Soon it was tiny, and the silver wings had vanished completely. Raon’s barrier was now the only thing keeping the wyverns at bay.
The helmeted knight’s mouth curled in a smile. “Try blocking this.” He drew back his arm, then hurled the sword. The giant blade—now virtually a polearm—shot toward Cale.
‹Human, there’s something weird about it! I’ll make more shields!›
Raon created shield upon shield to protect Cale until there were four layers in total. Something still felt off to him, however; it felt as if magic wouldn’t work on the sword.
Nature’s deadliest events were known as “natural disasters.” These included hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and hailstorms. The sword was reminiscent of a natural disaster in that it contained the destructive forces of nature.
The six-year-old dragon’s instincts told him it would take more than magic to deflect an attack from the blade. The only thing that could stop it was a dragon, by using either Dragon’s Breath or their very body. Halting its advance would require the strongest entity in the natural world.
Only a few seconds remained before the sword would hit Cale. In those few seconds, Raon’s eyes stayed locked on Cale, and he moved without a thought.
Before he got far, he heard Cale’s voice. “Damn it!”
That shout jolted Raon back to his senses. ‹Mary! Call the dragon!›
Raon increased the number of shields to five, then six. This black dragon, who had yet to experience his first growth spurt and couldn’t use Dragon’s Breath, was reaching his limit.
Crack!
The natural disaster smashed effortlessly through the shields the moment it touched them. Those barriers might as well have been paper. One by one, the shields dissipated without a sound. Every time a layer was destroyed, Raon created a new one. He just had to endure until Mary’s dragon arrived.
Then Cale spoke again. “Enough.”
Raon paused and whirled toward Cale.
Baaaaaang!
The people on the wall were powerless as a massive crash and a flash of blinding light washed over them. The last thing they saw was the black bone dragon ramming into the massive sword.
Once their vision returned, they could see the dragon’s skeleton crumbling. Those ancient, lifeless bones were not enough; though the undead creature had cracked the blade, it had failed to destroy it.
Raon knew it on sight. For the first time in his six years, this inexperienced baby dragon sensed real danger. Again, his body moved on its own.
“Ha… Ha ha…”
Cale’s abrupt laughter reached his ears. Raon looked over, frozen in place. Cale was coughing up a large amount of blood. As he cackled on, more blood leaked from his mouth, nose, and ears.
A voice in Cale’s mind piped up, “Isn’t that my sword?”
The speaker was the previous owner of the Dominating Aura.
“That’s the Dragon-Slaying Sword.”
A dragon slayer? It clicked for Cale then. If the helmeted knight’s Ancient Power was the Dragon-Slaying Sword, that explained how it had shattered the dragon’s skeleton, vanquishing the beast a second time.
Next, Cale thought about the crown he’d stolen from the north. The white crown looked similar to the one that had vanished when he gained the Dominating Aura. That crown, currently stowed away in his magic bag, had a taste for dragon blood. Cale realized that the sword and the crown had to be a pair. That was why the crown had been in the north.
Then one more possibility occurred to him, as if whispered by his instincts. The World Tree had told him three hints about its vague vision of the future. Aside from its statements about Raon’s family and the Water of Judgment, there was one more thing it had said.
‹The person collecting Ancient Powers has gathered three.›
The World Tree must have been referring to this helmeted bastard.
Cale clenched his fists. His whole body was shaking. “You son of a bitch.” Turning on the invisible baby dragon, he shouted, “Raon, don’t move!”
Another voice in his mind snagged his attention. “Are you trying to sacrifice yourself?”
No! I’ll never hurt myself for someone else’s sake. Cale pushed the stone guardian’s question aside, instead focusing on the words of his fellow glutton—the gluttonous priestess. He zeroed in on her voice.
“This is enough.”
The tattoo on Cale’s chest had changed when he obtained the Energy of the Heart. A heart had appeared on the silver shield. Now that red heart slowly turned silver. The shield had devoured its first ability.
Cale channeled as much power into the shield as he could.
A natural disaster clashed against the Energy of the Heart, the recovery ability of a human who yearned to live. Humanity’s power to overcome natural disasters came from their vitality and their desire to survive.
Baaang!
The massive, cracked blade rammed into the miniature shield. A blaze of light infinitely brighter than the last enveloped the entire area.
A split second before the whiteout, Cale saw Choi Han vaulting toward the helmeted knight’s back like a vengeful demon. As Raon’s paws supported him from behind, Cale heard the priestess’s voice. “Good job.”
Cale knew right away that he’d blocked it. The power of restoration, the will to live… This was the strength of humans, who managed to survive all manner of nature’s offensives.
The shield had not broken.
✦ ✦ ✦
Bassen Henituse was still in the communications center, the highest room in the castle tower.
“B-Brother!” Bassen cried out. He clutched the railing with one hand, as if he was about to leap from the tower and rush to Cale’s side.
The light dimmed, and soon his vision recovered.
Crrrack!
At the sound, Bassen’s eyes flew open.
Prior to landing this last blow, the gargantuan sword had been damaged. Fractures crept along the sword’s full length—and then it dissipated. When the floating specks touched a few nearby wyverns, they instantly turned to ash.
Bassen grappled with his fear, working to process what had happened. Then something else caught his attention: the shield. While that minuscule shield hadn’t broken, there was a crack where the sword had struck it. Several, in fact, to the point that it looked like it might shatter at a single touch. It seemed fit to fall apart at any moment.
Then he saw his brother, Cale Henituse.
Beeeeeep. Beeeeeep.
All sorts of emergency calls were flooding into the communications center. Quite a few of them came from other areas of the northeastern region. With so many communication spheres broadcasting live from Henituse territory, the other regions could see the battlefield through the screen.
Yet Bassen heard none of the racket around him; he was fixated on his brother, who could barely stay on his feet. As he watched Cale cough up black blood, the seventeen-year-old Bassen experienced the horror of war for the first time in his life.
“…use. Bassen Henituse.”
Albert was calling out to him. Bassen hadn’t heard it properly the first time, but the man’s sharp tone snapped him back to his senses.
“What did your brother tell you to do?”
Bassen raised his head. He thought back on Cale’s order, sweeping a glance around the room. Information was the most important factor in a war—and this chamber was currently the central information hub for the entirety of Rowoon.
“If you don’t want to embarrass yourself—no, if you don’t want to regret this in the future—do not forget your task.”
Although Albert directed this comment at Bassen, he was speaking to himself as well. His eyes bored through the screen, bloodshot as he focused on every minute movement in the Henituses’ domain.
He then told Bassen something else: “The first company of royal knights and the mage brigade are on their way to you.”
Cale had asked Albert to wait, but the crown prince had begun to play his part to avoid future embarrassment or regret. At long last, Rowoon’s mage brigade was stepping forward to reveal itself to the world.
Bassen then addressed the dazed knights responsible for the communication spheres. “We’re going to relay detailed information about the enemy to every corner of Rowoon.”
His brother had told him something three days ago, on the night of the crown prince’s proclamation.
“We’re on the front lines.”
Cale’s voice was still vivid in Bassen’s memory.
“They say starting something is half the battle. If people hear about how we survived and protected the castle, the kingdom’s morale will change. We need to etch the image of victory into the people’s minds. That’s the way for us to win this war.”
Bassen’s brother had been his usual calm self as he’d added, “That’s the way for all of us to survive.”
The man who’d said all that was barely hanging on right now.
With that in mind, Bassen declared to the mages, “We’ll tell them exactly how we win this battle.”
He firmly believed Rowoon’s morale would surge from here on out. Lowering his head, he looked back toward the wall.