Subjugating the Red Dragon of the Apocalypse.
The process could only be described as nightmarish.
“Everyone, spread out!!”
“Do NOT cluster together! If the flames so much as graze you, consider yourself dead on the spot!!”
There was no end to the complications.
The flames, infused with cursed mana, would burn their victims until death once they made contact.
A mere gesture, a flap of its wings, even a swing of its tail.
Each movement was a weapon of mass destruction.
No matter how desperately they fought, the battle itself was unbalanced.
It was like a heavyweight champion against a lightweight amateur.
In a no-holds-barred fight.
“Ha… can we even call this a battle?”
“If you have time for that nonsense, start preparing your magic! We need to create at least a single opening!!”
Kang Hong-yeon, dismissing the mage’s complaint, calculated and deployed eight magic circles at once.
The overwhelming strain sent shockwaves of pain through her brain.
Blood trickled down from her nose, the telltale sign of mental overuse.
Her S-rank magic staff, crafted from a World Tree fragment and the roots of a golden osmanthus, groaned under the immense pressure, nearly breaking apart.
Hong-yeon’s expression twisted in frustration.
“You won’t last long at this rate.”
Even the Red Dragon, their sworn enemy, couldn’t help but be impressed.
Born a dragon, even it could only handle six simultaneous calculations at best.
And that was only when using a single brain.
But the same condition applied to Kang Hong-yeon.
“A mere human, even with a magic tool’s assistance, can handle eight spells at once?”
“That kind of obsession… that madness… I have no choice but to acknowledge it.”
Despite the dragon’s admiration, Kang Hong-yeon remained silent.
She continued her calculations with unwavering focus.
Then, as if entranced, she finally spoke.
“A flame-based roar. The black energy carries a mechanism resembling a curse, but its duration isn’t particularly long. Whenever a head was destroyed, the attack power slightly decreased, didn’t it? That means… each head is responsible for a separate function, or they don’t share knowledge completely.”
“…Oh?”
The Red Dragon regarded her with genuine interest.
“That means one of your heads must be responsible for turning the flames black.”
“When you unleashed your breath attack earlier, the first, third, fourth, and sixth heads were too busy talking.”
“That leaves three possibilities— the second, fifth, and seventh heads.”
“And out of those…”
Hong-yeon’s crimson eyes locked onto one particular head.
Sensing the danger, that very head of the Red Dragon slowly curled into a smirk.
That expression.
It was all the confirmation she needed.
Of course, there was still a chance it was a fake-out, but Kang Hong-yeon deemed the possibility low.
Because in the end, to the Red Dragon—this was all just a game.
Until a truly dangerous moment arrived, the Red Dragon would continue to see Kang Hong-yeon and the rest of the raid party as nothing more than toys.
She knew it wasn’t ideal to make absolute conclusions when adapting to the situation was key.
But at this point, she had no other choice.
If she didn’t, she calculated their chance of victory to be less than 0.1 percent.
Well, even if the dragon continued to play along, their odds would only rise to 2 or 3 percent at best.
She scoffed at her own grim assessment.
But at least for this moment, odds didn’t matter.
No one in the raid party was thinking about their chances of survival.
Those who entered a battle while calculating their chances had already been reduced to ashes.
Even after witnessing the overwhelming power of the Red Dragon, they refused to give up.
Even after watching their comrades die before their eyes.
Even after standing against a monster of absolute strength.
To win, Kang Hong-yeon poured out the last of her remaining mana.
“That kind of resolve deserves to be rewarded.”
Blood poured from her nose, flowing like a fountain.
Faint traces of a ninth magic circle flickered into existence.
And as if responding to her, the Hunters of the raid party reignited their fighting spirit.
“I’m not going down that easily!!!”
“Fuck it, at the very least, I’m taking one of those wings with me!!”
“You bastard dragon! If nothing else, I’m ripping that damn crown off your head!!!”
A single shining spark had set off a wildfire.
The warriors who had fought countless battles found their resolve once more.
Rather than calculating odds, they simply moved forward.
Some might call their actions reckless.
But the Red Dragon saw truth in them.
“Yes, this suits you far better!”
“Humans are creatures who cling to survival, who act disgracefully just to extend their miserable lives!”
“But you—those of you standing here—do not have the right to behave that way!”
“I, who understand your very nature, your instincts better than anyone, will tell you this!”
“Your actions… are noble.”
“Suppressing your desires, your fears, your reason—abandoning everything just to slay me, the enemy of the world—”
“That is a nobility no human should be capable of!”
“And so…”
“Try and kill me.”
The massive Red Dragon grinned.
A dragon of pure malice, born from human desires.
A monstrous entity that corrupts humanity.
The Red Dragon of the Apocalypse unleashed another breath of black flames.
But this time.
The Hunters no longer ran.
They dodged, counterattacked, and even cut off the parts of their bodies that had been touched by the flames—anything to keep moving forward.
Their madness-driven actions resembled those who had fallen victim to the Red Dragon’s allure.
Yet, despite witnessing these blindly obsessed humans right before its eyes, the Red Dragon did not sneer.
It was easy to make someone lose themselves for its sake.
Selfish desires were present in all living beings.
But those who could abandon reason and lose themselves completely for the sake of others—were rare.
And these Hunters weren’t even fighting for loved ones, friends, or family.
They fought for strangers—for those who would never even know their names.
I acknowledge that nobility.
In return, I shall fight with all my might.
The Red Dragon recognized that they had earned the right.
The right to challenge it in battle.
It halted its breath attack—and swung its massive claws.
This was on an entirely different level from before.
A devastating strike tore toward the Hunters.
Crack!!
“Khak!!!”
Yu Ga-eun barely managed to withstand the Red Dragon’s attack.
She had reacted in time—but that was all.
Even though she had blocked the attack, she was sent flying backward, gritting her teeth in pain.
Tzzzzzt—!!
White scales of light erupted across her entire body, including her arms.
Her blue eyes split vertically like a reptile’s, and the veins in her arms bulged as she forced herself beyond her limits.
“Haaaaaah!!!!”
With a roaring cry, Yu Ga-eun redirected the dragon’s attack.
Her overwhelming dragon’s mana surged through the boss room—clashing directly against the Red Dragon’s aura.
For the first time, a tiny gap was created in the dragon’s defenses.
Seizing this opening, the raid party drew their weapons.
Blades, spears, arrows.
A storm of weapons flew, all aiming to sever one of the Red Dragon’s heads.
Too slow.
But to the Red Dragon, such an opening was not an opening at all.
Whoosh—!!
“Khuh?!”
“Uwaaaah!!!”
With a single flap of its wings, six Hunters were sent crashing to the ground.
But in that brief moment, one Hunter broke through.
A figure emerged, their blue hair flowing as they dashed forward.
Even the Red Dragon let out a small exclamation of admiration.
Impressive.
It was neither luck nor a fortunate fluke.
This was skill.
Rather than immediately preparing for defense after surviving an attack,
this Hunter had focused entirely on offense.
They had predicted the Red Dragon’s next move.
It had spread its wings, expecting to counterattack the approaching Hunters.
And that prediction had been correct.
Crunch—!!
A mana-infused blade tore through the Red Dragon’s scales.
If the dragon had been fully focused on defense, it could have blocked the attack—
but instead, it had been caught off guard.
For the first time, the Red Dragon was wounded.
“Nice timing.”
And then.
The flames of the severed head flickered unsteadily.
The breath attack that had been pinning Kang Hong-yeon down weakened—
just slightly.
Had this been a pure magic duel, the Hunters would have stood no chance.
But the Red Dragon was not fighting at its full potential.
It was limiting itself to a level that humans could still challenge.
As if acknowledging that using any more power would mean defeat.
Kang Hong-yeon completed her ninth spell.
A total of 1,225 strokes, 486 runic formulas, and 9 overlapping magic circles came together, bringing forth a miracle into reality.
Her target.
To obliterate at least half of the six remaining heads of the Red Dragon.
The odds were fifty-fifty.
“A gamble is always a fifty-fifty shot, isn’t it?”
Success or failure.
Facing the monstrous being before her, Kang Hong-yeon unleashed her mana.
Like a true Hunter, She moved to kill her enemy.
Huuuuup…!!!
The Red Dragon, too, showed no mercy.
In a display of utmost respect, It drew in a breath, pushing its power to the very limit.
There would be no interruptions this time.
But the Red Dragon did not let its guard down.
It did not allow arrogance or complacency.
If that ninth spell fully activated, there would be no need to block it with mere breath attacks.
The madness-driven human before it had touched a realm that no ordinary human should ever reach.
Astonishing.
Truly, humanity.
And so, as a foe of heroes, as the adversary of humankind,
With the highest respect.
A wave of black fire engulfed the world.