Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Declaration of War
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“Hoo...”
A few days after Ian and his group departed, Sea King Zakura began basking in the sunlight once more, as if nothing had happened.
His lounging posture, slouched in his seat, looked less like the ruler of the Swamp Dragon Tribe and more like a pathetic shut-in.
In truth, Zakura was gradually restoring his body's condition.
The all-out war with Golden Heaven had yet to begin.
A few days prior.
The Eight Ghosts' Quintus had been unable to contain his rage and set out in pursuit of the orc pack that had taken his arm.
It was a battle initiated by Golden Heaven's preemptive strike.
So, he figured punishing them would suffice as retaliation.
However.
Boom!
“Kerruk! Reporting in...!!”
Zakura's plans went awry spectacularly with the report from a bloodied lizardman who had returned gravely wounded.
“Kerruk, what happened?”
As First Dragon Maximus asked on Zakura's behalf, a response filled with indignation poured from the lizardman's mouth.
“...Eight Ghosts' Quintus... has fallen in battle...!”
“...What?!”
Was it because this was a completely unforeseen outcome?
“More details.”
Zakura slowly rose from where he had been sprawled out, soaking in the sunlight.
“...Quintus could not forgive the orc who severed his arm—Zorg—and pursued him.”
That much was already known.
Quintus had reported it to Zakura beforehand, just days ago.
There was no way a near-dead orc or the ragtag remnants who had barely escaped with their lives could overcome Quintus.
They hadn't even lost the battle, yet he lost his life?
It defied all reason.
“Continue.”
“Just before annihilating the enemy, near the Heavenly Mountains... he was ambushed by Iron Mask and his elite subordinates... and breathed his last.”
“...Ha!”
Zakura let out a hollow laugh at the lizardman's report, utterly dumbfounded.
Crunch!
The stone armrest of his seat crumbled away as easily as clay.
“Golden Eye... so this is truly your will, is it?”
Even when that old orc had barged into the Beast Fields, he'd held out a sliver of hope.
If it was just one rogue orc acting on his own... he planned to exterminate that orc and his tribe, then gauge Golden Heaven's reaction.
If Golden Eye apologized, admitting it was a mistake, he might have settled it with appropriate compensation—regrettable for Quintus, but still.
After all, warring with Golden Heaven while the Great Veil loomed behind the Sea King was a burden.
“Fine.”
But ambushing and killing Quintus crossed a clear line.
“If that's what you want... I'll play along.”
As Zakura rose, the surrounding air grew heavy.
“Contact all Four Dragons and Four Ghosts. Block every waterway of the Amatres River flowing into Golden Heaven.”
First Dragon Maximus's eyes widened at Zakura's words.
“You mean...!!”
“Didn't Golden Eye invite us so grandly? I can't just sit idle.”
Zakura stated calmly.
“Let's have... a war.”
In that moment, a single phrase sealed the fate of the Great Cataclysm.
Ouro Captain Reglurus's ship, Goreland, ascended the Fourteenth Path waterway toward Hasfel, the same route it had taken before.
“Captain! How exactly do you plan to help?”
The Latent Dragon Squad bombarded Ian with questions as they sped toward Western Heaven.
“The vibe here is that Golden Heaven and the Swamp Dragon Tribe are about to go full-scale war... These things only get harder to mediate the longer they drag on. Even kid fights are tough to break up, so how do you intend to resolve this?”
“Exactly, Captain! Even the Lord's scriptures say, 'If struck once, endure it; if struck twice, repay with three!'”
“...There are no such weird verses in the scriptures, you delinquent priest.”
A strange interjection aside, the squad's concerns were clear.
The longer a war dragged on, the deeper the emotional chasm grew, and grudges and enmity multiplied exponentially.
With a major clash already sparking localized warfare, even a short delay would make the hostility between the two forces irreconcilable.
Especially for monsters, who lived more by instinct than humans.
“You're all right. If things continue like this... stopping it will only get harder.”
Ian didn't deny it. It was all true.
“Then! We have to stop it now, at least...”
“With what power?”
“...Huh?”
“What power are you going to stop it with? It's great you're confident after winter training made you a bit stronger, but we're still just a low-tier strike squad from the clan. With our strength alone... we can't halt that massive clash.”
“...!”
Ian's sharp words froze the squad's expressions.
It shattered their pride completely, but they couldn't rebut.
The clan had already tallied over ten Masters between Golden Heaven and the Swamp Dragon Tribe.
They couldn't even handle one Master, let alone throw themselves into a battlefield swarming with that many powerhouses—they'd be shredded in the blink of an eye.
“...You're right, Captain. We're not strong enough. But we can't just back off and do nothing.”
Ryu An asked earnestly.
“If we fail to stop their clash, the Great Veil's forces will grow even bolder. We can't just sit back and watch that happen.”
“Exactly.”
Ian growled.
“Since words won't work, we force it with power, right?”
“What? That's the opposite of what you just said. You said we lack the strength.”
One moment he's saying they're too weak to intervene, now suddenly what power...? No way?
“Yeah, exactly. Since our power isn't enough, we raise our weight class.”
Ian turned to the squad's reactions.
Gazing eastward from the bow, he said,
“I'll convince the Patriarch. Even if it means mobilizing the clan's entire force, we have to forcibly stop this war.”
The Lichtenauer Martial Clan stepping in to halt infighting between the Great Cataclysm's giants?
Plenty would refuse to accept it and rebel.
But... Paon, who had declared his intent to capture Karak...
He would surely... lend an ear to Ian's words.
Having erased all traces of Olga and the trolls on the Fourteenth Path, Aelion soon returned to Dragon's Gorge.
Despite his severe wounds, the urgent situation left him no choice but to move.
He'd been on edge, wondering if he'd drop dead from bad luck... but what do you know.
Out of nowhere, the Blue Lightning Tribe—clearly having eaten something rotten—charged straight at Palro from the Beast Fields.
That drew the attention of both Golden Heaven and the Swamp Dragon Tribe squarely there.
'Heh, talk about good luck. No, this must be the Earth Dragon looking out for me.'
The Earth Dragon must have pitied him for cleaning up after an idiot like Olga and granted this boon.
Otherwise, how else would things go so smoothly?
“You're back?”
Upon returning to the gorge, the dark elves—who had been dispatched and returned—greeted Aelion.
Probably because he was the last to arrive.
“Yeah, you all wrapped things up well and got back safe? Good work.”
Aelion patted the shoulders of his earlier-returned subordinates in commendation.
He took his late arrival for granted.
His wounds from that monstrous old coot Turka weren't fully healed.
And his assigned spot had been the farthest from Dragon's Gorge to begin with.
“No missing idiots who failed to return, right?”
Aelion tossed out the ritual question casually.
Of course not.
If even he—who went the farthest, and injured to boot—made it back safe, on a job this easy...
There couldn't be any failures.
He might call them blockheads in battle against Turka, but that was by his standards alone.
'Eh... Out here, they can handle their share. It's just cleanup, stealth, and infiltration—what could go wrong?'
They drove him mad in fights, but they excelled at missions like this. A relief, really.
He resolved to ease up on treating them like dead weight from now on. Then...
“...One.”
An utterly unexpected answer came.
“What?”
Irritation hit Aelion before surprise as he heard the report.
'Even in this perfect situation... they couldn't return? What kind of moron?'
In this easy environment where no one paid attention, just wipe traces and come back—failing that?
Maybe it was better to cut such dead weight.
“Who the hell is this idiot?”
Aelion snapped irritably.
He tossed the question carelessly, wanting to at least know the name of such trash.
But...
“Vice Officer Byona.”
...Did I hear that wrong?
“Who?”
The elf's grim report spat out a name farthest from 'trash' among his subordinates.
“Say it again. Who did you just say?”
He wanted to believe exhaustion made him hallucinate.
But his subordinate's merciless mouth crushed that hope.
“Byona Vice Officer... sent to the Fourteenth Path.”
Damn it, crystal clear.
He'd heard right.
“Ha...”
Aelion pressed his throbbing head and asked wearily.
“Why... hasn't she returned? There must be a reason. Anyone know anything?”
“......”
The dark elves only exchanged glances at Aelion's question; no one had a solid answer.
They'd all been busy with their own cleanup missions.
“Um...”
Then, a young dark elf in the corner spoke up.
“...I think I saw something. Not sure, but...”
“Who are you?”
The most senior dark elf whispered as Aelion asked.
“One sent to the Thirteenth Path. Close to Byona's area, so worth hearing out.”
“Really?”
Then it probably wasn't a mistake.
“No time for 'sure' or not in this situation. Even a tiny clue works—spill it.”
Urged by Aelion, the young dark elf reluctantly spoke.
“...While erasing traces on the Thirteenth Path and heading back, I spotted a ship heading to Hasfel by chance. Saw it from a cliff, so not clear, but... humans were on the deck with the lizardmen.”
“Why didn't you mention something that crucial!”
Aelion barked, and the dark elf's neck shrank like a turtle.
“S-Sorry. First solo mission, I was too nervous... thought I imagined it...”
Ridiculous excuse, but Aelion couldn't press it.
Truth be told, he'd have dismissed it as a mistake too.
Who'd believe humans were on a lizardmen's ship—heading to Hasfel, no less?
But... if true.
“Damn it... right there.”
Aelion's instincts screamed.
By some cursed coincidence, spotted on that Fourteenth Path ship.
Byona must have been on it too.
“......”
“...What now?”
As Aelion fell silent, a nearby dark elf subordinate cautiously probed.
Byona wasn't just any vice officer to Aelion.
Everyone here knew that.
“...We return to the Great Veil.”
After long deliberation, words like chewed gravel emerged from Aelion's mouth.
“...You sure?”
His subordinate asked again, but.
“No choice. In that scenario... even with all our power, we couldn't have rescued Byona.”
Crossing the Swamp Dragon Tribe meant possibly dragging in the clan too—a massive board.
Rescuing and escaping with just them and the dark elves? Suicide.
But... Byona, of all people, he absolutely couldn't abandon.
“...Time to meet the Second Finger.”
The one who ordered this grand scheme, who cherished his subordinates deeply.
Surely, even now, he'd provide a good solution.
Surely.