NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39 - The World After the Prologue
Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: ford53
=================
< Chapter 39: The World After the Prologue (4) >
The moment he met the gaze of the skeletal dragon, Yeomyeong narrowed his eyes.
It was because of the intense mana he felt emanating from the dragon’s chest. His eyes burned as if he were facing a furnace up close.
Without taking his eyes off the skeletal dragon, he asked Kim Mansoo.
“…Deputy Commander, what is that thing?”
Kim Mansoo, who had been trembling as he looked at the dragon, finally came to his senses.
He didn’t even think to wipe the cold sweat trickling down his face and answered in a cautious voice.
“Ka-Hal Magdu… an undead dragon allied with terrorists. Why is a monster that should be in South America here in Manchuria…?”
Before Kim Mansoo could finish his explanation, the dragon spoke.
[Oh, you know my name? There was no one in this land who knew me, so you are not an ordinary mercenary.]
‘Was it so fascinating that they knew his name?’
The flames within the dragon’s eye sockets curved gently like a crescent moon.
[I would like to chat for a while… but I prefer to avoid small talk during work.]
‘….’
[Unfortunately, a mission is a mission. You must die here.]
The skeletal dragon spoke as if to console them, then wiggled its bony fingers.
At that moment, countless footsteps began to echo from beyond the coniferous forest.
Hearing the irregular, unnatural footsteps, Yeomyeong frowned.
Groaaannn…
Soon, an enormous number of zombies emerged from the darkness beyond the forest.
“Damn it…”
As soon as Kim Mansoo saw the zombies, he cursed.
Their attire was all too familiar. Military uniforms, combat gear, and even uniforms from other mercenary corps…
“North Manchuria is already… finished.”
There had been a sliver of hope even when they faced the monsters wielding rocket launchers.
North Manchuria wouldn’t fall to mere terrorists, but now, faced with undeniable evidence, Kim Mansoo closed his eyes tightly, a look of despair crossing his face.
“Deputy Commander.”
Yeomyeong, who had been observing the situation, interrupted his thoughts. He spoke as he looked at the approaching zombies.
“What are you going to do?”
Reading the meaning behind the brief question, Kim Mansoo bit his lip.
‘To fight or to flee.’
Neither option was easy. Against that colossal skeletal dragon, neither victory nor escape could be guaranteed.
“For now… we run.”
The decision was swift, and their steps were even more swift.
Almost simultaneously, they kicked off the ground and ran in the opposite direction of the dragon. Though the zombies dragged their mangled bodies and followed, they couldn’t keep up with the pace of superhumans.
[Fleeing during a mission, how mercenary-like.]
The dragon moved its skeletal legs, pursuing the two. Its steps were leisurely, as if it were some sort of noble.
Thud, thud, thud!
The sound of its massive footsteps gradually faded, but Yeomyeong couldn’t feel at ease.
A growing sense of foreboding gnawed at him, as if something was terribly wrong.
‘…What is this?’
The moment he furrowed his brows, he sensed something moving ahead.
Judging by the slow steps, it was undoubtedly a zombie.
‘Were they already surrounded?’
Yeomyeong instinctively turned. Or rather, he tried to.
Kim Mansoo halted first, before Yeomyeong could. The two stood still, staring grimly at the zombies encircling them.
“…Shit.”
It was the Seonjook Mercenary Corps’ Team 3, who had died in the previous skirmish.
“You damn son of a bitch…!”
Seeing his comrades turned into zombies, Kim Mansoo clenched his fists so tightly they turned white.
At that moment, the leisurely voice of the approaching dragon reached them from afar.
[As mercenaries, you understand, don’t you? In a mission, only success matters. No one will leave North Manchuria alive today.]
Yeomyeong turned to see the dragon making a circle with its fingers and pointing at them.
With its thumb on its middle finger, it looked as if it were about to flick something.
Snap
The dragon flicked its fingers. Something shot out from its hand at an incredible speed toward them.
Yeomyeong swung his sword to deflect it once again, but this time, it wasn’t a bullet.
What landed on the ground where they looked was a set of dog tags.
Bloody dog tags, likely worn by a soldier or mercenary from North Manchuria.
“…How vile.”
The hulking creature carried such things not as treasures but purely for provocation.
Seeing their hardened expressions, the dragon burst into laughter.
Kim Mansoo ground his teeth, glaring at it.
“Rookie, you should escape.”
“…What about you, Deputy Commander?”
“I’ll buy some time. You’re faster than me. Use any means necessary to report this to the Manchuria base.”
‘Manchuria base?’
Yeomyeong hesitated as he looked at the composed Kim Mansoo. Could it be that he hadn’t noticed?
He whispered into Kim Mansoo’s ear.
“I don’t see Senior Tian Lin among the zombies. It seems he succeeded in escaping.”
“What?”
“If the dragon finds out, it might pursue them, so let’s keep this between us. And…”
Yeomyeong stood with his sword beside Kim Mansoo, ready for battle. The sound of approaching zombies grew nearer with each passing moment.
“I will fight alongside you.”
“…It would be better if you escaped.”
“Dividing our forces in this surrounded state will only lead to us being picked off one by one.”
“We could die simultaneously.”
Kim Mansoo spoke as he loaded his rifle. It seemed he had no intention of stopping him further.
Yeomyeong glanced back and forth between the skeletal dragon and the zombies before he spoke.
“Deputy Commander, I have a plan.”
“…A plan? In this situation?”
There was a strange sense of déjà vu in their exchange. Kim Mansoo turned slightly to check Yeomyeong’s face.
“It’s a simple plan. While I deal with the dragon, you take care of the zombies.”
“…Is that all?”
“Yes, and if possible… I hope you don’t die.”
A wry smile crept across Kim Mansoo’s stiff face. He nodded, gripping his rifle.
“Alright, let’s do this… no, we must do this.”
As he solidified his resolve, Yeomyeong kicked off the ground.
Zombies lunged at him, but Yeomyeong had already leapt, infusing mana into his calves.
He stepped on the air. More precisely, he kicked the trunk of a conifer tree, propelling himself higher.
Reaching the treetop, he could meet the dragon at eye level. The eerie blue flames in the dragon’s eye sockets met Yeomyeong’s golden eyes.
* * *
[Oh? You intend to fight?]
The undead dragon, Ka-Hal Magdu, expressed a mix of surprise and delight in his voice.
[Excellent. The courage of the weak is worthy of praise.]
No further words were needed.
Yeomyeong launched himself from the treetop toward the dragon, and the dragon simultaneously stirred the mana with a sweep of its hand.
The dragon’s overwhelming mana coalesced, and the surrounding mana conformed to its will, forming sharp ice, a simple attack spell that human mages called an ice spike.
But the ice spikes conjured by a dragon were fundamentally different from those of humans, in size, strength, and quantity.
Crack, crack, crack!
The air froze as dozens of ice spikes filled the space. The glittering ice under the night sky was terrifying.
The next moment, as the dragon flicked its fingers, all the ice spikes moved in unison, converging on Yeomyeong.
It was a perfect encirclement of attacks, occupying all directions: above, below, left, and right.
Facing an attack that seemed impossible to evade, Yeomyeong recalled the wolf monster he had seen during his initiation test, specifically, the way it moved its body.
The monster infused its heart with mana, squeezing its blood vessels to enhance its physical strength.
For humans, merely attempting this would cause them to vomit blood and die, but Yeomyeong was willing to mimic it.
He trusted in his regenerative abilities. If his regeneration surpassed even that of a superhuman, he believed he could endure the monster’s method.
His thoughts were brief, and he hesitated not at all.
‘…Blood flow acceleration.’
Yeomyeong poured mana into his heart, forcing it to pump.
The heart that had surpassed its limits spewed blood and mana, and his blood vessels pulsed as if they would burst.
From his head to his toes, from the aorta to the capillaries.
More mana and more oxygen were supplied to every part. The reaction was explosive.
His vision cleared, and his body outpaced his senses. As mana surged within him, the world around him seemed to slow down.
In that fleeting moment, he clearly saw the trajectories of the ice spikes launched by the dragon.
Within the paths of the spikes, he swung his sword at the weakest point. A brilliant white arc of light flashed.
Clang!
Where his sword struck, the encirclement of ice spikes collapsed.
Cold shards of ice splattered against Yeomyeong’s cheek.
Before they even melted, he had already broken through the ice spikes’ encirclement and reached right above the dragon’s head. His speed was astonishing.
[No, how…?]
Before the dragon could react, Yeomyeong thrust his sword down towards the dragon’s chest.
As he descended, he unleashed a wave of energy.
Mana, rising from within his heart, surged through his waist, shoulders, elbows, and hands. His sword became a torrent aimed at the dragon.
His target was the dragon’s heart, sensed between its ribs.
The dragon twisted its body, bringing its forelimb forward to intercept the sword. It sacrificed its bone to protect its heart.
The next moment, Yeomyeong’s sword clashed with the dragon.
Crunch!
He felt no sensation of cutting through anything. The feedback through his grip was heavy. Yeomyeong was thrown back, along with his sword.
“Ugh!”
He crashed to the ground and rolled, quickly regaining his stance. As expected, his sword had not reached the dragon’s heart.
At best, a few fragments of bone had chipped off its forelimb.
‘Cutting through the bones… is impossible.’
The hardness was beyond imagination. If there were flesh, he could aim for excessive bleeding, but his opponent was an undead, all bones. His only option was to target the heart.
Yeomyeong took a deep breath and steadied his sword.
[Hahaha! To think you could scratch my bones! This is the first time since those damned Yankee bastards poached me!]
The dragon seemed oddly amused, standing on two legs and swinging its claws. Its massive talons left long gashes where Yeomyeong had been.
Trees splintered, and soil was thrown into the air. Yeomyeong narrowly avoided the attack, gathering his mana again.
He then lunged at the dragon from below.
If he couldn’t strike from above, he would try piercing from beneath. His lithe movements extended his body forward.
Thud! Thud!
The dragon stomped down at the approaching Yeomyeong. The ground shook with its powerful strikes, but Yeomyeong had already accelerated close to the dragon.
However, he couldn’t swing his sword upward. In the next moment, an unexpected attack struck his body.
Wham!
What hit him was the dragon’s tail. He barely managed to raise his sword to block it, but the immense impact sent him flying.
Yeomyeong soared through the air in an arc, like a tennis ball.
“Ugh!”
The unmitigated shock coursed through his muscles. Microvessels pushed to their limits burst simultaneously.
Blood poured from his mouth and nose. The biggest issue was the microvessels in his eyes. His vision turned red.
[Humans, they think other species fight with just two arms like they do.]
He heard the dragon’s mocking voice as he crashed to the ground.
‘Damn it.’
His entire body ached, but there was no time to rest. The dragon was preparing its next spell.
Using the recoil, he immediately sprang to his feet.
Though his vision hadn’t returned, he could clearly sense the mana swirling around him.
Crackle!!
This time, it was lightning. The sound of electricity tearing through the air assaulted his ears. Unlike the ice spikes, this was an attack he couldn’t deflect with his sword.
[Impressive, but still immature. If only you had a few more years… you could have made a fine vessel. Such a pity.]
Yeomyeong wiped the blood from his eyes and looked at the lightning filling his field of view.
Could he dodge all that lightning? He wasn’t sure, but if he didn’t dodge, he would surely die.
He spat out the blood pooled in his mouth and raised his sword.
[I like that you’re resolute till the end. Now, let’s finish this…]
As lightning and sword were about to clash, both the dragon and human turned their attention to the other side of the coniferous forest.
”What is that?”
Something was approaching.
No mana, no presence could be felt, but a sound, like an engine, was getting closer and closer.
…!
Yeomyeong realized it was the sound of a motorcycle engine just as the source of the sound was almost upon them.
Vroom!!
A motorcycle burst through the air right above Yeomyeong.
It was a high-end sports bike, festooned with grenades and homemade bombs.
The bike flew towards the dragon, emitting a holy light as if it were some sacred relic.
It was a sight that defied reality. The dragon gaped at the bike tracing an arc in the air.
He snapped out of his daze only when the bike was nearly at his chest.
[You crazy…!]
Boom!!
The moment the dragon reached for the motorcycle, it exploded.
First, a blinding light enveloped the area. Then, a tremendous shockwave swept through, and finally, the dragon’s scream echoed through the forest.
[Graaaargh!!!]
Instinctively, Yeomyeong raised his arms to shield himself from the flying debris. Once the shock subsided, he turned towards the direction the motorcycle had come from.
Hovering in the air were two automatic rifles and two slender hands gripping them.
It was the gunslinger he had vowed never to meet again.