Chapter 56: Eternal Fla and Ice Dragon (3)
Gagagagang—!
Kyle’s crimson-burning sword strike fell down upon the Ice Dragon’s head, but it failed to pierce the transparent barrier and was repelled, scattering sparks.
Yul and Iron also supported Kyle by aiming for the Ice Dragon’s body, but no matter how hard they struck, the barrier showed no cracks.
Stepping back for a mont, Kyle stared at the Ice Dragon and adjusted his grip on the sword.
‘It won’t be easy to endure the power of three Masters.’
No matter how strong the Ice Dragon was, this was a domain where the Eternal Fla lay right at hand.
Fire, the natural enemy of cold.
Moreover, there was no way it could endure such pure heat, a level comparable to the Frostfire.
The fact that the Ice Dragon was no longer spewing its breath was proof of that.
The longer it dragged on, the more advantageous the battle beca.
But Kyle had no intention of dragging it out.
‘I can’t just watch the cold energy the Ice Dragon has stockpiled all this ti run out.’
Krooooo—!
Under the ceaseless attacks of Kyle, Yul, and Iron, the Ice Dragon let out a ferocious roar.
A powerful shockwave swept toward the three.
It was a shockwave strong enough to send Yul and Iron flying backward as they hamred at the barrier, but Kyle alone was not pushed back.
He endured the wave, extending the hand in which he had concentrated fire.
“Keep hitting it!”
At Kyle’s shout, Yul and Iron, who had been blown back, clenched their lips tightly and charged forward again.
If you hit it, it opens.
No matter how solid and strong it was, if you struck and smashed it without pause, it would eventually open.
Bang—! Jjeojeojeojeok!
Unable to withstand the impacts coming from three directions, cracks ford in the barrier.
Kyle did not miss that mont and soared high into the air, imbuing his sword with even stronger fire.
The instant Kyle’s sword struck the Ice Dragon’s barrier, a sharp sound like shattering glass pierced the ears.
‘It finally broke.’
As the barrier shattered into pieces, Kyle leapt again without even taking the ti to touch the ground.
Then he drove his sword into the defenseless Ice Dragon’s head.
Kkaang—!
Even though the barrier had been destroyed, the Ice Dragon’s scales were harder than any mineral that existed in the world.
So hard that even a sword imbued with Blade could not pierce them.
Standing atop the Ice Dragon’s head, Kyle looked down below.
“Yul, Iron! Aim for the belly!”
At Kyle’s shout, Yul threw himself between the Ice Dragon’s legs as if sliding through.
Iron also ran swiftly forward on his short legs.
A weakness not covered by scales.
The Ice Dragon noticed Yul and Iron slipping between its legs and hurriedly spread its wings, but Kyle had no intention of letting that happen.
“I was waiting.”
At the mont the wings spread, Kyle’s cold voice rang out.
The reason he had shouted for Yul and Iron to aim for the belly.
He had been waiting for the Ice Dragon to spread its wings and rise into the sky.
Kyle, who had already leapt by stepping on the Ice Dragon’s head, began to fall downward, and the sword, given additional power through rotation of his body, cleaved through the Ice Dragon’s wing.
Seogeok!
Following the chilling sound, a thunderous crash of sothing falling resounded.
Another weakness not covered in scales was the wing joint.
After neatly severing flesh and even bone, Kyle moved forward the mont he landed.
Now was the chance, while the Ice Dragon that had lost one wing could not fly into the sky.
Failing to take flight, the Ice Dragon instinctively collapsed, trying to crush Yul and Iron beneath its belly, as well as Kyle.
Kwaang—!
A massive cloud of dust and a snowstorm erupted around the Ice Dragon.
Glittering white snow began to completely cover the Dwarf Tribe’s settlent.
The Dwarf warriors who had been watching the battle between the three and the Ice Dragon hurriedly gathered their strength, struggling to clear away the dust and snowstorm.
“Chieftain!”
In this battle, the fate of the Dwarves would be decided.
If the Ice Dragon won, the Dwarf Tribe was destined for annihilation.
If it was an opponent that even Kyle, who was stronger than the two Lords, could not defeat, then it was absolutely not an enemy the Dwarf Tribe could overco.
As everyone watched with tense eyes—
When the snow and dust settled to so extent, a familiar voice was heard.
“Ugh, my whole body hurts!”
“……Be grateful you even survived.”
Iron, sprawled out in front of the Ice Dragon, and Yul, kneeling on one knee and breathing heavily, ca into view.
And Kyle was seen sitting atop the Ice Dragon’s head, its neck limp in death.
Kyle looked down and shook his head.
“You two are both foolish. You should’ve gotten yourselves out properly.”
At Kyle’s remark, Yul spoke in an irritated voice.
“……That doesn’t sound like sothing you should be saying.”
“Yul! How dare you speak such nonsense to the benefactor of the Dwarf Tribe!”
“Does that an my efforts had no value?”
“That’s not what I ant.”
“Well, either way, we survived, so that’s that.”
They had really almost died.
Since becoming an Ork Lord, he had never experienced anything like this.
Even when he had been defeated by the Lords and fled to the Mountain Range Entrance, he hadn’t felt like this.
This was the first ti he had felt that he survived by a hair’s breadth.
As the tension drained away, Yul lay down on the ground like Iron and closed his eyes.
Kyle looked at the two lying there, utterly exhausted, then lightly stepped down from the Ice Dragon’s head.
“Is this really the ti to be lying down?”
“Is there sothing else left to do?”
“I recall saying we needed the Ice Dragon’s heart. Did dying and coming back make you lose your mory?”
At Kyle’s words, Iron, who had been lying on the ground, sprang up.
“Benefactor, is the Ice Dragon’s heart all you need?”
“The strength of the scales was quite high. If weapons or armor could be made from them, they’d seem useful.”
“That’s right! Since ancient tis, the Ice Dragon’s scales have been the dream material of blacksmiths!”
“……So you’re asking for them?”
At Kyle’s murderous gaze, Iron instinctively shrank his neck.
No Dwarf with a sense of sha could demand materials from Kyle at this point.
Seeing that, Kyle slightly lifted the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll hand over the Ice Dragon’s scales. In return, I want the Dwarf Tribe to help Ragnar.”
At Kyle’s words, Iron snapped his head up, his eyes shining once more.
“I swear it! From today onward, the Dwarf Tribe will repay the debt of gratitude we owe Ragnar!”
“Before that, we need to flip that thing over.”
As Kyle spoke while pointing at the Ice Dragon’s massive body, Iron rolled up his sleeves and nodded.
“If it’s about strength, who could beat a dwarf! Thank you for giving us a chance to use the muscle forged through hamring.”
Iron quickly bent at the waist and expressed his thanks.
For an artisan, sothing more important than pride was precious materials.
Especially Ice Dragon scales—they were practically a dream material even to dwarves.
And now they had the chance to obtain hundreds of them.
At Iron’s fervent shout, Kyle nodded and sheathed his sword.
“Go help the chieftain.”
When Kyle asked the dazed Dwarf warriors for assistance, they flung the weapons they were holding to the ground and ca running.
Kyle soon turned his head and silently fixed his gaze on Yul.
“……Understood.”
Realizing his intent, Yul rose from his spot and approached the Ice Dragon’s corpse.
Only then did Kyle also move his steps in that direction.
“It has to be flipped in one go.”
The Dwarf warriors clung to the Ice Dragon’s corpse.
Kyle took the center, with Yul and Iron positioning themselves at each end.
“One.”
In ti with the number Kyle recited, the dwarves drew out their aura and prepared to flip the Ice Dragon.
“Two.”
“Three! Flip it!”
Counting to three, the dwarves poured out all their strength and lifted the massive Ice Dragon corpse upward.
When the Ice Dragon’s body, which seed like it wouldn’t budge at all, flipped over with a heavy thud, the dwarves erupted in cheers.
“We won!”
“Waaaah!”
Even amid that, Kyle focused all his attention solely on the overturned Ice Dragon.
The Ice Dragon’s belly, where there were no scales, had been thoroughly slashed.
There was even a large hole, so retrieving the heart wouldn’t be too difficult.
It was fortunate that Kyle had made a large hole in its belly before they were crushed—otherwise, the three of them wouldn’t even be standing here now.
“Shall we look for the Ice Dragon’s heart now?”
Disassembling the massive Ice Dragon corpse would take ti.
Rather than that, even if it ant getting his clothes dirty, digging directly into the Ice Dragon’s insides to extract the heart was faster.
Kyle rolled up his sleeves for the task.
Just as they were about to finish hunting the Ice Dragon and collect the spoils—
Awooo—!
The howl of the Ice Wolf leader, nad Seori, echoed out.
Yul turned his head toward where the sound had co from.
“Looks like they’re back.”
“Yeah. Let’s hope nothing’s wrong.”
Iron, who had approached at so point, was also looking in the sa direction as Yul.
Soon, Seori and another Ice Wolf appeared, and the dwarf riding on its back quickly dismounted.
With a pale face, the dwarf delivered the news to Iron.
“Chieftain! Ragnar is under attack by monsters right now!”
“……What?”
“On top of that, monster assaults are continuing nonstop on the Ork Tribe’s settlent as well!”
While Kyle was restoring the Eternal Fla, Iron had sent thirty Dwarf warriors out on reconnaissance.
It was to monitor monster movents while Kyle and Yul were away.
He had hoped it was nothing serious, but the feared situation had finally co to pass.
Frowning deeply, Yul silently looked up at Kyle, who stood atop the Ice Dragon’s belly.
“……For now, extracting the Ice Dragon’s heart cos first. I’ll find it and co out as fast as possible.”
Even after hearing that they were under attack, restoring the broken balance of the Frostfire was more urgent.
At Kyle’s words, Yul nodded.
“May I move ahead first?”
“That would be best. I’ll follow shortly.”
The aura consumption during the fight with the Ice Dragon had been severe, but this was no ti to wait around idly.
After glancing around, Yul made a request to Kyle.
“I think I’ll need to ride an Ice Wolf.”
“Seori, can you guide Yul to the entrance?”
Seori, who was prickly enough to only allow Kyle on her back, lifted her head and let out a cry.
Soon, Seori lowered her body so Yul could mount her back.
Iron, who had been quietly watching Yul atop Seori, approached and spoke in a low voice.
“I’ll follow soon as well.”
“It’s fine, Iron. This is an issue of our own tribe.”
“Since we’ve received help, it’s only right that our tribe also help Ragnar. I’ll prepare just the warriors and move imdiately.”
“……Thank you.”
“It’s the obvious decision.”
With those words, Seori dashed off swiftly.
Watching Yul depart, Iron turned his body and bowed his head to Kyle.
“May we have permission for the Dwarf Tribe to support Ragnar?”
“……Did you decide to offer support because you wish to leave the mountain range?”
“No. We have absolutely no such intention.”
“Then may I take it as a pure desire to help?”
“Yes.”
At Iron’s resolute voice, Kyle ford a faint smile.
“As the Grand General of the Ragnar Family, I express my gratitude for the Dwarf Tribe’s assistance.”
“Thank you for granting the Dwarf Tribe’s request.”
Having received Kyle’s consent, Iron lifted the axe that had been planted in the ground.
“We have received help from the Ragnar Family beyond asure. To uphold our honor as dwarves, we intend to support Ragnar. Is there anyone who refuses to provide support!”
“No!”
The Dwarf warriors, who had been cheering and intoxicated by victory, straightened their postures at Iron’s words and shouted forcefully.
They too picked up the weapons they had thrown down, revealing eyes blazing with fire.
“How many Ice Wolves are able to move?”
“About three hundred!”
“Mobilize them all. And have the remaining warriors move together with Kyle.”
As Iron issued orders to the dwarves and prepared to move, Kyle had already entered the Ice Dragon’s interior.
He didn’t care if his clothes got dirty.
He had to find the Ice Dragon’s heart as quickly as possible, restore the balance, and return to Ragnar.
Pushing through the Ice Dragon’s insides, Kyle pierced straight through to the vicinity of the heart.
A crystal that looked like a blue gemstone.
It was the Dragon Heart, known as the source of mana.
Gripping the Dragon Heart tightly, Kyle felt the cold flowing in through his hand and grinned.
‘Hold on just a little longer, Seros. I’m coming soon.’
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