Return of the Dragon-Devouring Assassin

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

While Feyr had left the three behind.

The Titanoboa had apparently already broken free of the ice binding Noel had cast, and was prowling about.

Noel's ice magic was impressive.

However, the Titanoboa's magic resistance was even more so.

That must be why it was roaming around so freely.

"Tch."

Feyr clicked his tongue and climbed up into a tree.

Being some distance away and using Footwork on top of that, it seemed the creature had yet to detect him.

Feyr quietly coaxed a dark crimson Aura from his sword.

Could he take it down in a single blow?

With that thought, the moment he laid eyes on the beast—

[Ssssssss!]

The Titanoboa hurled its body straight into the tree Feyr had climbed.

Crash!

Having lost the initiative, Feyr tucked himself behind the shattered remains of the tree.

'Damn it.'

He had gone so far as to use Footwork, and still it caught him.

'Yellow-grade my ass.'

This thing was at the very least Red-grade.

He could tell from having fought them countless times in his past life.

This creature far surpassed Yellow-grade.

'It can detect infrared huh.'

Either way, this was a nuisance.

A full frontal confrontation with his current body was not a favorable approach.

That was why he had wanted to finish it in a single blow.

'No helping it.'

In that case, even if it cost him, he had no choice but to engage head-on.

He had already decided he would take the creature down regardless.

While he continued to conceal himself, the beast was ferociously smashing apart the remains of the trees in search of Feyr.

Feyr seized that moment, leaping up into the air via Moonlit Shadow Footwork.

And then—

Clang—!

He struck the creature's body with his Aura-wreathed sword.

'Tch, just as I figured.'

He had poured in the full force of his 3rd-Star Aura, yet all that was left on its scales was a faint scratch.

Still, Feyr merely clicked his tongue, as though he had expected as much.

'Right, simply beating it down is out of the question.'

Just as Feyr thought that and moved to distance himself from the beast—

[Sssssssss—]

The beast let out a sinister hiss and suddenly wrenched its jaws wide open.

Feyr knew well what that foretold. So he spun his body once in mid-air and threw himself sideways.

"Ugh!"

The instant Feyr threw himself to the side, something simultaneously shot from the creature's maw.

Venom.

Boom—!

The speed and destructive force of a cannonball.

The venom struck the tree behind him dead-on, and immediately the tree snapped and began to melt.

Had he not sensed something off and dodged, he would likely have ended up in the same state.

Feyr stared at the tree and grimaced.

'Acid Venom.'

A poison that melts everything it touches.

One of the reasons the Titanoboa was such a nuisance.

On top of that, this specimen was two hundred years old, so the potency of its venom would be all the more severe.

And the speed at which it spat that venom could only be in a league of its own.

'What a pain······.'

Get close and it charges or lashes with its tail; pull back and it sprays venom.

To make things worse, its scales were so dense that ordinary attacks had no effect.

True to its name as the lord of the mountain, it was every bit as troublesome a foe as expected.

At this rate, the fight was bound to drag on.

'If the fight drags on, I'm the one at a disadvantage.'

He needed to deal with the beast as swiftly as possible.

To do that······

'The only way is to go straight for the weak point.'

The Titanoboa had only one weakness.

Unlike the rest of its scales, there was one scale that grew in the wrong direction—the one known as the Reverse Scale.

'If I can target that, I can kill this thing quickly.'

For creatures like this, the Reverse Scale was an absolutely critical vital point.

Strange though, that a mere serpent would have a Reverse Scale.

Did it think itself a dragon or something?

It was absurd, but it was undeniably the only way to break through.

And moments ago, while they were locked in a standoff, Feyr had gotten a clear look at the creature's Reverse Scale.

'A single upturned scale near its neck.'

That had to be the Reverse Scale.

It had been gleaming with an unmistakable iridescent light, distinct from all the other pale white scales.

'But I can't just go for it directly.'

At close range, the creature would never give him an opening to attack the Reverse Scale.

'I'll just have to make one.'

Gripping the sword in a reverse hold, Feyr watched the beast's movements.

The creature was gathering its venom once more to fire off Acid Venom—unaware of what Feyr was planning.

Then, the moment it had collected all of its venom, it opened its jaws once more to spit.

Crack!

In that instant, Feyr hurled his Aura-wreathed sword straight into its open maw.

'The Titanoboa is at its most defenseless when launching its venom.'

Which meant striking precisely at that moment was all it took.

The moment the sword connected directly, the Acid Venom failed to launch and instead detonated inside the creature's own maw.

[Sssssss!]

In agony as its mouth melted from within, the beast thrashed wildly.

Feyr closed the distance to its side in an instant.

The Titanoboa writhed in pain, unaware of even that.

Feyr then wrenched the sword free from the creature's maw.

Fortunately, having wrapped it in Aura, the blade had not melted entirely.

It was merely heavily worn.

'Checkmate.'

Feyr drove his Aura-wreathed sword into the creature's Reverse Scale.

Crunch!

That was the sound of the Reverse Scale shattering.

It was certain.

[KRAAAAAGH!]

Thud!

And so the lord of the mountain fell.

Together with its long, long two-hundred-year history.

Feyr pulled the sword free from the Reverse Scale.

A blade corroded by the Acid Venom.

'This one's done for.'

Not that he had intended to use it long anyway.

At any rate, the creature was taken down. That was what mattered.

Now all that was left—

'The Inner Core inside its body.'

Magical Beasts with unique abilities, over a long period of time, generate an Inner Core within themselves in which their Mana becomes concentrated.

By consuming that Inner Core, one could obtain the Magical Beast's unique ability.

Unlike with the Basilisk's blood, there were no special conditions required—only ingesting the Inner Core was needed to gain the ability.

Compared to high-grade Spirit Medicines that required extensive preparation, a Magical Beast's Inner Core—where swallowing it was all it took—was far more efficient.

And pricier, too.

'Well then, time to extract the Inner Core.'

Feyr grabbed one of the dead Titanoboa's scales and tore it off.

Riiip.

'Once this thing dies, the hardness of its scales weakens too.'

That was why the scales could be torn off so easily.

This was the case for most Magical Beasts as well.

No matter how intact they were while alive, upon death they changed, like rotting fruit.

That was the nature of Magical Beast materials.

'That's exactly why they can't be put to any other use.'

It would be nice if equipment could be crafted from Magical Beast byproducts—but what can you do when it's impossible?

No wonder that alone was celebrated as a legendary feat.

Musing idly as he searched for the Inner Core, he found it soon enough.

'Finally found it.'

A small orb tinged with red.

Its red color might lead one to mistake it for something carrying the Fire attribute, but the Titanoboa was plainly devoid of any attribute whatsoever.

This was the Inner Core of the creature that had been called the lord of the mountain.

Without hesitation, Feyr gulped down the Inner Core.

As it passed down his throat, it dissolved smoothly.

The Inner Core was absorbed directly into Feyr's body.

In that instant.

A change came over Feyr.

Huuum—

Serpent Sense.

It had taken full root in Feyr's body.

At that, Feyr gently closed his eyes.

Ssssss—

He felt the blowing wind across his entire body.

'So this is vibration?'

Even with his eyes closed, he could sense where everything was. Detecting vibrations, it was as though faint outlines were being drawn.

Trees swaying in the wind.

A river flowing somewhere.

Faintly, yet distinctly—he felt it all.

'I wonder how much further this perception will extend once the Inner Core's energy is fully absorbed.'

He was already beginning to look forward to it.

Feyr smiled, satisfied.

With this, all his objectives had been accomplished.

Now he only needed to pass the exam and it was over.

That was when.

'Hm? What's this?'

Something entered Feyr's sight.

It was something that had been inside the Titanoboa's stomach, and the moment he saw it, Feyr tucked it into his breast pocket.

'This'll do fine for the exam.'

Just as he was about to descend the mountain, three vibrations caught in his web.

'Ah, right, those three were still here.'

Feyr looked up at the sky.

The sun sinking slowly toward the horizon.

The timing was ambiguous, but it seemed like there was just enough time to briefly check on them.

Feyr covered his face with a robe he stripped from a corpse, then immediately ran toward the source of the vibrations.

***

Noel had woken Rondo and Beli, and the three were in the process of descending the mountain to get out of harm's way.

"How did we end up falling asleep?"

"Did we run into a ghost or something?"

Rondo and Beli were busy exchanging nonsense.

Noel frowned at their conversation.

"Stop spouting rubbish and walk. It was definitely someone from Beilhart. It's hazy, but I definitely saw something before I passed out."

"You saw something?"

"Yeah, definitely something dark……"

Just as Noel was in the middle of speaking, he sensed something off and turned his head toward the direction an unfamiliar voice had come from.

Standing there was Feyr, his face concealed beneath a robe.

Perhaps because he had expended a fair amount of Mana on the Titanoboa before, he hadn't been able to focus on his detection magic.

He hadn't detected Feyr.

No.

'Is this person simply that skilled?'

Judging by the aura visibly emanating from him, the level didn't appear all that high.

If anything, in terms of pure skill, Noel might even be the superior.

But then why—

Why did the thought of making the first move······

'Feel like a bad idea?'

Noel found himself instinctively gripping his staff tighter. His palm was slick with sweat.

With Noel—the group's leader—staying still, Rondo and Beli simply watched each other's expressions.

After standing there blankly for quite some time, Feyr spoke first.

"I ask. For what reason has Hertzel unlawfully intruded upon Beilhart's territory and disturbed Mount Levelheim?"

At those words, Noel's eyes darted around.

What was the right thing to say here?

After deliberating for quite some time, he finally settled on—

"I apologize. Being young as I am, I wasn't able to closely keep track of all the correspondence between our families. I believe that matter would be best discussed with the elders of our house at a later time. If I may be so rude, might I ask your name?"

He was trying to wriggle his way out by using his age as an excuse.

Indeed.

Noel himself was roughly the same age as Feyr. Except he was counted among those called geniuses.

His brilliance had been recognized, and it was on that basis that he had been deployed for this Titanoboa subjugation operation, but……

'Well, aren't you a sly one.'

His bad luck was simply that his opponent happened to be Feyr.

Feyr wasn't so easily swayed by Noel's words. If anything, as if daring him to try again, he took a bold step forward.

Rondo and Beli raised their staves.

Magic circles rose into the air, and the two stood ready to cast at any moment, but Feyr moved first.

And then—

"Ugh?!"

"Kgh?!"

Rondo and Beli both crumpled from Feyr's single clean strike.

It wasn't that the two were weak.

It was simply that Feyr knew the characteristics of mages far too well.

Seasoned experience.

The greatest weapon in Feyr's arsenal.

"Battle Mages? Why would mages give up their distance?"

Feyr recalled his memories from his days as an instructor and spoke just as he had back then.

"Worthless maggots who couldn't even score three points."

Only then did Noel feel certain about the premonition he'd sensed moments ago—why, despite an outwardly unremarkable aura, he had felt tense the moment they came face to face.

The sheer density of experience is on a different level entirely.

Realizing there was no point in pushing further, Noel laid out everything he knew.

"I don't know the details. We were simply given orders to hunt the rare Titanoboa, and I understood that a letter had already been sent to Beilhart beforehand, before returning."

Feyr stared Noel down and activated Serpent Sense.

The sound of a heart beating in a regular, steady rhythm.

He didn't appear to be lying.

However, it would later come to light that Beilhart had never authorized a Titanoboa subjugation. It was no different from having it stolen outright.

Nor was this the trio's independent action. That being the case, the likelihood was that someone higher up in Hertzel had given the order.

"Anything else?"

"That······ all I heard was that it was part of preparations for training an elite force······"

Elite force? Hertzel's.

Something flickered in Feyr's mind and his eyes narrowed.

'No, the timing is far too early for that.'

There was an incident that came to mind, but the timing didn't match up. Either way, it didn't seem like a lie, so for now, he'd let them go.

'Thinking about future complications, killing them is the right call.'

There was also the option of silencing them on the spot. The dead, after all, tell no tales.

The number of mages who had died by Feyr's hand was well into three digits.

However, if this were to cause friction between Beilhart and Hertzel, the variables that could stem from that would be difficult to manage with his current body.

In that case—

'I'll have to settle for gagging them well enough.'

Feyr took a moment to study Noel's features one by one.

Blonde hair. Green eyes. Unmistakably a Hertzel bloodline heir. Boyish facial features. Looks like a pushover, but······

Wait. Haven't I seen this face somewhere before?

"You—your name?"

"……No, Noel. Noel Hertzel."

This bastard.

At the same moment, Feyr broke into a grin.

Because it felt like running into a golden goblin.