Hunter Academy’s Battle God

The head’s Incarnation was the strongest, and Ignis’s ability could be summarized in one sentence…contemporary romance

[An inextinguishable fire comparable to Sardonyx’s.]

Subjugating Ignis was difficult because she could breathe a fire that was comparable to Sardonyx’s.

FWOOSH!

The flames spreading from Ignis burned the entire field.

A hunter's mana barrier didn't work against a dragon's breath, but Rosa had prepared something for the situation.

'I struggled quite a lot to bring this...'

Rosa smirked and extended her hands.

BZZZ!!

A magic circle began shining and tore space apart; then a white snake slithered out of it that was similar in size to Ignis.

"Ssss!"

The white snake was named Unsa. It was a guardian god that lived in the area around the Yalu River.

Unlike lower-ranking spirits, making a contract with it was incredibly hard. Rosa was often called a druid, but it had taken even her a month.

Making a contract was the hard part, but using the strength of the spirit itself wasn't that hard. From the moment Unsa agreed to be summoned, that strength was also Rosa's.

"Let's go, Unsa! Show this cave lizard your strength!"

WHOOM.

Even though they were inside a dungeon, the sound of lightning could be heard from the ceiling.

BOOM!

The dungeon's ceiling crumbled, and the falling rocks crashed into Ignis, and then something incredible happened.

SWOOSH-!

A tremendous amount of rain began falling.

As a guardian god, Ursa’s ability wasn't just that it created some water. It changed the climate of the entire area around Castellana Cave.

FWOOSH!

Ignis tried to evaporate the water with her fire, but it didn’t work as she wanted.

The pouring rain was imbued with Unsa’s divinity. It wasn’t water that simple temperature or mana could evaporate.

Rosa had one more trump card as well.

'I just have to endure until Aventino is done.'

Paf!

Rosa extended her hands again, and a green magic circle appeared in the air. Once again, it tore a hole in space.

BOOM! BOOM!

A giant deer with green fur emerged.

Duraþrór, one of the four mythical deer said to have grown by eating the leaves of the World Tree.

Unlike Unsa, she hadn’t made a formal contract with it. Rosa had summoned Duraþrór through an artifact called the ‘World Tree's Leaf’ that she'd gotten from a dungeon.

Duraþrór could only be summoned once, so she'd been saving it for an important moment.

'Ignis is a worthy opponent to use it against...'

BOOM!

As Duraþrór hit the floor with its horns, green vines appeared from the ground and shot toward Ignis.

"Ugh!"

Ignis tried to rip them apart, but the more she tried, the more they tied her up.

"Aventino!"

As Rosa finished her preparations, Aventino finally rushed toward Ignis.

Paf!

Aventino took out a huge greatsword that didn't suit his usual calm look and swung it toward Ignis's front paws.

Paf!

A dragon’s skin was said to be as hard as steel, but the sword sliced through her flesh, and she screamed in pain.

His eyes red, Aventino quietly said, "Your judgment is just starting..."

He kept attacking the restrained Ignis.

The more Ignis was cut, the stronger Aventino’s killing intent became.

Blue Apostle Aventino was often called a berserker.

"Aventino! The heart! Target the heart!" Rosa's screaming didn't reach him, which showcased the weakest point of Aventino's [Frenzy of Madness].

Although his physical capabilities and mana increased, he lost his mind, so it was easy for an enemy to overwhelm him.

Aventino was with Rosa, so she kept pouring down rain to stop the fire. Not only that, but Duraþrór had sealed Ignis's movements.

With Rosa making up for his weaknesses, Aventino was invincible.

Not even all of the other subjugation members combined could surpass Rosa and Aventino’s synergy at that moment.

BOOM!

Ignis was forced to do something to free herself from the vines, and she ended up polymorphing.

"You worthless humans! How... how dare you do this to me, an Incarnation of Sardonyx!" Ignis angrily shouted after turning into a girl, and her golden eyes shone like a lizard's.

In the end, it was useless.

Swoosh-

Rain poured down from the sky, and Unsa blocked the dungeon’s entrance.

"Ssss-!"

Since her greatest weapon, her fire, had been sealed, Ignis was—just as Rosa had said—nothing but a big lizard.

Sardonyx was skilled with both magic and mana, but Ignis was just a fragment of her.

"-!" As Duraþrór raised its head and cried out, vines rose from the ground again.

The lava boiling within the dungeon had already cooled and turned ash-gray like the sky.

Tap, tap.

Aventino walked forward with his greatsword to deliver his judgment.

Swoosh-

Ignis raised her head.

"If all of the Incarnations vanish, Sardonyx will wake up... You know that, right?"

* * *

* * *

Despite Ignis's warning, a shortsword with something written in an ancient language on its blade came out of Aventino's Pocket.

"Do you recognize this weapon?"

Ignis clenched her teeth and shook her head.

"I don't."

"So there are things not even you, a dragon, know... Well, that’s understandable. This is an object from another dimension, obtained from the Tower."

Aventino spoke in a low voice to ensure only Ignis could hear him. His atmosphere and way of speaking were different from his usual self.

"I planned to use it on Sardonyx... But with many eyes watching, the chances of that plan succeeding will probably decrease."

Aventino pierced Ignis's heart.

"Agh...!"

It wasn’t her heart being pierced that truly pained her. Rather, it was the sensation of being dragged into the shortsword as if it were a black hole.

Ignis was sucked up into a single point where the sword had pierced her.

BOOM-

Ignis turned into a jewel and fell to the ground.

"Aventino! Are you done? Why did it take so long?"

As Ignis disappeared, Rosa dismissed the spirits and ran toward Aventino.

"I'm sorry, Rosa. I was testing a new weapon..."

"Ah... That shortsword?"

Rosa looked confused for a moment, but she soon shouted in surprise.

"Th-this is a dragon's heart!"

Aventino silently looked at her as she picked up the jewel.

"We got lucky from the start!"

Tap, tap.

Aventino approached Rosa from the back.

"This shortsword was made to gather light. It seems like it was created to use incantations related to stars."

"Is that a problem? We got a dragon heart! I wasn't expecting much, but..."

Rosa’s eyes were shining with delight, and Aventino kept calmly talking.

"But now it's been modified to gather mana instead of light."

The sword had gathered the dragon’s mana and condensed it into something no different from a dragon’s heart.

Rosa didn't seem interested in Aventino's story.

"Something boring like that—"

"Huh...?"

That changed when Aventino's shortsword pierced Rosa's stomach.

Rosa looked down at the shortsword jutting from her stomach with a confused expression. Although she was a professional, Aventino's betrayal stopped her thoughts in their tracks.

"Wh-why?" She mumbled in confusion.

Aventino gave a disappointed reply. "As expected, it only works once. I'm sure you would've been a great catalyst."

Paf!

Rosa collapsed as Aventino pulled the shortsword out.

"A-Aventino? W... Why?"

Instead of answering, Aventino raised his hands to his face and channeled his mana; then he changed into someone else.

Rosa was a rank 7 hunter, so she quickly realized who he was.

"I don't want to kill you. I just came to get this."

He was Rebellion's leader, Nameless.

As the brown-haired man picked up the jewel, Rosa made a pained expression and mumbled, "You! But... even if you transformed into Aventino, how did you copy his Trait…?"

Nameless smiled at the confused Rosa. "Rosa? Rather than worrying about that... You should think of a way to defeat Sardonyx. It won’t be long before she appears."

Clang-

Nameless threw the sword to the floor, opened a black portal, and disappeared.

She'd thought they'd managed to subjugate Ignis, but they'd lost two rank 7 hunters.

"Rebellion...!" Rosa angrily shouted through clenched teeth as the rain continued to pour down on her.

done.co