Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Four Dragons and Four Ghosts
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Regulus was one of the Four Dragons, who served as a key pillar among them—the strongest warriors of the Turbid Flow, loyal to the Sea King, ruler of the Amatres River.
The position of the Sea King's closest confidant was no trinket anyone could claim, which fueled Regulus's exceptional pride in his own abilities.
Yet even if he hadn't gone all out, for a mere human boy of that tender age to repel his own intimidation...
'It doesn't seem like the Martial Clan is just messing around with us...'
Still, Regulus refrained from jumping to conclusions. The pollution of the Amatres River was a grave matter that could cost him his position—or even his life—depending on the causal links.
'Let's test him a bit more.'
Regulus growled, masking his inner thoughts.
"It seems the Lichtenauer Martial Clan views us Turbid Flow with great contempt. I never said a green kid like you could open his mouth."
Kuuuung!
As Regulus ramped up his intimidation and the atmosphere grew increasingly hostile, Glacia hurriedly spoke up.
"That boy... he's not an ordinary child, Regulus. Young Lord Ian is... a direct descendant of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan."
"...Direct descendant?"
Regulus's body paused mid-motion as he was building his intimidation at Glacia's words.
The Lichtenauer Martial Clan's greatest foe loomed like a massive disaster, and for that disaster to conquer human territory, it had to overcome the insurmountable peak that was the Lichtenauer Martial Clan.
At the pinnacle of that peak stood the clan's patriarch, Paon Lichtenauer.
The enemy that the Turbid Flow's king, the Sea King, and the Golden Eye, lord of the Golden River, both desperately sought to surpass in their bid to devour this southern continent.
A direct descendant... meant he was Paon Lichtenauer's son.
In other words, it was proof that the Lichtenauers were not taking this incident lightly.
However.
"Huhu! Paon's son, eh... And what, you think that earns you VIP treatment?"
Kuuuung!
"Direct descendant or not... if you lack the skill to handle this job, you're just another greenhorn to me."
That's right.
This was a life-or-death matter for them too. Blood ties or not... without proven ability, Regulus had no reason to take risks and wait.
"Prove it. Show me if you have what it takes. With your own hands."
Regulus's tangible intimidation surged fiercely.
Ian stepped forward to meet the murderous pressure head-on and shot back.
"Whether I'm just another greenhorn or not... we can find out by checking."
...Sneer!
A strange smile crept across Regulus's lips, pleased by Ian's retort.
He had repelled and withstood his intimidation.
'First things first, the basics check out.'
Sring!
Regulus drew the trident slung across his back.
"Let's see if your mouth can back up those survival skills in the Great Flood."
Thwoong!
Before anyone could intervene, Regulus lunged at Ian with a light stomp.
Kyaeeeeek!
The thrust aimed at Ian's torso carried not a shred of wasted motion.
Standing there dazed would mean not just a hole punched through his body, but his upper half exploding entirely.
But.
Chaeeeng!
The trident's prongs failed to pierce the torso, clashing against blades and bouncing off.
"Hooo...!!"
Despite the block, Regulus's face showed not anger, but intrigue.
The two swords that had shielded Ian immediately counterattacked.
Chiririring!
Like serpents, the blades coiled along the trident's shaft toward Regulus's hand.
In an instant, the edges reached his grip, poised to grind his flesh to pulp.
Pop!
Regulus unhesitatingly released the trident's shaft, which he'd held firm.
Leaving the floating trident behind, he spun his body half a turn.
Whoooosh!
Simultaneously, his massive tail whipped toward Ian's neck.
The thick tail, rivaling the girth of a full-grown tree, lashed like a precise whip.
Jjaaaang!
The air exploded near Ian's ear as he dodged the tail.
Had he failed to evade, his neck bones would have snapped in a chilling blow.
A spine-tingling strike, yet Ian remained unshaken, slashing back at the tail as if in grand flourish.
"...Hmph!"
Pipipit! Piiit!
Regulus contemptuously evaded Ian's counter with ease.
As the brief but intense clash reached a lull, Ian stroked his chin.
...Stroke!
A stinging pain shot from under his chin.
He'd thought he'd dodged perfectly, but the tail's sonic boom speed had left some impact unabsorbed.
'So this is the power of a Great Flood executive...'
Stroke!
Ian turned his gaze to Regulus.
Unlike the shock to his own chin, Regulus's tail bore no marks—a stark display of their power gap.
Ian swallowed a wry smile at the unexpected depth of the Great Flood's reserves.
It had been a full year since his rebirth into this new body.
In that time, he'd relentlessly honed the Blood Demon Iron Chain Art perfected in his past life, even unraveling the chains of the Solar Meridian Blockage.
The result: in just one year, he'd reached the pinnacle of human limits, the realm of top-tier Expert.
Yet his opponent was a top executive of the forces leading the Great Flood.
At the human ceiling, he couldn't touch them.
This wasn't a limit to bump against—it was one to shatter.
Only then could he claim true victory over these monsters.
'...Still a ways to go.'
Ian gave a self-mocking smile at his failure to handle even one lizard like this, despite once being the Hegemon who terrified Agena.
But if others heard his inner thoughts, they'd be flabbergasted.
Just one year. In one year, he'd reached a level where he could cross blades with a Great Flood top brass.
To those unaware of his circumstances... Ian would seem an unfathomable monster.
"Wh... what am I seeing right now?"
"Clashing like that with one of the Four Dragons..."
"I heard he'd recovered, but this is beyond that..."
Indeed, the Latent Dragon Squad and Western Heaven residents stared at Ian in stunned awe.
But that was merely others' perspectives.
Stroke!
Fully immersed in the duel, Ian quietly gazed down at his hands gripping the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent.
His hands trembled faintly.
Not from fear, but from an odd exhilaration born of craving.
This was one of the Great Flood's top executives. Surely this was far from his full power.
But... the same held true for Ian.
'If I open all the Blood Gates... could my attacks even land on that lizard right now?'
He wanted to test it.
Chances to clash with a monster like that didn't come often.
As Ian pondered the fatal side effects of the Blood Gates and the minor hindrance to his mission, tempted to open them anyway...
...Stroke!
"Let's call it here."
Regulus cut off his deliberation.
"Clashing weapons firsthand, I see it now. You're still raw compared to the other strike team captains of your clan... but at least, you're no ordinary whelp your age. Fine, this is enough for me to yield a step."
Kuung!
Regulus slammed the trident's tip into the ground.
"Glacia, as you said, this kid seems to be Paon's direct heir. No ordinary warrior blocks my spear."
With no further battle lust from Regulus, Ian sheathed the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent, hiding his regret.
He yearned to go all out, but official duties came first now.
"This should show enough sincerity from the clan. Alright then... as promised, I'll make my proposal."
Flick!
Having tested Ian's skills and acknowledged the Latent Dragon Squad's caliber, Regulus tossed him a scroll.
"...?"
Ian unrolled it to find a tributary marked southeast from here.
Southeast.
The site of the Turbid Flow's twenty-seventh waterway.
"Head southeast from here, and you'll reach our Turbid Flow's minor tributary, the Twenty-Seventh Stream. We suspect it's one of the pollution's sources. It's close to your clan's territory geographically, so we couldn't investigate closely... but for the clan, it's the most accessible spot. If you're truly keen to uncover the cause, start there—it's the safest bet. And if you prove no link between your clan, Western Heaven, and the tributary pollution... yes. As one of the Turbid Flow's Four Dragons, I'll gladly apologize for this mess. But..."
Kuuuung!
A ferocity incomparable to before erupted from Regulus, crushing the surroundings.
"If you find nothing after all this waiting... I'll wipe Western Heaven from the map as payment for mocking me."
"Haa, haa..."
Her once impeccably groomed scales were now chipped and scabbed over.
Her breath came up to her chin, her brain begging desperately for even a moment's rest.
Yet she ignored the fervent signals from her mind, habitually trudging toward the swamp.
The swamp had always been her sanctuary, shielding her even from the forest's hunters.
How long had she walked?
When the swamp appeared before her, she instinctively moved to hide in it.
...Halt!
But only for a moment. As if entranced, rushing toward the swamp, she changed her mind—not to hide, but to swim through it.
No choice.
She felt ready to collapse any second... but experience taught her that diving and staying put was far riskier than painfully pushing through the swamp waters.
The swamp was her mighty ally, erasing all traces and scents.
There was a reason for her sudden reckless push after slow, safe travel.
The pursuers on her tail now were far more tenacious than the forest's veteran hunters—and far more numerous.
The elite trolls led by the Great Curtain's fourth finger, who had massacred Uncle Duke and the lizardmen of the Sixteenth Stream.
They'd caught her trail and closed in right to her heels.
She'd never forgotten the terror of encountering them again.
The sight of those she'd dismissed as mere Golden River trolls or small tribe rabble shouting "Found you!" in unison toward her.
That scene remained a nightmarish memory.
It was a bone-chilling trauma no one who hadn't lived it could comprehend.
Fortuitously, she'd just entered a swamp edge from the Amatres River, or she'd have been surrounded and butchered helplessly by the Great Curtain trolls.
After fleeing far from that hiding spot in the swamp fringes, the moment she judged it safe...
-Krrruk! Check every inch around here! She's definitely holed up in one of the paths leading from the swamp fringes!
Once spotted, the trolls scoured relentlessly, sticking to her like leeches.
One hour, two hours... time drifted aimlessly, and just as she thought she could relax...
-Krrruk! Here! She fled this way!
The trolls somehow tracked her even through the swamp-erased trail, doggedly pursuing.
This shocked her deeply.
She'd faced countless monsters before. None—not even ogres—had ever successfully tracked her after she escaped into a swamp.
'Daddy...'
The psychological crush of the pursuit up to her chin, piled atop accumulated grief, welled tears in her eyes. But she wiped them away, steeling herself.
Tears were a luxury now.
Survival first. Only by living could she expose the truth or do anything else.
'...Where? Where can I go to be safe?'
Her mind, once fixed solely on reaching Captain Regulus of Oro Platoon, now churned in chaos.
Aware of the truth's weight on her shoulders, she overclocked her brain near exhaustion.
The Great Curtain trolls knew that weight too—that's why they hunted her so fiercely.
'...With trolls chasing me, I can't go straight to Uncle Regulus. That'd be amateur hour. Their dogged pursuit means... they've already predicted my route to some extent.'
In short, taking the shortest path to Oro would get her caught immediately by the trolls.
'The safest spot they’d hesitate to approach. In that case...'
She finally chose her destination.
The twenty-seventh waterway.
Closest to human territory beyond the Great Flood, it was like the Flood forces' front line.
Heading there raised the risk of encountering humans, but the same applied to the Great Curtain trolls.
No—unlike her lone travel, their pack would draw even more eyes. They couldn't rampage freely like now.
"...Let's go!"
Slither!
Decision made, she turned slowly through the swamp toward the twenty-seventh waterway.
Toward what she deemed her nearest safe haven.