Genius Regressor Makes Mythic Items

Chapter 88. Squama Circle (2)

TL: xLordFifth
ED/PR: The reader

Swish!

Like a mace attached to chains, A thick tongue lashes through the air.

Kim Shimun, with over 50% completion of [Black Panther’s Physique], dodges Drahel’s tongue with ghost-like agility.

“You rat!”

But could it be for no reason that he is the leader of a superior dragon race?

Unlike the previous drags, crackle crack.

Despite missing its target, Drahel’s tongue, bouncy as a rubber ball, frantically chases after Kim Shimun.

“Tch.”

Annoyed, Kim Shimun quickens his pace.

Normally, he would kick such a tongue away and counterattack, hiss.

But, due to the poison—a trait of the superior dragon race Drag, the poison that hasn’t been released due to Kim Shimun’s overwhelming force now fully coats Drahel’s tongue.

It was a risk to strike and counter.

Kim Shimun frowns.

‘This means I have to use achievement points again…’

Though he had about 20,000 achievement points saved, the three Astrape he used in the battle against Gonggyerun and others already weighed on him.

‘I want to minimize achievement losses if possible.’

From the World Tree’s growth buff to the Obsidian Tablet and Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Kim Shimun sees spending achievement points now as an unfortunate necessity, considering he has a mountain of things they could be used for later.

As if sensing Kim Shimun’s predicament, “Kahaha! Run all you want, but you can’t escape my tongue!”

Drahel continues to swing his tongue, laughing maniacally.

Behind the scene, “Here they come!”

“It’s a Drag! And a Dvali too!”

“Start with the long-range attacks!”

Behind the corpse of the giant golem that was breached, the counterattack of the previously stalled supply troops was calculated.

Fortunately, the large monsters, Grrr…

The giant poison toads had not joined the battle.

“I’ll hold off the Drag! Get Dayna treated first!”

A man courageously standing at the forefront of the main forces, Choi Jinsu deflects the incoming tongue of the Drag while shouting.

Kim Shimun’s eyes slightly sparkle at this.

‘As expected of the Beast King. With him, the main forces are secure.’

Suitable for someone destined to become a high-ranker, Choi Jinsu bravely deals with the situation, a scene even Gold ranks would dread.

Kim Shimun glances over at Dayna, surrounded by healers, with a hint of regret.

‘If only Dayna had been alive, none of this would have been necessary.’

He hadn’t expected the powerful Dayna to be taken down like that.

Swish!

Kim Shimun continues to dodge the rapidly attacking tongue, surveying the chaotic surroundings.

‘Now that I think about it, this situation is quite different from the usual poisoned supply routes.’

The appearance of an upper-class dragon species Drag is understandable.

Usually, poisoned supply routes are notorious even in Platinum-rank maps, And upper-class dragon species Drag indeed start appearing from the upper ranks of Platinum.

However, “How long do you plan on running, you rat!”

Swish.

Kim Shimun had never seen a Drag named Drahel, who downed even the Dark Elf Dayna.

In reality, -Wow! That tongue’s freakishly fast, lol. It’s gonna be a mess if it hits?

-Lol, the tongue is insane. If you’re not agile-focused in combat, dodging is out of the question?

-And Kim Shimun, a Gold magic user, pulls it off?

-The venom on the tongue is no joke either. Seems more potent than regular Drags.

-When I got matched in the poisoned supply route, I never saw such a Drag?

-Yeah, I’ve been here a few times and never encountered one.

Even the Platinum-ranked spectators express their doubts about Drahel’s appearance.

Kim Shimun clicks his tongue as the tongue attacks grow more intense.

“Tch. Can’t be helped.”

Achievement points can always be gathered again.

As Kim Shimun mumbled this, he snapped his fingers right away.

Krrrrung.

A bolt of lightning struck down beside Kim Shimun.

“Kegel!”

Drahel was pierced through the tongue by the falling lightning.

“My tongue! Huk! Huk!”

He hastily grabbed his tongue, blowing on the steaming area to cool it down.

It wasn’t an overreaction, after all.

Zzzuk.

The hole in his tongue quickly healed.

It was indeed the renowned regenerative ability of the Drags, famous even among superior dragonic beings.

Once his tongue was fully regenerated.

“You! How dare you attack my tongue….”

Drahel was about to roar in anger, but that was it.

Zzajak.

“Ahhh!”

He hastily dodged another bolt of lightning that flew at him with incredible speed.

The power of those lightning bolts had been demonstrated by his underlings.

Then, Pazzik!

Zzajak.

Continuous streams of lightning poured from the Astrape wielded by Kim Shimun.

This was a completely different situation than before, which had been solely about dodging.

“Damn it! How can he keep unleashing such powerful lightning… Wait. Could it be!”

Drahel’s eyes widened as he continued to dodge nimbly despite his bulky body.

“Ah, Astrape?!”

He realized the identity of the weapon that ceaselessly emitted lightning.

And what followed was, “It can’t be! There’s no way that arrogant Zeus would allow a mere human to wield his weapon!”

Denial.

Drahel’s large eyes scanned the Astrape frantically.

‘Now that I think about it, its shape is odd, too? The Astrape I know was much longer and more splendid.’

Moreover, ‘If that’s really the Astrape…’

As a ‘Draconic’ who had broken the limits of his kind through awakening and a member of the secret society Squama Unum that only they could enter, Drahel had once witnessed Zeus’s Astrape on a mythic battlefield laid out by the Dragon Emperors.

If it was as powerful as he remembered, ‘By now, I should have been reduced to a pile of ashes.’

Even a Draconic like Drahel should have been incinerated in one strike.

But this Astrape, Pazzik.

“Ke… Eugh?”

Even after taking a direct hit.

‘It doesn’t hurt that much?’

There wasn’t much damage.

This could be attributed to the intrinsic resilience of dragons, but, ‘It either isn’t the Astrape, or it’s been significantly weakened for some reason.’

Certainly, there was another, bigger reason.

Uuung.

Drahel glanced at the necklace barely clinging to his thick neck.

‘The artifact given to me by Lord Apophis. Ah, I had this.’

The third Dragon Emperor, Apophis.

This necklace, personally bestowed by the Dragon Emperor he served, provided a significant immunity to electro-attributes.

Realizing this, ‘Could it be that the Emperor knew all along this fellow would wield lightning?’

Why else would the wise third Emperor choose to give him an electro-attribute-related artifact among many?

“Kh, Khahaha!”

Drahel abruptly burst into laugher, causing Kim Shimun, who was about to swing the Astrape again, to tilt his head in confusion.

“That’s it! That’s how it was!”

The corners of Drahel’s wide mouth lifted so high they almost split his face in half.

“The Emperor knew everything from the start. He was aware of all these events!”

Had he concluded that all of this was within the Emperor’s prediction?

“Truly magnificent! My victory had been foreseen by him all along! In that case…”Drakel acted as if he had already clenched victory.

“I shouldn’t need to run away like this.”

Halting his ongoing evasion, he walked straight toward Kim Shimun.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden?”

The walking target.

Kim Shimun, unable to hold back a snigger at this ludicrous behavior, immediately swung his Astrape.

However, on Drakel’s side, “Haha! That tickles! So ticklish!”

Astonishingly, Drakel wasn’t affected by Astrape’s lightning as he was before.

Instead, boastfully, “Go on! Do it more!”

He spread his arms wide, shaking his bulky body even more.

This caused Kim Shimun’s brows to furrow slightly.

“What’s going on? It’s not having any effect again?”

Having faced Gongryul in battle before, Kim Shimun was somewhat familiar with attack nullification.

After all, any mage was bound to experience magic annulment at some point.

But unlike with Gongryul, “Why aren’t you shooting more of that fancy static electricity, huh?”

Drakel showed complete immunity to the lightning of Astrape not once but twice in sequence.

Kim Shimun, backpedaling, swung his Astrape a few more times, but

On Drakel’s side, “Ha ha ha! Ticklish! So very ticklish!”

The only thing that came back was Drakel’s sneer.

That’s when

[Constellation Zeus wiggles his brows.]

[Constellation Black Goat explodes in ‘kkkk! X! Static, lol’ laughter.]

[Constellation Zeus supports you with a slightly flushed face.]

[Achievement Points 2,000 have been acquired.]

Suddenly, there was unexpected support from Zeus.

Perhaps, ‘It might be suggesting I overspend Achievement Points for a more potent use of Astrape.’

This could have just been given as a mission.

‘He must be quite annoyed.’

To express his discontent to the extent of direct support.

Fulfilling Zeus’s wish wasn’t difficult.

However, ‘It’s a shame to burn through all 2,000 points.’

The inefficiency of the act was the issue.

‘Isn’t there a way to handle Drakel without spending all the points?’

Kim Shimun, wishing to save even a bit of Achievement Points, paused his attacks to ponder.

“Ha, it seems you’ve finally realized your limit? Just wait there quietly.”

Interpreting it as fear, Drakel cracked his thick fingers, moving slowly like a predator with its prey in sight.

Unlike such movements, to counter any potential escape by Kim Shimun, “Yaaah!”

He opened his mouth wide, spurting a dense poison mist in all directions.

Mischievously, “Heh heh! I’ll personally show you what it feels like to be a rat trapped in my poison!”

Kim Shimun’s surroundings became enveloped in poison mist.

“Where shall I start? An arm? A leg? No.”

Unable to flee, “Given you caught the great Dragon Emperor’s attention, I’ll start by breaking each of your fingers.”

It seemed Drakel intended to torture him alive.

Contrary to Drakel’s carefully crafted threats, “Right. That’s what I should do.”

Kim Shimun’s situation was entirely different.

‘Just finishing with Astrape would do, right?’

Ultimately, what Zeus wanted was

to punish the arrogant draconic brat with his own artifact.

So, ‘I can smash that artifact with another weapon and finish with Astrape.’

Just so happens, in this scenario, And perfectly fitting for Drakel’s weakness, wasn’t there a suitable weapon?

‘The Philosopher’s Stone.’-Mm-hmm. I always welcome a good challenge.

A bright voice.

[Your Alchemy Energy is insufficient to proceed with the alchemization.]
[To establish the necessary equivalent exchange with the Philosopher’s Stone, 500 achievement points are required.]
[ Will you accept? (Yes/No)]
Accompanied by the familiar prompt, Shimun naturally chose yes.

Mmm.

The equivalent exchange of achievement points gathered at Shimun’s fingertips.

At its peak, snap.

Shimun’s fingers flicked.

Warm.

No.

Whoosh!

A murderous heat spread around Shimun.

“Wha, what?!”

Drahel hastily ducked away from the sudden influx of heat.

Despite his preference for the humid heat of tropical swamps, he had an utterly drag-down reaction to fire.

That startled heart turned into anger.

“What is this sudden heat about!”

His shout turned into a bellow.

But that was all.

“What, what is that?!”

Drahel’s anger didn’t last long.

Of course.

Hiss!

A dense poison fog instantly melted away.

It was none other than Laevateinn that effortlessly burnt away the Draconic poison.

“Le, Laevateinn?!”

The ruler of Muspelheim and a high-ranking Constellation, it belonged to Surtr.

“This makes no sense!”

Drahel exclaimed in shock.

And rightly so.

“Laevateinn! Laevateinn!!”

As a member of the Squama Circle, following the Three Dragon Emperors, Drahel had encountered many high Constellations.

To his knowledge, “Constellation Surtr was definitely dead!”

Constellation Surtr was a Constellation that had met its end.

Of course, Drahel was speaking the truth.

‘As expected, a dead Constellation draws no attention.’

Shimun, holding a blood-red sword, stared into the void.

Unlike other Constellations, which showed immediate interest when their weapons were forged, Constellation Surtr sent no message.

This was similar to when Shimun had forged from Chronos’s sand, a Constellation already perished.

Thus, it was clear Surtr was a dead Constellation.

However, [Constellation Odin frowns at your alchemization of Laevateinn.]

[Constellation Black Goat chuckles, ‘Oh dear, lighten up. It’s better if our child uses it. It might even increase your chances of survival.’]

[Constellation Odin reluctantly nods, ‘Well… that might be true.’]

Only Constellation Odin showed a mysterious reaction.

Though curious, “This is ridiculous! It can’t be!”

There was something else that needed to be dealt with first.

Shimun held the sword, emanating heat that created mirages around, Yet infinitely gentle warmth to him.

“Just, just a moment!”

He aimed the sword at Drahel, who was hastily shaking his head.

Then, “Burn.”

Uttering that incantation, “Laevateinn.”

In the moment he swung the sword, the blood-red blade caught fire and

Whoosh!!

The heavens and the earth burned as one.