Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Malern of the Heavenly Horn Magic Tower (1)
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*
Beyond the horizon. Snowflakes drifted down onto the vast, serene boundary of the sea. Unlike the snow blanketing the land, the flakes over the ocean melted away into nothingness.
The blizzard forming on the sea's surface was a poignant scattering of petals, hinting at the perishability of life. To Leia, it felt like an offering for the dying elves. Amid the flakes scattering in the fierce north wind, cracks formed as if stamped into bread dough.
-Kwaaaaang!
Another cannon shot tore through the air and slammed into Richter's outer fortress. The outer walls were already half-ruined, and the massive citadel, ragged like tattered cloth, was crumbling and disintegrating. Richter glared with burning red eyes at Malern's flagship unleashing volley after volley.
Leia watched her crumbling homeland, lost in complicated thoughts. Though it was little more than a corpse now, a city that was but a shadow clinging to past glory. Still, it was the home where she had been born and raised.
A homeland she could never return to, one her kin could never rebuild. Leia sighed as she gazed at Richter, consumed by madness, hatred, and confusion.
"Too sentimental too soon."
"Fernandez."
"Our goal was never Richter to begin with, Leia. Draw your sword and ready the soldiers. The real war starts now."
"Do you have a plan?"
Leia gave a sorrowful smile as she eyed Malern's flagship, growing ever larger. When she'd seen it from afar, or during their sea battle, it had been different. Now, she lacked the resources to keep distance, evade attacks, and drag it into a prolonged fight.
Their previous clash with Malern had been one-sided. Malern had barely moved or counterattacked, simply enduring with the overwhelming defensive power of his ship. Leia's fleet had only probed with a few harassing shots before retreating repeatedly.
But now, with the wreckage of sunken ships, Richter's flagship blocking the front, and Malern's aggressively closing from the rear. Sandwiched between them, her fleet was slowly being hemmed in.
"If I had no plan, I wouldn't have drawn that man in. Didn't you promise me? You'd provide all the resources I need, if only to crack Malern's flagship just once."
"Tell me what you require."
"Kirhas."
Fernandez said lowly, eyes fixed on Malern's flagship. Kirhas bowed deeply at his side.
"Have you completed your mission?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Good. Will you come with me?"
"If you still need me, of course."
Fernandez stroked her hair once, then drew the greatsword of the Dain King embedded in the mast and slung it across his back. The two greatswords crossed heavily, pressing on his shoulders.
"Lend me the signal horn. Aim all ship batteries at Malern's flagship, and when I give the signal, fire without a single moment's deviation."
"I've tried that countless times. His physical protection spell is nigh perfect. No shot has ever damaged it."
A massive ship made an excellent target in itself. Aim well, and no matter where you struck, it would almost certainly hit some part of the flagship's hull. Yet Leia had only proven the perfection of Malern's protection spell in their past engagements before withdrawing.
Fernandez took the signal horn from Leia's hand and said,
"You have enough mages to enchant cannonballs with spell wedges, right?"
"Of course we've tried that too."
"Not with me there."
Fernandez smiled at Malern's flagship. A creaking sound echoed as a lifeboat was lowered from the ship into the sea.
Fernandez leaped toward the lifeboat without looking back. Kirhas followed at his side. As Abel moved to jump from the bridge, Fernandez shook his head.
"You have work to do here."
"You're abandoning me again? I can't allow that."
"If it were the same reason as last time, I'd have left Kirhas too. But this time, truly, there's something only you can do."
". . . Tell me."
"Even after the situation ends and Malern's protection spell is broken, problems will remain. To destroy the Serpent King's flagship, we need not just to breach the spell, but physical destruction that ignores its inherent durability. Ship cannons won't suffice."
There were three things in the material world believed capable of destroying an elf king's flagship. A great demon's curse, dwarven firepower, and a dragon's breath.
The last remaining dragon in the material world heard this and smiled sadly.
"If you need me, I'll do it anytime."
"Don't make that face. I'm asking with the aftermath in mind. Don't go all out—just create a small gap, that's enough."
"How could I cling to life? Everyone's risking theirs, aren't they?"
"It's not a battlefield where you need to risk your life, and I want you to value yours more."
Fernandez glanced at Abel's wide eyes, then gripped the lifeboat's tiller. He cut the line tethering it to the flagship, and the sail billowed wildly in the gale as the boat shot forward over the waves.
*
Kirhas clenched her teeth and gripped the sail lines. Handling the sail, swollen to bursting in the blizzard, was difficult even for a seasoned sailor. One mistake, and it could tear the sail, lose control, and crash into the sunken wrecks or elf warships.
-Wooddrk.
The mast bent like a bow under the wind's weight. Blood seeped from Kirhas's palms, soaking the lines. Injury didn't matter. But the slick lines kept slipping from her grasp.
'We'll die.'
Death loomed everywhere. The madly racing lifeboat, scattered debris from wrecks, rapidly approaching elf warships, and Malern's colossal flagship shrouded in the blizzard—its silhouette alone like a city wall. Death filled every direction.
'I don't care if I die, but . . .'
Kirhas narrowed her eyes at Fernandez, steady at the tiller. Despite the raging blizzard, he stood firm, staring straight ahead.
It wasn't his sailing skill—it was the Demonica's overwhelming strength. The lifeboat wove acrobatically through the debris.
'If I fail, my lord is in danger.'
Why had Fernandez brought Kirhas? Not just for sail lines. She had a role in his plan, and it wouldn't be one that led her master to death.
Kirhas pulled the lines with all her might, easing them now and then to manage the wind. Yet even then, Fernandez stared only at Malern's flagship.
*
"He's circling."
Leia watched Fernandez race at near-breakneck speed. He skimmed past debris and warships, dodging every threat with minimal movement.
It looked like he was simply riding the wind, but Leia saw a pattern.
"He's circling around Malern's ship."
*
-Interesting.
Feizashi whispered. If he had the leeway to nod, Fernandez would have agreed emphatically.
But his hands on the wheel throbbed as if about to snap. In truth, his wrist tendons and muscles had torn and reknit multiple times. Without his Demonica body and budding unique divinity repairing the damage, his hands would have burst already.
At the same time, Fernandez observed Malern's flagship. He analyzed its spells, dodged debris, and tracked Leia's ships targeting it.
'South-southeast, total 30 guns.'
Skimming past warships with the wind, Fernandez memorized each one's aimed cannons, angles, and impact points. His brain burned, cerebrospinal fluid boiling.
His keen senses and superhuman reaction speed inputted the flood of data. Simultaneously, he expanded layers of thought to map every ship, every gun, their angles, Malern's flagship, and all variables.
A roadmap formed. A precise, three-dimensional map etched vividly in his mind.
-Added a variation to Central Clause 3, Voyage Term. Five variable bundles. That's fine, but the random generation circuits in each variable create a total pattern of . . .
'113 possibilities by calculation.'
Fernandez thought, staring at Malern's flagship. Like pulling one book from vast library shelves, opening a random page, and guessing the fifth word blindfolded.
In simple terms, impossible. Malern of the Heavenly Horn Magic Tower. One of the world's top mages. To physically strike his flagship, one had to simultaneously destroy five layers of protection spells that shifted in unpredictable patterns every instant—even to him.
It was like solving a Rubik's Cube. A three-dimensional puzzle devised by a master mage, with hands bound.
-Piriririk . . . Peng!
Far off, a yellow firework burst in the sky. All guns aligned, preparations complete. Fernandez smiled and slowly released one hand.
-Woodk.
Controlling the wheel one-handed, his right twisted grotesquely. Fernandez stared blankly at his nearly crushed hand, then bit the signal horn with his other.
*
[North-northwest Ship 32, Starboard Cannon 3, Fire]
-Kwaaaaang!
*
Hearing the boom, Fernandez nudged the tiller. His lifeboat arced widely, circling near Malern's flagship. As requested, Leia had enchanted every shot with spell wedges.
The wedged cannonballs struck Malern's protection—no reaction from the spell—
[East Ship 2, Port Cannon 5, Fire]
-Kwaaaaang!!
Before the first echo faded, the next boomed across the battlefield. Fernandez whispered commands at Malern's flagship.
[Southwest Ship 12, Starboard Cannon 8, Fire]
[South-southeast Ship 7, Port Cannon 1, Fire]
Circling the flagship.
[North-northwest Ship 31, Starboard Cannons 5, 12, 15, Fire]
-Kwaaaaang!
Without pause, his orders reached the ships, and cannons thundered. Shots pelted Malern's flagship relentlessly. All shattered against the aerial barrier.
-Variable 1 destroyed. Good. Fun.
Magic impossible to use, enemy's on ruinous scale. Direct destruction out of question, limited ammo, foe commanding double his vessels. On an asymmetric chessboard.
[North-northeast Ship 3, Cannon 4, Fire]
-Kwaaaang!
Magic isn't just spells woven from personal circuits and seals. It encompasses all supernatural phenomena born of mana—even crude, physical ones from cannonballs and powder.
No matter how rough the tool, in a master's hands, it becomes a precise sculptor's chisel.
-Kwaaaaang!
Next, then next. Barrages hammered Malern's flagship. Slipping through its ever-shifting patterns, embedding wedges from varying angles each time.
Magic combat centered on spell counting—disrupting the enemy's magic. Targeting the weakest point in their spells, clauses, patterns. Driving in a wedge to halt and shatter them.
Bluntly countering with opposing magic was crude and simplistic. Fernandez favored refined technique.
-Kwaaaang!
Sense for perfect timing, vision to read mana flow, knowledge to pinpoint circuit and clause vulnerabilities.
In hundreds—perhaps thousands—of magic battles over decades. In every razor-edge moment between life and death. Feizashi had never once lost.
-Kwaaaaang!
Through the swirling blizzard, Malern's spell slowly cracked. Fissures webbed like spider silk. Shattering like an egg.
-Hwooooong.
Blizzard-laden winds whipped the battlefield. Fernandez extended his hand, conducting like an orchestra maestro. Barrage after barrage, all slamming protection weak points. Perfect timing and pattern.
-Very, very enjoyable.
Fernandez laughed at Feizashi's voice. Even as his boiling brain and searing arteries screamed.
Dismantling intricate, uniquely patterned spells one by one. Solving the precise 3D puzzle piece by piece.
Every moment thrilled unbearably. He shook his giddy head and burst into laughter.