Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Slayers' Counterattack
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Chasing the Dragon Slayer, the moment they stepped out of the golden pagoda, the Slayers' counterattack began.
“Dur-Morris, Archer Slayer. Death to all archers.”
“Dur-Morris, Knight Slayer. Death to all knights.”
No, to be precise, it started the instant they set foot on the suspension bridge connecting to Island 3.
Facing two legendary mercenaries as enemies was overwhelming enough, but an even more irritating problem grabbed them by the ankles.
It was Link's descendants, brainwashed by the Slayers. Their retreat was blocked too, was it?
“You cannot pass.”
A shot from Yuryongsa—one of the Empire's Three Great Archery Schools, renowned for its arcing volleys—grazed past his earlobe.
In that split-second dodge, the suspension bridge creaked under their weight, throwing off his balance, and the Knight Slayer's blade slipped through the gap.
The sword tip, cloaked in mana chain's sword aura, clashed against the stone staff, scattering sparks in a deafening spray.
“Now, kill him!”
What kind of training had they undergone? Those boys and girls moved so freely on this suspension bridge...
Below stretched a vertigo-inducing abyss a thousand feet deep. Falling meant plunging into the sea with severe injuries.
Yet facing that death, not a hint of hesitation showed in the children's eyes.
“You can't kill them, Aki!”
“Huh?”
He had no choice but to shout that at Aki, who stepped forward to block the child soldiers and drew on the mana heart's power.
Peering into their structures with Bell Quirius revealed no traces of magic or curses whatsoever.
Just how had they been brainwashed...?
“You can't kill them? You're awfully relaxed.”
The Knight Slayer's sword was a bastard sword.
A blade with a split hilt, usable with one or both hands depending on the swordsman's needs—highly versatile.
He gripped it one-handed, then switched to two, probing for openings; the fiend's edge was razor-sharp.
'The previous Platinum Rank 3rd and 5th mercenaries...'
A sword aura flashed before his eyes; barely rolling aside to evade, his lips twitched.
Shhhhhhh!
Mana arrows plunged straight into his evasion spot. The bridge's planks shattered, sending splinters flying.
“All combat is business! The winner takes all—true gambling!”
As expected, trying to match these peak swordsmen in close quarters with staff techniques learned for self-defense was impossible.
“You cowardly...!”
He parried the Knight Slayer's charging blade and yelled.
A bigger problem than these bastards was that they'd slyly chosen this battlefield.
A place where he couldn't fully unleash fire magic's power—and without those child soldiers...
“Cowardly? What a greenhorn! In a fight where lives are on the line, is there room for such words?”
Parrying the flashing lights dancing before him pushed him closer, step by step.
Toward Aki's position blocking the rear guard... He was being steadily pushed back. Any further, and Aki would get caught up too.
The instant he worried about Aki, suffocating pain choked his breath, and the air in his lungs burst out with gastric juices.
'Yuryongsa... when did it...'
This was Yuryongsa's acrobatic volley technique: Snake Chain Shot.
Five arrows fired by the Archer Slayer from below the bridge abruptly changed trajectory at the feet of the two fighters.
Piercing through the planks, they embedded simultaneously into Rain's back.
“C-Ceresia—!”
Wooong...! Sensing the wearer's peril, Ceresia spat crimson light.
The dimension holding the arrows twisted and warped every which way, vanishing without a trace the next moment.
Draining embedded mana to the extreme, the fabric woven of mana threads thinned and turned transparent in an instant.
“—?!”
The Archer Slayer, who had just released his bowstring, raised an eyebrow at the bizarre phenomenon.
'Something lucky happened. Dodged the direct hits? But that's all.'
It hadn't negated the impact of the strikes or the momentary loss of balance from the agony.
Unless one was a frontline warrior, especially a magic-specialized ranged fighter, such pain inevitably shattered one's stance for a split second.
And big brother Knight Slayer wasn't the type to miss the opening that created.
“This ends it!”
The Knight Slayer leaped with force that splintered the bridge planks, his blade slashing horizontally through space.
Sword aura amplified to the limit—the blade tripled in length and thickness.
Rain hastily raised his stone staff to meet it, but no mere mage could block such a strike.
“Urraaaaaah!”
“Kuhuaaaaaah!”
Their shouts crossed.
The stone staff yielded inch by inch, the sword aura inching toward his throat.
Blood welled up, instantly evaporating in the aura's intense heat. Meanwhile, the Archer Slayer nocked his next arrow.
“Die!”
That split-second peril, that intolerable stench of blood, ignited flames in the heart of the fledgling dragon suppressing one child soldier.
An echo resounded in his soul.
A red-haired woman, buried deep in soul-memories he didn't yet know or recall, gently stroked Aki's head and whispered that this situation mustn't repeat.
In instinctual motion, he voiced the whisper.
“Da Hal be tas.”
Roooooooarrrrr... That absolute roar shook the world, freezing every human in place.
Was this throat-searing sensation fear?
Everyone present felt alarms blaring in their hearts, their bodies turning to ice.
“...?”
“...?”
“...?”
The absolute predator's roar of power.
That force paralyzed instinct and reason alike—and paradoxically, severed the wyrm coils binding the boys' and girls' souls.
As the soul-scouring heatwave echo faded, metallic clangs rang out from behind the bridge in an instant.
“Huh...?”
As if waking from a long nightmare... the boys and girls muttered, dropping their weapons.
“What...?”
He dispelled big brother's power? But that was a dragon's power?
What the hell was that force?
How long had it been since a mere beast's roar instilled such dread... Overwhelmed by that terror, even the sword aura honed to its peak vanished.
'That was Alakish's power just now...'
In that chaotic instant, only Rain roughly grasped the mysterious situation.
'You helped me again, Alakish.'
Warmth pulsed in his heart.
As memories flashed of laughing together on that harsh polar land, Rain turned to Aki and shouted.
“Aki, get those kids off the bridge!”
The Knight Slayer stepped back; now it was their turn to exploit the opening.
Five magic circles wove above his palm, runes etched: Cannon (砲), Proclaim (闡), Annihilate (殲), Fierce (激), Fire (火).
No feints or tricks—just a simple spell maximizing fire's destructive might, fired straight ahead.
Inspired by Alakish's breath that once incinerated hundreds of undead at their first meeting with a single exhale.
'5th-circle magic, instant cast...?!'
Close the distance.
When a mage unleashes great power, always close in...!
“Fall back, bro!”
As the Knight Slayer cloaked his blade in aura and charged, scattering afterimages, the Archer Slayer's urgent cry hadn't even reached him before the five-layered circles spinning above Rain's palm shattered with a clear chime.
Led by the origin rune, the five altered providence. Fragments of draconic power liberated into this world with the chime.
“Annihilate-Fire-Proclaim-Fierce-Cannon.”
Explosive ultrahigh-temperature flames erupted.
The blaze radiating from Rain's palm incinerated every shadow scattered across the world, leaving none.
The fire's breath, scorching even darkness's retinas, surged forward.
It reduced the bridge's ropes and planks to ash in an instant, along with the aura-clad blade raised to block it.
“─────!”
Skin crumbled to soot, flesh and fat melted, bones shattered, innards blazed.
In a colorless world, even sound vanished.
Before screams could escape, before the bridge fully sagged between cliffs, the flames that cremated the Knight Slayer engulfed the Archer Slayer.
'Such madness...'
I'm dead.
That realization spurred the Archer Slayer's body into evasion.
Rolling limbs full-force sideways, escaping the flames' path. One leg swallowed instantly by fire... but if he could just survive.
“───!”
Then he saw Rain's face piercing the flames.
Locking eyes with him, and the jangle of the stone staff—that was the last.
A blade hot as fire plunged deep into his heart, slamming the Archer Slayer to the ground.
“You bastard...”
“You've rampaged too much.”
Twisting the staff free, Rain caught his ragged breath and turned.
Across the severed bridge, on Island 6, Aki bounced joyfully, waving both arms.
Around him, the child soldiers wandered dazed. Aki had done his job splendidly.
'Aki, Alakish would be proud of you.'
But no time for sentiment.
As the heatwave sweeping Island 3 faded, the stench of blood and roars of combat echoed.
Even here where the Dragon Slayer fled, battle raged. Valensidis?
'See you later, Aki.'
Confirming Miria rushing from the golden pagoda on Island 6, Rain bolted toward the Island 3 pagoda visible beyond the lemon trees.
* * *
“Seizan and Grull's presences vanished too.”
Upon arriving at Island 3's golden pagoda, Engineer Slayer Hermann informed Arthur.
“Yeah, dragon hunting's gotta be fun like this. Already thrilling.”
The armor he fastened with buckles was dragon scale mail.
Harder than any steel, granting absolute resistance to all abilities—dragon scale armor.
Securing the final greave, Arthur then drew forth the bizarre spear fixed to the outer wall with 108 layers of chains.
Dragon bone spear.
Forged entirely from dragon bones, from tip to shaft—a weapon symbolic of Dragon Slayers.
Made solely from the sturdiest part, the dragon's clavicles; famed for when even ten first-rate swordsmen couldn't transport it after Arthur's subjugation.
Such a weapon, Arthur lifted lightly with one hand and slung over his shoulder.
“On the way here, those Special Task Force guys were still alive.”
“That chief did some impressive work.”
“Demon Slayer's hunting dragons with me. You handle the small fry below with your crew.”
“These humans are such a pain. Told 'em not to interfere with research.”
Arthur chuckled, playfully patting Hermann's head.
“So what? Gotta play outside to grow tall, right?”
“I'm tall for an Ayn!”
Brushing off Hermann's protest with a wave of his left hand, Arthur turned away, smile gone.
He glanced at the eerily gleaming dragon bone spear, furrowing his brow heavily.
'Arrogant half-dragon brat, ready your neck. I'm coming to kill you now.'