Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Chapter 8 - Aru #3
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Balboa was seething with rage.
His mind had gone blank white from the fury boiling all the way up to the top of his head.
His left arm had been severed.
Even now, regeneration was underway, but to fully restore his arm would take at least half a year of endurance.
Half a year.
For a dragonkin who lived hundreds or thousands of years, it wasn't a long time.
But it wasn't short either.
Moreover, the next half year was crucial.
This was the moment when Hecatoncheires was about to begin their full-scale operations.
How many things did he have to accomplish in the coming half year?
"Graaaaaargh!"
He unleashed his Dragon Fear.
The mana in the atmosphere shook, creating whirlwinds in places here and there.
And then Balboa realized.
The root of his anger lay in something more fundamental.
Humiliation.
Insult.
Self-loathing for committing such an absurd blunder.
A human had severed his arm.
He had lost his left arm to an unexpected strike.
Rage surged.
If he didn't do something about this fury, his head would explode.
So he searched.
He would track them down.
Dragon blood coursed through Balboa's veins.
Though the lowest grade, he was undoubtedly dragonkin, and thus he could naturally read the traces of magic as easily as breathing.
Right before the Breath Weapon struck directly.
A powerful spell had activated.
Probably spatial leap.
No, absolutely a spatial leap.
It wasn't easy.
Spatial leaps were among the highest-difficulty spells and required immense energy.
Thus, traces remained.
And those traces weren't easily erased.
Balboa suppressed himself.
He closed his eyes, reining in the boiling rage throughout his body.
He read the tangled "world system" and mana flows disrupted by the spatial leap.
Where had they gone?
Where had the miracle called magic leaped the Peliaru Princess and the nameless man?
A sensation came.
He could roughly estimate the direction and distance.
Balboa hurriedly opened his eyes, turned completely around, and began racing toward the Anes River.
"Krraaaang!"
Rage erupted again.
Running on three legs instead of four was unfamiliar to Balboa.
Thanks to the dragonkin's sharp senses and extraordinary motor skills, he managed somehow, but his speed was incomparable to when all four legs were intact.
"Grraaah...."
Fury leaked out between his tightly clenched jaws.
With every step, his anger toward the human man surged anew.
Thus, the moment he reached the riverbank— the instant the man's form entered his dragon-unique elongated pupils— Balboa could no longer hold himself back.
He unleashed his pent-up rage and kicked off the ground.
-Kwa-ga-gang!
Balboa's massive body shattered the water's surface, sending up sprays.
Swimming with three legs was far more awkward and uncomfortable than running, but now wasn't the time to quibble.
Kill the man.
Crush the vermin who severed his arm.
"Krraaaang!"
With a roar, Balboa surged up once more, smashing the surface again.
Landing on the riverbank, Balboa pierced the darkness with his dragonkin senses.
The Peliaru Princess was nowhere to be seen.
But he knew where the human man was.
That was enough for Balboa.
"There you are!"
Roaring fiercely, Balboa kicked the ground savagely, his body crossing the space in an instant.
A quadrupedal beast— resembling a wolf more than anything— devoured the air itself.
-Kwa-deuk-!
Terrifying bite force.
It was as if space itself had been torn apart, and indeed, the mana in the atmosphere was deleted, whipping up fierce winds.
But ultimately, the attack missed.
That fact enraged Balboa even further.
"Haa."
The human man— Luther— who had flung himself aside to dodge, quickly stood and exhaled.
Balboa turned toward Luther, narrowing his eyes.
The reason the attack had missed was simple.
Losing one foreleg had weakened his leaping power.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Rage turned to a bellow.
And that bellow became Dragon Fear, enveloping the entire island.
Silence descended.
The chirping insects fell quiet, and even the wind stilled.
Luther, too, froze for a moment.
-Thud!
Balboa kicked the ground.
Like an enraged bull, he charged at Luther.
-Kwa-ga-gang!
The earth split, trees toppled.
Luther, trying to dodge by leaping aside again, tumbled messily across the ground.
The wind blew once more.
Balboa tossed aside the fallen trees haphazardly and raised his head, while Luther staggered to his feet.
The distance was short.
Twice as close as before.
One kick from Balboa, and he could snap Luther's head in his jaws.
So this time, Luther moved first.
He desperately turned and threw himself into the thick underbrush.
Instead of leaping after him, Balboa suddenly opened his maw wide and bellowed.
"Graaaaaargh—!"
It wasn't a mere roar.
The fierce dragon roar shook not only the atmosphere but the mana flows themselves.
There was a reason for the shout.
Disrupt the mana flows to block magic.
Prevent another escape via spatial leap like last time.
Simple spells might slip through, but using a high-difficulty one like spatial leap amid the mana turbulence was nearly impossible.
And one more thing.
The roar blasted the underbrush away, revealing Luther.
"Urk!"
Luther, who had collapsed, scrambled up and began fleeing.
From his limping gait, it seemed he'd injured himself amid the repeated dives.
Balboa grinned inwardly.
The sight of Luther fleeing in disarray pleased him.
So Balboa didn't chase immediately.
Suppressing his rage a bit restored his reason, and something occurred to him.
Luther's axe.
Even in dragon form, that single strike couldn't be taken lightly.
It wouldn't sever a limb in one blow like against his dragonkin form, but a vital hit would surely be fatal.
Thus, instead of launching his body, Balboa opened his mouth.
Watching the foolhardy Luther fleeing in a straight line, he filled his maw with flames.
Breath Weapon.
Surpassing the flames of his dragonkin form, it was a pillar of light itself.
Balboa's Dragon Heart began emitting fierce light.
His whole body's magic converged to one point, soon becoming flames named fury.
-Kwa-ga-ga-ga!
Monstrous flames poured from Balboa's open maw.
The tidal wave of fire engulfed Luther's back in an instant.
And at that moment.
In a spot away from the underbrush.
As the gale from Balboa swept the bushes aside, Luther— who had concealed himself with science, not magic— raised his straight right arm.
Invisibility mode lasted only 5 seconds, but the drone's hologram had distracted the excited Balboa, and the Dragon Fear's gale and mana vortex had masked the sound of Luther kicking off the ground.
Thus, he reached his destination.
Luther had never intended to end it with a booster attack.
Balboa was hot-blooded and savage, but far from stupid.
Precisely because of that, reading his moves wasn't hard.
'The moment he fires the Breath Weapon.'
When the immense power caused great rigidity.
A booster attack with the axe was impossible.
To exploit the opening from firing the Breath Weapon for a close strike, he needed to be much nearer— even invisibility risked detection by dragonkin senses.
So Luther thought of something else.
Aru's presence made it possible.
-Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-!
The Breath Weapon advanced, shattering the ground.
The drone, hugging the earth to create the hologram, turned to ash in an instant.
And at that moment, Luther's right arm turned toward Balboa.
[Limiter release, Level Five.]
Leaning against a tree, crouched hidden in the brush, intense light began emanating from Luther's right arm.
[Regulator open.]
[External energy injection, overcharge, system alert off.]
It was different from usual.
Having recalled all the large axe's nanomachines, the transformed nanosuit was like a cannon barrel itself.
Luther's left arm supported his right, and the "Royal Necklace" fused to his hand glowed blue.
[Energy charge 1,674% complete.]
The necklace's power transferred to Luther.
And at that instant, Balboa flinched.
His red eyes darted frantically, searching for Luther's position.
Their eyes met.
Gazes crossed.
In the frozen split-second, catastrophe struck!
-Kwa-ga!
Balboa hastily jerked his head.
Then the pillar-of-light Breath Weapon swept the ground toward Luther.
The earth shattered.
Crimson flames melted everything.
But Luther didn't see it.
In the splintered time, glaring straight at Balboa's eyes, he shouted.
"Integra!"
[Buster Cannon! Firing!]
-Kwa-ang!
Luther's right arm struck.
A blue pillar surged from the barrel-like nanosuit.
-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Light clashed with light in a deafening roar.
The blue pillar from the nanosuit struck the Breath Weapon's side diagonally upward.
Energy Gun at Lv2 gained Charge Shot— a focused blast— and the necklace's concentrated energy allowed power beyond limits.
Light destroyed light.
As cracks spiderwebbed the nanosuit, Balboa's Breath Weapon began collapsing.
[Boost!]
Integra amplified the Buster Cannon once more.
The blue pillar swelled, and the cannon-arm nanosuit exploded.
But Luther didn't withdraw his arm.
With his bloodied right arm extended straight, he roared with all his might.
-Kwa-ga-ga!
The blue pillar pierced the flames.
It engulfed Balboa's head and bored through the darkness.
-Kwa-ga-gang!
Small explosions rippled through the nanosuit's remnants.
The Royal Necklace lost its glow entirely, and the blue pillar thinned to a line and vanished.
"Haa...."
As Luther's right arm fell limply, Balboa's massive body— its upper jaw gone— collapsed like a felled tree.
-Ku-woong-!
The ground shook.
And nothing moved anymore.
In the silence as if the whole world held its breath, only Integra whispered softly.
[Balboa's life signs have stopped.]
[Acquired massive combat data.]
[Master's victory!]
Luther's stance crumbled.
He had no strength left in his body.
His bloodied right arm felt completely numb, and breathing was hard.
But that wasn't all.
The nanosuit was wrecked.
The drone was gone, and the large axe, stripped of nanomachines, reverted to a mundane tool.
The borrowed Royal Necklace was problematic too.
Beyond losing its light, its color had turned to dirt— evidently exhausted in that final strike.
He had won.
But at tremendous cost.
Not quite a Pyrrhic victory where triumph led to ruin, but a victory of wounds alone wasn't an exaggeration.
Yet despite it all, Luther smiled.
Not just from winning.
Not merely from slaying Hecatoncheires' dragonkin and saving Aru.
The reason Luther could smile amid massive losses.
[Master, a very powerful energy source is detected.]
He had taken losses.
But if gains awaited to offset them all, it changed everything.
"Dragonkin are dragons after all."
Luther rose to his feet.
Seeing Aru emerge from hiding and wave, he smiled back and stepped forward.
Balboa's Dragon Heart.
Incomparable to mere wyrmlings' magic cores.
Even exhausted, Luther's steps quickened.