Chapter 365
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 365
Chapter Title: The King Knows How to Smile
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[Ow ow ow...]
In the pitch-black underground, trapped in a tumbling birdcage and groaning for a moment.
Yuna Kyung abruptly shot to her feet.
She ran her wings over her body, then let out a deep sigh of relief.
[Phew, thought I was done for.]
Just moments ago, she'd been cursing her rotten luck.
She'd only been dangling in Nadia's backpack inside the birdcage, dragged along by accident, when suddenly Rose and Hasneti broke into a duel.
Caught in the storm.
Scorched by the searing heatwave.
Almost crushed underfoot while still in the cage.
In a chaotic mess where even seasoned players would've died from the aftermath alone, she'd somehow survived.
At this point, it was impossible to tell if she was just unlucky or remarkably resilient to misfortune.
Of course, what had helped most wasn't her luck—or her misfortune—but the shield item Hasneti had given her along with the flame item.
[But what the hell is going on? An earthquake?]
That made Yuna Kyung even more flustered.
She'd thought the chaos was finally over when she saw Rose hold her sword to Hasneti's throat.
Before she could even catch her breath, the ground had caved in, sending her tumbling into this underground hell. How could she not be baffled?
[No choice, gotta escape first... Huh?]
As she prepared to slip through space to break free from the birdcage, Yuna Kyung froze.
[...Space Movement isn't working?]
Space being sealed off wasn't exactly a new experience for her.
She'd dealt with it before in the London Duel Realm and the Amazon.
But the reason she panicked now was that the sensation blocking her Space Movement felt far too familiar.
Not a magical barrier.
Not spirit power either.
Yet an atmosphere she knew all too well.
[No way... a dungeon?]
Even as a mere chick right now, she'd once been a promising high-level player in her past life.
Through the subtle differences in how it interfered with her Space Movement, she realized what this place was—and was utterly dumbfounded.
Given the earth-shattering clash between the two princesses, she could understand the ground collapsing from the aftermath.
But to "accidentally" drop into a dungeon—one with space lockdown, no less?
[Hang on, I've never even heard of falling into a dungeon like this.]
Yuna Kyung grew suspicious.
There were just too many coincidences.
And the more she looked around, the more this place felt off from a typical dungeon.
[Probably just my imagination. If it were a real dungeon, monsters should've shown up by now...]
Wriggle.
[...]
Like a broken doll.
Yuna Kyung creaked her head around.
The moment she widened her eyes to pinpoint the source of that eerie sound from before—
Boom!
[Kyaaak!]
It all happened in an instant.
Something lunged out of nowhere and shattered the birdcage.
Her defense item triggered, wrapping her in a round protective barrier as she bounced free amid the debris.
She staggered from the impact against the shield—it was only for a split second.
Enraged at missing its prey,
the thing hidden in the darkness charged at Yuna Kyung again with ferocious speed.
[Whoa!]
Flap flap!
She dodged upward with desperate wingbeats, breaking into a cold sweat.
The darkness obscured its form, but its savage movements revealed its identity plain as day.
'A monster—a high-level one!'
'Then this really is a dungeon?'
'How the hell...?'
'No, this isn't the time to worry about that!'
Shaking off her confusion, Yuna Kyung shook her head.
She shot straight upward.
Not just to evade the monster lurking in the shadows.
Whatever had happened, she'd fallen down here—so going up should lead to the exit, she figured.
'Gotta get out fast! And report to the team leader...?'
Wriggle.
But right then.
Yuna Kyung froze solid.
The ceiling blocking off what should have been the exit.
And the presence emanating from it filled her with horror.
Too late, she realized something was terribly wrong and tried to pull away from the ceiling—
but the writhing mass that blanketed it lunged straight for her.
[Kyaaaak!]
"Deploy the Hexagonal Prosperity Citadel Formation!"
Just like Yuna Kyung.
Lucas and the Blue Dragon Troops had been dropped here the same way—when the ground suddenly collapsed.
The good news: unlike the separated Yuna Kyung, they'd been grouped up to form their battle array and hadn't scattered.
The bad news: that meant more monsters—and faster assaults.
Of course, they were the Blue Dragon Clan's strongest fighting force.
They could handle even packs of high-level monsters with ease.
The problem was their condition wasn't normal.
Assisting the princess's dragonization alone was an enormous strain on body and mind.
And after an intense battle on top of that, from the moment the fight ended, their psionics had been utterly drained.
Dropped into a place like this in that state and ambushed by a horde of high-level monsters?
Even as captain-level masters, it was overwhelming.
Lucas was no exception.
Slash!
"Ngh!"
After fending off the four-armed humanoid monster charging at him fiercely for a time.
His already wounded side took a hit, making him stagger—but he gritted his teeth and lopped off the monster's head. Then he panted heavily.
For an attendant-level master like him, trash like this shouldn't have lasted ten seconds.
Yet it'd taken nearly a hundred exchanges to bring it down.
This was gravely serious.
'The limit, as expected.'
Bloody wounds all over.
A body exhausted to the bone.
Worst of all, his psionics were depleted.
A faint trickle remained, but even with the formation active, the sporadic flow told him everything.
Soon, not just his—but the entire Blue Dragon Troops'—psionics would hit zero.
'Can't hold out like this much longer...!'
The superhuman might of Seven Dragon Society masters came from channeling psionics through arts like the Seventy-Two Martial Forms and countless others.
Run out of psionics?
Like a car out of gas.
No matter the master, they'd lose their superhuman prowess and revert to ordinary humans.
And an ordinary human facing high-level monsters with just swordsmanship? Near impossible.
Especially when surrounded by hundreds.
They needed a plan fast, but...
'No choice but to become the king before the blood flower.'
Lucas gritted his teeth.
With space sealed, teleporting out was impossible.
Breaking through the horde? Everyone was too exhausted, and they had baggage to boot.
A king before the blood flower, truly.
Like Sword King Richard I, standing against the mad advance led by Sword Flower Joan of Arc despite knowing defeat.
They had no choice but to fight to the death.
The issue: unlike the Sword King, who'd prepared a hundred swords to last ten days, they were too spent to even grip theirs properly.
"Conserve stamina and psionics! Injured, fall back and focus on recovery!"
Lucas knew this, yet he fought the monsters with desperate resolve.
He was the Blue Dragon Princess's close aide.
Despair wasn't an option for someone of his station.
Stab, thud! Crunch!
"Urgh...!"
But persistence alone didn't solve everything.
The harder they fought, the faster their psionics drained—and Lucas, at the forefront, only accumulated graver wounds.
Finally hitting his limit, the moment he was about to crumple before the charging summon horde—
Boom!
A scorching explosion erupted.
The front line of the onrushing summons went flying.
Instead of marveling at the unexpected aid, Lucas swung his blade to cleave a surviving monster.
Then he glanced back.
"You know pushing yourself risks your life."
"Can't just sit back and die..."
Pale face.
Bandages wrapped around her upper body.
A frail voice to match.
A petite girl who looked one breath from death at a glance.
With her dragonization released, Nadia was back in her baggy uniform. She set down the grenade launcher she'd been holding.
From her spatial expansion backpack, she pulled a fresh firearm and handed it over.
To the Flame Dragon troops who'd been shielded alongside her within the Blue Dragon Troops' formation.
Clank.
Despite the aftereffects of repeated dragonizations—not just depleting their psionics but inflicting internal injuries, leaving them unconscious until just now.
True to Red Dragon warriors, the Flame Dragon troops calmly accepted the guns.
They loaded up, took positions behind the Blue Dragon troops holding the formation, and pulled their triggers.
Bang, bang, bang! Boom!
The vanguard monsters tangled with the Blue Dragon troops collapsed in heaps.
No rapid fire.
Just single, aimed shots.
Yet nearly every bullet pierced a monster's brow or heart without a millimeter's deviation.
"Impressive."
"Cough... Russian-made. American ones are too pricey..."
"Your marksmanship."
"Obviously... We're the Red Dragon Clan."
Bang!
They couldn't match Gold Dragon gunners or Silver Dragon warriors, but as all-weapon proficient fighters, they held their own.
Coughing up blood yet landing perfect shots to drop monsters, Nadia declared proudly.
She pulled a fresh magazine from her backpack and added,
"Don't get your hopes up, though... Ammo's not unlimited."
Special rounds that ignored defenses—and Russian ones at that—cost a fortune.
Plus, they'd burned through plenty fighting Lucas. At this rate, they'd run dry soon.
Despite Nadia's despairing admission, Lucas showed no disappointment.
He replied evenly.
"Doesn't matter."
"For real...?"
"Even before the blood flower, a king knows how to smile."
"...That's some resolve."
Nadia giggled as she reloaded.
Lucas stood firm before her, slashing down the charging monsters.
The others followed suit.
The Blue Dragon Troops used their armored bodies as shields to halt the monster advance.
The Flame Dragon Troops poured firepower from behind, dropping monsters left and right.
They all knew this resistance would reach its end soon—but they didn't give up.
In the distant past.
Sword King Richard I stood against Sword Flower Joan of Arc to protect his people and ultimately fell to her blade.
But he'd bought ten days.
Believing his comrades would surely come.
Legends say he died smiling.
Unlike that Sword King, not one of them hoped for reinforcements—for the princess to save them.
Yet with willing hearts.
The two clans, who moments ago had been trying to kill each other, now stood back-to-back against the foe.
Believing that every moment they held would make their revered princess that much safer.
Boom!
"Ngh...!"
A beauty in a tattered uniform.
Rose spat up a gush of blood.
Her internals had flared from taking a boulder-crushing fist head-on.
But Rose didn't retreat.
She couldn't.
Right behind her lay Hasneti, a massive hole torn through her abdomen, blood clotting and pouring out.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Sweeping her sword to guard Hasneti, Rose locked eyes on the teeming monsters in her vision...
No—precisely, on the man grinning atop the head of the largest giant—and bellowed.
"Summon Lord!"