Chapter 440

〈Chapter 440〉 Part 1, Chapter 18, Scene 22

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In the original story, Azidahaka’s Phase 2 forms as a three-headed dragon battle centered around the Dark Demon Dragon, with two random Magic Dragons flanking it as subordinates.

Though it subtly hints at the Magic Dragons fusing into one as a clue towards the Phoenix Route—information about the interdimensional goddess Yuinah—it mostly leaves players mentally shattered by the insane difficulty of this traditional raid carried over from Phase 1.

The breath attacks spewed by each of the three heads.

There’s no battlefield where two Magic Dragons appear together, nor any case where three dimensional gates open simultaneously. Yet in Azidahaka’s Phase 2, the three dragons merge into one and unleash breaths of three different attributes all at once.

The only relief is that the Dark Demon Dragon is always fixed as one head, while the other two are randomly selected from the remaining Magic Dragons excluding the Dark Demon Dragon.

Veteran players ranked the triple-headed Hydra of Cataclysmic Darkness as the hardest challenge, but knowing the backstory of the Phoenix Route, I honestly felt my heart drop when I saw the seven-headed fusion.

“It’s so weak.”

Is it because it has too many heads, making its body too heavy? Or maybe scratching its sanity with so many lonely heads drove it mental? Or could it be that even as a seven-headed dragon, I’ve grown far too strong for it to stand a chance?

“All of the above.”

Sorry, Azidahaka, but you’re just not cutting it. Massacre on a wide scale is the Phoenix’s specialty, and in a battlefield where I don’t have to worry about others’ opinions, I welcome this fight wholeheartedly.

“Should we wrap this up?”

I flapped my wings and locked eyes with Azidahaka perched atop the Dark Demon Dragon. Like during Black Sabbath, Azidahaka bared her upper torso and was furiously pounding her fists against her own head.

“This is… impossible! How…!”

Even as her entire body was being shredded, Azidahaka showed no sign of accepting defeat. The six Magic Dragons, excluding the Dark Demon Dragon, strained their necks trying to eat the mini-Phoenixes, but the mini-Phoenixes swarmed like bees, embedding their beaks into the dragons’ necks.

“The situation has completely reversed since Phase 1.”

“How, why, whyyy!!”

Azidahaka vented her frustration at me with bloodshot eyes.

“If you’re so powerful, why don’t you conquer the world?! If you had this much strength from the start, you could’ve incinerated the whole world! Why bother with such pathetic betrayal?!”

“To protect those I love, what wouldn’t I do?”

I stepped onto the nose of the Dark Demon Dragon. Since breath is the main attack method, naturally there must be blind spots where breath cannot reach—Dark Legion’s weakness. And Azidahaka, who could’ve stopped that, has lost her fighting spirit now.

“I may be a Phoenix commander, but everything I do is for Chang-yeom the Spirit. That, in turn, means protecting the world as well.”

“…Haha. What nonsense is this?”

“I never expected to be understood in the first place. You, who only know how to receive love, would never understand me. So, do you have any last words?”

“Cruuush, khhkhh, where do you get off celebrating your victory already…!”

Azidahaka stained her hands black. With rising anger, her fighting spirit returned, and her body stretched unnaturally long to lunge at me.

“Die—!!”

“Your determination is admirable, even though you know it’s like throwing eggs at rocks.”

Crack.

I grabbed Azidahaka by the neck. Her final strike pierced the joints of my gauntlets, but only managed to scratch through a little. It was the deepest wound she inflicted on me.

“If you had transformed into a monster-type form for Phase 2, you might’ve done more damage. If you fought as your true self rather than this incomplete fusion, I might’ve increased your chances of winning by 10%.”

“…Cough, krrgh….”

Blood trickled from the corner of Azidahaka’s mouth. The tips of my bird-claw gauntlets dug into her flesh. Blood ran not only from her mouth but also down her white neck.

“I’m not sorry. You’ve strayed too far. Indeed, the number of humans killed over the past month due to the dimension gates you opened exceeds ten million.”

“Whatever. They were bound to die anyway. When Lord Seongju comes, you’ll be finished too. Pfft.”

Azidahaka spat blood-laden saliva at me, which I vaporized mid-air with flames before it hit my face.

“Don’t worry. Once I capture you and awaken Maamryong, there will be only one left.”

“Fenril? Crrr, hahaha, you still don’t know, do you? Haha, ahaha, how regrettable that you won’t see your face twist in confusion when facing Fenril! Kkkkk!”

Azidahaka laughed wildly, spitting blood toward the sky.

“You think there’s only one person in the world who knows Fenril better than you? Hheh, you’ll miss out on seeing yourself falter before Fenril! Oh, how sad, so sad! Giggle giggle!”

“Did you hand over all your remaining cubes to Fenril?”

“Hheh, look at you. Still haven’t noticed, huh?”

“There are too many possibilities, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll just beat you until you spill it.”

I lifted my foot and stomped on Azidahaka’s chest. She lay back on the forehead of the Dark Demon Dragon, gazing blankly at the sky.

“Even if you defeat me and awaken Maamryong, what difference will it make? Do you really think Maamryong will work hard for you? Never.”

Azidahaka mocked me with her arms spread wide.

“I am the result of Maamryong corrupting me. If the source is dirty, can the flow ever be clean? Do you think you can reform Maamryong? Never. Maamryong is just as beyond saving as I am!”

“That’s xenophobia, isn’t it?”

“Wrong! Why do you think I prostituted myself around? Why did I seduce handsome men left and right? It’s all because Maamryong deep inside wanted it! This isn’t my fault! It’s all because that woman is a useless piece of trash!”

“Excuses.”

I crushed Azidahaka’s chest like extinguishing a cigarette. Despite coughing up blood, she continued ranting.

“You’ve become nothing but trash to the bone! Your soul bears the imprints of countless sexual encounters numbering in the thousands! Do you think you can awaken that whore and still handle her? Huh?!”

“You’re really struggling to survive, aren’t you? Why are you squawking so loudly? Isn’t it simply because you want to live?”

“Of course! Who wants to die, damn it?!”

Azidahaka cursed and opened her mouth. Spittle mixed with curses obscured my vision, and beyond it, a small black orb began forming on her tongue.

“Die—-!!”

■■■■■■■!!

The black breath fired directly by Azidahaka struck my upper body. The highly corrosive acidic breath boiled and sizzled as if ready to melt my armor. In fact, the armor started to dissolve bit by bit.

“Haha, gotcha!”

“Indeed. Gotcha.”

Whoosh.

I bathed my entire body in flames. The toxic and acidic breath was thoroughly cleansed away by the fire. Azidahaka’s expression twisted grotesquely.

“I let you land one hit because dying like this would be too pitiful.”

“You…why are you doing this to me?! What wrong have I done?!”

“You’ve done nothing wrong. As a commander, you gave it your all. You followed your desires faithfully. Who could say that’s wrong? From the humans’ perspective, they’d probably grind you into dust, but I’m different. Simply…”

I removed my foot from Azidahaka and knelt before her, meeting her gaze.

“Just as you’re screaming to survive, I’m doing this because I want to live too.”

“It’s too much…”

“You’ve gone too far over these twenty years. The future version of you was a femme fatale who captivated hearts, not this Babylonian harlot.”

Azidahaka’s expression hardened, clearly not understanding the meaning behind my words. I slowly prepared to finish things off, transforming my body—not into a monster-type or Cheongnyeon, but into Baek Cheonghwa.

“Whatever hope you placed in Fenril doesn’t matter. I’ll defeat Fenril, awaken the Spirit, overcome Lord Seongju, defeat the interdimensional deity, and survive till the end—with the one I love.”

“…You’re crazy.”

“Yeah. How else could I do something like this if I weren’t crazy?”

Click.

I pulled out TAT and Deokbate from my magical gear. The Deokbate instantly turned into a sleek silver .50 caliber bullet, which I loaded into the TAT and aimed the barrel at Azidahaka’s forehead.

“…Suppose…”

Azidahaka accepted death quietly. The fusion body of Dark Legion was already stripped raw by birds, leaving only skeletal remains. Azidahaka trembled as she held onto my trigger finger with both hands.

“If, if I had tried to conquer the world in a slightly different way as you said, what would’ve happened?”

“You’d have built a kingdom like Hydra, managing monsters separately. You might’ve found common ground like Hydra did, and perhaps there would’ve been a world where <Maamryong> Azidahaka existed.”

But such a kind world exists neither for me nor for Azidahaka. Azidahaka is a public enemy of the world, having opened too many dimensional gates across the globe, possibly serving as invasion routes when Lord Seongju eventually destroys Earth.

“Is that so…”

Azidahaka’s trembling hands clutched mine.

“…Just one thing. If, if such a world existed, what relationship would we have had?”

“Could’ve been friends, family, enemies—who knows? One thing’s certain: we wouldn’t have been lovers. The one I love is here.”

I pointed my empty thumb at my own heart. Azidahaka stared dumbfounded.

“Crazy.”

“Yeah, crazy. But understand this—even if it sounds detestable, this is my farewell gift to you.”

My finger lightly pressed the trigger.

“If there’s a hell, I’ll see you there, friend.”

“……”

Azidahaka raised both hands toward me, silently extending only the middle fingers.

Bang.

A gunshot echoed quietly in the black sanctuary. Birds perched on the bones of Dark Legion flew into the sky, and the fused Dark Legion dissolved into black mist.

Puff.

Until the very end, Azidahaka didn’t lower the middle fingers extended toward me. The black mist brushed against my collar and dispersed into the void.

“…Sorry, but Phoenixes are immortal, so I can’t truly die.”

If I ever meet Azidahaka in hell, it would mean I’ve failed—and I have zero intention of failing.

‘I will not fail.’

I conquered the fifth peak of the Seven Trials. As a reward equivalent, I flapped my wings toward Maamryong tied to a bed. Though the bed bounced around due to the battle’s aftermath, fortunately, the veil remained undamaged.

“Ahhh. Before removing it.”

Snap! I reverted to Cheongnyeon form to prevent unnecessary trouble. Best to nip potential issues in the bud.

Rustle.

I removed the veil. Suspended in midair by magic, the bed held Maamryong lying sprawled out, waiting for me.

“One, two, three, four. …With four cubes embedded as restraints, there’s no way you could find them.”

Whoosh. I snapped my fingers and burned all the restraints. Maamryong waited patiently as my flames consumed the restraints.

‘What a waste of four perfectly good date coupons.’

I shed a tear burning the cube-made restraints. There were so many things I needed to meet and ask Chang-yeom about, but as long as even one cube remained, Maamryong couldn’t wield her full power as a Spirit.

Rip.

As the last restraint disappeared, thick darkness enveloped Maamryong.

“Still, continuing to stay naked feels embarrassing.”

“Forget about that earlier incident…”

Fully cloaked in black from head to toe, Maamryong covered her face with both hands. Her slightly exposed ears were bright red, as if pricking them would cause a fountain of blood to spurt out. I draped the veil that had covered the bed over her.

“Welcome to Earth, Maamryong.”

“That sounded super awkward…”

“What do you mean?”

“My name… Maamryong.”

“…? Maamryong is Maamryong. What’s awkward about that?”

“…”

Maamryong(…?) peeked at me while lowering her hand to her nose. Her eyes were so deep they seemed bottomless, their dark obsidian irises scanning my very core.

“■■■■. …■■ of ■■■? Ah, this too. …Apparently, losing rank means losing even the name.”

“Can you explain that in a way I can understand?”

“…What’s your name?”

“Phoenix. Blazing Phoenix.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Facing me, he opened his mouth.

“■, isn’t that your name-”

At that moment, my vision was flooded with blue light, and I lost consciousness again.