Chapter 44
Chapter 44
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Dragon Sovereign's Final Stand
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While the four desperately fled Giant Island,
Havel and the Dragon Sovereign clashed.
The Dragon Sovereign, unfolding wings on its back and baring its claws, unleashed destructive power beyond mortal limits.
That wasn't all.
As if born from the volcano itself, it spewed molten lava from within its body.
The beast freely manipulated the high-heat lava churning inside its pitch-black skin.
Thanks to that, the sea erupted in chaos from an unexpected shower of lava.
In the surrounding area reduced to scorched ruin in an instant,
Havel alone withstood the Dragon Sovereign's assaults.
'Impressive. No wonder even the Tower calls it one of the Primordial Three Calamities.'
Facing the Dragon Sovereign, Havel recalled the Phoenix he'd encountered in the Demonic Palace.
The monstrous bird wreathed in scorching heat, slashing wildly with its talons.
He'd died to it so many times it was hard to even remember.
The Dragon Sovereign was that strong.
Like the Demonic Palace, the Tower's calamities grew fiercer the higher you climbed.
Among those Havel had faced in the Tower, the Dragon Sovereign stood at the pinnacle.
In fact, it was enduring Havel's attacks without faltering.
Flap!
At that moment, the Dragon Sovereign's two wings unfurled.
Its leathery wings expelled overheated air.
Simultaneously, beams of searing heat shot toward Havel.
Havel deflected them with the edge of his hand.
His body, enhanced by transcendent Diamond, shrugged off mere heat rays.
But his shirt couldn't withstand the heat and melted away.
Havel's expression twisted slightly.
"The one Arthur splurged on for me..."
Thud!
In that instant, Havel's silhouette blurred.
The first time he'd truly pressed the offensive.
The Dragon Sovereign's six eyes snapped toward him in unison.
Boom!
Clouds tore apart as the Dragon Sovereign soared high into the sky.
Clatter—
At the same time, scales peeled from its body.
It had crossed its arms to block Havel's strikes.
Revealing just how impossibly tough its body was.
"Grraaak!"
The Dragon Sovereign gathered lava to spew once more.
Thud!
But another fist slammed into its head before it could.
It blocked with its arms again, but the impact was different this time.
Crunch, boom!
The force pierced its guard, striking its head squarely.
Before it could even scream, Havel's fist hammered home again.
The Dragon Sovereign panicked.
Moments ago, it had been the aggressor.
Now Havel's blows had suddenly grown overwhelmingly heavy.
As it flailed under the barrage, it realized too late.
Havel's fists shimmered with Dawn light.
Until now, facing the Dragon Sovereign, Havel hadn't used aura.
With transcendent Diamond alone, against an opponent of this level,
he'd wanted to see how far it could take him.
But Diamond transcended endurance.
And endurance stemmed from stamina and defense.
Even Diamond had limits in raw offensive power.
'If my strength had transcended, I might've pushed it further.'
Even so, the Dragon Sovereign was too sturdy to fell with Diamond alone.
No point dragging this out any longer.
Havel decided to unleash his power without restraint.
"You held up pretty well."
Boom!
The Dragon Sovereign's body bent backward from Havel's punch, plummeting toward Giant Island.
It crashed into the volcano's interior in a flash, vanishing amid the ash cloud.
Havel shook out his arms lightly, eyeing it.
"Let's see how much you can take."
Havel reached for his waist.
The moment he drew his sword from its sheath, Dawn light gleamed along the blade.
Banpellyon Style Dawn SwordsmanshipRemnant Dawn Rain
Perfected technique unleashes as rain of Dawn light
The perfected swordsmanship erupted from Havel's blade.
Dawn light shattered into rain, pouring down relentlessly.
The downpour washed away the ash entirely, pounding the volcano.
The erupting volcano crumbled under the sudden barrage of Dawn rain.
Havel shifted his gaze to the volcano's collapsed maw.
Deep inside the crater,
he sensed the Dragon Sovereign's presence.
To see what it would do next, Havel kicked off into the sky.
Accelerating in a blink, he closed in on the volcano.
The moment he swung his Dawn-infused sword without hesitation, the crater's entrance collapsed.
Landing amid the rubble, he beheld a swamp of lava.
Fallen debris sank into the molten sea, melting away.
Havel stood atop a rock slowly dissolving in the lava.
Farther in, the Dragon Sovereign writhed within the magma.
"Brings back memories."
It felt just like the 7th floor against the Phoenix.
Havel savored the nostalgia.
But there was a difference from back then.
The Dragon Sovereign was undoubtedly the strongest calamity he'd faced in the Tower.
Yet even at its strongest,
it fell short of the Demonic Palace's 7th-floor master, the Phoenix.
And Havel himself had grown far beyond who he was then.
Now, he was a monster even the Phoenix couldn't handle.
Having absorbed calamity after calamity,
reaching this point.
A sudden thought struck him.
Thanks to regression and immortality, he'd kept growing even within the Demonic Palace.
He had to, to clear it.
But was that purely his own effort?
Perhaps from that moment,
'I'd already started absorbing calamities without realizing it.'
His thoughts reached that point, and Havel looked up.
From the lava,
the Dragon Sovereign reemerged.
As if absorbing the magma,
its form had changed drastically.
"Awakened, have you?"
"------!"
Havel's casual remark drew a furious roar from the Dragon Sovereign.
A sound inaudible to human ears.
Rumble!
In that instant, the surrounding lava writhed.
Then it surged upward in pillars, one after another.
Boom!
Bursting through the cavern ceiling, amid soaring lava pillars,
the lava-clad Dragon Sovereign charged with blinding speed.
Its six eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
Havel slowly raised his sword to the side.
Though his Frost Qi had been offered as tribute for transcendent Diamond,
Havel could wield cold energy regardless.
He'd mastered his old comrade's ice arts to slay the Phoenix, after all.
For the first time in ages, not Dawn but biting cold gathered on Havel's blade.
This chill surpassed any natural frost.
Over the years, absorbing calamity after calamity,
when his aura shifted to ice, it birthed power on another level entirely.
As hoarfrost rimed his blade, scattering white chill,
Havel thrust forward.
Isia Style SwordsmanshipWhite Snow
Absolute freeze engulfs all in eternal frost
Crack!
First, the lava pillar rising beneath Havel froze solid.
Following the arc of his swing,
the chill extended endlessly, encasing everything in ice.
The rampant cold defied even the lava's heat.
Before that frost,
the Dragon Sovereign's six eyes quaked violently.
It had amassed and amassed lava within, growing stronger.
Yet against Havel's secondary power—not even his primary Dawn—
it was utterly helpless.
Despair enveloped the Dragon Sovereign.
All 6th-floor beasts born on islands were newborns.
That helplessness fueled its rage.
But in that moment—
At the same time, a serpent's emblem etched onto its neck.
Lava churned madly inside, infusing it with vitality.
Unprecedented power surged from the Dragon Sovereign.
Its six eyes widened in shock.
What was this strength?
Whatever it was, it felt omnipotent.
Crack!
Havel's frost reached its body.
But unlike the surroundings, it didn't freeze.
The lava dwelling within resisted the cold.
Its right arm bulged grotesquely.
Unfamiliar power welled up from deep inside.
Shrieeeek!
Simultaneously, claws extended from its right arm, spewing intense heat.
This can tear Havel apart.
The moment its eyes flashed with certainty—
Thud!
The Dragon Sovereign felt its heart sink.
The euphoria of ripping Havel vanished.
Unprecedented terror seized its body.
Because Havel's eyes, after unleashing White Snow,
had changed.
His chilling gaze sent shivers through the beast.
Step, step—
Before it knew it, the Dragon Sovereign staggered across the frozen lava.
Forgetting even to fly.
Overwhelmed by dread, it couldn't move.
The lava within cooled rapidly.
Starting from its feet, its body slowly froze.
It knew its state yet could do nothing.
"Eek, eeeek."
Emitting deathly cries, the Dragon Sovereign finally stilled completely.
Frost enveloped it, turning it pure white.
With that, its world stopped.
Snowflakes drifted in the lava cavern.
Amid them, Havel's eyes narrowed.
In its final moments, a calamity had possessed the Dragon Sovereign.
Clearly intentional.
And he knew whose doing it was.
The Demonic Palace had kindly informed him.
That recent calamity was a blatant test of Havel's limits.
Havel sneered.
They'd tried slipping in calamities on the sly.
Sorry, but he saw everything clearly.
"So, you don't want to stay on good terms with me, huh?"
It must've realized he'd clocked it.
Havel cracked his neck lightly.
Time to interrogate the ones outside properly.
"Maybe a good smack to each of those Six Serpents' heads will loosen their tongues?"
He was confident in handling snakes.
The Dragon Sovereign's calamity seeped into Havel's body.
Technique would soon hit four digits too.
Absorb the next island master's calamity, and it'd be done.
Plus, the timely Volcanic Qi.
Perfect as the next tribute.
Havel shattered the cavern ceiling and ascended.
His frost had fully quelled the active volcano.
But the surroundings remained a wasteland.
Havel's gaze turned seaward.
Not far off, he sensed an unwelcome presence.
The aura wafting from it resembled the Dragon Sovereign's recent surge.
A sensation he'd felt once before.
He could detect it even at this distance.
The Whisperer.
This was its calamity.
Havel realized.
The Whisperer had sent this subordinate to clear the Tower.
Like the other serpents.
To let its minions devour calamities and grow strong.
Whatever its goal in creating underlings,
this was perfect for identifying it.
'Time for a little chat.'
He hoped it would talk.
Otherwise, things would end very badly.