After Regressing, I Gained the Power of the Demonic Dragon - Chapter 30
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 30
Ryuga drew the bowstring taut with urgency.
Twang! Twang! Twang!
Three arrows pierced Kongo’s barrier, streaking toward Sang Hyuk’s face, chest, and thigh.
Sang Hyuk twisted his head to evade the first shaft, then lowered his torso to slip past the second.
The final arrow he batted away with his right hand just before it grazed his thigh.
Screech!
The arrowhead dissolved where it met the black aura.
The spent shaft tumbled to the ground at Sang Hyuk’s feet.
In that opening, three golden magic bullets erupted from Kagura’s staff in quick succession.
Boom-boom-crack!
The first two detonated on either side of Sang Hyuk.
He drove through the cascading dust, extending his right hand toward the final bullet.
Screee-ching!
The golden projectile vanished without trace against his palm.
“Keep firing!”
Kongo roared, channeling power into his shield.
Ryuga’s fingers flew across the bowstring again.
With each successive volley, the speed of his Consecutive Shot accelerated.
Twang! Twang-twang-twang!
Yet Sang Hyuk did not falter.
Thump.
The Apocalypse Dragon Heart surged, driving power through both legs.
Sang Hyuk cut through the hail of arrows and bore down on the golden barrier in a single, relentless charge.
Kongo’s jaw tightened.
“You think just because you’ve felled Tokyo Keumryong you can break through this wall?”
Sang Hyuk did not answer. He pressed his right hand against the barrier.
‘Erasure.’
Screee-ching!
Beneath his palm, the golden light turned black.
The black aura spread across the entire barrier, and before Kongo could pour in more power, the golden wall simply ceased to exist.
“Impossible……”
Kongo’s face emerged from behind the now-vanished barrier.
He immediately raised his shield to drive Sang Hyuk back.
Whoosh!
Sang Hyuk’s right hand caught the top edge of the incoming shield.
Scrape-scrape-scrape!
Half of the thick metal plate disintegrated.
The suddenly lightened shield tilted sharply in Kongo’s grip.
Thump.
The Apocalypse Dragon Heart pounded fiercely, and the Dragon Blood Flow surged into his left arm.
Moments earlier, that same force had caught Tokyo Keumryong’s fist—the very fist bearing a Seat Mark—in a single grip.
Sang Hyuk’s left fist drove into Kongo’s exposed chest.
Boom-crack!
The thick breastplate crumpled inward.
Kongo’s feet left the ground as his body flew backward.
As he tumbled across the rust-red earth, light engulfed him.
[Kongo’s elimination has been confirmed.]
[Kongo is disqualified.]
Flash!
[South Korea remaining: 4/4]
[Japan remaining: 2/4]
“Kongo!”
Ryuga instinctively stepped back.
The moment his feet moved, the shooting speed he’d built up with Consecutive Shot returned to normal.
Ryuga hastily nocked a fresh arrow.
But before he could draw, Sang Hyuk was already upon him.
Ryuga’s eyes widened.
He abandoned the arrow and swung the bow in panic, but—
Sang Hyuk’s right hand seized the Long Bow at its center.
Screech!
The Long Bow vanished rapidly from where Sang Hyuk gripped it.
Left empty-handed, Ryuga hastily raised both arms to defend himself.
Sang Hyuk pivoted smoothly and swept his right foot in a wide arc.
Whoosh!
His heel struck Ryuga’s ribs with devastating force.
Crack!
Ryuga’s body twisted sideways as he flew toward the cliff face.
Just before he struck the rocks, red light enveloped him.
[Ryuga’s death has been confirmed.]
[Ryuga is eliminated.]
Burst!
[South Korea remaining: 4/4]
[Japan remaining: 1/4]
Kagura, standing alone now, gripped her staff with both hands.
Before the golden gem, a Magic Bullet the size of a human head materialized.
“Don’t come any closer!”
Kagura thrust the staff forward with all her strength.
The Magic Bullet blazed through the narrow gorge and hurtled toward Sang Hyuk.
But Sang Hyuk didn’t dodge—he extended his right hand, wreathed in black energy, directly into its path.
Screech!
The golden Magic Bullet vanished the instant it touched his palm.
By the time the last light faded, Sang Hyuk was already standing directly before Kagura.
“……!”
His right hand covered the golden gem at the tip of her staff.
Crack!
The gem vanished, and the staff’s light extinguished with it.
Kagura had no time to prepare her next incantation.
Sang Hyuk pushed the now-powerless staff aside and seized her shoulder.
‘Erasure.’
Screech!
Kagura’s body crumbled into black sand, beginning from her shoulder and dispersing into nothingness.
[Kagura’s death has been confirmed.]
[Kagura is eliminated.]
Burst!
[South Korea remaining: 4/4]
[Japan remaining: 0/4]
「The 4v4 Team Annihilation Match has ended.」
「South Korea has achieved victory.」
[South Korea final survivors: 4/4]
[Japan final survivors: 0/4]
[True Dragon Society’s 4v4 Team Annihilation Match four-win streak is terminated.]
[True Dragon Society’s undefeated Team Annihilation Match record is terminated.]
After Kongo’s barrier fell, it took less than a minute for the remaining three to be eliminated entirely.
The three team members waiting at a distance stood in silence for a long while.
Hwasaldabttoolratne was the first to recover.
“He said he’d wrap it up quickly, and……”
She turned to gaze at True Dragon Society’s vacant ground and let out a hollow laugh.
“It really was over before we could even catch our breath.”
Hilkuldorasseumdo lowered her staff slowly.
“Wow…… you’ve taken down an entire fixed roster backed by a Heavenly Seat Holder, all by yourself.”
Oneuldokmakneunda planted his cracked shield on the ground and bowed toward Sang Hyuk.
“That was extraordinary. At first I dismissed what you said as mere bravado, but I was completely mistaken.”
He smiled faintly and lifted his head.
“To fight in the Impossible Seat’s opening league match on the same side—we were fortunate.”
Hilkuldorasseumdo nodded at once.
“It was an honor to stand beside you in battle.”
Hwasaldabttoolratne slung her bow across her shoulder with a grin.
“I’m going to brag about today for the rest of my life.”
Sang Hyuk regarded the three of them in turn.
“The three of you held the line in the beginning. That’s why we could turn it around.”
Even as they were being pushed back relentlessly, Oneuldokmakneunda never once lowered his shield.
Hwasaldabttoolratne and Hilkuldorasseumdo each readied themselves at their positions, preparing counterattacks and healing in turn.
In that window, Sang Hyuk had gathered enough information about the True Dragon Society’s tactics and Tokyo Keumryong’s Authority.
Though brief, his words brightened the expressions of all three.
Moments later, white light descended over the Jeokam Gorge.
「Victory points have been reflected in the Korean Rookie Season standings.」
[Korean Rookie Season Points +3]
Whoosh!
All four figures vanished from the battlefield.
* * *
Japan.
At the top floor of the True Dragon Society Headquarters, Tokyo Keumryong had returned from the battlefield and knelt in place.
The body that had dissolved within the Tower had reformed, but shock still lingered across his face.
Before him stood Amane Ren, the 16th Heavenly Seat Holder, known as the True Dragon.
Beside Amane, a dedicated sorcerer who managed the Seat Marks was examining Tokyo Keumryong’s chest.
When the sorcerer placed a palm against it, the Seat Mark glowed golden.
After observing the change for a moment, the sorcerer withdrew his hand once the light had faded.
“The Seat Mark’s functions show no abnormalities.”
The sorcerer bowed toward Amane.
“Only the Golden Dragon Projection has been lost. The connection between the Mark and the True Dragon remains intact. However…….”
“Speak.”
“A response that wasn’t present before the match lingers at the center.”
The sorcerer channeled mana into the Mark’s center once more.
At the heart of the golden patterns, a needle-thin crimson light surfaced.
In that instant.
Uuuuung!
The same response rippled from the Seat positioned behind Amane.
The interior of the golden Wish-granting Orb, the Seat’s core, briefly tinted crimson.
The sorcerer’s gaze alternated between Tokyo Keumryong’s Mark and the golden Wish-granting Orb.
“This is…….”
He muttered as though struggling to comprehend.
“It seems the power of the Irregular’s seat and the True Dragon’s power have recognized each other.”
Amane did not respond.
Instead, she replayed the match footage.
Sang Hyuk had placed his hand against Tokyo Keumryong’s chest and spoken clearly.
– I needed to check something.
Amane’s golden eyes narrowed.
“Someone capable of erasing the Golden Dragon deliberately targeted the Mark’s center.”
This had not been a chance touch in the midst of combat.
Sang Hyuk had known the precise location from the start and pressed into it.
“Seal Tokyo Keumryong’s Mark until the examination is complete. Cross-reference the pre-match records with the current state as well.”
“Understood.”
The dedicated sorcerer bowed again.
“Don’t let word of today’s findings leave this place.”
Amane’s gaze never left the black-masked figure on the screen.
“And notify me directly of the Irregular’s next match schedule.”
“Yes. I’ll arrange it at once.”
The sorcerer withdrew, taking Tokyo Keumryong with him.
Alone, Amane opened her hand and summoned the golden Wish-granting Orb.
The crimson light that had appeared moments before still lingered within the Orb.
Seeing that crimson glow, Amane recalled the notification she had received on the day the Irregular first revealed himself.
[10th Rank aptitude response detected outside normal Seat pathways.]
[Not a registered Sixteen Heavenly Seats candidate.]
[Classification: Non-Seat Candidate / Irregular]
That same notification had been transmitted simultaneously to all Sixteen Heavenly Seat Holders.
At the time, Amane could not understand that judgment.
There was a fact she had come to know only after becoming a Heavenly Seat Holder.
The Infinite Tower did not exist on Earth alone.
Infinite Towers existed in countless worlds, and Heavenly Seat Holders existed in each of them.
The sixteen seats established on Earth were regional seats for selecting candidates to challenge the Circular Seat.
Since they were fashioned after the Circular Seat’s power, those who sat upon them could borrow the True Name and Authority of the Heavenly Seat Holders.
But he had neither obtained his own True Name nor possessed complete Authority yet.
Only upon reaching the 10th Rank—when one’s very existence is recognized as a law unto itself—does one finally obtain a True Name.
It is only then that one gains the right to compete with Heavenly Seat Holders from other towers for the Circular Seat.
Yet Sang Hyuk received a 10th Rank judgment without ever sitting in any seat.
He had been recognized as having the potential to reach a True Name without the mediation of a seat.
At first it had seemed like an absurd error.
But if the mark extending from his seat had acknowledged the power of the Impossible Seat, everything changed.
As Amane Ren closed her eyes, a vast book unfurled deep within her consciousness.
The Seat Succession Records.
A record she had inherited along with the seat on the day she ascended to the 16th position.
Obtaining a seat did not mean one immediately understood all its contents.
One had to seek out and read the necessary chapters oneself, and there remained countless sections still sealed.
The pages turned rapidly.
She stopped at the chapter dealing with the most ancient war between seats.
A distant past.
An entity that even the Circular Seats themselves had feared drove countless worlds toward annihilation.
The Succession Records had written that entity down as the Source of Evil, the wellspring of all calamities.
Only after multiple tower civilizations and the Circular Seats formed an alliance did they succeed in its subjugation.
The victorious seats divided among themselves the power that the Source of Evil had possessed, thereby gaining a greater standing than before.
Among them was the Circular True Dragon.
The True Dragon and the Source of Evil were beings that had diverged from the same lineage of primordial dragons.
After the war ended, the Circular True Dragon sealed the power it had severed from the Source of Evil within its own Wish-granting Orb.
The Authority that Amane Ren currently borrowed was also a force modeled after that original.
She gazed at the Wish-granting Orb suspended above her palm.
The center of the golden sphere still bore a deep crimson hue.
She began reading the record again from the beginning.
Then she paused at the final sentence—one she had glossed over carelessly before.
[The subjugation was successful.]
[Yet the heart that the Source of Evil possessed was never found in the end.]
* * *
Settlement Space.
The match results unfolded before Sang Hyuk once more.
[Match Result: Republic of Korea Victory]
[Republic of Korea Final Survivors: 4/4]
[Japan Final Survivors: 0/4]
A new notification appeared in turn.
“We now announce the MVP of the first match.”
[First Match MVP]
[Affiliated Nation: Republic of Korea]
[Public Name: Undisclosed]
[Key Accomplishments]
– Sole elimination of Tokyo Keumryong, holder of the Seat Mark
– Complete elimination of all remaining True Dragon Society members
– Annihilation of Golden Dragon Projection
– All allies survived
Oneuldokmakneunda examined the results and nodded as if it were only natural.
Hwasaldabttoolratne and Hilkuldorasseumdo beamed widely as they looked toward Sang Hyuk.
“A special reward for the first match MVP is now being granted.”
[You have obtained 1 Authority Factor.]
[Authority Factors Held: 2 → 3]
[Conditions met to confirm new Authority candidates.]
The final one had been gathered.
Thump.
The Apocalypse Dragon Heart beat with a heavy rhythm.
Three Authority Factors gleamed with a deep crimson light as they converged around the heart.
“Three Authority Factors are resonating with the Apocalypse Dragon Heart.”
“Confirming the seed of power dwelling within the heart.”
The sight he had witnessed on the 15th Floor Public Battlefield flooded back before Sang Hyuk’s eyes.
Hundreds of legion soldiers were dropping their weapons and kneeling before him.
[Authority Seed: Lower-Grade Monster Obedience]
After the Command Stone vanished, it was a seed left behind when the leaderless legion bowed their heads to the Apocalypse Dragon Heart.
Back then, he could only halt the legion for a brief moment within the battlefield.
But once three Authority Factors converged, that experience began to evolve into a new power.
“A new Authority candidate has been generated.”
[Candidate Authority: Dragon Pressure]
[Current Status: Locked]
[Predicted Effects]
– Induces fear and paralysis in monsters weaker than yourself through Dragon essence.
– The greater the power differential, the stronger the effect.
– Powerful monsters can resist the effect.
[Limitations]
– Cannot permanently subjugate monsters or forcibly command them.
– The same effect does not apply to humans or Players.
It was not an Authority that turned the legion into subordinates.
Instead, it could suppress a monster’s instincts and freeze its movements.
Even against powerful monsters, creating even a momentary opening was enough to land Erasure.
Yet it remained only a candidate.
To unlock it as a true Authority, he needed to fulfill one final condition.
[Dragon Pressure Unlock Condition]
– Without the aid of the Command Stone, force a hostile monster of equal or greater level than yourself to kneel.
– If the target dies, the attempt fails.
Sang Hyuk read the final sentence again.
Killing was easy.
This time, he had to subdue a monster of his rank or higher while keeping it alive.
Conveniently, his next individual trial awaited on the 20th Floor—where a Level 22 Beast King stood guard.
Sang Hyuk’s lips slowly curved upward.
‘Perfect.’
His twentieth SSS rating and a new Authority.
He could obtain both from the same battlefield.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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