Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 642

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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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Yet the path to the summit was not without its obstacles.

“Stop them!”
“We must hold this position at all costs!”

The Cat Tribe Chief and Lion King Dorf led their elite forces down the mountainside, but numerous powerful warriors remained here, guarding the area near the mountain’s peak.

“Halt!”
“Charge forward!”

Hearing the cries of those leading the Cat Tribe and Lion Tribe respectively, Kale Heniatus spoke with an impassive expression.

“I don’t have time for small fry.”

He turned his head to look at Dodori.

“Dodori.”
“Yes?”

Kale hesitated for a moment. It was rather embarrassing to speak of such a thing aloud. But to handle this quickly, he needed to tell Dodori about it now.

“Do you, ahem, remember the content about the Canyon of Death war from my book?”
“Of course! I remember it incredibly well!”

Kale offered a gentle smile to him, who was nodding his head vigorously, and pointed to the enemies before them.

“Why don’t you try recreating it? Let’s see you bring it to life with your own hands.”
“…Really?”

Dodori’s eyes trembled.
It was not fear, but excessive excitement. Dodori could see the young dragon clenching both front paws tightly and crying out with vigor.

“Dodori! You can do this! Rocks are magnificent! I’ll keep the king hostage!”

Intense fervor blazed within Dodori’s eyes.

The Battle of Canyon of Death.
In the biography of Kale Heniatus, it was a tale that never failed to appear alongside the terror attack on the Roun Kingdom Capital, where he earned his name as the Shield Prince.
How much had I trembled upon reading that story!

‘Me? Doing that?’

Hot breath snorted from Dodori’s nostrils.
She spoke to Kale.

“Trust only me! I am a hero’s companion! I will prove it!”

Kale, concealing his reluctance behind an earnest smile, offered words of encouragement.

“I believe in you. You will prove it.”
“That’s right!”

Dodori stamped her foot.
Boom!
In that instant, the entire rocky mountain seemed to resonate. Or rather, because it was a rocky mountain, a single stomp from Dodori could produce such a thunderous sound.
She shot forward like an arrow toward the enemies.

“Who is that!”
“An archer? Why is a ranged archer charging forward?!”

The enemies furrowed their brows at the fearless Dodori rushing toward them.
The Mercenary Guild Ranger Unit members, unfamiliar with Dodori’s true nature, displayed worry and concern on their faces.
Dodori appeared young and seemed to be a ranged dealer.

“Commander, sir—”
“Just trust her.”

The man who was a former commander but remained an eternal commander was smiling.

“Do you remember the Battle of Canyon of Death?”

One of the Ranger Unit members, who had been stationed on the Eastern Continent but inadvertently recited the contents of that famous great battle that unfolded on the Western Continent.

“…an enemy attacking with light attribute—”

How had Kale Heniatus dealt with that enemy?
How had he eliminated that foe?
The answer came immediately.

“…With stone spears—”

Stone spears.
Stone.
Rock.
As these words surfaced one after another in their minds, the Ranger Unit members’ eyes widened. It was then they felt the ground trembling—or more precisely, the rocks beneath their feet beginning to move.
The Rangers’ gazes turned toward Dodori.

“I’ll take the lead!”
“I’m coming too!”

A Lion Tribe warrior and an elite Cat Tribe soldier hardened their expressions against the earth’s tremors and attempted a coordinated assault on Dodori.
As they rushed toward Dodori with weapons raised and their feet touched the ground, they could see their opponent smiling—radiating pure joy.

“I really did make the right choice.”

The moment Dodori murmured those words, both the charging enemies and those preparing to follow their assault found their bodies tilting.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—
Massive boulders erupted skyward.
Easily two hundred colossal chunks of rock.
Before the enemies could even process the sight of those stones.

“…This can’t be…!”
“Look below!”

The enemies could see a pink luminescence blanketing the Mountain Peak Area.
The rocks glowed in brilliant pink—a sight that might have seemed beautiful enough for a fairy tale, yet to them it spelled death.
Their enemy had smiled and spoken, after all.

“Don’t block my path.”

Simultaneously, the rocks descended like a meteor shower upon the Lion Tribe and Cat Tribe forces.

“It’s just stone!”

A Lion Tribe member, entering a berserk state, attempted to smash down a rock tinged with pink light with a single punch. His body possessed the grip strength to shatter stone.

Crash!
Fist and rock collided.

“Ahhhhh!”

The Lion Tribe member grasped his own hand with his other hand and lowered his head. All his fingers were shattered.

“Insane…! How can stone be this hard—!”

Yet he could not keep his gaze on his own hand. Though his hand was destroyed, the pink-tinged rock, bearing not a single wound, crashed down upon him.

“Aaaahhh!”
“Kraaagh!”
“Run! Avoid that rock!”
“This is not an ordinary stone! Everyone retreat, retreat!”

Screams, groans, and cries to flee erupted from all directions.
The enemies who had naturally blocked Kale’s path retreated to different positions to evade the rocks.

“…Let’s go.”

Kale swiftly traversed the path Dodori had created, advancing toward the peak without significant expenditure of energy.
Jjangdol whispered.

-Kale. Those rocks. With the pink tint, their hardness increased fifty-fold.

Jjangdol’s voice trembled slightly.

-…That is not stone…. It is a new weapon.

I agreed with Jjangdol’s assessment.
Dodori, approaching my side, displayed a look of regret on her face.

“…I wish I could do more…. My control is still limited, and my ability range is narrow…. I couldn’t even create a stone spear yet….”

That statement was true.
The rocks Dodori was hurling at the enemies now were merely boulders, not the stone spears I had crafted in the Canyon of Death.
Simultaneously, her control in precisely targeting enemies was lacking, and the range within which she could manipulate rocks was limited to only the area around this mountain peak.

“That’s impressive.”
“…Huh?”

Dodori, who had been disappointed at failing to recreate the great battle of the Canyon of Death, turned to look at me upon hearing my voice.
I was running swiftly, my eyes fixed on the enemies dodging the rocks rather than Dodori herself. Yet my words were clearly directed at her.

“You’ve cleared a path brilliantly without causing any harm to our allies. Thanks to you, none of our people were injured. And the trait you possess is truly remarkable.”

Such solid rocks indeed!
I couldn’t fathom what we might create if Dodori and I combined our strength.

‘…If things go wrong, I could just smash everything to pieces anyway, right?’

A smirk tugged at my lips. Unaware of my thoughts, Dodori beamed with a bright smile.

‘…None of our allies were injured!’

Those words somehow pleased Dodori immensely.

“You’re amazing, Dodori!”

With Raon’s praise added to the mix, her steps grew noticeably lighter.

“This much is nothing! As a hero’s companion, I should be doing at least this!”

Dodori tried to hide her elation and act indifferent, but it was obvious to everyone. Raon, watching this unfold, murmured in a dejected voice.

“…I want to use my trait too.”

Dodori, Mother Sherit, and Grandfather Golden Dragon—they all used their traits and displayed impressive feats, yet Raon had never awakened his own trait.
Raon’s attribute was ‘Present.’ That was all he knew; he had no idea how to manifest that attribute or what purpose it served.
Then, my indifferent voice reached his ears.

“Some powers awaken late anyway.”

Raon’s gaze turned toward Kale’s back.
Kale, unaware of that gaze, contemplated his other power.
Kim Rok-soo’s other power.
It was the ability that made him a multi-ability user alongside ‘Record,’ and a power that had manifested later than Record. Using that power caused severe overload, placing considerable strain on Kale’s body.

‘That one is also related to time, like Raon’s.’

Because of this, Kale spoke his thoughts without filter.

“Perhaps your attribute is waiting until you grow strong enough to handle that power, strong enough to bear it.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. So just eat well, sleep well, and play well.”

With those words, Kale stopped walking.

Boom! Crash! Boom!
Even as rocks continued to fall sporadically behind him, an enormous chasm appeared before Kale.
At the mountain peak. The chasm there resembled a miniature version of the Sinkhole where the Endable Kingdom lay.

“…Damn! How could they do this to people—!”
“Those damned bastards!”

And along the cliff descending to the bottom of that chasm, stairs existed.
Following those stairs, prisons clustered together like a honeycomb came into view. The spaces were so cramped that one could barely stretch out and lie down properly.

“Y-Your Highness! Your Highness, is it you?”
“What? Your Highness?”

That was when it happened.
Someone extended a hand through the prison bars.
The owner of that hand was looking toward Kale.

Though dyed red, it was Prince Nar, the future of the Vampires, prouder than any other.
Soon the prisons grew turbulent, and all the Vampires’ gazes turned outward.

Kale examined each figure carefully.
They were gaunt, as if they hadn’t eaten properly, and some bore injuries from violent resistance, their bodies far from normal condition.
But his gaze ultimately turned elsewhere.

“…What is that?”

He was asking the question, but he had already arrived at the answer.

“Human! That’s it! Dark Spirit power!”

Raon’s words were correct.
The darkness that Lion King Dorf had once wielded after devouring the Dark Spirit was lurking beneath the hole, obscuring the view.
Veiled by that power—like black fog—it made it impossible to discern what lay at the bottom of the hole.

“…So Dorf had a reason for coming here.”

Perhaps that darkness was meant to conceal the bottom of the hole.
And when that darkness dissipated, I sensed I would know what lay beneath.
The moment I reviewed the records on the Sezes Kingdom, I recalled a passage from the past.

“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness has come to save us!”
“Ugh… sob!”
“P-please save us!”

Amid the Vampires’ cries, I removed the band around my wrist.
That band was a treasure passed down through generations in Duke Fredo’s household—the very item that had allowed me to assume the appearance of Prince Nar.
And the moment I removed it, everything began reverting to its true form.

“That person is—!”
“Why is Prince Nar—”

At last, Kale Heniatus in his academy graduation uniform revealed his true self.
He issued a command.

“Rescue the hostages!”

And he added:

“I’m going down.”

Before the Ranger Unit members could even respond, he plunged downward.
The moment the Rangers flinched at the sight, their eyes caught Kale Heniatus wreathed in golden electricity as he descended.

The power of the Dark Spirit.
Kale possessed the strength to illuminate that darkness.

-Leave it to me.

Destructive Fire.
He spoke in his own voice for the first time in a long while.

Whoooosh—
Crimson flames blazed upward, devouring the darkness.

Screeeech— Screeeech—
With a chilling, piercing cry, golden electricity bloomed around him, consuming the darkness as if swallowing it whole.
Like the first torch illuminating darkness, as Kale descended deeper toward the bottom of the chasm, the shadows retreated and vanished.

The Vampires, bewildered and confused, watched in stunned silence. The Ranger Unit members, who had been moving swiftly, also froze in awe.
Dodori, in particular, could not tear her eyes from the sight.
Then she noticed Raon standing beside Kale. Raon was always at Kale’s side, and it seemed only natural.

“I should go too.”

Dodori thought she must follow them quickly.

“…Ah—”

But her body had turned rigid as stone.

“W-what is that—”

Her voice trembled.

As the darkness receded, the bottom of the chasm was revealed.
The moment Dodori saw what lay there, her legs went numb.
She had read many scenes in biographies and heroic tales, imagining them countless times. But facing reality was entirely different.

“…Why, why are there so many bones—”

As the darkness lifted, countless bones lay scattered everywhere in mound-like piles.
And at the center of those bones stood an enormous circular glass chamber.

“Ugh!”

Dodori covered her mouth.
As the Dark Spirit’s power that had barely been containing things vanished, a sickly stench rose from the circular glass vessels.
It wasn’t a real smell. Only a dragon sensitive to mana could perceive it.

“Raon.”

Descending to the floor at the center of countless bone graves, I opened my mouth as I gazed upon four massive glass vessels.

“Is that the liquid you mentioned, made from dead mana?”
“Yes! Human! That’s it! That smell, that aura—it’s all that!”

Four enormous circular glass vessels. Around them, figures clad in gray priestly robes gripped their weapons, their eyes fixed on Raon and me.

“Kale Heniatus!”
“…Damn it! What did the Lion Tribe and Cat Tribe do!”

But I didn’t look at them.

“Hmm.”

At the center, surrounded by the four circular glass vessels.
There stood an altar.
Upon that altar rested four statues that were familiar to my eyes.

“…Half of the unranked monsters were here.”

Holding the golden spinning top, I heard the urgent voices of the Wind Spirits.

‘Chaos, Destruction! We thought they were all in the Endable Kingdom!’
‘When were they moved? Did we not notice because of the Dark Spirit’s power!’
‘That must be it. Kale, sorry. But we’re certain those statues and liquids are in the Endable Kingdom too! We’re sure of it!’

I spoke in an emotionless voice.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

At my tone devoid of emotion, the Wind Spirits spoke with greater urgency.

‘Chaos, destruction, apologies! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know!’
‘I’m sorry, Kale. We missed it. What do we do.’
‘Next time, I’ll definitely make up for it!’

But Kale wasn’t listening carefully to the Wind Spirit’s voice right now.
He moved his hand.

“Ugh! Ack!”

King Bakehe, who had been floating thanks to Raon.
He was seized by the collar by Kale.

“Cough!”

He was hurled straight to the ground. King Bakehe tumbled across the floor, his entire body bound tight.

“Ugh!”

Kale’s shoe pressed down on his head.
Bakehe could see the cold eyes looking down at him. Kale spoke in an indifferent tone.

“So there’s another bastard like Adin here.”

In the underground chamber of the Mogur Empire Alchemy Tower.
The massive bone graveyard that lay there.
Countless people who had to die to create dead mana.
A significant portion of them were people who had gathered at the promise of becoming Alchemists.
And those who had been captured by human traffickers and dragged away as slaves.

It was also why Kale had felt an uncanny unease when he first heard about the Sezes Kingdom Sword Training Center.

“Human! This, this place has even more than the Mogur bone graveyard!”

Raon’s voice trembled. The bone remains filling this place were incomparable to those in the Alchemy Tower underground.

“One’s an Alchemist and one’s a Knight.”

Heh.
A short laugh escaped from Kale’s lips.

“Kugh. Ugh. Ugh, ugh!”

I trampled King Bakehe, whose mouth remained sealed shut, and opened my own.

“Raon.”

I pointed toward the altar at the center of the bone graveyard.

“Destroy those statues.”
“Understood, human! This time I’ll smash them! I won’t forgive those who did this!”

The priests who had served the demonic beings and demons in the Endable Kingdom convulsed, their voices rising in panic.

“If you destroy those statues! These liquids will spill out and you’ll all die!”
“Just try breaking them! The liquid that seeps out will turn the Sezes Kingdom into a dead land!”

Raon hesitated at their words.
Last time too, in the Endable Kingdom, Raon had been unable to steal the eight statues. It was because of that dead mana-transformed liquid connected to those statues.
If it ruptured by mistake, it would be catastrophic.

“Raon.”

Then, a soft voice reached my ears.

“Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything.”

It was the most reassuring voice.
A voice I couldn’t hear when I tried to destroy the statues in the Endable Kingdom before, but one that now stood beside me.

“Understood, human!”

All of Raon’s worries vanished.
Behind such a Raon, I wore a cold smile.
From a moment ago, a certain presence had been speaking within my mind.

-The essence is the same anyway.

In the ancient age of darkness that once unfolded across the world.
A warrior who had burned dead mana, transforming all directions into a sea of fire, standing alone.
Destructive Fire had taught Kale Heniatus this truth.

-Whether it’s dead mana or that—burn it all away.

Purification.
Use that power.
Golden lightning could purify that liquid.

* * *

At that very moment.

“…I’ve been discovered.”

Lion King Dorf glanced toward the mountain peak, then turned his gaze upon his enemies with a twisted smile.

“You won’t be able to use your true power beneath this darkness, will you?”

Nexus Mountain was now shrouded in darkness far thicker than any fog.
Beneath the Black Curtain’s veil, not a single ray of sunlight was permitted.
Dorf’s Dark Spirit power. Beneath this black curtain, those with darkness attributes gained strength, while those of the opposite nature found theirs diminished.

“Tch.”

Vicross stared down at his own palms. The strength in his hands had waned.

“Suddenly—!”
“My body has grown sluggish!”

The Ranger Unit members and the Mercenary King felt the same.
Beneath the suddenly manifested Black Curtain, the power flowing through their bodies no longer operated smoothly.

‘I need time to adapt, time to adjust!’

It was then that Sword Master Bud harbored such thoughts when Dorf’s lips curved upward.
That Black Curtain—the very same one that had forced even Rosalind and Erhafen to wield only a quarter of their usual mana at first.

“Last time, even the Ancient Dragon couldn’t properly use mana beneath this Black Curtain. You won’t fare any better, will you?”

Dorf’s gaze fell upon Rashil, whose face had grown stern.
In that moment, Rashil recalled what Kale had told him.

‘Rashil, you just need to defeat one opponent first.’
‘Eh? Just one? I could handle more.’
‘Just one for now.’
‘Which one?’
‘The Lion King.’

Now, looking back, it seemed Kale had foreseen this very moment.

‘When he enters a berserk state, he becomes quite massive.’
‘Oh. Defeating him will be satisfying. Good. I shall capture that one myself.’

How should I go about it?
Excessive excitement caused Rashil’s expression to harden involuntarily.
No one in this place understood what lay beneath that facade.

‘Rashil, feel free to defeat him as you wish.’

With Kale’s permission granted, Rashil had nothing holding him back.

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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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