Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 200

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Hold the City Wall!”

At the Count’s cry, the soldiers immediately grasped the City Wall or pressed themselves flat against it.

An explosion that shook the earth. Unlike the explosions from the sky, the shockwave from the City Wall was felt directly. The Count couldn’t help but utter a single phrase.

“…This is no longer a human conflict.”

It was no longer a war between humans alone.
It had already transcended that level.

Without thinking, he turned his head urgently toward his son and the Countess. And a gasp escaped his lips.

“…Ah—”

It was a gasp that resembled laughter.
His son, who had risen at some point, was now unfurling a small shield again, protecting the Countess, the healers, and the Priests. Only then did the Count realize it.

A battle that transcended human limits.
My son stands at the center of this conflict that is only just beginning.

The sight of his son standing firm shook the Count’s heart with both worry and something else. The Count leaned against the City Wall and slowly rose to his feet.

Meanwhile, Kale, unaware of the Count’s thoughts, glimpsed a brilliant flash between the explosions of light and a darkness that ignited for a single instant.

“…What is that?”

Kale, whose martial prowess was lacking, naturally possessed no tracking vision, so he could barely make out anything clearly.

It was the power of Choi Han.

In the briefest of moments.
The incomplete darkness consumed the dead mana and exploded.

Light and darkness intertwined in an explosion. The space left behind after that blast subsided.
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
The raindrops continued to fall.
They fell not upon the earth, but upon the corpses of the dead White Wyvern and the slain Bear Tribe members, soaking the ground with blood.

Thud.

After the explosion passed, the wind and rain swiftly erased the countless dust particles that had risen into the air. Then everything became visible.

Crack, thud.

The armor fractured like parched desert earth, crumbling away piece by piece.
The armor forged by a dwarf to capture a dragon.

Cracks spread across that armor, and the pieces fell helplessly into the mud.

“…These bastards…!”

The Knight of the Helmet ground his teeth and spat out a curse.

“…Cough!”

He rose to his feet, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His bloodshot eyes fixed forward.

The White Tiger.
A man protected by the sorcery invoked by Gashan, the White Tiger.
Choi Han.

He stood there, gripping his shoulder pierced by a blade forged from ancient power, his gaze fixed upon the Knight of the Helmet, the Dragon Slayer. Yet the Dragon Slayer’s eyes looked past him, seeing something else entirely.

“Ha, haha—”

Choi Han confirmed that despite the Knight of the Helmet spitting blood, his body bore not a single wound.
That knight’s armor was truly formidable.

But it was Raon who had destroyed that armor.

A chilling transformation swept across the knight’s eyes. Every manner of calamity swirled from his body. As though his very form were a blade, an aura shaped like a sword enveloped the knight.

The Knight smiled as he spoke.

“…There is a Dragon. There was a Dragon here.”

Only a Dragon could destroy the creations of the Flame Dwarves.
I had thought it was merely the magic of an exceptional Mage imitating myself.

Surely the Dragon was somewhere, holding its noble head high, watching the spectacle unfold. And then it had decided to add just a bit of its power to kill me.

The Dwarf had spoken while crafting the armor.

‘This cannot block a Breath, but it will block magic up to that of an ordinary Ancient Dragon.’
‘Even a Dragon Lord?’
‘Why do you speak of something that does not exist? A Dragon Lord is the sovereign of magic. We cannot block that magic. If a ‘true’ Dragon Lord existed, would we be doing this? This armor will block even an Ancient Dragon’s magic once. That is our limit.’

The Dragon Slayer understood instinctively.
An Ancient Dragon, or something beyond that.
I judged that a Dragon with that level of magical prowess was present here.

There should be only one Ancient Dragon?
I had only known of an Ancient Dragon that was dying.

But there was another Ancient Dragon?

“Heh, heheheh.”

Laughter spilled from my lips.

Wretched Dragon whelps.

Surely the Ancient Dragon had watched with an arrogant expression as the natural beings, including myself, clashed like it was mere entertainment. Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to act now.

Had it acted sooner, it would have already unleashed the Dragon Fear and Breath of an Ancient Dragon’s power and killed me.
Because I was not yet complete.

“…Cough.”

The Knight spat out a mouthful of blood.
The moment the armor shattered, I had withdrawn the ancient power from Choi Han to protect my body, but even so, the interior had been struck by dead mana and Choi Han’s aura.

My insides twisted with a sickening sensation.
It had been a long time since I felt something like this.

‘…If only I had the crown!’

Because of it, I had bowed my head to that madman!
The Knight of the Helmet ground his teeth as he recalled why he had failed to achieve perfection. Regret crashed over him like a wave. Some cursed bastards had stolen the crown, and because of that, he could never become complete.

The Calamity Sword had shattered several times, and his body was approaching its limits. In this battle, he could only use it one more time.
Beyond that, his body—his vessel—could not endure.

Of course, he possessed one more power as a dragon slayer, but it was such a pathetic ability that he had no need for it.

The aura of dominion.
That ridiculous power, fit only for charlatans, did not befit the name of Dragon Slayer.

An aura was merely an illusion without pure strength.

The Knight of the Helmet surveyed his surroundings, vowing to capture those who had stolen the crown.

“Relentless creatures.”

Above the sky, arrows mimicking his own power were being formed once more. And black aura.
And finally.

Squelch, squelch.

Dead wyverns and corpses of the Bear Tribe rising up one by one from the mud.
And the Tiger Tribe centered around the White Tiger, along with humans aiming arrows and siege weapons from the City Wall.

The Knight closed his eyes.

“…I’ve lost.”

This was a battle lost in anyone’s eyes.

Even as Choi Han saw the hollow smile playing at the Knight’s lips, he tightened his grip with his right hand. His left shoulder was pierced through. If he had not released his power at the final moment, his left shoulder would have been crippled.
That was why Choi Han did not let his guard down.

That was when it happened.

Thud.

The final piece of armor fell away.

The helmet was torn off.

His face was revealed to the world, and in that same instant, the Knight moved. The aura enveloping his entire body transformed into the shape of a jagged blade. And that blade surged toward a single point.
The aura that had wrapped around him shifted into the form of a sharp sword, and it rushed forward in a concentrated assault.

“Block him!”

As Gashan shouted, the Tiger Tribe warriors charged at the Knight. Choi Han had already launched himself forward.

Screeeech—!

The dead Wyverns moved sluggishly, positioning themselves in the Knight’s path and desperately attempting to seize his ankles. The fallen Bear Tribe members trudged through the mud, rushing toward the Knight.
As if they had never been enemies, the dead threw themselves upon the Knight, choking off his advance.
The slain Wyverns and Bear Tribe members pursued the Knight with frenzied desperation.

Yet the moment the dead touched the ancient power surrounding the Knight of the Helmet, they vanished.
The Knight was unstoppable.

He ran and ran.
Thus he charged toward the City Wall.

More precisely, he rushed directly at Kale Heniatus.
And he laughed.

“Hahaha! I knew it would come to this!”

The arrow suspended in the sky did not move.
The arrow mimicking the power of a calamity could not reach the City Wall.

Kale Heniatus and the Knight of the Helmet’s eyes met.
The Knight of the Helmet spoke.

“You are protected by the Dragon!”

I despised using ancient power, but to think a human would receive a Dragon’s protection!
He deserved to die.

Malice and deep hatred crystallized in the Knight of the Helmet’s eyes. An aura more intense than ever before enveloped his body.

“You—I will tear this castle down with my own hands!”

The arrow that had been shining in the sky vanished.
Instead of the arrow, Kale felt a small body wrapping around him.

Thump.
The invisible Raon pressed against Kale like a shield, spreading his wings as if to bear the brunt of the calamity himself, embracing him protectively.

-I won’t let go.

Kale felt that warmth and surveyed his surroundings. Then he reached up and patted Raon’s body gently.
Choi Han, who had been rushing forward, hesitated.

That’s strange.

If Lord Kale is so composed, that means it’s not really dangerous, is it?

Then it happened.
The moment the Knight of the Helmet took flight. The instant the calamity sword seemed ready to pierce the City Wall.
The knight, Raon, and the others approaching could all hear laughter.

Kale let out a low chuckle.
A calm voice flowed from his lips.

“I knew those Bear Tribe bastards were cunning.”

The Knight of the Helmet’s eyes wavered slightly.

Just then, Merry’s voice reached Kale’s ear. She, who had remained silent and invisible until now, spoke urgently for the first time.

“The Bear Tribe members I’m not controlling are moving!”

Kale Heniatus couldn’t help but laugh.
Bear Tribe corpses rushing toward the City Wall as if to block the Knight.
So there were actually living ones among them.

Did the bears play dead?

Kale Heniatus glared at the Knight feigning a charge toward him.

“That bastard’s cunning too.”

Abandoning all pretense and charging forward. Yes, it was all an ‘act’.

“…You knew all along?”

A smile bloomed at the Knight’s lips.
As if everything had been performance, hatred vanished from his eyes as he withdrew a magic scroll from his garment.
The Bear Tribe members leaped into the air and produced magic scrolls of their own.
Surely teleportation spells.

Gashan of the Tiger Tribe cried out.

“Seize them!”

Capture the Bear Tribe.
The Count shouted.

“Fire!”

Catapults and arrows began raining down upon the Bear Tribe.

“We lost, but we should still survive, shouldn’t we?”

A serpentine face curved into a smile.
With the helmet removed, the revealed visage resembled a serpent—like a proto-dragon that never ascended to true draconic form.

Kale Heniatus continued smiling, his gaze fixed upon the sole being who had comprehended his actions.

Choi Han.
The sole person who sensed something amiss while everyone else rushed desperately toward Kale.
He was already treading upon the corpse of the dead wyvern, ascending upward. His movements nearly matched those of the Knight—almost there. If he launched himself skyward by pushing off the head of the dead wyvern standing before him, he would reach the Knight of the Helmet.

Kale felt Raon separating from his body.
Raon’s front paws began weaving magic once more.

Choi Han’s toes kicked off the wyvern’s skull, propelling him upward. Simultaneously, the Knight of the Helmet fixed his gaze upon Kale.

He had not missed those precious seconds.

“You who receive the Dragon’s protection.”

Screech—
The teleportation scroll tore, and the Knight’s form grew hazy.

Within that fading laughter, genuine fury emerged.
One blessed by the Dragon’s protection. Truly, one deserving of death.
The Knight deflected the charging Choi Han’s blade once with the Calamity Sword, then opened his mouth toward Kale.

His body was already fading, vanishing on the precipice of disappearance.

“I shall return to kill you soon, cough!”

Yet before he could vanish, his ankle was seized.

A groan burst from the Knight’s lips.
The Knight slowly lowered his head.

“…My sword?”

No. It was not his own blade.
Yet a sword resembling the Calamity Sword.
A blade that emanated the power of tempests, tidal waves, and volcanic fury.
A counterfeit, but an extraordinarily convincing one.

A child’s voice reached the Knight’s ears.

“You die first.”

Empty space.
In the void, only two eyes appeared.

Eyes of deep blue.
Dragon eyes—vertically slit and gleaming with that distinctive draconic light.
With only those eyes manifest, the Knight faced me.

Crackle—

With a spark, the Knight’s body began to move.
But the black sword embedded in his flesh continued to spin.

The deep blue pupils widened, refusing to lose sight of the enemy.

“Cough! Hack!”

The Knight spat blood. Choi Han seized the opening without hesitation. As the Calamity Sword weakened, his aura blade slashed through the Knight’s fading arm.

Slash—

The fading arm was severed, and as it fell, it regained its true color, freed from the magical influence. Yet the Knight had no time to care.

The Calamity Sword.
It began to envelop the Knight’s body once more.
A destructive force that erased the false nature created by magic.

But Raon’s magic had reached his heart.
The imitation magic sword transformed into the shape of a dragon’s claw, gripping the heart.

Crack—

The Knight clutched at his chest. In that instant, a power most similar to yet opposite of the dragon—a force only the dragon’s breath and body could withstand—the Calamity’s power shattered Raon’s magic sword.

Shatter—

The magic broke, and from the Knight’s abdomen, where the dantian would be, a serpentine force writhed and surged upward.

Another ancient power he possessed.
It stirred.

A chill suddenly swept across Kale Heniatus’s body.

“Huh?”

At that moment, Merry’s startled voice rang out.
Simultaneously, Kale could see the Knight of the Helmet whistling silently.

‘Could it be?’

Merry’s cry pierced the air.

“I-I can’t control it!”

Kale read the Knight of the Helmet’s lips as he looked down at me, speaking in a whisper.

‘Not yet, you say?’

Choi Han lowered his head and looked down at the entity gripping his ankle.
It was the corpse of a wyvern.

Even in death, the wyvern remained enslaved to the Dragon Slayer.
It could never break free.

The wyvern’s outer skin began to bubble and writhe grotesquely like boiling water. Kale’s mouth opened immediately.

“Get away!”

It would explode.
Anyone could see it was on the verge of detonation. The wyverns that had chased the Knight of the Helmet to the City Wall—if their corpses burst, the wall and the Tiger Tribe would be in danger.
The shields could not be deployed where the catapults and arrows were stationed. They had to maintain their assault against the Bear Tribe. And soldiers were positioned there now.

Kale’s face twisted. This was precisely why he despised war.

“Hahahaha!”

The Knight of the Helmet could not contain his laughter. He found Kale’s contorted expression amusing.

Crackle—
His form flickered and blurred.
The moment Choi Han’s ankle was seized, the moment Merry could no longer control the wyvern, the moment Kale had no strength left to exert.
And still, there remained the Dragon who wielded only magic.
The Knight of the Helmet had calculated all of it.

Boom—!

One wyvern corpse detonated. That was merely the beginning. Those closest, attempting to flee alongside the knight, burst apart.

“Ahhhhh! Why are you killing us!”

The wyverns made no distinction between ally and enemy.
They slew the Bear Tribe as well.

“Ahhhhhhh! How is this possible!”
“No! This can’t—Ahhhhh!”

The Tiger Tribe fled, their faces hollow with disbelief as they witnessed the carnage. Slaughtering his own allies? The knight carved through the Bear Tribe and wyverns alike, carving out his escape.

Dozens of wyverns detonated simultaneously. Kale desperately unfurled his shield toward the soldiers.

The Knight of the Helmet laughed at the sight.
He knew not why nature had granted ancient power to one so unworthy of it, yet the ancient power had chosen a master of similar disposition to itself. Thus, ordinary humans could scarcely bear even a single ancient power.

‘A weak fool.’

There was reason why a shield—rather than a sword—had chosen that wretch as its master.
Nothing in this world existed without reason.

The knight mocked the one who strained himself to protect his soldiers rather than capture him.
And finally, he lifted his gaze.

Screeeech—!

In an instant, a shadow fell near the City Wall.
A being everyone had forgotten.
A 15-meter White Wyvern.
It could never overcome its master’s command, and ultimately had to fly here with its wounded body.
The master commanded the Wyvern.

“Die.”

Screeeee—

The Wyvern cried out.
But a being stripped of freedom could only obey the command.

The 15-meter colossal monster descended upon the City Wall, and most of all, upon Choi Han.

Boom!

A creature rivaling a Dragon in size.
It descended upon Choi Han, the very one blocking the master’s path.

Kale finally opened his mouth. Choi Han already bore a wound that pierced through his shoulder. Raon had no way left to continue fighting the Dragon Slayer.

If it’s a Dragon Slayer that’s already running away.

“Raon, help Choi Han.”

Gashan’s cry reached Kale’s ears.

“Duck!”

Kale closed his eyes. A fierce wind swept past him. It must have been the shockwave from the explosion.

* * *

Kale opened his eyes after the wind passed.

He saw the devastated area beyond the City Wall.
Trees, stones, everything lay in ruin.
In the land covered entirely in mud, only the corpses of the Bear Tribe and scattered bone fragments of the Wyverns remained.

There was no Dragon Slayer.

The Tiger Tribe members rose from the ground one by one. The transparent sphere enveloping Choi Han slowly approached the City Wall.

Kale lifted his head.
The murky clouds parted, revealing a clear sky. A beam of light began to pour through the heavens.

“Kale.”

Kale opened his mouth as Choi Han drew near.

“Did you leave a trace?”

It was not Choi Han who answered the question, but the Dragon beside him, cloaked in invisibility.

-I did.

Kale moved forward. Exhausted, his steps faltered.
But there was something he needed to do first. Kale stood before the Count.

“Father.”

Kale helped Count Derth to his feet.
At that gesture, the soldiers rose from their positions as well. They looked up at the sky.

A clear sky.
The silver shield that still protected the soldiers remained intact.

They had survived.
The soldiers understood.

Click, click.
The doors of the territory residents’ homes opened. No enemies remained in their sight.

They had held the line.
The territory residents understood.

“Father.”

The lord realized this was only the beginning.
I could see the exhaustion etched across Kale’s face.

Whirrrrr—

In the distance, my second son Basen came running. A video communication device was cradled in his arms.
Basen shouted.

“An enemy fleet has appeared at the first boundary line of the Northeast Sea!”

The Count’s expression hardened.
The Indomitable Alliance had broken through the still-frozen coastline and descended southward.

They were targeting both the sky and sea of the Roan Kingdom simultaneously.
A fleet meant the enemy numbers would far exceed those of the wyverns.
The Count found himself looking at Kale without thinking, then paused.

The Count could see his son’s smiling face. Kale was hearing Raon’s voice in his mind.

-My magical trace has headed toward the Northeast Sea.

The magical trace Raon had left in the heart of the Dragon Slayer.
Kale spoke to Choi Han.

“I need to go hunting.”

On the sea, there were no soldiers or civilians to protect.

Whether it was a dragon hunt or anything else.
Wouldn’t it all end once Pae was dead?

Kale finally spoke freely to the Count.

“The shield has not broken.”

The Count’s expression, which had been filled with worry, changed subtly. His hand, which held his son’s, trembled. Instead of answering, he simply gripped his son’s hand tightly.

And Kale’s words, unexpectedly, were transmitted to everyone through the video communication device that Basen had brought.

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