Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 369
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Kale gazed at the woman before him, just as Raon did.
She glanced back slightly, and their eyes met.
“This is what I looked like when I polymorphed as a true dragon.”
While she possessed a beauty comparable to Erhafen, her unique presence drew the eye even more powerfully.
Lord Sherit.
The being regarded as the strongest among dragons. It was easy to imagine she would be solemn and dignified.
Yet she appeared rather mischievous instead. An impish aura emanated from her.
“What? Don’t I look very strong?”
Lord Sherit smiled as she gazed at Raon in Kale’s arms. Raon flinched but stared back at her intently.
Sherit looked tenderly at her weak child and opened her mouth.
“That’s right. I’m weak. I’m a weak dragon.”
At the word “weak,” Raon’s body trembled slightly. Yet Sherit continued with ease.
“When I sparred with other dragons using only elemental combat without magic, I always lost. I never won once. Well, even when I used magic as a child, I mostly drew or lost in sparring.”
Confusion flickered in Raon’s eyes.
The strongest dragon becomes Lord. With power and magical ability that other dragons acknowledge as worthy of the title.
Yet she claimed to be weak? That she always lost in sparring?
Raon felt the confusion but couldn’t bring himself to ask, his lips trembling uncertainly.
That was when it happened.
Whooooom—
Whoo— Whooooom—
A sound of vibrating air reached their ears.
Kale stepped back slightly beside the shield. Then the scene beyond the shield came into view.
“Oh no!”
A sigh escaped from Mercenary King Bird Illis.
Following that, the voices of the Cat-Human Race filled the surroundings.
“They must have been nearby. They arrived faster than expected.”
“Right! Come quick! There’s so much fun stuff here!”
Whoooosh— Whoooosh—
When the vibration of the air reached its peak.
Through the distorting air, Kale caught sight of a brilliant cluster of light.
Tap. Clack. Tap.
Those who descended onto the ground filled with white granules appeared.
Led by one clad in a mage’s robe, a series of figures dressed in Dark combat uniforms emerged.
“One mage and Cat-Human Race members.”
Erhafen’s brow furrowed.
They were roughly thirty Cat-Human Race members.
“…Sister.”
Kale lowered his head at the voice coming from below.
Behind On, Hong was still trembling violently. His ears, his tail—everything was shrunk back in fear.
Grrr.
On continued to emit a fierce growl.
“Tribal Chief!”
In that moment, Kale’s gaze shifted.
One of the three Cat-Human Race members facing off against Kale looked at one of the newly arrived members and called out “Tribal Chief.”
A figure with silver hair like On’s appeared. The Cat-Human Race member who approached while calling out to him spoke.
“Tribal Chief, those mutants are here! The trash that escaped!”
The gaze of a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties turned toward Kale, or more precisely, toward On, who crouched half-hidden behind a shield at his feet, growling.
I heard that On and Hong possessed the bloodline of the Tribal Chief.
Then was this Tribal Chief of the same blood as On and Hong?
Kale’s mind raced furiously in that instant.
“I thought you were dead, yet here you are, alive.”
The Tribal Chief’s cold voice reached them. The Mage beside him continued.
“Being the last of that bloodline, it makes sense you clung to life so stubbornly. But I never expected you’d side with Kale Heniatus. Is that why we never noticed you?”
The Tribal Chief calmly drew a short blade from his bosom and spoke.
“Tainted blood must disappear from this world.”
Through the gap in the shield, On’s vision caught the cold, piercing gaze of the man speaking so ruthlessly.
On’s front paws trembled slightly against the ground.
Yet On only sharpened her resolve further.
“…Sister.”
Because I heard my younger brother’s voice.
Hong is strong. But he is still young.
That was the moment.
“What madness are they spouting?”
At the same time, On felt hands lifting me up. Hong experienced the same.
On turned her head.
She saw Kale looking down at her with an expressionless face. And she also saw Raon, who had already placed his front paws on Kale’s back, gazing down at her.
“On.”
An indifferent voice sounded.
“Your family—”
Before Kale could finish speaking, On cried out.
“No! They’re not family!”
The voice carried urgency and fury.
The Tribal Chief’s voice followed.
“Exactly. How could such an impurity be called one of us Mist Cat Tribe?”
On’s face contorted.
In that moment.
“Does that bastard think he can just run his mouth like that?”
On flinched.
She turned her gaze back toward Kale Heniatus. The one who had just spoken was certainly Kale Heniatus, and his voice was cold—frigid beyond measure.
Yet his face remained as impassive as always.
He did not appear to be the one who had spoken in such a tone.
“Hey.”
But the owner of that voice was indeed Kale Heniatus.
The Tribal Chief wore a peculiar smile at being addressed, regarding Kale Heniatus, who was now half-visible, having emerged from behind the massive shield. His form was clearly visible.
Simultaneously, the Tribal Chief glanced furtively around.
When Kale Heniatus’s brow furrowed at that gaze.
Uuuuung— Uuuu—
The air vibrated once more.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Each time, two or three Cat-Humans revealed themselves.
Combined with them, the number of Cat-Humans now reached approximately fifty.
The Tribal Chief listened to the voice of his fellow Mage transmitted directly into his mind while subtly signaling the Cat-Humans.
—It seems the enemies before us are all there is. Let us encircle the City Wall.
Whoooosh—
A gust of wind swept through.
In that instant, roughly fifty Cat-Human Race warriors scattered in unison.
Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
They bounded lightly across the ground, beginning to encircle the City Wall.
“Damn! Kale, we need to get out there too!”
Erhafen’s voice grew urgent at their movements, while Choi Han was already fully prepared to rush out. Molan and his son were no different.
Mercenary King Bird Illis shouted with a grimace on his face.
“Insane! Magic bombs?!”
Fifty-odd Cat-Human Race warriors—every one of them held magic bombs in their hands. And the one commanding them was a Mage standing alongside the Cat-Human Race.
Gravity etched itself across the faces of the group.
Thirty people at once.
This was a Mage capable of teleporting that many in a single spell.
“…But he’s human.”
Erhafen’s brow furrowed as he observed a Mage whose power rivaled the highest-tier mages—or perhaps even surpassed that threshold.
This was troublesome.
A Mage possessing strength comparable to Rosalind, or in terms of Necromancer power, to Merry. Having such a Mage as an enemy was a vexing predicament.
And on top of that, White Star had yet to arrive.
In that moment, the Mage’s eyes met Erhafen’s.
The Mage smiled wickedly and spoke.
“What? Can’t a human Mage use magic at the level of a Dragon? I hear Dragons are quite arrogant, after all.”
Soon the Mage’s laughter faded, replaced by the surge of his mana.
Hummmmm—
In response, the bombs in the hands of the Cat-Human Race warriors surrounding the City Wall trembled. In that moment, the Tribal Chief’s mouth opened.
“Why do you keep staring at me like that?”
He still held Kale’s gaze. The Tribal Chief, whose expression remained impassive, looked genuinely bored.
He opened his mouth again to address Kale.
“If you called for me, then speak.”
Kale’s lips parted.
“You.”
“Yes. What do you want to say?”
The Tribal Chief, his bored face gesturing for him to speak quickly. Kale’s voice reached him.
“Close that filthy mouth of yours. You’re being loud.”
In that instant, silence descended.
Regardless, Kale stood with his weight on one leg, his grimacing expression showing no sign of softening.
“Trash? Filthy? Even as reckless as I am, I wouldn’t say such things to a child. Aren’t those completely trash-tier insults? Is he in his right mind?”
On and Hong stared up at Kale blankly.
“That’s right. Our human’s words are very correct.”
Raon’s voice murmured softly to the two of them.
Lord Sherit regarded Kale with a peculiar expression. Even as the others moved to counter roughly fifty magical bombs, Kale’s face was filled with nothing but irritation.
“Hahahaha.”
Laughter escaped from Sherit.
In her eyes, she saw her own child smirking while looking at Kale. That sight brought back her long-forgotten memories.
Then, the Tribal Chief nodded and spoke.
“Yes. I understand.”
Huh?
Kale stared at the Tribal Chief, who nodded in agreement, as if looking at a strange fellow. Was this man truly out of his mind?
But Kale understood why the Tribal Chief had fallen silent.
The reason Kale, Erhafen, and his companions could never afford to lower their guard and relax was beginning to manifest.
Whooooom— Whooom—
The atmosphere trembled.
Incomparably more violently than before. And as the air was torn asunder, a single point of light began to burst forth.
Whooooooom—
The light grew larger and larger.
The moment Kale witnessed that radiance, he felt it.
He had arrived.
“It is the White Star.”
The Ancient Dragon began to rise into the air alongside those words.
Platinum-hued mana swirled violently around him.
Whoosh!
In an instant, roughly two hundred figures became visible through the brilliant light.
‘…The White Star.’
Choi Han tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
A radiant aura began to shimmer and expand from the blade in undulating waves.
In Choi Han’s dark eyes, the White Star emerged from within the brilliant luminescence, walking forward.
With roughly two hundred figures arrayed behind him, he appeared as though he were the protagonist of this very stage.
“…Damn it.”
The Mercenary King’s face contorted.
Behind the White Star, members of the Dark organization were visible. Beyond that, the Bear Tribe and Lion Tribe could also be seen.
As expected, the White Star had not come alone—he had arrived alongside formidable forces.
‘Is he intent on settling this here and now?’
The Mercenary King realized that the White Star had no intention of ending this battle as a mere skirmish today.
“So many familiar faces.”
The White Star, his face etched with exhaustion, walked forward calmly and took his position.
Kale Heniatus and the White Star’s gazes met. They stared at each other in silence.
But the silence did not last long.
“Attack.”
The moment the White Star’s terse command fell, the air began to tremble.
A colossal wave engulfed the White Castle.
Blue.
The blue mana of the Cat-Human Race’s mage surged forward like a tidal wave toward the White Castle.
Fifty or so Cat-Humans launched themselves into the air.
The Tribal Chief cried out.
“Move as close to the City Wall as possible!”
Simultaneously, a terrible roar shook the ground, which was covered with sand-like white particles.
“Graaaaah! Avenge the tribe!”
“Graaaaah!”
About twenty Bear Tribe members entered a berserk state. Behind them, the Lion Tribe charged forward, their mane-like hair whipping in the wind.
They rushed fearlessly toward the City Wall.
“Fall back!”
Erhafen shouted toward his group below.
“They know! They know this City Wall won’t crumble from just one magical bomb!”
That was why the enemies were charging forward, aiming for the attack that would come after the magical bomb.
At that moment, Erhafen felt his skin crawl.
Rumble… Rumble…
An ominous sound echoed through the air.
Thunder rumbled from a sky shrouded in white mist, where neither moon nor sun could be seen—a sound as if lightning would strike at any moment.
Erhafen’s face contorted mercilessly. He spat out a name as if grinding it between his teeth.
“…White Star!”
The lightning that had struck the Imperial Capital.
It was a fraction of the heavenly power that White Star possessed.
Erhafen had no confidence he could easily overcome this. No—even if he, Raon, and Sherit managed to somehow block this power, they would be left exhausted and unable to withstand the attacks of enemies that would follow.
Magic bombs.
White Star’s lightning.
Followed by attacks from the Bear Tribe, Cat-Human Race, Lion Tribe, Mage, and Dark members.
And White Star was still alive.
The more Erhafen thought about it, the more he felt like laughing bitterly.
It couldn’t be helped.
White Star looked as though he had been waiting for this very moment, as if he were about to unleash a total offensive in an instant.
At this very moment, there was another who shared Erhafen’s thoughts.
Kale turned his gaze from the bombs the Cat-Human Race would soon throw and looked toward White Star.
“You were waiting for this?”
White Star smiled.
“Of course, wouldn’t you?”
He pointed at Kale.
“When we clashed last time, I noticed something.”
During the battle at the Alchemy Tower in the Mogur Empire, White Star had discovered something when he collided with Kale.
“That crown in your possession. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you carrying it? When I am its rightful owner?”
The White Star drew a bright smile.
“That’s why I thought you’d come here someday. The crown would guide you.”
His gaze touched upon Raon and the Mercenary King before turning toward Kale.
“Of course, I never expected you to bring such wonderful gifts for me—two of them, no less.”
Finally, his gaze settled upon Sherit, who held an enormous shield.
“And I never thought I’d see such an illusion, such a fake.”
The White Star raised his hand.
“There is nothing more to overlook. This is the end.”
Snap!
His fingers collided.
That sound was the signal to begin.
“Go!”
As the Mage shouted, the Cat-Human Race members holding roughly fifty magical bombs hurled them into the air.
They were all top-tier magical bombs.
Whoooosh— Whoooosh—
Caught in the Mage’s blue mana that spread like an ocean, they drifted slowly toward the City Wall.
Kale’s group had no need to wonder why the magical bombs weren’t being thrown quickly but were instead being delivered slowly.
Because the White Star’s subordinates had begun moving rapidly.
Before the explosions, roughly one hundred fifty enemies quickly formed a combat formation.
Cat-Human Race members could be seen drawing short swords from their robes.
The Tribal Chief spoke in a low voice.
“Spread the mist.”
Shhhhhhh—
Mist began spreading across the surroundings.
Their figures gradually blurred and faded into the fog.
Choi Han stared straight ahead.
Even as bombs were being fired toward the castle, thick mist enveloped the area beyond the City Wall.
The fog slowly concealed the Mist Cat Tribe, the Lion Tribe, the Bear Tribe, and Dark.
Soon, all of their forms would vanish into the mist.
But Choi Han could not charge at them.
The bombs would detonate soon, and he could not predict when the White Star’s lightning would strike.
Choi Han, who had to protect everyone from this position, could not move recklessly.
At that moment, Choi Han heard Ron’s urgent voice for the first time.
“Protect the weak! Protect the weak! The Mist Cat Tribe targets the weak first! That is their combat doctrine.”
The Mist Cat Tribe—beings with extraordinary concealment abilities.
While Kale’s group fought the White Star’s powerful forces—the Lion Tribe, the Bear Tribe, the Mage, and others—they would seek out those who made mistakes or became the weakest, attempting to steal their lives.
That reality choked Choi Han’s desire to protect everyone.
He could not even imagine how burdensome this battle would become.
Should he simply endure within this castle?
…How long could that possibly last?
Leave this place?
…But what about Raon’s mother?
Choi Han’s mind grew tangled.
In that instant.
“You,”
A leisurely voice rang out.
Choi Han turned his head. He saw the Dragon Lord watching Kale.
The voice belonged to Sherit.
Even as bombs were about to engulf the castle, she asked with perfect composure.
“You possess the power of a shield, don’t you?”
Kale Heniatus hesitated before nodding.
It was the moment he had decided to use his unbreakable shield.
Yet he had no opportunity to step forward.
“Observe.”
The shield embedded in the ground was lifted once more by Sherit’s hand.
“Dragons are the most selfish, arrogant, and combative beings. But I am different from them—a sort of mutation.”
Kale Heniatus and Sherit’s gazes met.
“Why, you ask?”
She spoke with a smile.
“My nature is protection.”
Protection.
An attribute that safeguards something.
“It is an attribute that one who thinks only of themselves could never possess.”
Sherit’s gaze shifted beyond Kale Heniatus’s shoulder.
“Child.”
Raon Mir met Sherit’s eyes.
“Raon Mir.”
Sherit spoke the child’s name.
“Observe.”
Sherit.
She knew that she herself was an illusory existence.
The role given to her was to ensure the child would not feel lonely, and simultaneously to aid in the child’s growth.
Today, she intended to teach her young child one thing.
“I currently possess only the power of a dragon that has undergone its first growth, and I have absolute combat strength that is weaker than that Dragon Slayer bastard called the White Star.
The reason she could become a Dragon Lord was abundantly clear.
“Let me show you how I became the strongest existence.”
She always lost in sparring matches.
“When I am alone, I am pathetically weak. I am far too feeble to even be called a dragon.”
Yet there were times when she grew strong.
Protection.
When there was someone she needed to shield.
“But when there is someone I must protect, I become strong.”
In Raon’s eyes, the image of Sherit smiling gently was reflected.
“I hope you will always remember that such a power exists.”
The moment those words ended.
The Mage cried out.
“Detonate!”
At the same time, Kale’s body convulsed.
Rummmmmble—
The earth trembled.
The air itself vibrated.
He lifted his head.
A shield.
A colossal white shield enveloping the White Castle came into view.
“…This is!”
And that shield rose into the air, encompassing even Erhaben.
A massive shield that wrapped around the entire White Castle.
There was a presence rising above that shield.
Lord Sherit.
Though she could not venture beyond these walls, the land and sky within them were her domain.
Her white hair fluttered in the wind.
The shield held in the ascending woman’s hand began to grow larger and larger.
The moment the White Star’s gaze met hers.
“Hmph!”
The White Star’s eyes widened.
The shield Sherit hurled was aimed directly at the White Star.
Though she could not leave this castle, the power she created could transcend its boundaries.
The colossal shield hurtled toward the White Star’s throat.
In that instant, the White Star’s eyes met Sherit’s beyond the shield.
She spoke with a sinister smile.
“The finest way to protect one’s allies is to erase from this world any existence that could become an enemy.”
The hurled shield reached the White Star’s throat in an instant.
Boom!
Boom!
Explosions erupted from the magical bombs hurled toward the White Castle.
And explosions erupted from the shield aimed at the White Star’s throat.
Two explosions shook the White Land.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————