Second Life of a Dragon Raising Hunter

---

Chapter 404

Watching the completely deranged Heavenly Demon, Yeon-woo nodded with satisfaction.

It has always been like this. Yeon-woo couldn’t stand the sight of those ‘Magi’ types strutting around so nonchalantly.

“Quite the relaxed demeanor. Do you have some kind of plan?”

“None of that. Who would have thought a person could survive a heart stab?”

Of course, to others, he must have seemed extremely calm, but for Yeon-woo, this was an unexpected situation. There was no way he could have predicted it.

Fortunately, while figuring out how to deal with it wasn’t too complicated, the journey to that solution would surely be quite torturous.

“From now on, don’t let your guard down. If you do, you’ll die instantly.”

“Hmm, I’ve never let my guard down.”

Gongson-bin mumbled as he readied himself. From this point on, it would truly be a fight of life and death.

Luckily, it seemed that the pain from the heat had loosened the grip of the Heavenly Demon Fusion, so it could be said that the disappearance of the Heavenly Demon Fusion was a small blessing in the midst of misfortune.

The time limit was gone. Instead, the problem was that there was no way to predict what that crazy guy would do next.

As he slowly walked out of the fog, a grotesque creature came into view, and Yeon-woo gripped his sword.

[I will kill… I will kill!!]

How furious must he be to only be able to utter the word ‘kill’?

Just as that thought crossed his mind, from behind the Demon, countless magical beings began to emerge through the path the Heavenly Demon had taken to reach Yeon-woo.

They were so many that calling them an army would be appropriate, and their presence was overwhelming.

*

The army of demons was coming. That news was definitely not good for either Yeon-woo or Gongson-bin.

As for Yeon-woo, he didn’t mind, but Gongson-bin’s fighting style was definitely not suited for one versus many battles.

“Damn it, of all times…!!”

Against the swarming demon army, it would take longer for the reinforcements from humanity to arrive.

In other words, the problem was that they had to face both the Heavenly Demon and the demons simultaneously.

Even if one was used to war, having something like a Heavenly Demon mixed in would be quite a big problem.

But to alleviate Yeon-woo’s worries, the suddenly deranged Heavenly Demon began to manipulate the magical energy.

“Ugh…!?”

Under immense pressure, Yeon-woo and Gongson-bin quickly pulled back.

Creating distance was not desirable, but if they got swept away by that violent flow of magical energy, it was clear that neither of them would be left standing.

However, the explosion of magic was not aimed at Yeon-woo and Gongson-bin, but rather at the demon cultists rushing to assist the Heavenly Demon.

The magic soared past them like a line and embedded itself into the bodies of the demon cultists.

[Give me back what’s mine…!!]

“Argh!?”

Even from a distance, the screams of the demons reached them.

Some demons hurried to mobilize their magic to sever the connection, but their attempts were futile.

Because the Heavenly Demon was, after all, the master of all magic in this world. No hunting dog dares to refuse its master’s call.

Thus, the magic existing within the demons began to devour not just the magic but everything that the respective demons possessed.

Nourishment, vitality, souls… whatever you called it. It aimed to strip away everything they had, to present it as a gift to its true owner.

What had been a threatening army of demons quickly began to wither like mummies. The demon army was practically exterminated.

The problem was that they hadn’t finished collecting everything, but it was expected that the magic from hundreds of thousands of demons would concentrate on the Heavenly Demon.

“In the end, another time limit…!!”

“Hah, if he absorbs it all, there’ll really be no way to deal with him!!”

It seemed like it would take time to recover all that magic.

But if the moment came when he absorbed it all, it was clear that nothing would work against whatever magic Gongson-bin tapped into.

Even a simple absorption technique could yield nearly supreme power if it consumed tens of thousands, but what was happening now was different.

The magic of the prey was turning into pure and pristine energy.

If the life of hundreds of thousands was converted into magic and became part of the Heavenly Demon, it was a truly wicked ritual, no different from a human sacrifice to create a god.

“We stop it before he absorbs everything, understood!?”

“Yeah, we must!!”

Like water sloshing in a cup, the flow of magic was growing and swallowing up space, and Yeon-woo wielded his sword.

Even if Gongson-bin wasn’t on board, Yeon-woo couldn’t just throw himself into the fog of magical energy; a path needed to be made.

Using harmony was impossible because the magic was too thick. There was no choice but to amplify the mana in the sword with fire and slash through it.

So with that conclusion in mind, Yeon-woo swung his sword. It was less a refined technique and more of a clumsy swing.

Throwing the sword in a given direction was preferable to just cutting through. Recovery wasn’t hard; simply leaving a Doppleganger behind would make it easy to retrieve.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!

With a fearsome sound, the sword flew, cutting through the magical energy and opening a path.

It was just wide enough for one person to slip through. Once he felt he had enough distance, Yeon-woo pulled back the Doppleganger, reclaiming his sword.

Before him now was the figure of the Heavenly Demon, which was beginning to resemble a demon king.

A grotesque and disgusting sight. Skin that had melted from burns was swelling and regenerating due to external magical energy.

The darkened muscle fibers were splitting like a legend’s hydra, regenerating piece by piece.

His body was puffing out like a balloon, stealing the lives of others to reconstruct itself, a sight that was horrifying to behold.

A nauseating smell, reminiscent of decaying corpses, wafted through the magical energy.

Yeon-woo dashed forward. He raised both the sword and the White sword above his head.

All the mana he could muster formed into an Aura Blade resting atop both swords.

“Tae-oh, lend me your strength!!”

[Got it!!]

Yeon-woo’s shadow elongated, gripping the tips of the White sword and the Heavenly Sword. The shadow, taut like a rope, gathered power into the blades.

Just like a slingshot pulled to its limit, both swords swung down simultaneously.

Naturally, the Heavenly Demon had no intention of accepting such an attack.

Strictly speaking, it was a reflexive defense. As it absorbed thousands of lives, the consciousness of the Heavenly Demon was increasingly merging with external impurities.

What remained was only pure hatred and the instinct of a living creature.

[Dieeeee!!]

With hatred, the magic spewed forth. The expelled magic pushed the swords away using only pure pressure.

However, Yeon-woo was not about to be pushed back. He started to cram everything into the attack – the remaining aura and mana, and various elemental mana from the Dragon Heart.

The blade, formed entirely of the Aura Blade, was enveloped in a thick layer of eternal ice.

Behind Yeon-woo, on the arms that had sprouted from his back, a replica of the Heavenly Sword made from deceptive magic was held.

Yeon-woo’s arms, along with the two extra arms sprouting from behind, clawed at the magic recklessly, gradually carving away an immense amount of magic.

Clang, clang, clang!!

As if to target Yeon-woo’s side, the chaotic magic began to take form. A massive ball of magical energy slowly approached him.

He had neither the leisure nor the strength to disperse it. The moment the sphere of tremendous power reached Yeon-woo’s side—

Boom!!

A strange sound erupted, and a tremendous noise followed. What exploded was not Yeon-woo’s body, but rather the sphere of magical energy.

Had it absorbed the life force from the demons and gained martial experience, he had managed, unlike before, to lure the attack in the desired direction.

For a while, he had intentionally opened up his right side to guide the Heavenly Demon’s attack there.

What had once failed was finally successful now. Admittedly, it was quite an absurd outcome.

‘Gormeira’s shell.’ Unless it was overwhelmingly strong, it was an artifact capable of absorbing all physical shocks and returning them.

It had been a useless item until now, but with the thought of potentially encountering the Heavenly Demon, he had brought it along.

Until now, the Heavenly Demon had been mostly focused on wide-range long-distance attacks, so he hadn’t used it, but who knew it would come in handy like this?

The overwhelming shockwave tore through the magical energy at Yeon-woo’s side. This created an opening for Gongson-bin.

Gongson-bin, too, could break through the fog of magic using stellar mana, but he needed to conserve his energy.

“Haha, you look like quite the monster!”

“Doesn’t everyone envy my appearance?”

With a cheerful laugh, Gongson-bin stretched out his arms toward the Heavenly Demon. The magical barrier surrounding him began to melt little by little.

Beyond that, the regeneration of the Heavenly Demon was accelerating. Yet, there remained a heart inside that couldn’t regenerate.

It had been temporarily patched, preventing any further repairs.

Gongson-bin’s arm, wrapped in blue mana, slowly melted through the magical barrier.

Due to how thick the magic was, he could only gradually progress as if a heated steel ball were placed on ice.

‘Just a bit further…!!’

What felt like hours passed within mere seconds. It felt as though he had been sucked into a fog-shrouded maze, nearing an end that remained elusive.

It felt like a struggle between life and flesh, each pushing against the other.

But eventually, an end would come for everyone. If the Demon King had an end, so too did the hero. The first to realize this was Yeon-woo.

Using the arms that had sprouted from his back to cut through the magical barrier with his Aura Blade was reaching its limit.

Absurdly, it was not an issue of stamina or mental strength but of mana.

With his mana completely depleted, the divine feeling that had cloaked his body disappeared.

His arms lost strength, and his knees began to tremble. Finally, he collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, the pain from the various wounds covering his body surged toward him.

It felt as if a pack of wolves were tearing at him, the dam of adrenaline that had kept the pain at bay had burst.

Yet oddly enough, it felt familiar, as if it were a sensation from before his reincarnation. How long had it been since he felt the sensation of having no mana at all?

Void. Yeon-woo remembered the void after such a long time. He touched the void, glimpsed the nothingness.

“Yeon-woo!?”

Gongson-bin’s urgent voice reached him. The world around him was thick with magic. His vision was about to be engulfed in magic.

Only one path remained visible to Yeon-woo. It was one facet of the Heavenly Sword technique, and at the same time, it was the path Yeon-woo had been seeking.

‘To be a master is to be insane. To pursue something.’

Man-gyeong Yuli traverses the sword. To reach the essence of the sword, he has become a master.

Raymond pursued speed. For the fastest sword, he hesitated not even to enhance his own body. Yeon-woo experienced the result firsthand.

And what Yeon-woo was pursuing was…

‘The past.’

He wanted to sever everything from his miserable, hopeless past.

Bang, the sound of space shattering echoed out.

(To be continued in the next episode)