Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Dragon Shadow (1)
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The ruins excavation site turned into pandemonium in an instant.
Dozens of lives were lost in the initial surprise attack. The damage was immense because powerful magic struck repeatedly while they were completely defenseless.
And into the midst of that erupting chaos poured the demons that had been hiding themselves perfectly.
At the center were orcs with relatively high intelligence and good coordination, accompanied by numerous humanoid large types like trolls and ogres, as well as beast types like blood wolves and gray bears.
This sparked total mayhem. The soldiers, thrown into panic, couldn't mount a proper response and were cut down by the demons, leading to even greater casualties.
That's when Arietta stepped forward.
She blocked the demons' path, gripping a pure white sword with a gently curved blade, and stomped her foot.
“I command you! O earth, rise and sweep them away!”
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!
The ground in front of her flipped over, burying the demons there.
Arietta leaped onto the surging wave of earth. She raised her sword toward the sky and shouted.
“O rain of stones, pour down!”
Countless rocks flew into the air from within the wave of earth, then rained down like a storm. Accelerated by Arietta's mana force, they mercilessly pierced the demons' bodies.
Right after, Arietta spun her body in the air like a dancer and swung her sword.
“O peculiar darkness, split apart!”
A pure white flash erupted along the sword's trajectory. It sliced through everything thirty meters ahead...
Splatter!
The demons there sprayed blood and collapsed all at once. A beat later, the trees fell, severed.
That broke the demons' momentum, which had been stabbing at the humans' confusion.
Arietta shouted.
“Commanders! Restore order!”
At her words, the commanders snapped to attention and began regrouping their troops.
Arietta saw their response and prepared to unleash another large-scale attack. But at that moment, a mass of coalesced black darkness writhed and flew toward her.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!
Arietta swung her pure white sword to block it, and the darkness shattered into fragments. The countless leech-like shards sizzled with smoke and stench upon touching the surroundings.
That was when it happened.
Clap clap clap clap clap...
A round of applause, utterly out of place on the battlefield, echoed through the air.
A figure emerged from the thick clouds of explosive smoke. Draped in pitch-black robes, with magical darkness veiling his face like a hood, he spoke.
“Indeed, the Dragon Princess. Your valor is beyond belief for a mere girl. I could believe you'd been dominating battlefields since birth.”
“Who are you? From your appearance, you're a Dragon Demon Hybrid.”
“Correct. Though compared to you, I'm little more than a mongrel.”
The man bowed elegantly in noble fashion. On the back of his hand was embedded a Dragon Demon Stone resembling a dragon's eye, just like Arietta's—though his was a dull green.
By revealing the Dragon Demon Stone, he showed no intent to hide his identity as a Dragon Demon Hybrid. Arietta eyed him briefly, feeling the powerful mana force radiating from him, then pressed again.
“I'll ask once more. Who are you?”
“Regrettably, I cannot answer.”
“Then...”
Arietta's eyes flashed wide. At the same time, a translucent wave of light spread from her, sending her long white hair fluttering in the air.
“I won't ask anymore.”
She thrust her sword forward and cried out.
“Erupt! Dragon's wrath!”
Boom!
A transparent wave of force violently warped space as it charged ahead.
It was a strike too fast to dodge. By the time the hooded man reacted, everything in its path had been pierced at supersonic speed.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble...
Air rushed into its wake, whipping up a gale, and dust clouds billowed thickly.
Silence fell over the battlefield for a moment. The sheer destructive power from one person—verging on a natural disaster—left humans and demons alike stunned.
Flutter...
The silence was broken by the sound of Arietta's white coat flapping. She turned with a composed expression.
But then—
“Princess! It's not over yet!”
An urgent shout halted Arietta's steps. The moment she felt puzzled by the warning—delivered in that habitual, mangled honorific—a pitch-black blade surged from underground.
Clang!
The completely unexpected ambush was blocked right before Arietta's torso. But it wasn't Arietta who had stopped it.
“That was close.”
He was a man with wildly grown red hair and a scruffy beard framing his blue eyes. He had intervened at the perfect timing to block the strike aimed at Arietta.
“Azel Zestringer?”
Arietta uttered his name in surprise.
It was Azel. He flashed a grin at the princess and said.
“Sorry, Princess...”
“Hm?”
“Could you move this aside? I'm not strong enough to hold it back.”
Azel's arm trembled as it blocked the black blade. He had stopped the ambush, but suppressing the surging force was another matter.
Arietta grasped the situation and responded immediately.
“O earth, flip over!”
Rumble rumble rumble rumble!
The ground heaved entirely, scattering massive amounts of dirt everywhere.
From within leaped the black-robed figure—the same Dragon Demon Hybrid who had confronted Arietta moments before.
Arietta blinked in confusion.
“You dodged that?”
“As a Dragon Demon Hybrid myself, I have a trick or two.”
The man shrugged.
Azel clicked his tongue.
“Isn't it embarrassing to show off such tricks against an innocent princess?”
“What?”
“It was just an illusion to deceive the eyes, then burrowing into the ground. Impressive technique for swimming freely underground.”
“......”
The man flinched at his words. Though his face was hidden, Azel keenly sensed the agitation. Grinning, Azel taunted.
“I don't know who you are... but relying on petty tricks and strutting around isn't wise.”
“Weakling, you let your sharp eyes go to your head and spout nonsense.”
As he spoke, Azel leaped backward. Black blades erupted from the ground. The earlier ambush on Arietta had come from blades conjured by the man's magic.
“Is ambushing all you're good for?”
Azel snorted derisively. He focused his mind, and his Spirit Veins pulsed.
Thump!
His heart beat.
The vibration transmitted to his Life Circles, resonating. The mana force circulating through his Spirit Veins linked with the Life Circles, amplifying. The resulting vibrations met the pulsing of his blood vessels and the twitching of his muscles throughout his body, amplifying further before returning to the Life Circles and exploding once.
All this happened in the instant of a single heartbeat.
Before the second beat began, Azel had already drawn his mana force to maximum output.
“Hup!”
Azel's body shot forward like an arrow.
His previous movements had been nimble, but this was on another level.
It was the Flash Step Arietta had used earlier. In an instant, faster than an arrow, he appeared dozens of meters ahead, kicked off the ground at an angle, then stepped on a tree branch and soared high into the air.
The man sneered at the sight.
“Foolish!”
He had instantly recognized Azel as a Spirit Order practitioner. And that his mana force was negligible.
The current movement was certainly fast enough to catch him off guard, but that was it. Soaring into the air was practically begging a mage like him to cook him.
So he thought.
Stab.
“Huh...?”
He froze in shock. The moment he tried to attack Azel in midair, something sharp had pierced his body.
“What is this...!”
A dagger had run through his abdomen. Had Arietta moved? He glanced at her in panic, but she wore a stunned expression.
And then...
“Haaah!”
With Azel's shout, a fierce wave of psychic force shattered his disrupted mental barrier.
It was like a lion's roar overwhelming a herbivore. Not just a loud cry, but the psychic power within it struck his mind like a torrent.
For an instant, his thoughts scattered. The chain of cognition broke, creating a fatal opening.
Slash!
Azel, dropping from the air, seized the gap and brought his sword down on the man's face.
“Nggh...”
Azel grimaced after landing past the man. His sword had shattered cleanly.
“That's why you can't rely on orc swords.”
Grumbling, Azel tossed the broken sword aside. He had bare-handedly beaten an enemy orc amid the chaos and taken its weapon.
“So you had a comrade after all.”
Azel spoke without a hint of intimidation, despite losing his sword.
His gaze turned to another figure who had appeared like a ghost. Like the first man, he wore pitch-black robes with magical darkness veiling his face beneath the hood. A dull blue Dragon Demon Stone on the back of his hand marked him as a Dragon Demon Hybrid.
“Not bad.”
What emerged from the veil of darkness was a woman's voice, hoarse and ragged.
“Urgh...!”
Beside her, the man groaned in pain. A blade protruded from his abdomen, and the darkness veiling his face had been torn long.
Azel inwardly regretted.
‘If I'd been a bit faster, I could've finished him.’
Just before Azel's sword strike landed, the enemy woman had cast a protective spell on the man. With his meager mana force, Azel couldn't pierce the defense, and his sword broke.
But the man wasn't unscathed. The veil tore, leaving a long gash on his face with blood flowing.
“You bastard, a puny human dares...!”
“That's a line fit for a Dragonkin to say. Doesn't suit a Dragon Demon Hybrid.”
Azel snorted.
It was a line he'd heard endlessly from Dragonkin during the Dragon Demon War. As evident from Dragon Demon King Atein's ambition to create a world ruled by Dragonkin, they believed themselves the superior beings on earth.
Hearing it from a Dragon Demon Hybrid felt refreshingly novel. Were Dragon Demon Hybrids in this era gripped by the same superiority complex as the ancient Dragonkin?
“I'll kill you...!”
“Enough.”
The woman raised a hand to stop him. The frenzied man halted as if by magic.
Watching her unnervingly calm demeanor, Azel blurted out.
“Four—no, five?”
“......”
“Right, Princess?”
“I don't know.”
Arietta replied. Her expression was grim, cold sweat beading on her brow.
Powerful presences lurked unseen, keeping her in check. Each might be inferior to her, but their numbers made her uncertain if she could handle them.
Azel had noticed the invisible standoff. That's why he hadn't said a word while she stayed put during his fight.
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Hello, this is Kim Jae-han.
Although it's through a publisher, it's been a really long time since I've serialized on Joara.
Both this work, Dragon Sword Legend, and the wuxia-style Eastern fantasy The One Who Eats the Star Clouds are currently serializing on Joara.
The serialization is handled by the publisher, but I do check the readers' comments. I appreciate your support.