# 256

  # trick up one’s sleeve – 1

  1

  *Snarl*

  L staggered and stood up.

  Her hair was now messed up. Normally, if it was a wound, it would have been quickly restored using a reversion, but it didn’t work well against an attack with the opponent’s divinity involved. The use of words should now be adjusted.

  L’s one eye exploded, and her blood flowed down; two of her four horns were broken-

  Ha ha……

  L bursts into laughter, she had never been in such a mess during her life.

  She turned the one eye that she had left and looked at the place where the enemy flew.

  What she last saw was her smashing Jaehwang into the rocks with her tail.

  It would have been great if the fight stopped there-

  I am sick of this.

  Jaehwang was staggering away from the rock.

  L spreads her wings and flies into the air.

  Technically, the battle on the ground was a tie between the two.

  So this time, they thought about aerial combat

  Although long-range attacks were said to be the strength of her opponent, there was an advantage of limiting their means of attacks if they were in the sky. Although L saw Jaehwang pull out his wings a while ago, he seems inexperienced in terms of flying-

  This is a war of attrition now

  L cleared her of disrespect for humans. No, to be exact, her evaluation of human beings remains the same except for the one in front of her. L, who had planned to restore herself while furthering their distance as far as possible and cut down the strength of her opponent, soared rapidly into the sky-

  Are you running?

  Jaehwang said while tearing down his crumbling armor-

  She doesn’t want to deal with you on the ground but by the way, are you okay?

  Goongi asked worriedly. He was hit by the dragon’s tail and flew quite badly-

  It’s bearable.

  The dragonslayer’s armor performed its role brilliantly until the end. Although it was unfortunate that it was completely broken, his weapon or armor was a disposable item anyway.

  The good thing was that the wound on the dragon’s body would not heal as quickly as before. The opponent was tired as much as he was. It was time to put an end to their battle-

  Then, shall I take some advantage of the home grounds from now on?

  Jaehwang pulled a new headset from the Infinity Storage and put it on his ear.

  Jaehwang likes to outsmart his opponent. In this sense, the attack he was about to bring on would be quite shocking to the dragon. The time was just right.

  It’s a card he would have had to use during a hot battle if he was out of luck-

  Begin phase 2-

  Roger that, I have been waiting.

  2

  L, who was soaring through the air, raised her altitude until Jaehwang looked like a little dot.

  With this increase of distance, L would have enough time to respond even if Jaehwang shoots her with an arrow.

  She started turning the mana all over her body. -

  As soon as my recovery is complete, I will show hell to him.

  But then-

  What is this?

  She detected something dangerous.

  Nothing was physically felt or caught in her senses, but the warning was getting bigger. L retrieved the mana she was using for healing and quickly began casting magic with it-

  Absolute barrier

  Against physical attack, this magic was almost invincible-

  I will stop any attacks that would come here.

  However, her idea was completely broken after about ten seconds. L was really embarrassed by the attack she just received.

  Beep beep!-

  Kyaaaaak!

  Nothing was visible. She felt sudden warmth on her back and then, something hammered her body with great heat-

  Wha……what is this?

  Beep!!-

  Awk!

  All she could figure out was that it had no substance and its direction! Unbelievably, the attack came from the top!

  Beep!!!-

  Kyaaaak!!!!!

  The heat was concentrated on L’s head, which was then raised so she could see who was the culprit behind it.

  She was confused-

  There’s a hole in the barrier!

  The Absolute Barrier, which can invalidate all physical attacks, had been opened up in vain-

  That…… that?!

  She was having trouble seeing where that attack came from. The problem she had with it was that the attacks came from such an absurd position.

  Beep!! Beep!

  Beep!!-

  Kyaaaak!!!!-

  Ak!!!!!!-

  Success!

  A pleasant shout from the agent on the Atlas echoed.

  What was now attacking the dragon was a laser-tipped orbiter, a U.S. space-warning weapon.

  The U.S., which was wielding its power under the name of a heavenly kingdom a very long time ago before monsters appeared, launched a satellite into space. The ambitious launch of the military satellite was part of the SDI system that defends the country’s ICBMs by firing lasers from the far-flung space.

  However, the satellite laser was soon erased from people’s minds by the limitations of its destructive power and the chaos in the U.S. caused by the great fusion. But recently, the satellite had finished renovating. The current government of the United States had proposed a way to dramatically increase the destructive power of lasers with the help of the emergence of new energy sources.

  Their new source was the mana stone.

  A fluoride hydrogen chemical laser that vibrates hydrogen and fluoride by mixing them with the weather at best — it was then replaced by the orbital satellite with hundreds of kilowatts of an ultra-high-power laser using mana stones-

  I heard that was done because of you-

  That’s right

  Ironically, one of the reasons why this orbital satellite was quickly completed was the appearance of the archery masters.

  The U.S., which did not want to lose its reputation as a Raid powerhouse to South Korea, tried to resolve it through cutting-edge weapons instead of producing a strong hunter.

  The biomass that came out with Jean Tefman, which was criticized around the world was part of that line.

  Although it failed, one of them was the Razor-Table Satellite.

  Even though there was a weak point that it could only be used when it passed over certain areas, it was one of the human weapons that even dragons cannot ignore-

  Kyaaak!

  Through the clouds, the dragon lands on the ground with its wings folded.

  In the midst of the fall, L tried to avoid the laser by using an evasive maneuver, but the essence of the weapon used by her opponent was light, meaning, it had an inevitable speed. The laser, which was fired at super-high speed, cannot be dodged. Besides, the lasers were invisible.

  If L had known the nature of this weapon, she would not have been so helpless. She could simply bend light, but even the dragon had a limit in terms of her understanding of human technology, which had evolved over hundreds of years.

  Beeeeep-

  Awkkkk!!

  The mana stone mounted on the orbiting satellite was a whopping nine-tier mana stone.

  Nine-tier Mana Stones was hard to obtain, but the U.S. had generously deployed such a secret weapon to the operation with a powerful demonstration for the honor of helping the Master Archer.

  And now, Jaehwang prepared his last attack, lowering his stance as he drew his bow.

  Drrrr……

  Slowly pulling the bow, Jaehwang’s eyes did not miss the falling L.

  Swoosh

  From the body of Jaewhang, a red like haze began to erupt before gathering into the arrowhead.

  Then……

  Ping!!!!

  With an enormous sonic boom, an arrow carrying an enormous amount of energy from the bow was fired at the falling dragon.

  Swoosh……

  Unfortunately, L did not identify the extraordinary energy that was soaring towards her. The unruly attacks from the sky hampered her senses along with her flight.

  There was no physical blow, but it was distracting as it turned the temperature of her scales to thousands of degrees.

  And this single mistake became fatal to her.

  Boom!!!!-

  Kyaaaaak!

  L, who was descending frantically, screamed as soon as she felt an unbearable pain in her chest.

  Coincidentally, the arrow was aimed at her heart where her divinity lies. The blow was fatal. The attack, which broke through the Dragon scale, made a direct blow to her heart before she was brought to the ground.

  Thud!

  A huge crater had sprung up.

  L, who fell vertically from the high sky without any rolling, was simply appalling.

  Her wings were badly wrinkled, and her limbs were broken. Her waist was also abnormally bent. The body weighing hundreds of tons was thrown down without any means of protection, and the impact was enormous. No matter how powerful a dragon was, it cannot escape from the laws of physics.

  Zap……zap……

  Dragon’s body began to shrink and soon became a human figure. She had no divinity left. She was forced to transform into a smaller creature to recover.

  It was at that moment when L raised her hand to use it for her own recovery-

  Stop.

  Ping!

  Jaehwang aimed an arrow at her head-

  Kyaaaaaak!!

  L tried to escape with all her might, but she failed. Jaehwang’s arrow dangled on her waist-

  Awk……!

  Though the beautiful woman groaned in pain, Jaehwang, who was relentless, drew another arrow-

  You’re merciless……

  At L’s words, Jaehwang spoke without letting go of the bow he was pulling-

  Is that your last words?

  L looked embarrassed at Jaehwang’s answer. There was something in his attacks that prevented her from recovering.

  Yet, there was still one secret card L haven’t used yet-

  Well…… it could be my last word. Can I say it?

  L said playfully and Jaehwang nodded-

  Al! Help me!!!!

  She shouted loudly.

  Wooooosh……

  Her loud voice echoed through the desert wind, but the existence she called anxiously did not appear.

  Jaehwang looked around the sky and said, looking down at L,-

  Are you done?-

  No……wait! Just wait a second. Al!!!!

  Wooooosh……

  There was no response-

  Let’s just end this all-

  Ugh! Why is he so late?!-

  Goodbye-

  No……no!!!

  Ping!

  Jaehwang pulled the bow, focusing the end of the arrow on L’s head.

  Crack!!

  Bam!!

  As the shield L made with the last of her strength was smashed by an arrow, she passed out-

  She’s taking long.

  Jaehwang once again hung an arrow on the bow. This was the real ending.

  It was then……

  That’s when it happened above the sky.

  Zing! Zing……!

  It wasn’t even evening, but the sky began to turn red as if the sun was setting. After a while, the color gradually darkened and soon formed one giant shape. It was a dragon, and it had red scales.

  *Snarls……*

  At the advent of the Red Dragon, the atmosphere began to vibrate.

  Boom!

  Jaehwang quickly raised his bow, but L’s body was already gone. It was over the Red Dragon’s head before he knew it. The eyes of Red Dragon called Al, had checked L’s being before it growled.

  Jaehwang clicked his tongue and lifted his head to look at his new enemy.

  Jaehwang’s body was now almost at its limit. This was the aftereffects of the last attack that he shot at L. The problem was that a new slugger had emerged.

  It was the worst situation that he imagined happening.

  Baeklin said once in the past that there were two dragons in Elus.

  The belly of Red Dragon bulged and rose.

  Needless to say, it was preparing for an attack-

  This is exhausting.

  Jaehwang tore off the gloves of the dragonslayer’s armor. He needed to make himself as light as possible.

  Swoosh!

  Jaehwang jumped into the air and a moment later, red wings came out from his back. He approached the Red Dragon at a rapid pace.

  Looking at Jaehwang flying towards him, the eyes of the Red Dragon were filled with ridicule.

  The preparations for the Flame Breath was finished, but Al decided to wait a little bit.

  He was weaker than she was, but he had inflicted a fatal injury on L. Al was trying to let him get close as possible. If L was awake, she would have shouted to at him now. It was because she was defeated by being so relaxed.

  Soon Al’s mouth was about to open……

  Jaehwang finally took out his secret card, which he had hidden until now.

  If L could call the Red Dragon, Al, then Jaehwang also had his secret card.

  It’s a secret trick that had been hidden until the very last minute-

  Go! Goongi!-

  Crawwwwwww!!!!!

  Something huge, comparable to what Red Dragon was about to shoot, spouted from Jaehwang’s body and flew towards the neckline of Al.