The World After the Bad Ending-Chapter 242
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Chapter 242
Rocks shot up around the area.
Pillars of stone relentlessly blocked my path as I charged at Arcadium.
No matter how many times I cut them down, the stone pillars didn’t stop.
Meanwhile, the ground churned as buried rock and debris surged up, mixing with buildings to engulf the sky.
It was Arcadium’s move to prevent me from escaping.
In an instant, everything around turned dark.
There wasn’t a single point of light—so it was only natural.
But the Dragon Heart planted in my eyes let me sense Arcadium clearly even in this darkness.
The ancient dragon’s mana flowing from him—
The Dragon Heart was picking up on it precisely.
It licked its lips with hunger.
It was as if it were demanding nourishment immediately.
At that moment, the immense mana flowing from Arcadium shook the very air.
He is descended from the Blue Tower Master, after all—he has more than enough mana to spare.
All that mana, and he never used it properly, just studied theory his whole life.
It’s no wonder he turned to dragon magic. free𝑤ebnovel.com
“In truth, I want to thank you, Hannon.”
From the one who had bonded with the Earth Dragon came a voice scraping across stone.
“If it weren’t for you, I’d never have thought of using dragon magic.”
“So you were there on the day of the international competition.”
“Yes. How could I not attend a place where talented students shaping the future display their gifts?”
He smiled despite the face hidden beneath stone.
It’s true that Arcadium cherished students as the future’s greatest assets.
From what I saw, he genuinely wanted to teach them well.
Maybe that came from some long-standing trauma of his own.
A life where he was never recognized by the Blue Tower Master and had to master magic all by himself.
That wretched path must have made him want to become the guide he never had.
But people are contradictory creatures.
“Lucas, too, was a student of Zerion Academy until recently.”
Arcadium was colluding with Duke Robliage.
Just his association with that terrorist group wielding vampire mysticism proves as much.
He mocked and used the deaths of Lucas and countless others.
For someone like him to say he respects students—it was pure hypocrisy.
“Hannon.”
Once again, rocks erupted from the ground.
Dodging them, I saw Arcadium rise into the sky.
“I’ve grown too old for sentimental stories.”
“But don’t they say older folks cry easier?”
“Some, yes. Others... their tear ducts just dry up.”
Raindrop-like stones began to form around him.
The moment I saw them, I hurled myself behind a pillar of stone.
BOOOOOM!!!
A rain of stone swept across the area, smashing everything in its path along with the stone pillars.
My body was cut in several places, but it was fine.
This much couldn’t pierce a body of steel.
“If you have a goal, charge straight toward it.”
Once again, I sensed an immense concentration of mana.
As I looked up, I saw an enormous mass of stone filling the ceiling.
It must feel like this to see a meteor falling from the sky.
“No matter what crisis comes, moving forward is what makes an adult.”
He was a mage who had long compromised with the world.
A man willing to sacrifice anything to achieve his goal.
A meteor came crashing toward my head.
As much as I wanted to avoid using dragon magic—because of the Dragon Egg implanted in me—I had no choice.
Only a dragon can defeat a dragon.
To tear out his throat, I too would become a dragon.
Inside my body—
The remnants of the ancient dragon, once suppressed, now opened their maw and surged upward.
BOOM!
At the same time, searing pain exploded in my right eye.
It didn’t last long.
Instead, the overflowing mana of the ancient dragon, awakened by that pain, surged through my entire body.
The ash flame spread from my core and merged with the dragon’s mana.
Simultaneously, scales made of ash flame sprouted all over my body.
My pupils changed shape, and a burning horn formed on my forehead.
True Dragonification.
A being beyond human had arrived in this place.
Overwhelmed by the power coursing through me, I roared instinctively and leapt toward the sky.
I reached the mass of stone directly above—and with the dragon’s claws, I struck.
CRAAACK!!!
My superheated claws melted through the rock as I soared skyward.
At last, as I burst through the stone and reached the open sky, Arcadium smiled—a grin that stretched unnaturally wide.
It was a smile no human would make.
The bloodlust pouring from him, now that he had accepted dragon magic and become bonded with the dragon, was unmistakable.
And I was no different.
My heart was beating more fiercely than ever.
A fighting spirit I’d never felt before surged through my body and let out a roar of its own.
I shot through the sky, aiming to sink my teeth into Arcadium’s throat.
The explosion magic engravings under my feet boosted my momentum.
Arcadium’s stones rose like spikes.
The dome of stone around us allowed attacks from any direction.
My dragon eyes missed nothing.
The mana within the rocks was all caught in my detection.
I shattered and dodged the incoming spikes, narrowing the distance between us.
Before I knew it, Arcadium had created dozens of giant snakes from stone.
The stone serpents bared their fangs and lunged toward me.
Those that climbed the dome attacked me, freely stretching and contracting their bodies at will.
When my knife-hand pierced through a serpent's head, a new one would shoot up from its neck.
One of the serpents slammed me into the ground, another hurled me into the sky.
To keep from being overwhelmed, I grabbed a serpent's head and melted it down.
A rock spike flying toward my face—I bit down on it with my teeth and shattered it.
Swinging my leg, I crushed a serpent’s head and melted the rain of rock with scorching heat.
A fiery storm of rock cloaked in the flame of ash scattered all around.
Arcadium’s magical energy poured out relentlessly.
What kind of being has no limit to their mana?
Even someone like Sharin would be exhausted managing this much power.
But Arcadium kept innovating, continually casting the ancient dragon’s magic.
‘There’s something going on here.’
A chain of rock coiled around my arm.
When I tried to melt it with high heat, the rock instead clung tighter like mud.
Ssssss!
The rock turned into lava.
As soon as my arm was bound, a rock giant threw a massive punch at me.
Ancient dragon energy surged through my muscles.
My arm swelled to the verge of bursting, and I grabbed the giant’s fist.
Teeth clenched hard.
Power gathered in my waist as I twisted the giant and slammed it into the ground.
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My body rebounded and shot upward.
No sooner had I risen into the air than the serpents rushed in again.
I swung my fists wildly at the rock serpents.
My eyes were bloodshot.
But in contrast, the ancient dragon’s egg embedded in my right eye grew larger, asserting its presence.
With each moment, more mana flowed from the egg.
“Ha… haha!”
Somewhere, I heard Arcadium's laughter.
“A monster. You really are a monster.”
He laughed, as if truly delighted.
“I’d love to hear how it feels to become a dragonkin faster than I did.”
His voice buzzed in my head.
The battle was so intense, I could no longer perceive my surroundings clearly.
I was mimicking the ancient dragon magic once wielded by Zerion.
But it was a pale imitation compared to her actual spells.
Arcadium, on the other hand, understood and used them precisely.
Ancient dragons are calamities.
They affect and exert power over nature itself.
That is what it means to be an ancient dragon.
Arcadium, as a wielder of such power, had claimed this land as his own.
A disaster made of rock.
That was Arcadium.
“It seems time is up.”
The moment I heard those words, the arm I was swinging struck something and stopped.
No matter what it was made of, even my draconic firepower couldn't move it.
My head bumped against something above.
And finally, I realized what my arm had hit.
A wall.
It was a wall.
I was surrounded on all sides, being squeezed tight.
The stone prison Arcadium had cast at the start to prevent my escape…
It had now shrunk small enough to bind me in place.
A narrow field of vision.
Darkness without a single speck of light.
Arcadium’s mana pressing in from all sides.
All of it was a trap set by Arcadium.
A torrent of intense heat surged from my body.
But no matter how much firepower I unleashed, the rock closed in faster than it melted.
If this kept up, I’d be crushed to pulp.
I won’t die like this.
The ring embedded in my palm flared with intense light.
Just one opening.
That’s all I needed.
Come, Lightning Caller.
Answering my call, the goddess’s lightning bolt shattered the stone with the greatest piercing force.
The rock tried to seal itself back up, but I was faster.
I tore through the stone, rising endlessly toward the sky.
I had no intention of dying here.
With wild flailing arms, I leapt again and again.
Boom!
At last, I punched through and reached the sky.
Splat!
Then, something pierced straight through my heart.
It was only a single arm—but it belonged to Arcadium, now in the form of a draconic earth dragon.
“Did you know?”
Arcadium returned to his true form, and his mana shifted entirely.
That’s why I couldn’t sense him to the very last second.
“No creature is more vulnerable than when it’s just born.”
With a chilling smile, Arcadium spoke to me as I emerged from the rock egg.
A pattern I’d never seen before.
An enemy I’d never seen before.
The foes I’d faced so far all had clear weaknesses.
Because of that, I could find ways to gain the upper hand and draw out a path to victory.
But what about Arcadium?
A dragon mage.
The palace’s grand mage.
Everything about him was foreign to me.
My vision started to blur.
At the same time, raindrops began to fall from above.
Blood, surging from my heart, flowed down Arcadium’s arm.
Soon after, Arcadium pulled his arm out.
My body rolled helplessly across the stone dome and fell to the ground.
Consciousness slowly slipped away.
I couldn’t even let out a breath.
At some point, Arcadium had reached my feet.
His hand reached behind my back.
Shhhk—
What he took was Zerion’s magic book.
Arcadium couldn’t hide his joy, finally having found the spellbook.
But his smile gradually faded.
Conversely, a faint smile appeared on my lips.
“Is it… really that good…?”
My breaking voice barely escaped.
In the rain, Arcadium’s face slowly twisted.
Naturally.
What he held in his hand wasn’t Zerion’s magic book.
It was just a textbook roughly wrapped in the veil bandages.
“You tricked me.”
I had never taken out Zerion’s magic book from underground in the first place.
I merely left a few footprints in that dusty place.
There hadn’t been enough time to retrieve the spellbook.
With this much commotion, professors and even people from the Demon Dungeon would arrive.
Not even Arcadium could handle them all.
Especially not Vega—she was a formidable foe even for Arcadium.
His time here had run out.
“…It can’t be helped.”
Then his mouth opened grotesquely.
“If I can gain at least one thing from this…”
Dragons grow stronger by consuming others of their kind.
From the beginning, he had planned to consume me.
Without hesitation, Arcadium thrust his head forward.
As I said, Arcadium was an opponent I had never faced before.
Which meant he didn’t know how to counter me or how to win.
The composure I showed throughout the battle was simply a ruse to make him drop his guard.
Not once did I believe I could easily defeat him.
That’s why I fought with my life on the line.
The dragon’s teeth pierced into my neck.
But he didn’t know—
That inscribed within my body was a magical engraving by the world’s greatest mage.
A spell crafted solely to activate ancient dragon magic.
A mark engraved by Sharin.
Ancient Dragon Magic: Absorption.
At this moment, what touched my body was Arcadium—the earth dragon himself.
Do you know what that means?
It meant the immense ancient dragon magic Arcadium possessed would all transfer to me.
Arcadium’s fangs embedded in my neck shattered.
Of course they did—he had bitten into a body made of steel and stone.
“Aaaaaaargh!”
Arcadium screamed in agony, writhing from the pain in his teeth.
I, on the other hand, slowly rose to my feet.
My shattered heart began to reform, forcibly reconstructed by the magic I had absorbed.
The bracelet Seron had given me emitted a blinding light.
The ancient dragon’s inherent regeneration power, combined with Seron’s bracelet, even restored my heart.
The remnants of the ancient dragon raged wildly within me.
They celebrated the incoming magic like a festival.
“Wh-what… is this…”
He didn’t know.
That the reason for his defeat was none other than the daughter of the mage he so despised.
He could never surpass Sharin’s genius.
In the pouring rain,
my eyes glowed with the ominous light of the ancient dragon.
“Hi-hiiieeek!”
Arcadium, meeting my gaze, pitifully rolled in the muddy ground.
In his eyes, I was Death itself.
And what flowed from the mouth of that reaper—no one could tell if it was rain or something else entirely.
“Didn’t someone once say… I smelled delicious?”
Arcadium’s face turned pale at my question.
In contrast, I smiled brightly.
Beneath the pitch-black storm clouds, the smile I wore looked more joyful than ever.
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