LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 40 - Asain Gorge 4
Chapter 40 – Asain Gorge 4
—–CROW—–
Slash!
As soon as Luther slashed through the intestines, a burst of blue energy exploded outward.
Luther instinctively leaned back, avoiding the blast, and asked Integra.
“Are the fragments safe?!”
[They are unharmed.]
[It seems that the altered air inside the stomach reacted with the outside air, causing the explosion.]
[Master, we must hurry!]
There was no time to stand around explaining things.
Even now, the dragons and monsters were slowly creeping toward them.
“What about the Queen?!”
“Is the Queen alright?!”
The fairies flew near the intestines, their voices trembling with worry.
Luther swung his arms again, dispersing the air around the intestines, and inspected the fragment.
Though it hadn’t been long since it was swallowed, the stomach wall and the fragment were tightly fused together, as if they’d been welded.
[The life signs of the giant Laika are slowly recovering.]
[We must hurry with the fragment retrieval.]
Luther agreed.
The giant Laika’s intestines were twitching, and its arms and legs were trembling as if it was going to get up any moment.
“Integra, how long do you think the retrieval will take?”
[Separating it from the stomach alone should be possible with your strength, Master.]
[The problem is escaping while avoiding the dragons and monsters.]
Based on previous experiences, Luther knew that absorbing the fragment would take quite a bit of time.
Like the giant Laika had attempted earlier, putting distance between them and the dragons was the top priority.
“Let’s remove it first.”
To prevent further mutation of the giant Laika, they needed to retrieve the fragment as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, as Integra said, it wasn’t difficult to rip the fragment out with both hands.
It was similar to the first fragment—about a meter tall, cylindrical in shape.
However, this one felt almost twice as heavy.
But the real problem arose the moment Luther pulled the fragment free.
“Graaargh!”
The dragons, who had been silently watching, suddenly roared in unison.
The monsters followed suit, and the entire Asain Gorge echoed with the sound of their roars.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
The deafening noise caused Karen and Max to clutch their ears and collapse to the ground.
The fairies screamed and either plummeted or staggered on the ground.
Luther was the only one unharmed, thanks to the noise-canceling function of his mask, but he instinctively understood the meaning behind the roars.
There was no more time.
“Karen! Max! Escape to Venus City!”
Though they were writhing in pain, their hands covering their ears, Karen understood what Luther was saying from his expression and tone.
Run.
The dragons and monsters were after the fragment.
They wouldn’t chase after them if they fled without it.
It was a perfectly rational judgment.
Karen and Max weren’t necessary to carry the fragment.
There was no reason for them to share unnecessary risks.
And in fact, considering their physical abilities, following Luther would only slow him down.
But even so…
Karen unconsciously bit her lip.
Though time was running out, she couldn’t help hesitating.
Even if they wouldn’t be much help, leaving Luther here alone…
“Karen.”
It was Max.
He grabbed Karen’s arm.
He understood what Luther had said, and he knew what Karen was feeling.
That’s why he pulled her along.
“We’ll wait for you in Venus City!”
Luther nodded in response to Max’s shout.
Karen bit her lip once more, looking at Luther, and he nodded again.
And at that moment, the ground began to shake.
The dragons and monsters, who had been roaring at each other, finally started moving.
Karen and Max started running.
Luther yelled at the fairies to snap out of it and tightly grabbed the fragment.
But at that moment, Integra stopped him.
[Master, you should escape as well.]
“What?”
[Using a drone to fly the fragment out has a better chance of success than you carrying it yourself.]
[I am not with the drones; I’m with you, Master.]
That last comment sealed the deal.
Integra wasn’t a drone.
She was part of Luther’s own body.
“Can we pull it off?”
[If we hurry, yes.]
Integra gently separated the drone from Luther’s right arm.
But just then…
“Kiyaaah!”
The roar came from above, not from the side.
Luther reflexively looked up and saw a gigantic monster bird diving down like a hawk going after its prey.
“Screech!”
The fairies screamed as Luther quickly raised his left arm.
[This is your last missile!]
He only had three shots from the start.
The miniature missile, loaded with five stacked freezing scrolls, exploded on the monster bird’s wing.
The freezing blast caused the bird to lose control, and it crashed headfirst into the ground just before it could reach Luther.
[Master! They’re coming again!]
[Escaping by drone is no longer possible!]
“Kia! Kia!”
Two more massive birds, similar in kind to the fallen one, circled above Luther.
Perhaps seeing the first bird’s fate made them hesitate, but as things stood, sending the drone up would only hand over the fragment.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ground trembled again.
The dragons and monsters, who had briefly paused at the sight of the fallen bird, resumed their charge.
There was no time.
Carrying the fragment and running was the only solution left.
“Graargh!”
One of the enlarged Catheradons leapt toward them.
Luther didn’t even look back as he ran, while some of the fairies clung to him.
The Catheradon opened its jaws.
Luther kicked off the ground.
And a massive sword pierced through the Catheradon’s throat.
Boom!
The Catheradon exploded.
No, more accurately, its entire body shattered from the impact.
A giant red sword.
It had flown from afar and pierced the Catheradon like a flash of light before embedding itself deep into the ground.
And that was just the beginning.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three more swords shot through the air.
Shockwaves rippled through the atmosphere, and the ground trembled violently as the four swords embedded themselves into the earth.
[This isn’t just an impact!]
[An earthquake! A real earthquake is happening!]
Integra’s shock was well justified.
Four swords, which had flown from the sky, had artificially triggered an earthquake.
‘Earthquake!’
It was magic.
The four magical swords had certainly activated a powerful magic.
But how?
No, more importantly, who exactly?
[Master! A powerful life force is approaching!]
[It’s at an incredible speed!]
Boom!
It wasn’t a mistake.
A sonic boom that had occurred in the sky shook the air and even trembled the ground.
Even the dragons and monsters, who had been kneeling or confused from the earthquake, looked up at the sky, startled by the sound.
There was a red, enormous presence in the sky.
More precisely, it was scarlet.
It was too bright and vivid to be called blood red, and it landed on the ground once more, accompanied by a deafening roar.
A massive steel armor.
It stood nearly 3 meters tall, and a white, split cloak attached to its broad shoulders was particularly striking.
It was not a giant.
It was an artifact controlled by someone.
Someone was certainly inside.
But who?
The design was unfamiliar.
Luther had never seen such an artifact in Dragon Hunter Origin.
It was clear it hadn’t appeared in Dragon Hunter Origin.
But why?
Luther felt like he understood.
The moment he saw its back, one name inevitably came to his mind.
[Arma Valentine?]
Anne Rose’s master.
A weapon master, one of the world’s top ten superhumans.
Integra spoke before Luther could.
And as though responding to Integra’s voice, the scarlet armor began to move and spoke.
“Are you Luther?”
The voice was delicate, at odds with the rough armor.
It was definitely the voice of an adult woman.
“I am Arma Valentine. You must have heard of me, right?”
A slightly playful, sophisticated voice full of adult charm.
Luther, startled by the unexpected voice, was about to react when Integra shouted.
[Another woman?!]
[Master! Was this a 19+ game?!]
[What’s going on? Why does it keep being women?!]
First Karen, then Lilia!
After Lilia, Aru!
After Aru, Annerose!
And now, it’s another woman?
Arma Valentine was a woman?!
“Ah, no! It was 19+, but not a game like that!”
[Then a dating sim?]
“No! And where are you even learning such things?!”
Luther shouted out, flustered, before he looked forward again.
Arma Valentine was facing him.
“19+? Dating sim? What are you talking about?”
“Ah, no, it’s… Anyway, yes, I’m Luther!”
Arma Valentine was supposed to be over fifty years old.
When Luther used formal language, Arma sighed in a playful way and turned back to speak.
“I’ll buy you some time. Deal with that fragment.”
As soon as Arma finished speaking, the four magic swords embedded in the ground shot up at once.
The dragons and monsters, who had been rolling around on the ground due to the earthquake, flinched and trembled.
They instinctively realized the difference in power.
[Master, we’ll postpone the interrogation.]
[Let’s absorb the fragment first.]
What kind of interrogation did they intend to do?
No, why did Luther have to be the one to be interrogated?
The fact that Arma was a woman was something Luther had just learned today.
‘No, wait, isn’t it more important that there’s no reason for me to be interrogated just because she’s a woman?’
In any case, as Integra had said, fragment retrieval was the priority. Luther, holding the fragment, landed on the ground and focused his mind.
[Initiating fragment absorption.]
[Data damage is significant.]
[Some data has been corrupted.]
[Prepare for shock.]
[Data contact begins!]
Luther closed his eyes.
Just like when he absorbed the first fragment, an overwhelming amount of information began to shake Luther’s mind.
Star Savior.
Space.
Battleships.
Enhanced humans.
Nanomachines.
Eight decisive weapons.
Countless forms flashed before his eyes like a series of flashbacks.
What were these?
Were they scenes from the game?
Or were they images left in the memory of ‘Luther Light Seeker’?
His vision turned white.
The noise that had been complicatedly swirling around him disappeared, and only silence filled the air.
Luther closed his eyes within his consciousness.
And when he opened them again, he saw it.
A woman with long white hair, her back turned, walking away.
She wasn’t wearing a single thread of clothing and suddenly stopped.
And as if she had sensed Luther’s gaze, she turned around.
Her hair fluttered in the wind.
In the midst of her smooth, pale face, golden eyes glimmered like moonlight.
She looked at Luther.
She parted her lips and whispered in a tiny voice.
[Master!]
“Huh!”
Luther gasped as he opened his eyes.
It wasn’t just a blink of consciousness.
It was reality.
The fragment had lost its blue light and had shrunk.
The sky was beginning to brighten with the dawn.
The fairies chattered.
Karen and Max’s breathing.
And Integra’s gentle whisper.
[Master?]
[Are you okay?]
[Can you hear my voice?]
Luther slowly nodded at the concerned question.
It seemed that some kind of data overload had occurred during the fragment absorption process.
“I’m fine. Uh, I’m fine. What happened?”
Luther asked incoherently, and after a sigh of relief, Integra spoke.
[I’m glad you’re okay.]
[The fragment absorption has been completed.]
[The rearrangement of nanomachines and unlocking of new functions is expected to take more than 35 hours, but the dragons and monsters will no longer be excited by the fragment.]
[By the way, the Fairy Queen has also been freed.]
At Integra’s words, Luther instinctively turned toward the direction where the fairies’ voices were coming from.
The Fairy Queen, with much larger and more splendid wings than the other fairies, had collapsed and fallen asleep on the ground, while the fairies chattered around her.
“Lord Luther, are you coming to your senses?”
“Ah, yeah. Thank you.”
Luther nodded at Karen’s question, closed his eyes tightly, and then rose to his feet.
He was thinking of the most important person in this situation.
[She’s almost here.]
Arma Valentine.
Luther stood up and unconsciously swallowed a dry gulp.
He could tell from the surrounding scene what had happened while he was absorbing the fragment.
A basin covered in the corpses of dragons and monsters.
And standing among them was the scarlet armor.
“She must have woken up.”
It wasn’t something recent.
It had clearly been handled long before.
Arma Valentine approached Luther.
Even though she was an ally, Luther couldn’t help but feel tense due to the overwhelming power emanating from her.
Karen and Max felt the same.
Even the fairies stopped their chattering and stared at Arma.
“At least, it’s only proper to talk face to face.”
Stopping in front of Luther, she smiled lightly, and in that moment, the four magic swords embedded in the ground.
Then the giant scarlet armor.
As its 3-meter frame opened, a woman with pink hair appeared from the chest area.
—–CROW—–