Chapter 53: 53

Shururuk-

Falcon’s eyes were dyed black at the same time Su-hyeun raised his sword .

Right at this moment, the existence before his eyes had become Igolas once more .

“As I thought, he’s still fighting it,” Su-hyeun thought .

What a lamentable thing this was .

To fight against the demonic dragon while having forgotten all about who he was for a length of time so long that it was difficult to even imagine .

Falcon’s ego managed to emerge above the surface this time because Igolas’s main body was inflicted with a major wound .

“To wake him up again… . ”

Rumble-

The Flame enveloped Su-Hyeun’s sword .

“I’ll chop this body into pieces first,” thought Su-Hyeun .

Piiiii-iiit-

Hwa-aaaahk-!

Wounds opened up all over Igolas’s body one after the other according to Su-Hyeun’s sword strikes .

It was the pattern of the Flame scorching the creature’s hide, and then the Gram slicing into the weakened hide .

The sword attacks used to be effective many times before, however, it was different this time .

Kuruk, kururuk-

Blood sprayed out from Igolas’s body enveloped its hide and scales . This blood, which was a lump of massive magical energy, became a sturdy armor and began protecting its body .

“It’ll be difficult to break through in a single hit,” Su-Hyeun thought to himself .

Chwa-ruruk-

That wasn’t all .

The blood enveloping Igolas’s hide suddenly coalesced and floated upwards . Every one of those lumps morphed into sharp blades and were fired in Su-Hyeun’s direction .

It was the skill of Falcon, the ancient knight that became one with Igolas .

“Swords is it,” Su-Hyeun said .

Dozens upon dozens of swords .

Su-hyeun swept his eyes across them . A fairly threatening amount of magical energy was permeating in every single one of them .

However, destroying them wouldn’t be difficult .

“I’ll shatter them . ”

Squeeze-

Su-Hyeun trusted in his skills, as well as the weapon held in his hand, the Gram .

He was capable of shattering them one by one .

Su-phat-

Pik, pik, pipik-

Chwa-rururuk-

Su-Hyeun cut down the swords flying in his direction, and then, cut down even more . Countless swords were powerlessly destroyed .

Perhaps it didn’t expect such a development, Igolas flinging the swords stared at Su-Hyeun with great shock .

Crack, crack, craaack-!

“Fuu-wook, huk-”

Swords flew in endlessly .

Even as he swatted those away one by one, Su-hyeun shifted his gaze towards the wound he inflicted on the main body .

“As I thought, I should aim over there if I…”

Fuu-wuunng-

The sound of a huge gust of wind .

At that moment, Su-hyeun’s gaze shifted to the side .

Ka-boom-!

“Keo-urk!”

Su-Hyeon’s body, his focus stolen by the countless swords until then, was struck hard by Igolas’s tail . For a moment there, all strength abandoned him and his head shook around .

Stagger-

[‘Hero – Immortality is activating . ]

[Vitality and stamina are recovering rapidly . A fixed portion of abnormal status is recovering . ]

[Physical ability is being rapidly enhanced . ]

His shaken consciousness and body quickly came back to him .

The passive skill he thought of as insurance for that just-in-case .

He couldn’t confirm its effects until now . It didn’t want to activate regardless of whatever situation Su-hyeun deliberately created for himself .

However, the Immortality skill had become a truly dependable lifeline for Su-hyeun right at this moment .

His body felt light .

Power was overflowing within, and his concentration was shooting through the roof . His body was in the peak physical condition filled with vitality . No, the strength exceeding even that could be felt now .

“I can do this . ”

Squeeze-

Su-hyeun’s gaze was directed at Igolas’s tail that smacked him earlier .

“I’ll cut it down . ”

Sliiiice-

A single thin line appeared in Su-hyeun’s vision .

He didn’t even exert all that much strength, either . As if drawing a line, he simply swung his sword quite naturally in the direction of Igolas’s tail .

Tsu-eu-euht-

Chua-aaaahk-!

Igolas’s tail was sliced off .

The cleanly-sliced tail and its smooth cross-section began falling below .

Igolas, having lost a part of its body in the blink of an eye, didn’t even scream as if it hadn’t felt the pain .

But, it soon sensed a certain emptiness and turned its head behind to confirm the situation with its tail .

Kii-aahk, kiii-aaahhh-!

Igolas started screeching out loudly .

The now tail-less Igolas spat out rage-filled breaths in all directions . The figure reappearing on the creature’s back seemed to be enraged as well, as it opened its mouth wide and howled out, too .

“Ah, ah, aaaaahk-!”

“I will make you suffer!”

Igolas crying out in rage soon had to stop its screaming . It discovered that Su-hyeun had arrived near its position before anyone noticed it, that’s why .

“…!”

As Igolas opened its pupil-less eyes wide enough to tear them apart, its expression was filled with sheer shock .

“What are you so surprised about?”

Squeeeeze-

Before anyone realized it, Su-hyeun’s hand was holding a spear, not a sword .

“When did I… ever say I only had one?”

[Dragon killing spear – Nir . ]

A single-use item .

The thing was, Su-hyeun had prepared two of them .

One to inflict a fatal wound on Igolas’s main body .

And as for the other one…

“Let’s finish up with this, shall we?”

To wrap everything up .

Su-hyeun’s gaze was fixed on the huge wound he cut out on Igolas’s back .

He bent both his arm and his body to ready the spear shaft .

Rumblllle-

Kuwa-aaaaht-!

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands .

The spear Su-hyeun threw split countless times and rained down on Igolas’s body from above .

Crack, crack, craaack-

Kiii-aaaaahhh-!

Igolas’s body was mercilessly torn apart .

Su-Hyeun was planning to use this attack as the final blow to kill Igolas off . The magical energy contained within the spear now was incomparable to before .

Peok, peok, peopeopeopeohk-!

Its wings were torn off, and its hide and scales were scorched black .

Igolas’s whole body went limp as if it no longer had any energy left to even flap its wings .

Gu-wuuuu-

Igolas’s body began falling to the ground .

Act 5

Kwa-rung, boom-!

Igolas’s body crashed into a high-rise building, and the structure couldn’t endure against that weight and began crumbling to the side .

With its figure completely torn apart and penetrated through, Igolas couldn’t control its body anymore and simply writhed intermittently . Su-hyeun landed on top and intently studied Igolas’s condition .

“Looks like it’ll die even if left alone . ”

The biggest weakness of Igolas was its low rate of regeneration unfitting for a high-ranking monster . With these many wounds, it was now as good as dead .

Su-hyeun walked on Igolas’s back .

It was then, the streaming blood coalesced once more into a certain silhouette . This time, though, it had a person’s head, not a dragon’s .

“I shall ask again,” Su-hyeun said .

Step-

Su-hyeun got real close to this figure and asked .

“Who are you currently?”

“I am…” Countless emotions were mixed in that faintly-trembling voice . “Falcon, the knight of Teserahm . ”

“Can you remember now?”

“Yes, I remember everything… Everything . ”

Falcon barely managed to squeeze out his voice .

It wasn’t because he found it uncomfortable or difficult to talk, however . No, he couldn’t speak because countless memories that he didn’t want to recall came flooding in .

“I… . my… with my hands… . ”

After he became one with Igolas .

Falcon killed and devoured countless people . He could still vividly remember the texture and the taste from back then .

“Euph… Eu-euph… . ”

The sensation of vomit rushed in, making him feel nauseous and dizzy . Unfortunately, Falcon was made out of Igolas’s blood and couldn’t shed his tears nor empty his stomach .

“Bleurgh-!”

He tried to vomit, but nothing came out . The only thing leaking out from his mouth like drool was Igolas’s blood .

“Even if you do that, people you devoured won’t come back,” Su-hyeun said .

“Wu-wuuk…”

“Those who died won’t come back to life . And also… it was never your intention, wasn’t it?”

“I… . ” Falcon lowered his head and dejectedly knelt down . “I killed everyone . ”

He began tearing at his hair . He wanted to endlessly scream and cry his heart out, but not a drop of tear came out .

“I… . devoured them all . ”

Like how a knight should, he wielded his sword for the weak all his life .

He became one with Igolas just so that he could save his empire .

However… . ”If only I knew it’d be like this… if only I knew…”

“If you knew, would you have watched and done nothing as the empire fell?”

Falcon raised his lowered head at Su-hyeun’s question .

“You wouldn’t have done that, right?” asked Su-hyeun .

“That is… . ”

“Since you’re going to make the same choice anyway if you did manage to go back, please stop with regretting your past . Seriously, what is this? You saved a nation, yet it’s still your fault? There’s a limit to being a kind person, you know . ”

He wasn’t wrong there .

Even if Falcon went back in time, he’d make the same decision in the end . Rather than watching the empire be destroyed, he’d willingly throw himself and stop Igolas, and eventually become one with the creature again .

“It’s not your fault,” Su-hyeun spoke in a slightly bitter voice . “Many more people survived thanks to you . There’s no reason to beat yourself up over it . ”

“But…”

“But my foot . You saved the world by sacrificing yourself, so what’s with this wretched display? What exactly are you guilty of, anyway?” Su-hyeun reached out and while patting the man’s shoulder, spoke . “You shouldn’t… punish yourself so viciously like this . You have done a great job already, Falcon . ”

“… . ”

Falcon remained silent at Su-hyeun’s words .

His darkened eyes slowly regained their focus . As Igolas’s body gradually died, Falcon’s consciousness was getting clearer, that’s why .

“Now that I think about it…” Falcon said .

His once-trembling voice became a little calmer .

Falcon observed Su-hyeun and spoke . “I still haven’t expressed my gratitude . Thank you . Thanks to you, we were finally able to stop . ”

“No need to mention it . ” Su-hyeun formed a meaningful smile . “It wasn’t for free, after all . ”

“What do you mean?”

“You aren’t going to use that item anyway, right? In that case, please just give it to me . ”

“That item? Could it be…” Falcon’s eyes widened before he guffawed . “Ha, hahaha! Ah, did you mean this? You aren’t someone from our side, so I can’t fathom at all how you even knew about it . ”

“There are certain ways of finding it out . ”

“Alright, take it . Just like you said, it’s not like I’ll be using the item again, and… And I should at least give you something in return . No, wait . Even if I don’t give it to you, it’s still yours regardless . ”

“Thank you . ”

“I should be the one thanking you . Thanks to you, the weight’s been lifted off my shoulders . I’ve been freed from the pain, too… I’m truly grateful . ”

Igolas’s death was the same thing as Falcon’s death .

Falcon was supposed to have died a long time ago during his battle against Igolas . However, after he became one with the creature, he was unable to die and continued to live on while killing humans even though he didn’t want to .

For a long time, he fought within Igolas’s consciousness and protected his home by ensuring that the creature didn’t attack the empire .

Kururuk, kuruk-

Kek, kekek-!

The maw on Igolas’s massive head squirmed for a bit before it spat something out quite vigorously .

Su-hyeun stared at that something the creature spat out . It was a set of thin armor .

“Take it with you . You are more than qualified to possess it,” said Falcon .

He was now in full control of Igolas’s consciousness . That was because the creature’s body was damaged beyond the possibility of repair .

In other words, the armor Igolas spat out was meant to be Falcon’s gift . And it was also what Su-hyeun had been aiming for since the beginning, as well .

“In that case, I’ll gladly use it,” replied Su-hyeun .

“Alright . ”

Falcon closed his eyes .

Right afterward, his body made out of Igolas’s blood began melting down little by little .

“Finally… eternal respite,” said Falcon .

He accepted his death as eternal respite . Su-hyeun, having only lived a mere few decades, couldn’t grasp at all what that even felt like .

Su-hyeun bowed his head towards Falcon .

This man before his eyes was a true hero, who, for the length of time no one could even begin to imagine, fought for the sake of the world .

And he was the sole witness to the last moments of such a person .

“Rest in peace . ”

I pray that his death wouldn’t be one of agony but an eternal rest .

Su-hyeun earnestly prayed in his heart .