DRIP. DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.
GAPE.
CRUNCH!
Petals larger than a towering mountain, lined with teeth, appeared above my head in an instant and and swallowed the woman in a single bite.
The Energy of those petals undoubtedly belonged to the Flower of Death I had encountered within myself.
If I could summon a flower through Bloom like the other Elves, had I summoned the Flower of Death?
For a moment, time seemed to stop. There were no shouts or screams.
Then the voices of the Dragons beyond the Barrier echoed through the air.
“Pnekoa!”
“The prophecy…”
“We are retreating.”
I slowly raised my head and looked upward.
Rain continued to pour endlessly from the sky, but the alien petals of the Flower of Death had vanished somewhere after seizing Pnekoa and tearing him apart.
I glanced at the unrecognizably mangled corpse, then looked toward the Dragons flying outside the Barrier.
I still could not accurately judge the nature of the Spirit’s power, but there was no doubt that this was an opportunity to kill the Dragons.
[Moon Step.]
I used my movement technique and charged toward the Dragons beyond the Barrier.
“That black-haired one must be killed at all costs!”
“B-But…”
“If Pnekoa, who could use Authority, was defeated, does that not mean we could also die?”
“Should we not summon those who were active during the age of the Primordial God?”
“Have you forgotten our orders?”
“I merely agreed to cooperate according to Lord Rerian’s command. I see no reason to obey any further orders.”
The Dragons’ wings, which had been beating fiercely in the sky, slowed as their opinions began to clash. Their merciless assault ceased all at once.
Perhaps the Elves had never seen Dragons quarrel among themselves, because none of them spoke. They merely stared blankly at me.
At that moment, King Hellorn, who seemed to have exhausted much of his strength maintaining the Barrier, shouted between ragged breaths.
“Move the fallen Elves to the safe zone! Those capable of erecting a Barrier are to escort His Highness!”
A king was still a king.
At the sound of his thunderous command, the stunned Elves began moving busily once more.
As I ran, I spotted Elder Philn.
He looked at me with a complicated expression filled with both concern and overwhelming emotion.
My gaze fell upon the sturdy wooden staff in his hand, and I shouted,
“Elder Philn, throw me that staff! I need a weapon.”
“Y-Yes… understood!”
WHOOSH.
CATCH.
I caught the staff he threw with my right hand and continued running toward the Dragon.
“Your Highness!”
Elder Philn’s worried voice came from behind me, but I ignored it and passed beyond the Barrier.
‘Is there a way to force those flying creatures down to the ground?’
As I drew closer, I could hear their argument in the air more clearly.
“I am withdrawing.”
“What are you saying? We were on the verge of breaking the Barrier! How can you withdraw now?”
“I am leaving as well. I must make my report.”
“Did Lord Rerian not say that today would be the decisive battle?”
“We can regroup and attack again later.”
“Have you forgotten that Lord Rerian’s command is also the Dragon Lord’s command?”
“Listen carefully. If you wish to avenge your younger brother Pnekoa, do it alone. I, for one, will not obey that bastard Rerian.”
The Dragons above my head ignored me and continued shouting at one another.
One by one, they scattered and flew away until only a single Dragon remained out of the original eight.
The last Dragon watched the others disappear, breathing heavily through its nostrils in fury. Then it turned and looked down at me.
I could not fully understand the situation, but one thing was certain.
Like the sects of the Righteous Faction, the Dragons each belonged to separate groups.
That meant they would act according to the interests of their own factions.
Were they just like those repulsive members of the Righteous Faction who preached chivalry in public while secretly pursuing profit?
The Dragon hovered in the air, snorting for a moment, then dropped before me at tremendous speed as though hurling its body toward the ground.
RRRUMBLE!
THUD. THUD. THUD.
The Dragon’s body was pale crimson, much like Pnekoa’s.
It approached me with murderous intent and shouted,
“How dare you… insignificant pointy-eared vermin who blindly worship Spirits…”
[Authority]
As with Pnekoa, the Dragon emitted a flash of light, and a Human-shaped figure appeared before me.
Did Dragons become stronger after transforming into Human form?
The transformed Dragon pointed at me with one hand and uttered an incantation.
Behind him, the Dragon opened its jaws wide and swallowed me in an instant.
The surroundings, which had been filled with scorched grass and flowers, were suddenly covered in pale crimson feathers.
Was this an Illusion Technique?
An alien world in which I could not distinguish reality from illusion unfolded vividly before my eyes.
A man with short, dark crimson hair stood before me, radiating killing intent as he shouted,
[Feather of Freedom.]
At his cry, the soft feathers covering the ground beneath my feet began trembling all at once.
Then they surged toward me from every direction.
Half a step to the left.
Two steps to the right.
One step back to the left.
Draw my right shoulder back by a handspan.
Leap upward, turn my body parallel to the ground, and rotate once.
“No one can escape freedom.”
Concealed weapons in the shape of feathers.
Still exuding killing intent, he continued pouring pale crimson feathers toward me.
No one can escape freedom…
“How repulsive. One who suppresses freedom dares speak of it.”
“Freedom is the privilege of the strong. Creatures like you have no right to enjoy it.”
I had heard those words countless times under the law of the strong.
Yet I had never enjoyed such privilege.
I grinned.
Was that so…?
Had the Heavenly Demon become consumed by jealousy only after becoming obsessed with suppressing me?
There was no time even to count how many feathers I had avoided. They continued raining toward me along countless trajectories without any sign of ending.
To harm him, I had to approach.
Yet I could not advance.
I drew my left shoulder back and twisted my body.
SLASH.
I had been entirely occupied with dodging, but several feathers finally grazed my face.
Huff. Huff.
Should I consider myself fortunate that they were not poisoned?
I needed to advance while deflecting them with my weapon—
SWISH!
But I had no opportunity to do so.
I should have remained calm and advanced while blocking the first volley with my weapon.
I had made the wrong decision from the very beginning.
[Weight of Freedom.]
As his cry ended, unknown Energy began gathering above my head.
The sky was dyed in the tranquil pale crimson light of sunset.
Feathers gathered one by one across that glow, gradually forming the shape of an enormous bird’s wings.
WHOOSH. WHOOSH.
When the pale crimson wings in the sky began to flap, powerful winds swept toward me.
Even when I concentrated my Energy in my feet, my body began to stagger.
Was this because I had not yet connected my Upper Dantian and could not use my full strength?
No.
Even if I regained the power of my previous life, could I defeat this Energy?
The power of a Spirit.
I had believed that I did not want anyone’s help.
However, this power had entered my body through a fortuitous encounter.
If I could wield it completely, I could become stronger than I had been in my previous life.
As before, I gathered Energy in my Lower and Middle Dantians and shouted,
[Bloom.]
Yet nothing changed.
The feathers covering the ground rose softly into the air.
They merged with the gale created by the wings above and shot toward me at a speed far beyond anything before.
Right.
Two more steps to the right.
This time, the left shoulder.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to evade them with my eyes alone.
If those feathers struck me at their current speed, they would be far more lethal than before.
Was merely shouting Bloom not enough to use a Spirit’s power?
I recalled the moment when my Middle Dantian had begun aching earlier.
I circulated my blood through my body in the exact opposite direction from before.
Then I sent my Energy along that flow and compressed power into my Lower and Middle Dantians.
COUGH.
Was this wrong?
THUMP. THUMP.
Fortunately, my Middle Dantian began throbbing as it had before.
Later, I would have to train properly and determine both the condition of my body and the method of drawing out this power.
SLASH.
Feathers pierced my thigh and shoulder.
Thinking about training could wait.
First, I had to kill that creature.
If I failed, this newly blossomed life would disappear once more.
[Bloom.]
DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.
Judging from the beast’s saliva falling from above, the Energy of the Flower of Death had successfully bloomed over my head.
‘I succeeded in making the flower bloom, but…’
I stared at the feathers flying toward me like arrows and steadied my breathing as much as possible.
‘Can I evade them?’
The Flower of Death above my head breathed harshly like a beast, then exhaled deeply.
At that moment, viscous black clouds poured out around me as though a Dragon were breathing fire.
The feathers shot by the Dragon melted the instant they touched the black clouds.
The Human-shaped Dragon with pale crimson hair stood before me, radiating vicious killing intent.
He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and shouted,
“I will never allow you to live!”
[Moon Step.]
[Nameless Three Swords, First Technique.]
[Wind Scatters the Clouds.]
Holding the staff Elder Philn had given me, I charged forward and split the summoned feathered wings in half.
There was no sensation of cutting through them.
Did that mean they would not disappear unless I killed the one who had summoned them?
[Moon Step.]
The feathers before me converged and formed an immense storm, as tall as the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
[Nameless Three Swords, Second Technique.]
[Clouds Gather and Part.]
The sticky black clouds drifting above my head and the dense black clouds floating beneath my feet surged toward him in the direction of my swing.
The massive storm of pale crimson feathers he had created collided with my Sword Aura, opening a gap within it.
[Moon Step.]
Seizing the opportunity, I hurled myself through the opening in the storm.
The Dragon reached toward me with a startled expression.
THUD.
The instant I struck his head precisely, I gathered Energy in my Dantian and concentrated it into the staff before releasing it all at once.
SLASH.
Wrapped in Sword Aura, the staff became as sharp as a blade and cleanly severed his head.
Just to be certain—
SLASH.
I also cut off the arm he had used most often.
“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness!”
As the Illusion Technique he had cast dissolved, the Elves’ voices gradually became clearer.
The surroundings returned to their former devastated state, trampled and destroyed by the Dragons.
The Elves, who had been helpless before that overwhelming power, began crying out in voices filled with long-suppressed anguish.
“A Dragon is dead!”
“WAAAAAAH!”
I lowered my gaze.
The enormous body of a Dragon lay beneath my feet.
When I looked around, I saw that one of its arms had been severed and its head cut off.
PITTER-PATTER. PITTER-PATTER.
As though announcing that the painful battle had ended, the rain began falling more gently than before.
The flames that had consumed the surroundings had also weakened.
“We… can kill Dragons…”
Sob. Sob. Sob.
THUD.
Many Elves had died or been injured in the battle, and the flowers and lands they had tended every day had been reduced to ruins.
Yet their expressions were not those of people broken by defeat.
“Bless the Ellar Kingdom!”
“May Nature bless us!”
The cries of a few soon spread until everyone joined them.
“Bless the Ellar Kingdom!”
“May Nature bless us!”
I sank to both knees and looked at those shouting toward me.
My heart ached unbearably.
I had protected my will.
By my own will, I had protected what I wished to protect.
Had I done the same before…
I raised my head and looked toward the sky.
PITTER-PATTER. PITTER-PATTER.
A raindrop fell softly beside my eye.