"So what? Do you really think you're special? That power you wield... it's nothing more than my influence seeping into this world."
'I've long since stopped being surprised by humanity's stupidity… First, a worm pretending to command the power of a dragon — and now, this nameless insect dares to stand before me?'
"Swoosh!!!"
Without giving Antares any more time this man leaped forward with Lightning speed, the energy crackling around his entire body, he didn't even bother to use any flashy attacks such as a beam of light or anything similar, instead, he charged straight through the enemy, his fist slammed into Antares, knocking him down onto his side, the impact sent shockwaves throughout the area, the ground beneath his feet cracked and split open, revealing the earth below it, it wasn't only the floor where the cracks appeared, it also extended up to the ceiling above him.
"Tch… Must I strain this body again?"
[System Alert]
A new quest has been generated.
— Objective: Eliminate the human.
Flames started to appear under his skin, and they spread rapidly until they covered most of his body, his clothes burned away leaving his flesh exposed, the fire seemed to have formed a cocoon around his body, and then suddenly, the flames that were covering his body exploded outward in a blast of fire that rained down upon the city.
Kaboom!!!!!
Buildings collapsed, trees caught ablaze, cars were blown away, and the sound of explosions could be heard everywhere, but none of these things mattered to Antares who had already transformed into his true form once more.
"Ahh~ So this is how humans feel when faced with an actual dragon."
Amid the chaos, there was one person who remained calm and collected, he was sitting atop a large boulder that was perched on top of the hill overlooking the battlefield.
"It seems you've finally managed to find yourself in a predicament. And yet, you remain unharmed. How amusing."
Jung Hwa Sumin stared down at the carnage happening below him while calmly sipping on a glass of water.
"You may have thought you'd gotten rid of me by killing those ants, but you couldn't possibly imagine that I would stay dead forever. Now that we've met again, do you remember your promise? The deal we made all those years ago..."
Sumin smiled faintly as if reminiscing about old times, "How I wished our lives together had gone differently."
"Yes, yes, I know very well what kind of creature you are. You can never escape from my grasp, because I will always be right beside you."
"But um.... Should we help..."
"let the creature rampage it will set an example to others and allow us to take care of business without having to worry about others interfering. Besides, I'm sure there's plenty of food and supplies lying around for the taking. This place should provide enough resources to last several months, which means that I'll be able to enjoy myself much longer than anticipated."
"O-okay... but um, why are you helping it?"
"That's for you to finger out, I have no reason to tell you!!"
***
"Bastard!"
"How dare you! How dare you kill innocent people?!"
"I-is that a dragon?"
"N-no way, the people on the broadcast were right!!"
The citizens of Seoul gathered outside their homes, some were running around like headless chickens while others just stood still staring blankly at the sky. It was a scene reminiscent of a war zone, except that the only ones fighting here were the Beast and humans. As far as the eyes could see, buildings lay in ruins, fires raged across the landscape, and smoke rose high into the air, it almost looked as though the city was on fire. But that was not all. A massive crater opened up in the middle of the city, its walls were lined with scorched bodies of soldiers and civilians alike, blood stained everything within sight. There was something else lying amidst the rubble too, it was a red figure, surrounded by countless Flames that resembled wings, and its arms were wrapped tightly around itself, hiding the lower half of its body. That must be the dragon that destroyed the city. What exactly happened here? Why did this happen? These questions raced through the minds of the onlookers as they gazed upon the devastation before them.
"What?!"
"What the hell is going on!? Did someone attack this city!?"
"PAWAHAHA, you thought I would die to that!!!"
The man from earlier, Cloaked in blue lightning coursing off his body, looked to be enjoying himself immensely, or perhaps even relishing in the fact that he caused so much destruction. His laughter echoed throughout the area, causing panic to spread among the survivors.
"That was fun wasn't it, now that I think back, it feels like ages since I killed anyone."
"You will be the first in a while"
"Your arrogance truly knows no bounds… pathetic, lesser being."
[System Alert]
— Warning: The body will not hold out for more than 1 minute.
— Hostile intent detected.
— Recommended Action: Do not expend more mana than necessary.
MP: 289/ 3000
MP:221/ 3000
MP: 200/ 3000
'Each moment I remain in my true form, more mana is wasted than necessary. But to leave even the slightest mark on the citizens of this pitiful world… I must make my presence known, if only for a fleeting instant. It is a small price to pay, though it disgusts me.'
"pah-!!!:"
The man struck out at Antares, with a single hand, sending a shockwave straight through the monster's torso, knocking it back onto the ground. He then proceeded to jump forward, landing directly on top of Antares once again, crushing the life from its body. However, the second time didn't prove to be any easier, as Antares seemed to regain consciousness instantly, allowing him to pull himself free from the man's grip on his tail,
Antares used this moment to Strike his tail down, using his tail as a momentary springboard, to cause it to the ground with the man attached to the Tail. With another strike, he sent the man flying towards the nearby building, where he landed atop it, causing it to collapse beneath him. He then turned around, looking for the next victim to destroy, when he noticed something behind him, a woman who had been knocked unconscious by the impact, her hair drenched in blood, she looked to be quite young, maybe even younger than this man.
He stared at the girl for a few seconds, until he realized what was happening, the man felt a wave of rage wash over him. as if this was the vilest of acts, even though this man was the one who started this situation to begin with, he felt as if he was in the right.
"You bastard, how dare you do this to such an innocent child!"
Hmmm, this human looks interesting, you would mind if I take this one right?. from the looks of it, you probably don't understand what makes them special.
"Hmm... this human is interesting."
"You wouldn't mind if I take this one, would you? From the looks of it, you probably don't even comprehend what makes them special."
Antares spooked at the man that he was facing as if the man was an insect he didn't even wait for the man to respond, instead, he decided to ask a question while he wrapped his wings around this woman making sure that this woman wouldn't get away from him.
"H-hey I'm not just a thing that you can take..."
The woman that was trapped inside Antares wings started to speak as if demanding him to let her go,
Pah!!! Pah!!! Pah!!!
She started to lightly hit Antares wings, trying to get him to release her, but her attempts were futile, he simply ignored her and kept talking.
But as if ignoring her Antares returned to the object of the quest he received he would rather focus on something, that was important, than something that he could Exchange with something else later, however, he couldn't ignore the fact that this woman might have some sort of value, Afterall he never got the chance to see a human up close before, especially one so cute. But without thinking of this Antares decided to ask the question he wanted to ask since earlier.
"Why not use that lightning you wielded earlier? Though it was far from impressive to me, for a mere human, it wasn't the worst display I've seen."
"Swoosh!!,"
A magic circle appeared, out of normal it looked to be made out of the sand, but inside of it, thousands of tiny needles shot outwards, piercing every inch of the surrounding buildings and trees. The sound of metal screeching filled the air as the needles pierced the glass windows of the surrounding houses, followed shortly after by the sounds of shattering wood and stone, the result of the sharpened projectiles piercing through the exterior walls.
After several minutes, the man finally stopped firing the arrows, leaving a large circular hole in the center of town.
But instead of anything happening the man disappeared, he faded into nothingness, it was as if he teleported.
Lightning was Traveling through the earth lightning the ground up as if it was static metal discharging off of it.
it was like watching someone light a candle with a magnifying lens, or more accurately, a laser pointer.
The entire area lit up with bright white light, creating a blinding glare. It was only now that people began to realize what happened, the damage done to the buildings, the bodies lying about, the smoke rising from the rubble. They stood there dumbfounded, unable to move, unsure of whether they should flee or stay put.
In the end, everyone did the latter.
Crackle!!!!
Lightning was encompassing everything, the ground, the sky even the clouds, the rain itself was turning into electricity, as if the water was being electrified.
This is bad!.
There were no longer any humans left standing in front of Antares. All of their corpses lay strewn across the ground, charred black, and melted beyond recognition. Even those that remained alive found themselves frozen in place, unable to move, unable to scream.
"This is too much!! What am I supposed to do?!"
"What's going on here!?"
"I'm getting out of here!"
But then suddenly, the scene changed again, the world turned gray, almost like the color of ash. And yet, despite the change in scenery, the same horrifying screams echoed throughout the city.
And once again, the carnage continued.
Everything that was in this magical circle was being lit, with electricity, nothing was saved, and everything started to constantly be hit with lightning as if this was the will of the Heavens, it seemed that this power was limitless, it was enough to kill a hundred thousand times over, the number of dead bodies rose higher and higher until the sky became completely covered in dark clouds, and the sun disappeared, darkness enveloped the whole of Area encompassed space, and the only thing remaining was the endless sea of blood red lightning.
As time passed, the lightning grew larger and larger, spreading further and further apart, becoming less frequent, and eventually disappearing entirely.
Crackle!!! Crackle!!!!
Lightning started swaying back and forth from one area to another, as if it was some form of snaked it slithered from left to right looking for anything that had life, and if it did find something that moved, it would strike at it, killing it instantly, The Lightning then started to slither its way towards Antares, who was still staying, as he didn't want to waste any of his Mana by moving.
He felt the electric current run through him, making his Scales stand on end, but he didn't mind, because he knew that it wouldn't last long, and that soon the lightning would disappear, along with the countless victims that died under it, He was just waiting for that moment to arrive.
Swoosh!!!
With a resounding Bang, the man Reappeared from the slithering Lightning but instead of the lightning Clinging to him it started to form, it started form lasers of lighting striking multiple places, each place was where the rods of needles lay, and when the lightning struck them, the needles would shoot out of the ground like an explosion, shooting through the sky, hitting multiple things, and destroying everything in sight, it was so powerful that it couldn't be controlled, and the man tried to stop it using his mana, but it kept growing faster than he expected before he knew it had become a giant pillar of lightning, it was easily ten feet tall, and hundreds of yards wide, it was impossible.
"Hmm… I've seen this before. A human, losing control of their own actions. It's all too familiar… reminds me of the countless others I've killed in the past, instead of letting him use this pathetic move, I think I'll take it for myself. It may leave me bedridden for a day or two, but it hardly matters, this is why he's been recklessly slaughtering humans, isn't it? Preparing a sacrifice ground for me, as if he's offering me a feast.
A smile lit up on Antares face it was as if he finally understood something, he thought that maybe this human wasn't such a bad person after all, perhaps he deserved to see it.
'I'll give him something in return, though… Something far more fitting.'
[System Alert]
— Recommended Action: Cease immediately.
But ignoring it, Antares started to prepare,
the fire started to form in his mouth, and it started to grow bigger and bigger until it was big enough to engulf his entire mouth, flames started to drizzle off, and it looked as if lava was coming off a volcano, without giving it much though Antares began to let loose the fire, it shot out of his mouth, and spread across the sky, creating a massive cloud of smoke that blocked out the sunlight.
It was now nighttime.
The sky was pitch black, not even a single star could be seen.
[Breath Of Destruction]
More and more fire came out of Antares mouth, it looked as if there were no limit to how many fires he could create, he wasn't done yet either, he took a step forward and raised both of his arms high into the air, and he opened his mouth wider, letting go of all the heat inside of it, he was releasing the biggest breath anyone has ever heard of.
Flames gushed out of Antares mouth, it looked to be A Flame of Crimson red, Scorching with intensity, it was hotter than hell itself, the heat traveled farther than the eye could see, and it was strong enough to burn away anything that got caught in it's path, and it was also hot enough to melt steel.
It came out of his mouth as if it was a laser being pointed at the man
Boom!!!!
The earth shook violently, rocks fell from the mountains, trees broke off from the roots, and buildings collapsed, the whole city became covered in ash, it seemed as if the world was ending, only the sound of the wind remained, and the smell of burning flesh filled the atmosphere, people screamed in agony, trying desperately to escape the deathly inferno that was about to consume them, but they were too late, it was already too late, everyone in the area was going to die, including those who weren't around when it happened.
This was what it meant by the Breath of Destruction.
And it was exactly what Antares did.
Boom!!!
once the Flames hit the man, the city became collateral damage, it burned everything in its path, there was nothing But constant Explosions, the ground was charred black, the water ran dry, and the sky turned dark, the sun disappeared, and the moon shone bright, the clouds above darkened, and the stars shined brightly, the sky was illuminated with thousands of lights, and the Earth shook harder and louder, The ground turned solid white nothing But a creator of what left, an entire city reduced to nothingness, it was like the end of the World, it was truly terrifying, it was hard to believe that any of this was real, because it felt like it was just another nightmare, and soon, the screams stopped, the silence was deafening, it was as if the very universe had fallen silent, the only thing you could hear Was your heart beating faster and faster, and the only things you saw Were the light of the stars and the darkness of the night,
and just as Antares planned, he ended up killing nearly three-quarters of the population of Seoul alone.
He made sure that the remaining survivors would have no other choice but to accept his rule.
"The strong have always had the final say in this world of hunters, With the little mana I have left before the penalty takes effect, I'll grant this world a gift—one that will reshape it entirely, I will bless this forsaken world with more dungeons and gates from the era of hunters. They will have no choice but to face the power of true strength."
"Monsters will surely run rampant, and the weak will be crushed beneath the weight of their inadequacy"