Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: Doodle
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< Chapter 188: The Descendants of the Mad Dragon Emperor (3) >
Torkel had never once in his life thought of himself as a genius.
That was because he already had too many siblings ahead of him with exceptional talent.
Instead, Torkel was proud of it.
-I love having older brothers and sisters! It’s noisy and fun!
-Our son seems to like his siblings, doesn’t he…….
-Yep!
He couldn’t understand back then why his mother, who used to look at him with a bitter expression, felt that way.
So, Torkel decided to go visit his siblings.
Even though they were siblings with whom he had barely exchanged greetings or conversations.
Since they shared the same family name, he thought they would welcome him warmly.
After all, the ‘family’ he had seen in fairy tales was supposed to be like that.
Then, he would get to know just how wonderful his family was and tell his mother all about it all day long.
That would make his mother smile too.
That was what he thought.
But,
-Hahaha! Why am I so strong, you ask? Well, isn’t it because I’m simply amazing?
His older sister, Lezé, always boasted and had a free-spirited personality.
-Ansio, did you see? Doesn’t this guy look incredibly stupid? Do we really have to call someone like this our sibling? Just how many more children does Father plan to bring into this world?
-Brother, watch your words. Your name is Torkel, right? Let’s get along from now on.
The twin prodigies, Kishar and Ansio, who were already famous, were too busy laughing at him as he stood there.
Kishar didn’t even bother to hide his blatant contempt, while Ansio, though smiling warmly, maintained a subtle distance.
And then,
-You’re my younger brother? So what?
The eldest brother, Kinkarnon, didn’t show even the slightest interest.
-I heard there was someone who wanted to see me, so I got curious and called you. But you ask the strangest questions.
The feeling Torkel experienced at that moment was ‘despair.’
After all, Kinkarnon was known to be the closest to their father among the siblings and boasted achievements as remarkable as his talent.
Even though they had never met before, Torkel had always carried his eldest brother’s name in his heart.
But every word that came out of Kinkarnon’s mouth,
-How many like you do you think I have? I don’t even remember half of them. There are too many people besides you who need my attention.
Each one stabbed Torkel’s chest like a dagger.
-If you want to catch my eye, struggle for it. Then, who knows? I might at least remember your name.
A name not even worth remembering.
To Kinkarnon, Torkel was nothing more than that—a mere insignificant presence.
‘I… I was wrong.’
The other siblings were even worse. Most couldn’t be bothered to meet Torkel at all.
The few who did either glared at him as if they wanted to kill him or, in some cases, even attempted to assassinate him.
So, crying, Torkel sought out his father at the Patriarch’s Hall.
But the response he received was just one word:
-So?
Kyle turned away after that single remark.
It was only then that Torkel realized.
‘This isn’t a family. This is a den of beasts.’
No, even beasts, at the very least, cared for their kin. This place was worse than beasts.
Perhaps it was from that moment.
Torkel began gritting his teeth and training relentlessly.
A sword in his right hand, a spear in his left.
He knew himself well.
Lacking talent compared to his siblings, he had to make up for it by working harder.
When others trained for an hour, he trained for five. Without such effort, he couldn’t catch up, let alone surpass them.
Was it thanks to that?
After a very long time, he finally achieved what he had dreamed of—becoming the captain of the Black Iron Cavalry.
The gossipers hailed the birth of a genius who threatened the existing heirs, and some exclaimed that the “Five Great Candidates” had finally been completed.
And then came another meeting with Kinkarnon.
Surely now, his eldest brother would have no choice but to remember him—and feel threatened by him. That’s what Torkel thought.
Even Lezé and Kishar, who had belittled him as a child, now seemed wary of him at a glance.
But,
-You look familiar. Who were you again?
The words Kinkarnon threw at him made Torkel bite his lower lip tightly.
Of course.
There really wasn’t a single thing he liked about this cursed household.
* * *
-So, you’re my grandson.
When was it?
It was a time when Torkel harbored hatred toward Ragnar in his heart but had no immediate means to act on it, focusing solely on claiming the throne.
On that day, too, Torkel was out on a mission.
The mission was to eliminate the remnants of the Sacred Demon Church.
He moved to subdue a group that had committed a massacre in a small town within Ragnar’s territory.
And there, he met him.
An old man.
A small-framed man with an ordinary appearance, yet someone who exuded an inexplicable aura that made him hard to approach.
The man looked at Torkel and called him “grandson.”
Torkel was dumbfounded.
His maternal grandfather had passed away after a long illness, and Torkel himself had overseen the relocation of his burial site. As for his paternal grandfather, he had died in Kyle's rebellion before Torkel was even born.
However,
-There is such a thing as resurrection. It is the act of receiving the divine essence of a god and descending to this earth. I was able to open my eyes again by sharing in the essence of the Deluded God.
The old man explained that he was indeed the "Mad Dragon Emperor."
The visions he demonstrated were certainly secrets that only a direct descendant of Ragnar could know.
The fusion of madness, demonic energy, and dragon force.
The moment Torkel witnessed this chaotic blend of seemingly irreconcilable energies, his instincts made him draw his sword.
He was ready to die, but instead, the Mad Dragon Emperor calmly pushed Torkel's sword downward.
-You show hostility toward me… Yes. In some ways, that's only natural for you. After all, that's what you would have learned from Kyle and Robert.
The Mad Dragon Emperor smiled.
It was a very warm smile.
-So, it’s fine if you choose to oppose me. But before that, could you at least hear my story?
Torkel listened to the untold secrets of the "Day of Expulsion."
He learned how cowardly Kyle was, how cunning the Black Dragon had been, how hypocritical Julius was, and how ruthless the Lord of Plum Blossom Palace had acted.
And so, in that moment, Torkel cried for a long time.
He cried because his grandfather’s story was so heartbreaking.
Because his life had been so pitiful, abandoned by the children he trusted, scorned by his family, falsely accused of heinous crimes, and forced to wander endlessly.
-Still, it was fortunate that I could settle here. Would you like to meet them, my new "family"?
Following the Mad Dragon Emperor,
Torkel finally understood.
He came to know what a true family was.
And he realized.
The family one is born into cannot be chosen, and thus there’s no way to prevent whatever harm they might inflict.
But the family one chooses can embrace them wholeheartedly.
That day,
For the first time in his life, Torkel laughed freely and without reserve.
* * *
Torkel returned to Ragnar.
To one day restore his grandfather to the place where he rightfully belonged.
And he thought that "the day" had finally come…
“Theooo!”
Torkel roared as he saw the Orb of the Deluded God disappear in an instant.
In his tightly clenched fist, only fragments of the shattered orb crumbled and fell to the ground.
The madness and demonic energy contained within the orb had already turned into bolts of lightning, sweeping away both the White Armored Dragon Cavalry and the Black Iron Cavalry of Troyban.
“Brother!”
“It’s too dangerous now. We must retreat for the moment.”
But as Torkel attempted to rush toward Theo, two hands held him back.
Arnold and Harke. Each of them served as the commanders of Troyban’s White Dragon Cavalry and Black Iron Cavalry, respectively.
Torkel wanted to shout at them to let go, but upon seeing the serious determination in their eyes, he bit his lower lip hard.
“Still, we didn’t lose all the Orbs of the Deluded God, did we? Let’s at least take back the ones we recovered. Master will understand.”
“But…!”
“Can’t you see? That person’s assault isn’t over yet.”
At that moment, Theo suddenly clenched the open hand he had been holding aloft.
<Inferno Hell>
As the second technique of the Dragon Pearl Sun unfolded, fire demons surged wildly from the lightning bolts that had struck the ground.
Dozens of whirlwinds erupted all around, turning the entire area into a sea of flames.
Even those who had managed to escape the initial attack were inevitably caught in the ensuing chaos.
To make matters worse, the Dragon Legion moved freely through the inferno, appearing completely unscathed by the fire demons, which only exacerbated the confusion.
Over half the forces had already collapsed, and it was only a matter of time before the rest followed.
The sheer amount of energy stored in the Orbs of the Deluded God had caused this catastrophic disaster.
“Brother!”
In the end, Torkel had no choice but to turn his body in the opposite direction.
For now, he had to focus on survival, just as his comrades urged. But…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Damn it!”
Before Torkel could take another step, flames suddenly surged dozens of meters high in front of him, forming a scorching wall of fire.
Even if he tried to cloak himself in aura and force his way through, it seemed certain he would take serious damage.
Theo had completely cut off the path of retreat.
Flash!
And then, Theo, his entire body wreathed in the flames of Inferno Hell, began charging toward them.
“He’s coming!!”
“Brother! We’ll do whatever it takes to hold him off—find a way to open a path!”
Without waiting for Torkel’s reply, Arnold and Harke moved to block Theo’s path.
Their minds were consumed with only one thought: they had to ensure Torkel’s survival.
Such a sacrifice was unimaginable among Ragnar’s siblings.
‘What… What am I even worth for them to do this for me?!’
Torkel swung his sword through the wall of fire, tears streaming down his face.
The only thought occupying his mind was that he could not let his siblings’ sacrifices be in vain.
But no sooner had he cut through the fiery wall than new flames rose to take its place. Even when he struck with great force to disperse them, the flames would quickly recover their intensity.
Theo was now directing the full power of Inferno Hell toward Torkel.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Slash! Slash!
The Dragon Slayer Sword surged forward.
Arnold, the first to confront Theo, had his upper armor shattered, and a gaping hole was pierced through his heart.
The Moon-White Sword fell.
Harke, who had tried to exploit Arnold’s sacrifice to flank Theo, came to an abrupt halt.
In that moment, the Spirit Mausoleum Blade gleamed, severing Harke’s head cleanly.
Buzz!
Inside Theo’s mind, the Sword Sphere was emitting a more intense resonance than ever before.
It had fully activated, reacting to the madness seeping from the Orb of the Deluded God.
This heightened state allowed Theo to harness extreme concentration, selecting only the most effective techniques from the flood of insights and executing them flawlessly to eliminate his enemies swiftly.
At this very moment,
Theo had reached the absolute limit of what his body and mind could achieve.
Whoosh!
And then, a new path revealed itself.
A direct line to Torkel.
“Captain!”
“It’s too dangerous, Captain!”
The Black Iron Cavalry soldiers tried to rally, but most were either cut down by Drake’s blade or taken out by the relentless pursuit of the White Armored Dragon Cavalry.
Finally, Theo reached Torkel.
Unable to break through the wall of fire, Torkel turned his black spear backward, aiming at Theo’s head.
Clang!
The black spear scraped against the blade of Theo’s greatsword, narrowly striking at Theo’s head.
Theo tilted his head slightly to the side, dodging the attack with minimal movement, and at the same time—
“Got you.”
The Moon-White Sword, which had somehow found its way into Theo’s left hand, traced a crescent arc.
Slash!
A dark line of blood ran from the crown of Torkel’s head down to his lower jaw.
“I… I really… despise… all of you…!”
Torkel’s gaze lingered helplessly on Theo,
Splash!
Before a fountain of blood burst forth, and his body fell lifelessly to the ground.