Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Ominous Tremors
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The sky, which had been perfectly clear, suddenly thrashed about like a mad beast.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The steadfast earth split open and shook with an ominous fervor.
Screeech! Groooowl!
The small creatures of the Great Catastrophe, who had always hidden stealthily from the eyes of predators, now moved wildly without a care for the predators swarming around them.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been akin to begging to be killed, but things were different now.
The predators devouring those creatures were equally lost in delirium.
The sky, the clouds, the very air... all twisted madly as they mingled with the foul energy.
"Th-this... what is it?!"
Golden Eye and the Sea King simultaneously turned their gazes toward Paon, chilled by a sensation they'd never felt before in their lives.
It was none other than Paon Lichtenauer who had revealed that all this chaos stemmed from the schemes of the Great Curtain.
Thus, they assumed he was the only one who could explain the current pandemonium.
Yet even Paon had no explanation for this bizarre phenomenon.
This ferocious fighting spirit shook not just their bodies, but the very depths of their souls.
In this Great Catastrophe... to Golden Eye, to the Sea King, to Paon.
There was only one being capable of conveying such a terrifyingly threatening sensation.
"The Earth Dragon...?! But how, already?!"
Paon, who had long sensed the Earth Dragon's presence, knew this much.
The plot to revive the Great Curtain's Earth Dragon was ultimately doomed to fail.
It wasn't enough yet... the energy infused from the lives of the Golden Heaven and Turbid Flow dissipating wasn't sufficient to complete the scheme.
So how could such a ferocious sensation now blanket the entire world?
The absolute rulers of the three dominant forces—Golden Heaven, Turbid Flow, and the Lichtenauer Martial Clan—were caught off guard, unable to properly respond to the sudden crisis. It was only natural, then, that their subordinates below were losing their minds.
"Chiiik?! Wh-what the hell is going on!!"
The innate warriors who knew no fear, the orcs, lost their battle spirit and courage before an unprecedented terror they'd never encountered.
"Kerrrruk! Everyone, calm down!"
The lizardmen, who had rampaged claiming seas and rivers were too narrow, flailed about in panic, fleeing toward the deep bottom of the Amatres River without their fighting spirit.
The Martial Clan's situation was somewhat better by comparison... but not by much.
Hiiiing!!
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down!"
The upper strike teams, centered around the knight orders, were struggling to soothe the demonic horses gripped by panic.
"Maintain formation! Get your heads straight!"
Mid-level officers bellowed at the top of their lungs, trying to restore order among the clan's low-rank warriors who had lost their reason to fear.
An unprecedented situation where the main forces of the three powers shaking the Southern Continent had all lost formation in terror.
Thus, those with the strength to withstand this energy were pouring everything into regaining control.
And naturally, in this once-in-a-lifetime crisis.
No one spared a glance for the dark elf hanging pitifully behind the pillar erected by the Lichtenauer Martial Clan.
For her, who had been waiting only for that moment, this brief chaos was an enormous opening.
...Sssslither!
A puppet approached stealthily like a shadow hidden in the darkness, swiftly untying the ropes binding the tightly secured Viona.
"Viona, snap out of it!"
"Ah... ugh...."
Having endured brutal torment from the Secret Exploiters, Viona still hadn't fully regained her senses.
Even at Aelion's urgent cry, where every second counted, she only let out pained groans through her hazy pupils.
"Damn it, they've completely broken her. Those bastard humans... don't they have even a shred of decency!"
Knowing his subordinate's usual demeanor, Aelion could guess just how much suffering she had endured.
Grinding his teeth, Aelion hastily hoisted Viona onto his back and muttered.
"Viona, you... once we get back alive, you owe me your eternal gratitude."
Sssslither...!!
Aelion melted into the shadows and began his stealthy escape.
Glance!
Even in the dire situation, Aelion glanced at the battlefield where Paon, Golden Eye, and the Sea King were embroiled.
They looked calmer now, but they still had no inkling of what had caused this sudden upheaval.
Good.
If even they were like that, the others were even less worth worrying about.
This was the perfect chance to flee, with everyone on the field out of their minds.
In this situation where no one paid attention...
Except for one person.
And those guarding that person's back alongside him.
They were watching the fleeing dark elf group with sharp eyes.
"Huff, huff..."
Heavy.
So damn heavy.
"What the hell did you eat from those humans...!!"
Aelion shot repeated glares at Viona on his back while sweating profusely.
But contrary to his grumbling mouth, his legs never stopped moving for a moment.
"What did you stuff yourself with... ugh! It's like carrying a pig instead of an elf...!"
Viona, who had belatedly come to her senses while riding on his back, laboriously opened her mouth toward the incessantly complaining Aelion.
"Ae... lion... es... cape... please...."
"Oh come on, now that you're conscious, hurry up and get off my back and walk on your own two feet. But no, you're just lying there planning to mooch off your captain, you incorrigible subordinate."
Aelion chided Viona, but she had no leeway to respond to his playful tone.
Elves, with fairy blood flowing through them, were never heavy.
Besides, Viona had been dragged here in a battered state after enduring harsh trials in the Lichtenauer Martial Clan.
She should have been light, if anything—not in any condition to be called heavy.
If Aelion were at full strength... he would have moved briskly as if carrying nothing.
Yet his body trembled, and cold sweat dripped endlessly from his forehead.
There was only one reason.
'The wounds from that white ghost, Turka... they haven't fully healed yet.'
Thus, Viona kept pleading with Aelion to abandon her.
"In... this state... we... both... die...."
"Shut up. If I thought we'd die that pathetically... I wouldn't have come here in the first place. I came because I had a plan. So... shut your mouth. It's hard enough already without you shaking me every time you talk."
A firm voice that brooked no argument.
As Viona tried to say more to such an Aelion.
"Wow... what a touching scene. Makes me want to shed a tear."
Chiririring!
A chilling voice echoed in their ears, accompanied by an even more eerie metallic scrape rapidly closing in.
Viona's face stiffened.
She knew that sound well from when she'd been captured.
Viona, who knew its source better than anyone, suddenly yanked Aelion's head to the side with unexpected strength.
"Dodge!!"
"Kuh?!"
At the sudden tug on his hair, Aelion unwittingly tilted his body to the left.
Thanks to that, he safely evaded the follow-up attack.
Zzaaaang!
A destructive energy tore up the ground along Aelion's path, grazing past his feet.
Normally it might not matter, but in his current worst-case condition, taking that strike would have knocked him out cold.
...Gulp!
As Aelion swallowed hard inwardly.
"Lucky."
Behind the dry-swallowing Aelion, a human with a still-youthful face slowly approached.
In both hands, he gripped two swords writhing sinuously like serpents.
"I was going to sever those pesky legs right off."
"...Haha, well... I thought I'd fooled you completely."
Scratch scratch!
Aelion roughly scratched the back of his head before carefully setting Viona down on the ground from his back.
"I never imagined some lunatic would still fixate on a pathetic dark elf like me amid that insane energy. You sure have sharp eyes to spot me."
"With all the Great Catastrophe's powerhouses gathered, I figured if anyone made a move, it'd be now. Well, things didn't go quite... no, way off from what I expected. Your guts are so bloated they've practically burst out of your belly."
Ian had naturally assumed that if anyone from the Great Curtain moved, it would be to eliminate the captive dark elf.
It was the quickest and most effective option.
He never dreamed they'd attempt a rescue right under all these watchful eyes.
"Ahaha, thanks for the compliment, I guess."
Aelion glanced up at the sky at Ian's words before asking slyly.
"You got the leisure to bother with small fry like us right now? That thing floating in the sky isn't just bluffing. It's the precursor to the Earth Dragon you've all been so wary of... awakening."
"I know."
Ian could sense Aelion wasn't bluffing either.
As Lucas, even recalling his days rampaging across the Northern Continent... he'd never felt such ferocious energy.
No mere dark elf trick could fake something on that scale.
"That's exactly why I have to catch you lot. Someone who can stand in the presence of energy powerful enough to awaken a dormant Earth Dragon... must hold a very high position within the Great Curtain."
"Ahaha... appreciate the high praise, but there's actually a bit of a story there."
Aelion gave a wry smile.
How could this young human possibly guess?
That all this stemmed from his own mad act of memorizing a prayer he'd stumbled upon by chance.
"We'll see about that."
Chiriring!
Ian gripped the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent and drew up his energy.
"Latent Dragon Squad. Stake your lives to hold the line. These guys are the key to explaining this incident. We let them go under no circumstances."
Rustle!
Humans slowly emerged from the bushes, closing the encirclement from all sides.
The mage had finished chanting, the priest held a bow at the ready, and the three warriors gripped their respective weapons in full combat stance.
Anyone could see they had no intention of letting Aelion and Viona escape easily.
"Oh boy, this is bad."
Aelion scratched his head.
Glancing back, Viona stared at him silently, gasping for breath.
Though she said nothing, Aelion understood what she meant.
-I'll follow your will.
Whatever decision he made, she would stick by it to the end.
With that, Aelion steeled his resolve.
He overcame the heart demon that had tormented him until the very last moment.
"Not that it's much consolation to you folks who chased us this far, but let's try asking anyway."
Aelion turned to Ian and opened his mouth again.
Swish!
Lifting his shirt, a massive scar from Turka spanned his upper body.
"I'm kinda hurt, you see. Might need some treatment... mind just letting us go?"
At the brazen request, Ian readily nodded.
"Even better. The clan's medical arts are exceptional. We'll take you in so you can heal right away."
A rock-solid refusal with no room for a needle.
"Yeah, figured as much. But hey."
Aelion adjusted his stance and twisted his lips.
"I didn't crawl into this dangerous place without a plan. You think I'd come all this way with no countermeasures against these three massive forces clashing?"
Ssswish!
Lowering his center of gravity, Aelion finally moved.
In response, Ian freely swung the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent infused with Blood Demon Iron Chain Art aura.
His opponent was a powerhouse who had infiltrated this battlefield alone to rescue a hostage.
Wounded or not, he surely had a hidden trump card, as he'd claimed.
Letting his guard down could mean getting caught off-guard instead.
"...Here I go!"
Chiririring!
Like a lion giving his all even for a single rabbit.
As Ian swung his right-hand longsword with full power to unleash a blood storm, Aelion vanished in an instant.
Aelion charged low and ferociously.
To block the unexpected approach, Ian swiftly recovered his longsword.
At the same time, he thrust his left-hand shortsword into the ground, preparing for Aelion to spring up from below.
Before Ian, who had prepared near-perfect countermeasures, Aelion unleashed his hidden ace.
"Spare me!!!"
Kneeling and begging pathetically for his life, Aelion's desperate plea filled everyone's vision.