Hunt the Dragon. It is an accomplishment no one in this world has achieved. It wasn’t because dragons were overwhelmingly powerful or anything like that. The reason was much simpler.
It’s because dragons have gone extinct in this world. You can’t hunt something that no longer exists. Same reason there weren’t any dinosaur hunters in the Joseon Dynasty.
For the above reasons, Kail became a dragon hunter in a world where dragons didn’t exist. Sure, Sera had the title of Dragon Slayer, but that was just a title given to her by the Academy Headmaster after she hunted down a lesser dragon.
“What the heck…?”
And at this very moment, feeling the massive energy overflowing within him, Kail realized that the title of Dragon Slayer wasn’t something someone else could bestow upon you.
Proof of existence wasn’t something others gave you—it was something you proved to yourself. And—Kail, in this moment, proved to his body, to his soul, that he had hunted a dragon.
What he gained from it was the dragon’s soul—the power of the most superior and evolved creature in the category of living beings.
“─‘Fire!’”
Kail stretched out his hand into the air, imagining lightning shooting out from his fingertips just to see what would happen. The words he spoke manifested into reality, and the Dragon Language became lightning.
Watching the bolt shoot off into the distance, effortlessly incinerating a tree, Kail realized he had obtained the Dragon Language—a power even more troublesome than the god-tier magic that broke the theory of relativity.
Behind him, Yuri and Jerry stood silently watching, their jaws dropping as they stared at Kail in disbelief.
“Kail… used magic!?”
“What? Was that guy a sorcerer all along?”
The two blurted out the same thing at the same time, then turned to look at each other. They nodded, then carefully pinched each other’s cheeks.
It hurt. Feeling the stinging pain, they let go and realized this situation wasn’t a dream or hallucination.
“How did you do it?”
Yuri approached Kail and asked how he managed to use magic. Kail shrugged as if it were no big deal.
But Yuri looked at him with a serious expression and opened her mouth.
“Well… magic requires an enormous amount of brain computation.”
“So?”
“There’s no way Kail is smart enough for th—Ow ow—Kail, stop it!”
“Wasn’t I supposed to pinch you to make it hurt?”
After pinching Yuri’s cheek while she babbled nonsense, Kail explained why he could perform something close to magic.
He absorbed the dragon’s soul and acquired the Dragon Language. Hearing this, Yuri’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at the fallen dragon corpse on the ground. She wondered if she too might gain the Dragon Language by dousing herself in the blood oozing from the corpse…
“You’re not thinking strange thoughts, are you?”
“No.”
Kail left Yuri eyeing the dragon corpse and turned to look at Jerry. Jerry cautiously backed away, worried about getting her cheek pinched too.
Slightly shocked at being seen as someone who would randomly touch another person’s face, Kail coughed awkwardly and said,
“—Thank you.”
“…Huh?”
“Thanks to you, I was able to catch up to the dragon halfway. If I’d been alone, I probably would’ve lost it back there.”
“Oh, come on—is that all you wanted to say?”
Jerry snickered after hearing that her help had been so useful, and began puffing up with pride.
Seeing the bratty expression of a young girl, Kail thought it resembled something he’d seen often on Earth called Mesogaki, but since her help had indeed been significant, he didn’t say anything.
“—Well, it’s only natural for someone as great as me to pull off such feats. Next time something like this happens, you should ask me for help—help—”
Jerry hesitated mid-sentence and started looking at Kail. Then she glanced around.
They were already far from the Holy Kingdom. There didn’t seem to be any more invaders attacking the Holy Kingdom. Wasn’t this dragon threatening enough?
If an organization had the leisure to deploy a force this strong and still send reinforcements, even three people working together wouldn’t have been able to escape. So logically or conveniently speaking, there shouldn’t be any more forces coming.
“I’m leaving now.”
Realizing this, Jerry quickly tried to leave. There was no need to stay with Kail and the others any longer.
But her attempt was futile. The moment she turned to leave, Kail spoke faster than she could move.
“‘Stop.’”
“Ugh—!”
The Dragon Language. Jerry fell victim to the same technique the dragon had used earlier, her trembling eyes turning back to look at Kail.
Letting her go wouldn’t have mattered, but Kail didn’t like leaving loose ends. What if something happened again—like Yuri getting kidnapped, the academy getting terrorized, or all sorts of incidents breaking out?
“Just one question. ‘Why do you harbor hostility towards me?’”
Kail’s Dragon Language sliced through Jerry’s physical and mental defenses, seizing control of her mind. Without relying on immense magical power or the charisma of a dragon, Kail’s Dragon Language sometimes outperformed even a dragon’s.
“—I, I am…”
Aura Master Jerard couldn’t resist and moved his lips, revealing the secret he had desperately tried to hide.
“I am Aura Master ‘Jerard.’”
“…Jerard? That name sounds familiar.”
“The ‘Authority’ of Holy Weapons, Jerard. The Aura Master who was killed last winter without being able to do anything against you.”
The moment those words were spoken, the air froze. Oh no, I’m going to die. Sensing this, Jerry’s tears began to flow.
Mind is the slave of the body, isn’t it? Despite the tough mental fortitude of an Aura Master, Jerry’s frail little-girl body cried easily, just like any girl her age.
“That huge muscle pig?”
“—Yes, uh-huh.”
“That’s you?”
“Yes, it is.”
“So you harbor hostility towards me? To kill the one who killed you?”
At Jerry’s nod, the pressure binding her vanished. Realizing she had regained control of her body, Jerry immediately retreated, enveloping herself in aura all over.
This was to avoid falling victim to Kail’s Dragon Language again, and also to prepare herself to respond swiftly no matter what the two did.
Her steel prosthetic arm, Gigantes’ Arm, swelled instantly, resembling the size of the arm she once had when she was Jerard.
Seeing its size, Kail vaguely recalled who Jerry was.
“Now I remember. Wasn’t he the guy who punched through space?”
Kail chuckled as he looked at Jerry. He was curious how that big guy had become such a cute little girl… but that wasn’t the important part.
The important part was that inside this girl was a dark-skinned man, and that she was a member of the Holy Weapons group that Kail loathed so much.
“—Interesting transformation. Are you gay? Was becoming a girl your dream?”
“You think I chose to become like this…!”
Jerry snapped but quickly shut her mouth, glaring at the two. In battle, the most important thing is to keep calm.
As an Aura Master, she knew this better than anyone. Especially now, when her opponents were both at least Master-level.
Even focusing all her attention, survival seemed impossible. After all, hadn’t Kail just casually slain a dragon moments ago, which everyone thought was unbeatable?
‘Can I survive?’
Gulp—The moment she swallowed, as if it were a signal, Kail charged forward. An Aura Master’s dash, enhanced by magic.
That speed was overwhelming even for Jerry, another Aura Master. But relying purely on instinct and experience, she predicted Kail’s movements.
Recognizing the optimal striking distance for a sword, she slipped right into Kail’s arms as if hugging him.
“—One-inch punch.”
All tension in her body naturally released, and her relaxed muscles explosively expanded, channeling all her energy into a single punch.
A finishing move capable of striking an opponent over a hundred paces away when infused with aura, but at close range, it unleashed even greater power.
It pierced through the opponent’s aura and destroyed their internal organs. A move she hadn’t been able to use against Kail before due to his Control Sword With Chi.
‘Got him—!’
Her strongest strike had landed, and she couldn’t help but cry out in triumph.
But her joy was short-lived. Kail simply looked down at her fist and nonchalantly opened his mouth.
“Are you done?”
“Oh…”
A finishing blow that could pierce through an Aura Blade block.
But Kail had already surpassed that level of existence.
