Chapter 188
Chapter 188
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: The Dragon Slayer's Lair
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Island No. 3, home to the training facility.
The moment they arrived at the docks aboard the ship prepared by Trickster Slayer, Valencidis found himself blankly raising an eyebrow.
“What the hell is this mess?”
It wasn’t just that he’d unconsciously voiced his inner thoughts.
What genius natural disaster had struck?
The place that had once been a port village was now utterly decayed. The ground was cracked, the ruins shattered and charred...
There were spots where the earth’s layers had shifted, and right in the village center, a massive lake had formed.
“There was an earthquake once. The island routes got cut off because of stuff like this. No need to worry about it.”
The boy soldiers carrying Trickster Slayer’s palanquin explained it that way, but Slime Slayer had a different story.
“Four years ago. A guy from this Atusen Village swam all the way to <Karsiko>.”
“That far?”
“He got lucky and met some witches there, told them about the island’s reality... But this was the result. Dragon Slayer wrecked the whole village as punishment.”
Dragon Slayer was a being on an entirely different level from the other Slayers.
Valencidis had seen him once in person five years ago, when he’d accompanied Tureina to a Black Church executive meeting... If judged purely by presence of power, he surpassed even Tureina.
And to think he could reshape this vast terrain entirely...
“They never forgive traitors. This is just an example.”
“What about your village, then?”
Her face was hidden by the veil, but Cora’s voice was thick with deep sorrow.
“They’re probably dead by now. Or dying. Even so... I couldn’t keep ignoring this anymore.”
Not when I know full well what kind of lives Miria and Milea have lived for our sake.
“...”
Slayer masters and their underlings were posted at key points along the island paths. Security was airtight.
They eyed these strange visitors with suspicion. Outsiders rarely came to the island.
“What’s with all the damn noise?”
That’s when a commotion halted the procession. A burly butcher dragging a girl along appeared, rusty and bent knife in hand.
“This wench tried to run ‘cause she couldn’t kill her cat.”
The girl clutched the cat in her arms, pleading desperately.
“I-I can’t kill it. Please, just this once, let me off...”
Trickster Slayer let out an irritated sigh.
“Why can’t you? What’s so hard about offing one cat?”
At the start of Slayer training, each trainee gets a cat.
They’re told it’s their companion in suffering, so take good care of it!
Then, in the second year, they’re ordered to gut it and bring back the heart.
“Looks like she’s not broken in yet. Hey, drag her to the slaughterhouse and hack off her limbs five times or so. By then, she’ll be begging to kill the cat herself.”
“Of course, sir.”
As the butcher hauled the girl away, Valencidis watched with a meaningful gaze. Trickster Slayer chuckled politely and shook his head.
“It’s nothing. We’re not killing her! Just helping her become a great mercenary.”
“By hacking her up?”
“Nothing corrects a person faster than pain. She’ll regenerate anyway, so no worries. Now, let’s get going.”
As they headed into the forest along the gravel path, someone emerged from the treeline.
“Dur-Morris, Trickster Slayer reporting! To the Commander!”
A chill ran down Valencidis’s spine, instinctive terror raising goosebumps. His heart thundered.
‘Damn...’
It wasn’t his flesh—it gripped his very soul. An overwhelming presence.
A vivid image burned into his mind.
In the encroaching darkness that blurred distance, golden dragon eyes flashed...
‘This is.’
His hands trembled uncontrollably. Cora couldn’t even breathe.
‘The man once called humanity’s greatest swordsman.’
The man emerging from the woods, his golden-threaded robe billowing long, was none other than Dragon Slayer.
“W-What? Who’re they?”
“Those, those, those.”
Beast Slayer perched on his shoulder widened its eyes, then flew to land atop Cora’s head.
Pipi swooped in front, blocking the move.
The two sun parrots stared intently at each other midair, then spread massive fiery wings in a show of dominance(?).
“Whoa, check it out. Beest, happy to see kin?”
“Fake, fake, fake.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up.”
Trickster Slayer waddled off the palanquin, whispering something, but Dragon Slayer waved him off lightly.
“Enough. I hate guys whispering in my ear.”
“Hmm...”
“Let ‘em do whatever. I’ll clean up at the end.”
Dragon Slayer brushed past Valencidis and Cora with a grin.
He couldn’t turn to look. Couldn’t move until the man vanished from sight.
An overwhelming presence that felt like it had severed his limbs...
“Beest, quit playing and come here.”
“Come, come, come.”
Only after Pipi settled back on Cora’s shoulder, ending the kin showdown, could Valencidis gasp for breath.
‘Did that guy not recognize me?’
Or was he pretending?
No way.
No reason for that.
But if so? What if he’s scheming something big?
* * *
The islands clustered around Rinkleland on the left side of the Terchi Archipelago were thick with tangerine, olive, and lemon trees.
Once a vibrant land blending nature and manmade beauty, now overgrown beyond reason.
A closer look revealed they weren’t native.
They were serbancho grass from the far south, demonkin lands—sources of narcotic raw materials.
Those harvesting the drug were mostly elders; the youngest looked mid-forties.
“Man, this village still reeks of old folks.”
The villagers were forcibly knelt before the village hall. Outlaws circled them menacingly, spears and swords at ready.
The tall woman looming over the pitiful souls wore a black pointed hat and witch’s robe, spinning two iron balls in her left hand with an grating metallic whine.
Slayers’ No. 2, Vice Slayer Spiela.
“You know why I’m here, right?”
“Yeah, we do.”
A grizzled, burly elder replied. His face was bruised black from resisting.
Dos, village chief of Logitello.
“Here to vent again, huh. You human scum always are.”
An outlaw stepped up, slamming a fist into Dos’s solar plexus.
Dos crumpled, vomiting blood. Villagers sighed; Spiela smirked.
“Human scum? Where else you got an organization as honest about its deals? If not for that Miria bitch, useless geezers like you would’ve been dead long ago. Like Atusen Village.”
“Don’t you dare speak that child’s name with your filthy mouth!”
“Acting all high and mighty. What’s so great about that goblin wench? Whatever, that’s that, this is this. Hey, Fish Slayer geezer. Know what I hate most in the world?”
The high-pitched grind of iron balls cut off abruptly. Dos’s body lifted into the air, gripped by invisible force.
Telekinesis.
So potent it dug deep handprints into his neck, yanking his face to Spiela’s.
“Breaking trust between people.”
“W-What are you...!”
“Didn’t know? Your granddaughter. That slime bitch betrayed our trust and bolted. So this is collective responsibility.”
Telekinesis hurled Dos sky-high, then smashed him into the ground, blood spraying. Villagers wailed.
“At a crucial moment when plans are ripening, this crap makes things annoying.”
Telekinesis lifted Dos again, slamming his face-first into the village hall pillar.
“To keep other Slayers from getting ideas, I’ll make an example—kill you more painfully than anyone.”
Shattered teeth mixed with blood rolled across the dirt. One village woman couldn’t hold back.
“Enough, please... You’ve done plenty...!”
Her face pale with illness, she looked late thirties—young for these folk. She coughed painfully between words.
“Plenty? Hilarious.”
Spiela snorted.
“Stay put. Won’t touch you first ‘cause of the deal with Miria’s lot, but threaten us? Different story.”
She displayed Dos, eyes unfocused, blood pouring from his mouth.
“Then it’s self-defense—I’ll kill you all like him.”
“...!”
“So, how’s it feel, Fish Slayer? Dying for your granddaughter’s screw-up. Spill some resentment. Last words, I’ll grant that much.”
His voice rasped like punctured lungs, but Dos was smiling.
“She did right... Unlike scum like you... Good, honest girl... Resentment? Hell, I’d praise her if she were here...”
“Say what? I go easy, and this old fart’s still tough? Gone nuts?”
A rat-faced master Slayer spoke up.
“How ‘bout we pull his teeth one by one, boss? Or nails.”
“Ooh, great idea? Nah. Don’t wanna stay here. Old folks’ breath is unbearable.”
“Hahaha! Spot on!”
“Instead, rip him limb from limb. Oink like a slaughterhouse pig.”
Telekinesis seized Dos’s limbs, pulling in opposite directions.
Slow, to maximize agony. Yet Dos didn’t beg or groan.
Just muttered a short curse.
“Someday... the gods... will send you... to the hell you deserve...”
Spiela and the outlaws blinked wide, then burst into belly laughs, slapping backs.
“Hell? Heeeell?”
“This geezer spouts that crap even seeing us!”
“No heaven or hell! Ends when you die!”
As they cackled, Spiela sneered.
“Hey, thick-skulled geezer. Who’s gonna judge us? The city witches are under me. Inquisition’s our pals too.”
Dos’s joints began to creak.
“D-Dos!”
“N-No...!”
Villagers screamed, turning away one by one.
Some bolted up to resist.
“Then I’ll judge you.”
With that voice, a fragment of power from the true dragon that had burned its body to illuminate the world’s depths unleashed.
Flames of judgment incinerated all darkness without compromise, engulfing the revived shadows of ancient abyss.
In the fiery gale, the moldy foes crumbled to ash before they could scream.
“Chief Dos...!”
Dos, nearly torn apart, rolled on the ground as villagers rushed to him.
Even Spiela diverted all power to a defensive barrier against that strike.
Only she and two master Slayers survived; the other twenty underlings were gone forever.
“...?”
All eyes snapped to where the dragon flames had poured from.
“Who the hell’re you?”
Amid heat haze over scorched earth, a young man stepped forward, tipping his conical hat.
“A dragon from hell on business trip.”
“I’m Akidot!”
Something cute and adorable swung a fist behind him!
‘Black witch robe... Shrine maiden? No, no scripture, not even a scroll.’
Rain Ludwig scanned Spiela’s attire in 0.7 seconds!
Spiela thrust her hand out—hundreds of scattered pebbles levitated, arrowing in!
Roar—but flames melted them instantly in a barrier!
“Huh?”
Spiela blinked at the power!
Then three houses twisted, crumpled by telekinesis, shattering into countless bricks, planks, nails—charging!
But the barrier vaporized them too, splitting into three fire pillars lunging at Spiela...
Almost.
“No good, no. Underestimating me?”
Spiela extended her left hand; telekinesis halted them midair.
What telekinesis!
Rain Ludwig raised an eyebrow at this control over natural forces—first he’d seen.
‘Using telekinesis as a 4-star incantation?’
Bell Quirius briefly explained the power’s secrets. High incantation—no interference possible.
“Looks like fire’s your main, but I got ways for punks like you!”
Flanking houses collapsed like hammered by invisible mallets.
Exploding dust clouds birthed debris: splinters, hinges, tools...
Same attack? No!
“Know why telekinesis is strong?”
People were mixed in the rubble. Innocent villagers.
“It’s versatile. Can do this too!”
What heresy!
Keep the fire barrier, and those poor folk become charcoal with the projectiles.
Rain clicked his tongue, dispersing his barrier!
“Hahaha! Done!”
Debris rained from all sides!
Would Spiela’s plan mince Rain Ludwig? If alone, maybe.
“Aki Punch.”
Dull cracks split the earth; a shockwave halted the projectiles midair.
Reverse blast hurled them back—Rain charged!
Handsome Slayer blocking him erupted in flames, belching white smoke!
“Gah!”
Chief Slayer lunging from the side took a stone spear to the gut, vomiting blood and collapsing.
“Grah!”
The spear shook off Chief Slayer, thrusting at Vice Slayer.
But an invisible wall—telekinetic barrier—blocked it!
Spiela sneered wickedly.
“Good, I get your skill now. Time for my real effort?”
Her eyes flashed.
Telekinetic torrent raged—everything became her weapon.
“Ground pebbles? Seawater? Corpses? Humans? Swords? Spears? Trees? All mine!”
She snapped her fingers.
Pebbles writhed, then thousands of arrows poured!
Rat-a-tat-tat─────!
Red barrier wrapped Rain—but pebbles pierced his thigh first.
“Guh...!”
Next instant, barrier expanded, tentacles of flame lashing at Spiela.
Magic transmutation...?
Shock brief—Spiela gripped the flames with invisible force, bursting out laughing.
“Idiot! Still don’t get it? Useless against me!”
Her telekinesis at pinnacle—not just attack-focused, but total defense.
Thus, in life, she was called: Telekinesis Duchess.
“Not an attack?”
Spiela’s vision went pure white. Tentacles exploded with eardrum-shattering boom.
‘Blinding from the start? Or judgment call?’
White surge burned his optic nerves—total blindness instant.
Danger.
Fatal.
Spiela rocketed herself skyward with telekinesis. Flames exploded where she’d stood.
‘Hesitate more, I’m dead... What the hell is this guy?’
Her eyes flashed blue... despairing all watching villagers.
Crunch—Logitello houses ripped from foundations, soaring skyward!
Snap—olive trees blanketing seaside cliffs!
Crack—massive cliff boulders screamed free!
Seawater, pebbles—everything liftable rose horizon-wide, then plunged at Rain!
“Flying was your mistake.”
In Rain’s palm, the transcendent circuit crackling fizzled.
Firefield Barrier.
Rending heavens roared; heat vortex engulfed the area.
“Second Thunder.”
Pillars struck, winds howled... all telekinetic projectiles charred.
“Third Thunder.”
Second and third bolts halted midair by telekinesis toward Spiela. Masterful!
But she panted raggedly. Blood streamed from eyes and nose.
Even a telekinesis master faced backlash suppressing such might.
“What’s wrong? I’ve got more.”
Most painful death: burning. Conflagration.
Fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...!
Miraculously, she blocked six bolts—but finally screamed in unbearable agony.
“Gaaaaaaah────!”
Smashed to ground, Spiela writhed in live roasting torment.
“You bastard... Think you’ll survive touching me...?”
She flailed telekinesis to fend flames—futile.
“Dragon... Dragon Slayer’ll find you... Kill you most painfully, ha, ha, hahahahaha...!”
Her mad laughter halted as legs, torso, arms, head turned to ash.
Rain Ludwig stomped the ashes.
“Yeah, tell him hurry up. To this Dragon Slayer Slayer.”