Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Warhammer
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Warhammer.
Unlike a sword meant for slicing through enemies, it was a weapon designed to crush or pulverize foes clad head to toe in thick armor.
For the one on the receiving end of that crushing force, it packed enough destructive power to demolish not just humans, but even massive fortress defenses.
Then what of an iron rod?
Unlike a warhammer, an iron rod carried a strong image as nothing more than an improvised weapon.
However, if its size and weight far exceeded normal standards, it became a heavy weapon in its own right—one that could rival any warhammer.
Hulking brutes wielding these monstrous weapons swung them mercilessly at each other, lives hanging in the balance.
Kwaaaang!
On a battlefield where the air itself exploded with deafening roars, it was impossible to keep a clear head.
No one in their right mind would want to draw near a place where even a glancing blow could shatter bones.
The clash between these colossal giants, which seemed like it would rage on forever, finally reached its grand finale.
Kwajijik!
Silver's iron rod, dodging Galtrow's warhammer by a hair's breadth, finally snapped the troll's neckbone.
"Kruk, kruruk…!!"
Ulkeuk!
Bloody froth erupted from the troll's mouth, soaking his lips.
No matter how formidable a troll's regenerative powers, mending a shattered neck was a hopeless endeavor.
The neck was the vital conduit linking head to body.
With that pathway collapsed, how could life possibly continue?
No—even if it could, the orc standing before him would never allow it.
"Kruk…!! One, one hair's breadth… difference…."
Galtrow spewed blood with evident regret, gasping for breath over and over.
Before the king who led the colossal trolls.
Silver quietly wiped the blood trickling from his own mouth.
As Galtrow had said, it had truly been a razor-thin battle.
Galtrow, further empowered by the Earth Dragon's blessing, had been a genuinely terrifying foe.
In truth, there had been more than a few moments where his life nearly ended under that monstrous hammer.
If not for Bronze's belated reinforcements, he would likely be the one sprawled on the ground right now.
‘…No. If not for that bizarre final strike… I definitely would have fallen.’
For some reason, Silver couldn't shake the lingering sense that Galtrow had pulled his final blow.
"Kruruk… Still, no regrets. To end my life… in battle against… worthy foes like you… My existence… wasn't entirely… meaningless."
Whatever Silver's inner turmoil, Galtrow let out a satisfied chuckle.
"What exactly is battle to you?"
Eun couldn't help but voice the question at the sight of Galtrow like this.
"Battle, combat—it's nothing but an endless chain of hardships. The defeated die, denied even the chance to keep living. Such merciless brutality… why do you crave it so fiercely?"
Silver simply couldn't comprehend it.
Led by Golden Eye, the three orcs had fought tooth and nail against the other factions of the cataclysm.
That's why he knew full well the immense boon that Golden Heaven—the enclave forged from their blood and souls—provided to every orc newborn.
And yet, even among orcs… spearheaded by the elite warriors of the nameless ranks, there were those voicing discontent toward Golden Eye and the three orcs for their territorial vigilance and cautious choices.
Silver couldn't fathom those orcs, nor Galtrow.
He dismissed it as the petulant griping of the well-fed, blissfully ignorant of true war after an age of peace.
But Galtrow stared at Silver in utter bewilderment.
"Kruruk… Now that's… selfish drivel."
He scoffed at Silver's words as utterly worthless.
"…What?"
"For one born a warrior, strip away battle… and what's left?"
Galtrow shot back sharply at Silver.
"Warriors exist for the sake of fighting. Rob them of that… and what remains?"
"……."
"I was called a finger. The nameless one among them. I… lived my entire life as a mere tool to awaken the Earth Dragon."
"……."
"Even so, I take pride in calling myself a warrior. Better to die feeling truly alive… than to cling meekly to a long, wretched life."
Suuuuu…!
As he listened to Galtrow, Silver's eyes widened round.
He could see tangible life force slowly ebbing from Galtrow's body.
"No regrets. Even taking responsibility for my subordinate's failure… and paying the price… I die as a warrior."
Galtrow painfully twisted his broken neck toward the battlefield where the Earth Dragon clashed with the three absolutes.
"If you emerge victorious from this fight… heed my words well. Rob warriors of battle… and that blade's edge will turn upon you in time."
Galtrow barked a final, wry laugh.
"Though… that comes… after you survive…."
‘This settles… my subordinate's blunder, you damned skeleton.’
Sensing the last vestiges of life drain from his body, Nameless Finger Galtrow closed his eyes.
It was the moment the first casualty fell among the colossal fingers.
And… the moment true calamity began descending upon the southern continent.
Rewind time—to when Ian and the Little Stars drew blades against Mu-ji and Arckandor's death knights.
Just before the life-or-death duel between Golden Heaven's two orcs and Galtrow reached its verdict.
In the dragon's tomb, where the smallest number clashed—but where the stakes were highest and the danger unmatched—a battle to shake heaven and earth raged.
-Perish, you lowly mortals!!
Kiyuuuuuung!
With the Earth Dragon's colossal roar, countless spheres of condensed mana floated up behind its massive frame.
This wasn't some arcane high-dimensional spell.
It was simply pure energy orbs formed from the land's natural mana, obeying the dragon's will upon its descent.
But precisely because of that.
It was stronger—purer—than any magic.
A marvel only the dragonkin could unleash.
To manifest such raw monstrosity through will alone, small wonder every living thing seemed insignificant to Karaktus.
Kwaaaaaa!
The spheres streaked forth with trailing tails, hurtling toward the vanguard Sea King charging across the ground.
"…Hmph!! So the fame etched eternally in history… wasn't some empty fabrication after all!!"
Papapapapapapapak!
Destructive orbs that would vaporize flesh on a single hit swarmed in, yet the Sea King—tense but undeterred—never halted his advance toward the dragon.
Peueueung! Pung! Peupung!
Against an onslaught that could snuff out life in a heartbeat, the Sea King evaded by a paper-thin margin and pressed on.
And at last.
Tat, tat, tatat!
He leaped onto the Earth Dragon's body, locking eyes at equal height.
"Peekaboo."
-……!!
Chyararararak!
With a playful grin and flick of the tongue, Sea King Jacura's scimitar danced.
The battle aura of the lizardman who had crossed the mighty Amatres River to dominate the western seas of Osela—pushed to its utter limit.
It manifested into the world through the razor-sharp scimitar.
Honed across countless wars, that blade could cleave anything.
Even dragon scales, hailed as one of the world's hardest substances.
-Kraaaaa!!
Earth Dragon Karaktus staggered back a step, unable to withstand the searing agony ripping through his neck and chest.
But that was all.
It wasn't enough to topple this legend-made-monster.
-Not bad, mortal!! Then try this on for size!!
Kung!
Karaktus stomped fiercely, and the ground beneath the airborne Sea King heated to blistering temperatures in an instant.
And moments later.
Kwaaaaaang!
Lava erupted like a colossal volcano, engulfing the Sea King's form.
7th-circle magic: Volcano.
A spell that demanded prolonged incantation even from grand archmages—unleashed with a single stomp.
"Ugh, this one's… definitely my Achilles' heel, no denying it."
The Sea King shook his head in wry dismay.
No matter how he transcended his race's limits, he was still a lizardman at core.
Deadly near water, yes—but his prowess inevitably plummeted before fire.
Yet somehow.
Even in this do-or-die peril, the lizardman brimmed with nonchalance.
"Still, what hurts me… doesn't mean it'll faze the others!!"
-…What?
It wasn't the Sea King countering the surging lava's blaze.
Peueueueung!
A golden great axe—potent enough to behead the Earth Dragon's massive neck in one swing—shattered the rising magma aimed at the Sea King.
-……!!
Filling the Earth Dragon's panicked vision: an orc wielding twin axes, glaring coldly.
"Impressive strength… but if that's your limit, this spot becomes your grave today, relic of the past."
Through the scattering lava's gaps.
Just as before, Paon Lichtenauer's blade strike—biding its moment—emerged once more.
"I called it disappointing last time."
Kiiiiiiing!
Paon's Cheonbyeok, brimming with unprecedented force, slid slowly from its sheath.
"Let's see if you repeat that… once my strike punches through your magic barrier."
Shuwaaaaaaak!
With Paon's words, the syrupy-stretched aura vaulted through space toward the Earth Dragon's chest.
-!!!!
Sensing the strike's ill omen, Karaktus frantically tried to raise a shield—but.
The Sea King and Golden Eye weren't about to spectate idly.
"Not just time to fixate on Paon!"
"Over here too, you wretched wyrm!!"
Sea King's scimitar and Golden Eye's axes harried the dragon relentlessly, sealing off any chance for defensive spells.
Earlier, they'd witnessed Paon's strike rebuffed by the dragon's bottomless mana.
Without that, even an Earth Dragon couldn't have endured Paon's blow!
-You pathetic gnats dare…!!
Thwarted from casting by the two cataclysm lords' blockade, Karaktus hastily reformed mana orbs to intercept Paon's slash.
Hwiriririk!
The launched barrage twisted into a spiral, coalescing into a devastating energy mass.
For an improvised counter, it was staggeringly potent.
Jjwaaaaaaak!
Yet Paon's slash cleaved through Karaktus's orbs with mocking precision, unrelenting.
As if to prove such childish stopgaps were futile.
Ultimately.
Jjeeoeoeok!
-…Keuheok!
Paon's strike carved a perfect diagonal across Karaktus's chest.
Given the dragon's immense bulk, blood cascaded like a waterfall.
At the sight of Karaktus reeling from the mortal wound, the Sea King scoffed.
"Hmph! All that ‘Earth Dragon, Earth Dragon’ hype… and it's just this much?"
To claim supremacy at such a paltry level?
A stray mutt would laugh.
"Don't get cocky, Sea King. If this were truly the end, those colossal fingers wouldn't have pined for the dragon's revival all these years."
Golden Eye remained wary, though his assessment differed little from the Sea King's.
Were the dragon truly felling in this brief skirmish… the colossal horde would face certain annihilation today.
Ulkeuk, ulkeuk!
Even as the duo who lorded over the current cataclysm conversed, blood poured ceaselessly from the dragon's chest.
Kkuluk… Kkuluk….
…No, more precisely.
The flow was dwindling rapidly.
"…What the—?"
And then.
The anomaly began, not long after.
…Eomjjeok!
The blood gushing waterfall-like from the Earth Dragon's chest halted abruptly.
Not merely stopping there.
Hwiryuryuryu!!
The blood drenching the ground reversed flow, surging back into the dragon's body.
The wounds torn by Sea King's scimitar, Golden Eye's axes, and Paon's Cheonbyeok mended in a flash.
"…Kill it—right now!!"
Led by Paon's dazed shout, the two cataclysm absolutes unleashed a barrage—but.
The dragon's mana barrier, shifted wholly to defense at the cost of offense, refused to yield.
And at last.
Dugeun, dugeun!
The throbbing pulse emanating from the Earth Dragon's body slammed into the ears of all three combatants.
-Ah….
As if those wounds had been an illusion.
The dragon surveyed its flawless, scarless form with a sigh of admiration.
It was uncanny.
Visually identical to before the fight began.
Yet the aura it exuded was utterly transformed.
Unlike the earlier sense of internal 'sloppiness'.
Now, the Earth Dragon brimmed like a vessel filled to bursting, seamless and whole.
-Kuk, kukukuk! So that's how it is. Arckandor, ever the meticulous one among your kind.
Earth Dragon Karaktus gazed toward distant Arckandor—locked in duel with the Lichtenauer knights—and bellowed a hearty laugh of satisfaction.
The life force drifting in from the battlefield.
Among it, one especially familiar and weighty signature: a troll's.
Another contingency prepared by Arckandor, no doubt.
-Indeed, you alone always grasped my intentions perfectly. Truly… none but you could bear the mantle of the Thumb.
Swipe!
-Now… shall we begin anew, mortals?
He turned, flashing the three absolutes a ghastly white grin.
-I'll demonstrate right here… just how grave a blunder it was to fail finishing me off back there.