Chapter 108


    In a strange and twisted way, it had actually been the merchants running the street stalls in Elendale


    that had actualized Cardinal Valentino’s ns. The distribution of mana stones throughout the entire


    capital of Britannia would not have been possible if it hadn’t been for the city’s most popr souvenir.


    Elendaleians loved selling artificial mana stones to foreigners visiting, and foreigners visiting loved


    having the experience of owning the famed magical artifact from a monster core, albeit a fake one.


    Every shop in Elendale, whether it be a tailor shop, a mercer’s shop, a bakery, a butchery, a millinery,


    goldsmiths, cksmiths, carpenters, or even a bookstore—all of them had small ceramic bowls filled


    with ersatz stones. It was an easy way to bring in copper coins for merchants, after all.


    Real mana stones were only illegally avable to themon people on the ck market, the price of


    one stone tantamount to a royal treasury. The only institutions allowed towfully own mana stones


    were Temples, since those magical artifacts were exclusively produced in the Vatican. Even then, it


    was only a limited amount they were permitted to have, barely enough to turn the capital city of


    Britannia into ashes.


    So it was no surprise that any native to Elendale seeing a small pebble rolling on cobblestone


    pavements would undoubtedly believe that it was just a fake trinket dropped by a tourist. Supplying the


    Elendaleian merchants with fake stones mixed with real ones had been too easy.


    The n was foolproof.


    Pietro, having overseen the process of the distribution of the mana stones, architecting the chaos, and


    putting the n into motion, was hiding near the Port of Elmos and waiting on his master.


    He was a man that had never failed to perform a singlemand. He was loyal to a fault and never


    questioned the orders he was given. He followed and executed them meticulously and carefully, always


    heeding his master’s words and making sure to spare no effort.


    So what followed next was, on all counts,pletely unforeseen.


    As soon as he had confirmed that the pandemonium had begun and arrived at the docks, a dragon with


    the color of the midnight sky blocked off the light of the moon as it flew past him, heading in the


    direction of the inner city.


    The man was a bloodthirsty assassin and a monster himself, but never before had he seen a dragon,


    let alone so many different kinds of demons engaging in the ughter of humans and ripping them


    apart. The few that existed in the southern countries were kept as entertainment for the elusive elite


    that partook in the highly sinful act of associating and colliding with devils. The majority of Southerners,


    be itmoners or nobles, would never encounter a monster in their entire lifetime.


    Pietro’s master was a cardinal but not once had he believed in the existence of angels and demons, in


    the existence of God and the Devil.


    All those he had fought during his time of living, had been human beings like himself.


    The sight of the devil known to be Satan’s greatest servant soaring high through the heavens left him


    paralyzed, a strange shiver crawling up his spine and twisting around his neck like a noose. The vague


    realization of the existence of beings far superior, far greater than him had his blood run cold.


    It was only for a moment, but he was unable to move a single inch. Not until the dragon vanished into


    the distance and not until he was unable to see the beast anymore. The sound of his heart pounding in


    his ears diminished and when he managed to wake from his stupor, he became angry with himself.


    A dragon was a dragon, a mere beast that could die just like how any human could. What was there to


    be afraid of?


    Shaking his head and arriving at the ce he was supposed to rendezvous, he saw neither Cardinal


    Valentino nor the ship he had prepared for him in advance.


    Did his master get caught? No, that was impossible.


    Then, what was wrong? Where was he? Where was his sister? There was no way they hadn’t gotten


    out of the pce yet. It appeared to be that the dragon was also heading that way, so they had no time


    to dillydally.


    But then, where was the ship? Had they already left?


    Something ominous wormed up its way in his chest.


    It looked like he had some more work to do and would be stuck in this annoying backwater of a city for


    a while longer. He had no choice, since he had to wait for his master’s orders in order to move.


    However, the current situation was not in his favor.


    There seemed to be no end to the monsters terrorizing Elendale and the Pdins running rampant


    looked too agitated to be confident. It didn’t seem like there would be many survivors in the end.


    Pietro had received a rosary from his master imbued with protective divinity, but he wasn’t quite


    convinced that it would be very effective right now.


    The southern spy was in quite the predicament.


    Fortunately, he had not yet taken off the scapr he was wearing. It would be best to escape with the


    crowd of monks and lower-ranked priests who were evacuating the citizens.


    Making up his mind to finally get a move on, he searched his surroundings onest time.


    “Where did Master go?”


    Why couldn’t he find him anywhere? He had to have arrived at the docks already, but there were no


    signs of him. Pietro was tasked with protecting and defending his master, but the mob of terrified


    people going ballistic in this chaos made it too difficult to focus on finding one person.


    Gritting his teeth in frustration, the assassin emerged from the shadows of the tree he had been hiding


    behind.


    Into his view came a Pdin’s cloak.


    A behemoth of a man dressed in ck armor, a face reminiscent of a crazed bear. Under short red hair,


    a set of stormy eyes fixed on him.


    Pietro had seen this man several times while monitoring Lady Rudbeckia.


    A man who seemed to be more suitable for the profession of executioner rather than a Pdin.


    Scanning him from head to toe, Pietro pondered on the thought of finally getting to warm up properly


    for the first time in a long while.


    Spreading out his knees and taking a deep breath to focus on the air around him, the assassin from the


    South pulled out a poisonous needle from under his robes and got to work.


    ***


    “Ivan!”


    Ivan had no time to acknowledge his fellow knights as they arrived on the battlefield one by one.


    A colossal reptilian tail thwacked the stone floor before he could regain his feet.


    The age-old bs of stone that had been ced centuries ago as pavement cracked and fractured, the


    previously smooth ground now in smithereens. Dust and rocks and condensed water from the Frost


    Dragon’s icy breath rose up in the air and shrouded the knights who wereing up from all directions


    in the cold.


    However, Ivan was only concerned about one person. “You f**king b*st*rd! Hey, Izek! Are you dead?”


    “Shut up.”


    Apparently, he was not dead yet. The blond knight saw as Izeknded on a pile of crushed boulders


    and nced his way for a second, murder clear in his blood-colored eyes.


    Come to think of it, the white-haired captain of the Knights of Longinus should not have been the only


    one that was in the zone.


    Ivan bit the inside of his cheek and tried to focus on the battle.


    Izek was struggling because he was fighting the dragon with the intent to not kill it, but to incapacitate


    it. But holding oneself back in a fight against a damn dragon was not something that was easily done,


    not to mention something actually quite idiotic to do.


    The only way to survive this battle was to fight to the death, but that was not what Izek was doing. The


    only way to subdue that big b*st*rd was to hit maximum levels and enter the zone, but it was not easy


    for Ivan to watch his friend, who had already exhausted all of his energy in the past few days, push


    himself to the absolute max in this state.


    If only Izek would stop being stubborn and give the permission to kill.


    Maybe if all of the Pdins present could enter the zone as well, they’d be able to subjugate the beast,


    consequences of pushing the physical limit be damned. The Frost Dragon would stand no chance


    against a league of top-ss Pdins all at their peak even if the aftermath meant standing at death’s


    door.


    Ivan really, really did want to encourage it.


    But if everyone here lost their senses to the zone, there’d be no one to pull the worst one of the bunch


    out of it. Izek fought like there was no tomorrow. His recklessness made Ivan nervous.


    The blond knight had half a mind to put an end to his friend’s resolve with his own two hands. “Idiot…


    All that just for your wife…”


    “Ivan! We gotta regroup!”


    “What the f**k are you talking about?! We don’t know if reinforcements areing, so go wild and just


    finish it already! Did you be a Pdin yesterday? Why do none of you know how to use a


    goddamn sword? Pay attention, you f**king idiots!”


    No one was able to truly take in the unexpected verbal abuse, purely because there was no time to do


    so.


    That wretched dragon was shrieking its lungs out, mming into all the walls surrounding it and


    swinging at everyone and everything with its razor-sharp ws.


    The beast breathed ice and snow and the harsh winter wind razed through the air, knocking the knights


    back and mming against Izek’s divine shield. The light that burst forth from the collusion turned theN?velDrama.Org ? 2024.


    entire area white.


    The terrain around the Moon Tower was wholly encased in heavy snow.


    Without a moment’s rest, the silver-haired captain retracted the holy shield before jumping into the air


    andnding on the dragon’s head.


    The sight was unbelievable. The man must’ve lost his mind.


    “My wife said she wanted to stay alongside you.”


    The Frost Dragon stayed still for a few seconds, maybe because of the man hammering its face with


    the pommel of his sword, shouting strange words that it didn’t understand, or maybe because the


    landing on its forehead was just too unexpected.


    Growling ominously as the beast grew more and more annoyed with the irksome beating, the heavens


    and earth seemed to split into two as it let out an ear-splitting screech.


    While the dragon was distracted with trying to shake Izek off, Ivan and the rest of the knights rushed


    straight in to attack. Since they weren’t meant to kill it, the assault was solely focused on the poor


    beast’s legs.


    Pdins were nking the dragon, poking holes and cutting through flesh and trying to stop it from


    spreading out its wings to fly away from the charge, but theck of lethal intent from the warriors meant


    that there was no besting the servant of Satan.


    The Frost Dragon raised its forelimbs and stretched its wings out with a forceful burst, then jumped into


    the air, losing the knights still hanging on to its legs as it mmed its body against the walls still


    standing tall in its ascent.


    The Moon Tower, covered in white snow, slowly began to copse.


    The dragon took to the sky, higher and higher as if it were releasing its anger, tearing the Tower apart


    and breathing frost, the battlefield encased in ice and snow.


    The hacking movements from holy swords sent out divine sts of air from below and barreled into the


    biting wind the beast shot out, turning into frozen icicles that came down fast.


    “Izek!”


    Dust, debris, blinding lights from shing swords, the bitter winter wind blowing roughly and the snow


    falling hid everything from sight, but Ivan could still see Izek between it all.


    That madman was still hanging on to the Frost Dragon.


    To be precise, the madman was holding on to the sword he had plunged between the beast’s scales


    whilst it was twisting and turning, doing everything it could to shake off the annoyance stuck to its back.


    The dragon floated in midair for a moment, suddenly stopping the pping of its wings and then dived


    down, plummeting and rushing towards the ground. It happened before Ivan could finish blinking. He


    didn’t even have the time to yell at his friend to let go.


    The terrible sound of the crash seemed to echo throughout the city and even thends beyond. Then,


    all fell silent.


    “Hey… You punk…”


    The heavy weight on Ivan’s chest had him heaving and gasping for air, until someone cleared away the


    piles of stones crushing him.


    It was Ruve who was standing over him, one dimly lit eye hidden behind a monocle, the other behind


    an eyepatch. His fellow minority elite helped him up and brush off the dust, coughing all the while. Ruve


    seemed unharmed, miraculously.


    Ivan turned around and took in his surroundings.


    The Frost Dragon, the embodiment of cmity and destroyer of Elendale’s architecture, was no longer


    roaring or growling.


    Without making a single sound, it was staring at something under its foot, its ears and wings lowered


    and neck slightly bent forward. The image of a predator having caught its prey.


    It exhaled and steam blew from its blue snout, the loud noise sending shivers down Ivan’s spine.


    Frost was growing slowly from the ce where the prey was trapped, everything bing shrouded in


    ice. There was no doubt. It was Izek that was trapped under there.


    Damn, this was already the second time in just one day.


    Once under the Undead Dragon and now under the Frost Dragon, the same f**king pain ttening him


    to the ground and breaking his ribs.


    Feverish fury turned the gold looking at him into burning fire, crazed bloodthirst lighting up reptilian


    eyes.


    The silver-haired knight, facing the demon head-on without a single hint of fear on his worn-out face,


    wheezed and hacked up blood.


    “It hurts, you damn b*st*rd…”