20 – Argenta (2) – Betterdays Translations

The Star of Annihilation
Chapter 20 – Argenta (2)
Written by : eleven
Proofread by : ch17175

* * *

“Huuu… ahhhh….”

‘It’s been amazing everytime I look at it.’

Roy was shocked at the speed in which he could gather and refine mana into his core.

The new method of reverse flow that he had adapted from the Dragons, was something that he didn’t originally think was for humans.

The proof was currently in his mana core.

‘I could already be a top 3-star mage in terms of mana alone at this point.’

Mana alone did not mean one could ascend to the next star. In terms of the quantity of mana itself, Roy was already nearing his previous level.

Stars were a sort of restriction on the body.

One could not cast spells of a higher star level than they were capable of, unless they were willing to suffer from serious internal injury and possibly having their core destroyed.

Nevertheless, having more mana was like buying an extra life for a mage.

Having more mana allowed the mage to be able to consecutively multicast; if they had the ability to, which would greatly bolster firepower, attack opportunities and much more.

“Hm?”

Roy started to notice something during his meditation and stopped circulating his mana.

Opening his eyes, Roy remained seated in a cross-legged position as he felt something approaching through the waves of mana.

It was slight but he assuredly sensed it since it was nearby.

Bang!

The front door to his house burst open.

“LUCIUS!”

An old man’s voice could be heard and everybody in the house woke up in an instant.

Mathilde, Nate and Roy, the normal residents, were shocked and immediately rushed to the door.

In front of them, an old man they had not seen before stood there, panting and gasping for breath while Lucius came up behind the group in a daze.

Roy recognized the man as the one responsible for the slight mana fluctuations he just felt. Tubel for some reason was trying to be discrete with his mana, but not his actions.

Roy started to wonder what was going on when he saw the Three Imperial Princes behind Tubel and their envoys putting on their gear.

Whoooosh!

A portal opened up in the space, and a robed figure along with a small blonde-haired girl stepped out of it.

The disguise was off, as the dead mana surrounding Ferneth was resonating in the air. The will o’ wisps in his eyes flickered brightly under the darkness of the night and everybody except Nate,Tubel, Lucius and Roy were surprised at the sudden appearance of the Arch-Lich.

[We have trouble.]

Ferneth was the one who spoke up first.

Tubel already knew that Ferneth was the man next to the girl when he was hiding in plain sight, but shakily nodded his head in response to Ferneth’s words and spoke up.

“Lucius, get your sword and gear ready now. There’s something coming… and it’s not something we can afford to mess with.”

Lucius’ expression hardened in an instant, and already knew Tubel was coming, but when he heard the words come out of Tubel’s mouth, he didn’t doubt it for a moment.

“What do you think it is?”

Nate asked in a worried voice.

His calm demeanor was cracking just a bit, when he saw all these powerful combatants in front of him; supposedly some of the best in the Empire, getting ready for battle with uncertain expressions.

‘Could it be?’

Roy’s mana sensitivity was incredulous and probably even better than Tubel’s. However, he didn’t have the range of mana due to his lacking level.

But eventually, he could feel it.

Roy’s hands started to tremble and his eyes started to shake as they became unfocused.

Mathilde, and everyone else immediately noticed something wrong with Roy and whipped their heads around.

Lucius and Tubel were about to leave and get ready for battle, but became reluctant when they saw Roy’s expression.

“Roy dear?!”

Mathilde spoke loudly in fright when she noticed her son not responding at all.

‘No…’

He wasn’t comatose or anything like that.

If anything, it was a trauma response.

Inside of his head, Roy’s mind started to playback images and scenes of his violent and cruel death. His several comrades-in-arms die miserably and gruesomely at the abominable existences they once fought.

‘It’s too early…’

Although it was supposed to be soon, it was not supposed to be this soon.

Roy regained his focus when Mathilde grabbed his hands.

“Huh…. Mom?”

“Are you okay honey?”

Mathilde bent down to his eye level and asked in a worried voice.

“Uh… yes-yes I’m sorry.”

Tubel and Lucius raised their eyebrows but turned away while Ferneth put Elizabeth down and followed after Lucius and Tubel to get prepared.

It was then, when Mathilde was also able to feel what everybody else had been feeling along with Nate and Elizabeth.

They shuddered considerably at the force that seemed to bend down on their minds and wills.

* * *

Mana.

It was something that was abundant in this world along with the countless numbers of lowly humans, Argenta thought as he was approaching the bugs that he found randomly and interestingly enough.

Mana was part of nature, just like the very air they breathed.

But as a Dragon, Argenta was blessed by it in a different form.

Mana could take on different properties when influenced by one’s will.

Like the dead mana around the undead that was necessary for necromancy, or pyrotechnics that specialized in fire magic.

But for Dragons, it was something that was channeled into a different type of property.

Dominance.

<How interesting. The Lord sent me to scout, but who would have thought that there are so many interesting little things in one spot?.>

Argenta spoke his thoughts aloud to himself as he was in his Primal Form as a Dragon. Only rarely would he polymorph into his human form.

The large, black wings beat in the sky, as he was moving near the speed of sound towards the village of Kerto.

The countless, shiny scales were decorated in a black figure that was tinted with a very light tinge of violet.

Ba-dump Ba-dump

Argenta felt the palpitation in his Dragon Heart. The magic organ that all Dragons had and used. It was like a core, but it was also their sole organ that also acted as their life.

The only time his heart was like this, was when he was around other beings that gave him instinctual fear.

<What?>

Argenta didn’t stop flying but continued to fly towards Kerto with this odd feeling going throughout his body.

The only time that Argenta felt this kind of fear, was when he was in presence of the Lord or the Great Three.

He narrowed his large, yellow eyes to slits as he started to come upon the area of the place he was heading towards.

* * *

“Are you all ready?”

Tubel asked as he looked at the other forces next to him. The Three Imperial Princes were staying behind them, listening keenly as they felt the fearsome presence coming closer.

Two 6-Star Archmages, One 7-star Archmage, One 8-star Grand Wizard, and 7-Star Arch-Lich.

That was the magical firepower they had.

Then… there was Dante and Lucius.

It was not an exactly ideal formation in any sense. Lucius and Dante could both manipulate Aura, but neither of them were a tank-type fighter.

Aura had distinctive characteristics to the one’s wielding it. So in a sense, no aura was the same.

“Since I’ve witnessed all of the skills of the people present, I ask that you let me take point for this battle.”

Tubel took point as the leader of the battle they were about to commence.

[I would only ask that you be utmost confident in your skills. I can feel that you are incredibly powerful… but I am probably the only person here whose skills you have not seen.]

Ferneth spoke warily, but he knew the being that was coming was something that could surely catch them if it wanted to. Running away was not an option.

“Thank you for your trust in me temporarily. I’ll try my best to get all of us out alive, in one way or another.”

Tubel tried to speak cheerily, but he knew that it would be considered quite lucky if even half of them were alive after this battle.

“Lucius, can I ask you to create an area we can work with?”

Tubel asked as the group stood atop a plain where Roy’s home was.

“Yes, sir.”

Lucius replied respectfully since he was faithful to position when it came to battle.

Before moving, Lucius walked up to Roy.

“Hey kid. Whatever is coming, I want you to watch very carefully. This is what you will be needing to learn one day, so make sure to imprint my swordsmanship to memory.”

Roy reluctantly nodded as he, Nate and Elizabeth along with his mother, were standing together, about to witness what was about to come.

Tat-

Lucius disappeared from the spot atop the plain, and once again reappeared in front of the group.

Turning his back to them, he drew his sword slowly out of its sheath.

Ferneth and he did not have a chance to get too serious in their fight, but Lucius was prepared to give everything right now.

Swik.

In front of the plains, was the forestry that spanned throughout the Baroness’ territory.

In one second, with a single line being drawn through the air, a blue line seemed to cut through everything in existence.

Everything in front of the sword’s path was drawn with a new line into it. As if painting a blue line over a canvas that had already been painted on.

BOOOM!

Then it all disappeared.

Roy gulped down his saliva as Nate and Elizabeth didn’t even know how to react as their eyes widened in shock.

The forest, the tree trunks, the grass.

Everything was blown away as the blue line suddenly had expanded and enveloped their entire view in a mere second and blinded them.

The result was a large dirt field about 5 miles in length.

“What…”

Mathilde was left with her mouth agape.

Michael was the only prince among the three that had not witnessed a Swordmaster’s battle.

He too flinched for a moment, but quickly erased his discomfort to maintain his image.

The sword of Lucius’ came to a stop and Lucius didn’t even look like he broke out a sweat.

Roy had seen similar things happen in the great wars of the past, but it was one thing to see it from afar, compared to up close.

Regardless though, Roy knew that even as powerful as Lucius seemed to be, he would never be able to take a Dragon one-on-one.

Suddenly, deep into the distance, the dark sky seemingly wriggled, as there was something coming towards their location fast.

“GET READY!”

Tubel shouted urgently as the magicians got into stance and were preparing spells quickly for delayed release.

The violent mana surging throughout the atmosphere was all centering from the dark thing that was approaching their location quickly.

“Ten…”

Roy muttered under his breath.

“Ten what?”

Nate asked, turning to Roy.

“Ten seconds till it’s here.”

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Roy started to feel something odd as he felt as if he could hear his heart beating out its chest.

His mana core, and internal mana circuit, that was modeled after the Dragons’ Hearts, started to pulsate as the mana seemed to be resonating within his body, threatening to devour everything like an enraged beast.

“Hup..”

Roy immediately fell to one knee, as he suppressed something coming up his throat.

Nate quickly caught Roy and stayed wordless as Roy put his hands up and waved to him as if he were fine.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

And then it landed.

“Oh fuck….”

Howard, who saw the beast that had just landed like a meteor, creating a crater in the ground, cursed under his breath.

“What is that…”

Everybody present, fell speechless.

The Dragon of the Violet Night, Argenta, had arrived.

Chapter 20 – Fin