{Note for readers - There is gore and violence in this chapter....}
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[DETECTED HOSTILITY OF A TYRANT RANK DRACONIC BEING…..]
[HOST IS ADVISED TO RUN AWAY AS FAR AS POSSIBLE…]
[WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!!]
The system that he could barely activate after so much effort now screamed like a siren, and the dark foreboding in Kale's heart increased even further.
His face was a mixture of panic and confusion; sweat trickled down his forehead; his heart was overwhelmed by fear. The system told him to run away, but his trembling eyes went to the old and young villagers, smiling at him and cursing the dragons. Suddenly, his ever-so-perceptive father noticed that his expression wasn't right.
He asked, "Son? What's wrong?"
Kale gritted his teeth and just as he was about to answer with a hint of truth, a catastrophic roar of a mighty beast resounded through the skies, which shook the very grounds, the birds, the insects, and every wild animal that heard the enraged cry of the ruling species of this world shuddered unilaterally; even the grass under the villagers' feet wilted.
Just the wrath of that creature was enough to condemn any semi-sentient existence to die.
Fear gripped the hearts of the villagers. Mothers hugged their child, who began crying. Fathers stood in front of their families in a protective gesture. The old dropped to their knees, their eyes opened wide in an unknown terror, a fear they had never felt in their entire lives.
But deep down their souls knew it was the unmistakable enraged roar of a Dragon.
A terrifyingly large creature pierced the clouds in the night sky, unveiling the moon, and the silver light softly illuminated the world. The majestic creature, as it descended from the heavens, slowly became visible in the eyes of all.
Two gargantuan wings that cast a shadow upon the entirety of Dagan, four legs each with crushing power, claws so large and sharp, filled with enough strength to uproot the largest of trees with ease, every part of its body was covered in shimmering blood red scales, and two large backward curved horns stood on its head.
But the most striking thing was its eyes, which held untold fury: a reptilian, narrow slit at the center of its yellow gaze, staring directly at Kale with visible hatred. Kale was stunned; every single cell on his body protested against him, and all the hair on his body stood on end.
He was unable to move, while his little sister hugged his leg, crying uncontrollably.
[HOST MUST RUN AWAY!!!]
[RUN AWAY!!]
[RUN AWAY!!]
[RUN AWAY!!]
The nonstop warning shouts of the system only made the situation worse; its voice wasn't so mechanical anymore, it was desperate. Even enraged or pleading in between the words…
But the cold gaze of the descending Red Dragon made Kale utterly helpless, unable to move a single muscle in his body. Kale struggled madly to escape the influence of the injected fear,
With every ounce of his willpower…
With all of his sanity….
He needed to save them,
His father, Mother…
His little sister…
The villagers…
And Himself…
Yet, he could only see with terrified eyes the Dragon growing larger as it came down. The creature opened its maw, revealing a row of Jagged fangs like glistening black metal. Its tongue, like a living tentacle of eldritch horror.
From its dark abyssal throat, a heat radiated outward, and...…..
GRAAAAH—SHHHHHHHHHH!!!
This time, its catastrophic roar turned into gushing flames hotter than the hottest lava, its maws became the living incarnation of the most destructive volcano, and the world slowed to a crawl in Kale's eyes.
Not like the time when the World Dragon cursed him, but this time it was the flash of recollection, the moment before his impending death.
He saw, in disbelief, how Selene hugged little Iria and him simultaneously in a protective gesture; his father, Darius, stood in front of all three of them like an immovable mountain against the raining flames.
Only the back of his father could be seen, filled with the will to protect his family no matter the cost. Not an ounce of hesitation in his shoulders.
Kale's life flashed before his eyes, finally giving him the window to slip past the hold of the Dragon, and he screamed at the top of his lungs…."NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...….."
The sea of scorching Draconic flames swallowed the entirety of Dagan, the old, the young, the healthy, the ill, male or female, human or animal, even plants; nothing was spared in the face of that invincible might.
[HOST IS ABOUT TO DIE]
[USING EMERGENCY PROTOCOL %^%$%$#%$#%]
[EMERGENCY LIFE SAVING PROTOCOL HAS BEEN INITIATED….]
[SYSTEM HAS ENTERED RED MODE]
Kale didn't hear a single thing of what the system said, just as the flames were about to swallow him away, a thin, transparent but extremely powerful shield of dark energy erected all around his body.
Kale witnessed with terror how his father and his mother were almost melted alive, their screams echoed in his ears, even so, their last breaths were not of their unfathomable agony, but of the desire to protect their children, "Protect your little sister…."
And they were gone, turned into an unrecognizable sludge of melted organs and intestines, and finally, when the flames reached his innocent little sister, he tried everything he could not to let the flames touch her, standing against the flames, but it was of no use.
He roared, "SYSTEM, PROTECT HER…..NOW…."
"PROTECT HER...."
"PROTECT HER...."
But it replied in its usual emotionless voice, [System is only obliged to protect the host]
Iria did not even get the chance to scream in pain; it happened so fast that her last words as she dissolved were a whisper that almost drowned in the scream of the villagers who were all dying, "Browther, it hurttsss….."
Kale dropped to his knees, the melted sludge of his little sister sticking to his body, only separated by the thin energy barrier that protected him. The heat still reached his skin through the barrier, but it wasn't strong enough to burn him. Tears of blood fell from his eyes, leaving an arc of blood in his cheeks. Slowly, everything descended into an utter silence.
Dagan was now nothing but a charred, lava-covered ground, with the molten flesh of its inhabitants mixed into it. Everyone was dead, except for Kale. His eyes remained transfixed on the remains of his little sister.
Unable to believe what just happened, his mind was completely shaken to the extreme.
The Dragon did not land on the grounds, for it did not need to; such a gesture would be beneath its grandeur. Its eyes landed on the one it needed to kill, and seeing the insect still alive, it let out a dissatisfied snort.
However, as it noticed the broken state of the accursed boy, it laughed, "GRRRAAA–HA… HA… HAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Kale's ears picked up the monstrous laughter of the Dragon, his lost eyes finally turned from the remains of his family, to the one responsible for this destruction.
His sad eyes slowly but surely transformed from a shattered gaze to sundering hatred. Gritting his teeth, he stood up from the ground, which was filled with lava and flames. He gazed directly in the eyes of the Red Dragon; this time, there was not an ounce of fear in his eyes, but only rage, rage great enough to burn the world.
His green eyes shimmering with cold ruthlessness, a desire for brutality he had never felt in his two lives, he did not speak a single word, for his gaze conveyed it all.
The Dragon was furious at the insect's insolent gaze, so it let out another roar at the cursed boy, its mouth like a furnace spewing destructive red flames.
Kale's cold green eyes remianed locked onto the Red Dragon's monstrous pupil with boundless bloodlust.
The Dragon growled, for it was unable to understand what exactly the thing was that could protect the boy so flawlessly from its flames. The Dragon judged that it needed to go down and personally butcher the cursed boy.
Unfortunately, the Red Dragon was extremely young; The one who sent it to kill the boy did not notify it that every action has its consequences. Dragons were the favored species of the heavens, but that did not mean the world Will would let them do what they pleased.
Their invincible power was always regulated by Nergal's world Will. The very reason Dragons lived in the subterranean world was to hide from the rest of the inhabitant species, ruling everything from the shadows. As such, for directly interfering with something that it was not supposed to, the young Red Dragon garnered the wrath of Nergal's dormant world will.
The Dark clouds in the night sky gathered above once more, not by a natural coalescence, but by force. The sky growled in manifestation of the World Will, but the Red Dragon remained oblivious to it, as it kept diving down towards Kale once more.
KRRRRAAAAAAAAK—THOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
At that exact instance, a divine thunder, deafening green lightning bolt descended from the heavens, striking directly at the Red Dragon.
The Dragon wailed in wretched agony at the unexpected strike of divine judgement, "GGRRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Its pained scream was like haunting music in Kale's ears, but his vengeful expression did not change, for there was nothing but rage in his mind. Everything else was put aside.
BANG!!!!!
Like a missile being shot in mid sky, the winged creature lost control, crashing to the ground, just 20 meters away from where Kale was standing, continuing to cry painfully, like any wounded beast at its last leg would. The ground quaked violently from the weight of the fallen Red Dragon.
Kale took a step forward, but the creature was still filled with physical might, so the heavens struck with lightning once more. Now the mighty beast was in a much worse state. It could barely move its body anymore.
Kale didn't give a damn about the lightning strike of the World Will; he remained unafraid, stepping closer and closer towards the ginormous Dragon.
The creature also looked at Kale in hatred. The accursed boy was within its arm's reach, but it could not move its body in the slightest to deliver one last strike and kill him. Groggy, weak growls came from its throat.
Kale stopped for a moment, taking in the sight of the charred and bleeding mighty Red Dragon that just killed his family right in front of his eyes, so many of its red scales were destroyed, no trace of its previous, invincible majesty remaining.
A dark shadow fell on Kale's face; only his ominous, enraged eyes could be seen. At this moment, the system chimed in…
[Host has been granted temporary access to the "Nemesis Dagger"]
[Nemesis Dagger: A supreme rank dagger of a lost world. Can kill almost anything.]
[Warning! Host currently does not meet the necessary conditions to use it; life force can be used in exchange for limited access to the Relic's deathly power.]
[Warning! The possibility of the host dying is too great.]
[Host must exercise caution when using it.]
A glistening, pitch-black dagger appeared in Kale's hand. It was extremely light, but a halo of forbidden darkness oozed out of the Dagger nonstop. He barely glanced over the notifications, uncaring of the cost; all that mattered to him was that this thing could hurt the Dragon, more than that, it could kill the Dragon.
STEP, STEP, Step…..
Kale walked closer and closer and closer, until his face was a few inches away from the yellow monstrous eyes of the creature. With no warning whatsoever, Kale directly stabbed the forbidden dagger at its eyes. The sharp thing cut through its eyes like a hot knife through butter.
GRAAAAAHHHHHHAAAHH!!!!
It wailed once more, in pain, in rage….
But Kale remained relentless, ruthless to the extreme, as he moved to the other eye, understanding what was about to happen, the Dragon closed the other eye in hopes of saving it, but again, the nemesis dagger cut through its eyelids, as if it was the very bane of the Dragon's tough exterior.
Kale's green eyes shimmered once more. Using the dagger seemed to have granted him some form of knowledge about the Dragons without him even realizing it.
His eyes finally landed on the reverse scale of the Dragon, its weakest spot, the place it would feel the greatest pain, right under it was the central nervous point of the creature. Kale climbed onto the creature's back, while the Red Dragon understood what the accursed one was about to do.
The beast continued to writhe with the bare minimum of strength it could muster in its half-dead state. But that felt nothing but a gentle sway to the vengeful Kale.
Holding the Nemesis Dagger high up with both of his hands as the bright moon shone behind him, Kale growled like a vindictive spirit and stabbed down with the dagger at the reverse scale of the Dragon, which was already badly damaged by the divine thunder that struck at the weak spot twice.
Squelch….
Squelch...…
Squelch...…
The continuous sound of flesh-piercing could be heard nonstop; a fierce pain struck the Red Dragon, and its struggle became more and more apparent.
A dark smile slowly formed on Kale's lips. The more the arrogant beast struggled under him, the more satisfaction he felt within his heart. His mind raced at the sweet taste of revenge. The gleeful smile on his face only became wider and wider until Kale had lost his mind.
Endlessly stabbing the colossal creature's weak spot, the arrogant Red Dragon, which slaughtered Dagan village, was eventually killed by a 12-year-old boy, who barely awakened for a single day. Accursed by the Guardian Deity to never walk the path of Beast Taming, which he was destined to, as the favored one of Nergal's World Will.
But the price for using the Nemesis Dagger was too steep, especially when Kale did not meet the requirement to use it, not to mention killing a mighty Red Dragon of Tyrant Rank.
The system's voice rang in his head, almost cracked, in the midst of his butchering spree, his whole body covered in the blood of the dead Dragon.
[Host has successfully killed a Tyrant Rank Red Dragon.]
[The Nergal's World Will has taken notice of you.]
[You have gained its favor.]
[Warning!! The Nemesis Dagger has used up the host's complete life force in the process.]
[The host is dying…]
All the strength and fury that was driving him all of a sudden vanished; he did not even realize how the Dagger was continuously devouring his life force in huge chunks, due to the adrenaline driving him. Now his strength was all gone, and he dropped to his knees.
A familiar sense of weakness drowned his mind, his eyes closed, his heart stopped. The pain of his soul being ripped from his body was familiar; he had once experienced it before, after all.
But he didn't mind it much, for his vengeance was satiated. However, regrets remained in his heart.
[The host has died….]
[Activating the Final Failsafe protocol]
[Checking necessary conditions…]
[Using the world Will's favor]
[Deciphering the worldly laws….]
[The slumbering state of the World Dragon has been confirmed…]
[The weakened state of Nergal's world Will has been confirmed….]
[Borrowing a trace of '&%^&%^'s Divinity…]
[All conditions have been met…]
[Initiating 'Temporal Soul Regression'…]