Chapter 71: You again!?

‘Demonic energy!?’

A chilling sense of unease that reached me despite the considerable distance. And…….

A sense of crisis that made the hair on my whole body stand on end.

In that moment, Muno instinctively hugged the baby dragon and started to leap sideways.

Chwareureuk.

The moment he dodged like the wind with the added propulsion from the iron chain that shot out from his foot.

Flash.

Kwarurururururung.

Kwaaaaang!

Countless bright yellow lightning bolts rained down on him one after another.

“You son of a X!?”

I instinctively looked up, but there was nothing to be seen in the dawning sky.

To be precise, there was only nothing visible.

Because at a point in the empty sky, a hundred and several tens of meters high, a height he could never reach even if he died and came back to life, the demonic energy that was frighteningly gathering again was precisely caught by his senses.

And the feeling of that demonic energy was very familiar.

“That fucking X!!?”

As soon as Muno ground his teeth and shouted, the surrounding temperature began to drop rapidly, as if in response.

Jjeojeojeojeok.

“X!”

Chwareureuk.

Kwang!

He swung the iron chain, absorbing the demonic energy of the closing magic, and started running again.

Paaaaaaang!

At the same time, the 'Blade' he instinctively threw became a small dagger and flew towards that point like an arrow.

However.

-Taaang!!

His blade flashed at a point in the empty air and was deflected, then disintegrated.

"Keok!"

The feeling of his Spirit Arts being forcibly broken was accompanied by an extreme pain that felt like his internal organs were being squeezed.

As his running footsteps got tangled without him realizing it.

Bright yellow lightning bolts rained down on him again.

Flash.

Kwajijijijijijijik.

‘Damn it!’

The moment his complexion turned pale amidst the tingling electric current.

"Mya!"

The baby dragon in his arms cried out a little louder.

And then.

"Kkeueu, um?"

He felt the pain of the electric shock that was scorching his whole body lessen in an instant.

And at that moment, Muno, who felt the flow of demonic energy with unusual vividness, couldn't help but widen his eyes as he looked at the baby dragon in his arms.

"You?"

It was as if the demonic energy contained in the magic was being absorbed separately by the armor and the baby dragon.

"Miya!"

Pajik. Pajik.

The baby dragon, with electric currents sparking at the corners of its mouth, was munching on it as if it were a delicious snack.

To be precise, the demonic energy contained in that electric shock.

"You……."

As he was just gaping in surprise and bewilderment, the temperature around them dropped sharply once again, and blade-like winds raged from all directions.

Cold magic that turned the surroundings into a frozen wasteland, and blades of wind that seemed like they would grind everything within that range.

‘Damn it!’

Chwareureuk.

Kwagagagagak.

In response, Muno wrapped his iron chains all around him, hugged the baby dragon, and broke through the magic's domain.

In the process, blade-like winds and cold seeped in through the gaps that the iron chains failed to block, but.

"Mya!"

Just like a moment ago, his armor and the baby dragon absorbed almost half of the magic, so no attack reached them.

"Are you for real……?"

"Mya?"

"No, you did great!"

A series of surprises. But there was no time to delve into the reasons.

Pababak.

To avoid the one-sided barrage of attacks from an enemy in a position he could never reach, he had to keep moving without rest.

Flash.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang.

"Th-this son of a……."

On top of the cold that turned a radius of tens of meters into an arctic-like environment and the blades of wind that hacked it to pieces, lightning struck again.

The armor and the iron chains, and in addition to that.

"Mya!"

The baby dragon was also absorbing the magic, but since the armor was made of metal, it was impossible to avoid damage from the electric shock.

It was fortunate that with the baby dragon, the burden he had to bear was significantly reduced.

‘This one is something else.’

The dragon's surprising but welcome ability was one thing.

The magic that the owner of that familiar demonic energy was pouring out was too different from last time.

‘How can it be one after another like this……?’

However, there was no time to think more deeply.

Kwadeudeuk.

"Kkeueung!"

Kwang!

He kicked off the cold, scattered the lightning, and jumped into the forest.

And then, dozens of fireballs began to fall into the entire space he was in.

Kwaaaaaang!

Kwaaaang.

It wasn't the blue flame that had almost melted him in one go in the past, but that alone was enough to completely cover the entire surrounding forest in flames.

Hwareureureuk.

It felt like it was aimed at the forest, not him.

He tried to absorb the fireballs falling around him, but in the end, he couldn't stop the forest from turning into a sea of fire.

‘Damn it.’

The continuous barrage of magic was one thing.

‘How do I drag that X down.’

The problem was the altitude, which seemed like it would be far from enough even if he jumped with the help of the iron chains and then threw them again at the highest point.

It was clear that the enemy had taken a position with determination, but he couldn't think of a way to overcome that height.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

Pajijijik.

"Daaamn it!"

He just ran instinctively to escape this hell of flames and lightning.

At that moment.

"Mya!?"

Suddenly, the surrounding temperature rose significantly, and the baby dragon looked around in surprise and then burrowed into his arms.

"It's okay. It's okay, baby."

Muno hugged it tighter as he watched.

The sight of it looking scared for the first time reminded him of what the priority was.

‘More than catching that witch…….’

Saving this child is the top priority.

No, to be more precise.

"I'll take you to your mom. Don't worry!"

Muno shouted as if making a promise to himself and ran through the forest.

A path was being drawn in his mind.

He couldn't return to Drasen to overcome this situation.

He couldn't even imagine how much damage the witch, who was completely hiding her appearance and pouring down bombardments from the sky, would inflict on the territory.

So.

‘I’ll bypass Drasen and go to the northern mountain range.’

With the monsters teeming in the northern mountain range, maybe they could create an opening against that witch.

‘But they’ll probably attack me first…….’

He couldn't think of any other way.

"Hold on tight!"

"Miya……"

Chwareureuk.

Muno, holding the baby dragon tightly, released the iron chains on his limbs and showcased a stunt-like sprint, crossing between the air and the ground to avoid the falling lightning.

The moment he escaped the burning forest and saw the fields again.

Jjeojeojeojeok.

"Yeah, this is great!!"

Chwaaaaaak.

He ran, skating on the frozen ground.

Kwareureureureu.

He would jump over the mound of earth that soared up like a huge barrier using his iron chains, or.

If even that wasn't possible.

"Ha!"

Kwaaaang!

He would smash through it with the momentum of his run.

Meanwhile, his appearance of sprinting recklessly, as if he had no intention of fighting back against the enemy, was extremely annoying to someone who had to stop or kill him.

"You slippery eel……!!"

A nervous voice flowed from Karin's mouth as she poured down bombardments while being covered by a stealth magic that obscured her vision and a barrier that distorted her position.

It was only natural.

‘I researched so much.’

The method to deal with the one who had dealt the most fatal blow to her plan was surprisingly simple.

Just like now, she just had to indiscriminately bombard him from a height that a mere knight could not reach.

It wasn't a very difficult task for her to climb to a height that was absolutely unreachable by those cursed chains with their ability.

However, she hadn't expected a situation like this.

"You cockroach-like bastard!!"

Flash.

Kwarurururururung.

The lightning that fell on him at the same time as the incantation seemed to be absorbed directly into his body.

He seemed completely unaffected by the cold.

He just smashed through the wind and jumped over the earth.

He would escape the range of explosion magic the moment he saw the signs, and his movements were so fast that she couldn't even hit him with attacks using fire.

It felt like there was no point in bringing 'Cerberus,' which could control three spells almost simultaneously.

"You damn bastard……."

Her anger welled up, and a throbbing phantom pain seemed to arise from the prosthetic leg attached to her severed left ankle.

"How can you interfere with me at every turn! How!"

How absurd was it when she saw him grilling a wild boar at the place where she was supposed to meet the shadow who had the 'egg.'

No matter how not-far-from-Drasen it was, it was a small corner of a forest in a field with nothing around, at least 10 km away.

A common, ordinary field forest that would have been difficult for even her to find if she didn't know the exact coordinates.

But how did he manage to settle there and deal with the shadow?

What's more, next to him was a larva that looked like the offspring of a wyvern or a dragon that had come out of the egg.

A black reptile that was at least certain to be the offspring of a demonic beast.

She had even lost the 'tool' to lure the 'calamity' to him.

‘I heard it was an unidentifiable egg, but how on earth did he hatch it?’

It was full of things she couldn't understand, but there were also things that had become certain through the current fierce battle.

The most important fact.

‘That bastard, he definitely absorbs magic.’

An anomaly that could never be forgiven as a chosen being, a magician.

Just seeing it was so repulsive that it even aroused the urge to tear him to shreds and kill him.

The problem was that the capacity of that bastard to absorb magic was more than twice her estimate.

From that point on, the situation began to spiral out of her control.

‘According to the plan, I should have tied his feet in the initial stage and half-killed him.’

Because the combination of her magical power amplified by Cerberus and the continuous barrage of magic had enough power to do so.

Or rather.

‘I should have just poured all my power into killing him from the beginning.’

But she couldn't.

- As long as he's alive.

Her Master's command had prevented her from using her ultimate weapon, 'Flames of Gehenna,' in the initial stage.

And the slippery eel that she couldn't catch in the beginning was eventually trying to escape her range.

Gadeuk.

"You can't escape."

Flash.

Cerberus, the magical staff with its end split into three, in the form of a three-headed dog.

As the jewels embedded in the dog's eyes shone, her body began to fly through the air as if sliding.

And even so, the magical bombardment towards the ground did not stop.

At that moment, Karin thought.

‘At this rate, my mana will run out first.’

She had no intention of fighting a war of attrition against a monster that seemed to replenish its stamina by absorbing magic.

But she couldn't let him get away like this either.

In the end, there was only one way.

‘A lure……. Let's see who dies, you or me. Let's go to the end.’

Given the bastard's temperament, which she had seen a few times, he would never ignore the bait.

Karin's body, which had strengthened its barrier while in a transparent state, began to descend at an angle.

‘Those chains…….’

While calculating the range and radius that the bastard could leap to, and the area that was slightly within it.

And that silent signal was clearly delivered to the fleeing Muno.

'Huh……?'

Pabababak.

Kwaaaaaang!

Jumping over explosions, sliding on ice, taking lightning with his body, breaking through blades of wind with his body, and jumping over barriers of earth.

Muno, who was now running as if he were enjoying parkour, glanced back at the empty sky.

‘You’re going to lure me?’

He could read the enemy's psychology perfectly.

The problem was that it was too tempting.

Just running away like this didn't suit his temperament.

The moment he was racking his brain on how to mess with her.

"Mya?"

The baby dragon in his arms tilted its head.

While deliciously munching on the demonic energy he had pulled up from the mound of earth he had just jumped over.

"Ah……."

That sight changed Muno's mind.

If it weren't for this one, which absorbed demonic energy at a level similar to his armor, he wouldn't have been able to escape this far.

But it was also awkward to counterattack while holding this one.

‘I don’t have a weapon either…….’

He needed metal to create a 'Blade' again, but he didn't have the leisure to stand still and gather metal from the ground.

And more than anything…….

He had made a promise.

"Baby, just wait a little longer. I'm going to find your mom!"

"Mya!"

Pabababak.

Instead of racking his brain, Muno put more strength into his legs and just started running forward.