Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Dragon Heart
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[Master, the total number of nanomachines in possession has decreased by approximately 73%.]
[Redirecting the remaining nanomachines to self-repair and nanosuit restoration.]
He had expended about 70% of his nanomachines for a single strike.
But it was worth it.
Even though the Energy Gun had reached level 2, enabling charged shots, taking down Balboa was a feat close to a miracle.
'And I'll get reimbursed right away.'
Luther chuckled involuntarily and hurried toward Balboa's corpse, its jaw section deleted. But someone was even faster.
"Wow! Wow! Wow!"
Aru, who had been hiding, came scampering out. She exclaimed in admiration first, then grabbed Luther's right hand with both of hers.
"You're amazing! I've never seen a mage like you, Luther! And suppressing a breath-spewing dragon with even greater power— that's a first for me too!"
She poured out her words, then looked at Luther with an impressed face again.
Her blue eyes sparkled as if they were shining.
[Just like Karen.]
[She's clearly doing that to impress you, so don't fall for it completely.]
[Got it? Right?]
Luther chuckled at Integra's warning words without realizing it and turned back to Aru.
Perhaps because she was a beauty, a treasure of the world, her sparkling eyes weren't burdensome at all—they were just enjoyable.
[Ma, ster?]
"Yeah, yeah."
Luther answered very quietly and extended the royal necklace he held in his left hand to Aru.
"Thank you. Thanks to Princess Aru lending me the royal necklace, I was able to win."
"Huh? Oh, no! If anything, I owe you my life. Without you, Luther, I would've been kidnapped from the start. I should be the one thanking you. You're my savior—my life, my chastity, and... anyway, my benefactor. A real benefactor!"
In fact, up until moments ago, Aru had only heard that Luther had saved her; she hadn't seen it herself.
It seemed true since the royal necklace had activated, but she still couldn't quite grasp it fully.
Moreover, it was Aru who had saved Luther from drowning.
But now the story had changed.
A ferocious dragon had truly appeared, and Luther had defeated it.
Using an astonishing power she'd never seen before in her life, just as she said.
[Master, hand over the royal necklace quickly and let's go collect the energy source.]
[We need a new energy source.]
[Quickly, okay?]
Luther smiled again at Integra, who spoke stiffly but ended with a coquettish tone. He extended the royal necklace with a somewhat obvious motion, and only then did Aru snap out of it, releasing Luther's hand she had been gripping tightly.
"Oh dear, look at me."
She blushed embarrassedly and smiled, taking the royal necklace Luther offered.
Then Luther asked,
"It's lost its light... Does that mean it can't be used anymore?"
"Probably. But it's fine. The royal necklace was meant to protect royalty in the first place. It served its purpose, so no issue."
Aru smiled and put the necklace around her neck before continuing.
"But Luther, how did you do it? Absorbing the artifact's mana to use powerful magic... I've never heard of such magic."
[It's not magic, it's science.]
[Sigh, if only we had a drone, I could've explained directly.]
[Anyway, Master, we really need to hurry now.]
Since the drone had been destroyed, Integra could no longer transmit her voice to anyone but Luther.
Luther gently stroked the nanosuit as if soothing Integra and said,
"Princess, I'm sorry, but first, I'd like to recover the Dragon Heart from the dragon's corpse. I've depleted too much energy from the battle just now..."
"Huh? Oh, yes! Of course. That was an incredible strike. Are you hurt anywhere... or injured?"
[We're injured. It hurts too. So stop talking and get out of the way.]
[We need to eat the energy source quickly. Okay?]
Luther kept smiling at Aru's worried question mixed with Integra's irritation.
It was because Integra was cute, aside from Aru.
[Master?]
"Yeah, got it."
Luther answered very quietly and spoke to Aru again.
"I'm fine. Then, just a moment..."
"Yes!"
As Aru quickly stepped back, Luther picked up the large axe and approached Balboa's corpse with quick steps.
[Life signs have stopped, but energy overflows throughout the body.]
[Horns, claws, scales—all seem superior to the local lifeforms on this planet we've encountered so far.]
[Requesting sample collection.]
[It will aid future tech and equipment development.]
Luther nodded and took a deep breath first.
It was smaller than Jogres, but still, Balboa's corpse was enormous.
Up close, the intimidating presence was tremendous.
And the chest covered in scales.
Luther looked at the large axe and asked,
"Integra, can you activate the strength enhancement function?"
[If we divert all remaining nanosuit power to strength enhancement, yes.]
"Then please do."
[Yes, Master.]
The moment Integra replied, several blue lines traced over the nanosuit on his right arm.
It felt like squeezing out the very last reserves.
[Strength enhancement can be maintained for 30 seconds.]
[Hurry.]
[29]
[28]
At the merciless countdown that followed immediately, Luther gripped the large axe short and hurriedly cleaved Balboa's chest.
The axe blade didn't sink in easily due to the scales, but he managed to make a hole big enough to insert his arm.
[Stopping nanosuit functions.]
[Master, you've made a precise hole, so inserting your right arm should reach the energy source.]
[Absorb the energy source without extraction.]
"Yeah."
Luther had already exhausted his reserves just making the hole.
He thrust his right arm into the hole, as if showing Aru, who watched with excited eyes from behind.
[Master, energy source located.]
[Do you feel the energy source?]
The hard texture at his fingertips.
Luther nodded and stretched his hand further, soon grasping something slightly larger than his fist with one hand.
[Beginning energy absorption.]
[The energy is beyond expectations.]
[A tremendous amount of information is aggregated in the energy source!]
As expected of a Dragon Heart.
Even as the lowest grade, Integra's reaction differed from that of the magic stones from the wyrmlings absorbed so far.
The sensation Luther himself felt was different too.
[Master, for smooth absorption, it might be best to shut down all functions temporarily.]
[Would you like to sleep while the absorption process runs?]
"I can fall asleep right away if I want?"
[Yes.]
[With your permission, Master.]
Good heavens.
The ability to fall asleep whenever he wanted.
Luther nodded in admiration without thinking.
"Then please. Though I'll be sleeping in a weird position."
[Understood.]
[Sweet dreams, Master.]
"Good..."
The moment Integra finished speaking, Luther lost consciousness as if under full-body anesthesia.
And at some point.
[Master, are you awake?]
Regaining consciousness to Integra's gentle voice, Luther slowly opened his eyes.
His whole body felt refreshed, as if after a sound sleep.
"Integra?"
[Yes, your Integra.]
[3 hours, 47 minutes, 41 seconds have passed.]
[Absorption complete.]
[So get out of that woman's arms quickly.]
"Huh?"
That woman's arms?
Momentarily confused by the odd word choice, Luther blinked a few times and understood why Integra had sounded sharp at the end.
Because Aru's face was looking down at him when he opened his eyes.
"Princess Aru?"
"You're awake?"
Aru's lap.
Precisely, Luther's head had been pillowed on Aru's thigh.
He blinked again.
Aru naturally brushed Luther's hair aside and said,
"You suddenly lost consciousness. Are you okay now?"
"Huh? Oh, yes. I'm fine."
Actually, regardless of being fine, he wanted to stay lying down, but not knowing what Integra might say, Luther raised his upper body.
It was still night, but different from before.
A faint blue tint mixed into the pitch-black night sky.
Dawn was approaching.
"Uh... did you stay like this the whole time?"
"Hm... the whole time?"
Aru mimicked his words with a smile, and Luther reflexively glanced at her thigh.
"It's fine, this much. As I said earlier, you're the benefactor of my life and chastity."
True to her sociable princess nature, she spoke casually, patting her own thigh, and asked,
"More importantly, Luther, have you recovered your energy? You absorbed the Dragon Heart's power, right?"
At Aru's question, Luther hesitated briefly but soon nodded.
There was no reason to hide it now that absorption was done.
"Yes, thanks to that, I've recovered."
"Amazing. Absorbing a Dragon Heart's power... You're a mysterious person in many ways, Luther. And incredibly impressive too."
[Of course.]
[Master is the one and only special existence in the world.]
[So, Master, push aside the fish princess starting to act spoiled like Karen, and enjoy a fun report session with your one-and-only support AI.]
[Aren't you curious about the Dragon Heart absorption results? Right?]
Integra was nagging more frequently than when with Karen or Lilia.
Was Princess Aru that much of a rival?
Either way, the bait Integra dangled was clearly effective.
"I want to see it. Tell me, Integra."
At Luther's words, Integra let out a small cheer and immediately began.
[Then, revealing now.]
[Ta-da~]
Matching Integra's voice, a blue-lined hologram of Luther himself appeared before his eyes.
Next to the blueprint of Luther, a mini Integra popped up with a 'pop' and tapped the center of the chest on the blueprint.
[Energy source—Dragon Heart: Absorbed an enormous amount of energy.]
[This successfully activated the second core of the core system.]
As Integra spoke, an orange light began emanating from the chest of Luther's model.
The eight cores symbolizing the core system's stages.
The first seven were rainbow-colored—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—and the last one pure white.
[Following second core activation, greatly upgraded Master's functions.]
[Nanosuit, Energy Gun, Drone—all reached level 3 at once.]
[And as a result—]
Mini Integra drew out the end of her sentence and spun in place, and at that moment, changes appeared on Luther's model.
"Oh."
The nanosuit was now equipped not just on the right arm, but the left as well.
Moreover, there was now a helmet covering the head, with a sharp yet sturdy design reminiscent of a medieval knight.
[Nanosuit now equippable on both arms and head.]
[The helmet stores a small amount of oxygen, so now you can relax even if you fall in water.]
It seemed Integra was still hung up on Luther nearly drowning.
Luther smiled at her complex expression of pride, relief, and a hint of worry, and lightly stroked the head of mini Integra.
Being augmented reality without physical form, he couldn't touch it, but Integra stayed still as if truly being petted.
Of course, only for a moment.
She backed away greatly, avoiding Luther's finger, and huffed.
[Don't touch a lady's head carelessly.]
[But... if you say you really, really want to touch, I might allow it briefly.]
"No, I can't touch it in the first place?"
[Hmph.]
Anyway, Integra huffed again and spun once more in place.
Then Luther's model vanished, replaced by the drone's model.
"It's bigger."
[Yes, the previous form was too small for combat support, unless for pure recon.]
[So I made it larger.]
If the old drone was palm-sized, this one was about two A4 sheets combined.
Nearly eight times larger?
But being bigger made it more visible, which seemed counterproductive for recon.
[Don't worry. This drone has your dream feature: separation and combination gimmick.]
As if reading Luther's mind, Integra grinned and patted her chest.
From the boxy drone form, the familiar triangular shape— the level 2 drone—separated.
[Normally in small form for recon, then combines for combat support when battle arises.]
[The combination parts will normally be mounted on Master's back.]
Luther's model reappeared, now with a backpack attached to the back.
'Now it feels like Star Savior.'
Both arms, head, part of the back.
Naturally evoking the full-body suit look, and even the final form—'Ultimate Form'—that only opens in Star Savior's final phase.
[I'll explain nanosuit functions step by step later.]
[There are functions linked to Energy Gun Lv3.]
[And...]
Integra trailed off again, chuckling, her face beaming with delight.
[Using info obtained during Dragon Heart absorption, we can now equip a new function on the nanosuit.]
[Curious what it is?]
[Right?]
"Curious."
At Luther's immediate reply, Integra lifted her chin and looked down.
[You're curious, huh.]
[How curious?]
"Hey?"
[Hehe, got it. No more teasing—I'll show you.]
[Master's new function!]
At that moment, Luther's model suddenly thrust its right arm forward, and a gun barrel-like protrusion rose from the nanosuit's wrist area.
[Fire!]
Fwoooosh—!
At Integra's shout, a terrifying flame burst from the barrel.
It was a flamethrower.
"Ooooh."
A function not in Star Savior.
No, beyond that—a flamethrower.
What a cool man's weapon.
[Like it?]
"Love it."
[Hehehe, but don't get too carried away with fire play. Got it?]
"Yeah."
As Luther smiled and replied, Integra seemed to smile back, then spread her arms wide.
[Then now, the real highlight.]
[A result comparable to second core activation—truly tremendous.]
What could it be?
What could make her look so smug?
As Luther watched with an excited face, Integra huffed again and snapped her fingers.
And the scene unfolding before his eyes.
[Feel the difference in power?]
At Integra's question, Luther grinned widely and nodded.
He ruffled the untouchable Integra's head vigorously.