Chapter 630
Lake Kingdom Zone 9. 'Armory'.
Inside this facility, reminiscent of an underground bunker, Tustivian, a member of the Black Dragon Legion, had made his nest.
The elder dragon lay his massive body on the ground, repeatedly inhaling and exhaling long breaths.
"..."
Tustivian's body, covered in black scales, was massive.
The children of the true Black Dragon were all proper dragons, but compared to their perfect father, each was born with several flaws.
In Tustivian's case, born from the true Black Dragon's fangs, his body underwent abnormal proliferation, making it difficult for him to move freely.
The body, through constant proliferation and degeneration, had swollen endlessly, filling the wide Armory floor.
At the extremities of his withered and hardened body, he felt no sensation.
He could neither fly nor walk. He had lived his life, both before and now, coiled within his lair, enduring with his cumbersome body.
Yet, he did not pity himself. He did not curse his fate. Instead, he took pride in it.
His father, Night Bringer—though Night Bringer disliked being called a father— called upon him.
Even with such a body, he could still play an active role on the battlefield.
The breath that Tustivian exhaled was formidable, even compared to his siblings'.
When the legion was assembled to wage war against the enemy, Tustivian's firepower was a tremendous aid to the legion.
He had made remarkable contributions when defeating the Demon Guardian Legion.
Every time he exhaled, his breath incinerated the earth, and the demonic species fell like leaves in the wind.
Even his brothers, who usually scorned each other like insects, praised Tustivian for his significant achievements.
Of course, Night Bringer had never once offered a warm word to his children, no matter how helpful they were...
But Tustivian knew. He was a useful existence to his father. He aided in his father's tyranny.
"Did he say the next invasion is of the human world..."
Struggling to breathe with his cumbersome body, Tustivian chuckled softly.
"I wish the day of invasion would come soon. So that I can complete the great undertaking I failed to in my previous life..."
In his previous life, the Black Dragon Legion, seeking to destroy the world, and the Red Dragon Legion, aiming to protect it, waged an endless war.
Among them, Tustivian was the first dragon of the Black Dragon Legion to fall.
Serving as a fixed artillery, he possessed powerful firepower but lacked mobility, ultimately unable to evade the Red Dragon Legion's surprise attacks and met his demise.
But now, with no Red Dragon Legion left in the world and their own Black Dragon Legion having taken over the throne of darkness,
This time, they could surely achieve their father's great undertaking—the destruction of the world.
"...But, why does father want to destroy the world...?"
He didn't know the reason or the meaning behind that great undertaking.
As a son, Tustivian only faithfully followed and supported his father's path, and that was enough for him.
He curled up his body, trying to sleep uncomfortably until his father woke him for another expedition into the outside world...
That's when it happened.
Thump, thump, thump...
The military Armory that Tustivian used as his lair began to shake slightly.
"...?"
Tustivian slowly opened his eyes and looked up, puzzled. This was the first time he had experienced such a situation since making his lair here. Was something happening outside?
Rumble!
Following that, the military Armory shook violently.
But Tustivian was not alarmed.
This place was a Armory built by the army of the Lake Kingdom five hundred years ago to store military supplies. Its protective magic was inferior to that of dragons, but it was sturdy.
It couldn't possibly fall to a mere attack...
Creak-!
"Hm?"
Then, Tustivian sensed it.
A mysterious magic he had never felt before was devouring the protective magic of the military Armory without a trace...
Tustivian's eyes widened.
"To strip away the protective magic so easily...?!"
Modern magic couldn't achieve this. Then, from what era was this magic-
He had no time to analyze further. Following the removal of the protective magic, an intense impact hit the ceiling of the military Armory.
Boom!
The vibration and noise that followed were incomparably stronger than before, and soon after, cracks spread across the ceiling until it finally began to collapse.
'Dispelling the protective magic and then using an attack spell!'
It was clear there was a very skilled magician on the other side.
And then, it became evident - they were here to kill him.
A hollow laugh escaped Tustivian's massive mouth. It had been so long since he had faced an intruder in his lair that he couldn't even remember the last time.
Bang! Boom! Crack!
Pieces of the fallen ceiling spread a thick cloud of dust as they crashed down.
The facility was built to be very thick and durable, so the pieces were both large and numerous. But Tustivian was no longer looking up.
Bang!
The main gate of the military Armory.
The only path leading inside.
There were people breaking through that door and entering. They were tiny humans, all draped in robes.
"To fall for such a pathetic feint...!"
Tustivian had already made his judgment.
The distraction above was just that—a distraction. The collapse of the ceiling, while noisy, provided no means for the debris to pass through and attack him.
If he were to expel his breath upwards to avoid the falling fragments, then the plan must be for the invaders who had entered through the main gate to approach and kill him during that moment.
'You've misjudged, you bastards!'
Such building fragments could simply be endured with his body.
More importantly, preventing the invaders' approach was the top priority.
Tustivian opened his massive mouth wide, gathering his breath. The direction his mouth aimed at was the entrance of the military Armory—the only path the human invaders were running through.
In an instant, the air and magic power around swirled into the dragon's mouth, and the next moment.
Roar!
It was violently expelled.
Among the Black Dragon Legion, Tustivian's breath was second only to Night Bringer in terms of power.
The breath emitted from the dragon's mouth engulfed everything in a straight line with black flames, incinerating it completely.
Dozens of humans desperately running into the Armory through the opened gate were no exception.
When the breath ceased, not even ashes remained of them; they had all been completely burned away.
"Huh..."
Tustivian exhaled through his nose after firing his breath. Dark flames flowed out of the dragon's large nostrils.
"Know your place, you vermin."
The dragon spoke arrogantly, but the next moment, Tustivian noticed something unusual.
At the entrance of the gate. The body of one invader, not fully burned by the tail end of the breath, collapsed half-burned... but then, the next moment, his body scattered like a shadow and disappeared.
Tustivian immediately sensed the identity of the adversary.
'Shadows? Duplicates...?!'
They were not real humans. They were just summons by someone.
If this side was a distraction, then the real approach was-
"From above...?!"
Tustivian urgently lifted his huge head upwards,
Only to see dozens of figures in robes, already having jumped down from behind the rocks that had nearly reached him.
Tustivian hurriedly gathered his breath and released it again.
Roar!
The barrage of stones filling his sight was cleanly swept away.
But no matter how powerful Tustivian's breath was, its range of emission was limited.
The area covered by the collapsed ceiling was large, as was the area where the rubble fell.
Too many humans had hidden behind it and jumped down. It was impossible to deal with them all with a single breath.
...If he were a 'normal dragon', that is.
But Tustivian was a dragon specialized in projecting breath. His breath's power output and duration were far superior to other dragons.
Even his control over it was exceptional.
While expelling his breath, Tustivian also rotated his head and neck in a circle, successfully clearing away the falling debris with flames that freely changed direction.
Naturally, the humans hiding behind it too. Along with the debris from the Armory ceiling, they were all turned to ash and scattered blackly in all directions.
"Ugh...!"
But Tustivian's expression was not bright.
He immediately realized that the humans he had just killed were also duplicates.
'A distraction within a distraction? Then where is the real attack-'
Sizzle!
The next moment, Tustivian sensed an intense energy rushing towards him.
As the dragon quickly looked down, he saw a small figure rushing towards him through the only passageway leading from the gate.
As the hood of the robe fluttered due to the rushing momentum and fell away - the face of a girl with long black hair and a silver crown was revealed.
Her shining eyes were amber, and the magic power wrapped around her body was red.
"You are... could it be, a descendant of the Red Dragon!"
Guessing the identity of his adversary, Tustivian shivered with a thrill he couldn't recognize.
How much time had passed since those days? To think that the descendant of his archenemy was alive. And that she was rushing to kill him.
"To be able to kill the descendant of that cursed lineage myself - I am unspeakably pleased!"
Tustivian forgot all about the surroundings.
He focused all his attention on the descendant of the adversary he had fought since the creation of the world, the one who ultimately killed him.
He inhaled deeply, gathering magic power. He carefully selected each particle of breath, each particle of magic power, filling his vocal cords.
This was his fated nemesis.
It was only proper to kill him with all his might and care...!
Finally, he was ready. The breath of magic power gathered in his vocal cords coalesced into one, and as he slowly exhaled it through his mouth, Tustivian opened his massive mouth wide.
And he aimed at the descendant of the Red Dragon - Dusk Bringar.
***
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
I shouted with all my might.
"Now, Damien-!"
Just before Tustivian could fire his breath.
The sniper - Damien, who had been standing a good distance outside the entrance of the military Armory, fired his sniper rifle.
Bang!
The magic bullet, leaving the barrel, passed through the gate entrance like a ray of light, traveled down the burnt pathway, grazed the cheek of the diligently running Dusk Bringar - and accelerated further, sucked into Tustivian's mouth.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
And the magic bullet precisely pierced through the core of the breath, condensed within Tustivian's mouth into a spherical form of magic power.
Damien had witnessed the dragon firing two breaths so far. He had timed it perfectly.
That's how he managed such an unbelievable feat.
Boom!
Inside Tustivian's mouth, the breath caused a detonation. It was like a needle being thrust into a balloon filled with magic power.
The condensed dragon's authority exploded outward in all directions, creating a terrifying explosion, and the massive dragon's head was engulfed in dreadful flames and explosions.
Damien, with his robe hood removed, said with a bright face.
"Did we get him...?!"
"No, Damien! Get out of there now!"
Amidst the smoke and flames of the explosion, ominous magic power swirled.
Whoosh-
The next moment, all the smoke and flames were sucked into Tustivian's mouth, swirling into a vortex.
With his face covered in burns and wounds from the detonation inside his mouth, yet not losing focus at all... Tustivian was ready to unleash another breath.
And without giving a second chance for a sniper shot- he expelled it.
Roar!
The black flames rushed forth, engulfing and sweeping over the entire entrance pathway.
Still aiming at the one and only target - Dusk Bringar.
"To come up with such a strategy..."
Then, Dusk Bringar stopped in her tracks and, with a deep inhale,
"Ash, are you freaking crazy-?!"
She fired a breath in response.
Whiz-
Dusk Bringar's long, ebony-like black hair fluttered back as she,
Thwack!
Released a breath from her mouth, which, compared to Tustivian's, seemed like a thin, red beam of light.
And the next moment.
The breaths of the Black Dragon and the Red Dragon met in mid-air and clashed.
Boom!
The collision created an explosion, emitting terrifying light and heat.