Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Dragon Lair
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Rumble—!
The shadow of death drew ever closer.
Enormous boulders rolled toward us from both front and rear, radiating overwhelming menace, as if they would crush us into bloody pulp at any moment.
For an ordinary person, this would be a situation to succumb to terror, drown in despair, and abandon any will to survive.
But I calmly took in every detail of the approaching rocks with sunken eyes.
No space to dodge. No path to detour.
In that case, there was only one answer.
If evasion was impossible, then I would shatter them and press on.
I set Roselia down on the ground from where she had been clinging to my back.
"D-Duke? Why are you putting me down all of a sudden? That rock is definitely... No, wait, you're not giving up, are you? Are we dying here?!"
Roselia turned pale and grabbed at my clothes, shaking them frantically.
In lieu of a reply, I slowly drew Winter Fang, the sword at my waist.
The famed blade of the Kaltstein family head, forged from the toughest ribs of a griffon—the demonic beast dubbed the Master of Winds—and mithril. Its silver blade, sharp enough to seem like it could sever one's throat just by looking at it, gleamed in the darkness.
Roselia alternated her gaze between the sword in my hand and the house-sized boulder.
She quickly realized what I intended and cried out in disbelief.
"Are you insane?! That's a rock! A massive boulder reinforced by dragon magic! Even if you're a Sword Master, you can't cut that!!"
"……."
"Please... I believe in your swordsmanship, but not in this situation! Use magic! Raise an ice wall! The ancient texts said even powerful mages could block it!! Please...."
Her desperate plea, brimming with the desire to live, echoed throughout the corridor.
She had a point, certainly.
By common sense, erecting a magical barrier might be the right choice.
But I am a swordsman.
A swordsman who had reached the pinnacle that all swordsmen aspired to: Sword Master.
For one like me, the sword and swordsmanship were the absolute force that cleaved through all things in the world and forged paths ahead.
Thus, this time too, I chose to trust in my sword and my skills.
No need for noisy distractions.
I understood her panic stemmed from the fear of death right before her eyes.
Yet it wasn't the encouragement I needed in this moment, so I let Roselia's cries flow past one ear as I focused my mind solely on the tip of my blade.
Thump... thump.
The deeper my concentration, the slower my heartbeat grew, and the sensation of time around me stretching to a near halt intensified.
I drew forth refined aura from the depths of my dantian and channeled it into the blade.
Vmmm.
The blade vibrated faintly, emitting a haze of blue and white intertwined.
This was proof of a Sword Master—vastly superior to the aura blades of ordinary aura knights, capable of slicing even intangible wind.
Sword Gang.
My will and fighting spirit materialized, merging with the sword and igniting fiercely.
The boulder ahead.
The boulder behind.
And finally, the sturdy walls blocking both sides.
In my senses, none of it was solid matter any longer.
They were merely foes for me to cleave—and ones I could certainly fell.
Kraka kakaka—!!!
The instant the boulders loomed right before us.
I whispered very softly to Roselia.
"Duck."
"...Pardon?"
Before she could even flounder, Roselia instinctively sensed the killing intent and crouched reflexively.
In that split second, I swung the sword horizontally in a wide arc.
No special technique was needed.
Overwhelming power, speed, the will to slice through anything, and the conviction that I could—all that was enough.
A flash of light blazed briefly as a blue aura trajectory swept the entire corridor in a circle.
The world behind seemed to freeze in stillness.
The boulders, thundering as they rolled, halted dead in their tracks as if by magic.
"...Uh?"
Roselia, who had squeezed her eyes shut, cautiously opened them.
The sight before her was too surreal to be reality.
Thud.
With a heavy sound, the top half of the forward boulder slid smoothly off and crashed to the floor.
Its cut surface gleamed like a mirror.
The rear boulder followed, cleaved at precisely the same height and collapsing. Long incision marks scarred the walls on either side.
One strike.
A single sword stroke had bisected the boulders front and back, as well as the walls flanking us.
Amid the thick rising dust, I lightly shook Winter Fang clean and sheathed it.
Click.
The crisp sound of the blade sliding home shattered the heavy silence that had blanketed the corridor.
I glanced around once with a satisfied smile, then extended a hand to Roselia, who sat dazed on the ground.
"Are you alright?"
"…."
Roselia gaped wordlessly, her eyes flicking between the severed boulder's mirror-smooth face and my own.
Regaining her wits at last, she tremblingly asked,
"Does... does this make any sense?"
"No reason it shouldn't. As you can see."
"No, with a longsword... on rocks... two of them at once... wow, insane."
She let out a hollow laugh and reached for my hand, but her legs gave out, and she wobbled.
"Whoa...."
"Careful."
I deftly caught her as she toppled and lifted her effortlessly.
Her position was awkward for piggyback, ending up in the classic princess carry.
"Eek!"
"...Seems your legs have gone weak. We're almost there anyway, so I'll carry you like this."
"Ah, no... Duke? This is kind of embarrassing...."
"It's embarrassing for me too, but there's no one here to see. So hold on tight."
Roselia flushed beet red but obediently wrapped her arms around my neck and settled in.
I could feel her heart pounding wildly now, for entirely different reasons than before.
I gazed down at her face for a moment, chuckling softly under my breath where she couldn't hear, then stepped over the cleaved boulders and hastened onward.
The dust settled, and visibility cleared.
And at last.
At the end of the long, grueling corridor of trials, a vast space welcomed us.
"We're here."
What unfolded before us was no dingy hallway, but an immense domed cavern of indeterminable height.
Thousands of mana stones studded the ceiling like stars, emitting a soft glow, and at the center stood a grand altar reminiscent of an ancient temple.
"Wow...."
Roselia, cradled in my arms and half out of it, stared up at the ceiling before snapping back to reality and lightly thumping my chest.
"W-We seem to have reached our destination, so you can put me down now."
"Understood."
I gently set her down and headed first toward the altar's core.
She cleared her throat, straightened her attire, and followed slowly behind.
"Ahem, anyway... this must be the heart of the dragon's lair."
"Seems so."
I slowly circled the altar's perimeter while continuing toward it.
...That magic circle is at least 5th circle or higher.
Turning my head slightly, I spotted a modest structure resembling a cabin on the altar's left side.
It was surrounded by thousands of layers of dizzyingly complex magic circles.
Defensive, detection, illusion, attack—the works.
Not even the Emperor of the Loen Empire could outfit his bedroom with so many.
For all the empire's talents, producing a high-ranking mage of 5th circle or above was like plucking stars from the sky.
That's why high-ranking mages in this world were treated as strategic weapons, each and every one.
The number and circle levels of mages owned were the absolute measure of a house's power.
Yet here, such precious magic circles littered the place like doodles.
More astonishing than their number is their preservation.
The seal at the lair's entrance, and these internal circles too—centuries old, no doubt, yet functioning as vividly as if drawn yesterday.
Magic circles might be semi-permanent, but maintaining them for ages without a mana source defied common sense.
Which meant the lair itself was likely built over a massive mana spring,
or remnants of a dragon heart were supplying the power.
Or perhaps a dragon still lived and visited occasionally.
Wonder how many exchanges I could last against a dragon.
Lost in such stray thoughts as I walked,
Roselia, following behind, had already reverted to her usual spirited self and tugged at my sleeve.
"Duke, look at that! Those wall carvings! Ancient script? Looks like a record of the dragon's life. This dragon's name was Archaeos or something?"
"You can read ancient tongue?"
"Heh, you keep forgetting—I'm Loen imperial royalty? I was bored to tears with ancient tomes and foreign scripts since childhood. Roughly translates to 'He who rules water and wind' or the like."
"Ho, a surprising talent."
"Such praise leaves me at a loss. More importantly, you'll give me my share of the treasure once we find it, as promised?"
She grinned slyly and winked.
Chatting idly like that, we at last reached the altar's highest point, its very core.
There yawned a massive hole like a round well, from which a blinding golden radiance poured forth.
"……!"
Roselia and I simultaneously gulped and peered down into the abyss.
"My god...."
The vast space below the hole.
It was a sea of gold, the phrase inadequate to describe it.
Mountains of gold coins piled high enough to dwarf centuries of the Loen Empire's budget.
From rubies and sapphires to diamonds and emeralds, gems of every kind intertwined their lights into a fantastical aurora.
And at the center of that treasure hoard.
Something crouched, exuding an overwhelming presence that dwarfed all else.
"Dragon...?"
It wasn't alive.
Merely the intact remains of a colossal dragon, preserved as if still breathing.
Bluish scales scattered around gleamed with mystical luster still, and its enormous wing bones spread as if embracing the treasures.
Though life had long fled, leaving only bones, its majesty endured unbowed by centuries.
"That's... a real dragon...."
Roselia collapsed to her knees, murmuring in a daze.
My grip tightened on the sword hilt.
One could count on one hand those who had beheld it in person—a legendary divine beast, continental overlord, existing only in myths.
To confront the remains of such an overwhelming existence in the flesh....