Free Web NovelThe reputation system was absurd, but Ian set that aside for now.
This was exactly why the <Purification> ability became necessary in the later stages. Just as Ian had forced his way through demonic zones to reach the dragon, many key locations in the late game required Purification.
The first time Ian thought of using the dragon against the Demon Archduke was during his seventeenth run.
The “true master of the dungeon, the dragon,” was originally one of Ian’s trials. Since it would become an unavoidable trial sooner or later, why not awaken the dragon early and have it drive off the Demon Archduke?
That had been the idea.
Until then, Ian had either run away or settled for a “partial success” by forcing the Demon Archduke to retreat. It was safe, but...
As a rational gamer, Ian could not give up the experience points the Demon Archduke would be worth.
So once again, he awakened the dragon.
Now the only problem was putting the dragon back to sleep afterward.
Fight harder.
Ian cheered for the Demon Archduke.
If the dragon and the Demon Archduke clashed properly, the dragon would win. The Demon Archduke had come here with no particular intention beyond hunting humans, but the dragon would awaken already overflowing with hostility, determined to protect its territory.
Wasn’t it true that a difference in mindset led to a difference in action?
That might not apply everywhere, but in this case, the dragon would win. The only question was how badly it would be injured in the process.
So, if Ian wanted any chance to relax afterward, the Demon Archduke needed to put up a decent fight here.
If a low-level character like Ian had to face the strongest species in the world—a dragon—there was no way he would survive even a single instant.
A five-star hero like the Holy Knight Keith, blessed with exceptional abilities, could eventually solo a dragon raid, but that was an exception.
Crash!
The cave began to collapse.
The Demon Archduke opened his reptilian mouth wide and spewed out a viscous slime. It poured out as if there were no end to it. The slime shot toward the dragon as though it had a will of its own, trying to cling to its scales.
The dragon roared and blocked it.
KRAAAARARARA!
Dragon breath erupted from its maw.
Blazing fire collided with the slime midway through the air, and the two opposing properties triggered a chemical reaction. A thick poisonous mist billowed out, surging toward the place where Ian was sitting.
<Purification>. fгeewebnovёl.com
“Cough!”
Ian spat up blood again.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The sound of metal smashing against metal rang through the cave as the dragon and the Demon Archduke stopped fighting with only breath and tails and began ramming their bodies into each other.
Brilliant spells, too fast for the naked eye to follow, flashed every few seconds as the two massive beings collided. Their magic clashed, canceled each other out, and rebounded. Their innate racial magic resistance was too high. The moment their own spells ricocheted back and struck them, both monsters stopped using magic as if they had silently agreed to do so.
The dragon and the Demon Archduke were almost the same size. It was impossible to say which one was larger. In height alone, they were at least four or five times taller than an ordinary man. As their enormous bodies slammed into each other with full force, the cave shook violently, unable to withstand the impact.
Boom! Boom!
The ceiling caved in, and stones rained down around Ian.
“Lord Ian! Come—come over here!”
Sema grabbed Ian and pulled him close, shielding his head with one hand.
“I’ll protect you!”
Protect yourself first...
Ian stared, stunned, at the aftermath of the boss monsters’ battle unfolding before him in a way the game had never shown.
Dust whirled into the air.
Within the dense cloud, the fight between the two monsters vanished from sight.
KRAAAAR!
The Demon Archduke let out a terrifying scream.
At the same time, rocks began falling toward Ian. He barely rolled aside, narrowly avoiding a concussion—or worse, death.
The others were no better off. People could no longer hold their breath and began screaming for their lives. The shockwaves from the dragon and the Demon Archduke’s clash were strong enough to endanger everyone in the cave.
Then, all at once, everything went quiet.
“Haaah, huff!”
Someone let out a relieved breath, though Ian could not tell who.
Dust filled the air.
Through the haze, a dark shape appeared amid the fallen rubble.
One of the massive creatures was on its knees.
When the dust finally settled, the situation became clear.
The one who had fallen was the Demon Archduke.
The people, slowly coming back to their senses, covered their mouths and cheered in hushed voices. From somewhere in the crowd, Lord Ian heard a tiny, trembling hooray.
I thought I was going to die...
But did that even matter?
A smile spread across Ian’s face.
A thrill rushed all the way to his fingertips.
The experience points are insane.
The radiant blessing of experience flooded over him.
Ding!
[Impossible Achievement!]
[You have hunted the Demon Archduke with strategic brilliance that will go down in history.]
Ding!
[Skill <Set Enemy Against Enemy> created.]
[People now see you as an incredible strategist!]
Ding!
[Character]
‘Tyrant’ Ian (★★★★☆)
[Reputation]
Tyrant, Bastard, Playboy, Lavish, Hedonist, Strategist, Mentally Unstable, Sickly, Demon Hunter (+NEW)
[Skills]
Purification: LV.4
Horsemanship: LV.1
Archery: LV.1
Set Enemy Against Enemy: LV.1
The fact that his strategist reputation still could not outshine Tyrant was baffling, but Ian did not care.
I got a skill.
Obtaining a new skill in this game was incredibly difficult, especially in the early stages.
As expected, achievements came with rewards.
He had just used the dragon, one of the strongest late-game monsters, to bring down the Demon Archduke—one of the four great powers of the continent.
The one sent to capture him was dead.
Ian tapped the skill with his hand.
[Skill]
Set Enemy Against Enemy LV.1
You set an enemy against another enemy.
The greater the difference in power between you and the target, the higher the chance of failure.
Upon success, the greater the power difference, the more experience points you gain.
Activate skill.
Ian used it on the fallen Demon Archduke and the dragon.
The Demon Archduke’s body twitched, as if making one final attempt. Deadly poison erupted from its corpse.
Damn it.
Ian briefly regretted using the skill so recklessly.
But one more use of Purification should not drain all his health.
Probably.
Purification!
Ian could not bring himself to shout the skill name aloud out of sheer embarrassment.
“Cough!”
To everyone else, it must have looked as though Ian had been the one to cough up blood immediately after the Demon Archduke released its venom.
“Lord Ian!”
Sema screamed, no longer able to pay any attention to the dragon.
At that moment, the dragon collapsed.
Boom!
Its massive body struck the ground, shaking the entire cave. Stones fell from the ceiling, and dust surged into the air. A small rock landed on Ian’s forehead with a sharp sting.
Sema, small as he was, threw his arms around Ian protectively and sobbed.
When the tremors finally stopped, Sema shouted.
“Lord Ian! Are you all right? Lord Ian! No, don’t die!”
“I’m not dead... Stop shaking me...”
Ian felt as if Sema’s shaking might actually kill him.
There was one intruder watching this strangely heartwarming scene from the shadows.
He caught the Demon Archduke!
Louis clutched his chest, overwhelmed by awe and fear.
He was an excellent hunter. No one in the village could match his skill. /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Considering he had developed his abilities on his own, his talent was obvious.
The reason he had become the best hunter in the village was because of the gifts he possessed. He moved with the agility of a cat and stepped without sound. He could slip into any place and hide anywhere. His wild, animal-like instincts told him where he needed to conceal himself.
When the demon butler had targeted him, Louis had thought desperately about where he could flee.
The forest?
No. In an open area, he would be caught far too easily.
So he had entered the cave.
The moment he hid himself in the darkness, he regretted it. But by then, it was too late. The opportunity to turn back had passed. The demons would eventually devour everything in the cave. Why had he come here?
And yet, while he was running, this had seemed like his best option.
He had no choice but to go deeper, hoping he would be discovered as late as possible. Perhaps, if luck was on his side, he might even escape unnoticed.
How far had he gone?
At last, he seemed to find a path that led to an exit. It was a narrow passage leading farther underground, so cramped that even humans—smaller than demons—would have to crawl through it.
Louis had thought it might be an escape route used by small creatures.
Then he found the humans hiding at the end of the passage, and he gave up completely.
This is the end.
There was no way this path would go unnoticed. The smell of humans would give them away.
If they had escaped outright, that would have been one thing. But walking deeper into the cave only to hide there?
It was no different from offering themselves up as sacrifices.
Louis decided to make one last desperate attempt. He rummaged through his belongings and dipped the tip of an arrow into the poison he had inherited from his dead parents.
The moment he saw the Demon Archduke, Louis fired without hesitation.
The poisoned arrow fell short.
It did not even reach the Demon Archduke.
Ah.
It was over.
Louis nearly closed his eyes.
But then, the people hiding in the cave summoned the dragon and killed the Demon Archduke.
I’m alive!
He looked toward the leader of the group.
Even in the darkness, Louis could tell the man was pale and sickly. He had been coughing up blood, which made him seem weak at first glance, but Louis immediately judged that the man possessed extraordinary intelligence.
This frail, sickly man...
He had an incredible mind.
If he was here, then perhaps Louis’s village might survive after all.
“Wh-What the hell are you?!”
Louis flinched.
In his joy and shock over the Demon Archduke’s death, he had let his guard down.
The man beside him must have sensed someone emerging from the shadows.
His scream drew everyone’s attention in the cave straight to Louis.
“......!”
Louis wanted to run, but the passage was too narrow. The people were packed tightly together, making it impossible to move freely.
Worse still, the sickly leader he had admired was now pointing a bow at him.
Even Louis, a born archer, could tell that the man’s stance was perfect.
At this distance, there was no way he would miss.
Louis raised both hands in surrender.
What do I do? What do I do...?
He tried to think quickly, and because of that, he failed to notice that the sickly leader was staring at him in shock.
The others, too, were horrified by his appearance.
“That black hair! Those black eyes! That grayish skin! He’s from the Traitor Clan!”
A priest, still half-drunk, shouted.
I know, Ian thought.
The Traitor Clan.
In the game, they were known as the clan that had “sold the middle world to the demons,” earning them the derogatory name of Traitors.
They had no proper settlement and wandered the forests, living by hunting and trade.
In other words, they were a clan that could be useful if recruited.
But to Ian, there was something even more important than that.
“What’s your name?”
“Huh?”
“Your name.”
Ian drew the bowstring tight.
The arrow now pointed threateningly at the boy.
The boy from the Traitor Clan bit his lip.
“Louis.”
Ding!
[Character]
‘Traitor’s Child’ Louis (★★★★☆)
[Reputation]
Traitor’s Child, Poison Hunter
[Skills]
Deadly Poison: LV.5
Archery: LV.6
Ambush: LV.6
⋮
(Expand)
This is insane.
Goosebumps rose across Ian’s skin.
A playable character—four-star hero Louis—had walked straight into his path.
