<h4>Chapter 262: Sword Saint Making Ramyeon</h4>
<i>Baaaaaaang―</i>
When they heard the sound of an explosion from inside the boss room of the Dungeon of Sin, Barchel and his knights shrugged as theyughed merrily.
“Oho~ I guess that poison dragon bastard is very excited today.”
“Fufufufu. If Sir Barchel sessfully hunts the poison dragon, you will be more powerful. You have the chance to be the deputy tower master now.”
The corners of Barchel’s mouth curled up in joy. If he became the deputy tower master, then he would be more powerful in terms of the sword in the country,pared to Carr.
Then, one of the other ambitious knights said, “Just like the stories and legends of the past, a hero has appeared toe and hunt the poison dragon.”
“Fufufufufu. So, are we the viins?”
Barchel found their words funny.
<i>‘Well, what if I’m a viin? Anyway, this is just a game.’</i>
Even if a hero appeared, they would not be able to kill the poison dragon.
“Not too long ago, the Bone Dragon Lord appeared. It’s not one of the four legendary dragons, but it’s true that it was the first dragon to show up.”
He could remember that day clearly. He heard that ATV had reached their highest rating of 60% that day. It was safe to say that more than half of the entire country had watched the broadcast, including those that watched Ztube on the inte, so it was only natural that they achieved such ratings. As for the Bone Dragon Lord there…
“That bastard was killed by a foreigner.”
“A…a foreigner?”
“Yes.”
Barchel shook his head when he saw the knights look at him in surprise.
The fact that a foreigner killed a dragon was extremely surprising. Of course, the dragon was already dead and was infinitely weakerpared to a regr adult dragon, but nevertheless, it was still surprising. Still, even if foreigners grew surprisingly quick, their strength was still insufficientpared to the guardians that dominated the world of Athenae. Hence, the knights were wondering how the foreigner was able to kill the dragon.
“ording to the information that I gathered, the bone dragon lord is infinitely weaker than the four legendary dragons. I also heard that there were dragons of fire and ice present back then, but they still needed a long time to grow. So what if they grew up? Even if there were three bone dragon lords, they still wouldn’t be able to handle one legendary dragon. On the contrary…”
Barchel looked at the cave that was not that far from them.
“The poison dragon is the third among the four legendary dragons. And, it also achieves its full growth as soon as it breaks out of its egg.”
“What an amazing bastard.”
“So even if a hero appeared, he wouldn’t be able to kill that, unless he’s a lot stronger than all of usbined. Also, Poison Dragon Amba is capable of spitting out extremely terrible poison. There are only a select few people that can handle that poison.”
Barchel shrugged.
It was the unmistakable truth. He had already reached Level 490. Even if that was the case, hunting the poison dragon inside would only be possible if he did it with the three knights together. In addition, they also procured the ‘Poison King’s Potion’ from the Knight Tower just for this asion. The Poison King’s potion would be able to increase their poison resistance by 60%.
<i>‘Ah, but what if…’</i>
What if it was the Frying Pan Killer? Perhaps it was possible? However, he just smirked at such an impossible thought.
***
Minhyuk heard the children’s cries as he buried his head on the floor while pretending to be afraid.
“Noona, I’m scared…”
“I want to live… I don’t want to die yet!”
“Mom, mom, mom! <i>Waaaaaah!</i>”
The reason why Minhyuk wanted to hunt Poison Dragon Amba was because he wanted to eliminate the root of everything. If the Dungeon of Sin and Poison Dragon Amba remained, the creation of chimeras and the atrocious deeds that Count Peru was guilty of would most likely continue.
Another reason was because the Dungeon of Sin was located at the end of the basement. It was a convenient space that was small enough to prevent a lot of enemies from flocking towards him.
When Minhyuk heard Haze’s voice, he realized that they were trying to kill themselves. It seemed like these kids were forced to grow up too fast during the time that they stayed in this hell.
The reason why Minhyuk hid his identity from the children was also simple. There was a saying that walls have ears. Count Peru might have installed some device that could listen in on the situation of the children, or perhaps he might have hidden his own spy among the children. Was it not natural for him to be suspicious? After all, he had been creating chimeras for a long time, so he was probably not stupid.
When Haze and the other children decided to kill themselves, Poison Dragon Amba flew towards her at a breakneck speed and tried to devour herpletely. That was when Minhyuk knew that this was now or never. If any of these children were Count Peru’s men, then they would already be out of this ce.
Minhyuk quickly erged his frying pan as he ran forward while triggering ‘Food God’s Blessings’. Three ck knives popped out from his back as he summoned Beanie. Minhyuk quickly mmed Poison Dragon Amba with his frying pan. The dragon flew backward after receiving a fierce smash from his frying pan.
<i>Baaaaaaang―</i>
The long priestly robes covering his body was pretty annoying so he quickly tore it off of his body.
“Wh…who are you…?”
Haze was clearly bewildered. It was because the man who was crying and begging for his life earlier suddenly stood up and smashed the Poison Dragon Amba.
Minhyuk pondered over how he should answer that question. These children were dyed with despair due to the evil deeds that were done by adults. These children suffered from hunger due to the adult’s greed for the ‘essence’ that would be squeezed out from them. He did not know what to say to these kids. Hence, he approached her as he gently wiped the tears off of her cheeks.
“A good adult… or something like that?”
Minhyuk wanted to let them know that the world was not filled with bad adults. At that moment…
<i>Baaaaaaang―</i>
…Poison Dragon Amba jumped out of the wall where he was rammed in earlier.
“<i>Kiyeeeeeee!</i>”
When Minhyuk first saw him, notifications rang loudly in his ears.
<i>[You have met with one of the Four Legendary Dragons.]</i>
<i>[Poison Dragon Amba is a dragon that has achieved full growth.]</i>
<i>[You have gained 50 REP.]</i>
<i>[Whoever hunts Poison Dragon Amba will gain plenty of rewards.]</i>
A dragon that had achieved full growth!
Minhyuk’s father, ck Dragon, was better at handling dragons than anybody else. Britney and Destiny, the dragons that ck Dragon had tamed, were dragons that were still in their infancy stages. Compared to them, Poison Dragon Amba, who was standing in front of him, had already achieved full growth. This meant that he was not going to be an easy opponent.
Then, Amba flew towards Minhyuk.
“<i>Kihaaaaaaa!</i>” Amba roared loudly.
Beanie quickly led the children towards a fairly hidden corner. Then, it took something out.
<i>[You have torn the Space Protection Parchment.]</i>
<i>[All attacks within a one-meter radius will be nullified.]</i>
This was an item that was also sold in the Royal Shop, and it was very rare. In fact, there was only one copy sold in the shop. It was only avable since the war episode was still notpletely over yet.
The children huddled into the small magic camp created around Beanie. At the same time, poison bursted out from Poison Dragon Amba’s body as he flew fiercely towards Minhyuk.
<i>[Poison Dragon’s Wrath.]</i>
<i>[You will receive 2.4% damage per second once you inhale the poison from the Poison Dragon’s body.]</i>
“…!”
The degree of damage was too horrendous. 2.4% of damage every second would cause a huge drop in one’s HP. As soon as Minhyuk took a breath, he also inhaled the revolting poison.
<i>[You have an invincible body that can ignore and resist all abnormal states.]</i>
<i>[You have resisted an abnormal state.]</i>
However, the poison was useless against someone like Minhyuk. In other words, Minhyuk might have just been the worst opponent for Poison Dragon Amba.
<i>[Human… What in the…!]</i>
Minhyuk was shocked. The sound that came out of the dragon’s mouth was not a roar, but a clear voice. Unfortunately, Minhyuk could not understand what Poison Dragon Amba was saying because he did not understand the ‘Dragon Language’. At the same time, dozens of giant poison spears sprang up around Poison Dragon Amba.
<i>Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!</i>
The dozens of poison spears flew towards Minhyuk, who quickly used Like the Wind to approach Poison Dragon Amba, narrowing the distance between them. As soon as Minhyuk was near the dragon, he used Rampant Sword.
<i>Pipipipipipipipipi―</i>
The sword lights mmed into Poison Dragon Amba’s body, but none of them could cause a scratch on the sturdy and solid scales.
<i>‘Are you telling me that it wouldn’t work even after using Rampant Sword with extremely high additional attack power?’?</i>
What was worse was that Minhyuk could not utilize the special privilege from his Holy Power, since this bastard was not ssified as a demonic beast, demon or undead.
Then, Minhyuk quickly struck out with his reddened sword. It was none other than the Splitting Sword move. Two crescent sword lights flew straight towards Poison Dragon Amba, and Minhyuk dashed forward together with the sword light.
At the same time, he found something unusual somewhere near Amba’s mouth.
<i>‘A dragon orb?’?</i>
The orb looked like a huge pearl with its gleaming white color. However, it quickly disappeared from his sight.
<i>[Dragon Orb]</i>
<i>[With the help of the power of the Dragon Orb, Amba can exert a greater strength and force.]</i>
At the exact same moment…
<i>Kuhaaaaaaaak―</i>
…terrible poison suddenly started bursting out from Poison Dragon Amba’s body. With the poisonous explosion, the two crescent sword lights also disappeared from the air.
“…!”
Minhyuk was shocked. Before he could stop running, a green light suddenly shed in front of him and pierced through his chest.
<i>Thwaaaack―</i>
<i>[Poison Dragon’s Poison Spear.]</i>
<i>[The Poison Spear has been influenced by the Dragon Orb and is now 2x more powerful than before. The chances of triggering a fatal hit has also increased by 80%.]</i>
<i>[Fatal blow!]</i>
<i>[The Poison Spear has inflicted triple damage.]</i>
“Argh!”
Minhyuk tried to stop the spear from prating through his chest, but to no avail. The force sent him hurtling, before being smashed directly into the wall.
“Ugh!”
<i>Crash―</i>
<i>[Your HP has fallen below 10%.]</i>
<i>Strong.</i>
The single word floated in his mind. He realized how powerful a dragon was once it achieved its full growth. Just hitting a vital point could cause triple the damage on him.
“U…uncle!” Haze shouted at Minhyuk when he crashed down on the floor. She was trying to run out of the safe space without realizing it.
“Oink!”
However, Beanie blocked her way. Its expression was quite somber as it firmly signaled no to her. Beanie believed in Minhyuk more than anybody else, so it would do what it was tasked to do to support him.
Haze was helpless as she looked at Minhyuk worriedly. He was the only adult that had offered to protect her and the children who were abused and hurt by other adults. She was very grateful to him and that was why she was worried about his safety. Then…
<i>sh―</i>
…an intense light shed from Minhyuk’s body. The deep wound caused by the spear that looked like it was impossible to recover from hadpletely recovered. It was the effect of the Armor of Immortality’s special ability.
“Haze.”
Minhyuk slowly stood up as he called her name. Haze looked at him with tears in her eyes, as she listened carefully to his words.
“I’m not an uncle, I’m an oppa.”
“…”
It seemed like he felt bad because he was called <i>uncle</i>.
***
ck Dragon had reduced his login time as much as possible in <i>Athenae</i> recently because he was busy working as the president and chairman of the Ilhwa Group. However, he made sure to log in at least one hour every day. His reason was simple. It was because he needed to feed Britney and Destiny a delicious meal.
ck Dragon treated these kids as his own children and would give them special treatment. Perhaps that was the reason why a new skill appeared in his skill window.
It was a passive skill called ‘Communication’, allowing him to understand and feel what they were trying to convey, even if he did not know theirnguage or he could not hear their voice.
Today, ck Dragon also heard their voices through the skill.
<i>[I want to be stronger…]</i>
<i>[I want to protect you, ck Dragon.]</i>
<i>[I don’t want to watch helplessly like what happened back then.]</i>
ck Dragon felt moved. Remembering their helplessness during the fight with the Bone Dragon Lord, Britney and Destiny spoke of those words every day as if there was a clot in their hearts that they could not remove.
The only thing that ck Dragon could do was find ways to help them. He had asked Abel, an informant, about ways to make them grow faster.
“Britney, Destiny. I’ll be back again tomorrow.”
ck Dragon tried to cancel the Communication skill with a bit of regret.
“<i>Kkiiiii</i>…”
“<i>Kkiiiyeeeee</i>…”
The two majestic and lovely dragons approached him. They bowed their heads and rubbed him as much as they could.
“S…so cute…!”
<i>‘This is why I can’t quit Athenae!’</i>
ck Dragon petted their heads gently. It was time to say goodbye. Right at that moment…
<i>[<strong>Abel</strong>: I found an artifact that can help Britney and Destiny grow faster.]</i>
“…!”
ck Dragon’s eyes widened.
<i>‘There’s finally a solution that can quell these children’s sad cries every day! And it’s an artifact that can help me see these kids grow even more!’</i>
<i>[<strong>ck Dragon</strong>: W…what is it?]</i>
Not long after, Abel’s whisper came back.
<i>[</i><strong><i>Abel</i></strong><i>: It’s the Dragon Orb.]</i>