Chapter 285 – Dragons (2)
Who were the leaders of the Middle World?

A question that had been repeated throughout history, and naturally, the humans considered themselves to be the rulers. Elves, dwarves and other beastmen had far too few numbers while the countless monsters lacked intelligence despite their formidable strength.

The orcs were the only ones that could compete against humans but they were overly instinctive. When they were hungry they would eat, sleep when sleepy and fight if they wanted to…

Even after a long time, the orcs showed no development and thus, the existence that carried the biggest influence in the Middle World became humans. Of course, that was without considering the administrator, mediator and observer, the great existences called dragons.

‘Dragons are the true rulers and leaders of the Middle World.’

Pierce breathed in deeply.

However, since a few hundred years ago, the dragons had hidden themselves from view. There were rumours that they had left for the World of the gods, to a different dimension or that they had all entered hibernation but no-one could provide the exact evident reason for the disappearance of the great beings.

A small portion of humans including mages were greatly shocked from the disappearance of dragons but most were happy and joyful of it. The reason was,

‘Because of the Mad Dragon Lunark.’

Even from amongst the dragons, the Mad Dragon was the only black dragon and was infamous for being a slaughterer of the Middle World. Without following the Dragon Lord, Gold Dragon Europas’ orders and commands, he travelled the Middle World alone and brought all sorts of slaughter and destruction.

Offering treasures, gold and silver were pointless. There were times when even beauties were offered but that too was pointless, as the Mad Dragon had only seeked massacre and destruction.

That Lunark had disappeared together when the other dragons had hidden themselves, so it was something which humans couldn’t avoid being joyful of.

‘And yet this is that Mad Dragon Lunark’s lair?’

Glancing through the lair, Pierce let out a deep breath. Now that he saw these treasures filling this place as remains and proofs of the destruction and massacre, his heart tightened.

“Shouldn’t have been that long since he had left the lair but…”

Walking across the lair, Kalian shook his head and on his face surfaced annoyance.

“The gems are still there but the weapons are all gone. This crazy blackie…”

He kicked away the gems reaching onto his feet.

“Is he planning to make an army or something…”

Turning his head over, Kalian faced Pierce.

“At this rate, we too need to make a new arm…”

When his words reached around there,

Kwang!

Along with a massive noise, a strange organism sprouted forth from amongst the mountain of treasures. The strange organism was five times bigger than Pierce with a build that made people speechless. Although its two legs were short, its two arms were long enough to touch the ground, and its head was very small without a nose, with only one eye and one mouth.

“What in the world…”

Pierce gave a frown. This was an organism that he had never seen, or even heard of in his entire life but Kalian gave a light smile and shook his head.

“A guardian.”
“Is that a guardian?”

Staring at the strange organism, Pierce asked to which Kalian replied with a flat tone.

“Right. Lunark loved using Keakes as the Lair Guardian for a long time now.”
“Keakes…”

Pierce gulped.

“Kuang!”

As if it had been waiting, the strange organism, Keakes let out a peculiar voice. Raising its long hand up, the massive palm appeared in full as it blocked the lair’s ceiling. Stepping back, Kalian waved his hand at Pierce.

“You try fighting against it.”
“Me, sir?”

Pierce asked back with surprise but Kalian only nodded in reply. After another gulp, Pierce glared at Keakes. It was massive but he wasn’t scared.

‘I am the continent’s greatest spearman.’

Not counting Roan of course.

He pointed his spear at Keakes and Keakes immediately replied by waving its large hand.

Paat!

It swung in like a whip.

Taat!

Kicking off the ground, Pierce flew his body across as the mana flowed ideally and efficiently throughout his body.

Spat!

His shadow blurred and the spearhead danced across the dimension.

Swing! Slash!

Deep wounds were created on Keakes’ arms, but,

Shrrk.

A wound that would’ve been critical on any humans had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Uh?!”

Widening his eyes, Pierce made a slightly surprised expression and in that instant, a large hand flew towards his head.

“Hup!”

Rapidly regaining his breath, he kicked off once again.

Kwang!

Together with a loud noise, the large palm slapped the empty ground. The attack was strong enough to sink the hard ground in.

Drop.

When Keakes raised its arm, bits of stones fell down from its palm. Actually, they appeared to be little stones compared to its arm but in fact were small-sized rocks.

“The regeneration ability of Keakes is astounding. Just cutting up wounds won’t do anything significant to it.”

Kalian’s voice entered his ears.

“You must cut it off in one slice. Whether it be an arm or a neck – so that the wound cannot close you need to slice it off with one movement.”

He talked nonchalantly but it definitely wasn’t something easy. Pierce had no choice but to grit his teeth.

‘Good. Let’s try it once.’

Pierce was a man who did not know of the word, give up, and once again, he kicked off the ground.

Pabat!

Going around Keakes quickly, he swung his spear.

Slash!

The sharp spearhead slashed at Keakes’ arm together with the dimension, but its bones were as big and tough as his body suggested.

Tang!

The spear that went through the meat was blocked by the tough bones.

“Kuk!”

Putting power into both of his hands, Pierce tried to cut off the bone but it was pointless and soon, the organism’s other palm drew closer into his head.

‘Damn!’

Having no other choice, Pierce retrieved his spear and fell back.

Shrrk.

The wound created from the spear was immediately closed but Pierce couldn’t afford to stay regretful the entire time.

Kwagwang! Kwang! Kwang!

Keakes smacked its palms left and right without a stop, and every time that happened, ground was broken apart along with resonating echoes.

“Come on, hurry.”

Kalian’s voice entered his ears and sounded cheeky but Pierce didn’t have any room to spare.

Pababat! Swing! Slash! Spat!

The fierce battle continued. Keakes’ attacks were ferocious but each of its actions were too big, while Pierce’s attacks were fast and elaborate but weren’t powerful enough to cut off its bones.

‘There should be a way…’

Pierce clenched hard. The mana inside his body had fallen to below half and with one mistake, he could end up as a mass of blood on Keakes’ hand.

In that instant,

“Pierce, how do you cut trees with an axe?”

Kalian’s voice was heard. It was still cheeky but it wasn’t something that could be therefore ignored.

‘When cutting trees?’

His eyes brightened.

‘Good!’

Something sparked in his head.

Kwang!

Keakes’ palm fell right next to him, and immediately Pierce ran up the arm and waved his spear.

Tang!

But it was soon blocked by the tough bones and couldn’t move any further. Without being startled, Pierce quickly retrieved his spear.

Shrrk.

The wound was closed immediately after but Pierce instead wore a faint smile on his lips.

Kwang!

Keakes’ massive palm once again struck the ground. Pierce, who had dodged that with elaborate movements, waved his spear again.

Slash!

The spear once again dug in deep into the thick arm.

Tang!

But another sound rang as the spearhead met a hard bone.

Shrrk.

When he took the spear back out, the wound was closed without a sign. It seemed to be exactly the same as the previous time but Pierce wore a strange smile of satisfaction.

‘I knew it!’

His expression said that his expectations had been on the mark. From then, Pierce continued dodging Keakes’ attacks while diligently waving his spear, and every time, the spear dug through the thick arm before colliding with the tough bone.

“Oho. Impressive.”

Staring at that, Kalian let out a low mutter and soon became delighted into clapping.

“Hahaha. To slash the same exact place over and over again. Although I did give a bit of a hint, to think that he was able to pull that off against the moving Keakes… amazing.”

Kalian lifted his thumb up.

It was true. Despite having to restlessly avoid Keakes’ attacks coming without a stop, Pierce had been able to cut the exact same spot over and over again. It was surprising enough that he was able to remember a place that had been healed without a single mark remaining, but the fact that he was able to cut the exact location despite having to avoid Keakes’ powerful attacks was more astounding.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

Every time, the spearhead was blocked by the tough bones but with every attack, a small crack was formed on that tough bone.

‘Unlike the skin and the muscle, the bone is not regenerated.’

Pierce wore a faint smile, and focusing his all into his fingers, like a lumberjack cutting a tree with an axe, he aimed exactly at the faint crack appearing on the bone with his spear.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

And every time, the bone was slowly broken and cracked, until finally,

Slash! Pagak!

Pierce’s spear slashed through the thick arm and even cut away the tough bone cleanly.

Sphat!

The spear that appeared like a twig in front of Keakes’ arm, divided its arm as it reached into the skies. It was a clean and perfect dismemberment.

Kuung!

Together with a heavy sound, Keakes’ right arm fell on the ground.

“Kuang! Kuang!”

Waving its right arm that had now become missing underneath the elbow, Keakes let out a strange voice. During that, Pierce stepped back and heaved out deep breaths.

‘Huu, huu. I did it.’

He found it hard to believe himself.

‘By going against a guardian, I learned another way to use the spear.’

Through this fierce battle, he felt like he had grown one step further.

“Kuang!”

It was then that Keakes raised a shout while lifting its left arm towards Pierce.

“Huu. Round 2 huh.”

Pierce made a bitter smile. It was one arm less but the fight was not over yet.

‘Hopefully my mana would be able to hold out…’

Cutting off the right arm required a lot more mana than expected, but he wasn’t desperate nor did he give up. He was Pierce,

‘The strongest spearman of the continent.’

He still had the confidence and pride in himself, and of course, Roan was still an exception. Pierce was once again about to kick off the ground when,

“Pierce, take this.”

Kalian’s voice dug into his ears and naturally turning his head in response, Pierce stared at Kalian.

Fling!

Immediately, a steel stick the size of an arm flew towards him. Pierce reached his hand out quickly and snatched it when suddenly, a strong and pleasant wave of mana entered through his palm.

“This is…?”

Pierce asked carefully while looking at Kalian. Kalian replied casually with a nonchalant expression and voice.

“It’s a spear I made. To give it a name… maybe Kalian Spear? It’s far below Travias Spear but it is still much better than the one you’re using right now.”
“Kalian Spear…”

Staring at the steel rod the size of his arm, Kalian Spear, Pierce muttered in a low voice, but then,

“If you blank out like that, you might end up as a pool of blood.”

Kalian’s voice was heard. Quivering his body, Pierce stared above and realised that Keakes’ palm had reached his surroundings. Unconsciously, Pierce flowed mana into the Kalian Spear and,

Paaaat!

Red light escaped from Kalian Spear and at the same time, the arm-sized steel rod elongated while a red spearhead showed itself.

‘I’m overflowing with power! No, it feels good!’

Pierce felt his own emotions being heightened from the powerful strength coming from the spear. Confidence that he would be able to cut anything overflowed immediately and it was then that Keakes’ palm fell towards his head.

Kwaaaang!

Its palm smashed the ground along with a deafening boom.

“Kuaaah!”

Imagining Pierce that would’ve been squashed by its palm, Keakes let out a weird roar and showed its happiness, but,

Pssht!

A vicious sound was heard as a red spearhead appeared above Keakes’ hand.

“Kuah?”

From the unexpected situation, Keakes was dumbfounded and blinked its large eye. Undaunted, the red spear travelled back and forth as it vertically cut through Keakes’ palm.

Shrrk. Kung!

From the tip of the finger to the wrist, Keakes’ left hand was cut open vertically and fell sideways cleanly with a heavy sound. And from the gap appeared Pierce.

“Hahahaha!”

With a laugh, Pierce kicked off the ground and the red spearhead slashed through the dimension as it etched deep into Keakes’ arms.

Sguguguguck!!

A gruesome sound filled the lair. The red spearhead of Kalian Spear flowed like water as it divided Keakes’ arm and now, Keakes’ left arm was cut lengthily from the hand to the shoulder. There was nothing to stop it and there was no urge to stop as Pierce kicked off the ground and raised the spearhead above his head.

Sphat!

At the same time, a red light flickered from the tip of the spear as the light shone upon Keakes’ left arm. Even the tough bones were nothing more than fragile twigs in front of Kalian Spear, and Keakes’ left shoulder was completely bisected.

Kugung!

The heavy arm fell on the ground with a heavy sound.

“Kuaaah!”

Keakes let out a pained roar, but without caring about that, Pierce kicked off the ground again and waved his spear with a jump. The spear cleanly dug into Keakes’ neck.

Blink.

Keakes blinked its large eye once before soon tilting to the side.

Kung!

The cleanly cut head fell on the ground before the body did, and soon, the massive body followed suit powerlessly.

Kukukukukung!

Together with the heavy, blunt sound, the mountain of treasures collapsed. Regaining his balance in midair, Pierce dropped down and landed on Keakes’ chest.

“Huu.”

Heaving out a deep breath, he stared at Kalian Spear.

‘It’s a great spear.’

Keakes’ bone which he had to cut dozens of times to barely dissect had been cut without a single issue. Besides, just holding onto the spear had allowed a fast recuperation speed of the mana inside his body.

“Amazing. Despite using my spear, you were able to solo the guardian of a dragon’s lair.”

Kalian’s voice was heard, as he approached Pierce while clapping.

“Good. I like you. I’ll give you the Kalian Spear.”
“Sorry? Ah… Thank you.”

Pierce lowered his head with great joy. It is said that masters do not blame their equipment but that was not a reason to refuse good equipment. Kalian however, wore a strange smile and brightened his two eyes.

“However, I have a request.”
“A request?”

Pierce asked back carefully.

“Ah! It’s definitely not a strange request.”

Kalian smiled and continued his words.

“Find someone for me.”

It was a completely unexpected request.

<Dragons (2)> End.

Translator: Lunargrasp
Proofreader: Deathwing