novelraw Chapter 92: Ashen Kid [8]
Chapter 92: Ashen Kid [8]
After the kick, Elyndor’s neck twisted grotesquely backward. He could even look at Mitsuki with his head bent in that direction.
The impact pushed the Ashen Kid away, sending him falling, but once again, proving why he deserved the nickname Azel had given him, he vanished into a small cloud of ash and reappeared beside Marco.
"It’s not over yet!" he said.
Marco and Azel were ready. The three of them lunged at the beast. Marco went straight for the neck, swinging his sword and cutting it in two as Elyndor forced his head back into its proper position.
Azel leapt onto the beast’s back, drew his bowstring, and a single arrow formed before being released instantly. The projectile pierced between the bones and exited through the other side—its chest—breaking a rib along the way.
Mitsuki joined in immediately, firing at the weak point, but Elyndor shook violently and covered himself with his wings. Then, he unleashed a powerful gust of wind that pushed the group back for a moment.
Taking advantage of that instant, lightning struck the dragon. Suddenly, his body flashed, wrapped in powerful bolts that crackled around his form. His flames seemed to erupt in small explosions, and his scaly body was nearly gone.
Except for the chest, the dragon was now entirely made of bones and searing flames of green mist. His skeletal face no longer showed emotion, but his furious screams were enough to convey his rage.
"No one can stand against me! I am the Guardian! This is my domain!"
’He’s started talking nonsense,’ Mitsuki thought, running toward the dragon once more. ’This is the beginning of our final chance...’
A specter is consumed by its emotions. Clearly, the emotion dominating Elyndor was rage—an uncontrollable rage filled with frustration, not only toward the world, but toward himself.
Mitsuki could understand that, at least a little, because he had recently been forced to face reality.
Weak and cowardly, hidden from the world behind a screen his entire life—that was Mitsuki Kirishima. The one who avoided looking people in the eyes out of fear of reliving certain gazes that once hurt him.
But that’s fine... That Mitsuki died that very night. Now, only the one bearing the most infamous name in this world remained.
[ Your title "Herald of the Unnameable" has taken effect. ]
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Confused, Mitsuki couldn’t pay full attention to what the tattoo and the screen in his vision were telling him, as the dragon spread its bony wings, where the flames intensified like a radiant beacon in the eternal night of the Ethereal World.
Its wings moved, and once again, it lifted off the ground.
"Damn it..."
Azel realized that Elyndor could fly without the need for wing membranes; therefore, there was no longer any way to bring him back down.
"Does it have even more hidden transformations?" Marco muttered.
Mitsuki fired a water bullet that momentarily extinguished one of the dragon’s wings, frowning. At that same moment, more lightning fell from the sky, and the entire battlefield had turned into a sea of flames.
’It’s getting stronger and stronger. Is this its second phase?’
Like typical final bosses in video games, there was always a second phase or transformation that drastically increased the danger. That was exactly what the dragon was doing.
Marco instinctively glanced at Mitsuki, as if to say that now that the dragon was flying, the plan was ruined.
Wrong.
The plan was still in motion.
There was no room to lose hope—this wasn’t over yet. Mitsuki looked at Monar, who nodded in response.
The dark elf was undoubtedly intelligent, but it wasn’t "him" who nodded to the Ashen Kid—it was the Lord of Green, who had easily read Mitsuki’s thoughts.
"Follow me!" Mitsuki shouted before dozens of flames exploded beneath their feet.
Azel and Marco followed, dodging explosions and lightning. At the same time, Elyndor inhaled a massive amount of green mist. The flames across his body intensified, and in the next instant, he unleashed a massive inferno that chased right behind the group.
Mitsuki led the other two toward one of the pillars that was still standing. Without hesitation, he stepped onto the uneven rubble and began sprinting upward at full speed.
Whenever he felt like gravity would pull him down, he propelled himself with ash to continue along the vertical path. Meanwhile, Azel and Marco had little trouble climbing, as they didn’t need magic to run up an irregular surface.
The flames climbed as if scaling the pillar, nearly reaching the group, but they made it to the top just in time. Then, as Mitsuki leapt into the void, Azel and Marco followed.
"Get ready," Mitsuki whispered.
His body dissolved into ash and reappeared in front of Marco, extending his hand to execute the final part of the plan. Marco didn’t hesitate—in that split second, he grabbed Mitsuki’s hand, and Mitsuki spun on his axis, launching the blond straight toward the dragon.
A fraction of a second later, he did the same with Azel.
Meanwhile, Monar rose from the ground, breaking the enhancement spell on the others. He raised his magic staff high and declared:
"Let the sky weep!"
A massive magic circle, colored like the ocean, appeared above the dragon. In that fleeting moment, Elyndor realized he had already lost.
And Mitsuki?
A cloud of ash surged from the ground straight toward the dragon’s heart. In the span of two seconds—Mitsuki appeared, aiming his shotgun at the gap left by the broken rib.
He fired.
The water bullet pierced through Elyndor.
Marco drove his sword into the dragon’s skull, and Azel struck the beast’s spine with his bow the moment it fell.
Monar followed, rising into the sky. His cold gaze felt otherworldly.
Surrounded by the souls who bore witness to the battle, the group brought down Elyndor, the Guardian, as he crashed into the rubble of the magic circle below, his flames slowly fading away.
The one watching from afar nodded, disappearing into the darkness of the gloomy trees.