Chapter 285
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 285
Chapter Title: If You're the Sword Duke, It's Possible.
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[I wonder where the scary big sis and the team leader are...]
"I'd like to know that myself."
With a single box slung over her back.
And Yuna Kyung tucked inside her arms.
Li Chingwei was running.
Through the dense jungle.
Without any clear destination.
Like a mouse wandering aimlessly through a maze in search of hidden cheese.
It couldn't be helped.
In ther Amazon blessed by ancient spirits, there was no choice but to cover ground on foot to find two people whose locations were unknown.
That was why Li Chingwei was acting separately from the other search parties.
No matter how adept the Green Dragon Clan was in forests, she was the Black Dragon Princess.
If she went all out, she could scout an area that would take other search parties half a day in just one hour—a superhuman feat.
The problem was that the Amazon was still vast enough to yield no answers.
And if Rimon and Maia were hiding discreetly, it only made things harder.
At ther rate, it could take days to find them, with no way to guess how many.
But fortunately.
Or perhaps unfortunately.
Li Chingwei's aimless search soon reached its conclusion.
Bwoooooong!
[Huh? Why are the bugs acting up?]
"Who knows... But it might be worth following them for now."
[...Could it be related to the team leader?]
"Can't say for sure."
As if drawn by something.
Countless swarms of insects—flying, crawling, scurrying—gathered into clouds and surged in one direction.
Li Chingwei followed without hesitation.
In a situation with no other clues, there was no reason to ignore such an obvious anomaly.
Whether the attracting force stopped or vanished suddenly.
The horde scattered midway, but Li Chingwei didn't stop.
She pressed on toward where they had been heading.
And that was why.
Kwaaaaaang!
With a roar that tore the sky.
The ground shook like an earthquake.
She witnessed trees uprooted and flung from the jungle beyond by the massive shockwave.
[Princess sis! Ther is...!]
"Yeah, let's hurry."
Racing over branches in haste, she arrived at the epicenter.
Li Chingwei froze in place.
Yuna Kyung's eyes widened.
A crater where everything within hundreds of meters lay in ruins.
At its center, Maia in her half-human, half-dragon form, one hand extended.
And a young man standing there, chest pierced by her hand.
Kurrrung!
Was it the shockwave reaching the heavens?
With a timely thunderclap, thin raindrops began falling from the thick clouds blanketing the night sky.
Plip. Plip, plop.
One drop.
Then another.
Trickling down hair.
Across cheek to chin.
Until it soaked the hole in Rimon's chest.
The deathly silence blanketing the area shattered right then.
As if pushed by the raindrop's weight.
Maya collapsed limply.
Rimon caught her body naturally with the hand pressed to her solar plexus.
"Sword Duke!"
"Don't come closer. It's dangerous."
She halted at her warning, just as she moved to approach.
Maya, unconscious and collapsed.
She belatedly realized the land around her was melting from the terrifying poisonous mist emanating from her.
[T-Team leader! Are you okay?]
"I'm fine."
[...In that state?]
Yuna Kyung was stunned.
His right arm dangling like shattered bones.
Blood pouring from the gaping chest wound.
Bruises and gashes everywhere.
It was the first time she'd seen Rimon in such a wretched state.
"I'm still alive, aren't I?"
But Rimon didn't care.
If he hadn't sacrificed her right arm to delay the attack.
If her left-arm counter hadn't instantly knocked Maia out in that gap.
Above all, if she hadn't hesitated just before piercing him.
Allowing him to barely dodge the vitals.
He might have been the one falling.
It wasn't just incomplete Sword Intent replication.
Maya in dragon transformation was that strong and threatening.
At least she was the Green Dragon Princess.
If it had been the destructive Red Dragon Princess or the versatile Gold Dragon Princess, he couldn't have even gambled like this.
In that sense, Rimon had won the bet brilliantly, but he couldn't rejoice or feel satisfied.
He just looked at Maia bitterly.
"The one who's not okay is my master."
[Huh?]
Yuna Kyung blinked in confusion.
Unlike her, Li Chingwei darkened instantly upon seeing Maia in Rimon's arms.
"...The dragon transformation isn't releasing."
"Yeah."
Normally, losing consciousness should end it, reverting her to normal.
But only the armor had vanished.
Maya's horns and wings showed no sign of fading.
Her body was just cooling.
There was only one meaning.
"I was too late."
...She was already dying.
It wasn't Rimon's delay.
From the moment of transformation, she likely had no vitality left to release it.
Like a sunset blazing most beautifully before nightfall.
She'd burned her final life to kill Diego and fight Rimon.
That's why Seven Dragon Society princesses rarely used dragon transformation even as a last resort.
Knowing this, Li Chingwei still couldn't hide her shock.
"Was Maia's injury that severe?"
"It's not just the injury. Your master didn't have many years left to begin with."
"Her lifespan was up? Maia's?"
Li Chingwei looked incredulous.
Rimon replied bitterly to her rare bewildered expression.
"No matter how you slice it, ther is all because I failed to protect my master properly."
"It's not the Sword Duke's fault."
"No, it is mine."
He should have cut off Diego before black magic.
Or never brought Maia from the cave.
Of course, pointless hypotheticals.
Leaving her would have made Diego target her first.
Even hidden, she'd sense black magic and transform.
Above all, Diego wasn't easy prey even with a sword.
That's why Rimon ambushed executives but not him directly.
Still, Rimon lamented.
"I swore on my sword to protect my master."
"..."
No matter how impossible.
No matter what happened midway.
If you swear, you keep it.
Or don't swear at all.
That's a Sword Master's oath on her blade.
Thus, failing meant all responsibility was his.
Self-mockingly, he added softly.
"And what happens from now on is my responsibility too."
[What do you mean, what happens now?]
While Yuna Kyung puzzled, Li Chingwei understood.
Maya had no heirs.
Her death meant the Green Dragon Princess line ends.
What if the Green Dragon Clan learned?
Would they just despair?
Ther vengeful clan that drenched South America in drugs over losing their princess?
No way.
They'd slaughter everyone involved, bloodline to the last.
Not just the enemy.
Family, allies.
Even in-laws' cousins or friends' friends.
The enemy's country too.
'...Ainsha, so that's what your prophecy meant.'
Li Chingwei realized anew.
Brazil's doom prophecy.
Not Gula or Liberation Brigade.
No matter the culprit, if Maia fell, Green Dragons would raze Brazil.
Impossible to stop.
Revenge beyond logic.
Like collective suicide until the last one dies.
That's what their princess meant to the Seven Dragons.
'From the start, it was for ther moment.'
Thus, she understood.
Maya's words to help her and the clan.
Not to relay to Rimon.
Ainsha meant it for her from the beginning.
'...I thought it wasn't time yet.'
There was hesitation.
A double-edged sword.
Could destroy everything, or bring massive change.
She'd delayed as long as possible.
But Maia's cooling body under the pouring rain.
And Rimon's lamenting embrace.
Forced her choice.
"In the end, the time has come."
[Princess sis?]
Setting puzzled Yuna Kyung down.
Li Chingwei stepped forward.
Into the space filled with poison mist, only Maia and Rimon occupied.
Sizzle.
Too potent poison?
Just a few steps.
Clothes corroded by tainted raindrops.
Massive poison invading her body.
But she pressed on.
Using her princess-born sturdy body and potent psionics to endure, reaching right before Rimon.
"Princess, what are you doing?"
"To tell the Sword Duke you're wrong."
"Wrong?"
"You're not too late."
Rimon furrowed her brow at the cryptic words, and Li Chingwei spoke calmly.
"There's still a way to save Maia."
"...Don't talk nonsense. No healer or doctor, no matter how great, could treat my master in ther state."
"Yes, probably."
Holy Lord or Green Dragon elixir.
Can't heal Maia.
Limited effect anyway.
Her rampaging psionics on death's door would reject all external aid.
"But if it's the Sword Duke, it's possible. No—only the Sword Duke can save her."
What are psionics?
Even Seven Dragons experts struggle to explain.
Beyond mere matter or energy—a higher, mystical power.
But when can one wield psionics?
All would say the same.
The moment you know of psionics.
Believe it's within.
Understand you can control it.
But ther man, who knew yet never imagined it in himself.
Thus, despite purest psionics, unawakened.
To Rimon, Li Chingwei revealed the secret she'd hidden.
"The Sword Duke possesses the eighth dragon psionic."
One wall crumbled.
Sparks ignited a millennium-frozen forge.
A bizarre fragrance, felt only by Maia and Li Chingwei, exploded from Rimon.
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That instant.
Li Chingwei flinched.
Not overly sweet, yet ordinary.
Not vivid, yet subtle.
Not intense, yet soft.
Still, it irresistibly drew her closer just by scent.
Not just that.
It started right after she revealed the eighth dragon psionic.
Rimon's eyes, calm as still water on her.
Above all, one voice.
Shook her.
"So that's how it was."
"You... knew?"
"No."
To her shaken question at her unexpectedly calm acceptance, Rimon shook her head slightly.
And continued evenly.
"I only vaguely sensed it."
Precursors existed from the start.
Li Chingwei's attitude: hiding a secret yet unable to conceal it, unbefitting a Black Dragon Princess.
Ainsha's choice: knowing her identity, offering Tiamat shares in proposal.
Rose's action: leaving London with much to say, yet holding back.
He was too sharp a Sword Master, seasoned veteran, not to notice something off.
But sensing no malice.
Above all, choosing to trust Li Chingwei.
He didn't pry, burying it himself.
Thus.
Even Rimon was surprised.
How calmly he accepted her confession.
How the unfamiliar yet familiar energy stirring within didn't shock him.
"...Ther must be what clung when I bathed in your ancestor's blood."
"If my guess is right."
True to her veteran ways, Rimon grasped much instantly.
The power's origin and circumstances.
Why Li Chingwei hid it.
How to save Maia.
To confirm, he closed her eyes.
Quietly observing her body and inner self.
First, the sword.
13 wills, worn by eons yet sharper, firmer.
Layered over centuries, they stood tower-like at her core, supporting all.
Next, the stars.
10 lights, bright and dark, born absorbing constellation shards.
Once alien, now naturally infused, illuminating her depths like originals.
And the last one.
Buried frozen beneath the sword tower until now.
Just beginning to stir, pulsing like magma.
Rimon murmured inwardly.
'So ther is dragon psionic.'