Chapter 50
“Eblis Rayonia?”
“Just call me Eblis. That’s what Hieltun calls me as well.”
“Aren’t you one of Hieltun’s subordinates?”
“That’s right. I was forcibly abducted by him and turned into a chimera.”
“Abducted?”
“Who would ever choose to end up like this?”
A sorrowful expression spread across Eblis’s face.
She had originally been the heir of a noble family in Kurayan.
Blessed with both beauty and talent from an early age, she had been regarded as someone who would restore her family’s glory.
But before she could fully realize her potential, she was kidnapped by Hieltun.
Shortly after, she was brought to Earth alongside him—and turned into a chimera.
When she regained consciousness and saw her lower body transformed into that of a spider, she went mad.
Hieltun subdued her with a mental binding spell and forced her to serve as his butler.
And so, for over a hundred years, Eblis had lived as Hieltun’s servant against her will.
Inside her mind, two identities coexisted.
One was the human Eblis Rayonia.
The other was Eblis the chimera—butler of Hieltun.
The chimera persona was stronger, so she had no choice but to faithfully obey Hieltun’s commands.
She had fought Deioden for Hieltun—and ended up like this.
Deioden had shown no mercy, splitting her body clean in half.
Only after her bond with the spider body was severed did she finally regain her true self—
the human Eblis Rayonia.
“At last… a day like this has come. I thought I’d never escape his grasp. Don’t look at me like that. I feel freer now than I ever have.”
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for. If anything, I’m grateful. Thanks to this, I’ve found peace.”
“…!”
“Will you grant me one request? If you do, I’ll give you something in return.”
“What is it?”
“If any members of my family have crossed over to Earth… please give them this necklace.”
Eblis removed the necklace from around her neck and handed it to Zeon.
It bore the emblem of a red rose.
At the center of the rose was a blue gemstone.
“It symbolizes the head of the Rayonia family. To others, it’s meaningless—but to my family, it’s more precious than anything. It can awaken the power within our bloodline…”
“I can’t promise. But if I happen to meet them, I’ll deliver it.”
“Thank you. In return, I’ll give you this.”
Thrust!
Suddenly, Eblis plunged her pale hand into her own chest.
Zeon frowned as her arm sank all the way to the wrist.
A moment later, she pulled out a round gemstone, red as blood.
“This is the Eye of a Red Dragon that Hieltun embedded in place of my heart.”
“A dragon’s eye?”
“Hieltun hunted a young dragon of the Red clan in Kurayan. He did it to research chimeras. Every chimera in this lair contains parts of that dissected dragon.”
“…!”
“He processed the last remaining eye and used it to replace my heart. It’s been a long time, but the mana inside it is still intact. It should be useful.”
It was a dragon’s eye.
Not quite on the level of a heart, but still containing an immense amount of mana beyond anything ordinary monsters could possess.
Zeon accepted the dragon’s eye.
A fierce heat radiated from it in his palm—just like a Red Dragon.
“Then… I leave it to you…”
As if she no longer had the strength to endure, Eblis closed her eyes.
That was her end.
“…Hah.”
Zeon let out a quiet sigh.
He hadn’t held favorable feelings toward humans from Kurayan—but hearing Eblis’s story stirred a sense of pity within him.
He stored the necklace and the Red Dragon’s Eye in his subspace.
At that moment—
BOOOOM!
With an explosion that shook the entire cavern, Deioden crashed down nearby.
“Ugh!”
“Are you okay?”
Zeon hurried toward him to help him up.
“Don’t touch me.”
Deioden brushed his hand aside and stood on his own.
“…!”
A groan escaped Zeon’s lips.
Deioden’s left arm was gone.
His shoulder looked charred and crushed, as if burned away.
It was the result of Hieltun’s breath attack.
Despite what must have been unbearable pain, Deioden showed no sign of it.
Instead, he burned with fighting spirit, fueled by madness.
Using Crayon like a staff, Deioden stood and spoke to Zeon.
“You idiot.”
“…What?”
“Heh… looks like this is as far as I go.”
It was the first time Zeon had ever heard such words from Deioden, leaving him speechless.
Deioden glared at Hieltun and continued.
“He’s insanely strong. If all dragons are like him… then humanity has no future.”
Hieltun was terrifyingly powerful.
For over a hundred years, Deioden had wandered the desert, using every possible means to grow stronger.
And yet—even then, he couldn’t gain a decisive advantage.
Hieltun’s magic existed in a realm far beyond human reach.
And his body was tougher than any monster Deioden had ever faced.
Without Crayon, he wouldn’t have been able to leave even a scratch on those scales.
Across Hieltun’s massive body, patches of red flesh were exposed.
Deioden’s attacks had torn away some of his scales, dealing noticeable damage.
But the dragon still stood strong.
Having faced Hieltun directly, Deioden instinctively understood—
the real battle was only just beginning.
From here on, it would be a fight where they would have to stake their lives.
“You idiot!”
“Yes!”
“If I die, then I die.”
“…What?”
“I’m telling you—don’t think about what comes after. You think too much. You calculate too much, and you worry far too much about everything.”
“That’s…”
“Sometimes, there are moments when you have to throw everything aside and charge in with everything you’ve got. Like right now…”
As Deioden tightly gripped Crayon, illusions appeared at his sides as if by magic.
One of them was someone Zeon recognized.
‘Akaruk!’
The being who had been forcibly turned into an undead by Hieltun.
He appeared as a phantom.
The figure on the other side was someone Zeon had never seen before.
A man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties.
Blond hair, blue eyes, tall and well-built—a classic handsome Westerner.
“Crayon…?”
At Zeon’s words, the man smiled and nodded.
Deioden made a surprised expression.
“Heh… you can see them too? My friends…”
“So it was real. I thought you were just crazy, talking to yourself.”
“It was short, but I had fun. You idiot!”
“Me too.”
“This is my final lesson. Watch carefully how I hunt a dragon.”
“…Yes!”
Zeon clenched his teeth as he answered.
Until the very end, Deioden refused to let Zeon join the fight.
He intended to hunt Hieltun with his own hands.
Zeon respected that will.
As Deioden stepped forward, he spoke.
“If I die, I die. Throw away any attachment to life, just like the sand slipping through your hands—and crash into it with everything you have. That’s the only way to hunt a dragon.”
“I won’t forget.”
“You’d better not. Heh.”
With a grin, Deioden quickened his pace.
Then he shouted—
“Let’s go, my friends!”
The phantoms of Crayon and Akaruk ran alongside him, then merged into one.
BOOM!
A strike imbued with the power of death slammed violently into Hieltun’s body.
Even the Absolute Shield couldn’t fully withstand the impact—the massive dragon’s body shook.
But Hieltun did not remain passive.
He unleashed countless spells and fired his breath at Deioden.
BOOM! CRASH!
Their clash caused even the magically reinforced lair to collapse.
Massive rock formations crumbled, and the sand covering them poured down in torrents.
At that moment, from behind the collapsing rock, dozens of men appeared.
With identical faces and identical attire—as if stamped from a mold—they were chimeras created by Hieltun as clones.
Acting on his will, they all attacked Deioden at once.
“Is this all you’ve got, you lizard?!”
Deioden shouted as he cut down the leading clone.
—Arrogant human! I shall deliver divine punishment upon you.
“Don’t make me laugh. Who’s a god? You, a mere lizard? I won’t allow it.”
—I am the god of the new world, foolish human.
RUMBLE!
At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning struck down from the sky.
It pierced through the shattered ceiling of the underground cavern and struck Deioden directly.
With no chance to evade, Deioden was hit head-on—his body turning black like charcoal.
His flesh was burned through, his hair completely gone.
The fact that he was still alive in that state was astonishing.
Deioden pulled out a small vial from his chest and bit down on it.
Then he crushed it—glass and all—between his teeth.
It was a stimulant created by a mad alchemist.
A potion that instantly removed all status ailments and restored both stamina and mana.
Without hesitation, Deioden swallowed it along with the glass shards.
At once, the charred skin peeled away, and new flesh regenerated.
It was an utterly insane effect.
“GRAAAAH!”
With a roar, Deioden swung Crayon.
In that instant, an immense aura of light gathered around the massive blade.
Sword aura—mana condensed into the weapon.
Infusing it with the power of death, Deioden unleashed it at Hieltun.
Slash!
A massive wound tore across Hieltun’s enormous body.
A torrent of blood erupted as the dragon let out a deafening scream.
—GRAAAAH!
The dragon’s thrashing caused the already half-collapsed lair to finally cave in completely.
Hieltun spread his massive wings and soared high into the sky.
Deioden, riding Crayon, rose to meet him at the same height.
BOOM! CRASH! RUMBLE!
Thunder roared continuously across the dry desert sky.
The aftermath of a battle between a single human and a dragon was beyond catastrophic.
The lair collapsed entirely, buried under sand, and an immense quantity of sand surged upward into the sky.
The sand blocked out the sun, plunging the entire area into darkness.
Zeon’s body rose into the air.
A pillar of sand lifted him upward.
From that dizzying height, he could see Deioden and Hieltun fighting.
Zeon took it all in—every moment, without missing a single detail.
Deioden had no future to think about.
No intention of surviving.
“Heh… if I die, I die.”
The final battle of his life.
Deioden burned everything he had as he fought Hieltun.
In him, Zeon saw the very limit of humanity—
how strong a human could become,
how far a determined human could evolve.
He saw all those possibilities embodied in Deioden.
“You damn old man… seriously…”
Zeon couldn’t finish his words.
His shoulders trembled slightly.
His eyes were already bloodshot red.
BOOM! CRASH!
The battle between dragon and human rushed toward its end.
The raging storm, the flashing lightning in the sky, the superheated air—
all of it testified to that fact.
In Zeon’s eyes, he saw Hieltun and Deioden gathering their final strength for one last clash.
BOOM!
The entire desert trembled as if the end of the world had come, and the clouds in the sky were torn apart.
After a tidal wave of sandstorm swept across the land—
the world fell into an eerie, sudden silence.