Chapter 34
Chapter 34
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Infermer, the City Where the Dragon Awakens (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
*
-Rumble...
The vibration came first from a distant place. Only a few elves with extraordinarily keen senses felt the sea churning.
-Rumble...
Soon the vibration grew louder, shaking the coastline. Now all the elves sensed that something was wrong.
More than the vibration itself, the instinctive disgust and terror it carried overwhelmed the elves.
-Roooarumble...!
After that, chaos engulfed Infermer as the elves' ships rocked and collided.
The wooden piers lining the ships in Infermer's harbor snapped all at once under the sudden rise in sea level, and loaded cargo tumbled across the docks.
"What... is this...??"
Leia, racing toward the king's flagship, perked up her ears and halted in her tracks. The ground was shaking. From far underground, an unrelenting oppressive pressure and presence emanated.
Leia was one of the few elves familiar with the continent. She closed her eyes and touched the earth. Beyond her retinas, a blue demon flower appeared.
"Gasp!"
Leia snapped her eyes wide open and leaped back. What she had seen was surely just an illusion born of instinct and fear.
Yet there was a being underground capable of implanting such visions in the Wild Prince.
"This feeling... it's..."
Leia's ears twitched upward. She swallowed hard with trembling eyes and glanced behind her. The pressure was intensifying. Buildings in Infermer's inland sector were crumbling under fierce earthquakes.
-Crash!
-Creak...
-Roooarumble...
"Eeeeek!!"
"What is this!!!"
"Qu-quake! It's a quake!!"
The port city descended into chaos and terror. Humans burst out of their homes, clutching their heads as they dashed through alleys. They ran toward open spaces safer than the shaking ground.
Leia bit her lip, staring blankly at the scene. By now, most elves had sensed it.
Unlike humans with their dull senses, elves were more attuned to spiritual entities and mana.
Even if the last legend was two thousand years old, and few elves who remembered that era remained. The instincts etched in their racial blood identified the approaching presence.
"A dragon is coming..."
*
-Crash!!
"Uhyun!! Report the situation!!"
"General!! We must evacuate! The damage is catastrophic!"
"We can't! The supply transfer isn't finished yet!"
Ainad bellowed as he darted across the deck. His flagship was entangled in the complex web of elven warships, unable to move.
The elven city stood upon the sea. But Infermer had half its expanse on land.
No matter how precisely the city's districts were divided, it was impossible to pull every elven vessel out of the harbor in an instant.
Sequentially, ships nearer the open ocean continued their evacuation. But time was short.
The closer to the harbor, and with each seismic wave, the tangled warships battered and shattered against one another.
Flooding followed, yet no ship had run aground—a testament to elven shipbuilding prowess.
"What of General Aildern? Isn't he at the farthest sea? Has the Aildern fleet completed evacuation?"
"Runners!! Runners!! Report!"
"No runners have returned!"
"What??"
With the first quake, Ainad had dispatched runners to each fleet. He was the elf who reacted most swiftly.
Yet the runner to General Aildern, who should have arrived by now under normal conditions, brought no word.
"...Betrayal...?"
In that moment, Leia's voice echoed in Ainad's mind.
*
"One of the five generals is a traitor, colluding with the head of the Franzrit bloodline."
*
"...Hah..."
Betraying now would indeed be a perfect surprise attack. Ainad had volunteered to guard near Gaimeirn's flagship to check the generals' loyalty.
And he had placed the most suspicious, cunning Grand General Aildern at the farthest sea.
Thus, even if Aildern betrayed them after external contact, a bombardment centered on the harbor would ensure no defeat.
But using an earthquake? Ainad's vast war experience rang alarm bells.
"The king's flagship won't yield to mere quakes."
"...Pardon?"
Ainad paused and gazed at Gaimeirn's flagship. A colossal vessel nearly twice the height of others. No, it was more like a fortress floating amid the waves.
In truth, its function mirrored a castle. The eternal king Gaimeirn's proud seafortress. Ainad fell into thought.
'Only three means can assault His Majesty's flagship. Unless boarding directly...'
Ancient dwarven fire, a dragon's breath, a great demon's curse... Ainad squeezed his eyes shut. He vividly felt the blue demon flower targeting the back of his head.
At first, he dismissed it as delusion or fear-induced hallucination. He wasn't one to be swayed by terror. But now, the presence drew ever nearer.
Other elves might not sense it, but Ainad—Gaimeirn's right hand and sole legitimate heir—knew.
Having lived through long history firsthand, he knew what slumbered deep beneath this Infermer.
Gaimeirn knew too. His rule over Infermer was likely to monitor the one potential threat within his domain. Elves couldn't tread the continent.
Beneath Infermer lay the remains of a dead dragon.
Just how far had Gaimeirn foreseen? What was his plan upon reading the Franzrit envoy's letter? Why entrust obvious threats to a mere human inquisitor?
Father. Why?
"General! Geneeeeral!!! General Ainad!!"
"...Report."
His reverie ended. Ainad eyed his deputy shouting from the quarterdeck, eyes weary with fatigue and confusion.
The deputy's face was pale with fear.
"General Aildern's fleet is encircling the harbor!!"
"Breakthrough?"
"The quakes have shattered our formation! The army can't stand until they stop!"
"Aildern faces the same."
At least at sea, Aildern's fleet held no advantage. Their limit was blockading the harbor; if they formed attack lines, so could Ainad.
Elven warships wouldn't ground from mere waves or quakes. He trusted their sturdiness. Or wanted to.
Even against the entity approaching from Infermer's inland.
"...The dragon comes."
"Pardon??"
"All fleets, cannons inland! Halt evacuation! Prepare for battle!!"
"Prepare... for battleeeee!!!!"
Ainad braced himself and roared. His voice tore through the night sky. His forces hastily checked combat readiness.
-Roooarumble!!!!
"Arrrgh!!"
"G-grab the cannons! It's falling!!!"
Ainad dashed to the stern and shouted.
"Guard the king's flagship!!! The dragon comes! The dragon is coming!!!"
"Wh-where are you going, General!!"
"To protect His Majesty!! Soldiers! Don't take eyes off the harbor!"
The dragon comes. Gaimeirn surely knew. Perhaps even Aildern's betrayal.
Ainad bit his lip watching Gaimeirn's flagship slowly assume defensive posture. The king had permitted the dragon's revival.
What did you intend to gain from the dragon's corpse, Father.
*
-Weeeen. Weeeen.
A grating noise assaulted Fernandez's ears. Not a physical sound. It was akin to a spiritual alarm.
Eyes closed, Fernandez wove complex mudras, unmade them, then reformed.
[Leach], [Descend], [Bind], [Seal], [Compress]. Five mudras traced the air nearly simultaneously.
Yet this mighty summoning ritual, crafted by master mages pooling their knowledge, refused to crumble easily.
-Give up. The magic circle's activation can't be stopped now.
'Quit now? Can we survive?'
-Of course! Even if the dragon revives, the blessing in our body grants immortality. Fernandez. Die once, wait for the next chance.
'We can't get used to it.'
Fernandez bit his lip, hands flying ceaselessly. Each mudra strained body and soul immensely. Dense hell mana filling the cavern rattled his spirit.
'Once, twice. Then what? When death feels routine and revival mundane. That's when our mind truly dies. Enslaved to the Holy Pantheon of Good Gods, our soul pawned.'
-It won't happen from one time. And...
'Even if so. Gaimeirn, Kirhas. And Infermer—we can't guarantee them.'
-Corrupted by hell mana, priorities invert. They're tools, not worth your sacrifice.
Feizashi glared at him. If he had a body, he'd stop Fernandez's futility now. But Fernandez pressed on.
'By our plan, we're tools too. The priority isn't us. It's this world's salvation and our son's soul.'
-Corrupted by hell mana, even that son you cherish now might lose value.
Hell mana's corruption twists mental structure, debases personality. Such mana fiercely constricted Fernandez's soul.
[Extract]. [Shut], [Veil]. Fernandez's hands formed these, then paused midair.
[Dominate]? The domination ritual frayed. Like candy melting in hot water, circuits burned in the mana torrent.
'If we quit, it'll flow as in our past life. Dragon revives, clashes with Gaimeirn, Infermer falls to Franzrit. Then? Most northeast plains and ports into vampires' hands. Our plan setbacks by a decade.'
-Damn it. Fernandez!! Don't you get it? Our plan assumes we're intact!
Fernandez's eyes opened. Red mana blazed everywhere. The circuit he stood on smoldered slowly in hell mana's rapids. His breathable space shrank.
'Feizashi. You lack a body.'
-Damn it. Damn it! So what!
'That's why you don't know.'
-Know what!
'What this flesh can do.'
Fernandez clenched air, forming mudra. [Release]. His mana brushed the burning [Domination Ritual] amid hell mana's flow. The ritual shattered like glass. And simultaneously—
-Whoosh.
From deep within the dragon skull before him, blue demon fire ignited.
-Roooarumble!
The earth-shattering quake peaked. Mana swirling in the cavern drained into the skull like sewage.
-Rumble!!!
He severed the domination ritual directly. And that fragile knot, Fernandez gripped like reins. This thread bound the dragon's flesh and soul.
-Your body...?
Discarding all protections, plunging hand into hell mana to seize the ritual—vile corruption mana flooded his flesh.
Black veins bulged on his pale skin. Centered on forearms, they scorched flesh with black burns, etching like tattoos. In moments, geometric patterns covered his arms.
Fernandez glared at the dragon skull with bloodshot eyes.
-Corruption...?
Feizashi Wildcast. Wielder of vast mana, master of all black magic.
Even he couldn't escape hell mana's corruption—how could a frail sixteen-year-old endure...
-Whoosh!
Mana racing down his forearms burst into blue flames. Simultaneously, radiant light seeped from Fernandez's chest. Stigmata. The second Stigmata!
*
[I have come upon you, and by this, you are my agent and that of the Pantheon. You shall never crumble, compromise, or stagnate. This is my second power bestowed upon you.]
*
-Indomitable!!
'Yes. The Indomitable blessing. Stronger than immortality, I think.'
Fernandez fixed bloodshot eyes on the dragon skull. Like a heartbeat, blue fire throbbed within.
'The dragon has revived.'
-Rumble!!!
From the dragon skull, a gaze pierced him.