Chapter 362
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 362
Chapter Title: Because It's the Same for Me.
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Tat!
Was it thanks to that change?
Nadia lunged at Lucas with movements several times faster and sharper than before.
The power of the White Beast Form Style, pushed to its limits, granted her physical abilities and senses that surpassed even the boundaries of a top-tier knight.
Pababababat!
She charged like a leopard.
Clawed like a tiger.
Swatted like a polar bear.
And burrowed like a mouse.
Each strike—one hand, one fist—could shatter rocks and sever steel, unleashing dozens of techniques in the blink of an eye, pouring down like rain.
Lucas, true to his status as a top-tier knight, swung his sword like a storm to keep her at bay, but it was only for a moment.
Peuk!
As if he couldn't keep up with her speed.
His body shook from the blow to his abdomen.
The smooth armor caved in at the center.
Even Lucas's armor, renowned for its psionic reinforcement and formidable defense, couldn't withstand Nadia's monstrous strength.
The impact must have been severe; he stumbled back several steps, losing his balance.
Pa-at!
She exploited the opening.
Slipped past Lucas's side.
And in that instant, as she moved to strike the Spear Dragon Corps focused on psionic resonance.
Lucas, who had been staggering, vanished into thin air only to reappear blocking Nadia's path once more.
A knight with durability rivaling the Green Dragon Clan and mobility that transcended space—his defensive stance was a living fortress.
One that would inflict fatal wounds if approached recklessly, a fortress of blades.
But she didn't stop.
Instead, as she charged at Lucas, she drew upon her pure psionics.
Kung!
She stomped one foot.
Her sparkling golden hair whipped through the air.
And in that moment, the various weapons Nadia had wielded and discarded on the ground leaped into the sky.
Spears, swords, axes, guns, grenades, and more—all flew toward Rose as if alive, launching in unison or streaking like arrows.
Pababababat!
Protect Rose, and the Spear Dragon Corps was vulnerable. Block Nadia, and the weapons got through.
A true dilemma, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
But he didn't falter.
He simply spun, flaring his cloak, and met Nadia's claws with his sword.
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Chwaak!
It all happened in an instant.
The intangible barrier extending from Lucas's fully unfurled cloak blocked the attacks heading for Rose.
And Nadia, gripping his sword with one hand, tore a chunk from his side with the other.
Clearly, Lucas had taken the worse of it.
But it was Nadia who grimaced, while Lucas wore a faint smile.
It wasn't just because her sure-kill ambush had failed and he'd managed to block it.
They both sensed it.
The psionic flow between Rose and the Spear Dragon Corps had finally reached its peak.
"No!!!"
Nadia screamed like a banshee, hurling Lucas aside as she tried to charge at Rose.
Then, her gently closed eyelids parted.
Her lake-blue eyes.
Split vertically.
While Lucas held Nadia at bay.
Rose kept her eyes closed, devoting herself entirely to resonating her psionics with the Spear Dragon Corps.
It was a dangerous act—if attacked, the flow could disrupt and cause internal injuries—but she wasn't worried.
Nadia, a top-tier knight, and even Hasneti could be held off briefly by an ironclad knight.
That was Lucas, her loyal retainer who had served her since childhood.
True to expectations, he performed admirably, allowing Rose to amplify her psionics without interference.
Dudun.
Using the Sea Dragon Water Jewel Style, she infused her blood with psionics. With the Circular Iron Hammer Style and Falling Star Finger Snap Style, she circulated them along her blood flow.
She wrapped her swelling veins with the Defensive Outer Qi Style, then added pressure with the Deep Sea Anchor Style.
The mounting pressure.
The compressing psionics.
Gathering the condensed psionics in her blood with the Remote Whirlwind Style, she sharpened them like blades with the Air-Slicing Sword Style.
Duplicating the flow from her resonance with the Spear Dragon Corps using the Position-Switching Style, she clashed them in her heart with the Chain Impaling Horn Style.
The moment she unleashed the Ancestral Return Style with that explosive psionics.
The transformation.
Began.
Wudududuk!
A single horn sprouted from her forehead.
Four wings burst from her back.
Blue scales covered her knees and elbows.
A long tail extended behind her.
"Haa..."
With the change complete.
Rose exhaled a breath brimming with psionics.
Her first dragon transformation.
Yet it felt no stranger than breathing.
Only a sense of liberation, as if shedding a suffocating shell to reclaim her true form.
In that strangely refreshing sensation, Rose slowly raised her head. The moment she extended one hand toward Nadia, who was charging at her.
Peuk!
"Kak?!"
Mid-charge toward Rose.
Nadia suddenly slammed headfirst into the pillar of stone, staggering.
She shook her head for a moment.
Then her beastly ears perked up.
She realized Rose had warped space, hurling her to the wrong spot with a mere gesture.
A chilling power.
"Krrrng!"
Despite sensing the vast gap in strength.
Nadia didn't cower.
No, she planted all four limbs and prepared to charge again.
She was Hasneti's retainer. Having received orders from her revered princess, she had to carry them out, even at the cost of her life.
"Enough."
That was why.
The moment the husky voice rang out, Nadia ceased her growling and leaped back instantly.
Even as she returned to her side, wary of any sudden attack, Hasneti stroked Nadia's head with one hand.
And in that same husky voice, she asked,
"What's your game, Rose?"
"I told you, I intend to stop you."
"Then let me ask again."
Dissatisfied with the answer, perhaps.
Hasneti raised an eyebrow, her blood-red eyes glaring at Rose as she spoke.
"Why didn't you attack me?"
Hasneti knew.
The immense gap between her dragonized form and herself.
That if she'd willed it, Rose could have struck the moment she transformed, dealing massive damage.
So she couldn't understand.
Why waste this golden opportunity.
And merely toss Nadia—who could have been killed in one blow—aside unharmed.
Rose's answer was simple.
"Because even if I won like this, you wouldn't accept it."
Kkultul.
At that calm reply.
Hasneti furrowed her brow.
She finally understood why Rose had summoned the Spear Dragon Corps and undertaken this madness of dragon transformation.
"I see. You want to settle things with me fairly."
"Yes."
She nodded once.
Then Rose continued in a solemn voice.
"I, Rose Siserpent, descendant of the True Blue Dragon Virtue Army, princess of the Blue Dragon Clan, countess of the Siserpent family, guardian knight of the Great Briton Empire..."
Staring straight at Hasneti with her lake-blue eyes.
Rose fulfilled the resolve she'd made when summoning the Spear Dragon Corps...
No, when she decided to reclaim Rimon.
"Hasneti, I challenge you to a duel."
"..."
"If I win, halt the war immediately and withdraw your forces."
Hearing the challenge.
Hasneti fell silent.
It was so characteristically Blue Dragon Princess—setting aside her battlefield advantage for a duel.
Yet uncharacteristically forcing one on a fellow Seven Dragon Society princess, even dragonized.
It left her momentarily speechless.
"...You know that for us Red Dragon Clan, a duel means a fight to the death."
"Yes, I know."
"I'll kill you."
"I don't care."
Even if Rose had no intent to kill, she would kill Rose.
No bluff, no threat.
A stark declaration laced with clear murderous intent—and still, Rose didn't waver.
She merely smiled faintly and said,
"Because it's the same for me."
The noblest princess once.
But now corrupted.
As a descendant of dragons who had witnessed her steal 'what was hers' and prepare to confess to him.
Hasneti silently met the eyes of Rose—eyes utterly at odds with her pure, beautiful smile—and finally nodded.
"Fine."
If Rose had spouted petty ideals or convictions to the end, she would have laughed it off.
But she read the truth hidden beneath the facade.
And as a Red Dragon Clan princess who knew no way but to fight.
Hasneti spoke.
"Let the duel begin."
Dudun.
The psionics Rose had been building since resonating with the Spear Dragon Corps.
Though later than her, it had reached its limit—and Hasneti unleashed it without hesitation.
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Wuduk!
Four soaring horns.
A pair of spread wings.
Vertically slit blood-red eyes.
A tail covered in thin, ruby-red scales.
With her dragon transformation complete in an instant, Hasneti stepped forward.
Rose descended from the stone pillar, transcending space, and drew her sword.
Lucas and the Spear Dragon Corps followed behind Rose, as if guarding the princess was their duty.
Nadia and the Flame Dragon Corps supported Hasneti from behind, as if the princess's fight was their own.
Hasneti and Rose glared at each other—eyes fierce as a storm-tossed sea, eyes hot as an erupting volcano.
No more words were needed.
To protect his pride.
To grant him freedom.
They had staked everything.
And so, the two princesses who could never tolerate each other erupted their psionics simultaneously, commencing battle.
Thus began an unprecedented catastrophe in Seven Dragon Society history: a duel between dragonized princesses.
"Is this really okay?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"I said yes."
The Lukuma chieftain still couldn't relax even after hearing Rimon's reply.
Watching the Continental Alliance forces retreat with uneasy expressions only made him more anxious.
"Even so, retreating with the enemy right in front of us? Does that make any sense?"
"Don't worry about that. The Egyptian army's already opening the opposite gate to let them out."
"What? You're letting captured enemies go?!"
"Quit yapping and get moving, old man. Keep ignoring me, and I'll tell your sis."
"A-hem! I was just confirming because it's important."
Rose must have been scary indeed.
As the chieftain, who had been glancing nervously, slunk away, even Umbaru, Shu, and the rest of the Maasai finally departed after adjusting the final formations.
But Rimon didn't withdraw.
He sat cross-legged, gazing intently at the pitch-black fog-shrouded plains.
He couldn't see inside.
Not even he could peer into the Stone Soldier Eight Gates Golden Chain Formation with its Scenery Gate sealed.
But through the wildly surging psionic flow threatening to burst the formation, he could roughly guess what was happening.
That was why.
Rimon muttered absently,
"I boldly told the countess I'd prepare the stage, but with this half-measure, I wonder how long it'll hold."
He'd fought dragonized princesses before.
And witnessed it firsthand.
Imagining what might happen if the Stone Soldier Eight Gates Golden Chain Formation broke, Rimon scratched his cheek only after a long pause.
"...At least Kilimanjaro won't go flying off, right?"
Gazing at the distant peak rising from the plains, Rimon could only mutter with zero confidence.