Chapter 328
Chapter 328
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 328
Chapter Title: What the Earth Dragon Guards (3)
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‘Profound Crystal?’
The Earth Dragon furrowed his brow.
He didn’t know exactly what it was, but he clearly understood what the being before him desired.
- Get lost! As long as I exist, no one shall covet this place!
The Earth Dragon stayed on guard.
“You’re the monster guarding the Profound Crystal, aren’t you? Ah, judging by your appearance, you’re close to a dragonkin?”
Fire, water, earth, wind.
This being possessed all four elemental energies, making it the trickiest opponent among all those who had come before.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Yui-sa Stormtree.”
She—Yui-sa—greeted him casually.
“I won’t harm you if you just let me touch that crystal. I promise.”
To him, a primordial dragonkin.
A proposal that could be seen as utterly arrogant.
‘A spirit user, she said.’
Rumble rumble rumble…!
The Earth Dragon rose to his feet.
‘Spirit user.’
He had heard that spirit users were beings who summoned the spirits dwelling in the spirit realm—a new world born around the traces of Earth (土).
- Kyiiing!
- Kyuwoong?
The hatchlings, not yet properly grown because their mother hadn’t given them enough experience, were huddled whimpering in the crevice of the crystal.
‘Don’t worry.’
- Grrr rumble!
The Earth Dragon let out a low growl.
This mother was the strongest lifeform since primordial times, a dragonkin.
No one would touch the ‘Fragment of Earth (土)’ or the precious gift bestowed by Earth (土) upon ‘you all’!
“Must we fight in the end?”
At Yui-sa’s murmur, the Earth Dragon nodded.
Yes.
Sorry, but this place had been off-limits to anyone for countless eons.
Even if what you seek isn’t the Fragment of Earth (土), but the crystal blooming around it.
You’ll have to kill me to get near it!
Rumble rumble rumble…!
And so, the two mighty lifeforms.
Clashed without yielding, each for their own purpose.
The Earth Dragon’s (土龍) claws were sturdy and sharp, its tail elastic yet tough.
- Roooaaar!
With a thunderous roar, it swung its claws left and right.
Toward the four spirits Yui-sa had summoned.
Of course, Yui-sa didn’t stand idle either.
Whoosh!
The highest-grade fire spirit, Séléana, clung to the Earth Dragon’s head.
Boom boom boom!
The highest-grade earth spirit, Noe Anen, dodged the dragon’s attacks while relentlessly pounding with fists.
Explosions echoed continuously through the vast cavern.
And then.
“How dare an ugly monster like you interfere with Yui-sa’s business?”
Sylphid flicked her hand.
Whoooosh!
A surging gale swept over the Earth Dragon’s hide.
“Hoh? Quite the resilient resistance. But no matter how sturdy, even the toughest things wear down before the ravages of time.”
As expected of a spirit king.
Even limited to 10% of her power, her mastery over elements was unmatched.
Sylphid instinctively grasped the Earth Dragon’s weakness and focused her strikes on one spot amid its vast body.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The raging winds spiraled, sucking in all surrounding energies.
The amassed power slammed powerfully into the Earth Dragon’s lower back.
- Kraaaagh!
The Earth Dragon exhaled a harsh breath.
Bewilderment was clear on its face.
What sort of hide was his!
Not even the fangs of an ordinary ancient dragon could pierce it!
‘Yet.’
The impact transmitted through.
It didn’t shatter the resistance in one blow.
Whoooosh!
The whirlwind strikes carried the force of at least thousands of years.
In that brief moment, it hammered thousands of times over.
- Kraaagh! Enough!
But the Earth Dragon didn’t just take it lying down.
It twisted its body to evade the strike points, countering with claws and tail in brutal close combat.
Its target was—
‘Hm?’
The Earth Dragon cocked its head.
‘Where’d she go?’
Yui-sa’s figure, which had been keeping distance far away, was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile.
Splish splash!
The highest-grade water spirit, Elestra, was stealthily carrying her contractor Yui-sa along the cavern floor.
Splish, splish splash!
Ripple-shaped afterimages left on the ground.
Yui-sa’s body reached the Earth Dragon’s center—the Profound Crystal—in an instant at tremendous speed.
- How’s that.
“Whew, nice! Elestra.”
Yui-sa exhaled shortly and smiled brightly.
The highest-grade water spirit, mature enough to rival any beauty, blushed at Yui-sa’s smile.
“Is this the Profound Crystal?”
Like crystal.
A mystical metal gleaming transparently.
Pluck!
Leaving the battle to Sylphid, Yui-sa touched the crystal with her pale hand.
“…….”
But.
“What?”
Nothing happened.
Legend said it would dramatically boost spirit affinity.
“Hmm…….”
Bullshit.
Her affinity remained the same.
No surge in energy or purification of her aura either.
‘It’s definitely a metal containing immense power…’
Yui-sa panicked.
What was going on?
If this crystal had nothing to do with spirit affinity, there was no point in coming here!
- You wretch! So you were there?!
Soon, the Earth Dragon’s and Yui-sa’s eyes met.
Realizing the center had been breached, the Earth Dragon hurriedly twisted its body.
As a result, its focus in the fight against the spirits shattered.
And.
“You dare turn your back on me, you lizard?”
The price was devastating.
Rumble rumble rumble…!
The wind spirit king Sylphid’s ultimate technique.
‘Storm of Ages’ (EX Grade).
Sylphid sacrificed the thousands of years she had lived to conjure the wind.
A ferocious gale born from the dissipation of her accumulated spirit power and main body.
Rooooar…!
Immense energy spiraled, compressing and compressing again.
“…….”
She would be weaker than other spirit kings as a result, but Sylphid had no regrets.
Because.
‘Losing Yui-sa would hurt more.’
The dragon had just turned its back.
It prioritized attacking Yui-sa above all else.
Her main body could handle it, but at only 10% power, even she struggled against the dragon.
‘I won’t let that happen!’
Rumble rumble rumble!
The Storm of Ages struck the dragon’s body fiercely.
- Kugh, kuaaaagh!
Feeling intense pain for the first time, the Earth Dragon screamed.
The wind pressure was so fierce that its waist bent unnaturally.
Crimson blood sprayed skyward like a fountain.
- Roooaaar! No. Not there!
Rumble rumble!
But even amid that tremendous shock, the Earth Dragon persisted.
Twisting wildly, it charged toward Yui-sa.
“…….”
Yui-sa, releasing the Profound Crystal, watched with a slightly hollow expression.
‘What.’
Just a rumor?
The Profound Crystal was merely one of many metals holding mystical power.
Were the tales in the spirit realm nothing but some elaborate fabrication?
‘Well.’
No one was known to have pierced that monster to reach it before.
It didn’t make sense for such legends to circulate.
How would anyone know without touching it?
Then.
What was that dragon protecting so desperately?
“Noe Anen.”
As Yui-sa raised her hand.
Rumble rumble!
A golem reformed from the earth blocked the dragon’s path.
Precision control and near-perfect synergy.
- Out of my way!
Scraaaape!
The dragon’s claws raked the golem’s torso.
Noe Anen’s body split instantly, but it didn’t matter.
The cavern floor was made of earth.
It would replenish and regenerate swiftly.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The reformed Noe Anen doggedly blocked Yui-sa’s front.
“Yui-sa! You okay?!”
Whoooosh!
Even then, Sylphid relentlessly attacked the dragon’s wounds.
Not to cause pain, but to draw it toward her instead of Yui-sa.
But.
- No! Move! Begone!
The dragon was desperate.
Even as wounds piled on wounds and flesh tore away.
It never looked back.
Boom! Boom! Baaaam!
It smashed and crushed the endlessly reviving Noe Anen, pressing toward the center.
‘Why?’
Suddenly, Yui-sa sensed something off.
‘Why fight so inefficiently?’
Dragons were a race renowned for battle.
The strongest lifeforms in the universe, weren’t they?
For such a being to fight so inefficiently?
‘To protect something in the center?’
Was this crystal.
That precious to the dragon?
As she tilted her head in confusion.
- Kyiiing!
- Kyiing!
Two hatchlings wriggling out from between the vast crystals—it happened then.
Two young dragons.
Earthen One (土一) and Earthen Two (土二).
‘You two?’
Yui-sa’s eyes widened.
- N-No!
The Earth Dragon, Cassias, let out a anguished scream.
If you reveal yourselves to these intruders…
Then…
‘Ahh.’
In that moment.
Cassias felt pain greater than the wound on its waist.
‘This.’
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Zing!
A piercing pain throbbed in its heart, more agonizing than the gale’s onslaught.
Thinking of those wriggling young ones torn apart, Cassias’s mind went blank.
‘Why… is this.’
The Earth Dragon was confused.
A feeling he’d never known before.
The reason he raced to the center.
It should have been to protect the Fragment of Earth (土).
But no.
More precious than the Fragment of Earth (土)—those two young ones.
He hated to admit it, but he had to.
Cassias loved Earth (土)’s gift more than Earth (土) itself.
- It can’t beeeee!
Why.
They say true feelings emerge in extreme moments.
Cassias confirmed it today.
Stalwart Earthen One.
Adorable Earthen Two.
He would even give his life to protect them.
* * *
At that moment.
“……!”
Yui-sa was just as shocked as the Earth Dragon.
She had strong spirit affinity.
Affinity had many effects.
One key one: heightened empathy toward others’ emotions.
In other words.
‘Hatchlings?’
Yui-sa felt the Earth Dragon’s maternal love in her heart too.
‘Hatchlings?’
The reason for the Earth Dragon’s desperation.
Why it charged at her despite Sylphid wrecking its back and waist.
To protect these two hatchlings…?
In that instant.
Yui-sa’s emotions wavered.
She knew Sylphid’s gale well.
Wounds no lifeform could easily heal, called ‘Eternal Agony.’
‘Me.’
To boost spirit affinity easily, what had she done?
That dragon would live in pain forever.
And.
- Kyiiing.
- Kyuwoong!
Those two young ones would watch their mother’s suffering and live here for life.
Yes.
They weren’t the horrific monsters of rumor.
Just a precious lifeform with maternal love.
‘Ahh.’
Was that it?
Greed.
Her own greed made the affinity unresponsive?
No.
Affinity or whatever.
It didn’t matter.
When she learned the guardian of the ‘Profound Crystal’ was an intelligent dragon, she should have turned back.
And the moment she realized it had hatchlings.
“…….”
Yui-sa couldn’t attack the dragon.
The source of her spirit affinity embracing all elements—her purity.
That purity now poisoned her.
“Yui-sa!”
Shocked, Sylphid shouted from behind.
“Snap out of it! What are you doing?!”
She stared into the desperately approaching dragon’s yellow eyes, taking no action.
“Dodge! You’ll really die! Yui-saaaa! Why are you just standing there?!”
The earth spirit ‘Noe Anen.’
The water spirit ‘Elestra.’
The fire spirit ‘Séléana.’
All immobilized by their contractor’s intense will.
“Yui-sa?”
Eyes bulging, Sylphid moved her hands swiftly.
Only she, a spirit king, could defy such immense affinity.
She had to annihilate the dragon before it got close.
She had to.
“Sylphid, sorry…….”
Crunch!
The dragon’s fangs chomped Yui-sa’s head first.
Stab!
Its rough claws ripped her body first.
“You mad……!”
Hatred and resentment mixed in Sylphid’s eyes.
Two targets.
Hatred for herself for failing to kill the dragon swiftly.
Resentment toward Yui-sa, who did nothing—for whatever reason.
- No…… No……!
Even the Earth Dragon, attacking madly, noticed the anomaly.
The spirit user who’d been so strong.
Who’d driven a primordial dragonkin like him—would she yield her life so easily?
And look at those eyes.
Even dying, the emotion in her gaze was clear.
‘Regret.’
Why?
Why show me such emotion?
- Kyiiing!
- Kyuwoong!
Embracing Earthen One and Earthen Two rushing into his arms.
Whoooosh!
Fading away…
Cassias gazed at the spirits slowly dissipating.
“You…… I’ll kill you! You filthy lizard bastard!”
The horrific being.
Sylphid, eyes rolled back, vanished before fully unleashing her rage.
……
Silence descended.
Only searing wounds and the hatchlings’ cries remained in the quiet.
That.
Was the Earth Dragon’s memory of Yui-sa Stormtree.