Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 449

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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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Water that naturally flowed downward began to reverse its course.

The White Star knew rationally that this water could not extinguish his flames, yet his instinctive sense compelled his body to move.

That water is dangerous.

His body surged forward of its own accord.

Crash!

“…That cowardly bastard.”

A blue spear shot through the air and collided with his sword of flame, blocking his path. In that moment, the White Star saw him—laughing as he fled.

“Do you understand now?”

With those words, Kale Heniatus descended at tremendous speed. Jjangdol’s voice echoed in his mind.

-Shouldn’t you use the power of the crown?

The power of the Dragon Slayer crown that had allowed me to endure against the White Star before.
But I shook my head at Jjangdol’s words and plummeted downward.
As my descent accelerated, the blue water continued to surge upward. The column of water soon became massive enough to catch the eyes of the people below.

Blue and transparent water.
The water column, which should have remained invisible beneath the dark night, instead gleamed brilliantly, revealing its presence. Paradoxically, this was because of the light from the pillar of flame that had been there first.

“Huff… gasp, huff.”

The woman, who had been running ceaselessly while cradling the child, finally caught sight of the plaza where people were gathering.

‘The Crown Prince! The knights!’

Just as the Dark Elf had said, the Crown Prince and his knights were in the plaza. If I could somehow get close to them, wouldn’t my chances of survival be higher?
Then the woman saw people gasping in shock, pointing with their hands toward one direction.

Kwaaaaaaa—
Only then did a distant roar reach her ears. She had been too focused on running for survival to properly hear the world around her, but now the sounds came through clearly.

“Mother! Behind us!”

At the child’s cry from within her arms, pointing behind them, the woman slowly turned around. And she saw it.

“…Water.”

A towering pillar of water, as massive as a column of flame, surged upward into the sky.
The people who had been fleeing from the raging rivers of fire assailing them from all four directions—north, south, east, and west—stopped in their tracks, their eyes fixed upon that water pillar.

Unlike the strange liquid fire of unknown origin, the water pillar that rose skyward possessed the ordinary appearance of water one could find anywhere.

Yet to the people of Dubori Territory, this pillar of water was miraculous.

“Mother! I’ve never seen so much water before! How wonderful!”

Like the child’s innocent wonder, water in Dubori Territory, which bordered the Desert, was neither scarce enough to be precious nor abundant enough to be commonplace.
They knew water only through thin rivulets like cracks in the earth, through wells dug deep underground, and through the occasional rains—yet now a colossal pillar of it stood against the river of fire.

Ssssshhhhh— Ssshhh—
The sound of sizzling filled the air.
White steam began rising toward the heavens.

“It… it’s stopped!”

The crimson liquid that devoured everything could advance no further, and it began to diminish, bit by bit.
With each point where water and fire met, more and more vapor billowed forth.

To those near the river of fire, it seemed as though white mist was slowly creeping toward them.

“W-we’re actually extinguishing it!”
“W-we’re alive!”
“Either way, keep running! If that water pillar collapses, it’ll be a flood!”

The crimson liquid that had surged forward like a river, like a tidal wave, began to recede.

“…How is this—”

The White Star, who knew better than anyone that the calamity had ceased, gazed at the water column still surging upward, surprise evident in his eyes.

It was not merely fire.
It was an extraordinary flame imbued with calamity, carrying even the properties of lava.
Yet the moment it touched that water, it became nothing but steam?

The White Star’s gaze shifted downward to Kale Heniatus descending below. Kale Heniatus stared back at the White Star.

-We are different.

The crystalline voice of the Sky-Devouring Water rippled gently through Kale Heniatus’s mind.

-The Judging Water and I are not the same.

Her voice reached only Kale Heniatus’s mind, yet she spoke toward the White Star who looked down upon him.

-The me I have chosen is more real than the me created by another. That power lacked my will. This power, infused with my will, is far greater.

The name bestowed by the divine, “Judging Water,” had been shackles to her. When she resolved to cast off those chains and live as “Defiant Water” instead.
She became stronger than before.

-I must devour the sky.

To seize and swallow what lay beyond reach, she had to become even more formidable. And far more ferocious.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded. This was a signal from the Sky-Devouring Water. Everything was ready. Begin now.
My lips parted.

“Did you think that was all?”

The White Star tried to read the shape of that grinning mouth, but Kale Heniatus gave him no opening.
Whirrring— surrounded by wind, descending toward the center of the Plaza, I stretched both hands forward.

“…What?”

The eyes of those watching the water column widened.
Uuuoong. The water column began to rotate, the water within spinning ferociously. The White Star felt a sense of dread at the sight.
Crackle, crackle. The violent vortex of power sent shivers down the White Star’s spine.

“…Kale Heniatus!”

The White Star’s body plummeted toward me at tremendous speed. Flames erupted from the sword of fire, transforming into a crimson crescent that hurtled in my direction.

Boom!
But the crimson crescent was intercepted by a black aura. With a crackling sound, the black aura consumed the crescent, obliterating it in an instant.
Yet the White Star’s flames never reached me. From the highest rooftop near the plaza, I could see Choi Han pointing his sword toward the White Star.

It was Choi Han’s aura that had blocked the flames.

“…That bastard…!”

The moment the White Star’s face twisted in fury, my lips parted.
Thump!
When a violent vibration struck my heart, resonating through my very being—

“Devour it.”

Whoooosh—
The people in the plaza lifted their heads.
Four torrents of wind spiraled outward from me in all directions. Following the wind with their eyes, they witnessed it.

“…Spears…!”
“Arrows?”

The tips of the towering, rotating water columns sharpened into points. Four spears, taut as arrows, aimed their tips directly at the crimson pillar of flame.
I sent my voice riding upon the wind.

“Fire.”
—I’ve been waiting.

With the Sky-Devouring Water’s response, a colossal water spear launched toward the pillar of fire.
Those nearby stood transfixed, their ears ringing from the tremendous force of the spear’s movement.

Caw. Caw.
Snapping back to awareness, they felt ravens tugging at their collars, dragging them backward. Their retreat quickened into a desperate sprint, yet they could not resist turning their heads to witness the collision of fire and water.

Crash!
Water and fire collided, and a deafening roar erupted.
The earth trembled.
The sound of burning consumed everything around.
It felt as though the world itself was being turned upside down.

“…This cannot be. Devouring a calamity—?”

The White Star’s eyes wavered in disbelief as he plummeted downward.
With a sharp hiss, the fire that had raged like molten lava shattered against the ferocious water.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The water continued to batter the pillar of flame, its edges dulling but never ceasing. It gnawed. It consumed. It devoured.
The violently spinning water swallowed the fire whole, finally transforming into steam that soared skyward.

Prince Valentino watched the spectacle unfold, and goosebumps erupted across his entire body.

The fire had not spread across the land to incinerate everything, nor had the colossal water become a tidal wave to sweep away the surrounding crops.
Both simply dissipated into the air as if they had never existed in the first place.

His gaze shot upward rapidly.

“…Lord Kale.”

Kale Heniatus was descending from the sky to the ground. He moved toward the center of the plaza where crowds had gathered, approaching Prince Valentino.
The prince drew near as if entranced, stepping forward until Kale touched down. The goosebumps still had not faded.

‘Kale Heniatus, Kale Heniatus.’

How many times had he heard that name echoing from every direction in recent years? Had he not witnessed firsthand the remarkable feats Kale had displayed during the Caro Kingdom war?
Yet this time, it was beyond astonishment.

‘Is he human?’

Could he truly be human?
Could one who wielded the forces of nature with such effortless mastery be called human?
Amazement, gratitude, and simultaneously fear and strangeness overwhelmed Valentino’s heart.

The White Star and Kale Heniatus—they both possessed similar power in the end.

A single fact sent off an alarm in Valentino’s mind. Yet he naturally approached Kale.
He wanted to see the one who had accomplished this remarkable feat.

The moment Kale descended to the ground, Valentino reached out toward him.
He wanted to pat his shoulder.

“Prince Kale.”

But that hand stopped in mid-air.

“Cough!”

Kale’s body lurched forward. Valentino watched as a dark crimson liquid—not fire—splattered to the ground.
Blood gushed from Kale’s mouth, quickly soaking his clothes and the earth beneath him.

“My lord! Are you alright?”

Gashan, who had drawn near, steadied Kale.
Valentino could see Kale’s hands trembling finely as he leaned against Gashan. It wasn’t just his hands. His entire body quivered with subtle tremors.
His pallid complexion could not be hidden even by the blood trickling from his lips.

“Ah.”

A sigh escaped Valentino’s lips.

‘He is human, after all.’

Kale Heniatus is human, after all.
Why must Kale Heniatus suffer so, coughing up blood?

Valentino looked around. He saw people watching Kale with both astonishment and concern. He saw the plaza where the refugees from the territory had gathered.
As Valentino observed each person’s eyes and expressions one by one, he came to understand.

Kale Heniatus is different from that White Star.

Then, Gashan’s voice reached his ears.

“My lord, are you pushing yourself too hard?”

Prince Valentino turned his head urgently toward Kale Heniatus, but his gaze quickly shifted skyward.

Kwaaaang!
A brilliant black gleam clashed against the flames.
The aura bursting from Choi Han’s sword and the White Star’s flaming blade were locked in combat against each other.

More precisely, Choi Han’s sword showed no fear of its aura shattering, and instead continued to block the White Star’s descent toward the ground.

Prince Valentino could sense without needing to look closely that the White Star’s gaze had turned toward the Plaza.
That crimson blade is targeting the people in the Plaza. He understood immediately.

At that moment, the White Star’s eyes caught sight of a silver light gradually emanating from Kale’s hands.

‘…A shield!’

That power which Prince Valentino knew well—the very force that had made Kale Heniatus famous.
He realized that Kale was attempting to create a shield. To protect the people here. Prince Valentino’s hands clenched with force. He opened his eyes wide and poured his strength into the effort.

As blood dripped and his body trembled, the silver light gradually emanating became increasingly vivid and clear.

“…Young Master!”

Gashan’s anguished voice echoed across the Plaza.
Hearing that voice, I furrowed my brow.

‘Damn it!’

I had used the Sky-Devouring Water far too much.
The magnitude of power had been enormous.
On top of that, I had also drawn upon the power of the earth.
Moreover, I had used the Voice of Wind not once or twice, but nearly all day long.

Though I hadn’t even used all five powers, my body trembled from having expended so much of the water’s strength.

‘I should have worn the crown.’

If I had, I would be fine right now.

-Let’s stop.

Jjangdol’s voice reached my ears.
But I couldn’t stop.

‘Choi Han won’t last much longer!’

And hadn’t I summoned the people to the Plaza myself?

-That’s right. You made up your mind to use your power from that moment on.

As if answering Jjangdol’s bitter voice, the corners of my mouth lifted into a wry smile.
In that instant, a beautiful silver radiance unfurled before the eyes of those who looked up.

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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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