Episode 13
Straight hair tied back, commonly called a ponytail. Those ebony locks suited her slightly dark skin. Thick eyebrows arched upward together with a sharp gaze, and the exotic garments she wore were likewise pitch black, giving the beholder an impression of tremendous strength despite her small stature—though she was beautiful. Most of all, the large metal bracelets she wore on her slender forearms were a strange imbalance that accentuated the allure of her as a whole picture. That was most people's first impression of Karina, Jellideu's Seal.
"Karina... once this is over, let's take a trip to southern Dallakateu. After I kill her, I'll need to rest for a while too."
While the army of Oconel, general of the Kingdom of Helmondeu, deployed into an offensive formation before Bellesima, Jellideu spoke in a low voice.
"Yeah. Sounds good."
It was a bright voice that suited Karina's face, which still held traces of youth. Her manner of speaking was unexpected for one in her position as a Seal. The massive gates of Bellesima's castle walls opened, and a mixed unit from Risenbeoreo led by Rii Diteurihi began to emerge amid clouds of dust. The corners of Jellideu's mouth turned up slightly at the sight of Rii.
"It has begun."
"Then, Lord Jellideu. As promised, Lord Rii..."
Oconel said.
"I know."
With a scraping sound, Jellideu drew his sword, and Oconel's eyes widened at the sight. Just as the rumors circulating among knights described, the entire surface of his blade was covered in recessed thunder runes, and its edge was lined with small serrations like saw teeth—a bizarre sight. Jellideu opened the lid of a small glass bottle at his waist and began to sprinkle a dark-red liquid resembling congealed blood onto his sword. Watching that sight, which looked like some ominous initiation, Oconel swallowed dryly. The liquid splashed across the surface of Jellideu's sword seeped instantly into the recesses and spread, making the blade look as though thin blood vessels had formed across its whole length. Jellideu muttered as he looked at his sword, now brimming with the blood-colored liquid.
"Knights will ponder how to protect their honor when a fight begins, but me? At that moment, I only think of how to kill my opponent. Curse me all you want. You can't do that once you're dead, after all."
That dark-red liquid which had seeped into the sword's recesses was a lethal poison extracted from a rare toxic herb. Thanks to that blade's unique structure, Jellideu's sword had literally become a "villainous blade brimming with poison," and even an accidental cut would let the toxin seep into the opponent's veins in an instant. Even a knight, possessed of a body and mind incomparably stronger than any ordinary person, would not die immediately from the poison, but Jellideu never let the moment of faltering brought on by intoxication slip away. Such a vicious act was something deserving of knights' scorn, but Jellideu had killed numerous knights with that blade regardless. The dead knights might have kept their honor, but they were dead... Once you die, everything returns to zero, and that is the end. So Jellideu thought.
And the sword that had led those knights to their deaths was named the Assailant. The name of that blade, which Jellideu had wielded ever since losing his knighthood, suited his wicked reputation as the Nightmare.
"Prepare the siege artillery!"
Oconel shouted.
"Reinforcements will arrive from the capital soon," Ikateseu whispered to Rii, but her expression did not brighten in the slightest.
"Even if there are thousands... thousands of ordinary soldiers, they mean nothing to Jellideu. Besides, what he's clearly after is me alone. He likely never cared about Bellesima from the start."
"Lady Rii..."
Even Ikateseu had rarely seen such a gloomy expression on her face. Her gaze was fixed on a single figure at the head of the Helmondeu army... Jellideu.
How was Rii's past entangled with Jellideu's?
"Ikateseu. I ask this of you."
Rii drew her slender rapier and held it out to Ikateseu.
"Yes."
Ikateseu's low incantation rang out, and soon energy pouring from his palm seeped into Rii's blade. The sword's surface seemed to flare blue. If Kanelrian excelled at the blade, Ikateseu was a Seal who wielded many kinds of magic. And enchantment magic that raised an ally's attack power or durability was one of his specialties.
"And..."
"...?"
Rii's gaze remained fixed on the enemy upon the battlefield as she quietly continued. Ikateseu's handsome face grew uneasy.
"I will face Jellideu and his Seal, Karina, alone. From now on, focus on aiding the soldiers."
It was a resolute voice.
"B-But..."
"It's clear Jellideu is aiming only for me. And our goal right now is to protect Bellesima. If you and the soldiers of Risenbeoreo drive out the Helmondeu army while I keep Jellideu at bay, the city can be saved. That will be enough."
"Understood, my Tamer," Ikateseu answered with a worried expression when the soldiers' voices erupted.
"Here they come! Siege artillery!"
Massive stones were flying into the sky and hurtling toward the city. If struck by those, the front lines would crumble, and the city's defenses would not last long.
"Ikateseu!"
"Yes!"
Ikateseu clasped his hands and closed his eyes, and blue energy began to manifest around his body in the form of plasma. An enormous energy that made it look as though Ikateseu's body were burning. It was the very ability that countless Tamers had coveted.
"Please don't die, Lady Rii."
Ikateseu opened his deep-blue eyes, half-hidden by his crimson short hair, and spoke to her. Rii nodded and stepped forward. And in that instant, a translucent barrier formed in the skies above Bellesima, and the flying stones crashed against it, shattering in midair with thunderous noise. Ikateseu was a Seal with tremendous mana, enough to deploy a barrier vast enough to cover an entire battlefield, but that was his limit. Having poured all his mental strength into maintaining the barrier, he could not help Rii. And Rii knew that as well.
Realizing their siege artillery had been neutralized, the Helmondeu army ordered a charge of the siege towers, and heavy infantry bearing massive shields began to escort the towers in a rush toward Bellesima's defenses and walls. From beyond the walls, countless arrows soared into the air and rained down as deadly hail upon the Helmondeu charging forces. When the siege towers entered the range of the anti-tower ballistae atop the Risenbeoreo walls, the ballistae's bowstrings snapped, sending massive bolts out through ports in the castle walls toward the towers. A cruel festival of humanity had begun, one to which blood and agony and screams were far better suited than splendid romance. And at that moment, in the center of that battlefield, Rii, Jellideu, and Karina met.
"I've told you before... I am the only one who can wound your heart, and the only one who can heal it. Rii."
Those were Jellideu's first words at their reunion after so long. Rii raised her rapier, which looked as though charged with mana and ready to devour her opponent at any moment, and spoke with a cold demeanor.
"I will ask one thing. Why did you annihilate your entire household? For what possible reason... why did you commit such a terrible act that made you give up everything!"
"A reason, you say..."
Jellideu's mocking, rough voice was chilling.
"I suppose it was because it was unbearably dull."
The Assailant in Jellideu's hand was dripping dark-red poison onto the ground. It made one imagine a hellhound baring its foul venomous fangs at its prey.
"You never intend to speak truly to the very end."
"Go. Karina."
The first to move was Jellideu's Seal, Karina. Her 'weapon' was the exotic-looking metal bracelets she wore on both wrists. White light erupted from those bracelets, and soon her small body shot forward as if springing, rushing at Rii. Karina was a Seal skilled in unarmed combat, not using any blade. In an instant, Karina closed the distance, and her hand, sheathed in white mana, aimed for Rii's heart. Rii evaded it with swift movement but did not thrust at Karina. More than that, Rii's focus was on Jellideu, who was slowly approaching her. Jellideu would surely strike when his Seal threw Rii off balance.
"Please don't call me cowardly. I am no longer a knight. And for you as well... the title of knight doesn't suit you."
Those words from Jellideu could not hide an air of self-mockery.
"I don't want to hear the words of a loser like you!"
Continuing to avoid Karina's attacks, Rii suddenly ducked low, sharply leveled her blade forward, and charged at Jellideu. Blue plasma burst like an explosion from Rii's slender rapier, infused with Ikateseu's mana. Fitting her epithet, the Blue Raptor, she flew toward Jellideu with a tearing, rupturing sound that split the air itself. Karina could not follow her movement. It was as though a bolt of blue lightning were striking down at Jellideu.
"Lose your composure... and you die."
Jellideu's voice rang out like a demon's warning. A dazzling spark erupted at the moment of impact, and the one flung back was none other than Rii. She quickly corrected her stance and raised her sword again, but the shock of clashing with Jellideu's blade moments ago sent such pain through her right arm that it felt as though it might tear away. Raising her eyes, Rii saw Jellideu standing in the same spot, having not moved a single step. He looked like the Nightmare standing upon a plain of mockery.
"I suppose it's my turn to attack this time."
Even as Jellideu said that, Karina's sharp hands and feet flew toward Rii. In truth, Jellideu was strong enough on his own even without Karina. He wielded a cruel blade like the Assailant more because of his personality than out of necessity. Had it been anyone other than Rii, they would have lost their sword or had their arm severed in a single exchange with Jellideu. Even fighting Jellideu on fair and equal terms, Rii's chances of winning would have been no more than half; the reason he chose to fight in such a 'despicable' manner was perhaps simply his own will to be remembered by others as a cowardly and cruel man... though Jellideu had never once explained or justified such behavior.
'Did you... want to mock things like honor in this world? To show your opponents the futility of that honor...?'
Jellideu was slowly moving, approaching Rii. Not knowing when he would strike, she watched his movements as best she could while evading Karina's attacks. She thought that she might truly die in this battle. And in that instant, Jellideu's body seemed to disappear. To onlookers, Jellideu must have looked like a nightmare—vanishing like black smoke and closing in on Rii without a sound.
'Here he comes!'
Rii's eyes caught Jellideu's sword coming for her. Thinking that if she had only one chance in this battle, it was now, Rii used her aggressive swordsmanship, and blue flames coiled around her rapier, aiming for Jellideu's chest. It resembled a snake and an eagle trying to kill one another.
"Then and now, why do you... put on such a strong front when you look like you'll break at any moment? Is that honor of yours so precious?"
'It isn't about honor.'
Rii answered his whisper with her eyes. Rii's blade had pierced Jellideu's abdomen, but Jellideu's blade had also dealt a deep wound to Rii's right arm. To onlookers they might have seemed similarly wounded, but the Assailant's poison had already begun to spread through Rii's body. If she continued fighting like this, her defeat was as clear as day, and defeat on the battlefield meant death. The two slowly withdrew their swords and stepped back. Jellideu clutched his stomach, now beginning to bleed, and smiled a low, heavy smile. That he did not lose his fighting spirit despite such a piercing wound was likely due to his ability and will. Karina wore an expression of not knowing what to do, but Jellideu spoke with a relaxed smile.
"It's only just started. In the end, the one who dies will be... hm?"
Something was falling from the sky. Wreathed in red light, it was hurtling toward where Rii stood at tremendous speed.
"C-Carnelian?"
Rii's flustered expression.
"What is this woman..."
The words of the bewildered Rii and Jellideu at Kanelrian's sudden appearance. The endlessly oppressive atmosphere that had been swirling around them was thrown into disarray by her arrival.
"My master sent me, saying to help Lord Rii and achieve victory in this battle."
Contrary to her words, Kanelrian's expression said, 'Ugh. It hurts.' Yes, she had injured her back due to a failed landing. At that moment, Karina's eyes, which had been looking at Kanelrian, widened. Karina's voice, as if tearing.
"You, you are!"
Dragon Lady
Author / Gim Cheolgon
Publisher / Bak Seongin
Managing Editor / Editorial Department
Published by / Next Level Studio
Address / 4F, 113 Seongsu-i-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul Special City
Main Phone / 070-8801-6987
ISBN 979-11-92729-25-1
This book was published as an e-book by Next Level Studio under contract with the copyright holder.
Unauthorized reproduction of the contents of this book without the publisher's permission is prohibited by copyright law.