Chapter 86

Wrath of the Frenzied Dragon

What is a living creature’s most fundamental instinct?

You could name hunger, the need for sleep, or sexual desire, but those are only urges necessary for survival.

Hunger and the need for sleep are primal survival urges. Sexual desire is the urge to survive by propagating one’s genes.

So whatever anyone might say, a living creature’s foremost instinct must be the will to survive.

The Archmage had defined that drive this way:

["The nature of living creatures can be described as ‘selfishness that includes altruism toward kin.’"]

One could give one’s life for one’s own flesh and blood.

But for another creature that wasn’t related by blood?

One might help out of pity, but not if doing so came at the cost of one’s own life.

["In other words, a living creature never sacrifices its life for a genetically unrelated individual."]

And yet.

["For some reason, we humans alone risk our lives to protect others."]

Even for strangers with entirely different genes, not blood relatives.

Even though it clearly defied a living creature’s instincts.

["Why that is... I don’t really know either."]

An exception that magical studies could not explain.

And magical studies was the discipline that interpreted this world’s laws and principles. In other words, this was a phenomenon that even the laws of this world could not explain.

Isolde was that kind of person.

Someone impossible to understand or explain.

A Saintess who would sacrifice herself to protect others, believing it was her very reason for existing. A hero who silently endured loneliness and solitude, never revealing her own suffering.

The woman Ian had loved for that very reason—and who had dumped him for that same reason—

"You never listened back then, and you still don’t listen now!!"

And a stubborn woman who never listened to a damn thing.

She hadn’t changed at all from my previous life.

She was still stupid enough never to consider that looking after herself was how she could save more people, keep more of them alive.

But when it came down to it, I was no different.

I had no need to fight Kraulgar.

Its rampage would bring about Violess’s fall, completing the Hidden Quest naturally. Afterward, its incomplete body would collapse with time, and it would return to the Abyss.

There was no need for me to go out of my way to draw its attention.

Everyone in Violess would die, but what was I supposed to do about it?

They had nothing to do with me anyway. They were merely strangers with entirely different genes.

Yet the reason I had gone out of my way to face Kraulgar and buy time was—

... Who knows?

Honestly, I didn’t know either.

Perhaps I simply thought this was what Ian would have done.

The allied army’s Supreme Commander.

Ian, the Hero of the continent.

People praised and respected Ian as the Hero, but not everyone did.

There was something people liked even more than a Hero.

Watching that once-radiant Hero fail and fall. Reveling in the sight of his miserable end.

No matter what Ian did, whatever he accomplished, people turned their backs and resented and envied him.

The ugliness of human nature.

Were people like that really worth sacrificing yourself for?

And yet, Ian.

["If you think the people of this continent are ugly, then I suppose I’m the Hero of ugly people."]

Even so, you never stopped helping people, right to the end.

You sacrificed yourself for them so much that I thought you were an idiot, that I couldn’t help thinking you were a sucker.

Every time, you frustrated and irritated me—but at the same time, I admired you.

You embraced people instead of condemning and berating them for their mistakes.

You stood unshaken as a deeply rooted tree, even when you were forever on the edge of a cliff.

You always did everything well and overcame whatever came your way.

But in truth, you hadn’t been overcoming it—

["Ian, you’re bleeding...!"]

["Adrian, our comrades are watching. All the more reason to look good."]

When I learned that you, too, had merely been enduring it.

When I realized that Player’s Will[EX] did not, in fact, grant perfect mental immunity.

When I finally understood what you had been carrying on your shoulders all that time, Ian.

I truly admired you.

So much that I couldn’t even dare dream of becoming like you.

EEEEEEEEEE!!

A strange noise burst from Kraulgar.

The patterns etched into its skin blazed red as though they were alive, erasing the boundary between night and day in an instant.

Rageful Shockwave.

A technique that compressed the energy of anger and destruction Kraulgar had absorbed and generated to an extreme degree before releasing it.

The instant that shock wave erupted, the first thing to distort would be the wavelengths of light.

The earth would tear apart, the air would become blisteringly hot, and an area several kilometers in radius would be engulfed in explosive vibrations. Every object at the center of the shock wave would crumble to dust.

The explosion, laden with scorching heat and rampaging energy, would spread outward, instantly inflicting fatal wounds on every living creature.

It was a vicious power that went beyond mere physical impact, one that had reduced battlefields to wastelands and destroyed everything around it.

Kraulgar, too, had realized it was running out of time. It had realized that as long as I was here, it couldn’t achieve its aim within the time it had left.

So it had staked everything on this.

In other words, the moment Rageful Shockwave erupted, everything would be finished.

Violess, of course, but Isolde and I would be no exception.

I should have fled immediately—but—

◆Activating combination skill ‘Dragon Rage Explosion[E]’!

I didn’t.

'I’ll counter it.'

I had to cancel out Rageful Shockwave.

I knew. It was madness.

The Rageful Shockwave I had seen in my previous life had possessed power beyond overwhelming—transcendent. The idea of neutralizing it was beyond foolish. It was idiotic.

But Kraulgar was unstable now. It wasn’t the same as it had been in my previous life.

So if I could force a collision at the precise instant its anger energy compressed and erupted...

There was a chance.

I could counter it.

No, I had to counter it.

And the power of Dragon Rage Explosion[E] varied with the Calories Consumed.

◆Surplus Calories 31,450Kcal

'This isn’t enough.'

I couldn’t do anything with this few calories. Even burning all one hundred thousand might barely be enough.

But I had no time to consume more calories or anything else.

So I had to surpass them.

The Predator of my previous life—and my own limits.

◆Using the skill ‘Nutrient Synthesis[B]’ to synthesize [Hydrogen], [Oxygen], [Acetylene], [Vinylacetylene], [Ethylene Oxide], [Hydrazine], [Nitrous Oxide]...

Elements and compounds that caused exothermic and explosive reactions.

I then used Metabolic Overdrive[U] to trigger explosive reactions in a specific system.

My remaining calories burned rapidly, and the explosive substances synthesized within my body multiplied and spread uncontrollably. They spread throughout my entire body, carrying intense heat and energy.

Up to this point, the mechanism was the same as Dragon Rage Explosion[E].

I concentrated that spreading energy in my right arm.

CRRRRACK!!

The condensed energy began to seethe explosively.

Energy that should have dispersed throughout my entire body was concentrated on one side, compressing the energy explosions occurring simultaneously.

The compressed energy interacted, creating overlapping, repeating chain explosions—

"Grrrrrgh!!!"

The pain burning through my entire body felt as though it would tear my mind apart.

But... I wouldn’t block the pain.

I couldn’t.

I had to focus my senses to concentrate the spreading energy in a single place.

My right arm glowed red-hot.

The energy roiling and seething within it, ready to explode at any moment, was beyond estimation.

My body couldn’t withstand energy compressed to this degree. My right arm should have burst long ago—but—

Two hundred forty-one days of training in the Infinite Labyrinth.

The tremendous increase in my Stamina and Strength stats that had resulted.

RRRRUMBLE!!!

They allowed me to withstand the compressed explosive energy.

No, they allowed me to hold on.

"AAAAAARGH...!!!"

Pain that dug deep into my bones.

Agony that seemed to stop time itself.

The pain felt as though it were denying my very existence, and my mind could no longer bear it, collapsing—but—

◆Player’s Will[EX] resists the soul-rending pain!!

["Endure it."]

I had to endure it.

◆Player’s Will[EX] resists the endlessly burning pain!!

["You endure it, Adrian."]

I had to endure this.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Screaming, I wrung every last bit of strength from my legs.

I kicked off the ground, leaping upward—

Bounded off fragments of the crumbling ruins—

And when I finally came to a halt high in the air, looking down on Kraulgar—

◆Combination skill Dragon Rage Explosion[E] is evolving!!

Translucent words appeared before my eyes—

◆Wrath of the Frenzied Dragon[L]

: When using this skill, the player [Compresses] simultaneous energy explosions by [Concentrating Consumption] of [All Calories] stored on one side rather than dispersing them.

The compressed energy undergoes [Synergistic Interaction], producing overlapping, repeating [Chain Explosions].

Damage dealt by Dragon Rage Explosion[E] increases [5-fold], while the explosion at its core deals [8-fold] damage.

<This is an evolved skill derived from Dragon Rage Explosion[E].>

By the time I registered that fact—

◆Activating evolved skill ‘Wrath of the Frenzied Dragon[L]’!!

My fist, bearing all that energy, had already reached the end of its course.

* * *

Isolde’s mind froze abruptly.

It felt as though time itself had stopped.

EEEEEEEEEE!!

The anger energy compressed within the monster’s enormous body finally exceeded saturation, causing cracks to form.

And at last—

ROOOOOOOAR!!!

Rageful Shockwave erupted.

The impact tore through the atmosphere ahead of the sound. Her vision warped as though the boundary between earth and sky were collapsing.

Everything that existed... began to break apart.

... It was over.

Isolde knew that before anyone else.

CRASH!

The holy veil shattered helplessly.

Enormous pressure surged toward her. Her toes left the ground, and her body rose into the air.

At that moment, amid the collapsed boundary between earth and sky—

RROOOOOOOAR!!!

An enormous dragon formed of flame roared.

Every time it spread its wings, flames fell through the air, like pieces breaking off the sun.

The dragon’s fiercely blazing eyes.

When she met them, a single phrase came to Isolde’s mind.

The Frenzied Dragon.

The Frenzied Dragon was wrathful.

Its emotions seethed on the verge of exploding. Blazing flames of anger and hatred engulfed everything.

... And yet, how strange.

It was warm. Somehow, comforting.

Like gentle sunlight enfolding our frozen bodies after a long winter’s night.

The Frenzied Dragon’s enormous body flew headlong toward Rageful Shockwave, and wrath collided with rage.

───────!!

Sound tore apart.

Light and impact. Heat and anger.

Everything mingled together, engulfing the entire world.

The sky screamed. The earth dried out and cracked apart.

Everything was collapsing, as though the very contours of the world were coming undone.

But Isolde could see it.

The anger energy burning in the Frenzied Dragon’s flames.

... The Frenzied Dragon’s wrath was devouring the rampaging rage.

The swirling chaos gradually subsided.

The warped sky and earth slowly regained their shapes. The collapsing landscape finally returned to its place—

RROOOOOOOAR!!!

Everyone in Violess could see the blazing wrath of the Frenzied Dragon.

That blazing wrath bared sharp fangs of hatred at the enormous evil threatening Violess.

CRRRUNCH!

The Frenzied Dragon’s enormous jaws savaged the monster’s neck, its teeth tearing through the creature’s skin in an instant.

ROOOOOOOAR!!!

The monster twisted, trying to shake the Frenzied Dragon off.

The harder it struggled, the more doggedly the dragon clung to its neck.

WHOOOOSH!!

The Frenzied Dragon’s flames blazed even more fiercely.

It climbed over the monster, beginning to burn its entire body. Writhing in agony, the monster pounded the ground—

KABOOOOOM!!

The tremendous impact shattered the landscape—but—

RROOOOOAR!!

The Frenzied Dragon instead drove its sharp claws down into the monster’s body, instantly ripping through its skin.

Flames burrowed into the wounds, burning them.

Then the Frenzied Dragon sank its teeth deep into the monster’s throat.

The monster was swallowed by fire before it could even scream—

THOOOOOM!!

At last, the monster’s enormous body fell to the ground.

The Frenzied Dragon trampled it.

Flames still blazed, burning the surrounding earth—

RROOOOOOOAR!!

The roaring wrath of the Frenzied Dragon.

It made unmistakably clear which being reigned above all creation.

* * *

RROOOOOOOAR!!

When the wrath of the Frenzied Dragon rang out as it burned the landscape—

"H-huh...?"

"What was I...?"

Sarpedon and the other Visters awoke from the anger that had consumed their minds.

And they could see it, too.

The enormous monster and the Frenzied Dragon wreathed in flame.

They saw the two beings’ ferocious battle clearly with their own eyes.

It was a battle of myth, the kind one might find only in a fairy tale.

And at last, the enormous monster threatening the city of Violess fell to the Frenzied Dragon—

And far away, a man emerged from the blazing flames.

He looked utterly wretched.

His entire body was scorched black, his breathing ragged. His right arm was nowhere to be seen—who knew where he’d lost it?

He staggered, utterly spent. Even a child looked capable of beating him.

And yet.

... He was unapproachable.

No one dared draw near.

He clearly looked as though he might collapse at any moment.

But his appearance, his very presence, exuded an oppressive force that seemed to look down upon the entire continent.

The strongest being, reigning above all creation—or perhaps something beyond even that.

The great city of Violess was held beneath the weight of a single man.

Under all those gazes, he slowly turned his head and surveyed Violess—

THUD.

Sarpedon was the first to fall to his knees.

After him, one Vister after another dropped to their knees with a thud.

It spread like an epidemic. Across every district of Violess, all the Visters knelt before him.

Because they knew instinctively.

Because they felt it instinctively.

"We bow before the King of Violess!!"

A true absolute power had been born in Violess.