The S-Classes That I Raised

Chapter 430: Nightmare at Midday (3)

“You’re a king in name, but you’re so timid.”

I gripped the spear tightly with both hands. Lautitars reflexively flinched its neck away from the spear tip aimed at it. Han Yujin on the ceiling cursed at me and moved again.

“How long are you going to just stare?”

I took a slight step forward with one leg, adopting a stance as if I might rush in at any moment. The dragon’s remaining two pairs of eyes stared at me intently. It seemed like a tense standoff where neither side could move first rashly, but Han Yujin moved without a care.

His hand gripped the A-Rank spear. To supplement his low stats, he took out wire and wrapped it around the spear and his wrist. The spear aimed at the top of Lautitars’s right head, and Han Yujin’s legs bent low.

The cave ceiling was high enough for a giant dragon to run around freely. If an F-Rank or E-Rank jumped down, it would be nothing more than suicide. And the monster standing guard below was S-Rank. It was a situation where one might hesitate a little, but Han Yujin just let out a thin breath.

It wasn’t just because of fear resistance. Even without fear resistance, the guy—I—would have held my weapon, trembling.

To avoid a much more terrifying ending than an S-Rank monster.

“By the way, I killed your dad, you know? Can’t you understand? I tore him to pieces.”

– GRRRRR.

I pulled the spear back. The spear was pulled. Lautitars became even more tense. Strength entered the tips of his toes, and strength entered the tips of his toes. I didn’t rush out. But Han Yujin did—the ground, the ceiling.

“I’ll make you the same way!”

He kicked off, and simultaneously, I shouted. To hide the sound of his footsteps even a little. With the added stealth skill effect, Lautitars didn’t notice the presence of the powerful jump.

Han Yujin’s body dropped down. The skill was imbued in the weapon, and just before the spear tip touched the scales, the formal wear’s momentary acceleration activated.

His entire body became a single sharp spear and plunged down.

BOOM!

– KRAAAAA!

The thick scales shattered to pieces. The spear tip, unable to withstand the force, crumbled as if melting. The distorted shaft, Han Yujin’s body, pierced the dragon’s head. It made a huge hole under its chin and fell down, rolling on the floor.

I ran forward and threw wire at Han Yujin. The guy grabbed the wire’s end as if he’d been waiting, and I pulled with all my might. As soon as I pulled Han Yujin out, Lautitars began going berserk again. The right head, which had been almost torn in half, finally—CRACK—split and rolled on the floor.

– KRAAAAAAAK!

The curse dragon, half-crazed, rushed at us. BOOM, BOOM! The huge claws left long marks on the floor. I quickly used stealth skill, but with our stats, dodging all the rampaging dragon’s attacks was difficult. I was caught by a claw and fell, stepped on by a foot, and crushed by a tail. Without Grace, I would have died several times over.

‘I think it’s impossible to calm him down now!’

‘I thought it would be difficult to get to the last head!’

‘Do you have a flight or teleportation item?’

‘I didn’t buy one, but even if I had one, it would be useless.’

It was difficult to match flight speed, and even if I teleported, I’d immediately slip and fall with him rampaging like that. With our stats, we could only attack when he was stationary. So we needed a way to fix that one remaining head.

‘Damn it, that bastard is heading toward Yuhyun!’

We both released stealth simultaneously. Lautitars, who had been trying to move to find us, turned around.

“Here, lizard—ugh!”

A sharp claw pinned my body down. It was a damn good thing the lizard bastard hadn’t thought of choking me. I raised my spear and stabbed its claw strongly. CLANG! The claw broke off, and Lautitars roared and retreated. But a claw would be restored instantly.

“As expected, just scratching won’t work.”

Han Yujin said, holding a new A-Rank spear.

“There are no more A-Rank spears! Use it sparingly!”

“Th—ugh!”

His figure disappeared under the dragon’s foot. Oh dear.

“Lautitars!”

I shouted with good spirit and held out my hand. A spark of electricity flashed at my fingertip. The giant dragon, wary of me about to use a new skill, jumped back. Han Yujin, who had been half-buried in the floor, groaned and got up.

“That works.”

“A burnt child dreads the fire.”

How would that bastard know it was just a trickle of support attribute power? Just in case, as we both used stealth again, Lautitars, who had retreated, began rampaging again. It was a stance of not allowing hidden enemies to approach.

He wasn’t headless. Although two of the three were gone. I had to quickly release stealth again in case he went toward Yuhyun.

– GRRRR, KRRR.

The one remaining dragon head breathed heavily and glared at us. He had stopped moving for a moment, but if he felt something suspicious, he would immediately go berserk.

“Lautitars falls asleep every five hours, but in that state, it’s unlikely.”

Like right before the regression, he wouldn’t fall asleep unless he inflicted a fatal wound on us.

“We both have to be visible.”

“So he’ll be at ease.”

“Even if he doesn’t fall asleep, he’ll try to recover. If he has a chance.”

His injuries were severe, and his regeneration skill grade had also dropped. And we only had attack power, and our movements were slow. That bastard must have noticed by now. That if it weren’t for the stealth skill, he could easily stop the attacks of those little things.

The head was too high, and below the legs, it couldn’t be a fatal wound.

So if we just kept our distance, he would rest at ease.

“Who’s going to go?”

The deliberation wasn’t long. The pre-regression me asked.

“It’s worrying to be separated from Grace even for a moment, so I’ll go.”

Grace’s hardness wasn’t a skill and couldn’t be shared. After finishing my preparations, I shouted loudly.

“Yuhyun, it’s really not dangerous, so don’t worry!”

I couldn’t let him get scared for no reason. I gripped my weapon tightly, and we both started running at Lautitars simultaneously. I kicked off the ground with all my might, but to an S-Rank monster, it was a speed that would make it yawn. And neither of us had healthy legs.

With a rumbling sound, Lautitars spun its body.

SCRAPE!

The thorny tail scraped the cave wall sharply. The boulders that flew up came at us. The damage was nullified, but I couldn’t withstand the weight, and Han Yujin rolled on the ground first.

– KRAAAAAK!

The lizard bastard showed its teeth as if mocking him. It seemed to be slowly relaxing, knowing that if it was just careful, it wouldn’t receive a fatal wound. Right, be as careless as you want.

CRUNCH—the front paw scraped the floor and dug up a large rock and threw it at us. THUD, THUD! Boulders rained down continuously. I was crushed, I was hit and fell, and I was helplessly swept away here and there. I felt like an ant with tenacious life force.

“That cunning bastard!”

“He got smarter as his heads decreased!”

At this rate, shouldn’t I be thanking him for cutting them off? That ungrateful lizard. BOOM! A rock about three times my size fell, and sand flew up. Staggering greatly, I stabbed the floor with my spear tip.

Thanks to the skill, it was deeply embedded, and part of the ground rose up. A rock flew in again, and—

“Han Yujin!”

Han Yujin shouted. The guy hugged his rolling body and retreated. Lautitars narrowed its eyes and looked at us.

“Damn it, get a hold of yourself!”

Han Yujin, who had widened the distance, held the limp body, half-covering it with his own body.

“You were talking about a death flag for me! Why did you die!”

– GRRRRR.

Although he couldn’t understand the words, he seemed to have grasped the situation and Lautitars growled happily. But his gaze never left. Han Yujin took out a potion, but his trembling hand made him drop it. The fallen potion bottle rolled away.

“You damn lizard bastard!”

Although he shouted fiercely, Han Yujin didn’t move from the spot. Lautitars slightly crouched its body. It seemed to be planning to recover its wounds at this opportunity.

The one remaining head was flickering below me. I tightened my grip on the spear.

A doppelganger doll. An S-Rank opponent would notice something suspicious even from a distance, but if you deceive them with a half-dead body instead of a living person, it’s a different story. The fact that there was no life force actually made it more plausible.

And if there was someone to react to it, that was the icing on the cake.

Lautitars was still looking only at Han Yujin and his doppelganger doll. Han Yujin shouted, and simultaneously, I kicked off the ceiling hard. If I could just cut off that one remaining head!

– KRAAAAAK!

But it was a trick he had already fallen for twice. Lautitars quickly pulled its head back. It was a movement within my expectations. When dodging an attack aimed at the head, he moves backwards. So I deliberately jumped behind the center of the head, but—

“Ugh!”

The spear tip slipped due to the violent movement! I didn’t know if he had used a defense-type skill. A skill he had obtained later, not an optimized skill.

SCRAPE!

The translucent blade scraped a long line on the scales, and I quickly took out a dagger with my other hand and swung it. Even a sword could pierce. The dagger, with the skill’s power, dug into the scales.

– KRAAAAAA!

Lautitars began struggling to shake me off. You think I’ll fall even if I die! I stepped on the dagger’s hilt and took out another sword, and stabbed it into its face. I could see an eyeball as big as my body rolling at close distance.

“Just block the front paws!”

I shouted, and Han Yujin, who had already run over, slammed his spear into the top of Lautitars’s foot. The lizard, who was about to lift its front paw to remove me, let out a scream. Then, the cave wall rushed at my nose.

BOOM!

“Keuk!”

The guy roughly rubbed his face against the wall. I held onto Grace, which was deeply embedded, and somehow managed to hold on. In the meantime, Han Yujin took out his spear and stabbed Lautitars’s front leg mercilessly. The C-Rank spear he had painstakingly obtained broke in one go. He swung D-Rank, E-Rank daggers and swords at the scales that had been torn off thanks to the skill.

Weapons were constantly breaking, and blood splattered.

– KRAAAAAAAK!

Han Yujin was thrown by the front paw that swung, dripping with blood. The weapon was dropped. But he even picked up a stone. CLANG! The stone struck the long, curved claw several times, and the claw finally broke off. He held that claw instead of a weapon and charged again.

I didn’t just stand by either. As soon as the head that had been rubbing against the cave wall was lifted, I stabbed a new sword into it. Lautitars’s blood soaked my entire body, and I transformed Grace into a chain and wrapped it around its head.

I gripped the dagger and crawled up to its eye.

STAB!

I stabbed it as it was. I dug into the lizard’s eyeball so deeply that it reached past my forearm to my shoulder.

– KRAAAAAK! KRRRR!

CRACKLE! I poured out all the electric current left in the ring. The eyeball completely exploded, and Lautitars let out a sorrowful roar. To lift its front paw, Han Yujin below was rampaging. If he couldn’t use his leg, then there was no point in protecting his head. And he had no way to remove me, who was stuck to his head, either.

If he had three—no, even just two heads—he could have bitten and removed me. But now, the guy had only one head and not even wings. He swung his tail, but I could endure a simple blow.

I stepped on its eye, I stepped on its eyelid, and I crawled up. One side of its face was a mess. Where the skill had properly gone in, white bone was even exposed.

CRUNCH! I dug into the top of its head and put both my feet in. I used cold energy to freeze it solid. So that no matter how much the guy struggled, my body would not fall off. I retrieved Grace’s chain and turned it back into a spear, and held it high, with all my might.

And just like that, I plunged it down.

BOOM!

– KRAAAAAAAAK!

Again, once, twice, and finally a third time!

RUMBLE—the huge dragon’s body fell forward. The overflowing blood created a pool. It was like a sticky swamp. Wire flew at me, who was struggling in the half-dug-up head. When I grabbed the end, it pulled me out.

We were both panting heavily. I was out of breath. Damn stat F. No, now it’s E. We both plopped down on the floor.

The dragon’s breath had completely stopped.

The surroundings became quiet. Only our rough breaths were heard.

[The nightmare has fallen asleep.]

A system message appeared. Really, did we catch it? It’s over, right? Huh?

“Yuhyun.”

I had no strength in my body, but I forced myself to get up. Lautitars was dead. So he must be safe. He had to be safe.

“Yuhyun!”

We shouted simultaneously. Belatedly, my leg seemed to ache. In the place where I had run in a hurry, I saw my little brother, half-raised. He was fine. He couldn’t move properly yet, but he was breathing. Although he was very worried, his complexion was also bright.

“Hyung!”

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“Did you get any poison or curse on you?”

The pre-regression me knelt on the floor and hugged my little brother. I also wanted to reach out, but I couldn’t. Yuhyun smiled with relief.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Are you hurt anywhere, Hyung?”

“I’m perfectly fine! I look like this, but I don’t even have a scratch!”

That couldn’t be true. Since I rolled around, I must have lots of bruises. As the me-like guy smiled, I also smiled slightly.

[The boss monster has been defeated. The dungeon gate will open.]

The message window kindly informed me.

“Hey, let’s get out of here now.”

Before any other problems arise. The me-like guy, while holding my little brother in his arms, looked up at me.

“I’m not going.”

The guy said firmly.