There Is No World For ■■

"[Sympathy! I have seized control of the Imperial Seal!]"

As the unicorn's triumphant shout echoed, the magic circle spreading over the Seal abruptly halted.

But that wasn’t the end. Although the Seal's eruption spell had been stopped, the dragon was still very much alive.

At least Phase One was done. Onto the next.

Yeomyeong placed the handle onto the Seal and launched himself toward the dragon.

While he lacked Pasun’s ability to fly, he could ride the immense mana flow emanating from the Seal.

"[Go, Sympathy! Only you can halt the dragon’s madness!]"

The mana from the Seal burst forth, propelling him.

As his vision flashed, a surge of sensations struck him all at once.

The Seal’s mana, the light from the handle, the unicorn’s will, and... the dragon’s fury.

"[An Earthling, daring to wield a dwarf’s token!!]"

The dragon swung a massive claw at Yeomyeong as he plummeted toward it.

In an instant, his sword flared with mana.

"[Raagh!!]"

The scales on the dragon’s right hand split, spilling blood. A miracle born from his enhanced mana flow and the crystal from the World Tree.

Yet the cost of deflecting such mass with his sword was heavy.

An unblocked weight crashed into him, and he plummeted toward the valley floor.

Boom!

Dust rose from the ground below the dragon's feet.

Yeomyeong assessed his injuries the moment he hit the ground.

"...Three ribs broken, left arm shattered. Worse than I thought."

Fortunately, his leg bones were intact, thanks to his conscious effort to direct mana to his lower body.

Gritting his teeth, he rose, meeting the dragon’s gaze as it peered down at him.

The reptilian eyes blazed with vengeful rage, mirroring his own calm stare.

A brief exchange of emotions, lost in the directionless vendetta.

Then, the dragon uttered a spell.

"[Thief’s accomplice.]"

Fwoosh!

A giant fireball plummeted toward him, exploding upon impact and filling the valley with smoke and embers.

Through the thick dust, Yeomyeong dashed forward, clutching his broken arm.

"[Disgusting thief, how did you acquire that token?]"

Spells of lethal precision followed him, each one fatal if it hit.

"[Theft? Or did you desecrate graves in your greed, shaming the dead to rob their last treasure?]"

But none of the spells hit their mark. The dragon’s frustration grew as it intensified its mana.

"[Answer me, insect! By what vile, wretched means did you defile the heritage of the golden bloodlines?]"

As the valley trembled under the dragon's mana and fire flooded the valley...

"Hey! Lizard! Can’t you see me?"

Crash!!

Pasun struck the dragon across the face. The crimson mana in his fist turned the dragon’s head, dispersing its spell.

"[How dare you, pest!]"

The dragon’s teeth rattled and its crimson scales rippled, but it quickly recovered its stance.

"Spit out your core and die!"

Pasun threw another punch, forcing the dragon to engage in hand-to-hand combat, swinging its massive limbs and tail.

Fwoosh!

The dragon’s titanic form whipped the valley into a frenzy, stirring the flames it had already unleashed. Some fires spread into the surrounding mountains.

Crash!!

As the dragon and Pasun clashed in midair, with wildfires spreading around the valley...

Yeomyeong met up with the Saintess, who had come running toward him.

"Yeomyeong!"

She refrained from saying anything about believing in him or knowing he’d return.

Instead, she tossed her rifle aside and unleashed healing light with both hands.

"For heaven’s sake! How do you keep getting yourself hurt like this in every fight?"

Though her words were sharp, worry lined her face as she looked him over.

His skin was seared with burns, and his left arm hung limp.

Despite the obvious pain, Yeomyeong responded with his usual composure.

"The Seal’s neutralized. Manchuria won’t be destroyed by volcanic eruptions anymore."

"...Really? Are you serious?"

"Would I lie about that? But without the Seal... a dragon is still a dragon."

He looked up at Pasun struggling against the dragon. Given the size difference, he was barely holding his own.

"Unless we take it down, nothing will change. It could ignite the volcanoes itself or burn everything in sight. To end this, we have to fight the dragon."

"What do you need me to do?"

She looked up at the battle above as she asked.

"The same blessing you gave me against Kahal Magdu. Can you do that now?"

"Yes. With my remaining mana, I could push it and give three blessings."

"And for weapons?"

"Three times Redox’s blessing—so about nine uses?"

That was more than enough. Yeomyeong flexed his slowly recovering left arm and spoke.

"Six blessings on the weapon, one on me. With that, we’ll take down the dragon."

Take down the dragon? The Saintess swallowed hard, expecting at most to buy time until the army arrived.

"...That’s... possible?"

"I wouldn’t attempt it if it wasn’t."

His voice was filled with confidence. Oddly enough, it felt more reliable than any foresight.

Pasun was feeling the strain of fighting the dragon.

Even with his reversed martial technique squeezing every drop of qi from his body, his physical limitations held him back.

A creature he could have killed with a flick of his wrist in an ideal world now pushed him to the brink, making it difficult just to evade its attacks.

The dragon’s claws and tail weren’t as troubling, but the intermittent spells were a nightmare.

"Where the hell is he?"

Pasun ground his teeth, narrowly dodging another fireball.

He pictured Yeomyeong’s face, claiming they’d just need a few minutes, and irritation flared within him.

Had he run off? No, that didn’t seem right.

There was no reason for him to retreat now. They needed to work together to bring down the dragon.

As he pondered, the dragon began gathering mana in its mouth.

A breath attack. The dragon’s deadliest spell.

Fwoosh!

Flames erupted from the dragon’s maw, blinding in their brilliance, fanning out toward Pasun.

"Damn it."

He knew instinctively that a direct hit meant death. He sprinted through the air at his limit, leaving a comet-like crimson trail behind him.

Barely, he escaped the blast radius of the breath attack. But there was no time to catch his breath.

The dragon followed, wings beating as it closed in, unleashing a series of spells without warning.

Flaming rings and shackles descended upon him, aiming to bind his legs and prevent escape.

"[Now, die, you insect!]"

With his feet bound by the dragon’s spell, Pasun found himself within its reach as it opened its jaws.

A deep, primal roar built in its throat as flames climbed up, signaling another breath attack.

"Damn it, using that technique here is...."

Just as Pasun braced himself for a desperate final strike, certain of his end...

A brilliant red light rose from the cliff opposite.

The dragon, moments away from unleashing its breath, paused, captivated by the glow. It couldn’t help but stare.

Pure red mana—the embodiment of a deity from beyond the dimensional gate.

"[Redox...?]"

With an expression of disbelief, the dragon gazed toward the cliff.

Standing there was the familiar Earthling who had wrested control of the Seal using the Uragan clan’s token.

That same Earthling now glowed with the deity’s red light.

It was impossible. A blessing upon an invader from Earth?

"[How dare, how dare, how dare! An Earthling dares mimic divine light?!!]"

The dragon refused to accept it. A human with the blessing of a god? No joke could be worse.

It had to be an illusion, a wretched trick.

There was no way the deity would bestow blessings on Earth, the birthplace of communism, especially on an Earthling.

Earthlings were all godless; they scorned faith, calling religion the opiate of the masses, mocking divine authority.

How many temples had Stalin burned? How many holy relics had communists defiled? The audacity!

"[Blasphemy!]" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The dragon gathered its mana with renewed fury, preparing a breath attack to erase this heretic from existence.

Yet the Earthling remained unafraid, refusing to flee.

Instead, he drew a blue dagger, readying himself to face the inferno head-on.

Challenge the dragon’s flames? Ohr Se Tabul sneered, ready to unleash its breath. Or so it thought.

Bang!

As it was about to exhale, a gunshot rang from behind.

The same white bullet that had pierced its eye before.

Instinctively, the dragon shut its mouth and raised a claw, blocking the bullet, which only left a small scratch on its scales.

But it had lost the initiative.

The Earthling, blessed by the false divine light, twisted his body, swinging both a longsword in his right hand and a dagger in his left.

Slash!

A trail of stars followed the path of his blessed, crimson-swept blade as it cleaved through the air toward the dragon’s wings.