Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Savior? Unbelievable.
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"Me." "Savior?" "Understand." "Impossible."
Adhai could hardly believe the facts conveyed by Ort.
"Me." "Body." "Small." "Strength." "Weak." "Savior." "Impossible."
She had been born with a small, puny body. Luck had brought her good connections that allowed her to grow, but her frame was still tiny. Smaller than a hatchling, in fact, when it came to sheer size. Strength was one thing, but physically? No way.
Her, a savior? It was absurd.
"You." "Small." "True." "But." "First mate." "Taught me." "Savior." "Power of the stars." "Connected."
"First mate?"
Just as Ort was her third mate, there had been females before her who had bonded with the black dragon. The very first one was the ancient dragon ranked fifth in the hierarchy.
"First mate." "Where?"
"Dead."
"!"
"Ordgrad." "Feared." "The truth." "So." "Killed her."
Adhai was utterly shocked by those words.
Though age had dropped her in the ranks, the first mate was the oldest member of the flock. In terms of respect, she commanded as much reverence from their kind as the mighty Ordgrad himself.
And yet, he had killed her? Adhai almost suspected Ort of lying.
She pushed her senses to their limit, probing the pure white female. Her psychic powers extended, brushing against Ort's body. Ort knew her daughter was scrutinizing her but stayed still.
After the process, what Adhai confirmed was that Ort at least truly believed it.
The first mate's death was a tragedy to Adhai too. She had been the only one in the flock who treated Adhai kindly.
Even more than her own birth mother, Ort.
But whether the first mate's words meant she was truly special was another matter.
Ort claimed she possessed the power of the stars, but it didn't resonate with Adhai. If she really had such power, she wouldn't have ended up captured here.
"Daughter of the meteor." "Savior." "Proof." "More."
"?"
Ort pointed at her grass-green scales with a forepaw.
"Growth." "Faster." "Than kin."
"Me." "Hunt myself." "Prey." "Eat." "Lots."
Adhai protested, but Ort shook her head.
"Not wrong." "But." "Too fast." "Kin." "Growth." "Power." "Prey." "Needs." "Much." "Much."
Adhai had been exiled young and didn't know well, but Ort did.
When she discovered traces of the daughter who had left this planet and returned, she had sensed it. The Daughter of the Meteor had grown unnaturally fast.
Among those born with her, quite a few had scales shifting from blue to green. They surpassed her in bulk and stored power.
But Ort could feel it. The day this small daughter before her would don scales like hers—pure white—was not far off.
The Daughter of the Meteor had grown this much without any benefits from the dragon's nest. What did it mean that an exile outpaced those who received every advantage?
The answer was simple.
Before dying, the first mate had said it. The savior might look wretched but held immense potential. If the conditions to unleash it were met, the Daughter of the Meteor could bloom into a being of legend.
"Daughter of the meteor." "Special prey." "Needed."
"Special prey?"
"Kings' flesh." "Needed." "Follow."
Her body sufficiently healed, she rose. As she headed out of the cave, Adhai hurried after her.
Since bringing back the Daughter of the Meteor, Ort had hunted relentlessly. To gather food for her.
And today, at midday, she had succeeded in slaying a monster from a distant land. Even immature, it was enormous—so huge she couldn't carry it alone and needed kin to help transport it.
"That?"
Entering the forest together, Adhai sent out a psychic wave. Before them lay the massive corpse of a beast, torn into chunks. Each piece was larger than one of the white kin.
Seeing Adhai tilt her head at the beast's remains, Ort explained proudly.
"Serpent King." "Immature." "Specimen." "Ort." "Hunted." "Daughter of the meteor." "Growth." "Catalyst."
She expected her daughter to be amazed, but Adhai's reaction was nothing like that.
"Me." "Ate some."
"?"
"Tasty."
"?" "?"
Ort faltered in confusion.
Ignoring her reaction, Adhai smacked her lips at the Ice Horror's corpse.
-
Crystalwing hesitated at the sight of my changed form. A creature once half its size had grown larger than it—small wonder it was rattled.
After a roar, I charged. Thanks to the 'Stealth Maneuver' effect, my footfalls were nearly silent. Only the crash of trees splintering against my body echoed loudly.
Then, Crystalwing and I collided.
"Kuaak…!"
Too flustered to dodge properly, it screamed. Even when my body was small, my horns had shredded its wings. Now, smashed by a body longer than its wingspan? No chance it emerged unscathed.
One wing tattered from my charge, it opened its maw. Just before the particle beam fired, No. 26's support arrived.
"Kuek?!"
A tree ripped out by the roots smashed into its mouth. As it gagged, corrosion tentacles burst from my back, coiling around its wings.
Like a snake striking a flying bird, the tentacles constricted swiftly. The broad wing tore, bone fragments flying.
To finish it, I gaped my lower jaw wide. It split in two, ready to swallow its head—then it counterattacked.
It chewed and swallowed the tree in its mouth, then unleashed a particle beam.
The intense heat scorched my upper palate; I snapped my jaws shut. My body was tougher than a spaceship hull, true—but not my insides.
Escaping peril, it blasted the tentacles around its wing with the beam.
"Kuaaaak!"
Astonishingly, it severed its own wing with the blast. Freed, it retreated swiftly.
'Super regeneration ability.'
I'd thought it a fresh adult, but it was capable. It knew its powers well.
A new wing sprouted instantly from the stump. It spread them wide and soared upward.
It had realized close combat favored me. Shifting to aerial bombardment—its specialty.
'But bombardment isn't your exclusive domain.'
I'd anticipated this. I was prepared for a shootout too.
Hovering over the forest, it readied another particle beam.
At the same moment, the tentacles grown to my neck and jaw moved.
The glossy black carapace flushed purple. Latent body energy converted to psychic power, gathering at the tentacle tips.
Dragon's strength: Psionic Breath. Pure state, no 'Abyssal Hues' active.
The instant the male Crystalwing fired its beam, the monstrous tentacles on my jaw and neck unleashed theirs.
On a snowy peak shrouded in black clouds, cyan and purple lights clashed.
A thunderous boom like lightning in a storm rang out; the entire summit quaked. Before the roar faded, a crashing from below—the mountainside avalanched.
Our duel shook a whole mountain. Then No. 26 joined the fray.
Trees, rocks, ice, earth—every terrain feature levitated, spinning into a massive drill. The technique that had critically wounded the Ice Horror before.
Seeing it, Crystalwing cut its beam and dodged. My Psionic Breath grazed its crest.
The moment our clash broke, No. 26 launched the psychic drill. The formless energy mass tore through air, blasting off one wing.
"Ku, kuaak!"
'Blasted off' was literal. Its body halved in an instant, it plummeted to the snow.
Meanwhile, I activated Abyssal Hues. The vivid purple tentacles donned a motley coat—green, purple, indescribable shades swirling.
With hues ready, I triggered 'Terror Gazer'.
Energy seeped from my tentacles, blobbling in midair. The liquid mass bubbled endlessly, like metal in a forge.
The writhing, sentient blob morphed into a giant bubble.
'Bigger than expected.'
The ominous, glistening bubble looked 5 meters across. Predation effect boost? Or my restored size? Unclear now.
Soon, the massive bubble drifted toward its target.
Aimed at its torso—the bubble promised nightmarish agony to any life. It sliced through air.
"Ku, kuak! Kuak! Kuaak!"
Spotting the approaching Terror Gazer, Crystalwing wailed in terror. Wild instinct screaming its peril.
Instead of countering, it flung itself aside. A beam from there would've burst the bubble on it.
'I saw that coming. Next move…'
This attack was a feint anyway. As I prepared the follow-up, something astonishing happened.
The giant bubble shattered into dozens, hurtling at it far faster.
'No. 26?'
Each had a thin purple thread attached. Trailing back to No. 26 behind me.
With its aid, the bubbles exploded before Crystalwing's belly. The contents splashed over its head.
Colors spread like dye in water. On contact, it froze in place—overwhelmed by excruciating pain, mind blank.
Its immobility was my cue. Deactivating Abyssal Hues, I fired a second Psionic Breath. The purple ray pierced drifting snow, impaling its heart.
"…Ku."
Dazed by pain, heart lost—Crystalwing staggered, collapsed into the snow. It exhaled a long, resentful sigh, then stilled.
Easier than expected, but the real takeaway was what just happened. Something unforeseen.
'Didn't think it'd end this smoothly.'
I'd planned suppression via Abyssal Hues disruption. But No. 26's new power let me skip it.
'Knew it handled psychic power well, but…'
Intervening in my psy abilities? Wow.
'Seems limited to techs with Abyssal Hues.'
Otherwise, it'd have assisted my first Psionic Breath.
'Or tied to attack form?'
Maybe only small, slow ones like bubbles—not dense beams hard to control.
'…Whatever. Huge gain.'
Even if not all my psy attacks, controlling enhanced Terror Gazer alone opens options.
I glanced back instinctively. Meeting my gaze, it wagged a tentacle.
“Tried it 'cause it seemed doable!”
Its confident quip. My response? One thing.
[Zzuz zuzuzu (Very well done)]
“Yeah!”
This Crystalwing hunt was for my mobility test, but unexpected bonus.
Wanted to praise No. 26 right then, but enemies remained. Eulogies after mopping up the female.
[Zzuz zuzuzu (Shall we go?)]
“Yeah. Help Midkid and Friend.”
I dashed toward the peak, No. 26 aboard, to aid the fighters.
About five minutes after the male's death.
Atop the nameless peak, two pairs of gleaming jewel wings lay fallen side by side.
After two days' wait, success: two Crystalwings hunted.