Chapter 210 - The sword was crying

With a force that seemed to tear the sky over the roaring sea.

The image of the Leviathan, rising so high it brushed the clouds, was something that could not be gazed upon without reverence.

The sudden appearance of the dragon made everyone on the battlefield forget to breathe due to its immensity.

"...My God."

Was this the most perfect dragon of ancient times?

It was as ancient as it was enormous, and as enormous as it was wondrous.

As Olmukar gazed at the Leviathan's eyes shining through the thick clouds, he unconsciously shut his eyes tightly.

Boom-!

However, in that moment when even the waves held their breath, a sharp sound broke the silence.

Though it was just a cannon shot, it was a sound that captured everyone's attention.

"Enemy flagship cannon fire!"

"...!!"

It was a projectile wrapped in an ominous red glow.

The sight of the cannonballs flying against the dark sky looked like a meteor shower falling from the heavens, but the meteor shower launched by Barbosa was a false star that granted only one person's wish.

"...The bait has been cast."

Barbosa, the golden duke, smiled as he watched the red trajectory slowly bend toward the island of Lemnos.

To capture a wild prey, it had to be weakened first.

Though it was unfortunate to lose pieces, that visible dragon could brutally destroy the dwarves' defenses.

GRRRROOOAAAARRR!

As expected, the Leviathan's eyes began to glow intensely red upon seeing the dragon fragments flying toward the island of Lemnos.

It was not desire or ambition, but instinctive perfection that it craved, as that perfection had just passed close to it.

"Now, leave the rest to the dragon."

Though that gigantic body might tear the island to pieces, it didn't matter.

Gold coins, even if broken, will still shine.

All he had to do was pick up the pieces left by the dragon.

"Barbosa!"

From the rolling waves came Olmukar's roar, filled with rage.

He realized what Barbosa had just done upon seeing the Leviathan's red eyes.

Swoosh!

However, despite his anger, there was not the slightest hesitation in the Leviathan's movements.

Each time that serpent-like body writhed, the sea, unable to contain its enormity, began to scream.

"All ships! Prepare for bombardment! Divert attention from the island!"

And those screams were directed solely at the island of Lemnos, the home of the dwarves.

Seeing their island dangerously exposed before the largest entity, the dwarves of Nidavellir gritted their teeth.

***

The seabed split open and a scorching heat emerged from within.

Amidst the raging current created by that aimless heat, a sunfish wobbled precariously.

"Why is it shaking so much?!"

"Aah! Aaaah!"

The Vulcan submarine, returning to the island of Lemnos after evacuating the dwarf refugees, shook violently.

Vlad and his companions inside were startled by the relentless tremors of the submarine.

"Vulcan! What's happening?"

"…The volcanoes are starting to erupt."

Amid the constant sound of creaking pedals, Vulcan's restrained voice could be heard.

Although he tried not to show it, his voice was filled with anxiety that he couldn't help but convey.

"Volcanoes? What volcanoes are here?"

"There are mountains under the sea too. And they are much fiercer than those on the surface."

Upon hearing about underwater mountains, Nibelun's ears perked up, but he couldn't lift his head.

At this moment, Vulcan's submarine was caught in the strong current, swaying back and forth.

The seasickness he thought he had overcome on the Zemina ship returned with the same intensity.

"I don't understand why the volcanoes are behaving like this all of a sudden."

Thump!

When Vulcan said he wasn't sure, Vlad silently rested the back of his head against the wall.

Because now he felt the remnants of perfection that could be discerned just by the beating of his heart.

'…It's a dragon.'

Although Vulcan didn't understand the cause, Vlad knew whose fault it was.

The remnants of the fallen dragon, hungry for perfection, always appeared accompanied by someone's cries.

"Captain. Look at this."

"What's going on?"

Vulcan quickly looked through the periscope at his subordinate's urgent call.

Then, the sea he saw was a miserable sight.

"…The squids are all dead."

The sea surface was filled with squids that couldn't withstand the boiling heat of the sea.

These were the corpses of the squids that had been pushing the Zemina and now followed the submarine.

Thump!

The squids, having lost their place due to the struggle of the giant being, panicked and didn't know what to do.

The squids, which were supposed to live in the cold sea, tried to avoid the continuously erupting volcanoes, but their world was already in the process of collapsing miserably.

-······.

The sea spirits were once again crushed by a gigantic world.

Seeing their delicate movements, a silver wave started to rise from the depths of the sea.

Woooooo!

An ancient entity that blocked the heat with its body to protect the spirits began to emit a cry of silent fury upon seeing the spirits die.

Rrrr! Rrrrrr!

And at the same time, Vlad's sword began to vibrate.

The sword, resonating with the fury of the ancient entity, trembled violently.

Although it didn't know what it wanted to be, at this moment it wanted to be something.

***

"…No! No!"

Each of the raised scales enveloped the island.

The cries of the island of Lemnos, trapped between the body that squeezed it tightly, echoed everywhere.

"No!"

An elderly dwarf cried upon seeing the island collapse disastrously.

Ruhtha shed thick tears upon seeing the last world of the dwarves crumble before him.

Boom! Bang!

Urgent cannon sounds were heard from the distant sea.

The ships of Nidavellir incessantly fired their cannons at the dragon trying to take the island, but to the Leviathan, seeking the dragon fragments, they were less than the buzzing of a mosquito.

Grrrrr!

At the dragon's fierce roar demanding its prey, the top of the island of Lemnos finally broke.

The hot lava flowing from there was the island's blood and the dwarves' bitter tears.

"Leave us alone, damn you! Leave us alone!"

The elderly man, now exhausted, fell to his knees before the storm that blew incessantly.

Ruhtha, seeing the entities that relentlessly forced them to kneel, finally lost the strength to resist.

GRRRROOOAAAARRR!

Yes. Here I am.

Come and take me.

Whoever possesses me will get closer to perfection.

The largest dragon laughed while looking at the elderly man, or rather at the dragon fragment embedded in the cliff beside him, pulsing with a vibrant red.

The largest dragon already knew well.

It is always easier and sweeter to take others' possibilities than one's own.

-······!

However, suddenly, the Leviathan turned its head at the cold sensation enveloping it from the bottom of the sea.

The silver sea suddenly became brighter.

The enormous tentacles floating above slowly rose toward Leviathan.

"…What is that now?"

Barbosa, who had been smiling at the Leviathan's victory, was left speechless upon seeing a huge squid suddenly appear.

"Is it another dragon?"

"No!"

The tentacles rising toward the sky stared at the largest dragon.

A feast of bright silver light illuminated the suckers attached to the tentacles along with the falling seawater.

"That is a Kraken!"

In response to someone's shout, the high tentacles began to descend.

Toward the largest dragon, toward the being that takes others' potential.

-¡GRRRROOOAAAARRR!

-······!

Crack!

A massive sound that human ears couldn't catch.

With the noise splitting the air, everyone at sea covered their ears.

The sea also seemed shocked, throwing up huge waves that shook the floating ships.

"How the hell is this happening!"

The largest dragon and now the greatest sea spirit.

In a scene that seemed taken from a myth, both humans and dwarves just clung helplessly to the railings.

-¡GRRRROOOAAAARRR!

And now, on the horizon of the humans' view, there was something that worried the Leviathan more than the Kraken wrapping around it.

It was the young dragon rushing toward the pulsating red fragment.

[It is the fragment of the most perfect dragon! You can't let them take it!]

"Damn it…!"

A golden light rushed toward the dragon piece, clinging to its beating heart.

It was Vlad, wielding a vibrating sword that waved with the remnants of the young Yggdrasil.

"Damn! It's too far!"

Seeing the dragon fragment precariously embedded in the middle of the cliff, Vlad lifted his head and met the giant gazes watching him.

The Leviathan and the Kraken.

Though they didn't speak, their eyes seemed to communicate something that Vlad understood as he lunged toward the cliff rocks.

-¡GRRRROOOAAAARRR!

-······!

A dragon roaring at him not to do it and a kraken urging him to do it quickly.

The sounds they made were enough to make the stones he held with his hands crumble, but Vlad didn't stop moving toward the pieces.

Swoosh!

The white sandy beach of the island of Lemnos was helplessly washed away by the waves created by giant beings.

Under the rising volcanic ash, Vlad, with great effort, descended the cliff and finally saw the dragon's bright red fragment.

Thump!

Hurry and take me, young dragon.

If you possess me, you can achieve perfection.

I am the fragment of the most perfect dragon.

"…I am a knight, aren't I, Kihano?"

[That's right.]

Although Vlad hesitated for a moment before the red glow that tempted him, the voice inside reminded him of who he was.

[You are your own master no matter what others say.]

With my potential, not the potential of others.

The right path is narrow and deep, but the knight's spirit that chooses that path will always be noble.

Vlad, who had identified his master in the collapsing sea, reached out and grabbed the piece of the leap.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

To the rhythm of the heartbeat, an ominous red color enveloped Vlad's body.

Vlad felt he was going mad due to that strange sensation, but even so, the voice echoing in his head clung to him tightly.

[Vlad Aureo. You are the brightest knight I have ever known.]

Possibilities are what can become anything.

Even the fragment of the most perfect dragon could become a sword in the hands of the one who desired it.

The sword was crying.

Although it contained the stars' glow, the sword wielded by the dragon cried.

Because now it knew what it was meant to become.

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