Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Dream (1)
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[Groooaaarrr!]
On the solidly frozen ice sheet, a single giant centipede thrashed about.
Dark blue carapace plating, snow-white legs, and terminal segments as translucent as if carved from ice itself.
This colossal centipede, known in the world as the 'Frozen Horror,' writhed its wounded body as it fled.
[Kyaaaaak!]
It felt like the spine of a massive mountain range had been ripped out and was squirming.
Soon after, the beings that had driven this enormous, powerful monster into fleeing appeared.
"We've cornered it."
"Target has entered Abandoned Mine Zone B, Sky Lobster Point."
"Just give the order, and we'll execute the next phase immediately."
The ones who had terrified an adult Frozen Horror were knights armed in white plate armor, swords, shields, and crossbows.
And standing atop a jagged rock, issuing commands to the knights, was one other figure.
"Commence firing from the designated marksmen."
A cold-beauty with a black eyepatch over her right eye gazed down at the Frozen Horror.
Beneath her white hair fluttering in the wind, she flashed her red singleton eye.
Boomph! Boomph! Boomph!
Countless arrows flew through the sky, pummeling the Frozen Horror.
Mithril arrowheads punched right through the centuries-old carapace of a mythic-grade beast.
[Gr-aa-aa-aaah!]
The Frozen Horror let out a monstrous screech.
Watching it, the silver-haired woman murmured briefly.
"...So that's the one they say fought those Furosange thugs? Federback made impressive use of such a monster."
Cardina.
She stared at the adult Frozen Horror before her eyes—the specimen now dubbed the 'Furosange's Nightmare' after the previous incident.
Soon, Cardina drew her sword.
"Cease fire. I'll finish it off."
At her words, the surrounding knights scattered to either side.
Not a single one among them uttered something foolish like 'Miss, it's dangerous.'
And why not? Over the past few months, more than eighty percent of the high-grade beasts in the Abandoned Mine Zone had lost their heads to her blade.
Ever since being assigned to the Beauvoir Mine, Cardina had swung her sword like a madwoman.
She cleaved and honed it relentlessly—from greatsword to longsword, and finally to shortsword—never once letting go of the hilt.
The result?
Whoosh!
Cardina succeeded in manifesting a long, liquid-form aura blade from her sword's tip.
4th Circle.
Having finally reached this realm last night, Cardina set out to subjugate the Frozen Horror she'd been saving up for, to test her newfound power.
And here she was, come to slay this female specimen—the second-greatest scourge on humanity after the Ice Dragon Adara.
[U-uuuuh...]
The Frozen Horror that had once massacred the Furosange rangers groaned.
Cardina raised her sword, where milky-white beads clung to it like dew.
"I heard my little brother was indebted to you before... but that doesn't mean you get to touch our miners."
Soon, a Milky Way of sword light arced through the air.
The silver aura blade, freshly liquefied from gaseous form, scattered in its wake.
Like a shamshir forged of mercury, it traced a semicircular path across the Frozen Horror's neck.
The Meursault secret technique unleashed at full power by a 4th Circle knight: '4th Form: Flesh Carving.'
Craaaack!
In the blink of an eye, it severed the nape of the Frozen Horror, carving a deep furrow.
[Kyaaaaak!]
The Frozen Horror gaped its compound jaws—layered dozens, hundreds, thousands deep—and wailed its death cry.
But it wasn't enough to withstand the true strike from Cardina, who had awakened the Meursault bloodline factor.
Thud!
The Frozen Horror finally slammed its head into the ice.
With the finishing blow done, Cardina moved to sheath her sword.
At that moment.
Clang—
Her sword snapped.
It was a famed blade in its own right, but insufficient to channel a 4th Circle knight's aura—or to shatter the Frozen Horror's carapace.
Cardina examined the poison sac on the giant centipede.
Its carapace bristled with countless mithril arrows, yet the poison sac remained pristine.
"Untouched even by mithril arrows. Impressive. Even as the lowest rung, it's worthy of mythic-grade classification."
Cardina drew her dagger and extracted the two massive venom fangs.
"Reforging these into a sword should make for something sturdy."
She planned to craft twin blades from the core, the hardest part of the Frozen Horror's venom teeth.
Meanwhile, the watching knights smiled faintly.
"Lady Cardina's always thinking about swords."
"She's always been like that. Mention a blade, and she'd bolt from the dinner table."
"We should all emulate how she prioritizes anything sword-related. Look—she's already zeroed in on materials for her next one. She won't hear a word anyone says."
As the knights said, Cardina was lost in thoughts of forging a new sword.
"Two venom fangs... perfect for twin blades..."
Just as Cardina murmured to herself.
"Mine Supervisor Cardina!"
A courier's shout echoed from afar.
But Cardina, fixated on the Frozen Horror's venom fangs, didn't hear him.
The knights blocked the courier's path.
"Hey, Lady Cardina's busy right now. Unless it's urgent, come back later..."
"But it's a letter from Lord Federback?"
"Even so, she can't hear a thing right now..."
But the knight's words trailed off unfinished.
"Federback? Federback sent a letter?"
Cardina reacted instantly to the name.
She even flung aside the Frozen Horror's venom fang—her sword material.
Crackle— Crackle— Crackle—
Thick pine logs burned in the fireplace.
The sharp, resinous aroma wafted from the bubbling sap oozing from the roughly chopped ends.
Cardina read the contents of Federback's letter aloud.
"...Hm. No pleasantries or well-wishes."
It was all business.
Cardina felt a twinge of disappointment.
But the letter's contents were gravely serious, so she committed them to memory, reading to the end with full focus.
Soon.
Whoosh—
Federback's letter went into the fireplace, turning to ash.
Cardina recalled its message.
"A new training method."
Federback wrote that he was researching various things with his newly acquired mage subordinate.
Among them was a breakthrough for training knights and soldiers—and this time, he'd produced a prototype.
"Is this it?"
Cardina eyed the necklace enclosed with the letter.
A single plain white pearl threaded on a string, unadorned.
"Wear this to bed, and you can undergo realistic combat training in your dreams?"
A sleep-learning device harnessing the potent hallucinogenic powers extracted from the 'Nightmare Devourer.'
Federback seemed intent on grinding his subordinates even in their sleep.
Cardina chuckled.
"Color me curious. What kind of combat awaits?"
What battles would this necklace's illusions recreate?
Likely the ones Federback himself had fought—replayed in dreams.
Cardina lay on her bed, pondering his past foes.
The orc battles in the Snowy Mountains?
The territory war with House Furosange?
The Ice Dragon Adara subjugation?
Any would do.
She wanted to experience the battlefields her brother had endured.
What he'd seen, what burdens he carried, what changed him and to what end—all of it intrigued her.
And one more curiosity.
Was the fascination she felt toward Federback as a sister... or as one person to another?
Even as an adopted sibling, he'd been her little brother since childhood.
'I can still picture him as a newborn, clear as yesterday.'
Yet lately, he looked utterly different from before.
That shift confused her.
Her self-assignment to the Beauvoir Abandoned Mine Zone was ostensibly to hone her swordsmanship and aid the territory's finances—but truly, to sort her muddled heart.
Yet the more she tried to empty her mind, the more it churned.
...Treating her adoptive parents more as dear benefactors than true parents.
...Still vividly remembering her late real parents' faces and voices.
...Knowing she wasn't a true Meursault.
All these excuses filled her head.
'Right. Federback's my little brother. Of course I treasure him. I'm just a sappy, overprotective sister-nut.'
Cardina furrowed her brow.
Her mind refused to clear.
Sleep wouldn't come.
'When it won't empty, don't force it—fill it with something else instead.'
Fill to empty, empty to fill.
Cardina took deep breaths, reviewing the Meursault secret swordsmanship manual.
'Come to think of it, Federback gave me that manual too.'
Federback again.
Cardina sighed deeply, rolling over and burying her face in the pillow.
Maybe a cold-water splash was in order.
"Hah!?"
Cardina's eyes snapped open.
When had she fallen asleep? She'd succeeded in dreaming, it seemed.
...Flash!
The necklace at her chest emitted a white glow.
Cardina immediately checked her gear.
Seeing today's broken sword intact at her waist confirmed it: a dream indeed.
"Good. Here, I can really cut loose."
With even the Frozen Horror slain, she'd pondered what to hunt next amid the lack of high-grade beasts—perfect timing.
Right then.
[Hey.]
Someone clamped Cardina's shoulder firmly.
"?"
Cardina turned.
An astonishing sight filled her vision.
A world dyed entirely in red and black.
Fire pillars boiled the sky blood-red; what was once forest had turned to ash and char, blackened utterly.
Blood-soaked, ash-covered knights stared at Cardina.
[Straggler?]
[Which unit you from?]
[Doesn't matter. Keep moving. Stay here, and you're dead.]
The illusion was so lifelike it sent chills down her spine.
Cardina gripped her hilt, wary of attack, but the knights harbored no hostility.
Soon, one spoke.
[Demon King's army's coming here soon. His personal guard, led by the King himself. We gotta link up with main forces.]
"What? Demon King? What are you talking about?"
[Still half-asleep? Snap to it and follow. We're headed to humanity's final battlefield.]
The knights hurried onward.
Cardina stood stunned for a moment.
"Federback... what battles have you been fighting...?"
Soon, she followed the illusory knights.