The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 337

220. Niel Blanc (2)

[What……?!]

[That guy is the Platinum Dragon?!]

It wasn’t the ministers in the hall who were surprised by Carryl’s words, but rather the Spirit King and Alun Zabis.

[We know what the Platinum Dragon looks like. That guy can’t be Nardie Maugh. He’s a blond man!]

[What are you talking about? He has silver hair. But he’s completely different from that guy. Because he’s a middle-aged man. Dragons can change their appearance when they polymorph [change shape], but he’s different. The more prideful a dragon is, the more likely they are to live their whole lives in one form.]

[So? We were the first to know that dragon. According to you, he should have the blond hair from the mythological era that we knew.]

Lamineh replied in an unpleasant voice to Alun’s rebuttal.

At that moment, Carryl laughed.

‘Whether he’s blond or silver-haired, whether his face is young or old, that’s not important.’

[Then?]

‘The point is that he has been living in the human world as Niel Blanc from the beginning. He didn’t appear as a dragon to fulfill the oracle [a prophecy or divine message], but he was drawing the history of mankind with his own hands.’

Wooden Cloud, the Order, and even the human corpses used in the experiments he saw in his lair.

Even before the Empire was created, Nardie Maugh had been diligently carrying out his own plans.

Since when, exactly?

It wasn’t just the current results.

He existed even in the mythological era, and in the magic era, he taught Alun and the seven elders, including Alteman.

“…….”

Carryl suddenly had a thought.

Even his regression…….

Wasn’t it part of the plan he had laid out?

‘No.’

Frankly, it’s hard to believe.

Unless he himself had regressed, there was no way he could have predicted and prepared for what would happen in the future.

[It’s not impossible.]

It was then.

Mael broke the silence and spoke.

[The Platinum Dragon is originally that kind of guy. He was the leader who led the dragons who sided with God in the Divine Spirit War. But before he was the leader of the dragons, do you know what he was?]

At his words, the Spirit Kings, who had been chattering noisily, fell silent.

[What was he in the past?]

Instead, Alun asked.

[Why don’t you tell me? Isn’t that why you think you know the Platinum Dragon so well?]

But no one could answer Mael’s words.

[Spirit Lord Dominator.]

Instead, his cold voice echoed in Carryl’s ear.

[The Blader who contracted with all the Spirit Kings. That was his alias before the name Platinum Dragon.]

‘He was…… a Blader?’

[Yes. Dragons are those who sided with God, but that wasn’t the case from the beginning in the Divine Spirit War. Before that, he was also a Blader. In other words, he can be called a traitor.]

Carryl stared blankly at Niel Blanc.

[What does that matter?]

[Everyone knows that he was on God’s side from the beginning.]

[We lost, not him. There’s no reason for him to be in the human world, even hiding his face.]

The Spirit Kings retorted, but Mael clicked his tongue at them instead.

[Do you know the difference between the ancient races and humans? You guys all try to be fair and square. That may be the inherent power of a spiritual being born from a rift…… but a twisted guy like me thinks differently.]

‘What does he mean?’

[I mean, it was stupid of me to plot a rebellion with those unnecessarily clean guys.]

[What……?]

Mael ignored Duart, who was growling, and spoke to Carryl.

[In the mythological era, he experimented with spirits; in the magic era, he experimented with magic and swords; and in his lair, he experimented with humans. What will he experiment with in this present world? Carryl, that’s why he needs to exist in the human world, as you said.]

‘Could it be…….’

[Yes. He’s going to experiment with the possibility of the race, beyond humans.]

……!!!

Everyone couldn’t help but be surprised at Mael’s words.

[Does that mean he’s now trying to experiment with the potential of the race…….]

Alun exclaimed as if sighing at Mael’s words, without realizing it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Me, a guardian dragon…… you’ve said something right. If you want, you can continue the war. That’s also His Majesty’s will. But the Empire now, not the era when the Conqueror King led, wants peace, but sharing swords with us means…….”

Swish—

Niel Blanc reached out his hand.

The faint blue cloak hanging behind his back fluttered lightly.

“It also means fighting a dragon. Are you going to commit the foolish act of offering your subordinates as dragon fodder?”

“Stop pretending to be noble. Why don’t you change your tone? It’s making me cringe.”

Knowing that he knows the future.

He, who uniquely knows what face he will live with in this life, knew better than anyone how he had acted after revealing himself as a dragon.

“Is that so?”

Carryl didn’t miss that moment.

No one saw it, but the corners of Niel Blanc’s lips curled up very slightly.

Kwaaaaaang―――!!

“I’m grateful that you came to me on your own without me having to find you or wait for you. Because I have to settle with you anyway to end the Imperial War.”

“Wh, what!!”

At that moment, Kadin Ruer hurriedly raised his hand and shouted.

“Barrier formation……!”

Kwaaaaaang!! Kwagagang!!

But his cry was in vain as the marble under Carryl’s feet shattered, and the magic circles engraved within lost their light.

“Don’t interfere.”

[Kekeke……. It’s been a while. Using power like this.]

There was no way he could break the magic of a 7-class Archmage [a powerful and skilled mage] with a single blow.

Kadin Ruer looked at Carryl with an unbelievable expression, but he didn’t sense a blue snake appearing and disappearing along the silver-gray blade of Lakna.

Swaaaak!! Skak!!

Carryl drew his sword to his side without even turning his head.

“Av, avoid……!!”

At the same time as the knight commander’s cry, the heads of the knights standing to Carryl’s right, aiming their swords, were cut off and bounced around like balls, rolling on the floor.

“Anyone who moves to do anything foolish, whether they’re a mage or a knight, will die.”

Silence flowed.

“Ugh……! Uwaaaagh!”

“Save me!!”

But after that silence, despite Carryl’s warning, the ministers in the Sun Hall began to scream and run away as the Golden Knights, who could be said to be the Empire’s best elite, were killed in one blow.

Tak—

But the screams that had been echoing loudly in the hall disappeared in an instant. As Carryl lightly stepped forward, sharp, awl-like stone pillars sprang up from the floor, piercing through them.

From the pillars that pierced their heads from under their chins to the pillars that broke their spines and popped out from their abdomens.

In an instant, dozens of ministers were skewered on sharp stone pillars like skewers, soaring into the sky.

“No way…….”

“Even though it’s broken, magic in the Sun Hall where the barrier formation exists……?”

“Is he really someone who has reached the realm of an Archmage?”

The mages of the magic corps couldn’t help but be astonished at Carryl’s appearance in a different sense.

Overwhelmed by the magic power that overwhelmed them, they didn’t even think of running away, and their bodies trembled.

[Kekeke……. It’s magic based on my divine power. It can surpass human barriers at once.]

Mael licked his tongue and said mockingly, looking at the corpses of the ministers.

“Stop the sword.”

Niel Blanc shouted, stepping back.

But Carryl ignored his cry and took out Agnel from his arms.

Jiiiiing……!!

The arcane blade imbued with his magic power was emitted by Agnel, and this time, Duart’s power was imbued in the blade.

Then, the purple blade turned as black as pitch, and the silver-gray blade of Lakna on the opposite side began to shine even more sharply. Carryl swung the two swords and jumped towards Niel Blanc.

“Stop the sword? If you want, you can block it with your power. Because you’re the only one who can stop my sword on the continent now!!”

Pajeuk……! Pajujeujeuk……!!

Carryl’s magic power was emitted even more.

* * *

[How to kill a dragon?]

That night, heading to Tatur after leaving the Platinum Dragon’s lair.

Carryl was talking to Alun above the red scales’ head.

[It’s not like there’s no way at all.]

‘What should I do?’

[Kaye Essir, who killed the dragon, is said to have surpassed the 7th class, called the limit of humans, and reached the 8th class. But in fact, that’s not difficult. I’ve tasted that realm myself. Of course, there would be differences created through self-taught talent and the knowledge of dragons.]

‘I know enough that you’re excellent. But showing off doesn’t suit this situation, does it?’

[Keep listening. Think about it. Isn’t it strange? Is it logically possible that a dragon with 9th class magic power, an area that humans can never reach, was killed by an 8th class mage [a mage of significant power and skill]?]

‘What do you mean?’

[Even if he’s an 8th class mage, we in the human realm are weaker than dragons. Wasn’t there anything suspicious in the fight between Kaye Essir and the Flame Dragon?]

Carryl didn’t understand Alun, who suddenly asked such a question in a desperate situation.

Kaye Essir’s battle was shocking in itself.

He still vividly remembered the sight of him overlapping the lowest class of magic to create unbelievable destructive power.

Because it was an event that overturned all the magic systems so far.

But their conversation, which he had heard and dismissed in the amazing spectacle, suddenly came to Carryl’s mind.

[Why are you hunting dragons? Weren’t you and I of the same kind?]

Before the Flame Dragon Lyseria died, their conversation in his memory was like this.

“The same kind? Don’t tell me…… how can humans and dragons be the same?”

Kaye Essir chuckled at his words.

But Carryl felt that the answer was making Lyseria’s heart beat.

[I’ll ask you just one thing. Does my death give you a new transition?]

“Of course.”

Carryl remembered the last conversation with Kaye Essir before Lyseria died.

‘Yes, it was definitely like that. Could it be…… that the Flame Dragon deliberately died to him? To leave something behind?’

[I don’t know. But one thing is certain. If the Flame Dragon’s death was not a hunt but voluntary, then there is no human in history who has properly hunted a dragon so far.]

That meant that the existence of a dragon was like a huge wall.

[An opponent that is not enough even with the power of the 8th class. There may be no one among humans who can catch a dragon. But what if the swordsmanship of a Sword Master is added to it?]

Alun began to envelop Carryl with black smoke as if trying to add his power to Carryl’s.

[Humans have never succeeded in dragon hunting. This means, conversely, that the ‘first’ seat is vacant. Isn’t that more important than how Kaye Essir killed the dragon? It means that you could be the owner of the alias Dragon Hunter.]

Carryl raised the corners of his lips at his words.

[You reached the 7th class in the Thousand Year Ice Cave. But for you, that’s not even something to be proud of. Isn’t that right? Because you got something else.]

Alun said, chuckling.

‘Annihilation Strike.’

[Yes, that power is the power that can strike a dragon. But that’s not perfect either. You know it too. You know that simply increasing magic power is not the only way to temper the Annihilation Strike.]

* * *

Kwaaaaaaa――!!

The sharpness of cutting through the air, the sonic boom, echoed throughout the hall.

Crack…… Crack, crack…….

Cracks began to form under his feet.

As silver-gray magic power enveloped his whole body, clods of earth began to rise around him as if gravity was reversing.

[Yes. That’s it. If magic power is lacking, you can use power that transcends magic power.]

It seemed like he could hear Alun’s low exclamation.

[Imbuing divine power into the Annihilation Strike.]

At the same time, Carryl’s hair began to rise as if fluttering in the wind.

“…….”

Niel Blanc looked at him with a stiff face.