Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Victory Ceremony (4)
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The sword's orb was currently in a precarious state, its resentment on the verge of exploding after absorbing a massive amount of madness and demonic energy from the orb of disgrace.
It was a good thing most of the turbid energy had been shaken off. Otherwise, it would have detonated long ago.
And yet Kyle was saying he would release the resentment slumbering within that very sword's orb.
"Even if you leave it be, that orb will just keep swelling up. Malicious resentment only grows more dangerous the longer it ripens."
"So you're telling me to cut it off at the root."
"Only then will you avoid being swayed when you face the Mad Dragon Emperor. And besides."
The corner of Kyle's mouth twisted.
"If you can't even overcome that much, it'll be hard to call you my son."
Theo nodded. He was right.
Once he became vice family head, far more opposition would come pouring in than now.
Not just from within Ragnar, but from outsiders as well.
The eighteen electors. The imperial family. Even the Holy Demon Church.
There were plenty in this world who watched hungrily for a chance to drag Ragnar from its throne.
The Mad Dragon Emperor was just one more hill Theo would have to climb someday.
"Then, before fully unleashing the resentment, may I ask one favor?"
"A favor? What is it?"
"Give me Hrunti first, as the promised spoils of war."
"Hrunti?"
Kyle tilted his head, then read Theo's thoughts and let out a smirk.
"You're planning to use it as an exorcism tool to control the malicious resentment."
"Yes. That's right."
The Dragon Bow Sword Hrunti was twin blades drawn from the Sea King, just like the Dragon Slayer Sword.
If he wielded their energies in tandem, it would be a tremendous help.
'Like when I clashed the [Desert Ring] against the [Ice Flower Butterfly], if I can pit Hrunti's guardian against the Mad Dragon Emperor's resentment, subduing it should go much more smoothly.'
A faint smile tugged at Theo's lips, but the guardians who had read his thoughts all clicked their tongues in unison.
『You're going to pull that dirty trick again, master? You wicked...!』
『Hrunti was made from Leviathan's rib, but it was still a relic blessed by an ancient dragon, right?』
『So the guardian slumbering in Hrunti is Nessie, huh?』
『...Guess I should offer condolences in advance.』
『Acts like a gentleman on the surface, but a Ragnar's a Ragnar, isn't he?』
Theo didn't care for the phrase "a Ragnar's a Ragnar," but he decided to let it slide.
"Take it."
Kyle drew one of the swords hanging on the inner wall and tossed it to Theo.
Theo caught it carefully.
Humm! Hummm!
Among the swords he'd brought, the Dragon Slayer Sword rang out with particular eagerness.
As if thrilled to reunite with a long-lost other self.
Fwaaah!
Theo touched the light swirling around the Dragon Bow Sword with his fingertips.
'Red?'
It was a different hue from the blue that always hovered over relics.
Wondering what it meant, he tried to trigger the quest window.
[This item's owner has already been designated.]
[Quest cannot be performed.]
"...!"
Theo shot to his feet at the sudden message.
"What's wrong?"
"This thing... it looks like its seal was already broken once."
"And what of that...? No way. You mean someone other than the selector opened it?"
"Yes."
"Impossible."
Kyle scowled.
He knew many of Ragnar's secrets, if not quite as many as the selector himself.
"Ancient dragon relics are structured so only the selector of the era can open them... It has to be the Mad Dragon Emperor. He must've done something in the meantime. But how?"
When the regression count ran out, the selector's qualification was suspended as well.
Which meant losing the right to wield ancient dragon relics too.
That was why, despite so many relics surfacing over time, only Theo had been able to claim them.
But if it had been opened?
That meant the Mad Dragon Emperor had restored—or at least partially regained—his selector qualification...
"We need to track him down as soon as possible and kill him for good this time, so he can never awaken again."
Another regression would spell real disaster.
'So I can't steal a relic that already has an owner?'
『As if.』
At that moment, Lordbrock, who had been quietly observing, finally spoke up.
She never opened a channel when Kyle was around—disliking him too much.
But there was no time to worry about that now.
『In the end, the selector is Ragnar blood. Sigurd may have forged Ragnar's traditions, but it was the ancient dragon who left that power behind first. Ownership can simply be seized.』
Fwaaaah!
Blue light overlaid the red, dying it purple.
『Seize it. My partner, never forget—you are the soul's match acknowledged by I, Lordbrock.』
[A new ownership claimant has appeared. Hidden mission to seize ownership has begun.]
[A quest has arrived.]
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[Scenario Quest #10]
You have obtained the Dragon Bow Sword 'Hrunti'. Eliminate the existing owner within and seize ownership.
· Difficulty: SS
· Rewards: Ancient dragon relic ownership, Sword Orb resentment enhancement.
· On Failure: Death
*Caution! This item is currently heavily contaminated by an unknown energy. Purification is required to seize ownership.
+
Kiyaaaaah!
In that instant, a horrific wail erupted from the Dragon Bow Sword as madness and demonic energy burst forth explosively.
『Looks like trying to take the easy way out just made the difficulty even worse.』
'I know, so quit teasing me.'
Theo grumbled at Kertossukus, who was chiding him, and flung open his [Spirit Eye].
Woooom!
The sword, blackened and covered in clinging madness, seemed to beckon him for salvation.
The Dragon Bow Sword was dying.
'He forcibly broke the seal and poured madness into it to claim ownership by force.'
How agonizing it must have been all this time.
At the same time, a chill of crisis gripped him—if the Demon Dragon hadn't ambushed and severed Granada's right arm first in the midst of the war, things might have gone very badly.
"Father."
"...Then let's begin."
Theo called urgently to Kyle.
Kyle flinched at the word "Father" for a moment, then smiled and placed a hand atop Theo's head.
"Close your eyes."
Theo obeyed.
The instant he felt the sword's orb nestled in his chest surge.
Flash!
Theo's consciousness winked out.
* * *
Theo opened his eyes again.
He stood in a dark forest.
Whether from the towering trees crowding thick overhead or because it was night, he couldn't tell—but darkness blanketed everything, thick enough to obscure even a step ahead.
"Where's the Mad Dragon Emperor's resentment? The guardians...?"
This wasn't something to approach like a standard relic quest.
With the Mad Dragon Emperor's resentment mixed in, the difficulty was undoubtedly off the charts.
SS rank was a level he'd never even seen before.
Crunch crunch!
Nom nom! Slurp slurp!
Slurrrp, slurrrp!
'What?'
After walking some unknown stretch.
Theo heard voracious eating sounds from somewhere.
He infused his hearing with spirit energy.
His senses bloomed wide, pinpointing the source.
And when he arrived.
'A person? The Mad Dragon Emperor?'
In a small clearing, a man was rapidly devouring a mountain of meat and food.
To his left, piles of bones from what he'd eaten rose like hills, while the ground was littered with the corpses of hunted and butchered monsters, reeking foully.
The scene was more grotesque than frightening.
Then one corpse in particular caught Theo's eye.
An enormous dragon, easily over ten meters long.
Its notably elongated neck stood out.
『Nessie!』
『...So she ended up dying after all.』
From the guardians' shock, it seemed the dead dragon was indeed Nessie.
Which meant that man was surely the Mad Dragon Emperor's resentment?
Shing!
Theo slowly drew the Dragon Slayer Sword.
Ziiiiing!
The blade radiated rage thicker than ever before.
"Hm?"
The man must have sensed the presence mid-meal. He stopped abruptly and whipped his head around.
'Not the Mad Dragon Emperor...'
Theo halted in surprise.
He had no choice but to think so—the man's body might resemble a human's overall, but his face was anything but.
It was as if a human head had been flipped upside down: where eyes should have been, a mouth gnashed viciously at meat, while where a mouth belonged, two eyes spun wildly, scrutinizing Theo.
And above all.
The demonic energy wafting from him felt utterly alien.
Similar to the [Nameless Lord]'s, yet of a wholly different nature.
"Slurrrp! Wow! A new visitor! I never even imagined...! Nice to meet you! Ahahaha!"
The eyes below couldn't focus at all, rolling every which way.
Meanwhile, the mouth above managed both eating and laughing at once—the grotesqueness now crossed into outright revulsion.
The instinctive rejection anyone would feel toward something so unnatural.
"Hmm, can't just welcome a guest I haven't seen in ages without a proper reception...! Ah! Perfect—this one's fresh from earlier. Care to join me?"
The man proffered a hunk of meat clutched in his hand.
Blood dripped from it, uncooked properly over the campfire.
「Partner, fall back.」
In that moment, Lordbrock appeared before Theo and shoved him behind her.
Tension was plain on her face as Theo watched from the side.
An expression he'd never seen from her before.
"Lodi."
「That's no foe you can face right now.」
"Just who the hell is that thing?"
His spirit-infused eyes now made it clear the man was no ordinary life-form.
'Same tier as the [Nameless Lord]... an existence. No—a god.'
How could something like that—not even the Mad Dragon Emperor's resentment—appear in a quest like this?
「An outer god. Ancient, like the orb of disgrace itself. The kind us guardians struggle desperately against.」
"...!"
「We call it the Hunger God, Asin (餓神). No matter how much it eats, it's always starving—that sort of bastard.」