Chapter 247 – Will Block It (3)

The Dragon half-blood started to fall as if he was a feather falling from the sky.
Cale was walking toward him.

However, he stopped by someone else first.

"Miss Rosalyn."

Rosalyn looked toward Cale. She heard the sound of something hitting the ground at that moment.

Boom!

It made her think of the Dragon half-blood that had been falling. He was a black blob that looked neither human nor Dragon.
It was the moment her gaze was about to shift over from Cale to the fallen enemy.

"Commander Rosalyn, please make your decision."

She had to keep looking at Cale after hearing him use her title of Commander to address her.

"A decision?"

Cale looked toward Rosalyn, who asked him a question back. She currently had bloodshot eyes, shaking hands from overuse of mana, and dry blood on her lips. She had the final say when it came to this issue.

His hand that was carrying the crown pointed in a direction.

He was pointing to the other side of the cliff where the Indomitable Alliance currently stood.
With the water, fire, and even the mist all gone, they could clearly see the enemy and their angry reactions from the Paerun Kingdom's betrayal.

"Will you cross the bridge? Or will you go back?"

The bridge.
She could now clearly see the destroyed cliff. A lot of the boulders had disappeared because of Cale's stone spears, however, there were still enough boulders to cross to the other side.

"Ha, haha-"

Rosalyn put some strength into her legs. She laughed as she clenched the spatial pocket bag with the magic stones inside. Cale started to speak as her fiery eyes looked up at him once again.

"That bridge is for us to use now. Please make your decision. As the commanding officer of this location, the final decision is yours."

She turned around.
She could see the Mage Brigade mages slowly deactivating their magic shields. Furthermore, she could also see the soldiers and knights who were curled up in circular formations with their shields up.

The fall of the Dragon half-blood.
The chaos within the enemy ranks.

Rosalyn slowly started to smile. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Knights and soldiers, fix up your formations! Mage Brigades 2, 3, and 4, prepare attack magic right away! We…!"

The Gorge of Death split up the Breck Kingdom and the Askosan Kingdom. The Breck Kingdom's side started to get excited after hearing her tell them to fix up their formations and prepare for battle.
What lay beyond the berserk enemy?
Rosalyn shouted out loud.

"We will cross the border and destroy the enemies!"

Rosalyn naturally chose to cross the bridge after Cale gave her the power to decide. She also chose something else.

"I will create the bridge. Mage Brigade 1 will support me!"

There was too much debris for the soldiers and knights on horses to get across safely. Rosalyn had made up her mind to spread dirt in order to cover up the uneven ground.

'…I always think about things later after looking at young master Cale.'

The fire, water, and even the dirt were all things she thought about after hearing Cale speak. She needed to move quickly as she had already wasted time by not thinking about it right away. Rosalyn immediately clutched a highest-grade magic stone.
Someone made a comment as they walked past her.

"Do not overdo it. Your body is something you need to protect."

Rosalyn let out a laugh. It was because Cale Henituse was the one who said that to her. She couldn't help but laugh as the person who took care of themselves the least was the one to tell her to take care of herself. She hesitated for a moment before asking the person walking away from her a question.

"…Are you still okay?"

Shield, water, and earth.
Was his body okay after using all of those ancient powers? It was possible that his body was like a magic bomb right now.

"I am okay. I make sure to take good care of my own body."

'Liar.'
She wanted to say that out loud, but held herself back. She heard Cale's voice instead.

"Mary."
"Yes, young master-nim."
"Use the bones to give them support when they make the bridge."

Mary still had a spatial pocket bag with all of the bones gathered from the Forest of Darkness. Cale was telling her to use some of those bones as he gave an order to the others as well.

"The Roan Kingdom's forces will give priority to the Breck Kingdom's commander's orders! The knights will fix up their formations while the Mage Brigades will follow Commander Rosalyn's orders!"

The Roan Kingdom's forces, the Breck Kingdom's forces, and Rosalyn.
They were all aiming for the enemies' necks in their state of chaos.

At the same time, nobody was looking at the fallen enemy who had been the strongest member of the enemy coalition.
This was the case for Rosalyn as well. It was because she saw Choi Han, Witira, and Gashan following behind Cale.
She did not need to worry about Cale's safety nor possibility of the fallen enemy running away if those three were with him.

Rosalyn smiled toward the rest of the group who were heading toward her. Lock, the Tigers, Mary, Paseton, and Archie. She had nothing to worry about with all of them by her side as well.

Oooooooong-

She started to channel her mana again.
The vibration from it reached Cale as well.

'Rosalyn really is amazing.'

There was a reason that she would go on to become the Tower Master of a Magic Tower in the future.
She was able to remain energetic even after using high-level magic that reaches the limits of human potential multiple times. She was still getting stronger.

'Scary people.'

Cale was at a loss for words after seeing Choi Han, Witira, and Gashan all being injured and covered in blood but still looking fine.

'…It's as if they all have the Vitality of the Heart.'

Cale hid his feelings by putting on a stoic expression as he approached the Dragon half-blood. The three people standing around him as if they were his bodyguards could not say anything after seeing the stoic expression on his face.

"Mm."

Only Gashan let out a groan once they arrived at the location where the Dragon half-blood had fallen.
There was a large crater as if a meteor had struck the ground. They could see the Dragon half-blood coughing up blood and slowly dying at the center of that crater.

He was squirming with his body shaking, slowly dying a painful death.
His body that was covered in reptilian scales looked terrible, especially because he was twisting his body.

Witira calmly spoke at that moment.

"Young master Cale, Dragon half-bloods are usually beautiful."
"…Really?"

Cale asked as if it wasn't much as he stepped through the area that was destroyed by the Dragon half-blood's fall.

"Since the Dragon's power went berserk, this Dragon half-blood that only has half Dragon blood will die soon."

Witira was certain about the Dragon half-blood's death. Cale also did not listen to this as they headed toward the squirming individual.

Ooooooong.

The white crown in his hand started to vibrate more intensely the closer he got to the Dragon half-blood. Gashan and Witira peeked at the crown. They did not know about this item.
Cale ignored their gazes as he crouched down. He then looked toward the set of eyes looking at him from just a bit away.

"Kehehe, cough."

The Dragon half-blood coughed up some blood as he laughed. Cale observed the Dragon half-blood who had black hair and black eyes as he looked elsewhere other than the crown.

He could feel the Black Dragon's heavy breathing.

'…There's no way, right?'

He could not help but look at the Black Dragon and the similarly black Dragon half-blood's hair. He also thought about how the World Tree had told him to look for Raon's parents.
This was starting to get really iffy.

'…There's no way that they are siblings, right?
Nah, no way.'

However, Cale's expression became worse and worse.

Why did a Dragon half-blood with black hair and black eyes happen to be in Arm while the Black Dragon, Raon, was being tortured by the Marquis who received him from Arm?
Was it really just a coincidence?

"…There is no such thing as a coincidence."

The others looked at him after he said that, however, Cale just looked toward the Dragon half-blood who was weakly laughing while looking at him.

"How does it feel to be dying?"

The Dragon half-blood felt his blurry vision slowly getting clearer once his berserk state was over. At the same time, he could tell what kind of condition his body was in.

'I'm dying.'

The pain and suffering he went through in order to survive for the past nine hundred or so years felt as if they were wasted.

The Dragon half-blood felt his eyes getting heavier, however, he did not let them close. He kept them open as much as possible as he looked at Cale Henituse, who was crouching and looking at him.

He could also see the bundle of blankets in his arms as well. The Dragon half-blood started to frown. He knew he would look more like that monster that was neither human nor Dragon the more he frowned, however, he could not help but frown and laugh.

"Hehe, ugh, d, did you come, ugh, to mock me?"

He finally managed to get that sentence out.
The Dragon half-blood could see his enemy starting to frown.

"You think I'm crazy? Why would I mock someone who is dying?"

Cale knew that he was trash, however, he would not mock someone who was dying. It was one thing to laugh during a torture session in order to push the enemy to their brink, however, he did not want to genuinely laugh in those situations either.

Instead, he came with a different goal.

"Cover the area."

His surprise order made Choi Han and Witira flinch, however, one person immediately understood.

Caw. Caw. Caw.

The crows who had run away returned to them and created a round barrier around them. Gashan smiled and started to speak.

"As you commanded."

The crows formed a wall that prevented the others from seeing inside. Cale stood up and headed closer to the Dragon half-blood. Choi Han quickly followed behind him.

"Kehehe, looks like you will finally kill me now. I'll die even if you leave me alone, hehe."

The Dragon half-blood could not move, even as he watched Cale get closer. His dying body would not let him use any strength at all.

Cale stopped once he arrived close to the Dragon half-blood. He handed Choi Han the bundle of blankets once he was about an arm's distance away.

"…Cale-nim?"
"Hold him."

Choi Han received the heavy child with confusion on his face. Cale waved his arms that had grown numb while holding Raon as he crouched back down.

"Why should I just kill you?"
"What? Hahaha, ugh, hahaha!"

The Dragon half-blood started to laugh at Cale who was saying that he would not kill him so easily. He then saw something out of the corner of his eyes.
Cale was pushing something in front of him.

It was a white crown.

"…H, how do you…have that?"

The Dragon half-blood's eyes started to shake in fear.
He knew about this item. He had seen it since he was young. His face became covered in fear. He realized something at that moment.

The crown had supposedly suddenly disappeared, no, had been stolen in the North. He had been extremely excited when he heard that. He was happy that the terrible item had disappeared.
But that item was with this bastard. Cale Henituse. The fact that it was in his hand made the Dragon half-blood think about the unknown group of people who had gotten in Arm's way.

"It was you a, all this time-!"

Cale looked at him and started to speak.

"Hey."

He did not care whether the Dragon half-blood was shocked or not.
However, something was weird about this crown.

"Why is this crown that did not even react when that Black Dragon was next to it respond to you?"

The crown had shown no reaction even when Raon had been by Cale's side all this time.
However, the crown started to vibrate from the moment Choi Han's black aura pierced through the Dragon half-blood. It was also letting out a beautiful and holy-looking light.

He also heard a voice in his mind.
The owner of the Dominating Aura was speaking to him.
Cale repeated those words to the dying Dragon half-blood.

"This crown grew up drinking your blood. Isn't that the case?"

The Dragon half-blood started to frown. Fear and terror filled his eyes. His father had this crown in his hands every so often when he came to see him in the cave.

That damn bastard of a father had laughed at him.
No, he had laughed while seeing the shining crown that was drinking his blood.

"Hehehe, you're all the same in the end."

The Dragon half-blood finally let go of everything.

No matter how strong he got nor how long he lived, he could never live as he wanted. Everything had already been planned out and he could only follow his fate.

He continued to cough up blood to the point that he couldn't help but wonder if he had any blood left in his body before he calmly asked Cale a question.

"Are you trying to feed it my blood as well? Are you trying to feed the crown? Do you also wish to be a king?"

The Dragon half-blood could see Cale making the most shocked expression he had ever seen.

"What nonsense are you spewing? Why would I do something good for this terrible item? We are strong even without doing that."

He would end up eating the crown's power, however, he didn't want to do something that would benefit the crown. What Cale wanted was the crown's small bit of power that would help balance his plate.

"…What? Pwaha, hahahahaha!"

The Dragon half-blood laughed even though it hurt. He had never seen such a crazy person before. That bastard definitely knew about the strength of that crown, so his saying something like that was really funny.
That was why he decided to tell his enemy who had given him something to laugh about before his death a warning.

"…Do not touch Arm. And that precious…"

The Dragon half-blood hesitated before continuing to speak.

"Hide that precious Dragon of yours. Only then will you be happy."

The Dragon half-blood found himself to be funny and pitiful to be talking about being happy.

"And thank you for letting me laugh once more before I meet my demise."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"…What?"

The Dragon half-blood could see Cale's expression changing.

"Why would I let you die peacefully?"

The people around Cale flinched. They clearly heard Cale's voice that had no emotion, almost as if he was dealing with an item.
However, the Dragon half-blood heard it much clearer than all of them. The Dragon half-blood could see Cale Henituse, who was standing there looking at him with the shining white crown in his hand.

"Take your pick."

Cale was not the type to forgive those who touched him and his people. He was the type that made sure they paid the price.
The fake Dragon Slayer, Syrem, as well as Arm's other red stars would soon pay the price as well. The death that they feared so much would come for them soon.

"Will you die a painful death or live an even more painful life for a set duration."

A set duration. He could hear the owner of the Dominating Aura speaking in his mind.

– You can keep him alive for about six more months if you put some chains on him. But death will be less painful.

The Dominating Aura continued to give him information about the Dragon half-blood.

'Why is he doing this?'
Cale questioned it, however, he still calmly said what he needed to say.

"Only hell awaits you, regardless of your decision."

The Dragon half-blood was given a choice for the first time in his life.
However, the person giving him this choice had an extremely cold look in his eyes.

– His body will be ripped into pieces in six months. He will die without leaving any traces behind.

If it was just that, it would not be hell for the Dragon half-blood.
However, Cale took note of the information the Dominating Aura provided to him while looking toward the Dragon half-blood who would fall to the bottom should he choose life.

"Of course, dying will be more peaceful than life."

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]