The Crowned Greed: Transmigrated into a Demonic Dragon-Chapter 167: Everything Is Runes

Energies are the fuel of the runes.

Runes are structured patterns that shape energy.

That was common knowledge in this world.

But Dante had learnt additional information, and it was that the runes went beyond the simple usage that most people knew about.

Most people knew only about how to use mana runes and aspect runes to cast spells or make formations and arrays, but that wasn’t everything.

Demonic spells and techniques were made of demonic energy.

Mana spells and techniques were made completely of mana.

The aspect properties were made of spiritual energy.

But the truth was, they all were made of runes. And that included the techniques that didn’t need casting.

There was the basic casting that everyone knew about. By drawing some runes, anyone could cast a spell.

Chaos Magic was essentially mana runes that turned mana into chaos energy, which would later be used to create runes to cast chaos magic.

Demonic magic was just runes of demonic energy.

Even the spiritual energy could make aspect runes, like the shadow runes that Dante had inscribed on his treehouse.

They were all just complex structures or runes with different types and shapes. Even the traits, almost all abilities, and anything that could be considered magical relied on complex runic structures.

The chanting only made the runic structures an internal process instead of an external one.

The techniques were just creating runic structures and engraving them into the body.

A trait like Sorcerer’s Gift didn’t bypass that role, it just skipped the formation process of the runic structures and made them instantly. That was why Dante could use it to create chaos energy.

The class abilities were just complex structures made by World Runes alongside some other different runes.

Shadow Swap, the ability that allowed Dante to swap location with Fafnir, was made of the World Runes alongside preiscribed shadow and mana runes.

Only the silver Ether wasn’t used in a runic way. It could be used like runes to cast spells and techniques like mana, but the second use was done in a primal way that was beyond the runic structures, which likely explained why it was the only thing that could command runes.

If everything was made of runes, then what about Zoran’s cloak? Was it an expectation?

Definitely not!

Silver Ether Technique — Runic Analysis!

At this moment, Dante could see it.

The complex runes that made that cloak from scratch were visible to his eye. They were making a complex system in which Zoran’s Core of Existence worked as the fundamental heart while everything else was connected to it.

Without the core and the World Runes inside it, no one other than Zoran himself could mimic the spear or the cloak, unless they mimicked the core alongside it.

However, Dante didn’t even need to focus on that. He only had to understand as much as he could about that structure to find a loophole, an unstable part, or anything that he could use to weaken the cloak.

That was the purpose of Runic Analysis!

Unfortunately, Dante didn’t have much knowledge regarding the lightning runes or the World Runes, so he skipped them and focused on the little sections of mana runes instead.

His mind worked relentlessly beyond its normal speed under the pressure from Zoran’s spear.. He searched for anything that could be helpful.

And just then, he found it.

The auto-defense section.

Naturally, the block didn’t cover the entire body, but it was designed in a way that allowed it to detect all attacks and cover the places that had the highest chance of being hit.

That was why it didn’t have time to stop Dante’s hand from turning Zoran’s arm into a tentacle. Zoran had subconsciously disabled that feature when he thought that Dante was dying.

’That’s it. I have to force it to be delayed!’

If the defensive mechanism didn’t react in time, Dante could easily kill Zoran!

Silver Ether Command — Delay Command!

Dante had just created that spell and cast it immediately. At the exact moment, a silver dot flashed across Zoran’s cloak, which didn’t go unnoticed by Zoran himself.

"What is..."

Zoran hesitated for a brief moment, and Dante seized that opportunity to give his Shadow Aspect the property of lightning.

Snakes of black lightning suddenly emerged and danced around his body. With that burst of speed, he turned his shield into a sword, dodged the spear, and cut upward.

Slash!

His sword cut through Zoran’s flesh and bones with ease, severing off his last good arm and leaving him to hold the spear with a fake arm made of lightning.

"How?!"

Zoran felt a daze at that sight. Such a normal attack, even with the speed of lightning, wasn’t supposed to do that. His cloak was supposed to block it in time and leave his arm with only a small injury!

However, his confusion lasted only milliseconds as the next moment he kicked toward Dante.

But Dante was ready for that.

Silver Ether Spell — Ether Cannonball!

BOOM!

The silver cannonball destroyed Zoran’s leg completely, splattering blood and bones all over the place.

But a leg of golden lightning immediately replaced it.

Zoran’s expression turned firm, he instantly swung his spear toward Dante’s waist, intending to cut him in half.

Dante couldn’t block that attack, but at his current corrupted state, he didn’t care about that.

He had only one thing to do.

’Finish him!’

Silver Ether Spell — Ether Cannonball!

BOOM!

A silver cannonball shot directly toward Zoran’s head.

Simultaneously, the lightning spear passed through Dante’s flesh, cutting him in half.

The lower part fell onto the ground with the brain to control it, while the upper part was thrown into the air for a few seconds before slamming into the ground.

As for Zoran, the cannonball took him away, leaving a trail of blood behind.

"There is... no way... he survived that... Hehehe..."

Dante laughed despite the pain. He couldn’t feel his lower part, but that was okay.

"Reclaim...!"

All of a sudden, a wave of energy burst out of Dante’s severed part and pulled his lower body, reattaching it to him.

However, he still couldn’t move.

The area that connected both parts was either burned by the lightning or heavily damaged. He needed to rest and wait for himself to heal gradually.

But he couldn’t afford such a luxury. Not before he could see Zoran’s corpse and absorb it!

’No, I can’t absorb it. I only absorb demons!’

The last sane part in Dante’s body clung to that thought firmly. He couldn’t become a demon addicted to vitality like the rumours.

He wasn’t a full demon, maybe his dragon half could help him regarding that, but Dante didn’t want to risk it for a possibility.

"Let’s see... that bastard!"

By seeing the chain that he had connected to Zoran’s Wheel of Luck, he knew that Zoran was alive. But he had to be close to death at least.

If he was strong enough to cause a problem, Dante would either use the active ability of the ritual dagger or switch with Fafnir.

Dante crawled with one hand in the direction Zoran had been thrown.

As time passed, his head slowly regained some of its clarity. His head was feeling immense pain due to using chaos energy, and the corruption was worsening everything, but they were healing gradually.

Once Dante detected Zoran’s body, he immediately melted into a shadow, using Shadowstep to appear before the body.

However, what he saw there was shocking.

Zoran lay on the ground with his full titan size, gasping for breath with a hole in his throat.

’That bastard expanded his body before the cannonball hit him!’

Dante would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed.

By expanding his body in time, the cannonball hit his throat instead of his head.

It was still dangerous, judging by how Zoran was now looking at Dante without attacking, but it wasn’t as deadly as a hole in his head.

"WhAt... wAS... tHat...?" Zoran asked calmly with a jagged voice.

Dante smiled: "I don’t know... myself. I made that... on a whim."

Zoran’s eyes widened before he burst into painful laughter.

To think that his enemy found a way to bypass his cloak on a whim...

’And here I thought I was unstoppable, hahaha!’

Zoran endured his pain and used lightning limbs to stand up. He had only one leg as his remaining normal limb, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Dante.

Once he stood up, he aimed his spear at Dante.

"LeT’s... enD... thIs!"

With no arms, the strength boost he gained from his cloak and wounds was basically useless. The only part of him that was currently affected was his leg.

He could only use it to leap forward, and for him, that was more than enough!

At that moment, a silver dot appeared on his cloak for the second time.

Zoran understood immediately that it was what caused the delay. He understood that his defense wasn’t absolute anymore.

Tens of shadow tendrils suddenly burst out of Dante’s body. He made them coil around his lower part, forcing it to move and let him stand up.

At the same time, he dismissed his sword and held a green dagger instead.

The ritual dagger!

He aimed it at Zoran and prepared himself mentally to activate its ultimate attack, launch another ether attack, and switch with Fafnir.

’Just come closer, muscle head!’

The air between them grew heavier in silence. Arcs of golden lightning suddenly erupted and covered Zoran’s body.

His condition was too bad to use that amount of lightning safely, but he didn’t care.

He had to win!

Clenching his spear firmly, he was about to make a move until...

Swish!

"...!"

A shield of green wind appeared out of nowhere and protected Zoran’s body.

Looking down, he saw his necklace glowing with ethereal light.

"No... father—!"

Buf!

Before Zoran could complete his sentence, his body suddenly disappeared.

"..."

Dante stood alone in silence with his dagger.

The chain connecting him with Zoran suddenly started draining his spiritual energy like a hungry beast, forcing Dante to shatter it himself.

"..."

After a few minutes of silence, he finally allowed himself to fall and rest.