Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 453

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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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Choi Han moved carefully, distancing himself from his companions and enemies alike. He advanced toward Sayehr’s rear, suppressing his presence as much as possible.

He could not deploy the exceptional concealment techniques that Ron possessed, making it impossible to erase his aura completely. Yet his allies were lending their support.

Kale Heniatus, Merry, Raon, and Erhafen.
They all radiated their power and presence with full force, and beneath the momentum of their overwhelming auras, Choi Han found it possible to veil his own existence.

Choi Han caught sight of Sayehr’s back. He slowly raised his sword above his shoulder, pointing its blade forward like a spear aimed at its target.

‘Huh? Choi Jung-soo, you heading home again? Let’s grab a drink.’
‘Ha ha. Senior, I’m sorry. I have something I need to take care of! Once I finish this, I’ll treat you!’
‘Never mind, never mind. Why would I want a free meal from someone who makes less than me? Just come by whenever you have time. Oh! And bring that bastard Kim Rok-soo along too! That guy disappears the moment work ends—nobody knows where he goes.’
‘Yes, yes! Understood! Then I’ll be on my way!’

A scene from Choi Jung-soo’s memory surfaced.
After joining the company, he had struggled alongside his peer Kim Rok-soo for some time. Once he grew accustomed to that life, he began heading straight home the moment work ended.
Colleagues would often try to keep him, drawn to his affable and straightforward nature, but he would decline each time and retreat to his solitude. Only the Team Leader and Kim Rok-soo knew the reason behind his immediate departure.

Truth be told, calling it a home was generous.
The company, now established in Seoul, sat near the boundary line between destroyed sectors and those that still maintained their form. Choi Jung-soo’s residence was in that vicinity—a small one-room apartment in a building barely clinging to its villa structure.

The building looked as though it had been plucked from some apocalypse film released before the world’s upheaval, yet the atmosphere of those living within it remained bright.

‘Oh, Jung-soo. Heading inside?’
‘Yes! Work ended early today, ha ha!’
‘Good, good. Come by our place later and grab some of my radish kimchi.’
‘Yes! Your radish kimchi is the best!’
‘Aw, it’s nothing special. I’m just grateful for you, so it’s the least I can do.’

Grandmother Baker’s face, as she expressed her gratitude, was radiant. Choi Jung-soo found himself smiling in response to that warmth.
Before entering the villa, he paused to observe his surroundings.

Since the company had established itself nearby, the people in the area seemed noticeably more stable. Gradually, the world regained its vitality, and hope for the future began to take root.
The faces of those passing by this shabby villa were bright, and the sky was clear.

Choi Jung-soo, observing all this quietly, soon made his way to his one-room apartment with a light and cheerful step.
Once inside, he washed up, tidied things roughly, and settled at his desk.

Choi Han vividly recalled the sight atop Choi Jung-soo’s desk.
Choi Jung-soo picked up a pen.

‘If not me, then who will do this? Right?’

Muttering words to no one in particular, he continued writing in the notebook he had started. His hand moved across the page with deliberate purpose.

It was the ancient martial arts and ancient swordsmanship that the Choi Clan had refined and studied across generations.
Numerous notebooks had already accumulated. There were countless sketches and notes, and quite a few illustrations as well.

Choi Han remembered all of Choi Jung-soo’s emotions as he wrote back then. At that time, Choi Jung-soo had wanted to leave something behind for the world.
No—he had wanted to ‘continue’ it.

‘I’m the only one left.’

I survived alone. My family, my relatives—they all departed before me.

‘But I must preserve what we accomplished.’

The works of the Choi Clan.
The way they had researched our nation’s ancient martial arts and ancient swordsmanship, refining and organizing them to bring them back to the world.
Choi Jung-soo had wanted to continue that legacy.

Choi Jung-soo’s emotions, left alone in the house, remained bright and spirited. Yet within that brightness dwelt despair, sorrow, and loneliness.

He strived to record in his notebook every martial arts research record of the family that he could remember.
Choi Han witnessed the entire process, and through Choi Jung-soo’s efforts, he came to understand what the Choi Clan had sought to preserve and continue.

Reflecting upon it once more, he eventually came to share the same heart as Choi Jung-soo.

‘If I continue their legacy, my family and relatives have not vanished from this world. As long as I carry it forward, they lived in this world, and they remain with me.’

When that conviction became completely engraved upon Choi Jung-soo’s heart like a seal.
He completed his own ‘White Mir.’

That emotion, that thought, that effort.
Choi Han understood it all with desperate clarity.

Upon understanding Choi Jung-soo, a single sentence from the memoirs left by the First Dragon Slayer Neran Berow, Choi Jung-gun, suddenly seeped into Choi Han’s heart.

I poured my heart into my power.

It was merely a sentence woven casually between the important passages.
Yet those words struck me with tremendous weight.

Especially when I thought of sacrificing one’s lifespan and the Calamity Sword.
When I first read Choi Jung-gun’s memoirs, I thought—he was my ancestor, my elder relative, but what was he trying to accomplish?
I was even angered by his attitude of taking sacrifice for granted.

Of course, there were still parts I couldn’t fully comprehend, but now I felt I understood his heart a little.

Whooooom—

Calamity began to flow into Choi Han’s blade.
An Ancient Power forged from nearly all of Choi Jung-gun’s lifespan. The White Star, who inherited it, had crafted a half-formed Calamity Sword for the fake Dragon Slayer Sirem.

Though it was not a power Choi Jung-gun himself had created, Choi Han perceived his ancestor’s heart.

The heart of the man who forged Calamity, a power to destroy the world.
I could understand it now, at least a little.

Because he was a man who lost everything except for his friend, the Dragon.
Because he was a man who died without ever creating his own bloodline in this world.

Yet still, he carried himself forward under the name Dragon Slayer.

Choi Han infused Choi Jung-soo’s Dragon into the Calamity seeping into his blade.
And finally, he poured in his own black aura.

The ferocious light of the Dragon, now tainted with Calamity, gradually darkened. The moment the Black Dragon that appeared at the blade’s tip opened its maw toward the enemy—

“…This is—!”

Sayehr’s body trembled slightly, and the White Star felt an immense power surge from behind.

“Why such surprise?”

Kale Heniatus, rushing forward with a blue spear in hand, sneered at the White Star’s rigid expression, but the White Star couldn’t bring himself to respond this time.

“Get down.”

I seized Sayehr by the scruff of his neck.

“Huh? Why are you—?!”

Without waiting for a response, I hurled the startled Sayehr downward. A gust of wind enveloped him, swiftly carrying him to where the Illusionist Elisne and the others waited.

In that same instant, the White Star spun around and soared into the air alongside the wind.

A sharp whistle cut through the air.
A blue spear streaked past where I had been standing.
The original White Star, despite his formidable strength, had always been clumsy with spear techniques—he would have mocked Kale for missing him. But now was not the time for such mockery.

The White Star’s gaze collided with Choi Han’s.

A deep rumble echoed across the heavens.
Thunder seemed ready to descend at any moment.

Contrary to that tremendous roar, wind gathered silently. The White Star’s eyes fixed upon Choi Han’s sword aimed at him—the Black Dragon.

“…My power?”

I sensed the aura of the Sword of Calamity emanating from that Dragon.
The half-strength Calamity power I had granted to Sirem, the false Dragon Slayer I had created to replace me for the world’s balance, undoubtedly existed within this Black Dragon.

“…No. It is not mine.”

Yet it was not a power I had created.
It was different.
It was not incomplete.
I could sense it within that Black Dragon.

‘That sensation when I first grasped the Sword of Calamity—!’

In that distant memory, when I finally claimed the position of Dragon Slayer, I inherited the crown and power from my predecessor.
The moment I unleashed the Sword of Calamity, one of those powers, I exulted in its magnitude while simultaneously burning with rage that I could not reveal it to the world.
Yet even now, I could not forget the thrill of encountering that immense power for the first time.

But why was that power emanating from the Sword Master?

“It is mine, yet it is not mine.”

Within the power of calamity lay something else entirely. Rather than answer those words, Choi Han took a step toward the White Star.
At that single step, the calamity within the sword moved first.

‘This is ours, after all.’

As I took the second step, the Dragon rose to its feet.

Choi Jung-gun, who had prepared by sacrificing his own lifespan to guard against another White Star that might appear.
Choi Jung-soo, who had sought to protect the world with a Dragon woven from the legacies his family left behind.

Choi Han did not possess a purpose as grand as theirs.
Yet the moment the Black Dragon received his sword, it blazed with light.

‘I simply wish to remain as happy as this.’

Choi Han took the third step.

The sword pointed toward the sky. In that instant, I saw my companions.
Erhafen’s golden mana, Raon’s black mana, and Merry’s Bone Dragon. They waited for Choi Han, and Choi Han answered their call.
The sword that had eagerly pointed skyward now descended slowly toward the White Star, wielded by the Black Dragon.

Roooaarrr—
The Black Dragon, brimming with tremendous power, writhed and shot forward rapidly toward the White Star.

“Go!”

With Erhafen’s cry, the powers of Raon and Merry surged toward the White Star as well.
From all four directions—north, south, east, and west—colossal forces converged upon the White Star.

Even in that moment, the White Star’s gaze remained fixed upon Choi Han.

One who bore a visage similar to the First Dragon Slayer, who could read those ancient characters. One who had forged an entirely new power with the Calamity Sword.
Moreover, one whose time, like mine, had been twisted.

*Screech.*
He laughed while gazing at the White Star.
His mouth moved silently, but the words were perfectly legible.

“Even if lightning strikes, it cannot protect you.”

He was not virtuous.
This one was different from Kale Heniatus.
If the White Star unleashed lightning now, every resident in the Territory below would perish. Yet he laughed despite knowing this.
The White Star stretched his hand toward the sky.

*Boom—!*

A colossal roar consumed the heavens.
In that instant, people witnessed an enormous bolt of lightning descending—striking down upon a single figure alone.
The lightning remained tethered to the dark sky above. That person seemed to have become lightning itself.

*Roar!*
The black Bone Dragon lunged toward that lightning.

The dragon’s wings tore, its bones shattered and exploded. A colossal tsunami of golden and black light surged over it all.

White lightning, golden radiance, and black light intertwined, birthing a tempestuous gale.
And then, at last.
A dragon—unmistakably a dragon, yet one with an appearance I had never witnessed before—opened its maw and began devouring it all.

*Crash—!*
All manner of light collided and clashed. Throughout it all, the Black Dragon ceaselessly, incrementally devoured those lights. Countless explosions erupted.
It was as though stars themselves were detonating.

Choi Han gazed upon the spectacle of radiance. I could see the White Star, his body wrapped in lightning. He was methodically shattering each attack while shielded by that electrical armor.

“What?! Another dragon!”

Then the people witnessed the Black Dragon once more.
A second Black Dragon surged toward that lightning.
The one who had summoned it lowered his sword weakly, muttering.

“Once more. *Cough!*”

Blood dripped from Choi Han’s lips.
He felt a backlash emanating from his vessel. He wondered if this was the recoil that came from using too much of the Ancient Powers.

‘My vessel is strong. That’s why it’s only this much.’

Using it excessively for the first time had strained his body somewhat.
Blood had spilled, but it wasn’t painful.
It was merely the backlash that arose from weaving together the strength of three individuals and what they had left behind into a single force for the first time.
Because of this, he understood Kale’s suffering.

What someone with a weak vessel must be enduring.

Choi Han gazed at the White Star.

“Do you think you can touch my body?”

The White Star, consumed with rage, glared at Choi Han’s Black Dragon.

“Once more!”

Erhafen and Raon stirred their mana again, launching a colossal spear toward the White Star. The White Star laughed upon seeing the two dragons.

“I’ll take as much as you can give!”

The White Star sneered with a smile brimming with madness.
Once more, the mana of Raon and Erhafen engulfed his lightning.

“Hold on!”
“I know, Grandpa! I’m holding!”

Raon’s two front legs trembled violently. Erhafen’s back grew drenched without him realizing it.
The people witnessed once more the intermingling lights and the Black Dragon that crashed down upon them.
Within a vision where brilliant golden light and dark black light swirled together.

“Hahaha! No matter how much you struggle, no matter what new power you create, you cannot defeat me!”

The White Star gnawed away at the strength of the two dragons even as his vision blurred.
And he sneered at the approaching Black Dragon.

The first Black Dragon had already been shattered by lightning. The second Black Dragon charged forward with its jaws wide open, as if this were only natural.
The White Star sneered at it and moved to meet the attack.

“Come at me! Keep crashing into me! I’ll destroy it all-”

But his words never reached their end.

Within the gaping maw of the Black Dragon.
A minuscule force, concealed beneath the overwhelming power, had somehow slipped inside.
So infinitesimally thin it resembled a needle—a gossamer-fine strand of power.

“When did—!”

The White Star’s face contorted.

Inside the Black Dragon’s open maw.
A slender, deep-blue spear lay within. The Black Dragon surged forward through the lightning alongside the azure spear.

Crackle, crackle!
The minuscule force burrowed through the lightning. It carved tiny fissures, advancing deeper with each moment.

Within the spear—so small the White Star himself could not perceive it—an immense, concentrated force of water churned and compressed.
The power hidden within the Black Dragon gradually revealed its true form, targeting a single point.

The spear created a point.
That point became a line, and finally the azure spear carved a path toward the White Star’s body.

“This… this cannot be—!”

The White Star moved to block the spear.
At that moment, golden and black mana wrapped around the White Star’s legs, bound by lightning. The Black Dragon coiled its entire body around the White Star’s upper frame.

Crackle. Crackle, crackle!
The golden and black mana, the Black Dragon itself—it shattered even as it desperately grasped at the White Star’s limbs.

“Ugh, ugh, no—!”

The azure spear, having finally carved its path, surged toward the White Star’s heart.
In that moment, the White Star saw Kale Heniatus leaning against Choi Han. Even as blood spilled from his lips, Kale’s eyes—cold and unwavering—gazed upon him with the certainty of death.

Kwaaaaaaaaang—

A massive explosion erupted with a deafening roar.
People watched as the black clouds that had shrouded the sky slowly dispersed.
Only then did they feel that dawn had arrived.

Where the clouds had parted, the blackened sky shifted to navy blue, gradually approaching morning.

The explosion faded.
Thud.
Something fell from the sky toward the ground.

“What a shame.”

Kale Heniatus gazed with vacant eyes at the White Star, who had ultimately shattered the power of the two Dragons and Choi Han, blocking the azure spear aimed at his heart.

The White Star’s left arm, torn by the azure spear, fell to the ground.

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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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