Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Dragon Hunter
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'Now it won't be breached.'
The imperial palace mage Jenaric reassured himself as he reinforced the palace barriers.
The barriers had been breached twice, sparking controversy over his qualifications. But thanks to that, Jenaric had been able to perfect them even further.
'To think there were weak points.'
Weak points in the barriers.
Vulnerable sections had been discovered in the mana seams of certain areas.
But now they were all bound even more securely than before. There was no way they'd be breached again.
For the reinforcement and repair of these barriers, over a hundred mages had been mobilized.
"Master Jenaric, it's flawless now. There's nothing left to improve."
"Even the Demon King or a dragon couldn't break through these barriers."
Jenaric's disciples vied to praise the completed barriers.
It was the result of his disciples and high-circle mages dispatched from other towers working sleeplessly together.
The manpower alone was astonishing, but the material resources were beyond imagination. The top-grade mana stones needed to sustain the barriers cost as much as several years' budget for other nations.
The Demon King or a dragon?
Not even their grandfathers could break through.
'Twice I've suffered humiliation, but there won't be a third time.'
He ground his teeth.
This was the first such humiliation since becoming the imperial palace mage.
When the spirit first broke through, he'd dismissed it as one of the 'mysteries.'
But after the 'Holy King' breached it the second time, questions about his qualifications ignited.
Yet when it came to barriers, Jenaric was the best. There was no one who could replace him.
'They pinpointed the weaknesses perfectly. Damn that Holy King.'
How had they exploited weaknesses even he hadn't known about?
But thanks to that, he'd fully grasped the barriers' vulnerabilities.
Jenaric gazed contentedly at the barriers.
But that satisfied expression turned to horror in an instant.
"What... what is that?"
"Why is the capital on fire?"
Bwoooooh!
Trumpets blared from watchtowers atop the capital's walls, signaling danger. The empire's capital was under attack.
Walls crumbled, and the city burned.
From the palace, massive flames could be seen devouring the city.
Such a sudden assault was impossible.
No one in their right mind would attack the empire's capital.
And even if they did, they should have been detected long before reaching it.
Jenaric spotted the identities of the attackers and shouted.
"Magical beasts... the magical beasts have invaded!"
*
"Magical beasts from the Rokari Mountains in large numbers?"
Emperor Deus frowned at the report.
The Rokari Mountains, bordering the empire, were known as a paradise for magical beasts.
The boundary between the northlands and the empire.
An unknown world untouched by human hands.
The beasts bred endlessly but never descended the mountains.
The Rokari Mountains provided abundant food, so they had no need to vie with humans for territory.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Estimated numbers around five thousand, including some that use magic."
"This is strange. They haven't come down from the mountains in nearly a century."
"Could it be related to the Red Hood Bandits vanishing recently?"
Over ten days ago, the Red Hood Bandits had evaporated.
The mountain peaks looked as if they'd been bombed, utterly devastated.
Some suggested the beasts had been provoked by that and were now attacking the capital.
Deus spoke as if rebuking them.
"What was the lord of Rokari territory doing?"
To check the Rokari Mountains' beasts, the lord of Rokari had been granted significant military authority.
Yet there had been no word from the territory that should have detected and stopped them first.
The knight cautiously spoke up.
"...I regret to report that Rokari territory was completely wiped out last night."
"Rokari territory, tasked with guarding the border, annihilated? By mere magical beasts?"
No matter how peaceful the era, it was a border stronghold.
Rokari's lord was especially famous for his strict self-discipline.
The soldiers and knights he trained were elite enough to deserve the name.
And yet that place had been wiped out in half a day?
Roughly over five thousand. With walls and defense, they should have held out for days. That would have been enough time to dispatch reinforcements.
"According to the survivor, they were annihilated by a Lord-class monster..."
The reporting knight's words were outrageous.
A Lord-class monster.
Exactly as it sounded—a monster capable of commanding hordes of beasts.
Lord-class monsters had to be eliminated without fail.
Left alone, they could swell their groups into tens or hundreds of thousands.
"Bring me that survivor."
"He convulsed and died right after reporting, Your Majesty."
Even the last survivor was dead.
Anger flared in Deus's eyes.
How dare mere beasts attack the empire. The capital, no less.
"Mobilize everything and slaughter the beasts. Not a single one survives."
*
"Please, spare us!"
"Let us into the palace, I beg you!"
"We'll all die out here!"
Crowds surged toward the palace gates.
Nobles residing in the capital arrived in droves of carriages, pounding on the doors.
A magical beast attack on the capital was unprecedented.
Primal fear of the beasts terrified them.
"Fear not! Prince Raunel and Prince Kazan have personally led troops to repel the beasts!"
"Open the gates! Do you know who I am?"
Soldiers shouted at the civilians crowding the closed palace gates.
The hundreds had swelled to thousands in moments.
With the capital's outer walls breached, they judged the palace walls safest.
But mere thousands of beasts couldn't fully breach even the capital's walls.
The capital had four layered walls.
Wall of Guardianship, Wall of Endurance, Wall of Lamentation, Wall of Eternity.
The beasts were attacking the outermost, the Wall of Guardianship.
And people sought refuge inside the innermost Wall of Eternity, the empire's final defense.
For a thousand years since the empire's founding, it had never been breached.
Most at the gates now were nobles from the safe zone inside the Wall of Lamentation.
Panicking despite the Wall of Guardianship not even fully breached.
"Commander, His Majesty the Emperor orders the gates opened."
"Tch, got it. Open the gates."
Worthily called the Holy King, the emperor.
As the gates opened, people flooded inside.
And among them was Balmunk.
'Easier than expected.'
The innermost wall's barriers were strong.
Only the gates lacked barriers.
So he incited the crowds and slipped in among them.
The result: success.
'There's an Epic of Detection inside the imperial grounds. But first...'
Balmunk looked to the sky.
The barriers enveloping the entire palace.
They were jamming the signal to locate the Epic of Detection.
'Have to take out the barriers first.'
So he'd render the barriers useless.
A simple task: destroy the barrier stones maintaining them.
Barriers defended against external enemies; once inside, nothing could stop him.
Balmunk boldly approached the sites where the barriers' mana converged.
*
Eugene trembled.
Though the map couldn't pinpoint the dragon's location, now that it was near, she instinctively sensed its presence.
"It's... it's here. That bastard... Balmunk is here."
Balmunk.
The enemy who killed Bella.
She wanted to tear him apart, but primal fear of the dragon was overwhelming.
I looked out the window and said,
"I know."
Using beasts to distract, then infiltrating the palace with the crowds.
I'd anticipated roughly this method.
Impossible to break the barriers from outside. Even if done, attention would focus, foiling the goal.
A dragon that abhorred exposure wouldn't step forward anyway.
'What confidence.'
Balmunk acted without hesitation.
Slipping in while top experts were away from the palace.
With infantry legions and mage corps fully mobilized against the beasts.
Mere thousands of beasts would be crushed in hours.
'Confident he can steal the Epic of Detection in that time...'
But he didn't know Eugene's exact position.
If he did, he'd have appeared before me by now.
Meaning he had business inside the palace first.
[Mugunghwa 18 transmits enlarged image.]
A photo soon appeared in my view.
Mugunghwa 18 had photographed entrants to the palace.
Total: 1,090 images.
One thousand ninety entered; Mugunghwa 18 scanned each and sent them.
'Balmunk's in there.'
Couldn't enter with face covered.
Balmunk was among those thousands-plus.
'Who among the gathered has vanished?'
Entrants were gathered and managed by soldiers.
Couldn't let them roam freely inside.
[Person in image '657' has disappeared. Tracking location.]
The photo of the 657th entrant enlarged.
'Found you.'
That's Balmunk.
Not a beta inheriting Malfiel's or the sanctuary dragon's face.
But with the face identified, tracking would be easier.
He couldn't have anticipated satellite wide-area scans.
Zero soon reported the track.
[Full palace scan complete. Subject 657's last destination: 1,260m north of this location.]
[Transmitting image.]
The final activity wasn't at this Imperial Dragon Palace.
A different place entirely.
1km north of here...
'Barrier stones.'
The barrier hearts.
Couldn't destroy from outside, so planning to smash from within.
Known only to the palace mage and a few, but the foe was a dragon.
A mana-sensitive monster would spot the barrier hearts easily.
"Arel."
"Yes."
"To Eternal Palace."
The palace's northernmost point, residence of the 4th Empress and 4th Prince.
The barrier hearts were there.
*
Kieeeek!
The ice bird screeched.
True to its name, like a sculpture of ice, it glared at the intruder in warning.
Hatched recently, yet its aura was extraordinary.
But around it lay countless dead knights.
Among the corpses, Balmunk eyed the ice bird with interest.
"Impressive. Why is an extinct divine beast here?"
The ice bird was a divine beast like dragons.
Beasts crafted by gods themselves—extinct relics of the past.
Created by one of the Twelve Gods.
But gone.
Less intelligent and weaker than dragons.
Unlike dragons, they laid eggs to breed, but that was it.
Defeated in war with dragons, they went extinct.
He'd heard every egg destroyed, yet one survived.
Ice bird eggs could hatch millennia later if conditions met.
Even Balmunk saw one for the first time.
"Ah..."
Behind the ice bird, a child stood frozen in fear.
The palace's master: the 4th Prince.
Even against his 'Dragon Word,' the child endured. The ice bird had deflected it.
Blocking Dragon Word—worthy of a divine beast.
Worthy, but.
Tsk. Balmunk clicked his tongue.
"If this is all, I'm deeply disappointed. Once rivals to dragons, and yet... because it's just a hatchling?"
Kieeeeek!
The ice bird flapped its wings, freezing the room.
Moisture iced into spears, but they didn't reach.
As Balmunk approached, the bird shrank back.
Not fleeing to protect the human child behind.
Absurd.
A divine beast guarding a human.
Kiiik...
Balmunk seized the ice bird's wing.
It began to melt.
Seeing this, the 4th Prince reached out.
"N-no..."
"Hatchlings needing to grow is such a hassle. That's why I hate younglings, no matter the species."
Dragons had no growth phase.
Born complete.
No memories of infancy or being hatchlings.
Dragons loathed such nonexistent things.
Human children especially repulsed them.
"Don't kill Icey...!"
The 4th Prince charged bravely.
But Balmunk kicked him away.
"Kuhk!"
The prince rolled, vomiting blood. Balmunk frowned at his foot.
Why did mere touch from human younglings chill him so?
"Die."
Dragon Word activated.
Without the ice bird's protection, instant death.
Yet.
"...?"
Alive.
The 4th Prince, desperately guarded by knights and bird, didn't die.
Dragon Word failed.
No mana barrier—why?
'Aura?'
Only then did he notice the blue aura cloaking the child.
Ha. Ridiculous.
Did that mean the child was a Sword Master?
Aura-clad Sword Masters could resist Dragon Word.
Shiiiing!
A massive wave of refined mana surged.
This pure—it was aura.
Balmunk raised his bone sword.
Clang!
Deflected, but his wrist numbed.
A sword clattered to the floor.
Someone had struck with aura.
Balmunk scowled, scanning around.
"Who are you?"
One human male had approached undetected.
To Balmunk's question, the man—Reinhardt—answered.
"Dragon hunter."