Chapter 134
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Blood Wind
-Kuuh...?!
Watching his black flames split apart by the sword plummeting from the sky, Karaktus's pale yellow eyes trembled.
The Golden Eye's golden wolf and the Sea King's onslaught, evoking raging tidal waves, had both been impressive.
But this was different.
He could sense it instinctively.
This sword... it was an attack that could truly 'kill' him right now.
-...Don't make me laugh!!
Kwaduduk!
I am the Earth Dragon.
The one and only supreme being meant to reign over this land, the existence that rightfully places the entire world beneath its feet.
-The hegemon worthy of supremacy is not some pathetic human like you—it's me!!
Hwaaak!
The color in the Earth Dragon's pale yellow eyes inverted.
The yellow rims blackened, and the tiny, focused pupils flipped to yellow.
Dragon Demon Eye.
It was the authority manifesting the Earth Dragon's desire to incinerate the world, reduce all to nothingness, and rebuild it from the beginning.
Its freakishly gleaming eyes dissected, analyzed, and contemplated the structure of the massive sword descending from the heavens, piece by piece.
No attack in this world was truly perfect.
Even the black flames he himself boasted of had been cleaved in two by that human's sword.
Thus, this sword could surely be blocked as well.
Cold sweat beaded as he watched the heavenly sword rapidly close in, yet the Earth Dragon never gave up.
-You think I'm going down so pathetically...!!
Hundreds of years.
He had endured for hundreds of long years.
Patiently, ever so patiently.
Thoroughly dismantling the world's guardians—the Lichtenauer Martial Clan—that made him want to devour them whole and still not feel sated.
And all those fools who dared to proclaim themselves kings in his absence—every last one of them.
He had waited solely for the ecstatic day to burn them and crush them underfoot.
Was it that the Earth Dragon's mad craving had pierced through? Nedyr's fears did not prove unfounded—they became reality.
-...Found it!!
He could see it.
The one unstable fragment in that near-perfect heavenly sword.
It was a sword that appeared flawless, forged from an iron fortress of unbreakable conviction, yet a gap undoubtedly existed.
Paaaa...!!
An immense number of magic circles rose from beneath the Earth Dragon's feet.
Charrlrulululul!!
And from every one of those magic circles, countless chains materialized in an instant, intertwining to constrict the heavenly sword.
Kiririk, kiriririk!
With clanking and rattling sounds, Paon Lichtenauer's sword—which had pressed forward through the black flames without a hint of fear—halted in midair for the first time.
-Arckandor!!
Karaktus called out to his first finger without a moment's hesitation.
It was a single-word summons, devoid of subject or object.
"Understood, Earth Dragon!!"
Arckandor immediately grasped the reason he had been called and summoned his mana without delay.
Wuuuung!!
Not quite on the Earth Dragon's level, but still an overwhelming array of magic circles formed.
And just like the Earth Dragon's, countless mana chains bound Paon's heavenly sword tight.
"You think we'll let you do that!!"
The captains clashing with Arckandor were no fools.
Judging that Arckandor's actions would interfere with the patriarch's decisive move, they stepped forward to stop him.
But
Kwauuuu!!
Razor-sharp blades of wind blocked their path.
"And if we don't let you—what then?!"
"This damn old hag...!!"
Bihar Hawk gnashed his teeth.
The captains outnumbered them, but the fingers had also transcended their original power through the Earth Dragon's blessings.
Suppressing them wasn't impossible, but breaking through opponents who had committed fully to defense would take time.
Kuung!
"You lot have to play with me!!"
Tumgrok bared his white teeth, blocking off Arckandor's front entirely.
"Damn ogre bastard—so annoyingly cunning!!"
Not content with his innately massive frame, Tumgrok—clad in thick, heavy gauntlets—crouched down.
It was as if a colossal wall had risen between Arckandor and the captains.
This bought time to prevent an immediate assault on Arckandor, and that much time was more than enough for the Earth Dragon to find an opening.
'This time... it's truly over...!!'
As the heavenly sword's descent gradually slowed, profound ecstasy welled in Arckandor's hollow pupils.
This would end it.
For a fleeting moment, the human's history-altering outburst had made him worry if things might truly go awry.
But the wise Earth Dragon had, as expected, found a solution.
The southern orcs, the central lizardmen.
All the false kings would perish.
And the guardian who protected the eastern humans would also collapse here, his power spent.
Then, no more obstacles would remain in this world to hinder the Earth Dragon's advance...!!
However.
Arckandor should have remained more vigilant.
Those fated to upend history and shift the tide of battle.
Until their lives were snuffed out, it was impossible to predict what they might do.
Chiririririt...!
At that moment, two streaks of white and black chains extended from the human's hand, buried in the ground, rising toward the sky.
"...Hmph!"
Arckandor realized it was Ian's desperate strike but merely scoffed and ignored the motion.
In this situation, it was nothing more than pathetic flailing, hardly worthy of being called an attack.
That human's power had reached its limit anyway.
Even if one praised his resistance, squeezing out his last dregs of strength...
Such an attack wouldn't so much as scratch the Earth Dragon's chains—let alone his own.
But Arckandor had overlooked one thing.
Ian's movements indeed had no effect on the Earth Dragon's or Arckandor's chains.
However, Ian himself... had no interest whatsoever in the chains forged by those two monsters.
Ulk, ulk!
Blood poured nonstop from Ian's mouth as he lay embedded in the ground.
His ears rang with tinnitus, and his rampaging Blood Demon True Qi had shredded his body to rags—he couldn't even open his eyes properly.
'Still alive... lucky.'
Even as he gasped for breath with his entire skeleton shattered, Ian was grateful simply for the fact that he was still breathing.
In a way, it was heavenly fortune.
He hadn't forcibly opened the sacrificial Blood Gate, Anahata.
The higher the stage of the Blood Gates, the exponentially greater the burden on the body.
The first and second gates were relatively safe, but from the third onward... the backlash could claim one's life.
That was why, even in his past life as the completed warrior Lucas Alexey, he had only ever opened up to the fifth gate.
Of course, in that final battle, it had been meaningless, so he'd opened them all... but that wasn't important now.
"...Kuhuk! I finally managed to stabilize up to Manipuraka. And now, the moment I use the Blood Gates, it forces another one open... My fate truly is a harsh one."
As his consciousness began to drift into hazy oblivion.
"...Captain! Captain!! Damn it. These monster fuckers... Ah!! Mo... damn it, get out of the way!!"
A voice calling to him drifted in faintly, sporadically, as if heard from underwater.
His squad members had belatedly chased after him, slammed into the ground by the Earth Dragon's strike.
Following him into this deathtrap couldn't have been easy.
'You poor bastards, suffering because you got stuck with a lousy superior.'
Ah, well.
Even Stion Ballanty, Lucas's strategist in his past life, had met him and suffered every hardship imaginable in his later years, despite his fate not calling for it.
'Maybe I'm just the type who feels better when he's grinding his subordinates.'
Kukuku.
Amid his fading mind, a silly thought made him chuckle—then his eyes caught Paon Lichtenauer's sword strike descending from the heavens.
'...So that's it. The final secret art of Paon Lichtenauer, the one permitted the moniker of Martial King in this land of Agena.'
Martial King.
Alongside the Hegemon Lucas Alexey, one of only two warriors in vast Agena acknowledged with the title of King.
And now, indisputably the sole bearer of that crown.
As if to prove the weight of that name was no empty title, the strike emanated a truly majestic, arrogant aura.
Even at his peak, Ian wasn't sure he could block that sword unscathed.
'That sword... even the Earth Dragon couldn't withstand it.'
If the Earth Dragon were in perfect condition, it might be different—but Paon was far from intact as well.
When both were operating under suboptimal conditions... victory would come down to who staked more of their life.
Paon was wringing out even his vital force, while the Earth Dragon... never touched his own life force.
It was only natural—the resolve differed between Paon, who bore the weight of protection, and the Earth Dragon, driven by selfish desire.
Thus, Ian was certain.
Soon, Paon's sword would sever the Earth Dragon's neck...
"...Huh?"
Right then.
Ian, who had been staring fixedly at Paon's strike, suddenly widened his eyes.
His eyes were caked in dust and debris, vision blurred—yet somehow, he saw it.
No, perhaps the haze over his sight kept him from being fooled by mere visual cues.
Tudududuk!
"...Uuuugh!!"
He shoved aside the rubble and forcibly dragged his mangled body upright.
"Captain!!"
Just as Ian groaned in effort, Ryu An Pallkion—drenched head to toe in blood—arrived at his side and supported him.
"You okay?! What the hell is this... Helena! Over here! Hurry up!!"
As Ryu An cleared the last of the rubble covering Ian's body, Ian spoke.
"Ryu An... perfect timing. Help me up."
"What? Are you insane?! What do you plan to do in this state...!! Just lie still!"
Ryu An recoiled in horror and rejected the order.
"No time."
Ian repeated with unshakable resolve.
"Only I can do this."
"Agh, damn it...!! Not sure if this is right."
Overpowered somehow by Ian's stubborn tone, Ryu An reluctantly helped him to his feet.
Still, he couldn't shake the doubt if it was truly the right call.
"If you're half-dead, just rest quietly—why the hell is he fussing around...!!"
"Ryu An! What the hell's the Captain doing? He looks more intact than we thought?"
The squad members arriving late swarmed the isolated Ryu An.
"Hell if I know!! Intact my ass—he looked like a walking corpse."
Ryu An had no clue either.
But... as always.
"The Captain's got something up his sleeve!"
He was a man who always exceeded expectations, after all. They could only hope it held true this time too.
"......"
Ian slowly assessed his body's condition.
His broken arms and legs were starkly visible.
Even just standing on the ground, gripping his sword, sent screams of agony through his entire frame.
As Ryu An said, he should be lying down, focusing solely on breathing.
Buddle, buddle!!
The arm clutching the Four-Clan Sword trembled uncontrollably.
These two swords had become as familiar as his own flesh, akin to the Golden Heaven Chain.
Yet now, they felt as heavy as sodden cotton.
'Ryu An's not wrong.'
The urge to drop the sword and black out washed over him.
But even so.
He had to do it.
Only then could he supplement that imperfect sword.
"Paon Lichtenauer. I believe... that you, of all people, will gain something from witnessing my movements."
... Chirit.
The tip of the Four-Clan Sword moved slowly.
Chirit, chirit!
Like two serpents starting from the tips, they gradually began to dance.
Slowly. Incredibly slowly.
It was a truly bizarre sight.
No trace of Blood Demon True Qi emanated from Ian's body anymore.
Yet his surroundings seemed to gradually染 red.
Little by little. Ever so slightly.
The reddening aura slowly encroached upon the empty air.
And soon.
Whiiiuuuu!!
The red energy that had claimed a portion of the air transformed into a massive gale.
The wind, which had swirled only around Ian, now extended its reach all the way to the heavenly sword Paon had conjured.
-Blood Demon Iron Chain Art, Third Form. Blood Wind.
One of the techniques Ian had favored most in his lifetime as Lucas Alexey... transcended dozens of years and vast gulfs of space-time to descend into the present world.