Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Breakthrough #6
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It was a familiar color.
The moment Ingong faced the vile purple energy, another gear clicked into place in his mind. In that sliver of time, a multitude of things flashed through his mind.
The monsters of the North that had appeared on the Anger Plains.
The group before him, who had harmed General Kashubal and were plotting something in Thunder Doom Fortress.
They were connected. The common thread between them was that vile purple energy.
*Were they also from the North? Or had they made contact with the North?*
Another thought surfaced at the same time. There was no evidence for it, but it suddenly appeared in his mind and wouldn't leave.
The Red Lightning Tribe.
How had they been able to control the Swamp Mammoths, the chimeras that guarded Enkidu’s treasures? Who had taught them that method? And if someone had, for what reason?
The small temple.
The place where Green Wind had resided, where the magic that maintained the verdure of the Anger Plains had been cast.
How had the monsters of the North known the secret of the small temple, a place even the centaurs who had lived on the Anger Plains for a thousand years were unaware of?
The common link between the two.
The Elder Dragon.
The great Enkidu's treasure-guarding chimeras.
The magic of Ainkel the Watcher, and Green Wind, who originated from a fragment of her.
The pieces didn't quite fit. A crucial element was still missing.
Something needed to be added here. The gear that would make it all click into place!
‘Master! Look ahead!’
At Green Wind’s cry, Ingong snapped out of his thoughts. He saw the roaring zombie dragon. In the holes where its eyes should have been, only purple ghost-fire flickered. It was just like Valkarova, whom he had faced at the Northern Limit Line.
The creature was hostile toward Ingong. The enmity of those pitch-black things that had killed themselves—the Shadow Puppets—had long since been devoured.
The black dragon, Partisan. A wicked dragon whose life had been ended by the dragon-slaying spear, Ascalon, just before it could taste the sweet fruit of victory.
Whether due to its lingering grudge or because its essence was still that of a dragon despite its fall, the vile purple energy it exuded was truly immense. Just facing it was enough to make one feel dizzy.
Partisan—the zombie dragon—shook the entire fortress with its roar and began to move. Its half-rotted legs stepped upon the earth once more, and its half-torn, decaying wings spread wide, covering the ceiling of the central plaza.
Felicia shouted something. The White Eagle hurried toward her, and in that moment when everyone else was overwhelmed, Ingong saw something move.
*CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!*
A top-grade guardian charged forward.
The last remaining of the five top-grade guardians that protected Thunder Doom Fortress had not forgotten its primary enemy. Defeating the zombie dragon was far more important than dealing with mere Shadow Puppets.
The other dungeon guardians also reacted to the zombie dragon. They abandoned the Shadow Puppets they had been fighting and rushed after the top-grade guardian. In an instant, the main battlefield shifted.
Felicia focused. She tore her gaze from Ingong and looked at the Shadow Puppets. Having gained a new weapon in the zombie dragon, they were no longer fixated solely on the dungeon guardians. She could see them starting to run toward her group.
“Flames!”
Felicia raised a barrier of fire to block their path. At that moment, the zombie dragon’s roar and a clap of thunder once again shook the fortress. It seemed the zombie dragon and the top-grade guardian had clashed.
“Karak!”
Karak shouted and swung his axe. As if triggered by the purple energy emanating from the zombie dragon, a similar aura rose from the bodies of the Shadow Puppets. Just as Cassius's group had, they forgot their fear of death and leaped over the wall of fire.
They charged at Felicia’s party even as their bodies burned. Some even tried to use the flames engulfing them as a weapon.
Karak and Karma protected Felicia. Felicia increased the intensity of the fiery wall, and Ingong, riding the White Eagle, flew across it.
Ingong landed, smashing the back of a Shadow Puppet's head, and exchanged a glance with Felicia. Though they exchanged no words, both instinctively knew they were thinking the same thing.
They had to defeat the zombie dragon. If the dungeon guardians were to fall helplessly, they would be next.
‘That thing is not yet complete. I can feel it. The longer we wait, the more disadvantaged we will become. We must hurry.’
Green Wind said. And as if she had heard Green Wind’s words, Felicia said something similar.
“It must still be incomplete. The ritual was too rushed. I can even feel the unstable flow of its mana. If we destroy its core, the core where its magic is concentrated, we have a chance…”
She didn't get to finish. Not just Felicia, but Ingong, Karak, and Karma all turned to look at the same spot. Felicia even dispelled her wall of fire to get a clear view.
An immense power was gathering. It was an overwhelming force that even Karak and Karma, who were ignorant of mana, could not help but feel.
Ingong knew instinctively.
This was a dragon’s power.
A power it had never lost, even in its fallen state, even now as a beast that had lost its reason and magical abilities. The one piece of evidence that proved the creature before them was a dragon.
Dragon Breath.
A pillar of purple energy erupted from its wide-open mouth. Incomparable to Valkarova’s, it not only swallowed the top-grade guardian's left shoulder whole but also stretched on for tens, even hundreds of meters. It literally erased everything in its path, including the Shadow Puppets.
A massive hole was torn open. A new opening was created in the main passage of the central plaza, which had been completely blocked by earth and debris from a collapse hundreds of years ago, and with it, a new collapse began. A tremendous vibration shook the entire fortress.
Time seemed to stop at the incredible sight. At least, that's what everyone gathered in the central plaza thought.
Karak finally managed to breathe. He let out a clumsy laugh, as people often do when they witness something utterly absurd, and said.
“You said it was incomplete?”
*That thing? That monster?!*
‘It is incomplete! Its Breath Weapon is limited!’
Green Wind shouted like a thunderclap. Ingong agreed. Even a dragon that hadn't fallen had a limited number of times it could use its Breath Weapon in a day. For a creature that had just been resurrected as a zombie dragon, its limit was likely two or three blasts at most.
The top-grade guardian knew this as well. That was why it gripped its massive hammer with its one remaining arm and charged. It trampled the advancing Shadow Puppets and attempted to engage the zombie dragon in close-quarters combat.
They couldn't just stand by and watch the giants fight. Ingong took Ascalon out of his inventory. As if sensing the zombie dragon's presence, Ascalon emitted a golden aura and shifted into a more combat-oriented form.
It was no longer a lance meant for charging while held in hand. Ascalon, the pinnacle of the Dwarven High Kingdom's magitech engineering, knew the most suitable form for its new master, Ingong. The handle vanished, replaced by a section where he could fit his fist. The guard, meant to protect the hand, swelled in size, and several nozzles jutted out from its crevices. Its two-meter length shortened to about 1.5 meters.
What he needed to unleash was a kind of thrust. A Lance Charge delivered while plunging from the sky.
Ingong slotted Earthquaker into Ascalon. A low growl-like sound came from Earthquaker, as if it found the union with the dragon-slaying weapon unpleasant, but this was no time to worry about such things.
Ingong mounted the White Eagle again. Felicia once more deployed her wall of fire, and the top-grade guardian's hammer fired a bolt of lightning.
*CRACK!*
The White Eagle soared. The lightning struck the zombie dragon's chest, and the dragon shrieked, its legs flailing. Even as the lightning tore through its chest, it lashed out, knocking the top-grade guardian to the ground.
The cacophony of monstrous cries, screams, and the rumble of collapsing debris created utter chaos. The White Eagle flew higher, and Ingong focused his aura into the tip of his right fist. The zombie dragon’s purple ghost-fire locked onto him!
It was like a tidal wave.
The zombie dragon's malevolent will washed over Ingong. Thanks to the Dark Elf's Tear, his mind wasn't violated, but his body couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
The zombie dragon did not miss the opening. While still pinning down the top-grade guardian, it rotated its massive body, and its monstrous, nearly ten-meter-long tail tore through the air. From Ingong's perspective, it was like a wall charging at him.
Neither Ingong nor Green Wind could react quickly enough to the unexpected attack. The tail, rushing at a terrifying speed, slammed into Ingong.
“Shutora!”
Felicia screamed. Exposed to such overwhelming violence, Ingong’s body plummeted like an arrow and crashed into the floor.
‘Master! Master!’
Green Wind's desperate cries poured out from the fallen White Eagle, but Ingong could not respond. He couldn't breathe properly. The immense pain he felt from all over his body at once was so great it was almost numbing.
“Prince!”
Karak rushed toward Ingong. Felicia hastily threw up a thick wall of fire to block the Shadow Puppets, and Karma guarded her.
The sound of thunder echoed once more.
“Shutora! Shutora!”
Felicia collapsed to her knees in front of Ingong and quickly cast a healing spell. Not stopping there, she ordered Karma to feed Ingong the healing potion from her belt.
“The blessing! Can't you use the Gandharva's blessing?!”
Karak shouted as he swung his axe at the Shadow Puppets that had finally broken through the wall of fire.
The health recovery from leveling up.
But it was impossible. He hadn't defeated enough enemies since leveling up from killing Valkarova.
Felicia continued to pour healing magic into him. Half-sobbing, she ordered the use of an awakening potion, and with trembling hands, Karma poured a new potion into Ingong's mouth.
“Gah!”
Ingong gasped for air. At that moment, the second Breath Weapon that Green Wind had feared shot across the central plaza once again. He couldn't tell what was happening, but from far away, he heard a massive explosion followed by the sound of collapsing earth and debris.
Ingong looked at the mini-map. The Shadow Puppets were overwhelming the dungeon guardians. Over there, the zombie dragon was undoubtedly crushing the top-grade guardian.
There was no time. They had to finish the zombie dragon while the top-grade guardian was still holding on, even if just barely.
‘Master.’
Ingong slowly pushed his upper body up. He wanted nothing more than to collapse and fall asleep, but he gritted his teeth and endured. He took out various healing potions from his inventory and chugged them like water.
“Draw its attention.”
Ingong said, and Felicia smiled, her face a mess.
“Shouldn't this be the part where you say we should run?”
“Sorry.”
“Forget it. We wouldn't be Dark Elves if we ran from this. But I can't do this twice.”
Ingong nodded. It seemed the awakening potion, followed by a painkiller potion he had downed, was working; he could more or less ignore the pain.
“One shot.”
Trading blows with that colossal monster was pointless. Just as Tiny Spark had done long ago, he had to end it with one powerful strike.
‘Master.’
Green Wind's magic enveloped Ingong. It was the same magic he had received on the Anger Plains. He felt as if he could sense Green Wind's heart.
Instead of rashly taking to the air, Ingong stared straight ahead. He gathered his aura with the same technique he used for the Gigantic Piston.
“Let's begin.”
Felicia said, and as if on cue, the sound of thunder echoed once more.
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End of Chapter 10 - Breakthrough #6