Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Chapter 28 - Lightning #2
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The Hecatoncheires would come.
They would move to eliminate him—the variable—before he could heal the king.
Luther's prediction was spot on.
Having received the situation report through their spies, the Hecatoncheires had launched their operation.
[Emergency alert mode.]
[Nanosuit equipped.]
[Night Wing activated.]
The moment his mind snapped awake in a flash, Integra's voice rang out in rapid succession.
Luther, instantly shifting into combat readiness, first enveloped his entire body with the Night Wing, which had transformed into bat-like wings.
—KABOOM!
With a deafening roar, the ceiling came crashing down.
Blocking the falling debris with the Night Wing, Luther closed his eyes as Integra relayed the surroundings via the HUD.
Three through the broken ceiling, two each from the window and entrance.
“Integra!”
[Initiating rapid launch!]
The moment Luther shouted, an enormous thrust erupted from the backpack on his back.
Thanks to it, Luther shot up almost vertically, spinning his body sharply and sweeping the area with the Night Wing sharpened into blades.
“Gaaah!”
The assassins pouring from the ceiling had their chests or backs sliced open by the Night Wing and collapsed to the floor.
All of them wore black masks.
“Integra! Behind!”
[Leave it to me!]
The instant Luther fired his energy gun toward the entrance, Integra had already launched a missile from a drone at the window side.
—BOOM!
The explosion unleashed a blast of cold that flash-froze the windows solid, blocking the assassins' entry entirely.
In the meantime, Luther concentrated his energy gun fire to drop two more, then instead of swinging his gun toward the leaping assassin breaking through the barrage, he pulled both arms back and thrust out his chest.
[Breast Beam!]
With Integra's booming cry, a pillar of intense light shot up from the center of Luther's chest—precisely, the circular hole in the nanosuit's chest plate.
—KABOOM!
The assassin struck directly by the beam was blasted back, slamming into the wall and tumbling across the floor.
[Phew, as expected, Breast Beam beats chest laser.]
Even amid the chaos, Luther ignored Integra's embarrassing remark and turned to the assassin slumped beside the bed.
Their attire was nearly identical to the assassins Balboa had kept around.
“Integra, this can't be all. Scan the surroundings.”
[Understood.]
A drone shot up through the hole in the ceiling.
Instead of watching the drone, Luther stared toward the entrance, thinking.
They hadn't struck while he was en route to the Sea Temple but directly at him in the palace, so the Hecatoncheires had fully drawn their blades.
It wouldn't end with just this.
[Marking nearby life signs.]
Luther viewed the detached palace's overview on his HUD, along with the life signs popping up one by one atop it.
But the information floating before his eyes was off.
There were far too many life signs in the detached palace.
No, now he saw it wasn't just the detached palace.
The Hecatoncheires' assault.
Their chosen method upon the king potentially being healed before the ritual.
[Master! The entire palace is under attack!]
It was right then.
—KRRR-BOOM!
A terrifying explosion rocked the entire palace.
* * *
The sky was falling, and the earth crumbling.
The explosions didn't stop at one. They continued in a chain, shaking the palace in every corner each time.
The detached palace where Luther stood quickly filled with screams and wails.
[The enemy numbers are overwhelming.]
[Estimated at least 100 signatures!]
There were so many life signs, they couldn't be properly measured.
Luther spread his Night Wing and soared up through the hole in the ceiling.
[Master! Incoming from above!]
The moment he faced the night sky, a massive bat charged at him.
Luther drew Clairheim Morr from his Night Wing and smashed its upper body.
Even without unsheathing the blade, Clairheim Morr was just a sturdy club, but combined with Luther's superhuman strength, it was different.
Swinging the Clairheim Morr with nanosuit-enhanced muscle power, he shattered the giant bat's bones in one blow, hurling it to the ground without resistance.
[Master! More coming!]
This time, it was a sonic attack.
Luther stood his Night Wing to block the ultrasound, then raised his left arm to fire a missile.
The drone had already locked on, so there was no need to poke his head out to find their positions.
—KRRR-BOOM!
The missile loaded with a flame magic scroll detonated, unleashing a firestorm that engulfed the sky.
Ignoring the screaming, plummeting giant bats, Luther climbed higher to take in the whole palace.
“What the hell.”
The Hecatoncheires weren't just targeting the detached palace.
They were striking the entire palace.
Just the giant bats in his view numbered well over a hundred, but that wasn't the problem.
[Earth dragons!]
What had happened at the Gleston estate was unfolding on a scale ten times larger.
Winged dragons in the sky spewed fire to burn the ground, and thanks to them, earth dragons that had landed attacked the people.
This was no mere ambush.
It was a large-scale landing operation to seize the palace.
Luther exhaled.
He tried to grasp the situation somehow.
He recalled the western front.
What he himself had done after arriving in the south.
In the original story, the west was destroyed.
Aru's death left the south a powder keg on the verge of explosion, maintaining high tension.
But not anymore.
The west had been defended.
Princess Aru had safely returned to the kingdom, and the south was at peace.
Hope had emerged that the long-absent king could return.
'I got complacent.'
He had thought the Hecatoncheires would underestimate his presence.
He had unwittingly separated the west and south incidents.
But no.
The Hecatoncheires were wary of Luther, who had healed the likes of the bald man and several others with incurable diseases by this world's standards.
Their failure in the west had made them more anxious than expected.
And this was the result.
Strike the Malkuth Kingdom's palace directly before the ritual. Secure their desires more perfectly.
What the Hecatoncheires wanted.
Manipulate the Sky Island ruins to unleash a tsunami sweeping the south.
Subjugate the palace.
Make the Sky Island, meant to rise during the ritual, ascend far earlier.
What they needed for that.
Answers flashed in Luther's mind.
To stop them, he had to hurry.
“Integra! Air Striker!”
[Activating!]
The moment Integra responded, the sub-parts hidden in Luther's room soared up and assembled in midair.
Since they were completely separate components, there was no need to detach his backpack.
Instead of mounting it, Luther merged it with a drone and said to Integra.
“We have to protect the princesses. Head to the Plum Blossom Palace. I'll go to the Moonview Palace.”
To manipulate the Sky Island ruins, they needed royal blood—living.
In the original, Aru was already dead, so Yoru became the Hecatoncheires' sacrifice.
“Hurry!”
[Got it!]
The Air Striker, under Integra's control, charged toward the Plum Blossom Palace.
Luther spread his Night Wing and flew toward the Moonview Palace.
Enemies everywhere, but this was the palace—plenty of allies too.
“Fire!”
“Protect the palace!”
The palace guards had already formed ranks and begun battling the earth dragons.
Not few in number and well-trained elites, they weren't pushed back helplessly like at the Gleston estate.
—Rat-tat-tat-tat-BOOM!
Shaking off charging giant bats with rapid energy gun fire, Luther thought as he dashed toward the Moonview Palace.
No matter that they used winged dragons for the attack, it made no sense that no one in the palace had noticed until moments before impact.
There had to be a spy among those handling palace defenses.
'No way the Grand General?'
[Master! Is the Third Princess okay?]
Integra's question snapped his thoughts.
Luther took in the now-visible Moonview Palace at a glance and replied.
“The Third Princess is with Queen Reina!”
So, if the queen was the spy, it was already too late; if not, she'd be fine.
The sea witch queen could handle protecting herself and the Third Princess, and the Hecatoncheires wouldn't target the hard-to-abduct Third Princess while the First and Second were available.
[Arrived at Plum Blossom Palace!]
[Commencing combat!]
At that moment, Luther also read the Moonview Palace's status.
He spotted Yoru's life sign, marked long ago.
Moonview Palace, second floor.
Yoru huddled as winged dragons tried infiltrating through the windows, with a handful of royal knights standing firm before her!
“Integra! Full barrage!”
No time to conserve firepower.
Spreading his Night Wing wide for a dive toward the Moonview Palace, Luther thrust both arms forward, unleashing every ounce of firepower on the earth dragons clinging to the windows.
—KRRR-BOOM!
Missiles launched continuously from both arms exploded, flames devouring the earth dragons, followed by a rain of energy rounds sweeping the giant bats lurking nearby for an opening.
[Energy consumption critical!]
[No missiles remaining!]
But the effect was ample.
Every earth dragon and giant bat at the windows had been wiped out.
Luther folded his Night Wing and threw himself through the now-clear window.
“Yoru!”
“L-Luther?!”
The moment Luther entered, Yoru—who had been stifling a scream—widened her eyes and cried out.
Wearing a white negligee draped with a shawl, her face looked ready to burst into tears.
“L-Luther. What is this...”
Yoru couldn't continue.
She was too terrified.
Luther thought he should comfort her, but he didn't act on it.
The royal knights surrounding Yoru were knights, but something more important occurred to him.
'None.'
There were winged dragons and giant bats, but no dragonkin.
No matter how he thought about it, it was odd that no dragonkin were securing the most crucial element: capturing royalty to control the Sky Island.
'Not Yoru.'
Not Iru either. Then the only one left—
[Kyaaak!]
Integra screamed.
Not the Integra here, but the one that had arrived at the Plum Blossom Palace and started fighting.
“Integra!”
Reflexively shouting, Luther shared vision with the Air Striker's drones.
And into Luther's view came a massive man.
—KRRR-BOOM!
The moment the man swung his fist, a roar erupted, and the feed cut. Even the noisy video vanished.
[Air Striker completely destroyed!]
[Master! Aru!]
Luther had seen it too. In the massive man's other hand, dangling limply, was Aru.
And Luther knew the man's identity.
'Lagros.'
A mid-tier dragonkin who briefly appeared in the latter half of the southern arc.
Originally lurking in the shadows, delegating to spies, but now with the situation twisted, he had stepped forward himself.
Luther gritted his teeth.
Remembering Yoru's abduction in the original, he had chosen her in that split-second dilemma—but it was the wrong call.
If he had gone to the Plum Blossom Palace and sent the Air Striker to the Moonview Palace—
[Master, pointless what-if.]
[Focus on what's already happened!]
Just as Integra said.
Snapping to, Luther glanced at the panting Yoru and the royal knights warily scanning surroundings, trying to assess. He resumed his interrupted thoughts.
They already had Aru.
To manipulate the Sky Island, they needed her, so they wouldn't kill or harm her immediately.
There was still time.
He just needed to rescue Aru.
But right then—
—RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE—
The Moonview Palace shook.
No, the entire capital was quaking.
“E-earthquake?!”
“Protect the princess!”
The royal knights surrounded Yoru and cast protective spells.
But instead of aiding or directing them, Luther rushed back to the window and looked in a specific direction.
Beyond the sky where winged dragons and giant bats rampaged—
The Sky Island was rising.