Chapter 532: Omen (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 532: Omen (1)
The moment Jin decided to help Sword Emperor Castle, his first move was to find the 4th Flagbearer, Dipus, and request protection for Tikan.
Next, using information from the Seven-Colored Bird, he sent Murakan and Quicantel to the Imperial Palace to free the captive Dragon Knights. Meanwhile, Dante had already dispatched the Five Sword Saints of Hairan to liberate the Ancestor Dragons. Their eventual convergence was inevitable.
“Hairan Dragon Knights, we have come to defend Sword Emperor Castle!”
As the Dragon Knight Leader, Kalmain Aita, bellowed his cry, thirty Ancestor Dragons roared in unison.
Murakan and Quicantel, taking their positions on the flanks of the Dragon Knight formation, unleashed their own roars.
The mere release of their energy triggered shockwaves that distorted the very sky around them.
The Sword Saints stood atop the five lead Ancestor Dragons, flanking Kalmain on his personal mount.
The pure white coats symbolizing the Hairan Sword Saints shone like stars in the dark, living up to their name.
Compared to the enemy reinforcements, their numbers were certainly small.
Zipple had over ten visible flying ships and nearly twenty dragons. There wasn't a single lower-tier breed like a Red Dragon among them; they were all high-tier species.
And what of the mages stationed upon those ships and dragons?
The banners of elite forces like the White Night were visible, and they might even include the Wraith Squad—the ultra-elite secret mages still hidden from the public eye.
It was highly likely that even this wasn't the full extent of their forces.
Nevertheless, for the knights of Hairan, the mere sight of the Five Sword Saints and the Dragon Knights was enough to make their hearts swell and bring tears to their eyes.
Even with Ron still unconscious in his sickbed, the fact that Hairan’s greatest knights and Jin Runcandel were standing together forged a courage as tempered as steel within their hearts.
Murakan and Quicantel moved to the front, glaring at the enemy.
In that moment, everyone on the battlefield saw it clearly: the Zipple dragons flinched, unmistakably terrified of Murakan.
Among the Zipple reinforcements were dragons who had personally experienced half of Murakan’s true power at the Gaifa Archipelago.
But even those who hadn't lived through that nightmare were no exception.
There wasn't a dragon in the world who didn't know the fame of the Murakan of old. Even the young dragons born after Murakan fell into his long slumber had spent their lives hearing his legends.
[I am Murakan, the one who slaughters the enemies of Solderet.]
A bleak yet majestic voice weighed down upon the battlefield.
The Zipple dragons halted their advance entirely, their eyes fixed on Murakan.
The mages on their backs grew frantic as they felt their mounts trembling in terror.
[Therefore, if you do not wish to become an enemy of Solderet, dragons, leave this battlefield at once.]
Murakan spoke as if Jin stood on equal footing with Solderet himself, defining Jin's enemies as Solderet's enemies.
This was unspeakably shocking to both the dragons and the mages.
In their common understanding, no contractor or guardian dragon in the world could ever place a human on the same level as a god.
Yet, no one dared to rebuke Murakan’s words. There was only a silence that lasted for about ten seconds.
The dragons didn't flee, despite being driven mad with fear, for one reason: Zipple was behind them. They were backed by the world's greatest clan, a power that seemed impossible to topple.
[You have made your choice.]
Vroooooom—!
Murakan’s wings expanded to a gigantic size, surging with spirit energy. The night sky grew even darker with the alien shadows of his power, and whirlpools that spread like poison obscured the moon and stars.
[The price for that is death.]
No sooner had Murakan finished speaking than piercing screams erupted from Zipple’s aerial formation.
[Kyaaaaah!]
[Kaaack...!]
They were the screams of dragons.
Simultaneously, the thunderous sounds of flying ships breaking and exploding began to spread.
“Dammit, suddenly from behind...!”
“Deploy the shields!”
“Block it! Block it!”
The domain Murakan controlled with his spirit energy wasn't limited to the space around him. He had already seized control of the entire airspace above the Zipple and Imperial forces.
Spirit energy is a silent authority.
Unlike other powers such as aura or mana, spirit energy could take control of its surroundings without revealing its presence at all.
Zipple scrambled to block the spikes of spirit energy attacking from the rear, but that wasn't all.
Kwaaaaaah—!
A black breath tore through the sky, surging toward Zipple’s front.
“Scatter!”
The Zipple fleet split to the left and right. It was an attempt to evade Murakan’s breath by dispersing, but in their terror, they had forgotten the Silver Dragon standing beside him.
Kiiiiing!
With a sharp, resonant hum, a silver ripple began to spread from Quicantel’s forehead.
That power, expanding in a massive sphere, was the Authority of Time.
Murakan and Quicantel.
The dragons who remembered the era when the two were lovers knew exactly what happened when the powers of shadow and time met.
Intimidation and destruction.
To face the darkness of shadow while unable to move even a finger made one crave death instead.
“The hull has stopped... Gack, ugh!”
“My arm, my—my arm...!”
[Murakan! Is there a reason to go this far... Aaaaaagh!]
Murakan did not kill the enemies trapped by the power of time instantly.
He toyed with them, ensuring they felt every ounce of pain. For those who dared to remain enemies of Solderet despite his warning, a peaceful death was a luxury.
The sky filled with blood and screams.
The enemies fighting on the ground found themselves staring up with vacant eyes, and even the allies felt goosebumps at the overwhelming display.
The fleet was composed of the mass-produced ships that had been stationed at the Sota Desert.
Those mass-produced ships, of which Jin had personally seen over a hundred, had not yet been revealed to the world.
Thus, both the Imperial Army and the Hairan knights had trembled at the sight of the fleet.
But now, they felt that no matter how many more of those flying ships there were, they could never overcome the power of Murakan and Quicantel.
‘Can this even be called a fight?’
‘Isn't this... more like a punishment...!’
Just as they thought, Zipple’s fleet was being shattered, its initial majesty rendered utterly meaningless.
They couldn't even dream of counterattacking; they were too busy trying to push back the Authority of Time and frantically deploying shields.
Still, Zipple was Zipple.
The White Night was a unit considered the most elite, second only to the Wraith Squad. Some of them were slowly breaking free from the Authority of Time and attempting to strike back.
“Form the Chain Magic Circle!”
“This is the extent of their power anyway! Hold on! In the end, victory will be ours!”
If Murakan had regained all his power instead of just half, they wouldn't have dared to spout such nonsense.
The current Murakan was certainly formidable, but the Zipple forces didn't lose hope. They were certain that even if they took heavy losses, they would ultimately win.
Even if they met their deaths as individuals, they were convinced that the massive power known as Zipple would eventually crush their enemies.
“Hold out until the main force arrives!”
“We can’t hit the Black Dragon and Silver Dragon directly! Instead, take as many Hairan knights with you as possible before you die!”
“Fleet, aim all batteries at the ground!”
While struggling against the spirit energy and the power of time, they couldn't possibly land a blow on Murakan and Quicantel from that distance.
So, the Zipple commanders changed targets, aiming for the ground forces instead.
It was a cowardly but effective tactic, born from the certainty that a man like Jin Runcandel would never abandon his allies. They expected him to order his dragons to fall back and defend.
However, the Zipple commanders had overlooked one crucial fact: to execute a plan, one needs the power to do so.
“A good judgment, but I don't think you'll have the luxury for that.”
The moment Jin spoke, a deep blue barrier spread like an umbrella over the entire ground encampment of Sword Emperor Castle.
The Mage of Time, Enya.
From the walls of Sword Emperor Castle, she had deployed the Dragon Fire Barrier—the essence of ultimate defense magic and the legacy of Chukon Tolderer.
Enya’s barrier, which enveloped the entire front of Sword Emperor Castle, proved worthy of the name Dragon Fire Barrier.
The breaths that the Zipple dragons managed to squeeze out simply vanished upon impact, and the mages’ mana beams could not pierce the shield.
The Dragon Fire Barrier of the Great Mage of Anz, Chukon Tolderer—the current version was even stronger and more perfect than when he had deployed it himself during his lifetime.
No matter how much of a genius Enya was, it was impossible for her to surpass Chukon’s mana in just a few years.
The reason Enya’s Dragon Fire Barrier was being maintained with mana that far exceeded Chukon’s prime was thanks to a single sacred object in Tikan’s possession.
The Mirror.
Because it contained a power that could destroy the world, Jin had always kept the sacred object at a distance, unlike the Zipple of his previous life.
But to save his friend and his people, he felt he had to borrow a bit of that power.
“U-uwaaaah! There’s—there’s too much mana! The—the control is...!”
“Hey! You idiot, get it together! Do you have time to be babbling nonsense? Focus! If you mess up, you die, I die, and all those knights down there die too! Got it? Is that how I taught you? Huh?! Keep your eyes open! Don't space out! Bind the mana at Point 4, or you’re dead, seriously!”
The one shouting curses and providing advice to Enya was none other than Beris. Though her body had lost its mana, she was still a genius theorist of combat magic and an exceptional veteran of war.
“Y-Yes! Master!”
“An attack is coming at Point 2! Bind it with Point 3 and block it!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
A barrier of infinite mana was supporting Sword Emperor Castle.
Jin watched the Zipple spells shatter against it and let out a cold smile.
“Ah, since your calculations were wrong, I suppose it wasn't a good judgment after all. Zipple, once again, you will not get what you desire...”
The Ancestor Dragons carrying the Dragon Knight Leader and the Sword Saints of Hairan began to charge toward the Zipple forces.
“Forgive our late arrival, our fellow Hairan.”
“From this moment on, we shall prove it together. The sword of Hairan does not break.”
Kalmain, the Dragon Knight Leader, and Luyan, the head of the Sword Saints, spoke as the Sword Saints drew their blades in unison.
Imperial Sword Secret Technique: Sky Piercing Slash – Sword Saint
Imperial Sword Secret Technique: Imperial Rush – Dragon
Then, five streaks of Sky Piercing Slash and the Dragon Knight Leader’s personal secret technique lit up the night sky, carving through the enemy.