Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Scars Left on the World (1)
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81
Chapter 17
Scars Left on the World (1)
1
Back when the Dragon Emperor War was still raging, Kallos had once spoken to Azel about the positions of humans and dragons in the Dragon Slaying Ritual.
“Humans who crave power and challenge dragons are like moths flying into flames. But… I think the truly pitiable ones aren’t the humans, but the dragons.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“When the Dragon Slaying Ritual is held, it’s always the humans who choose.”
When humans request the Dragon Slaying Ritual, dragons unconditionally accept. No matter how disadvantageous the situation, from the moment they appear in the world, they know it’s the only way to quench the thirst tormenting their souls.
Yet they are always the ones chosen.
Humans are the ones who choose. Dragons, lacking wisdom and language, can only wait for humans to choose them.
“If there’s a dragon that refuses a human’s challenge, it’s only those who’ve fulfilled a dragon’s wish and gained wisdom. But it’s not hard to imagine how much waiting and fighting it takes to reach that point.”
They might never be chosen until their long lives end.
They might be chosen while wounded and sick.
“In comparison, humans can prepare themselves fully, choose the time and place of battle as they wish. In the end, all they need is power and resolve.”
“You can’t treat those two things so lightly.”
“Of course not. But between the one who can choose and the one who can’t, there’s no need for lengthy words on which bears the harsher fate.”
2
Memories from long ago—but to him, feeling like just a few years or months ago—flashed chaotically through his mind. Azel watched the approaching Thunder Dragon for a moment.
‘But humans aren’t always in a position to choose either.’
Like Azel now, forced into the Dragon Slaying Ritual.
Kairen spoke to him then.
“Azel, you told me this.”
Once, when Kairen had asked about swords, Azel had answered.
A sword is merely a tool to achieve a goal. Tools can break with use. If a tool breaks, rather than clinging to it, one should seek another way to achieve the goal.
“But this Dragon Sword is my soul and my life.”
“Some things only gain life when humans imbue them with meaning.”
Azel said. Even to him, who treated weapons as disposable tools, such an existence was the Dragon Demon Armament.
Kairen handed Azel one of his two Dragon Swords.
“I lend you my soul. Win and return.”
“……”
Azel looked at him with surprised eyes for a moment. As Kairen himself had said, to him, the Dragon Sword was not a mere tool. It was akin to a clone containing his life’s work.
Lending such a Dragon Sword was no small matter. Azel gazed at him briefly, then took the Dragon Sword and handed his own sword to Kairen in exchange.
“I’ll make good use of it.”
“You probably didn’t plan for this to be the moment you keep your promise. I know. But… I have no choice but to entrust it to you now.”
“……”
Azel wasn’t fully prepared. He hadn’t completed the scheduled training period, the Dragon Sword for him wasn’t finished, and he’d rushed out after overworking his body, leaving his condition a mess.
Demanding he face the Thunder Dragon and perform the Dragon Slaying Ritual in this state was excessively harsh. If he could, he’d want to fight alongside him.
Seeing Kairen’s expression reveal such feelings, Azel smiled.
“This is enough.”
For Kairen, rescuing Seiga was the top priority. No matter how harsh the demand on Azel, it couldn’t be helped.
Azel understood his position. So before he could say more, he turned away.
“This is how it’s always been. Your Grace, go rescue the Princess and the Prince who’s swapped roles.”
“…Do you think Arieta suits such a role?”
Kairen asked with a wry chuckle. Azel replied without turning.
“It’d still make a better picture than the Prince, wouldn’t it?”
“True enough. Seiga, that brat—after this is over, I’ll have to drill him properly again.”
Kairen said that and turned away.
Azel gripped the borrowed Dragon Sword and swung it experimentally. Though it was his first time wielding it, it fit perfectly in his hand. Partly because it was well-crafted, but surely also because of the familiar energy within.
‘Dragon Demon Force.’
The energy he’d felt whenever using Dragon Demon Armaments in the past was contained in this sword.
A Dragon Sword couldn’t replace a Dragon Demon Sword forged from one’s own soul. Yet as a mere sword, it was an outstanding masterpiece.
It emitted Dragon Demon Force on its own and converted the user’s mana into it. It didn’t unite with its wielder like a Dragon Demon Sword to unleash power, but just holding it vastly expanded Azel’s options.
“O Dragon.”
Confirming the feel of the Dragon Sword, Azel called out to the Thunder Dragon in a low voice. Amplified by mana, it pierced the Thunder Dragon’s roar and reached its ears.
“My name is Azel Zestringer.”
Azel drew up his mana, honed through training, to its maximum and declared.
“I challenge you to the Dragon Slaying Ritual.”
The thundering Thunder Dragon suddenly calmed, as if by magic. Toward the dragon gazing at him as if confirming, Azel slowly raised the Dragon Sword into position.
Moments later, the dragon broke the silence with a nod, establishing the Dragon Slaying Ritual.
3
Woooooong!
Each time Azel’s heart beat, the Life Circles vibrated fiercely, producing mana. The Life Circles around his heart numbered five, all completed with Dual Banding.
Even so, if asked if it was enough to fight a dragon, Azel would shake his head. Mana quantity, physical strength, condition—none met the necessary conditions.
‘But it’s always been the same.’
Real combat isn’t a match. For Azel, entering the battlefield in a state where he absolutely shouldn’t fight and facing enemies was routine.
‘Yes. Always……’
It was the same before and now. Even after awakening from long slumber, he’d been chased, chased, and fought in an unprepared state to reach here.
“Thunder Dragon. Not intentional, but this is fairly even. You’re injured too, and so am I……”
Azel quickly assessed the Thunder Dragon’s state.
It wasn’t just Azel whose condition was imperfect—the Thunder Dragon was the same. It had just fought a fierce battle with the Frost Dragon, so it was natural. External wounds might have healed with its monstrous regeneration, but accumulated fatigue and mana depletion were unavoidable.
“I stand here with no choice either.”
So he wouldn’t pity the dragon before him. He’d fight with the mindset of equals killing each other.
In response to Azel’s words, the Thunder Dragon answered with action.
Krarung! Kwang!
Among dragons, the Thunder Dragon had the fastest attacks.
Due to the nature of its power. Lightning strikes faster than anything. By the time the thunderclap echoes, the bluish bolt has already incinerated the target.
The Thunder Dragon had never met a match among non-dragons in its life. No matter how sturdy, nothing withstood the lightning from its horns. When it struck, lightning tore through space and burned the foe instantly.
“…Yes. I know it well. Probably better than any human.”
However… Azel was different from anything the Thunder Dragon had faced before.
Krr…?
The Thunder Dragon felt bewilderment. Azel had taken the lightning head-on yet stood unharmed, not a hair out of place.
It was the Insulation Transformation, the defense technique Azel had shown against Niberis and Laura. The Thunder Dragon using lightning was too predictable, making it easy to defend.
Seizing the Thunder Dragon’s confusion, Azel charged. The greater the distance, the more advantageous for the Thunder Dragon. He needed to close to sword range.
Krarung! Kwang! Kwoogwang!
The startled Thunder Dragon unleashed bolt after bolt. It exploded lightning like a storm, heedless of strikes on its own body.
The Thunder Dragon, which ruled lightning, took no damage from its own bolts. It exhibited near-immunity even to enemy lightning.
‘Faster reaction than expected! An experienced dragon.’
If it were a young dragon like the Earth Dragon he’d fought before, he might have felled it in the gap from nullifying the first strike. But the Thunder Dragon handled defense and offense simultaneously despite the incomprehensible situation.
Its horns blazed bluish as lightning sprayed in all directions. Lightning crawling along the ground and scattering in the air came under its control again, expanding spherically to form a barrier of incinerating bolts.
Pajijijik!
“Urk!”
Azel, trying to close in, was pushed back outside the barrier’s domain.
The time he could endure with Insulation Transformation wasn’t long. When it engulfed all directions in lightning like that, Insulation Transformation couldn’t cope.
As distance opened, the Thunder Dragon immediately carpet-bombed with lightning. Azel used Flash Step to weave erratically, seeking blind spots in the Thunder Dragon’s vision to approach.
This repeated several times. From Azel’s perspective, he lacked power and speed. A bit faster, a bit stronger, and he could seize the needed timing. But each time, the Thunder Dragon’s all-around attacks barely repelled him.
“Mm……!”
On the sixth approach and repulsion, the Thunder Dragon poured lightning on Azel. It felt like an illusion of rewinding time and repeating the same process.
At such moments, Azel’s choices were two: accelerate with Flash Step to dodge sideways, or flow through with Insulation Transformation while charging.
‘This won’t do!’
Each approach and repulsion drained stamina and focus greatly. If they kept repeating the pattern waiting for a mistake, the overwhelmingly superior dragon would win.
Judging so, Azel tried a new method this time.
Kwoogwang!
Azel stood firm and took the bolt. The Thunder Dragon, expecting him to evade as before and preparing follow-ups, flinched.
‘One who devours lightning!’
This was a technique even harder than Insulation Transformation. Usable only knowing the enemy would definitely use lightning, it flowed the bolt with Insulation Transformation while absorbing some as its own energy.
‘Convert!’
The absorbed lightning, vibrating with the Life Circles, transformed into another attribute’s power. What Azel had done in an instant was a supreme technique that would make even advanced Spirit Order practitioners faint.
Lightning flowed from the top of Azel’s stationary body down to the ground and spread. Right after, Azel’s eyes snapped open as he swung his sword.
‘Advance of the Earth Dragon!’
Kurrrung! Koogung!
The earth shook as a shockwave racing underground erupted, gouging the surface. Like a shark swimming deep in the sea surging toward the surface at high speed!
Kwaagwang!
The moment it collided with the Thunder Dragon’s lightning barrier, the ground flipped entirely. The force exploding from below overturned the very earth the Thunder Dragon stood on.
An astonishing feat. Exploding the ground was one thing, but precisely flipping such a range required overwhelming power and miraculous control.
Kaaaa!
The utterly unexpected attack flustered even the Thunder Dragon. Despite its long life, it had never imagined this. An overwhelmingly massive, heavy being with four legs for far stabler balance than a human—toppled backward?
“Hup!”
In that instant, Azel lamented his own inadequacies.
A perfect chance. He should rush the mentally panicked Thunder Dragon and deliver a fatal blow. But……
“Ughhh……!”
Pajijijik!
Lightning discharged across his body. Searing pain raced through him as uncontrolled lightning rampaged inside.
“Under… estimated you……!”
Recalling the past and taking it head-on was reckless. With his current power, he couldn’t fully absorb the Thunder Dragon’s strike. The unabsorbed, unconverted power rioted in his body, wasting the golden opportunity before his eyes.
“Krah!”
Puuung!
Azel gathered the rampaging lightning and vented it skyward.
“Hah, haah, hah……”
Kneeling on one knee, he gasped. Foolish. Hadn’t he just wasted his reserves for nothing?
But battles were like that. A single mistake could cost your life. Thus, the gains from risking and succeeding in a gamble were great, as were the losses from failure.
Koogugugu……!
Before him, the flailing Thunder Dragon finally rose. Amid the boiling bluish lightning enveloping its body, a bizarre silhouette made of lightning itself began to emerge.