Chapter 355
Chapter 355
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 355
>Chapter Title: This, My Friend
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A massive rectangular block of ice. And a grotesque head jutting out. Perched proudly atop that black head, a golden... lizard.
Aster blinked at the lizard, which had grown a bit since the last time he'd seen it.
“What’s yours?”
[This, mine.]
“What the...”
The situation was so sudden his mind was a jumble.
Not only had it appeared out of nowhere, but this wyvern was straight-up claiming ownership of the “black wyvern.”
What was even more absurd was how the “black wyvern” was reacting to it.
Its head bowed meekly, eyes cast downward—the sight was so at odds with the beast from moments ago that it was hard to believe it was the same creature.
[Show, proof.]
The wyvern tapped the ice as if telling them to release the black wyvern from its bonds, and Ahnar blinked.
“Alright, let’s free it for now.”
“Under...stood.”
...The proof the wyvern wanted to show was proof in the most literal sense.
Just a bit primitive in method.
[Sit.]
Snap.
[Lie down.]
Snap.
[One roll, left. One roll, right.]
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Sit, stand, lie down, roll... The black wyvern rolled this way and that across the frozen dirt at the wyvern’s every command.
It followed the orders of a wyvern not even a mouthful in size without a hint of displeasure.
No, it wasn’t just following.
It looked downright happy, like a dog reuniting with its long-lost master.
“...Huh.”
“What... is this...”
Aster and Ahnar couldn’t hide their shock at the spectacle, and that was when the wyvern’s voice rang out.
[Accept? This, mine.]
“Uh...”
[Not accept? Then you goblin. Greedy.]
Greedy?
Ah, so it thought they weren’t acknowledging its ownership of the black wyvern out of their own greed for the black wyvern...
“Phew.”
Aster sighed at the undervaluation of his credibility and shook his head.
It was a shame.
Because the real reason he wasn’t acknowledging ownership wasn’t greed, but concern.
But.
“...Ngh. Is this for real?”
Seeing it bow its head to a wyvern not even a bite-sized morsel made it seem believable.
“No, even so, this can’t be right.”
Aster shook his head vigorously to steel himself.
The black wyvern was cunning as they came.
All this could just be an act to escape the situation...
[Gyaaah!]
[Kieek!]
The adorable wyvern spread its wings wide and roared, while the black wyvern toppled over in terror.
“Sheesh...”
Watching the idiotic scene made all his prior worries feel pointless.
“What shall we do?”
“Dunno...”
For now, maybe just watch.
That’s what he thought when the wyvern that had “subdued” the black wyvern turned to Aster triumphantly and spoke.
[We, have place to go.]
“A place...?”
The wyvern nodded and flicked its front paw. At the signal, the black wyvern immediately assumed position.
It lowered its head low enough for the wyvern to climb aboard, and the wyvern flapped its wings to settle proudly atop that head.
[Me, heard. Gift, there.]
A gift, it said...?
Heard from whom, and what gift?
[Going.]
No sooner had the words left than...
Flap—!
Wings beating up and down.
Mana from the surroundings buoyed the black wyvern’s body, sending that massive bulk soaring into the sky in an instant.
Soon enough...
The black wyvern flew toward the Arafurgin Mountains.
Aster watched it for a moment before turning to Ahnar.
“Then I’ll be off?”
“...I’ll head back to the development site and handle things there.”
“Right.”
Aster kicked off the ground and leaped after it. The black wyvern had already shrunk to a dot in the sky, but Aster’s speed was no less.
Ahnar watched Aster vanish in a flash, then let out a faint groan.
“...No clue what’s going on.”
Truth be told, the wyvern was as unfamiliar to Ahnar as the black wyvern.
No wonder his head was spinning, but one thing was certain.
If it had truly tamed the black wyvern completely...
“...The Magic Tower might not be a pipe dream anymore.”
The black wyvern with unknowable growth potential, and hundreds of wyverns dominating the skies.
Plus a transcendent archmage.
Who could touch Arafurgin then?
Ahnar mused.
Perhaps.
He was witnessing the dawn of a new era.
An era that was surely...
- Sit. Stand. Lie down.
“...Who knows.”
Hard to picture what it’d look like.
With that thought.
Ahnar turned toward the development site.
* * *
A certain peak in the Arafurgin Mountains.
The black wyvern landed with a ‘thud!’ in a space thick with mist or clouds.
Aster, arriving right after, took in the surroundings.
A wide clearing.
Nothing in sight.
“...”
Even extending his senses yielded nothing, so Aster silently regarded the wyvern.
...On the way here, the wyvern had said.
It heard a voice in its sleep.
- Child.
A soft voice calling to it.
- Awake. Awake, and take your kin.
The voice had revealed the black wyvern’s presence and declared it rightfully the wyvern’s.
And...
- Come here.
Inviting the wyvern.
- Come here, and receive your gift.
...Frankly, it was baffling.
A voice heard in sleep.
Kin and a gift.
He could guess what the “gift” was.
Likely the red gem that had transformed the black wyvern into something special.
But the truly important part was something else.
“...The voice.”
Just what was its source?
When he first heard the story, Aster suspected it might be a fragment of Reverse Heaven.
After all, he knew of nothing else that could produce such inscrutable phenomena.
But.
“...No?”
The wyvern had heard Reverse Heaven’s voice once before.
It said this was different.
Then.
“What the hell is it?”
A high peak where the cold kept the snow from melting.
Aster’s sinking gaze swept the space.
A chill wind howled through, leaving only the black wyvern, the wyvern, and Aster in the area.
...That’s when the wyvern moved.
Flap, hop.
It hopped down from the black wyvern’s head and eyed the ground.
Humm—
A faint vibration.
His heart pulsed.
At that tiny thrum, the wyvern shuddered once.
This feeling... he’d felt it before.
When he first shed his spirit guise to become a new being. When he cast off immortality to embrace mortality and seized power. Much like then.
Something was below.
That’s what he thought when.
Grind, griiiind...
The ground trembled.
Plop.
Something erupted from the flat earth.
It was the sound of dirt the black wyvern had piled over the gem before leaving for the development site crumbling away—and what rose was indeed the red gem.
[......]
The wyvern silently took in the red gem.
The red gem was enormous.
Rivaling the massive black wyvern’s body in size, radiating an unknowable light.
But the true enormity wasn’t in what the eye could see.
Rather...
The aura.
The unknowable presence dwelling within the red gem.
Creak, creeeak.
Overwhelmed by that presence, the black wyvern let out a pained whine and slammed its head into the ground.
Aster’s expression hardened too.
“...”
An overwhelming presence.
The presence within the red gem was violent even to Aster, who had reached transcendence.
Yes... just like that.
Destrow of the Hamern Great Forest.
Much like facing it.
Only, the pressure here was far more intense than when he’d faced Destrow—utterly incomprehensible.
Was it the lack of Reverse Heaven’s aid? No, that wasn’t it.
It was simply...
“...A difference in sheer power.”
What could it be?
To harbor power surpassing even Destrow.
Like a beast baring its fangs before danger, Aster instinctively drew up his energy and honed it to a razor’s edge.
That’s when the wyvern’s voice came.
[Friend, okay.]
“...”
The wyvern reassured Aster, then looked up at the gem.
Others might not know, but the wyvern itself did.
This gem’s aura held no malice toward it.
No, far from malice...
It gazed upon the wyvern with endlessly warm and generous affection.
Curiosity stirred too.
What could the being within this gem be, to show such favor?
[You, what. Reveal, identity.]
The wyvern boldly voiced its question, not retreating a step before the colossal presence.
Change came right after.
Keeeen—!
Suddenly, an unknowable wave of mana burst outward in all directions.
“...!”
Aster surged his mana in response. The black wyvern, already terrified, had long since passed out.
Only the wyvern remained unfazed, and soon the gem began to change.
Whirr...
The gem swelled, engulfed in red energy.
Soon taking form.
And when the transformation completed...
“...”
Aster stared blankly at the being before him. His eyelids trembled. His breath grew ragged.
In the wide clearing, something enormous overlooked the space.
Red scales, four legs like a drake’s, and red-membraned wings folded against its back.
And...
Vertically slit pupils.
Meeting those eyes, Aster knew.
No one had to tell him; it was simply obvious.
“Dra...gon?”
As Aster’s low murmur escaped, the red dragon regarded him with impassive eyes.
[Master of Reverse Heaven?]
“...”
A chill ran through him in that instant.
Those eyes seemed to pierce straight through his soul.
...Dangerous.
Whatever dwelled in those eyes was no friendly emotion, no matter how you sliced it.
The malice in them pressed down with its mere existence. A terror like falling into an abyss crashed over him.
But rather than yield to the fear, Aster chose to confront it.
Griiiind, griiiiind—
He drew up his energy to resist.
Survival?
No guarantees.
But Aster chose to fight back rather than grovel for life.
The moment he formed that will to “fight,” a sense of hopelessness like facing a towering tsunami welled up, but he pushed it down.
A vast ocean, crashing waves.
A tiny boat before them.
No metaphor better captured the gap between foe and Aster.
[Not even half, yet dares resist?]
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A pulsing heart.
Nauseating.
But Aster suppressed the fear once more. He spun his circles, preparing for the battle to come.
...That was the moment.
Flap.
Suddenly, a golden shape filled his vision.
“...?”
At the furiously beating wings and small back of the head, Aster tilted his head. But only for a moment.
“Wyvern, danger...”
He reached for the wyvern as he spoke, but it flew higher, out of reach, and gazed at the red dragon.
As the red dragon reflected in those golden eyes.
The wyvern spoke.
[This, my friend.]
In other words...
[Get scolded, if bully.]
A trembling voice.
The wyvern was angry.
...Angrier than when it had its moonstone snatched.