Chapter 136
Chapter 136
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: Gathering Legends (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Boom!
An explosive roar echoed as she was sent flying. Reygus charged at her with speed incomparable to before, knocking her away before immediately following up with another strike.
Clang!
What saved Leticia from a humiliating defeat was Kairen. In a panic, he deflected the hammer's trajectory with his left sword and aimed for Reygus's head with his right.
Reygus's reaction was completely unexpected. Rather than dodging the dragon sword thrusting toward his head, he met it head-on. His speed was so blinding it felt like time itself had accelerated in that instant. And then...
Kaboom!
The Seal of Soul Shackle came crashing down like lightning, unleashing a shockwave. It wasn't a posture that should have allowed for a power-packed strike, yet it was devastatingly fierce.
Because he was Undying. The living were bound by the limits of joint mobility, but an Undying like him had no such constraints. His shoulder and elbow joints twisted at unnatural angles without losing any power.
Kairen and Leticia were flung back, covered in blood.
"Argh...!"
The left side of Kairen's armor was torn away. It wasn't even a direct hit—just a glancing blow—yet the mana-reinforced armor shattered!
Leticia's state was just as pitiful. Her light armor had been ripped off, and her left arm was broken.
Panting, Kairen asked,
"Until now... were you just playing around...?"
His voice was filled with rage. Had he been pretending to take hits like an adult humoring a child? The humiliation was unbearable.
Even during the fight so far, Reygus had shown bursts of explosive speed. But this was on another level. It wasn't just momentary acceleration—every movement was at least twice as fast. It was no wonder Leticia had been caught off guard.
And that wasn't all. The mana force rising from Reygus's entire body had swelled overwhelmingly. It was enough to rival a dragon.
Reygus said,
[Don't get the wrong idea. I did enjoy fighting you all, but I wasn't holding back.]
"Ha, hahaha. You call that...?"
[It's true. Until just now, my power was simply being suppressed. That Guardian Shadow's eyes had some strange ability.]
"......"
Balsel's eyes, which he always kept closed, held an eerie power. Since awakening, Reygus had never encountered anyone who could interfere with his power as an Undying. Yet Balsel's mere gaze had suppressed more than half of it.
'Strange. Those other Undying are similar to me in some ways... Did that brat Kallos steal the king's secret arts, or...'
However, that power had its limits. As the other Dragon Demon Worshippers pressed hard, the suppression on Reygus finally lifted. The result was this. His rotting undead body was influenced by mana force in terms of physical performance, so the moment the suppression vanished, both his power and speed surged exponentially.
Catching her breath, Leticia said,
"Even so... now that we know how fast you are, we won't go down easily. And we've got reinforcements on our side."
[Ah, that young lady?]
Laura appeared behind Leticia. When Kairen had called for help via Whispering, she left the enemies to Yuren and joined them here.
Looking at her, Reygus said,
[I can tell at a glance. You bear a strong resemblance to my friend who never returned from the world of the dead. Laura, the betrayer.]
"That's right."
Laura used polite speech. Though she had betrayed them, Reygus was an elder of immense stature—a legend everyone revered.
Of course, that didn't mean she planned to go easy on him. A terrifying wave of dragon demon power emanated from her, enveloping Reygus in all manner of curses.
[With a mage of your caliber joining in, even I would find this annoying now. However...]
Kairen and Leticia weren't pushovers, even if she had caught him off guard and dealt a big blow. With Laura adding magical support, it would be quite troublesome.
[Someone else is here for you, miss.]
"I don't see an opponent you'd have that much spare time for."
Laura had only been able to join because she had dealt with her attackers to some extent and left the rest to Yuren. With the Guardian Shadows mixed in, turning it into a chaotic melee, the Dragon Demon Worshippers didn't even have a numerical advantage.
But then, a flash streaked in from afar.
Boom!
Laura had already sensed the magic activating the instant it happened. She not only blocked it effortlessly but even redirected it toward Reygus.
"Traitor Laura."
But at the chilling voice, she couldn't help flinching. With a look of disbelief, Laura raised her head.
There stood a Dragon Demon Hybrid youth. He floated six swords around him, each imbued with powerful curses. Beneath his snow-white hair, he revealed a pale complexion and blue eyes, with a single dark blue feather-like horn protruding above his pointed left ear.
Laura's amethyst eyes wavered.
"Dikal?"
2
The Dragon Demon Hybrid youth Laura called Dikal cackled with mad glee.
"To think you'd remember my name—truly an honor. But you're wrong. Call me something else now."
"What do you mean?"
"Dikal Aunsor. That's my name."
At the same time, Dikal unleashed his dragon demon power. Powerful curse magic shot from the six swords floating around him toward Laura.
Laura blocked them as she took to the air. Dikal pursued, unleashing a barrage of spells.
Crackle! Zap! Flash!
High-level mages clashed in a magical duel, sparks flying everywhere and rippling waves of energy surging. They cast at high speeds while silently and fiercely disrupting each other's spells before they could fully manifest.
Dikal asked,
"Why aren't you using your Dragon Demon Armament?"
"Because... I don't have it anymore."
"Ha! So it's true—you betrayed us for the Cup of Lament given to one burdened with a sinful name?"
"Yes."
"You say it so easily! What an absurd creature!"
As he spoke, Dikal suddenly paused, then giggled.
"Ah, but I shouldn't be angry. Sure, I thrashed in hell to claim it myself... but thanks to your betrayal, I could shed that damn mask and live with my face out in the open. Laura, you're my benefactor."
"......"
Dikal Aunsor.
Until recently, he had no name—or rather, it had been stripped from him. The day Laura received her name, he received his: Dikal. But the moment he was deemed a failure, it was taken again, and he became a bound combat tool under black magic.
He should have lived eternally like that until consumed, but he regained his name thanks to Laura's betrayal. The flustered Aunsor clan leaders restored his name, made him a new successor candidate, and ordered him to execute her.
Dikal said,
"Since you've done me such a favor, die here and make it perfect. That'll solidify my position... and it'd be nice to take the Cup of Lament too, but I'll have to kill its owner for that."
He unleashed a fierce assault. Having just completed the Dragon Slaying Ritual, he was in peak condition. Vitality surged through him, and his dragon demon power welled up like an inexhaustible spring.
Whoooosh!
The six swords he floated weren't Dragon Demon Armaments, but powerful magic tools created by the Aunsors during the Dragon Emperor War. They flew at high speeds, spewing six types of potent curses while linking with their user's magic, imbued with combat spirits.
In pure magical exchange, they were evenly matched. But the tools created a gap. Laura began to fall back bit by bit.
Bang!
"......!"
Laura's face twisted in pain as the explosion hurled her away. The moment she blocked the incoming cursed swords, spells from another direction pierced her defenses and struck home.
Dikal mocked her.
"Impressive as ever. Holding your own without a Dragon Demon Armament? But we won't even all need to step in... I'll finish you alone!"
"...We? You brought the Shadow Sword Brigade too?"
At her groan-like question,
The Shadow Sword Brigade was the Aunsors' dark combat force, made up of failed successor candidates. The clan rarely deployed them except in dire situations. Dikal himself had been one until recently, nameless, his face hidden behind a cursed mask. His pallid, bleached appearance was likely from that.
Dikal replied,
"Yes. You'll see how seriously they take executing you—and how shallow their trust in me is?"
Self-deprecating words. But handing him Aunsor magic tools and still attaching the Shadow Sword Brigade meant they doubted he could handle Laura alone, even without her Dragon Demon Armament.
"But they'll learn now! That their judgment was wrong! That the successor selection process was flawed from the start!"
Dikal's voice brimmed with ecstasy as he cornered Laura.
They had all been desperate in the successor competition. The evaluators' standards were so harsh that even minor flaws led to elimination. With over a hundred talented children, they planned to select just one—and discard the rest as tools without proper status. That alone showed their madness.
Naturally, the failures harbored resentment. Falling into the abyss over a tiny mistake—who wouldn't feel wronged?
Dikal, who had competed with Laura to the end, especially so. The Aunsors were wrong. If they'd given him one more chance, they would have seen who truly deserved to be successor...
Suddenly, Laura said,
"...So that's what you were thinking."
"You talk like you're any different. Weren't you the same?"
"No."
Laura shook her head. Staring straight at Dikal, she said,
"I wasn't as leisurely as you, Dikal."
"What?"
"I've never thought about the future. I didn't care how valuable what I was pursuing was. I never even imagined what you all were thinking."
Laura had never considered herself exceptional before becoming successor. Watching siblings drop out one by one, everything lost meaning and color at some point.
It was ridiculous, but until she became Aunsor successor—and until she met Azel—she had lived by inertia. From the days of joy at receiving her name, to thrashing desperately to meet the testers' standards, she was carried along by that momentum. Her will to move forward had long since burned out.
By then, even the desperation to survive had faded. Before each trial, she'd face the deciders with a hollow sense that she might vanish afterward.
Yet she survived. Perhaps because she approached it indifferently. Unlike her desperate rivals, swayed by hope and despair, her mind never wavered; she simply showed what she had built.
Suddenly, Laura said,
"I'm sorry."