Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Chapter 17 - Night of Mana
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After a fierce battle that felled Astra, Anne Rose dragged her weary body toward the Valkein Ruins.
“I have to… stop it somehow….”
Exhausted from accumulated fatigue and injuries, she looked ready to collapse at any moment, yet she pressed on with unsteady steps.
“The Night of Mana… is coming….”
Anne Rose paused for a breath, leaning against her magic sword Aventa as she gazed up at the sky.
The sun was setting.
As the red sunset shifted to purple, the darkness of the night sky deepened.
The Night of Mana had begun.
Due to the anomaly of two moons, not only did the flow of mana accelerate, but the concentration of mana in the atmosphere grew far denser than usual.
As proof, a new color was blending into the pitch-black sky.
A purple hue spreading from the two moons.
While the dusk purple had been close to deep darkness, this purple was brighter and more vivid, giving a completely different impression.
Ominous and eerie, yet mystical at the same time.
Anne Rose stared at the two moons nestled in the purple, entranced despite herself, before snapping back to her senses and looking straight ahead.
The air was trembling.
No, her own hand gripping Aventa was shaking uncontrollably.
Cold sweat trickled down Anne Rose’s back.
It soaked her forehead, neck, chest, and back.
Anne Rose sensed it instinctively.
A catastrophe was beginning.
Something irreversible was happening.
Breathing raggedly, Anne Rose gritted her teeth.
She gripped Aventa tighter to steady her trembling hand, then took another step forward.
And there, she saw it.
The Valkein Ruins.
On that land,
disaster descending once more.
* * *
Balakia, the Beast Sovereign.
The monster that destroyed the Lizardmen’s city-state a thousand years ago.
At its roar upon breaking free from long-sealed slumber, Anne Rose collapsed in place.
Even as the Sun Maiden, she couldn’t help but falter before the catastrophe before her eyes.
A black monster stood tall atop the pyramid, roaring at the sky.
And at its feet, a skeleton legion numbering in the thousands spewed hatred toward the living.
But that wasn’t all.
Evil dragons and monsters gathered from all directions.
As if Balakia’s roar were a summons, the evil dragons and monsters, cowed by fear, rushed to assemble.
And destruction began.
Balakia and the undead legion razed villages and cities.
The dead rose as undead under Balakia’s power, and the more they fought, the larger Balakia’s forces grew.
Luther opened his eyes, which he had closed.
Instead of replaying the cinematic cutscene from the original game, he looked up at the night sky.
It was the Night of Mana.
Just like in the original, the sky brimmed with bright, mystical purple light.
But the scene on the ground was utterly different from the original.
That was why Luther didn’t hide his smile.
“Phase 1.”
Balakia the Beast Sovereign’s undead legion.
“Guaaa—”
“Grraaa—”
From every corner of the Valkein Ruins, undead monsters rose with eerie groans.
Most were skeletons, formed from the Lizardmen who once thrived on this land.
The legion of the dead.
The army of the fallen that razed and burned Venus City in the original game.
In the original, Anne Rose had gasped in fear at the sight of the legion of the dead beginning to blanket the ground.
But the current Anne Rose showed a completely different reaction—no, she was utterly transformed.
“Wow.”
Her face showed genuine admiration.
Instead of fear or terror, it was filled with bafflement and delight.
“Kieaak!”
“Kiaak!”
Skeletons bursting through the ground screamed and writhed.
And small wonder—the spots where they emerged were right beneath holy symbols of the god.
Lethe, the God of Purification.
Over a hundred markers bearing her Divine Mark had been erected across the Valkein Ruins.
‘From afar, it looks just like a church village.’
Lethe’s Divine Mark resembled a cross, which only amplified the impression.
And that wasn’t all.
Centered around Lethe’s clergy standing beneath the markers, hundreds of adventurers belted out hymns with vigor.
Songs praising the beauty of life.
They had only managed to teach the sword-for-hire adventurers a few days’ worth of hymns, so the pitch and rhythm were a mess, but with hundreds singing together, the sheer energy was tremendous.
“Kraaak!”
“Graaak!”
Skeletons swept away by the waves of hymns screamed as they toppled or collapsed.
And then adventurers smashed their skulls with bludgeons and doused them with holy water.
The wicked legion of the dead was repelled.
No, the poor bone fragments shattered the moment they rose.
“This is kinda fun, huh?”
“Isn’t it exciting?”
They sang together as they pulverized skeletons.
Lethe’s hymns had turned into work songs, and the adventurers laughed heartily while exterminating them.
“Haha, those guys.”
“Whoops, more popping up there!”
“Brothers, take care with your swings! If you get hurt, come straight for healing!”
With every one that emerged having its head smashed, even thousands meant nothing.
Three hundred adventurers swinging bludgeons ten times each wiped out three thousand skeleton soldiers.
Large bonfires blazed with enough ferocity to scorch the heavens.
Over a hundred holy markers emitted a soft sacred glow.
Lethe’s hymns rang out powerfully.
Lethe’s clergy gazed down at the ground with pleased expressions.
The Church’s presence near Venus City wasn’t insignificant, but it wasn’t massive either—so seeing so many people united in singing Lethe’s praises was a first.
“Lethe will watch over us.”
“May Lethe’s blessing be with you.”
Drawing holy signs and offering fresh prayers, Lethe’s clergy resumed supporting the adventurers with contented smiles.
And so, after about ten minutes.
Watching the skeleton legion’s swift annihilation, Luther shifted his gaze farther out and spoke.
“Phase 2.”
Following the undead legion came evil dragons and monsters subdued by Balakia the Beast Sovereign’s power and authority.
In the original, their numbers reached hundreds, their charge alone enough to shake heaven and earth—but this time, things were different.
The numbers were few.
Far from hundreds, it was questionable if they even reached dozens.
A simple reason.
‘The battle in Asain Canyon.’
As Fairy Videl had said, once the powerful evil dragons and monsters enhanced by fragments vanished, brutal hierarchy struggles erupted among those below.
In the past ten days, countless evil dragons and monsters had killed each other, and adventurers led by Karen and Anne Rose had easily picked off the survivors from mutual destruction.
“Evil dragons incoming!”
“Monsters approaching!”
“Form up!”
At the lookouts’ shouts, the adventurers reacted swiftly.
“Clergy, fall back!”
“Weapon swap!”
“Stick to the plan!”
Venus City’s guild master, usually idle and slouched, bellowed with excitement at the rare action, directing the adventurers.
But there wasn’t much directing needed.
They were already prepared.
“Kraaak!”
“Aaak!”
Evil dragons and monsters charging madly toward the Valkein Ruins toppled with screams.
They had fallen into pre-dug traps.
“No matter how brute-force the charge, they have to pass through the choke points.”
That was why they had dug the traps.
Not just pits, but lined with sharpened stakes.
“Graaa….”
As the trapped evil dragons and monsters groaned in agony, adventurers hurled the javelins they had switched to.
A rain of arrows darkened the sky, and the evil dragons and monsters died en masse without meaningful resistance.
“Charge!”
“Grabber gets the prize!”
Having expended their javelins and arrows, the adventurers grabbed their heavy weapons and rushed the evil dragons and monsters.
It was due to Count Gleston’s prior promise.
‘All byproducts from the battle belong to those who claim them.’
In other words, all spoils went to the adventurers.
Unlike mere bone scraps from skeletons, evil dragons and monsters yielded plenty of loot.
Adventurers who swung swords for survival wouldn’t pass up heaps of spoils.
They culled the evil dragons and monsters with unprecedented fervor.
“L-Lady Jenadu….”
Marion the Dragonkin, watching the entire scene through a crystal orb from afar, turned to Jenadu with a frantic expression.
She sought Jenadu’s opinion, who was staring at the same orb.
The current situation.
The skeleton legion annihilated before it could act, evil dragons and monsters hunted helplessly.
Balakia’s entire army effectively neutralized.
“Not yet.”
But Jenadu remained calm.
The most crucial part remained.
“They’ve clearly prepared countermeasures.”
They mobilized Lethe’s clergy and markers to wipe out skeletons, dug dozens of traps for evil dragons.
But that was it.
Such measures couldn’t stop Balakia the Beast Sovereign.
“It begins.”
Balakia’s descent.
The catastrophic beast that destroyed the Lizardmen city-state Valkein a thousand years ago.
Jenadu was right.
No sooner had she spoken than the Night of Mana surged.
“Phase 3.”
Tension laced Luther’s voice.
And at that moment, everyone at the Valkein Ruins instinctively sensed it.
Without anyone shouting, they halted and turned to the same spot.
The heart of the Valkein Ruins.
The pyramid etched with the seal array.
The purple sky rippled violently.
The ground shook as if in an earthquake, and a powerful light surged from the pyramid.
Something was awakening.
This time, something terrifying was truly happening.
The adventurers’ ceaseless hymns cut off.
Fear spread across faces that had been all smiles.
The air quivered.
As the pyramid’s light intensified, the sky’s ripples grew in sync.
And then, at its peak.
The pyramid’s light shattered.
Purple poured from the rippling sky, devouring the light.
Jenadu smiled beyond the crystal orb.
Marion’s eyes gleamed as she clenched her fist.
-Kwarung-!
Thunder exploded from the ground, shaking the heavens.
The seal array shattered, mana swirling in a vortex, and from the chaos, something pitch-black protruded its head.
An overwhelming presence.
Even just its head emerging was enough to corrupt the surroundings with its sheer malice.
Adventurers collapsed, trembling.
Fear spread across Lethe’s clergy.
“R-Retreat! Fall back!”
“Run!”
Venus City’s guild master and Lethe’s clergy screamed themselves hoarse.
But those whose legs had given out couldn’t stand properly.
They merely trembled, stumbling in place.
Balakia the Beast Sovereign, First Day.
In the original, an untouchable death beast until it weakened after five days.
Having broken its seal, it opened its eyes.
With slit pupils characteristic of reptiles, its yellow iris cradling a long black pupil, it beheld the world after a millennium.
Screams erupted anew.
Those who met its gaze lost their minds to overwhelming terror, shrieking madly.
But one among them swallowed her cry.
Trembling in fear, even as urine soaked the ground from her slight lapse, she didn’t look away.
Staring straight into Balakia’s eyes while shaking, she fulfilled her role.
“L-Light of life.”
A spirit gem embedded in the ground.
And a massive magic circle centered on it, linked to the seal array.
Lilia, seated at its heart, channeled mana into the spirit gem.
The exact opposite of what Hecatoncheires had attempted in the original.
-Chwaaaaaaaa-!
Dazzling light burst from the magic circle.
Powered by dozens of magic stones gathered from hunting evil dragons in Asain Canyon, it activated the spirit gem, amplifying and converting the seal’s residual power manifold.
The resulting light of life.
A green radiance exploding like a blast, blanketing the world.
“Kiaaaaaak!”
Balakia the Beast Sovereign screamed.
It writhed to escape the encircling light of life, but it was no easy feat.
The life force had merged with the mana torrent, altering the very atmosphere around them.
Balakia kept screaming.
Its wings, meant to brim with darkness, exposed bare bones, and the malice that should have corrupted the surroundings was neutralized by the life force, fading away.
“We did it.”
Lilia whispered softly, smiling through tears.
Her body drenched in sweat like rain, frozen by tension and fear—but she had fulfilled her role.
Arma Valentine gazed at Lilia with admiring eyes.
Dragonkin Jenadu’s eyes widened beyond the crystal orb.
Countermeasures against Balakia the Beast Sovereign.
The first two, she could understand.
But the last one? No.
Using the spirit gem to flood with life force was no simple task.
Moreover, Jenadu realized.
The explosive life light merging with the mana torrent to alter the atmosphere’s very nature wasn’t coincidence.
It had been deliberately induced, accounting for the mana torrent.
A genius.
A monster beyond mortal comprehension.
Not Arma Valentine.
She was a monster, but not one capable of such calculations.
Someone else.
Another monster—
“Lady Jenadu!”
At Marion’s shout, Jenadu snapped back, her gaze returning to Balakia, a flicker of relief in her eyes.
Balakia had escaped the light of life.
“Graaaaaararara-!”
Breaking free from the swirling green torrent, Balakia roared and spread its wings.
Darkness refilled its wings, stripped bare by the life force.
Balakia the Beast Sovereign.
The beast that brought ruin to the Lizardmen city-state a millennium ago.
It opened its maw again.
Fitting a beast that seized the body of the Lizardmen’s sacred beast, it resembled a dragon at a glance.
Spreading its jet-black wings wide, it unleashed another deathly roar toward the sky.
Breath caught.
The monster’s roar, spanning over thirty meters across the battlefield, seemed to make the entire world shrink.
Adventurers and Lethe’s clergy alike trembled in fear.
But their preparations weren’t over.
“Gaaaah!”
As Anne Rose roared, a massive earth giant burst from the ground.
Resembling a Lizardman, it lunged at Balakia the Beast Sovereign, just unfolding its wings and roaring, tackling it down.
-Kurung-!
As monster and giant rolled across the ground locked together, the earth shook like an earthquake.
Valkein’s Mud Golem.
An object prepared for battle against Balakia the Beast Sovereign in the original.
In the original, one had to gather intel and materials while Balakia ravaged the west to revive it—but this time was different.
Luther already knew.
Where the golem’s core was.
What materials were needed to awaken it.
Thus, Valkein’s Mud Golem, which even awakened earliest in the original took four days of destruction to stir, opened its eyes on the first day.
“Graaa!”
Balakia, slammed to the ground, thrashed to shake off Valkein’s Golem mounted in dominant position.
Anne Rose, atop the golem’s head, glared at Balakia, gauging her moment.
Karen and Max carried Lilia off the battlefield.
Adventurers and Lethe’s clergy retreated, as Arma Valentine sealed her massive armor’s breastplate and entered combat stance.
“Graaa!”
Shaking off Valkein’s Golem, Balakia reared its head and roared again.
A purple light orb formed above its head, wings spread wide, emanating deathly power.
Death magic.
A purple sun bringing ruin to all it touched.
But they already knew.
So Luther, rather than tremble, raised his right arm.
Facing the swelling purple sun, he commanded.
“Combine sequence.”
[System all green!]
The drone merged with Luther’s right arm.
Balakia glared at Valkein’s Golem on the ground.
A massive white muzzle formed, Luther’s legs embedding deep into the earth.
The ever-growing purple sun exuded chilling malice.
[Long-range bombardment mode, Twin Drive system active.]
[Energy charge 100% complete!]
Balakia’s Dragon Hearts from Valboa and Astra in Luther’s chest and right arm blazed brilliantly.
The fiercely rotating light unified through the blue lines covering Luther’s body, converging on the arm cannon.
Luther held his breath.
The HUD targeting reticle aligned.
The purple sun, moments from completion, hovered over Balakia’s head.
And at that instant.
Right then.
[Shall I give it a taste?]
To Integra’s gentle voice, Luther responded.
He pulled the Buster Cannon’s trigger soundlessly.
And immediately after.
As a single beam of light struck the purple sun.
-Kwaaang!
The purple sun, shattered just before completion, rained down over Balakia’s head.