Chapter 25
“Uwaaaaaah!!”
He cried out.
The moment the two Drakes finally stuck out their tongues and collapsed,
Edan raised his staff high and let out a cheer.
Anyone who saw him with tears welling in his eyes would feel pity — there wasn’t a single spot on his body that was unscathed……
Yet Edan was overjoyed. Feeling an electrifying thrill course through his entire body, he shouted again and again.
“Father! Brother! I did it! I……! I have defeated dragonkin!”
Although they weren’t full dragons, merely young drakes.
Still, drakes were dragonkin nonetheless.
For a young mage who had only recently reached the middle stage of 5th Circle, they were quite formidable opponents.
To defeat not just one but two such monsters — and alone at that — how could he not be happy?
Crackle—.
Since he had passed the trial, the space began to collapse.
Whether to proceed further or not was up to the challenger’s choice.
If he wanted to stop, he simply needed to declare his surrender to Entur, who was surely watching from somewhere.
“I’ll catch up to you soon, Ruth Fried……!”
Of course, Edan’s choice had been decided from the beginning.
The aftereffects of a battle he had barely won by a hair’s breadth still remained vivid in his body.
His arms and legs wouldn’t stop shaking, and his mana circuits were as dry as a desert.
But he could not stop here.
If he stopped now, he would never be able to overtake that man.
“Let’s go!”
Slap!
Edan struck his right cheek with his right hand and gripped his staff tightly with his left.
The moment the bone staircase faintly appeared beyond the crumbling space, he moved……
—Only to suddenly stop.
“……”
Fwoosh—.
Three stone slabs neatly arranged in the air above the staircase.
Because on the far right slab — undoubtedly Ruth’s — three flames were blazing.
He had already cleared up to the third trial.
“Ah.”
Thud.
The dejected Edan unknowingly dropped his staff from his hand.
He had been certain he had caught up to the same starting line, yet this gap was just too much.
Staring at those flames, the burning competitive spirit that had filled him vanished in an instant, as if doused with cold water.
“This speed…… isn’t something that should be possible for a first-time challenger, right?”
Beyond frustration and awe, it now felt almost unreasonable.
Since he had cleared the third trial, Ruth must currently be challenging the ‘Neck’ trial.
In other words, he was attempting to break
The record of the Tyrant of the North — Wolfgang Demiorck.
“Insane……”
The emotion that replaced his faded competitive spirit was ‘reverence.’
Was he perhaps witnessing the birth of a new legend right now?
As Edan swallowed nervously,
Crack—.
“……Hm?”
A sound like cracks spreading across glass pierced his ears.
Edan turned toward the direction the sound came from, only to doubt his own eyes.
This pitch-black space served as a bridge connecting each stage of the trials.
It was supposed to be solid and free of any abnormalities, yet……
“W-What……”
Crackle—.
Dark purple cracks were spreading across the space like a spiderweb.
***
—……Something unusual is happening within this one’s body.
“……?”
While Ruth was climbing the staircase connected to the ‘Neck’ trial, Entur spoke with clear bewilderment.
“Has something gone wrong?”
—I’m not sure, but the feeling is unpleasant. It’s as if a large parasite is crawling around inside my body……
Crackle—.
Right after she spoke, gloomy purple cracks tore through the air.
Entur let out a cry of shock, while Ruth clicked his tongue as if he had expected this.
—The structure of the trial…… is beginning to twist! How could this……?!
‘So it finally started.’
Ruth glared at the leftmost stone slab, which still had no flames burning on it.
There was no doubt about it.
Mirati must have begun pulling some kind of trick.
‘Ha. My bad premonitions never miss, do they?’
It had been foolish of him to hope things would pass without any trouble even after knowing there was a black mage present.
As if a dog would ever stop shitting.
—This is no time to be following you around! I must go check what is happening. Do not mind me and focus on the remaining trials!
“Yes.”
After giving a somewhat biased encouragement, Entur hurriedly left the pitch-black space.
Although an accident had occurred, it was one he had somewhat anticipated. Ruth withdrew his attention from the cracks and continued climbing the bone staircase.
‘Since Entur reacted like that, Wolfgang outside must have also noticed the anomaly and started moving by now.’
The best he could do was focus solely on the trials, just as Entur had said.
He had no choice but to leave the cleanup of the situation to Entur and Wolfgang.
Hwaaaak—.
Ruth crossed through the door of light and stepped into the ‘Neck’ trial.
It was finally the moment he reached the record set by Wolfgang.
***
A giant.
Even while sitting on the floor of the stone chamber, it was a giant twice the size of an adult male.
With its back turned to Ruth, the giant spoke without even glancing at him.
<You have come.>
‘A berserker Dragonfang Soldier.’
As expected of a late-stage trial, a difficult opponent had appeared.
A berserker wearing a dragon-head-shaped helmet and platinum armor.
Next to it, a massive greatsword radiating both cold air and flames was planted into the ground like a tombstone.
However, instead of drawing the massive sword, the berserker said,
<If you have come, then die.>
Snap!
It flicked its finger.
As if activating something prepared in advance.
However.
<……You.>
Nothing happened.
Only an awkward silence continued, making even Ruth feel embarrassed.
The berserker, who hadn’t even looked at him until now, finally turned its body toward Ruth and asked.
<Why didn’t the ‘mark’ explode? You should have come after meeting those witch bastards.>
“Ah. So that’s why those guys were desperately insisting they absolutely couldn’t remove the mark.”
It seemed the third and fourth trials were connected.
The witches would secretly engrave a ‘mark’ on the challenger’s body, and the berserker would snap its finger to detonate it.
What a vicious structure.
“I did well to kill the witches. I almost got hurt.”
<You seem worthy of swinging a sword against.>
Kwa-deuk!!
The berserker, who had snorted as if finding it amusing, pulled out the sword embedded in the ground.
The already massive greatsword revealed its full blade as it was lifted, radiating overwhelming presence.
Looking at that sword, Ruth recalled the same intuition he had when fighting the clone of the Poison Demon.
‘If I get hit even once, I’ll die.’
As it was the fourth trial, it was obvious this opponent was far stronger than the two Drakes he had faced earlier.
Ruth pondered for a moment.
Should he start by using <Devouring Spirit Summon> to pour out firepower?
‘No.’
He could already picture it.
The image of that greatsword, mixed with cold and heat, slicing through thousands of devouring spirits in a single strike.
It would consume blood ki for nothing and deal almost no meaningful damage.
In that case.
‘I’ll confront it head-on and drive a blade into its heart.’
Swaaaak—.
Ruth raised his momentum.
The moment he activated <Authority of Blood>, the power that elevated all his abilities as a Blood Mage to the next level.
Boom!
The berserker’s vision lost sight of him. A deep crater formed where Ruth had stepped, as if a meteor had struck.
Kaaang!
In the literal blink of an eye, Ruth appeared right in front of it and unleashed a sword strike.
Greatsword against greatsword.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang!
The collision between the blood ki greatsword and the berserker’s greatsword filled the air with explosive roars like a barrage of bombs.
<A scrawny-looking guy with quite some strength!>
Laughing, the berserker’s greatsword unleashed a storm of cold air.
Ruth, who had sensed the danger before the storm hit, kicked off the ground and retreated backward.
However,
Kwa-ga-gak—!!
The swirling blades of frost charged at terrifying speed and carved numerous small wounds across Ruth’s entire body.
Blood splattered everywhere, and the pain caused Ruth to lose his balance and stagger for a brief moment.
<Is that all you’ve got? How disappointing!>
The berserker did not miss the opening and thrust its blade forward.
But.
Whoooong—.
The blade pierced empty air.
The berserker’s eyes beneath the helmet flickered with confusion and shock.
<What?>
He hadn’t dodged by twisting or lowering his body.
His entire figure had simply vanished. As if he had teleported.
How?
In that split second, there shouldn’t have been any time to activate teleportation magic.
“Where are you looking?”
The voice came from behind.
The startled berserker hurriedly pulled back the blade it had thrust and swung it in a crescent arc toward the enemy in the rear.
But it was already too late.
Kwa-deuk!!
<Kugh!>
The blood-colored greatsword pierced through the sturdy armor and shattered the berserker’s right shoulder.
If it had been even a moment slower, it would have been his heart instead of his shoulder that was destroyed.
<How did you dodge my thrust just now……!!>
“I don’t feel like explaining.”
<Chasing>.
Thanks to the cold storm and the blood scattering everywhere, the number of viable escape routes had also increased.
Like this.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The berserker went into a frenzy and slammed down its greatsword like a madman, but not a single strike reached Ruth.
All he had to do was dodge them with <Chasing>.
<Cowardly bastard! If you’re a warrior, fight me head-on!>
“Is that something a guy who tried to pull a cowardly trick from the start should say?”
Having exhausted all uses of <Chasing>, Ruth dug into the berserker’s side.
Click—.
What he aimed with was not a sword, but a shotgun.
Baaaang!!
The blood-colored bullet fired at point-blank range tore through the armor and crushed the flesh beneath it.
<Kuhuk……!>
‘As expected of a berserker Dragonfang Soldier. It’s still not dead even after this.’
The berserker, who had coughed up blood, glared down at Ruth with bloodshot eyes.
Fwoosh—!!
As if responding to that emotion, the blade of the greatsword now began to surge with flames as intense as the sun.
<I’ll burn you to ashes without leaving a single bone fragment……!>
The blazing sword strike, hot enough to incinerate even the air, descended toward Ruth’s head.
Whoosh.
Ruth, who had already converted the shotgun back into a blood sword, steadied his breathing. The moment death loomed before him, he raised his concentration to the maximum and lifted his sword.
Crackle—.
What was completed was a snow flower.
[<Frost Fang First Form>]
[<Dance of Snow Flowers>]
Hundreds of white flower petals blooming along the blood sword froze the flames unleashed by the berserker.
Then came the sharp cold surging from the white blade.
Clang—!!
In the slowly flowing time, the berserker’s greatsword shattered.
<How can such a thing—>
“It can.”
<Kwaaaaaah!!>
Even with its sword broken, the berserker refused to accept defeat and roared.
It was no ordinary roar.
A dragon’s roar that exploded with fierce energy within a radius of dozens of meters, shaking the entire space.
A technique commonly known in the world as <Dragon Fear>.
Of course.
It was infinitely crude and weak compared to a true <Dragon Fear>, but it was more than enough to crush an ordinary human’s soul.
That is, if that human hadn’t been Ruth.
“Roar all you want. I can do something similar.”
Ever since completing the ritual in the <Lava Pond of Evolution>.
Ruth’s blood ki had gained the power to dominate an entire space.
Kwaaaaaang—!!
An overwhelming aura strong enough to create a haze exploded outward.
A wide-range wave of killing intent swept over the surroundings and collided head-on with the <Dragon Fear>.
The blood-colored aura and the ash-colored aura pushed against each other.
Kwa-ga-ga-gak—!!
And the one that was ultimately broken was
The berserker’s <Dragon Fear>.
<Huk, ugh……>
That final breath became its last words.
Ruth kicked off the ground, closed the distance, and delivered a slash aimed at the berserker’s heart.
Swish—!!
Blood gushed out as the berserker’s consciousness fell into the abyss.
<You……>
Until the very moment it died completely,
The berserker stared down at the blood sword embedded in its left chest with disbelieving eyes.
<You are the one…… who will reach the summit of this trial……>
An unknown boy had reached the record set by the Tyrant of the North.
Now it was time to surpass it.