The Red Dragon of the Apocalypse.
A serpent with seven heads and ten horns, it was a type of demon composed entirely of malevolence.
Its strength reached the pinnacle of power.
With a single swing of its tail, it could cast down a third of the stars from the sky to the earth.
It spewed fierce flames from its mouth, flowing like a river.
The depiction of the Red Dragon in the Apocalypse embodied absolute strength.
As a being that stood against God, there was no room for weakness in its power.
Yes, that will do.
But was the Red Dragon of the Apocalypse merely a powerful dragon?
Of course not.
The Red Dragon in the Apocalypse was the embodiment of evil, the manifestation of desire.
A so-called Incarnation of Greed.
Its true power was neither its physical strength nor its symbolic nature.
It was born from human desire.
And because of that, it understood human desires better than anyone else.
A force of seduction that bewitched the hearts of people.
The raid party, having stepped into the boss room, felt their tension rise to its absolute peak.
The Red Dragon of the Apocalypse.
There was no need to speculate about the strength of the crimson dragon that appeared in the legendary Apocalypse.
It was far beyond comparison to a wyvern.
Every S-rank and A-rank Hunter who had entered the boss room instinctively understood this.
The presence emanating from beyond the vast corridor belonged to a monster.
It was foolish to even consider countermeasures.
Before such an overwhelming force, some of the A-rank Hunters nearly lost consciousness.
Yet even the S-rank Hunters could not afford to scorn them—for they were barely faring any better.
Breathing… is difficult…
The Dragon’s Fear.
Unlike the mere killing intent of other monsters, this was a force of an entirely different nature.
An aura that evoked pure terror.
Their bodies stiffened.
Illusions and hallucinations dulled their movements.
The S-rank Hunters, noticing the morale of their comrades crumbling, quickly realized that delaying the fight would only put them at a disadvantage.
“We’ll settle this quickly!!”
“If we stay exposed to the Fear for too long, it could cause lasting psychological damage. We’ll take down the boss and escape the gate within three hours!!”
They tore apart the magic scrolls they had been saving for this very moment.
Physical Enhancement, Stamina Reinforcement, Mana Amplification.
Each spell consumed an amount of mana so massive that it wouldn’t have been strange for a single cast to drain an entire mage’s reserves.
But as the concentrated magic surged through their bodies, the once grim-faced Hunters began to regain their composure.
With even a slight relief from the crushing pressure of the Dragon’s Fear, their morale soared.
They pushed aside the creeping terror gnawing at their hearts.
“Charge!!!”
Weapons were raised, spells prepared.
Forgetting the fear that had gripped them for the first time in ages, the Hunters forced themselves into the roles of heroes, shouting as they rushed into the boss room.
“Spread out!! Form battle positions!!”
A stealthy approach was out of the question.
Against a monster of S-rank threat level, it had undoubtedly been aware of them the moment they neared the boss room.
And indeed.
The Red Dragon of the Apocalypse had been watching them long before they arrived.
It had deliberately amplified its Fear, expecting that at least a few humans would lose their sanity and flee in terror.
Hmm, how disappointing.
But these were battle-hardened warriors.
Anyone who had survived enough raids to be classified as S-rank or A-rank was already accustomed to fear.
Those who weren’t never made it to A-rank in the first place—or they died before they could.
Well, it’s a shame there aren’t more new toys…
But even so, there was at least one toy worth playing with.
The crimson dragon, lying on the ground, slowly raised its massive head.
To welcome the warriors who had come to kill it, all seven of its colossal heads prepared to unleash their breath attacks.
—!!!!!
A surge of crimson-black flames, filled with pure killing intent, roared toward the Hunters.
This was no ordinary fire.
The breath attack, saturated with condensed mana, carried the dragon’s murderous will itself.
“Do not take a direct hit!!!”
“Even the slightest touch of those flames will burn you alive until you die!!!”
Oh?
You understood that right away?
One of the Red Dragon’s seven heads spoke, intrigued by the unexpected presence of someone knowledgeable.
The very entrance through which the Hunters had just entered was now gone.
Beyond the massive hole, the once-grand corridor had lost all traces of its former splendor.
With a single roar, the dragon had obliterated not only the boss room entrance but also the corridor beyond.
If it had fired its breath attack before we even entered the boss room…
There would have been no escape.
Even knowing the attack was coming, dodging the flames that had engulfed the entire corridor would have been an impossible task.
Do not worry.
I have no intention of destroying my new playthings in just one second.
Do not disappoint me.
The Red Dragon spoke, its mouths taking turns in conversation, as if it were holding a casual discussion.
Its words, laced with an eerie awareness of the Hunters’ thoughts, chipped away at their fighting spirit.
In fact, nearly half of the A-rank Hunters lost the will to live entirely.
Faced with an unbeatable enemy, they began to believe that even struggling was meaningless.
“Only those who intend to leave this place alive—raise your heads!!”
But conversely, this meant that half of them were still standing.
The S-rank Hunters shouted at the A-rank Hunters.
“If you want to die, then die quickly! You’re only getting in the way of our strategy!!”
Unfortunately, their words were not enough to bring back those who had already lost the will to fight.
The Dragon’s Fear and human charisma.
Comparing the two as if they were equal was a fool’s errand.
The commander, realizing this, made a brutal decision.
He ordered the demoralized A-rank Hunters to take their own lives.
If they were going to be a hindrance, he prayed they would disappear as soon as possible.
If this thing has even the slightest ability to control minds, we’re in trouble.
It wasn’t confirmed, but it wouldn’t be surprising.
There were records of the Red Dragon of the Apocalypse using its words to manipulate countless humans.
If even half of the A-rank Hunters turned against them, the battle plan they had just formed would crumble immediately.
“If you want to be useful at all, then just die!!!”
Even if it made him seem like a heartless monster, this was the only choice.
If they hesitated even for a second.
it wouldn’t just be one person’s life at stake.
The entire raid party would be wiped out.
And if that happened, the gate would almost certainly go out of control.
Meaning.
This Red Dragon would break free into the outside world.
No one could even begin to estimate the number of casualties that would follow.
That must not be allowed to happen.
As a Hunter, it was a disaster that had to be prevented at all costs.
That was why the S-rank Hunters ordered the A-rank Hunters to die.
To save as many people as possible, they abandoned those they could no longer save.
So that is another method, is it?
The Red Dragon smirked at the quick judgment of the so-called heroes.
Despite the S-rank Hunters’ attempts to maintain a composed front, the dragon could feel the guilt coursing through them.
Yes.
They were heroes, after all.
Not those who take lives, but those who save them.
That choice is the correct one.
Ordering their own allies to die.
Of course, the Red Dragon could have chosen to manipulate them instead.
It could have taken its time, bending their minds to its will.
But the moment their commander abandoned their lives, the dragon dismissed that option entirely.
Using hypnosis would have been a lesser strategy.
For the commander to order their own comrades’ deaths—that, in itself, was the true answer.
—Whoosh!
The Red Dragon swung its razor-sharp tail, beheading the kneeling Hunters in an instant.
It displayed their gruesome deaths to their commanding officers.
A mockery.
A cruel affirmation of their choice.
It agreed with them in words, but in action, it did the exact opposite.
Right before their eyes, their allies were butchered without mercy.
Hahaha!
“What’s wrong?!”
“Weren’t you here to kill me?!”
The S-rank Hunters’ eyes trembled.
Their fists clenched tight.
Their lips were bitten raw.
The guilt of those who had ordered death upon their own.
It was a sight the Red Dragon never tired of.
It let out a booming laugh and took a deep breath.
…?!
But then, the Red Dragon’s expression shifted.
It had begun preparing another breath attack, but something felt off.
The mana that had been condensing within its heart—suddenly stopped.
For the first time in its life, the Red Dragon experienced something truly unpleasant.
Its breath attack, a form of magic, had been interrupted.
“Monsters like you are the worst.”
A deep, ocean-like blue hair swayed in the wind.
Unlike the other Hunters, her crimson-red eyes—as vivid as the Red Dragon’s own—gleamed with an unwavering light.
There was no hesitation in her gaze.
No guilt, no responsibility.
Only the insanity of someone utterly unfazed by the slaughter around her.
The Red Dragon clicked its tongue in irritation.
“Tsk, humans like you are not to my taste.”
“Oh? Seems like we agree on something.”
Raising an enormous wooden staff, Kang Hong-yeon replied to the dragon.
“Because I absolutely despise monsters like you.”
