Chapter 115
Chapter 115
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Moonfall
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Kraaaaaargh!!”
Thud! Thump!! Boom!!
It tried to stand, only to collapse, then rose again and fell once more.
Each time, it slammed into the ground with deafening crashes, yet it still got back up.
The Mad Dragon—Cloy—held a sword, but he was no longer human.
The hand gripping the blade had claws as sharp as a beast’s, and his limbs were covered in black-and-red scales like those of the Mad Dragon.
He had been under the Mad Dragon’s dominion for far too long.
His mind corrupted, and now further eroded by the archbishop’s demonic energy.
‘Such immense power.’
Even with my sanctuary deployed, I couldn’t control the Mad Dragon’s movements through gravity.
Blood sprayed and bones shattered like a rampaging beast, yet it exuded overwhelming murderous intent, baring claws and fangs.
Having devoured the Spirit Stone and Reverse Scale, my holy power was at full capacity.
I could keep clashing head-on like this, but my sword’s condition was poor.
As time passed, the cracks in the Tyrant’s Sword—Karakto—were accelerating, unable to withstand the output.
Time favored the Mad Dragon.
In that case.
“First, one arm.”
The Mad Dragon’s frenzy stemmed partly from the demonic energy, but more fundamentally from the Mad Dragon Sword.
Severing the arm holding the sword would cut off its primary source of power.
Dealing with the demonic erosion could come after. Forcing it to drop the sword took priority.
Bam!
Clang!
“Kraaaaaagh!!”
“Tch.”
The scales were too tough.
Even infusing the Tyrant’s Sword with the Sword Aura of Peaceful Annihilation yielded not so much as a scratch.
The blade had been repelled.
To slice through scales like those would require a Master Blade, the authority of a master.
I’d need to manifest sword force.
‘That’s beyond me.’
So, I had no choice but to target elsewhere.
This was the sanctuary of the Tyrant’s Sword—Karakto.
I had to make maximum use of that.
“Hoo.”
The Mad Dragon’s murderous intent sent chills through my entire body.
However, it hadn’t yet adapted to the Tyrant’s Sword gravity.
Its movements were still labored; it couldn’t swing the sword as it wished.
This was my only chance.
Not every part of its body was covered in scales. Getting too close was dangerous, so first, the thigh.
Slash!
The Mad Dragon’s roar threatened to burst my eardrums.
A mere graze on the thigh, and it overreacted dramatically.
“Not bad.”
I’d sliced the left thigh.
Added to the existing gravity field, the thigh’s weight had increased tenfold.
Even for the Mad Dragon, adapting to the sudden added mass wouldn’t be easy.
And.
The Tyrant’s Sword sanctuary offered more than that.
“Gravity release.”
Whiiiine—
Gravity released.
The Mad Dragon’s body floated up lightly. Its bewilderment was plain.
Immediately after, I reapplied gravity.
Boom!!
Then released it again.
“Kyaaaaargh!”
When I released gravity once more, it charged at me this time like a bolt of lightning, refusing to fall for it again.
“Release.”
Whoosh.
It floated, but the trick didn’t work.
The Mad Dragon kicked off the air in that instant.
Bang! As the air rippled and its sword closed in on my face.
I curled the corner of my mouth and said.
“Reverse.”
Kwaaaaa!
The Mad Dragon shot up into the sky.
And again.
“Crush it.”
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!
A true tyrant.
The power of a true tyrant.
“Grrrrrr.”
But the Mad Dragon was no pushover.
From some point on, it began resisting the gravity.
No—perhaps it was growing accustomed.
With beast-like instincts, it sensed the gravity releases and reversals, devising countermeasures.
Bulging its muscles or relaxing them.
As if evolving mid-battle, it seemed to comprehend the sanctuary’s gravity manipulation.
Truly astounding.
“However, I anticipated this.”
Absurd, but I had expected as much. If it couldn’t handle this, it wouldn’t be the Mad Dragon that even the kingdom couldn’t slay.
Kallias closed his eyes.
In an instant, the holy power emanating from his entire body surged explosively.
Its purity had changed as well.
「Constitution」 - 『Bone Fusion』 and [Big Eater] dramatically boosted the absorption rate of the Spirit Stone and Reverse Scale.
He temporarily wielded the Spirit Stone’s pure power in its raw form, amplified it further with the Reverse Scale’s might, and enhanced his physical abilities.
Whooooom.
Ripples spread fiercely around Kallias like waves.
That was when it happened.
Thud!
The scope of Kallias’s sanctuary began expanding steadily.
It stretched even beyond the audience chamber in the royal palace.
From the palace’s heart to its outskirts.
He had massively expanded the sanctuary’s range.
Kallias spat up blood in a surge.
Yet he didn’t stop.
He couldn’t stop.
“Gather.”
At his command, the Mad Dragon—impaled on his sword tip—floated into the air.
The more it thrashed in midair, the more blood poured from Kallias’s mouth and eyes.
But soon, its resistance waned.
Shattered debris and rocks gathered around the Mad Dragon, beginning to bind it.
Thud! Thump! Boom!!
Rocks drawn by intense gravity smashed into the Mad Dragon with thunderous roars.
They struck and fused into bindings simultaneously.
Pummeled relentlessly and trapped in stone, the Mad Dragon couldn’t so much as twitch a finger.
Yet Kallias remained vigilant.
Even now, it would soon unleash its power and shatter everything.
Kallias lifted the massive, sphere-like form high into the sky.
Higher and higher still.
Like stars twinkling in the night sky.
To the very ends of the heavens.
There, it resembled another moon.
And.
“Moonfall.”
The moon plummeted.
* * *
Slash!
A redhead riding shadows, slicing ankles to topple soldiers, then seizing throats from behind.
Helena wiped blood from her cheek and scanned her surroundings.
No matter how many she killed, the enemy numbers didn’t dwindle. In the distance, Esther fought with tear-streaked fury, while the other captain-level knights swung their swords in uncontained rage.
The Empire’s invasion.
The nobles’ rebellion.
Sadder still, the assassination of Sullivian.
Her death was the kingdom’s sorrow.
Shock turned to grief, tears to rage.
And that rage had one target.
The Empire and rebels before them didn’t yield easily.
Helena tallied the situation calmly as she slew foes.
‘The number teleported in is limited.’
Teleportation’s limit was holy power capacity.
Under finite holy power, the number of teleportees was fixed.
Even sacred relics weren’t omnipotent.
From checking every shadow, Helena had counted.
‘Four masters. Twenty captains. About a hundred soldiers.’
Plus three thousand rebels.
Enough to overrun the palace.
‘Fortunately, the kingdom’s powerhouses were gathered here in force.’
Otherwise, they couldn’t have held out this long.
The enemy likely aimed to decapitate the kingdom’s key forces via surprise, but by luck or otherwise, several palace relics malfunctioned.
A boon the kingdom couldn’t hope for more.
Yet compared to the Empire, the kingdom’s forces fell short—an undeniable fact. Holding out was all they could do.
Moreover.
‘The Mad Dragon went to where the queen is. Can’t confirm due to the sanctuary, but the power waves suggest they’re fighting fiercely.’
Master-versus-master clashes were even.
‘No Fire Demon, so Victor, Gerald, the Pope, Rebidden.’
Guardian Sword Victor.
Judgment’s Gerald.
Whirling Sword Philiche.
Black Knight Rebidden.
Four without the Fire Demon, matching the Empire’s four masters.
Captains were outnumbered below that but holding somehow.
Kingdom’s trumps versus Empire’s.
For reasons unknown, the gap wasn’t wide.
But one headache loomed above all calculations.
‘The Mad Dragon.’
Whether it was subdued would decide the kingdom’s fate.
Its power was said to rival a master’s...
“Huh?”
As she pondered joining the Mad Dragon herself.
Whooooom—!!
A sudden overwhelming pressure crushed the entire palace.
“Urk! What is...”
Some master’s sanctuary?
How could it cover such a vast area? Her knees hit the ground amid the thought.
The other troops fared no better.
Soldiers collapsed pathetically, unable to endure; only knights barely held.
Immense pressure.
Helena couldn’t fathom what force this was.
No one in the kingdom wielded such power, she knew, so she assumed an unaccounted Empire master.
As the kingdom’s outlook darkened.
Stone fragments began slowly rising from beneath her feet.
The intense pressure vanished simultaneously.
“Hah. Hoo... What in the world.”
Like magic, tiny pebbles to massive boulders floated into the air, converging in one spot.
That spot: the king’s audience chamber in the palace.
Shattering stone walls, they gathered until the palace roof burst open and a colossal sphere rose into the sky.
It ascended heavenward with a massive roar.
Helena, gazing up instinctively, saw a twinkling star.
“A star...? No?”
The “star” grew larger.
It didn’t twinkle.
A giant boulder hovered over the palace. Soon, it began plummeting downward.
“E... Everyone, evade!!”
Kwaaaaaaaa—!!
Scorching heat spread in an instant.
Fierce winds erupted.
Helena seized the fighting Esther and fled.
Far, far away.
Only after running a good distance.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!
The fallen monolith exploded.
Boom! Thump! Crash!!
“Guh!”
“Owww...”
While fleeing with Esther in her arms.
The meteor-impact shockwave sent them tumbling far before they stopped.
“The palace...”
The rock wasn’t that huge, but its effects were devastating. The palace was half-destroyed.
Towers crumbled from the shock.
In one clash, the kingdom’s pride—the palace—lay in ruins.
“What in the...”
“Not bad, but... kinda bad too... Not sure.”
Staring at the suddenly ruined palace, Esther and Helena were at a loss.
The random meteor was one thing, but good or ill was hard to gauge.
The impact site was near where Golras’s palanquin had fallen, dealing heavier losses to the Empire forces than allies.
Sorting thoughts briefly, Helena and Esther dashed toward the meteor site. Checking the king’s status was priority.
Even with masters there, such shock might not spare him.
Slicing through remaining Empire troops en route.
They encountered other Empire knights midway.
They seemed intent on checking the situation rather than fighting, just running.
Arriving at the collapsed audience chamber.
Helena and Esther’s hearts sank.
Because there.
“Ah...”
Stood Kallias, heart pierced by the Mad Dragon Sword.