Chapter 316
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 316
Chapter Title: The Highest Mountain (3)
Red Dragon Valhad was suppressing his boiling rage.
“The demons are currently searching for an altar.”
The reason was the human standing before him.
Like most dragons, Valhad regarded humans as utterly insignificant.
It couldn’t be helped. Humans were a race born with bodies frail compared to dragons, unremarkable mana, and feeble intellect.
Though he had been defeated by such contemptible humans and sealed away in the reverse world, that was only because he had encountered the invincible Ruin.
“The mountain isn’t that vast. The fact that the demons still haven’t found it means it’s no ordinary place.”
And yet, Valhad now found himself forced to “listen attentively” to the words of this pathetic human he so despised. His gut churned.
“Hey, human, are you even listening?”
The human, Demian Haksen, directed the question at Valhad. Valhad tamped down his fury and answered.
“……Yes, I listened from start to finish.”
“Then at least chime in once in a while. I thought I was monologuing here.”
Demian clucked his tongue in pity. Valhad felt his emotions surging even fiercer.
“Anyway, don’t you know anything about the altar? You’ve lived for ages.”
“I only know the basics. That it’s the place where Ruin used the key to forge the covenant.”
“Tsk tsk.”
Demian eyed Valhad with the look of someone appraising trash.
Even Valhad couldn’t hold it in this time and bristled.
“Let me ask one question!”
“Who the hell are you raising your voice at? Wanna die?”
“……Let me ask it.”
“Fine.”
Demian nodded, granting permission. The condescending attitude toward a subordinate filled Valhad with profound humiliation.
“Why am I the only one preparing the meal?”
Valhad hadn’t simply sat there quietly listening to Demian.
He was roasting a wild boar on a spit over a campfire conjured by magic.
For the record, Valhad had caught this boar himself.
“Your ancient dragon told me to use you however I like.”
“That doesn’t mean making me handle these petty chores!”
“Take it up with him, then.”
Valhad finally lost it at Demian’s brazen attitude and leaped to his feet.
“Demian Haksen! Draw your sword right now! Here and—”
I’ll smash you to pieces!
He meant to say, but Valhad clamped his mouth shut without thinking.
The battle from moments ago between Demian Haksen and the marquis-level demon flashed in his mind.
While Valhad had been tangling with lesser demons, Demian Haksen had faced off against a marquis-level one.
Their clash had been so immense that Valhad, even at a distance, had felt it vividly.
What astonished him more was how Demian Haksen dispatched the marquis-level demon in the blink of an eye.
Valhad was confident he could beat a marquis-level demon too. After all, he had inherited the power of the Crazed Dragon Typhon and the Thunderhead Dragon Reak.
But he had no assurance he could do it as swiftly as Demian—or without a single scratch.
A real fight would have meant a brutal slog.
“What’s with the sword? You wanna go at it?”
Demian said as he stood.
“I meant it’s almost done roasting, so grab a knife and get ready to carve.”
“Oh, that? I thought you wanted a real fight. If you had, I’d have stripped every scale off you this time.”
Demian’s eyes glittered with killing intent.
Valhad gulped dryly despite himself. He was glad deep down that he’d held back.
“So, ready to eat now?”
“One moment.”
Valhad opened his subspace and pulled out a small pouch.
He opened it, revealing an array of spices.
Valhad scored the boar roast and began rubbing the spices on evenly.
“You’ve got some real skill there.”
Demian asked, face full of curiosity.
Valhad’s technique was exceptional enough to draw even Demian’s interest.
“I picked it up while raising a child.”
“A kid? Your spawn? A dragon?”
“No, a human. More precisely, half-human, half-dragon.”
Demian wore a strange expression at Valhad’s words.
“You talk like humans are dirt, but you knocked one up?”
Valhad had no retort to Demian’s jab.
He did despise humans, after all.
“……It’s more common than you’d think among dragons sent to the surface.”
The covenant barred dragons from the surface.
But they exploited loopholes with dragon tongue to dispatch them anyway.
Only one at a time, and with most of their power sealed.
The goal was gathering intelligence of all kinds.
“Wonder how the kid turned out.”
Demian said.
The offhand remark sent ripples through Valhad’s chest.
Valhad stared wordlessly at the roaring flames.
* * *
After eating, Demian drew Erebos. Time to review his fight with Laetisi.
‘Gotta get comfortable with Erebos already.’
He chose Erebos over Dawn because it still felt awkward in his grip.
He’d wielded it endlessly in his past life, but back then, he’d been in a Death Knight’s body.
Build, finger length—everything was different. A human frame made Erebos feel alien.
Demian swung it, replaying the Laetisi duel.
‘I’ve grown leaps and bounds. The Fivefold Harmony Art’s even more refined now.’
Clashing with Laetisi had let him gauge his progress.
‘Beat a marquis-level demon without tapping Death Knight power.’
Marquis-level demons were foes said to match only Grandmasters.
By that metric, Demian had claimed Grandmaster-level might.
‘Weak for a marquis demon, though.’
Compared to prior marquis-level foes, Laetisi had been a pushover.
No satisfaction there. He couldn’t count on beating a tougher one.
‘Need to hit mature Grandmaster. The kind that scoffs at all comers. Can’t lean on Death Knight strength forever.’
Demian teetered on Grandmaster’s doorstep.
One step more, and he’d cross.
That half-step was the snag.
Lost as if adrift in ocean depths, no clue how to bridge it.
Blame lay with himself. Too much crammed in his head.
‘Too many insights.’
It hit during the Nameless Energy Art. Handling black mana, enlightenment struck.
‘Black mana springs from the human soul. Mana from nature.’
Similar on the surface, utterly distinct underneath.
But Demian glimpsed the path to merge them.
Not just that, either.
‘Divine power starts with human faith. Why not fold that in too?’
Energies he’d pegged as incompatible now seemed unifiable.
Fittingly, his new creation, the Fivefold Harmony Art, revolved around fusion.
‘Self-inflicted bind.’
Demian gave a wry smile.
Not all bad. A knight’s power scaled with the walls scaled.
Crack this, hit Grandmaster, and unimaginable strength awaited.
‘Other fires to put out first.’
His musing slid past realms to the altar.
‘Demons want the altar. I want Dorgo and Babel dead.’
No leads on Babel’s whereabouts yet.
So the altar it was. Demons lurked there.
‘Where the hell is it?’
Hidden tight, no doubt. Else demons would’ve sniffed it out.
‘Reframe. Altar’s not the goal. Killing those two is.’
Their heads were the prize. Altar just the bait.
‘Screw with the demons. Keep them from the altar. Babel’ll slip eventually.’
Then—
Erebos struck something.
“Huh?”
Demian blinked at it, baffled.
Nothing ahead of the blade.
“What’s this?”
He gripped and pulled. Stuck fast, like in stone.
Demian gripped two-handed.
Threw his weight, yanking down. Felt it shear invisible resistance.
The cut gaped wide. Gale-force winds roared in.
Air sucked into the rift. Hair lashed his eyes.
Demian shielded with his forearm, peering cautiously inside.
A wholly alien vista.
Seven statues crowned a lofty peak.
At center: a human-sized stone sarcophagus.
“……What the?”
Demian wriggled through the fissure, approaching slow.
Lid ajar. Inside, a human male lay serene.
Unfamiliar face. Good thing: name carved on it.
Eroded by time, barely legible.
Demian traced the letters with a finger, reading slow.
“……Ruin?”