Chapter 106: Chapter 106
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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Goddess's Wings
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The Goddess's Wings.
The power that Luna Isabel, the main heroine, awakens.
And an ability as crucial as the Flame of Fighting Spirit for progressing through the Flame Butterfly arc.
It was also why I absolutely had to save Isabel.
'The Goddess's Wings have two main characteristics.'
One, they significantly boost the user's abilities while granting flight.
Two, if the user is part of a party, they also significantly boost the party members' abilities.
A self-buff and a party-wide buff.
That was the Goddess's Wings.
The moment the Goddess's Wings are donned, the party's combat power skyrockets.
Of course, in response, the Demon Labyrinth also begins its full-scale transformation, and the difficulty sharply increases.
But with the Goddess's Wings, even such difficulty can be overcome.
I had waited and waited for this moment.
The problem, however, was that I was now facing Isabel, who had awakened the Goddess's Wings.
Swish—
Isabel's feet slowly lifted into the air.
At the same time, her wings briefly contracted.
'If I miss her, it's over.'
The moment I thought that, Isabel vanished.
CLANG!
The cold energy imbued in my hand blade scattered, and a fierce metallic clang echoed.
There, Isabel stood, having thrust her sword forward.
The moment Isabel met my gaze, she vanished again.
Ridiculously fast.
Hyper-speed movement using the Goddess's Wings.
The moment she donned the wings, she became free from the constraints of gravity.
She could move at high speed anywhere she wished.
That was the flight ability granted by the Goddess's Wings.
But it was still fine.
Crackle—
My heightened senses caught the sound of ice, clinging to the air, shattering.
My right eye, imbued with the remnants of the Ancient Dragon, instantly darted towards the sound.
And at the same time, I thrust my hand blade in that direction.
CLANG!
Once again, Isabel's sword clashed with my hand blade.
No matter how fast she moved, Isabel herself didn't disappear.
My surroundings were currently frozen, even the moisture in the air, due to the Ice Dragon's magic.
If Isabel moved, her presence was naturally bound to be felt.
The space I stood in was the Ice Dragon's domain.
No matter how fast Isabel was, I wouldn't lose her.
Isabel must have realized this from our previous exchange.
A surprise attack was impossible.
Rumble!
At that moment, my right eye tried to move on its own.
The cold energy surged.
'You damn brat.'
I drew heat to my skin.
Finally, after research with Sharin, the magic engraving of the Fire Dragon carved into my skin.
As that power manifested, the remnants of the Ancient Dragon grumbled in annoyance but obeyed.
After the boycott incident, I searched for the Fire Dragon's magic with Sharin to resolve the Ancient Dragon remnants.
After many twists and turns, I managed to discover the Fire Dragon's magic, research it, and even engrave it as a magic tattoo.
The Fire Dragon's magic engraving was weaker than the original Fire Dragon's magic, but it didn't trigger dragonification.
As soon as I succeeded, I immediately holed myself up in a private training room.
And while mastering the Fire Dragon's magic engraving, I made a deal with the Ancient Dragon remnants.
Would it remain in my body and help me in the future?
Or would it be incinerated by simultaneously wielding the Fire Dragon's magic engraving and the remnants of the Flame of Fire?
I constantly pulled it to the negotiating table.
Unable to withstand the threats, the Ancient Dragon remnants finally accepted the deal.
It would remain in my right eye and assist me from now on.
It was the only way for it to survive.
'Stay put. I'll give you a reward when this is over.'
As I poured out power after a long time, I calmed the Ancient Dragon remnants, which couldn't control their excitement, and gasped for breath.
"That thing you have, it's not complete yet, is it?"
At that moment, Isabel slowly descended from the air and spoke to me.
She's quick-witted, as expected.
"So what? It's doing more than enough against you."
"Yes, I suppose so."
Isabel stopped her high-speed movement.
Instead, she stretched her wings back and gripped her sword tightly.
That was a terrible development for me.
"So, I'm going for a frontal assault."
Isabel's wings began to glow with a brilliant white light.
Proof that she was dedicating all her high-speed movement to breakthrough power.
I quickly drew up cold energy.
At that moment, ice walls shot up in quick succession before me.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The ice walls began to shatter one after another.
Isabel had activated her high-speed breakthrough with a leap.
Through the gaps in the shattering ice walls.
Isabel's figure, sword thrust forward, became visible.
The swirling cold energy clung to her body.
Flap!
But the Goddess's Wings repelled even the Ice Dragon's cold energy entirely.
It really felt like cheating.
Isabel's sword was upon me.
But having erected ice walls repeatedly, her speed had been slowed just enough for me to narrowly evade.
Flap!
The moment I lowered my stance, Isabel's wings spread out once more.
Isabel created a wind pressure on the opposite side of her movement, stopping dead in the air.
And then, from that position, she brought her sword down on me.
As she could move freely in the air, her movements were entirely her own.
My hand blade shot up.
CLANG!
The moment Isabel's sword and my hand blade met, she stretched her wings upwards.
Then, with the wind pressure from behind her back, the power in her sword doubled.
My arm, pushed back by the force, recoiled.
Staggering, my other hand shot up towards Isabel.
CLANG!
Then this time, Isabel's wing blocked my hand blade.
The wing remained spread and smacked me away.
Struck by the wing, I was sent flying and tumbled across the floor.
But knowing the next attack would come, I erected an ice wall diagonally as I rolled.
Thud!
Colliding with the ice wall, I righted myself from the impact and blocked Isabel's sword once more.
Isabel's sword came flying at me in quick succession.
My hand blades also desperately extended, chasing her sword.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Isabel's speed wasn't slowing; it was getting faster and faster.
Even in the midst of this battle, Isabel was growing.
Growth through hardship and adversity.
As expected, she's the main heroine.
Unfortunately, I'm not that kind of protagonist.
The fantastical development of growing through battle doesn't apply to me.
All I can do is pull out every trick I've prepared.
Isabel's eyes were visible through her wings.
She was gasping for breath.
That was natural.
The Goddess's Wings weren't omnipotent just because they were the Goddess's.
The Goddess's Wings had infinite effects and applications.
However, they also rapidly drained stamina.
Moreover, Isabel hadn't fully mastered the Goddess's Wings yet.
Isabel was somehow using them with her natural talent.
But it wasn't a perfected combat style.
I, on the other hand, was her complete opposite.
Stamina is paramount.
In terms of stamina, I was superior to Isabel.
The stamina I had relentlessly built up until now was an impregnable iron wall.
All my foundations came from stamina.
Isabel clearly knew this fact too.
Therefore, she would undoubtedly make her decisive move before her stamina ran out.
Whirr—
Sure enough, Isabel's wings compressed and grew smaller.
Simultaneously, an incandescent light spread across Isabel's body.
The light began to emit a powerful aura.
Seeing this, I gasped.
'She's reached that level.'
I realized how dedicated Isabel had been to her training.
The incandescent light gathered solely into her single sword.
Her sword transformed into a completely different shape than before.
The Goddess's Seal was engraved onto her blade.
A halo of light appeared behind Isabel's back, as if absorbing all the surrounding light.
The air flowed in reverse, as if swirling around Isabel.
A colossal aggregation of energy ran wild, baring its fangs to the world.
Every single person watching the match either gasped or stared in a daze.
The immense power granted by the Goddess's Wings sent chills down their spines.
That was natural.
The Goddess's Wings.
Who was the goddess who granted them?
The goddess reputed to possess the most powerful force in the world.
The Goddess of War.
The goddess that the developers of the Flame Butterfly arc explicitly created with 'Athena' in mind.
And now that the game had become reality.
The Goddess of War had truly become the strongest goddess.
Isabel raised her sword above her head.
Her honey-blonde hair, kissed by the sun, fluttered.
Her amber eyes turned golden.
Her appearance was such that one would believe the Goddess of War herself had descended.
Wind pressure raged.
Standing before her was all I could do.
If Isabel brought her sword down here, it would be over.
So, I had to unleash what I had.
A bone-chilling cold swept through.
The gazes that had been fixed on Isabel belatedly began to fall on me, one by one.
Ice Dragon horns sprouted above my swept-back hair.
Behind my waist, an ice tail had already shot up.
Ice scales, sprouting uniformly on my arms, became living armor.
My face also became even less human.
"A drag—, a Dragonoid!"
One of the mages cried out in astonishment.
The unique characteristic of the Ancient Dragon's magic.
Dragonification.
They had realized that I had transformed into a Dragonoid.
However, none of the mages came forward to restrain me.
My eyes briefly landed on the spot where the mages were gathered.
There was a man with flowing blue hair.
The Blue Tower Master.
Emperadion Sazalys.
He, Sharin's father, was holding back the mages.
Beside him, Master Baekmok also stood, eyes gleaming with a wide smile.
Both of them knew that I was controlling the remnants of the Ancient Dragon.
A breath of pure white cold mist escaped my parted lips.
The true power of the Ancient Dragon's magic was only revealed when used by a Dragonoid.
CRACKLE!
From my hands up to my elbows.
Gigantic ice gauntlets formed.
The Ice Dragon's Gauntlets.
My differently colored eyes fixed on Isabel.
She, too, gazed directly at me within the Goddess's light.
Since Isabel had unleashed her full power, I also revealed mine.
RUMBLE—
But I'm sorry to say.
I had no intention of ending it here.
'Come on.'
Lightning Caller.
From the pitch-black storm clouds that had somehow gathered in the sky, a streak of blue lightning descended.
The moment the sudden lightning strike sent the audience into a panic.
Within the blue incandescent light, Isabel and I moved simultaneously.
The magic engraving carved into my body, inside the ice gauntlets, began to glow.
Magic Engraving: Lightning Catcher.
The swirling lightning instantly coursed through my steel-like body and surged into me.
Electrical currents spread across the Ice Dragon's Gauntlets.
A storm of immense power erupted from my grasp.
The remnants of the Ancient Dragon devoured the lightning, and its form began to change.
The Ancient Dragon's remnants were a curse.
Even if the Ice Dragon had inflicted it, its form wasn't fixed as an Ice Dragon.
Thus, it could change its form at any time depending on the power it was granted.
There were a total of four Ancient Dragons.
Fire Dragon, Ice Dragon, Earth Dragon.
And finally, the ruler of the sky who wielded lightning.
The Sky Dragon.
Among the Ancient Dragons, the incarnation of fear was the Sky Dragon.
However, the Sky Dragon was merely written about in a corner of ancient history.
Its very existence was questionable.
I knew the truth.
The Sky Dragon was not an Ancient Dragon.
The mad transcendent sage who had carved the remnants of the Ancient Dragon into his own body.
Zerion.
He was the Sky Dragon recorded in history.
The cold energy enveloping my body transformed into lightning.
The Ice Dragon's Gauntlets transformed into lightning.
Now, at this moment.
The Sky Dragon, which had vanished from the world long ago, revealed its form.
Sky Dragon Transformation.
This was the peak of strength I had reached.
Isabel, seeing me, swallowed a hollow laugh.
The Sky Dragon unfurled its power to contend with the Goddess.
"You truly are..."
Isabel ended her laugh and gripped her sword tightly.
With my leap, Isabel brought her sword down.
Victory.
The Goddess's declaration of Victory and the Sky Dragon's fist collided, and light enveloped the entire area.
International Singles Tournament, Round of 64.
It was the end of an absurd battle, one that wouldn't even be seen in a final.