In contrast to his steps, which were so light they seemed almost flippant, the descent of Gram was heavy and cold. The pure white sword, holding the very life force of Fafnir—the Mad Dragon, a fire dragon trapped in a land of frost until it lost its flames, its hollow existence filled with a cold so piercing it drove it to madness—sliced through the air.

Five blades of energy materialized. Sharp as a dragon’s claws, they raked across their designated target, and blood began to flow from the Scorpion executive’s Dragon Body. The sensation of dragon scales sprouting on his own skin sent a thrilling shiver through Sa-yoon. The physical transformation was accompanied by a strange pleasure, and he smiled, baring his teeth.

He felt quite good.

Good enough to ask for a name.

“Was it Charles? Or Beric…?”

He murmured the faint traces of names he recalled from memory and lifted the sword he had lowered. His opponent, now bleeding the white blood symbolic of dragons, scowled.

Wrong again, I see.

The reaction was familiar by now. Sa-yoon swung his sword again.

“If I got your name wrong, you could at least tell me…!” the man roared, venting his frustration as he raised his own sword to block the attack. While Sa-yoon wielded a long, elegantly sharp blade, the Scorpion executive used a thick, wide greatsword. He caught the brutal slash with the flat of his blade and charged. At the same time, Sa-yoon also took a step inward.

Though it was a single step, the distance he covered was far greater. His slightly-too-long hair, which he hadn’t had time to properly manage, streamed behind him as his body shot forward. In an instant, he was right in front of his opponent. He didn’t dodge the swinging greatsword. Instead, he willingly offered his own arm, letting the blade slam down on his shoulder to create an opening in his opponent’s defense, and aimed for a vital point.

“This is why I don’t use greatswords,” Sa-yoon advised, his voice low. The man’s wide, two-handed swing had left his entire torso, from chest to neck, completely exposed. Sa-yoon’s longsword drew a line straight down it. The diagonal slash, delivered at such close range, cut deep. Deep enough to take his head off if it was just a little off.

That had been his intention.

There was no benefit in dragging out a fight while wielding the Dragon-Slaying Sword.

[Dragon-Slaying Sword, Gram (Divine Artifact)] ‘The creature closest to a god may be the dragon. Upon he who harms such a being, a blessing and a curse shall fall in equal measure.’

• This is the Divine Artifact Gram, which felled the legendary Fafnir. All stats increase by 20% when facing draconic foes.
• The more dragon blood it consumes, the stronger Gram’s effect becomes (Stacks up to 8 times).
• The wielder of the Dragon-Slaying Sword is cursed. For every 1 minute of use, HP decreases by 10%.
• Untradeable

Gram, the Dragon-Slaying Sword.

As a Divine Artifact, it was an exceptionally powerful weapon, but Sa-yoon rarely used it because of its unique properties. All of its effects only activated against draconic beings, and it came with a curse alongside its blessings.

A sword that demanded 10% of his health per minute.

It was, in essence, a berserker’s weapon.

By simple calculation, the maximum time he could fight with Gram was ten minutes. If he took damage, that time would be even shorter. Of course, Sa-yoon could resurrect the moment his health ran out, but the problem was the Pairing. Because it wasn’t an instant death, Han Geon-joo would be able to see his health dropping. And knowing his personality, he would undoubtedly try to force-share his own health, even if it meant pushing himself to his limit.

Even though he knew Sa-yoon would just come back to life.

To keep him from dying, even once.

To save him, no matter what.

That must be why he made that face back then.

The thought brought back a tight, painful pressure in his chest. Sa-yoon scowled and twisted his wrist, driving Gram deeper into his enemy’s body, forcing it to absorb more blood.

He had to end this as quickly as possible.

And he was confident he could.

If he wasn’t, he never would have drawn Gram in the first place.

“Keuk!”

At the same moment Sa-yoon’s shoulder was severed by the greatsword, Gram sliced all the way to the end of the Scorpion executive’s neck. The man’s eyes bulged as he coughed up blood and staggered back. Sa-yoon pursued him without missing a beat and activated his frost skill. The true master of the frost was never Sa-yoon, but the Mad Dragon Fafnir. Now that he was borrowing its body, he could wield far greater power than usual.

K-k-k-k-crack!

The entire ground froze in an instant, catching the fleeing man’s ankles. Their eyes met, his filled with horror, and a memory from long ago surfaced as Sa-yoon stared at that faintly familiar face.

He had seen this man’s face three times.

Once when he went to save Millet, a second time during their first major clash, and a third time when he killed Dern.

It was a tenacious connection, but it was time to sever it.

He was no longer the naive young man who had just managed to defeat Dern, and they were no longer the atrociously evil Scorpion of old. They were all just prisoners of the past’s afterimage.

It was time to move on.

As Sa-yoon leaped towards the man who had managed to get some distance, ice-crystal wings sprouted from his back. They looked spectacular, but they were a side effect of the Dragon Body. Just as a new, unnatural organ can cause deformity, the more his body changed, the greater the risks became. It was the second reason he couldn’t fight for long. Sa-yoon appeared before the man in a single bound and swung his sword.

Kaaaaaang!

A tremendous crash echoed through the air. The Scorpion executive’s lips twisted into a snarl, the veins on his neck bulging.

“The hell are you all doing, you bastards!”

As if shaken from a trance by the thuggish shout, the remaining Scorpion members, who had been watching the duel, jolted into action. But he wasn’t the only one with allies.

“Don’t worry about us, just finish him, hyungnim!” a refreshingly cheerful voice called out, followed by a symphony of death rattles. Knowing it was Yen’s handiwork, Sa-yoon focused his gaze on the greatsword locked with his own, his eyes glowing with power. His frost energy intensified. He felt a chill seep into his own heart, and then his opponent’s greatsword began to freeze over. Seizing the opportunity, he put all his strength into his hands.

Krrrr-ack!

Gram splintered the greatsword. As a crack appeared in the heavy blade, the ice holding the man’s Dragon Body shattered, and he shot upwards.

“Shit!”

The man, unable to hide his dismay as he finally realized the sheer difference in their power, cursed and charged again. He looked like a moth flying into a flame, rushing in even though he knew he was no match. A dry laugh escaped Sa-yoon.

Not because his enemy was ridiculous, but because he himself was.

He, who had wanted so desperately to escape his past that he’d cut off his support for Millet and buried the name ‘Scorpion’ under ‘Night Rats,’ was the one who had been most fixated on it all along.

He had lectured Han Geon-joo with such gravity, calling them heinous criminals, a pile of trash, a criminal organization that had crossed every line, yet the reality of them was pathetic.

Fear of the intangible was often like this.

Nothing special once you finally face it.

But.

“Still, isn’t this a little too weak?”

He was attacking relentlessly, but the force behind each blow was so light it was an embarrassment to the greatsword he wielded. Sa-yoon couldn’t tell if he was being careful not to break his weapon or if he had simply lost the will to fight. All that remained was pure rage, fueling wild swings no different from a newly Awakened hunter blindly slashing at a monster in a desperate bid for survival.

It was that pathetic.

Sa-yoon met his opponent’s vertically slitted eyes. He could see the emotions within. There was nothing but fear and anger.

He had thought it was Dern who was trying to resurrect himself, but the real ghost was right here in front of him.

Millet.

You should have seen this.

It was so absurd that Sa-yoon simply parried the attacks, letting them flow past him. The man, mistaking his defense for a desperate struggle, seemed to think he couldn’t counterattack. A smirk formed on his lips.

“Yes, no matter how…”

His voice came out as a grating rasp, forced through a torn throat and wounded neck. Sa-yoon’s brow furrowed in distaste. He bent his elbow and drove the pommel of his sword up into the man’s chin. It was an effortless motion, but because he was in his Dragon Body, his opponent was launched skyward. Sa-yoon kicked off the ground to follow, using his ability to walk on air, and fixed his gaze on the top of the man’s head.

Even though he had ascended after him, his line of sight was already looking down on the Scorpion executive. Only then did Sa-yoon realize why he hadn’t bothered to learn his name.

He just didn’t care to know.

Before, he hadn’t listened because he hadn’t wanted to remember. This time, there was simply no need to.

He wasn’t worth his attention.

Half of his own health was gone, and his right arm lay severed on the ground below. Seeing that the end was near, Sa-yoon looked down at his opponent, whose head was now hanging loosely, and raised his sword.

“This wasn’t a hunt.”

Contrary to his expectations, he felt no excitement. He muttered the words under his breath, bent his knees in mid-air, and then dropped vertically onto his target, the tip of Gram aimed at his head.

Thwump!

It pierced straight through.

The fall continued. As the ground rushed up to meet them, Sa-yoon clicked his tongue, a strange, indescribable feeling washing over him. He had thought it would be a clean, satisfying victory, but the messy conclusion left a bad taste in his mouth.

BOOM!

When Sa-yoon finally landed, all eyes were on him, standing tall, and the man at his feet, who had died without so much as a final twitch.

“…”

As he stared blankly at the notification window announcing the end of the special effect due to the dragonkin’s death, he felt someone touch his arm. It was his severed shoulder. He turned his head to see Han Geon-joo holding his detached arm and pressing it back into place. When he poured a potion over it, the flesh began to knit back together. The greatsword’s clean cut had resulted in an unexpected benefit.

As he watched his shoulder slowly heal, Geon-joo looked up. The moment their eyes met.

<Quest ‘Second Step for Activation’ has been completed! Please proceed to the next quest! (º □ º l|l)>

[Quest – Third Step for Activation]

Type: Resistor Quest 

Party: (2/2) 

‘Clear the designated Gate in cooperation with the disposition holder.’ 

Details: Clear the designated Gate, ‘The True Evil of Humanity?,’ with the Awakened who possesses the ‘Heaven and Earth, I Alone am the Honored One’ disposition. 

Reward: Able to proceed to the Final Step for Activation. 

Failure Penalty: ‘Resistor’ disposition will be deleted. . . . <Time until creation of Special Gate ‘The True Evil of Humanity?’: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 58 seconds>