The Dragon Slayer Who Regressed After 1,000 Years - Chapter 60

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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: Regression After 1000 Years — Episode 60
“Nngh… nnnngh!”
A whimper escaped Groccus’s lips—one he hadn’t uttered even when Cain’s blade had torn through his ribs.
The dragon had trampled him without warning, yet he still drew breath.
His body was sheathed in armor, and an Aura wrapped around him like a second skin—that alone had kept death at bay.
But beneath the weight of a mountain-massive form, Groccus had been unmade.
Both sets of ribs had shattered; his organs were ruptured and pulped throughout.
Below the waist, sensation simply ceased. Movement was impossible.
The Two-Handed Sword, massive as it was, might as well have been forged from lead.
Groccus felt death drawing near.
‘Damn… damn it all… this… this pathetic…’
All for some fool’s errand of revenge, slinking into a dragon’s lair.
Regret crashed over him in waves, belated and bitter.
The dragon that had crushed him had simply shaken its foot—as though it had stepped on something distasteful.
[Where is this human… ROAAAAR!]
A sharp, sudden pain lanced through Anactraas, and the dragon lurched backward with a hiss.
Silver blood sprayed from between the scales of its leg.
[There! So you were there!]
Murder flickered in Anactraas’s eyes, but Cain moved with an ease that belied the moment’s gravity.
Casual enough to stoop and retrieve the sword that had fallen from Groccus’s grip.
“Mind if I borrow this for a moment?”
Cain hefted the colossal Two-Handed Sword in a single hand, as though it weighed nothing at all.
Even Groccus, sprawled on the cold stone and waiting for death’s final claim, felt a laugh bubble up—hollow, almost delirious.
‘My blade… why…? Is he… is he actually going to face the dragon alone…? He’s lost his mind…’
Even with luck and surprise on his side, a few successful cuts—it was nearly impossible for a Sword Master to fell a dragon unaccompanied.
It was recklessness incarnate.
He would die just as uselessly as Groccus himself.
‘All the better, then. A pity I won’t land the final blow myself.’
Through the haze of agony, Groccus’s lips twisted into a bitter sneer—but Cain didn’t see it.
The dragon was drawing in Magic Power.
[This time I won’t miss! Seer or no Seer, I’ll end you!]
A massive spell formation bloomed in empty air, and Ice Spears rained down like hail.
Normally, summoning ten would strain a mage’s limits—but the Dragon Race conjured hundreds, effortless as breathing.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
Spears lodged throughout the cavern, shattering against stone and earth.
The projectiles moved too fast to track, and there was no time to dodge.
But.
[Where did you go, again!]
Cain had already moved.
Anactraas’s head swiveled, searching.
Scent, footfall, the lingering resonance of Magic Power, even the aura of a Seer—
All trace of him had vanished, as though swept clean.
It was as though he’d used Teleport to blink away.
‘But he didn’t. That’s not it.’
Larger bodies take longer to Teleport; the casting time scales with mass.
Even Anactraas, a 9-Circle mage, required time to complete the incantation.
Yet this human had vanished as though he’d never been.
It defied reason.
‘There’s something masking his presence. And his physical capabilities… they’re not human.’
If Cain could disappear so utterly in a heartbeat, Anactraas had no conventional way to find him.
Only sight remained—searching with eyes alone.
And high above, suspended in shadow, Cain watched the dragon hunt.
‘Look all you want. Can you see me now?’
The dragon scanned between its own legs, turned its head in blind circles—yet never once found him.
He clung to a stalactite, dangling from the stone roof.
Anactraas searched only below, never raising its gaze to what hung in shadow overhead. How could it possibly see him?
In that moment of perfect inattention—
Cain dropped.
Both his hearts thundered in his chest, a rhythm of primal violence.
7-Star Aura and 7-Circle Magic Power merged into one, and the blade erupted in radiant light.
Anactraas jerked his head up in alarm at the sudden surge of energy, but it was already too late.
Crack!
The Two-Handed Sword drove halfway through his neck.
Anactraas didn’t even have time to scream.
He was dead from that single blow.
Thud!
As the massive body collapsed, horror flooded Groccus’s eyes.
‘Did he… did he kill a dragon? Alone…?’
No matter how effective a blade might be against scales, slaying a dragon was no simple feat.
Layers of Magic Power accumulated over centuries wrapped his body in dense protection.
In some ways, he was a more troublesome opponent than a 9-Circle mage.
Hadn’t he just unleashed hundreds of Ice Spears in a single volley?
‘If it had been me… I would’ve died in that instant.’
Yet Cain had dodged with ease, and even managed to conceal himself from the dragon.
Not even the dragon, with his keen sense of smell, could find him.
But the truly astonishing part came later.
Rip! Rip!
Cain tore open the dragon’s chest, then suddenly wrenched out the heart and bit into it raw.
Crunch, crunch!
Watching Cain consume the silvery blood that dripped continuously as if it were nothing, Groccus was certain.
‘That madman… completely…’
With that sight, Groccus’s eyes closed.

* * *
Beratus, transformed into an elemental through Polymorph, darted into the Lair.
[Seer, the humans will soon enter…]
Beratus stopped abruptly, flinching.
It was the blood smeared around Cain’s mouth.
Cain wiped his lips clean with the back of his hand.
‘He’s eaten again.’
The silvery blood gleaming on his skin said everything.
Revulsion rose in Beratus’s throat, but he barely managed to suppress it.
After all, he himself had been an accomplice in Anactraas’s ambush.
He had even anticipated this turn of events.
‘It’s all for the sake of our race… so I must grow accustomed to it.’
Rationalizing that they had merely eliminated a dragon that would have hindered the Seer in the future, Beratus awakened Cain, who sat in lotus position.
[Seer. Seer!]
“What is it?”
[As you predicted, the Knight Order has arrived.]
“I see.”
Cain opened his eyes and rose from his seat.
“Gather the Treasure quickly. And plant a false heart in its place using Illusion.”
[Understood.]
As Beratus vanished, Cain made his own preparations.
He used Clean Magic to wash away the bloodstains scattered across his body.
Then he placed the Two-Handed Sword in Groccus’s hand.
Finally, he used his Bracelet to suppress his presence entirely.
As if he had never been here at all.

* * *
The Imperial Knight Order, holding Torches, cautiously stepped into the Lair.
“There may be traps. Let no one drop their guard.”
The soldiers nodded, and Yandre took the lead.
His expression was grim.
‘Damn it. We’ve wasted too much time.’
Dealing with the Rage Ogres had consumed considerable hours.
Their relentless assault had caused them to fall far behind schedule.
Without question, the dragon already knew of their arrival.
‘I’d hoped to press our advantage with a surprise attack… but it’s all gone to ruin.’
Of course, ambushing a dragon was never simple.
But honestly, what he wanted was to end this battle with minimal casualties.
He had no desire to see the Knight Order wiped out because of a single dragon.
‘Still, I never did find out what that thunderous sound was.’
The noise that had echoed through the Gorge during his fight with the ogre had vanished at some point.
The same was true of Cain.
‘Where on earth has Cain gone?’
He’d turned to call for help when the ogre pressed him, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
‘He didn’t actually run off in fear, did he?’
Was the epithet Dragon Slayer nothing but a hollow title?
Even recounting his men, there was no sign of Cain.
‘A waste bringing him along.’
He set aside his thoughts about Cain and moved forward with caution.
For all his care, the Lair appeared to hold no traps.
“Wait.”
Yandre, who had spotted something, raised a hand for silence.
He sharpened his focus on Aura, and his vision grew clearer.
“……Target located. It’s a dragon.”
At those words, every man swallowed hard.
Judging by its stillness, it seemed to be resting.
“We advance.”
The moment he moved, his men crept after him.
They walked with utmost care, afraid their footsteps might wake the creature.
But as they drew closer, something odd struck him.
Around the dragon lay a pool of silver liquid.
‘This is…… blood?’
Yandre’s mind reeled.
What could possibly make a dragon bleed?
‘Could it be…… not sleeping, but actually……dead?’
Yandre’s suspicion proved correct.
Up close, the creature lay slumped in the pool of silver blood.
The men who followed stopped in their tracks, stunned.
“This…… what in the……?”
“The dragon’s already dead……?”
Its neck was half-severed, and its chest bore deep laceration marks.
Yet the heart remained intact.
“Who could have done such a thing……?”
“First, we secure the Dragon Heart. Then we proceed with dismantling.”
Scales, hide, and this silver blood.
Everything had value.
Not to mention the treasures hidden throughout the Lair itself.
That was when it happened.
“Commander! There’s a body over here……!”
“A body?”
Yandre hurried toward the voice.
And he found an unexpected figure.
“G-Groccus!?”
He couldn’t fathom why Groccus, the discharged vice-commander of the Knight Order, would be here, but Yandre checked the man’s condition first.
“He’s dead……”
What in the world was Groccus doing in this place?
He shouldn’t have known the location of the Lair.
‘Could it be…… he followed us?’
Now that he thought about it, he had mentioned it to Groccus this morning.
That they would organize a dragon extermination squad and set out today.
Groccus, who knew the Knight Order’s operational methods well, would have had little trouble tailing them.
“Why did you follow us? What were you doing here?” he whispered to the corpse, as if it could hear.
As he stared down at the body, Yandre’s eyes caught on a Two-Handed Sword.
The blade was smeared entirely with silver blood.
“Surely……?”
Yandre examined the dragon’s wounds more closely.
The crude edges and broad blade marks were unmistakably the work of a Two-Handed Sword.
“Groccus… you’re the one who caught it? The Dragon?”
It wasn’t easy for a 7-Star to slay a Dragon alone, but it wasn’t impossible either.
Wasn’t there a living witness standing right there—Cain?
‘Hmm? Cain?’
When had he returned?
The man who’d been nowhere in sight until now stood staring at the corpse with wide, startled eyes.
The sight of it kindled a fury in her chest—she wanted nothing more than to march over and demand answers.
Where had he gone? Why was he only just now coming back?
But her mind was too tangled to pursue it.
Groccus was dead. The Dragon was dead.
‘…I’ll get to the bottom of this once things settle down.’
Yandre made her decision for now.
Groccus had slain the Dragon in his bid for advancement—and paid for it with his life.

* * *
Since Diolmir’s death.
Nerkasion had not let his fury diminish for a single moment.
One of his own subordinates, sheltered beneath his wing, brought down by mere humans?
It was an outrage.
And to make it worse, the creature had been found with its heart torn from its body.
The very fact that a great Dragon could be destroyed so brutally—it seemed impossible.
Yet it was real.
Diolmir was dead, and the culprit still lived.
[I will find you.]
When investigating the Lair, he’d uncovered a single crucial lead.
A cluster of human corpses discovered on the outer edge of the territory.
Worthless rabble who’d never even awakened their Aura—they’d been found dead, swept up by Diolmir’s Poison Mist.
It was clearly bait.
Someone had used them to draw Diolmir’s attention.
In that moment, the true culprit had infiltrated the Lair.
‘Meticulous work. But you didn’t account for this—I can track by scent.’
Among the corpses lingered the faint trace of a single human.
The scent of one of the bait who had escaped alive.
Nerkasion carved that scent deep into his mind.
Though they fled to the edge of the continent.
Though they altered their form.
This scent, he would never forget.
[I will find you and tear you to pieces—for Diolmir’s sake.]
Nerkasion released his subordinate Dragons in all directions.
His scattered servants across the continent pursued the trail of that scent.
And today.
[Lord Nerkasion!]
A subordinate Dragon burst through the mist and descended.
[What is it.]
[We found it. That scent…!]
Nerkasion’s eyes blazed with sudden intensity.
[Where.]

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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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