Chapter 135: The Border Zone (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 135: The Border Zone (3)
Alon knew nothing of the Golden Dragon, Rainisius.
In fact, it would have been strange if he did.
In Psychedelia, dragons were a race that had vanished during the forgotten Age of Gods.
Thus, after staring blankly at the creature’s massive form for a moment, Alon let out a calm sigh.
“…Duke Comallon sent me with a recommendation.”
[Duke Comallon?]
The giant reptilian eyes filled with doubt for a moment before the dragon let out a low exclamation.
[Ah—ah, I see. That half-baked Magus from before? Yes, I know him. I remember.]
Rainisius nodded several times before speaking again.
[So, is he doing well?]
“…”
Alon hesitated, wondering how to answer, but the dragon seemed to have already found the answer himself.
[Well—seeing as he couldn’t make it here himself, it seems he failed to achieve his stubborn ambition and met his end.]
“Did you know what he was thinking?”
[I was included in that plan, after all. It was a foolish idea, but if one’s only goal is to blindly prevent those things from rising, it was a fairly efficient and clever thought.]
“…You were included?”
At Alon’s question, Rainisius slowly lowered his head to the ground.
Thump—! A massive sound echoed through the space.
[Yes. His plan was to leave only a tiny fraction of humanity alive, then use my Dragon Heart to create a barrier so that the few survivors could prosper once more.]
Using the Dragon Heart.
Alon fell silent for a moment before continuing.
“…Doesn’t that mean Duke Comallon was essentially saying he would kill you?”
[Well, you could look at it that way.]
“Are you really okay with hearing something like that?”
How could he be so peaceful?
Alon asked as if he couldn't understand.
[And what if I am?]
Rainisius replied with a relaxed, indifferent gaze.
[Why shouldn't I be? I’ve been as good as dead since the moment I was sealed here anyway. I’m only technically alive because of the Dragon Heart.]
“Is it because of that spear?”
Alon gestured toward the massive spear pierced through the dragon’s torso—a weapon so large it looked like something the giants of myth would use.
Rainisius nodded.
[It is the Spear of Extinction, driven into me by my dear friend who claimed he would save my life with his own hands.]
“…Were you betrayed?”
[No, far from it. I don’t know how it sounds to you, but I mean it literally. This Spear of Extinction was thrust into me by my one and only friend to save me. To hide me.]
“…Is this a story from the forgotten Age of Gods?”
[Yes.]
“May I hear the story?”
[It’s not a difficult request.]
Rainisius fell silent for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts.
Soon, his voice carried the weight of the past.
[It’s not a very long story. We went with the Magi to kill them, and we simply failed.]
“…”
[Most dragons met their end there. The Magi were the same. In the end, they succeeded in pushing those things back under the roots, but they couldn't kill them. Most of the Magi were even annihilated as the price.]
A half-baked success bought with countless sacrifices.
[Normally, I would have been destined to die there as well. If my friend hadn't sealed me by driving this spear into me before I died.]
“…”
[This spear, planted by my friend, twisted the very laws of the Abyss—where movement magic was impossible—and transported me to this dark place. In other words, he chose sealing as the only way to keep me alive within that Abyss.]
Because a Magus’s magic could twist the laws even within the Abyss.
Rainisius looked at the spear in his torso with a somewhat nostalgic expression, then muttered with a lethargic face.
[Well, thanks to that, my life was saved, but I lost everything. This Spear of Eternal Extinction seals all the abilities of the one it imprisons.]
“…Which means.”
[My eyes, which could see through the world, and my language, which could twist laws through speech… everything, including those, has been sealed. In a state that can never be undone. I only summoned you using an artifact I made before I was sealed.]
“All that’s left is this giant carcass,” Rainisius muttered.
Only then did Alon understand.
That relaxed demeanor.
The way he was transcendent and devoid of anger regarding his own death.
Even the way he seemed to have no questions about anything.
‘…He’s given up.’
At first, Alon thought Rainisius was just laid-back, but that wasn't it.
Alon looked at the dragon's body.
The golden eyes were certainly there, but they had lost their vivid color.
Similarly, the golden scales did not shine clearly in the darkness; they were submerged in the gloom.
Even the mana that should have been felt was excessively faint.
“…Is there no way to break the seal?”
[None. Unless my dead friend returns, removing this spear will be impossible.]
Rainisius spoke with absolute certainty.
In the moment of silence that followed, the dragon spoke again.
[You are a good person.]
“…What?”
[You feel pity for me, don't you? But there is no need. I have accepted this situation. So, let us speak in earnest now. Tell me the reason you have come here.]
Rainisius’s gaze met Alon’s directly.
* * *
After a brief silence, Alon asked the first question he needed to pose to Rainisius.
“Duke Comallon said there isn't much time left until ‘those things’ rise again. Is that true?”
[It is true. As I said before, they were merely sealed.]
Alon let out a long sigh.
He had suspected as much since his fight with Duke Comallon, but receiving confirmation made his chest feel tight.
However, there was one more fact he had to verify, so he continued without hesitation.
“…From what I know, they need to find a body to descend into if they want to come to this world.”
[That is also correct.]
“Is the body they descend into already determined by fate?”
Rainisius answered firmly.
[Not at all. The bodies they descend into are created by the Apostles in the first place.]
“…Apostles?”
[Yes. They often take those with high talent and break them mentally to make them the perfect vessels for descent.]
Alon frowned silently.
The existence of "Apostles" had never appeared in the game.
‘…Was there ever a mention of them?’
While searching his faint memories, Alon let out another small sigh.
According to Rainisius, it was true that the Five Great Sins would descend, but it didn't mean the children he had been raising(?) were destined to become those Sins.
That alone made Alon feel much more at ease.
Ten years ago, he had started helping them with the simple intention of re-educating them, but before he knew it, his relationship with them had deepened significantly.
‘…Anyway, if the Five Great Sins are eventually going to rise, then my next course of action is set.’
Thinking of the item located in the north of the border, Alon suddenly recalled a question and posed it to Rainisius.
More accurately, it was to resolve a doubt about something he already knew.
“Actually, before I met you, I encountered a Dragonkin in some ruins.”
[A Dragonkin?]
“Well, he only looked similar in appearance, so I can't be sure if he was actually a Dragonkin or not. Anyway—he didn't seem to know when those things would rise.”
The Dragonkin he had met in the ruins of the Colony.
Rainisius thought for a moment before answering.
[I don't know who you met, but it’s likely they wouldn't know.]
“Why is that?”
[When the Magi and dragons went to fight the final battle, most of the gods had already been annihilated or sealed with their power and names stripped away.]
“…So, if they were annihilated or sealed early on, they wouldn't know?”
[No, none of them would know. The Magi and dragons who knew the truth all died to ensure the sealing. The only ones who truly know are me or Duke Comallon, who survived back then.]
“I see.”
Alon nodded, having finished organizing his thoughts.
“…Duke Comallon said that if I came to you, I could get help with magic.”
[Help? Well—it might have been possible in the past before I was sealed, but now, I can only offer advice.]
“Then, do you happen to know anything about the Union of Shadow and Light?”
[What?]
The moment he said those words, the dragon’s atmosphere changed abruptly.
Alon was momentarily taken aback.
[How… how do you know about that?]
“…What are you talking about?”
[I am talking about the Union of Shadow and Light.]
“Is it that important?”
[Of course. That is—the Sentence of my one and only friend, Kailas.]
“…What?”
A familiar name had come out of the dragon’s mouth.
Alon could only ask back with a dazed face.
At that moment.
[Kyu?]
Blackie, who had been sleeping in Alon’s coat pocket until just a moment ago, popped out while making a strange sound.
[A Spirit Dragon? No… a Shadow Spirit Dragon!?]
Rainisius cried out in utter shock.
A short while later.
After hearing the full story of how Alon could use various Sentences and the process of obtaining the Spirit Dragon’s egg, Rainisius spoke after deep deliberation.
[…So in the end, you want to know how to use the Union of Shadow and Light?]
“That’s right.”
[I will tell you.]
“Really?”
[In exchange, I have one condition.]
“…A condition?”
[Yes. It won't be a bad deal for you either. If you can truly grow your strength and achieve it.]
Rainisius spoke to Alon with a wide smile.
[Because you will gain the qualification to be called ‘Master’ by this body.]
His dead eyes were now burning with a new hope.
* * *
Kiriana found the monster wave that had been ongoing for months quite annoying, but she didn't feel any particular sense of crisis.
It was only natural.
No matter how many monsters swarmed, Kiriana was one of the Five Swords of Calliban.
This meant she was a Sword Master, and to her, monsters were merely a nuisance, no matter their numbers—not a threat.
At least, that was the case until just a moment ago.
“Hey! Block that side, you bastard!”
“It’s collapsing over there!”
“Support! I said support, damn it!! Get your head in the game!!”
Kiriana frowned as she looked at the border wall.
The wall, which had been layered with so many spells that it shouldn't have broken no matter how many monsters crashed into it, was now hideously crumbled.
In other words, an unforeseen situation had occurred.
Slash—!
Every time her sword swung, the heads of numerous monsters flew into the air.
Yet, the number of monsters did not decrease.
If anything, as time passed, they seemed to swarm in even greater numbers.
As if they had been waiting for this very moment.
‘Why did the wall suddenly…!’
She couldn't understand it.
For the perfectly fine wall to suddenly break.
Breaking a wall fortified with this much magic should have been impossible.
But the current situation was too urgent to solve such mysteries.
“Aaaargh!”
Kiriana saved a soldier who had fallen pathetically and was about to have his throat taken by an orc. She frowned and scolded him.
“Get your head in the game!!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
The soldier scrambled to pick up his weapon.
Kiriana let out a sigh.
The monster army itself still wasn't a huge threat to her.
Given her abilities, which were specialized for individual combat rather than crowds, she would probably be bedridden for a few days if she killed every monster here, but that was the extent of it.
If she couldn't handle it, she also had the option to flee.
The monsters would never be able to catch up to a fleeing Kiriana.
However, the reason Kiriana wore such a grim expression was because of the soldiers.
Even at this very moment, she had to helplessly watch as soldiers she couldn't reach in time were brutally torn apart by monsters.
Why had she come here, even after retiring from the Five Swords?
Because she had seen her own knight order being slaughtered by the Outer God Uultultus in the North.
Because she never wanted to experience—
That horrific event ever again.
“Ugh—”
Kiriana instinctively covered her mouth as she felt something churning in her stomach.
Her breathing grew ragged as the memories of the North were triggered once more.
She was more than capable of overcoming the current situation, but the trauma embedded in her mind since the North held her back. At that moment—
“…!”
A man entered Kiriana’s field of vision.
‘Marquis Palatio—!’
The moment she saw him, Kiriana felt an instinctive sense of relief.
Of course, the magic tier of the Marquis she had seen wasn't that high, but Kiriana had already heard many rumors about him.
And she knew that rumors didn't just appear out of nowhere.
‘…A third? No, even a fourth would be fine. If we can just reduce the number of monsters first, I can pull the soldiers back and handle the rest myself—’
Just as Kiriana was calming her hyperventilation with those thoughts.
The Marquis raised one hand and formed a seal.
And then.
With his left index finger and thumb extended, held up to the bridge of his nose, what appeared alongside the Marquis was—
‘…A cat?’
It was a cat.
The kitten, with fur as ink-black as Marquis Palatio’s cloak, suddenly climbed onto his shoulder. It tilted its head and looked at the monsters that had begun to swarm toward the Marquis with its red eyes.
‘Dangerous—!’
Before the magic was even manifested, Kiriana instinctively tried to move as the monsters lunged at him.
But her entire body froze.
She gasped.
“————.”
The moment something was whispered from the Marquis’s lips.
“!”
A chill ran down her spine.
Because on the small cat’s entire body, a horrifying number of red eyes had manifested.
And then.
The creature, now covered in red eyes, broke into a bone-chilling smile.