Chapter 312
Chapter 312
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 312
Chapter Title: Chapter 7-1. Sixth Fragment, Requiem
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Shaaak!
The Requiem swung by Esther Sellion sliced through empty air. Flames trailed the sword's path, lingering in the air before flickering out. The Dragonkin Queen turned around. Meeting her unfocused golden eyes, Judah sensed the presence behind him and glanced over his shoulder. A hand rested on it, and he saw Iris emerging from the shadows, her foot stepping onto the stairs.
"Hoo."
A light sigh escaped her. He could see cold sweat trickling down her cheek. It had been a close call. He almost said something like, *Are you okay? Be careful.* But he held back. She would know without him saying it.
Kiiiiing!
Requiem wailed just as it had when the Basilisk in the black lands had driven the fragment, Gaia, into a frenzy. The heat radiating from the sword grew ever more intense. What exactly was driving the fragment so mad? What condition made its power surge like this? He wondered.
"......"
Esther Sellion didn't wait patiently. Her body swayed where she stood, then she began descending the stairs. As she charged forward, Judah raised Yakal.
Kaaaaang!
The moment he lifted his sword, a colliding force nearly knocked him backward. Planting his feet, he held his ground as Iris swung her scythe from the side, attacking Esther Sellion. But the serpent-like tail deflected the scythe.
"!?"
He knew Dragonkin scales were tough, but Iris's eyes widened in surprise at the tail withstanding the fragment's strike. One of the Dragonkin traits was that their stats scaled with the amount of mana they held. Especially here, where mana was so dense, and with Requiem absorbing vast quantities of it, who could guess how much stronger her physical abilities had become?
Judah shoved Esther Sellion back with his trembling arms and swung Artemisia in his left hand. The dagger merely sliced her clothing. He felt no resistance at the tip.
*Hot.*
More than regretting the missed strike, the lingering heat in the air made sweat pour from him. Thanks to Carpediem and Valentine boosting his magic resistance, it was bearable—otherwise, just standing near that sword would have roasted him like a chicken in an oven. Inhaling, air hotter than a desert scorched into his lungs. Suppressing a cough, he spun his body with the dagger's momentum and hurled Artemisia at Esther Sellion.
───!
Artemisia tore through the air, leaving a red trail. A line appeared in the empty space, then it was flicked away by the sword's slash. There was no time to watch it embed in the floor. Esther Sellion's next target was Iris.
Iris drew her scythe without hesitation at the approaching Esther Sellion.
A black line slashed from beneath Esther Sellion's feet as she raced along the stairs, extending all the way to the temple.
Kwarang! Kwarang! Kwarang!
Slashing blasts erupted along the black line, but Esther Sellion sidestepped them, closed in on Iris, and swung her sword. Judah joined late, but she was no easy opponent.
Summon chains to bind her, and her tail or Requiem would somehow sense and destroy the fragment. Even if they managed to wrap around her, the heat from Requiem melted the mana-forged Rudmilan. On top of that, her swordsmanship and tail strikes were so swift and vicious that cold sweat streamed down nonstop. These weren't the moves of someone stripped of reason by Requiem.
*If it's going to be like this, the game was way better!*
At least in the game, characters could keep attacking whether stunned or debuffed, without fear, so players clicked away until HP ran out, stats dropping or not.
But moving his real body was entirely different. There was so much to consider.
Crunch. Grinding his teeth, the thrust of Yakal scored her jagged horn. At the same instant, a tail stabbed up from below, tearing his clothes and piercing his side before hurling him away. The scales raked the wound again as it withdrew.
"Kuh!"
Fortunately, it wasn't the flaming sword, so no searing pain. Artemisia's regeneration healed the injury in seconds. Wincing at the faint lingering ache, he glared at Esther Sellion.
Kiiiiing!
Requiem in her hand drew in ever more mana, spewing fiercer flames. Watching it, a sudden flash struck Judah's mind.
*Mana!*
Mana! How had he not realized?
The Basilisk had consumed potions that restored or increased total mana. It must have poured all that into the fragment. Requiem was doing the same now, absorbing the dense surrounding mana—and rampaging as a result. The fragment's rampage condition was clearly absorbing a certain threshold of mana.
*But...*
He hadn't tested it, but with his mana under 60, he'd need Valentine to restore it two or three times to barely trigger a fragment's rampage. He wouldn't gamble on unconfirmed info, but here, with mana so abundant, even he could rampage one fragment.
He summoned Rudmilan into the corpses of nearby Dragonkin, embedding them one by one. Piercing their mana reservoirs—hearts—the Rudmilans began absorbing massive amounts simultaneously.
In the brief moment he glanced at the corpses, Esther Sellion, now wreathed in flames, pressed Iris. Iris had no choice; her body was shrouded in darkness from the face down, as if using the fragment's power.
Kakakakakang!
Iris blocked Esther Sellion's sword and tail with her scythe, countering occasionally, but the intense heat hampered her attacks. She kicked off the stairs and retreated. Landing ten steps below.
"Haa...!"
As she panted heavily, Dragonkin scaled the walls nearby. Elite ones—they'd teleported short-range upon spotting him and Esther Sellion from the stairs.
"Hurry up already!"
Judah beheaded one elite with Yakal, bound more climbers with chains, summoned and threw Artemisia to reap their lives one by one. He embedded Rudmilan into their bodies to absorb mana, then poured his remaining mana into more Rudmilans and restored with Valentine.
Kiiing!
It reacted. He winced slightly at the pain from his heart, but the rampage condition was mana, as he'd thought. The summoned chains wailed. With the ear-piercing sound, a message appeared.
[The limit on the restricted [Twenty-Second Fragment, Rudmilan] is temporarily released!]
[The fragment's performance is maximized!]
Short and simple, but enough. Judah looked up. Straight ahead stood Esther Sellion, sword lowered after felling the Dragonkin. Flames cloaked her entirely; her clothes had burned away, leaving her nude. Requiem flickered with massive flames, as if its time was nearly up.
'......'
She should have lost her reason, yet her eyes still looked sorrowful.
*Stop.*
No tears left to shed, yet they flowed from her eyes. But they evaporated instantly in the enveloping flames. Esther Sellion raised Requiem. Kiiing, it wailed amid tears, flames gathering along the blade before erupting in a fan-shaped wave like a dragon's breath.
Faced with the flame wave about to swallow him, Judah shadow-stepped behind Esther Sellion. Emerging from the shadow, he felt the heat just as her tail reacted first.
He summoned chains at the stabbing tail. Ripples formed in the air, and chain-bullets shot out—not arrows—snaring it tight.
The rampaging Rudmilan held firm amid her scorching heat. Seeing that, he unleashed Shadow Sword 2nd Form—Slash. A black slashing wave from Yakal severed her sharp, tough tail.
Red flesh and bone cross-sections appeared amid the flickering flames. Despite the severing, feeling no pain, Esther Sellion twisted right, swinging Requiem at him.
Kaang!
Her strike, aimed to cleave Judah, was deflected by Iris's attack from afar. Feet planted on the stairs, Judah knew this was the chance. A swing of Artemisia in his left hand could sever her neck in one go. This brief window was plenty. But then their eyes met as she turned to look back.
Unfocused pupils filled with sorrow and regret.
Aching with desperate longing.
That moment, the woman from his dream surfaced. Weeping so sadly, she refused to reveal why no matter how he pressed. Just a dream—he could've ignored it—but her grief was so heartbreaking he cried too. The lingering melancholy lasted all day after waking.
Unlike the dream woman, he knew why the Dragonkin Queen before him wept so bitterly. Because of this game's lore he'd created, she'd suffered blame, regret, and sorrow for over a century.
"I'm sorry."
Apologizing like that, Judah reached out his hand.
========== Afterword ==========
1) Lime really is the most useless companion.
He always made the meals, though.
2) Shh, whether I've read that work is a secret. Folks.
I just happened to scrape three days' worth to reread Noblesse, and it turned out to be that. I have no plans to use the Dragonkin Queen as a hand warmer like in that story! You perverts!
3) Wow, it's already been a month since I wrote that scene. Felt like just the other day, but I guess it was because of Groth.