Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Rally of the Unbroken
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Golden Eye retrieved his axe lodged between the cliffs.
Sea King yanked out the scimitar stuck between the chains, one of its teeth missing.
And then.
Paon, patriarch of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan, straightened his back and slowly lifted the Heavenly Wall he had planted into the ground.
The three absolute experts, whose spirits had nearly broken in their fierce battle with the Earth Dragon, refused to give up once more and steeled their resolve.
Their morale naturally rippled down to the ranks below.
The chaos quickly subsided, and the plummeting spirits surged anew.
One by one, the clan's warriors raised their weapons.
"...Damn it all. It's do or die!"
"Even that young Captain Ian hasn't given up—if we're cowering and useless, what's the point of us?!"
"It's not over yet!"
Golden Heaven's forces were no different.
"You lot! Our boss ain't dead yet! Look at that lizard—it's ragged like some dying old geezer on its last legs! The boss has it cornered, so why the hell are you flinching? You call yourselves warriors?!"
The orcs snorted in response to Iron Mask's scolding roar.
"Kreeeeek!! Yeah!! Let's taste some dragon meat today!!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Lizardmen of the River Rapids reformed their lines under the stern commands of Maximus and Regulus.
"Don't waver!! The king yet stands strong!! We'll lead you just as before!! Keep advancing without pause!!"
"Kerrrr!!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Like a well-drilled army, they pressed their shields together and drew their gladii and shortswords from their belts.
Paon gave a small nod at the battlefield's shifted atmosphere.
Thanks to Ian's shout, they had averted the disaster of utter collapse before the real battle even began.
"My son... but truly a remarkable one."
Paon gazed anew at Ian, who was carving through ogres at the vanguard.
What his son Ian had shouted was something anyone could say.
But to shake the hearts of so many with just those few words... that was no small feat.
...I owe you one, my son.
As patriarch of Lichtenauer, he had nearly shown an unsightly display, only to be saved.
He would have to repay this debt later, as was proper.
Of course, that required winning this fight first.
-Keruk... Damn it, stepping up so stylishly was fine and all... but I'm not in great shape.
Sea King shook his head, glancing at the arm ensnared by the Earth Dragon's monstrous binding spell.
As if to prove his words, both of Sea King's arms were shredded to rags.
Golden Eye spoke as he pulled another axe from between the cliffs.
The other one was reduced to a powder-edged haft, useless as an axe.
As Golden Eye said, cracks riddled his axe from blade to haft.
Paon chuckled at the pair growling again.
Paon was in the same state.
Having poured everything into the duel with the Earth Dragon, both his cherished Heavenly Wall and his own body had reached their limits.
Shhhhh...
In contrast, Earth Dragon Karaktus was steadily healing even now.
Indeed, of the three wind-holes Paon had carved into its wings, one was already nearly closed.
With bodies and weapons in the worst shape, and a time limit to slay the foe to boot.
Utterly unreasonable, utterly unfair.
A crisis upon crisis.
Yet.
...Overcoming such moments without falling—that is the virtue of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan's master.
To helm this iron-blooded house, one must bear its weight.
Creeeak!
He gripped the Heavenly Wall tight in his bloodied, mangled hand.
The fight was not over yet.
That bastard again...!!
Grrrrrind!
Arckandor gnashed his teeth, blue soulfire blazing in his hollow eye sockets.
It had been over.
The foolish pretenders claiming kingship amid the cataclysm and the arrogant Lichtenauer patriarch playing human guardian should have knelt before the great Earth Dragon Karaktus, filling all present with terror.
They should have perished helplessly, like insects.
That was the scene Arckandor had anticipated.
It was only natural.
Compared to the past, when the Lichtenauer led all mortal forces against the dragon.
The current forces clashing directly with the Earth Dragon were overwhelmingly fewer.
No matter how mighty they claimed to be, before the dragon, all were mere bugs.
A few stronger bugs lunging wouldn't topple it.
Thus... they were fated to die like insects.
For daring to mock the dragon's power, that was their predestined end.
But.
Those who should have scattered in despair rallied their shattered minds and reformed ranks.
All because of that one young human's shout.
"Not just once, but ruining a perfectly good stew again...!!"
It had happened on the right flank earlier too.
The moment that young human stepped up, his invincible undead legion began to yield ground.
And in the clash with the Death Knights, hadn't that human turned the tide decisively?
...My mistake. I should have prioritized eliminating him.
He had long recognized that young human as the seed of those who twist history—the so-called 'heroes'.
He even thought that, given time, he might grow to block the Great Veil and the dragon.
But that was far in the future.
Even after centuries alive, Arckandor hadn't foreseen him shaking this battlefield's flow today, on this stage.
"Fine, then."
Rumble rumble rumble!!
Infinite magic circles ignited beneath Arckandor's feet.
"If this is the result of my misjudgment, it's only right I take responsibility!!"
That young human was now the battlefield's sharpest edge.
Before he sours the mood further, I'll erase him without a trace!!
Whoosh!!
Hell Flame, chilling thunder, instant-death venom...
Countless spells from Arckandor surged toward Ian at once.
Each a sure-kill magic, all aimed at one Ian.
"Th-that!!"
No one expected a powerhouse like Arckandor to ambush Ian; the clan's warriors couldn't react in time.
The spells were about to bombard the defenseless Ian when—
A single curt command echoed across the field.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Like fireworks in the sky, Arckandor's spells fizzled into nothing at that word.
"!!!"
Every eye in the Lichtenauer Martial Clan widened.
The robed mages appearing suddenly in the rear were shocking enough.
But one who could shatter Arckandor's destructive magic—beyond even the squad leaders—could only be one in this continent, no, all of Aagena.
Grand Sage Midas Alloin.
One of Aagena's four heroes and the Magic Tower's lord had entered the fray.
"...Not too late, I hope. Nearly died there."
Only Ian reacted calmly to Midas's arrival.
Before advancing on the Great Veil.
In the three-day reprieve, Ian had visited Megalovria's Magic Tower with the Latent Dragon Squad.
He demanded an audience with the lord, Midas Alloin.
The tower naturally balked, but surprisingly.
Midas himself had permitted Ian's entry as if awaiting him.
Ian had expected as much.
No one uninterested would gift something like the Silver Moon Armor.
What passed between them that day... only they knew.
But now.
To the weary clan amid Arckandor's spells, Midas Alloin and the Magic Tower's intervention was a heavenly host.
"It's the Magic Tower!! The lord and elders have joined the battle!!"
"Wooooaaah!!"
Morale soared inevitably, as if the prior despair was a lie.
"Y-you damned pests...!!"
Grrrrrind!
Arckandor ground his remaining teeth to shards.
His event disrupted again, but worse—that fresh-faced(?) human shattering his magic was an unbearable insult.
"Fine. Try blocking this!!"
Altogether different magic circles bloomed endlessly from beneath Arckandor.
And.
Splat!
From each circle, hands clawed up, ripping the earth asunder.
"No matter how advanced your spells, you can't dispel this many!!"
Null one, he'd summon two; null two, he'd unleash four.
A solution befitting an Arch-Lich with near-infinite mana.
Was his judgment wrong? The Magic Tower mages switched from dispels to attacks on the undead.
Arckandor, seizing the breather, turned to the Earth Dragon, bowing deeply.
"Exalted Earth Dragon. This lowly paper scrap requests permission to eradicate these foolish insects who refuse to yield..."
Karaktus gave a slight nod to Arckandor's plea.
Karaktus still needed time.
To fully heal the wounds from a human who coveted his neck, even if not life-threatening.
"As you command."
With the dragon's leave, the Great Veil's first finger, Arckandor, channeled mana and ordered the Veil's soldiers.
"The Great Veil's first finger, Thumb Arckandor, commands."
Whoosh!
Arckandor coldly declared as his exponentially swelling undead advanced.
"All warriors of the Great Veil—incinerate those foolish insects resisting the Earth Dragon, leaving none!!"
Swoooosh!
"Hah... befitting a centuries-old monster. Truly... an immense horde of undead."
Midas Alloin, the Magic Tower lord venturing out after ages, stroked his beard and commanded his mages.
"Sages of this land pursuing truth."
The Magic Tower mages, like Midas, raised their staves at the advancing undead.
"Let us grant rest to those wretched souls escaped from the cycle."
Abyssal screams.
No other words fit the scene of the vast Dragon's Graveyard battlefield converging into one.
Crack!
An ogre's massive hand crushed a warhorse and its Lichtenauer striker rider together.
The ogres, drunk on the blood scent from their palms, tried to roar, but their dreams ended there.
Crunch!
Before the cheers erupted from ogre throats, Golden Heaven's orcs buried axe blades into their thick necks.
An orc's skull flew from a dark elf arrow, only for the dark elf's heart to be pierced by a lizardman's gladius.
A ghoul's heart dangled, pierced by a Lichtenauer striker, after it bit a lizardman's nape.
BOOM!!
Compressed undead clumps exploded like bombs from mage spells, their corpse venom blackening the surroundings.
In the field of biting, being bitten, and biting anew, countless lives flickered out every second, like candles burning themselves for light.
And as the melee intensified.
Shhhhhh...!!
The Earth Dragon's recovery accelerated.
Shatter!!
Boom boom boom!
Ian, wildly swinging Four Directions Sword and Silver Moon Armor against Great Veil monsters, spotting it was no coincidence.
The man who led North Continent wars to victory countless times.
None read the battlefield's flow more keenly; him missing this shift would be the oddity.
"......!!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ian whipped his gaze around to see Golden Eye, Sea King, and Paon each priming soul-infused strikes.
And Midas Alloin, the late-joining Magic Tower lord.
South Continent's premier powerhouses all moving in sync meant they too read the situation perfectly.
But.
Perhaps from his experience uniting all North Continent plains tribes through frenzy.
Ian saw one step further than they.
A honed sixth sense from endless battles.
...Not enough.
His instincts screamed.
The four absolutes' attacks would be mighty.
But.
Those all-out blows would fall just short of the dragon, ending in failure.
The dragon lives, and this fate-laden war ends in South Continent's defeat.
Someone must create a variable.
...Whoosh!
Ian urgently scanned for powerhouses to aid them.
Lichtenauer's elite squad leaders, Golden Eye's three Golden Heaven orcs, River Rapids' four dragon-like guardians.
And the Magic Tower elders commanding the mages.
...No good.
All were locked against Arckandor, Tombgrok, Drakelas.
Those with spare hands were busy stemming Arckandor's summoned undead waves.
He could shout to one for aid, but Ian shook his head.
...No. More variables might arise.
The battlefield held not just them, but the three fingers too.
Spotting the shift, the fingers, Veil monsters, and dragon wouldn't sit idle.
They'd desperately interfere with Paon and crew.
Someone who read the flow themselves had to break the stalemate.
Yet nowhere.
No one grasped the urgency.
Not from lack of skill.
Because they couldn't fathom defeat for Paon of Lichtenauer, Golden Eye of Golden Heaven, Sea King of River Rapids, Sage Midas of the Tower.
Inevitable.
Those four heroes they'd watched were eternal victors, heavens themselves.
But Ian knew better than any.
No matter how peerless or steadfast the mighty.
A single pebble could topple them.
The difference between those who knew it bone-deep and those who didn't.
...Grrrind!
Ian cleaved another troll, wiped blood from his face, and clenched his jaw.
...I have to do it.
But.
Could he?
With mere expert pinnacle skill... add weight to the clash of sky-dwellers?
Pondering was long, hesitation a blink.
No one else could attempt it.
Then.
...No choice!!
Above all, Ian was once Lucas Alexei.
The man who turned impossible to possible, forging the vast Alexandor Empire spanning North Continent.
He who crossed more slaughterfields than any in Aagena.
Entrusting fate to another... wasn't his way.
The fate of my future command... I'll forge with my own hands.
Rooooar!!
From Ian's body, blood-like crimson Blood Demon True Qi slowly seeped out.