Chapter 83
Chapter 83
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Scars Left on the World (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While Azel performed the Dragon Slaying Ritual, Kairen pursued Laura.
If he had been chasing her alone, he would have lost her after she vanished into the Labyrinth of Lament. But fortunately, the Guardian Shadows had tracked her down.
And...
[Hmm. The legendary brat. The eyes I so artistically enhanced for once have reverted to their dull state.]
"You've gone back to being a filthy skull after I so neatly smashed your head in."
Kairen growled.
The one who had sniped at him the moment he appeared was Delta, the undead Dragon Demon of the Prophecy Guardians. The man whose skull Kairen had shattered in their previous fight had fully regenerated and was now battling Laura.
[We don't have the luxury for petty squabbles like this.]
The irritable voice belonged to Theta, the undead sorcerer. Kairen grumbled.
"Hey, skull sorcerer. Why don't you tell me I'm having a nightmare? Then I might even feel a bit grateful."
[You should bite your tongue to snap out of it. It's undeniable reality that you're forming a friendly alliance with filthy undead like us.]
"Damn it."
[You've lived a long time, so you should adopt a flexible mindset and embrace this novel experience with fresh wonder.]
"You're annoying."
[How original.]
From Kairen's perspective, it was truly infuriating, but he couldn't deny that both Delta and Theta were reliable allies right now. Especially without Theta's powerful magic, they would have already lost Laura.
"You lot are really persistent."
Laura sighed. She clearly looked annoyed.
But deep down, she was feeling a sense of crisis.
'No way he would attempt the Dragon Slaying Ritual there.'
She had left most of the pursuers to the thunder dragon to make her escape, but the plan had gone awry. Especially Azel's use of the Dragon Slaying Ritual to pin down the thunder dragon—it was completely outside her calculations. Did he really have that kind of power?
Before Kairen arrived, Delta, Theta, and numerous Guardian Shadows had surrounded her and unleashed a barrage of attacks. She hadn't gotten far when Kairen showed up and immediately launched an assault.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Her vision went pure white as everything burned. Right after, Kairen struck down on her barrier.
The barrier shook violently. Kairen's attack was ferocious enough to chill even her to the bone.
'This is dangerous.'
It was a perfect miscalculation. There were too many enemies, and they were too strong to fend off in a prolonged fight.
She knew about them. Excluding Kairen, the two undead had been part of the group that killed her predecessors long ago.
In other words, they were blood enemies to her as Aunsor's successor, but she didn't feel any particular grudge. She had never felt any affection for Aunsor's previous inheritors to begin with.
'Not all of those members are here... but the Dragon Sword Duke is no pushover either.'
Intense clashes continued in the meantime. Laura unleashed all sorts of spells while trying to break free from the spot.
But the enemies' encirclement was too solid. Theta, the sorcerer, nullified about half her magic, and while the Guardian Shadows kept tangling her feet, Kairen and Delta closed in rapidly and unleashed eerie sword strikes.
'What do I do?'
It wasn't that she had no way out.
She could retract the Labyrinth of Lament she was using to capture Seiga and unleash the full power of the Cup of Lament on the enemies. But that would end the mission in failure.
'I don't want that...'
Her head knew that was the wise choice. Considering her track record so far, one failure wouldn't be a big blemish. Hadn't her rival, Nibiris, failed before?
"It's okay to fail."
Laura muttered to herself as if to convince herself. Yeah. It was fine to fail. Handing Seiga over to them and escaping safely was the right call.
But her chest felt stuffy, as if something was blocking it.
'Giving him a name can wait until after the selection.'
She recalled the adults who had looked down at her with cold eyes in her childhood, before she even knew much about the world or had received the name Laura. Their gazes had appraised her like an object.
'Only those who never fail inherit the name. Failures are unnecessary.'
They had always pushed her—and all the other children competing for the successor position—with those words. The failures were culled, and only those who achieved the results they wanted were chosen and given names.
The culled ones vanished from the world. They had 'produced' many children as tools to fulfill their ambitions and kept only those who met their criteria.
"Ugh...!"
Laura's expression twisted for the first time, her face no longer impassive.
Make a rational, wise judgment: abandon the mission and prioritize her own safety. That was all it was.
Yet the trauma etched into her mind from childhood was blocking that simple choice.
Kwahaha!
Her barrier cracked. Seizing the moment her focus wavered, Delta and Kairen concentrated their attacks on a single point.
"Kyaaak!"
Laura screamed. As her sturdy barrier shattered, the hem of her dress tore away.
"Getting distracted mid-battle? You're too complacent, miss!"
It was the perfect opening. Kairen surged forward as Laura was flung back and brought his sword down without hesitation. This would end it!
In that instant, a flash exploded before his eyes.
"What?!"
Kairen exclaimed in shock. The flash didn't harm him—it only blinded him; there was no physical force.
Yet his sword struck nothing. The perfect strike cleaved only empty air.
"Haa..."
Laura let out a long sigh right in front of him.
For a moment, Kairen doubted his own eyes. He had closed them briefly due to the flash, but his vision hadn't gone completely dark. Yet the scenery before him warped like heat haze on a spring day.
Theta spoke.
[Space distortion.]
The Cup of Lament was a tool that gathered the light of the heavens to distort space. Beyond creating the completely isolated space of the 'Labyrinth of Lament,' it could also cause localized space distortions.
Just now, in her moment of life-or-death crisis, Laura had escaped using space distortion. Kairen had struck the precise spot, but the warped space made his sword miss.
"Failure..."
Laura murmured, her face pale.
The moment she distorted space, the Labyrinth of Lament shattered. As Azel had judged, Laura's control over the Cup of Lament was still immature. She couldn't induce space distortion while maintaining the Labyrinth of Lament.
Seiga lay unconscious beside her.
"Seiga!"
Kairen cried out in alarm. But Seiga showed no response, completely out cold.
Suddenly, Laura spoke.
"It would have been nice if he had come along."
A flash surged from the distance. A beat later, a massive wave of dragon demon power crashed over them, sending shivers down their spines.
Wooooo...
As the air trembled faintly, even Kairen, Delta, and Theta—who were facing off against Laura—turned to look back. They knew they shouldn't take their eyes off her, but the dragon demon power surging from behind was overwhelmingly intense.
Laura murmured.
"He pulled off the dragon slaying after all. Azel Zestringer... perhaps you truly are the blood of the one who saved the king's fate."
"What?"
Stunned by the unexpected words, Kairen turned. But instead of answering, Laura used magic to lift Seiga.
"Thanks to you, I was able to decide to fail, Dragon Sword Duke."
With those words, she flicked her hand, sending Seiga's body flying in an odd direction—over the cliff.
"Damn it!"
Without hesitation, Kairen leaped after him off the cliff. No, not just leaping—he raced down the cliff face. He couldn't use Flash Step without footholds.
Having shaken off Kairen, Laura launched herself into the air. Of course, Theta, Delta, and the Guardian Shadows weren't about to let her go. They immediately lunged toward her, but...
"Well then, goodbye."
As if she had been waiting, space distortion unfolded, flipping directions. By the time they realized they were all charging in the opposite direction from where they intended, Laura had concealed herself with magic and fled the scene at high speed.
"Damn it all!"
The Guardian Shadows roared in fury and gave chase.
7
Azel opened his eyes amid the fading light.
The Dragon Slaying Ritual was over. The defeated thunder dragon had offered everything to the victor, Azel.
Azel closed his eyes briefly, feeling the dragon's power now dwelling in his body. He could sense it—the massive power taken from the dragon writhing within.
It would take time to fully assimilate this power. But even now, in this moment, vitality surged through him like a miracle. All his wounds had healed, and his severely depleted mana was fully restored.
"Alright, then..."
He wanted nothing more than to immediately meditate and focus on digesting that power. But the situation didn't allow for such leisure.
It was then. Azel unleashed his killing intent and asked.
"...Are you suicidal?"
Prophecy Guardian Lennon had appeared before him. Unlike Zares, he had revealed himself directly.
"No. I just wanted to let you know there's no need to rush."
"What are you talking about?"
"Aunsor's successor got away. But we rescued the Dragon Demon Prince."
"I see. So the urgent fire is out. Now it's time to settle my business?"
"What business?"
"Send out that bastard Zeta right now. I'll smash him. Then I'll make sure that Zares punk never thinks like this again."
"As for Zares... hmm. I don't want to defend the brat, but..."
"Brat?"
Azel's eyes widened. Lennon said.
"Oh, believe it or not, I'm older than you, Sir Azel."
"What do you mean?"
"Becoming a Prophecy Guardian means forfeiting your life as a human. I was born during the Great Darkness."
Azel swallowed hard at those words. It was hard to believe. Born during the Great Darkness? That meant he was at least over sixty now, right?
"Not a Dragon Demon or Dragon Demon Hybrid... and time just skipped you all that while?"
"Yes. But no need to treat me like an old fogey. I discarded all that long ago."
Lennon grinned as he dropped this bombshell. Stunned into silence, Azel heard him continue.
"Then, back to Zares. I fully understand your feelings, Sir Azel, but couldn't you consider that his foolish scheme led to a good outcome this time?"
"Crab calling the crayfish crooked? It's just results."
Indeed, because Zares had lured the frost dragon, they could block the thunder dragon summoned by the Dragon Demon Worshippers. But considering why Zares had prepared the frost dragon in the first place, Azel couldn't forgive him.
"I see. Well, nothing to be done then. Zares will have to fend for himself."
"Wouldn't it be easier to beat it out of you and drag him here?"
"Regrettably, we're not bound by such tight bonds. Self-preservation comes first."
"You guys really are trash."
"I won't deny it. But the reason is probably different from what you think, Sir Azel."
"What do you mean?"
"The reason we prioritize our own safety is that these lives are tools needed to fulfill our unfulfilled wishes. All Prophecy Guardians chose to abandon human lives and become tools to eradicate the Dragon Demon Worshippers."
"You're suddenly being generous with information. Spouting all this nonsense—do you want me to pity you and sympathize?"
"I hadn't thought of that. But we've started to think you're likely the man of the prophecy. So we're just being a bit more cooperative."
"But I have no intention of cooperating with you?"
"If you wipe out the Dragon Demon Worshippers, that would be the most cooperative thing you could do for us."
No matter what Azel said, Lennon's face remained a smiling mask. Azel frowned and said.
"Fine. I'll hunt down that Zares myself and beat him. Just hand over Zeta."
"I'll decline."
"What?"