Chapter 91: Ch 91: A Deal With The Dragon
The S Rank Monster Tamer skill manifested as a visible wave of pure, concentrated golden energy. It rippled through the superheated air, bypassing the physical plane entirely to strike directly at the soul of the colossal beast. The skill was designed to dominate, to subjugate, and to force absolute compliance upon any creature governed by the system.
For a single, breathless microsecond, the world stood entirely still.
Then, the golden wave shattered into a million useless digital fragments.
A massive, violently red system window materialized directly in front of Raidan’s face, entirely obscuring his vision of the beast. It was not the gentle, guiding gold of his usual interface. It flashed with the aggressive, jagged crimson of a critical error.
[ Skill Failed: Absolute Resistance Encountered. ]
[ Target level significantly exceeds maximum authority threshold. ]
[ Target classification ’Primordial Calamity’ possesses innate system immunity. ]
[ Warning: Lethal retaliation is imminent. ]
Ignis did not kneel.
The World Breaker slowly tilted its massive, obsidian horned head. The deep pools of liquid gold that served as its eyes narrowed with ancient, predatory amusement. A sound began to vibrate through the shattered valley. It started as a low rumble deep within the dragon’s cavernous chest and quickly escalated into a deafening, terrifying roar of genuine laughter. The sound physically shook the remaining mountains, causing fresh avalanches of burning stone to crash down the slopes.
"Emperor," a voice echoed violently inside Raidan’s mind. It was not a spoken word, but a telepathic projection that felt like grinding tectonic plates scraping against his skull. "You possess the arrogant spark of a conqueror, but you wield the pathetic mana of an insect."
Before Raidan could process the telepathic intrusion, Ignis moved.
For a creature the size of a naval battleship, its speed was a complete violation of physics. The dragon snapped its massive jaws forward, releasing a concentrated beam of primordial plasma. This was not regular fire. It was a localized solar flare, burning white hot with the intensity of a dying star.
Naida’s supreme thermal blessing flared brilliantly across Raidan’s skin, but it was immediately pushed to its absolute breaking point.
Raidan did not panic. He activated his Rank D One skill, Cloud Step, perfectly synchronizing it with his Ultra Mana Control. He focused every single drop of his eighteen mana points into a microscopic spatial deflection shield, angling it precisely to redirect the incoming plasma beam rather than block it outright.
The white hot beam struck the invisible shield. The spatial barrier held for exactly one tenth of a second before shattering like fragile glass. The sheer, overwhelming kinetic force of the blast bypassed the deflection entirely.
Raidan was violently thrown backward. He soared through the superheated air, crashing violently through three separate jagged obsidian pillars before finally slamming into the sheer face of a massive cliff.
His eight hundred and thirty one points of Defense were the only reason his body did not instantly vaporize. His black void suit, woven from incredibly rare materials, tore open across his chest and shoulders. Searing agony exploded across his ribs. He coughed violently, spitting a mouthful of hot blood onto the scorched earth.
"My Emperor!" Kael screamed.
The Imperial Blood Guard did not hesitate. Knowing his own life was entirely forfeit, Kael lunged forward, channeling every ounce of his void energy into his spear. He aimed directly for the dragon’s glowing, magma infused scales, hoping to draw the beast’s attention away from Raidan.
Ignis did not even look at the guard. The dragon simply flicked its massive, heavily armored tail.
The impact was devastating. Kael was swatted out of the air as easily as a pesky fly. The blunt force trauma shattered the protective enchantments on his dark armor instantly. The Blood Guard skipped across the boiling ground like a skipped stone, eventually crashing into a pile of smoking rubble where he lay completely motionless.
"Kael," Raidan grunted, forcing himself to stand. His legs trembled under the immense, crushing pressure of the dragon’s aura.
Raidan wiped the blood from his chin. His emerald eyes blazed with a desperate, calculating fury. He realized perfectly clear that he had made a massive, potentially fatal miscalculation. His SSS+ class and his monstrous physical attributes had made him overconfident against the high tier denizens of the lower districts. But Ignis was level one hundred and forty five. This beast was a primordial force of nature, placed here by the architects of the system as an insurmountable wall.
Ignis took a slow, heavy step forward, closing the distance to the cliff face. The dragon towered over Raidan, entirely blocking out the crimson, ash filled sky.
Raidan refused to die quietly. He coiled the last remnants of his strength, preparing to unleash his Scorch Dragon’s Roar directly into the beast’s giant eye. It would not kill the dragon, but it would blind it long enough for Raidan to grab Kael and activate a desperate spatial retreat.
Before Raidan could open his mouth, Ignis raised a single, massive claw and pressed it directly against Raidan’s chest.
The sheer weight pinned Raidan instantly to the cracked stone. His bones groaned in protest. He could not move his arms. He could not draw enough breath to activate a skill. He was completely, utterly defeated in less than sixty seconds of combat. The Zenith Emperor, the conqueror of Olympus, was helplessly trapped under the toe of a true calamity.
Ignis lowered its massive head until its golden eye was mere inches from Raidan’s face. The radiant heat coming off the dragon’s scales scorched the edges of Raidan’s hair.
"I have slept beneath these mountains for ten thousand years," the grinding, telepathic voice echoed once more in Raidan’s mind. "I have slaughtered countless heroes, kings, and system favored champions. Yet, you are entirely different. You carry the stench of the system, but your soul operates on a fractured frequency."
Raidan grit his teeth against the crushing pressure. He stared defiantly into the golden eye.
"Get to the point," Raidan choked out, his voice strained but entirely devoid of fear. "If you wanted to eat me, I would already be dead."
The massive dragon let out a low, vibrating hum that felt vaguely like approval. The pressure on Raidan’s chest lessened slightly, allowing him to pull a desperate gasp of sulfurous air into his burning lungs.
"You are an anomaly," Ignis stated smoothly. "The system interface calls you a Quest Originator. A rogue element. I felt the digital ripples across the continent when you completely shattered the religious hierarchy of the upper tiers. The true administrators are terrified of you. They are currently scrambling their static assassins to purge your little empire."
"They have already tried," Raidan answered coldly, remembering the faceless entity in his bedchamber.
"And they will try again, with vastly superior numbers," Ignis warned, . "You possess the ambition to tear down the heavens, but your mortal vessel is fundamentally flawed. Eighteen points of mana is a cosmic joke. When the architects finally send a Class Zero Eraser to your palace, your high physical stats will mean absolutely nothing. They will delete your code from reality, and your radiant bride will perish with you."
Raidan’s heart hammered against his ribs. The mention of Naida sent a spike of cold terror through his veins, momentarily cutting through the agonizing heat of the valley. He knew the dragon was completely right. His defeat today was absolute proof of his current limitations.
"Why are you telling me this?" Raidan demanded. "You are a primordial calamity. You are a boss monster designated by those same architects."
"No. I am a prisoner, The system architects bound my soul to these mountains. I am forced to act as a territorial guardian, completely unable to leave this designated zone. I exist solely to test the strength of their pathetic, chosen champions. I desire freedom. I desire to burn the system code to ash."
Ignis slowly pulled its massive claw away, allowing Raidan to slump forward onto his hands and knees. The dragon took a single step back, creating a small pocket of breathing room.
"I offer you a pact, anomaly," the dragon proposed. "A transaction of absolute equivalence. You require power to survive the coming purge. I require your unique, virus like class to shatter the digital tethers anchoring me to this mountain range."
Raidan slowly pushed himself up to a kneeling position, clutching his broken ribs. He looked up at the towering beast, his calculating mind racing through a thousand different possibilities.
"What kind of power are you offering?" Raidan asked suspiciously.
Ignis raised its right claw and deliberately sliced the tip of its own thumb against a jagged obsidian horn. A single, massive drop of molten, glowing golden blood welled up from the shallow cut. The single drop contained more concentrated mana than the entire sun core Raidan had absorbed during his wedding.
"The blood of a primordial," Ignis declared. "If you consume it, the violent properties will completely rewrite your mortal limitations. It will forcibly evolve your species designation. You will gain a true draconic mana pool, elemental supremacy, and the physical resilience required to fight the true administrators. It will be the most agonizing experience of your insignificant life, and there is a high probability your fragile human body will simply explode."
Raidan stared at the floating sphere of liquid gold. He could feel the raw, untamed power radiating from it. It was exactly what he needed. It was the missing piece that would allow him to truly utilize his Ultra Mana Control on a catastrophic scale.
"And in return?" Raidan asked, carefully wiping the blood from his mouth.