Chapter 327
Chapter 327
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 327
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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“Stop! Dukoko! Stop it!”
“Shut up! Dagugu’s too hungry to use its strength!”
Crack…
Crrrack…
Dozens of moles tumbled into the monster’s maw. The sight was utterly grotesque.
“Groooaaar… Groooaaar…”
Dagugu’s size had now grown to the point where even Kang Seol’s group couldn’t ignore it.
Crack…
Crrrackle…
Cracks began to spiderweb across the floor.
“This is bad… Hey, mole, this is ice…”
KABOOM-!
Kang Seol and Bron, along with Dukoko, Dagugu, and the rest of the moles, plummeted into the depths of the ravine.
Scraaaape!
“Aaack!”
Scraaaaape!
“Ugh…”
No sooner had they hit the ground than the next layer shattered beneath them.
Crrunch!
Crrraaaunch!
“Fall on that fat bastard!”
“Good idea!”
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
Screeeee…
KABOOOOOM-!
They plunged into the deepest part of the Tomb of Breaths. Night Raven and Bron used Dagugu’s massively swollen belly as a cushion to absorb the impact of the fall.
Whirrrl…
Sizzle…
Bron and Night Raven flipped backward, retreating.
“Damn it! Eat them already, Dagugu!”
“Groooaaar… Groooaaar…”
Bron glanced at Dukoko for a moment and froze. As the ice shards settled, their surroundings came into view.
There stood the army of the frozen Glacier Fang.
They appeared to have been in the midst of battle, their faces vivid and expressive, all staring in the same direction.
And in that direction… there was nothing.
Kang Seol and Jamad, puzzled by this, asked.
“What were they all looking at?”
“…Me.”
“……”
“I was there.”
While Bron and Night Raven observed from a distance, Dagugu continued devouring the moles.
“Come here! You lot! This is the only way to win!”
“Over there!”
“Squeeeak!”
It was a scene that perfectly showcased the moles’ cowardice.
Uncharacteristically for him, Bron fumbled in his pouch and pulled something out.
A blue crystal, given to him by Madria before they arrived here.
Crack-!
Whooooosh…
“Rise, warriors. I… have returned…”
……
But even after invoking Madria’s sorcery, there was no response.
“Bron.”
“…Yeah.”
“It failed.”
“…Looks that way.”
Buuuurp…
Dagugu belched and turned toward them.
Now an enormous mass, it dispatched the mole soldiers on its own and showed no further interest in the others, apparently sated.
“Squeak… Squeeeak!”
“Dagugu’s scary…”
Seeming to grasp the situation, Dukoko mocked Bron.
“Hee hee hee squeak! What were you expecting? Huh? Troll! Hee hee hee… Are you an idiot?!”
“Yeah, I was an idiot. …I thought they’d all come back.”
“It’s been so long! Lord Irizard has become far greater than back then! I am Lord Irizard’s faithful servant! I’ll stuff you all into Dagugu’s—”
Bron wasn’t listening to Dukoko. The air and temperature here had transported him back to that ancient battle.
- Stop! What are you doing, Bron! Stop! Not yet…
- There’s no other way. Most of my sorcery’s already been corrupted. If this continues, we’ll all lose our bodies to Irizard.
- Then die! Dying doesn’t scare me!
- You’re right, dying isn’t scary. But… everything ends. We’ll become his puppets, stripped of our minds.
- …What do you plan to do?
- To defeat Irizard, we need our power. Someday… someone from the tribe will come to awaken us. Until then… sleep, warriors.
- …Someday for sure?
- Trust in the Glacier Fang. The Glacier Fang never loses.
- No, I don’t believe in that.
The last words of the Glacier Fang’s warrior chief, Skola, reached Bron’s ears as he faded away.
- I’ll trust your judgment. Like always.
Fwoooom-!
The sound of Night Raven soaring like a kite with its string cut.
Thud-!
Screech…
He skidded to regain his footing, but his elbow ached from blocking the attack.
“Bron, there has to be another way.”
“…Yeah.”
Bron stared for a moment at Skola’s wide-open eyes, and a strange energy emanated from him.
Splash…
The sound of rushing water.
“…Bron?”
“Hee hee hee hee squeak! Loser! Loser! Offer your neck meekly! Dukoko deserves praise!”
Splash…
Spla-a-ash…
Something that sounded exactly like waves echoed through the space.
‘This is…’
- It’s dangerous, Kang Seol.
It was Bron’s doing.
Even Kang Seol and Jamad were stunned as an immense waterfall’s power gathered toward him.
There was sound, but the scenery remained unchanged.
“Th-this is weird… What’s that noise?”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be. Can you all swim?”
“Swim?”
Bron extended both arms horizontally, palms facing upward.
“You’ve all worked hard getting here. Now drown.”
[Bron uses ultimate skill: Waterfall Sorcery: Flood.]
[A massive amount of water fills the space.]
[All waterfall sorceries can now be used underwater.]
SPLAAAAAASH-!
An enormous volume of water erupted around Bron in an instant.
“Squeak! Squeeeeeak!”
“Water! It’s water!”
“Save me! Save me! I hate water!”
“Scary, water!”
The moles were helplessly swept away by the flood.
Even Dukoko and Dagugu were no exception.
True to its nature as the deepest part of the Tomb of Breaths, the structure prevented drainage. The water rose swiftly to near Dukoko’s burrow level.
“Squeeeak!”
The moles on the outskirts fled for their lives, but the massive Dagugu and Dukoko atop it couldn’t escape.
Dukoko racked his brain to escape the crisis.
His eyes caught Night Raven standing on a floating ice floe far away.
Kang Seol and Jamad had improvised against the flood.
Dukoko tried to use sorcery to form his own floating ice, just like them.
Crackle…
“Huh? This…”
Crackle…
His sorcery wouldn’t sustain.
Bron smirked.
Seeing that smile, Dukoko realized it was all Bron’s work.
Swoooosh…
Clench-!
As Bron clenched his fist, arrows formed in the water.
They all embedded into Dagugu’s body.
Pfft!
Pfft pfft pfft!
The spot where they floated quickly turned red.
“Squeeeeeeee!”
“Dagugu! Don’t thrash! If you do this…”
“Squeeee! Squeeee!”
“Let go! Let me goooo! You don’t mean…”
Crunch crunch crunch…
Dagugu shoved Dukoko into its mouth and chewed him up. A final act of gluttony, perhaps.
[You have defeated the vile Dukoko.]
A message appeared to Kang Seol on the ice floe.
Gurgle…
And much later, another message.
[You have defeated the gluttonous Dagugu.]
Spla-a-ash…
Night Raven maneuvered the ice floe toward Bron, who lay on his back staring upward.
Spla-a-ash…
The water kept rising.
The moles were completely submerged now, and using more power would be excessive.
“Stop it, Bron.”
“Oh, right.”
Swoooosh…
The taut sorcery subsided. Now, only the gentle lapping of water could be heard.
They observed the silence for a moment.
“Was it pathetic?”
“Even more pathetic than I expected.”
“Khuk khuk! I knew it! Couldn’t hold back the anger, huh.”
“Who are you angry at?”
“Myself. Failed so spectacularly, didn’t I? Casually unleashing alchemy and talking about preparing for the future.”
“There was never much chance of success to begin with.”
“…Harsh critique.”
Night Raven looked into Bron’s pained eyes.
“But it was the one path worth trying.”
“…How do you know?”
“That’s why they all had those expressions.”
“……”
Kang Seol and Jamad could observe the frozen soldiers here.
Faces staring at one spot, seeing one possibility. Their gazes were so intense they pierced through even the ice.
“They trusted me… and I couldn’t repay them.”
“If every trust was repaid, the world would be a better place.”
“Khuk khuk khuk… Yeah? Just… a common thing, huh?”
“Let’s head back, Bron. We need to prepare for what’s next.”
Splash…
Bron climbed onto the ice floe and said.
“Yeah, no intention of crumbling here.”
“Got a next plan?”
“Of course! Though the basis is even shakier than this one.”
“Shakier than this? Then it’s useless, isn’t it?”
“Hahaha, is it? Sounds like it now that you say… Listen, next is…”
Bubble…
A bubble suddenly rose from the depths.
Bron and Night Raven stopped talking.
“Disgusting vermin… Still not dead.”
“Moles seemed to hate water.”
“Khuk khuk… Most can’t swim.”
Bubble…
A second bubble.
They no longer thought it was a mole’s dying breath.
“Bron…”
“Yeah… I see…”
They peered into the water.
Crack…
Crrrack…
Frost formed from the bottom of the depths, creating stairs.
No, footsteps.
Someone was walking up from underwater.
“…It’s freezing over.”
“……”
Spla-a-ash…
Finally, a giant emerged from the water.
“Haaa… Haaa…”
A being that stepped out of the water and walked atop it.
Surprisingly, floating ice formed with each step, keeping him from sinking.
Crrrack…
Crrrack…
In one hand, he held something.
The corpse of a drowned mole.
Crunch crunch crunch…
He tore into the mole’s flesh savagely with his tusks.
Rip…
Rip…
His eyes met Bron’s.
“Hey, there’s some dazed pup here.”
Spla-a-ash…
Another being emerged from the water. Unlike the first, his attire was neat. Miraculously, not a drop had wet his clothes.
“Really?”
“Yeah, we can ask this one. Don’t like his eyes, so kill him first then ask?”
“You idiot Skola! Dead men don’t answer. Get the answer first, then kill.”
“Oh, right.”
Thud…
Thud…
Skola approached Bron.
He crudely stretched and squished his own face with his hand.
“Eyebrows like this, eyes like that… nose like so…”
“……”
“Yeah, seen any old guy looking just like you? Beard would be pretty distinctive.”
Bron pretended to think for a moment.
“Hmm… Afraid not.”
“I see… That’s weird… Then I’ll ask again.”
Skola thrust his face right up to Bron’s nose.
“You Bron?”
That instant.
Crrrack…
Crrraaaack crack crack!
The depths began to freeze, and bursting sounds echoed from all around. Elite Glacier Fang soldiers climbed endlessly onto the ice.
Bron answered.
“Yeah, returned from beyond death.”
“…Ridiculous. Thought it was over…”
“It’s war, Skola.”
“Against who?”
“Irizard.”
“Didn’t that bastard die of old age?”
“No chance.”
The Glacier Fang’s war heroes, who had once set out to defeat Irizard, awoke from their long slumber.
“That’s… fortunate…”
Skola turned and bellowed.
“It’s waaaaar!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
[Warrior Chief Skola joins the faction: Glacier Fang.]
[Grand Sorcerer Tamur joins the faction: Glacier Fang.]
[Great Warrior Tiomet joins the faction: Glacier Fang.]
[Great Warrior Agna joins the faction: Glacier Fang.]
……