Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Floating Island Observer
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Floating islands are like mirages.
No matter how desperately you chase them, you can never catch up. Take your eyes off them for just a moment, and they vanish.
What does it take to find such elusive floating islands?
The answer is simple.
It refers to those who have devoted their entire lives to studying and pursuing floating islands.
A rat beastman entered Leyzon's view.
Old man Lebon.
This withered elder had chased floating islands his whole life to find medicine for his grandson.
His grandson had long since lost his battle with illness and passed away.
But Lebon's dementia-riddled mind had erased even that memory.
A grandson gone from this world, visible only to Lebon.
To save that boy, Lebon still pursued the floating islands.
Lebon gazed up at the sky.
The floating island looming overhead seemed just an arm's reach away.
Yet no matter how far he stretched, it dissolved like a dream.
He knew this all too well.
"Ugh, time to get to work."
Lebon became a Floating Island Observer.
The perpetual haze in his eyes sharpened.
A spark ignited in his pupils.
He yanked back his tangled mess of long hair and tied it off.
Then he kicked off his shoes and shook them out vigorously.
"Necromancer sir."
A small stone fragment tumbled from his shoe.
But this was no ordinary pebble.
It was a shard of floating island.
The fragment began to hover in the air.
"How high into the sky can it take us?"
Leyzon slowly curled his lips at Lebon's question.
"Anywhere."
Lebon crushed the shard in his fist at the reply.
"Good enough. Bondee, give your old grandpa a lift."
Hanok Wilbria scurried over at the call.
He'd grown used to the nickname Bondee by now.
"Sorry about this—mind lending me your back?"
Lebon apologized to Hanok with a nod.
Leyzon watched quietly, then turned to Iden.
"Iden, you can fly us with darkness, right?"
"Yeah... not hard at all."
Iden drawled lazily.
"Good. Let's go, then. Pauli, Syria."
Leyzon summoned his two undead.
Both were still weakened from the undead fusion backlash.
He'd been careful with them since.
Iden stirred the shadows beneath their feet.
Darkness pooled, lifting them all skyward.
As they climbed, the crumbling black citadel sprawled below.
'Dungeons aren't created by the empire or anyone else—they're born from some unfathomable colossal force.'
Pauli had confirmed as much.
Once certain patterns align, that unknown power spawns a dungeon.
'Was the "birdcage" that flamehead mentioned something like this?'
Leyzon had once vaguely suspected the empire itself might be one massive dungeon.
Lately, that hunch had solidified.
'Dungeons predate even the Kaltura Empire.'
And the empire's emperor dreaded the world's end.
'The end of the world.'
What apocalypse had he foreseen to tremble so?
And why extract human talents to avert it?
'Might grill flamehead about it next time.'
Questions shelved, the darkness pierced the clouds.
The sun-scorched sky gleamed ahead.
The distant floating island was fading fast.
These isles were transient portals—reachable only in their fleeting reveal.
But pursuit alone guaranteed nothing.
'To reach one...'
You had to pinpoint its hidden gateway amid the sky's vast illusion, before it winked out.
'Only a Floating Island Observer can do that.'
This one had tracked them countless times.
Impossible without him.
Leyzon eyed Lebon.
The old man's gaze pierced beyond the isle, locked on the heavens.
He was reading the sky's currents.
Scanning for that one anomaly, eyes unblinking, transfixed.
"Le-Leyzon sir."
The island blurred further, on the verge of vanishing.
Leyzon silenced Hanok with a raised hand.
"Quiet."
No interruptions.
Under collective stares, Lebon scanned endlessly—
Then his gnarled finger twitched upward, trembling.
He jabbed ahead, shard clenched tight.
"Iden!"
Shadows surged, hurling them like a cannon shot.
Lebon's arm stayed rigid.
His face was ashen from the strain.
'No.'
Exhaustion had claimed him long before.
Dementia marked his decline.
Swordless Village's shopkeep had wagered he'd never return.
His body hit its limit ages ago.
One drive kept him going:
Medicine for his dying grandson.
'Almost gone.'
Leyzon sensed his life force ebbing fast.
As a necromancer, death hummed in his veins.
'This is it.'
All the more reason to see it through.
Lebon deserved his goal.
Leyzon's lifelong creed: Finish what you start.
Thud!
He caught the slumping elder.
"Old timer, goals don't die halfway, right?"
Steadying the pointing hand.
"Let's see it to the end."
Lebon's faint smile creased deeper with resolve.
"Thanks, kid."
'Dementia-free, he ages like fine wine.'
The isle dimmed relentlessly.
Lebon's finger held firm.
Tension mounted—
His eyes snapped wide.
Boom!
Shadows smashed through an unseen barrier.
Sky flipped to alien vista.
Exotic flora carpeted everything.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Darkness barreled through, scattering phantasmal beasts in frenzy.
"Iden!"
"Slowing... already."
Iden wrestled the momentum.
Shadows careened wildly, then eased to a halt.
Unseen plants tangled in riotous overgrowth.
Floating islands cradled every plant on earth—even extinct relics.
To some, they were treasure troves.
Leyzon's party had finally arrived.
"Ah... ahh!"
Lebon gasped at the sight.
Heavy tears spilled from his wide eyes.
Shadows dissipated.
Lebon tumbled out, bolting ahead.
Leyzon and the rest followed.
He sprinted blindly, gaze locked ahead.
His steps slowed...
Then he dropped to his knees.
A lone flower bloomed before him.
Prism-hued petals, utterly unique.
Lebon dug tenderly, uprooting it.
He wrapped it in cloth from his bosom.
The party watched in silence.
Hanok sniffled.
He felt Lebon's life force flicker out.
One life closing its book.
All bore witness quietly.
"Bondee."
Hanok rushed forward.
Lebon pressed the bundled flower into his hands.
"Bury it at my grandson's grave by our house. He suffered so... this'll ease it now."
Return of light: the final surge before death, lucid goodbyes, then swift end.
Mystery unsolved.
Lebon reclaimed every memory.
"Y-yes! I will, I promise."
Bonded now, Hanok clutched it close.
Lebon beamed satisfaction, then faced Leyzon.
"Thanks for getting me here."
He'd spied islands aplenty.
Never touched one.
Life complete, he smiled...
Head bowed.
No regrets lingered.
His breath stilled.
Energy spent, he was gone.
Syria Nosferatu recovered then, reverting to form.
Repeated fusions honed her regen.
"Syria, handle the old man."
She shadow-stowed him wordlessly.
Leyzon planned a burial beside the boy.
No more loneliness.
"Hanok."
Hanok, tears dried, offered the flower.
Leyzon pocketed it safely.
"Let's move."
Lebon got them here.
No wasting that.
Hanok brushed off the last drops.
Followed Leyzon inward.
Then—
Whoosh!
Syria Nosferatu, Iden, and Pauli whipped their heads as one.
Hero-tier undead synced.
Trouble brewing.
"What?"
"Someone else entered the floating island. Not us."
Leyzon's eyes hardened.
No casual jaunt here.
Even he'd prepped ages without Iden or Syria.
Another intruder meant prep or power.
Timing suspicious—their arrival.
Who?
'Easy enough to check.'
Chill settled in his gaze.
"Lead the way."
Whoever it was, they claimed first dibs.