Necromancer Of The Black Bible (105)

Krasedra’s voice was heavy and resonant, as if it belonged to Eckhart herself.

That resonance shook the spirit forms of everyone present, if only for a moment.

But it was only for a moment.

Bernual burst into a suppressed laugh.

“What, run away… Does that even make sense?”

Astarene also gave a faint smile and chimed in.

“You didn’t hear wrong, did you, Elder Brother?”

Their reactions were by no means strange.

They were dragons.

Even if separated, their identity remained that of dragons.

Dragons do not flee.

Throughout the history of the continent, dragons had never run away.

Even when the Demon King Belzemon led an unprecedented army to conquer the land, they stood against him and won.

They lost one sibling, but they still prevailed.

It was a proclamation to all living things.

Dragons were the strongest, most exalted beings,

the absolute power to which no one could defy.

Thus the doubts of the second and third siblings were perfectly natural.

But Krasedra, Eckhart’s first fang, wore a heavy expression.

He glanced between his two younger siblings and then spoke.

“You still do not know. However…”

He closed his eyes for a moment, staring into the void, then added.

“This too may be fate.”

Krasedra said to his two siblings with a firm expression.

“Let’s go. Meet the sixth and speak again.”

And so they headed to the surface.

Being spirit forms, they could move at great speed.

Even as they went, Krasedra’s heart was heavy.

It was because his siblings could not understand the pressure he felt.

‘The end is near.’

The strongest being on the Astranova Continent.

The ancient Crimson Dragon Eckhart would soon perish.

His instinct warned him with stark clarity.

‘If—if I perish today…’

Krasedra’s spirit form trembled.

Having led a dull existence for thousands of years, life had little significance to him.

But the thought that he might vanish soon stirred his emotions.

Freed from the shackles of the greatsword, able to move as he pleased, this moment suddenly felt precious.

‘What should I use my final moment for?’

His gaze naturally turned to his two siblings.

Bernual and Astarene.

They had spent over a thousand years together here, making them closer than the other siblings.

But he could not protect them both.

If the vision Eckhart sent was true, Krasedra could at best buy only a very short amount of time, even if he did his utmost.

‘If that time comes… a choice must be made.’

With that thought, Krasedra flew to the top of the mage tower.

A familiar-looking human was waiting there.

Leopold von Eckhart.

The body occupied by the sixth fang, Skaldrem.

The body appeared to be in its fifties and was fairly solid.

Hard muscles and a strong heart.

The seven Mana Rings revolving in his heart seemed as powerful as those of many archmages he had faced.

The man checked Krasedra and the other siblings and greeted them with a faint smile.

“You’ve finally come.”

“Hey, Leopold.”

Bernual grinned and approached him.

As he passed Krasedra and stood before Leopold, Krasedra sensed something amiss.

‘The barrier on the mage tower is gone.’

Looking at Leopold, he felt that something was wrong.

‘That one is not Skaldrem.’

The fangs shared the same aura.

That aura remained even when they inhabited different bodies.

But that aura was absent from the Leopold before him.

“Stop, Bernual.”

The moment Krasedra’s words fell, something flew through the air.

What shot toward them at tremendous speed was a chain—a chain with an iron cuff attached at the end.

The sight of it was familiar.

It was what he had seen in the vision Eckhart had sent.

“Everyone, dodge!”

Krasedra focused all his mind.

Though a spirit form, Krasedra was Eckhart’s first fang.

His spirit form bore the full power of the Crimson Dragon at its prime.

Even without his physical form, his power could not be dismissed.

Crrrreeak-

His spirit form swelled and began to materialize.

At the same time, massive mana gathered and an airstream formed.

Krasedra detonated that mana current, bouncing the chain flying at him and Astarene aside.

Kukwahang!

With a thunderous boom, the chain was repelled.

Thanks to that, Krasedra and Astarene were unharmed.

But Bernual did not fare so well.

“What is this!”

An iron cuff was clamped tightly around his neck, and as the chain pulled, his head was slammed into the ground.

Leopold stamped on Bernual’s head with his foot and looked at Krasedra and Astarene.

“Impressive. You managed to avoid this.”

Krasedra gritted his teeth.

His premonition had been right.

The one inhabiting Leopold’s body now was not Skaldrem.

“So it’s you. The one who destroyed Eckhart…”

The opponent snorted and spoke.

“I haven’t destroyed her yet. I only trapped her in my domain for a while.”

“How will you free her?”

For now, it’s a bargain.

Dragons did not usually make deals, but this time was different.

The opponent before them was overwhelmingly powerful.

But the opponent seemed to see straight through Krasedra’s intentions.

He smiled darkly and spoke.

“Whatever you do, I have no intention of releasing her.”

“Then… there is no choice.”

Krasedra stepped back and whispered to Astarene on his left.

-Run.

This time Astarene did not sneer.

She had seen how their brother Bernual had been treated right before her eyes.

Krasedra gathered his energy.

Then, with all his strength, he shoved Astarene away and hurled himself down beneath the mage tower.

He headed for the underground grand chamber.

It was the very place where Eckhart’s body lay sleeping.

‘If I can gain a body, even briefly…’

He might be able to fight.

But he soon shook his head.

Eckhart’s main body would have thought the same.

Yet she had sent the message telling him to run to this very body.

Its meaning was clear.

‘That one cannot be beaten by us no matter what.’

A bitter smile creased Krasedra’s lips.

Had there ever been such a desperate situation in over three thousand years?

Every battle he had fought until now had been one he could promise victory in.

But now it was a battle where defeat was almost certain.

‘Still, it’s all right. Astarene remains.’

Astarene was the most clever of the siblings.

She would surely devise a countermeasure.

Having thought this far, Krasedra could determine his role.

‘Buy time. Until Astarene can escape.’

The rest would be up to his younger siblings.

Krasedra increased his speed.

The adversary had not yet pursued, but would surely try to stop him.

They would not want an ancient dragon to awaken.

‘Not bad.’

I had thought his size meant dullness, but that was not the case.

Of the three who had gathered here, he was the most useful.

Only he had suspected, and because of that he could repel the chain spewed by the Wheel of Eternity.

I kept one foot on the head of the second fang, whose face was buried in the ground, and alternately glanced toward the directions the first and third had scattered.

‘This has become troublesome.’

Even if I held one down, the other would be able to flee.

Any of them possessed that level of skill.

“Heh heh heh… This is awkward for you! If you belittle our brother and sibling, you’ll pay dearly! How dare you look down on us, ugh!”

Was that Bernual?

I stomped hard on his head and snapped my fingers.

Then he let out a scream and vanished into the Ethereal Gate.

Then Ceres’s voice came through.

-One of them is moving underground, the other is heading toward the academy.

-Underground means the place where Eckhart’s body is?

-That’s correct.

I roughly understood their plan.

‘A diversion operation, is it?’

One lures attention while the other flees.

And the one who escapes will probably carry something useful to the fight and join later.

‘If I take out the bait first, I can defeat them one by one.’

The large one who volunteered as bait seemed to have chosen Eckhart’s body.

And that attempt succeeded.

Because I was already moving that way.

-Ceres.

-Yes, speak.

-Keep an eye on the one who went toward the academy. Let me know if anything unusual happens.

-Understood.

After the communication, I called on Gio for the first time in a long while.

-Dad?

-Yes.

-What’s up?

-Do you want to come to the place I’m about to tell you right now?

-Oh? Where is it? And why are you calling me?

-I want to give you a tasty treat.

-Wow!

I told Gio the location of the underground grand chamber.

Gio began moving at tremendous speed.

‘At this rate I’ll be late.’

Leopold’s body had many limitations.

I couldn’t use the Mana Rings I originally had, and all the senses felt unfamiliar.

I decided to abandon that body.

Puhwahk!

As my spirit form materialized, Leopold’s body that had enveloped me burst apart.

In that instant, a clear sense of liberation washed over me.

‘Hide-and-seek is over!’

I reverted to a spirit form and continued descending.

The speed was immense, but I still couldn’t catch up to the large one.

But it was only for a short while.

Soon I spotted a spirit form descending underground, scattering a red aura, and I pursued it.

Sensing my presence, it darted about trying to shake off the pursuit, but it was of no use to it.

Its trajectory was so clear that wherever it moved was plainly visible, and I was several times faster.

I quickly closed in on its heels.

And soon we reached the underground grand chamber.

Pass those piles of stones and Eckhart’s body would appear immediately.

At that moment, its spirit form flared intensely.

It was the same display as when it had repelled the chain earlier.

‘So it handles mana like that.’

Surely dragons have an excellent approach to magic.

To be able to handle mana comparable to an archmage even in spirit form.

It had condensed and detonated such an amount of mana that even the Wheel of Eternity couldn’t catch it.

‘I learned a move.’

I condensed mana in exactly the same way it had.

Focusing, I drew mana close to the spirit form, and it began to absorb the mana.

And the mana here had a reddish tint suited to the Crimson Dragon.

It was mana specialized for flame.

As this mana layered onto my body, my spirit form began to glow crimson like theirs.

I decided to detonate this mana before it did.

‘Let’s see…’

I spread my right hand and aimed at it.

Then I thrust the mana out, and the moment it enveloped the enemy’s entire spirit form, I detonated it.