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The sound of leaves being trampled echoed loudly.

Despite moving at a fairly fast pace, no other significant sounds were heard. Moreover, they had the luxury of regulating their breathing, so there was no major strain.

“We will rest once we reach that ridge!”

There was no particular response to Fernand’s shout.

It wasn’t because of the accumulated fatigue from traveling for more than a day. The real reason their conversation had dwindled and their movements had become more urgent was due to a whisper that came to Leeha.

‘Bluebeard has appeared. Bahamut is injured. Bluebeard also seems to have been injured.’

News that Bluebeard, Igor, and Pyro had appeared in the Frostwind Mountains.

At dawn, Leeha had immediately relayed the information to Blaugrunn and Ram Hwajung.

Bailephus, who also received reports from the dragons, had shared a detailed picture of the situation with Leeha.

‘Lightning. Not visible. Fast. Flash. These were the only words I heard, so I had no idea what it was about.’

Ram Hwajung had summarized the battle between Bahamut and Bluebeard succinctly yet critically. However, it was too concise for Leeha to fully grasp.

‘A speed so quick it’s nearly invisible… I thought it was merely an automatic response to long-range attacks. But to handle close-range attacks in that manner? Damn, so how should we go about this?’

A speed nearly impossible to track with the naked eye.

This was also made clear through Blaugrunn and Bailephus’ descriptions. It suggested that no user could easily face such speed.

How could they possibly deal with that?

For long-range dealer jobs, it was an almost insurmountable dilemma.

‘And it’s not just that. Pyro is also…’

Flame Demon(炎魔).

‘Is that the name of his second job change? Or just a skill name?’

Another name for the heir of the 2nd Human-Demon War hero, the Flamesorcerer.

A legendary figure who had charged ahead, cloaking himself with the breath of two dragons!

His attacks were so formidable that hardly anyone could respond effectively.

Although Pyro hadn’t merged the dragon’s breath to use it, he was still equally threatening.

‘Creating an applied version mixed with magic energy(魔氣). Tsk, if only he were an ally, it would have been so convenient.’

And what about Igor?

He fought toe-to-toe with Zelreja, said to be the strongest in hand-to-hand combat among the metal dragon clan’s Steel Dragons.

‘Well… Is it really that surprising?’

After all, he had already dealt with numerous Chromatic Dragons near Minis. This level of competence might be expected.

However, the problem was.

‘That Steel Dragon was younger than Arzenmacht but more skilled.’

Steel Dragon Zelreja.

According to Blaugrunn, ‘In pure hand-to-hand combat, there is no one in the metal dragon clan’s Adult-class who can match her, and she can even contend with some Ancient Dragons.’

This meant that the physical abilities of Igor in his night form were at least at the Adult Dragon level, and comparable to the Ancient level.

By now, Leeha also felt like his head was about to explode.

He had managed to hunt an Adult Dragon himself, but it was a Lich Dragon created by Faust, and it was still in the process of transforming back into a dragon at the time.

“Huuuh… Huuuuu…”

It had been possible because it was a sniping situation; if it were a direct 1:1 confrontation with full awareness from both sides, it would be a different story.

Having heard Leeha’s account, Luger and Kidd were also reflecting on the events of the previous night in the Frostwind Mountains.

‘Still, we have the upper hand. I can handle an Adult Dragon myself. Hmph, if a few more show up then…’

‘In the worst-case scenario, if I just keep their attention on me, then…’

However, their perspectives slightly diverged from Leeha’s.

Luger and Kidd exchanged glances. Their eyes focused on one person.

‘Ha Leeha will catch them.’

‘Ha Leeha will hit the target.’

Suddenly, Leeha, finding himself the subject of two people’s attention, blinked.

“Huh? What? Why are both of you suddenly looking at me?”

“Cough! It’s nothing. You fool.”

“When did I ever look at you? Don’t be so presumptuous.”

Luger and Kidd, feeling awkward, quickly ran ahead. They had already reached the ridge that Fernand had pointed out.

“How much farther from our current position?”

Fernand broke off a branch and began drawing a map on the ground.

With just a few strokes of the branch, he created an impressive sketch based on the surrounding mountain ranges, notable trees, rocks, and clusters of plants he had discovered.

In this area, where no maps existed, this sketch was the only useful reference.

Naturally, all the users were trying to memorize it.

“From this point, it shouldn’t take more than three hours.”

“Three hours… We spent all of yesterday moving and half of today as well. So, if we had moved without resting, we could have made it within 24 hours. Since the direction is this way―”

Sliiiide.

Fernand nodded and drew a line based on Elizabeth’s words.

At the end of the line was nothing.

Bare ground.

However, all the users staring at the ground felt like they had discovered a new world.

“Let’s take a short break and have a sip of water before continuing!”

They were expected to arrive around 3 PM.

Everyone was excited at this moment, but Leeha felt a bit of regret.

“Is it today?”

“What?”

Elizabeth, who had been staring at Leeha’s face, spoke up.

Seeing his confused expression, she gestured towards the Black Bass.

“Black.”

She mouthed silently.

Charging rate.

Leeha, who had been dazed, slowly began to smile.

Feeling regret because the charging rate dropped? The charging rate was still at 49.9%.

Losing 10% was painful, but as long as the Black Bass wasn’t asleep, conversations were still possible.

So, what did he need to do right now?

“Maybe… we should have a little chat?”

Though he was looking at Elizabeth, his hand pressed firmly on the Black Bass’s breech.

Elizabeth smiled and replied.

“Sure.”

* * *

“What? I died? Give me that thing for a moment.”

“W-wait! Not everyone knows Black has woken up yet…”

Elizabeth tried to take the rifle from Leeha, but he didn’t surrender it easily.

They had intentionally walked a bit away from the group for this conversation, but Luger and Kidd had already noticed and were glancing their way.

“But you also called it ‘Black’?”

“Well, my name’s Bess. I didn’t want to give my name to something with such a sinister voice. Black really hates that name. But it’s not my problem.”

She spoke nonchalantly.

Leeha suddenly felt like he understood why the Black Bass hated the name ‘Black’.

In the past, what was it like when she was Black Bass’s partner?

“So, how did you cross the eighth stage?”

“The eighth stage?”

“That, moving beyond 49.9% to the next level.”

“Ah! You call that the eighth stage?”

“Well, not exactly… It’s just the sequence I gave it.”

Strictly speaking, it was a condition inside the seventh quest. Leeha felt a bit embarrassed when Elizabeth found the name he used interesting.

Her expression became more serious from that moment.

“The final one beyond 49.9%… It can’t be done by normal shooting.”

“Then how?”

“I maintained the 49.9% state for quite a long time. Even knowing only about the Lope continent at that time. Yet, I could never surpass that last step.”

“Ah…”

Despite achieving 49.9% in the old continent and having it decrease by 10% every five days in Middle Earth time, she managed to maintain the charge rate for a “long period.”

To think she could do that back when there were no rare monsters of the New Continent or even vampires. Leeha was once again impressed by Elizabeth.

As if she had read his expression, Elizabeth asked,

“Do you know when I first achieved the 50% charge?”

Leeha gazed at her face for a moment. What event could have caused her seemingly unchanging charge rate to surge?

There was probably only one “major event” Elizabeth had experienced.

“The 2nd Human-Demon War… It must have been more than just ordinary monsters. At a minimum, it had to be monsters on the same level as Toon or higher, or maybe—”

“The Demon King’s Fragment itself, that’s right.”

Elizabeth looked at Leeha with admiration. Leeha asked excitedly,

“Did you defeat a high-ranking officer? The only Demon King’s Fragment I’ve seen in operation was Bluebeard! Were there others apart from Toon or Bathory? Or an officer from Ghibrid or Pyrot-Cocri?”

As Leeha asked in an urgent tone, Elizabeth laughed softly.

“Oh dear, maybe I need to retract my statement about the right answer?”

“Pardon? Didn’t you just say it was correct?”

“I only mentioned what should have followed your conjecture a bit prematurely.”

“What should have followed… the Demon King’s Fragment!?”

The word Elizabeth responded with was unmistakable.

Due to his slightly raised voice, the users and NPCs around them turned their attention to Leeha and Elizabeth.

After calming them down with hand gestures, Leeha lowered his voice again.

“That’s… impossible! The Demon King’s Fragment! Increasing Black Bass’s charge rate requires killing the target… Aren’t the three Demon King’s Fragments all alive? Or maybe there’s a fourth one—”

“What? Haha, your imagination is quite vivid. It’s true that there are only three Demon King’s Fragments. But do you understand why they’re called such? They’re special. They create monsters, fuse and separate them at will… You know that, right?”

Elizabeth emphasized their special nature by explaining the Demon King’s Fragments.

The explanation was meant to underscore their uniqueness. That’s why such special monsters made it possible.

“So, you mean… just hitting them…”

Before he could finish, Elizabeth nodded.

You don’t have to kill them.

There exist beings that increase the charge rate simply by being hit. And it wasn’t just an ordinary charge rate.

‘The wall to surpass 50%… I see.’

Entities that could help break the 49.9% barrier!

Leeha smiled meaningfully.

Then he whispered softly to Black Bass’s bolt.

“You said you couldn’t tell me what sacrifices I needed to break the 50% barrier? You claimed not to know… Something about it changing depending on growth, and yet it was something so simple—”

—Foolish… You think it’s simple. Contractor, you may have awakened me quickly, but you must also understand that you lack experience. The moment you hit the Demon King’s Fragment with a shot… you might find yourself in a situation where I lose my contractor. It might be faster to find ‘another sacrifice’. The most certain method you’ve developed while charging till now…—

“Oh, you didn’t want to tell me because I might die?”

—Just to avoid falling asleep again… Hahaha…—

“Of course.”

In the end, he realized there were two conditions for breaking the 50% barrier.