Second Life of a Dragon Raising Hunter

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Chapter 418: KWAHAKAHAK!!

A pure white explosion brilliantly adorned the battlefield. Yeon-woo’s scattered holy grenades detonated, and the mana that filled the space rushed outward in an instant.

Fireworks set off at the perfect moments. That’s what defines the qualities of a hero.

Fighting in a confined space, filled with mana, was terribly suffocating. One could say it was as if they couldn’t breathe properly.

So, Yeon-woo decided to first tear the ceiling apart. Since the Demon King’s chamber wasn’t on the top floor, it took a bit of time for the construction, but fortunately, the top had already been prepped, so it didn’t take long.

“Ho-it!”

With a swing of her arms, a whirlwind erupted from the center of the hall. The vortex quickly inflated, sweeping up the mana present in the room and soaring into the sky.

The Demon King didn’t even try to catch it. Purple mana scattered high into the heavens.

Yeon-woo watched as Yuri and Noel flew around, looking considerably more comfortable. She was trying to grasp how those two fought and how the Demon King was engaging.

The result was… well, not much was gained. Thanks to their deep understanding of each other, Yuri and Noel fought as if plugging gaps, while the Demon King was…

‘What is that?’

Could that be called fighting? It seemed more accurate to express it as being fought at.

Minimal attacks and defenses using the Demon Sword. And creatures spawned from the wounds were in relentless pursuit.

It was hard to tell whether she was facing one foe or dozens of monsters.

The Demon King, who could have fit on a throne, had now grown massive enough to fill one side of the battlefield.

All the Demon Kings faced before had been monstrous, but this one was different… perhaps the most loyal embodiment of the word monster.

Her bloated body was adorned with countless beasts. From familiar animals like lions, goats, and horses to limbs of humans, demons, and even unidentified creatures.

It was truly a grotesque sight that everything moved as if it were one body. It was even more so because it genuinely was one body.

How should one even contend with this? The Demon King casually absorbed attacks wrapped in the Aura Blade and created new creatures from the same.

‘What if I stuffed some kind of bomb inside and blew it up…?’

It wasn’t a completely unreasonable hypothesis. But when considering that the resulting meat chunks might sprout into different creatures, it perhaps wasn’t something to test out immediately.

Could I scorch a section instantly to create something? Or what if I crushed it with rocks so it couldn’t emerge?

Various methods flashed through her mind, but there were no clear solutions.

For now, she decided to protect the two and keep an eye on the situation. Surely, there must be a weakness. Hadn’t each of the Demon Kings she had faced before had something?

*

“Hah, hah… I feel like I know something!?”

Noel shouted at Yeon-woo as they swapped out. To that question, Yeon-woo confidently shook her head and replied.

“I have no clue at all.”

“Damn it!”

Noel sighed… or more like let out a curse, pulling out a water bottle and dousing herself like a shower above her head. She must have been trying to cool off from the excessive sweat.

Yeon-woo, employing magic and swordsmanship to defend against the onslaught of proliferating creatures, concluded she didn’t know what was going on. Something felt off.

Normally, all living beings have some kind of deficiency. Intelligence can be low, unwanted body parts may exist, and metabolic efficiency can be rather poor too.

Yet, the Demon King showed none of the typical defects one might expect from a demon. It was excessively rational.

Was it that a mind steeped in madness was still able to live?

Thus, she judged that there was still much to be determined regarding the lurking Demon King, the demon species.

Therefore, she shifted her gaze to the next oddity.

‘Demon Sword.’

Swinging a sword in one’s hand is natural. Block, cut, stab. When holding a blade and facing an enemy, it’s something that happens naturally.

However, it’s peculiar not to attempt to kill the enemy even while holding a sword.

It might be different if it was a meek boy too scared to kill, but for a Demon King to behave that way was truly strange.

The attacks the Demon King had made to try and eliminate Yuri and Noel had mostly involved her own body, not the Demon Sword.

Being within close range didn’t even serve as an excuse. If needed, she could stick her arms together to extend the reach.

In short, it felt like she was merely acting. The Demon Sword was simply a tool, while her true form was that of the demon, the Demon King.

Maneuvering excessively to avoid damage must have been to protect her main form.

“…Focus on the Demon Sword, Noel!! Attack the Demon Sword!!”

At Yeon-woo’s shout, Noel and Yuri turned their gaze towards the Demon Sword.

In that moment, their eyes met. What had been seen as a clean purple greatsword now had an eye sprout on it.

[Ah, I’ve been discovered?]

Kihihihi, kihehhe, kihihihi, kihehhe!!

A chilling laughter swept across the battlefield. The ear-splitting sound waves were enough to make one’s eardrums feel like bursting as they stuffed their ears with aura.

If you were at an expert level, just hearing that laughter would make your head explode.

Of course, our trio of masters wouldn’t just lose their minds over something like that. Just a little tickle here and there.

“I knew something was a bit off.”

“Old man pretending to know again.”

Yuri glared at Yeon-woo. Though she teased him for pretending to know, she seemed to take it seriously. She must have gleaned some hints from seeing them clash against the Demon Sword a few times, looking puzzled.

Even for Yuri, she didn’t seem entirely convinced.

In any case, deducing its identity was immensely significant. Despite having dragged on for nearly 30 minutes, it meant they could finally begin their offensive.

Just as Yeon-woo was thinking this, a massive arm formed from the merged arms of various creatures swung towards her. Leaping to evade the ground-sweeping strike, Yeon-woo shouted.

“…Of course, that means the opponent is also gearing up to attack!!”

Not only that arm formed from limbs, but the flesh of the Demon King was swelling as well. To be honest, it was far more grotesque than the first time she met Dawn.

[That wasn’t the case… was it?]

‘No, it absolutely was. Its muscles were distinctly visible, making it grotesque in a different way.’

As she informed Dawn of the reality he was denying, she looked up at the sky. Beyond the hole-ridden ceiling, the moon was rising.

[It’s been a while, Child.]

From beyond the clouds, the moon goddess descended.

Oh, how long it had been to see you, Lunaria.

*

Yeon-woo was taken aback by Lunaria floating around her, looking like she was spiraling in the air.

Though this happened occasionally, it had been a year or two since she’d last spoken, so she wondered if her capriciousness had finally ended. That was all she could think.

[You shouldn’t think of a god’s whims as being akin to a human’s. Ten years is but a blink of an eye.]

Indeed… it was long. It was rather strange for a god to be chummy with a human pair like Solaria and Na Yang-ho; typically, it was more like this.

A loud explosion accompanied with flames poured down toward Yeon-woo, who stood there doing nothing. She managed to swing White to slice through the flames and kick up the ground to create a stone wall.

Calmly blocking the dual assault, she dashed sideways. Just as it seemed, part of the Demon’s bulk had morphed into a monster right up to her feet.

Despite having gripped her sword unknowingly, Yeon-woo jumped over the foe using the merciful wind.

[Oh, are you busy?]

“Timing isn’t really working out well!!”

It was terrifying to ignore a goddess who hadn’t visited in so long.

So, while Yeon-woo responded in mid-air, she swung her sword. Sharp thorns launched from the Demon King’s body and struck the ground.

Lunaria, who had been contemplating with her finger on her lips, smiled a bright smile.

[Well, since we’re at it, I suppose I’ll lend a hand. Even if this isn’t my turf, if the one I bless is a hero, I can do this much.]

With those words, Lunaria took off soaring toward the moon, her cloth fluttering behind her.

It was as if she was riding the moonlight like an elevator, but it seemed it would take a while before she reached it.

She mentioned wanting to help, and there was no reason to turn it down. Thinking that way, Yeon-woo touched Relin’s Warehouse.

The type was a blade. The rank was magical tools. The target was the Demon Sword the Demon King wielded.

Diving her left hand into the shadow beneath her feet, she pulled it out. In her mind, she could hear Tae-oh mumbling something.

[Classification complete! Launch preparation ready!]

“Great, launch!!”

At Yeon-woo’s signal, various weapons from the growing shadows began to pour out chaotically.

Rather than just piling up useless weapons, it was better to use them like this, thanks to the combination with Tae-oh.

The Demon Sword didn’t even try to hide itself anymore, as if leading with its demonic body, blocking the deluge of weapons showering down.

From its body embedded with weapons, flames, thunder, and ice erupted, but the expression of the demon race didn’t change at all.

Completely possessed by the Demon Sword, her heart was beating, yet it was as if she weren’t truly alive.

It was quite the absurd situation. The one everyone called the Demon King was, in fact, not a demon but a sword at its essence. This was exactly why cursed weapons were dangerous.

“I’m counting on you, Tae-oh!”

[Oh yeah! Let’s shoot like crazy!]

With Tae-oh in charge of weapon firing, Yeon-woo lightly landed on the ground.

Noel and Yuri were also refraining from slashing, using the flat of their swords to pound against the Demon King’s body, but it was far from spectacular.

By not cutting, she generated wounds with her own claws, recklessly multiplying.

‘At least the elemental types worked, but… neither of them were of that kind!!’

Yuri’s “sword” was needless to say, and Noel’s “sun” operated as a projection of the mind, making it ambiguous to classify as elemental.

It unknown what the gift Lunaria was preparing might be, but until it fell, Yeon-woo needed to keep being active.

Darting through the barrage of weapons firing like a Vulcan cannon from Tae-oh, Yeon-woo grabbed a few flying weapons and hurled them towards the Demon King’s body.

Six blades struck at regular intervals. Within them, Yeon-woo’s mana connected lines between the weapons.

The basics of magical tools. If one could inscribe a magic pattern on a stone, they could use it as a bomb.

That meant, if one could carve it into flesh, it could also be used that way.

KWA-A-A-A-ANG!!

It turned out the Demon King’s flesh was quite suitable material, as a massive explosion erupted with a nauseous smell.

As the bonds of the flesh ruptured, the Demon Sword flew upwards, but before long, an arm that had stretched out seized the sword and began to transport it to safety.

[Be careful, Child, it’s falling.]

In that instant, something fell through the pillars of moonlight.

(To be continued in the next episode)