Chapter 118
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Moon's Equipment
Whether it was originally sized for a dragon's neck or some magical device had adjusted it to fit perfectly, the necklace blending gold and silver hung around Solaris's neck.
The faint light it gave off was shrouded in dark energy, so without activating my eye's ability, I might not have even noticed it was there.
But the necklace was definitely there, and more importantly, I had finally found a clue about this mysterious piece of equipment.
'Perhaps this necklace hides other effects.'
The ring I'd given Lenis and the bow I'd given Elfin both bore that very phrase.
I'd never seen anything like it in the game, so I had no idea what it meant. Even using my eye's ability couldn't reveal its true nature—it was a complete enigma.
Yet the necklace Solaris was wearing explicitly mentioned three pieces of equipment.
Lenis's ring was called the "Ring of the Crossing Two Moons," and Elfin's bow was the "Bow of the Crossing Two Moons."
From the names and descriptions, it was clear these two were part of the moon equipment set. And activating the necklace's power while gathering all three would trigger something major.
Whether it would be good or make things worse, I had no idea. But fighting Solaris head-on offered no chance of victory anyway, so I had no choice but to bet on it.
The problem was that the necklace was around Solaris's neck.
Whoosh!
The black flames Solaris spewed surged toward us. I leaped right while Linian scooped up Luna and dove left.
We barely dodged the attack, but Solaris's massive tail whipped straight at me next, slamming into my body with crushing force.
"Guh...!"
The pain of shattering bones sent me flying backward.
Thanks to Linian's quick healing, my broken bones knit back together fast. But with mana too precious to waste in battle and her own strength not fully recovered, I wondered how long she could keep supporting me like this.
"Hey, watch out! That bastard's a psycho family-killer, but his power is the real deal. If I hadn't gotten healed in time back in that lake, I'd be dead. He's... dangerous."
"Cough... Huff... Yeah, I get it now that I've felt it."
I'd braced myself, but it was even stronger than I'd expected.
Knowing we couldn't win a frontal fight, I fell into thought.
'Damn... I have to secure that necklace somehow...'
Solaris wouldn't know my intentions, but it advanced with heavy steps, refusing to give me time to think.
Its low voice rumbled through the air, drilling into my eardrums.
"You were the goddess's last gamble, and you even escaped with her in our grasp. For a mere human to achieve that much... I'm truly impressed."
"Thanks for the compliment."
"At the same time, it pissed me off. Because you took the goddess, the last remnant of her pure divinity—the final piece that would complete my ascension and make me whole again—vanished. Sure, my power is still absolute as is, but there's a huge difference between perfection and not. So..."
Solaris raised a foreleg.
"Die."
Swoosh!
The black dragon's foreleg plunged down at terrifying speed.
Linian burst in beside me in an instant, blocking it with her blue dragon's foreleg. But the overwhelming power difference made her scream the moment her arm met it.
"Ugh... Aaaah!"
"I don't get it, Liniaras. You're always ranting about wiping out half of humanity, how they're a plague on this world... and now you're protecting one?"
"Ngh... That hasn't changed... but this guy's the one who saved our mom... and restored part of my body to normal!!!"
Boom!
The spell Linian fired from her hand exploded, forcing her and Solaris apart.
But her dragon arm that had blocked the strike was mangled—bones protruding outward.
I swung my Light Saber in a hurry, activating the divinity's healing power. The bones slowly slid back into place inside her arm. She grimaced in pain but didn't scream.
Once the bones realigned and the torn skin stitched shut, Linian let out a long sigh and tested her arm's movement.
Then she scowled even fiercer and cursed at Solaris.
"You son of a bitch... Family ties are done! No matter what, I'm killing you! For Luna's revenge too! And payback for nearly killing me last time!"
"Yeah, you never let debts slide. To think you'd play servant to a human you used to despise just to settle one... Must've burned you up."
"Ser, servant?! You bastard...!"
"Linian, hold on!"
"What?! If it's an order, I'm ignoring it!"
"Not that! I need to tell you some— Tch, can't talk like this. Linian! Hit it with your biggest, flashiest spell!"
Solaris charged again, cutting off our conversation.
The moment it realized I'd seen through the necklace, who knew what it'd do? For now, I had to play dumb.
I narrowed Judgment's range to maximize firepower, raining light spears on Solaris's head. Linian gathered flames in her mouth, breathed them out, then amplified them with wind and lightning from her hands, detonating them everywhere.
"Petty tricks...!"
Solaris shielded its head with both wings to block the spears and countered Linian's magic with black flames from its maw.
The clashes produced deafening explosions. Seizing the moment, I grabbed Linian's hand, pulled back, and quickly explained.
There was a necklace around Solaris's neck—nearly invisible to the eye. With Lenis's ring and Elfin's bow, activating its power would trigger something big.
Linian's eyes went wide.
"Something big? Like what?"
"No idea."
"You're saying grab the necklace first without even knowing? You sane?"
"Or just fight that thing?"
I pointed at Solaris.
Neither Linian's powerful multi-spell barrage nor my Judgment at peak intensity seemed to hurt it much.
My power was the goddess's pure divinity itself, which had worked perfectly on the Underground Vermin. Solaris, their leader, wielded the same kind of force yet resisted it completely.
"Honestly, our odds against it are zero—not even 0.1%. If we don't act, we're all dead. So we gamble on the unknown, right?"
"Urgh... The gear names suggest it's Luna's old stuff. She's my sister, but who knows what she was thinking. Could be a prank or make things worse."
"No choice but to try. Please. Can you do it?"
"Damn... Why am I listening to a human like you... Aaaah! Fine! If it goes wrong, I'll curse you forever!"
The relentless barrage of explosive attacks finally paused as Solaris spread its wings wide, clearing the smoke.
"Is that all your struggling?"
"Haaaaah!"
From the smoke, Linian lunged, thrusting her enlarged dragon arm forward, claws aimed at Solaris's neck.
Solaris scoffed and wrapped its tail around her waist, halting her charge effortlessly.
Linian swung her dragon's left arm, claws slashing at its head, but Solaris casually blocked with one foreleg.
"You think reverting just your arms to dragon form would do anything, when your body's not fully restored, Liniaras?"
"Shut... up...!"
She punched with her right fist toward its chest, but Solaris grabbed her wrist with its other foreleg.
In a last desperate move, she unleashed a high-pressure water breath from her mouth, only for it to be snuffed by Solaris's black flames.
Water and fire met in a thick steam cloud. Solaris gazed down at Linian with emotionless eyes.
"Linian, I'll give you one last chance. Admit the goddess's era is over and join us. You're the last of my kin left in this world. Don't make me kill another with my own claws. This is my final mercy—and warning."
"Ha, really? How touching. But hey, Solaris..."
Linian trembled, straining to extend her arms, and yelled.
"If you're making offers like that, you shouldn't have killed Lunarin!"
At the same moment, she slowly unclenched the massive dragon fist of her right arm that she'd thrust out second.
From within, a figure unfurled translucent golden wings and shot toward Solaris's neck, hidden in the steam.
Solaris tried to swat me away as I dove, but Linian bit her lip until it bled, locking both its forelegs in place.
"Such a dirty trick... You think landing a hit on my neck will even scratch my scales?!"
"Of course not! But you're not my target!"
I plunged my Light Saber into the dark smoke near Solaris's neck—not into the neck itself, but the thin space above it. In that instant, Solaris realized what I was after.
"The necklace...?!"
Clang!
I severed the chain with my Light Saber and snatched the necklace.
In that moment, despite broad daylight, the sky turned pitch black like midnight. A blood-red moon rose in an impossible position.
Simultaneously, two pillars of white light shot up from where my comrades were fighting, piercing the blackened sky. A third pillar erupted from the necklace in my hand.
As the three pillars touched the heavens, a voice echoed from within Solaris's body.