Chapter 174: A Flower Blooming in Winter (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 174: A Flower Blooming in Winter (5)
Thorvar was dumbfounded by Roxar’s heroic appearance.
“Roxar, how are you here?”
“How else? I rushed here to save my friend!”
Half of that was true, and the other half was a lie.
Roxar was a blacksmith, but also a warrior capable of combat. Unlike the other Meisters, however, he had remained waiting underground instead of going to the surface.
It was because of a certain old man.
"It would be great if you could hold them off outside, but that won't be easy, will it? If a dragon invades Doomheim, we'll need someone to protect the city."
"You're right. But why are you looking at me when you say that, old man?"
Karami had put on an uncharacteristically innocent expression.
"You lost, didn't you? The bet."
A drinking contest where the loser had to grant the winner’s request.
Karami was the winner, and he had laid out his condition with a needlessly specific example: "to block the dragon's breath without running away."
I never thought he'd actually ask me to block a dragon's breath!
Looking back now, it was clear Karami had known from the very beginning. He knew the battle with Skadia would happen, and that the dragon would aim for the Heart of Magmora.
And there was more.
"It has to be the breath attack. Don't step in even if Skadia charges."
"Why is that?"
"You can only block one attack, right? Then you have to block the most powerful one—the breath. That's the only way we have a fifty-fifty chance."
It sent a chill down his spine.
Karami had seen right through Roxar’s abilities.
Just how much of this was part of his plan? Was he some kind of prophet?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.
Nor was this the time for it.
If his concentration wavered for even a moment, the breath would engulf the Heart of Magmora.
“Ugh… Why is this so heavy?”
It was heavier than any attack he had ever taken.
His hands, gripping the shield, were freezing over.
His body was being pushed back, inch by inch.
His legs froze, sticking to the ground.
He felt like he was about to become an ice statue.
But Roxar did not back down.
Crack!
He shattered the ice binding his feet.
Instead, he took another step forward.
He raised his shield a little higher.
A faint, earthy light enveloped Roxar.
The shield of light began to push back the breath, slowly, ever so slowly.
“What… How can a mere dwarf block my breath…!”
This was the power of Roxar, the Shield of Earth.
He was blessed by the earth itself.
He could absorb the land's energy to strengthen himself.
Of course, even for the tough body of a dwarf, absorbing such a vast amount of energy took a heavy toll. He would need a long rest before he could use the ability again.
But once that power was unleashed, as long as he stood on the ground, Roxar would not fall.
“I am Roxar, the Shield of Earth! The strongest and final shield, acknowledged by the earth itself! Even if my body shatters, I will never break!”
The light of the barrier grew brighter.
The shield suddenly expanded in size.
“Uwooooooooh!”
Roxar let out a roar and thrust his shield forward with all his might.
He repelled the breath.
The reversed breath surged back toward Skadia.
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted.
A cloud of blue dust burst forth.
“Ugh… My back is killing me. This is getting too hard for my age. After this fight, I'm definitely passing this on to my successor.”
Roxar patted his lower back.
“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I’d be a statue by now.”
“Save your thanks for later, Thorvar. We need to get your daughter out first.”
The two dwarves’ gazes turned to the door.
“Daddyyyyyy!”
Unaware of the situation outside, Perka was still pounding on the door, screaming desperately.
“…Can’t we open it after this is all over?”
“Like father, like daughter, you’re both good at talking nonsense. Don't you know how hot it is in there? She'll be cooked alive. Open it, quickly.”
“Urgh…”
With no other choice, Thorvar grabbed the vertical handle. The door, which hadn’t budged an inch for Perka, opened easily when Thorvar pulled.
Perka, who had been leaning against it, tumbled outward. Thorvar caught her as she lurched forward.
“Ah. Dad? Are you a ghost?”
“Why does this kid keep turning her own father into a ghost?”
“But the breath…?”
“Your uncle here blocked it in style!”
Roxar boasted, pointing to himself with his thumb.
Thorvar scratched his head awkwardly and avoided his gaze. It felt like running into someone at the bus stop right after you'd said your final goodbyes.
He had said things he normally wouldn't, thinking it was the end, and now the situation was just embarrassing.
Meanwhile, realizing Thorvar was safe, Perka burst into sorrowful tears.
“Waaaaah! Daddy! Don't leave me behind! If you're gone too, how am I supposed to live all alone!”
Snot and tears streaming down her face, Perka clung to Thorvar. Since the half-dwarf Perka was taller, it made for an awkward posture.
Thorvar sighed inwardly and patted the back of her head.
“See? People really should live while communicating with one another. Isn't this a wonderful sight?”
Karami appeared, having followed the same path Perka had taken. Thorvar glared at him.
“It’s you again. You’re the one who sweet-talked Perka with your nonsense.”
“Why do you keep suspecting me? I merely pointed out something that didn't make sense. Leaving the shelter was strictly Miss Perka's own decision, wasn't it?”
Karami shrugged as if he’d done nothing wrong.
The condition for the sub-slave Perka’s complete liberation was Thorvar’s death.
A sacrifice, dying in Perka’s place. It was a common melodrama, just like with Mirabelle, where one realizes their affection through the death of a family member.
The original story was that after Thorvar’s death, a belatedly enlightened Perka would inherit the will of fire and strive to become the new Coordinator of the Ember.
‘But Perka isn't my slave, is she?’
Why should I have to liberate her?
Unfortunately for Perka, he had no intention of letting her enjoy such an honor. She would not become the Coordinator of the Ember; she would have to live the rest of her life listening to Thorvar’s nagging.
“Hehehe.”
“…What’s with that guy?”
“I don’t know. His brain must have frozen.”
Wolfram, Hargran, and Azyeth returned to the forge to assess the situation. They had decided that things couldn't continue like this and that they needed an emergency meeting.
In the meantime, the golems were struggling to buy time against Skadia. Fortunately, the dragon also seemed to have taken considerable damage and wasn't able to use its full power.
“What are we going to do, everyone? The ember’s power has weakened. It won’t last much longer at this rate.”
The battle was already going poorly.
Now, the heat of the ember, which had been suppressing Skadia’s power, was fading after being attacked.
“Then we just have to relight the ember, don’t we?”
“Hey, you twig! How are we supposed to relight it? If it were that easy, do you think we'd be worrying about it?”
“There is a way.”
As Hargran shot down Karami’s suggestion with his usual retort, Thorvar, for once, agreed with Karami.
“The ember of Magmora is nurtured by melting the passion and soul of the dwarves. In other words, we just need to nurture the ember in the same way.”
Wolfram asked, “And what way is that, Thorvar?”
“There is only one way. The thing we dwarves do best.”
“The thing we do best…?”
“Pounding our hammers.”
Thorvar nodded, confirming Karami’s words were correct.
“The blacksmiths must perform their forging in their respective smithies. If their passion travels through the veins of the earth and reaches the Heart of Magmora here, we can relight the ember.”
“But isn’t that too dangerous? With the dragon flying around like that…”
“It is dangerous. But it is the only way I know.”
These were the words of none other than Thorvar, the Coordinator of the Ember. No one knew more about the Heart of Magmora than he did.
They had to gather every last dwarf hiding in the bunkers. Even with a dragon in the sky, they had to ask them to forge as they always did.
CRASH…!
A loud impact made everyone turn their heads.
One of the colossal golems fighting Skadia had collapsed. It was because the ember had weakened. The cold had seeped through the golem’s cracks, and it could no longer hold out.
“We’re out of time.”
“Understood. I’ll go gather the people.”
“Wait, even if we relight the ember, what’s next? Best case, we’re back to square one. No, we’re in a worse state than before.”
“He’s right. I used up my strength blocking that last attack. If that thing fires its breath again, I have no way of stopping it.”
“……”
Hargran and Roxar, one after another, hit the nail on the head.
No one could offer a rebuttal to the cold, hard reality. In the end, if they couldn't find a way to defeat Skadia, it would all be a meaningless struggle.
“Miss Azyeth and I will handle that part.”
“How?”
“I have a way.”
There was no basis for his claim.
Worse, the speaker was a human slave trader, not even a dwarf.
There was not a single reason to trust him, but…
“Goddammit. Of all the people here, why do we have to trust and rely on you?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Haha, but what can we do? There's no one else for the job.”
“That's what makes it so infuriating. This horrible reality that we have no choice but to accept.”
No one voiced any further objections.
It was unanimous.
“Then let’s get moving.”
“First, we have to convince the others.”
“Ulgdar and I will handle that.”
“Alright. Wolfram will take the underground, and Thorvar, you wait here with the little troublemaker. The rest of us will help Hargran buy more time.”
“Sounds good.”
As if they were a single entity, the dwarves laid out a plan without a hitch and swiftly put it into action.
“We should get moving, too.”
No matter how much the dwarves did, the hero of Snow White is still Snow White. The key to defeating Skadia was held by Azyeth.
“What was it like, fighting him?”
“Strong. And it doesn’t work. Magic…”
“When it comes to the ice element, he’s practically a god.”
But the same was true for Azyeth.
Azyeth, who received Skadia’s Grace, also had an extremely high resistance to cold. It was safe to say she took no damage at all.
Therein lay the weakness.
Even now, in this very moment as they fought, Skadia’s blessing on Azyeth continued. In other words, it meant Skadia cherished Azyeth that much.
Undying devotion to Azyeth.
A tale of Skadia's pure love.
And to deal with a pure-love fanatic…
‘There's nothing better than a little netorare.’