Chapter 23. The Delinquent and the Chief Knight (2)
The frigid wind of the Snowy Mountains whipped around Kai’s cheeks like a violent gust.
Every time he drew closer to the Gelu-Drake, it felt as though death itself were blowing toward him and threatening him.
....The pressure was tremendous.
It was almost impossible to believe that Adrian had endured this pressure alone while fighting.
Kai could not conceal his trembling before the Gelu-Drake’s overwhelming presence.
Then, the moment the drake stared at Kai with one eye, a terror that seemed to freeze even his soul engulfed him.
At that life-or-death moment—
“Snap out of it!!”
Adrian’s thunderous shout jolted Kai back to his senses.
‘What just happened was….’
Dragon Fear.
It was the aura of terror possessed by dragons.
It inflicted overwhelming despair that transcended mere fear, and no living creature on this continent could escape its effects.
Dragons were the strongest beings, reigning supreme over all creation.
Before a dragon, every living creature was nothing more than prey.
Kai was no exception.
But Adrian was different.
Adrian crouched low and sprinted forward, once again aiming for the Gelu-Drake’s flank.
The Dragon Fear had not affected him in the slightest.
‘Even if it was a weakened form of Dragon Fear, how could he possibly….?’
The Gelu-Drake swung its tail in a wide arc and knocked Adrian away.
Then the Gelu-Drake retreated.
Kai moved to pursue it.
At that moment, Adrian’s shout struck his ears.
“Stop!!”
Kai immediately froze.
He did not ask why.
Kai had sensed it as well.
An aura of death slowly began emanating from the retreating Gelu-Drake.
Something was wrong.
The Gelu-Drake drew a deep breath, and bluish cold energy began gathering within its enormous jaws.
“It’s Dragon Breath!”
Adrian shouted, and Kai’s eyes widened.
Dragon Breath.
The name literally meant the breath of a dragon. It was so named because dragons expelled energy or matter from their mouths as though exhaling.
Monsters belonging to the dragon species were generally known to possess this ability.
More precisely, it could be used by monsters possessing a dragon’s Genetic Factor.
Even then, it was a “power” available only to monsters with a particularly strong concentration of the dragon’s Genetic Factor.
‘It can use Breath...?’
That meant the Gelu-Drake possessed an immense concentration of the dragon’s Genetic Factor.
It wasn’t called the Master of the Snowy Mountains for nothing.
Of course, it could not compare to the Dragon Breath of a true dragon.
Judging by its behavior, it did not appear to be something the Gelu-Drake could use freely.
If it were, there would have been no reason for it not to use the ability earlier.
In other words, the Gelu-Drake had also been driven into a corner.
It could no longer guarantee victory against Adrian and Kai, so it had decided to gamble everything on one final move.
This single clash would determine who was the predator and who was the prey.
The Breath currently gathering within the Gelu-Drake’s jaws—
It was a viciously cold energy befitting the name Gelu.
In other words, it was Ice Breath.
Even though it was a weakened form of Breath, a direct hit would erase most things without leaving a trace.
Therefore, they had to dodge it.
This was not the kind of attack that could be blocked or countered.
“Get out of the way right—!”
Kai shouted but could not finish his sentence.
The moment the Gelu-Drake opened its jaws, filled with Ice Breath—
Kai realized how foolish the idea of dodging it had been.
The surrounding air rapidly froze.
The sky darkened in an instant, as though a blizzard had descended upon them.
Frost laden with cold energy spread outward.
Kwaaaaaaaaaah!!!
A pure-white torrent of icy breath poured forth like a waterfall.
The frigid, bluish energy froze everything it touched.
The instant something came into contact with the cold, it froze and stopped as though time itself had come to a halt.
The overwhelming cold engulfed and froze the Snowy Mountains.
Everything in the path of the Ice Breath froze solid, as though an enormous river of ice had formed.
....This was on an entirely different level from an avalanche.
This cold surpassed even the power of nature, capable of taking lives in a single instant.
He couldn’t dodge it.
But could he block it?
Kai hastily raised his Aura to protect his body.
Even so, his entire body trembled like an aspen leaf.
Kai merely told himself that it was because of the cold emanating from the Ice Breath.
And at that moment—
Adrian suddenly stepped in front of Kai.
* * *
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!!!
The cold of the Ice Breath engulfed my entire body.
The instant I crossed my arms to shield my face, my skin froze solid.
◆Hardened Skin [D] resists Ice Breath!
◆Hardened Skin [D] resists Ice Breath!
Translucent messages appeared continuously before my eyes.
Each time one appeared, the cold briefly receded.
But even then—
Hardened Skin [D] alone could not block the cold of the Ice Breath.
Crack, crackle!
In the blink of an eye, ice crystals spread across my body.
The ice began at my fingertips and rapidly enveloped my arms, legs, and entire body.
Have you ever seen a human being freeze solid in an instant?
Probably not.
Such a thing rarely occurred.
That was why most people simply imagined the victim becoming an “ice statue”.
They assumed the person would merely be trapped inside ice and could escape unharmed by melting or breaking it.
But that was absolutely not the case.
When a person truly froze, not only the outside of the body but also everything inside it froze.
The blood and bodily fluids froze as well.
When blood and bodily fluids changed from liquids into ice, they hardened, sharpened, and expanded in volume.
It was the same as forming blades of ice inside every blood vessel throughout the body.
As a result, the blood vessels and cell membranes were all torn apart.
In other words, my blood vessels and cell membranes were currently being shredded.
However—
◆The sensory nerves are temporarily blocked!
◆The skill “Regeneration [B-]” is being used to regenerate the damaged body!
The instant my blood vessels and cell membranes were torn and destroyed, I simply regenerated them.
I merely blocked my sensory nerves to suppress the pain.
Most importantly—
‘Compared to the Monarch of Frost...! This is nothing...!!’
The freezing cold once unleashed by Seraphia, the Monarch of Frost—
Compared to that, this was truly nothing.
Seraphia’s cold was absolute.
Even the Saintess’ miracle could not heal it, and the Regeneration of a mere Ice Troll could never hope to overcome it.
It was the horrifying cold that had taken Hero Ian’s left arm.
Compared to that, the Ice Breath pouring over me now was practically “warmth”, not cold.
Crack, crackle!
My frozen body gradually turned blue.
Although weakened, it was still the power of a dragon.
I was somehow enduring it with Regeneration [B-], but that was all I could do.
Enduring it was my limit.
And I could not hold out for much longer.
More importantly, there was a limit to how much damage I could inflict upon the Gelu-Drake.
The only one capable of dealing a fatal blow to it was....
“Kai—!!!”
The instant I shouted, Kai kicked off the ground and leaped.
Because I had blocked the Ice Breath from the front, Kai remained unharmed.
Protecting his body with Aura, Kai instantly escaped the area covered by the Ice Breath.
Then, the deep-blue Aura coating Kai’s sword shimmered like an aurora.
Kai’s sword looked capable of cutting through anything in existence.
The direction in which it was aimed was….the Gelu-Drake’s heart.
“Aim for its neck!!”
When I shouted urgently, Kai hurriedly altered his sword’s trajectory.
A transition from a thrust to a slash.
That sudden change weakened the force behind his sword.
Slice—!
A distinct sensation traveled through the tip of his sword.
However, the cut was shallow.
As a result, he failed to sever its neck.
Could he have killed it if he had aimed for the heart as originally intended?
Who knew?
He couldn’t be certain.
To be honest, he was doubtful.
The Gelu-Drake’s body was more than ten meters long, making it extremely difficult to drive a sword deeply enough to reach its heart.
Therefore, Adrian’s judgment to target its neck had been the best possible decision.
In that urgent situation, even Kai had made the wrong judgment.
Yet Adrian had remained calm and rational even amid such a desperate crisis.
-Kueeeeeeeeeek—!!!
The Gelu-Drake let out a horrifying scream. Its neck had not been severed in a single strike. However, a half-severed neck was undeniably a fatal wound.
As a result, the Ice Breath stopped pouring forth.
But it was not dead yet.
Therefore, the battle was not over.
Adrian was currently incapable of fighting.
Kai had to finish it.
Could he do it?
Kai adjusted his grip on his sword.
....He had to.
He squeezed every last bit of Aura from his body and poured it into his sword.
Just as Kai was about to kick off the ground—
Adrian charged forward like a violent gust.
Kai’s eyes widened to their limits.
Adrian’s body had unquestionably been frozen by the Ice Breath. His entire body should have frozen solid and shattered into pieces.
‘How in the world….?’
Beyond Kai’s gaze, filled with confusion and disbelief—
Adrian was noisily chewing something.
The Gelu-Drake was also visibly startled. It had never expected Adrian to charge at it.
The Gelu-Drake had focused all its attention on Kai, leaving it unable to react to Adrian.
Adrian instantly climbed onto the Gelu-Drake’s back.
The Gelu-Drake’s long claws and fangs began trembling faintly, as though convulsing.
Its tail instinctively drooped and brushed against the ground.
A low, anxious growl escaped its throat.
There was no longer any confidence of a predator within that sound. Nor did it possess the imposing presence of the Master of the Snowy Mountains.
The Gelu-Drake instinctively realized that it was no longer the hunter.
It had become the hunted.
Adrian had been the one struck directly by the Ice Breath.
Yet it was the Gelu-Drake whose entire body had stiffened and frozen with tension.
With that—
The relationship between predator and prey became perfectly clear.
The predator was Adrian.
And the prey was....
The Gelu-Drake.
Adrian forced his hand into the Gelu-Drake’s half-severed neck.
With brutal force, he seized its cervical spine. Then, using all his strength, he tore it out.
Cruuunch—!!
It was the moment the Master of the Snowy Mountains finally fell to its knees—
Kuuung!
And it was also the moment a new Master of the Snowy Mountains was born.
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