Chapter 229
Chapter 229
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: Let the Adults Fight
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"Dragons can choose from two styles of combat. Fighting as a dragon or fighting as a dragonkin."
In dragon form, one can unleash overwhelming size and power, but the larger the body, the more vulnerable it becomes—there's no room for finesse in its movements.
"In dragonkin form, on the other hand, one can wield the body with technique. Absolute power may be beyond reach, but countless variables can be created instead."
Both have their strengths and weaknesses, so always keep this in mind.
* * *
Akireah's miraculous appearance had defused the crisis at the last second, but if that held any real significance... well, who could say.
"Aki, we're already done for."
The doomsday hourglass had already begun to trickle. Sooner or later, the kingdom would meet its end.
"It's all over!"
And the waves of this catastrophe would spread across the entire continent...
"It's all my fault."
Rain Ludwig would have understood what Valensidis was getting at right now.
Even his once-intact right hand had melted away from the black flames, leaving only the thumb and index finger.
He was telling them he had no value left, so they should take Obin and Obira and flee...
"It's not over yet!"
That was when Obin shook his head furiously.
The legacy of Rigwind gleamed in both his hands. The Rate Stone that converted light to sound, and the Heavenly Wave Record said to contain the voices of the gods.
"It's not over yet!"
Was there some kind of plan?
Had he prepared a separate countermeasure, rather than simply buckling under Elamas's threats?
"You think I'd just let that happen?"
Without any warning, an immense mass came charging in.
The true dragon's tail was a weapon in its own right by sheer size alone. It plowed through the ground oozing with resentment and rebounded right in front of Obin and Valensidis.
Amid a ferocious explosion of flames, the hem of Aki's dobok fluttered beautifully like fire itself, the shockwave rippling out from her.
"Leave Sachun sis to Aki."
She gave a thumbs-up to those she'd protected, then her form vanished in a burst of hot air.
"Dragon Combat Style: Fire Wind Torrent."
She appeared abruptly at Elamas's side, driving in a blazing fist.
"!"
The ambush was blocked by the true dragon's outstretched foreleg...
"Aki marking."
But what seared into that foreleg, sparks flying, was no flame sigil of the Heavenly Fire Wave.
It was dragon tongue.
The language of dragons, famed for the mystical power inherent in its words themselves—"Batukira," meaning destruction.
"Dragon tongue engraving...?!"
The instant his fist collided with that word, the power that should have exploded across a wide area focused into a single point and unleashed.
"The true dragon's scales...?!"
The destructive force left Valensidis, who Obin was half-dragging out of the palace, slack-jawed.
The true dragon's scales, said to be harder and tougher than any metal in this world, couldn't withstand the blow.
Chunks of scales shattered and burned, scattering through the air. Even the dragon's massive body swayed faintly.
'That... looks familiar...?'
Elamas felt a mix of unease and irritation in that moment.
He'd definitely seen it somewhere before, but when? Where?
A chain from the abyss writhed in the depths of his memory, and the unease faded, leaving only irritation.
"You think you can stop me?"
Her innate presence was so overwhelming he'd been momentarily rattled, but this level of damage was within expectations.
If he'd allowed Snir the same opening...
Her speed wasn't overwhelming either. He'd reacted even to the first strike exploiting his weakness, so the next attack would turn into a counter and—
- Elsara.
—he couldn't finish the thought.
The moment he spotted the charging hatchling, a voice rang directly in his mind, like a tolling bell.
'Who are you?'
He reached out to control the true dragon, but a sensation gripped his shoulder.
Was it an illusion?
Had she already flanked him?
He pulled back his hand and whipped around desperately, but nothing was there. Only primitives crawling from the fissures.
"Dragon Combat Style—!"
That split-second confusion became a massive opening.
With a mighty shout, a portion of the power inherited from his mother—the greatest of the red true dragons—was unleashed.
Explosive thermal output condensed into floral shapes in an instant, six flames blooming around the true dragon.
- Wow, seeing this makes me understand why they call sparks "fire flowers"!
As the immature buds began to unfurl, spewing heat, a splitting headache crashed over Elamas.
What was happening?
Why couldn't he hear his own voice?
Had he ever said something like that?
His memories were sealed in a box, bound by chains and locks he dared not touch.
"—Fire Pine Lotus Bloom!"
The flames bloomed fully, the fire rampaged.
As each flower opened wide, a flash beyond description, a roar, a blaze engulfed heaven and earth.
In those selective flames that spared the living and scorched the dead, the warriors took no damage.
The primitives lunging at them were reduced to ash with mere screams.
An explosion that erased light and shadow from the world—if the true dragon hadn't wrapped its wings around itself.
"You insolent brat..."
The next instant, the true dragon spewed black flames from its maw at impossible speed.
"Don't get in my way...!"
Akireah hurled herself into the sky to evade, and though the black flames pursued her trajectory, they lagged far behind the hatchling's speed.
"And I was just getting to the fun part!"
The clash dragged on in stalemate, black flames sweeping the ground, fires whirling endlessly.
It wasn't that Elamas couldn't keep up with Akireah's speed.
If he wanted, no, if he went all out, killing her would be a matter of time.
But every time, something inexplicable interfered.
'Not just me—the hatchling too. Does she underestimate me?'
No fighting spirit or killing intent at all. Why wasn't she coming at him with true intent to kill?
Their eyes met, and the hatchling tilted her head.
"But why are you crying?"
Crying? Me?
Ridiculous.
He'd just taken the first step toward a lifelong ambition spanning decades, centuries—things were finally heating up.
- Why does Father have to go there and die!
Irritating.
Those eyes of hers were utterly irritating.
He'd definitely seen them before. That pitiful gaze looking down on him.
- All this was decided before I was even born.
The eyes from back then were the same golden hue as the inside of flames. Her hair had been red like fire.
'And irritating.'
The gazes of those worthless warriors looking at her with expectant eyes.
Don't you have hands?
Feet?
Can't even hold a weapon? Why not fight yourselves?
- It's because the demon's power is too great...
Always excuses.
Slaughtering you worthless lot is my lifelong wish.
It's only natural for the weak to perish, and my eternal desire is to end lives prolonged by devouring others'.
"First, I'll kill you all."
The true dragon turned its maw toward the warriors.
Toward the humans, blood and dust caked on their bodies, supporting each other as they tried to flee this hellscape.
As heat explosively gathered in the dragon's jaws, Akireah's eyes widened in understanding.
- Aki, are you hurt?
No combat manual from Shalesarum covered this. Only what she'd observed and learned from Rain Ludwig.
How had he acted back then?
Fire Wave Stepping. Without a thought for the consequences, she moved.
"…………………!"
A massive crater scarred the ground.
The palace courtyard was left only with molten sediments of stone, iron, and gold.
Elegant arches, spires, statues—all had lost their form, twisted in black flames, burned to ash, or melted away.
"Ah..."
Dazed voices escaped the palace warriors.
In the heart of this unreal devastation, where only death had loomed, they had survived.
Thanks to the red-haired girl who stood between them and the black flames' onslaught.
"Huh, no injuries, huh..."
Akireah turned to them with a grin, but she staggered limply before collapsing on her rear.
She'd drawn out firepower beyond her limits in her fluid state.
The backlash was crashing over her body. Even at full power, fully blocking an adult's strength was impossible.
"Pathetic..."
Elamas narrowed his eyes at the hatchling struggling to rise.
Ah, now he got it.
It wasn't irritation.
She resembled someone.
Pitifully fighting for humans, pitifully dying—that pitiful...
'...Who?'
He knew she'd followed that one, calling him father. But the figure was blurry in his mind.
'Irritating.'
Today should have been the best day of his life, the day he'd laugh the most joyfully.
"Now, what are you gonna do about this pissed-off feeling!"
As Elamas raised his hand, lightning surged from all directions.
At the speed of light itself.
One of the 5-star spells created by the great mage Lin in the past.
Jesa Chaeryeon: Thunder Style.
"Hmph."
The lightning chains spiderwebbing out shattered into photons under the true dragon's ferocious roar.
Shattered, but...
By the time Elamas easily handled the ambush, the battle had shifted to a new phase.
"Aki."
Unlike dragonkin, the red hair fluttering beneath the worn bamboo hat had an artificial feel.
But the soul within that body held power comparable to a true dragon's yeouiju.
The youth who appeared between Elamas and the hatchling smiled gently at Akireah.
"You did well."
The moment he'd crossed paths with Valensidis and Obin and rushed up the palace steps, he'd pieced it together. Understood everything.
[Aruu!]
The moment he understood, he didn't know how to express the swelling emotion—proud, loving, perhaps beyond words.
So, simply, concisely.
He conveyed his sincerity.
No need to mock yourself for being powerless. You're still young. So young, yet you did this.
'You'll keep growing, someday accomplishing even things I can't imagine, effortlessly.'
And someday, you'll gently embrace the final era to come. Just like Alakish.
So right now.
What he had to do as her guardian.
"Now, shouldn't adults fight among adults?"
He was roughly 317 years old.
A far cry from Elamas's 500, but hardly a child.
"Unless bullying kids is your hobby."