Dragon Maken War - Chapter 182

Chapter 182

Chapter 182 - The End of the Wait (5)

“Of course, we’ll defeat Azell Karzark and his party . ”

<I mean, what is your prediction?  How do you think they’ll move?>

“Your brain might have rotted away, but you are still capable of thought .  Why don’t you figure it out for yourself?”

<There are others that are better at it than me .  Why should I have to do something so tiresome?>

“Tsk tsk . ”

Almarick clicked his tongue .

“My staff has given me their opinions .  As I’ve said before, they might be trying to deceive us .  They might be using Laura as bait to draw us out .  Rest of their members might assault the Dragon Demon palace . ”

<Oh .  You think he is trying to pierce through to the heart of our base?>

“We have too little information to be sure .  However, if we send our main force towards him, a trap might be waiting for us . ”

<So what should we do?>

“It makes no great difference one way or the other .  Let’s attack them, and we can recover the Vitan’s Chalice . ”

At his words, Reygus chuckled .

<Good!  I love it!  It isn’t in my personality to camp out here . >

“You probably would have been delighted to go out there by yourself .  That image is vivid in my mind .  That is why I decided to take the offensive . ”

<You know me too well . >

“Since I’ve gone so far as to take your personality into consideration in our planning, you better not run out there by yourself . ”

<I’ll do that .  I also have to be considerate of the ladies . >

Reygus shrugged his shoulders .

In this operation, only the elites would be put in .  In the last battle, they had faced the combined might of Azell’s party and the Guardian Shadows . They had learned their lesson .

Niberis, Kieren and Jeffers would be included in the elite force .  Each of them would be leading the elite forces of their respective families, and they would follow the commands of the two Dragon Demon generals .

Suddenly, Reygus asked him a question .

<What about your heir?>

“He has a pretty good mindset .  It’s been worthwhile for me to teach him . ”

<You are teaching someone else?  Oh-ho .  I never expected such a day to come . . >

“He is my descendant .  I’ll feel annoyed if people say he is worthless . ”

When Almarick woke up, the Almarick tribe was completely turned on its head .  Since they had falsely set forth Jeffer as their heir, the Almarick tribe stripped Jeffers of all his authority .  The true powers within the tribe gave all authority to Almarick .

Jeffers was devastated .  The shock had been great when he realized that he had merely been an ignorant puppet .

However, Almarick didn’t discard Jeffers .  Jeffers was his descendant, and he had been the heir while he had been missing .

For a while, he got ahold of Jeffers with the aim to train him .  If his potential was lacking, he would have given up on him immediately .  However, Jeffers hadn’t been too bad, and it had been fun teaching him .

“I have to devise ways to teach him my techniques .  He is worth it .  It is a fun exercise . ”

<Your words makes me want to raise one too . >

“You shouldn’t do it .  I don’t think their bodies can take your ministration . ”

9

After Azell’s party entered the Atisan mountain range, it took them five days to arrive at the mountain peak of Laus .

It was thanks to the Guardian Shadows .  They guided the party towards terrains that were relatively easy to traverse, and they had eliminated all the threats along the way .  If it wasn’t for them, they would have been unable to travel at such high speeds through these unknown lands .

“The mountain peak of Laus… .  Now that I’m close to it… .  It really is big . ”

Azell mumbled to himself as he looked at the mountain peak of Laus from afar .

There were many grand mountain peaks in the Atisan mountain range .  The mountain peaks were so high that it was tough to breathe up there .

However, Laus was exceptionally high .

The second highest mountain peak in the Atisan mountain range was only half the size of Laus .  On a clear day, one was able to see the mountain peak of Laus from the Albatan forest .  This was why this place was known to humans even though no one had tread atop of it .

It was a holy mountain peak that linked the earth to the sky .

Laus was the name of a giant from an old legend . The people of old believed that a god had been punished to hold up the sky .  They believed he was morphed into this very mountain .

“I can’t see the peak now that we are closer to it .  How far up do we have to go?”

When they were far away, they were able to see the mountain peak pierce through the clouds .  Now that they were close, it was to too big to take it all in .  Laura spoke .

“It is 17,817 meters . ”

“Huh?”

“If we are going by elevation above seal level, it is 17,817 meters high . ”

“…how do you know the exact figure?”

He was taken aback, so he asked the question .  Laura explained it to him .

“There are several ways to measure it, but this recorded value was left behind by the Dragon Demon king .  It has been several hundred years, so the value might differ by several meters . ”

“Atein did something so useless .  Well, I guess all magicians are like that… . . ”

Azell was astonished .

‘We have to go up 18 kilometers?’

He was having a hard time wrapping his head around how high the mountain peak was .  Laura pointed out another fact .

“The figure was made in reference to the sea level .  The mountain peak is probably lower than what you have in mind . ”

“ . . . . . you are talking about 18 kilometers becoming 17 kilometers .  I’m not sure there is much of a difference . ”

Laura brought up another point to the grumbling Azell .  

“It is a big difference, especially since we have to climb it . ”

“Huh?”

“We’ve crossed couple mountain peaks coming here, and we already had a hard time breathing on top of these mountains . ”

“You are implying that the mountain peak of Laus might not have an environment capable of supporting humans?”

Laura nodded her head .  Azell furrowed his brows .

“It definitely isn’t an altitude one can climb using flight magic .  Hmm .   I’ve only been that high using my clone, so I’m not sure what the environment is like… . . ”

Laura was surprised by his words .

“You went up that high of a distance?”

“Me?”

“Yes . ”

“I did . ”

“How?”

“I summoned the Sky Splitter, and I used the Dance of Shadows to create a clone . ”

“Ah…… . ”

Azell created a clone with substance, and he was able to freely change the magical properties of such a clone .  He was able to resonate with the Sky Splitter to take on the property of light .  This allowed his clone to be able to climb up to incredible heights .

Azell spoke .

“However, I wasn’t trying to send a clone to a far away distance .  I was faced with a slightly different challenge .  As the clone climbed higher, it became exponentially hard to maintain the clone .  When it reached a certain distance, the clone expired . ”

“Still, it is a ridiculous ability . ”

“Carlos thought so too .  He said my greatest weapon is the ‘ability to be at multiple locations at once . ’  I agree with his assessment . ”

Azell smirked as he spoke .

“Well, shall we climb?  The Guardian Shadows are creating a path for us . ”

It was as he said .  The Guardian Shadows were lined up in a long line as if they wanted to show them where to go .  Several thousand Guardian Shadows stood in an ordered line towards the top of the mountain .  They were also being vigilant of their surrounding .  It was such an alien sight that it made one feel a bit queasy .

Kairen spoke .

“It seems there are over 3,000 of them now…… . ”

“I guess so .  I thought a lot of them were killed during the last battle, yet there are still so many of them… . . . ”

In the battle where the Keepers of Prophecy were wiped out, the Guardian Shadows had taken a significant blow .  From what they had observed, the Guardian Shadows weren’t invincible .  They were able to ignore simple physical attacks, and they were more tenacious than any living being .  However, they could be killed with attacks infused with magical energy .

Despite this fact, there were over 3,000 Guardian Shadows gathered here .  Even if Reygus and Almarick had shown up right now, they wouldn’t have been able to look down on the force gathered here .

Kairen spoke .

“Let’s leave the rest to our friends .  Let’s go meet your Archmage friend, and we can hear the final secret from him . ”

“Let’s do that . ”

The party followed the Guardian Shadows, and they started to climb towards the mountain peak of Laus .

There were no paths that could be traversed by humans, but it didn’t matter .  Azell and his party members could walk on wall as it was flat ground .  Moreover, they also possessed flight magic .  They were vigilant against their surrounding, and they left plenty of energy in reserve as they climbed .  This meant they were traveling up the mountain at a pace similar to a normal human sprinting across a flat surface .

Still, the destination was far .  On top of that, it was getting harder to breathe as they climbed higher .

“We are high enough that… .   I’m starting to run out of breath . ”

Kairen stopped for a brief moment as he gathered his breath .  It was natural to be breathless in the high mountain terrains, but Laus was on a different level .

Above all, the environment itself was too harsh .  The temperature was so low that it felt as if their lungs were about to freeze .  Then there were the knife-like winds… . . .

If all of the party members weren’t superhuman, they wouldn’t have been able to climb this far without powerful magical assistance .  It probably would have taken a normal human a week to get up here .

Kairen queried .

“How much do we have left to go?”

<Soon…… . >

<There is a door…… . >

It was such a simple question that the Guardian Shadows were able to understand his question .  They answered him .

It was as they said .  It didn’t take them too long to reach their destination .  However, there was nothing in the direction pointed out by the Guardian Shadows .

“It’s a wall?”

Yuren was baffled as he stared at the location pointed out by the Guardian Shadows .  

Nothing was there .  It was a rock wall .   He approached the wall just to be sure, and he touched the wall .  He even checked if there was an illusion spell placed over it .  He found nothing .

<Prophesied being…… . >

<Only he…… . >

<His presence is the key…… . >

When he heard their words, Azell stepped forward .

“What do I have to do?”

The Guardian Shadows didn’t answer him .

Koo-roo-roong!

Instead, a deafening roar rang out as the wall shook .

The party was surprised, so they got into their battle stance .  However, the change that was occuring in front of them was harmless .

The rock wall was changing shape .  The sight in front of their eyes became distorted, and a tunnel formed within the darkness .

Laura mumbled her words in surprise .

“Path of Tears?”

It was the same as the passageway created by the Vitan’s Chalice where she distorted space .  This technique was capable of creating a path even when there was a physical barrier .  Azell stared into the darkness as he took a deep breath .  

When Leticia saw this, she asked him a question .

“Are you scared?”

“Aren’t you supposed to ask if I’m nervous?”

“It’s the same thing . ”

“It’s different . ”

Azell burst out laughing as he took a step into the darkness .

At the same time, his surrounding changed .

‘It is a dimensional distortion field . ’

When Azell entered the path, the tunnel morphed into a dimensional distortion field .  He was being dragged towards a new place .  It was like using the Vitan’s Maze to travel a long distance in an instant .

Azell remained calm .

“As expected…… . ”

He had never been to this place .  However, he had seen this place once before .

It wasn't in reality .  He saw it in a dream .

The light reflected off the surface of the water, and the light danced on the wall .  Normally, an underground space like this shouldn’t have a single light source, yet the magical light created such a mystical sight .  

<You’ve finally reached this point, Azell . >

He knew this voice better than anyone, yet the voice sounded so foreign .  The voice spoke towards Azell .

It was a very bleak voice .  It was as if the deepest darkness below had been squeeze to create this voice . .  If felt as if his lifespan was shortened by listening to the voice .  The voice sounded similar to the voice of an Undead, yet the voice elicited a more basic fear from a living being .

“I’ve heard those words before . . ”

Azell felt lost as to what he should feel .  He looked towards the owner of the voice .

Water was gathered at the corner of this space .  There were fragments of ligh dancing above the water as if they were fireflies dancing in the summer night .  The light was so faint that it looked as if the darkness was about to swallow them at any moment .  However, the light continued to fragment, and the beautiful halo of light continued to exist .  

In the middle of all of this, a silhouette wrapped up in darkness existed .

Fragments of light was dancing around him, yet his face couldn’t be seen .  It wasn’t, because of the darkness casted by the worn out hood .  It was probably caused by the ominous energy surrounding his body .

His body was wrapped in a ragged robe, and something was planted deep in his chest .  The end was rounded, and it was embedded with a clear gem .  The wooden staff was pierced through his chest as a quiet darkness emanated from it .

There was a rectangular pillar made out of silver erected behind him .  Black chains were tying him to the silver pillar, and darkness crawled up the surface of the pillar in the shape of letters .  It was a bizarre sight .

Azell Called out to him .

“It has been awhile, Carlos . ”

<Yes .  It really has been awhile, Azell . >

The two sworn friends had ended the Dragon Demon war, and their reunion occurred after 220 years had passed .