Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Princes' Final Assault
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Puhwaaaaa…!!
Was it because they sensed something unusual about Ian?
Or perhaps it was an instinctive sense honed from spending considerable time with him.
The Latent Dragon Squad members fighting alongside Ian around him had their eyes widening more and more at his ominous aura.
"C-Captain…?!"
"Wait, this feels familiar somehow. Huh? You're not thinking of doing something crazy again, are you?!"
Unlike the others, these Latent Dragon Squad members had witnessed Ian's blood vessels with their own eyes in the birch forest.
So they quickly realized what madness he was about to unleash.
"Captain, hold on…!!"
Sylvia tried to stop him, having spotted his intent to do something reckless once more.
"Later. Follow close and keep up. If not, I might end up dead. You gotta come save my ass, right?"
Leaving behind those utterly irresponsible words, Ian transformed into a streak of red light and charged toward the Earth Dragon.
"Captain! Captain! Hey! Shit, that crazy bastard…!!"
Watching Ian speed away in an instant, the Latent Dragon Squad members went berserk on the monsters before them.
The air was thick with monsters, making it hard even to breathe, but there was no choice.
They had to carve a path somehow and reach the Earth Dragon's vicinity.
Only then could they retrieve their reckless captain if he went down.
Kuwoooooh…!!!
Golden Eye, who had been swinging his two axes freely, now gripped one with both hands in a posture more reverent than ever.
How much time had passed?
From Golden Eye's body, a golden aura began to rise, gleaming brilliantly like his namesake.
But this was different from before.
It wasn't the massive axe shape that had cleaved through the Earth Dragon's lava or blocked its black flames.
Instead, the golden aura condensed, and condensed further.
Just like when he had clashed with the Sea King on the Beast Plains, the aura rising from Golden Eye's body slowly let out the howl of a wolf.
-Grrrrooooowl…!!
And that was not the end.
The condensed aura didn't stop at a spiritual howl; it formed a mane, front paws, and sharp fangs.
This destructive aura, fully shaped as a wolf, crouched low without roaring, despite its ferocity that seemed ready to devour the world.
Like a predator stalking prey, it simply emanated killing intent silently beside Golden Eye.
And soon after.
Flash!
As Golden Eye's body elongated and charged toward the Earth Dragon, the golden wolf raced alongside him.
-Woooooaaaaaaaah!!
As if resentful for holding back its roar, the wolf began to run with a howl that shook the entire battlefield lengthwise, pulverizing every monster in Golden Eye's and its own path to dust.
It was only natural, really.
The wolf was Golden Eye's aura itself, forged over a lifetime.
The will embedded in the aura he had built up over a lifetime on the vast battlefield of the Great Catastrophe had taken the form of a living being, fighting by his side.
Much like the dire wolves that were lifelong companions to ordinary orcs.
The wolf was Golden Eye's essence, his most cherished partner, and his strongest attack.
This was the ultimate technique Golden Eye had created upon reaching enlightenment to challenge Paon.
Golden Wolf Rush.
Golden Wolf Rush
[Ultimate Technique: Aura Manifestation as Living Wolf]
-…Impressive. So this is… the realm a mere orc can reach?
The Earth Dragon Karaktus, who had been cautiously recovering while wary of the three absolutes, couldn't dare underestimate Golden Eye charging fiercely toward him.
The technique of infusing one's will into aura to wield it like a living being.
Aura was another facet of mana.
Thus, it partially aligned with the dragons' authority to manipulate mana itself.
In other words, it was a profound realm forbidden—and unattainable—to lesser mongrels.
Which made this proof that Golden Eye had transcended it.
The limits of the barbaric orc race.
"Whew… So that's the Golden Wolf that made Golden Eye the strongest orc? Indeed… Not my style, but he's got the skill to claim kingship in the south."
Thanks to Golden Eye's Golden Wolf Rush clearing a path straight to the Earth Dragon, the Sea King let out a low whistle at the sight.
He had been certain no one but himself was fit to unify this Great Catastrophe as its king.
But he couldn't deny Golden Eye's charge—at least not this one.
No technique of his could pierce through that horde of undead and monsters so cleanly.
"Well, maybe he'd have qualified if I weren't around. But you see…"
Charrarak!
The Sea King forcibly moved his shattered arms and began whirling his scimitars.
"I've got one too. A little trick to plunge into that damned lizard's nape."
Before the path Golden Eye had opened could close again, the Sea King shot forward like an arrow.
Kieeeeng…!!
Battle aura—the unique energy of lizardmen—wove into the Sea King's twin scimitars.
Battle Aura.
The exclusive art of lizardmen, binding their vital force and cold-blooded nature to assimilate with the natural qi.
For some reason, lizardmen couldn't use aura like most other races.
But precisely because of that, only they could wield battle aura.
Thus, the Sea King was convinced.
This battle aura, unusable by any other race, was proof of lizardmen superiority.
'Assimilating with natural qi means embodying nature itself.'
The Sea King, who dominated from rivers to oceans, knew well.
No powerhouse in this world could stand great before the vast natural force of the sea.
Not even dragons, mere appendages clinging to nature.
Therefore.
The Sea King harbored no doubt his ultimate technique would fell the Earth Dragon.
Kwaaaaaang!
"Truly threatening. So this is… the strike of the monsters claiming to be princes of the current Great Catastrophe."
"……."
"Heh… Sorry to burden you alone like this. Now that I'm late, let me lend a hand."
Thud!
Ignoring Paon's silence, Midas summoned a magic circle.
As even Midas prepared for battle with Karaktus.
Paon, patriarch of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan, slowly examined his own body.
His broken, crushed form begged desperately for rest, rendering meaningless the ironclad training of long years.
Despite his bold declaration, Paon was no different from Golden Eye or the Sea King.
His body had already reached its limit.
Yet even so. There was no alternative but to push through.
…Kwaaak!
He slowly raised the hand gripping Cheonbyeok to his face.
"Huuu…."
Steadying his breath. To prepare his final strike.
He could see Golden Eye charging at the forefront in the distance, with the Sea King hot on his heels.
Golden Eye's Golden Wolf Rush, infused with will into aura.
The Sea King's Crest Wave Sword Shadow, born from studying the horizon and massive waves where sea meets sky.
The ultimate techniques of Great Catastrophe's monster lords unfolding at once was a spectacle beyond words.
And atop that, Midas—emerging from long seclusion—preparing his magic.
'…Those two seem to be going all out, so I can't show an unsightly display either.'
Paon knew best that those techniques were their all.
He had no choice but to know.
He had witnessed them in the past.
And shattered them with his own hands.
Thus, he could tell.
Those techniques would ultimately be blocked by the Earth Dragon.
What hadn't reached him certainly wouldn't reach the dragon.
Especially since the dragon was gradually recovering, while those two had pushed their bodies to the brink.
Even combined, they couldn't finish it.
But… with Midas's magic added.
'That should be enough to open a path for my sword to reach.'
Thus, what Paon needed to focus on now was solely preparing his final strike.
Whether it would work on the Earth Dragon, he couldn't be sure.
But Paon's task remained the same.
'Just give it my all to bring it down.'
That was the proper bearing for the Lichtenauer Martial Clan's patriarch.
Watching Golden Eye and the Sea King clash with the Earth Dragon, Paon closed his eyes and slowly, very slowly, began drawing up the energy within his body.
Including part of his life's origin.
And when he finally opened them.
"…Hahahahaha!! You really… don't disappoint until the very end!!"
As if delighted by something, Paon burst into mad laughter as his Cheonbyeok began to move.
"Haaaaaaaap!!"
Finally breaking through to the Earth Dragon, Golden Eye's axe fell from above alongside the golden wolf.
"Die, relic of the past!!"
-Grrrrrooooowl!!
The axe plummeting with the wolf gleamed with dazzling brilliance.
-…Hmph!
Even Earth Dragon Karaktus dared not belittle the Golden Wolf, opening its maw to spew black flames against the immense momentum.
Kwaaaaaaaa!!
In the midst of the sky, black flames and golden wolf clashed diagonally.
It looked evenly matched.
Flarrrk, flarrrk…!!
But the golden wolf was inching forward through the flames, ever so slightly.
'Hiss, I can do this…!!'
Paon Lichtenauer.
Thanks to that transcendent human's struggle, the recovering Earth Dragon was fatigued too.
At this rate, his soul-bound Golden Wolf would soon sink its fangs into the dragon's nape.
Pouring in every ounce of strength with that thought—
…Crack!
A shattering sound rang sharply in Golden Eye's ears.
Truly bizarre.
Amid the deafening explosions everywhere, why did this sound pierce his ears so clearly?
Golden Eye realized the reason easily.
It was the sound of his lifelong companion, the great axe that had swept battlefields with him, fully breaking.
At that moment, the golden wolf piercing the flames turned its head toward him with a sorrowful expression.
"…Damn."
Golden Eye's face went slack.
"…'Victory belongs to the prepared, and a weapon is proof of preparation,' they say."
He had believed it would hold till the end.
To shatter at the most critical moment, of all times.
"…Looks like the Warrior God won't smile on me today."
Kwaaaaaaaa!!
Swept into the black flames with the golden wolf, Golden Eye burned as he plummeted powerlessly to the ground.
"Loooooord!!"
As the three orcs of the Golden Heaven cried out in anguish.
The Sea King exploited the opening Golden Eye had created.
Weeeeeeng!
With a sound like buzzing wings, the Sea King's twin scimitars slashed toward the Earth Dragon.
"Die, lizard."
Peeeeeng…!
Unlike the swarm-like buzz, the sword strike resounded only once.
No, it wasn't a single slash.
It merely sounded as one because it was too fast, the echoes overlapping.
It was an aggregate of countless chaotic strikes.
The instant the sound ended.
Around the Earth Dragon's neck, the world seemed to warp.
Sky and sea.
Shadows of swords cleaving the embodiments of those absolute natures.
The Sea King's strongest attack: Crest Wave Sword Shadow.
Was its momentum unexpected?
-…Splendid.
The distorted-faced Earth Dragon evaluated calmly.
-But still, insufficient to reach me.
Craaaaaack!
The illusory shatter reversed, revealing the Earth Dragon unscathed save for a long bloodline on its neck.
"…Ha."
Clang, clang!
"If not for my arms like this."
Dropping his twin scimitars to the ground, the Sea King sneered at the Earth Dragon.
"This time… you'd be dead. Definitely."
-Excuses as dying words? Well, if that's your last words, no helping it.
Kwaaaaaang!
A magic circle flared beneath the Sea King's feet, erupting lava that engulfed him in an instant.
"My Kiiiiiing!!"
Simultaneous wails from the Mudflow Three Dragon Ears echoed from all sides.
-It's over.
That marked the signal.
In the end, this was as far as it went.
In the distance, he sensed the strike Paon Lichtenauer—his rival—was preparing.
Undoubtedly threatening, rippling with power.
He also saw the late-joining human preparing magic, but Karaktus paid the old man no heed.
Nullifying Arkan Dor's magic was commendable, but dragons were the progenitors of magic.
Mere human spells couldn't harm him.
Yet Earth Dragon Karaktus's body remained intact. And even now, steadily recovering.
Thus.
This attack wouldn't reach him.
Couldn't.
Having wrought countless slaughters and battles over centuries, the Earth Dragon knew.
This fight was his victory at last.
-Agena, fear me.
Intoxicated by triumph, the Earth Dragon roared.
-For this world shall fall under my hand, Karaktus!!!
"Lord Karaktus!!"
His loyal servant Arkan Dor echoed him.
-Yes, Arkan Dor. You've endured much. I shall reward you handsomely…
Toward the magnanimously praising Karaktus.
"Beware!!"
-……?
Arkan Dor cried not words of praise as Karaktus expected… but a desperate warning altogether different.