Chapter 254: The Thousand Curses Dragon (6)

A dull thud rang out as if someone struck a sack of meat with a club. Kwon Oh-Jin’s accelerated fist struck Barbatos square in the philtrum, sending him flying like a tossed pebble.

Riarc charged after Barbatos. “

Grrr!

”

The muscles in Riarc’s right arm bulged as if they would burst. Like a sledgehammer driving in a nail, his punch slammed into Barbatos’s abdomen mid-flight.

Barbatos crashed into the ground and coughed up blood. “

Kugh!

”

Grabbing his stomach, Barbatos quickly raised one arm. A purple light shimmered and targeted Riarc.

“Too slow!” Riarc flipped back nimbly and dodged the cursed light.

“Y-You bastard!” Staggering to his feet, Barbatos murderously glared at Kwon Oh-Jin.

Of course, he didn’t bother asking why they only counted to one before attacking when they had agreed to attack on three. That kind of pathetic question wasn’t necessary. The fact that he had fallen for such a cheap trick bruised his towering pride.

“Impressive timing,

huh?

” Kwon Oh-Jin glanced back at Riarc in admiration.

One had to fool their allies first to fool their enemies. He hadn’t even coordinated with Riarc beforehand to catch Barbatos off guard, yet Riarc perfectly followed up as if they had planned it from the start.

“

Hmph

. Who do you think I am, kid?” Riarc scoffed and bared his fangs. “In terms of combat experience, you could regress ten more times and still not catch up to me.”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

That made sense. Talking about experience in front of Riarc was like lecturing a butterfly about cocoons.

“Enough pointless chatter. Focus on the fight, kid.”

“Yes, sir,” Kwon Oh-Jin replied and turned back toward Barbatos.

A curtain of purple light spread out.

“Your petty tricks won’t work on me anymore!” Barbatos shouted.

Barbatos spread his arms wide and scattered the cursed light in every direction. The purple light stretched out like a magical circle centered on him. They had to break through that wall of cursed light now to reach him.

Kwon Oh-Jin gripped Dantalian and charged toward the light. “Alright, then. Let’s see how powerful this oh-so-mighty curse of yours really is.”

The moment he threw himself into the purple light, it felt like a massive chunk of metal suddenly pressed down on him.

“

Urgh!

”

A wave of debilitating fatigue washed over him, making it difficult to breathe. It felt like completing a grueling march with a military pack weighing dozens of kilograms. An overwhelming urge to collapse and sleep on the ground took over.

The Curse of Fatigue.

He had heard about this in detail from Song Ha-Eun before. Just then, a blue light shone from his pouch and wrapped around him.

Woong!

It felt like drinking a cup of strong coffee in the depths of exhaustion.

Must be the effects of the pouch Isabella gave me.

It couldn’t nullify the curse completely, but it decently weakened it. Kwon Oh-Jin took a deep breath and stomped forward.

A rancid stench assaulted his nose. His ears rang, cutting off all sound, and his vision suddenly flipped upside down. The deeper he pushed into the light, the more curses piled onto him.

“You’re not as bad as they say.” Kwon Oh-Jin sneered as he passed through the cursed curtain.

He could see the dragon looking at him with eyes full of shock.

“

Huh?!

”

“Azure Lightning.”

Blue lightning burst forth from his spear and engulfed Barbatos.

Crackle!

Barbatos panicked and quickly rolled away across the ground.

“Guess you really are a lizard. You sure love crawling on the floor.” Riarc appeared from the other side and viciously kicked Barbatos’s head like it was a ball.

“

Kraaaagh!

” Barbatos’s once handsome face, even with all the filth on him, now swelled grotesquely.

He's terrible in close combat, no doubt about it.

The curses were a nuisance, but aside from that, Barbatos moved far slower and more clumsily than the powerful opponents Kwon Oh-Jin had faced before.

“Y-You lowly beings!” Wiping the blood from his nose, Barbatos glared at Kwon Oh-Jin and Riarc.

Soon, a violet light wrapped around him.

Woong!

The light grew larger.

Barbatos, once in human form, began to transform into a dragon. Violet scales covered his entire body, his sinister amber eyes gleamed, and two black horns sprouted from his forehead. In an instant, he transformed into a massive form nearly fifty meters tall and roared toward the sky.

“

Kaaaaaaraaaa!

”

His roar not only rattled one’s eardrums, but also shook the soul itself. Even his roar seemed laced with curses as Kwon Oh-Jin experienced a terrible headache, followed by a wave of nausea.

“Damn, his breath stinks like shit. Now he’s screaming like a lunatic.” Suppressing the nausea, Kwon Oh-Jin smirked.

The real fight finally began now that Barbatos returned to his true form.

A voice directly echoed in Kwon Oh-Jin’s head.

—To harm the noble body of Lord Barbatos! You shall pay for your sin with your lives!

“Oh no, I’m so scared I might wet myself. Whatever shall I do?” Kwon Oh-Jin couldn't help but laugh at Barbatos’s line, which sounded like something pulled straight from the top one hundred most overused villain quotes in history.

Hearing such a cliché actually helped ease the tension.

—Grrrrrrr!

Barbatos flapped his massive wings and took off into the air.

Whoom! Whoom!

As his fifty-meter frame rose, it cast a dark shadow over the ground like a looming cloud.

“Wait, what? I thought he couldn’t fly?”

According to Song Ha-Eun, Barbatos wasn’t supposed to be capable of flight. Here he was, soaring effortlessly in the sky.

—Now that I’ve received his blessing, even these once-rotted wings are no longer a hindrance to Lord Barbatos!

Barbatos pridefully shouted high in the sky.

His blessing, huh?

Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes at the black horns protruding from Barbatos’s forehead. Those horns hadn’t appeared in Lee Shin-Hyuk’s memories. Could that be a sign of the blessing that Barbatos mentioned?

—Squirm in agony like insects groveling on the ground!

Barbatos’s glowing scales pulsed, and violet beams infused with curses rained down.

“

Hmm

. So you can fly.”

Being able to fly provided a massive advantage in combat. Air superiority often won wars since one could bombard the enemy from out of reach. Even the strongest enemies would be forced to yield. However, that advantage meant nothing to Kwon Oh-Jin and Riarc.

“Riarc, I’ll take the left.”

“Then I’ll go right.”

Both of them launched into the air at the same time.

Boom!

Even with their superhuman physiques, they couldn’t leap high enough to reach a dragon flying hundreds of meters above.

Lighting Steps.

Thududududu!

However, the two dashed through the sky as if sprinting across solid ground. They perfectly split to the left and right toward Barbatos like they had practiced this countless times.

Seeing them sprint in the air like on flat terrain, Barbatos gasped in shock.

—W-What!

He hastily redirected his curses.

—

Grrgh!

He could only target one as they approached from both sides, so he chose Kwon Oh-Jin.

—I’ll make you feel the maximum pain a human can endure!

Barbatos shimmered with a menacing purple light.

At that moment, Kwon Oh-Jin felt like razors were shredding his skin, and molten oil was being poured into the wounds. The overwhelming agony defied comprehension and washed over him.

The Curse of Agony was one of the most devastating among Barbatos’s thousand curses. Anyone afflicted by it would either go mad from the pain or suffer convulsions so severe that it would kill them.

The horrifying curse should’ve elicited a blood-curdling scream.

“You picked the wrong guy.” Kwon Oh-Jin landed on Barbatos’s wing.

Thud.

He aimed his spear down and smiled with ghostly, blue flames in his eyes.

—W-What...?

Barbatos stared at Kwon Oh-Jin in disbelief.

Did the curse not work? No, that wasn’t it. Thin blood vessels had reddened Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes. His lips looked torn, and his arms and legs trembled violently. The Curse of Agony had indeed inflicted unbearable pain on him.

However, Barbatos had overlooked two things. First, the talismans tucked inside Kwon Oh-Jin’s clothes had dulled the curse’s effects.

“You should’ve cast it on Riarc instead of me.”

Second, pain was never a big deal to someone like Kwon Oh-Jin.

Blue lightning sparked at the tip of his spear like a wild beast let loose.

Crackle!

Kwon Oh-Jin drove his spear down and pierced Barbatos’s left wing. Lightning burst forth, and flames burned through the wing.

—

Kraaaaa!

Barbatos shrieked and writhed in agony. With one wing torn and scorched, he lost control and began to plummet.

“

Tsk!

The result would've been the same even if he used it on me, kid.”

A smiling Riarc waited below the falling Barbatos as if he had anticipated this. Blue lightning condensed into claws at Riarc’s fingertips.

Crackle!

“Flash Lightning.”

Riarc shot through the air like a bolt of blue lightning. A deep gash opened across Barbatos’ chest, and blood gushed from the wound.

—

Kaaaaaagh!

Barbatos’ massive body slammed into the ground.

Thud!

Painful, ragged breaths escaped from him. “

Haa, haa!

”

W-Who the hell are these monsters?! Six years ago, they weren’t this strong!

In a panic, Barbatos quickly turned his head and scanned the area. His eyes landed on a delicate woman with platinum-blonde hair.

“

Grrrrrr!

”

Before Kwon Oh-Jin and Riarc could catch up, Barbatos darted toward Isabella. He seized her with his massive arm and lifted her high into the air.

“S-Stop! Take one more step, and this woman dies!”

Throwing away his pride as a dragon, Barbatos held the helpless woman hostage. Rather, he thought that she looked helpless.

Isabella, gripped in Barbatos’s hand, widened her eyes in mock surprise.

“Oh my, looks like I’ve been captured.”

A deep smile spread across her face.