Chapter 168.
The white pillar of light looked like the bright pillar of legend that could destroy everything.
"Hmm, it"s weaker than I thought,” I mused. It seemed to be because I’d used a makes.h.i.+ft method, owing to the lack of time.
Orphina murmured, looking fed up, "This is weak?"
According to stories that had been pa.s.sed down, it was a spell that had erased an ancient tribal state, so at this scale, it could be considered weak. Of course, the right way to use it was to sweep the pillar of light around like a broom, rather than unleash it in one place.
William looked dejected. "How arrogant of them to say it lacks power when only two mages made it." Just then, he smiled bitterly. "No, considering Leisha’s ability... Even though she’s controlling it from up there, you probably made most of it by yourself, so perhaps it’s not arrogant."
As my little sister ran out of mana, the pillar of light gradually became thinner and soon disappeared. Only the slumped-over corpse of the turtle remained in the midst of a large crater.
"Wow, it really was a great demon. Even leaving a corpse after all that...” The fact that the body had remained meant the turtle had tried to persist to the very end. I thought maybe if Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y hadn’t dealt a blow with the Dance of the Fireflies before, it might still be alive.
Either way, we were done with the turtle.
I stretched and said, "Utcha! Then I"ll take that turtle’s mana stone as payment for my hard work." If there was a body left, there would definitely be a mana stone left.
William and Orphina each replied,
"Wait. The mana stone of the Turtle Carrying a Mountain will be taken back to the treasury."
"If we don"t take the mana stone, the battle will have been a severe loss."
From my perspective, as someone who had been in charge of distributing the mana stones, the amount of mana stones consumed in the fight against the turtle was no joke.
It was clear that the newly collected mana stones from hunting the overflowing demons wouldn’t even replace half of the mana stones consumed.
"Hmm, am I a part-timer?" I asked playfully.
Orphina raised her voice, crying, "Can you even call yourself a citizen of the empire!?
“…I’m not."
In principle, the Crow Tribe wasn’t affiliated with any country. If she demanded my affiliation, I could say that I only belonged to the Crow Tribe. It was the same for both the Dragon Tribe and the b.u.t.terfly Tribe.
"I"m just asking for a share due to what I"ve achieved in this fight,” I said with a hint of an apologetic tone.
Orphina looked at me with trembling eyes. William dryly coughed and asked gently for my understanding. "Would it be possible for you to compromise?”
"As a magician like you, I’ll ask. Could you easily compromise on a mana stone like that?"
William answered my question immediately. "Of course not."
"William!" Orphina exclaimed.
William just shrugged at the criticism. "What"s the problem? even if I’d said yes, he wouldn’t believe me in the slightest. Isn’t that right?” He smiled playfully, looking for affirmation.
I nodded. "Of course I wouldn’t."
"Then what if we demand our share?” Orphina retorted.
While inspecting my body, I asked, "So what shall we do?”
My body was in the worst condition. My mana circuit was screaming from excessive use, and my physical strength was almost exhausted. In addition, I had broken out into cold sweats from the strain of consecutively drinking the mana recovery potions, all to prepare for the "Stardust of the Falling Star" that had just been fired off.
Luckily, I was currently wearing my helmet. In front of skilled people such as William and Orphina, the perception disrupting magic placed on the half mask wouldn’t work well and it would be difficult to hide my complexion.
I clapped my hands and said, “Then let"s do this.”
“How?”
"The one who takes it first keeps it."
As soon as I finished speaking, Orphina swung a whip at me, saying, "I like it!"
I flew away to avoid the whip that was trying to wrap around my body. In response, the Red Dragon Knights, who had been on standby near us, also flew into the air.
“But I didn"t agree..." William sighed helplessly and grabbed his magic wand. Then he told Mac hyung and Lancelot, "Isn"t this the best chance to capture that rascal?"
"Hahahaha! That"s true!" Mac hyung nocked an arrow onto his bow without hesitation. So mean!
"Um, but attacking Den is...” Fortunately, Lancelot was reluctant to attack me.
Mac giggled and tried to tempt Lancelot. "Ayy, what"s the matter? You also saw that monster launch his magic, anyway."
Lancelot was torn, and tearfully shook his head. "I don"t think it’s right for me to attack my friend." He sheathed his sword.
Ah, I really had a good friend. On the other hand, I would probably have to deal with Mac hyung seriously.
Anyway, I’d decided that my goal would be to seize the great demon turtle’s mana stone and run away. It was too bad I couldn’t pummel Mac hyung, but I could save that for next time.
"Capture him!" Orphina cried, and the Red Dragon Knights attacked me in unison.
I flew between the three dragons approaching from in front of me and kicked the side of the rightmost dragon.
"Kaaaaoo!" The dragon I’d kicked in the ribs immediately fell.
I took out my favorite sword from my pocket s.p.a.ce. "Killing is excessive, so I"ll just slash you with my sword still sheathed." I put a thin layer of sword aura over the sword sheath. In my current state, this was the limit.
As she charged toward me atop a dragon, Orphina said, "It won"t make any difference if you put sword aura on it!"
What do you mean, no difference? There was clearly a difference in cutting power. Of course, it would be used to cut limbs. [1]
Orphina had a lance in her hands as she charged. Aren"t you trying to kill me, not just subdue me? I thought as I dodged Orphina"s charge with some acrobatic flying.
Five Red Dragon Knights surrounded me as if they had waited for me to escape, and used fire breath on me.
"Barrier! Heatproof!" I flew up while blocking the flames coming in from all sides, and Mac hyung"s arrow flew toward the exact spot I was headed to.
Kang!
Mac hyung"s arrow came at me and easily tore my barrier apart, and I barely managed to deflect it with my sword.
d.a.m.n, the barrier had been pierced too easily. When was the last time I’d been this tired? As far as I could remember, the last time was when I’d run away from home.
"Ahahaha! You"re exhausted, aren’t you? Youngest Master!" Mac hyung laughed joyfully and nocked another arrow onto the bow string.
As expected, Mac hyung, who knew me better than most, was the most annoying. Fortunately, however… Unlike the time I’d run away, other than Mac hyung, the people I had to deal with weren’t elites from the Crow Tribe.
"Magic bullet!" I escaped towards the body of the turtle and created a barrage of magic bullets.
Most of the Red Dragon Knights were blocked by the barrage and avoided it, but Orphina did some flashy flying acrobatics and quickly rushed towards me.
"Hargan!" Orphina called out the dragon"s name. The dragon shot breath at me and descended as if it could understand her orders perfectly. Just then, Orphina jumped high into the air and swung her whip at me.
"Wind Curtain!" Using magic, I dispersed the dragon’s breath; at the same time, I flicked away Orphina"s whip by throwing sword aura.
Then William fired countless ice arrows; using the arrows as a stepping stone, Orphina jumped at me again.
I had no clue how often they’d worked together, to be able to do this kind of trick.
Kang!
Orphina"s sword collided with mine, creating sparks. She skillfully moved through the air, stepping on William"s ice arrows.
I didn"t know the timing of the flying ice arrows, though, so I just felt as if I were constantly being attacked.
"Where’s all that spirit from when you were dealing with the great demon? Brat!”
I grit my teeth tightly at Orphina"s babbling. "Why didn’t you show this much spirit when you were dealing with the great demon, ahjumma?!"
My provocation really struck Orphina"s nerves as she frowned deeply and retorted, "Yes, as expected of that simpleton’s nephew, the way you talk is completely mannerless!”
"Hahaha, we’re a proud family!"
When the distance between us grew a little, Orphina"s whip lashed out in a frightening rush. When she drew close, she slashed at me with a sword covered in aura. But whenever I distanced myself completely, Mac hyung"s arrow baptism would pour out.
The only silver lining in this misfortune was that their teamwork still had no synergy with Mac hyung at all.
"Lady of the Wind!" Orphina shouted as she deflected my wind awls with her whip. "Hargan!"
As if it had been waiting for Orphina"s cry, the dragon suddenly appeared behind my back and spread its mouth open toward me.
"Kaaaaah!” I didn"t notice that giant thing? I panicked and hurriedly stepped back as I kicked the dragon in the chin. After a moment, I realized… "I see, it was invisible!"
"Correct!" Orphina answered and swung her whip again.
As I deflected each whiplash’s changing trajectory for minute after minute, my wrist began to throb. Perhaps because I was exhausted, my mana consumption was much faster than usual
It was too hard to deal with this many people alone. If I’d known this would happen, I would have left some of the chirps to a.s.sist me. Currently, all my chirps were exploring the demon territory and searching for my father.
Wait, if I don"t have anyone on my side, then I can just make one. "Oohuhuhuhu!” I laughed.
"Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Did something go wrong in your head from the exhaustion?” Orphina looked at me curiously.
I clung to Orphina"s dragon"s neck as it got close. It was a bit of a risk, but if I succeeded, the benefits would be great.
"Ha ha! How foolis.h.!.+ Did you think I wouldn"t be able to attack if you stuck to Hargan?" Orphina lashed out with her whip without hesitation, and the dragon moved its neck to bring me into range.
I took out a collar I’d made out of boredom when I was young from the pocket s.p.a.ce. It was the so-called Ener** Controller!
Back when I’d first seen the parade of the Red Dragon Knights, I’d wondered whether the Dragon Tribe"s telepathy was stronger than my magic or vice versa. Let"s test it out!
"Entering the code! Left, right! A, B!"
"Kaoooo!” The dragon cried painfully and struggled, and thanks to that, the whip Orphina had swung at me only split empty air.
The collared dragon soon stopped struggling and became calm. I sat properly on the dragon"s saddle and stroked its neck. "Wuh-wuh, there you go!"
"Krrrrrr."
Orphina was fl.u.s.tered to see the dragon calmly letting me ride it. "Hargan! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What did you do to Hargan?!"
"What do you mean? This dragon is mine now, and I can handle it as I please."
Orphina had an incredulous expression. "Impossible!"
"Your new name is Joey! Let"s give her a blow! Joey, fire!" At my command, the dragon exhaled a breath towards Orphina.
Orphina flung herself into the air to avoid the breath, and a Red Dragon Knight flew in with another dragon to catch her.
“Ahahahaha! Let"s go! Joey!”
“Kaooo!”
Atop the dragon, I quickly flew through the sky.
1. It’s unclear why he would put sword aura on the sheath to increase its cutting power instead of just cutting normally.