Dragon Maken War

Kayalia didn’t have a real body.

This was true long before the Dragon Demon war. She was from an extinct tribe. She was a 1st generation Dragon Demon, who had been revered as a goddess.

Since she have lived through multiple lives, her history was longer than any nation in existence. In front of her, even the Dragon Demon generals were like children to her.

However, Kayalia didn’t treat herself as being an ancient being.

It was true that she had the memories of her past life. From the moment she was born without parents, she had walked this world, and she had memories of living lives as several different beings.

The problem was the fact that it really didn’t feel like her life.

It was like an adult trying to remember the memories from childhood. The thought process and actions of the being she used to be felt foreign to her. When she was reborn in a new body, she lived life with a completely different personality. She repeatedly had an awakening, but she always maintained a part of her current personality. It would be strange if that didn’t happen.

Whenever Kyalia experience her past life, her personality changed a little bit. She had also experienced life as a human, so it was unclear if Kayalia remained the same person.

Right now, she.......

<Why are you acting?>

-What do you mean?

At Reygus’ question, Kayalia tilted her head in confusion.

She was like a girl from a noble family. She was elegant as she drank her tea.

It was impossible for her to do this. She didn’t have a real body, so how was she able to drink the tea placed on the table?

However, she was doing it right now. She savored the smell of the tea as she drank it. Of course, every item was half-translucent like her. It was an illusion.

<It really looks like you are enjoying the tea.>

Reygus questioned her about this.

It was possible to create an illusion with the power of magic. A magician could probably hold up an illusion, and one could also pretend to enjoy a cup of tea.

However, Kayalia didn’t look like she was acting.

She was an illusion, yet she looked as if she was enjoying her tea as she sat on top of her chair. No matter how he looked at it, her actions were believable. It was as if she was holding up items that had weight and texture. She looked to be enjoying the smell of the tea, and he was getting an impression that warm liquid was traveling down her throat. Everything was so matter of fact.

-I’m really enjoying it?

<How is that possible?>

Reygus couldn’t comprehend her answer.

This was why Kayalia changed the topic.

-Oppa, there is something I miss when my body became like this.

<What is it?>

-It’s the fact that I can’t touch anything.

Kayalia reached out her hand towards Reygus as she spoke. Her hand went through Reygus’ body.

It was odd. Normally, a ghost didn’t have a true body. However, this was only true when one was talking about the physical body.

When one was talking about it in terms of spiritual level, they possessed a presence. If a spirit tried to pass through a someone, the spirit would feel resistance and pain.

As an Undead, Reygus’ spiritual presence was very strong. If a phantom or an evil spirit tried to charge into him, they would be repelled. It would be like running into a steel wall.

So how did Kayalia just pass through him?

<Aren’t you a ghost? How can you pass through my body like that?>

-I’m an illusion.

Kayalia let out a bitter laugh.

-Before I died, I wasn’t part of the Great Darkness. My past lives weren’t connected to the Great Darkness. It was done through my own personal technique.

When Kayalia died, she hadn’t prepared her revival technique.

She could no longer treat her past lives as her own.

The revival technique had revealed itself to be unstable. She couldn’t continuously live her new life as the same person. If she couldn’t do that, she had no reason to cling to her revival. This was what Kayalia had thought.

When she was dying, the will left behind by Atein within the Great Darkness was heard by Kayalia.

-When I agreed to the king’s request, I created a new pact with him. In the distant future,I’ll be awakened as a part of the Great Darkness when the king’s revival nears.

<Hmmm. I’m not sure what that has anything to do with the question I asked.>

-I’m getting to the main point now. As I’ve said before, I threw a tantrum saying I don’t want to become an Undead like oppa.

<You said you wanted him to respect the feelings of a girl.>

-That’s right. That is why I decided to manifest as a illusion in the real world when the king made me part of the Great Darkness.

<So you really are an illusion?>

-That’s right. My body is in the Great Darkness like oppa’s body. The only thing that can be manifested in this world is an illusion. However, that doesn’t mean there is no purpose to my presence. I have the role of being an anchor.

<Anchor?>

-I observe the world, and this illusion can act as an anchor. It allows the manifestation of my powers. If this criteria isn’t met, it would be impossible for me to involve myself with the workings of this world.

<I am having a hard time understanding what you’re saying.>

When Reygus started to scratch his head, Kayalia giggled.

-You don’t have to understand it. I’m just an illusion, but I’m able to converse with oppa.

<You can use magic too?>

-Yes.

<That still doesn’t answer why you are able to drink tea.>

-It is simple. In the Great Darkness, there are countless fragments of thoughts. There are experiences and thoughts of others. I’m there.

Kayalia was an illusion that wasn’t affiliated with this world. This was why she couldn’t touch anything.

Kayalia was part of the world called the Great Darkness now. Anything within the Great Darkness was real to her.

Both Kayalia and Reygus existed within the Great Darkness. However, Kayalia chose to stay within the Great Darkness. Reygus chose to step out into the world within the body of an Undead.

-That is why I’m sensitive to the problem more so than you.

<Are you talking the problem I spoke to you about?>

-Yes.

Reygus spoke. He knew that he won’t be able to be revived again if his body was completely destroyed.

Kayalia was closer to the Great Darkness than Reygus. That is why she was able to feel the problem more sharply.

-The pillars are being destroyed.

<What pillars?>

-These are the pillars making up the Great Darkness. It isn’t just one that was destroyed. I’m the only one that sensed it, but another pillar is being destroyed right now.... This will create a great imbalance in the Great Darkness.

2

The activities of the Dragon Demon king worshippers were extremely reduced.

They had been causing confusion all over the continent, but they had no choice to abandon their political maneuverings. Even their lowest ranked political agents were called in to defend the waypoints of the Road of Emptiness.

This didn’t mean the confusion caused by them were gone.

Of course, there were problems that arose even when things were supposed to settle down. The Dragon Demon king worshippers had already set the fire, so the intense conflagration of society continued to occur.

This was the case in the Dailan kingdom.

To be precise, their problem stemmed from the fact that the king was killed before the heir could be chosen. In the end, a civil war had occured.

The civil war was getting so intense that the members of the Guardian Shadows affiliated with the Dailan kingdom couldn’t do anything. No, the members had to stand by their political affiliation and they had to fight each other.

As members of the Guardian Shadow, they were supposed to protect humanity by fighting the Dragon Demon king worshippers.

However, they were also nobles of the Dailan kingdom. They had to choose a new king before they could end the civil war. They had to bring stability to their kingdom.

“...I’m not sure we can interfere with matters involving another country.”

Kairen grumbled as he shook off the blood from his sword.

The corpses of Dragon Demon king worshippers were strewn about, and the Undeads were ruthlessly destroyed. They were the forces placed here to protect this location by the Plain of Darkness.

Azell and his party didn’t have high hopes that the Guardian Shadows of Dailan would mobilize to help them. In the end, Azell’s party had to attack the waypoints.

Leticia spoke.

“From their perspective, they did the best they could do, so I can’t fault them too much.”

“I’m not complaining about them. I’m complaining about the situation itself.”

The members of the Guardian Shadows in the Dailan Kingdom couldn’t participate in battles, but they had done much to support Azell’s party.

They gave Azell’s party places to rest. They also sent supplies and healers to them. Since Azell’s party was continuously moving as they fought, their help was invaluable.

Each member of Azell’s party was strong enough to make their name known even if they were back in the Dragon Demon war. However, they possessed living bodies. They couldn’t free themselves from fatigue and wounds.

After the party entered into the Dailan kingdom for a fortnight, they were able to destroy nine waypoints.

If there were easy fights, there were also dangerous fights. Leticia, Arrieta and Yuren were wounded in different battles. They had to sit out one battle each.

‘Our fatigue has to be taken into account. For a while, we’ll have to avoid fighting. We have to focus on rest.’

Kairen came to that decision.

The biggest burden possessed by the party was the Vitan’s Chalice.

They couldn’t rest in one place, because of the Vitan’s Chalice. If they stayed in one place too long, Almarick and Reygus would lead their elite forces against Azell’s party.

Kairen asked a question towards the nearest Guardian Shado/

“Please check if it is possible for Azell to contact us.”

In the next moment, Kairen got his answer.

「I’m still fighting.」

“We finished faster than him? I guess that location was much more dangerous than expected. Let us retreat for now, and we’ll wait for Azell to contact us.”

Azell and Laura were moving separate from the other party members.

They were moving separately, but their objective wasn’t the destruction of the waypoints. Their objective was a bit more important.

Azell contacted Kairen after three hours. The Guardian Shadow spoke with Azell’s voice.

「We were successful.」

“It seems you had to fight a very hard battle. You took a very long time.”

「Atein’s monsters were placed here as guards. They were quite annoying.」

The goal of Azell and Laura was to destroy the pillars of the Great Darkness. These locations possessed transcendent beings that Atein had been unable to kill.

Carlos had found out where all the pillars were located when he became affiliated with the Great Darkness.

These beings might become unsealed like Belrun, so Azell had no choice. He had to destroy them. When he came to this judgement, he decided to move independent of his party. He only took Laura along with him, because he predicted he would need a magician.

When he arrived, he found out that the seal wasn’t left unprotected by Atein.

“You were able to destroy it without suffering any loss, but it seems it would be better if we move together.”

「I agree. I underestimated them too much.」

Azell readily admitted his mistake, then he asked a question.

「How did it go on your side?」

“We were able to neatly wrap things up here. We suffered no injuries, and the loss to the Guardian Shadows were minimal.”

「I’m glad.」

“The problem is....”

Kairen decided to speak to Azell about a problem that had been weighing on his mind.

“What do you think?”

「I believe the duke’s judgement is correct. We need the rest, and we need time to be able to teach the Dragon Soul to the princess.」

It had been 20 days since Arrieta had joined the party.

In this time frame, Kairen had been trying to teach the Dragon Soul to Arrieta. However, they were too busy fighting and moving. This was why it was difficult for Arrieta to make any progress.

Reshoo was the founder of the Dragon Soul, and even he needed over a month to teach Kairen and Leticia. Moreover, they were able to focus on their training, since their enemies wouldn’t attack them within the forest. They were also able to avoid major pitfalls thanks to Saibein’s ability, so their progress had been fast.

In comparison, Arrieta’s environment was too poor to learn the Dragon Soul.

“For the near future, we’ll avoid battles. We can decrease our traveling speed as we rest......”

「I just had a good idea.」

Azell cut off Kairen’s words. Kairen was puzzled as he asked Azell a question.

“What’s your idea?”

「I’ll travel with Laura for a while. Then you guys will be able to rest.」

“Mmm. What about you?”

「I have the Storm Dragon’s Wing and the Crying Phoenix. We’ll summon the Vitan’s Chalice in a distance location, and when our enemies come to confront us, we’ll dodge them. If it is just one person, I can move with her.」

“Understood. Let’s do that.”

Kairen decided to follow Azell’s suggestion.