Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 646

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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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Hundreds of Bear Tribe members, already in their berserk state, stood ready to face Kale Heniatus and Raon.
The surviving Dark members all turned their blades toward Kale Heniatus and Raon.
And enveloping Bear Tribe King Sayehr, who stood before them, was a radiant light.

Kale Heniatus and Raon would have to break through all of it.
But Kale Heniatus’s eyes were fixed elsewhere.

“…Blood.”

I could see the Royal Palace floor—what should have been red was now blackened and dried.
Yet there was no scent of blood reaching my nose. Instead, a crisp forest fragrance was overtaking my senses.

“This… this cannot be… it cannot be!”

Raon’s voice trembled finely. I realized he was seeing the same thing I was.

“Kgh… khgh.”
“Ugh… ugh.”
“…Uh… uh….”

Before Kale Heniatus and Raon lay countless enemies. Beyond them existed prison carriages containing the Dark Elves.
Yet some of them were empty. The Dark Elves confined in the remaining prison carriages were either vacant-eyed or trembling violently in various states of distress.

Boom— thud, boom boom—
Even so, the drum sounds continued. The enemies. Then the prison carriages. Beyond them, figures in gray Priesthood robes beat the drums while blood dripped from their noses and mouths.
And upon the Circular Altar they surrounded.

“Human! This is not the statue we knew!”

The statue, already stained gray, emitted strange lights of varying colors.
My gaze turned toward Sayehr.

“…So you didn’t begin the summoning upon receiving word from Dorf.”
“That’s right. I finished the summoning preparations early this morning, so it was quite exhausting.”

A small gleam of delight flickered in Sayehr’s eyes—a petty joy born from the thought that he could finally land a blow on Kale Heniatus, kindled in the face of an imminent grand design.

“We were planning to conduct the summoning in Endable, and if it succeeded, we would conduct a second summoning at Nexus Mountain.”

A smirk twisted across Sayehr’s lips.

“Kale Heniatus, why that expression?”

He regarded Kale with contempt.

“I don’t understand why you make such a face seeing an empty prison carriage, seeing this dried blood. Are you sad seeing the blood of the sacrifices that died? Are you angry?”

Kale’s expression, now devoid of urgency, revealed nothing. Yet Sayehr could not help but sneer at the trembling in his eyes that belied that calm facade.

“They weren’t Vampires who turned to your side, but those Dark Elves who attacked and killed your allies. Shouldn’t you be pleased their numbers have decreased? Your enemies are dead, after all?”

Raon could not contain his rage and summoned black mana.

“You filthy Bear King, I—wait!”

At that moment, Raon saw a massive water spear being shot toward the Bear King. It was an Ancient Power that Kale had unleashed.

Witnessing this, Bear King Sayehr spoke to the leader of those who had taken his arm.
Light and water collided and shattered into fine fragments. Through the gaps, the Bear King could see Kale approaching him head-on.
“It’s already too late.”

Simultaneously, he raised his arm. At that signal, the Bear Tribe rushed toward Kale.

The sound of hundreds of berserk Bear Tribe members moving at once shook the earth. The Dark agents spread out simultaneously, targeting Kale’s blind spots.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Wind. And water.

Wind. And water.
-Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?

Jjangdol asked, but Kale did not answer. Rather, there was no time to answer.

If it had already started, I had to stop it before blaming myself for being too late.
The summoning had already begun before Kale Heniatus could overtake Nexus Mountain.
If you’ve already started, you should have stopped it before blaming it on being too late.

“Human! Do not overexert yourself! I will block it all!”

But it was Sayehr who appeared before Raon.
And before Kale Heniatus was.

“Krahaha! I have been waiting for this moment!”
“The enemy of our tribe!”

Enemies so numerous that one could not see even an inch ahead.
A space filled with hostility burning like flames. The Bear Tribe members wielded their weapons, their fists, their feet as they watched their sole and most terrible enemy beneath the heavens leap in alone.

Crash! Bang, crash!
Kale Heniatus raised his shield. And he continued forward, still riding the wind.
At the same time, the earth trembled.

-…You intend to use me as well?

The sinkhole where the Endable Kingdom stood. As its cliff crumbled, hundreds of stone spears materialized.
Those stone spears surged toward the altar all at once.

“Raon!”
“Already on it!”

And Raon moved alongside those stone spears toward the Circular Altar. Hundreds of countless black arrows densely filled the spaces between the spears.
The black arrows, like the night itself, filled the gaps between the spears, and the spears descended like a meteor shower falling to the earth.
Raon drew his mana to its absolute limit.
Sweat drenched his entire body.

‘Dangerous!’

Four statues completely stained grey, emanating an eerie light.
And.

‘Glass tubes!’

Four glass tubes containing dead mana-transformed liquid. Nearly all of the liquid inside those connected to each statue had almost nothing remaining.
Raon cried out toward the only power he could wield—his mana.

“Destroy it!”

Hm.
A shallow laugh echoed out.

“Is that even possible?”

Raon witnessed a blindingly brilliant curtain of light draping over the Circular Altar like an umbrella.
Crash—crash, crash—
A torrent of stone spears and black arrows. And the curtain of light that received them all.
All three shattered into fragments.

“Ugh, cough!”

Sayehr coughed and spat black blood.
Raon’s and Sayehr’s gazes met. Sayehr spoke to the Young Dragon.

“Don’t think that only you learn and grow. Right?”

The one who had wielded only spears of light could now defend with light as well.

“Today, I have wagered my life.”

Sayehr gazed at Raon with eyes that had abandoned life itself, leaving only unwavering resolve toward his cause. For a moment, Raon felt his breath catch at the weight of that gaze.
This was the first time the Young Dragon had witnessed an opponent manifest such intensity. Without thinking, he looked toward where Kale Heniatus should be.

“You… human—”

But Kale Heniatus was nowhere to be seen.
Crash! Bang! Bang!
Countless members of the Bear Tribe piled up like a hillside, obscuring even Kale Heniatus’s shield from view. Through the gaps, Am seeped in and launched attacks.
Raon understood at last as he witnessed this.
That Kale Heniatus was bearing the brunt of all the multiple attacks, allowing him freedom of movement.

“Young Dragon.”

Sayehr spoke to Raon.

“Are you prepared to fight with the same resolve as I?”

Sayehr’s complexion had grown deathly pale, yet his expression remained composed and unshaken.
Raon’s fists clenched without his realizing it, his front paws trembling faintly. Watching the young dragon, Sayehr’s eyes gleamed with a flicker of satisfaction—his words had struck true against one so inexperienced.

Boom—boom-boom—!
The drum continued its relentless rhythm. Raon’s eyes widened as he witnessed something before him.

Crack. Crack. The grey maw descending from the sky had already expanded to engulf the entire sinkhole. Between those grey jaws yawned a darkness deeper than the abyss itself.
And then another.
Shatter—shatter. The two statues, now turned grey, were already fracturing.

“Strike the drum harder!”
“Offer your prayers!”
“We need more sacrifices! Bring forth the sacrifices!”

The Demon Worshippers shrieked in frenzied madness, blood spilling from their lips. Simultaneously, black light erupted from beneath the altar.

“Teleportation circles!”

The teleportation circles activated in sequence, and those summoned appeared ready to unleash their magic at once.
Swish. Figures cast off their grey priestly robes. Black Mages.
Sayehr displayed this sight to Raon as well, speaking once more.

“Disguise is not something only you employ. Everyone learned it from you. So, what do you think?”

Raon’s clenched front paws were now drenched with sweat.

“I… I—”

That was when it happened.

“Raon!”

The moment Kale’s voice rang out.
Whoooosh—
A tremendous gust of wind erupted.

“Cough!”
“Ugh!”

A whirlwind so violent that the Bear Tribe members were helplessly flung outward. At its center stood Kale Heniatus.
Kale, who had been continuously drawing upon Ancient Powers, already had black blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.
Only then did Raon speak.

“H-Human! Two of the statues have cracked!”
“It’s already too late.”

Sayehr added matter-of-factly, though he could not suppress his laughter.

‘Has Kale Heniatus ever experienced such a failure before?’

That fact alone was enough to make him laugh. If he could land a blow on that man and die in the process, if he could play a significant role in the greater cause, he would have no regrets.

“Only one or two minutes remain now.”

Sayehr spoke while gazing steadily at Raon and Kale.

“No matter what attack you launch, no matter who you summon, you cannot destroy those statues in merely two minutes. I will stop you, even if it costs me my life—costs us our lives.”

The beginning of a grand mythology, awaited for a thousand years, now had only two minutes remaining. Sayehr felt tears of joy welling up.
Meanwhile, Raon felt tears welling up for an entirely different reason.

‘It’s impossible!’

Even if he summoned his allies, the summoning would be complete by the time he finished contacting them.
Even if he used magic himself, the enemies had already resigned themselves to death, so they would undoubtedly hold the line for a minute or two regardless.

“H-Human, what should we do?”

In the end, Raon had no choice but to turn to Kale. He was the one who had always shown the way. The Young Dragon’s only refuge was Kale.

“Raon. Contact him immediately.”

And Kale, as always, remained composed.

“Ha! You intend to summon your allies? The summoning will be complete in that time, I tell you?”

Sayehr let out a scoff directed at Kale, whose complexion was as pale as his own—no, even more strained than his.
But Raon immediately carried out Kale’s command.

-Huh?

Alberu stood upon the teleportation circle, about to depart for Pursulsi, when his expression hardened at the sight that materialized before him through the video communication.
The elite warriors of the Royal Palace who had set out as the vanguard, including Choi Han beside him, wore the same expression.
Through the video communication device held in Raon’s airborne hand, Alberu could see everything unfolding.
Kale Heniatus knew this, so he spoke what Alberu would surely grasp from this sight.

“Your Highness. Send the Dark Elves. And dispatch the personnel currently deemed necessary for cleanup here.”
-Kale! We can send Erhafen-
“It will be useless.”

No matter how quickly we moved, it would already be too late by the time Erhafen arrived.
No.
It was already too late now.

“Kekeke. Less than a minute remains now!”

Sayehr’s laughter intermingled with that of Am and the Bear Tribe, their voices crashing over me like a tidal wave of spectral screams.

“Human! Let me try something!”
-…Kale. You say it’s useless, but still-

I did not look at Raon, Alberu, or Choi Han.

“Two.”
-What?
“At most, two will escape. Prepare yourselves.”

Whiiiiiii-
The whirlwind wrapped around me with even greater ferocity. Like a rocket gathering power, the wind accumulated its strength again and again.
Raon unconsciously drew closer to that whirlwind.
Alberu asked what Raon wanted to know.

-…The rest?

What of the other two? What of the two statues?
As always, I remained composed.

“I will eliminate them.”

How?
Alberu couldn’t bring himself to ask.
It was because Kale Heniatus’s eyes, briefly visible between the whirlwinds, had transformed in an unsettling manner. The space where his eyes should have been was difficult to discern.
The area around Kale Heniatus’s eyes distorted as if heat shimmer were rising from them. For reasons he couldn’t explain, Alberu gripped Choi Han’s arm tightly. An inexplicable sense of dread washed over him.

“Raon.”
“…Human.”

The unusual atmosphere gave Raon pause. Yet at the words that followed, he seemed ready to charge through the whirlwind toward Kale Heniatus in shock.

“Raon, the moment I collapse. Move me to Roan immediately.”
“Human, you cannot collapse-”
“Raon. In times like this, you must make a choice.”

Kale Heniatus spread his hand as if telling him not to approach. For Raon, who had never experienced such a thing before, he remained rigid, staring at Kale Heniatus.

-I’ve reached my limit.

The Voice of Wind spoke in a husky tone.

-Soon the wind will rage at its fastest speed.

The whirlwind, compressed again and again, prepared itself for maximum velocity.
Within it, Kale Heniatus organized his thoughts one final time.

‘If all the unranked monsters head to the Roan Kingdom, Roan might endure, but thousands—tens of thousands—could die in the meantime. No, thousands will definitely die.’

Unranked monsters required prolonged combat through conventional means.
Like the Electric Eel I fought before, knowing its weakness and concentrating attacks on it allowed the battle to end in a short time.
But with four of them, short-term combat was impossible. Especially the seventh and eighth unranked monsters, whose weaknesses I didn’t know, would likely drag on indefinitely.

‘So in times like this, I must make a choice.’

I still had the luxury of choosing.

One was for me to get injured.
The other was for me to retreat.

“Raon. I am someone who cannot forget.”

Raon heard a soft voice for the first time.
No—everyone beyond the communication channel heard it for the first time: a voice that was gentle yet hollow, drained of strength.

Kale Heniatus.
Kim Rok-soo was a person I could never forget.

‘If I retreat now, my people might be hurt. My home might crumble.’

If I retreat, and my people are wounded. If my home becomes ruins.
I cannot forget that. And each moment of choice etches itself into my mind, replaying endlessly.

‘I cannot forget what happened to others, to the world, as a result of my hesitation back then—all because I wanted to suffer less.’

There was one reason, and only one, why I had deliberated so deeply.

“Raon.”

It was because of young Raon.
Raon could see me turning my head toward him.
But my eyes, distorted behind a shimmering haze, were not clearly visible. Raon widened his eyes to see them better, yet only my voice came through intact.

“Do not become like me.”

I offered Raon this counsel.

“Make a different choice than I did.”

Living this way was enough for me alone.
So young Raon must—

“Save me and flee. You must escape.”

I had to make him choose differently.

-Kale Heniatus!
-Lord Kale!
“Kekeke. Barely ten seconds remain. What do you intend to do before you flee?”

Between the anguished cries of Alberu and Choi Han, who sensed the ominous turn, Sayehr laughed mockingly at me.

“You think mere wind can pierce through that?! It can’t even reach inside!”

In that instant, Sayehr faltered and closed his mouth.
Kale Heniatus’s lips curved upward.
He felt the wind.

“Thank goodness.”

Long ago, when I visited the Mercenary Guild to check the roster of ability users. As Kim Rok-soo, I first used the ‘Record’ ability in this world.
I brought a portion of the Grade 1 ability user Kim Rok-soo’s power into this realm, and realized I could wield my multiple abilities to a certain extent.

And then came the Sealed God’s trial.
After returning as the twenty-year-old Kim Rok-soo from another parallel world, having defeated an unranked monster, my body underwent a transformation.

‘A part became the whole.’

A deep smile bloomed across my lips.
The first ability, ‘Record,’ had imposed considerable burden upon me alongside heat, but the second ability inflicted pain that far exceeded it.

‘If overload sets in, it will be troublesome. But I must use it when the moment demands.’

That moment had arrived.
Crack—!
The remaining two statues began to fracture as well.
Sayehr opened his mouth once more at the sight.

“Now you’re finished! We, Endable, shall claim glory—!”

Whooooom—
Simultaneously, the teleportation circle beneath the statues vibrated and erupted with pure light.
The statues fractured rapidly.

“How… how is this—”

Raon stood bewildered. In that moment.

“Try not to look if you can help it.”

Raon heard those words and froze, his eyes wide open.
No—he was frozen.
It felt as though the world itself had stopped.
It was merely an illusion that felt that way.
Because there existed a being moving within a different temporal flow than his own.

The Dragon saw it.
A moment impossibly brief.
An instant.
A being advancing like light itself.
That being was human.

An instant.
This was Kale Heniatus’s second ability—the power that belonged to Kim Rok-soo and enabled him to lead the Attack Team.
Someone had once recorded and spoken of Kim Rok-soo:

【Team Leader Kim Rok-soo’s second ability, ‘Instant,’ is a power that transcends time.】

‘The human brain is said to command the human body.’
‘Kim Rok-soo’s brain drives the human body to its absolute limits, enabling movements at speeds no human could achieve and actions no human should be capable of performing.’
‘It appears as though he transcends the very fabric of spacetime itself.’
‘In that moment alone, he becomes the sole being capable of moving within that world.’
‘Yet that duration is, true to the ability’s name, merely an ‘instant’—approximately five seconds of usable time.’

【But a price existed for such transgression. As the human defied the laws of spacetime, the body could not withstand the strain.】

One step.
Within the slowed time that felt frozen, Kale took another step forward.
All sound vanished.
Yet with each step he took—

Crack—!
The sound of skin tearing erupted.
Crack, snap!
Wounds appeared across his legs, torso, and arms—as though sliced by paper.
Blood rippled outward like waves in the wake of his passage.

‘This body will become like Kim Rok-soo’s body. No—since Kale Heniatus’s body is weaker, the damage will be far more severe.’

The reason Kim Rok-soo’s entire body was covered in wounds.
Recalling the greatest among the many reasons he always had to wear long sleeves, Kale Heniatus did not wipe away his smile.

A fleeting instant.
In that brief span of time, I transcended everything that stood before me.

In this moment, I alone was free.

Before activating my ability, I took a step using the wind as my springboard.
The moment I invoked the instant, even the wind itself froze.
Within a world where all seemed suspended, I displayed movements of supreme perfection—feats my ordinary body could never achieve.
I surpassed and passed the Bear Tribe, leaving behind a startled Sayehr.

My head throbbed.
It felt as though it might shatter.
Heat surged through me.
Both Kale Heniatus and Kim Rok-soo knew well that closing one’s eyes at such a moment was forbidden.
I pressed toward my objective—toward the statue.

‘3.’

The fleeting instant granted only to me was nearly exhausted.
I had to achieve my goal before it ended.

‘2.’

One step. One stride.
Every muscle—legs, arms, body—felt as though it would tear asunder.
Yet I pressed forward.

‘1.’

And the moment that instant ended.
The shimmering veil that had filled my vision vanished, and I reached out to seize the statue mere inches before me.
Fifteen seconds remained, if Sayehr’s words were true.
My hand was drenched in blood flowing from countless wounds. My vision seemed to tint crimson.

“Hah… hah…”

My breathing grew ragged. I had to squeeze every last ounce of strength from my body just to lift the statue.

Soon.
I would collapse in moments.
But there was something I had to do before that happened.

The statue emanating an eerie light.
I had no strength left to draw upon the Ancient Powers, and I couldn’t summon my allies.
There was only one way to destroy it.

“This is all I’ve got to work with.”

I gripped the statue in both hands and brought it crashing down against another statue.
One method to destroy a statue carved with an Unranked monster.
It was to smash it with another Unranked monster statue, destroying both in the process.

Crash!
The seventh Unranked monster statue I held came down upon the second Unranked statue, shattering it into fragments.

“No, this can’t be—-!”

As time resumed its flow around me, I heard Sayehr’s cry and turned my gaze toward another objective.

Upon the Circular Altar stood a figure drenched in blood, moving their exhausted body.
They could neither stop nor escape.

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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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