Chapter 176
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: Demon Dragon Assault
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The problem was that this fusion ability was remarkably free-spirited.
[Fusion Ability – Song of Suggestion]
Awakes the target's mind without restrictions. Strongly amplifies specific emotions buried within. Can affect a designated range.
Widespread mental awakening?
The terrifying thing about fusion abilities was that they made the impossible real.
A power like this should normally come with severe side effects, but those had vanished entirely.
At that point, I started agonizing over what to put in the remaining slots.
Techniques for wielding aura, elemental mana, death spirit mana. And beyond that, the power from the Machine God's heart, or even divine authorities.
The range of possible combinations had grown so vast that choosing became harder.
Above all, even though the fusion abilities themselves were great, it was tough to judge what effects they'd produce.
"Let's hold off for now. It's not like I need something urgently, and with only one slot left, it's a bit tricky."
One left? Then I'd just have to save it.
I leaned back comfortably against the rear wall.
[I have a report to make.]
"Not the red moon, right?"
[Negative. The dimensional outer wall has weakened significantly due to the angel's descent. It's not a bad idea to prepare for any potential red moon event.]
Ah, I see?
If it wasn't the red moon manifesting, then there wasn't much to worry about.
That was when it happened.
I turned my head slightly at the gaze that seemed fixed on me, and there was a crow staring right at me.
"Varil?"
-Hoo. Sharp senses.
"Just a guess, but it hit the mark."
The crow waddled over at my words, staring intently at me.
-I'll acknowledge you. I seem to have underestimated you far too much. Thanks to that, all the experiments I'd poured so much time into were scrapped without even yielding results. My operations in the Holy Kingdom have hit a snag too. I paid attention ever since the incident in Bernier territory, but I never imagined it would be to this extent...
Despite his words, he showed no hint of regret, which gave me a strange sense of disconnect.
-So, I'm going to give you a gift.
"A gift?"
-Since you ruined my precious experiments, I need to disrupt your plans a bit to break even...
My body moved before I even thought about it.
My hand shot out in an instant, snatching the crow. At the same time, an invisible barrier tried to block my grasp.
-Pointless. You can't pierce that barrier...
Kwachik!!
"Shut up, you damn bird."
Contrary to his words, the barrier shattered in a moment.
-Kawk!! Kawk!
I tightened my grip on the crow.
-Killing my familiar won't change a thing.
He spoke in a mocking tone, as if the familiar's pain meant nothing to him.
-You'll understand what I mean soon enough. Farewell.
I seized the mana trying to escape the crow.
His consciousness was still linked to the crow.
I stared into the crow's eyes and thought.
Letting him go like this would bruise my pride too much.
But he wasn't naive; he'd prepared countermeasures against tracing, making it difficult to track him back.
Given how meticulous he was, he wasn't your average mage.
Finding his location in this situation wouldn't be easy, and even if I did, the odds of him still being there were low.
Still, I wanted to shove something nasty down his throat...
Then, something clicked in my mind.
Would suggestion magic work on this?
[High probability of success.]
Sara agreed.
With their minds connected, he was seeing me through the crow's eyes.
Especially the [Fusion Ability – Song of Suggestion] was designed without target restrictions.
"You should've been more careful using a familiar."
I activated the new ability I'd just acquired.
[Fusion Ability – Song of Suggestion]
The scariest part of Song of Suggestion was that it ignored targets entirely.
Whether he was human or something wearing human skin, it would affect him without fail.
The effect amplified specific emotions deep within.
Saintess Nadia had her confidence boosted, bringing out her true nature strongly.
This time, I stimulated fear.
I didn't know what his fear was rooted in, but he surely never imagined getting counterattacked like this.
-Kuh?! What did you do!
"Your gift."
-You damn pest...
The effect was even greater than I'd anticipated.
"Oh?"
Suddenly, from a location quite far away, an enormous surge of energy began overflowing.
An explosive storm of mana.
It was such a massive energy that ignoring it would be weirder.
Even the Holy Kingdom's upper echelons, busy capturing high priests and handling the aftermath, must have sensed it.
But the total volume, density, and sheer menace of that energy were unnatural. Human? Please.
One thing was clear.
Varil was definitely not human. As far as I knew, the only beings capable of such power... yeah, dragons.
I gazed toward the source of the massive energy.
Found you, you bastard.
I didn't know much about his true nature.
But if he was a dragonkin, this situation made sense.
Dragonkin were born apex predators at the top of the food chain.
Who in the world could threaten such a being?
That's why fear was almost nonexistent for them.
A creature that never knew fear suddenly overwhelmed by terror would naturally fall into chaos.
It wasn't a huge effect.
But that brief moment was enough to pinpoint his location, so it had served its purpose.
"Never knew there were still dragonkin left on the Razeros continent."
History books say they were glorious in the past but declined to extinction.
That was probably true.
His presence now enveloped the entire capital of Rapel in the Holy Kingdom.
Definitely not a normal dragonkin.
I enhanced my eyesight as a massive black shadow soared across the dark night sky.
It was a gigantic dragon rising into the heavens.
No, more precisely, something enormous resembling a dragon.
A body like black flames, blazing eyes, a pair of massive wings, and four legs.
Its form closely matched the dragons depicted in ancient tomes, but black flames enveloped its scales.
Yeah, not a standard dragon. I'd seen something like that form among the creatures in Labyrinthos.
[Demon Dragon detected.]
Demon Dragon, or mutant dragon.
A form born when a dragon twists under specific conditions—commonly called a warped or fallen dragon.
I'd heard that the glorious status dragonkin once enjoyed had all crumbled because of these demon dragons.
The massive demon dragon soaring high scattered unstable elemental mana everywhere as it gathered tremendous energy in its maw.
The innate ability of dragonkin, a natural phenomenon more magical than any spell.
Dragon breath.
Tsutsutsut...
A demon dragon with that much power could turn the Holy Kingdom's capital Rapel to ashes in one breath.
Yet I didn't step forward.
Or rather, there was no need.
Kuwooooong!!!
The beast dove from the sky, unleashing its breath straight at Rapel.
But simultaneously, massive divine energy barriers activated across Rapel, beginning to block the breath.
However, the surrounding areas unprotected by the barriers were swept by the aftermath, turning into hellscapes in an instant.
The sturdy barriers seemed bolstered by Rapel's inherent sacred barriers plus the aftereffects of Luna's descent sanctifying the area.
If Luna hadn't descended, the barriers probably would've shattered instantly.
People asleep in the dead of night, and even those still awake, were startled awake and rushed outside to gaze at the sky.
"Wha... what in the world is that?!"
"A m-monster!!"
An angel descends, and a demon dragon attacks.
"Rapel's one noisy neighborhood, huh."
As I muttered, a voice came from behind.
"Aren't you the root of all this noise, Leon?"
"You woke up?"
"The twisted lizard stench was too strong."
She rubbed her eyes and stepped out onto the terrace, looking up at the sky.
Staring at the barrier steadfastly enduring the massive breath, she said,
"The world's changed a lot. Twisted demon dragons roaming the outside world."
"Wasn't it always like that?"
"Demon dragons are like reverse scales to dragonkin."
Ah, a racial disgrace?
But dragonkin were mostly extinct now, from what was known.
"Common sense says revealing itself like this is idiotic."
He knew that too.
But with the unexpected turn of events, he'd decided to wipe Rapel off the map.
It started as just wanting to mess with him, but it escalated this far.
"How long do you think that barrier will hold?"
"Depends, but with the existing sacred barrier plus one layer of sanctification, it's pretty solid."
"How long exactly?"
"It could take a full day of continuous breaths without issue. But..."
Other factors could shorten it?
Varil the demon dragon, firing breath after breath, surely knew that too, but pride kept him rampaging wildly.
Naturally, the Holy Kingdom wouldn't sit idle in this situation.
Thud thud!! Bang bang bang!!
"A-are you in there?! It's urgent!"
A frantic shout came from outside our lodging.
It was Saintess Nadia's voice.
When I opened the door, Saintess Nadia in a simple robe and Diablo stood there.
"Come in."
"Y-yes..."
She entered with a pale face and got straight to the point.
"Did you see the thing in the sky?"
"The demon dragon? Yes, I saw it."
"A demon dragon from ancient tomes suddenly appearing... What in the world..."
She flinched.
"Could it be... that unworthy I deceived everyone and brought divine punishment...?"
Saintess Nadia didn't know the full truth.
But the rest of us did.
"Saintess."
"S-sorry... You said a saintess must be dignified."
At Diablo's stern voice, she straightened up rigidly.