Chapter 173: A Flower Blooming in Winter (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 173: A Flower Blooming in Winter (4)
The battle unfolding in Doomheim was fierce.
The dwarves' formation was led by two colossal golems, with smaller golems following behind.
Though called small, they were marvels of science, their interiors filled with complex magic circuits. Simply infusing them with mana allowed them to unleash a barrage of spells.
The colossal golems, on the other hand, struggled to use magic but dominated the battlefield with their overwhelming mass. They didn't even falter in a contest of strength against Skadia.
The sight of the golem army was reassuring, making one's chest swell with pride. Following behind them were the three Meisters.
Hargran, the Berserker's Hammer, was the most combat-optimized of the Meisters.
True to his title, Hargran wasn't tense; he was relishing the fight. He swung his hammer, pulverizing chunks of ice and deflecting tail swipes.
Wolfram assisted the rampaging Hargran.
He awakened the souls of weapons.
As if alive, each performed its own role.
Shields formed a temporary ceiling over the city, protecting it from falling debris and the dragon's attacks. Bows nocked and fired arrows in unison without a master's touch. The weapons constantly struck Skadia, harassing her.
Among them were ordinary weapons, but also many masterpieces crafted by artisans, on par with, or even superior to, the Heavenly Covenant Karami had given Mirabelle.
They stirred up storms, dropped lightning, and spewed flames.
There were even forbidden, cursed weapons mixed in, which were proving quite effective at this moment, carving all sorts of curses onto Skadia.
Of course, given their opponent, they couldn't inflict fatal damage, but it was clearly having an effect.
“You insolent whelps!”
The enraged Skadia roared.
Her claws glowed with a blue light.
Skadia swiped her forepaw.
A three-pronged slash, like a blade of pure energy, rushed toward Hargran, whose posture was broken from deflecting the ice.
“Kugh!”
Hargran hastily raised his hammer to guard. He gritted his teeth, bracing for the coming impact.
The moment the slash was upon him.
CRACK!
“Huh?”
Hargran froze.
He was sent flying by the impact, crashing hard into the ground.
It had been Azyeth's ice barrier.
It hadn't absorbed all the impact, but it was much better than a direct hit.
“Urgh… Thank you, Princess.”
After confirming Hargran was safe, Azyeth turned her focus back to Skadia.
The situation was dire.
It was only because the battlefield was Doomheim; otherwise, the scales of power would have tipped long ago.
It was thanks to the Heart of Magmora.
The seething heat significantly reduced the power of the cold.
And Skadia felt it too.
She knew that it was because of that thing that these insignificant mortals could stand against her. That she had to do something about that giant forge first.
Skadia changed her target.
The Heart of Magmora.
The spiritual pillar of the dwarves.
She didn't use magic.
Just a simple body slam.
“That… that beast?”
“She's aiming for the Heart of Magmora! We have to stop her!”
But they couldn't stop her.
The golems were massive, but their movements were sluggish.
They raised shields and created ice walls, but even if they could react, they couldn't cope with the sheer weight that seemed to swallow space itself.
Smashing through every obstacle, Skadia collided with the forge.
*
Perka climbed the underground stairs.
Her steps were hurried.
Her heart pounded.
There was a reason for it.
She had something she absolutely had to ask Thorvar.
Why he was home that day.
If the reason Karami gave was true.
Right now.
“Huh…?”
Emerging from the bunker and heading upstairs, Perka let out a sound of confusion at the scene before her. The scenery she had seen just before going in had changed drastically.
Hazy dust.
A collapsed iron wall.
Scattered chunks of stone.
Above all, it was cold.
Doomheim, which was warm 24 hours a day, all year round.
She easily realized that the Heart of Magmora, the underground lighthouse that had stood firm in the center of Doomheim, had collapsed.
Then what about Thorvar, who had been protecting the Heart of Magmora?
“Dad…?”
Realizing this, the color drained from Perka's face. She ran up the broken stairs to the upper floor. Frost covered the path at every turn.
Slipping and falling, Perka precariously climbed the steps and arrived at the entrance to the core room. The entrance, too, was damaged.
The metal wall, made of the same material as the bunker, hadn't collapsed, but it was dented.
Perka's heart sank.
She pounded on the dented metal door.
“Dad? Dad!”
“Move.”
“Huh?”
“I said move, I'm opening the door.”
“Oh…”
Perka stepped back.
Soon, the door rattled violently and opened.
Thorvar emerged from within.
“D-Dad? Are you… a ghost?”
“Calling your own father a ghost. What a fiery, dutiful daughter. You're burning so bright, we won't even need the Heart of Magmora.”
That way of speaking, always getting on people's nerves with unnecessary remarks. It was definitely Thorvar.
Blood was trickling down his forehead and he had wounds here and there, but thankfully, his life wasn't in danger.
“What happened? What about the dragon?”
“That beast mindlessly rammed the building with its head. More importantly, why did you come out?”
“W-Well…”
“I'm sure you couldn't wait and came out to do something foolish. This is no place for you. Go back, quickly.”
“What about you, Dad?”
“I have to go back and light the fire.”
Perka grabbed Thorvar as he tried to return to where the ember was. Thorvar looked down at his daughter's hand clutching the hem of his clothes.
“Can't you not go?”
“What?”
“It's too late. Don't you see the ice? The ember has lost its power. It's useless to go now. You'll just die for nothing.”
“Do you have any idea what you're saying…?”
“I know. I know I do.”
Perka cut him off sharply.
“So what if that stupid ember goes out? If it goes out, we can just light a new one, can't we? But when a person's life goes out, it's over. Is that stupid ember more important to you than your own life, Dad?”
“…”
Thorvar's expression turned cold. Because her words negated the life he had spent protecting the ember.
Perka was aware of it too.
This isn't right.
This isn't what I want to say.
But whenever she stood before Thorvar, her mouth moved of its own accord, defying her will. This was the only way the words came out.
At her untimely tantrum, Thorvar sighed and turned his back.
“Stop with this ridiculous nonsense and go back. This isn't a playground.”
Perka knew she was the problem, but at the same time, she hated Thorvar for not yielding. After all, she was only saying it out of worry for him, but he wouldn't even pretend to listen.
So Perka grew stubborn too. If Thorvar was going to be like this, she had an idea of her own. She plopped right down on the floor.
“I'm not leaving until you do, Dad.”
“What?”
“If something happens to me, it'll be because of your stubbornness.”
“You…!”
Just as Thorvar was about to scold her.
RUUUMBLE…!
A tremor erupted.
Thorvar and Perka's bodies shook violently.
The situation outside was visible through a crack in the building.
Skadia opened her mouth wide.
The air was sucked into her mouth like a black hole.
It felt as if space itself was distorting.
It was the prelude to a dragon's breath attack.
The target was the Heart of Magmora.
Her intention was to extinguish the ember completely.
“Go now. Hurry!”
“No! If you don't go, I won't go either!”
“Damn it…”
Every second counted.
Perka was being obstinate.
It was already too late to get down to the bunker.
The breath's impact would reach all of Doomheim.
There was nowhere to run.
No, there was one place.
“Ugh?”
Thorvar roughly pulled Perka. He shoved her into the core room where the ember was, almost throwing her. Perka fell to the floor with a thud.
“Hup!”
Thorvar immediately closed the door. Bracing his body against the metal door, he pushed with all his might, forcing the dented door shut.
The door sealed off the core room from the entrance.
“Dad! Dad!”
Perka, getting up a beat too late, tried to push the door open, but with Thorvar pushing from the outside, it didn't budge.
“Open this!”
“You think I'm going to open it just because you tell me to? Stop talking and get right next to the ember. It's a hot one, so it'll be able to protect you.”
“You too, Dad. You can come in too, can't you?!”
“You foolish child. The door is broken, how am I supposed to close it from the inside? Someone has to push from the outside.”
“Dad!”
Thorvar ignored Perka's desperate pleas.
Something came to his mind.
—If a parent doesn't say it, the child will never know.
To think that bastard's face would pop into his head at the very last moment.
But it seemed he wasn't wrong.
Because even at a time like this, his foolish child couldn't understand her parent's heart.
Thorvar said softly.
“I'm sorry.”
“Dad…?”
“What parent doesn't love their child? You foolish girl.”
Thorvar pictured Perka behind the door.
She would surely be staring wide-eyed, blinking foolishly.
And then, after coming to her senses too late.
“Dad! Dad!”
She would call for him, screaming like a child.
Thorvar gave a bitter smile.
“That sounds much better than your pathetic attempt at acting like a man, you brat.”
“Daaaaad!”
In that time, Skadia finished preparing her breath attack.
A blinding flash.
A beam of pale blue ice shot out.
Thorvar faced the breath and struck a pose. The misguided artisan spirit of a dwarf, deciding that if he was going to become an ice statue, he might as well do it in a cool pose.
It was the moment the ice breath reached the Heart of Magmora.
“Shield coming through!”
A dwarven man appeared with a gallant cry, blocking Thorvar's path.
An earthy light in the shape of a giant shield materialized before them.
KRRRRRRRACK!
The shield and the breath collided. A torrent of ice and shards scattered in all directions.
Thorvar's eyes went wide.
He blinked foolishly.
“Hey, my friend! What's with that pose? Surely you don't call that a proper stance? It lacks spirit, I tell you, spirit!”
“Roxar?”
The dwarves' proud, impenetrable barrier.
The unshakeable guardian of the earth.
It was the arrival of Roxar, the Shield of Earth.