Chapter 334
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 334
Chapter Title: It's Not a Lie, But...
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'H-how...?'
'No way, this has to be a dream!'
The heads of various military governments attending the banquet wore expressions as if they were trapped in a nightmare.
Anywhere else, maybe.
But for the Pharaoh of Egypt to appear in the heart of Utopia Guild's banquet hall?
It was too shocking to be reality.
Especially since she was standing right where Branga had been just moments ago, and that body of his had been shattered to pieces and incinerated.
Yet the very woman who had accomplished this absurd feat of slaying a monarch...
Hasneti didn't marvel at her own achievement.
She simply pulled out a cigarette with her usual icy expression and lit it up.
The military leaders, on the verge of losing their minds in this surreal scene, froze at the sight.
"Whoa, that gave me a real scare."
A sly, drawling voice cut through the air.
"I get ya were excited to see me after so long and came rushin' in, but that was a bit much, don'tcha think? If it weren't for me, you'd have been a goner for real."
'The Summon Lord!'
'He survived...!'
The military heads whipped around in shock.
They lit up with relief at the sight of Branga grinning innocently amid the summoned beasts, as if nothing had happened.
Hasneti, on the other hand, showed no surprise or agitation.
The moment she had struck down at Branga, she had already known he had swapped positions with one of his summons to escape. So she merely opened her mouth in that husky voice.
"Another one of your pathetic tricks."
"Don't call it pathetic. This here's my lifeline skill."
Even right after nearly dying.
As if it were nothing.
Branga grinned at Hasneti, who had almost killed him.
"Anyhow, ya surprised me. I never figured the queen who'd ignore my invites would show up like this."
"......"
"Oh, wait—is it that? Ya said ya'd take us all out when we gathered? That's pretty bold."
Branga nodded.
Right now, nearly every powerful military head from across Africa was gathered in this banquet hall.
Capturing or wiping them out would plunge their governments into chaos, speeding up Egypt's advance several times over.
For Hasneti, it was worth the risk to raid this place.
"Still, charg in' solo was a reckless move, wasn't it? This is the heart of my guild, after all."
Snap!
One problem, though.
Just as capturing her alone would give them the upper hand in this war, the same went for them.
As if to prove it, the moment Branga lightly snapped his fingers...
Screeeeech!
Garuda let out a piercing cry.
In sync with the screech, the summoned beasts stationed around the banquet hall bared their fangs and growled as they encircled Hasneti.
Thousands of high-level summons prepared by mobilizing every player in Utopia Guild for this banquet.
Enough force to sweep an entire continent.
Throwing it all at one person was utterly absurd, but Branga didn't care.
He had fought Hasneti before and knew full well that letting his guard down against her meant his death.
"Too bad. If ya'd finished me with that first ambush, ya might've won, Your Majesty."
Even so, Branga smiled.
No matter how much of a superhuman tyrant Hasneti was called across Africa, handling this many summons alone was impossible.
Besides, this was Utopia territory.
Stall just a little, and Nanim and the other guildmates would come running.
Her defeat was inevitable.
As Branga smugly moved to command his summons...
Hasneti flicked ash from her cigarette with slender fingers and parted her red lips.
"Who said that?"
"Huh?"
"That I came alone."
The moment Branga blinked in confusion at her words...
Boom!
A massive roar shook the heavens and earth.
Flames erupted from the distant horizon.
The darkened sky blazed bright.
The explosions didn't stop there.
From right behind the banquet hall to the distant Utopia Guild buildings on the skyline.
Flames shot up from all directions in succession.
It was so spectacular it almost looked like fireworks.
But the chaotic gunfire and screams that followed the inferno made it clear these flames were for destruction, not play.
"......Things are gettin' wild. Did ya bring the whole Egyptian army?"
Even at that sight, Branga just furrowed his brow briefly.
He didn't lose his composure.
No matter how much the defenses were thinned for the banquet with summons at the core, he'd have noticed if they'd brought an army this far.
And unexpectedly, Hasneti calmly confirmed it.
"Not all of them. Just a few combat units, at most."
"Ya know that ain't enough for more than buyin' time, right?"
"Time's all I need."
As if his advantage hadn't changed.
Hasneti put her cigarette back to her lips, watching Branga smirk.
Then in that husky voice, she said,
"You'll all be dead by then anyway."
The moment Hasneti's blood-red eyes gleamed with chilling light...
BOOM!
A vortex of blazing flames larger and fiercer than any other engulfed her, forming a massive torrent of fire.
The hordes of summons surrounding Branga charged straight at her.
Africa's Tyrant.
Paradise's Monarch.
The clash between these two absolute rulers vying for dominance over the dark continent had begun.
"Vanguard, charge!"
Thud thud thud!
Unicorns, Bicorns, Lightning Cheetahs, Jumping Wyrms, and more.
The first to charge were dozens of the fastest and most agile among the thousands of summons.
They zigzagged through the whirlwind of flames around Hasneti, closing the distance with blinding speed.
Whoosh!
Neigh!
But the moment they broke through the flame torrent...
Dozens of summons collapsed screaming.
Not from the flames.
Just from Hasneti's gaze landing on them, their bodies erupted in fire spontaneously.
Pyrokinesis.
The most destructive of psychics—ignition ability—amplified by the Threefold True Fire Style.
Still, the charge wasn't in vain.
While she turned her gaze to them, the other summons narrowed the gap right up to the edge of the flame torrent.
"Archers, fire!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The sky was filled with a rainbow of attacks.
Needles, venom, beams, feathers, and more.
All ranged-capable summons unleashed their abilities at Hasneti in unison.
Most burned up in the flame torrent created by the Wheel Demon Wall Style, but nearly half pierced straight through.
Hasneti didn't even twitch an eyebrow at the storm of abilities.
She simply drew one hand from her coat pocket.
The moment she casually swung that hand...
Boom!
A red beam from her hand collided with the abilities, triggering a massive explosion.
And it didn't end there.
The scarlet light, shattering the incoming attacks with power to spare, slammed into the midst of the next wave of summons preparing to strike.
The result was gruesome.
BOOM!
Flesh shattering to pieces.
Blood spraying everywhere.
Summons tougher than iron bursting like eggs. Horrific.
But Hasneti's gestures didn't stop.
Each swing unleashed a gale from the Sky-Splitting Explosion Style, streaking out as flashes, pulverizing summons in chunks every time.
"Tanks, charge!"
Thud!
A massive wall halted the slaughter.
Crimson Tyrannos, Giant Mammoths, Cyclopses, etc.
A horde of colossal summons nearly twenty meters tall finally caught up to the vanguard.
As tough as their size suggested, the giant summons pressed forward relentlessly through the flames, even as the gales tore chunks from their bodies.
They were walking mountains.
Crushing and trampling everything without flinching.
Only just before the giants could overwhelm her did Hasneti finally draw both hands from her coat.
Flames swirled around her smooth hands, condensing into steel-hard density in an instant.
Roar!
The lead Crimson Tyranno split in half and burned away.
No high-level giant summon, no matter how tough, could withstand the heat compressed to its limit by the Solar Steel Qi Style.
Thus, with solar-fierce steel qi blazing in both hands.
Hasneti wove through the giants in a zigzag via the Seven Thunder Bullet Shadow Style, incinerating their massive bodies.
"My God!"
"What kind of monster is that...!"
The military heads couldn't hide their horror.
Hasneti facing thousands of summons single-handedly didn't seem human.
But Branga smiled smugly even as his summons fell, and a few with keen insight wore hopeful expressions.
"Remor, what do you think?"
"If it keeps goin' like this, the Chain-Smokin' Princess is at a disadvantage."
"Same here."
"This ain't a 1-on-1."
Rimon and Rose, meanwhile, looked grave.
It looked like Hasneti had the overwhelming edge, but she'd only taken down just over a hundred.
Summons still overflowed.
Maya might excel at 1-vs-many, but even Hasneti taking on all of Utopia Guild's mobilized summons solo was reckless.
The Red Dragon Princess specialized in destruction and annihilation, not swarm fights.
Proof: Branga and the true top-level summons hadn't even properly engaged yet, and she was already in a melee.
One slip-up.
Or drag it out and Utopia reinforcements arrive.
Hasneti would lose. Clear as day to the two.
"Then..."
"Just like Sis predicted."
"......You think Hasneti would really go that far?"
"If it's the Red Dragon Clan, absolutely."
That was why.
The reason they looked so serious.
Hasneti wasn't a fool jumping into enemy territory solo knowing she'd lose.
If she did this anyway, one reason.
She had a sure-win counter to make this "reckless" act anything but.
And as her rivals and mortal enemies of the Seven Dragon Society princess, the two could easily guess what it was.
"She said earlier she only brought a few combat units, right?"
"Yes."
"Definitely not a lie."
Rimon let out a hollow chuckle.
Then, eyeing those in red dragon-emblazoned uniforms who had slipped into the banquet hall while everyone focused on Hasneti, he muttered,
"The Flame Dragon Squad counts as combat units too."
They'd already formed their formation.
Feeling the psychic flow from the Red Dragon Clan's strongest unit swirling around Hasneti, Rimon turned away.
She never intended a 1-on-1.
She was the one buying time.
Ignoring why she was holding back.
He inwardly muttered at Branga, smug as if victory was his.
'We're screwed.'
As Rimon clicked his tongue, Hasneti kept stalling against the summons, stacking her martial flows.
Thus, when her dragon psychic resonated with the Flame Dragon Squad's...
『Seventy-Two Martial Flows: Ten Ultimate Convergence Technique』
『Fighting Red Dragon Awakening』
Crack!
Hasneti's pupils split.
Four horns sprouted from her red hair.
Seventy-Two Martial Flows.
The supreme art allowing humans to wield dragon power—psychic energy.
Due to its origins, Seven Dragon Society members who proved talent and loyalty could master most flows freely.
But two among them.
Crafted solely for princesses carrying the pure blood of the seven dragons, impossible for ordinary humans to learn.
These two ultimate arts among the seventy-two were so special even princesses couldn't use them lightly.
That was why.
The Seven Dragon Squads were created.
With a squad that could resonate psychics with the princesses, at least one ultimate art could be used freely, if limited.
Right now.
That was exactly what Hasneti was doing.
Amplify psychic with Threefold True Fire Style, compress with Solar Steel Qi Style, then swallow via New Moon Soul-Shedding Style.
Seal the body-scorching heat with Wheel Demon Wall Style, disperse and circulate via Hundred-Eight Strife Style.
Accelerate the flow with Seven Thunder Bullet Shadow Style, purify further with Primordial Dance Drama Style.
Thus, the Seven Ultimates.
Psychic amplified 64-fold from repeated boosts scorches even the princess's sturdy body.
Still not enough.
Resonate with Flame Dragon Squad.
Explosively vent via Sky-Splitting Explosion Style, awaken instincts with Hundred Beasts Intent Form Style.
The result: psychic amplified 256-fold from original.
Enough to turn most of the thousands of summons before her to ash just by releasing it.
Maybe even include Summon Lord Branga in that ash.
But she didn't.
This was merely the process.
Preparation for an absolute technique requiring such vast psychic even a princess couldn't wield freely.
The moment Hasneti completed the tenth ultimate...
That immense psychic stimulated the dragon blood in her body, triggering transformation.
Crack.
Blood-red eyes slit lengthwise.
Four horns sprout from her head.
A tail emerges from behind her skirt.
Large wings burst from her back.
Progenitor Regression Style.
Dragonization that activates only when the princess's life is at risk.
The ultimate art enabling artificial use, powered by the ten ultimates, remade her body.
A bizarre sensation of her near-human form shifting toward dragon.
With sharpened draconic instincts, senses expanded vastly, endless psychic filling her entirely.
Then came a bewildered voice.
"Wh-what the heck is that?"
Slowly.
She turned her head.
Instinctively recognizing the apex predator at the top of the food chain, thousands of summons froze like stone.
Beyond them, Branga gawked with eyes like saucers and mouth agape. She raised one hand.
And swung.
No need for preparation.
Just vent the overflowing psychic.
Thus, psychic flowing through her meridians naturally, efficiently—like breathing—erupted.
『Seventy-Two Martial Flows: Eight Ultimates』
『Heaven-Shattering Heat Flash』
BOOM!
A massive red beam from her fingertips pierced the mansion behind the banquet hall, stretching to the horizon, vaporizing a thousand summons.
Thus their battle ended.
—And the massacre began.