Kays Translations

Chapter 61: God’s Thunder

“Tact Territory is under attack by the Empire?”

I couldn’t comprehend what was being said.

Isn’t Kuron Mountain impossible to march through, making it the most distant from the battlefield?

Lord Lilinths herself had said so in the past.

Shaulia stood there in shock, unable to respond.

Her reaction alone spoke louder than words, confirming the truth of the matter.

Olivia is in Tact Territory.

Yu is there.

Lauren is there.

Many familiar faces reside there.

“…I have to go help.”

When Lucius blurted that out, Shaulia glared at him.

“Didn’t you hear? More than ten thousand soldiers, including General Fury, are coming. The Right Arm of the War Emperor.”

“Yes, I heard… but I still have to go.”

“Are you an idiot?”

“There aren’t many people in Tact Territory who can fight. Someone has to fight. Besides, I’m already going to be eaten by the Evil Dragon.”

Saying that, Lucius let magic flow into his left hand. Black particles emerged and shaped into a black-silver dragon.

As soon as the Evil Dragon appeared, it exposed its fangs, intending to devour Lucius.

“Evil Dragon, you can eat me. It’s true that I broke our promise. But I want your help one last time.”

The Evil Dragon roared as if it couldn’t care less, releasing a roar that echoed through the vertical shaft.

“There will be a battle.”

The golden eye of the Evil Dragon moved.

“There seems to be someone very strong. Even so, don’t you want to go?”

The Evil Dragon growled with a threatening tone.

Reluctantly, it lowered its head.

—Does that mean you’ll go?

“You’ll die.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you so calm?”

“Yes.”

“Many people will die, many people will be captured. Tact Territory, my homeland, it’s the same situation as four years ago, even worse than before.”

“That might be true.”

He climbed onto the back of the Evil Dragon.

Shaulia wore a grim expression.

“You’re really going…”

“Yes.”

Saying that, Shaulia held Lucius’s hand as she mounted the Evil Dragon.

Compressed magic energy flowed into her left hand.

It was an emergency measure to restore magic.

“I’ll give you all my magic. Take it.”

Even though she spoke harshly, she cared for people more than anyone else.

Lucius could tell that even from their short time together.

The pain and emotions transmitted along with the received magic, as well as the memories, were understood immediately. They were the same as before.

Everywhere, Shaulia stood amidst the fiery ruins.

Before her was a blue-haired youth.

She addressed the man.

“You and I are the only ones here with at least a Grade 2 Formula.”

“Yes, I know. It seems the battle line has collapsed. Someone needs to go hold back General Fury.”

The youth with the same water-blue hair as Olivia smiled.

“You’re the heir of one of the Four Great Nobles. Naturally, I’ll go.”

Ahead lay death.

No, a world worse than death.

If, by some chance, she were to be captured by the enemy, there’d likely be no ally to kill her.

After all, she was the strongest.

With that awareness, her limbs shook, and she couldn’t move forward.

『Now then, Commander Shaulia will lead the retreat. 』

“Uh, well…”

“I’ll go. It’s the duty of a noble. 』

Although she wanted to refuse immediately, she couldn’t speak.

—How despicable… I…

For all the lives she had taken, she couldn’t move forward when it was her turn, consumed by fear.

Shame, guilt, fear, responsibility, relief.

Various emotions mixed together.

If no one went, many would die.

“As expected, I am…”

As she opened her mouth, the blue-haired man had already started walking away with his companions.

Her brother was among them.

— I need to chase after them right away.

She felt that way, but her feet wouldn’t budge.

When she tried to take a step forcibly, her legs refused to move.

She ended up on her hands and knees, prostrated on the ground.

“Please… save everyone…”

She understood fully how irresponsible and awkward her plea was.

Yet, it was a heartfelt wish.

The blue-haired youth turned around, smiled once more, and said:

“Leave it to me.”

The back of the youth running away with his comrades disappeared.

Shame and embarrassment made her unable to breathe.

The scenery in front of her eyes dispersed.

And when she realized, there was something sitting right beside her feet.

Her older brother, Brusen, and the blue-haired young man.

Brusen was gazing at the pebble in front of him with unfocused eyes, muttering something.

“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry…”

The young man held in Brusen’s arms had his hand torn off and bore a scar as if pierced by an arrow.

It was clearly an attack from a Formula bow.

Before he could be captured and turned into a living magic tool by the enemy, Brusen had taken his life.

He had pierced the heart of the person he had been so devoted to and stopped his breath.

Not only had she shown a shameful spectacle in her attachment to herself, but she had also broken her brother, Brusen’s heart.

Noticing Shaulia’s blank stare, Brusen spoke with vacant eyes.

“Why… didn’t you come… sooner?”

At that point, Shaulia’s memory came to an end.

Before me was Shaulia, so despondent that she seemed about to fade away.

Lucius let go of her hand.

“…Yes, you’re right. Next time, I’ll make sure to come sooner.”

Tears rolled down Shaulia’s cheeks.

“Save everyone…”

“Leave it to me.”

Lucius flapped the wings of the Evil Dragon with all his might.

As petals danced in the air, they soared up the vertical shaft at high speed.

They burst out of the narrow exit on the surface and ascended even higher.

The Evil Dragon’s full-speed flapping left the surrounding scenery behind.

Flying at a speed that made it hard to breathe due to the wind pressure, they saw a town at the foot of a distant rising flame.

As they approached the town, the smell of smoke grew stronger.

“The town is… on fire.”

Looking back at the sky, he noticed unfamiliar objects floating there.

—Airships!?

There were probably around ten airships in front of them.

Two of them were carrying a red dragon and a white dragon.

He had heard that the Empire had a red dragon. Most likely, that was it.

And that white dragon.

He recognized it.

It was the dragon he had seen in the memories of Chiyou.

If the long objects that had been buried in the wall of the vertical shaft until just now were dug out, they would be about the size of that dragon.

—Not only Chiyou but also Eryou Oryu were dug out of the labyrinth.

His left hand started to hurt.

It was anger.

He could feel the resentment of the Evil Dragon flowing through the magic core.

“Filled with beast soldiers.”

As they got closer, the place that had been filled with tea fields was now a wriggling, gray expanse.

It was filled with Goblins, Ogres, and Trolls, covering the ground.

At the edge of the tea fields, many human figures were visible.

They were townspeople, held captive by Imperial soldiers, trembling in fear.

In an instant, the Evil Dragon soared above the town, revealing a scene of chaos below.

The town’s people were running in a frenzy.

Many were in a state of panic, fleeing in all directions.

Still, without stopping, as if they were ready for the tea harvest to begin, new beast soldiers were pouring into the town from the depths, trampling the tea trees.

Desperately scanning the surroundings, he couldn’t feel the magic presence of Yu or Lauren at all.

—The concentration of magic is too high.

The area was filled with much denser magic than in Silverwood Forest or Kuron Mountain.

It was probably due to the influence of the magic released from consumed magic stones through magic tools.

While circling in the sky and visually scanning the area, he saw one patch of scorched ground.

There, a tiger-man was fighting.

—There they are!

Yu’s body had blades sticking out from everywhere.

“Set me down there!”

The Evil Dragon descended in a straight line and landed right next to Yu.

“Yu-san!”

Around them were several craters that seemed to be the result of self-destruction.

“Lucius… What about the Grade 1 Fake Core?”

“For now, it’s more important to get you to evacuate, Yu-san.”

“I’m fine. Lucius, you… run.”

When Lucius tried to forcibly take Yu away, something came crashing down with a deafening noise.

It was a giant, imposing figure on horseback.

“Oh? Riding on quite a lizard. And I wondered who it was. Still just a child.”

Yu, covered in blood, tightly gripped his greatsword.

And just like him, Lucius conjured a treasure sword.

Seeing their appearance, Fury’s face showed a hint of surprise.

“Are you kids going to fight? Then let me introduce myself. I am General Fury.”

“Lucius Norris Dragon.”

“Hahaha!”

With a booming sound, the man laughed loudly in a voice that didn’t quite match his piercing eyes.

“Not bad at all. But I’ve got a lot of work to do. I can’t take my time.”

General Fury swung his sword with the red blade as he urged his horse forward.

—Sharp.

Although it was supposed to be a large sword, his quick slashes were more akin to knife strikes. Lucius narrowly avoided them and attempted a counterattack, aiming his blade.

At that moment, the hilt of Fury’s red sword emitted a faint light.

Suddenly, Lucius found himself immobilized, as if bound by a curse.

—Binding Ritual.

Extracting magic from the Fake Core and forcibly tearing it apart with magic force.

He quickly stepped back, creating distance.

“Not bad, kid. You managed to easily tear off the poison eye of the Catoblepas.”

“Catoblepas’ poison eye…”

“Yes, just recently one of my subordinates brought it back from the labyrinth.”

General Fury took a brain hanging from his waist.

“The scholars claim it has no relevance, but when used with the ritual and its contract holder, it blends in very well.”

“Joseph… sen…pai.”

Joseph Norris Goethen.

He had led a knight squad from the northern part of the labyrinth.

“What’s this? An acquaintance?”

General Fury smirked.

“In that case, I must also add your essence to the collection.”

In an instant, anger reached its peak.

Lucius manifested Chiyou and lunged at General Fury.

General Fury, along with his horse, was blown away by the impact of Lucius’ attack as he tried to parry it with his red sword.

“Hmm!? tremendous offensive power.”

“Evil Dragon, go wild as you like. But don’t touch this guy in front of you.”

To prevent the beast soldiers from getting in the way, Lucius summoned dozens of armored soldiers from Chiyou’s shadow.

The armored soldiers attacked the nearby beast soldiers.

Meanwhile, the joyous roar of the Evil Dragon echoed through the surroundings.

Without hesitation, the scattered flames from its breath attack left only scorched marks on the gray ground.

In a single breath, hundreds of beast soldiers were turned to ashes.

The area around Lucius and the others was filled with heat that didn’t match the winter.

The arrival of the Evil Dragon had turned the battlefield into utter chaos.

It was clear from a distance that the Imperial soldiers at the rear were in disarray.

However, General Fury didn’t show any signs of panic.

“An impressive monster. And you, its contract holder, seem quite worthwhile to extract essence from.”

“…Return that brain.”

Lucius swung his sword.

General Fury caught it again with his large sword.

They clashed around twenty times.

The surrounding beast soldiers are cut off, as collateral damage.

It was no longer the sound of swords clashing, but more like the sound of iron hitting iron.

Lucius’ attacks were all repelled by the large sword.

In contrast, General Fury’s attacks landed on Lucius about three times. Yet, Lucius remained unharmed.

“I have about fifty Grade 1 monster magic stones embedded in my armor. Half of them disappeared in this mere swordfight.”

General Fury glanced at the magic stones embedded in his armor.

“However, it’s a stroke of luck. Your swordsmanship is inexperienced, your rituals are amateurish, and your armor’s enchantment isn’t quite right.”

Lucius responded coldly.

“It doesn’t matter. When the magic stones are depleted, it’ll be your end.”

General Fury laughed.

“You’re quite bold for a kid. But everything is meaningless against the lightning of the gods.”

General Fury muttered something towards the magic tool in his hand.

Above Mount Kuron.

From the tip of the flying ship hovering in the sky, a cylindrical object emerged.

It was the ship carrying the dragons.

Adjusting its position, the cylinder was aimed at Lucius and the others.

The surging high-density magic in the area made the flow of magic even more apparent.

Moans of pain could be heard coming from the suspended red and white dragons.

They were likely being forcibly drained of magic.

—That thing is…

Beast soldiers were swarming towards Lucius.

On the contrary, General Fury distanced himself on horseback.

Yu, who had been fighting the beast soldiers behind Lucius, looked at the cylinder with a puzzled expression, still cutting down approaching Goblins.

However, as a reincarnated individual, Lucius had a fairly good idea of what that was.

—A cannon.

He instinctively tried to escape, but Yu’s figure flashed through his mind. If he ran now, Yu would take a direct hit.

Ignoring the swarming beast soldiers, Lucius conjured a shield.

Several chains wrapped around the shield moved like snakes and plunged deep into the ground like anchors.

Lucius himself plunged the tip of the shield deep into the ground.

When the shield was brimming with magic, a mass of magic energy resembling lightning was fired from the cylinder.

—As I thought…

A flash of light that wiped out the sounds and shadows of the battlefield.

The atmosphere seemed to burn due to the overwhelming amount of magic.

In an instant, the lightning hit Lucius’ shield.

“Guaaahhh!!”

The intense lightning, which even Chiyou couldn’t fully block, coursed through Lucius’ body.

The destruction was so overwhelming that it seemed like his blood was boiling.

The smell of burnt flesh and the high-frequency sound of crackling filled the air.

Nevertheless, like a rock resisting a torrent, Lucius’ shield split the light that was fired.

The branching lightning obliterated the surrounding beast soldiers, houses, the sky, and the earth.

After the light subsided, on the completely molten red ground, stood a black figure in armor, holding a shield.

Cracks ran throughout the armor, and white smoke billowed from it.

“You fool… you blocked the magic cannon…!? It’s a siege weapon, dammit!?”

General Fury’s expression was one of astonishment from a short distance away.

Despite the pain coursing through his entire body, Lucius filled himself with magic and took another step forward.

He could hear General Fury gasping.

With a single powerful kick to the ground, Lucius attacked General Fury.

“Give it back.”

A startled Fury readied his sword.

However, his momentary hesitation proved to be his downfall as his right hand, along with the sword, was cut off.

“Ugh.”

Fury’s face twisted in pain as he fell from his horse.

As he collapsed onto the ground, Lucius held his sword to Fury’s chest.

“I won’t torment you like you did to us. I’ll end it quickly. If you have any words of apology for your final moments, speak them. Some people might find solace in that.”

Fury spat in Lucius’ direction.

“I’d rather quit being human than bow my head to you monkeys.”

“I see.”

As Lucius was about to thrust his blade into Fury’s chest, something gracefully descended onto the melted red ground.

It was a young man in military attire.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter