Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Master of the Lake (3)
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“Oh.”
I let out a gasp of admiration.
‘A knee-slide entrance ceremony, huh.’
Of course, a mere slave wouldn’t know the romance of a grand entrance.
He just wanted to blitz the weak, numerous mobs in one opening ambush.
“Wow…”
Canelian murmured in short-lived awe.
“Urgh, Your Highness! You even bestowed that precious artifact armor on a fool of a knight to let him earn his keep! And it looks so damn cool.”
Baron Caron ignited his fighting spirit too, drew his sword, and ignited his Aura Blade.
“Arcana’s first Swordmaster, Caron, charges!”
“Baron Caron. Put on your helmet.”
“Ah, right.”
Caron fumbled to deactivate his Aura Blade, slapped on a full-face helmet, and charged off.
“Let’s move.”
“Yes.”
I boarded a small airship with just Canelian and Object.
The fact that I’m a lightning mage was a secret known only to these two women in the entire kingdom.
Being seen as a lord clueless about magic helped fend off those everyday assassination attempts that’d come someday.
Superconducting Collapse
Explosive discharge via metal medium. Power scales with mass/quality.
A skill that triggers an explosive charge around metal.
The more mass and higher quality the metal, the proportionally greater the blast.
What happens if you hit an 80-meter-tall giant robot with it?
KABOOM!KRAAANG!
Spectacular sparks erupted, incinerating everything nearby.
“Explosion radius of at least 300 meters, right?”
Solid power, and killer cost-performance.
Mana cost doesn’t scale with blast size.
Destruction ties purely to the metal’s mass and quality.
The devs probably envisioned rapid-fire bolts or hurled heavy spears.
But I turned a slave gladiator into a giant robot lightning rod and living charge bomb.
‘Even wielding the shield amps up [Superconducting Collapse] power.’
Did that bastard already grasp that trait?
As expected of the Empire’s scheming Swordmaster NPC.
‘Still, Slave Chain strength is rising, so no worries.’
Skill cast again.
A single bolt leaped from my hand toward Windeler.
“Huh?”
“Your Highness? What just happened?”
“Something cool.”
Windeler dared thrust his sword at me.
I thought the bastard had lost it, but Thunder Chain struck the blade and ricocheted toward the mobs.
ZZZAP!ZZZZAP!
Kieeeek!Grrruuuk!
Looked like he caught my Thunder Chain on his sword and AoE barraged the mobs.
‘That guy’s pulling every trick to cut his own pain.’
I fired Thunder Chain again.
Windeler, mid-Aura Blade mob-slicing, blocked with his shield this time.
Thunder Chain zapped the shield and him, then chain-bounced to nearby mobs, paralyzing them en masse.
“Mechanic Turn…”
“Ah! Spinning like that to catch the lightning spell on the shield and splash it on enemies—that’s a Mechanic Turn!”
Way flashier than Canelian’s version.
Experience at work?
‘Better than One Shadow Turn, hands down?’
Then Windeler froze and bolted one way.
‘What?’
We looked.
Pinia Kingdom scouts fleeing via flight magic.
‘Secretly scouting allied reinforcements mid-battlefield? Insane?’
Caught, they’re assassins ripe for execution, no complaints.
Sneaky or not, that clumsy detection’s useless.
“Windeler, capture them alive! No kills, no injuries!”
Thud!Thud!BOOM!BOOOM!
Agility and speed wildly mismatched to his bulk.
Pinia scouts jacked altitude as gap shrank fast.
Windeler, charging, slotted sword into shield and thrust shield-arm forward.
‘Bolt crossbow?’
Twang!Twang!Twang!
Three giant bolts fired in sequence skewered their path.
Aura Blade-coated, even!
They panicked, lost balance, plummeted.
Windeler snatched them with free right hand.
Stowed crossbow, clamped left atop to seal escape.
Then lumbered our way.
Canelian suddenly latched onto my back.
Clutching my shoulders tight, body quivering slim.
“Duchess?”
“Your Highness, just give him to me?”
“You’ve got way better, prettier mythic bikini armor…”
“I’ll behave. Ransom Windeler’s body back to Empire, then he’s mine?”
“No.”
“Your Highness, pleeease. This cold to your fiancée?”
Full plate on a girl char?
Unthinkable heresy.
Pretty heroine NPCs demand bikini armor.
“Your Highness!”
“No. Absolutely not.”
The captured scouts wore subtle field camo.
Seven total.
Three knights, three mages, one delicate-looking kid mixed in.
Straddling teen and young adult?
Obvious pampered rich brat.
“Your Majesty!”
My knights yelled, ashen-faced.
What, that shrimp’s the king?
“Your Majesty?”
“Indeed! I am Pinia Kingdom’s sovereign, Leonhardt Julius Lu Pinia II!”
A kid younger than me, king.
I’m still prince.
Protocol’d have me defer, but nations bow to power logic.
Especially this punk…
“Impressive. Why’s a national king secretly scouting reinforcements?”
“Not secretly…”
“Harboring malice toward Arcana? Gauging our forces to leak weak spots to foes?”
“N-no! Nothing like that, Prince Ragna! Just worried, watching!”
“Didn’t you claim no Pinia forces hereabouts?”
“All misunderstanding.”
Them: seven. Us: Swordmaster trio plus army.
I dominate might and right.
‘King gift-wrapping himself like this.’
Infamous for sneaky backstab quests, if less than Empire Emperor.
Obsessed with Raisha especially.
Desperate to infuse dragon blood in royals.
‘Off him now, Pinia and Empire none the wiser.’
But Pinia’d fracture into civil war sans core.
Nobles’d parade concubines’ kids, legitimacy wars, endless power grabs.
‘Main story underway; can’t sap human kingdoms vs monster hordes.’
Continent’s real threat ahead: monster legions.
So ransom fat sum, release.
Squeeze max first, naturally.
“Got it. I’ll take Your Majesty’s word on the misunderstanding.”
Pinia king’s face stayed grim.
Sharp instincts, insidious NPC style.
“To let Your Majesty eye Arcana’s might properly, we’ll host you politely through subjugation.”
His knights rebelled silently via glares.
All knew I wouldn’t send him off easy.
King sighed resigned.
“May I letter capital: staying Arcana camp, watch subjugation, then return?”
“Of course. I’ll help.”
Letter checks standard.
I summoned camp attendants, ordered.
“Escort Pinia’s Majesty courteously.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
King’s prisoner now.
Stark truth all know, none admit going forward.
Several days of subjugation ops.
Windeler gigantified once daily to mop mob packs.
Max three charges, so saved two, one per day.
Rest post-gigantify.
Could fight normal-sized, sure, but charisma hit.
Baron Caron flaunted Swordmaster prowess, wreaking havoc.
“Merits! More merits! More pay! Living fat with twelve wives!”
We’d nearly cleared monsters by flooded Pendragon Lake.
Shame, no level-up for me.
Still 52.
Windeler bagged tons, but all level 10 trash.
Canelian pillow-nagged daily.
“Release Duke Windeler, armor’s mine, yeah?”
“Not pitying the artifact. Bikini armor suits you best, Duchess.”
Moments later, Object lifted tent flap, entered.
Serious face.
“Your Highness, got suspicious letter outside. For Princess Raisha.”
I sprang from Canelian-lap pillow.
“Damn, deliverer? Didn’t just take letter and release?”
Our sweet naive Object; gotta forgive goofs for affinity sake…
“Captured, handed knights first.”
“Good work, Professor.”
Letter wax: Pinia king’s seal.
Tore open, read; chuckled despite self.
“Your Highness, contents?”
“Ah, kid king’s love letter: relic mage staff artifact if she defects to Pinia, marries him.”
“Overt Arcana hostility!”
Object’s outrage was adorable.
I snickered, stowed letter safe.
“Figures Professor still hates me, so this ploy.”
Pre-possession, might’ve stuck.
Object feared me, craved Raisha’s rise.
But now my pocket elf.
‘Snag good mage gear later, hook Raisha up first? Affinity boost for Object?’
Moonlight bathed camp’s central clearing.
Braziers, torches dotted; knights, soldiers paired on watch.
Windeler drilled shield-crossbow-sword combat flow sleepless.
‘My lord trusts me enough not to force sleep anymore.’
Windeler recalled catching Ragna’s lightning magic—Thunder Chain—with sword, shield, splashing mobs.
Even he deemed it slick.
‘Smart skipping the roar. Slaughtering weak swarms with joyful bellows just cheapens me.’
Windeler vowed.
‘Roars for big moments only from now.’
Craved more drill, but rest for tomorrow’s sweep.
Sheathed sword, crossbow; tent-bound, halted abrupt.
Sharp ki pierced from distant lake.
Windeler vaulted nearest wood watchtower.
Thick light pillar speared vertical from lake.
Floodwaters ebbed like tide.
Far: colossal dragon-shaped glow cluster.
Presence dwarfing [Claw of the Corrupted Earth Dragon].
Begged mind, no reply.
Sentries oblivious.
Moon too bright, event too remote.
Windeler hammered shield with gauntleted fist like gong.
“I am Arcana’s Sword, Mr. Cheok Jun-kyung!”
“I am Arcana’s Sword, Mr. Cheok Jun-kyung!”
“I am Arcana’s Sword…!”
Shield-clangs and booming roars echoed wide.
Dormant camp snapped awake.