CHAPTER 184: THE DRAGON OF DESTRUCTION

When the Sword of Judgment faded, the storm that birthed it only grew.

Leon had survived the massive sword of judgment commanded by the will of the heavens, a punishment for those who tried to defy the law of the cosmos.

And yet, he had survived that.

It was not just punishment—there was a reward too, by the end of it all, as those in between held no meaning when you weren’t alive to have them.

A reward so enticing that Leon wasn’t aware of, but had unknowingly walked the path toward. If he succeeded, it would be something that had never before been witnessed by the cosmos. If not, he would end up like countless others who had walked this path in times of history long since forgotten.

The runes came out of thin air once again, and the amount of lightning was much more than before. It transformed his body altogether once again, with changes to a level even his eyes couldn’t see.

The only thing he knew was that his body felt much stronger and more rigid than before—even his skin was countless times more resilient.

I can’t even understand how strong I’ve become. It’s beyond comprehension when I have no scale to measure. I checked my stats in the system panel, but they’ve just become question marks now. I don’t even know how strong I am physically, but one thing I’m aware of is that I am extremely strong now.

He remembered the time when his punch had clashed with the giant sword and held it in place for a few seconds.

It was the proof of his new profound strength.

After finishing his transformation, Leon’s mystical eyes locked onto the thundercloud, whose size had now reached more than fifty kilometers wide. He felt like an ant as it circled around his tiny existence.

Even then, no matter what, he wasn’t going to give up and would survive this ordeal.

I didn’t crawl back from death to kneel now.

——

Leon looked up at the massive thundercloud, its size surpassing fifty kilometers. His breathing was ragged, and he was barely standing after creating two more black holes to deal with the tenth and eleventh strikes of lightning.

The people inside the dimensional space, so many kilometers away from Leon’s place, could see the grey, ominous cloud. Still, they couldn’t hear the thunderous sound of the collision or feel the tremors in the ground because their distance was too great.

These two previous strikes weren’t in the form of a sword but as normal thunderbolts, yet their strength was even greater than the sword. He knew if he got hit by lightning directly, he would be scorched.

But he survived them.

Leon’s eyes were sharp, his face filled with endless resolve to come out alive from this predicament.

The twelfth strike was threatening to fall down; the thundercloud was growling with ferocity, ready to devour him completely.

This time, it wouldn’t give him much time to prepare, even though he had drunk two whole vials of elixir and mana potion right after the last thunderbolt.

Leon’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as he witnessed a sight of terror—a massive dragon made out of golden lightning emerged from the clouds, its size so enormous that even one of its nails seemed bigger than him.

Golden light burst from the clouds like a sun tearing free, bleaching the ground in searing brilliance. Hummmm! Heat rolled off its form in waves, prickling Leon’s skin even at this distance. The air thickened as if the atmosphere itself bent under its weight. Bzzzzt! Static crawled along his arms and neck, each hair standing rigid as the dragon’s head broke through the clouds.

It roared menacingly in the sky—Roaaarrr!—the shockwave in the air tangible against his skin.

The roar slammed into him like a wall of wind, whoooosh, rattling his bones and driving the breath from his lungs.

It didn’t attack Leon directly, which made him feel even more uneasy for some reason.

Though its eyes were nothing but arcs of gold, Leon felt them slide over him, measuring him like prey.

If I falter here, Seraphine will carry my silence forever.

This was just a dragon made out of golden lightning, not an actual creature with a mind of its own—yet he couldn’t shake the feeling. He didn’t overthink and focused on creating the black hole before it could do anything.

Just as he started to form the black hole using his concentrated spatial energy, the dragon only haughtily moved its face. His previous suspicion now proved correct—he felt it could think.

He didn’t even have time to dwell on his thoughts as a thunderbolt descended from the cloud onto his position.

Kra-KOOM!

He had to move quickly to dodge, but as if it were glued to him, it landed directly on him.

"Urggh!!"

To his surprise, the first strike was no stronger than the sixth—scorching his skin before his body knitted itself whole again. But before he could even draw a breath, another came—Bzzzt-Krakk!—and another—Vraaa-THOOM!—and another—Krrzzzztt-BOOM! Heat, light, impact, without end — a golden storm that clung to him like a curse. The ground around him was gouged into blackened craters—thud, thud, thud—each strike hurling shards of stone into the air. The sky above churned faster with every hit, lightning veins crawling outward like a spreading infection.

The elixirs kept him standing, but not forever. That thing had to run out of lightning eventually — it had to.

—

Fifteen minutes had passed, and the massive dragon still hovered in the sky leisurely.

What the actual hell? How is one supposed to survive this?

He had lost count of how many times he had been struck by lightning. His previous transformation was the only reason he had survived this onslaught—otherwise, he would have long since been dead.

I can’t go on like this anymore. Another ten vials of Second Breath were gone. Even if I were a billionaire now, I couldn’t afford to keep buying them, given all the other things I need them for.

And how the fuck is one even supposed to survive this monster? It hasn’t even blinked once, as if it can throw those lightning bolts for eternity.

This didn’t even feel like a challenge meant to be overcome. If it went on like this, sooner or later, even a billion casualties’ worth of resources would be gone, and I would die in the end—it was only a matter of time.

No!!! I can’t accept this. This dragon seems to have the ability to think, and I know how to provoke it so it comes close to me, so I can make it disappear using my black hole. Or else, I’m dead.

He knew this could very well be the worst decision he had made in his life, but he had no other choice—if this went on like this, he would die sooner or later.

If this fails, I die now. Better that than bleeding out by inches.

"HEY, YOU BIG FOOL! IS THIS THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO? YOUR ATTACKS ARE SO WEAK! COME DOWN AND FIGHT ME HEAD-ON!!"

The giant dragon in the air paused for a moment, glanced at him briefly, then turned its face the other way and flapped its golden wings leisurely—fwwoooosh—as if his words didn’t even matter.

Its indifference felt worse than rage — the way a predator ignores prey until it decides to strike.

Seeing the reaction, Leon felt dread for the first time—it didn’t seem provoked by his words.

This wasn’t a challenge — it was an execution dressed in lightning. Sooner or later, my vials will run dry, my mana will gutter out... and I’ll be nothing but a scorch mark on the ground.

I had to do something fast!