Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Dragon Burst #3
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[Master, the recovery of your right arm is progressing slowly.]
[It doesn't seem to be just from burns caused by high heat—some other force is at work.]
It was Anes's curse.
All the remote weapons she controlled were imbued with powerful curses, and it appeared he had been hit with one that slowed recovery and worsened wounds.
But Luther didn't have only the curse to contend with.
As Anes's curse began to exert its full power, a dormant force within Luther's body awakened and started pushing back against it.
[Fairy Blessing!]
[It must be the blessing from the Fairy Queen in the west!]
With the blessing offsetting the curse, his recovery speed visibly accelerated.
Even so, it couldn't immediately restore his reduced output or repair the Aqua Beetle's damage.
"Integra! Show me the sea chart!"
[Where are you planning to go? Don't tell me...?]
It was exactly that.
The reason he'd fled in this direction from the start was precisely for this.
Integra instantly grasped Luther's intent, marked a specific area on the sea chart, and Luther kept his eyes fixed on the red dot relentlessly pursuing him at terrifying speed.
Mid-tier dragonkin, Kaliot.
In the original story, this one appeared briefly in the northern arc, not the eastern.
Though lower in "generation" as a dragonkin than both Anes and Lagros, whom he'd fought in the Malkuth Kingdom, its power was not to be underestimated.
Because it was a mad dragon that possessed the power of frenzy.
[What's frenzy?]
[Does it paralyze rationality in exchange for boosted combat power or something?]
Close enough.
According to the lore, they were specimens where the madness of the demon dragon Helcanes had manifested, but regardless, Kaliot was far sturdier physically than Lagros, even if its magic was clumsier.
'The best option is to keep running and shake it off.'
Luther's own condition wasn't good.
Even at full strength, he couldn't guarantee victory against a mid-tier dragonkin.
'Moreover, I can't use Clairheim Morr.'
He'd beaten Lagros because the beast didn't know about Clairheim Morr.
It had too readily sacrificed one arm, and afterward, wary of Clairheim Morr due to that loss, it hadn't been able to unleash its full power.
What ultimately finished it off was Clairheim Morr's ultra-vibration blade, after all.
But now, he couldn't use the ultra-vibration blade.
With his strongest weapon sealed away, taking down a mid-tier dragonkin underwater was a gamble with slim odds, no matter how he sliced it.
[Master! It's closing the distance!]
The red dot was drawing nearer.
At this rate, he wouldn't shake it off—in a few minutes, it'd catch up.
"Integra! Remaining distance?!"
[About 3 km left!]
Considering Schwarz's current speed, that was a little over 3 minutes away.
But in the next 3 minutes, Kaliot's distance would likely close completely.
So Luther planned for what came after those 3 minutes.
He issued new orders to Integra, who began high-speed calculations to execute them.
[Master! It should be feasible—life signs intensifying from the rear!]
Luther sensed it too.
He hadn't looked back, but he could already guess what Kaliot had done.
It had probably used frenzy to boost its physical abilities.
"Luuuutherrrr!!!"
Even underwater, Kaliot's roar swept over the area like thunder.
Luther barely maintained the balance of the shaking Aqua Beetle with one hand as he checked the sea chart again.
Its speed had increased.
At this rate, it'd catch him in 1 minute flat.
"Integra!"
[Here we go!]
[Limiter release!]
[Boosters on!]
The moment Integra shouted, massive thrust erupted from the boosters at the Aqua Beetle's rear.
Booster duration: 10 seconds.
But in those 10 seconds, Luther succeeded in widening the gap with Kaliot for the first time since the escape began.
Of course, the cost wasn't light.
The Aqua Beetle's condition worsened after the 10-second overdrive.
It was forcibly maintaining top speed, but continuing like this risked destroying the engine itself.
[Somehow, it'll hold for 2 minutes! No, 3 minutes!]
But no guarantees after that.
Luther gritted his teeth and floored the accelerator.
The distance with Kaliot was closing again.
Integra resumed calculations, and Luther stared intently at the life signs appearing on the chart besides Kaliot.
And then—1 minute.
Another minute passed!
[Master! It's the lesser dragons!]
The abnormally clustered lesser dragons all turned toward Luther at once.
None looked normal.
They were larger than average specimens or far more ferocious-looking.
Spaceship fragment debris.
The exact spot Integra had pinpointed via drone recon!
"Integra! Fire!"
[Transmitter launching!]
As Luther plunged into the midst of the lesser dragons and gave the order, Integra fired a fist-sized transmitter rearward—precisely toward the direction of the charging Kaliot.
It wasn't a weapon.
Just a signal transmitter, as the name implied.
But that signal was special.
[Go bite it!]
The instant Integra activated the transmitter with a shout,
The lesser dragons, who had turned toward the intruding Luther, suddenly whipped around and charged the transmitter—toward Kaliot.
[Success!]
[Master's plan worked!]
Luther's strategy was simple.
Trick the lesser dragons.
Emit a signal mimicking the debris to draw their attention to Kaliot.
Of course, it'd only buy a moment.
It was just mimicking the signal, without the debris's full effect, so the lesser dragons might quickly realize it was fake, or Kaliot could pull away from the transmitter.
No, as a dragonkin with command over lesser dragons, it might order them to attack Luther instead.
But Luther knew Kaliot.
Especially in its current frenzied state.
"Insolent vermin!"
Kaliot lashed out wildly at the lesser dragons swarming it.
Over ten tentacles sprouting from its back whipped through the water at various angles, instantly shredding lesser dragons and filling the area with a mist of blood.
And that provoked them.
The ones driven feral by the debris influence didn't flee—instead, they charged Kaliot even harder.
Like a school of piranhas.
There were massive lesser dragons of unknown breed and shark-like ones too.
Dozens—no, nearly a hundred large and small lesser dragons barreled toward Kaliot.
"Integra! Slow down! Activate stealth mode! Move silently!"
[Got it!]
Luther vanished.
The Aqua Beetle engaged camouflage mode, blending into the surroundings, and Luther and Integra crept along the seafloor, drawing no attention whatsoever.
"Head for the debris."
He'd stalled Kaliot's pursuit, but fleeing like this would eventually get him caught.
Instead of running, go for a reversal.
At Luther's command, Integra activated navigation mode and displayed the distance and path to the debris.
[The debris is inside a crack in the seafloor.]
[The narrow crack must have kept the lesser dragons away.]
Like around the crystal palace, a vast underwater cliff stretched near the debris. It seemed the colliding debris had crumbled the area, wedging itself into the crack.
Distance to the crack: just over 50 meters now.
Luther gunned the engine toward the underwater cliff—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Consecutive explosions erupted above where he'd passed.
Tentacles raining from above hammered the seafloor like mallets.
"You're there!"
Kaliot, who had massacred the lesser dragons in a whirlwind frenzy.
Its height had swollen to nearly 5 meters under the frenzy's influence, and it pinpointed Luther's location with its hyper-sensitive senses.
Luther glanced at the rear camera to see it charging, then looked forward. Calculating the optimal trajectory in his head, he slid the Aqua Beetle along the cliff top.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Tentacles pounded the cliff indiscriminately, sending rocks tumbling.
Any delay, and Kaliot's breath would be on his back.
"Hah!"
Right then, its laughter whooshed overhead.
By swinging its tentacles for an instant burst of propulsion, it had finally overtaken Luther.
Below Kaliot's cackling face, countless other faces twisted in agony.
Tentacles poured down over Luther's head.
[Master!]
CRASH!
One tentacle smashed the Aqua Beetle's side and passed.
But Luther used the impact. As the Aqua Beetle rocked from the tentacle, he shifted its center of gravity, spinning it in a barrel roll past Kaliot's feet and into the crack.
Or tried to—but he couldn't.
[Master! The crack's too narrow!]
Luther saw it too.
Whether from Kaliot's rampage dislodging rocks or his initial estimate being off, the crack was simply too tight.
"Krahahaha!"
Kaliot's laughter exploded from behind.
The narrow gap loomed ahead.
Just seconds away.
A mere instant until collision.
Luther thought, and resolved.
He pulled the control stick to pitch the Aqua Beetle upward while swinging his unresponsive right arm toward the crack.
What Luther aimed to do.
Simple, and rational.
The crack was narrow.
Too narrow for Schwarz, or even Luther himself.
So he wouldn't enter.
Instead, shove in something that could.
"Integra!"
BANG!
As Luther hurled Clairheim Morr into the crack, he fired the drone from his right arm like a bullet.
In that instant, Integra realized his goal and screamed like it was her death knell.
[That's too reckless!]
Luther knew.
It was borderline insane.
But this was the option with the highest chance of success.
"Let's go! Schwarz!"
Schwarz, climbing the cliff in a steep ascent, banked sharply. Kaliot extended tentacles toward the maneuver.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each tentacle strike on the cliff boomed like thunder, and the Aqua Beetle continued its hair-raising evasion.
Kaliot charged with another burst of mad laughter.
Luther's plan was straightforward.
Buy time himself.
While Integra accessed, absorbed, and analyzed the debris.
Use the nanomsachines comprising the debris to find an escape.
He had no idea how long Integra would take to analyze it.
With Jogres, his main body had directly absorbed the Energy Cube, but this time it was indirect via drone. The desired outcome might not materialize.
And how long could he hold out against Kaliot?
Schwarz had expended most of its armaments, Luther's right arm still wouldn't function properly.
Underwater, over half his weapons couldn't be used effectively.
But Luther didn't give up.
He clung desperately to the slim but real possibility.
CRASH!
Roars continued.
Schwarz's evasions were a tightrope walk, but they continued somehow.
So Integra gritted her teeth.
Luther had chosen and acted.
As support AI, all she could do was assist him with everything she had.
[System connect!]
[Level 4! Full dive!]
Integra focused all her consciousness on the drone in the crack.
Through the drone's camera, she saw the debris shard embedded deep inside.
It was enormous.
Nearly three times the size of any fragment pieces she'd seen so far.
RUMBLE!
The crack shook, rocks fell.
The shockwave from Kaliot smashing the cliff rocked the Aqua Beetle.
Tentacles Luther couldn't dodge gashed his back.
But he hadn't given up yet.
He struggled to buy even a little more time.
[Master, Master, Master!]
Integra chanted like a spell as she made contact with the debris via drone.
Mobilizing every resource, she began analyzing it.
Integra's view shifted.
A massive white battleship loomed in the darkness.
The fourth fragment.
What that signified.
Integra advanced toward the battleship.
It felt like someone waited just beyond.
Luther turned his head.
Kaliot cackled as it charged him.
And at that moment, as Integra's hand touched the battleship.
Blue light from the fragment filled the crack.