‘One core replacing a dragon heart is in the chest, and another huge core is in the head… It definitely matches the story that’s coming down.’
The core was bigger than my body, and the sharp teeth and claws were so keen they could tear anything apart.
The condensed magical energy in my body was truly worthy of the grandeur of a dragon, born of mana’s blessing.
‘The ability to manipulate mana is impressive… To think it can move so freely.’
I recalled the memory of stumbling around in the skeleton’s body for the first time.
I couldn’t even get a proper direction due to its rusted, creaking body.
But that guy was dodging the encirclement of the triple head orc horde and the chimera like petals fluttering in the wind.
By the way, that winged-headed orc brat is here too.
‘The thing next to the mutant looks like a tooth… Has it become much stronger than before? What in the world is that Blue-eyed Organization that can modify it to this extent?’
Anyway, it seems the bond dragon was not targeting me.
The mana cannon I fired amidst battling the two monsters had just happened to land on my moving path.
I thought I had gained another headache after the sword dragon, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
‘Where’s Yeon-hee?’
I could see our nest below, wrecked and in chaos.
More than half of the cube-shaped stones I had stacked on the outer wall had been torn off and blown elsewhere, and my companions, including Yeon-hee, were precariously standing on the outer wall, responding but unable to exert their strength properly.
‘Everyone is in poor condition due to repeated mana exhaustion. This is dangerous…’
The White Legion, Jung Tae-hyung, the Hae-min and Hae-ryeong sisters, and Yeon-hee’s summoned creature legion along with Azraelon.
About seven hundred awakened ones, including familiar hunters from the White Knight Guild and the Vision Guild, were lined up.
‘Tae-hyung managed to return safely.’
It seemed that other hunters nearby had gathered around our team, which was holding up well against the orc assault.
‘Was it Yeon-su from the White Knight side and a witch from the Vision side who helped the hunters out?’
If they could provide support to that extent, it means the three great guilds still had some spare energy even in this chaos. That’s a kind of positive point.
However, the hunters who came to help seemed to have reached their limits as well.
I, as fresh as a daisy, needed to give them some breathing room.
‘Whew—’
I took a breath and expended 4,000 mana at once.
It was exactly double the mana I used to cast Meteor to help Cha Jin-hyuk.
– The achievement [Orc Competitor] activates.
It’s nice to see the achievement I gained from the cliffs of the Lizard Swamp activate again. It might help a bit in taking down the orcs.
– All Attributes increase by 20!
With a significant boost in attributes, I unleashed the highest-level fire magic.
[Meteor]
‘How dare you touch my home. You all will die.’
The full-powered strike aimed at thousands of charging orcs just broke through the dimensional rift and revealed itself.
* * *
Burning stars poured down from the sky.
If someone who didn’t know saw it from afar, it would leave behind a beautiful memory worth remembering.
In fact, Kang Yeon-su, who was in the midst of closing the gate from quite a distance, had her mouth agape at the sight.
But what thoughts crossed the minds of the beings on-site who noticed the meteor falling from the sky?
Suuuuuuuuu───
“Ahhhhh…”
“Ugh…”
“D-dying—”
They probably thought of death, and their instincts reacted before those thoughts could catch up.
Run away.
Orcs scattering in all directions and hunters returning to the house.
But the speed of the meteors, imbued with magic, merged with the ground before they could properly escape.
Kwahaha!!
The meteor crashed down, turning the area around Lee Yeon-hee’s house and the surrounding occupants into a wreck.
Beings called orcs disappeared without a trace, merging with the meteor.
– You have defeated an Orc High-Rank Fighter!
– You have defeated an Orc Low-Rank Fighter!
– You have defeated an Orc High-Rank Warrior!
– You have defeated an Orc Low-Rank Warrior!
‘Ow… my head.’
The defeat messages kept flashing to the point I had to consciously try to dismiss them.
As the orcs died, the red flames they spread and the shockwaves that followed unveiled a clear killing intent directed at a specific species, tearing them apart.
The chain explosions continued.
The orc’s death cries mixed with the thunderous sounds formed a bizarre symphony.
The phenomenon of flames spreading persisted endlessly.
Even I, waiting calmly, couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
‘How long is this going to continue?’
I thought the messages would stop after a while, but they kept coming.
That meant more orcs were dying, and given that they were weakened from the battles with the hunters, the shockwaves of Meteor likely made finishing blows easy.
The trait [Obsession] had overwhelmed me, sorting through the incoming rewards, but the types of runes coming in weren’t exactly specified. There were even cases where mana stones came in chunks.
The law where specific runes drop for certain monsters did not apply to them.
‘Wow… How much is all this worth? Hehe.’
With just this one Meteor, I likely racked up tens of billions in revenue.
Even amidst this chaos, the thrill of making money made my skeleton dance.
As I awaited the cooldown on Meteor, I contemplated pulling all the remaining mana and unleashing it once more.
– You have achieved the remarkable feat of defeating a thousand orcs with a single attack!
– The achievement [Orc Competitor] has been upgraded to [Orc Slayer]!
[Orc Slayer]
– All Attributes +50 when fighting against orcs.
‘Ooooh…?! Achievement upgrade!’
As I silently cheered inside, I noticed people down below desperately waving at me.
Yeon-hee and my companions, looking both lovable and pitiful.
‘Yikes.’
I quickly moved to the one person who shone brighter in my eyes, and I caught Yeon-hee as she collapsed into my arms.
“Haa… You finally came back…”
“Clap…”
She must have a lot of anger and curiosity after not hearing from me for so long, but she seems just grateful I returned.
“Il-wol, share abilities! Abilities!!”
“Clap, clap, clap!”
My companions seemed to prioritize resolving the situation over enjoying our reunion.
They expanded the remote ability sharing from one to two.
Immediately, the five companions began to tremble and closed their eyes tightly.
They took the mana as a base, selecting one each from strength, agility, and wisdom.
The sudden surge in power left the surrounding hunters slack-jawed in astonishment.
– Wh-what’s that?
– Woah… Did they just level up in an instant?!
It was an ability that shouldn’t be shown in a place where people gathered, but given the circumstances, it was no time to worry about that.
“Il-wol, sorry to ask right as you arrive, but can you help ‘White Dragon’?”
“Clap, clap, clap!”
Just hearing the nickname ‘White Dragon,’ I knew exactly who that was.
The monster flaunting a pure white skeletal form in the shape of a dragon.
As I leapt beside it, the bond dragon reacted immediately.
[……….]
The gaze of the empty bond dragon staring at me suddenly appearing next to its head was frostier than ever.
‘It’s your master’s order to fight together, so stop looking at me like that.’
[Do not interfere in my battle.]
A deep voice echoed in my mind, as if it would sink to the ground.
It was as if, being a high-level summoned creature, it was certain in its expression of intent.
But helping it was no longer an option; it was a necessity.
‘Don’t be arrogant, White Dragon. Can’t you sense the presence of that approaching creature?’
I pointed to a spot, scolding its arrogant speech.
Because I had sensed a monster that had been detected since a few minutes ago on the wavelength of my senses.
Following my finger, the bond dragon slowly turned its head, and I saw it nod in agreement.
‘Is it really sensing something that’s 20 km away…?’
The being without sensory stats emanated tremendous energy. It was indeed a dragon.
[Krurur…]
Just looking at the skull, which was bigger than me, sent chills down my spine.
[Let me handle the one coming. You finish off these.]
‘Huh? What?’
How can it speak like that about the creature approaching us when it knows what it is? Isn’t it a bit too confident?
The creature leading the orc army towards us was not just some orc mutant or chimera toyed with by the ‘White Dragon.’
It was an orc Battle Commander seen earlier, albeit slightly weaker, yet it was still a transcendent-level monster. Could it really handle that?
‘No matter how strong you are, it’s beyond reach. First, I have to deal with these guys before I can join up with you.’
I swiftly bound the triple head orc and the chimera, who momentarily hesitated due to my sudden appearance.
Kya-ha─!!
But before the binding could manifest, the Improved Rough Tooth blocked it.
For such a vicious-looking creature, it was employing sophisticated techniques.
‘Huh? You broke that?!’
Bang──!!
Then the triple head orc variant launched a short but powerful punch at me.
‘Where do you think you’re going, brat!’
I dodged the orc’s punch with ease, and then I landed a flurry of five strikes on its disgusting face, driving my knee into its abdomen with all my strength.
“Kugh!”
Thanks to the artifact ‘Gemini’s Knee Guard,’ the orc variant suffered even more pain.
‘You ignorant child who cannot even assess your opponent’s strength!’
Exposing the orc’s tilted neck, I pulled out my great sword and cleanly severed its head.
Swoosh—
I tossed the severed orc’s head to the chimera, and it caught it and began chewing.
‘What a foolish brat.’
Kwaaaang!!
The chimera, unaware of the skull bomb I threw along with it, enjoyed a delightful explosion of bones in its mouth.
Wooosh──
I then hurled a spear made of bones and pierced through the mouth of the chimera, running up and slicing its neck and torso in half in a single motion.
Pshuuuuuuut──!!
The sticky blood of the chimera sprayed everywhere, leaving a pungent scent.
Having swiftly dealt with the two monsters, I was met with the fearful eyes of the hunters on the ground.
– Uh, uh… what’s that…
– Whoa… Is that really a transcendent being?
They were blinking, absorbed in shock and forgetting to fight altogether.
Their expressions were one of utter disbelief.
To be honest, I felt the same way.
‘Hmm…’
I twisted my neck side to side, pondering the source of the unease I was feeling.
‘Even when I killed that orc variant earlier, something felt… incredibly powerful.’
Despite even the lowest assessment placing the triple head orc variant as an A-rank top-tier monster, the improved rough tooth was clearly an S-rank powerhouse.
To easily overcome such monsters when they attacked in conjunction was indeed something out of the ordinary.
‘Could it be that I have unknowingly grown during those two days at the archaeologist’s ruins?’
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