TOP 03

Chapter 3. Transcendent One-Punch

A blue, translucent body.

A female form about one meter tall.

The spirit of cold, Pril, twisted her entire body and rolled on the floor.

【Aagh! I’m bored.】

She was the guardian protecting this dungeon.

Not by choice.

【Damn you, Tenauges!!】

She was tricked by the Dragon Lord, Tenauges, and forcibly made into a guardian.

【Heh… I shouldn’t have trusted a dragon.】

She sighed deeply.

The price for opening your heart to one who shouldn’t be trusted was harsh.

Ten thousand years.

A full ten thousand years.

She had been trapped here and forced to be a guardian all that time.

What Pril did during those years was simple.

【I’m bored. I said I’m bored!】

…Nothing.

Her role as guardian was to block any intruder who was not a ‘dragon’ entering here.

But in ten thousand years, no intruder had come.

【I was never even needed in the first place, damn lizard.】

Because the barrier Tenauges set was already too powerful.

A barrier that could only be broken by someone with over a million mana?

If you weren’t a dragon, exceeding a million mana was almost impossible.

That wasn’t the only problem.

【What kind of balance is this, after wiping out everything!】

The dragon race was extinct.

After the last Dragon Lord Tenauges, ten thousand years ago.

So Pril was trapped here, spending meaningless years.

Waiting for visitors or intruders who would never come.

【Waaaaah!】

So today, she screamed once again, with no one to hear.

Then—

Boom!

Breaking through ten thousand years of silence, a loud roar echoed in the dungeon.

【…Huh?】

Caught off guard, Pril’s thoughts froze.

But then she realized—

【C-could it be an intruder!?】

Someone had come here for the first time in ten thousand years.

‘Someone who’s not a dragon but has over a million mana!?’

For a moment, she questioned it—but it was trivial.

The important thing was that after ten thousand years alone, someone else had come.

Excited, she headed toward the source of the sound.

And she saw.

Crunch.

Crack.

A human breaking a glass bottle using only their face, limbs shattered.

【…What kind of crazy person is this?】

The first change in a place where nothing seemed to ever happen.

And the intruder causing it was, of all things, a lunatic.

Wriggling desperately, trying to break the bottle despite being on the brink of death.

Whatever liquid was inside the bottle, to Pril it looked like just…

【…A junkie?】

A drug addict craving drugs even at death’s door.

【Sigh. Hey.】

Pril sighed and poked the intruder with her foot.

She hoped for at least an intelligent being she could talk to—but this was hopeless.

Crunch—

Even now, look.

This lunatic, despite being poked, kept at what they were doing without flinching.

Clearly obsessed with their craving, nothing else seemed to register.

【Tch. This is disgustingly boring.】

Pril changed course upon seeing how the intruder ignored her.

She just decided to watch this pathetic scene.

Surprisingly, it was somewhat interesting in its desperation.

And then—

Clang—

Gulp gulp.

The lunatic succeeded in breaking the bottle and drank whatever was inside.

【Oh. Success!】

Pril clapped without realizing.

A drug addict’s drinking show after ten thousand years was more entertaining than she expected.

Then—

【Huh?】

The drug addict weakly turned their head and their eyes met Pril’s.

“Who… are you?”

Their gaze and voice were surprisingly clear.

【Wait, there’s some reason left?】

Pril was quite surprised.

She thought they’d just laugh madly, but this was unexpected.

“……”

The intruder said nothing.

【Whatever, doesn’t matter. I’m a guardian!】

“Guardian?”

【I block any non-dragon beings from entering this dungeon.】

Pril answered straightforwardly.

Having been alone for ten thousand years, even this little conversation was interesting.

“…Does that mean you want to kill me?”

【Hmm. Probably?】

Reluctantly, a contract was a contract.

Because of the compulsion, it was impossible to spare an intruder’s life.

However—

‘Humans live roughly eighty years?’

There was no need to kill immediately.

The contract said nothing about that.

‘So technically, it’s not a contract violation. Yeah.’

Letting someone die naturally was still death, after all.

Pril nodded approvingly at her own smart thinking.

If she killed the intruder, she’d be alone again—and that would be too boring.

‘I don’t want that!’

She never wanted that.

“Whew…”

But then—

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, the intruder’s body changed.

They pushed off the ground and started to stand.

Then raised a fist toward her.

Click.

【What are you doing?】

“Can’t you tell? I’m getting ready to fight.”

【Why?】

“You said… you’d kill me.”

【True, but with that body?】

“……”

She was right.

Shaking, the intruder painfully stood on trembling limbs.

His arms and legs shook like leaves in the wind, sweat poured down his body.

It was remarkable that he had recovered this much, but it was unreasonable to consider him battle-ready.

Besides, she was no weak spirit—she was ranked among the top spirits.

Pril couldn’t understand the intruder’s choice.

“I…”

The intruder seemed aware of that too.

If he fought her here, nine times out of ten—or rather, ten out of ten—he’d die.

He bit his lip and continued.

“I have to live… ugh!”

【……?】

Crack!

His body that was steeling his will suddenly collapsed.

With the sound of breaking.

“Damn…”

【What are you doing?】

“Damn mana overload…”

Before Pril could do anything, the intruder self-destructed.

His determined will met a futile end.

Pril approached him.

“Ugh… gah!”

A scream burst from the intruder’s mouth.

Crack!

Simultaneously, something inside his body exploded and his arm twisted in a grotesque direction.

【What is this… mana?】

Then Pril realized.

An enormous amount of mana was running rampant inside his body.

And his body was breaking because it couldn’t handle the mana.

“Damn it…!”

The intruder tried to move somehow, but it was hopeless now.

The uncontrolled mana was grinding his body to pieces.

If Pril did nothing, he would still die.

【…Uh? That can’t happen.】

Seeing this, Pril suddenly became desperate.

She thought she’d have at least several decades less boredom.

If he died like this, she’d face endless loneliness again.

But she couldn’t save him.

That would clearly violate the contract.

【Hey, hey! Don’t die!】

“I don’t want to die either, ugh!”

Pril was flustered.

What could she do in this situation?

Even in her long spirit life, there was no solution for this.

【How the hell did this guy get so much mana… ah?!】

Then she suddenly realized.

‘This guy might not even be human?’

There was a way to save the intruder without breaking the contract.

‘Right. I heard some dragons have polymorph abilities.’

He looked human but could actually be a dragon.

Pril’s contract with Tenauges was to block intruders who are not dragons.

Also, the intruder had broken Tenauges’ barrier.

‘You can’t break the barrier unless you have dragon-class mana.’

It wasn’t impossible he was a real dragon.

The idea seemed better and better.

So she asked the intruder.

【Hey. Are you a dragon?】

“Wha… ugh.”

【Are you a dragon or not?】

“What the hell—”

【Hey, answer me properly.】

But there was a condition.

‘Honestly, there’s no guarantee he’s not human.’

She needed to be sure he was a dragon.

Otherwise, she couldn’t help him because of the contract.

At least she could try if she wasn’t sure he was human.

【Last question. Are you a dragon?】

If he just answered yes here, Pril was ready to be fooled gladly.

The intruder, suffering in pain, barely opened his mouth.

“Ugh… I of course am…”

---

【Hey. Are you a dragon?】

The blue, translucent woman who said she’d kill me asked.

Probably a spirit or something.

I’d never seen one but had heard of them.

Though I’d never heard of one talking.

But the important thing was not who she was.

It was that she tried to kill me.

I didn’t want to die easily so I tried to fight—but my mana went out of control and I almost died.

Then suddenly she asked if I was a dragon.

Honestly, I didn’t have time to answer.

“Wha… ugh!”

Just holding back the raging mana was already exhausting.

The pain from my broken, crushed body was an extra.

【Are you a dragon or not?】

“What the hell—”

【Hey, answer me properly.】

But she was persistent.

I wondered what answer she wanted as she kept asking if I was a dragon.

‘…Something’s up.’

And suddenly, I felt a signal in the question.

【Last question. Are you a dragon?】

The final question.

Could my answer be the key to survival?

‘Damn.’

No matter what, it was better than fighting her, climbing the cliff, returning to the guild, getting mana suppressants, and then taking them.

What should I answer?

Truthfully deny?

Or just say yes?

‘Think.’

I painfully searched for clues through the numbness of pain.

‘She wanted to kill me.’

Block the intruder.

That must be what it meant.

‘So I am the intruder…’

Crack crack crack—

“Ughhh.”

Even so, my mana wildly surged.

A terrible pain struck my entire body.

My bones and muscles felt crushed.

Even though the potion’s healing effect was still active, this destruction was far worse.

“Ugh… I of course am…”

I said it anyway.

And thought—

‘I might be considered not an intruder.’

Then the correct answer must be—

“I’m a dr-dragon!”

That must be it.

At the last moment, I remembered the spirit’s words about blocking ‘non-dragon’ intruders.

【Oh! That’s right. Good. Wait a moment.】

Was that the right answer?

The spirit looked pleased and disappeared somewhere.

Then suddenly returned and stuffed something into my mouth.

【Eat this.】

“Huh!”

No right to refuse.

The thing melted as soon as it touched my mouth and was absorbed.

Ding!

[Skill Core (Power: Breath) absorbed.]

《Power: Breath – Skill, Mythical》

• A dragon’s power that releases a massive amount of mana all at once.

• Consumes all stored mana upon use, causing massive damage proportional to mana consumed.

[New skill acquired.]

[‘Power: Breath’ is a dragon-exclusive skill.]

[Conditions met!]

[Hidden Easter Egg activated.]

[Changed to a human-adapted, humanoid skill.]

[‘Power: One-Punch’ acquired.]

《Power: One-Punch – Skill, Transcendent》

• Concentrates all mana into a single punch.

• Originally a dragon’s power but transformed for humans.

• Consumes all stored mana on use, dealing massive damage proportional to mana consumed.

• Causes mana exhaustion immediately after use.

[‘Power: One-Punch’ has been engraved onto the user’s soul.]

In an instant, a flood of system messages appeared.

Before I could absorb the information—

‘One-Punch?’

The skill acquired and how to use it imprinted itself on my mind.

【Got it? Then use it. Hurry!】

Following the spirit’s words, I struggled to raise my arm.

Towards the thick fog before me.

【Wait, wait. Not that way…!】

The spirit seemed about to say something else, but I was already using the skill.

[‘Power: One-Punch’ skill activated.]

[Massive mana consumption!]

Toquaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!