Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 459
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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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Why should I even live?
The Dragon Hybrid wanted to question Kale Heniatus, but he couldn’t.
Crash! Crash!
Even now, the Black Spear was collapsing sections of the Secret Base all around. In the midst of such chaos, there was no time to entertain idle questions.
Moreover, the sight of that black spear drove all other thoughts from his mind.
His thoughts were tangled and confused.
‘Destroy that egg.’
The voice of the White Star from the past descended upon him like frost.
The moment the Dragon Hybrid was born as a Chimera, the White Star had pointed at the black egg and muttered with a hint of laughter.
‘Destroy it or eat it yourself. That would be quite an amusing sight, wouldn’t it?’
A deep, lightless underground cavern.
With limbs bound in shackles, waiting desperately for the White Star who came only occasionally, hoping only for his recognition—beside the Dragon Hybrid lay a single black egg.
One day, the White Star arrived and laughed softly upon seeing the black egg placed neatly in a corner of the cavern.
‘Still haven’t destroyed it? But I clearly gave you an order. Destroy that egg yourself. Do you understand?’
The Dragon Hybrid nodded and answered that he would destroy the egg someday.
And when he escaped the cavern and gained the ability to see the world according to the White Star’s commands, he seized a small opportunity to give Mage Redica a single instruction.
‘Should I discard that egg?’
‘Yes. Go to the Western Continent and discard it. But you must not destroy it. Absolutely not. Just leave it in a cave or somewhere in a clean forest with good air. Set up illusory magic so that nothing from outside can enter that cavern. Set traps as well. And.’
He hesitated before continuing.
‘And later, when I ask you, tell me its location.’
The Dragon Hybrid recalled Redica’s eyes at that moment, gazing at him with a peculiar expression. For the first time, Redica had questioned his command.
‘…Isn’t that not discarding it, but hiding it? Are you telling me to protect it?’
Protection?
The Dragon Hybrid laughed at the word. Who would protect someone in his position? And what claim did that black egg have that he had protected it?
The black egg was merely like a decorative object he had left in a corner of the cave. What significance could he possibly attach to such a thing?
If he simply abandoned it. Left it in a mountain cave rich with mana, it would hatch on its own.
Being the child of a Lord and a dragon, it would grow of its own accord. If he placed an illusory spell outside the cave, enemies wouldn’t be able to enter, so the egg would have at least some opportunity to survive.
He himself had never been abandoned and thus never received such an opportunity, but this black egg would gain one instead of being abandoned—wouldn’t that make their circumstances somewhat similar?
‘Redica, don’t interpret my words however you please. Understood?’
The Dragon Hybrid rebuked Redica, who continued to gaze down at the black egg with an odd expression before nodding.
‘I understand.’
‘This is a secret between you and me. Understood?’
‘Yes, I understand.’
At the word ‘secret,’ Redica’s eyes gleamed with a strange madness, but the Dragon Hybrid failed to notice it.
Having never truly experienced the ways of the world at that time, the Dragon Hybrid could only trust Redica’s loyalty to him.
And so years passed, and he simply forgot.
Because Redica had died.
Of course, a few months before Redica’s death, when he had briefly stopped by the Western Continent before departing with the Mermaid Tribe to fight the Whale Tribe, the Dragon Hybrid had once asked about the black egg.
‘You remember the location well? You’ve abandoned it properly?’
‘Of course. I check from time to time to ensure it remains properly abandoned.’
Redica had abandoned the egg well, and it remained in the cave as it was, he had answered.
That was why the Dragon Hybrid had given him the temperature-regulating magical device.
‘Are you giving it to me because you’re worried the cave might get too warm?’
‘What nonsense. Just abandon it in the cave along with that device.’
Redica offered no rebuttal to the Dragon Hybrid’s words and departed again with the temperature-regulating magical device in hand.
After that, upon hearing news of Redica’s death, the Dragon Hybrid had forgotten all about the black egg.
‘And yet I had forgotten.’
He suddenly recalled words he had spoken when he first met Kale Heniatus.
‘That one smells like a Lord.’
He had told Kale Heniatus that he reeked of Lord. It wasn’t a comment made with any particular weight behind it.
Ever since the death of the last Lord Sherit, dragons among their kind had been born with the capacity to become a ‘Lord’.
Had he not even killed one of them?
So he had assumed ‘that Lord smell’ was just something like that.
‘I am the great Raon Mir! I’m six years old this year! Are you curious about washing dishes, Dragon Hybrid? I’m not talking to you out of pity! I’m just talking to you because I’m bored!’
The young dragon bearing the name Raon Mir—he had thought of him as merely another dragon with the power to become such a Lord.
So he had tried to kill him.
He believed that because he had failed to become a true dragon, he could not earn recognition from the White Star and had to live without a name. For that reason, this Black Dragon had grated on his nerves.
‘…What is this. This rotten situation—’
The Dragon Hybrid’s body swayed for a moment.
“Get a grip.”
Kale Heniatus steadied him once more.
Beyond Kale’s shoulder, he could see Choi Han rushing toward Dorf. He could also see On and Hong conjuring mist and poison, scattering paralytic toxin at the enemies beyond the defensive barrier.
On and Hong, Raon.
The young ones who had approached and spoken to the Dragon Hybrid while he mindlessly washed dishes.
They had spoken to him as if they had forgotten that he was the one who had tried to attack them, to kill them.
‘Vicross is the best at washing dishes!’
‘Hans the vice-butler is good at it too.’
The Dragon Hybrid had wondered what the two young Cat-Human Race children were talking about. But since his body already ached with intense pain every moment, he paid them no mind and simply washed the dishes without complaint.
‘But Dragon Hybrid! You’re good at it too!’
Then, the young Black Dragon flapped his wings and grinned at the Dragon Hybrid.
I’m going insane.
The Dragon Hybrid felt as though his head might split open.
The Canyon of Death.
There, he had been cradled in Kale Heniatus’s arms while unconscious, and he had wanted to unleash dozens, hundreds of arrows of light toward the Black Dragon.
Suddenly, an inner voice echoed in the Dragon Hybrid’s ears.
‘Why not? Because it’s an enemy, because it’s a dragon—it must be killed.’
The Dragon Hybrid bit down hard on his lips at the voice emanating from within his own heart.
Yes, because it’s an enemy, it must be killed.
He repeated this to himself. But then the image of a black egg surfaced in his mind. He had abandoned it. He was certain he had abandoned it, and yet—
‘Why is this happening?’
He could not fathom the turmoil threatening to burst from within him.
Thump. Thump. Thump. His heart pounded fiercely. Though he had come here today prepared to die, though everyone was still locked in desperate combat, the Dragon Hybrid felt oddly as though he stood alone, separated from this space.
That was when it happened.
Boom!
At the tremendous explosion, the Dragon Hybrid instinctively covered his ears. His frail body now recoiled even from such a loud sound.
“Are you going all the way to the end?!”
Dorf’s cry rang out.
The Dragon Hybrid lifted his head. Beyond the shield, he could see Dorf’s furious eyes. Only then did the Dragon Hybrid realize that the second Secret Base was burning.
-Kyehehe! Human, I’m throwing again!
A magical bomb materialized in midair and hurtled toward the Secret Base.
Boom! The defensive barrier trembled with the explosion. Inside the barrier, people were frantically trying to extinguish fires from the crumbling buildings, yet they scrambled in panic as magical bombs continued to rain down.
-Human, how many more can I throw?
“As many as you want.”
Kale answered without emotion, and Raon responded with delight.
-Hi! Then I’ll throw all the magic bombs that the Golden Dragon Grandpa gave me! I won’t hold back this time!
“Go ahead, keep throwing them.”
I responded to Raon’s words, but to the one facing me, it sounded as though I was speaking to him. Behind his shield, Dorf glared at me.
“…Keep throwing them?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
I shrugged my shoulders while looking at Dorf.
“The White Star even sprayed lava-like things, so bombs are nothing. Just like that, right?”
A smirk played across my lips, and Dorf’s dry fists hammered against the shield.
“Are you mocking me right now?”
Bang! Crash! Bang!
He continued pounding the shield. Yet the shield did not break. The Dragon Hybrid watching from behind me could discern the reason.
A silver shield. Before that faintly silver shield lay a thick, luminous silver barrier.
It must surely be Raon Mir’s doing.
In that instant, our eyes met. Glancing briefly at Dorf, I whispered softly to the Dragon Hybrid.
“My body isn’t in normal condition right now. It’s difficult to use the Ancient Powers.”
I had come here after fighting the White Star.
While Ron and Vicross searched for their home, I had rested and recovered somewhat, but I was still on the verge of losing consciousness.
-You’re about to collapse soon. Are you obsessed with sacrifice?
By the way, it wasn’t Scary Rock speaking, but the Sky-Devouring Water.
-Take it easy. Stop using the shield. Meokbo is struggling too. Do you want to collapse?
The Sky-Devouring Water sent so many warnings about collapse into my mind that I couldn’t properly use the Ancient Powers.
The moment my brow furrowed, the Dragon Hybrid’s voice reached my ears.
“…Did the Black Dragon save me….”
It was not words spoken to someone else, but a murmur to himself.
‘Damn it.’
Kale Heniatus furrowed his brow.
Merely by observing the Dragon Hybrid’s actions, he felt as though he had received rough answers to the questions he had been wanting to ask of the Dragon Hybrid all this time.
‘If my suspicions are correct, the Dragon Hybrid must at least…’
At the very least, he could not die now.
“Ha.”
A sigh escaped from Kale Heniatus’s lips.
Boom!
“You’re sighing right now?”
Dorf reacted to that sigh. The black sphere he hurled hammered against the shield.
But soon Choi Han appeared before Dorf and swung his sword at him.
“Lord Kale, I apologize for the commotion.”
Choi Han spoke a gentle word and then clung to Dorf relentlessly.
“Damn it! This persistent bastard!”
Dorf bit his lip.
Fighting Choi Han was proving quite difficult. He could not fathom how this human had lived his life such that the attribute imbued in his aura resembled so closely the darkness attribute he possessed.
Because of this, his dark power did not take effect easily.
Moreover, whenever he tried to properly wield the power of the dark spirit, Choi Han’s relentless attacks kept interrupting his flow.
At that moment, Choi Han asked him indifferently.
“Why aren’t you using your full strength? It seems like you’re holding back.”
“What? You’re not even giving me a chance to use it!”
Dorf, crying out in fury, saw Choi Han tilt his head in confusion.
“What nonsense are you spouting? You’re deliberately holding back your power right now, aren’t you?”
Dorf’s contorted expression gradually shifted into an emotionless mask.
“So you noticed?”
Watching Dorf’s expression—smiling as if he’d never been angry—Choi Han adjusted his grip on his sword.
‘The Lion King is oddly restraining his power.’
The one who had wielded the Black Curtain to torment so many was not displaying such power now. Moreover, the Lion King had not entered his berserk state.
“Kekekek.”
He laughed as he spoke.
“They’ve arrived!”
Choi Han’s body hurriedly shifted to the right.
Whoooosh—
Figures teleported in amid a brilliant flash of light.
At the center of that radiance, Choi Han could see crimson hair. The White Star. Alongside him were Sayehr and the Illusionist.
“…Ha! Did I fool you completely?”
The White Star looked utterly disheveled from whatever ordeal he’d endured. Covered in red sand from head to toe, he already gripped lightning in both hands.
Anyone could see he’d rushed here. With bloodshot eyes, he smiled at Kale Heniatus.
“How many times do you intend to stab me in the back? Hmm?”
He glared at Kale Heniatus, raising the hand that gripped the lightning.
In that instant, Choi Han dashed toward Kale Heniatus.
“Kekek, trying to protect your master?”
Dorf’s laughter echoed out.
But that laughter was soon cut short.
“Raon!”
Kale Heniatus cried out, and his group was immediately engulfed in brilliant light.
A teleportation spell.
With Choi Han as the last to be surrounded by the luminous aura, Kale waved his hand toward the White Star, who was hurling lightning bolts.
“Hello. Still haven’t found it in the desert?”
I had no intention whatsoever of being dragged around by the White Star.
I greeted him with a smile.
“Then I’ll go finish searching the desert myself. That power you want so badly.”
Whoooosh—!
The teleportation activated, and I ignored the White Star’s voice that seemed to echo from somewhere.
What could he do about it?
I closed my eyes as my body was enveloped in the teleportation magic.
And when I opened them again.
I found myself not in the desert as I had claimed, but in a secret chamber deep beneath an elegant mansion.
“Young Master, you have arrived?”
“It has been a long time, Marquis Taylor.”
Taylor Sten, the head of the Sten Marquis House in the Northwestern Region of Roan Kingdom, welcomed Kale Heniatus warmly.
Just as I had told the White Star, I had come to find the power of the earth that he desired.
In the Northwestern Region of Roan Kingdom.
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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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