Chapter 201
Chapter 201
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 201
Chapter Title: The Hatchling Dragon Wielded by the Bloodless Sovereign
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The hatchling dragon, just a bit larger than a palm, blinked its eyes.
The sound that had come from the Bloodless Sovereign's embrace moments ago.
Only now did he realize that the source of that noise was this hatchling dragon.
The hatchling dragon clearly imprinted itself into Nermakadia's pupils.
He couldn't comprehend the current situation.
There were only two dragons left now: the Bloodless Sovereign and Nermakadia.
So what in the world was this hatchling?
He replayed the words the Bloodless Sovereign had spoken earlier.
The old dragon's dying wish, the legacy it had guarded until the end.
Why did that belong to this hatchling?
"That one's a hatchling born from the evil dragon's death. It's a being compressed with the evil dragon's power."
At that moment, Leyzon's voice echoed out.
The straw doll gestured to the Bloodless Sovereign, and she took a step forward.
She then slowly set the hatchling down.
Upon landing on the ground, the hatchling spread its tiny wings.
Those adorable wings revealed just how young it truly was.
"Nermakadia, you said with your own mouth that you would carry on the old dragon's legacy."
Nermakadia's eyes wavered.
"The old dragon's plan was doomed to fail from the start."
Based on the information he had steadily gathered so far.
Leyzon had realized that the old dragon's plan was a failure from the outset.
The evil dragon couldn't fully assimilate its power to become a transcendent being.
Their plan had no solution.
However, the evil dragon had completely twisted that plan.
The evil dragon was fated to die anyway.
So it staked its life on one final gamble.
Condensing its power into one place to birth a new existence.
That was the hatchling before them now.
A completely new being, compressed with the dragon race's talents.
"That dragon is the next plan of the evil dragon and the old one."
Nermakadia's eyes couldn't tear away from the hatchling.
As if sensing that, the hatchling toddled right up to him.
The hatchling's tiny face rubbed against Nermakadia's cheek.
It made him newly realize just how small the hatchling was.
"Nermakadia."
Leyzon's straw doll rose from its seat.
"I know you won't trust me. To you, I'm the object of resentment and hatred."
Leyzon was the one who had taken away the old dragon, who was like a parent to him.
That fact wouldn't change.
"But crawling back to the ossuary or the imperial court, no matter what you do, you won't achieve your goal."
The imperial court and the ossuary each pursued their own separate aims.
To them, Nermakadia was nothing more than a convenient pawn—neither more nor less.
They might even try to use him to eliminate the hatchling as well.
Nermakadia himself was well aware of this.
Even as a child, he hadn't turned a blind eye to the world.
The old dragon had repeatedly urged him to see the world clearly.
Those words still burned vividly in his heart.
What he believed in was the old dragon, not the ossuary.
This incident proved it.
He had merely borrowed the ossuary and imperial court's power for revenge.
Coming here had been his own pure will.
Would he spend his life being used until the end?
Or would he at least thrash about in resistance?
After a long silence, Nermakadia's mouth finally opened.
"The second heart that one engraved in me moves according to one's will. I have no way to defy it."
Nermakadia's life had been bound to the ossuary from the start.
A life he could surrender at any moment.
He couldn't defy the ossuary.
"You're giving me a choice?"
A hollow laugh escaped his lips.
"I've never had the right to choose from the beginning."
The only right left to him was one.
To fight until the end and die.
Thus, Nermakadia made his sole choice.
His torn snout activated the revelation.
"Kid!"
By the time the Bloodless Sovereign rushed to stop him, it was already too late.
Nermakadia's mana surged wildly all at once.
He couldn't defy it himself, but a revelation—he could resist that.
The corner of his mouth lifted in a bitter smile.
He had seen the old dragon and evil dragon's legacy continue.
That was enough.
This was a life he wasn't meant to have anyway.
The hatchling entered Nermakadia's eyes one last time.
With that image etched in, the mana condensed in his heart exploded all at once.
Gush!
Black blood surged from Nermakadia's mouth.
The blood clogged his throat, silencing him completely.
His internals shaken to the core, Nermakadia collapsed to the floor.
At that instant, Silea rushed in and caught his body.
A spirit recovery skill activated from Silea's body.
But her healing couldn't mend a missing heart.
"How can this be!"
Silea's anguished cry echoed out.
Unable to accept the situation, she poured out her rage.
"You set up my revenge and end it like this?!"
The power left in his body rapidly dispersed.
His consciousness gradually faded away.
"Tch, acting all high and mighty on your own."
At that moment, the straw doll unraveled, its form shifting.
There stood a grim-faced half dark elf.
The Abyss, Leyzon.
"You thought dying in front of a necromancer would be allowed? You underestimated me big time."
The blood filling Nermakadia's throat had already hardened solid.
No more words could escape him now.
"Go sleep it off."
Leyzon cracked his knuckles.
"When you wake up, a lot will have changed."
With that, Nermakadia's consciousness winked out.
Nermakadia, who had blown up his own mana heart.
Honestly, Leyzon was quite surprised.
He had expected the dragon to charge at him fighting to the bitter end.
'Dragons and their damn sense of responsibility.'
It was too much sometimes.
Leyzon stood before the unconscious Nermakadia.
His life was flickering out in real time.
Like a candle in the wind.
"Abyss, can you save him?"
The Bloodless Sovereign asked urgently.
There weren't many of their kind left.
As Bloodless Sovereign, she didn't welcome another kin dying.
But that question missed the mark.
"Necromancers aren't in the saving business."
Leyzon rolled up his sleeves.
"But I can keep him from dying."
Leyzon placed his hand on Nermakadia's chest.
At the same time, light began surging from Leyzon's grasp.
Auto-Evolving Undead Creation [?EX]
Skill activated.
"Syria, use every potion from Silea's bag you can to forcibly keep his breath going."
"Yes, got it."
"Y-Yes."
Silea, who had been dazed, hurriedly responded.
He genuinely wanted to save Nermakadia.
She would assist admirably.
"Eden, use your curse to dull the pain and sensations a bit."
"Got it."
Syria and Eden moved simultaneously.
"Lord Leyzon, I brought it!"
Along with them, Hanok had fetched Leyzon's bag.
"Granfin, you know the materials needed, right?"
The attached Granfin was a scholar.
Of course he knew the materials.
"Tch, yeah."
"From now on, hand over everything I call for."
Roles assigned.
Leyzon immediately began undead creation.
Granfin bustled on his short legs, pulling out materials as Leyzon named them.
Meanwhile, Syria, Silea, and Eden sustained Nermakadia's lifeline.
In truth, Leyzon couldn't turn Nermakadia into an undead.
'The spec gap between us is too vast.'
To turn someone into an undead, the level difference couldn't be too great.
Leyzon was currently a top pioneer at 14 ascensions.
Nermakadia, on the other hand, was a golden dragon warrior at a whopping 19 ascensions.
His specs fell short for undead conversion.
Of course, undead conversion would boost specs and make it possible, but that was a last resort.
So, was there no way to save the current Nermakadia?
No, there was.
Nermakadia had destroyed his own mana heart.
He only needed one thing, from birth.
A mana heart.
So what Leyzon aimed to create was.
'An undead to replace the mana heart.'
Not undead-ifying Nermakadia himself, but implanting an undead.
Materials continuously vanished into Leyzon's grasp.
[Mana Symbiote][Mana Regen Grass][Frost Century Herb].
Mana-related materials were endlessly consumed.
Sweat beaded on his forehead before long.
Syria discreetly wiped it with a handkerchief.
Soon, even the Bloodless Sovereign and Silea held their breath, watching intently.
To their eyes, Leyzon's undead craft was a power of unfathomable depths.
Leyzon's fingers wove endlessly through mudras.
Pouring his soul into crafting the undead.
The more undead he created, the sharper his skill grew.
Meaning his undead could evolve further with his prowess.
Repetition was mastery's foundation.
He poured in every ounce of honed skill.
And finally, Leyzon's hand came to a halt.
Before they knew it, the shadow space was filled only with silence.
As all eyes turned to Nermakadia.
"Peep!"
The hatchling chirped from the Bloodless Sovereign's arms.
At the same time, Nermakadia's body twitched.
Nermakadia slowly lifted his eyelids late.
He squinted to focus his eyes.
And upon meeting everyone's gazes, his face went blank.
"...I'm not dead?"
As he murmured in disbelief, Silea wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Yeah, you're not. The Abyss saved you."
Silea's warmth spread to him.
That coziness was undoubtedly real.
The Bloodless Sovereign finally let out a sigh of relief.
"My bones ache. They ache."
Leyzon rolled his shoulders and hands.
Undead creation drained the mind heavily.
His face was full of fatigue.
"Lord Leyzon, you did great!"
Syria hurried over and started massaging him.
Leyzon accepted it comfortably while turning to Nermakadia.
His face still hadn't grasped the situation.
Perfectly understandable after blowing up his own mana heart.
"Nermakadia, your mana heart is beating right now."
Only then did Nermakadia piece together his state.
A new heart had taken the place where his mana heart had burst.
But it was far from a true heart.
Insect-type undead, mana centipede.
This mana centipede was serving as the power source for his heart.
The mana centipede had its own mana production ability.
Normally it would consume that much blood, but he'd modified it additionally.
It would take only a burden-free portion of the blood in his body.
"You might get a bit anemic from now on, but just keep up with iron supplements and you'll be fine."
Worst case, eating blood like Syria wouldn't hurt.
Hearing Leyzon's advice, Nermakadia looked up at him.
"...Why?"
His eyes brimmed with the question of why save him.
A utterly lame laugh came from Leyzon.
"You're such a naive young dragon, knowing nothing of the world. To me, you're a walking info bundle."
The ossuary's world-spanning ability, the tacit command.
He had no intention of letting the sole precious intel on that slip away.
"Besides, in that state, you can't even rebel, right?"
A mana centipede was embedded in his heart.
He could no longer defy Leyzon's words.
After the ossuary, a new chain called the Abyss had been fastened.
For Nermakadia, it might not feel much different.
"You want to carry on the legacy, right?"
But Leyzon differed from the ossuary in one key way.
"Go ahead, give it a shot."
He had no plans to deny or obstruct Nermakadia's goal.
Nermakadia's face grew even more dazed.
Perfectly natural; it was the first time he'd heard such a thing.
"As a bonus, spill some info while you're at it."
This world was full of unknowns to Leyzon.
Having a guy step up to test it out for him? No reason to toss that away.
"So think it over carefully now that your lifeline's secured."
With that, Leyzon turned and leisurely departed.
He was tired; time to rest.
That was the only thought on his mind.
"...What the hell does that guy want?"
Nermakadia couldn't make sense of it at all.
"No idea."
The Bloodless Sovereign was just as baffled.
"One thing's for sure, kid—you owe him your life."
The Bloodless Sovereign's eyes followed Leyzon's departing figure.
"The Abyss really meant for you to do as you wish."
At least, that's the kind of guy Leyzon seemed to her.
"...Weird bastard."
Nermakadia could say nothing else.