Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: The Viper's Revival
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Misunderstandings are like tangled threads—once they start knotting up, it's hard to unravel them.
This was true for Duke as well.
'Then why did he come?'
Just that one question kept circling endlessly in Duke's mind.
But after pretending to know everything up until now, it wasn't something he could just ask outright.
Even if a blue screen popped up in Duke's head, time kept marching on.
And so, the day the Holy King was to receive the oracle arrived.
'I'll listen to the oracle first, then naturally ask about the reason for coming.'
Duke, as always, planned to handle it with quick thinking on the spot.
He took the Saintess to the leyline with his Honor Guard.
"To start with an explanation of the oracle's principle..."
On the way to the Providence Kingdom, the Saintess explained what the oracle the Holy King received entailed.
"Leylines are the veins of this land. The oracle involves peering into the land's memories through those veins first."
In other words, everything that happened above and below the ground could be discerned through the leylines.
This oracle had never once been wrong and had saved the Holy Kingdom from countless dangers, so whenever the leylines recovered, they would immediately check them.
"From those, they select the memories most closely tied to the Holy King and predict the future based on them."
However, even the Holy King receiving the oracle didn't know more than that about the principle.
Why it came in the form of a voice, who sent it down—
The oracle was something even the caster themselves knew nothing about.
That's why they did it.
It was a method similar to that of typical shamans.
"I can't peer into the leylines like the Holy King. I'm just a decorative piece in the Holy Kingdom, after all."
She was not allowed to be anything more than a totem that scattered the blessings of her predecessors.
Thus, the Holy Kingdom limited the magic she could learn to only blessings and healing.
But even so, she had been sharpening her blade all this time to give the Holy King a massive middle finger someday.
"But I can peek into the leylines heading toward the Holy King."
She had kept one secret that would someday plunge a fatal dagger into the Holy King's heart.
"Honestly, this is my first time actually peeking. I've practiced a few times, but I couldn't afford to get caught..."
Since it was her first real try, she didn't even know if doing this would send some signal to the Holy King.
"What if we get caught?"
Now settled into the leylines on the way to the Holy Kingdom, she looked at Duke with anxious eyes.
Duke replied as he always did.
"Trust me."
Those simple words were so reassuring.
She steeled her resolve and headed to the leyline spring.
"Everyone. Until Her Holiness the Saintess is finished, make sure no one approaches this area."
"Yes, sir!"
The Honor Guard formed a hexagonal formation centered on the Saintess.
The knights drew their weapons in advance and took positions ready for any mishap.
Clang!
Duke's greatsword was also plunged into the ground near the Saintess.
As if this were the final frontline.
Soon after, the Saintess inscribed a ritual circle at the leyline spring's location and began concentrating as if in prayer.
An hour passed since she entered her prayer.
There was no reaction during that time.
But just a little after the hour mark, her magic circle began to glow.
'Whoa. This wasn't even in the original story.'
Duke, thrilled as a fan witnessing the Saintess hijacking the oracle.
The other knights instinctively wanted to gasp in admiration but maintained silence to avoid disturbing her concentration.
Right then, the Saintess murmured in a trance with her eyes closed.
[Sun...]
Duke quickly signaled the chronicler.
He was the finest at recording in Duke's knowledge.
The chronicler had already prepared before Duke's signal and began recording the Saintess's oracle.
[Do not covet the sun. All who take wing shall turn to ash.]
[You reached for the moon reflected in the mirror, but grasped only emptiness. Mourn, for the old has returned.]
[Do not seek to see it, nor to name it. It watches. You said it watches...]
"Gasp!"
The oracle cut off, and the Saintess gulped down a ragged breath.
Her platinum hair, soaked in sweat, fell limply as she panted.
Duke sensed the oracle had ended and approached her.
'The oracle's way different from the original?'
What happened to all the stuff about the Empire and the Emperor?
Duke's doubts didn't end there.
'Less noise than the Holy King's?'
The Holy King's oracles were so full of static that they needed not just cryptographers but archaeologists too.
Yet the Saintess's oracle was crystal clear.
'She might even have more talent than the Holy King.'
And hearing it as a beautiful woman's jade-like voice rather than some middle-aged man's raspy one made it feel much more like a proper oracle.
Pushing such idle thoughts to a corner of his mind, Duke approached the Saintess.
To help her up, as she sat there unable to stand.
But before Duke could speak, the recovering Saintess cried out urgently.
"The Holy King saw me!"
"I see."
It wasn't particularly surprising.
Duke had skills to backtrace anyone monitoring him.
Peter could do it, and even that doddering old hag Valda watching from afar could.
It was a basic ability for anyone who survived the Empire era.
But the Saintess warned such a Duke.
"The leylines are coming! No, I mean..."
"That's explanation enough."
Duke pulled his greatsword from the ground and signaled Peter through Rex's system.
The signal crossed two mountains via the leylines and reached the old man stationed toward the Holy Kingdom.
"Heh heh. Well now. No good comes from showing this side of myself to others."
In the desolate wilderness devoid of people, the old man set down his staff.
The old man's snout elongated, his ears stretched into deer antler shapes.
His pale beard turned into catfish whiskers, and his clothes melted into his skin.
Graaaarrrgh!
A dragon's roar echoed from beyond the mountains.
Even the Honor Guard knights, trained not to flinch at most things, stared blankly beyond the peaks.
"That’s..."
"7th rank...?"
They had never properly seen 7th rank or higher power before.
Duke's telekinesis impressed them as amazing, but it was invisible and modest like his personality.
Even former King Eschrick was parried by Ari, so they didn't know its true might.
And today, they learned why dragons were called transcendent beings.
[The caretaker steps away briefly, yet these vermin dare play master...]
As Peter—Grand Duke Perseverance—growled, dark clouds began gathering in the sky.
Even a single segment of body peeking briefly from the clouds was larger than a building, and multiple such segments appeared.
As the knights couldn't even guess its length, the dragon's head emerged from the clouds.
[Come, you greenhorn whose blood hasn't even dried on your horns.]
No sooner had the words ended than a golden explosion raced along the leylines from the Holy Kingdom side.
A massive blast visible even over the mountains.
Like detonating bombs in sequence, the golden explosion carved a valley as it approached.
The Saintess groaned at the sight.
"Reckless! The Holy King is 8th rank, and old man Peter is..."
Duke cut her off.
"That one was once an Imperial Grand Duke. He fell to 7th rank after entering heart demon state once, but he's not so decrepit as to yield to some 8th rank."
"Pardon?"
It was news to her.
She had sensed something extraordinary behind his kindly demeanor when meeting Peter, but Grand Duke? She hadn't imagined it.
Stunned by the shocking truth, she stared at Peter.
Regardless, Duke positioned himself in front of her and continued.
"Lucky. The ones who usually managed the leylines were always dragons with blue scales."
As if in response, blue lightning gathered in the blue dragon's maw.
Within the raging storm. A precarious mass of lightning on the verge of exploding gathered toward the blue dragon.
And the moment the golden explosion racing along the leylines crossed the Holy Kingdom's border into the kingdom—
Boom!
With a sound like bursting air from the blue dragon's maw, a blue flash shot out.
Rumble! Roooar...
Thunder boomed belatedly, and the earth shook in response.
No explanation was needed for what was happening.
A golden pillar and lightning torrent were clashing beyond the mountains.
[Crazy... That's like a small nuke...]
Rex muttered, watching via shared vision.
Duke pretended not to hear, acting as if his ears were deafened by the blast.
In the meantime, Duke shielded the Saintess with his cloak.
"Storm's coming."
As if on cue, a storm carrying gravel and burning wood approached them.
The forewarned knights raised barriers or shields.
But the storm didn't reach where the knights and Duke were.
It couldn't cross a certain line, as if hitting an invisible wall.
Their gazes naturally turned to Duke.
The kingdom's second-in-command was casually blocking something with his left hand.
"Your faith in me is lacking."
"My apologies, Your Excellency."
"Just kidding."
A few minutes later.
The seemingly endless storm subsided, and the lightning-spewing blue dragon closed its maw, shrinking back.
[That should teach the pup its place.]
The blue dragon that had brought the massive storm reverted to the ground, thumping it.
Then, tapping the staff rising from the earth, it leisurely walked toward the group.
As the knights adjusted to the ringing in their ears, Duke looked toward the Saintess.
"You alright?"
"Y-yes... I'm fine."
The Saintess trembled faintly, having witnessed true 7th rank power.
She was a 6th rank that held her own anywhere, but strictly speaking, a pretty doll of 6th rank.
All she knew were blessings, healing, and basic holy attacks.
Thus, an attack of that magnitude was beyond her imagination.
Duke said to her.
"Impressions?"
"...Pardon?"
"What do you think of seeing a fragment of the Empire?"
She nodded faintly.
"Was everyone in the Empire like that?"
"Not everyone."
Not even Grand Dukes were all like that. Humans capable of such feats were rare even in the Empire.
But,
"At least those close to the Imperial family could all do it."
At Duke's answer, the Saintess's face paled further.
"Compared to the 13 Reverse Heavenly Stars, then..."
"Peter could at least leave a scar they wouldn't erase."
In other words, nothing more than a scar.
The Saintess staggered.
"We have to stop it."
Duke instinctively held back from saying, 'Stop what?'
For some reason, he had a gut feeling that what the Saintess was saying was crucial.
And his instincts, honed over centuries, were right again this time.
"If Opfir comes back to life..."
'Why would that guy come back?'
As Duke held back his doubt, the Saintess desperately clutched his clothes.
"We can't let the Holy King revive Opfir! Your Excellency! We have to stop it, no matter what it takes!"
Seeing her clinging and pleading desperately, Duke smirked beneath his helmet.
'Oh, this is juicy.'
Now the puzzle pieces fell into place.