The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 57

Beyond the Crown Prince’s back, beyond the black dragon figurehead adorning the bow of the sailing ship, something massive and pitch-black rises up.

When the ship proved difficult to destroy, the monster that had been in the river water poked its head above the surface. A head the size of a small hill, covered in bulging veins, glistened wetly in the water.

As it fully emerged from the water, the sun was blocked out.

From both sides of the immensely large and black thing, blood-red eyes like pools of blood rolled around, looking down at the human standing at the bow.

Screams and cries erupted from the deck, which had already been in chaos. Some collapsed unconscious while the Royal Guard drew their swords despite trembling.

Before they could manifest their aura. Before the mages among the nobility could frantically cast spells in terror.

The Crown Prince at the bow raised his black-flaming sword. Gripping it with both hands, he plunged it straight into the deck.

Thoom, a heavy resonance spread in all directions. It was a weighty wave that vibrated through entire bodies rather than just ears.

From where the sword was embedded, black Oaths spread like ripples. Overflowing like a tsunami, they conquered the surroundings. They covered the deck and eventually covered the river surface. A vast black circle was formed.

Rita Pascal knows the name of that technique.

‘Realm Domination.’

Gid Pascal’s specialty and unique technique.

The river water within the black domain stopped flowing.

The movements of people who had been fleeing or struggling slowed, then they staggered and sat down, soon crawling on the ground, and gradually stopped. Neither the knights trying to manifest aura nor the mages preparing magic were exceptions.

The Kraken’s movements slowed. The sixth, seventh, and eighth tentacles reaching toward the sailing ship trembled in mid-air.

Those tentacles began to droop downward as if crushed by tremendous weight or deep-sea pressure. The enraged Kraken flailed and thrashed about.

A technique that pours out and gathers massive amounts of Oaths to insanely increase the Oath density of space, then uses that pressure to crush everything within range and restrict movement.

Within this domain, no one could raise their head without his permission. This was why Gid earned the nickname ‘Emperor’ when he first demonstrated this technique during the defensive battle at the Last Line of Defense.

There couldn’t be another person capable of such insanity. She stared blankly at the Crown Prince.

‘Gid. Gid Pascal.’

It really is you.

The joy was brief.

Rita suppressed her surging emotions and thought about what needed to be done immediately.

‘We need to deal with the Kraken first. If I were alone, I could only hold out, but with Gid and Oli, we can take it down.’

She had imagined it countless times.

If she could return to the moment of facing the Kraken, what would she do? How could she eliminate that terrible beast that had devoured, crushed, dissolved, and drowned 47 of the 53 squad members without casualties?

It wasn’t just her. The six surviving Beacon Squad members each imagined and trained in different ways. How they would respond if they faced a beast like the Kraken again.

‘First, we can’t lose the ship. If we lose our footing, we become extremely disadvantaged.’

That’s why Oli Pascal researched defensive magic that could protect ships.

Even if mages were Oathbinders, they had to convert Oaths to mana to use magic, so they weren’t suited for direct combat with beasts. The magic that could be used with pure Oaths was limited to simple basic spells that even Rita could use.

Even with anti-corruption measures, while they wouldn’t be corrupted, magic still relied on mana, so it didn’t work well against beasts.

That’s why mages in the Ashen World generally handled rear support and magical weapon creation. This was why Oli Pascal researched ways to protect ships rather than methods to attack the Kraken.

After fighting the Kraken, Oli modified existing barrier magic to develop a ship protection magic circle that could be activated easily and quickly, and preparing this magic circle on any ship she boarded became her habit.

The name of that magic was.

‘Citadel on the Waves.’

Taking advantage of the moment when the Kraken’s tentacles wrapped around the mast became sluggish due to Realm Domination’s effect, the barrier that had been covering the sailing ship in a circle rapidly expanded.

The glowing hemisphere perfectly enveloped even the tips of the tall masts. The moment the entire sailing ship was within the barrier’s range, it began to change.

The barrier contracted as a gentle white radiance settled over the sailing ship. Soon that light spread around the ship, drawing a hazy form.

The form of a citadel spreading over the waves with the ship at its center.

Semi-transparent silver-white bricks rapidly stacked up from underwater, revealing themselves above the surface. Though merely an illusion created by magic, it formed a castle with solidity that wouldn’t disappear even when stepped on.

People who had fallen into the river rose to the surface following the citadel shooting up from underwater. Those who found themselves sprawled on the silver-white castle walls looked up in bewilderment.

Magic that protected the ship while expanding footing. The mage had prevented the ship’s sinking and civilian drowning.

‘And the movements of both the Kraken and people are restricted due to Gid’s domain.’

Below the semi-transparent silver-white citadel surrounding the sailing ship, the black rippling domain lay like a shadow.

Gid, who had led the Beacon Squad through countless battles, was skilled at deploying his domain without interfering with his squad members’ techniques.

Initially, he could only indiscriminately crush everything within the domain, but by the time they were eliminating Commanders, he had reached a level of refined control where he could distinguish between allies and enemies, applying different levels of dominance.

So the fact that not only the Kraken but also the humans on the ship were now prostrated under the Emperor’s dominance meant this was Gid’s intention.

‘For civilian protection.’

He had suppressed everyone first in case the startled people might uselessly try to use aura or magic.

Incidentally, it also prevented those terrified by seeing a beast for the first time from pushing and trampling each other or getting hurt by thrashing about needlessly.

‘The ship is safe, people are safe for now, and the Kraken can’t rampage for the moment.’

The battle situation was more favorable than expected. Rita’s lips curved.

Right, even a nightmarish beast is different from when I was 19. We’ve grown through over three years of struggle since then.

‘But this way we can only hold out, not actually kill the Kraken.’

Gid could barely move while maintaining the domain. Oli was a mage to begin with, so she couldn’t output enough firepower to kill the Kraken.

Naturally knowing this situation, Gideon had sent a communication through Oli to other returnees in the capital to assemble and was waiting, but Rita had no way of knowing this fact.

Honestly, even if she learned that support would come, her actions would have been the same.

In the seven-member Beacon Squad, Rita Pascal’s role was the core attacker.

While Gid and Luca held the front and Ethan and Is disrupted enemies, she had to deliver the killing blow. She was the one who could concentrate the most powerful firepower in the shortest time.

‘If they’ve set the stage, being able to shoot anything dead is what makes a Mage Gunner.’

Rita raised her head.

Due to Realm Domination, she was also kneeling on the deck, crushed down. However, knowing Gid’s technique so well, she also knew how to break free from this dominance.

She drew up the Oaths sleeping within her body and let them flow outside. Something like golden heat haze settled over her body as her knees gradually straightened.

She soon stood upright. She also raised her drooping arms. Her hand gripping the revolver aimed forward, at the Kraken’s brow moving sluggishly due to Gid’s domain.

‘Gid’s dominance seems stronger than before.’

The golden heat haze repeatedly expanded and contracted like breathing, fighting against the dominance. Her raised hand trembled from the effort. Rita supported her gun hand with her other hand to steady it.

She had no idea how a named beast identical to the ‘Kraken’ had appeared in this place supposedly without beasts, right in the middle of the Imperial Capital.

She also didn’t understand how Gid and Oli had returned to this world with faces identical to those from the Ashen World.

But what she had to do at this moment was clear.

Shoot the enemy dead.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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