Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Flames of Boitra Forest
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Crunch.
The groan of the dragonkin with its head pinned underfoot echoed across the battlefield, where the heat had begun to cool.
“Grrgh……!”
“This lizard twitching around is really disgusting.”
The imperial princess’s gaze, filled with loathing, stabbed down at him as his limbs and tail thrashed in spasms.
As she lifted her foot, he sprang up frantically to charge, only to be blocked by the knights. Spears pierced his legs and torso.
“Grrk.” Frothing blood, he couldn’t hold back his agony, but his mouth opened with effort.
“Though... my power was insufficient and I was captured! Soon, our tribe’s chieftain will pierce and tear out that wench’s heart!”
“Who’s the chieftain.”
“Pillomatur! Our tribe’s young and mighty warrior! You lot won’t escape the swamps…….”
Crack!
The Principality’s lady, Rebecca, who had been watching from behind, swung her mace, pulverizing not just his head but his entire body into minced meat.
“Do you have to do it like that?”
“The God of the Mace, Radon, decreed it. Only by swinging does purification occur.”
Such was their doctrine.
Where the mace struck, sins vanished—that was the Principality’s mercy.
The imperial princess clicked her tongue at the mace’s bizarre creed.
The Principality was truly full of madmen.
“Anyway, things have gotten quite tricky.”
“Indeed. What was that? Those nets suddenly poured down everywhere.”
“……Probably some kind of divine art.”
The imperial princess’s eyebrow arched.
“I’ve never heard of divine arts wielding such power. Unless channeled through sacred stones, maybe. Against mere lizards?”
They couldn’t possibly have that many sacred stones.
“Must’ve been someone else. Using a method we don’t know.”
She was pressing him.
Asking if it was his doing.
“Then it must be the work of an accomplice.”
The lady smiled coolly and brushed it off.
“Tch, this is getting annoying.”
The imperial princess clicked her tongue and scanned the forest.
The terrain was already riddled with swamps everywhere, making advances difficult.
And it was cramped.
Swinging spears was quite hard.
Those with short spears managed somewhat, but even they struggled to move once in the swamps, making it a hassle.
The basics of martial arts stemmed from the lower body, but with swamps sprawling in all directions, even that was impossible.
This was perfectly their domain.
A battlefield favorable to them.
‘Our casualties are worse than expected.’
Over a hundred soldiers dead, dozens of knights killed or wounded.
“My soldiers have taken heavy losses.”
But the Principality’s forces were mostly unscathed. They had stayed in the rear.
“This time, we’ll take the lead. Spears are no good in forests anyway—maces are better.”
Unlike spears snagging on the forest, a mace could smash through obstacles and press on.
The Principality’s troops would shine here more than the Imperials.
Telling her own soldiers had died was as good as telling the lady to take point.
But one thing nagged.
“Boitra Forest is vast.”
She didn’t know where they were hiding.
They were pursuing, but if they had set more traps and ambushes like before, another humiliation awaited.
“So we need to hurry. If we let them slip, we’ll waste more time and resources.”
“We should be cautious. If he’s waiting with more divine art traps, that’s dangerous in itself.”
They didn’t know the forest’s layout.
Blind pursuit without knowing solid ground from swamps could turn this into a prolonged war, wearing them down instead.
Getting bested by mere lizards was unacceptable for the Empire and Principality.
They needed certainty.
Moreover, this was Boitra Forest.
A bizarre woodland where the dead and rotten hadn’t vanished but formed swamps and woods.
Caution was essential.
“We should be a bit more careful…….”
Mid-sentence, the imperial princess cut her off.
“Burn it.”
“Princess? Boitra Forest connects to other woods. One mistake, and the whole region could go up in flames. Besides, with all the swamps, it won’t burn easily.”
As if she’d forgotten such obvious facts and ordered it anyway.
Boitra Forest was damp.
Not winter anymore—full spring was approaching.
The thawed earth brimmed with moisture, and the overlaying forest and swamps were the same.
‘As expected, Her Imperial Highness is a bit empty-headed…….’
Just as she smirked inwardly,
“If it won’t burn, the smoke will.”
“……I see.”
“And we didn’t come empty-handed.”
As the princess finished, soldiers dragged carts forward as if on cue.
“What’s that?”
Inside the oak barrels was pitch-black powder.
“Charcoal?”
“Pulverized charcoal. Infused with the Empire’s divine arts. Nothing special about it, but.”
It could burn this forest.
“When did you…….”
“I ordered it brought when we learned it was a forest. They’re no pushovers.”
Unlike her usual temperament, her handling was meticulous.
And ruthless, sparing no means for her goals.
‘No ordinary person could handle her, whoever ends up with her…….’
No one could manage her.
“What are you waiting for? Burn it.”
The forest began to burn.
Raging flames reflected in the princess’s eyes, blazing fiercely.
Her red lips curved into a smile.
* * *
Bow.
“Truly, thank you.”
“That’s life, isn’t it? Helping here and there like this.”
“But that one…….”
Aldu, with his chin beard braided long like twin pigtails, recalled the unease he’d felt for hours.
‘Why the honorifics toward Serena, Pillomatur, or Kallias?’
He’d sensed it since Serena chased after Kallias.
Sensitive to the earth’s tremors, and as dwarves dwelled underground, he felt the great army approaching and rendezvoused with Serena outside the village. From then, her attitude felt off.
They weren’t usually so polite. Elf Selena, from noble blood, saw non-elves as beneath her.
Not malice—just her upbringing.
And Pillomatur was the type who’d never swallowed politeness.
Even toward an elder like Aldu, he’d been rude at first sight, yet now he spoke so cautiously.
Even using formal speech.
Aldu felt oddly slighted but didn’t show it.
“A new comrade.”
“Comrade…….”
Serena fidgeted restlessly, but no one noticed—their attention was fixed on Kallias.
Fairies’ radiant lights encircled him at one corner of the cave.
“I’ve felt it since yesterday—this place has quite a few fairies.”
Frankly, they were dense clusters of fairy power, hard to call true fairies.
Drawn like magnets, they swirled around Kallias’s body.
His surroundings glowed even in the dark dawn, appearing almost divine.
Some dragonkin trembled in fear at Kallias, others wept in awe.
“Pardon, are you the forest’s lord?”
“This one is…….”
As Serena stepped forward to speak, Kallias stopped her.
“Just a pilgrim.”
Understanding his intent, Serena stepped back silently.
“Then those divine auras…….”
“Merely borrowed fairy power. Nothing special.”
Pillomatur cleared his throat, thinking that alone was extraordinary.
“Ahem. On behalf of the tribe, I offer thanks. You minimized our losses and decimated the foe.”
“It was incidental.”
No lie.
He’d just gained fairy power and wanted to test its potency combined with divine arts.
The effect was superb.
With sacred stones, the power would’ve been greater.
The Three Scriptures amplified via relic potential and efficiency.
‘What I used was the Fallen God’s Carcass.’
He’d merely used the fallen god’s scattered weapons he’d collected.
Maces in swamps, spears hidden in the ground.
Detonated simultaneously via ritual—the Three Scriptures’ Net Sermon.
Net Sermon: “net” for mesh, “sermon” for teaching.
Teaching via net.
Roughly that.
‘As written in Sullivian’s Book, the Artifact Scripture excels in burst power with low resource cost.’
With time, it allowed simultaneous rituals, versatile depending on use. Of course, flaws too.
Power varied wildly by relic value, and preparation took time. Engraving rituals on relics was tedious and lengthy.
Stronger than nature-based Heaven Scripture, though.
‘Ranking by strength: Human - Artifact - Heaven?’
Pros and cons clear.
For balanced power, efficiency, speed: Heaven.
For sustained overwhelming force despite time: Artifact.
‘For ultimate power at body’s cost: Human.’
Body as sacrifice: Human Scripture.
Top power and speed, but heavy toll.
Urgent: Heaven.
Prepared battle: mix Artifact, save Human for last resort.
On this pilgrimage, Kallias had delved into Sullivian’s Book for divine arts.
The Pope’s secret technique.
To master the Phantasm Array.
Sullivian’s Book, her true legacy, held the Phantasm Array ritual.
But still inscrutable to Kallias.
‘Truthfully, my divine arts were too weak to be practical.’
Divine arts were sensitive to faith quality. Sullivian’s reconstructed arts had immense potential, but as a novice, wielding them was hard.
He’d only tested on bandits before, but fairy power tripled the output.
Confirming Sullivian-style arts anew, Kallias closed the book and faced the onlookers.
“We absolutely cannot abandon this place. To we dragonkin, Boitra Forest is a natural fortress.”
A debate raged.
“But elder, geographic advantage aside—the Empire, Principality forces, their momentum and numbers are no joke. No reason to cling here.”
“We cannot.”
The elders were adamant.
Kallias snorted involuntarily.
“Stubborn fools.”
“!”
They glared.
Others might’ve been berated, but they’d witnessed his divinity.
“What matters if you die? Your precious tribe, your cherished forest—all meaningless without dragonkin. Just land, woods, lives.”
Survival first.
That was Kallias’s point.
“Who are you to……!”
“Does who I am matter? Securing your survival does.”
Live to roll in mud.
Honor guarded in death means nothing if no one remembers.
“Where would we displaced folk go?”
“Anywhere. Earth everywhere, sky boundless. Bridges to anywhere with will, eyes to see all—why hesitate.”
Elders swallowed hard.
‘Sharp tongue.’
‘Not ordinary.’
‘Words of eons.’
The dragonkin elders wilted.
All chieftains themselves.
Pillomatur straightened, watching.
“First…….”
As he spoke,
His gaze lifted skyward.
“Ch-Chief!”
“Damn…….”
The forest burned.
Raging inferno consumed by heat, thick black smoke blotting the sky.
As if declaring encirclement. Black smoke rose omnidirectionally; elders sighed.
“They mean to burn the whole forest!”
Flames uncontrollable now.
Roaring to devour every swamp, beyond quenching with mere water.
“…….”
Despair gripped the dragonkin.
Even Serena and Aldu, who’d come to aid, hardened their faces—then,
“Stoking the forest’s wrath.”
Hearing Kallias’s murmur, Serena sensed a change.
The fairy lights swirling by him had vanished.