Chapter 182

Chapter 182
## Breakthrough!

When the contender first gripped the hilt of his blade, he hadn’t felt a shred of apprehension.

Ainhasar, the Radiant Dragon.

Only individuals who had achieved “countless legendary exploits” possessed the power to even scratch him. Until this moment, only a solitary mortal had ever reached that benchmark.

*‘And even that person only managed to leave a faint mark on me.’*

That specific warrior had merely grazed him. That was the reality during the era of his previous trials.

But the contender standing before him now was of a different breed.

*‘…He carved through my scales like they were parchment. My skin was shredded, and my vitals were exposed.’*

It was a solitary arc of the sword.

There were no complex maneuvers or specialized techniques behind the strike. Relying purely on raw physical power, the hit had sliced through Ainhasar’s armored hide and muscle as if cutting through soft, spoiled fruit.

The dragon’s legendary resilience and dense physiology had been irrelevant.

It was a strike of absolute lethality.

A devastating trauma that forced his internal essence outward.

*‘…Just how many grand achievements must one stack to inflict such ruin upon me?’*

The dragon couldn’t help but feel a surge of panic.

Trivial deeds wouldn’t even register. Even without the weight of myths, one would need at least three major feats just to nick his surface. Yet, to deliver a blow this catastrophic, Ainhasar couldn’t even fathom the tally of accomplishments required.

*‘Forging even a single mythic feat is the work of a lifetime.’*

One was a monumental task. How many would be necessary for a basic swing to become a death sentence?

Ten? Twenty?

No, that wasn’t it. Even a hundred standard “mythic feats” wouldn’t accumulate into this level of destructive potential.

The warrior in front of him had clearly achieved deeds that were the very essence of living legends—perhaps even surpassing the concept of myth itself—multiple times over. No other logic held up.

Of course, even that didn’t fully bridge the gap.

*‘He is on an entirely separate plane from every challenger who has preceded him.’*

…Ainhasar had to concede the point now.

Ignoring the warnings of “impossible to summon” and “impossible to observe” had been a disastrous oversight. He shouldn’t have just brushed him off as an anomaly from the start. This individual existed in a dimension far beyond the collective strength of every other contender.

And because of that… retreating now was not an option.

*‘It cannot conclude this way.’*

…He refused to let the encounter end here. His purpose was to test the boundaries of a challenger’s potential. But now, he couldn’t even see the horizon of this man’s power. He couldn’t perceive where the ceiling was.

Ainhasar, the Radiant Dragon, cast aside his pride for the first time in his existence against a mortal. He spoke words that had never crossed his lips.

—I ask of you, just one more time. Allow me one final trial.

—

I let out a quiet, internal laugh.

Ainhasar, the Radiant Dragon. The creature was as haughty as ever.

*‘He took the bait.’*

My act of appearing to struggle through the initial tests was a calculated move to slowly escalate the stakes. If I had swung the heavy blade with full force at the beginning, Ainhasar would have spiked the difficulty to the max immediately.

*‘The concluding test is predictable.’*

The ultimate challenge was always managing to wound Ainhasar himself. I knew this for a very basic reason.

*‘I experienced it while playing as Wilhelm.’*

I had naturally progressed to Main Quest 10 during my playthrough as Wilhelm. However, the circumstances between then and now were night and day.

*‘The feats I’ve racked up as Randolph are far more numerous.’*

My current list of accomplishments far exceeded what I had achieved with Wilhelm at this stage. Even when looking at the “weight” of those deeds, it was the same story. In both volume and impact, I was superior, giving me total confidence that I could draw the dragon’s blood.

I was currently sprinting toward the zenith of all possible achievements. I had surpassed even my peak performance with Wilhelm.

However.

*‘…It felt like cutting through curd with a razor.’*

Even I hadn’t anticipated such a devastating result. In truth, I had come perilously close to ending him. If I had put a fraction more effort into the swing, Ainhasar would be a corpse, and I would have unlocked the “Dragon Slayer” achievement.

…Actually, that might have been a decent outcome.

“The series of tests is finished, isn’t it? I don’t see the point in an extra one.”

The truly shocking part was this request. A bonus trial. Weren’t these things governed by a set script? I had never encountered a situation where the guardian asked for more.

*‘Usually, once the trials are over, you get a single question. Since Ainhasar is essentially a walking archive of history, he provides whatever answers he can.’*

If I played my cards right, I could learn the position of a Unique blueprint. Naturally, my goal was to pinpoint the Earth Dragon God. I had to reach it before Isera to throw a wrench in her plans. As a former Dragon God himself, Ainhasar would surely be aware of the others’ movements.

—Should you take on this further trial, a secondary compensation will be granted as a matter of course.

Wait, what?

The guy was offering a bonus prize? Dragon dens were supposed to be overflowing with riches, but Ainhasar’s lair was as empty as a desert. Surely he wouldn’t be handing out rocks or debris.

“I’ll need to know what the prize is before I commit.”

Furthermore, it was bound to be an even more grueling task. Jumping in blindly would be a rookie mistake.

Ainhasar spoke with measured tones.

—It is the thing you require most.

It was a cryptic response that made me scowl openly.

“Are we playing riddles? If so, forget it.”

—This is not a matter I can simply dictate. However, I can state with certainty that it is the most vital thing I am capable of offering you.

“You’re offering the ‘most necessary’ reward but claim you can’t choose it? That makes no sense.”

—…You may hear the nature of the task and then refuse. Even in that case, the standard reward remains yours.

He maintained a stance that suggested he couldn’t elaborate further. What kind of mission was he cooking up? The only comfort was that I had an exit strategy if I didn’t like what I heard.

Crossing my arms, I said, “Fine, let’s hear what this trial entails.”

Ainhasar lowered his massive frame and fixed his gaze on me. His eyes were clouded beyond measure—the hollow, sunken eyes of a dragon lost to madness, unlike any of his kin. Just how grim was this task going to be?

—Break the shackles of the curse upon me. That is the essence of the final challenge.

A curse? The sudden revelation made me pause mentally.

*‘A curse?’*

But I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t feel its presence. I had never heard a whisper of a curse afflicting Ainhasar, the Radiant Dragon.

*‘A hex that even the Great Sage’s vision misses.’*

Perhaps if I increased the rank of Truth Seeker, it would become visible? But I was tapped out of SP for talent upgrades at the moment. To gain a significant amount of SP, I’d need to scale the Rift Tower.

—Do you give your consent?

…Once I said yes, there was no turning back. But agreeing without knowing the nature of the curse was a massive risk. I exhaled a weary breath.

A curse on the Radiant Dragon. Who did it, and when?

*‘Demise.’*

Only one culprit fit the profile. It had to be “Demise.”

Ainhasar’s transformation into the Radiant Dragon occurred immediately following his encounter with “Demise.” When Demise first manifested, every dragon that opposed it was slaughtered—with the sole exception of Ainhasar.

*‘If Demise cursed Ainhasar, forcing his evolution into the Radiant Dragon.’*

Demise had appeared without warning, fracturing the world. Its origin and identity remained a mystery. But one fact was undeniable.

*‘Demise incinerated the world and then vanished. But at its inception, it couldn’t finish off Ainhasar. Likely because it was a newborn entity, lacking accumulated power.’*

It hadn’t met the “kill conditions” for Ainhasar back then. This was a pivotal piece of deep world lore. Demise isn’t a title a person achieves—it is something that is born…

Does fulfilling specific criteria trigger the birth of Demise? If an entity had gathered enough essence to become Demise, killing Ainhasar would have been trivial.

*‘It couldn’t kill him, but it could brand him. A curse of immense power.’*

One potent enough to unhinge a Dragon God. Even a fledgling Demise had left a mark I couldn’t even sense. If that was the case, how terrifying was Demise at its zenith?

However, I knew who represented the polar opposite of Demise.

*‘Goddess Lea.’*

She was the deity who had fought most violently against Demise. And I was her designated champion. I reached out my hand.

Simultaneously:

— You have activated “Star Blessing.”
— Requirements to cleanse “Curse of Demise” not fulfilled.
— (1) “4-Star Status” not reached.
— (2) Total attributes are 50 points short.
— (3) Missing “Blessing of Extraordinary Recovery.”

The three benchmarks for breaking the hex materialized before me.

—

*‘Only two days remaining.’*

Inside the fortress, Union sat motionless upon his seat of power, fingers interlaced. Two days until his deal with Isera came due. In forty-eight hours, he would consume every EXP elixir and force the arrival of the Rift Guardians.

*‘Tch. I still haven’t reached my objective.’*

He was thinking of the human who had interfered with his physical form. No matter how hard he searched, that person remained a ghost. Even with all the “intel” he possessed.

*‘He’s currently using the alias MintChocoDelicious.’*

He had even discovered the name the outcasts used for him. Yet, there was no way to track him down. The name was circulating, but the person behind it was invisible.

*‘If it stays like this, I might as well finish Isera’s task early.’*

Completing it ahead of the deadline might buy him some leverage. Finding his target in two days seemed a lost cause. Union let out a heavy breath and commanded:

“Open Inventory. EXP elixirs.”

In that instant.

《 No EXP elixirs found in inventory. 》

Union’s expression twisted into a mask of rage.

*‘…What?’*

Empty? Every single bottle had vanished simultaneously? That was impossible. It had to be a system glitch.

“Inventory. EXP elixirs!”

《 No EXP elixirs found in inventory. 》

“Inventory. Access Union’s reserved EXP elixirs.”

《 No reserved EXP elixirs found in inventory. 》

Regardless of how he phrased the command, the outcome was static. Even after blinking in disbelief, the reality didn’t shift. The color drained from Union’s face.

…What kind of madness was this?

—

*‘Ah…’*

Ainhasar’s pupils dilated. He couldn’t process the scene unfolding in front of him.

The contender had suddenly begun downing vials of liquid at a frantic pace. But what happened next was the real shock.

*VROOOOOOM!*

A torrential flood of divine energy erupted.

Ainhasar could hardly believe what he was witnessing. Even though he had existed for millennia and seen the favors of many gods, he had never seen a spectacle this magnificent. No—could this even be classified as a simple blessing?

*Step. Step.*

Bathed in that overwhelming light, the contender began to walk toward Ainhasar, one deliberate pace at a time.