Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 320

Chapter 320: EX 320. Very Long
Leon was only a few hundred meters from the jagged peaks when a thunderous roar split the sky.

“You thieving bastard!!!”

The voice was ancient and raw, shaking the very air. A heartbeat later, the clouds above twisted into a spiraling vortex. Lightning laced through them like veins of silver fury.

Leon’s eyes widened. “Ah, shit.”

He tilted sharply, dropping altitude fast. The wind howled around him as he dived toward the ground, but the storm was faster. A blinding bolt tore through the clouds, screaming down from the heavens.

Leon didn’t hesitate. “Extreme Art—Astral Ascent!”

A golden silhouette burst to life around him, it was a towering warrior avatar, its form radiant and divine. The instant the lightning struck, the sky exploded in white. The impact shattered the avatar like glass.

BOOM!

Leon’s body hit the ground with enough force to crater the earth. Dust billowed into the air, as a deafening shockwave rolled through the valley.

When the cloud settled, Leon stood in the middle of a deep dent in the ground, perfectly unharmed. His cloak was scorched at the edges, his expression carved in irritation. In his grip, his katana hummed, a low, dangerous vibration, eager for blood.

Flap… flap… flap.

The sound came from above, it was heavy, rhythmic, and growing louder. Leon looked up just as the storm parted, revealing a colossal blue dragon descending from the clouds. Its scales glimmered with static, and each beat of its wings stirred thunder through the air.

It landed with a quake that sent pebbles skittering across the cracked earth. Its eyes—glowing cobalt, locked onto Leon with pure venom.

“How dare a thieving human set foot in the nest of dragons!” the beast boomed.

Leon blinked, tilting his head slightly. Of all the things he’d been called, demon, monster, freak—”thief” wasn’t on the list.

The dragon’s gaze narrowed, and its tone grew colder. “Do not feign ignorance. That weapon in your hand… it was forged from Nigg’erite, an ore born from the blood of my kin. Yet here it is, in the hands of a weak, pitiful human. If you did not steal it, then tell me—how else would you possess it?”

Leon’s confusion melted into understanding. So that was it.

He sighed, lifting the katana slightly as the blade hummed brighter, arcs of faint blue light rippling along its edge. “You’ve got this all wrong,” he said quietly.

The dragon growled, there was no reasoning with it, as in the next moment arcs of lightning crawled up its wings.

Leon’s tone dropped, as he noticed this. “Apologize.”

The dragon froze, stunned for a moment by the audacity.

Leon’s eyes sharpened, a faint violet glow flickering behind them. “Or you won’t like the consequences.”

****

Greg, the blue dragon, was on routine patrol along his mountain sector. Everything had been calm, until he saw a human cutting across the sky.

A human, Flying.

His eyes narrowed. The man’s aura wasn’t even Rank 7. Barely Rank 4. Yet somehow, he was gliding through the clouds like he belonged there. Then Greg noticed it, the shards floating around him, moving as wings. That was when the dragon roared, “You thieving bastard!” and unleashed a bolt of lightning that split the air.

The blast struck true and the explosion sent waves through the clouds.

Greg hovered above the impact zone, smoke curling beneath his wings. When the dust cleared, the human still stood there. No burn marks. No injuries. Just a calm face—and a sword humming in his hand.

The sight made Greg’s jaw tighten but what the human said next made his heart burn.

“Apologize, or you won’t like the consequences.”

Greg’s eyes flared white with rage. ‘Apologize? To prey?’ Lightning crackled between his teeth as he roared, “You dare speak that way to me!?”

The air vibrated as power gathered in his throat. Static danced across his scales as he prepared to unleash his power. A thunderous explosion thundered in the next moment.

As a column of lightning shot down, tearing through the sky and slamming into the ground where Leon stood.

BOOM!!

The shockwave leveled trees and melted stone. And when the smoke cleared, there was nothing but scorched earth.

Greg grinned, sharp teeth glinting. “All that bravado, gone in a flash.”

He began to laugh, until a voice came from behind him.

“I knew dragons had balls, but I didn’t know they were this big.”

Greg spun around, but it was too late.

As a streak of golden light cut across the air. The aura slash tore through his shoulder, ripping flesh and scale, hurling him backward through the trees. The ground shook when he crashed.

Greg raised his head, eyes wide. The human was there, standing amidst drifting dust, sword raised, his expression cold.

“How… are you still alive?” Greg rasped.

Leon didn’t answer. He lifted his blade again, energy building around him. “You chose not to apologize,” he said. “So face the consequences.”

A pulse of golden light filled the air as Leon swung, sending a horizontal wave of destruction hurtling toward the downed dragon.

****

Throughout Greg’s life, he never imagined he’d experience such a one-sided beating and from a Rank 4 human, no less.

He had just reached Rank 7 not so long ago. And the Dragon Lord himself had commended him and granted him his own patrol jurisdiction. It was supposed to be the start of his glory. Yet now, as his massive body crashed through the rocky terrain, Greg began to wonder if his advancement had been fake. Because the way this human handled him… it felt like watching an abusive husband return home to take out his frustration on his wife for not preparing dinner. Not exactly the same, but painfully close in principle.

Every time Greg tried to retaliate, the human took the blows as if they were nothing. Every breath of lightning, every shockwave of his claws, none of it mattered. The human would simply endure, then hit back with an attack ten times stronger.

‘I have to escape,’ Greg thought, blood running down his scales. He tried to lift his broken wings, forcing mana through the pain as he attempted to take off.

But before he could rise, a voice rolled through the air, calm and heavy like a death knell.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Greg’s heart sank.

Leon appeared in a blur beneath him, one hand gripping the base of his very long, battered tail. The dragon barely had time to react before Leon twisted his body, muscles surging with raw power.

The next moment—

Boom!

The world shook as Leon slammed the dragon into the ground like a giant whip cracking against stone. Dust and debris exploded into the air as Greg’s roar of pain echoed across the mountains..