IF Chapter 60

Chapter 60

 

I couldn’t take my eyes off the being outside the window.

While it clearly said “Golden Dragon,” I wondered why it was black. More importantly, why had the final boss appeared already?

‘There was supposed to be at least one more day left.’

As I stared at the enormous and terrifying dragon emanating an ominous aura, my room door suddenly burst open without warning.

“Yi-joo-ssi. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Baek Doha urgently reached out his hand towards me. I frantically grabbed his hand and ran outside with Mungchi.

When we arrived at the faction’s central hall, the rest of the group was already gathered, seemingly waiting for me.

“Noona! They say an exit door has appeared!”

Lee Cheong-sin, who spotted me first, shouted.

“An exit door?”

“Yeah. I guess since that dragon’s head is so big, we can’t fight here. Looks like we’re supposed to go outside to fight.”

How considerate. Cha Si-hyeon clicked his tongue after saying that and nodded towards the entrance of the faction area.

“Let’s hurry out before this place collapses.”

“Okay.”

Although the situation arose unexpectedly, it didn’t really matter.

Most of the things that happened here weren’t exactly announced beforehand anyway. I took a deep breath and was about to follow the others who had gone ahead when I suddenly noticed Jin So-yul.

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“Huh? What?”

“No, you just look uncomfortable somewhere.”

Didn’t she say she was going out to play with a friend she knew? Did she get hurt somewhere?

“Ah…”

Jin So-yul rolled his eyes for a moment before shaking her head.

“No, I just bumped into something and it hurts a little.”

“Where did you bump into?”

“Well, the stairs? No, I’m not sure if I fell down the stairs or bumped into something else, but I can’t tell what it was…”

Seeing Jin So-yul’s uneasy expression, I said worriedly,

“Don’t push yourself too hard. Or you could go ask Baek Doha for treatment right away-“

“It’s not that serious!”

Jin So-yul hastily protested. Is that so? I felt a bit uneasy, but only for a moment.

Realizing the urgency of the situation, I quickly ran down to the first floor where they said an exit door had appeared.

‘It’s true.’

Even though I was sure this place was completely walled off before, an exit door had mysteriously appeared.

Rushing out through the exit door, I saw a desolate and shabby forest.

‘So this is what the outside looks like.’

Having been confined to this castle all along, the unfiltered sunlight and air felt refreshing.

Keeeeek!

At least until I heard the dragon’s roar along with thunderous noises.

Its body looked so hard that I wondered if a sword could even penetrate it, its tail had immense destructive power, and it had piercing purple eyes.

“Are, are we supposed to fight that thing? Can we really win?”

As Jin So-yul’s panicked voice rang out, those purple eyes turned towards me.

That’s when it finally sank in.

“We can win.”

The battle with the final boss had begun.

💎

The dragon was truly strong.

As strong as I had imagined.

Everything crumbled with just one swipe of its tail.

The mansion was on the verge of collapse, and a desolate, shabby forest came into view.

In stark contrast to the lush forest I saw in <Forgotten Forest>, the trees here looked already dead, uprooted by a single swipe of the Yellow Dragon’s tail, and the ground was visibly parched and crumbly.

Looking at the castle from the outside, I saw that four towers surrounded the largest castle in the center.

The four towers seemed to be spaces given to the top 4 ranked factions, while the large castle appeared to be where people from other factions lived together.

After grasping the structure of the castle, I drew my sword first.

I probably can’t inflict much damage anyway. So for this round, it might be better to leave it to the S-class fighters and focus on preventing casualties. That should be my role.

With so many people here, surely the dragon wouldn’t single me out for attack…

“Yi-joo-ssi! Watch out!”

Gi Da-in’s shout echoed through the air. As I turned around, I saw a huge tail charging towards me. What the-!

[Skill, ‘Boundary Line (C)’ is activated!]

Kwang!

[‘Boundary Line (C)’ has been shattered!]

“Kuhek!”

With the tremendous impact, the boundary line broke, and my abdomen took a direct hit. I was sent flying helplessly and slammed into a tree, coughing up air.

‘How is it so strong!’

[Kieeeeek!!]

But the dragon wasn’t satisfied with just that. It let out a bone-chilling scream and turned its eyes towards me again. As I flinched, Gi Da-in’s vines wrapped around the dragon’s legs.

The dragon’s gaze shifted to Gi Da-in. Then, as if on cue, Cha Si-hyeon leapt off a rock and activated his skill.

[Skill, ‘Phenomenon Separation (S)’ is activated!]

Cha Si-hyeon threw his sword, embedding it in the dragon’s body. Simultaneously, an identical sword appeared in mid-air, striking slightly off to the side.

‘Wow…’

It was the first time I had seen Cha Si-hyeon use this ability himself, so I was impressed.

Moreover, Gi Da-in who was clearly supporting Cha Si-hyeon was also amazing.

Her abilities were gradually developing.

Due to her timid personality, she hadn’t unleashed tremendous attacks on monsters before, but now she was in perfect sync without me having to say anything.

Once again, Cha Si-hyeon rushed towards the dragon in an instant, raising his sword as he activated his skill.

A sword aura imbued with darkness struck the dragon’s body with a resounding Kwang!

This must be Cha Si-hyeon fighting with all his might.

As I was thinking this,

Bang!

Rumble rumble rumble!!

The ground shook.

In the swirling dust, the dragon, possibly enraged from the consecutive attacks, slammed its tail down with tremendous force.

The ground shook as if it were going to collapse, and another tail struck with incredible speed. Damn! How can something so massive move so fast!

Boom! One of the towers crumbled after being hit by the tail.

“Everyone, run away!”

People screamed as they fled from the collapsing tower. Some were crushed underneath, while others fell.

“Jin So-yul-ssi! So-yul-ssi!”

Jin So-yul also tripped and fell while trying to escape.

Seeing this, I quickly got up and ran towards her.

Blood flowed with every movement, probably from a direct hit to my abdomen, but I ignored it and focused on helping So-yul up first.

“Are you okay?!”

I shouted urgently, shaking So-yul, but there was no response as she seemed unconscious.

Damn it. Knowing it would be dangerous to stay near this tower, I struggled to lift So-yul and dragged my feet away.

‘Somewhere out of the dragon’s sight.’

As I was hurriedly moving towards a corner, I noticed something while looking around…

“Yoo Yi-joo!”

Huh? Hearing a voice behind me, I turned to see another tail flying towards us.

“Yi-joo-ssi!!”

“You need to dodge!”

Shouts came from all directions. My mind froze, and my body stopped moving. I thought I was going to take a direct hit from the incoming tail.

And at that moment.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

As the bullet hit the dragon’s eye, it thrashed about making an enormous noise.

‘What the…’

Who could have…

I turned my head and couldn’t help but smile when I saw who had fired the gun.

“…Did I just shoot that?”

It was Lee Cheong-sin.

💎

“Right?”

Lee Cheong-sin blinked in a daze for a while before shouting.

“I shot it, didn’t I?! Sh-shot, I shot it! I actually shot!”

He opened his eyes wide, seemingly surprised at his own action.

He who didn’t even know how to infuse magic had fired a gun. And hit the eye, no less.

“Noona, I fired a gun!”

Yeah, I saw. I saw it, but…

“Cheongsin-ah, watch out!”

This time, the dragon opened its mouth wide towards Lee Cheong-sin.

“Oh, cr-crazy!”

Cheongsin panicked, probably startled by the huge, sharp teeth. Just before the teeth could pierce his body, someone stood in front of him.

“Why is everyone here so useless?”

Lim Yuchan muttered, gripping his staff tighter.

Euddeuk, the dragon gnashed its teeth against the staff, grimacing. As Lim Yuchan held his ground against the dragon’s force, whoosh! Flames erupted from the top of the staff.

Surprised by the sudden fire, the dragon retreated.

Wow, as expected of an S-class! Lee Cheong-sin exclaimed in amazement.

Watching this, I brightened up seeing Du Mansik and Cha Si-hyeon hurrying towards us.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. More importantly, could you take So-yul somewhere out of that dragon’s sight?”

“Inside is not an option.”

Cha Si-hyeon added. I glanced at the castle where we had been living. The castle that had seemed so sturdy was on the verge of collapse after just a few swings of the dragon’s tail. Yeah, that place would definitely be more dangerous.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect her well.”

Saying this, Du Mansik bent one knee. Cha Si-hyeon lifted Jin So-yul onto Du Mansik’s back.

“What about your injuries?”

“I’m fine.”

I said, trying to cover the blood on my stomach. The wound was quite large, so it was futile to try hiding it, but Cha Si-hyeon realized this wasn’t the time to argue.

“Do you know anything about this situation?”

“Well, I do, but…”

It’s not very useful.

[SYSTEM] Revealing a hint about the final boss.

[There are three ways to defeat it:
1. Kill it
2. Tame it
3. Gain its acknowledgment]

It’s just so obvious that it’s confusing. Number 1 is what we’ve been doing with most monsters, number 2 is like with Mungchi, and number 3…

‘Hmm, was that acknowledgment too?’

I thought about the monster sealed in the mirror but quickly dismissed the thought.

“Anyway, it’s not very helpful.”

It’s just too obvious. I was about to ask if you were hurt when…

“Ugh, what are you doing?”

Cha Si-hyeon pulled me behind his back. As I hit my forehead on his hard back suddenly during the battle and was just blinking in confusion, I heard Cha Si-hyeon’s voice.

“Who are you?”

Huh?

“Who’s there—”

“I didn’t expect such a quick reaction.”

Oh, this voice…

I blinked a couple of times at the somewhat familiar voice and peeked out from behind Cha Si-hyeon’s back.

Ah.

Flowing long hair, a handsome face anyone would admire, and an indescribable aura—the man who had saved me in an instant and disappeared.

“It’s been a while.”

He was here.

💎

Thank you for reading! ♡