Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Impending War
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"...What the hell have you been doing that you're only crawling out now?"
Iron Face growled softly, but Silver kept her usual stoic expression while East covered her mouth and let out a snicker.
"Pfft! Iron Face, are you sulking because you think he only dumped work on you?"
"That's unbecoming of a warrior, Iron Face. Show some restraint."
Having teased him like this before, they didn't hold back now.
"Ugh, you bastards! You knew those old geezers were jumping around in a frenzy, dumped it all on me, and that's what you have to say?!"
Iron Face hopped mad, kicking up a fuss. Only then did Silver and East drop the joking and respond seriously.
"It's a serious matter. Even the boss had to think it over carefully. To avoid interference from those old timers, at least one executive needs to hold down the meeting hall, right? Besides, out of us, you're the best talker."
"...Damn it. So, what decision did your brilliant boss make? He must've come to one if he sent you here."
Iron Face seemed to grudgingly accept Silver's point, his momentum deflated as he grumbled back.
"What, did he send us to help convince those old geezers too?"
"Haha, just kidding. You know the boss's temperament—would he say something like that?"
Iron Face's lame retort prompted East to double-check that no one lingered around the tent before approaching him.
"The exact opposite of what the old geezers fear... The boss has no intention of letting Takryu slide. Soon... war will break out."
"...Pfft! That's a funny thing to say!"
"Kruk, kruk!"
Olga and the trolls didn't get angry at Ian's biting retort—they just found it absurd and chuckled.
The Black Rock King, Attila. If they knew who that was, these punks wouldn't dare speak like that.
Attila was one of the warriors who had independently built the largest force outside the three great powers of the Great Cataclysm.
'Even if he's washed up now, at his peak, he was evaluated as nearly equal to the Fingers... And these greenhorn pests dare to...'
Different paths, but as someone hailed as a great warrior of their race, hearing Attila belittled like that soured Olga's mood.
He'd thought they had some skill for spotting the rear guard's movements. But now they looked like fresh martial clan brats who had just crawled out and didn't know the height of the heavens.
It was embarrassing that he'd even considered getting genuinely angry at such vermin.
"Kruk! Fine, if you think you can, give it a try."
Swoosh!
Judging them unworthy of further words, Olga flicked his hand. Ten trolls behind him charged at Ian and Ryu An in unison.
"Keruk! Dangerous!!"
The lizardman shouted in urgency and pity at the trolls' disciplined advance.
These were the elite of the Great Curtain who had slaughtered the lizardmen guarding Sixteen Roads.
Far too much for just two humans to handle.
Or so he thought.
...Sching!
The human placed a hand on the large scabbard on his back, stepped forward, and slashed diagonally at the lead troll with his blade.
A utterly simple, ordinary motion—nothing special about it.
But...
Slice!
With a clean sound like cutting paper, the oncoming troll's body split into three pieces.
"...Kruk?!"
Caught off guard by the ferocious strike, the troll belatedly tried to steady itself.
Thud!
But legs severed from the upper body wouldn't obey.
"Kruk! Everyone, be careful! This human has real skill despite his looks...!!"
As the trolls hesitated in shock from Ryu An's attack...
Ian, who had been watching Ryu An, nodded in satisfaction.
"...Looks like you've finally internalized how to wield that blade."
The fourth son of the Pallkion Sword Clan, Ryu An had chosen the dao over the sword despite his heritage, yet persisted with the clan's flashy training that didn't suit him.
But through hellish training alongside Ian in the Latent Dragon Squad, he'd completely overhauled his old methods.
And that dazzling result was on display now.
The power to bisect even a massive monster like a troll in one strike.
That was... Ryu An's pursued dao art.
"Alright then... Let me check my own training progress."
Step!
Ian stepped forward, moving the white sword and black dao in his hands.
Chiriririring!
His Twin-Headed Blood Serpent danced toward the flustered trolls.
Bam-bam-bam-bam!
The black dao, Sosa, crushed heads and weapons indiscriminately as it advanced.
Shaaaack!
Simultaneously, the white sword, Daesa, precisely severed armed limbs.
"Kraaaaaah!!"
The trolls screamed helplessly before the near-divine movements.
The ground was instantly slick with blood.
Splash, splash!
Ian finished off the remaining nine trolls in a flash, his two serpents reverting to sword and dao.
"Captain, if you handle them all alone like that... what am I supposed to do?"
"What are you talking about? Your moves were plenty impressive. We'll polish them when we get back."
"I don't wanna go that far..."
Ryu An scratched his cheek embarrassedly, while Ian heaped on praise unsparingly.
"......!!"
If you'd only seen the two, you'd think this was a leisurely training ground, not a slaughterhouse. Olga and the trolls gaped.
"No way... that's all?"
Swoosh!
Ian turned to the trolls and asked.
"At this rate... it looks like you're all gonna die here."
"Kruk! What are you?"
"You're asking that now? Bit late, don't you think?"
Clang!
As Ian sheathed his Twin-Headed Blood Serpent and sneered at Olga, veins bulged on Olga's forehead.
"Filthy human brat, strutting like you own the sky. Fine."
Thud!
Olga stepped forward, raising his battle axe.
"Let's see if you can keep flapping your mouth after I hack off your limbs."
Before Ian or Ryu An could reply, Olga's axe plummeted vertically.
Whoosh!
A monstrous shockwave from the axe tore through space.
Fast, but dodgeable if they tried. However...
The shockwave wasn't aimed at Ian or Ryu An—it targeted the lizardman.
If Ian's group dodged, the exhausted, sluggish lizardman would be bisected in a gruesome perfect setup.
"...Hup!"
Bzzz!
Realizing this, Ryu An coated his dao in aura and blocked Olga's shockwave.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted on impact.
Rumble!
Ryu An's feet carved deep furrows as he was pushed back relentlessly.
"Nngh!"
A trickle of blood dripped from Ryu An's gritted lips as he endured. Ian flashed Daesa to his side in support.
Boom!
Having barely neutralized Olga's attack, Ryu An gasped for dry air.
"Hah, hah! Captain, thanks. That guy's... different from the other trolls. Pretty strong."
Embarrassed by Ian's aid, Ryu An forced a smile.
But his hands trembled ceaselessly—whether from the shock or frustration.
'Damn it, I'm still so far behind...!'
Despite surviving that hellish winter training and breaking through a wall, he couldn't even properly block a basic strike from that troll.
"Ryu An, don't blame yourself."
Ian soothed him, as if reading his mind.
"Looks like... he's not your opponent anyway."
Ian's right hand, holding Daesa, trembled faintly from the unresolved shock.
'Upper... no, borderline peak upper class...'
With that level of skill... this troll likely held a decent position even in the Great Curtain.
Blocking a monster like that even briefly deserved praise for Ryu An.
"Kekeke! You talk big, as if you're saying you can handle me?"
Unlike his mocking laugh at Ian's words, Olga coolly faced him.
'Blocked that strike...'
The slash Olga had unleashed wasn't simple.
The Fingers themselves had praised it as superb—a blow that could fell most martial artists... even so-called upper-class experts.
For him to block it... no way.
'...Impossible.'
Whoosh, whoosh!
Olga shook his massive head to dispel the absurd notion.
That realm was the pinnacle for humans.
Not something a beardless punk could reach easily.
'No need to take risks, though.'
This mission allowed no variables.
"Kruk! You help me, the rest handle that half-dead human and the girl. Time's short—finish quick."
Shaking off distractions, Olga ordered the remaining five trolls.
"Kruk! Me too?"
"Need I say it twice?"
His adjutant questioned unexpectedly, but got only a cold rebuff.
"...Kruk! No, sir."
Realizing Olga's foul mood, the adjutant drew his massive mace without further objection.
"The girl being here means no issues on the other side. Clean up fast, regroup, and withdraw."
As Olga finished, the trolls began chanting in place.
"Kruk! Darkness descends and shadows grow, moss clings thicker to blackened stone."
Cracklerumble!
Surrounding rock piles wrapped the trolls' bodies like armor.
Slower than before, but now shielded—they wouldn't be cleaved helplessly.
Using witchcraft against unripe brats without complacency showed they weren't mere rabble.
"Ancestors' hands overlay me, wielding the heavy axe grows effortless."
Unlike the trolls advancing on Ryu An, Olga cast a speed-enhancing spell on himself.
A vow that Ian's Twin-Headed Blood Serpent wouldn't pummel him helplessly.
"Krruk! Shall we see your skill?"
Lick!
Olga's face gleamed sinisterly as he licked his bloodlust-filled eyes over the axe.
"...What're you talking about?"
Iron Face shot back, baffled by East's words.
"Doesn't add up. The boss decided on war with Takryu, right? Then why'd you pressure Elder Jorg like that back there? Just saying the boss chose war would've shut the old man up."
Iron Face had a point.
With war already decided, prodding Jorg like that only hurt allied morale—a total fool's move.
'The boss wouldn't pull something that stupid...'
Some dismissed Golden Eye as a simple brute due to his peerless warrior rep... far from it.
No dumb thug could build a behemoth like Golden Heaven—this Great Cataclysm land wasn't that forgiving.
"Oh, that? No big deal."
East brushed off Iron Face's question casually.
"We don't have solid proof yet for a full-scale move. The scene was all corpses—no telling who struck first. If Takryu really started it... Sea King's personality wouldn't let it drag like this. He'd have unleashed the Four Dragon Envoys and marched south already. You know that lizard's temper."
East's explanation made sense on the surface... but was it worth such caution?
Seeing Iron Face unconvinced, East continued.
"You know Elder Jorg's personality best after dealing with him. That old coot got insulted by me in front of all the chieftains. Think he'd just say 'Understood' and sit quiet?"
"Hmm..."
Iron Face groaned. He knew better than anyone—the old man wouldn't.
The Blue Lightning Tribe was hot-blooded even among aggressive tribes.
Silver and East's caution signaled Golden Eye favored truce.
Thus, Jorg might snap and charge out.
No—he definitely would.
"If he rams his head into one of Takryu's tributaries, that's not Golden Heaven's official stance. Just Jorg's reckless solo act."
"What? You don't mean...?"
Iron Face caught on late.
Golden Eye officially declaring war versus Jorg sparking a local skirmish were worlds apart.
An official declaration meant all-out war until one side fell—Sea King, prideful as any, wouldn't dodge it.
Thus... humans beyond Great Cataclysm borders would profit.
"But frame Jorg's action as a skirmish, and it's different. Tests Takryu first—if things go south, claim it was his deviation for plausible deniability."
East shrugged.
"Anyway, sitting idle while suspecting Takryu must irk the boss plenty. Someone like Elder Jorg... could carve a nice scar, right?"
'...But that's not the endgame.'
Jorg was a fine warrior, but lacking compared to Four Dragon Envoys.
Likely, the boss saw this as a chance to purge irritating upper-generation warriors en masse.
Eliminate rivals and use Jorg's death to unite furious orcs.
Conversely, if Jorg exceeded expectations... great.
Then ride the momentum and conquer Takryu for real.
"...Kekeke! Our boss sure has a scary-sharp mind."
Iron Face shook his head in exasperated admiration. Silver placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Exactly, Iron Face. Keep a close eye on Blue Lightning Tribe's moves. Be ready to mobilize anytime Jorg acts—for vengeance over their honorable deaths, or to snag some glory from their feats."
Whichever, it didn't matter much.