CHAPTER 305: CHAPTER 304 - “YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A PREY.”

Before he became a madman, Dr. Vorun, one of the main villains of the story, was known as the world’s most intelligent man.

He didn’t have any talent in other fields, but when it came to mental strength and intelligence, no one could beat him.

He was the best at any topic related to magic theories or experiments, so much so that everyone who knew about him tried to scout him, but his life wasn’t as good as it looked.

There were always people coming after his life, and worse, no one he knew was willing to help him until he gave them something in return.

Worse yet, he didn’t have anyone to call family.

His parents had abandoned him when he was a child, and until he grew famous, he hadn’t seen a single gaze that didn’t look at him with disgust.

After all, he wasn’t much of a looker.

With a head too big for his body and his bulging eyes, most people avoided him, and those who didn’t evade him would outright insult him or even beat him up.

He had tried to keep up with it and not mind it, as he was wise enough to conclude that it would all change once he became accomplished.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

Merely because of his looks, no matter how high he rose—no matter what he did—he couldn’t find one person he could call a true friend.

Therefore, he ran away from all of it.

Then, instead of doing good for the world, he became selfish.

He didn’t care what he had to do as long as he could change how he looked.

It was only after years of research that he realized it was impossible.

He discovered that he could do it, but then, he would lose the one thing he was proud of—the only thing that had never betrayed him since he was a child—his genius.

But just when he was about to end his life, Zephyr came into his life. He didn’t look at him with disgust but with appreciation, as that guy knew how valuable he was.

Since then, Dr. Vorun had been working for Zephyr, making new things for him.

Even the snake transformation used by Zephyr during his fight with Raven was his invention.

Of course, all of his work required human sacrifices, but he had stopped caring about those things long ago.

In the plot, he was someone who had always helped Zephyr, going so far as to create a human, Siris.

Yes, he didn’t make her from zero, as he still wasn’t capable of that, but he had still done a lot.

If that wasn’t enough, he had gone ahead and actually created a human. It was merely a body without a soul, but that was because he wanted to make it that way.

If he wanted to, then he could’ve made it a normal human.

After all, he was the one who had created the undead that Zephyr always used, and those beings were almost human.

In the plot, he was the next main villain after Zephyr was defeated, as he had revived that guy in a body he had created.

The most annoying thing about him was that no matter how much the protagonist of the story had tried, he could never find him.

Even in the story, Dr. Vorun hadn’t died. He had merely gone missing.

But Raven, who already knew what was going to happen and how Dr. Vorun was going to revive Zephyr, had intentionally let Zephyr’s soul live.

With his power, he could’ve killed Zephyr, but he didn’t because he wanted to find this madman.

He had placed a soul tracker on Zephyr’s soul after damaging it, as it would take time for him to recover from that injury, and that much time would be enough for him to take care of the matters in Vaise territory and come here.

Now, he was finally standing before the unreachable villain, Dr. Vorun.

He even brought Siris along to let her have revenge on the guy who had caused her so much suffering that she could remember it until now.

He had done all of this to make her let go of her past.

Now, they stood before the most intelligent person in this world.

He was the first person who could make humans despite not being a god of creation.

The chamber, however, had fallen into silence since Raven and Siris stepped in.

Zephyr’s eyes narrowed, the fury in them flickering against the cold lamplight. It wasn’t a fury directed at Raven, but at Vorun.

Vorun’s grin, on the other hand, faltered for just a fraction of a heartbeat before stretching back into deranged delight.

But Raven didn’t waste time. He knew exactly who he was facing.

Dr. Vorun was someone who always planned an escape before anything else.

In a second, his aura flared crimson, scales bursting across his arms, gleaming like molten metal and shadow.

The next instant, destruction energy rippled outward with a hiss, and in the blink of an eye, a dome of seething black fire sealed the chamber.

The glyphs etched into the walls cracked under its pressure, the cages rattling as prisoners whimpered and curled into themselves.

The energy pulsed like a living heart, oppressive and final. Even the air screamed as reality bent under its weight.

Vorun’s grin twitched. "D-Destruction... Energy...?"

He somehow knew exactly what it was. His bulging eyes widened, fever-bright, spittle flying from his lips as he began laughing again. "Hah! HAHAHA! Even gods fear that flame. Beautiful! Beautiful!"

Raven’s voice cut through his hysteria, flat and cold.

"No schemes. No doors. No escape." His gaze pierced Vorun like a spear. "You die here."

The madman froze—then threw his head back and shrieked in joy. "Yes! This is what I wanted! You understand, don’t you? Power is the only truth. Thought, invention, intellect—they mean nothing without strength to shield them!"

Siris stepped forward, her daggers flashing. For once, she didn’t taunt. Her voice was colder than Raven’s.

"You think power excuses what you did to me? To all of us?"

Her chains of Cryovoid energy slithered across the ground, freezing patches of liquid where the tank had shattered.

Her every word was sharpened by years of hatred. "I’ll carve your genius from your skull and see if it screams."

Vorun’s grin trembled, but not with fear—with ecstasy. He spread his arms wide, staring at her like a father welcoming home a wayward child.

"Ahhh, my greatest creation! Look at you. Cold. Ruthless. Perfect. Even more beautiful in hatred than I designed you to be. Yes! Hate me! Hate me and make me eternal!"

"Shut up." Raven’s destruction energy flared, pushing the madman a step back.

The dome groaned and crackled, closing tighter. Any route above, behind, or to the sides was death. Raven’s crimson eyes narrowed, unblinking. "You’re clever, Vorun. But in here, you’re nothing but prey."

For the first time, Zephyr’s lips curved into something sharp—approval, or maybe amusement—as he watched the net close around his former servant.

He didn’t care if he was going to die along with Vorun, as he was already dead. Anything was better than being a slave to a madman.

But Vorun... Vorun only laughed louder.

"Prey? PREY? Oh, you sweet little dragon-child. You thought me unprepared for this? That I didn’t know my reborn prince might come hunted?"

Raven’s scales gleamed as his claws flexed. "Try me."

Then—

The ground trembled.

The destruction dome roared as it devoured stone and glyphs, yet beneath Raven’s feet, something else moved. A sound like bones grinding against iron echoed from below.

Siris’s eyes narrowed. "Raven..."

Vorun threw back his head and screamed in ecstasy, his voice breaking. "From below, from below! The only path untouched by your cursed fire!"

The floor split open with a violent crack, black liquid surging upward like a geyser.

From its depths, a massive limb of fused flesh and metal clawed free—veins glowing sickly green, wires embedded into bone. The air was filled with the stench of decay and ozone.

Vorun’s grin split his face as he pointed down at the rising monstrosity.

"Every corpse a note, every wire a string—I built an orchestra of ruin. This is my symphony! This is my new masterpiece! THE CHIMERIC GOD!"

The dome sealed tighter around them, the red-black flames licking higher, but the monster kept climbing, pulling itself out of the earth with shrieks that weren’t human.