Chapter 177
Rumble.
The thunder and lightning are deafening.
Before long, the sky is filled with dark clouds, and thunder briefly flashes its presence.
And then.
Kwaaang!!
Lightning strikes down, but it is not normal.
The one taking the lightning strike was none other than Bibi, the center of this phenomenon.
A roar mixing dragon and wolf echoed every time the lightning struck.
However, even so, Bibi did not let go of the sword in his mouth and was trying to puff up his body even more.
What exactly was he doing?
Callius could not know what was happening.
But, guessing.
'Both the Thunder Azure Sword and Bibi.'
He could feel without anyone telling him that they stood at a crossroads.
Dark clouds swirl and bolts of lightning ravage the area.
At the center of it all, the Thunder Wolf Dragon sat as if it had become lightning itself.
Bibi was there.
Grrrk, Grrrrrk!
The cry of the Thunder Wolf Dragon shaking heaven and earth devours the surrounding noise.
The falling lightning and aura make it hard to move carelessly.
The shadow of the Thunder Wolf Dragon amidst the lightning grows larger and larger.
The sword held in his mouth was the same.
'The Thunder Azure Sword and Bibi are growing at the same time. What a mysterious thing.'
He didn't just see it as Bibi's growth. The visible appearance showed as much.
Bibi and the Thunder Azure Sword.
The two were already virtually one.
Whether it was due to Bibi's visualization, the area had turned into a sanctuary. The endlessly striking blue lightning proved it.
This place was Bibi's sanctuary.
A sanctuary of lightning.
Crackle crackle!
Boom!
He slaps away the flying lightning with the back of his hand.
Instantly, despite wrapping dragon power around it, the back of his hand feels quite numb.
'The power of Thunder Azure....'
It had become incomparably stronger.
No, it was getting even stronger.
Bibi's body repeatedly swelled with each inhale and exhale, growing a bit larger and then smaller.
And then.
A dragon's roar stretched out towards the sky.
Kwaaaang-!
Crackle!
When the falling lightning stormed like a tempest and turned the surroundings into a wreck.
Sizzle, sizzle.
At the center where blue thunder swirled.
Bibi stood, having transformed into a majestic figure incomparable to before.
[Grrr.]
As soon as she saw that figure, Beati, who was tearing into the magic beasts, bared her teeth.
And at the same time. Bibi, who had turned into lightning, dashed towards Beati.
Suddenly, the two began to vie for supremacy.
Boom!
"Why is their relationship so bad?"
Whenever their eyes meet, they fight, so it was truly absurd.
Normally, he would have stopped them by now, but not right now.
Rather, there was no better creature than Beati to test Bibi's strengthened power.
Kwaaang-!
Beati, flapping her wings and soaring into the sky, and Bibi's form, turning into lightning and chasing her, collided in the air.
Boom! Boom! Kwaaang!
Whatever made them so angry, each attack was extremely vicious. They were fighting as if trying to kill each other.
Bibi was the same.
Since he moved having truly become lightning itself, Beati was pushed back in speed.
And in the sky, no less.
"He's just flying in the sky now."
Bibi spewed Thunder Azure from his entire body and moved like lightning.
From a distance, he didn't look like a Thunder Wolf Dragon, but just a Thunder Dragon itself.
He spewed Thunder Azure in all directions.
Bibi's claws. Speed. And Thunder Azure had been astonishingly enhanced.
And that wasn't all.
'The Thunder Azure Sword transformed into a greatsword.'
Compared to Bibi's original size, the Thunder Azure Sword was too small.
But not anymore.
The Thunder Azure Sword had transformed into a greatsword, seemingly tailored to Bibi's physique.
Bibi's swordsmanship wielding it also seemed to have become incredibly proficient.
"How is that possible?"
He couldn't believe it even while watching.
He pushed Beati back at a speed hard to follow with the eyes, rained lightning from a distance, and slashed with his sword up close.
She was at a loss.
Every time Beati tried to bite or claw, he turned into lightning and vanished, or bounced her off with Thunder Azure. Then, in an instant.
Kwaaang-!
Lightning struck down from the sky, and the blow was so significant that Beati's iron armor was cracking and shattering.
"Beati is being pushed back."
[I see it that way too.]
This was a bit surprising.
Honestly, he didn't feed Bibi the purified Fragment of Corruption expecting this.
He hadn't wished for much. He only wanted Bibi to regain his energy.
He had no other thoughts, but....
'This is beyond expectations.'
He never imagined that the power from purifying the Fragment of Corruption would bring about such a change.
'Has he completely become a dragon now?'
The demonic energy was nowhere to be seen.
So miraculously, not a trace remained.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was now a complete Thunder Dragon.
Not to mention that powerful strength.
"It's enough to face the Master."
If it were just Bibi, it might have been overwhelming, but with the Thunder Azure Sword, it seemed different.
Probably.
'The rank of the Thunder Azure Sword seems to have risen too.'
The rank of the Thunder Azure Sword, which was a Spirit Sword, was different.
It seemed to have risen to the Phantom rank.
Otherwise, Bibi couldn't have created a sanctuary.
[My lord. You must dodge...]
"It's fine."
Beati had her wings severed by Bibi and fell spinning.
Because of her large size, Nioll was worried that Callius might get hurt, but there was no need to worry.
Swish.
Callius raised his hand, his eyes flickering purple.
Then, the snowbank scattered as he caught the falling Beati.
Boom!
At the impact of the fall, the surrounding area seemed to explode as white snow powder and dust scattered.
A moment later.
On the ground, there was only Beati with her entire iron armor broken and wings severed, and Bibi looking down at her loftily.
As if feeling unjust, Beati turned into gray smoke and was unsummoned, and Bibi slowly descended towards Callius with a different gaze than when he looked at Beati.
"Bibi."
His size had grown even more.
He gripped the Thunder Azure Sword in his mouth more firmly, and his outer appearance had changed significantly.
The blue scales symbolizing a dragon grew larger and harder, taking up a large portion of his body.
His tail also had scales, horns, and soft fur, and his claws had grown almost twice as long and thick.
Above all, the aura he exuded was different.
"It seems you've awakened your Dragon Power."
Along with Thunder Azure and Greatsword Arts.
Callius reached out to Bibi.
Bibi, who had now become a true Thunder Wolf Dragon, willingly bowed his head to that hand.
He wondered if his disposition had changed a bit, but it hadn't.
Bibi was Bibi.
"You endured well."
Seeing Bibi wagging his tail in joy, the corners of Callius's mouth loosened. After stroking Bibi for a long time and sharing a connection, Callius turned his steps.
"P-Please spare me! My lord!! Cough!"
Brans was still being beaten by the black knights. Callius ignored that and moved on.
"Now let's slowly get going."
Because the war wasn't over yet.
"To the castle."
"I said spare me! My lord!! My lord! I'm conscious now, my lord!! My lord!! Hey!!"
Callius ignored him and headed for the castle.
* * *
Jaivarsh.
In that area, soldiers were fiercely fighting a war behind hundreds of barricades, blocking the magic beasts.
Corpses of magic beasts were piled up on the barricades, but in the distance, countless magic beasts and brainwashed or dead knights were still rushing in like a wave.
And.
-Grooooaar!
"Hold the line! Hold the line!"
"Aaaargh!"
Reinforced trolls appeared on the frontline.
Trolls wrapped in stakes and string, even wearing iron armor, appeared one after another.
It was a time filled with only despair.
But as hope that blooms in despair is always more intense.
They too had hope.
"My Lord!"
Whoooosh-!!
Their hope was Elberton.
Elberton's figure wielding the Storm Sword-Calis and dominating the battlefield encouraged them.
When he finally managed to bring down one reinforced troll after a hard struggle, the morale of the soldiers pierced the heavens.
However.
Thump, thump!
The trolls were not alone.
Six trolls appeared simultaneously here and there, collapsing the frontline.
Even if they took one down after a hard struggle, the trolls kept reappearing or instantly regenerating their wounds and moving again.
To the Northern Army, the battlefield was hell.
And on the frontline a little away from Jaivarsh.
Despair and hell completely coexisted.
"Phew, phew...! Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine! But old man!"
The mercenary boy couldn't bear to say 'the old man is...'
Chris looked at the old man struggling to stand in front of him.
The old man's armor was a wreck.
It was smeared with blood, had someone's flesh stuck to it, and was dented everywhere.
How such strength came from that withered and frail body was a mystery, but even so, the old man's sword refused to break despite looking like it would.
Rather, he barely managed to kill the enemies.
"Stand up, boy. Is the light shown by your sword one that will simply be broken here?"
"N-No!!"
Chris snapped out of it and stood up.
And gripped his sword.
But the power of the enemy before them was too massive.
His mercenary group was already dead.
In front of that ruthless monstrous beast.
-Grrrrr
"What do you see that as?"
"A monster, what else!"
"Keke, is that so?"
"Then what does it look like to you, old man!"
"Merely an enemy to be cut down."
Seeing him spout nonsense, Chris thought the old man's life was almost over.
With only one arm remaining.
Having fought until now with a body inferior to others was more impressive.
Chris had seen him for a very short time, but he sincerely respected him.
On this battlefield, he fought while taking care of those around him.
Because of that, he got hurt, and even when his life was in peril, he didn't act differently.
Strangely, while he looked like he'd fall at a tap, he never fell.
He might stagger, but he didn't break.
"I only wished to stay alive until that guy arrived."
"What are you talking about? Old man, dodge!"
The troll's punch headed for the old man.
Chris immediately threw his body, but the one-armed old man didn't.
He just slightly twisted his body and diagonally deflected the troll's fist with the sword held in his withered arm.
"Originally, I should have died a glorious death when I lost this arm. Boy."
"I'm Chris! Not a boy!"
But he didn't die.
He had always regretted that.
He thought there was nothing he could do with only one arm remaining.
He spent all of his barely remaining stamina and vitality recovering from the loss of his arm.
Beyond that, even if he held a sword, he couldn't exert as much strength as before.
Human lifespan is finite.
For those who rolled in the battlefield, it is even more so.
Getting hurt, wounded, recovering, and pouring out their mental energy again to cut down enemies, their lifespans are shorter than anyone else's.
The one-armed old man.
Bernard was like that.
Like an empty shell, he left his will and sword to his successor, but it was merely a superficial act.
He couldn't die.
He couldn't die a heroic death in battle.
He couldn't do so like his dear friend.
Therefore.
He prolonged his miserable life.
Losing an arm, losing strength, and unable to even grasp a sword.
He spent each day taking care of children in the castle of the North, embracing those who confessed their sins to him.
But Bernard was originally a warrior.
A knight who wandered the battlefield his whole life.
A man who fulfilled his convictions with his sword.
For such a man to lose his sword and the battlefield, what joy was there?
Bernard regretted it.
He regretted it countless times.
Because of that, he grasped the sword again.
From the beginning. He swung the sword again.
When he grasped the sword again with a body that had lost one arm and had senile stamina.
Bernard recalled him.
His rascal of a disciple who had told him with an arrogant attitude to teach him.
And the swordsmanship his disciple used when he appeared a few years later vividly emerged.
A sword that cannot be gripped with both hands lacks power. With his originally lacking strength now further weakened by old age, it couldn't get any worse.
He didn't know the name.
He just imitated it.
Swish.
A swordsmanship that flowed everything like water.
A sword that defeats the opponent without exerting force.
Bernard gave a name to the nameless swordsmanship.
Following his disciple's techniques.
"Flowing Water Blossom."
A flower flowing as flexibly as a stream.
The sword that Callius had simply described as 'flowing'.
That deflected the troll's fist.
From a body staggering like a scarecrow, a sword that deflected the troll's tough fist.
"Watch closely, boy. Since that rascal of a disciple isn't here, you watch instead. Watch, and show it to that guy later."
"I said I'm not a boy...! I'm Chris!"
Saying, "This master has made the technique you only groaned over actually usable."
When the troll, having struck the innocent ground, swung its fist once more.
Bernard used Flowing Water Blossom once again to deflect its fist, and then, utilizing that force in reverse, drew a half-moon.
Slash!
The troll's blood rained down.
Thump!
One of the troll's severed arms fell to the ground.
The troll grabbed its severed arm stump and howled.
Bernard chuckled as if finding it amusing, and then slowly collapsed.
With the image of the mercenary boy rushing to him as his last sight.
Bernard saw the dark night sky with his blurring vision.
The night sky of the North was exceptionally full of twinkling stars today.
But among those many stars.
It seemed none were his anymore.
"How bitter."
He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
But it didn't matter anymore.
Stars that can only be seen at night are just stars.
For we are people waiting for the sun that rises every day.
"The Sun of the North will come. Boy. That rascal of a sun is my disciple."
Like that, the ancient star of the night sky set.