Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: White Wolves
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“The White Wolves…?”
But their condition was beyond horrific—it was utterly wretched.
The young man pulling the reins of the foaming pony at the lead had lost his left arm, and the woman writhing in the saddle had both legs wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.
In that instant, the realization that something was terribly wrong flashed through my mind, sending chills racing across my skin.
- The Wolves’ leader… said the main force was annihilated.
Before I could even ask if the White Wolves had truly been wiped out, the young man collapsed face-first into the snow. His breaths came in faint, ragged gasps, as if death were at his doorstep.
“C-Cold…”
“Miss, fire!”
“Y-Yeah! Got it!”
Amid the frantic shouts, the woman—whose eyes had been vacant—finally snapped to, lifting her head in a daze.
“Ah, Lord Alakish…!”
「What is it? What happened?」
“S-S-Sir, this isn’t the time to explain! We have to get to the barrier—now! That thing… that thing is coming…!”
At that moment, the young man suddenly seized Kasena’s wrist, his unfocused eyes wild as he erupted into mad laughter.
“Die, we die, all, all of us die, heh, heh, hehehehehehehe, hehehehehehehe…!”
Cold sweat trickled down my spine as I watched Kasena shake off his grip in irritation.
“Ow, what the hell!”
Something was wrong—terribly wrong. Something crucial felt twisted in the most chilling way.
What the hell had they seen?
What the hell had they been through?
These weren’t ordinary folk who’d crack under madness—they were the White Wolves, elite soldiers forged in the abyss’s depths.
“Who the hell is ‘that thing’?”
The chill creeping up my back intensified as I asked—and then a bloodcurdling shriek ripped through the distant pines.
“N-No, stay away… Aaaaaaagh───!”
The scream that froze our hearts cut short with the sickening tear of flesh. Birds exploded from the trees in a ghostly flurry.
“There are more survivors back there──”
“──Don’t go.”
My instincts pulled me that way, but the woman clamped onto my shoulder and shook her head like a maniac.
“Go and you die—die! Heh, hehehehe, hehehehe! All, all, all dead—the ones left behind are gone! Nothing stops that monster but the barrier!”
The terror twisting her face and voice bordered on insanity, fraying every nerve in the listener.
“Lord Alakish, even you can’t stop that monster. The b-barrier—to the barrier! Hurry!”
More screams—three or four—echoed from the forest as she ranted. Different voices each time, drawing closer by the second.
「We can’t abandon those still alive.」
Had I been lost in baseless arrogance until now?
Was it because I’d once been the hero party’s great mage, with a true dragon at my side, inflating my empty confidence?
Sure, there was practical thinking too. Rally the survivors, escort them to the barrier—we’d earn massive goodwill from the White Wolves.
“I-It’s coming…”
A pristine white frost—no, a ferocious blizzard—surged without warning, swallowing the pines in whiteout screams.
And then… it got brutally cold.
Like being stripped bare…
Not since Alakish’s fire blessing had I felt cold I couldn’t shrug off.
「……?」
Alakish narrowed his eyes into the blizzard—then his pupils blew wide.
「……Strike!」
He whipped around, thrusting the dragon egg basket into my arms. His eyes were bloodshot voids.
「Run! Now!」
Sweat poured down the face of Alakish—ever unassailable, majestic in power—in quantities I couldn’t comprehend.
“Together—let’s fight together! I can hel─”
「─No. Take Kasena and these humans to the barrier! Hurry!」
The unreal confrontation hit the next instant.
A faint crunch in the blizzard… then the swirling阴気 went berserk.
The abyss thickened beyond imagining—putrid, dense, suffocating.
「Oh ho?」
That voice registered—and hot gushes burst from my nose and ears, vision reeling.
Huh, blood…?
Why… how…?
In that timeless freeze, the only sound was the pony bolting madly for the barrier.
「Didn’t think I’d find you this quick. The king’s grace, I suppose.」
His abyss-woven道服 hem trailed long as he padded across the snow in geta. He looked no older than eight…
「I’ve been hunting you, Asura’s分身.」
His otherworldly presence rejected even a mortal’s simple stance.
Invisible force slammed me down like a hammer, buckling my knees.
Kasena—growing fast lately—was already prone, clutching her heart, retching blood in agony.
「Or a分身’s分身, rather.」
The fallen White Wolf… as he brushed past, blood sprayed from every orifice. Instant death.
「Go, Rain! No spare breath to shield you against Shar’kas!」
Only Alakish stood before us—but when struck? Blood oozed from shattered flank scales.
Never seen. Never heard.
Not even as Lin.
What call was Alakish making? That I’d just drag him down?
‘No… not that.’
He trusted me. Handed over his treasured daughter. Kasena’s life.
Alakish was strong.
Beyond my league.
I’d have done the same. Freeing him to fight full-out—that’s peak aid.
But abandoning him to that freak alone?
Brief hesitation—I yanked off my left glove to weave a mind ward. Then Alakish smiled, serene as still water.
「Kyu Al Nog. Believe.」
A vow to return—and a true dragon’s binding incantation. Utterly disarmed.
My body betrayed me, scooping Kasena in both arms, charging the barrier with relentless drive.
My head alone obeyed. This… I gaped back at Alakish and yelled desperately.
“Alakish—no, don’t! We fight together, Alakiiiish───!”
Rain and Kasena with the egg faded toward the barrier. A bitter smile—life’s-end vintage—touched Alakish’s lips.
Joy.
Sorrow.
Regret.
Just once, to cradle her warm-smiling when she hatched. Like Karenden and Tersia did me.
‘Farewell, my daughter…’
He torched the trailing abyssal webs with fiery breath. Then Baek Do-ryeong Shar’kas queried, intrigued.
「You know my true name. Recognize me?」
He could’ve pursued, slain them. But prime quarry ahead—vermin beneath notice.
「Wonder how much Asura’s memory you carry.」
「Great fire guides Alakish’s end this day. Loyalty to duty till last.」
「No answer? Heh, pointless. I’ll peek myself.」
Ere words ended, Shar’kas crossed arms—loathsome webs snaked from fingertips.
Heaven-earth abyss churned. Alakish erupted in annihilating blaze, sacred dragon form.
Next beat: primal fire smashed primal dark. Pines incinerated or rotted wholesale. Fissures spidered ground, strata caved.
Night deepened syrup-thick. Pre-dawn stars gleamed moon-madder. Quaking earth-rumble—and silence slammed down.
All sounds. Abyss-locked.
* * *
From genesis dawn, heaven-scraping Papal Palace showered world-warm light. Now, gloom-silence cloaked it.
Order’s lord, Light Dragon Haraderiman—abyss-gashed heart. Ninety days slept, body slow-rotting.
Human order’s crumble-to-ruin? Palm-clear.
“Truly no cure for His Holiness?”
FakeWarrior Casseline Alter Aradmantel’s disbelieving tone. Cardinal Hagon’s heavy nod.
「Who atones king’s abyss? Gods deemed it ordeal.」
Key Papal conclave—Haraderiman’s usual throne. Empty now.
One of five archdragons-in-service, Hagon’s summons: extant three FakeWarriors, two years asunder.
Plus: inquisition ‘Golden Children’ chief Ocelot; Star Herd shrine maiden Juliana; Special Ops head Doran Slade. Gravity self-evident.
“Bottom line: still no clue why Time Queen’s seal half-broke. Yesterday’s analysis done—Tureina’s ward flawless.”
Papal light pinnacle transmuted abyssal—world-axis crack ritual.
Not ‘how at Palace?’—‘Palace made it so.’
Tureina solo? Hardly…
“Tureina hesitated?”
Juliana’s query—Doran’s firm headshake.
“None. Black Church’d sniff, counterstrike.”
Hence: some puzzle-piece awry.
Spacetime perfect-collapse due. Time Lord descent certain. Yet warp intruded…
Unforeseen by Tureina, Black Church. Intervention.
“Incomplete, aye—but king’s seal cracked. Ripples ensue.”
Prime FakeWarrior Mikara Alter Pladimarte spoke.
“Cardinal Hagon, Poles stir too. FakeWarrior teams investigate?”
Apt amid crisis. Yet Hagon—insight human-hundredfold—flat refusal. Bewilderment.
“Forces undivided. All know: Incident’s great mage Lin—body vanished.”
Ocelot backed Hagon. Gruff-famed Milone Alter Gaumris crossed arms.
“Who doesn’t? Continental uproar.”
“Worse now. No inkling brewing storm, frankly.”
“What, then?”
Faces: ‘obvious, why harp?’ Varied shades. Ocelot’s follow-up: jaws slack.
“Hero’s corpse gone too. Rista Alter Shyrfang.”