Chapter 173:
Even the dark brown dragon’s face hardened, sensing her power.
<…We will still prevail.>
It muttered, as if trying to convince itself.
<Raaaaar!>
The dragon roared, and six more dragons emerged from their hiding places, each radiating a formidable power.
Earth, fire, wind.
Their abilities, all notoriously difficult to counter, filled the air. The Espers gripped their weapons, their faces grim, bracing themselves.
The tension was palpable.
“First come, first served! That one’s mine!”
A carefree shout broke the tense silence.
Seo Jae-yi leaped high into the air and charged towards the dark brown dragon, her movements agile and swift as she navigated the crumbling, cracked earth.
“Seo Jae-yi! You’re not compatible with earth!”
Grayson, alarmed, tried to stop her, but she ignored him.
“Compatibility doesn’t matter when you’re punching! And I’ve been wanting to kill an Earth Esper!”
The thought of Park Hyung-woo fueled her rage.
She would take out her frustration on this dragon, since she couldn’t beat up the real one, now imprisoned.
“…I can’t argue with that.”
Grayson, knowing the depth of her anger towards Park Hyung-woo, couldn’t stop her.
“Airok, which one are you taking?”
He asked Airok instead, and the dragon shook his head.
“You humans choose first. I’ll take whoever’s left.”
Grayson thanked him for his consideration.
“Eli, have you assessed their abilities?”
“Yes.”
Elizer, who had retreated to the rear, answered Grayson’s call. Distance was no obstacle for him.
“Good. I’ll send you to your designated targets. Get ready.”
The Espers quickly formed their groups as Grayson instructed. Purple portals appeared beneath the feet of the five teams, teleporting them to their respective targets.
One dragon per team.
Elizer had chosen the most suitable opponents for each team.
Only one of the seven dragons remained.
“…Did you plan this too?”
Airok’s eyes gleamed, looking at the remaining dragon. Grayson shrugged.
“That was Eli’s decision. Take it up with him later.”
“…Well, he is a good judge of character.”
Airok spread his wings and approached the dragon, the air growing hotter with every meter, a scorching heat like lava.
It was a dragon even redder than the one Seo Jae-yi had fought near the gate, its scales almost the color of blood.
It was a Fire Dragon.
<You think you can defeat me?>
The blood-red dragon scoffed, seeing Airok. It had sensed his clear, pure water energy.
<You dare challenge me, a Water Dragon, in this environment, which favors fire?>
<That’s not something a dragon with superior intelligence should say. What extinguishes fire? Water, you imbecile.>
He had hated being called those names, but it was strangely satisfying to use them against his enemy, another dragon.
<I’ve learned a lot from being by her side. I know how to overpower fire. So you better be prepared.>
Airok spread his wings wide, and streams of incredibly clear, pure water began to swirl around him.
Was he afraid of fire? No.
There was only one fire in the world that could make him tremble in fear.
Seo Jae-yi’s.
He roared and swung his leg, a massive claw of water hurtling towards the blood-red dragon.
KABOOM!
The clash of the two dragons signaled the start of the battle, and fighting erupted all around them.
The most spectacular battle was undoubtedly the one where Seo Jae-yi stood.
Massive stone spears, erupting from the cracked earth, shot towards her.
She calmly enveloped herself in heat. Her movements, instead of slowing down, became faster, more agile, despite the rising temperature of her body.
Crack! Crack!
Her fists and feet, glowing red-hot, smashed through the incoming spears.
“This is annoying.”
Nothing could stop her advance, but this was getting tedious. She would be exhausted before she even reached the dragon.
She took a deep breath and kicked off the ground, her body hurtling towards the dragon at an incredible speed.
Crack! Crack!
Smashing through the stone spears blocking her path.
Boom!
She finally reached the dragon, having destroyed the last spear.
“Let me get a good look at you!”
A monstrous dragon, even more intimidating than the spears she had just destroyed, stood before her, but Seo Jae-yi, instead of being afraid, smiled brightly.
<A fearsome human, indeed.>
The dragon tensed, seeing her unrestrained grin.
He had lived for centuries, and no creature, other than his own kind, had ever dared to smile before him.
And yet, this human was smiling, as if she was enjoying this moment.
The dragon couldn’t deny it.
This human was the strongest among them.
That meant if they killed her, or at least inflicted a fatal wound, they would win.
So he had to eliminate her, no matter the cost.
Or at least cripple her.
Boom!
The dragon’s thick tail, covered in tough scales, like its entire body, lashed out at Seo Jae-yi.
Even she would suffer broken bones if it connected.
“Wow, a direct hit would turn me into dust.”
Seo Jae-yi ducked, narrowly avoiding the attack. Her skin stung, even though it hadn’t even grazed her.
She shivered, a thrill running down her spine.
‘I can’t take this one down alone.’
She wasn’t sure she could kill it, even if she risked her life. And she couldn’t afford to be reckless; there were still many enemies remaining.
So she needed help.
“Earth lizard, how tough is your hide?”
<What are you saying, human?>
They couldn’t communicate; they spoke different languages.
Seo Jae-yi clicked her tongue, annoyed.
“Logi learned Korean instantly; why can’t you? I wonder if it’s because Logi’s so smart, or you’re just stupid.”
The dragon, though it couldn’t understand her words, sensed the insult and opened its jaws wide.
A powerful energy gathered within its mouth.
It was preparing its breath attack.
‘That’s going to be difficult to block.’
It was different from the red dragon’s breath. That had been fire, which she could control, but this was earth.
She couldn’t block a barrage of rocks, not even her.
‘Then I’ll destroy it, instead of blocking it.’
Whoosh!
Dozens of fireballs appeared behind Seo Jae-yi, so numerous that it looked like she was carrying a miniature sun on her back.
It was a clash between earth and sun.
KABOOM!
Thousands, tens of thousands of rock fragments hurtled towards her along with the dragon’s breath.
“Maggie, accelerate!”
Seo Jae-yi yelled Grayson’s name and launched the nearly one hundred fireballs towards the incoming storm of rocks.
Grayson, startled by her unplanned attack, exclaimed,
“Even I can’t control that many individually!”
“I know! So do your best!”
Grayson groaned at her encouraging words and extended his hand, imbuing each fireball with his power, accelerating them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The hundred fireballs began to intercept the breath attack, each fireball destroying dozens, hundreds of rock fragments.
“Ugh!”
But the strain was greater on Grayson, who was accelerating the fireballs and manipulating the wind within the dragon’s breath, than on Seo Jae-yi, who had created them.
The veins in his neck and jaw bulged.
Now that Grayson had done his part, it was Seo Jae-yi’s turn.
“Earth lizard, I’ll ask again. How tough is your hide?”
“…Hide?”
The dragon, for the first time, spoke in human language, its superior intelligence allowing it to quickly learn.
But it was too late.
“Let’s see how long your tough hide can last.”
Seo Jae-yi gathered the remaining fireballs, now reduced in number after partially neutralizing the breath attack. More than half of them had been destroyed, but it didn’t matter.
Grayson gathered all his power and pushed the fireballs, now a single, massive, meteor-like projectile, towards the dragon’s breath.
The dragon’s breath was completely neutralized.
But the attack wasn’t over. The partially destroyed, now ragged fireball continued hurtling towards the dragon.
Even a dragon couldn’t withstand a direct hit from an attack imbued with the combined power of two top-tier S-rank Espers. And there was no escaping it, as it was also infused with wind.
The dragon, gritting its teeth, unleashed another breath attack. This time, the fireball would surely be destroyed.
But Seo Jae-yi, seeing it unleash its breath, smirked.
“Drop it!”
She yelled, grabbing Grayson’s waist and pulling him away, dodging the breath attack.
Grayson, trusting her to handle the evasion, dropped the miniature meteor into the chasm the dark brown dragon had emerged from.
<What?!>
The dragon’s breath struck the ground where they had been standing just a moment ago, the impact shaking the earth.
“Whoa!”
Seo Jae-yi and Grayson rolled across the ground, thrown back by the force of the blast. She jumped to her feet, leaving behind Grayson, who looked exhausted, and looked at the dragon, which was also showing signs of fatigue.
The breath attack was a dragon’s ultimate skill.
Using it twice in a row put a significant strain even on a dragon. It was gasping for breath.
She couldn’t give it time to recover.
Seo Jae-yi acted swiftly.
“Rest. I’ll take care of the rest.”
She ran towards the dragon, leaving Grayson behind, and unleashed her power. Her eyes glowed crimson, just like when she overloaded.
Her heat detection ability, amplified to its maximum, pierced deep into the earth.
Beneath the cracked ground, created by the Earth Dragon, was a sea of molten rock.
The fireball she and Grayson had dropped was now moving within the lava.
She raised her hand, and the fireball, now coated in lava, erupted from the chasm, striking the dragon directly.
Raaaaargh!
The dragon screamed in agony as its scales began to melt.
Even an Earth Dragon couldn’t withstand the heat of lava.
<Human!>
“Haha. That’s why I asked, Earth lizard. How tough is your hide?!”
She had found its weakness. Victory was within her grasp.
Seo Jae-yi took out a dungeon plant from her spatial pouch and threw it at the dragon.
It was the Ogre Vine, nurtured with her flames.
<Wh-what is this?!>
The vine, resilient enough to survive even in volcanic regions, quickly took root in the cracked earth and wrapped around the dragon.