Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

Chapter 307: The Successor (6)

Crashhhhh!

The breath of the Ice Dragon, Song Jiseon, descended like a massive waterfall.

It was no wonder—her upper body alone stretched over 100 meters long.

Shatterrrrr!

The force of the icy breath, which froze everything in its path and cascaded from 100 meters above, was beyond imagination.

Of course, the fact that Yeongwoo was blocking this power shocked everyone present.

“Are you insane? Trying to kill everyone here?”

As Yeongwoo raised his mythical shield, Aratubank, a protective barrier formed in a gentle arc around him.

One of Aratubank\'s unique effects, “Immunity,” had been activated.

【Immunity】

| This shield cannot be destroyed and can block most non-physical damage and mental attacks.

And above them...

Crackkkkk!

The enraged breath of the Ice Dragon poured down like a landslide.

—I will erase everything...!

The fierce attack was as if she intended to grind all of Gwangjin-gu to dust.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo glanced at Jeonggu, who had taken refuge under the shield.

“Seems like her memories of my father are pretty terrible, huh?”

Surprisingly, Jeonggu nodded without much resistance.

“I guess so...”

After all, Jeonggu had no real say in this.

The only wrong Jeonggu had suffered was that someone claiming to be his son had come at him with a sword, but Song Jiseon had given birth to Yeongwoo herself.

Unlike Jeonggu, Song Jiseon had been tormented by “that event” even before the reset.

“What now?”

As Yeongwoo held the shield for a while, he asked, to which Jeonggu looked up and replied, “Huh? What?”

“Mother. Isn’t it your responsibility to handle this, since you\'re the father?”

Crasssshhhh!

Even as they spoke, Song Jiseon’s wrath poured down from the sky like divine punishment, and in the midst of the sound of shattering ice, Jeonggu squeezed in his line.

“What... what do you mean? She’s your mother!”

“What the hell? Did she have me alone? You were her partner, too, weren’t you?”

“......”

Partner.

Jeonggu was momentarily at a loss for words at Yeongwoo’s perfectly fitting expression.

Sure, they weren’t married, nor had they made any promises about their future, so she wasn’t his wife.

But calling her a girlfriend didn’t seem quite right either.

Their connection was only that one night several decades ago.

“Well... yeah. Partner.”

Jeonggu, now looking somber, repeated the word “partner” quietly.

Then, suddenly, his face hardened, and he glared at Yeongwoo.

“Hey, listen. She might be my partner, but she’s your mother, so technically, you’re closer to her than I am!”

“What?”

“I mean, go talk to Jiseon. Get her to calm down!”

“You cowardly bastard.”

“What?”

As Yeongwoo and Jeonggu traded insults, the Master Bang who had crawled under the shield pointed outside.

—Brother, that looks dangerous.

“Huh?”

Yeongwoo peeked around the side of the shield and saw that Song Jiseon—his mother—had raised her forepaw for the first time.

Crackkkkk.

“Huh?”

At first, he thought she was about to strike with her paw, but then...

Whoooshhh!

A bright light began to gather in the sky.

“She’s going to launch a barrage!”

Yeongwoo realized his mother was about to make her move.

Fweeeeeeeeeee!

Indeed, from where Song Jiseon hovered high in the sky, beams of light were pointing straight down, followed by a massive surge of energy.

“Ugh! Y-Yeongwoo!”

Gripping his son’s shoulder desperately, Jeonggu clung to him with all his might.

However, Cosmic Etiquette over Yeongwoo’s shoulders, along with his full Vesedel armor, shrugged off Jeonggu’s grasp.

“Argh...!”

At that moment, Jeonggu had a realization.

Even if he died here at Jiseon’s hand, his son would surely survive.

But his survival instincts still pushed him to ask desperately:

“C-can you block that? You can, right?”

Even Yeongwoo himself...

Glance.

...turned to the Master Bang, who was standing beside him.

“Master Bang, can Aratubank withstand this?”

But before the Martial Artist could respond, another massive spear of energy slammed into Aratubank\'s protective barrier.

BOOOOM!

An ominous sound echoed from the other side of the barrier, but everyone, including Yeongwoo, was still alive.

—O-of course. The ancestors left Aratubank to protect us.

Master Bang wiped the sweat from his brow.

Then Yeongwoo, gripping the illegitimate sword tightly, turned back toward his mother.

“I’ll try to distract her. All of you, get out of here. You’re just in the way.”

But Jeonggu gently grabbed his son’s right arm, the one holding the sword, and spoke seriously:

“What’s your plan? You’re not thinking of doing something to your mother, are you? That’s not right.”

“You still have feelings for her, I see.”

“I’m doing this for you. She’s still your mother, after all. Not my wife, but...”

Jeonggu, for all it was worth, was still Yeongwoo’s father.

So he was trying to give his son some advice.

“But Mother’s too strong. If she really tries to kill us, I won’t have a choice.”

If it weren’t for Yeongwoo, Seoul would have already been destroyed the moment Song Jiseon appeared.

Her power was beyond what a mere “Strongest Sword” could handle.

‘What kind of monster appears just one week after the last one? What’s going to show up tomorrow?’

As Yeongwoo frowned at the thought, another spear of energy formed in the sky.

Fweeeeeeeeeee!

“Mother! Are you really going to kill both your son and your former partner? We’re still family, aren’t we?”

Yeongwoo hid behind Aratubank, shouting up at the sky.

Enraged, Song Jiseon bared her enormous fangs.

—You damn bastard!

Without a moment\'s hesitation, she plunged her spear down again.

Kwaaaak!

"It\'s coming again!"

Despite Yeongwoo\'s urgent cry, all he had to do was hold up his shield.

Thunk!

Once again, an enormous pressure fell on the protective barrier, but neither Yeongwoo nor the Aratubank budged.

"Whew."

Calling out to the Negwig who had been running around in the distance, Yeongwoo then spoke to his father, Master Bang, and the two slaves.

"Ride Negwig and escape. I\'ll handle my mother somehow."

Immediately, as another ominous presence surged from above, Jeonggu and Master Bang silently climbed onto the Negwig.

"Yeongwoo! Take care of Jiseon!"

From atop the swiftly fleeing Negwig, Jeonggu left behind an ultimately useless plea. Naturally, this drew attention.

—Where the hell does he think he\'s going?

Song Jiseon, the ice dragon, turned her massive head and couldn\'t help but notice the high-speed escape of the Negwig.

To her eyes, it looked like her son was being abandoned as they fled.

—Stop right there!

In the end, Song Jiseon, having resolved to put her past to rest once and for all, opened her jaws wide and began preparing a breath attack.

At that moment, Yeongwoo launched his first-ever attack against his mother.

"Forgive me, Mother! But abandoning your child is no small sin either!"

Taak!

As Yeongwoo swiftly moved forward, removing his guard, Song Jiseon detected his fast, albeit small, presence and rolled her eyes.

—This little brat... he\'s quick...

But before she could finish her thought, Yeongwoo\'s sword aimed directly at one of Song Jiseon’s arms, which was resting on the ground.

Sssssssh!

Especially notable was Yeongwoo\'s sword, Bastard , a weapon meant for those of lower status.

【challenger】

|Combat abilities increase dramatically when fighting beings of higher rank.

Thanks to the Challenger effect, Yeongwoo\'s amplified attack power was something even the dragon Song Jiseon could clearly feel.

—...!

Suddenly aware of her son’s enhanced presence, Song Jiseon’s eyes widened as The Bastard\'s blade slashed across her foot.

Ssssssh!

As expected, even his mother\'s body wasn\'t quite at the level of "myth."

‘Her size makes it easy to hit no matter how I swing!’

As Yeongwoo admired his mother\'s enormous form and prepared to swing his sword again, Song Jiseon\'s entire body, covered in semi-transparent scales, emitted a dazzling light.

"...Ugh! Is she transforming?"

The light was so blinding that Yeongwoo could barely keep his eyes open, but even then, he stabbed The Bastard into the spot where he\'d swung earlier.

Thwack!

"Are you really going all out against your own son? Are you actually trying to kill me?"

Finally, from within the brilliance, Song Jiseon\'s voice echoed out.

—If you truly are my son, then you\'re my biggest mistake... no, my flaw!

Mistake.

"......!"

At that word, Yeongwoo could only grit his teeth.

After all, he had heard the same words from his maternal uncle: "You are the Jinhyeon family\'s mistake."

"You guys are making a big mistake with me."

With these words, Yeongwoo yanked the sword from where it was embedded.

At the same time, Song Jiseon\'s massive form began to shrink rapidly.

\'She\'s doing it.\'

Swoooosh!

Polymorph.

His mother, like his maternal uncle Song Taeho, was capable of transformation.

Swish!

Now, standing before him was Song Jiseon, transformed into a swordsman standing at a towering height of 3 meters.

Clad in grayish-white armor with long white hair flowing in the air, Song Jiseon reappeared in a form that made it clear she was an opponent no one should dare to face.

Her helmet was adorned with a dragon head design resembling her form as an ice dragon, and in her right hand, she wielded a massive sword seemingly made of ice.

Thud!

After completing her transformation, Song Jiseon thrust her sword into the ground, and an icy coldness shot up like a fountain.

Sssshhhh!

;Phew, her aura is different from Uncle’s.’

Yeongwoo had encountered many powerful opponents before, but this was the first time an enemy had looked this overwhelmingly strong.

It made sense, given that the power in her former massive form was now concentrated in this body.

And then, suddenly—

Swoooosh!

Two beams of light shot from the direction of Gangnam-gu and fell directly on both Yeongwoo and Song Jiseon.

Bang! Bang!

—What is that?

"......?"

For the first time, both of them were simultaneously shocked, and the source of the light soon revealed itself.

「Due to the detection of a dragon in the area, the Guardian Dragon function has been activated.」

"Huh?"

【Guardian Dragon】

This was a special function tied to the iron core of the Toma.

【Guardian Dragon】

|Increases all #dragon-type abilities by 20% within the reinforced area.

\'Wait, why is this affecting me too?\'

Looking up, Yeongwoo saw a dragon-shaped mark above his head.

It signified that his stats had been boosted by 20% since he was currently classified as a "dragon" in Metal Seoul.

Song Jiseon was just as confused by this fact.

—Why are you classified as a dragon?

In other words, she was asking how he had inherited the privileges of a powerful family.

In response, Yeongwoo carefully placed his hand over his heart.

\'Uncle?\'

The only explanation was that he carried the blood of his maternal uncle Song Taeho, who had left behind the heart of a great dragon.

"Ah... so blood is thicker than water, after all?"

As Yeongwoo looked up at the sky with eyes filled with madness, dark clouds began to gather within the icy heavens of Gwangjin-gu.

—...?

This caused Song Jiseon to look up as well, and soon she saw it too.

Krazzzaaat!

A storm of iron rain began pouring down, breaking through the cold sky.

This was the dragon etiquette tied to the heart of a great dragon, Iron Rain —a strange weather phenomenon.

"Mother! Uncle sends his regards!"

—What?

"He says, \'Don\'t make your son too angry! I learned that the hard way!\'"

—Wha... What is he talking about, this madman?

As Song Jiseon gripped her sword tighter, taking a battle stance, her son, Jeong Yeongwoo, lunged at her like a demon.

"Mother! It\'s time to face your karma!"