Magic Is Learned For Nothing [EN]: Chapter 490

Endless Despair 2

The Dragon Lord and the Ancient-class dragons frowned deeply.

“That damned thing! She has no manners whatsoever!”

Shooting Star, the eldest of the Gold Dragons, cursed without pause.

The other dragons felt the same. If the Dragon Lord or Ancient-class dragons weren’t present, they would have hurled every curse they knew at Preetia.

“Who the hell are her parents? Are they here?”

Shooting Star asked the Dragon Lord, his voice raised.

“They’re dead.”

“Huh?”

Dragons had lifespans so unimaginably long that parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and even great-great-grandparents were often still alive. They didn’t simply gasp their last words and die of old age like humans.

[The following is a satirical take on human family drama, contrasting it with dragon customs.]

“I will divide my inheritance! 50% to the eldest son, and the rest to the remaining children!”

The father dies—

The remaining children, dissatisfied with the inheritance, imprison the eldest son and extort his wealth. The eldest son’s child barely escapes and vows revenge.

The age range is similar to the children of uncles and aunts.

They deliberately seduce them.

It’s a complete mess.

It was a mess, but such things happened frequently in the human world.

However, dragons don’t die like that. They remain magnificent, male and female, until the end.

When their lifespan ends, they simply turn into light and disappear. Their magic is scattered into the world, heralding the birth of new life.

That was the auspicious passing that dragons referred to.

That was why Dragon Hearts, Dragon Bones, and Dragon Needles were traded at exorbitant prices.

Because you could never obtain them through a dragon’s peaceful death.

It was the same as saying that to obtain a Dragon Heart, which supposedly granted immortality to humans, you had to kill a dragon.

There had been more than one or two kingdoms that sent dragon hunters in pursuit of immortality, only to vanish without a trace.

Therefore, Preetia’s parents had died too early for her age.

“Could it be… by a Dragon Slayer?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“As far as I know…”

“As far as you know?”

“Preetia is a late child.”

Shooting Star frowned slightly. What nonsense was this again?

“My instructor is Preetia’s father.”

“No, no way?”

“That’s right. The legendary, crazy Red Dragon, Gregory. Once he lost his temper, he didn’t care if you were a dragon or not, or even from the Celestial Realm. He would grab you by the collar first. Ah, just thinking about it…”

The Dragon Lord shuddered.

Gregory was the most violent dragon in history.

He would often shout ‘Drop and give me twenty!’ to the dragons and make them do PT [physical training].

The PT exercises that humans used as if they were their own actually originated from dragons.

The same went for magic.

“Didn’t he return to nature a long time ago?”

“He did. But he got some crazy idea in his old age that he wanted to have a child, so he ate all the health tonics in the world. Preetia was the child born that way. As you can see…”

The Dragon Lord looked at Preetia.

*That bitch!*

*Why is she so strong?*

*She’s even stronger than the last time I saw her. Is a wyrm-class dragon even allowed to be that strong?*

Even for dragons, there’s such a thing as ‘age-appropriate.’ A wyrm-class dragon should only be using 9th or 10th circle magic, according to their age.

“Th-th-th-that’s legendary dimensional magic, isn’t it?”

It was unbelievable.

Preetia withstood the dragons’ bombardment without a care. The panicked dragons fired breath after breath in succession. Dozens of breaths engulfed Preetia. Even an Ancient Dragon wouldn’t be able to escape that easily.

That’s what they thought.

But…

Surprisingly, Preetia wasn’t affected at all.

“Kuhahaha! This is breath energy conversion!”

She had converted the breath into energy and transformed it into her own!

Then, a dimensional gate opened. A giant hand, at least 500 meters tall, emerged and struck the dragons with a strange hammer it was holding.

-Bbiriririk! 100 points. Converting 300 units of super magic to Preetia.

-Bbiriririk! 200 points. Converting 400 units of super magic to Preetia.

The hand holding the giant hammer swept away dozens of dragons in an instant.

No matter how popular magic was.

“How is that even possible!”

Shooting Star shouted in exasperation.

*That damned thing! She was recklessly destroying the very foundation of magic that the genre fiction world had built up.*

“What level of magic is that bitch using!”

“13th circle…”

“13th circle?”

Shooting Star let out a hollow laugh as if he couldn’t believe it. 13th circle.

The knowledge of magic that a human could obtain was up to the 9th circle. Even reaching the 9th circle required immense luck and countless hardships.

It was like this:

You’re walking down the street and kick something. You thought it was a stone, but it was gold. You used that gold to buy a lottery ticket. You won the lottery 10 times in a row.

You become incredibly wealthy.

Once you become rich, people swarm around you. Many of them are bad people. Then, some warriors appear, clean them all up, and pledge their loyalty.

“We are moved by your character.”

It turns out that you once tossed them 1 gold coin to buy food when they were hungry, as a celebration of winning the lottery.

You drink water in the mountains and it turns out to be liquid adamantium [an exceptionally rare and strong metal].

You buy a book at a used bookstore and it turns out to be a legendary martial arts manual.

Women with unparalleled beauty naturally follow you. Even if you treat them badly, they don’t leave you because they like you so much.

Eventually, even the queen falls for you.

The king hands over the queen and the kingdom, saying, “Take over this kingdom for me.”

That’s about what it takes to reach the 9th circle.

Beyond that, the human body can’t withstand it.

The same was true for dragons. It was difficult to use magic beyond the 9th circle based on age alone.

Only through painstaking effort could one acquire magic beyond the 10th circle.

Among all dragons, only the Dragon Lord could use 13th circle magic.

Ancient-class dragons could use up to 12th circle magic.

But…

That wyrm-class whelp was already using 13th circle magic?

Shit. If that whelp grew older and became an Ancient-class dragon, wouldn’t she have power surpassing even the gods?

“So, what are you planning to do?”

Shooting Star watched the rampaging Preetia for a moment before turning to the Dragon Lord.

No dragon possessed that level of ability.

It was no exaggeration to call her legendary. There was no guarantee that a dragon with that much talent would be born again even after tens of thousands of years.

The number of dragons was very small.

All together, there weren’t even a thousand.

Therefore, it was extremely rare for a mutant like Preetia to be born.

If such a powerful Preetia were to lead the dragons…

Even the Celestial Realm and the Demon Realm wouldn’t dare to treat us carelessly.

“First, we must clip her wings.”

“Clip her wings?”

“Don’t you know why we are trying to annihilate all life in the human realm?”

“The creation of a new world…”

“That’s right. But who is that new world for?”

“The Archbishop…”

“Correct. We have knelt before his power. Preetia is certainly strong, but the Archbishop far surpasses her. There is nothing to gain by catching his eye. New world or whatever, we have no choice but to subdue Preetia and make her disappear from the Archbishop’s sight.”

“So, you’re saying we have to risk the lives of our dragons to take one step forward.”

“Is there any other way?”

“Right now… no.”

“Well, then, let’s give that child a taste of bitterness and hide her away in a deep place. In the future… let’s imagine those crazy fanatics being defeated by our Preetia.”

“Act well. I don’t think the Archbishop will leave us alone if he finds out.”

“Don’t worry. Do you know what my name was when I was active in the human realm?”

“I don’t.”

“I was a movie actor. Gold Jungmin, known for his great acting.”

“Ah! Gold Jungmin. I was deeply moved by ‘Resting World’.”

“I was the dragon who popularized the phrase ‘Hey brother’ there.”

“Ah, really. I didn’t know. It’s an honor. If this is over, can I get an autograph?”

“Hehe, I understand. If this is over safely.”

The two old dragons smiled at each other and leaped into the air. They were the Dragon Lord and Shooting Star, known as the strongest among the dragons. No matter how strong Preetia was, she wouldn’t be able to withstand the combined attack of the two dragons.

But!

An unexpected event occurred.

Black tentacles seized their ankles.

Pudeudeuk-

The black tentacles instantly snapped the two old dragons’ ankles. Frowning, they quickly regenerated their ankles. They looked at the one who had launched the tentacles.

The Archbishop.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The Dragon Lord roared.

“It seems like we’ve gone as far as we can go.”

“What?”

“Our true intentions are different, aren’t they? I think this is enough.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not complete, you see.”

“So?”

“I subdued you with force, but if I tried to devour you all, there would have been extreme backlash, right?”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Look, no dragon is paying attention to me, right? I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

“What… Keuheok!”

The Dragon Lord coughed up blood. Thorns from the tentacles pierced his entire body.

In an instant, his magic defense completely crumbled.

“First…”

The Archbishop smiled brightly as he looked at the Dragon Lord and Shooting Star, who were wearing expressions of near-horror.

“The first race to be annihilated in the human realm will be the dragons. Applause!”

From the Archbishop’s entire body, thousands, tens of thousands of tentacles stretched out in all directions.

“Th-this crazy! Fire Storm!”

“You bastard! Giga Raiden!”

Hundreds of lightning bolts fell from the sky, striking the Archbishop’s tentacles. A considerable number of tentacles were shattered, but the regeneration speed was much faster.

And-

The Archbishop’s human appearance gradually transformed into something hideous and gigantic.

As black as pitch-

As ferocious-

As despairing.

The fanatics knelt down all at once and slammed their heads against the ground.

“Oh Black Dragon!”

“The Black Dragon has been resurrected!”

“Offer everything to the Black Dragon!”

The Black Dragon, transformed from the Archbishop, was so enormous that it couldn’t be compared to ordinary dragons.

It was as if a mountain was moving.

“H… Black Dragon…”

The faces of the Dragon Lord and Shooting Star turned white.

250 years ago.

The Black Dragon that had driven the continent to the brink of destruction had reappeared.

The appearance was very similar.

The aura that soared to the end of the sky was the same.

But something was different.

Yes.

The size.

At that time, the Black Dragon was about 250 meters tall. Even then, it was an enormous size.

Hundreds of thousands of victims were sacrificed to catch him. Dragons also sacrificed half of their entire race.

The Black Dragon was that strong.

But…

“What is that? Is that the same guy from back then? You said he wasn’t complete?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know either.”

The Dragon Lord shook his head.

The size of the Black Dragon, now transformed into his true form, was…

Nearly 500 meters tall.

It didn’t seem like a living creature at all.

The very existence of such an absolutely massive creature in this place was absurd.

-Kuhahahahaha!

The entire territory of the Legion trembled as if it were being torn apart by the Black Dragon’s laughter.

The fanatics collapsed, vomiting blood from the violent sound waves. They welcomed death with smiles.

-The Dragon Hearts of the dragons! Become part of me!

The Black Dragon’s true intentions were revealed.

The reason why he had kept the dragons alive until now.

He had been planning to increase his power while using the dragons.

And as soon as he judged that his power had surpassed the dragons, he revealed his true colors.

That heinous bastard.

“You! You son of a bitch!”

-Farewell…

With a puff! The Dragon Lord and Shooting Star were shattered in the air by thousands of tentacles.

It was their biggest mistake.

If they had used Polymorph and returned to their true forms sooner, they wouldn’t have lost their lives so futilely.

Perhaps even this was the Black Dragon’s scheme.

He subdued the two strongest among the dragons in an instant and absorbed their Dragon Hearts.

-Keuheuheuh! It’s filling up. My super magic is filling up!

The Black Dragon’s entire body swelled up as he absorbed the Dragon Hearts of the Dragon Lord and Shooting Star.

And-

Peopeopeopeong!

More than tens of thousands of tentacles stretched out towards every living creature in the world.

Preetia was also watching this scene.

She was very displeased that her performance was being described by a third party.

What she wanted to show was the sight of her sweeping away the Stone Head Church fanatics with her immense energy.

But only a few lines expressed that.

And the focus was only on the Black Dragon.

At first, she was annoyed, but after confirming the Black Dragon’s endless super magic, her expression hardened.

He was constantly getting stronger.

Just moving surpassed her all-out super magic by far.

“That’s… the Black Dragon? Is this novel… going to have a sad ending according to the author’s taste? He’s not planning to destroy everything in the world, is he?”