Chapter 70 - 69 : Dragon’s Judgement

After Mother urged me to get some rest, I headed back to my room when I heard something. A hoot rang in my ears. It was Roger. There was someone who has become infected. But we had everyone being checked in daylight. How could something like this happen? I immediately bolted out of the house to the building in front of us where the survivors were. I rushed upstairs as fast as I could. The walls of the building shook by vibrations of something heavy. The floor groaned like a dying beast. The room I entered was Do-hwan’s. His wife and sister-in-law were living in the same room. As I entered, I saw Young Da-e smashed in the wall, blood trickling from her head. She seems to be unconscious. Then my eyes shifted to the thing standing in the middle of the room. It was Do-hwan’s wife. Her body was being stretched grotesquely, muscles swelling, bones cracking as leathery wings tore free from her back. A Vampire Behemoth. "Ma’am..." I muttered, my voice flat. The Behemoth roared, the sound shaking plaster from the ceiling. I didn’t hesitate. [Do you wish to use beastification?] [Target : Roger, The owl king’s spy] [Yes/No] The Behemoth lunged first,but her target wasn’t me but Do-hwan who was cowering in the corner of the room, its claws tearing through drywall like paper. I bolted, my wings snapped as I scooped Do-hwan from the vampire behemoth strike. I placed him right beside Young Da-e. "Keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn’t lose too much blood and find the opportunity to run" I muttered under my breath, ordering him what to do next. Vampire behemoth, having his prey snatched from under her breath launched at me. I vaulted upward. The air pressure cracked as the Behemoth’s fist missed him by inches and pulverized a load-bearing column. I struck back, swooping low, talons raking across her ribs. The Behemoth howled, blood misting from the wound—but it didn’t slow her. Instead, she slammed both hands forward, catching me mid-dive, and hurled me through the nearest wall. The crash shook the floorboards. I gritted, wings snapping to stop my momentum, but she was already barreling after me. The Behemoth’s massive frame tore through one wall, then another, the sound of collapsing drywall echoing through the floor. "Behemoth!" I shouted between impacts, forcing the word out like a warning to anyone within earshot. My voice reverberated through the hollow halls. The Behemoth roared again, matching my declaration with fury. Our clash finally reached the apartment’s end. I planted my talons, spun, and slammed my wing into the Behemoth chest, shoving her backward—straight into the window. Glass shattered. Both of us went crashing out into the open air. The night wind howled around them as they plummeted, tangled in feathers and claws, before slamming into the corner street below. The pavement split under Behemoth’s weight, dust and fragments flying outward like shrapnel. I tumbled, my wing dragging against asphalt before I caught myself, crouched low, golden eyes blazing. The Behemoth rose, shaking off stone and debris like water. Its wings stretched wide, scraping against the brick walls of the narrow street. The sound carried. From the apartment’s higher floors, Seo-yeon froze mid-step, her head snapping toward the street. In-ji’s pistol was already in his hands. Ye-rin gripped her axe, fired in her eyes, and Hana’s heart skipped a beat as she recognized the danger. "They’re down there!" Seo-yeon’s voice trembled with urgency. "Ye-jun’s fighting it alone," Ye-rin growled, already moving. One by one, everyone burst into the night, weapons ready, as I squared off against Behemoth’s corrupted form in the middle of the street. The pavement groaned beneath them, Harpy and behemoth locked in a clash. The fight spilled upward. The Behemoth realizing that he was outnumbered decided to flee. Its monstrous wings beat the air, each stroke scattering dust and broken tiles from the street. With a furious roar, the Vampire Behemoth launched itself skyward, claws dragging deep grooves into the side of a building as it rose. I didn’t let him go. My wings cut the air without a sound, body streamlined into a blur of pale light. The Behemoth glanced back, crimson eyes blazing, snarling as it realized I was closing in. My talons slashed across its back, feathers glowing faintly as they tore through the pale flesh. The Behemoth shrieked, twisting mid-air, claws swiping, wings flaring. We collided again and again in the air. My metallic wings with its hardened flesh. Its claws cut arcs of red through the sky, but I folded my wings, bent, spun just enough to slip past. After its attack missed,he turned skyward, beating his wings harder, faster. Fleeing. I narrowed my golden eyes. "Like hell you’re leaving." I surged after it, cutting through the air, each wingbeat silent but deadly. I climbed higher, talons ready to tear through the Behemoth’s spine. The chase twisted between the skeletal remains of office towers, glass still clinging to their edges, moonlight carving harsh lines across the night. The Behemoth glanced back, fury and fear mixing in his crimson glare— And then the sky broke. A thunderclap of wings. A roar that shook the clouds themselves. Volt. The three-headed dragon descended from the storm, scales gleaming like molten silver. Each head bellowed with a different pitch. Its colossal wings blotted out the moon as its shadow swallowed both predator and prey. Ye-jun blinked mid-air, his talons freezing for half a beat. "You’ve got to be kidding me—" The Behemoth’s eyes widened in sudden terror. For all its brute strength, it was nothing compared to the monster that now loomed above. Volt didn’t hesitate. One head surged forward, maw opening wide, lightning bursting from its fangs. The strike hit vampire behemoth mid-flight, piercing his chest and shattering his heart in a single instant. The Behemoth barely had time to scream before his body crumbled into ash, scattering in the wind. And there—seated firm and fearless on Volt’s spine—was Ye-rin. Her axe strapped to her back, her hair whipping wildly in the dragon’s slipstream, her eyes gleaming with battle-fire. She didn’t speak, but her gaze locked with Ye-jun’s. "Oh My God!"I paused and then screamed with the tip of my lungs, "That was awesome" I blurted out without even thinking. Ye-Rin gave me a knowing smirk. "Atleast someone remembers that someone is a dragon Rider." I fast tracked back with a sarcastic answer. Volt circled once, wings stirring storms, then rose higher into the night, vanishing beyond the clouds. I hovered alone for a long second, wings spread, ash still falling around him like black snow. I exhaled, then folded his feathers back and descended. "Atleast Reply me dammit" I wished the sky and ground just swallow me a whole.