Kays Translations

Chapter 85: Dragon Knight Order

Crane stared intently at the magic circle.

“I don’t understand.”

The part he was currently writing constituted the core of the spell to exorcise the undead.

It was a mechanism to transfer memories and physical information to another vessel. Transferring fixed information or objects was easy enough.

But memories and physical information varied from person to person. He didn’t know how to transfer them all without missing or omitting anything.

“I must be overlooking something.”

As he turned the pages of his father’s specialized book, someone appeared beside Crane.

“This… I’ll take care of it. This won’t do for multivariate transfers. This area needs a complete rewrite.”

It was Chief Latos.

“Father…”

“You don’t need to consider the subject being transferred. Unlike the spell to remove lesions from Tania’s body, this is much easier.”

With that, Latos dripped alcohol on the ink eraser and erased the magic circle.

Then he swiftly ran the pen across the page.

His face remained that of the father who had once been immersed in research.

“…Hey, Crane. Do you think I can start over? As a member of Orleans, as your… father?”

Crane smiled.

“Of course, since you’re the head of the Orleans family.”

Amidst the far-from-silent noise, everyone focused only on the phenomenon in front of them.

Carefully, meticulously.

And their skills, their knowledge, took shape overwhelmingly, in their own ways.

“We’re done.”

Crane’s and Damur’s words overlapped.

The completed magic circle covered the entire square.

The magic circle had been double-checked and revised multiple times.

Everyone from Orleans had participated. There were no mistakes.

And then, the magic spear.

It exuded a danger that seemed to slice just by approaching, yet at the same time, emitted an alluring aura that seemed to draw one in.

It was obvious to everyone that it was a top-notch product.

When Crane signaled, Fagra stepped away from the furnace.

And a girl began to walk over the huge magic circle.

Again and again.

Deciphering each one, absorbing it as if digesting it.

The spell perceived by dwarves was closer to imagery than academia.

They extracted countless patterns in their minds, reconstructed them, and repeated the process until they formed a solid image that seemed touchable.

The more complex the spell, the slightest difference could lead to completely different results.

Therefore, there must be no mistakes. Not a single one.

After about twenty laps around the magic circle, Fagra stepped out of the circle and walked toward the smithy.

With her eyes closed.

Perhaps she didn’t want to destroy the form she had created in her mind with her vision.

Everyone in the square watched Fagra in silence.

Making no sound.

Seeing nothing and hearing nothing, Fagra grasped the hair she had cut off and relentlessly struck the glowing red-hot spear.

Tension permeated the air completely.

Adding to the spell was akin to overwriting, and even a minor mistake could break the existing spear’s spell, never to return.

Fagra stopped hammering.

As the intricate patterns momentarily appeared on the surface of the spear, they disappeared as if melting away.

“Fagra.”

Crane couldn’t help but call her name.

Two families that had lived in the same place had moved to different locations, and what they had accumulated over four hundred years had taken shape.

And now, they had become one.

A relieved voice spilled from Fagra.

“It’s done.”

The cheers erupted all at once.

Simultaneously, Damur stood up and splashed water from the well onto the spear.

Steam rose all at once.

It wasn’t a quenching of the blade. The top-grade magic spear made of magic steel possessed the highest hardness and flexibility when refined.

They simply lowered the temperature.

So that Lucius, who would soon wield it, could hold it immediately.

The magic spear, resembling a dull reddish-black similar to magic steel, was as long as several men put together.

Its blade had a large return similar to a shark’s fin, designed to prevent the blade from slipping out once stabbed.

Damur held up the blade and held it in the light.

His eyes became increasingly stern in an instant.

And then, he slammed it into the ground.

“Damn it all!!!!”

Everyone’s faces contorted.

“Could it be… we failed?” 

Latos muttered.

“It’s not a failure! It was flipped upside down from the beginning! We should have realized that when there were no spear wielders among the undead…” 

As Damur collapsed, the dwarves also slumped down in exhaustion.

“Flipped upside down?” 

Fagra, exhausted, responded to Crane’s words.

“Magic weapons, if drawn out too much power, their spells go out of control, turning people into demons and turning into cursed weapons that consume life and magic power.”

The original owner must have become unable to return as a result of drawing too much power from the magic spear, turning into a demon.

That’s why there was no owner of the magic spear among the undead.

Both the dwarves and Orleans hung their heads.

The weapon was incomplete, the dragon couldn’t be defeated, and everyone here was on the brink of death.

In the midst of their dejection, only Crane muttered something.

“Flipped upside down… spell’s going out of control… general-purpose self-learning circuits… could it be… oh, that’s it!”

He picked up the fallen giant spear.

“What are you… going to do?”

“Of course, I’m taking it to Lucius’s place.”

“Weren’t you listening!? That weapon is cursed! The moment you channel magic into it, it’ll attack the owner!”

“There’s no problem.”

Crane laughed.

“Because Chi You is a demon that eats cursed magic weapons.”

“Eats cursed weapons?”

“There’s no time to explain. We have to hurry.”

“Crane!”

Their eyes met.

“Fagra, it’s okay. I’ve decided not to break my words to my loved ones ever again.”

Crane dashed forward with all his might.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Huff… huff…”

Lucius continued his endless battle with the undead.

The surroundings had already turned into a snowy landscape, a world of silver.

They kept coming back no matter how many he cut down.

It was as if he was cutting through snow.

――I have to do something about the undead.

Suddenly, amidst the battle where Lucius continued to fight while listening to the curses of the undead, a loud noise echoed in the distance.

It was the evil dragon and the demon dragon exchanging breaths.

The battle between the demon dragon that had left the old capital Bulgia and the evil dragon only grew more intense.

The frozen mountains were rapidly heated by the evil dragon’s fiery breath, bursting from within and echoing with a tremendous sound.

Two dragons fought, even changing the terrain.

However, there was no resolution.

“Kill me!”

“Damn you, demon dragon!”

“It hurts, it’s cold. I don’t want to fight anymore…”

As Lucius continued to fight while hearing the curses of the undead, suddenly, words that weren’t curses raced through the battlefield.

“Lucius-san!”

It was a familiar voice.

When he turned around, he saw Crane being carried by a Siren.

With a giant spear in his hands.

――Crane-san…

The Siren wasn’t suited for combat.

“Don’t come!”

Lucius’s voice was in vain, and dragon knights swarmed around Crane.

Still, Crane and the Siren didn’t stop.

The ghosts were no longer just attracted to the spell, but had become entities that continued to randomly attack anything that would harm the revived demon dragon.

Dragon knights swarmed around Lucius, who tried to rush to them.

“Let go!!”

The dragon knights aimed their spears at Crane.

He wasn’t unaware.

But Crane continued to approach anyway.

Only Lucius was reflected in his eyes.

When the spears were about to be thrust simultaneously to pierce Crane, something descended.

It felt like large chunks of ice were falling.

But it was different.

Countless full moons fell from the sky like rain.

However, it was immediately understood what they were.

They were much weaker than when he saw them before.

Still, the moon blades tore through the dragon knights around Crane.

“Lucial… Your Highness…”

He looked around, but there was no one.

Among his observations, there was only one spatial pathway.

A line connecting Lucius and Crane had opened.

“Lucius-san, here’s the magic spear! Please take it!”

Saying so, Crane threw the magic spear from the sky.

“The magic spear…”

Lucius didn’t know what it was.

But a familiar presence was here.

Chiyou.

Temporarily, Chiyou forcibly took control from Lucius.

The spear headed towards the immobile Chiyou in an arc.

Yet, Chiyou remained motionless.

“Hurry up and take it!”

Even if told to do so, Lucius’s body was under Chiyou’s control.

He didn’t even intend to resist.

If Chiyou was doing this, there must be a reason behind his actions, something close to conviction.

He focused on the magic spear coming straight towards him.

And then, the spear pierced through the iron plate.

A floating iron plate resembling a diamond shape.

One of the six plates, containing no magic weapon.

――I remember, it was the same with the treasure sword.

When he first confronted Chiyou, he pierced one of the iron plates with the treasure sword.

And then, the treasure sword was replicated.

“…So the magic spear can be replicated as well.”

He extracted the magic spear from the iron plate.

Without responding to Lucius’s words, Chiyou lightly tossed the spear upwards.

Chiyou wielded the shining treasure sword in his right hand.

He cut the descending spear in half vertically as it spun around.

“”Wha-“”

Lucius’s and Crane’s surprised voices overlapped.

The magic spear, having fallen to the ground, rapidly crumbled into rusted iron scraps mixed with soil.

In the next moment, an immense amount of magic power and spells overflowed from the magic spear into Chiyou.

Chiyou rejoiced, feeling an unprecedented abundance of magic power.

――My power…

When he realized it, most of the cracks and rust on Chiyou’s armor had disappeared.

Perhaps due to the mix of the spear’s color, the black armor now had hints of scarlet, making it slightly reddish-black.

He felt immense magic power and newfound strength within him.

“Magic spear.”

Immediately, the iron plate that had been pierced transformed back into the magic spear.

The massive blade had large returns and resembled lightning.

From this great spear, one could feel a condensed power honed to its limit.

It felt like something hot resembling magic power was flowing into it.

With the overflowing power, Chiyou immediately threw the spear with all his might.

The magic spear slashed through the air like an arrow released from a mighty bow.

――It will hit.

The moment he was sure of it, the aimed white blade was drawn into the chest of the demon dragon fighting the evil dragon.

After the demon dragon stiffened, its body unnaturally convulsed.

After a pause, countless spears protruded from all over the demon dragon’s body.

Blood spurted from all over the demon dragon’s body.

Dozens, hundreds of spears seemed to be growing from the dragon’s body.

The increasing number of spears pierced through everything, including the surrounding rocky mountains and undead.

“What… is that…”

While Lucius was taken aback, the situation continued to evolve moment by moment.

Chiyou immediately summoned armored soldiers from the shadows.

In response, the evil dragon scattered blood onto the dragon knights and created Blood Wyverns.

“The dragon knights are taking the weapons… and tearing them off.”

The armored soldiers riding the Wyverns forcibly pulled out the spears protruding from the magic dragon and absorbed them greedily as if grabbing weapons ahead of others.

And then, the spear that was supposed to be thrown suddenly appeared in Chiyou’s right hand.

It wasn’t regenerated.

――It’s returning to my hand through teleportation.

The demon dragon, spewing blood from its entire body, roared.

Simultaneously, the undead dragon knights revived and swarmed in numbers that covered the sky.

Chiyou returned control to Lucius.

――So it means, from now on, I have to do it myself.

He turned his sword back into an iron plate and tightly gripped the spear.

“Crane-san, stay back.”

“Yes. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Lucius nodded vigorously and dashed forward with the spear in hand.

Once again, the dragon knights created by spells and the undead dragon knights confronted each other.

And then, they clashed as if it were a matter of course.

It was a scene he had seen countless times before.

However, there was one difference.

All the armored soldiers were wielding magic spears.

With these unmatched weapons in hand, the spell-created dragon knights fought fiercely.

But that wasn’t all.

The spell-created dragon knights thrust their magic spears into the undead.

Then something flowed into the pierced spear, and it flowed into the armored soldiers and Blood Wyverns.

Strange things began to happen.

“The undead… aren’t reviving.”

In their place, the brilliance of the spell-created dragon knights increased significantly.

At the same time, he felt a slight pain.

Not from Lucius himself.

The spells of Chiyou and the evil dragon were expanding.

Something was being incorporated into all the cells, the spells engraved on the magic stones, and the bloodline dragon’s spells one after another.

Something immense.

――It’s because of what Crane-san did.

Lucius himself had asked for the undead to be dealt with.

And Crane brought the magic spear.

He was convinced. This spear was meant to defeat the demon dragon and the undead.

When the number of undead fell below half, the situation drastically changed.

Without much time passing, all the undead disappeared from the sky.

Gripping the spear tightly.

“Something is coming.”

As Lucius looked up, countless shadows appeared in the sky.

Over a thousand spell-created dragon knights.

The dragon knights formed a formation, and all their movements were refined.

They descended one by one in front of Lucius.

Armored soldiers and sub-dragons lined up on both sides, creating a path.

Their movements were coordinated without any disorder.

The sub-dragons they rode on were different from before.

They were Blood Wyverns created by the evil dragon, but each one had something mixed in.

Blue, yellow, green, black, and white were added to their body colors.

At the end of the path, two dragon knights landed.

They were nothing like the puppet-like armored soldiers.

Their steps, demeanor, and presence were completely different.

――The captain and vice-captain.

Descending from the red and blue mixed Blood Wyvern, they walked up to Lucius and placed their spears horizontally, kneeling and bowing.

There were no words.

Yet, through Chiyou, a clear consciousness was conveyed.

Gratitude for releasing them from suffering.

Though I don’t understand what’s happening, the undead have disappeared, and they now reside in the armored soldiers and sub-dragons, which are Lucius’s spells.

Lucius addressed the dragon knights residing in the armored soldiers.

“Now, once more.”

As one, they turned their attention towards Lucius with a clatter.

“To protect this land… no, to reclaim it. I ask for your strength!”

The dragon knights pounded the butt of their spears into the ground.

I feel like I can hear voices that cannot be put into words.

“『『『Blades for the dragons, wings for the people』』』”

It’s a chant that must have echoed through this land in the past.

A shadow falls directly above Lucius.

It’s the evil dragon.

“Let’s go.”

As the three-headed evil dragon passes by, Lucius jumps on it.

In succession, the dragon knights take flight.

Around Lucius, the dragon knights form a formation like wings.

It appears as though they are one gigantic dragon.

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