Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Past, Lord of the Dragonkin
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In the past, the lord of the Dragonkin.
The old dragon, Jerome Makira.
He was now crossing the skies above the desert.
The Sunset Desert region at the eastern edge.
It was named for the sand grains glowing in sunset hues.
The reason Jerome Makira had come here.
It was all because of the young dragon he had been raising.
His son, the Evil Dragon, had massacred the entire Dragonkin tribe that day.
Jerome Makira had discovered an egg of a yet-to-be-born Dragonkin.
For the greater good, he had watched his son slaughter the Dragonkin.
But he couldn't bear to see even an unborn child slain.
In the end, he decided to protect the Dragonkin egg.
Thus, the young dragon was born.
Nermacadia.
The day he returned in a battered state.
Hearing the news from him, Jerome Makira's heart sank.
"S-Sir, the Evil Dragon appeared and said to relay that he wishes to meet you."
Ever since holing up behind the eastern walls.
His son, who hadn't shown so much as his nose outside, had sent word that he wanted to meet.
'No way.'
Has my son finally come back to his senses?
Jerome Makira swallowed hard.
'The message he sent back with that child alive... it must mean he wants this old one to come in person.'
Even he didn't fully grasp his son's intentions.
Especially this time—they were harder to read than ever.
'Vampire Queen.'
After the incident with the Bluebird Knight Order.
The undead who had vanished without a trace.
"Sir, the Vampire Queen was with the Evil Dragon."
He couldn't make sense of her joining hands with his son.
'At first, I thought it might be a Pseudo-Dragon impersonating him.'
Jerome Makira had once joined a Pseudo-Dragon hunt in the past.
So he knew of the Pseudo-Dragons, which shared many traits with the Dragonkin.
"But it wielded Dragon Scales—definitely Dragon Scales!"
But a Pseudo-Dragon was similar at best.
Not true Dragonkin.
Pseudo-Dragons couldn't wield the Dragonkin's unique trait: Dragon Scales.
Yet the one who appeared before Nermacadia had wielded them.
There were scarcely any Dragonkin left in the world now.
If the Bloodless Sovereign bore him ill will, she wouldn't have let Nermacadia live.
She would have taken him hostage for an exchange instead.
But Nermacadia had returned unharmed.
'Could it really be...'
That the Vampire Queen had done something to his son.
And the old dragon knew well of the one behind the Vampire Queen.
'The Abyss—the master of dangerous undead from every corner of the world.'
He thought of the figure who even made him uneasy.
The empire's sole Necromancer, who often spoke of the Abyss.
He had shared a certain tale.
"The Abyss's goal is probably the same as mine."
The man with his bizarre grin.
The madman who slaughtered Necromancers even from the imperial court's side.
He was the one who had killed the Evil Dragon along with all the Dark Elves like him.
That man repeatedly claimed the Abyss's goal matched his own.
'Perhaps.'
The Vampire Queen's master might have made contact with the Evil Dragon.
And done something nefarious to his son.
'Lately, the Abyss has become such a threat that even the imperial court mentions him.'
It started with the massive Necromancer uprising not long ago.
His name had been steadily cropping up across the lands.
Yet the court showed no real urgency in pursuing him.
There were whispers reaching the court's ears about the "Millennium Mage" stirring, but nothing confirmed.
'That guy's always been elusive.'
Even the court rarely laid eyes on him.
'It's been decades since the Emperor last showed himself.'
Jerome Makira had hidden his son's existence by embedding himself in the court.
For quite some time, in fact.
But the Emperor staying hidden this long was unprecedented.
The Emperor was a brilliant man.
For him to vanish like this for so long was unnatural.
In his stead, his closest aides relayed his words as proxies.
'What could their aim be?'
The court lately was utterly inscrutable.
And with the central figure—the Emperor—absent, those below began harboring their own ambitions.
They were quietly gnawing away at the empire.
The power structure was fracturing.
No tiger, so the foxes run wild.
The saying fit perfectly.
'Too busy with power struggles to bother with external threats. Is that it?'
Jerome Makira swallowed bitterly.
As a long-lived being, he had witnessed many upheavals.
But never had the world felt this chaotic.
'The calm before the storm.'
The phrase suited it exactly.
This current was a sure sign something massive was brewing.
And the Evil Dragon had latched onto that flow.
Jerome Makira bore the duty to deal with the Evil Dragon.
A duty he must fulfill, even if it meant sacrificing every last Dragonkin.
Jerome Makira's eyes blazed red.
'The day all Dragonkin perished.'
The seed planted in his son's body.
To let it bloom.
'This old one must be devoured as well.'
The city walls came into view for Jerome Makira.
Towering walls that scraped the heavens.
A strange energy swirled inside them from within.
No matter what one did, those walls could not be breached.
And the Evil Dragon lived entrenched beyond them.
'It should be around here.'
Jerome Makira's eyes darted busily in search of his son.
But for some reason, no trace of him anywhere.
His wrinkled eyes slowly widened.
'What is this?'
An inexplicable eerie sensation brushed past Jerome Makira.
Jerome Makira slowly approached the walls.
Soon, he realized one thing.
Something was off about the walls' thickness.
It felt as if something extra had been layered atop the front.
Unsure what it was, Jerome Makira pressed his hand against the wall.
Sink—
His hand pushed inward into the wall.
Jerome Makira's eyes bulged in confusion.
Soon, he realized it was tiny grains.
Alive, living creatures at that.
Ants too minuscule for the eye to detect.
They climbed up his arm.
Sting—
He felt the ants sinking their teeth into his arm.
"You filthy bugs."
Whoosh!
At that instant, flames erupted from Jerome Makira's arm.
The blaze incinerated the ants trying to climb up in unison.
Faint bite marks from the ants remained on his arm.
In his prime, he would have reacted instantly.
But age had slowed his response to surprises by a beat.
His wrinkled eyes narrowed.
"Playing tricks from where?"
Jerome Makira looked up.
The entire wall writhed before his eyes.
Ants enveloped the walls stretching to the heavens.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The ant swarm crashed toward Jerome Makira like a tidal wave.
The moment he saw it, Jerome Makira summoned his Dragon Scales and shot into the sky.
The ants supported one another, pursuing him.
But Jerome Makira was lord of the Dragonkin for good reason.
Unlike Nermacadia's fumbling, he ascended high where the ants couldn't easily follow, then whipped up a gale.
The gust swept the ant swarm away entirely.
The ants couldn't even resist as they were blown off.
Even so, Jerome Makira sharpened his gaze.
'The Vampire Queen wields shadows.'
She had no connection to bugs like these ants.
'Could it be.'
Another of the Abyss's undead?
Lately, reports of the Abyss's undead stirring had multiplied.
Take the Demon Lord of the Lowlands—he had vanished from his village.
'Perhaps.'
The Abyss himself might be here.
Crack—
Jerome Makira quietly clenched his fist.
'If I take this chance to eliminate the Abyss and claim his head.'
It might quiet the foxes' power struggles a bit.
"In that case."
I need to draw him out.
Rumble!
Storm clouds began gathering overhead.
One by one, raindrops fell from the dark clouds.
Pour—
Soon, the downpour intensified, sweeping the desert.
Tremendous mana flowed centered on Jerome Makira.
The SSS-grade skill Jerome Makira possessed.
The Dragonkin lord, the old dragon.
Jerome Makira.
He was a living monster with a staggering 19 Ascensions.
Long ago, during his time as a lord, the moniker attached to him.
Disaster Lord
A title earned because his mere appearance rivaled a calamity.
Had the Dragonkin tragedy never occurred, and he continued reigning as lord, he would have stood as one of the strongest lords, alongside the Judgment Lord.
"If he doesn't come out, I'll just blow it all away."
Boom!
Blue lightning began crackling atop the rain-heavy clouds.
Vast mana flows blanketed the world.
He truly intended to obliterate the entire area.
Natural Disaster took time to activate.
But it was an AoE skill that reduced surroundings to ash.
The pinnacle of destructive power among SSS-grade skills.
So he calculated the Abyss would surely intervene.
Yet even as his Natural Disaster neared completion, the Abyss did not appear.
Jerome Makira furrowed his brow.
'At this close range for an attack, he couldn't evade Natural Disaster and flee.'
By now, the desert had swelled into rivers from the poured rain.
He couldn't fathom what the Abyss was after.
But he made his choice.
Whatever it was, smashing it would end matters.
Jerome Makira raised his hand toward the sky.
Churning mana surged skyward entirely, calling forth the being atop the clouds.
Crackle!
The moment a blue lightning bolt pierced the clouds.
The heavens split open.
Kaboom rumble rumble crash!
A blinding bolt of white-hot lightning engulfed several kilometers in radius as it plummeted.
The river-flooded desert was swept by current, scorching even the sand grains.
Soon, clear skies spread, sunlight pouring down.
Jerome Makira slowly opened his closed eyes.
Thud!
There lay a dragon, charred pitch-black.
Red smoke billowed from its body.
As if struck dead in its sleep.
Its face burned with rage.
"...Jeromakira?"
The Evil Dragon, Jeramakia.
He sat slumped on the ground, caught in the Natural Disaster.
At that moment, Jeramakia spewed black smoke and opened his maw.
—————!
A roar beyond hearing erupted from his mouth.
Jerome Makira felt as if his eardrums tore.
He saw his son glaring in fury.
Jeramakia suffered one mental affliction.
Mania.
He attacked indiscriminately anything that struck him.
Why he spent most of his time holed up in the walls.
True to his Evil Dragon name, Jeramakia had lost his reason.
He regained sanity occasionally.
But even that wasn't fully normal.
'The walls should have been immune to magic attacks.'
Seeing Jeramakia lost to mania, Jerome Makira panicked greatly.
He had activated Natural Disaster calculating it wouldn't affect Jeramakia.
Yet Jeramakia had taken the hit.
Meaning he had been outside the walls from the start.
Flash!
In that instant, he checked his own arm with a sudden realization.
Soon, he saw pitch-black smoke seeping from it.
'This is.'
A curse.
The ants that first bit him.
They had carried a curse.
A vicious one potent enough to affect even Jerome Makira.
He had been had.
The thought flashed as Jeramakia launched skyward.
Jeramakia in mania wouldn't heed reason.
He had few options.
Crunch!
"...Abyss!"
He unleashed thick fury at the Abyss who had laid the trap, releasing his power.
Now tasked with subduing Jeramakia.