Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Nariaduk, Triad of an Untouched Ancient Era
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Nariaduk, the Triad of a profoundly ancient era untouched by humanity's breath....
In the pouring rain, it simply gazed at them with deep intensity.
That was all it took, yet the tension pressing down on them with bone-crushing weight was utterly bizarre.
Valencidis gasped for breath.
‘Even I, with my strong resistance to the Abyss, am suffering this much... Unbelievable.’
For some reason, this woman named Miria seemed even more intact than him. She was breathing heavily too, though.
As expected, the one suffering the most was Aki, the red dragon hatchling—a natural enemy of the Abyss. The little dragon hid behind Miria's back.
Valencidis shielded himself and them from this oppressive pressure with a barrier, then turned to face forward again.
‘Nariaduk has revived by possessing Lin's body...?’
But how? It shouldn't have been that kind of ritual.
That was when it happened. Nariaduk, who had started stepping toward them as if ready to kill the hatchling any moment, suddenly stopped.
It looked around with a dissatisfied air.
「Such a pathetic vessel can be killed anytime... Albisis, however... Hmm...」
Then it reached out toward them.
At that, the fan hanging from Valencidis's waist—Kasyasur, the Wings of Darkness—let out a high, thin chime... and shot like an arrow into its true master's grasp, unfolding there.
Kasyasur was none other than Nariaduk's sacred relic.
「Bol a shir, first, a feast befitting this Nariaduk's return must be held...!」
As Nariaduk swung Kasyasur, a sinister blade-wind erupted from it, tearing the space-time before them into three rifts.
Valencidis watched amid an incomprehensible shiver.
Beyond the torn dimensions lay a thick night, where black witches and witches, black mages and mages, ronin, and soldiers waged bloody battles on separate peaks.
Every scene visible, every person... the moment Nariaduk snapped the fan shut with a click, they were sucked into an intangible vortex and 'came.'
‘Impossible.’
Miria felt the hairs all over her body stand on end and shook her head wildly.
‘How is this even possible?’
Yes, they 'came.'
There was no other way to describe this freak phenomenon.
All those fighting hundreds of li away... had been forcibly teleported and summoned to this sacred peak.
The only exceptions were two: Yuliana, the shrine maiden of the star cluster, and Millone Alter Gaumris, nowhere to be seen.
“What is this place...?”
“No way...?”
“Hmm...?”
Those bewilderedly looking around soon lost their wits to the terror of the primordial being overlooking them from that high ground.
An absolute madness beyond explanation... a demonic form hinting at cruel temperament.
In the dark rain, a third eye writhed eerily.
Some faint-hearted witches paled and spat out grotesque prophecies and warnings, while mages shivered in the intense chill and began muttering unprecedented incantations.
「Dubus, I shall give you a choice...」
The one with snow-white skin and a dainty androgynous form—but exuding a sinister, irreverent aura unlike in life—'Lin' spoke.
「Kneel before this Nariaduk... Geshas... and transcend the vortex of karma to gain eternal life...」
Ears bled. The air trembled, and moonlight beyond the thunderclouds quivered pitifully.
At that voice, some frantically knelt and bowed, not even knowing why.
Was it some primal fear etched deep in their genes, instinctively forcing their bodies down to the ancient ruler?
「Or perish here as dust of this era... Olfirnu, choose...」
Unlike the lower ranks plunged into panic, what struck the Seven Calamities, great witches, and Rivendel elders with intense shock was a far more rational reason.
“L-Lin...?”
Yes. The form of this creature calling itself an ancient being... was Dong Rang-gi's hero, the 11th Grand Archmage Lin.
「This Nariaduk is greater than the master of this body you revered... Bekerdus, I who have received the authority to rule the 'present' at the side of the Lord of Time...」
As battle-hardened mages trembled and muttered "Impossible" in choked voices, chaos spread far and wide.
“Don't get rattled! Are you mages bearing Rivendel's name or not!”
Then, an old mage stepped forward, ending the turmoil.
One of Rivendel's four divine beasts' envoys, riding the massive fire toad Yeomseom—he was none other than Rivendel Academy's chancellor, Dadan Karain.
As Yeomseom stuck out its tongue, flames rose along its path, drawing the crowd's attention. Dadan pointed at Nariaduk's wings.
“Take a good look at that hideous form! Ultimate power? Hah! A revival parasitic on a human body for lack of strength can't have any such thing!”
“...!”
“And above all, don't you know that in such a form, the powers available are greatly limited by the host body's capabilities!”
It wasn't mere bravado—Valencidis knew it as solid fact too.
No matter how immense or infinite in temporal depth the power, if the body couldn't withstand it, it meant nothing.
Just as Rain Ludwig, fused with a true dragon's soul, was unstable compared to a true dragon adult.
But why wouldn't this ominous cold sweat stop flowing...?
“Lin was great, but ultimately human! He couldn't take on everyone here! No way in hell! What are you waiting for? Prepare the Heavenly Flame Surge ritual now!”
Heavenly Flame Surge was the ultimate 5-star flame magic created by Orbos Karain, one of the three grand archmages and Rivendel's founder.
Rivendel's three elders and three great disciples swiftly spread out, forming the Heavenly Flame Surge's magic circle. Each pulled out talismans wrapped in orbs of flame.
The sight of those 12 talismans linked by countless threads of flame was awe-inspiring.
If viewed from the sky, one would call it the Heavenly Flame Surge magic circle devised by Orbos itself.
‘This is Rivendel...’
Not just Valencidis—even the witches under Yuliana and those under Tureina swallowed dryly, entranced by the sight.
‘The battle mage academy that left massive marks in every major war of history...’
Even in the Antarctic War 300 years ago, legendary heroes like Lin and Fride praised Rivendel's ferocity, vouching for their overwhelming prowess.
It took less than three seconds for the six mid-rank Rivendel officers to build the 5-star magic circle and spew forth roaring flames.
When multiple mages synchronize to cast an ultimate 5-star spell impossible alone, it's called ritual magic.
Heaven (天).
Rugged (嵯).
Flame (炎).
Cascading (淙).
Surge (激).
Confirming the runes perfectly formed in the magic circle, Dadan Karain grinned in satisfaction and shouted.
“Now, show them Rivendel's hellfire!”
Heaven (天) and Rugged (嵯).
Heat surged skyward with momentum to pierce and blanket the heavens.
Flame (炎).
Merely an advanced form of the root rune Fire (火), yet its power far surpassed ordinary runes, reborn as absolute inferno.
And Cascading (淙).
Filling the horizon, this fierce yet serene flame-roar—
Surge (激).
The next instant, poured down as a flame torrent fierce enough to incinerate the atmosphere.
“To that irreverent thing that dared defile the sacred Red Mountains!”
Against magic of such overwhelming scale, evasion was impossible—block it or die.
Those near Nariaduk fled in horror as the scorching heat blistered their skin.
Valencidis too hurriedly backed away from the blaze.
“We have to dodge!”
“Got it!”
“A-A-Abi!”
Aki, clutched in Miria's arms, desperately reached toward the temple where Rain was buried alive... but.
‘Incredible, really...’
Valencidis was genuinely awed.
So this was Orbos's Heavenly Flame Surge, said to be the greatest among fire-attribute mages.
True to its name: a heavenly (天) flame (炎) banquet surging down like waves (激).
If this hit dead-on, even Nariaduk, an Abyssal being, would...
「I exist solely in infinite time.」
But the moment Nariaduk unfurled the fan and said that...
‘No...’
Valencidis simply—right then—grew so terrified that his heartbeat drowned out everything. His feet froze blankly.
Madness. Utter derangement.
Even if Nariaduk had unleashed absolute destruction to erase the Heavenly Flame Surge in one blow, it wouldn't have been this frightening.
‘What the hell just happened...?’
Some massive incongruity, an ineffable violation of providence—that was all he could confirm.
It was incomprehensible.
Ununderstandable.
The flame wave pouring from the heavens vanished. Not offset by another force—just gone, as if it had all been a dream.
‘Hallucination? No, can't be.’
There was proof the Heavenly Flame Surge had existed.
Faint embers rising as heat haze from the corrupted mountaintop soil and temple ruins.
‘But why only embers left?’
Where had the main surge gone—the flames so mighty they drew disbelieving laughs?
「Heh heh heh... Heh heh heh heh... Heh heh heh heh heh heh... Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah...!」
It was then that Nariaduk, who had maintained ancient noble decorum since its return, burst into satisfied guffaws.
「Splendid, Keltas... To think a mortal body could be this exceptional...!」
A transcendent's laughter races through mortal senses as ultimate terror and shock.
“G-Gaaah!”
The weak-minded's skulls suddenly exploded, splattering brains and bone shards on nearby allies.
「A body that can draw out nearly four-tenths of this Nariaduk's power... the authority to shatter space-time laws bestowed by the Queen of Time herself...!」
Valencidis realized Dadan of Rivendel had been half right, half wrong.
Time's Triad, Nariaduk—revived via a human body with clear limits. That much was known.
But that body.
The body it had claimed.
The problem was that it was the body of Lin, the youngest grand archmage ever, tipped to be the second-ever grand sage, who died before his limits could be revealed.
‘Nariaduk—this transcendent—didn't revive incompletely...’
In this era with two sages turned to dust, it had borrowed the absolute finest vessel available.
‘Preserved intact in Juyeo Soge Daeban's ice, brimming with the power of youth...’
Among modern humans, excluding the Fake Warrior, was there any hero who could stop Lin?
Let alone now, with Abyssal authority layered atop Lin's power?
An absolute being had awakened in a near-absolute vessel.
The crowd's pallid faces screaming in flight or collapsing in mad laughter—wasn't strange at all.
‘Did the Water Dragon foresee this?’
Even if so, what use?
White Dragon legions, born not for battle, had abysmal combat prowess against the Abyss compared to their kin.
If Water Dragon Yeriserika came herself, it might differ—but that divine dragon stayed put to guard the World Tree.
‘The cardinals, the yellow true dragon—they must come. But they can't leave the Papal Court guarding the diseased light dragon...’
So who the hell could stop it now?
* * *
Beyond, as earth-shaking terror resounded from the ground and dirt rained wildly, a 'little one' was dying in the boy's arms.
“Tureina, Tureina, Tureina.”
Pipi pecked the little one's face, rubbed its head against her cheek, and wailed, but the little one—innards all wrecked—could only vomit blood, voiceless.
All life force absorbed, the Abyssal power sustaining her immortality gone—it was beyond rituals or Juyeo Soge Daeban to heal.
She'd just die in the ice anyway.
Bone-deep guilt and loss swirled chaotically in the boy's mind.
‘Too late.’
To reunite with her.
To twist the magic circle with Bell Quirius.
‘Way too late.’
This fool had clung to an impossible wish for 300 years, while I...
As Bellakior Temple collapsed, the cliff base crumbled too, plunging into a deep underground cavern.
To his old disciple gazing up with faint breaths and unfocused eyes, the boy slowly spoke.
“Tureina.”
If they could meet again, he had piles of things to say as an old friend.
As her master, heaps of rage to unleash at her creepy escapades.
Surely piles.
But his throat clogged, words wouldn't come as he wished—only one was possible.
“Sorry.”
The words he should have said sooner, a bit sooner.
So this pitiful one wouldn't wait, wouldn't walk that immeasurably painful path.
Words he should have spoken in that awkward, playful voice upon emerging from the melted ability-ice.
“Was I too late?”
A lullaby voice, soft and gentle.
The final lullaby for a disciple ending life's long journey, entering deep slumber.
He wanted to give her one last smile, but his lips stubbornly sagged downward.
“But seriously, how much of an idiot do you have to be to wait 300 years...?”
Shouldn't have made Juyeo Soge Daeban.
Shouldn't have used the unfinished ritual.
Shouldn't have promised return with that crappy ritual.
Should've just died that day.
Let comrades bury him in memory's grave, wash away grief with tears, live their lives as he did now.
“Waiting must've worn you out, huh?”
At her master's final sad whisper, a distant memory-ripple quietly spread through the disciple's soul core.
“Now, rest easy.”