Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: Doodle
=================
< Chapter 126: Dragon Blood (1) >
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
Theo’s heart pounded furiously, and his core surged in rhythm with each beat.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…!
The continuous heartbeat echoed like the opening drum of a war, generating a tremendous wave of energy.
As embers rose from the heated wind, they ignited into brilliant yellow sparks of lightning that scattered in every direction.
The more his blood boiled, the faster it surged through his veins.
The efficiency of his magic power intensified, loaded immense strength into his body.
Veins that bulged along his forearm snaked up to his neck, covering half his face.
As a result, Theo’s already pale face looked almost ghostly white.
But that was not the end.
All of Theo’s artifacts began resonating, lending their strength to his power.
『How long has it been since you awakened Dragonblood, and you’re already using it? Truly, an impatient companion you are.』
A faint chuckle seemed to echo from somewhere.
『Very well. But if you intend to be my partner, you should have the capacity to overcome this much. I’m in the middle of digesting, so I’ll lend you a bit of help.』
For a brief moment, Theo thought he saw a flash of light before his eyes.
Bzzt!
[The Blessing of the Guardian Dragon is activating.]
[‘Talent: Dragonblood’ is activating, awakening the Ancient Dragon’s bloodline factor. All artifacts linked to the Ancient Dragons resonate intensely.]
[All special abilities are temporarily enhanced.]
[All augmentation abilities are temporarily reinforced.]
[All artifact effects are temporarily amplified.]
.
.
As countless messages piled up before his eyes.
Boom!
Theo slammed his foot onto the ground with crushing force.
A multitude of luminous trajectories unfolded before him.
Theo hurled himself into the midst of them.
Cutting through the steam that swirled off his skin, the red-hot Dragon Slayer Sword moved to obliterate the foe before him.
The countless beams of light before him turned, one by one, into trails of his blade.
A powerful intuition struck his mind.
[The ‘All Buff’ state has begun.]
[Time limit: 5 minutes.]
[Countdown starting now.]
[00:05:00]
[00:04:59]
.
Shing—!
The influence of Dragonblood was not limited to Theo’s physical body alone.
It encompassed every relic of the Ancient Dragons he had gathered, along with the various skills and special abilities he’d acquired from them.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…!
Theo pushed the Captain of the Ghost Slayer Squad back, his thunderous heartbeat pounding so loudly that it felt like drums were beating right next to his ears.
Crash, crash, crash, crash—!
‘What kind of power is this?!’
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Every time the Captain parried Theo’s strike, his wrists throbbed with a pain that felt as if they might snap.
Unable to deflect the relentless attacks entirely, he was pushed from the altar to the center of the temple in an instant.
The truth was, he had been underestimating Theo all along.
"How strong could a mere child be, really?
And even if this so-called mystery of Kriemhild held any power, how extraordinary could it truly be, coming from such a backwater place?
Sure, the tales spoke of a 'Sea King' sealed away, but they had only used some ancient magical artifact. How much of that power truly came from their own abilities?
Everything here was filled with uncertainties and doubt.
From what the Captain of the Ghost Slayer Squad had encountered on the Floating Archipelago, none of it was that impressive.
All they had was an islander’s stubborn pride, unable to stand up to even one unit of his Ghost Slayer Squad.
Yet…
This time, things were different.
Perhaps calling it a ‘mystery’ wasn’t so far off the mark after all.
What had he experienced inside that place? He seemed like a completely different person now.
In that moment, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Ragnar.
Hadn’t the damned House of Ragnar in the North been known for similar strange phenomena?
There were countless stories of how warriors—once insignificant and unremarkable—suddenly changed overnight, capable of cutting down dozens, even hundreds, of enemies.
And these individuals all shared one common trait.
“You… you’re a direct descendant of Ragnar.”
Gritting his teeth, the Ghost Slayer Commander glared at Theo.
Now, he was no longer caught off guard and calmly blocked Theo’s attacks.
“But I’ve never heard of anyone so young with such strength. Even the youngest, Torkel, would be in his mid-twenties by now. You don’t even seem that old. Who exactly are you?”
Theo twisted one corner of his lip.
“Didn’t the Soaring Dragon mention me?”
“Soaring Dragon? Are you speaking of Lord Ed?”
“Who else?”
For a brief moment, fragments of information Ed had shared with the scattered squads worldwide flooded the Ghost Slayer Commander’s mind.
Among the Ragnar’s latest generation, there was one to be wary of—Theo Ragnar. Beyond just his talent, he showed an uncanny cleverness. With his strikingly beautiful face and long hair, he would be easy to recognize.
Back then, he had thought that perhaps Lord Ed, having been within Ragnar territory for so long, was just overly cautious, even towards a mere child.
Was that not the case?
Moreover, the end of Ed’s report included a specific note:
If a confrontation occurs, make him your primary target to eliminate. However, if there is any spare time, retreat swiftly to avoid the high likelihood of retaliation.
Spare time.
Would that spare time include the opportunity to secure Kriemhild’s mystery?
A sudden chill ran down his spine.
“Enough with the idle talk. We’re not exactly friends here, are we?”
In that instant, another intense premonition appeared before Theo’s eyes—
A diagonal trajectory.
Theo followed that trajectory and swung the Dragon Slayer Sword down.
<Nibelung’s Claw – Slash>
Clang!
The Ghost Slayer Commander barely deflected Theo’s blade, which had cunningly aimed for his blind spot, and grit his teeth tightly.
Grrrind-
“Arrogant brat.”
Even if Lord Ed had warned him to avoid direct confrontation…
If he allowed himself to be bested by this mere child, what right would he have to claim the title of Ghost Slayer Commander?
“Just like the last one, you Ragnars love to run your mouths.”
“Well, that’s because we have the skill to back it up.”
Just as the Ghost Slayer Commander’s eyes twitched in irritation and he prepared to counterattack, a sudden chill ran down his spine.
What was this?
As he turned to look, something emerged abruptly from his shadow, baring a grotesque maw.
It was like a shark lunging out of the water to snatch its prey.
There wasn’t even time to realize what it was.
Right now, he had to deal with it—he gathered magic power in his left arm, preparing to unleash his aura in defense.
Crunch!
“Guh!”
But his aura passed helplessly through the shadow, slamming harmlessly against the wall, while the enormous maw clamped down on his left arm and shoulder.
Rip!
The pain of having his arm torn off defied any description. Stars spun before his eyes.
To make matters worse, he couldn’t retaliate, as physical attacks didn’t affect it; the creature had already dived back into the shadows and vanished.
What he had seen in those final moments was incomprehensible, even for the Ghost Slayer Commander.
“A w-wyvern?”
Why had a wyvern, typically used by the White Armored Dragon Cavalry, suddenly appeared here?
And more to the point—weren’t wyverns supposed to be airborne creatures? He had never heard of one emerging from shadows.
Moreover, this creature’s appearance was distinct from a typical wyvern.
It was larger, more savage, and exuded a menacing aura. Black shadows rippled like waves over its ash-gray scales, amplifying its fearsome presence.
He was clueless, unaware that Umbra had just begun evolving into a Shadow Wyvern after consuming the purified Shadow Demon Poison, obtained from the Sea King.
But Theo knew exactly what was happening, and he was satisfied.
Keeek!
Umbra let out a cry, almost as if demanding praise.
“Well done, Umbra.”
Keek-
With a delighted response from Umbra, Theo swung the Dragon Slayer Sword once more, following his intuition.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
A fierce gust transformed into a storm, raging around the Ghost Slayer Commander.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bolts of lightning split the air, crashing repeatedly into the ground.
Meanwhile, Umbra prowled through the shadows, circling like a shark, ready to bare his deadly fangs at any moment.
“You… you little brat!!”
At last, the Ghost Slayer Commander’s final thread of reason snapped.
His pride was shredded by the fact that he was being toyed with by this brat, and the pain and blood loss from his torn-off left arm gnawed at his sanity.
So, the Ghost Slayer Commander launched an aura-infused slash aimed directly at Theo’s head.
Boom!
But even that strike was blocked by the Dragon Slayer Sword.
Zap, zap—
Before he could catch his breath, Selperd, Arin, and Ray seized the moment and attacked him relentlessly.
“Die…!”
Then Marti, furious over the deaths of her comrades, joined in, leaving him to fend off the combined assault of five swordsmen and a monstrous creature.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Rumble—
Flash! Flash!
Yet, as expected of a commander-level fighter, the Ghost Slayer Commander refused to reveal any fatal opening.
‘There must be a way.’
Theo, determined to find one, channeled Spiritual Essence into his eyes, analyzing every single movement of the Ghost Slayer Commander.
He began to break down each unified motion, dividing it into seconds, and then further into milliseconds, tracking the flow of magic power and aura.
White Heat.
His mind felt as though it was blazing, on the verge of burning out.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Theo’s vision transformed, immersing him in a world flooded with light, where everything appeared frozen in time.
A temporal disconnect occurred as his thought process outpaced the flow of time in the external world.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump…
His heart pounded even faster, causing blood vessels to bulge at the corners of his eyes. Some of them burst, reddening his vision.
When his already scarlet eyes darkened further to deep crimson—
A sudden, intense inspiration struck him like lightning.
In the Ghost Slayer Commander’s hurried movements, Theo detected a subtle imbalance, a slight shift in his stance due to the loss of an arm.
Right hip.
Then left shoulder.
The moment Theo decided on his approach, his left hand moved swiftly to his waist.
He held his breath, allowing complete focus on his strike.
The instant his breathing and stance became one—
—he drew his sword.
Flash!
<Nibelung’s Claw – Rupture>
The Moon-White Sword roared like a predator, its light tearing through the world.
At that instant, his intense focus achieved through White Heat shattered, and the temporal disconnect dissolved.
In that fraction of a moment, an instant too brief to describe—
A jagged wound slashed across the Ghost Slayer Commander’s right hip to his left shoulder, as if a dragon had hit him with its claw.
Splurt!
‘Too shallow!’
Yet Theo sensed instantly that the strike had not hit as deep as he intended.
In the last moment, his opponent had instinctively pulled back.
“I… will… kill you…!”
The Ghost Slayer Commander, narrowly escaping death, finally made the drastic choice he had postponed until the very end.
<Bloodlight Convergence – Stage 2>
<Reverse Blood Explosion>
The blood-red light surrounding his body now shone with such intensity that it stung the eyes.
With his self-destruct technique activated, a surge of magical energy blasted forth, pushing back everyone encircling him by dozens of steps.
“I’ll kill you, Theo Ragnar!”
The Ghost Slayer Commander dashed straight toward Theo, determined to eliminate the one who had brought him to this state.
‘I have to… block him…!’
[00:00:01]
[Time limit reached.]
[As a penalty, all stats are temporarily reduced by 50%.]
Just as Theo prepared to raise the Dragon Slayer Sword and Moon-White Sword, an overwhelming fatigue washed over him, causing him to stagger.
His body could no longer keep pace with his heightened perception.
Screeeech!
As he attempted to cross the Dragon Slayer Sword and Moon-White Sword in an X-shape to block the incoming attack—
「Everything is a complete mess.」
Suddenly, a crushing pressure filled the air, weighing down on both Theo and the Ghost Slayer Commander’s shoulders.
Theo stumbled, dropping to one knee, while the Ghost Slayer Commander, halted mid-charge, crashed into the ground.
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
“……!”
Selperd, Arin, Ray, and Marti all froze, their gazes fixed in silent astonishment.
It felt as if an invisible hand had seized their hearts and lungs, gripping their lives in its grasp.
The same overwhelming dread held the Ghost Slayer Squad, the Temple Knights, and the remaining Black Skull members alike.
A deep silence blanketed the area.
In this moment, this place belonged solely to the mysterious intruder.
「Truly, everything is in ruins.」
The man who had subdued the Ghost Slayer Commander slowly rose to his feet.
He wore a wooden mask that concealed his face, a robe billowing around him.
Noyl.
He tossed something from his hand onto the ground.
Thud, thud…
It was the heads of Umberto Spinola, wide-eyed with terror, and Giuseppe Grimahl, wearing an expression of incomprehension at his fate.
「This level of chaos was never within my expectations.」
His eyes, glinting coldly beneath the wooden mask, showing contempt.
