Skill: Hatchling Syncro” has expanded to locate artifacts left by the Flame Caster.]
If he could tap into the memories of Gray Gang, the only one among the Brotherhood who wielded fire, perhaps he could uncover a hint for using fire magic.
Fortunately, he soon found the site where the Gang Brotherhood had been wiped out.
The problem, however, was that it was in the heart of an area swarming with Dragon’s Tooth soldiers.
“Well, here goes nothing.”
With the Drake Blade and the Moonlight Blade held firmly in each hand, Theo launched himself forward.
Whoosh!
Ahead of him, Deathbeat transformed into a thunderous lightning dragon, unleashing a fiery breath.
Boom!
Rumble—
.
.
.
Several hours later.
Crackle!
In the depths of the jungle, a small spark grew into an uncontrollable blaze, spreading out in all directions like a fiery storm.