"Hah!!!" Leon roared, putting all his strength into the Clutch Claw to leap onto Nergigante's head.
He brought his twin blades down hard against the massive horns.
Clang!!
The blades bit in, the sound of metal meeting bone-like armor ringing out.
The spines on Nergigante's back vibrated violently, threatening to throw him off at any moment, but he remained embedded like an iron hook, unyielding.
In the next instant.
The spikes across Nergigante's body erupted like a volcano, sending out wave after wave of explosive shockwaves.
Boom!!!
Leon was numbed by the impact. He forced the Clutch Claw to grip a spine tighter, barely preventing himself from falling.
However, the spikes began to emit an eerie aura, and Leon suddenly sensed danger.
Nergigante began to glow with an ominous red light, black-red steam venting from its mouth and nose as its chest heaved.
A shockwave suddenly detonated, far more violent and scorching than before, carrying the distorted essence of Qurio, dyeing the sky blood-red!
'This is bad!' Leon thought, a warning bell ringing in his head. He tried to leap away, but it was too late.
The spikes exploded, a torrent of impact sweeping over him. With a sharp crack, the Clutch Claw snapped...
"Gwaaa—!" Leon was sent flying like a kite with its string cut, crashing into the ground and rolling several times before smashing through several rock pillars and finally coming to a halt.
"Cough... cough cough!!" Leon spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire right arm a bloody mess from the impact.
From a distance, Dumpling screamed, "Newbie—!!"
"Stay back!!" Leon gritted through the pain, propping himself up on one knee. His face was pale, but his eyes remained sharp.
He looked up. Nergigante was still roaring, the red glow intensifying. Blood-like mist flowed along its spines like veins, and the Qurio on its surface began to writhe frantically, as if trying to consume the Elder Dragon entirely.
"System, assign points!"
[ATTRIBUTES: STRENGTH 51, AGILITY 38, VITALITY 36, PERCEPTION 35. (UNASSIGNED POINTS: 26)]
[STRENGTH +1, CURRENT 52]
[UNASSIGNED POINTS: 25]
The sound of points being assigned echoed in Leon's mind like a temple bell.
Massive power erupted inside him like a volcano. Torn muscles re-knit, searing vitality surged through his meridians, and charred skin sloughed off as flesh regenerated and healed in a flash of light.
Leon kicked off the ground, his body launching into the air like an arrow from a bow.
—Heavenly Blade Dance!
Mid-air, Leon flipped and drew his blades, accelerating once more as he charged toward Nergigante like a meteor.
His twin blades created a cross-shaped sonic boom in the air as he turned into a blur, lunging toward Nergigante's chest and abdomen.
Nergigante snapped its head around, sensing him. More Qurio swarmed the air, only to be precisely sliced down by Leon.
The moment the blades cut through the insects, clouds of red mist exploded, scattering scales through the air.
Leon used the momentum to flip, planting a foot on a bony plate protruding from Nergigante's neck, while his other hand swiftly fired the Clutch Claw!
Screeeech—!!!
Hard armor shattered, and large scales flew everywhere. Nergigante shrieked, seemingly feeling a level of pain it had never experienced before.
Leon's gaze turned cold. His blood boiled, and his combat instincts burned like an inferno.
He surged forward, running up Nergigante's neck toward its head, his target clear—
The two massive horns atop its head.
Nergigante let out a piercing roar and whipped its neck!
Caught off guard, Leon was thrown back like a pellet hit by a giant hammer, crashing into the ground and leaving a crater.
The Clutch Claw shattered, and his armor cracked.
"Ngh... aaaa!!" Leon hit the ground hard, kicking up clouds of dust. His chest heaved as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
He tried to stand, but his vision was a blur.
In the sky, Nergigante flapped its massive wings, diving down shrouded in a red mist that looked like the evening sun.
"Roar!!!"
In that moment, Leon felt the approach of death. Just as he was about to assign points to Agility to dodge—
A figure descended with a crash, standing like a solitary peak between heaven and earth. A single fist met Nergigante's diving head head-on!
Boom!!!
Nergigante's massive body was stopped dead in its tracks. The air exploded at the point of impact, and the entire battlefield fell silent.
A second later, Nergigante was actually sent flying.
"..." Leon's eyes widened as he stared at the tall back in front of him.
Silver-gray hair, iron arms like mountains, a body covered in scars and rippling with muscles—he looked like a man forged of iron.
"The... The Admiral!!"
"Not bad, holding out this long." The Admiral looked down at Leon. His tone was calm, yet it carried the weight of thunder.
He casually rolled his shoulders, speaking with confidence: "Leave the rest to me."
Before Leon could react.
The Admiral kicked off the ground, turning into a blur as he shot into the air, climbing onto Nergigante with his bare hands!
Nergigante roared, its spines releasing a shockwave.
The Admiral reached out and ripped the spines off with his bare hand.
Boom!!!
Nergigante actually faltered in mid-air.
The Admiral gripped a horn with one hand and raised his other fist high. His knuckles glowed with power as he threw a straight punch—
—Right into Nergigante's face!!
"Get down there!!!"
Like a giant bird with broken wings, Nergigante was punched into the mountainside. Rocks flew and the sound was deafening.
The battlefield went silent for a moment.
"So he's the... the strongest hunter..." Leon watched the unmoving back, his breath hitching.
Dark clouds rolled in the sky as the wind howled.
Amidst the collapsing earth, Nergigante's body slammed into the mountain. Spines shattered, rocks crumbled, and billowing dust rose like a mushroom cloud, shaking the entire area.
Yet before Nergigante could struggle to its feet, a figure stepped through the air, descending to stomp directly onto the hardest bone plating of its chest.
"Roar—!!" Nergigante howled in pain, forcing itself to flip. Spines erupted frantically, attempting to release another shockwave to drive away this reckless enemy!
"You're too noisy." The Admiral merely smirked, his voice like cold iron striking a bell.
—Bang!!!
He delivered a heavy kick to Nergigante's lower jaw, snapping the Elder Dragon's head back as it wailed toward the sky.
In a flash.
The Admiral moved like a bolt of lightning to the top of its head. His right fist clenched, glowing hot like meteor iron, and swung down.
The pressure of the punch was like a rift-opening thunderbolt, piercing through the void!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Admiral rained punch after punch onto Nergigante's head. The sound of breaking bones was clearly audible.
Red mist dissipated, Qurio were blasted away, and the dragon's neck went limp as if it had been struck by lightning.
Then, the Admiral thrust both palms out, grabbing Nergigante's massive horns. "Break!!" he bellowed.
Cr-cr-cr-crack!!!
—Snap!!!
With an ear-splitting explosion of sound, those horns—symbols of the Elder Dragon's supremacy—were torn clean off.
Blood sprayed, and bone fragments flew!
"Graaa!!!" Nergigante struggled and roared, but its spirit was fading, its body swaying.
The Admiral drove the massive horns into Nergigante's eye sockets.
Its eyes burst, and fountains of blood erupted!
Immediately after—
Boom!!!
Putting his shoulder into it, the Admiral slammed the entire Nergigante into the ground. The impact was deafening, and dust blotted out the sun!
The earth cracked, the mountain peaks collapsed, and Nergigante gave a few twitches before falling still.
Scorching aftershocks lingered in the air. Blood and red mist swirled, leaving only one man standing silently atop the carcass.
—The Admiral.
Leon watched the Admiral standing at the summit of the mountain of flesh. His blood ran cold, and his heart pounded against his ribs.
In that moment, he understood.
This was—the true strongest hunter. The Admiral was the peak that all hunters looked up to!
Leon looked down at his own blood-stained hands, slowly clenching his fists. His eyes burned like fire.
A wild wind blew across the battlefield, lifting the smoke of war.
The Admiral turned, gave Leon a glance, and smiled slightly. "Let's go. Time to head back."
With those words, his back receded into the distance, leaving behind nothing but awe and shock.
—The Elder Dragon had fallen.
The Elder's Recess returned to a temporary silence.
[SLAIN: NERGIGANTE (HIGH RANK)]
[EXP OBTAINED: 20000]
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL: LV.26]
[EXP: 125,000 / 155,000]
[PRE-REQUISITE QUEST COMPLETED: DEFEAT NERGIGANTE]
—MAIN QUEST UNLOCKED.
[MAIN QUEST: FIND THE VILLAGE CHIEF]
DESCRIPTION: THE MAIN QUEST HAS BEGUN. YOUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO FIND THE CHIEF OF SCHRADE VILLAGE.
REWARD: ROCKSTEADY MANTLE, HEALTH BOOSTER, POWER TALON, ARMOR TALON.
Finally...
The system's main quest had begun...