The Dragon Slayer Who Regressed After 1,000 Years - Chapter 41

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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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Dragon Slayer’s Return After 1000 Years — Episode 41
Cain had not forgotten about Valter.
He had neglected the man while training Valencius, but forgotten him? Never.
How could he simply let go of a witness who had seen him slay a dragon and devour its heart?
He’d been saving him for this—a tool to use when the moment came.
And now it was here.
‘Strictly speaking, the man’s disposable garbage.’
But watching someone grovel before superior strength had a way of dulling the need to eliminate them.
A coward without the spine to brag about what he’d seen—of course he’d ended up here playing bandit in this forsaken place.
Cain looked down at him with contempt, then tilted his head in a gesture of command.
“Come here.”
At that order, Valter’s feet moved—but in the wrong direction.
Away from Cain, not toward him.
‘He dares to run from me?’
A hollow laugh escaped Cain as he drew up his Aura, his Mana Circuits blazing hot, every muscle in his body swelling with power.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, Cain launched himself forward and was already hovering above Valter’s head.
“Caught you.”
Crash!
Valter’s head slammed into the earth, and his whole body convulsed.
The pain was nothing compared to the terror that seized him.
“P-please! Save me—please, I beg you!”
“Then why run? I told you to come.”
“I-I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I swear!”
Valter begged for forgiveness over and over, praying that Cain’s anger would fade.
If he kept the pressure on like this, Valter’s skull would crack—but that was not Cain’s intention.
After all, he had kept the man alive for a reason: to use him as bait.
“Fine. I’ll let it go. Get up.”
Valter moved quickly.
His face was ruined, but he gritted through the pain and stood with a semblance of dignity.
“Am I going to eat you? Why run like that? I just wanted to talk.”
“Ah, I see…… now.”
“What have you been up to all this time?”
“Well…… as you can see……”
“Let’s sit somewhere and talk.”
Sword Aura extended from Cain’s hand.
Slash! Slash!
Two massive trees fell to the ground, severed clean through.
Valter could only swallow hard and stare at the display of Sword Master skill.
“Sit. Let’s hear what you have to say.”
“Y-yes……”
The two sat across from each other on tree stumps, exchanging words.
Mostly Valter spoke.
He had originally tried to join a knight order in another kingdom and start a new life, but was rejected because of his criminal record.
Then, on top of it all, he inherited his family’s mountain of debt and was hunted by creditors.
“So you turned to this?”
“Well…… it was easy money…… and I got caught up in the thrill…… ugh!”
Cain smacked the back of Valter’s head.
“Thrill? You think shaking down innocent people and playing gang leader is fun?”
“S-sorry…… I’m sor—ugh!”
Cain struck him again, then let out a weary sigh.
“This won’t do. Work for me.”
“What? W-work……?”
“I’ll make a real man out of you.”
Valter wanted to ask what that meant, but the words wouldn’t come.
All he wanted was to shake his head, refuse, and flee from Cain forever.
But.
“Come with me. Wake up all your men.”
“……”
The resolute fire in Cain’s eyes was far too frightening to defy.
From the start, Valter had no choice in the matter.

* * *
“…….”
“…….”
The bandits followed Valter with reluctant expressions.
Though none of them had awakened their Aura and they were a motley crew at best, Valter’s influence had been crucial in binding them together.
The sight of him wielding a Sword Aura—something they’d never seen before—and exercising overwhelming force was the kind of power any man would aspire to.
Yet.
“Are your men all slugs? Didn’t you tell them to hurry and keep up?”
“S-sorry, sir. You lot! Move faster, blast you!”
The chieftain fawning over this green-faced youngster was something none of them could comprehend.
“Just who is this person that the boss acts so rattled?”
“Maybe some nobleman’s son?”
A few bandits muttered among themselves, but the one leading the way let out a hollow laugh.
“Didn’t you lot get knocked out too? He put us all to sleep.”
“He did?”
“I didn’t even know who hit me…….”
“It was too fast to see.”
They rubbed their still-aching faces and tilted their heads in confusion, following the chieftain aimlessly down the path.
But even Valter didn’t know where Cain was headed.
“Um…… Young Lord Cain?”
“What?”
“If you could tell us where we’re going…….”
“I said you’ll find out if you follow. Or would you rather I beat it into you and drag you along?”
“N-no, sir. I’ll follow quietly…….”
Valter clamped his lips shut as though he’d never speak again, and Cain smiled faintly at the sight.
‘Better that he doesn’t know. If he finds out we’re heading to a dragon’s lair, he’d probably have a fit.’
Cain was making his way to the lair of the Black Dragon, Diolamir.
On his way to Estar to find the tome, he planned to hunt a dragon.
Valter and the bandits would serve as bait for that hunt.
‘Though Valter isn’t strictly necessary. We have more than enough bodies to use as bait anyway.’
Bernatus appeared before the smiling Cain.
[Seer. The lair is at the location you described.]
“Understood.”
“Pardon? What did you…….”
“Everyone, stop.”
At Cain’s command, the bandits halted in unison.
In the distance, the forest’s appearance changed.
The leaves were darkened and withered, and the ground stretched unnaturally barren of any vegetation.
‘That must be Diolamir’s territory.’
Diolamir.
An eight-hundred-year-old Spirit-tier dragon, his cruelty was among the most renowned even within the Black Dragon Clan.
Where the White Dragon Clan toyed with humans as though they were playthings, the Black Dragon Clan’s malice was more fundamental and calculated in nature.
‘He’s laid Poison Mist across the forest.’
A Black Dragon’s poison is no mere venom.
It rots the earth and taints the water, and anything that brushes against its miasma has its cells crumble from within.
Diolamir had a habit of laying that poison like a fog throughout the area surrounding his lair.
‘He wants to kill anyone as painfully as possible. His filthy habits haven’t changed a bit.’
Before the Return, piercing through the Poison Mist had been the most troublesome barrier.
After entering the lair itself, things had gone relatively smoothly from what he remembered.
‘Poison is always tricky. I have my Explorer’s Cloak, so there’s no problem for me.’
Cain turned his gaze backward.
The bandits lined up behind him exchanged uneasy glances.
Ordinary people who had not even awakened their Aura.
Exposed to the Poison Mist, they wouldn’t last more than a few breaths before collapsing.
Yet Cain had brought them here knowing full well.
Valter spoke hesitantly.
“Young Lord Cain. Where exactly is this place…….”
“Near a lair.”
“Lair? What do you mean by Lair…….”
“Dragon.”
Valter’s face went white as parchment.
But he didn’t think to run.
The memory of his head driven into the earth had carved itself into his very bones.
“A dragon…… surely you don’t mean…….”
“Enough.”
Cain cut him off flatly.
“I’m not asking you to slay it.”
“Then…….”
“Serve as bait.”
Valter’s mouth opened and closed at Cain’s words.
He wanted to refuse, but there was no mistaking the look in those eyes—this was no jest.
After all, the man had hunted dragons before.
“What are those two talking about?”
“Where exactly are we headed?”
“I’m starving—I wish we could eat something.”
The bandits at the rear hadn’t heard the word dragon yet.
The exchange between Valter and Cain had taken place only at the front.
Cain had done this deliberately.
Bait is useless if it grows frightened.
It must move unknowing to serve its purpose.
‘The rest don’t need to know, but their commander does.’
Cain called out to Valter.
“Valter. Divide your men into three groups. I’ll position one at each of three locations I indicate.”
“But why…….”
“When a Black Dragon senses an intruder in its territory, it first checks the concentration of the Poison Mist.”
Cain began drawing a rough map of the terrain with the tip of his sword on the ground.
Three valley passages branching out from Lair at the center.
It matched exactly the structure of the region Diolamir controlled with the Poison Mist.
“The beast senses an intruder’s position through the Poison Mist’s response—wind currents, toxin concentration shifts, vibrations seeping through the earth, everything. I’m no exception.”
“…….”
“When intrusion signals flare from three directions at once, it has no choice but to turn all its sensory awareness of the Poison Mist outward. Its detection of the interior of Lair will grow sluggish.”
“During which time you would enter Lair…….”
“Quick on the uptake. Simply put, your men draw its attention while I strike from behind.”
Cain tapped the entrance of each of the three valleys in turn with his sword tip.
“Your men only need to approach the outer boundary of the Poison Mist. There’s no need to venture inside. The same goes for you.”
“But isn’t it dangerous merely to touch the Poison Mist?”
“That’s why I made this.”
Cain drew three small stones from his pouch.
‘If they collapse the moment they enter the Poison Mist, they’re useless as bait. They need to hold out long enough to create a distraction.’
They appeared to be ordinary pebbles with no distinguishing features, yet faint patterns of Mana etched into their surfaces were visible.
“Barrier Stones. Embed them inside the Poison Mist’s boundary line. The impact of striking earth will activate them and neutralize the poison within a ten-meter radius. You don’t need to venture inside—just throw them from beyond the boundary.”
“You can create such things……?”
“Fifteen minutes is the limit, so keep time strictly. After that, the Barrier Stones will shatter and the Poison Mist will surge in.”
“You mean to finish it all within fifteen minutes?”
“More than enough.”
Cain erased the drawing on the ground and stood.
Valter felt cold sweat trickling down his spine.
It was a plan that defied reason, yet strangely, this man’s words carried an unshakeable certainty.
Whether that came from genuine skill or the familiarity of one who had done it before was impossible to say.
“Then, let the operation begin.”

* * *
Deep within a cavern black as pitch.
A massive form lay coiled.
Diolamir, the Black Dragon who had lived for eight centuries.
His body bore scars everywhere, unmarred by few places.
From the Succession Battle fought not long ago, when he had pushed himself beyond limit.
Yet his mood was good.
His faction had sided with Nerkasion, Belakorss’s eldest son.
‘How fortunate that he became the leader.’
If Drakasion had won, he would have been in a foul mood for centuries.
Serving a dragon who didn’t satisfy him as leader would have been unbearable.
‘That weak creature even died after the Succession Battle, I hear. Hmph.’
Diolamir snorted and closed his eyes.
He remained motionless in that position, keeping vigil.
‘I should finish my meditation.’
Sensing the entire domain through the Poison Mist.
That was this dragon’s daily practice.
Absolute dominion over the realm—detecting even a single gust of wind, a single fallen leaf, through the tremors of the Poison Mist.
It was a kind of meditation.
For centuries, not a single being who had set foot in this domain had ever returned alive.
Then, a faint tremor was detected.
Not just one.
Three directions at once.
‘What is this?’
By the Poison Mist’s reaction, they were unmistakably human.
‘Insects daring to enter my domain……’
Was it a deliberate incursion?
Diolamir soon dismissed the matter as trivial.
The Poison Mist would dispose of them on its own.
No other sign of presence was detected.
‘I’ll watch how they die.’
Diolamir closed his eyes once more.

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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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