Overgeared

Almost every player would think of Bunhelier when it came to their perception of dragons.

The first dragon to make a direct appearance was Bunhelier. It was even in the National Competition watched by billions of people. His absolute stats and destructiveness were revealed to the public and the world was filled with astonishment. Perhaps that was the quietest day on Earth since the birth of humanity.

"Hiik!"

"It's over! It is the end!!"

"I need to log out and organize the stocks first."

People learned that dragons were extremely powerful and ferocious. It was due to Bunhelier. Now at this moment, Bunhelier appeared again. The ripple effect was different from when he invaded the server of the National Competition. A significant number of players fled to the most hidden places they knew or logged out without hesitation.

Very few players stayed in place. They were people who had responsibilities to bear and people who were stubborn.

"The number of viewers is a jackpot."

"This is a scoop."

On the other hand, those who made broadcasting their business chased after the shadow of Bunhelier.

"Don't worry. Father will protect you."

NPCs and people who had families stayed by the side of their families and protected them.

"Take out all the dragon harpoons in the warehouse."

"It is a war! Issue an emergency conscription notice right now!"

Knights or those with aristocratic titles led the soldiers with a more powerful voice than usual. In the sky, Bunhelier could see all the conditions of the ground with his eyes. He didn't feel sorry for the bugs who saw him and ran away, nor did he become angry with the attitude of the bugs who held the idea of resisting him. He could annihilate them at any time with one breath.

The thing that Bunhelier wanted was a deeper anxiety. He was only slowly crossing the continent, but he expected the bugs to be crushed by themselves. There was plenty of time. If it didn't break, flap his wings several times until it broke.

The moment the atmosphere was at its most ripe, he intended to go down and choke their necks. He would tell them to offer 1,000 males and 1,000 females each. Then he would eat them slowly while they were still alive in front of the watching bugs and despair and fear would spread. Once he finished eating them, he would ask the bugs to increase the number of offerings by two times the next day. It would be quite funny to see those who dreamed of the future in exchange for the sacrifices of their fellow people once again fall into despair.

In the end, Nevartan would wake up by the time the bugs finally chose to resist, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave the finishing touches to him. He wouldn't even give a chance to the bugs who squeezed out their courage to fight against him. Despair and fear would be mixed with anger and the chaos would be completed.

Grrrrr…

Demonic energy flowed from the gap in Bunhelier's snout as he twitched. Each particle had a destructive power that crushed magic power and sword energy, and extinguished the spark of life. The dark sky, where the scenery of hell was intertwined, turned yellow.

One century ago—would a nation's night sky be like this when there were no means to clean up air pollution?

"What is he doing?"

"He doesn't seem to want to attack…?"

Bunhelier was an Evil Dragon. They might've never experienced it themselves, but he was likely to be a villain in the setting. Many people speculated that he was the final boss in the worldview, so they naturally worried that the surface would become a sea of fire after seeing the message of his appearance.

However, it was so quiet. Bunhelier simply kept flying and took no action other than that. If there was one characteristic, it was that he was very fast…

By the time a whisper arrived saying a sight of him had been captured over Reidan, he had already been seen over Reinhardt. It was speculated that the time it would take him to cross the continent would be in minutes. If Bunhelier had just slightly lowered his trajectory as he flew, the ground would be devastated from the shockwaves of the sonic boom he generated.

He was literally a creature from another dimension—a disaster to be avoided, not something to fight against.

Those who stayed in place remembered the level and stats of Bunhelier that were revealed during the National Competition and chills went down their spines. They lost the willpower to resist. This was even though Bunhelier was just flying. The absence of Grid and the apostles played a major role. People once again realized how much they relied on Grid.

Kurarararara!

Bunhelier's roar was heard from a great height. The sound of the echo was like laughter. It was close to the feeling of laughing at them right now. Of course, this was just a delusion of persecution. There was no way Bunhelier could examine their complexions from so far away.

Moreover, the human population was in the billions. The population might've decreased significantly in the aftermath of the Great Human and Demon War, but it wasn't a number that Bunhelier could see with one glance. It meant it was physically impossible to read and laugh at their overall mood.

Of course, this was all based on human common sense. Bunhelier was too great to be bound by the common sense of insignificant humans. His senses spread across the continent. It was more closely intertwined than a spider's web and Bunhelier felt in real-time the reactions and expressions of all beings on the surface that was clearly transmitted through it.

He took it all as information and acted more effectively. For example, when passing over the sea, he deliberately raised waves to attack the nation of the water clan or he carried the smell of human flesh on the wind as he passed over the huge Chaos Mountains, causing the monsters to become frenzied.

He made people living in hot regions sick by inducing the transfer of cold, while people living in cold areas were forced to take off their clothes due to the transfer of heat. He even moved the Arctic icebergs or desert sand to the middle of the city. No magic was used. It was a confusion caused solely through the act of 'flying.'

In the midst of humanity's growing unrest and confusion…

[……]

Bunhelier stopped flapping his wings for the first time since he appeared. The sword energy that rose past the tip of his nose stood tall like a pillar and gradually collected the demonic energy scattered around. Rather than being eroded by Bunhelier's demonic energy and disappearing, the sword energy instead reversed it. It was the only Dragon Killing Sword in the world.

[Dragon Slayer.]

Bunhelier's dark pupil's grew slightly bigger. It was so huge that it felt like seeing a thumbnail of the expansion of the universe. This was the case when being directly in front of him. There was a transcendent feeling felt through a simple change in the pupils and all this created a sense of pressure. Maybe Hayate's voice would tremble.

Hayate's figure, as he stood silently with concern, was elegant. He didn't look like someone who was trying hard not to show his fear. Therefore, Bunhelier smiled when looking at him.

[A thousand years isn't too short for me. Yet you, who have lived in hiding for longer than that, now dare to stand in front of me?]

Contrary to Hayate's thoughts, the old dragons weren't very interested in Hayate. To be precise, they gave up long ago. It was because the sword of the Dragon Slayer acted as a dragon's unique incompatibility. The seals over the tower, built by Hayate and the tower members, weren't something the dragons could handle.

The most accurate way of describing it was that they couldn't identify it because they were dragons. Putting aside their desire to eat him to nourish themselves, it meant it was impossible to search for Hayate. Now he boldly blocked the path himself.

[You seem to have something you believe in. Did you even wake up Nevartan?]

Nevartan was obsessed with Bunhelier. The cause of Nevartan's madness was Bunhelier's betrayal. Even after losing his sense of reason, faint remnants of memory remained and he seemed unable to forget Bunhelier. It meant Nevartan was one of the few beings who could threaten Bunhelier.

[It is quite a pity.]

Bunhelier's voice was mixed with harsh breathing. It was a reverberating breath. The nervous Hayate focused on why this phenomenon was occurring and barely figured it out.

'Rage.'

There was no precursor to the activation of Dragon Rage, but Hayate guessed it and trusted his judgment. He blocked Bunhelier's tail, which rushed in like a huge dam, and was vigilant as he prepared in advance for the shockwaves that would overlap. As expected, it was Dragon Rage.

Bunhelier just swung his tail once, but a total of five shockwaves occurred in a row and struck Hayate. There was no time difference at all. Hayate failed to absorb the fourth and fifth attacks properly. It was because the dragons he fought so far could only stack a maximum of three attacks. He hadn't expected five overlapping attacks.

The same Dragon Rage exerted a greater effect when used by an old dragon. Hayate immediately wiped the blood flowing down the corners of his mouth with sword energy and endured it without revealing pain. He managed to repair the organs in his body that were crushed by the shock and let out a small breath.

Hayata was the only one seen in Bunhelier's elongated pupils, which had become smaller again. It was the aftermath of erasing the landscapes of hell that filled the surrounding sky with his power.

[Certainly, it is worth it if it is you.]

Bunhelier did the calculations. Should he avoid Nevartan's pursuit and create chaos according to his original purpose? Or should he cling to the Dragon Slayer in front of him and risk getting caught by Nevartan? His judgment should be fast. After waking up, the time it would take for Nevartan to appear in front of him would be extremely short.

[I need to eat you.]

The Dragon Slayer's achievements were unique in the world. The value to be gained from killing him was comparable to the value he would get when collecting millions of chaos. Moreover, he could gather chaos at any time, but he didn't know when he would meet Hayate again. It was an opportunity that couldn't be missed.

[You will die to me.]

The Dragon Words became a prophecy. He approached with an irresistible fate and put great pressure on Hayate. Hayate was able to resist with the will of a Dragon Slayer, but he couldn't get rid of it completely due to the constant pressure. He had to be constantly focused in order to endure, and the mental power consumed here was intense.

Hayate's expression stiffened as he had a hunch that he wouldn't last long. He would die before the search magic machine he sent to wake Nevartan up from hibernation would pay off. The question to consider here was what goal to set.

How much of a blow could he inflict on Bunhelier? How long must he endure in order for the world to be safe when Grid and the tower members returned from destroying the hell moon.

The waves of the Dragon Killing Sword, that adorned the night sky more brilliantly than hundreds of constellations, started to gather at a single point. It aimed at Bunhelier's heart in response to Hayate's will.

The destruction of the dragon heart. He never dreamed of a complete destruction. The goal was to inflict enough damage to put Bunhelier into a deep sleep. The price would be Hayate's life. It was a goal that couldn't be achieved without this much sacrifice.

Kurarararara!

Bunhelier read Hayate's intentions and reacted sensitively. Perhaps his self-esteem was hurt, but he roared and cast hundreds of magic at the same time. In an instant, the Dragon Breath overlapped five times and was fired, blocking any evasion paths.

Hayate's expression darkened sharply as he slashed the Breath with the Dragon Killing Sword. The surprisingly cunning Bunhelier used human magic. Some of the magic cast simultaneously had a structure that was difficult to cut with the Dragon Killing Sword.

Through the gap in the black Breath that split apart like the Red Sea, all types of magic bombardments poured out. Only two of them constrained Hayate's movements. It was magic that worked through incompatibility. It forced him to use magic power separate from the Dragon Killing Sword, but Hayate couldn't easily generate any magic power. It was because old dragons interpreted and absorbed all energy other than that of the Dragon Killing Sword. They reversed the power that their prey used to resist them and became more powerful in an instant.

He hesitated because he couldn't overlook this. However, fleeting hesitation in a fight between Absolutes was a deadly poison. The tail that seemed to stay on the horizon was now right in front of his eyes. The area was so large that evasion was impossible.

Bunhelier's eyes flashed from the bottom of Hayate's field of view as he was forced to raise his sword. The long neck that had fallen down now swelled up to the fullest. It was a precursor to a Breath…

It was precisely aimed at a situation where it was hard to dodge. Hayate was preparing for a serious injury when someone's voice entered his ears.

The reinforcement who just arrived at the scene—he gave off a sensation that Hayate was familiar with. The Sword Saint of the present age awakened the swordsmanship of cutting the wind and cut off the Breath. It was a divine skill he gained after cutting down the Elemental King of Wind.

[The target's skill casting has been canceled.]

All the magic and Breath of the breathless Bunhelier stopped working for a moment. Hayate managed to take a breath thanks to this.

Kraugel told him, "I'm going to confess this honestly in case you expect too much of me, but all I can do is assist in this way."

The opponent was too bad. He never expected to meet a dragon at the stage where he came back after experiencing growth.

Kraugel obediently cleared his mind. However, he was aware of one truth—Hayate couldn't die. He was one of the few hopes of the world along with Grid.

"Look for an opportunity and run away."

Hayate was always in a position to show his back. Yet at this moment, he saw the back of another person. It was Kraugel who followed after Grid.

The descendants of a distant age were guarding the Absolute.