Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood (8)
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Desire is much like a wildfire. It starts as a mere spark, but once it catches, it blazes up in an instant.
The flames of desire burned with enough ferocity to consume mountains and fields alike, more than enough to obscure his innate talent and sharp mind.
It was already far too late to turn back. Too many people had died, and countless souls were still suffering even now.
...Or perhaps.
It had all been 'designed' that way.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Though it took the form of a dragon, its power—and even its majesty—fell far short of a true dragon.
Yet the evil dragon was holding its own against Master Cain of the Empire for one simple reason: the sheer volume of lives it had absorbed.
It seemed to have performed some kind of ritual to suck in the souls of the kingdom's people, gaining their life force as its own.
Of course, it was constantly burning through those absorbed lives just to maintain that massive body and its formidable strength.
It would take quite some time before all those lives were exhausted. And the suffering would only grow.
The solution was simple, then. Burn away every last life the evil dragon had absorbed. It would surely destroy itself in the process.
'If I were some flawless hero... I'd have found a way to save those lives somehow. But I can't.'
The screams had been ringing in his ears nonstop. Desperate wails begging for death. And Cain had finally seen it.
The true nature of the colossal evil dragon before him. It was something born from the meddling of pure malice and wickedness.
Killing it now might at least save their souls. Otherwise, even those would be devoured.
They were enemies now, but once, he had wielded his sword to protect them...
'The least I can do—the greatest mercy I can offer—is to end their agony even a moment sooner.'
Since reaching the Master realm, Cain had never once depleted his deathforce completely.
Upon ascending to Master, one's physical abilities skyrocketed, and even the total mana capacity surged dramatically.
If an Expert felt like a lake, a Master was akin to an ocean. Not infinite, but close enough.
Thus, running dry on deathforce was exceedingly rare. Save for one exception...
The Realm of Extremity. A power unique to those who had reached Master. The pinnacle where enlightenment manifests in reality.
It drew not just on mana, but enlightenment and every ounce of one's power.
"No other choice, then. I'll have to use the Realm of Extremity here..."
A Master's Realm of Extremity was akin to creation itself. Mana, after all, was a fragment of divine power.
But Cain's deathforce was fundamentally different. Unlike mana, which neared the divine, deathforce was steeped in mortality.
Thus, unlike other Masters' Extremities, Cain's was severely limited. It embodied the deaths he himself had endured.
The ominous black aura that had devoured even the blood-red light of Knox began to blaze like black flames.
It was the first death he had experienced—and the worst, even after dying so many times.
"I died too many times to flames at first. And it hurt the most. Looks like those memories are manifesting now."
His skin charred away, muscles and organs melting and dripping. And he had to endure that pain hundreds of times over.
Until he chose resistance, opened the gates, dueled the mad knight Valentis, and drove off the army.
The despair and torment from that time now took form as his Extremity. Black flames erupted, blotting out the sky.
Sensing the dire threat, the evil dragon hastily unleashed its breath. But the black flames devoured even that.
Unable to flee with its wings severed, the evil dragon at last permitted Cain's black flames to engulf it.
The flames incinerated what little flesh remained on the dragon, melting even its bare skeleton.
"...Hoo."
It didn't take long. The souls embedded in the molten flesh rose toward the heavens.
Unable to sustain its colossal form any longer, the dragon's body crumbled. Even the debris was consumed by the black flames.
Its body fully liquefied, leaving only its head—which landed neatly before Cain.
Cain slowly raised his sword. The incomplete Extremity had nearly exhausted his deathforce.
The faint glow was barely worthy of an aura, but it would suffice to finish the deed.
But... before killing this dragon—this Andre—he had one question. A lingering doubt.
"Why go this far? What turned you into this monster?"
"...Shut up and kill me. The words of a loser are nothing but empty babble."
"How about a little honesty before you die?"
He couldn't predict what this fully corrupted monster might say now, but the original Andre was different.
The [Prince of the Fallen Kingdom] scenario had unfolded because Emperor Leonis couldn't contain his ambitions.
But something was off. From the prince suddenly becoming a princess to the very cause of the war—everything.
And the original Crown Prince Andre was calculating, not prone to such absurd extremes.
If the original Andre was a thorough villain who schemed methodically to protect his throne and power...
This Andre? Impulsive to the point where he seemed like a completely different person from the game.
"One day, a desire bloomed in my heart. I simply embraced it honestly."
"...I see."
"One last piece of advice: beware those who approach amid chaos. They're closer than you think."
With those cryptic final words, Andre closed his eyes. His remains turned to dust at the same moment.
Cain shook his head, watching the dust scatter. Not out of pity.
In the original scenario, Andre was a clear villain. An obstacle to the prince trying to save his kingdom.
But seeing how abruptly Andre had changed here stirred unwelcome thoughts.
'The continental war, the kingdom... everything feels too sudden. I need to investigate this.'
It felt like some force was shoving the scenario along, toward maximum bloodshed.
The fragile balance holding for years shattering in just three—it reeked of foul play.
Lost in thought for a moment, Cain soon turned and walked away. He had plenty to do first.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In the end, the Empire conquered the kingdom in a mere half-year. An utterly predictable outcome.
The disparity was vast—not just in mages and Masters, but in soldier numbers and quality.
Without wild cards like Cain or Andre, once the Empire drew its blades in earnest, this was inevitable.
Meanwhile, since personally executing Andre, Cain had undergone some inexplicable change. His power had surged.
His deathforce had always grown with each of his own deaths. That's how he'd gotten strong.
But that method had limits: if he grew too strong to die, his deathforce stagnated.
'But now... it's different. Ever since using the Extremity to devour the evil dragon, my power has skyrocketed beyond compare.'
Taken at face value, using the black flames to consume an enemy might absorb their power.
Or perhaps... deathforce and the evil dragon shared roots, letting the flames claim it.
Cain frowned and rolled up his right sleeve. He felt hard, scab-like protrusions.
To his shock, they were scales. Not wyvern or drake scales—true dragon scales.
'I've never had physical changes like this before. Something unnatural is happening. Or maybe...'
"Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing, Anna."
Cain hastily pulled his sleeve down at the voice from behind. He didn't know what was happening.
But something ominous was afoot. Defeat Regression, the twisted scenario...
He had to uncover the link between them. To protect the precious people around him.