Chapter 189 – The Strongest Serpent (7)

Kuwaaaaah!

Horntail exhaled a breath from her mouth. A bright electric-blue light descended in a net-like shape toward the ground. From the sky, it looked as though the light was tearing the darkness into pieces.

The crackling particles lit up the entire field, and at the same time, restricted Basilisk’s range of movement.

“This is insane… incredible.”

Choi Seol-ah, watching from Horn’s back, trembled.

Limiting an offensive spell to a single target was an extremely difficult feat. Imbuing the caster’s will into a spell wasn’t exactly easy either.

‘But this pointy-eared girl is controlling high-level magic with complete freedom.’

Even though she was still a young dragon and a bit rough in precision, Horn was undeniably a genius.

Choi Seol-ah, staring at the long back in front of her, got lost in thought.

‘I’ve always called her a kid and kept scolding her…’

But from today onward, the roles had reversed. What’s more, she was now under contract with Horntail.

And not just that… the pointy-eared one was the dominant party in the contract, and she was the subordinate! She could already imagine herself offering daily servings of premium-grade beef as tribute.

“Ugh.”

A grim future flashed through her mind. She couldn’t help but sigh, mourning the withering state her bank account would soon be in.

‘Still…’

Looking at it another way, she was using magic again. And not as a villain this time.

She was only able to do it because, during her contract with the Fifth Commander Agor, her magical circuit had been forcibly opened. On top of that, her new contractor was a dragon—a race with far less hostility toward humans.

If it had been any other demon, her body might’ve rejected it and collapsed. Thanks to a series of strange coincidences, she now wielded magical power without having to be a villain.

It was probably the first time something like that had ever happened. So, what should she call herself? Choi Seol-ah murmured as she seriously pondered the thought.

“Something with a cool, flashy name would sound awesome…”

At that moment, a light bulb flicked on in her mind. Her lips curled into a sly grin.

“Gunmage… Gunmage sounds good.”

Satisfied for a moment, she shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for that.

She quickly reloaded her revolver. Only three bullets remained. Which meant she had to fire at the exact right moment.

Holding the weapon with both hands, she rested her forehead against the barrel and closed her eyes.

She felt the cold metal against her skin, then opened her eyes again.

Through Horntail’s wings, the bloody battle unfolding below came into view.

***

Using the spread white light as illumination, Kang Geom-Ma reconstructed the situation. The dense darkness had been swept away, and the wind carried off the heat.

Kang Geom-Ma looked satisfied. Thanks to the clarity, as intense as midday, he could see everything around him at a glance. Darkness was the demons’ domain, but light belonged to humans. Now all that remained was to press forward. However…

His eyes narrowed.

Dwiruk, dwiruk.

Basilisk’s slitted eyes moved in all directions, slowly scanning. The crackling electric currents on the ground turned to stone in those very shapes. Around him, the fragments of rock began to stack one atop another.

“Is he planning to build a bunker?”

Kang Geom-Ma looked through it, straight into the serpent’s eyes. Deep-set eyes. No one cornered would have such a calm gaze.

‘And not only that… that bastard didn’t react at all when Horn transformed into a dragon.’

…As if he had expected it. Something about that had been bothering him from earlier, so he activated his mental domain immediately.

Without relying on sight, he tried to perceive the situation. Like an inverted black-and-white photograph—objects in gray tones.

A white current flowed like it was being sucked down a drain toward a point. He didn’t need to look to know where that flow was going.

‘He’s absorbing the energy from Horn’s spell.’

And looking again, that supposed bunker also looked like a cocoon. A shelter to conceal his body while he metamorphosed…

“No wonder they say the sneakiest ones are always snakes.”

Kang Geom-Ma bent low.

It was the optimal posture to reduce air resistance and maximize leap force. It was also the same stance with which he had taken down countless powerful opponents since his earliest academy days.

‘There’s little time left on the [Blessing of Pain Immunity].’

At most, thirty seconds. Maybe forty if he perfectly synchronized it with his draw technique.

Still, he had already figured out most of Basilisk’s capabilities.

Just as Horn had said, Basilisk didn’t use magic beyond his Petrification Eye. Even when you entered its range, all he did was swing his twin swords.

It wasn’t by choice. He clearly couldn’t.

‘Of course… makes sense. If he already has a skill as powerful as the Petrification Eye, he wouldn’t need other magic.’

That supreme skill had created a paradoxical weakness—he didn’t need any other spells. That irony had laid all his cards on the table.

Kang Geom-Ma’s eyes glinted coldly. Meanwhile, the monster continued building his bunker with his Eye. It looked like he was preparing for a major offensive.

Kang Geom-Ma let out an icy smile. That bunker would soon become his tomb.

“That kind of transformation time only works in Power X Rangers. In real life, you don’t get a break, bastard.”

With those words, Kang Geom-Ma dashed forward. Skillfully evading the Petrification Eye’s range, he advanced.

Basilisk’s right arm extended nearly ten meters. With it, he whipped his sword like a lash.

Whirl-whirl-whirl!

The blades flew in from all directions. The multiple trajectories looked like curved eagle talons. From the side, it was like a serpent opening its jaws, baring its venomous fangs.

The air split with an eerie hiss, like a snake whispering right next to your ear.

Ssssssshhhhaaaaaa!

Kang Geom-Ma closed off his hearing. The world went silent.

An ordinary hero wouldn’t dare leap in. But Kang Geom-Ma didn’t belong in that category.

Tatatatatat!

He accelerated. He didn’t slow down—he sped up.

As if outrunning sound, he ran. Or rather, flew.

His feet barely touched the ground. Only his calves rippled with elastic strength.

“……!”

The serpent’s eyes opened slightly wider. A physiological sign of shock.

It intended to petrify him immediately, but its eyes couldn’t keep up with his speed.

‘Can a human really move like this?’

Basilisk swung its black swords chaotically. The shadows of its slashes ripped through the air, but Kang Geom-Ma dodged them with a carefree smile.

He deflected tricky angles slightly with Murasame’s blade. The metallic clangs and sparks lasted only an instant.

While the black swords sliced the air, the gleam of his sashimi knife shone like a beacon, marking his path. Murasame flashed. It was the sign of counterattack.

Slash!

Three scaly fingers fell like twigs. Before Basilisk could react, another slash flashed.

Murasame slid between the scales and sliced the forearm. The arm, twisting like a chunk of surimi, was filleted like tuna.

Then, with a vertical slice as if through eternal ice, he split it entirely.

Tutututuk.

First came lines of blood across the serpent’s arm.

Then, chunks of flesh collapsed like diced radish. The blood shot upward, and the stained pieces scattered grotesquely.

“There’s not much difference between cleaning reptiles and cleaning fish.”

Kang Geom-Ma flicked the blood off the blade and ran a hand through his hair. He was drenched in thick, blue blood.

“It was squirming too much, so I gave it a hand.”

His eyes curled like crescent moons. His gaze no longer belonged to a human.

“Only the left one left, right?”

He gestured mockingly with his hand, as if telling it to come at him with its other arm. Basilisk’s pupils dilated intensely.

“……”

Even Horn and Choi Seol-ah were completely stunned. Despite watching it all with wide eyes, they couldn’t follow his movements. For someone to treat an S-rank magical beast like a toy… it was absurd. And they were too exhausted to be shocked any longer.

“Ah.”

Basilisk let out a faint groan. His body trembled slightly before collapsing, muttering under his breath.

“You really brought a human fit to kill me, sister… hehehe.”

He started laughing like he’d gone mad.

“You know, Horntail? I didn’t choose Alduin’s path instead of becoming a dragon.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Basilisk opened his eyes wide.

“I was born with a body that could never become a dragon. This damn Petrification Eye turned even that possibility to stone!”

From his eye sockets, a dangerous red cross-shaped glow flared. A blood-colored hemispherical membrane instantly expanded in all directions.

“This…!”

Horntail flapped her wings forcefully and soared upward. At the sudden movement, Choi Seol-ah ducked, and the ceiling’s moisture soaked her back.

“Hey! Big-ear— I mean, Horntail! What the hell are you doing all of a sudden!?”

“Look down, contractor.”

“Down?”

At Horntail’s words, Choi Seol-ah looked down. The place where they had just been was now filled with rocks that, through friction and heat, began to ignite. Each turned into a meteorite.

[ Meteor. ]

The moment the word left Basilisk’s mouth, the meteorites began to fall like a storm.

Boom… boom… boom!

Fireballs erupted wherever Basilisk’s gaze landed, obliterating every cover. Impact zones melted red-hot and fused with lava. As more meteors struck the ground, fiery geysers burst in all directions like infected boils.

It was a scene straight out of a natural disaster. That’s how S-rank magical beasts unleash calamities all on their own.

“Shit, he just fired off his ultimate like that.”

Kang Geom-Ma clicked his tongue while dodging or slicing through the chaotic meteor storm.

In the heart of the chaos, Basilisk clutched his severed arm and laughed like a maniac.

“I’ll become a black dragon and make our entire clan kneel before me! You included, Horntail!”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Just then, a meteor fragment bounced once, twice, three times… and hit Choi Seol-ah squarely between the eyes.

“Huh?”

Choi Seol-ah felt her consciousness slip. Her core strength collapsed like she was drunk. Her torso tipped forward, and she slid off Horntail’s back, helpless.

“…Damn it.”

She tried to reach for something to grab onto, but her body wouldn’t respond. And so, Choi Seol-ah fell headfirst toward the ground.

“Boradori!”

Horntail noticed her fall. She dove in desperation but was hit by three fireballs in quick succession.

As she fell, Choi Seol-ah watched the blurry scene and parted her lips with difficulty.

“…Don’t… come.”

But her voice was so faint, the big-eared one probably didn’t hear her. Gravity pulled her hard. The fall felt longer than expected. Choi Seol-ah closed her eyes.

She was certain she’d die. That much was clear. She’d fought so hard to survive, but her end would be this absurd.

‘Absurd, huh…?’

She repeated the word in her mind and slowly opened her eyes again.

The big-eared one was gliding toward her, hit by fireballs. Burn marks covered her entire body like she’d been branded with hot irons.

“I told you… not to come…”

Choi Seol-ah managed to turn her eyes sideways. There was Kang Geom-Ma. For the first time since she’d met him, he wore an expression she couldn’t decipher. He was trying to catch her, but the situation wasn’t ideal; he was slicing through meteors with his sashimi knife as he ran.

‘My Lord…’

The words caught in her throat. Her vision was coming back, but that made it worse. The world was completely upside-down.

‘I’m going to crash headfirst into the ground.’

If there was one good thing, it was that she’d die instantly.

Choi Seol-ah gathered the last of her strength into her fingers and gripped the trigger. She closed one eye, and in the other burned a stubborn determination.

‘Even if I die, I have to do something. I have my pride as the Master of Magical Pistols.’

The barrel pointed straight at the Petrification Eye. Ah… if she looked straight into the eye, she’d turn to stone, wouldn’t she? In her dazed state, she’d forgotten.

Maybe that’s why she couldn’t feel her legs anymore…

‘But does it even matter now?’

She turned her resignation into a faint smile and murmured softly—a line she’d always wanted to say before dying.

‘The barrel of my gun gleams, and the trigger delivers justice.’

The revolver sparkled, the cold of the metal seeping into every joint of her fingers.

‘Whoever makes my Lord bleed… will also bleed.’

The first Master of Magical Pistols took aim at the unholy Basilisk. In an inverted world, the trigger of judgment stood firm.

“This magic shot… is my Lord’s will.”

Choi Seol-ah inhaled… and then exhaled. In that final breath, she poured all her power and remaining mana—

Bang.

The final magic bullet fired from the revolver with a thunderous shot. And right after, came the crisp sound of something shattering into a thousand pieces.