Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Dragon Slaying Ritual (4)
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5
Unlike Azel's fears, the Dragon Shadows did not launch an assault even after daybreak. It seemed they had failed to relocate the group after slipping through their surveillance net once.
Finding a lost target in this vast forest was no easy task, after all. More importantly, Azel and Arietta had put in ample effort to evade enemy eyes.
Arietta marveled.
"Your concealment techniques are truly mystical."
Azel excelled at hiding his presence. When he cloaked himself and the others with his stealth skills, they became nonexistent for a time. Even perceptive magical beasts and monsters passed them by without notice.
Azel replied.
"It's fortunate the enemies aren't soldiers."
"Why is that?"
"If they had the skills of scouts from the Western Border Guard, we wouldn't have escaped. They'd have tracked the traces we left while moving."
Even experienced as he was, Azel didn't know much about erasing tracks in the woods. He could counter magical detection and pursuit, but if they followed physical signs from their travels, they might have been caught already.
Arietta nodded in understanding.
"I see."
They also moved in bursts of explosive speed at intervals. Azel carried Rick on his back while Arietta bore Enora, leaping up to the treetops and bounding from branch to branch to cover over a hundred meters. This rapid method helped throw off predictions of their position.
Arietta alone would have arrived long ago. But Azel's mana shortage limited the distance he could travel in one go.
*It's been ages since mana scarcity pissed me off this much.*
Azel meditated to recover his mana, then sighed.
Right now, nothing was lacking—not stamina, strength, or mana. Especially mana; it drained away the moment he dipped into Spirit Order techniques, which was stressful.
In combat, he could conserve it and unleash bursts when needed. But constant travel while staying alert and using mana turned the shortage into a real problem.
*Stamina's taking a hit too.*
They'd traversed the forest on water alone for nearly a full day. Without sleep at night, Rick and Enora might have collapsed by now—not that Azel was immune.
Enora, in fact, lacked the strength to walk and clung to Arietta's back.
Azel suddenly asked.
"Princess, how much farther to the fortress?"
"About thirty minutes, I estimate."
"Unfortunately, that's too far."
"Why do you say that?"
Arietta sensed urgency in his words.
Azel answered.
"Focus on the vibrations underfoot."
"Vibrations?"
Arietta complied, detecting tremors rising from deep below.
"Something's coming from underground?"
She thought of Kirion, but Azel shook his head.
"No."
His face, as he replied, was the most gravely set she'd ever seen.
Rumble rumble rumble...
By then, the shaking was strong enough for even Rick and Enora to feel.
Azel shouted.
"A dragon's coming! Get out of the way!"
Moments later, the ground beneath them crumbled under a massive burrowing entity. Dirt erupted like an explosion.
BOOM!
A colossal shadow burst forth. It was unbelievable that something so enormous had swum through the earth. Its silhouette resembled an elongated lizard, covered in blackish-brown scales with a rocky texture, sturdy horns, and red eyes with vertically slit pupils... A monstrous fortress of a body over thirty meters from head to tail tip.
The tyrant at the apex of the food chain, unchallenged by any magical beast or monster.
A dragon.
"A real dragon!"
Arietta gasped in shock.
As a Dragon Demon Hybrid, she could sense a dragon's presence nearby. But she'd never faced one up close, so even its instinctive aura left her half-doubting.
Now, witnessing the behemoth explode from the earth and soar skyward, she could only reel. For such a giant to swim underground and leap dozens of meters up!
The Earth Dragon's immense size made its parabolic descent seem slow. When it landed like a small hill, dust billowed like an eruption.
Rumble rumble boom!
The ground quaked as the Earth Dragon's form slid across the terrain. The surface flipped, and ancient trees snapped like reeds, flying away.
"Good heavens..."
Arietta was speechless.
She'd seen plenty of massive monsters in her life—slaying those that terrorized the people was her duty.
But this dragon dwarfed them all, utterly unreal.
Azel's voice reached the dazed Arietta.
"These guys even know how to control a dragon..."
She started at the sight: Rick slung over his right shoulder, Enora tucked under his left arm.
Overwhelmed by the dragon's presence, she hadn't thought to evacuate the two. Shame flushed her cheeks.
Azel pretended not to notice.
"If the dragon's tracking us, we can't outrun it."
"Why not?"
"Dragons keenly sense Dragon Demon Hybrids. And humans too."
"Really?"
Arietta, facing a dragon for the first time, hadn't known. But recalling how strongly she'd felt its presence, she couldn't argue the reverse.
A raspy feminine voice cut in.
"You know a lot about dragons."
Regina emerged from the trees. At the same moment, Azel detected other foes via his Gaze.
"Two more, Princess."
"How the hell do you sense us? We smell or something?"
Grumbling as he appeared was Zikel, alongside another in similar garb.
*Not Kirion.*
Azel could tell. Had yesterday's injury kept him out?
"Yeah, you reek like foot fungus mixed with sewer sludge. Ever try bathing?"
Azel taunted.
Their stealth was impressive. But fixating on Azel betrayed their gaze to him.
Regina said.
"Talk all you want, bearer of that ill-omened name. This will be your grave."
Thud! Thud! THUD!
Behind her, the massive Earth Dragon advanced, red eyes aglow.
6
Azel asked.
"One thing I'm curious about..."
"What?"
"Why's my name ill-omened?"
"You don't need to know."
"Is it because it matches Azel Karzark's?"
"..."
Regina flinched at Azel's probe. Her face was veiled in shadow, but she was surely rattled.
Regina said.
"...How did you know?"
"Just a hunch."
Azel grinned infuriatingly, then continued.
"Then your group, the Dragon Shadows, must be tied to Dragon Demon King Atein."
"Sharp enough to make me suspect mind-reading."
Regina replied coldly.
Arietta muttered.
"Dragon Demon Worshippers? Figures."
"Dragon Demon Worshippers? That's a thing?"
Azel was incredulous.
Azel, long asleep, didn't know: after the Dragon Demon War, cults worshiping the Dragon Demon King emerged. Centered on Dragon Demon Hybrids, but some humans joined too.
All human rights are equal. Judging worth and class by birth is wrong.
Only the superior Dragon Demon race should rule all. Humans must live equally under their dominion...
Many such groups existed, united in faith: Dragon Demon King Atein would one day resurrect to forge the right world.
Azel said.
"Unbelievable."
His jab at Regina stemmed from Kallos's intel, logically connected.
Dragon Demon King Atein would revive.
His followers lurked, working to resurrect him.
Linking them to the Dragon Shadows was natural for Azel. Their deeming his name fatally ominous reinforced it.
Azel said.
"Kidnapping the Princess is for some nefarious purpose, right?"
"No obligation to answer."
"Didn't need to. More importantly... is that dragon your trump card?"
"Indeed."
Regina brimmed with confidence. An Earth Dragon plus three Dragon Shadows could subdue Arietta and dispatch Azel, Rick, and Enora.
The Earth Dragon moved.
WHOOSH!
It plunged into the earth like sinking into water. The collapsed ground erupted in a dirt tsunami toward the group.
"Princess! Enora!"
Azel yelled urgently, hoisting Rick and leaping skyward. As he reached the treetops and soared higher, ground-based spells flew at him.
ZAP ZAP ZAP!
Azel blocked them but plummeted. Rick screamed.
"Arrrrrgh!"
Azel braked mid-fall as if kicking an invisible surface, grabbed a branch, spun, and landed lightly.
Behind him, the ground exploded as the Earth Dragon surged, lunging at Arietta.
"Damn it!"
The Earth Dragon's rise resembled a dolphin breaching. Such motion from that bulk shattered reality just to watch.
Arietta, Enora under her arm, reflexively swung her sword.
"Foul darkness, be sundered!"
FLASH!
A blade trajectory of light struck the Earth Dragon true.
The light sword that slaughtered dozens of monsters at once proved useless. The Earth Dragon paused midair briefly, then descended unfazed.
Arietta barely evaded with Flash Step. But the next instant, spells from the Dragon Shadows struck.
"Urgh...!"
Binding magic restricted movement; curses sapped vitality. Regina and her ally, both potent mages, made the spells hard for even Arietta to shake.