Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 422
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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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-Human, are you alright?
Even though Kale Heniatus had dispelled his invisibility, the Black Dragon’s voice reached directly into his mind.
The clever creature was expressing concern this way so that enemies wouldn’t overhear.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Kale Heniatus felt his heart pounding fiercely in his chest.
Crack!
His foot drove hard against the ground, and his body launched forward.
And he whispered.
“Disappear.”
Whoooosh—
Wind enveloped Kale Heniatus once more, and he became a torrent of wind itself, rushing toward the enemy before him.
“…Magnificent.”
Dorf let out a murmur of admiration as he watched Kale Heniatus approach. He wiped his face, which had emerged from the shadows cast by the blazing golem’s flames.
“But not yet.”
His two hands conjured massive spears, one in each grip, and he swung them with terrible force.
Boom!
The crossed spears and the crimson lightning collided.
Crackle, crackle. The two spears and the crimson lightning clashed against each other, burning fiercely without yielding an inch.
Beyond the two spears, Dorf could see Kale Heniatus, continuously spitting out dark red blood.
“Cough.”
“If you keep spitting blood like that, you’ll die. Are you really okay with that?”
Hiss.
Yet Dorf saw the face of the human smiling even as blood poured from his lips, and in that moment—
“Cough!”
Dorf’s body shook.
He felt a massive impact strike his flank.
He turned his head in panic, but saw nothing.
Ah.
Dorf had been so focused on Kale Heniatus, wrapped in brilliant wind and fire, that he’d momentarily forgotten about an existence he should have remembered.
“…A Dragon!”
Then, Dorf saw the Black Dragon slowly materializing in the empty space near his flank.
Their eyes met.
Ssshhh.
When the Black Dragon drew a smile identical to Kale Heniatus’s.
“Rise.”
Kale Heniatus’s voice reached his ears.
Dorf flinched in surprise, quickly straightened his posture, and anticipated the incoming attack directed at him.
The Black Dragon and crimson lightning.
Neither was an easy opponent.
But he soon realized he needed to properly understand the meaning of “rise” first.
“…This is bad.”
Dorf’s face twisted.
Kale Heniatus was soaring upward.
Simultaneously, wind and flames spiraled around his body, growing larger and more intense with each passing moment.
‘…The Black Curtain!’
Kale Heniatus wasn’t targeting Dorf.
After the Golem, his next target was the Black Curtain. Once he dispersed it, Kale would be able to fully utilize the Ancient Powers, and the Dragon and Sword Master Choi Han’s abilities would be able to manifest at their true strength.
The spear vanished from Dorf’s hand. Dark energy coalesced in its place.
Boom!
“Ugh!”
But Dorf’s body shuddered once more. His gaze shifted to the side. The Young Dragon’s black mana, cold and settled, was hurtling toward me.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Raon’s black mana engulfed Dorf.
Dorf immediately braced himself for the explosion that would follow.
Whoooosh—
Black energy coalesced around him.
Raon’s black mana clashed with Dorf’s black energy.
“Damn!”
Dorf’s face contorted.
Raon’s mana did not explode.
Instead, it clung to Dorf’s feet like mud, binding them fast.
The black mana slowly encroached around Dorf, preventing his escape. He glared at Raon with a twisted expression.
“You’re trying to bind me!”
Raon’s lips curled into a smirk.
“Our human wants to do as he pleases. That’s what I want to do. You’re not going anywhere!”
“You bastards…!”
Dorf tried to move his feet.
But the viscous black mana bound his ankles, leaving him immobilized.
His gaze darted urgently upward.
Whoooosh—
Kale Heniatus was ascending higher and higher.
The Destructive Fire enveloping him blazed ever more brilliantly, as if a human thunderbolt were surging from the earth to pierce through the Black Curtain itself.
“Ugh!”
Dorf struggled against the restraint.
But the black mana wound tighter around his waist.
“How is it possible to gather mana so quickly beneath the Black Curtain…!”
His furious gaze turned toward Raon Mir.
Raon Mir snorted derisively and shouted back.
“Of course! Because I am the great Raon Mir!”
Even as he spoke, Raon Mir glanced sideways at Kale Heniatus.
Far away, that fragile human engulfed in fiery winds continued to bleed profusely. I worried he might die from blood loss at this rate.
“Kekk.”
That was the moment.
“Kekekekk, krahahahaha!”
Raon Mir turned his head.
Dorf was laughing uproariously even as he sank deeper into the black mana mud. Raon Mir spoke bluntly.
“Lion, have you lost your mind?”
“Hahahaha, kekk, kekk, kekekk, krahahahaha!”
Raon Mir stared at Dorf, who continued laughing despite his words, as if watching a mad lion. Dorf, catching that look, kept laughing.
Then, between laughs, he spoke.
“Fool.”
The laughter vanished.
“Do you truly believe that fire and wind can dispel the Black Curtain?”
Dorf, observing the mud that had risen to his chest, moved his arm.
Splatter, splatter.
As the mud fell away, Raon Mir’s mana slipped lightly from Dorf’s arm like falling debris.
“No matter how quickly you gather mana at that pace, it’s nothing impressive.”
“…How?”
Raon stared at Dorf in shock.
“How did I do it, you ask?”
With each movement of Dorf’s arms, each shift of his body, Raon’s mana drained away helplessly as he responded calmly.
A thin smile spread across the middle-aged man’s lips.
“Beneath this curtain, I am the strongest.”
Uuuuung—
A strange sound emanated from Dorf’s body, and heat began radiating from his shoulders.
Ssshhh. Shhh.
Steam rose into the air.
“Hehe, I am darkness and death.”
In the young dragon’s blue-green eyes, Dorf loomed ever larger.
Crack. Crack.
The ferocious form of a Lion Tribe member began to reveal itself.
Unlike when the wolf boy Rak had undergone his transformation, Raon instinctively stepped back.
Crack!
Dorf’s body swelled to an extraordinary size.
His face twisted into something savage.
Boom.
As Dorf planted his foot, the earth trembled. He advanced toward Raon, one step, then another.
Riiip.
His clothes tore apart, unable to withstand his enlarged frame.
The thin middle-aged man vanished, replaced by a colossal beast whose eyes gleamed beneath the darkness.
“Young dragon. Have you ever seen a dead spirit?”
Tap.
A tree brushed against Raon’s back wings.
And there before him stood Dorf. Shhhhh. Steam still rose, hot and thick, as the Lion King towered over the young dragon, who was less than half his size.
“Have you ever eaten one?”
Raon Mir’s eyes widened, and then his small head bowed.
Dorf watched and whispered.
“It’s quite delicious.”
Uuuuu—
Muscles and veins bulged as massive black energy coalesced around his savage arms.
“Dragon. You are a dragon, but you are a young creature who has not lived even ten years. I have lived for hundreds of years and become something special. You cannot overcome that time and that specialness. I’m curious what a young dragon tastes like.”
The black energy formed a sphere, and the savage hand gripping it lunged toward Raon Mir.
Dorf spoke with a bitter laugh, tossing the words out carelessly.
“Darkness and death have no form. Wind and fire cannot eliminate them. Only I, only my master, can wield them.”
“I know.”
Hm?
Dorf froze at the small voice. The fist aimed at Raon Mir hesitated for a moment.
“I told you.”
The small dragon lifted his head.
He was smiling.
“I am the great Raon Mir.”
Ah.
A chill ran down Dorf’s spine.
He turned his head.
Raon Mir retreated toward where the trees stood.
To the shadowed depths beneath the forest.
Unlike where the golem rampaged, it was still dark—a place where Dorf could rampage even more.
Yet within that darkness, Raon Mir concealed his power.
Leaves and grass.
Raon’s black mana, which had been hiding beneath the tiniest of shadows, had already seized control of the area around Dorf.
Dorf and Raon’s eyes met.
“I am a great dragon who puts what I learn to use immediately.”
Hehehehe. Raon laughed brightly.
“…Watch what I do!”
Dorf couldn’t finish his words.
Black mana crashed down upon him.
“And lion.”
Dorf was engulfed in black mana of such purity it was incomparable to the murky mana from before. Raon’s words reached him.
“We’re not trying to break the Black Curtain.”
…What?
An alarm blared in Dorf’s mind.
Only then did he understand Raon and Kale Heniatus’s actions.
“Dorf, that expression is amusing.”
And the moment the Bear King’s voice reached his ears.
“The dragon is quite strong.”
The Bear King, who had been fighting Choi Han, dodged away from him and hurled a spear of light at Raon to help Dorf, approaching as he did.
Dorf opened his mouth.
“No! Don’t come!”
Crash!
Dorf cried out, struggling desperately to shake off the black mana that had been strangling him.
The black mana tore away with great difficulty compared to before, and as a result, Dorf couldn’t move quickly.
Even so, he shouted toward the Bear King.
“Sayehr! Not here!”
…What?
The Bear King Sayehr, who had been charging forward, stumbled to a halt.
“Ah!”
He quickly redirected his spear, and the lance of light that flew forth pierced its intended target.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted, but the Bear King Sayehr bit his lip.
“Damn it!”
He saw Choi Han soaring into the air.
Raon was already there beside him, closing in with tremendous speed.
“The airships were the target all along!”
And at the center of the airships hovering beneath the Black Curtain, he spotted a crimson whirlwind standing motionless.
It was Kale Heniatus. Choi Han and Raon rushed toward him.
“Everyone, take evasive action! Ascend into the sky!”
Sayehr frantically pulled out a communication crystal from his pocket and shouted, and the airships began moving in panic.
“Get aboard! Hurry!”
“We’re moving out!”
And the airship that had been covertly lowering ropes to the top of the Northern Alchemy Tower during the battle to rescue their allies—the Lion Tribe and Black Mages—hastily repositioned themselves to escape Kale.
“Ah!”
The moment the airships shot upward in unison with swift precision, Sayehr cried out.
“The sky won’t work! You can’t ascend into the sky!”
Fire!
If they broke through the Black Curtain, Destructive Fire would rain down upon them from above.
-Sayehr, what should we do then?
The pilot’s urgent voice reached him, but Sayehr only furrowed his brow.
‘If we don’t flee far enough, Kale Heniatus will burn this airship like a golem.’
The airships had nowhere to escape.
Realizing this fact, I felt my neck seized.
“We have to catch him.”
And headed toward where Kale Heniatus, Choi Han, and Raon were.
And she headed toward where Kale Heniatus, Choi Han, and Raon were.
“…I’ll handle the fire.”
A tremendous, radiant light began to gather in Sayehr’s hands.
Light hotter and brighter than fire itself.
Kale looked down at that light and the Bear King, Dorf, and spoke curtly.
“Too late.”
Thump. Thump!
My heart pounding fiercely told me the truth.
This was the last time.
This power was the end.
Using it further would be dangerous.
Knowing this, I willingly surrendered my body to the power. And I opened my mouth.
“Raon.”
“What is it, human!”
“I think I’m going to pass out if I use this.”
Raon hesitated before speaking urgently.
“I’ll let it slide just this once! I’ll forgive you for now!”
“Alright.”
Kale Heniatus chuckled despite himself and asked.
“What should you do if I pass out?”
“Run away! Because the human already threw one attack!”
That’s right.
“I’ll beat that bear and lion next time! …It’s difficult for us now, but next time will be different!”
That’s also true.
If I wasn’t going to kill them anyway, there was no benefit in just injuring the Bear King and Dorf.
Their power wasn’t something that would stop from a few injuries to their limbs. They each possessed spirit magic and Ancient Powers as well. That was power that would only disappear when they drew their last breath.
Then.
“So I’ll destroy everything!”
Shouldn’t I destroy all the valuable things as well?
What good is strength?
Without money?
No airship, no dead mana, no golems.
All of that would cost money, so where does that money come from for free?
“Heh.”
Kale Heniatus laughed and looked at one person.
“Kale Heniatus, sir.”
Uuuu—
Around Kale Heniatus, Wind and Destructive Fire swirled together with an eerie cry.
“I will lead the way.”
“Smart one, or rather, fellow.”
Ah, this isn’t right either.
-You’re at your limit, yet you say such things?
I heard Jjangdol’s voice dripping with contempt, but I simply nodded in response.
Drip. Drip.
Blood continued to fall.
I no longer had the strength to answer.
Beneath the Black Curtain.
Even if the wind was free and the fire brilliant.
The battle to overcome adversity weighed heavily upon my body.
Especially since I had wielded three forces—wood, wind, and fire.
Choi Han stood before me and raised his sword high.
“No! Do you think I’ll let you do as you please!”
Sayehr’s voice echoed from below.
And the moment I saw the spear of light shoot upward, Choi Han thrust his blade forward.
A power mingled with half despair and half joy.
One who possessed despair could unleash power beneath this Black Curtain.
“Rampage.”
A Black Dragon erupted from Choi Han’s sword.
Roooaarrr—
An Eastern dragon, unknown in these lands, opened its maw and began to overturn everything beneath the Black Curtain. Yet the power of the black dragon, infused with half joy, could not draw forth its full strength.
But Choi Han turned without hesitation.
Blink. Blink.
I saw Kale Heniatus slowly closing and opening his eyes.
Choi Han supported my body, and I pointed toward the black dragon attempting to devour the airships.
“Follow.”
And.
“Burn it all.”
Whoooosh—
A crimson vortex followed the Black Dragon.
The Black Dragon and the red whirlwind intertwined, creating a colossal force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The airships began to shatter.
There was no one who could withstand the Black Dragon riding the ferocious inferno.
“Kale Heniatus!”
I heard Sayehr’s furious cry calling out my name, but watching the destructive firestorm tearing through the airships and the Black Dragon, I slowly closed my eyes.
‘Expensive things must all be destroyed.’
Having vented some frustration by destroying something costly, I witnessed the Black Dragon, now depleted of power, vanish, and the Destructive Fire raging alongside the Wind.
Then a massive spear of light engulfed the space where I stood.
“Where do you think you’re running!”
The moment Sayehr’s cry reached my ears, I thought to myself.
‘White Star gets to run away? I should escape too.’
Heh.
With a strangely satisfied laugh, I plunged into darkness.
My unconscious body went limp.
Boom!
The spear of light exploded.
In an instant, it was a colossal force that pierced through the Black Curtain. It was light of a purity far beyond Dorf’s level.
“Cough.”
The Bear King Sayehr coughed up blood.
Then he vented his rage.
“Damn it!”
Where the spear of light had passed through.
There was no one there.
Kale Heniatus, Choi Han, and Raon had already fled.
In the place where they had vanished, only the golems they had destroyed and the airship remained.
* * *
Tap. Tap.
Kale Heniatus froze at the sensation of hands patting his cheeks.
‘Did I lose consciousness and wake up?’
Was I not dreaming this time?
Kale Heniatus thought he should open his eyes with a slightly relieved heart.
“Kim Rok-soo.”
But the moment I heard my team leader Lee Soo-hyuk’s voice, I stopped myself from opening my eyes.
“I know you’re awake.”
Another dream.
A dream showing the past.
My head was already complicated with the situation involving Choi Han and Choi Jung-soo, and I didn’t want to face another dream like this.
Really.
“Hmm, you won’t open your eyes? Then I have a way.”
At those words, my heart sank.
“Kale Heniatus. Will you wake up if I call you by that name?”
Damn it.
I finally opened my eyes.
And there before me was my team leader Lee Soo-hyuk, smiling down at me.
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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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