Chapter 170: How to Face a Dragon
Mazdari got up somewhat embarrassed while listening to Vasen Lak Orazen’s words.
When Vasen and the expedition team members came down, Mazdari said, “I’m sorry, but I’m doubtful if we can defeat that monster.”
Vasen laughed and said, “It’s a power we’ve never seen before, but we can certainly win.”
Mazdari also tried to think positively.
Due to the magic that Mazdari hadn’t even heard of, which flipped the sky and the ground, traces of the castle had disappeared. Now, only wet soil, debris, broken trees, and the unlucky Rakshasa bodies that had been flipped into the air remained, and the Great Ashurada stood on top of the rubble.
Fortunately, Ashurada didn’t immediately shoot magic, and it seemed to be because of Hekab, whose body had just flipped over again. The black beetle was the size of a house and was prepared to attack Ashurada at any moment, and beside it was Gordius—more specifically the divine body of the black panther Koprik, which Gordius had taken over.
Gordius was the most crucial variable in this battle. It continued to disguise itself as one of Ashurada’s subordinates, Koprik, with only Vasen and Mazdari, as well as the other creations of Night Sky like Hekab and Hillove, knowing the truth.
‘Its true identity is…’
A creation that could take possession of an enemy's body while it was still alive.
The first reason why Sung-Woon had sent Hekab instead of Sratis was that Sratis was higher level and took a lot of Faith points to use, and the second reason was that Sung-Woon’s goal wasn’t to kill Ashurada. The goal was to take possession of Ashurada’s body.
Mazdari felt a sense of fear after hearing about what Gordius was, but thought it was fortunate as long as it wasn’t his enemy.
In Mazdari’s opinion, even taking over Ashurada’s body wouldn’t be easy, but for now, the fight seemed manageable.
On the opposite side of Hekab was Hillove, the one who saved Mazdari.
‘They’re all guardians known for having Night Sky be directly involved in their creation, but…’
The Great Ashurada was over a hundred meters in length. While on the other hand, each of the creations was no larger than twenty meters. A significant portion of Ashurada’s length was its tail and long neck, but even excluding those parts, it was still bigger than the three creations combined.
Of course, there were other forces on their side in addition to the guardians—Vasen and his expedition team.
Mazdari glanced behind him at the hill, over Hillove’s large body.
There were only about a hundred troops at the moment, but seeing that Hillove and Gordius had arrived, the rest of the main forces were likely to arrive soon.
‘Even so, it’s just an army of people.’
Even if the Dragon could be hurt by bullets as Vasen predicted, it could use another great magic spell and sweep them all away in an instant; the number of troops might not matter as much when facing magic.
‘Do the gods, Night Sky, really believe this is enough to face that Dragon?’
Mazdari looked up at the sky. Just like Ashurada and Hekab had said, the gods would have been watching them from somewhere. And as if in response, Mazdari could see a blue butterfly fluttering in the air. There would hardly be anyone who didn’t know the blue butterfly was Night Sky’s sign of good luck. The members of the expedition team who had already spotted the butterfly whispered among themselves.
‘Is it saying to believe in them?’
Mazdari pulled himself together and made up his mind to do so. As far as he knew, Night Sky had never been defeated. Night Sky wouldn’t have allowed things to get started if they were planning to lose.
Then Mazdari said, “Vasen.”
“What is it?”
“I’m curious if my magic samples have arrived.”
As Vasen shouted something, two members at the back came struggling forward with a bag. Mazdari then put the bag over the shoulder that wasn’t holding his staff.
Meanwhile, Vasen and the expedition team lit their matchlocks.
"Is everyone ready?"
***
“How to face a Dragon, step one.”
“I know.”
Lunda raised her hand in response to Sung-Woon’s words.
Sung-Woon politely gestured to Lunda with his hand.
Lunda answered, “Numbers.”
Crampus grumbled, “Well, of course having more numbers is advantageous. What Nebula was talking about is a more strategic…”
“Correct.”
"I knew you'd say that."
As Crampus turned around in disbelief, Sung-Woon replied as if asking what the problem was.
“Individually, Dragons are the strongest. Facing them with small numbers should be avoided as much as possible.”
***
As Sung-Woon spoke, the battle began on the Moving Castle.
While Hekab charged, the Dragon lifted its front feet. Vasen knew that it wasn’t a good sign, so he quickly ordered the troops to take cover, but the magic didn’t start.
Controlling the black panther’s body, Gordius chased after Ashurada from behind, running faster than Hekab.
Ashurada stopped reciting the unknown spell and grabbed Gordius’s neck with its front foot.
-Koprik…!
Gordius wondered if its identity had been caught by Ashurada, but luckily, it didn’t have to act too much. As Goridus knew, Koprik had always opposed Ashurada before.
-I’ve waited for this day, Ashurada!
-You…!
Ashurada raised the claws of its other front foot.
‘Yes, kill me and bite my throat!’
However, Ashurada tilted its head for a moment before throwing Koprik to the ground. Hekab was in that direction, and seeing all this, Mazdari wondered if something had gone wrong, but decided to think of it as a coincidence.
‘Now, if we go a little further, we'll be within range to attack Ashurada with the matchlocks.’
Then the opportunity would come.
The Dragon gathered its feet again, but this time, its claws got tangled in the spider web that Hillove shot. Ashurada roared in anger and extended its long neck toward Hillove, so Hillove stepped back and threatened Ashurada by lifting its two front feet. As a blade shot toward Ashurada’s eye, Ashurada flinched back in surprise.
-You’re being annoying…!
At that moment, Hekab charged into Ashurada and blocked its claws. Ashurada then took in a deep breath and puffed up its cheeks. Bright light shone from the inside of both its cheeks and mouth, and flames shot out from its nostrils.
Mazdari realized what Ashurada was trying to do.
‘A Dragon’s breath spell doesn’t require movement.’
Then Hekab said while pushing against Ashurada.
-That magic won’t work on me!
Ashurada didn’t reply because it wasn’t aiming at Hekab, but at the ones most vulnerable to magic—Vasen and the expedition team.
***
“How to face a dragon, step two.”
Lunda asked back, “There’s a second step?”
“Yes, there is.”
Crampus said, “I think I know this one.”
“What do you think it is?”
Crampus pointed at a part of the screen.
“Disrupting a spell.”
Sung-Woon nodded.
“Correct.”
***
Just before Ashurada exhaled, Mazdari’s staff moved.
‘Breath spells are only possible for those who live as long as Dragons and have the spells engraved on their bodies. However, as much as the process is difficult, the structure of the magic itself is simple. It begins with taking a breath, which is also known as substituting the atmosphere. Then it’s easy from there.’
Mazdari raised his staff and changed the composition of the air that Ashurada was inhaling.
Then, Ashurada coughed like it was choking for a moment with its mouth involuntarily aiming at Hekab, which was below it. Red flames rained down, but it had no effect on Hekab.
-You’re funny!
Hekab then pushed with all its might, but Ashurada didn’t engage in a battle of strength with it like before. When Hekab raised Ashurada with its horns, Ashurada rolled over before Hekab could throw it onto the ground. Ashurada showed extraordinary agility and flexibility that was unimaginable for its size.
-Trying to block my magic? I must say your gods are different from the ancient ones.
Ashurada uprooted a tree and held the base of it as if holding the head of a hammer. Then it struck Gordius, which was running toward it, off its feet. Koprik’s body drew a parabola in the air.
As the clumps of soil caught by the tree’s roots crumbled and fell, Ashurada threw the remaining part of the tree at Hekab. Hekab jumped and dodged it, but its legs got entangled in roots, causing it to tumble down a small hill along with the tree.
Ashurada then grabbed a tree in each hand again and said.
-But I am a Dragon. If I only relied on magic, I wouldn’t have become a Dragon.
Ashurada then turned around and struck Hekab in the head with an upward swing. Hekab endured the first attack, but the second attack hurled it into the air, and both its front legs lost contact with the ground.
Vasen shouted, “The Dragon is showing its back! Fire!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunners had eventually gotten into close range and fired at Ashurada’s back. Its kick at Hekab interrupted, Ashurada flinched and turned around, throwing the trees it was holding.
“...Get down!”
At Vasen’s shout, the expedition team members took cover. However, the screams of those who got hit by the trees echoed through the air.
Ashurada realized that some of the bullets had pierced the Dragon’s scales and burrowed into its body. It then wiped the blood pouring out from its side and growled.
-You…damn mortals! Those who use cursed weapons are unforgivable!?
Ashurada’s front feet pressed into the soil.
Mazdari hurriedly attempted to disrupt the spell.
‘What kind of magic is it? First, if I change the composition of the soil…’
The soil Ashurada was touching turned blue for a moment, but only around one foot.
Ashurada was picking something up with its right foot.
‘Is that…a sword?’
It was a sword made of a light gray stone. The seemingly crude stone sword was covered in soil in large parts, and it was about twenty meters long. While it took the form of a sword, it didn’t actually have a bladed edge, so it was essentially a club.
However, Mazdari was overwhelmed by the weight of the sword and the momentum that would be generated by the power of the Dragon. Whether it had a blade or not didn't matter. Above all, the length of the sword was the main issue.
The gunners had thought that they were at a considerable distance from the Dragon, but they realized that it was no longer the case when Ashurada swung the sword.
"Ahh!"
The sword dragged across the ground in a semicircle, hitting a few gunners. The expedition members that were farther away saw heaps of dirt and debris covering the sky black and falling down like hail
Then Vasen shouted, "Retreat!"
Ashurada said.
-Do you think I’m just going to watch?
With a single step, the distance between Ashurada and the expedition members closed in an instant.
Right then, Gordius rushed in and wrapped around Ashurada's arm.
-Hmph, I was waiting for you.
Ashurada buried the sword into the ground and threw Gordius off its arm.
-I already knew you weren’t Koprik.
-...!
-I cast the spell of obedience on all the divine beings, including Koprik. I asked how you broke that magic, but it seems you didn’t even understand.
Gordius was going to get out of Koprik’s body at that brief contact, but it ended up losing consciousness due to the impact of Korpik’s body slamming onto the ground.
-It seems you're being controlled by something created by the gods, just like the trick the ancient gods had used often...!"
While Gordius lost control of Koprik’s body, Ashurada stepped on the upper roof of Koprik’s mouth and grabbed Koprik’s jaw with both of its front feet.
-I won’t be defeated!
Ashurada then lifted both its front feet.
Rip!
The sound of flesh tearing was heard, and a part of Koprik’s body got torn off from its lower jaw to its chest. Ashurada forced its claws in between the exposed rib cage and crushed everything.
-Hmph.
Then, as if handling something filthy, Ashurada quickly pulled its foot out and kicked Korprik’s body away.
Furious, Hekab charged at Ashurada from behind. The Dragon grabbed the sword again and tumbled with its massive body, leaving a giant crater on the ground and sending soil and debris flying into the air.
Hekab pushed its horns through the wall of debris, blocking its view.
-You foolish bug!
And then appeared the Great Ashurada, holding the sword with both of its front feet, in a position ready to swing the sword with full power.
Wack!
Of course, Hekab’s shell was able to withstand the attack, but another part of Hekab didn’t.
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