Chapter 256: The Offspring of Manryong (3)
The axe never reached its target.
A white sword descended from the sky, intercepting the axe with uncanny precision.
Boom!
The axe ricocheted off, sparks flying, as the sheer force of the clash swept the dust from the air.
Dalen reached out and retrieved his axe, his eyes impassive as he regarded the owner of the white sword.
“The White Sword…”
The voice of the Red Spear echoed in his mind. Dalen tilted his head slightly.
“Is that the White Sword?”
“Yes. The most loyal servant of the Dragon God… and the one who tore my wings apart thousands of years ago.”
Her voice trembled, a thin veneer of anger and resentment breaking through. It was unlike her usual composed self.
Dalen could guess why.
When the Dragon God stripped her of her name, the White Sword had joined forces to inflict a grievous wound. Even the betrayal by her own subordinate, the Earth Dragon, had been a result of that combined assault.
“I know I keep repeating myself, but be careful, Dalen. The White Sword is as powerful as I was in my prime.”
Dalen nodded. Though he had never seen this human form before, he had faced the dragon form several times through the monitor.
The creature had torn apart the Red Spear’s wings, which were said to evaporate seas and obliterate mountain ranges. Its power was not something Dalen could take lightly.
”…”
”…”
A tense silence settled, like a thin layer of ice. Dalen watched his opponent, the tip of his sword moving ever so slightly.
The most striking feature was the sword itself. True to its name, the entire weapon, from blade to hilt, was a brilliant white.
The sword emitted a pale glow, and even by Dalen’s standards, who favored large weapons, it was excessive.
The sword was over two meters long, and its owner was equally massive.
“About three meters tall. Practically a troll.”
Despite being humanoid, the figure was about one and a half times Dalen’s height, with muscles so exaggerated they seemed almost absurd.
As Dalen observed the movement of those muscles, the creature’s bloodless lips parted.
“Such primitive humans. Not an ounce of reverence for a god.”
Dalen raised an eyebrow and replied.
“Spare me. That brat might be your god, but he’s not mine.”
“How dare you…”
“Oh, correction. There’s a saying that even a fool can be a god. In that sense, sure.”
”…”
The White Sword fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words.
Dalen shrugged. Demanding someone else’s person was more absurd, wasn’t it?
In his view, it wasn’t something a so-called god should do.
It was more like a pathetic ex-lover who couldn’t let go, trying to sabotage someone else’s happy relationship.
“An apt analogy. Indeed, if we must define our relationship, wouldn’t it be as lovers? From the beginning, we were one…”
“Please, keep it down. If you’re going to read my mind, at least be discreet about it.”
“You’re telling me not to listen to thoughts you leave on the surface? What a peculiar man.”
Damn it. Both sides are a pain. Dalen raised a hand to rub his throbbing temples.
The White Sword flinched at the gesture. Even the smallest movement of a transcendent could manifest as a willful act.
And that was precisely what Dalen intended.
“Domain Unleashed: White Sword Piercing the Heart of Malice”
To ambush a true dragon of the sixth rank head-on, he first had to capture its attention.
────Whoosh!
Lucia’s sword shot forth without a sound.
The blade, wreathed in a brilliant white flame, ignored armor and defensive spells, piercing the pale skin beneath.
“Cowardly…!”
Astonishingly, the White Sword reacted.
Just before the white flame could sever muscle, the creature swung its massive sword, deflecting Lucia’s holy blade.
Clang!
The two white swords clashed violently, a cacophony of metal and sparks tearing through the air.
“Tch!”
Lucia, controlling the holy sword, bit her lip.
Her domain was a power of causal reversal, ignoring the process to pierce the heart of malice.
Even considering the opponent’s higher rank, she had expected the ambush and overwhelming advantage to land a decisive blow.
Yet the ancient dragon’s reaction speed surpassed even the power that had made her a demon slayer.
As these thoughts flitted through Lucia’s mind, Dalen was already charging at the creature.
“Return to the Abyss”
Gray shadows scattered the gaze.
“Fourfold Step”
In an instant, four figures multiplied, each targeting the creature from different directions.
“Such futile tricks!”
The White Sword, having barely repelled Lucia’s blade, shouted. Dalen ignored it and opened a pocket of space.
Piercing tough scales and hide was difficult, but once a blade was embedded, even an ancient true dragon would die just the same.
The holy sword he wielded now had been reinforced with the dragon bones of the Earth Dragon he had slain.
As the four figures targeted the White Sword’s vital points from different angles…
“Hmph…!”
The creature’s sword arm blurred.
────Clang!
Five weapons clashed.
The impact was vastly different from when Lucia’s sword had tangled.
Rumble…!
The force pressed down on the ground, the earth crumbling like soft dough as the blurred figures intersected.
“Fivefold Step”
A newly added figure thrust a spear.
Thunk!
The White Sword deflected it with the flat of its blade, then struck with a left-hand chop.
“Sixfold Step”
A gray shadow flickered. An artifact shield-wielding figure narrowly deflected the White Sword’s hand.
Crunch!
The shield, shredded by a single chop, was discarded, and a new weapon was drawn. But the White Sword’s blade was faster.
“Sevenfold Step”
Another figure swung a double-edged sword, defending and counterattacking simultaneously.
“Eightfold Step”
A figure appeared above, unleashing a torrent of flames from a staff, blocking the White Sword’s retreat.
“Ninefold Step”
“Tenfold Step”
“Twelvefold Step”
A dance of gray shadows swept the battlefield. Figures appeared, drawing artifact weapons from the void.
In a few exchanges, broken weapons were discarded, and new ones were drawn, continuing the cycle of battle.
The unique skill inherited from the Gray Warrior was not merely an illusion of multiplying shadows.
It was a technique that combined the art of evading space with high orc shamanism, creating tangible clones capable of real attacks.
These clones retained full physical abilities and could wield the same skills, including swordsmanship and spells.
Though the holy sword remained singular, Arvor’s pocket space was filled with deadly artifact weapons for the clones to wield.
“Reveal your domain, human!”
The White Sword shouted. Dalen ignored it again, focusing on his assault.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t use his domain or that he was at a disadvantage.
His domain included the power of the blacksmith Dallukahim, who had slain countless dragons despite his relatively low rank.
If he unleashed the potential accumulated from inheriting the corpses of transcendent beings, even the mighty White Sword could be overwhelmed.
Yet, he continued to use artifact weapons as disposable tools, deploying double-digit clones against the White Sword for another reason.
Though a thousand lesser dragons and over a hundred true dragons stood before him, the greatest peak to overcome in this battle was not them.
“The creature isn’t moving.”
Behind the White Sword.
A boy with ashen hair watched with a languid expression.
Boom!
As swords clashed and magical blades swept the area like a storm, the boy remained unmoved from the start of the battle.
In the midst of collisions that overturned terrain and shattered space dozens of times, a calm, windless zone of about ten meters surrounded him like the eye of a storm.
In the battlefield of transcendent beings, that surreal sight couldn’t be mere coincidence.
Rather, that incongruity was proof that the boy was the true form of the Dragon God, a being of divine stature.
“Red Spear. Why isn’t the Dragon God moving?”
“Observing, it seems.”
“Observing?”
Dalen frowned. Observing while his right arm was at risk of death?
“Dalen, the Dragon God is different from Suum. A being born from the selfishness of dragons. It’s only natural for practicality to outweigh competitiveness.”
”…”
“If there’s no need for him to intervene, he won’t. Even if it’s a war against another evil god.”
Reflecting on it, even when I was slaying countless dragons from behind a monitor, the Dragon God was different from the other evil deities. He rarely took to the front lines.
In all the hundreds of cycles, I only faced the Dragon God twice.
“Once with the blacksmith Daelukahim. And the final cycle.”
One time, I had directly invaded the Dragon God’s infernal realm.
The other time, the five evil deities had set aside their conflicts and united, considering him a significant threat.
Despite the disparity in power, his reluctance to engage in battle suggested he meticulously calculated his chances of victory.
Considering that battles among transcendents of the fifth rank and above were more like strategic games of revealing each other’s hands, it was wise to keep the domain’s scenery hidden in such situations.
“I’ve got your back, White Sword!”
“For the Dragon God! For the glory of the Great Dragon War!”
However, the battlefield is never an ideal place where only the right decisions are made.
As Daelun and White Sword clashed, our group and the dragon legion began to collide in earnest.
Boom!
Crash!
The fortress walls crumbled like sandcastles.
Dragon breath and sacred fire crisscrossed, scorching the city’s streets.
Amidst the barrage of lightning bolts from the sky, Bjorn’s new war machine rose from the ground.
Hundreds of cannons immediately turned skyward.
The bombardment commenced without delay.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions and flames painted the sky.
Dragons hit by the barrage plummeted to the ground like falling leaves.
Of course, the dragon legion wasn’t just going to sit back and take it.
They used the altitude to their advantage, mercilessly bombarding the area around the war machine with spells and breath.
━━━━━━!!
A blinding flash of light illuminated the surroundings, casting chaotic shadows below.
The area swept by the wave of spells was flattened beyond recognition.
“Did we get them?”
A young dragon shouted with anticipation, eager to descend and play with the dwarf’s corpse.
Vroooom…
But through the smoke rising from the melted and evaporated ground, what appeared was not a dwarf’s corpse, but a spreading circle of golden magic.
Amidst the smoke, a dwarf perched on the war machine’s shoulder grinned.
“Stupid lizard.”
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