Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: Doodle
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< Chapter 186: Descendants of the Mad Dragon Emperor (1) >
Ding!
[You have received a quest.]
+
[Scenario Quest #9]
Your opponent is a traitor who has long been lurking within your family. His current guardian deity is the <Nameless Sovereign>.
Eliminate the traitor.
· Difficulty: A+
· Reward: Orb of the Deluded God
· On Failure: Death
+
The quest message floated before his eyes.
However, such things barely registered in Theo’s mind.
“Identity… Are you seriously calling that a question, little brother?”
Torkel smirked, spreading his arms wide open.
“What else could it be? Obviously, it’s me.”
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
As demonic energy and madness billowed, they twisted into a raging vortex.
Kwarurung! Kwarung!
Black demonic energy clashed with yellow lightning, triggering explosions all around.
Now, Theo too was showing strength that didn’t fall short of Torkel’s.
“A successor to Ragnar, the one who will soon ascend to the throne and change Ragnar. Isn’t that how you should see it?”
Theo watched as Torkel’s eyes slowly turned pitch black.
“Change Ragnar? You? After siding with the identity Ragnar has rejected all along?”
“Ragnar’s identity—!”
Torkel shouted in anger, clearly displeased with Theo’s words.
The veins on his face and neck bulged, ready to burst at any moment.
“—belongs only to the victor! I am merely claiming my rightful place as a legitimate heir!”
Before long, both his eyes had turned entirely into dark orbs of black.
Seeing this, Theo recalled a significant piece of Ragnar’s history that anyone from their bloodline should know.
- The appearance of the Mad Dragon Emperor.
A man consumed by madness, both in mind and body, whose black pupils blended indistinguishably into the whites of his eyes…
“The throne you speak of—it doesn’t seem to belong to Father, does it?”
“Of course not! He’s nothing more than a traitor who cowardly schemed to usurp the throne when its rightful ruler weakened! That seat originally belonged to our grandfather!”
Grandfather.
For them, the only one worthy of being called such was the Mad Dragon Emperor.
“As the sole heir of our grandfather, I will now act to reclaim my rightful place.”
Torkel spurred his steel warhorse forward, charging at Theo.
Theo also launched himself from the ground with explosive force, raising Drake’s Blade upward.
Kwaaaang!
Their second clash erupted.
* * *
At the altar of the Resurrection Ceremony, there were only two places where one dared not recklessly intervene.
The first was where the two dragons, Julius and Ed, clashed.
The second was...
Kwaaang! Kwa-kwa-kwaang!
Kwarung, Kwarururung!
Rumble…!
…the site of Theo and Torkel’s battle.
A greatsword and a black spear flashed.
Three swords turned into lightning and struck the ground where Torkel stood.
Cha-cha-cha-cha-chang!
Amid the frantic onslaught between the two, there was no room for Troyban to interfere.
“Theo… No, was the interim leader of Squad 5 always this strong?”
“To be evenly matched with the Black Iron Cavalry Captain… Damn!”
“We’ve heard it said many times, but witnessing it is something else. His growth rate is utterly ridiculous.”
The captains of the White Armored Dragon Cavalry were astonished but also elated.
The strength of their squad leader meant the overall force of the unit had increased.
At this rate, Theo wasn’t just one of the notable successors; he could be considered just below the Nine Dragons themselves.
He had proven that his claim to be the next leader of the White Armored Dragon Cavalry was no idle boast.
Of course, Theo’s ability to stand equal to Torkel was due to his current All Buff mode.
Under normal conditions, he could barely exchange a few moves against him.
Torkel, after all, was practically a fully realized martial artist.
Yet for Theo, that very fact was significant.
To confront Torkel on equal footing with his strength alone—didn’t that mean he could win depending on how he fought?
Fwoooosh!
“You’ve done well… Seems you’ve studied me a lot.”
Torkel glared at Theo with a slightly twisted expression.
Even after unleashing the hidden power of the Mad Dragon Emperor, he hadn’t subdued Theo. To Torkel, that was nothing short of humiliation.
“You were always someone I had to overcome eventually.”
Three swords aligned themselves beside Theo.
“Well, I think it’s finally possible now.”
“Good. Let’s see how long you can keep that insolent attitude.”
Theo strongly felt that Torkel’s face, hidden beneath his helmet, must be thoroughly contorted with rage.
Flaash!
Kwang!
Their clash resumed.
Kwarururung!
Demonic energy and lightning radiated in all directions, vying for dominance, each trying to consume the other.
‘Next, the left side of his neck?’
In an instant, a black veil briefly obscured their vision. As it was pierced, a spearhead drove deep into the fray.
Theo moved the Spirit Mausoleum Blade, barely managing to deflect the attack to the side, as the Dragon Slayer Sword and Moon-White Sword came from both left and right, scissoring toward Torkel's waist.
However, Torkel spun his body like a top, deflecting all the attacks with ease.
Cha-cha-cha-chang!
Theo’s ability to freely wield three swords simultaneously through telekinesis was impressive, but Torkel’s skill—blocking them all with just a single spear while finding and exploiting openings—was nothing short of remarkable.
The mastery he demonstrated with his weapon was so profound that one might even compare him to the Lord of Plum Blossom Palace.
If not for the intense inspiration provided by the Sword Sphere, Theo would likely have been completely caught up in Torkel’s dazzling spear techniques.
Shu-shu-shush!
‘Spear techniques, footwork, movement, perception, even the tiniest habits… Everything is eerily similar to the Mad Dragon Emperor.’
As Theo observed, memories of the information he’d gathered about the Mad Dragon Emperor during his time as an intelligence agent resurfaced.
The Black Snow Unit and the Information Bureau had amassed an enormous archive on the Mad Dragon Emperor, from trivial details like his eating habits to personal letters exchanged with his friends.
Even back then, it had seemed odd.
The Mad Dragon Emperor had supposedly been sentenced to complete record erasure.
There were records indicating that Kyle had beheaded him, meaning all documents pertaining to the Mad Dragon Emperor should have been destroyed.
And yet, the materials had remained.
At the time, Theo had dismissed it as a precaution, perhaps intended to prepare for potential uprisings.
But now, in hindsight, it didn’t seem to be that simple.
It was almost as if… someone had anticipated it.
- That the Mad Dragon Emperor might one day return.
Perhaps the Black Dragon had known all of this, which is why the Black Snow Unit had been trained to swiftly gather and analyze information about the Mad Dragon Emperor.
Torkel’s sudden death might even have been orchestrated by the Black Dragon and the Black Snow Unit.
The difference was that, unlike in the past when Torkel’s true identity had been discovered much later, the butterfly effect caused by Theo’s actions had brought it to light much sooner.
‘How could the Mad Dragon Emperor still be alive?’
If he’d been beheaded, survival should have been impossible.
Then Theo’s thoughts suddenly turned to another detail—the other power that Torkel wielded: demonic energy.
‘If Torkel really did align himself with the Sacred Demon Church, isn’t it possible that the Mad Dragon Emperor also pledged himself to them?’
The Nameless Sovereign was an Outer God, a deity of sorts.
A being that directly meddled with providence and natural laws, fundamentally unbound by death.
Would it then be possible for someone to be ‘revived’ through such a being?
- The Mad Dragon Emperor truly began descending into madness after crossing the Great Wall under the pretext of exploring the Demonic Sea… From that point on, his eyes were shrouded in demonic energy...
One of the documents Theo had seen in his past life had said something similar.
‘So, could it be true… that the Mad Dragon Emperor is being resurrected?’
With this realization, many of the doubts Theo had held for so long seemed to resolve themselves naturally.
Why had the Black Dragon and Julius, along with their sworn brothers, been pursuing ‘something’ for so long?
Why had they allowed infiltrators to remain hidden within Ragnar for such an extended time?
Why did they only start purging Ed and his pawns after they had fully emerged?
Why was Troyban so obsessed with obtaining the relics of the Ancient Dragon?
And why had the Sacred Demon Church allied itself with Troyban?
Kwaaaang!
Theo pushed Torkel back a considerable distance and, with a cold expression, asked,
“I was wrong all along. Troyban didn’t just align itself with the Sacred Demon Church. From the start, Troyban was merely one of the many tools the church controls. Isn’t that right?”
From beneath his helmet, only the ominous black gleam of Torkel’s eyes shone menacingly. No answer came.
“If Troyban was created by the Mad Dragon Emperor under the influence of the Sacred Demon Church… everything makes sense now.”
Whenever Theo clashed with Ed and Troyban’s leaders, they always shouted the same thing.
They claimed that they were the ‘real’ ones.
From their perspective, at least, it wasn’t a lie.
Troyban must have believed they were the true lineage of Ragnar.
That explained why Ed infiltrated Ragnar and gathered relics of the Ancient Dragon.
It also clarified why his many followers displayed such deep-rooted loyalty.
Torkel, too, was likely one of the seeds the Mad Dragon Emperor and Troyban had sown long ago.
The Black Dragon, working in the shadows, had been attempting to eliminate the influence of Troyban. It was only relatively recently that Torkel’s true identity had been uncovered.
“……”
Still, no response came from Torkel.
Theo interpreted the silence as an unspoken confirmation.
“What a joke. Once upon a time, you fought at the frontlines to defeat the <Nameless Sovereign>, yet now you’ve switched sides, claiming to be the ‘real deal.’ Isn’t that utterly pathetic?”
Theo let out a derisive laugh.
He meant it.
Calling it a ‘switch of allegiance’ was too generous—it was nothing more than betrayal, slapping on flimsy excuses to justify a desperate act when the odds turned against them.
“...You talk a lot for someone who knows nothing of the truth.”
“I don’t particularly care to know the so-called truth you lot keep blabbering about.”
Torkel remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly.
“As expected, I don’t like you, Theo.”
A voice reverberating ominously.
“Lucking your way into becoming the chosen one and sitting there, pretending to see through everything… Ha!”
“Luck, you say? Sure. Maybe that’s how it looks to you.”
Theo didn’t see the point in refuting Torkel’s words.
In Theo’s eyes, Torkel had been born to an exceptional mother, showered with every form of support, and even gained the trust of the Mad Dragon Emperor, becoming the leader of the Black Iron Cavalry.
But Torkel must have had his own fierce battles to fight, just as Theo had.
In the end, this wasn’t a fight to determine who was right.
Rather, it was a fight to see who had fought more fiercely.
Still, once, Torkel had been someone Theo couldn’t even hope to reach, no matter how hard he tried. That their true selves weren’t all that different was, in a way, disheartening.
“But what will you do now? Whatever you were aiming for, it seems like your plans have all turned to dust.”
The Black Flower was out of their reach, with Theo and Julius blocking their way.
The fact that Torkel was a spy for both Troyban and the Mad Dragon Emperor had already been exposed, leaving no place for him within Ragnar.
Moreover, the Black Iron Cavalry had been completely cornered by the White Armored Dragon Cavalry, unable to make a single move.
Every part of Torkel’s plan to strike at their vulnerabilities had ended in failure.
However—
“Turned to dust? Me? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Torkel smiled instead.
Theo furrowed his brow, suspecting it might be bravado, but at that moment, he heard a strange sound.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The ground trembled with the rough pounding of hooves from somewhere nearby.
Keeeek!
From above, there came a sound like the cry of a dragon.
“What… is that?”
“A white dragon? What in the world!”
From the west, a black cavalry force was charging forward, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The letters on the banner fluttering above them seared themselves into Theo’s vision.
-Black Iron Cavalry.
And from the eastern sky, a swarm of wyverns clad in white armor descended in formation.
The name and crest on their banners were equally familiar.
-White Armored Dragon Cavalry.
“……!”
The sudden appearance of another Black Iron Cavalry and White Armored Dragon Cavalry left Theo and his unit frozen in shock.
“Didn’t you just say that earlier?” Torkel’s smirk widened as he taunted. “Troyban is another Ragnar created by the Mad Dragon Emperor.”
He gave an evil laugh, as if to declare that Theo had fallen into the trap, not him.
“If that’s true, then it wouldn’t be so strange if there were another Black Iron Cavalry or White Armored Dragon Cavalry, would it?”