Kugugugugung!!
The Black Dragon’s massive body brushed past the young man and woman, crashing into the ground.
The woman stared blankly at the scene. The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, clearly reminding her that this moment was reality and not a dream, yet it was still hard to believe.
A person dropped the Black Dragon from the sky?
Kraaaah!!
The stunned Black Dragon couldn’t contain its temper and thrashed around, splintering trees and shattering rocks in a chaotic display of destruction.
“Get down!”
Upon hearing the voice beside her, the woman immediately crouched down. Dressed in tattered clothes and with long unkempt hair, the figure dashing forward was hard to gauge in age just from the visible jawline.
The man charged forward, tearing through rocks and trees like they were mere paper, gripping a sword brimming with energy.
Sensing the man’s approach, the Black Dragon swung its enormous tail.
With an earth-shattering bang that echoed like a collapsing mountain, dust clouds shot up into the air.
“Ugh!”
The woman shielded her face from the cascading dust with her sleeve, worried for the man’s safety. If he had been struck directly by the tail, there would have been nothing left of him, and even if he had avoided it, he surely would have been pulverized by the flying debris.
But contrary to her expectations, the man dashed through the swirling dust, unfazed.
In a flash, he lunged at the Black Dragon’s neck with lightning speed.
Kwahh!!!
Kyaaack!!
The Black Dragon’s neck wobbled. In that moment, the man stomped on the Black Dragon’s forefoot and leapt again, delivering a powerful blow to the Black Dragon’s neck.
The colossal body of the Black Dragon swayed dangerously. The man, after striking the neck, rose briefly before descending again with his sword.
The newly formed energy instantly seemed capable of severing the Black Dragon’s neck.
Kyaaah!!!
The Black Dragon opened its jaws, catching the sword between its teeth.
The man’s blue Qi focused into the sword while the Black Dragon’s dark Qi concentrated in its mouth. The overwhelming pressure was so intense that it created whirling gusts and razor winds in the surrounding air.
Kwahh!!!
Then, the stalemate shattered in an unexpected way.
The man’s sword broke.
“What…!”
The man’s Qi and the Black Dragon’s Qi pushed beyond the limits of his sword. Overwhelmed by the vast pressures, the sword ultimately shattered and exploded.
The man’s expression fell while the Black Dragon, with the sword shard lodged in its mouth, writhed in agony.
However, overwhelmed by pain, the Black Dragon thrust its open jaws toward the man.
Having devoured several practitioners already, the Black Dragon did not understand the concept of swords, but it recognized that such toothpick-like things were human weapons.
Aware that a weaponless human would be powerless like a bee after stinging, the Black Dragon realized it had to seize this opportunity.
However, the Black Dragon’s judgment was somewhat hasty.
“I had a hard time getting that sword, but it can’t be helped.”
The man discarded the hilt of the sword, and once again, energy erupted in his right hand.
Pachunilkwon.
The Black Dragon’s snout was crushed as it carelessly approached.
Seizing the moment, the man prepared to throw another punch, but it hit nothing but air.
The Black Dragon flapped its wings and took to the sky.
Kyaaack!
With furious eyes in the air, the Black Dragon, realizing the situation was unfavorable, fled.
The woman blinked in disbelief as she watched the Black Dragon retreat, then turned her gaze to the man who had defeated it.
A person could actually defeat the sky’s ruler, the Black Dragon?
The woman and the young man could only gaze at the man’s back, overwhelmed.
Having achieved the remarkable feat of defeating the Black Dragon single-handedly, the man turned to them and murmured,
“I’m hungry.”
“…Huh?”
“Would you be able to treat me to a meal?”
Grrr!
The man casually rubbed his stomach.
The young man and woman stared at him blankly before nodding.
* *
The village was in chaos.
After the young man and woman disappeared, the Black Dragon wreaked havoc, so it was only natural.
Originally, there would have been a round of scolding, but the punishment of the young man and woman was now forgotten.
The villagers had witnessed the battle that ensued after the Black Dragon crashed, making it easy for them to figure out that the man was the hero.
Gulp! Gulp! Chomp!
The villagers gossiping kept their distance as they watched the man gobbling up food with abandon.
“Is he a practitioner…?”
“He must be a divine being for defeating the Black Dragon!”
“Geh!”
Regardless of the villagers’ chatter, the man comfortably finished off five servings.
“Ahh, now I feel alive. Thank you.”
“…It’s nothing. You saved my life, so this much hospitality is in order.”
“Excuse me, divine one! Divine one, you…”
Just as the young man, who had unwittingly elevated the man from practitioner to divine being, was about to ask something with shining eyes,
“Step aside!”
“The Priest is coming through!”
The young man’s mouth shut, and the woman’s expression darkened.
A path opened among the crowd, and a Priest wearing a long staff and a dragon mask appeared.
“Are you the practitioner?”
“I’m just a wandering vagabond without a goal.”
“I hear you saved our village people?”
“I couldn’t bear to watch them die before my eyes.”
The Priest’s expression hardened as he looked at the nonchalant man.
“I will give you some food, but you must leave the village at once.”
At the Priest’s declaration, the woman raised her voice.
“Priest! What do you mean by this? Treating the person who saved my life this way!”
“Pipe down! Was it not you who broke the rules set by the Black Dragon?”
“Don’t you know that if it stays like this, we’ll all starve to death?”
“The benevolent Black Dragon has a deep purpose! This is nothing more than a trial, and because you couldn’t endure, you flail about like a mad fish! You’re causing the trial to extend!”
The woman gritted her teeth.
“What kind of trial involves killing people, and a heavenly one at that?”
“Blasphemy!”
The Priest’s eyes flared with anger as he glared at the woman.
“The Black Dragon, having shown mercy, allowed us to live. If it were not for the Black Dragon’s domain, our village would have perished long ago from beasts and entities!”
“But…!”
“May I say something?”
The woman, about to argue, hesitated as the man interjected.
“I’m sorry, but I’m in a tough spot to leave right now. I’d appreciate it if you could let me stay for a while…”
“Of course! You can stay as long as you want!”
The woman’s face brightened with acceptance, while the Priest scowled.
“Practitioner! I clearly told you to leave the village!”
“Ah, I definitely heard you.”
But the man calmly picked at his teeth as he spoke.
“So, what will you do if I don’t leave?”
“….What?”
“I asked what you could do if I stay.”
The Priest’s expression stiffened, and even under that gaze, the man continued coolly.
“I don’t know what you can do, but if you could, feel free to try. Until then, I’ll continue to stay here.”
The villagers watching the commotion and the Priest realized something.
The voracious man before them was the one who had knocked down the Black Dragon, an entity they had feared so much.
The Priest had no choice but to retreat in silence, just like a dumb person caught with honey in their mouth.
And the villagers could only look at the man with awkward expressions.
* *
The woman, young man, and the man climbed the mountain.
“You could’ve just rested at home…”
“I should contribute for the meal.”
“It’s so reassuring to have you, divine one!”
“I’m not skilled at collecting, but I can certainly carry a lot, so feel free to gather as much as you want.”
The woman and young man trusted the man and eagerly gathered supplies. While a normal person would struggle to fill one basket, the man had three baskets on his shoulders and was walking lightly.
Fearing the Black Dragon wouldn’t show up, the young man and woman returned to the village with a lighter heart.
“Hey! Villagers! Let’s eat together!”
The woman lured the villagers with the food they had gathered from the mountain. Even those casting glances at the Priest couldn’t do anything about the food in front of them.
The man was still energetically devouring, prompting the young man to gasp in admiration.
“Indeed, the divine one is on a whole different level when it comes to eating.”
“Hmm. You are free to treat me as a divine being, but I am merely an ordinary person with maybe a bit more power than you. You should eat when tired, rest when weary, and rejuvenate when sleeping.”
“Indeed, is that how it is?”
A child asked, “Um, um, where did the divine one come from…?”
“I came here from the southwest. But to be precise, it’s a distant place that would take me quite some time to get to while walking.”
“Wow… then how did you end up here?”
“Well, I ended up coming here while wandering aimlessly.”
“Hehe…”
The man stroked the child’s head as they gasped in admiration. Perhaps bolstered by the man’s demeanor, the villagers began to ask various questions.
While the man didn’t answer everything, he provided sufficient responses.
The villagers were content with that much.
On the following day, the woman, young man, and the man climbed the mountain again.
They were not the only ones on the mountain.
Several villagers followed behind them.
“Are you really okay? It might be dangerous…”
“There’s nothing to eat at home, so it’s the same whether I die here or there.”
The man who spoke glanced at the one beside him. The woman silently nodded.
That day, the Black Dragon did not show up, and the villagers returned home with a bountiful harvest.
Laughter bloomed in the village after a long time. What could be happier than eating until full?
The man surveyed the villagers and spoke.
“Honestly, I never understood why such beings fly in the sky while living here.”
The woman, who had been laughing with the villagers, turned her head to the man’s words.
“But now, I do understand. This area is rich in the energy of nature, so it is indeed a blessed place.”
“Yes.”
The woman nodded as she looked at the sky.
“That’s why there were many villages around here. The nature nearby was sufficient for countless people to enjoy. But now… after the Black Dragon’s tyranny, all have disappeared.”
“I see.”
The man also looked up at the sky in silence. The villagers followed suit and gazed skyward.
“Um… divine one.”
One of the villagers spoke up.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but if the Black Dragon shows up again, will you be able to defeat it?”
The woman, young man, and the villagers looked at the man.
If they did not have to fear the Black Dragon, they could roam the mountains and fields every day and secure enough harvests, at least not worrying about starving.
“Honestly, it would be difficult.”
Faced with hopeful eyes from the villagers, the man firmly denied it.
The man rolled up his sleeves, revealing a dark scar the size of a thumb on his left forearm. The discoloration of the flesh was alarming, making the villagers’ faces turn grim.
“When I clashed with the Black Dragon, my sword broke. Well… It wasn’t a good weapon since I happened to find it during my travels, but it was my only weapon. As it shattered under the force of the Black Dragon’s teeth, I managed to pierce the Black Dragon’s mouth, and that’s how its blood got on me. Just the toxicity of that blood has not healed for days.”
“Mmm…”
“How to deal with that flying creature is a concern, but if I want to take it down barehanded, I might have to cover my fists in its blood, making it a tough fight.”
The villagers’ faces darkened in response to the negative reply. The woman hurriedly changed the subject.
“Well, we did secure food, didn’t we? Right?”
“Mmm… that’s true.”
“We just managed to get through this crisis thanks to the divine one.”
The villagers admitted they had been greedy and tried to turn the mood around with forced smiles.
The following day.
Many people climbed the mountain, and they returned with ample supplies. Everyone except the Priest was smiling.
Kyaaah!!!
But that joy did not last long.
The Black Dragon had appeared.
* *
The Black Dragon soared above the village for two whole days.
Since the man was guarding it, the dragon did not directly attack the village, but whenever the villagers tried to step outside, they were threatened without mercy.
Kyaaah!!!
The Black Dragon mocked the villagers, hammering down into the village from a low altitude before disappearing with a mocking cry.
The woman trembled at the Black Dragon’s movement, fearing it would cause a division among the villagers.
“The Black Dragon is playing with us!”
Sure enough, the Priest seized the moment to shout to the villagers.
“What will you do now? What if that person is here? With the Black Dragon watching from the sky like this, what can we do besides starve to death?”
The villagers hung their heads.
Food was not only on the mountain. They had not been able to gather, and the three days’ worth of supplies they had stored had dwindled significantly.
“We must expel that being immediately to calm the wrath of the Black Dragon! That being is a demon! A demon trying to destroy us who have lived under the protection of the Black Dragon!”
“That’s nonsense! Do you really think the Black Dragon will just let us go because of that?”
“Shut up! Will you still wriggle that loathsome tongue? If you had just obeyed the rules set by the Black Dragon, none of this would have happened! How could you hope to survive when you break the laws laid down by the heavens? Because of you, we’re all on the brink of starvation!”
The man surveyed the bickering Priest and woman, then looked at the fearful villagers before glancing at the sky.
“I’m sorry.”
The argument between the Priest and the woman halted, drawing the village’s gaze to the man.
“Practitioner…!”
“This land once belonged to you, and you lived here as you ruled over the Black Dragon, but now I’ve come as an outsider and disrupted that balance.”
The man spoke, looking around at the villagers.
“I will lure the Black Dragon to the mountain peak. It will be hard to defeat it, but it won’t be difficult to stall for time. The Black Dragon won’t let you escape, so in that time, you should run far away to survive.”
“Divine one…!”
“How could you say such things?”
“Why not fight alongside us?!”
The man smiled wryly as he glanced at the villagers.
“I’m sorry, but what good would it do to fight together?”
At the man’s cold words, the villagers lowered their heads.
“Even if you fought alongside me, it wouldn’t help in the struggle against the Black Dragon. Even if I ran with you, it wouldn’t help in escaping; luring the Black Dragon away while you flee is the only solution.”
“Divine one…”
“For a few days, it’s been rather enjoyable. Normally, a vagabond like me would find it hard to be welcomed in a village, but it was nice to mingle with others.”
Just as the man was about to launch himself towards the mountaintop, he suddenly heard,
“What if there’s a way we can fight together?”
Held back by those words, the man turned to look back.
There stood the pale-faced young man.
* *
The man reached the mountain peak and surveyed the village. He noticed the villagers moving in lines below.
“Hmm.”
The man, seeing the tiny figures, smiled wryly.
Despite claiming he was not a divine being, perhaps he subconsciously thought of himself as such.
As humans, they should not only eat, sleep, and rest but also lean on and mix with others.
Yet, he wielded his own standards, deciding the roles of others.
The man recalled the glare of the Priest.
“A demon…”
Perhaps it was not an unfounded statement. Regardless of whether the judgment was right or wrong, for the Priest, who had desperately tried to maintain harmony with the Black Dragon, the man who disrupted it must have indeed seemed like a demon.
I am the demon who toppled your heavens.
What expression would the Priest wear if, after defeating the Black Dragon, he were told such?
Would he grasp his neck and fall, bubbling?
Imagining that scene made the man chuckle.
For some reason, his spirits lifted, he filled his lungs deeply.
[Oh foolish creatures, who defy the heavens as if you could soar!]
[I shall defeat you and become the heavens of this land!]
The fall of the Heavenly Black Dragon would be recorded in the history of the Demon Sect for generations to come.
Kyaaaah!!
In response to the man’s provocation, the Black Dragon charged in fury.
“Hmm.”
The man ignited energy in both fists and lunged at the descending Black Dragon.
Thus began the fierce battle that would last three days and nights.
