Son of the Hero King
chapter-276

In the stadium, silence was currently the rule as everyone watched with anticipation the cloud of dust slowly dissipate and reveal the monstrously large crater Sol’s last attack created.

While not every dragon understood the meaning of the War form, as many of them were born way later after the war, those who did understand knew that Sol was now undoubtedly the best candidate for the title of Prince. Something he had proven during this fight.

When they remembered that he was in fact not even a Duke yet, all they could do was look back at their life with bewilderment and wonder what the hell they have been doing all this time.

A Dimensional mage.

A Chaos Dragon.

A Blessed.

A perfect hybrid with a War form.

Any of those four powers was enough for one to assuredly become a renowed powerhouse of the King level at the very minimum. But they were, watching a man having all those four special powers and wielding them as if it was perfectly normal.

They understood now.

Sol wasn’t a genius.

Every generation would have tens or hundreds of genii, one higher than the other. But at the end of the day, the limits they could reach were clear.

Sol was indeed not a genius since calling him such would be an insult to the level of talent he displayed.

He was simply a pure monster, an irregularity. The kind of incomprehensible entity that appears once or twice every thousand or ten thousand years. Who took a look at common sense and spat on it before crushing it mercilessly.

In the heart of all the experienced warriors that were watching this contest, they knew that they were witnessing a historic moment. They were watching the first step of a being that would without a doubt reach the rank of top-level beings such as the Dragon Empress or the Necromancer King as long as he lived long enough.

They understood now why Tiamat had been so sure despite the odds that were seemingly against Sol.

This contest had never been a contest for the title of prince. This was nothing more than a pure display. A formality for the sake of showing them the rise of a new star that would shine brighter than all the others.

At the same time, seeing on another screen another strong contender nearing his position, they couldn’t help but wonder…

Will he win again?

Will this night end with his absolute supremacy?

A surge of excitement filled their chest as they watched the scene, wishing to not miss even a second of it.

—-

“I lost.”

When Kaiser opened his eyes and saw the ceiling above him, he immediately understood that he had been transferred out of the island. Something that would only happen if he had been judged unable to continue.

“Indeed you lost.”

Next to him stood Fafnir, a small smile on his face as he watched his grandson.

“You are not disappointed?”

Fafnir tilted his head, before grinning, “Why would I be? You fought and gave your all against a strong enemy and lost despite doing so. There is no regret to have.”

“But I…”

“You could have indeed done better. Entering a brawl contest against a War Dragon was foolish to the extreme. If you used your foresight to slowly corner him while letting him hit you some time to increase your power, you would have lasted way longer without a doubt and would have even cornered him. But…”

“...”

“Do not forget that he is first and foremost a dimension mage. You might have not seen it but had he used it from the start, you would not even have managed to do the slightest things.”

Kaiser clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

“So he used me.”

He wasn’t dumb. Clearly, Sol had simply used this fight to hone his ability as a War Dragon. In the end, he had been nothing but a stepping stone.

“Frustrated?”

“...Yes.”

“Good. It means there is still hope for you.”

Fafnir was happy. This wasn’t a fight to the death. There was no shame in defeat. As long as he learned the lesson and stood up again despite the blow then he could continue to advance and grow. Being frustrated simply means that his spirit hadn’t been crushed yet.

“How is the contest?”

“Nidhogg and Sol are about to face one another. What you see now is just an avatar of mine.”

Moving his hand, Fafnir made a floating screen appear.

“Watch and learn.”

After those words, Fafnir, or rather his avatar, vanished. Leaving Kaiser alone. He knew that the boy needed some time to himself.

But he also knew that his little boy wouldn’t simply wallow in sadness.

—--

Back on the island where the contest was taking place, Sol was sitting on a rock with an apple in his hand as he looked at the result of the fight.

While not at the same level as Nabu, Kaiser had been a rather interesting opponent. One of the rare that was nearly equal to him in power either since he awakened. This had allowed him to unleash his inner beast and fight to his heart's content.

But at the end of the day, true power was in wisdom. He could act berserk as he wanted but he should never stop watching back to the fight.

What could he have done better? Thus was the question that turned and turned around in his head. He needed to move better, smarter. Fighting like a beast was refreshing when facing people equal to him but his enemies were not idiot.

Why would they send people of an equal or only slightly higher level than him if they wished to hunt him down?

Since he awakened, Sol had realized that his training had been geared too much towards ‘human’ blocking him from realizing his full potential.

But did it means that it was really a wrong training?

Of course not. Thanks to her skills, Lilith could crush anyone even though she did not possess even a tenth of the strength and mana he had. He was sure that even if he faced her at the Duke level, her sword intent would mercilessly cut him down War form or not.

What then if Lilith had the same body as him?

‘As a hybrid, I should bring the best of both worlds.’

Thinking like this, he took a bite out of the apple and looked at the woman that was meditating not far from him.

“I am surprised you let me rest.”

“Do not make a mistake. I need rest as much as you. Fighting and eliminating the remaining contestants took out much of my strength.”

Sol whistled. He had been able to clear those on his side easily thanks to his Dimension. But he wondered just how powerful Nidhogg’s poison was.

‘Well, it seems like I will need to use my dimension.’

Kaiser may be stronger than Nidhogg physically, but in his mind, she was two or three times more dangerous than him.

Even now, while Sol seemed to be here with her, his body was in fact in his own dimension and what she saw was only the astral projection of his physical form.

He knew very well that one of the best techniques for a poison user was to slowly spread the poison in the fighting zone without the opponent being the wiser.

By the time they noticed, it would be already too late.

‘Once the fight begins, I will go all out.’

He didn’t want to brawl with her since the longer the fight lasted the less advantaged he would be. He needed to end it fast and clean.

Sadly, he couldn’t yet invert abstract concepts otherwise he would have simply made it so her [poison] become a [cure].

Ever since he realized that his dimension wasn’t just a mirror, he realized that the only limit to this dimension was his imagination and his own power and he was excited to find what he would be able to do once he became a Duke.

‘Perhaps I would even be able to invert the curse of Asmodeus on the Witches.’

At the thought of Medea, his desire to go home suddenly became greater.

He could only go home after signing a contract with Isis and for it to happen he needed to become one of the four princes.

This means that currently, Nidhogg was the roadblock standing between him and his beloved home.

“Let’s finish it now, shall we?”

(AN: Since Nidhogg can’t really use her deadly poison, friendly competition and all. The fight will end pretty fast.