Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Land of the Yellow Dragon #3
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They had only clashed once with the night beasts using physical attacks, but Luther and Integra had gathered quite a bit of information from that single encounter.
One key takeaway.
The night beasts' armor wasn't all that tough.
In other words, their defense was weak.
Their hides were soft enough for the gatling beam cannons to punch right through, and they had virtually no resistance to fire.
That was why, in the first battle, Luther and Integra had been able to annihilate the night beasts with long-range firepower.
The beasts simply didn't have the armor or mobility to push through Luther's attacks.
But—
[There are too many of them!]
“Greeeeaaaaah!”
“Greeeeaaaaah!”
“Greeeeeeeeeeaaaaah!”
Integra's scream-like shout was drowned out by the night beasts' roars.
It felt like the entire world was blanketed in night beasts.
[Master! They're pouring down from above too!]
Checking life signatures via the HUD was pointless now.
The entire screen was filled with red, marking the enemy.
The night was raining down.
No, the night was collapsing.
It wasn't just overhead. With Luther at the center, the sky for hundreds—no, a full kilometer around—was packed with plummeting night beasts.
“Full throttle! Lay down a bullet hell!”
[Got it!]
The moment Integra replied, Luther shifted gears and floored the accelerator again.
From Schwarz's accelerating wings, a barrage of beams erupted.
-Kwagagagagagagagaga!
The twin gatling beam cannons shifted firing angles, forming a bullet hell of thousands of beams that shredded the night beasts dropping into Luther's path. Missiles streaked out in all directions, chaining explosions to create a wall of flames.
But it wasn't enough.
Night beasts falling from behind and the flanks were charging at Luther from all sides—no, every direction.
[Heavy flamethrower, firing!]
-Tswhaaaaaaa!
Heavy flamethrowers roared to life from Schwarz's sides.
The radial wall of fire seemed to hold back the night beasts surging from the flanks for a moment, but it was futile.
There were just too many night beasts.
“Greeah!”
“Greeah!”
The beasts from both sides tried to crush and devour Schwarz like a tidal wave.
Integra stifled a scream at the sight of the oncoming horde, while Luther extended his left arm toward the left flank and clenched his fist.
-Kwahaaaaaaa!
An immense chill radiated from Luther's left arm. It was a recreation of the cold breath from the Trigon he'd defeated in the southern seas.
“Gree—”
“Gree——”
The night beasts charging from the left froze up for an instant.
Luther skimmed over their bodies in flight, dodging the ones from the right while pressing forward.
“No flames! Cold only!”
[Got it!]
Integra cut the flamethrowers and switched to emitting cold immediately.
But the narrower range compared to flames was the problem.
It could make the close-range night beasts recoil, but with so many pushing from behind, the frozen ones became ice walls pressing in on Luther and Integra.
[Master! Almost there!]
He could see the end of the night.
More precisely, the boundary between the night sky and the collapsing darkness.
Unable to build proper speed while evading, Luther slammed the button to unleash every ounce of firepower at once.
-Kwagagagagaga!
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions and roars blanketed the night beasts, carving out a momentary gap.
[Boosters!]
With Integra's bellow, blue flames blasted from Schwarz's rear.
-Boom!
It was a ram that shattered the air.
Luther shot through the gap with insane burst acceleration, then checked front and rear via the drones attached to Schwarz.
A pyramid-shaped structure—likely the central shrine—loomed ahead, while behind, night beasts surged like a tsunami.
And then it happened.
[M-Master! Up, above us!]
Luther looked up. And saw it.
The night was glaring down at him.
Beyond the inky black sky, two stars weren't ordinary stars anymore.
They were fixated on Luther.
They wanted to seize him.
-Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaah!
The entire sky shuddered.
The atmosphere wailed.
It wasn't the roar of thousands or tens of thousands of night beasts.
It was a colossal cry descending from the heavens.
Integra couldn't make a sound.
She just gaped in terror.
The night was reaching out.
The battlefield—a giant hundreds, no, thousands of meters tall—swung its arm at Schwarz.
It was so enormous that its movements felt utterly unreal, like time itself had frozen.
“Snap out of it! Integra!”
Luther barked and wrenched the controls.
The boosters' recoil had slowed him momentarily, but he compensated with a dive-like flight.
-Kwaga gaga gaga ga!
Then the night clawed the ground.
A massive gash scarred the earth.
[M-Master... Master...]
Integra finally exhaled. And once again, she couldn't hide her awe at Luther's piloting skills.
Even as he dove, Luther slid along the oncoming arm of night—like a massive, inky wall.
“Integra! It's just night beasts, one by one!”
At Luther's shout, Integra shook her head hard and focused.
Just as he said, the arm was made of countless night beasts clustered together.
[A swarm!]
Not some transcendent cosmic entity.
Just a mass of night beasts lumped into one.
[B-But! There are too many!]
How many night beasts had merged to form that arm?
How many lurked in that night sky?
Right then.
The arm split.
It halved, then halved again, shattering into thousands of fragments—into massive tentacles that lashed toward Luther and Integra.
Luther wrenched the controls again.
He fed rear camera and life signature data into his mind, calculating the optimal path to the central shrine.
But that alone wouldn't cut it. He needed Integra's help.
“Integra!”
[New weapon, incoming!]
It was freshly improvised, untested even, but there was no time to hesitate.
Two drones detached from under Schwarz's wings.
Each was at least a meter long, and both differed from standard drones.
[Dragon Hearts! Activating!]
-Boom! Boom!
The embedded Dragon Hearts from Valboa and Astra unleashed tremendous power, and massive blades of light erupted from the drones' fronts.
[Dance! Scythe Blades!]
Integra thrust out her arms with a yell, and the two drones—the massive light blades—spun ferociously, guarding Luther.
They sliced through the charging tentacles, instantly clearing the path to the central shrine.
“Whoa!”
Luther cheered, and Integra spread her hands again.
The light blades vanished, and the drones began circling Schwarz in a ring.
[Scythe Buster! Firing!]
-Kwahaaaaaaa!
The drones' massive beam cannons linked into one, forming a giant circular beam that obliterated the tentacles ahead.
[Master! Go!]
-Boom!
Luther replied with a roar of the engine.
The central shrine was right there.
But at that moment.
Integra cut the Scythe Buster, and Luther throttled down for a sudden ascent.
The night beasts blanketing the ground around the shrine had surged up all at once.
[Master! Found the central shrine entrance!]
[It's at the pyramid's apex!]
Luther saw it too.
He halted his vertical climb and flipped direction midair.
From hundreds of meters up, the central shrine's peak was now a giant of night beasts, dozens of meters tall, reaching for Luther.
[Master! We have to break through!]
Luther knew.
Behind him, he felt the gaze of night made of starlight.
The tentacles were melting into the ground cover, converging on the shrine. If left alone, they'd merge with the reaching giant into something even bigger.
[The shrine interior should still be safe.]
[There must be a reason they can't breach it!]
Luther thought the same.
Otherwise, the shrine would have been demolished long ago.
‘Break through.’
Before the night beast giant grew larger, dive straight down, punch through it, and infiltrate the central shrine.
Luther drew Clairheim Morr.
Integra sent him data.
“Here we go!”
Schwarz shifted from Sky Beetle mode to horse form.
The blade Luther gripped in both hands split to either side.
Ultimate Mode: Star Cleaver.
The sword's true form, for cleaving stars.
But he couldn't use it.
Luther's Integra couldn't make an Ultimate Cube.
Still, Integra didn't give up.
She racked her brains for Luther and found a way.
[Limiter release! Level Twelve!]
[Safety devices, disengaged!]
Schwarz galloped through the sky.
The night giant reached for Luther.
And Luther and Integra roared in unison.
[Penta Drive!]
“Dragon Burst!”
The three Dragon Hearts in Luther's body lit up simultaneously.
The two drones now settled on Schwarz added their power through it.
Five Dragon Hearts total.
It was overkill.
Too much for Luther's current body to handle.
But for a moment—and amplified further by Dragon Burst!
[Access code! Star Cleaver!]
-Kuooooooo!
A blade of blue light surged from Clairheim Morr.
Not enough for a true star, but plenty to cleave a dozens-of-meters giant of night.
Light parts the night.
The light sword bisects the night giant!
-Kwagagagagagaga!
The bisected giant crumbled.
Schwarz kicked off the air and charged the shrine entrance. Luther sheathed Clairheim Morr.
Integra reached out again and shouted.
[Gate open!]
Using the code from A-One, the Holy Dragon Volpid crest appeared over the sealed entrance, swinging open to admit Luther, Integra, and Schwarz.
-Boom! Boom! Boom!
A cacophony of roars erupted.
Schwarz, braking hard, smashed the floor inside the entrance, and beyond the now-sealed door, more booms echoed.
The night beasts pounding the entrance, belatedly.
But it didn't matter.
Just as Integra predicted, they couldn't breach the central shrine.
“Whew.”
Finally able to relax, Luther lowered Clairheim Morr with a sigh of relief. Integra did the same, clinging to him like a koala and exhaling repeatedly.
“Haa.”
Luther chuckled softly, wrapping an arm around Integra's waist.
Penta Drive, of all things.
Topped with Dragon Burst for a mini Star Cleaver.
“You did great.”
Integra looked up at his words, smiling primly, and Luther stroked her head.
It was only a few seconds, but enough to draw out her radiant grin.
[You were awesome too, Master.]
[I've thought it before, but how do you pilot like that?]
[Were you some legendary racer in a past life? Winning world championships back-to-back?]
Luther's mouth fell open at Integra's questions, but that was it.
Instead of answering, he grinned mischievously, then pinched at empty air where her cheek would be as their time ran out.
“I'll tell you if you hit ten points.”
[What? That's not fair!]
“Then award those ten points already.”
Luther said it coolly, and Integra flushed for some reason, then just pouted without a word.
She looked a bit sulky, but it was half acting, plain as day, so Luther just laughed.
“Anyway, let's go, Integra.”
[Yes, Master.]
The two dismounted Schwarz and stood before the door emblazoned with the Holy Dragon Volpid crest.
Per A-One's intel, beyond that—deep in the central shrine—the Yellow Dragon's Shrine Maiden lay sleeping.
[Is she a beauty?]
“Who knows. But probably not prettier than someone I know.”
[Awarding 0.1 points to Master for the sweet talk.]
Luther chuckled at Integra's shrunken form's award, then gave her a pleading look. She placed her hand on the door with a pleased expression.
[Gate open.]
With her quiet whisper, the central shrine's door slid open.