Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Battle Stance
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The Dragon’s Magic Armor.
The reason it bore the name ‘Dragon’ was because the mana heart embedded in its center was crafted from a dragon’s heart.
The Dragon Heart.
In our era, dragons were mythical creatures, with only their fossils remaining.
But in the Age of Magic, there were clear traces that allowed one to infer their ecology, and it was said that encounters with living dragons, though rare, did occur from time to time.
Thanks to this, I learned that dragons were not mere ‘beasts’ with bodies as massive as castles.
On the contrary, they possessed intelligence far surpassing that of humans and were beings endowed with transcendent abilities.
And the root of these ‘abilities’ was the Dragon Heart.
Lorraine had supposedly discovered this Dragon Heart in a land of glaciers.
A vast, white snowfield that sloped ever downward.
In its center, a hot spring bubbled and boiled, all on its own.
Curiosity piqued, her exploration led her to discover a dark red Dragon Heart.
This Dragon Heart, which was said to be the luck of a lifetime for Lorraine, was, for some reason, incredibly angry.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was terrified.
[No. No! Die! Please! Diiieee!]
Each time the dragon’s remnant consciousness had a fit, the mana within the Dragon Heart erupted as if exploding.
Sometimes, it even became aura.
It was clearly mana when it left the Dragon Heart, but the more agitated the remnant became, the denser it grew, transforming into aura.
On top of that,
‘The Magic Armor transforms mana into aura.’
The aura emitted from the Dragon Heart was simple and weak, like primal aura, but after circulating once through the Magic Armor, it was converted into a powerful aura that was in no way inferior to the Vanroah royal family’s secret aura technique, the Iron Heart.
That was precisely why the secret exhibition hall had descended into chaos.
*CRASH!*
The roof was blown away by a storm of aura, and the rampaging aura slammed into the walls, blasting holes through them.
And I…
[Die! Die! Die!]
…was too busy fighting the remnant consciousness invading my mind.
“Guaaaaaaaah!”
The dragon’s remnant consciousness churned inside my head like a blade, causing me to lose control of my body.
My mouth hung open, drooling, and screams poured out as my body trembled violently as if in a seizure.
The aura created by the Magic Armor and the aura of my Iron Heart clashed everywhere, wrecking my entire body.
But,
‘I have to subdue the remnant first!’
It was an instinctive judgment.
Not the aura, but the remnant…!
I gathered my will to quell the dragon’s remnant that had burrowed into my mind.
How dare it,
Not even a living dragon,
But the mere remnant of a dead one!
[Shut up!!! Die!!!]
*Rumble!*
The dragon’s aura and my own collided within my body.
Excruciating pain.
An uncontrollable body.
“Guaaah!”
I knew it wouldn’t be easy,
but it was a brutal fight from the very beginning.
***
“What in the world? What is this situation…?”
Lorraine was bewildered.
Lansen had told her to assume a battle stance, and she had.
She understood that a fearsome enemy was coming.
She also understood that it was an absurd opponent, one that even the monstrously strong Lansen had no chance of winning against without the Dragon’s Magic Armor.
But she still couldn’t accept it.
‘Why would something like that suddenly appear from a 50,000-year-old ruin?! Isn’t he mistaken about something? Why now, after being quiet for 50,000 years…?’
She didn’t voice her thoughts. There were many researchers around, and she didn’t want to send them the wrong message.
Still, it was an unavoidable, fundamental question.
‘Damn it… Still, just in case, I should trust Lansen and prepare…’
Just as she was organizing her thoughts,
“Lorraine.”
Kask called to her, his face pale.
“Hm? What is it?”
“Run…”
“What?”
“An Apostle… He said it’s a monster called an Apostle.”
“An Apostle?”
“Yes. He said the angel called it that… That thing, that thing is unnatural.”
What angel now…?
Lorraine furrowed her brow, but Kask was in no state to speak coherently.
“Anyway, we can’t fight it! Lorraine. Don’t listen to Lansen. We have to run!”
Those words…
The terror in his expression…
It paradoxically cooled Lorraine’s head.
‘It’s real.’
Something truly immense is coming.
In that case,
She had to prepare.
To protect the research facility.
Lorraine raised her voice.
“What are you all staring at! Didn’t you hear the combat alert I just sounded?! To your stations!”
“To—to our stations!”
The researchers, who had been gathered in confused clusters, scattered in a rush.
Lorraine was also about to head to the central seminar room, which served as the command-and-control center in emergencies, to prepare for battle…
*Grab!*
Kask seized her wrist.
“Don’t go. You can’t! Let’s run… Yes! The research facility is too slow anyway. Let’s abandon it and run away together. If we combine the ‘Haste’ spell with the ‘Fly’ spell, maybe…!”
*Smack!*
Lorraine slapped Kask’s hand away.
“If you want to run, go alone, Kask.”
Then she turned her head and conveyed her intentions to the other mercenaries.
“The same goes for all of you. With the last exploration, our contract has ended. You’re free to leave this place immediately, as long as you return the video recording artifact and the Magic Armor.”
Even in this situation, her knack for taking care of business was classic Lorraine.
But the mercenaries shook their heads.
“Just take us with you, please. We can’t use spells like the captain, so we’re not confident we can escape on our own two feet.”
It was the truth.
The legs of the mercenary who had spoken, Depuan, were trembling uncontrollably.
“Director.”
Just then, Eodran stepped forward.
He placed a hand on Lorraine’s shoulder and shook his head.
“Please evacuate for now. I will protect this place.”
Lorraine’s eyebrows arched downward.
“You too, Eodran?!”
“But this is far too ominous…”
“This is my research facility! The one I dedicated my entire life to building! You know that perfectly well! And you’re telling me to abandon it and run?! How can you say that, Eodran?”
At her words, Eodran let his hand fall limply to his side.
Lorraine turned her back without a second thought and took in everyone with her eyes.
“Let’s go! [Haste]!”
*Snap!*
As she snapped her fingers, the pocket watch inside her white coat emitted a deep green light.
The people who remained realized their movements had become several times faster than usual.
“To the central seminar room!”
*Rumble—*
Everyone who had been left in front of the ruins dashed toward the research facility.
***
Lorraine’s moving research facility, as its name suggested, moved.
With its massive caterpillar tracks, it crushed the earth, crossing mountains, fields, and sometimes even rivers, wandering the wilds in search of ruins from the Age of Myths.
Because of this, it wasn’t uncommon for it to be attacked by giant beasts or flying monsters.
The central seminar room.
This place was like the brain of the research facility.
Normally, it was used for sharing research findings from the entire facility and brainstorming new ideas, but in emergencies, it transformed into a command-and-control center.
*Murmur, murmur—*
Right now, the central seminar room was in a state of great confusion.
“What’s with the sudden combat alert?”
“Didn’t you feel it earlier? A strange energy…”
“Energy…? I don’t know… I don’t have any energy, to begin with.”
“Don’t tell me…! This isn’t a live-fire drill in a situation like this, is it? If it is, I’m really handing in my resignation this time!”
“You said that during the last drill, too.”
“I’m serious this time!”
Few people sensed the gravity of the situation.
In fact, many hadn’t even felt the premonitory signs that had occurred earlier.
They had all been deeply focused on completing their assigned research tasks while sleep-deprived.
That’s why, the moment she burst through the doors of the central seminar room, Lorraine had to shout.
“What are you all doing! Is this any time for chit-chat?! Drive team! Depart from our current position at full power! Quickly! Quickly!”
“Ye—yes, ma’am!”
*Krrrrr—*
As the researchers on the drive team poured mana into the instrument panel and operated it, the research facility, which was large enough to be called a small town, began to move.
Its massive tracks rolled endlessly, moving away from the ruins, away from the mountain.
Lorraine didn’t rest.
She hurried to the loading mechanism of the main cannon (a 10-Lepim Mana Cannon).
“What have you all been doing, not even loading the first round yet?!”
“S-sorry!”
At her rebuke, the researchers assigned as loaders rushed over in a fluster.
The researchers were all mages. They lined up at the ‘Spell-Focusing Circle’.
Here, various spells were focused into a ‘mana shell’, and the shell would then sequentially manifest the focused spells to fire the mana cannon.
Creating a single ‘mana shell’ consumed an enormous amount of expensive magical ingredients, and the mana cannon vaporized all of it in a single shot.
It was truly a money-eating dragon.
In return, its power surpassed even a dragon’s breath.
Lorraine immediately began the focusing process, her voice sharp.
Her usual cheerful demeanor had long been discarded, her true colors showing.
“What is this?! Why are there so few loaders?!”
But no answer came. Everyone just sweated and glanced around nervously.
Lorraine could easily cast spells while conversing, but that was an impossible feat for other mages.
The researcher acting as the gunner, unable to watch any longer, explained in their stead.
“Only about 20% of the total personnel have assumed battle stations. It’s barely been two minutes since the alarm sounded, and… this situation is quite unusual. It’s the first time we’ve had to do this during research, especially with everyone mobilized…”
In the end, it was an unavoidable problem.
The researchers at Lorraine’s facility weren’t without combat experience, but ultimately, they were researchers, not soldiers.
It was inevitable that their response in a real battle would be slow.
Only the 20% of researchers who happened to be nearby had immediately found their positions; the rest were still wandering around outside.
They were fumbling about, trying to move their research data to a safe place first, or failing to retrieve and distribute necessary combat supplies in a timely manner.
“Tsk.”
Just as Lorraine, having noticed the situation, clicked her tongue and drew upon even more of her magic,
*Ruuuumble—*
The ground shook.
It was a tremendous tremor, so powerful that people lost their balance and collapsed.
“L-look over there!”
One researcher pointed at a wall that showed a clear view of the outside through transparency magic.
“The—the mountain…!”
The mountain where the ruins from the Age of Myths were buried.
That entire mountain was collapsing inward.
It was as if something was sucking the mountain in from beneath the earth.
Dust clouds shot up to the sky.
A colossal being pushed its way through the gray cloud and rose to its feet.
“G-good heavens… What is that…”
A snake? A dragon? Or just an elongated mass of flesh?
It was smooth and had ashen skin. A massive maw was attached to its end, and no eye sockets were visible.
One, two, three… a total of seven such elongated things shot up, piercing through the collapsed mountain.
“Just… how big is it…”
Looking at those seven massive heads felt like my sense of perspective was breaking.
The heads continued to stretch upward, on and on.
Finally, the seven heads, having risen far higher than the mountain, surveyed the world.
『Kiiiiirrrrr—!!!』
The largest of the seven heads was the one in the center.
Boasting a thickness two and a half times that of the others, it roared toward the sky. Its entire body trembled.
Then, an ashen, powder-like substance began to slough off its body in clumps, covering the entire world.
The sky quickly darkened, and the researchers who heard the roar felt their legs give out, collapsing where they stood.
They trembled in a fear that even a mage’s strong mind could not easily overcome.
The one who moved at this moment was, once again, Lorraine.
“Gunnery team! What are you doing?! Aim and fire!”
She didn’t just give orders.
She quickly finished the focusing process and ran directly to the gunnery team, slapping the researchers on the back and personally helping them aim.
“D-distortion in the surrounding space detected! Trajectory calculation is…”
“Wait!”
Lorraine immediately grabbed her head and began to calculate mentally.
Using only the data at hand, she deduced the curvature distribution of the warped space and calculated the single trajectory that would pass through it to reach the enemy.
The time it took was a mere 10 seconds.
She alone finished in 10 seconds a calculation that would have taken five competent researchers putting their heads together at least two minutes to figure out.
“T-target acquired!”
Ignoring the researchers staring at her with awe, Lorraine gave the command.
“Fire!”
The target was the largest of the seven heads, the one in the center.
The largest building in the center of the research facility, the ‘Academic Hall’, shuddered.
The massive cannon located on top of the ‘Academic Hall’ swiveled with a creak.
*Guuuuooooong—*
The magic focused within the shell ignited, and a massive vortex of mana shot forth.
*Kwawooo—!*
Distorting the atmosphere and scorching the earth, the pale wave of mana pierced through the space between here and there in an instant, making the mountains, the fields, and the wind scream.
This was the 10-Lepim mana cannon that Lorraine prided herself on.
Everyone held a sliver of hope that this single strike, capable of leveling a mountain, could defeat that absurd monster.