Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Bone Dragon
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Both I and Arel were speechless.
The ridgeline had vanished.
The compressed nanomachines had shot out like they were being sucked away, creating a massive crater.
This was a miracle utterly impossible with the amount of nanomachines I possessed. I'd heard lofty tales of the Three Divine Artifacts' prestige, but I never imagined it would be to this extent.
'[Nano Machine] Tube.'
The overtechnology mounted on Winter's Bow.
The [Nano Machine] Tube maximized the user's nanomachine utilization.
To unleash this level of destructive power, even a 7th-circle mage would need to layer chants sevenfold. And even then, only within hundreds of meters of their own domain.
But the spot where I'd fired the bow was at least a kilometer from the mountain.
And that wasn't the only advantage.
Magic is visible, but the arrow created by Winter's Bow was invisible.
'The legend of striking from 30 kilometers away wasn't exaggeration or falsehood after all.'
If only mana and nanomachines were sufficient, the arrow could fly even farther.
Though its destructive power would diminish with distance, it would still retain enough lethality to kill humans.
For someone like Croft wielding Winter's Bow, it was entirely plausible.
He probably would have obliterated the entire mountain, not just the ridgeline.
[Recoil suppression succeeded at 98.1%.]
[48 hours required until nanomachine recharge.]
[Special process 'Dragon Armor' deactivated.]
[Special process 'Gluttony' deactivated.]
There was a problem.
'My shoulder feels like it's going to burst.'
First, the recoil.
If Zero hadn't simultaneously calibrated the bow and my body to suppress it, my arm would have exploded outright.
Even with Zero's suppression, it felt like my arm might rip off. I concluded that ordinary people could never handle Winter's Bow.
This included all humans who couldn't properly wield nanomachines as mana.
Only exceptional epics or dragons might manage it somewhat.
'And then this exhaustion on top of it.'
Using up all the nanomachine energy at once led to this debilitation, another drawback.
Because of it, both Dragon Armor and Gluttony were deactivated.
Of course, the sensation of total discharge might become familiar after a few uses.
Still, it left me in a dangerous state.
The Three Divine Artifacts were treasures too precious to just embed in the Imperial Palace Treasury.
Yet Winter's Bow hadn't appeared in the world for centuries.
'They must have judged it too dangerous for humans to wield.'
Beyond its destructive power, it could claim the user's life as well.
They surely knew one of the Three Divine Artifacts was in the Imperial Palace Treasury.
Even so, generations of emperors had kept it hidden because of that very danger.
For instance, if a Swordmaster staked their life to fire Winter's Bow, they could vaporize the entire castle without warning.
In war, destroying the command center held greater significance than anything.
The thought of Carlos Grand Duke's Swordmasters firing Winter's Bow from extreme long range made my head spin.
How could anyone even counter it?
Magic required chanting and was visible.
You could prepare in advance.
But Winter's Bow would fly from dozens of times that range, without any sign, smashing everything in its path.
A barrier? It might block once, but what about two shots in succession?
Even the Imperial Palace wouldn't emerge unscathed.
The shooter might end up crippled or dead, but the battlefield was a place of mutual killing anyway.
With the sacrifice of a Swordmaster or archmage, the entire tide of war could shift.
It was a strategic weapon through and through.
Maybe it should be called a magic bow or divine magic bow instead of a divine artifact.
'Without Zero, I would have died too.'
I'd staked my life just to test its performance.
Exhausted and defenseless.
No joke—I couldn't move a single step.
Maintaining my posture was all I could manage.
I turned to Arel and spoke.
"Arel."
"......Yes."
"Carry me on your back."
"......?"
Arel, who had been staring blankly at the vanished ridgeline, snapped to attention.
She was so dazed she needed a moment to process the request.
Asking to be carried because I was too weak would ruin my image.
It hadn't been long since I'd planted the idea that I was stronger and didn't need her protection. Showing weakness now might make her turn on me.
"As Crown Prince, I can't climb the mountain myself, can I? Carry me up."
"Understood."
Arel nodded and hoisted me onto her back.
*
An invisible arrow had obliterated the ridgeline.
Terrifying power. If that arrow had been aimed at her, Arel couldn't be certain she could block it.
She glanced alternately at Winter's Bow and Reinhardt.
It was a bow from the Imperial Palace Treasury, but such treasures always chose their masters.
Yet Reinhardt wielded it as naturally as if it had always been his.
'What a strange human.'
Not just strange—utterly bizarre.
Incomparable to any other human.
Of course, Arel was a dark elf, and her knowledge of humans was limited to their organ layouts.
Where to stab for a kill, how much they bled—things like that.
The only humans she knew were the greedy ones from her childhood.
Compared to them, Reinhardt's greed was on another level. Yet he didn't seem ruled by it; rather, he dominated it.
He indulged and exploited only the greed he could control.
That "controllable greed" extended to the Imperial Palace Treasury and Winter's Bow itself—an astonishing feat. And he wielded it like its rightful owner.
'That bow gives off an ominous vibe.'
A dark elf's "danger sense" was transcendent.
With so few of them, survival instincts were innate.
To her, that bow was exceedingly perilous.
Even a life-draining demonic sword paled in comparison.
It was dangerous enough to kill upon firing. It demanded life as collateral.
Yet when Reinhardt gripped it, it looked remarkably stable.
The warning of death-summoning faded.
'He subdued the bow? Tamed it?'
And in an instant.
There was no other way to explain it.
The bow had submitted to Reinhardt.
Did that mean Reinhardt was a being who could make even death yield?
Arel had been raised to hunt humans. To her, they were fragile. But this Reinhardt before her—she couldn't fathom his limits.
A powerhouse who subdued even death.
"Arel."
"......?"
Carry him? She thought she'd misheard for a moment.
But Reinhardt stared at her without changing expression.
"As Crown Prince, I can't climb the mountain myself, can I? Carry me up."
"Understood."
What an incomprehensible human.
*
Upon reaching the ridgeline, a scene of utter devastation filled our view.
The Red Hood Bandits' lair.
Everything had been swept away, leaving only traces.
Humans, buildings—all vaporized.
My fears had come true.
'At this level, even epics wouldn't survive.'
I cursed inwardly. I'd never imagined Winter's Bow was this powerful.
[A.I. detected.]
[Within 30m radius.]
[Codename: 'Red Hood.']
Amid the ruins, Zero detected a signal.
Advancing 30 meters, I spotted a huddled figure amid the wreckage of a collapsed wooden building.
I dismounted Arel's back and approached, saying,
"Are you Red Hood?"
"You... what the hell are you?!"
"A normal human would have died instantly. Epics really do have impressive durability."
"......!!"
Convulsions wracked Red Hood's body.
"N-No way, you're a dragon too? Fuck! You goddamn bastards!"
Quite the vulgar outburst before the Crown Prince.
But satisfying my curiosity came first.
"'Too'? So someone else besides me came and went?"
I'd come following Eugene's map.
Had a dragon already passed through this ridgeline?
That would mean they were faster than expected.
But Red Hood told a different story.
"That filthy bone dragon! You're in league with that thing, aren't you?!"
Bone dragon?
Only one came to mind.
The bone dragon that had served as Daemon's heart core, which I had dominated.
I couldn't keep it in the palace, so I'd hidden it in the mountains.
Collecting Red Hood was incidental; the main goal was retrieving the bone dragon into my subspace. But Red Hood spoke as if the bone dragon had moved on its own.
"You're saying the bone dragon attacked this place?"
"Don't play dumb! It came back and attacked right after this happened!"
Hm.
Had the bone dragon attacked of its own volition?
Just moments ago?
That explained why the surroundings seemed more chaotic than just an arrow strike.
But it was strange.
It'shouldn't move without my command.
I raised my hand and said,
"Come."
If it was nearby, it should spread its wings and appear instantly.
No response.
If it had attacked just before, it had to be close.
[Energy discharged, freeing 'Bone Dragon' momentarily from 'domination,' Master.]
[Bone Dragon's self-defense system is active.]
The bone dragon was Daemon's origin. The lich had used it as a vessel to store his life.
He'd placed his life into a dead dragon's corpse.
The dragon was powerful enough already, and with the lich's life infused, it was overwhelmingly so.
Though I'd suppressed it after domination, the momentary lapse triggered the dragon's inscribed self-defense program.
Zero's energy wouldn't recharge for 48 hours.
"Master."
Arel called me with a tense expression.
As I looked at her, she continued,
"I sense a powerful magical beast nearby."
This was the Rokari Mountains, infamous as a paradise for magical beasts.
There were plenty of beasts, but few that could match Arel.
Much less one deserving the term "powerful."
If there was one, it had to be...
Boom! Rumble! Boom! Boom!
......the bone dragon.
A presence sweeping through the mountain trees, approaching rapidly.
Thick killing intent directed straight at me.
Perhaps it instinctively realized killing me would grant it true freedom.
"Be careful."
Arel drew her sword.
Red aura coalesced.
Screeech!
Arel intercepted the bone dragon's path.
She was being pushed back steadily but holding somehow.
GRRRRROOOAAAR!
Arel's form froze for an instant.
Dragon Fear.
Her mind ensnared by that horrific pressure.
Blood trickled from under her helmet.
Facing Dragon Fear head-on, blood poured from every orifice.
That moment.
Arel's aura swelled further.
It'spread from her back like wings.
'Berserker.'
It was the berserker state I'd seen before.
A mad warrior charging until death, indiscriminate of friend or foe.
The top-priority threat among dark elf legions, the berserker, had emerged.
A state of abandoned sanity.
Dragon Fear no longer affected her.
She clashed wildly, forcing the bone dragon to retreat, spread its wings, and fly off.
With the enemy gone, the berserker turned to me.
Her eyes filled only with enmity.
It was a sword meant solely for killing.
No longer a living being.
Thud!
......At least she'd collapsed from exhaustion. Should I count that lucky?
Tsk. I clicked my tongue softly.
*
The bone dragon rampaged through the mountains.
It'slaughtered every magical beast in sight.
I wondered why it targeted living things, but the mystery soon unraveled.
[Several programs malfunctioned, birthing a bug, Master.]
[Anomaly detected in 'Bone Dragon's' self-defense program.]
[After evolution via 'self-evolution' program, all connections severed.]
The bone dragon was evolving.
Killing and devouring magical beasts.
In the process, it seemed to have consumed the nanomachines Zero implanted.
"......Master?"
"Awake?"
I spoke to Arel, who stirred on my back.
She asked in confusion,
"Where is my armor?"
"It was cumbersome, so I removed it."
"......"