89 War 6 (2/2)

Tah.

Han's eyes grew wide. The Elu hunter's body in the mound of corpses moved. The bloody Elu hunter slowly drew its arrow. The psychic arrow was so faint that it looked like it would disappear at any moment.

'Can I avoid it?'

His body felt heavy. He couldn't feel his legs. He could just barely manage to run forward. The Elu hunter's psychic arrow looked gigantic.

'Just avoid a headshot and block it with my body, then continue forward.'

Han thought it would be impossible to avoid the arrow.

PAH!

The psychic arrow flew. Han grit his teeth shut. He crossed his arms into an X and covered his face.

Puk!

He heard the psychic arrow hit something. Han didn't feel any pain.

'A grunt?'

A grunt corpse far away blocked the psychic arrow.

”RUN!”

Simon shouted from behind Han's back. Simon overcame dragon fear and used telekinesis. He moved the grunt's corpse to protect Han. He spread the palm of his hand, and controlled the grunt corpse as if he was moving a puppet.

'That bastard is moving, there's no reason I can't.'

Simon was the one to teach how to manifest psychic energy to Han. He looked down on Han back then. He thought the poor asian fool would quickly drop out. He had taught Han for just a few snacks.

'The brat who used to be like that is moving faster than everyone.'

It was as if Simon's pride was stomped upon and he felt stupid, he couldn't allow this to continue. Simon snapped back to his senses due to the problem of his own pride.

Weeeng-!

The psychic energy started taking form inside the dragon's maw. Blue energy lights swirled and glowed.

”Ah, AAAAAH-!!”

Han shouted and grasped his spear. His hands trembled. The closer he drew in, the more his body stiffened.

'I will…'

Han grasped his spear higher up. He stomped on the ground and ran. The dragon's head was just inches away.

'…will kill you.”

All the senses of his body were numb, as he could only feel the sensation which gripped his hand. He pierced through the mushy shell of the eyes and stabbed harder.

Puuk!

The spear stuck into the dragon's eyes. The dragon roared as it wildly shook its head. Han's eardrums exploded and blood burst out from his ears.

Pe-eew!

The psychic energy spewed out from the dragon's jaws. The psychic beam of light shot high up into the sky and dissipated to nothing. The energy shot far past out into the stratosphere. It exploded out in the air and caused a storm-like wave to spread all around.

KWAANG!

Han got caught up in a gust of wind and went tumbling. He fell down onto a boulder and he could hear the sound of his bones breaking. At the same time, blood spewed from his mouth.

The psychic beam shot out for more than three seconds. It destroyed everything it touched. The black dragon was stronger than any dragon that had appeared in the history of Earth. Its size and strength was on another level.

”The Black Crow…!”

The Black Crow was shot down. The remnant wreckage shined in the sky. How far had the assault pod flown? Were the backup reinforcements caught up in the explosion? If the psychoframe reinforcements were caught in the explosion, their situation was hopeless.

Kgrr.”

The Black Dragon used its claws to scratch out its ruined eyes. It glared at Han with its only eye. The dragon put Han into its mind as a special human. He was the enemy that left a deep scar on its body.

'I shall tear you to pieces with all the hatred in my bones-! The Black Dragon pointed its claw. The sharp claw was just moments away from tearing Han's body to pieces.

Piiing-!

A tiny dot shot down from the sky at a high speed. It wasn't an assault pod, but a psychoframe. The psychoframe's shell was glowing red from overheat. It was caught up in the explosion, but somehow managed to escape.

'I was the only one to survive.'

The reinforcement mumbled and looked down. He will soon hit the ground. He used his unique skill. No matter how strong the psychoframe, without an assault pod's assistance, the pilot would die due to the impact.

'However, if it's me….'

The reinforcement psyker used his unique skill. He spread psychic energy to buff his entire body to the max.

BBOOOM!

The psychoframe reinforcement landed on the ground. The ground sunk from the impact. A portion of the outer shell fell off, leaving only the skeleton of the psychoframe.

'My toes are broken. My ankles are also broken, and the bone at my buttocks cracked.'

However, he needed to keep moving. The reinforcements of Black crow were administered battle stimulant. The drug worked to dull the pain. He looked at the Black Dragon. It was much bigger than the dragons which appeared 10 years ago.

'It doesn't have an eye. Who did it?'

The reinforcement saw Han fainted just near the dragon's location.

'Could it be Chan?'

There was only one person who called Han, Chan. Johnny Schwartz. Three reinforcements oxidized into nothing along with Black Crow. The only survivor was Schwartz who gave up the assault pod.

”MOVE YOUR FEET!”

Schwartz ran to the dragon. All the battle gear broke off when he reinforced his own body earlier. He only had his bare hands now. He gave up his chance to live and burned even his life as he poured all the psychic energy to his fist.

KWAJIK!

Schwartz uppercut the dragon's lower jaw. It was a tiny fist compared to the dragon, but the strength was enough to shake the dragon. The fist reinforced with psychic energy was effective against the dragon.

Schwartz was an annoying existence to the Black dragon. It wished to attack the fainted Han rather than bother with this person. Han didn't die because Schwartz had interrupted it.

”Gkrr.”

The Black Dragon glared at Schwartz. Schwartz flinched from dragon fear, but quickly moved again. He was able to quickly fend off the dragon fear with his psychoframe and battle stimulant.

Badudududk

The dimensional gate did not fully open. It was too small for the dragon to move through. The crack began to narrow and choke the dragon. It had forced itself through the dimensional crack and used most of its strength trying to force the gate open wider to move through, so its strength was not at its original level. The Black dragon decided it was time to return. However, it wished to kill Han who injured its eye before it left.

'It's aiming for Chan.'

The Black Dragon's body sunk deeper into the dimensional crack. Schwartz ran to Han's direction. Han managed to barely open his eyes and look at Schwartz.

”It will hurt but endure it!”

Schwartz grabbed the back of Han's neck and threw him. Han's senses snapped awake from the other's voice.

”Schwartz?”

There was no answer. Han dropped down to an area far away from the dragon. The broken bones in his body stabbed him in every way possible.

”KUUOOO!”

The dragon roared. Han was out of reach. Schwartz had ruffled the dragon the wrong way for awhile now. The accumulated punches started to twang with pain.

[Instead of him, it will be you.]

Schwartz's eyes widened in shock. A voice filled his mind as if a claw scratched down a steel plate. This was the dragon's voice.

'This dragon is different from the other dragons!'

Schwartz attempted to retreat. He realized the Black Dragon was sinking back into the dimensional crack.

KWAK!

The dragon grasped onto Schwartz with its claw as it sunk in deeper. Schwartz had already depleted his psychic energy. He could only manage to move his psychoframe at this point. He didn't have the strength to fend off the dragon.

GUUOOO!

The dragon and Schwartz sank into the dimensional crack together. The dimensional crack closed shut.

[Next will be you.]

Han heard the voice clearly. The dragon's voice pierced through his mind. Han's neck felt constrained and couldn't speak. The dimensional crack was shut, but the dragon fear still hung in the air.

Schwartz had disappeared together with the dragon. Nobody knows where they went. Han moved the end of his finger. He looked across with chilling eyes. Schwartz had been dragged in to be killed in Han's place. Han knew.

Han gritted his teeth. Blood surged from his mouth. His body belatedly started to hurt. If he didn't have an artificially strengthened body, he would have died more than ten times by now.  Rather than groaning in pain, he slowly uttered several words.

”Yes … let us meet again. I will be sure to end your life.”

The eighth dragon which appeared in the Tirana dimensional crack was bigger and stronger than any of its predecessors. Ark attached the code name, Bahamut, to the dragon.

Johnny Schwartz was dubbed missing instead of dead.