Chapter 391: Lightning Dragon Subjugation
"Hoo..."
The monster with golden eyes flickering in and out of view exhaled clouds of white mist from its nostrils.
With each breath it took, the golden lightning within the clouds began to flicker, and streaks of golden electricity manifested in the surrounding air.
"Snap."
Just as Kato Megumi was doing her best to conceal both her and Asagiri's presence, a bolt of lightning in the air touched Asagiri's body.
A soft crackle rang out as the current discharged.
In the very next second, those golden eyes locked onto them completely.
Then came a deafening roar.
"Roar!"
Seeing the massive monster head, wrapped in golden lightning, rapidly thrust out from the clouds, Kato Megumi could not help letting out an exclamation.
"Shadow!"
"Human Asura Mode."
Without the slightest hesitation, Asagiri instantly activated Human Asura Mode.
His body rapidly ascended, dodging the Lightning Dragon's bite.
Looking down at the back of the creature's head, now completely exposed after its missed strike, the dark red patterns on Asagiri's body began to glow.
Then, while holding Kato Megumi with one arm, he clenched his other hand into a fist and struck the Lightning Dragon's head like a black comet.
"Bang!"
The explosive sound of the impact and the dragon's wail rang out almost simultaneously.
Under Asagiri's terrifying strength, a clear dent appeared on the golden dragon's head.
Its massive body could no longer maintain balance after the blow and plummeted headfirst toward the ground.
Seeing this, Kato Megumi finally realized something belatedly.
Although Utsunomiya Asagiri was humanoid in appearance, his stats in every aspect...
Were probably even more monstrous than a monster's.
This was not a story of David challenging Goliath, nor a case of the weak overcoming the strong.
Just as Asagiri had once said.
The golden dragon was the challenger.
After falling several dozen meters, the golden dragon shook its head, recovered from the collision, and stabilized its body once more.
Seeing this, Kato Megumi did not need any verbal communication.
A single glance was enough for her to reach a silent understanding with Asagiri.
She shifted from being held in his arms to riding on his shoulders, just like Iwanaga Kotoko.
Immediately after, she took out her Nightingale Blood Crying Bow and fired dozens of arrows directly at the golden dragon's body with such speed that her movements blurred into a continuous afterimage.
"Roar!"
The golden dragon manipulated lightning to form a protective barrier over its skin, but it could not block even a single arrow.
After dozens of arrows struck in succession, the passive effect of the Nightingale Blood Crying Bow stacked to a terrifying degree.
The final few arrows pierced straight through the golden dragon's body, causing it to let out a pained, frenzied roar.
The dragon gathered pale golden lightning around its body.
Once fully charged, it unleashed a strike toward Asagiri high in the sky.
However...
"With such an obvious windup, do you really take me for a longsword user?"
Asagiri easily dodged the lightning attack from the dragon monster.
He then raised his left hand, condensing a blindingly white spear of holy light, his gaze locking onto the flying golden dragon at that moment.
"Annihilation Spear."
The spear of holy light shot out rapidly.
The golden dragon sensed the aura of danger and instinctively tried to dodge, but its flying posture was far from agile.
It was pierced through the body by the holy light spear, though at the very last second, it managed to turn its head just enough to avoid several black arrows aimed at its skull.
At this moment, the golden dragon's body was covered in bloody holes left by the piercing arrows.
Although these wounds were insignificant compared to its massive size, it possessed intelligence and was not a mere beast.
It realized something truly terrifying.
The sky was not its home field.
The golden dragon was flying, but Asagiri was moving as if he were on solid ground.
Furthermore, its speed and agility in the air could not compare to Asagiri's at all.
Its overly large size had instead made it a living target.
Upon realizing this, the golden dragon's eyes, which had previously radiated ferocious aggression, now filled with fear as it looked at the dark shadow floating in the distance.
It stopped attacking and quickly began to flee.
"Hmph, trying to run?"
Asagiri's straight line flight speed was about the same as the golden dragon's, but the opponent could not attack while fleeing, and he still had an arrow tower mounted on his shoulder.
As Kato Megumi continuously fired black arrows, the golden dragon's wails echoed across the sky.
The blood mist blooming from its body stretched into a long red line.
After a chase lasting less than ten seconds, Kato Megumi found her opportunity.
A black arrow pierced all the way through from the dragon's back and drilled out from its head.
No matter how massive the golden dragon was, after sustaining such a fatal wound, it immediately lost its life.
Its huge body, like a dimming golden comet, fell rapidly toward the ground.
"Bang!"
The moment the golden dragon's massive body crashed to the ground, the earth trembled noticeably for several kilometers around.
Trees in the area surrounding the impact site collapsed into a mess, and flesh and blood mixed within the crater formed by the collision.
Even from over a dozen kilometers away, the sound of the golden dragon's fall could be heard.
However, by this time, Asagiri had already brought Kato Megumi to rendezvous with Yuuki Asuna and the others, retreating into a dense forest several kilometers away from the Lightning Dragon's impact zone.
[You have killed the monster "Lightning Dragon" and will receive bonus points upon clearing.]
[You have assisted in killing the monster "Lightning Dragon" and will receive bonus points upon clearing.]
Hearing the notification sound from his phone, Asagiri did not rush to check it.
Instead, he bent his knees slightly and crouched on one leg.
Yuuki Asuna rushed over and helped Kato Megumi, who was riding on Asagiri's shoulders, climb down. She asked with concern,
"Are you okay? You aren't hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine."
Kato Megumi replied softly, her tone as calm as ever.
However, Asagiri noticed that her legs were trembling slightly.
Kato Megumi, who was clearly shaking all over yet still trying to put on a calm front, had a cuteness like a small animal.
"Although aerial combat has its advantages, it might still be too much for you."
Hearing Asagiri's words, Iwanaga Kotoko's dark purple eyes lit up, and she immediately suggested,
"Aerial combat has advantages? If that's the case, as long as we adopt the formation we used in the last Dungeon..."
"Are you crazy? You want me to become a Christmas tree for beautiful girls to hang off of again?"
Asagiri decisively rejected Iwanaga Kotoko's proposal and waved his hand.
"Moving with you is one thing, but fighting is another. Even with Phantom's physical fitness, moving at high speed in the air with me causes discomfort. You and Mita couldn't handle it at all, so don't even think about it."
Just as Asagiri said, that method of acting as a mobile aerial turret was not something that could be used for a long time.
There were many issues, such as needing to endure his full speed movement while also focusing on aiming.
Most importantly, no matter how much tacit understanding Asagiri and the others had, it was impossible for them to be so in sync that they moved like one person.
It was similar to the principle of vehicles.
Many people did not get carsick when they were the ones driving, but would get motion sickness when they were passengers. Simply put, it was because the steering wheel was not in their own hands, so they could not control the vehicle's speed and trajectory.
"Hoo... hoo..."
Kato Megumi really could not maintain a standing position any longer, but when she looked at the overgrown ground, hesitation appeared in her eyes.
Seeing this, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately guessed her thoughts.
After all, Iwanaga Kotoko herself was someone who cared about cleanliness and elegance.
She immediately condensed a chair using Black Particles, smiled, and said,
"Please, have a seat."
"Thank you."
Kato Megumi was not the type to force herself, so she sat directly on the chair formed by Black Particles.
"Lightning Dragon..."
After listening to Asagiri's description of the battle that had just occurred, Iwanaga Kotoko rested her chin on one hand and fell deep into thought.
"It can survive after being pierced by dozens of wounds? It seems the monsters on this island have incredibly tenacious life force. Internal organ damage isn't immediately fatal to them. The only way to quickly kill them is to destroy the head."
Asagiri stated calmly,
"That Lightning Dragon's life force is too tenacious, so tenacious that it exceeds the scope of normal creatures."
Yuuki Asuna immediately understood Asagiri's meaning upon hearing this, and her brows furrowed slightly.
"Only destroying the head can kill them... Do you think the creatures on this island are infected with a virus similar to those Special Infected, which is why they possess such abnormal life force?"
"Otherwise, it doesn't make sense."
Asagiri shrugged and spoke softly.
"The Lightning Dragon's torso was pierced by Phantom's arrows from all angles. Normally, its organs, including the heart, would have been damaged to the point of being unable to function, and it should have died long ago. Yet it continued to move."
Yuuki Asuna's brows furrowed even tighter, undisguised disgust showing in her eyes.
"Was it Blackwatch again? Those guys..."
"No, I don't think that's quite right."
Iwanaga Kotoko shook her head, interrupting Yuuki Asuna.
Then she looked at the people in front of her and slowly began to speak.
"Considering the information we've gathered from previous Dungeons, I always feel there's something off about Blackwatch's so-called salvation plan."
"They don't even know the specific reason why their world became that way, and they don't even realize this problem. Yet they almost fanatically dedicate their lives to it."
"Such behavior... is truly abnormal, almost bizarre. It's like... how should I describe it..."
While Iwanaga Kotoko struggled to organize her words, wondering how to describe it, Asagiri spoke up.
"The world of Blackwatch and everyone in it are like puppets on strings, guided by some force to do those things without even realizing they are being controlled."
.....
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