abcnovels
Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Chapter 73
A handful of people ran away as soon as Veno issued his warning.
“Stay where you are! It is simply an empty threat to frighten you! The town only appears to be purified, but it is a mere trick on the eyes. And then, he will...”
Virage whistled, summoning the Bio Corpse Hydra to his side.
And its back... split open? Virage then climbs inside.
“You cannot possibly touch me if I command my ultimate weapon from the inside!”
The priest’s voice came through the hydra’s mouth.
It’s like he’s piloting that amalgamation as if it were a mech.
‘Judging by thine memories... ‘tis rather interesting.’
Hey, don’t get distracted by anime robots. Focus on the fight, damn it.
‘‘tis without a question that I am focused. Casting spells take time, even if I am filled with Mana. I have nothing practical to do in the meantime.’
Five minutes’ time to escape... you mean you need five minutes to cast this spell.
Knowing the truth just spoils it for me. And why aren’t you using any poison anyway, Mr. Poison Dragon?
‘Oh, be quiet. ‘tis the same reason I had mentioned before. If I were to use my poison, no one will survive.’
“Now, my ultimate weapon, slay the dragon who corrupted the dragonslayers!”
“Sir Elfé! He is mighty and righteous! Do not waver, men!”
Controlling the hydra from within, Virage repeated spewed noxious gas onto Veno.
However, Veno’s Yggdrasil completely countered it.
Virage’s followers attempted to do the same to the surrounding dragonslayers and townsfolk but were ineffective due to the same reasons.
“Damn you, you evil, deceiving dragon!”
“You deserve nothing but death for your sins! Hurry, Sir Elfé!”
“What makes you think you can tell me what to do?! And I know that much! The dragon cannot maintain this barrier forever!”
Virage and his goons struggled and struggled.
But, I know.
I know that their efforts against Veno’s Yggdrasil amounted to nothing.
“This is a miracle... o Sacred Yggdrasil... we have not misplaced our faith in you.”
Celes and her comrades continued to pray to Veno.
Absorbing their prayers, the already stable Yggdrasil became stronger and more resistant.
Five minutes have already passed during this exchange... and the magic was ready.
“Now... I have given you five minutes’ time. Virage, receive thy punishment for thy sins! I cast the almighty spell of destruction and the divine punishment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Fire and Brimstone!”
As soon as Veno casted his spell, the skies swirled with grey clouds. A pillar of light penetrated through, striking straight down along with the crackling and rumbling of thunder and lightning.
“This magic is nothing compared to my—”
Virage commanded the Bio Corpse Hydra to defend itself, but Veno’s spell destroyed its defenses and pierced through the monster in an instant.
“Aughhhhhhhhhh!”
“Wh—”
“No w—”
“Im—“
Virage and his assailants didn’t have enough time to cry out.
By the powers of Yggdrasil, Celes and the other dragonslayers were once again protected from the great fire that raged from the lightning strike.
Within ten seconds, the monster and men had been reduced to nothing but ashes.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...”
The elf’s voice trailed until the fire fully consumed him.
What was left was but a crater in the ground.
“Whew.”
Perhaps Veno was feeling generous after casting his spell. He used more Mana to fill in the crater and repaired the nearby buildings which had been destroyed by Bio Corpse Hydra.
“Ahh... that felt great. ‘tis very satisfying to finally unleash my powers.”
I could almost imagine Veno lighting up a cigarette after all that.
It seems to me as if you’ve overdone it a little though, don’tcha think?
‘I am sure things shall be fine. I have restored the town to status quo ante bellum.’
I mean, I guess...
Now then, it was time to clean up this mess. Surely, Veno could undo the magic casted on me, right?
I now totally understood how it feels to be a spectator and I had had enough.
Whatever it takes for you to return me to my world though.
‘Aye... then I shall... gah. It... seems that I am all out of Mana.’
You what?!
‘Perhaps we will need to... aaaaaaahhh’
Kersplash!
Veno disappeared into a beam of light and I was switched back to the physical world.
Then, I gently floated to the ground. Maybe it was because I was holding onto Karma Blaze.
Luckily, I somehow landed safely.
“Yukihisa!”
“Muuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
Arleaf and Muu rushed over to my side.
“You did it! You too, Lord Holy Dragon!”
“Muuuuu!”
The world tree Veno spawned with his magic faded into the light as well.
‘Aye... however, the Mana I had been receiving from Karma Blaze stopped flowing.’
“Will Yukihisa turn into the Lord Holy Dragon again?”
“Umm, y’know, me and Veno are totally separate beings, right, Arleaf?”
You don’t seriously think I’m the human form of Veno... right?
We’ve already talked about this before, so she should understand.
“Oh... sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I was wondering that because the Lord Holy Dragon had spoken how he couldn’t undo Forced Possession Summoning.”
‘Aye. But...’
Veno shifted his attention to Celes who had walked up to us.
“Cohgray, you really were the dragon...”
“Like I said, it’s complicated, but I’m not actually the dragon, right?”
“But if you had seen it... no, you are correct.”
“Do you still want to duel? Though we found out how we’ve been had already...”
Celes silently shook her head.
The rest of the dragonslayers followed suit as well.
Wait... when did all of the people in Lif’el gather around us?
This... is bad? I mean, we really did cause quite a stir.
‘Shall we escape? Though, thou art surrounded...’
I sat down and looked around...
“You need not be on guard, Cohgray. People have not assembled because they hold resentment towards you. Rather... yes, let me offer a prayer first then let me apologize afterwards.”
As the leader of the Dragonslayer Corps, Celes led her team and about half of the townsfolk in a prayer.
“Wh-What the...”
“Umm...”
“Y’all have made a real ruckus here.”
Wayne and Rurika showed up to the plaza.
“Uhh... what’s happening here?”
“Well, this because you turned into the Holy Dragon, created a world tree, and saved the town, I s’pose.”
‘Hmm? What is the meaning of this?’
“And so what does this mean?”
Veno and I couldn’t quite make heads and tails of this situation, but Arleaf lightly cleared her throat and stood up along with Celes.
“Many of these people have found our lord, the Holy Dragon. He had appeared and brought salvation with him, saving the town from the brink of extinction. It is very much like a god had descended from the heavens.”
“The others are us followers of the Teachings of the Sacred Yggdrasil. Our scriptures tell of a miraculous spell called Yggdrasil that will clear miasma, save the fallen, and protect the people. It is said that the one who casts the spell should be worshipped as a saint as well.”
Rurika raised her index finger and quickly added to the conversation.
“And then, the third religion in town is the Church of Saint Oevarl, a harmony of the other two. The name is a reference to a certain dragon, it seems.”
Saint Oevarl... your name is Veno Yveval, right?
‘Aye... but sayeth thou it to be similar?’
Well, yeah, it’s kinda similar. It’s not identical, of course, but if it’s a mixture between the two religions... well, it wouldn’t exactly be unreasonable.
“To sum it up, the magic used and the divine punishment we witnessed today is something of legends... even if it was casted by a dragon. I am sure the people who have observed today’s battle believe that it was the return of the saint.”
Ah... so in other words, Veno’s magic and the miracle of Karma Blaze roused up a few religions.
“Let us relay news to our countrymen, telling them that the culprit behind our afflicted family members was Elfé—or rather, it was the ancient elf by the name of Virage!”
“Yeah!”
The dragonslayers all cheered while they were in the middle of praying to us.
“Then, the whole killing me thing...”
“What do you take us for?! If we were to slay the dragon after it had called forth the world tree... we should be the ones punished.”
‘This proves that I had made the right decision in casting my spells, does it not?’
Sure, it does, Veno. Whatever makes you happy.
But you and I both know that you only casted those spells ‘cause you were aching to try them out.
“Yeah... well, I’m glad that we’re good. Actually, Celes, we should probably hurry to save your sister. There might be more of Virage’s people coming after us.”
“And even now, you still worry about me... you truly are a man of good character, Cohgray.”
Oops. Celes looked a little shocked.
“It’s the second coming!”
“Lord Holy Dragon!”
“The legends have come true!”
Everybody seemed to be overjoyed with how things turned out. They gather around me and tossed me in the air.
“Whoa! Hey, hold on!”
“Eek!”
This is crazy!
“Please, hold on!”
“Muu?!”
“You two are with the Lord Holy Dragon as well, right? Up you go then!”
With that, people from all religions reveled together with the whole town for today’s monumental victory.
There was a ceremony in the middle of all that celebration... at least it gave me a moment to speak to Celes and the rest of them.
Well, the people of the Sacred Teachings have already sealed off the curse-ridden prayer altar yesterday and are now taking care of it.
Veno told me he’d look further into the issue later.
Oh, and it seems like Wayne’s issue was most likely related to the infectious altar too.
A few days before symptoms started hitting him, his acquaintance showed up to his home with a Teachings symbol in hand.