< Chapter 111 - Jainan Valley >
Chapter 111 – Jainan Canyon
The seven disasters that brought destruction to the Pleiades in Heroes Chronicles 2 were of various types.
While there were instances where they were simply ‘powerful entities’, such as the mad dragon Yallabaska, the monster Jabbawock, and the slaughterer Georg, there were also instances where their mere existence caused disaster.
Fire Giant Kart.
When he walked, an earthquake occurred.
The surroundings naturally became a sea of fire, and due to the toxic gases it breathed out as if it was breathing, an untrained person could not survive more than three minutes next to it.
But the greatest disaster caused by the fire giant Kart was – and there was another reason why he was called a natural disaster.
Volcanic eruption ability.
He could make a volcano erupt.
In the case of dormant volcanoes, it was possible to make them explode simply by approaching them, and even volcanoes that were virtually dormant could explode again if they were given the strength to do so, covering the ground with lava and obscuring the sky with dust.
The seven disasters each played a major role in the downfall of the empire, but the fire giant Kart had the greatest impact. The chain of volcanic eruptions it caused devastated the northern part of the empire.
‘Yeah, I thought we’d fight someday.’
The plan was to scour the Catan Mountains, where he first appeared.
The plan was to deal with it early, as it was likely not yet a full-blown disaster like the Yallabaska or Javawalk.
But my expectations were wrong.
Because of their visit, the demon followers hastened the birth of the lava giants, who could be considered the predecessors to the fire giants, Kart.
Actually, it was good up to this point.
Completion ahead of schedule is bound to have defects.
There was only one problem.
‘Isn’t that already a disaster?!’
The lava giant was huge.
It was said to be 60 meters tall, but in terms of buildings, it was well over 20 stories tall. It wasn’t just tall, it was also so huge that it was hard to know where or how to attack it.
But then that guy even flew.
“Draw his attention! We have to stop him from getting to the dragon vein!”
Instead of responding to Uther’s obvious shout, Cordelia took action.
I boldly drove the Phantom Steed straight into the bastard’s face.
“Hieee?!”
Kirara was startled, but she didn’t stop. She continued to flail around in front of the lava giant and use cold magic.
“Hit it! Hit it! Hit it!”
Dozens of sharp ice missiles formed in the air and rushed straight towards the lava giant’s head.
It was a veritable bombardment of ice.
But it didn’t feel like an attack was going in. It didn’t care whether the ice was stuck or not. Its face covered in lava had no eyes or nose, so it was questionable whether it had any weaknesses in the first place.
“Heeeeeee!”
Kirara screamed again and hugged Cordelia’s waist.
It was because the lava giant opened its mouth wide as if it was going to swallow Phantom Steed.
‘You should have betrayed me a long time ago!’
“I was wrong! I was wrong!”
When Kirara shouted out in her heart, Cordelia smiled brightly instead.
If the lava giant was aiming this way, it would be welcome.
“This way!”
Cordelia shouted and drove Phantomsteed in the opposite direction to Jainan Canyon, the lair of Naggaroth, the Serpent King.
But it wasn’t long before Cordelia realized that her plan had gone awry, because her back wasn’t hot.
“I survived! I survived!”
Kirara was delighted, but Cordelia swallowed her curses, as the lava giant ignored her and continued on towards Naggaroth’s lair.
“Woooooo!”
Just then, Uther slashed at the lava giant’s flank, firing his sword.
It was a move by the Snow Flower Twelve Swordsman with extreme power, but it was able to withstand Cordelia’s ice missile bombardment with just its body. Some of its sides were hardened, but soon melted back into lava.
“Look at me! Look at me!”
“Heeeeeee!”
As Cordelia shouted again and flew towards the lava giant, Kirara started to cry. But Cordelia focused only on the lava giant. She fired another barrage of ice missiles to try and get its attention.
Kwagagagagaga-!
But it was no use. The creature continued to flap its wings. Perhaps because it had no eyes to begin with, it didn’t even look this way.
“Please save me, please save me.”
There was no time to even look at Kirara, who was crying and crying in the rain. Cordelia thought and thought again.
The lava giant was so huge.
It was impossible to stop him with ordinary magic.
How about a Spirit King Punch?
Would that be enough to catch him?
Cordelia didn’t continue thinking. She didn’t even have time to think.
“Let’s go!”
Phantom Steed dashed through the air once more, landing on top of the lava giant. The heat beneath his feet was burning hot, but Cordelia focused. Sweat dripped down his face as he pulled his fist.
“Spirit King Punch!”
The moment I threw my fist, I felt a pain as if an invisible blade was slicing through my chest.
An enormous amount of magical power evaporated at once, and the Spirit King’s fist, accompanied by lightning, poured down from the sky.
Boom!
A giant fist pierced the lava giant’s back. The lava giant staggered and fell to the ground.
“Wow! I did it! I did it!”
Kirara was delighted, but Cordelia was not. Instead, she frowned.
It wasn’t because of the pain caused by the sudden depletion of magical power. Cordelia had a feeling the moment he fell.
‘Don’t die.’
It was as expected. The lava poured down and filled the hole. The lava giant raised its head again and resumed flapping its wings. It took flight as if nothing had happened.
“crazy.”
There probably wasn’t any damage at all.
It would have been impossible to just fire off a flurry of Spirit King Punches, but it didn’t seem impossible to take him down if you dealt damage little by little.
But the problem was time.
“Snow White!”
Yuder unleashed one of the secret techniques of the Snow Flower Twelve Swords, Snow Flower Nanyoung.
It was a wide-range attack capable of hitting dozens of people at once, but it was no match for stopping a 60-meter-tall giant advancing like a bulldozer.
The staggering man continued on, ignoring even Yuder.
Uther calculated the distance to the lairs of the lava giants and Naggaroth.
Considering the speed of the lava giant, there was less than three minutes left.
‘Let’s think, let’s think of victory conditions.’
We have to stop him.
We need to stop them, not kill them.
We must prevent them from reaching their destination.
So what should we do?
Should I use Naggaroth, the Serpent King?
No, that was too risky. Using Nagaroth to do this was already a defeat.
It was clear that the lava giant would ignore Naggaroth and throw itself into the dragon vein.
So what should we do?
Is there any way?
“Uder!”
Just then, Cordelia’s call was heard. Uther quickly turned his head, and Cordelia shouted again.
“Give me some time!”
Uder didn’t get angry, saying he couldn’t see what he was doing.
Cordelia wasn’t stupid.
Yelling like that meant there was some way.
“I will believe you!”
Cordelia shouted again, no longer looking at the lava giant. She looked at the lair of Naggaroth beyond it. She then increased the speed of Phantomsteed’s ship.
“Oh, my lord?!”
What are you going to do? Are you going to run into a lava giant?
Kirara, whose brain was paralyzed due to panic, was no longer able to make rational decisions.
But it wasn’t Uther. The moment he saw Cordelia running at full speed past the lava giants toward Naggaroth’s lair, one possibility occurred to him.
“S, really?!”
No, it was a possibility.
Because it was none other than Cordelia.
Because she already had a few records!
“hey!”
“It’s okay! Just trust me!”
Cordelia responded immediately to Uther’s rebuke and continued to run, while Uther swore.
But on the other hand, I was impressed.
If we look at it only from the perspective of achieving the victory conditions, Cordelia’s answer was not wrong.
“You’re saying you can’t go to your destination? Then just get rid of the destination!”
The reason the lava giants were not allowed to go to Naggaroth’s lair was because there was a dragon vein there.
So let’s destroy the dragon vein. Let’s explode it beforehand to prevent it from combining with the lava giant!
[Most problems can be solved by exploding them!]
Uder exclaimed in admiration at the magical message that came from Cordelia. He began to search for a way to capture the lava giant for Cordelia, who was already far ahead.
“Let’s go!”
Uther didn’t hesitate for long either. Instead of using his wide-area skills, he concentrated his extreme sword energy in the capital. He drove the Phantom Steed as if he were riding on the back of a lava giant.
[future generations!]
Belencia saw through Yuder’s intentions. She amplified the power of Sword Origin and strengthened Yuder’s sword energy.
“Woooooooooooo!”
Phantom Steed ran on the back of the lava giant, slashing at the burning earth, and Uther swung his extreme sword energy that extended from the capital.
Tsukwaak!
What I’m after is that bastard’s wings!
The extreme energy solidified the lava. Phantom Steed kicked the air and changed direction, and Uther extended his empty left hand to the solidified lava giant’s wing – or rather, the part where the wing connected to its back.
“Black Dragon Rampage!”
Seven black dragons shot out from Yuder’s palm. Each one grew bigger as it advanced, so even the largest lava giant could not withstand them. The connecting parts were simply crushed, and the lava giant, having lost its wings, fell to the ground once again.
Quagga River!
The earth shook with a loud noise.
Since we were already inside the Jainan Canyon, the surrounding area was not engulfed in flames, but the ground was melting and part of the canyon collapsed due to the earthquake, causing rocks to fall.
“Haa, haa.”
Uther took a deep breath and thought.
The time available for delay is only about ten seconds.
But if you repeat it, you can buy more time.
Kuoooooooooooooo-!
The lava giant roared and sprouted new wings.
Instead of looking back in the direction Cordelia had flown, Uther once again unleashed his extreme energy.
And about a minute later.
That moment when every second counts.
“Kiaa!”
Naggaroth, the serpent king, roared and rose.
The winged giant snake was a gigantic monster that resembled the white snake seen in Frost Anvil.
“Hieee······.”
Kirara could no longer cry properly, but Cordelia was different. She paid no attention to Naggaroth’s barking or not, and only looked in one direction.
‘Over there.’
A place where the power of the dragon vein bursts forth.
If it had been before, I wouldn’t have known, but with my many experiences in the wild, I was able to figure it out right away.
‘It’s not easy.’
The dragon vein was deep. If you wanted to stimulate it and make it explode all at once, a normal attack would not be enough.
“Kiaa!”
“Heeeeeee!”
Kirara screamed in time with Naggaroth’s roar, and Cordelia charged Phantomsteed again. She ran straight towards Naggaroth, who was running towards her with his mouth wide open, and Blinked with Phantomsteed.
Chuhwak-!
Passed through Naggaroth.
And I felt it.
Peer.
A spell of terror unleashed by the King of Snakes.
On the contrary, it turned out well. Thanks to him, there was no living thing around here.
That is, there was no need to consider surrounding damage caused by splash damage.
“Kiaa!”
Naggaroth, whose attack missed, quickly turned around.
It was nothing more than a gigantic demon, incomparable to a higher being like Malekith, but its body was dozens of meters long, so the mere sight of it spreading its wings and twisting its body was terrifying.
So Kirara screamed again, and Cordelia didn’t even look. She used powerful wind magic to blow away the venom Naggaroth had spewed out, and grabbed Moonlight.
“balm!”
[Help!]
Malekith’s dragon heart glowed. It instantly filled Cordelia’s magical powers, which had been depleted by the Spirit King’s punch, and Cordelia swallowed the searing pain as she recalled the spell.
It ran as if it was falling towards the ground. At one point, it spread its black wings and shouted.
“Spear of Calamite!”
A huge spear of darkness formed above Cordelia’s head as she transformed into an archangel. The ground was close. However, instead of throwing the spear, Cordelia held the magic blaster in her left hand.
“Unity!”
Put a spear of Calamite in your Magic Blaster.
Converts powerful magic into pure destructive power!
Magic Blast.
Magic Blaster’s ultimate skill, just as its name suggests!
“Let’s go!”
“Gyaaaah!”
Cordelia’s screams and Kirara’s screams blended together. The serpent king Naggaroth roared from behind her as if to tell her not to ignore him, but Cordelia ran forward again, looking only ahead and shouting.
“Lance charging!”
Don’t look back!
Touches the surface.
Collide.
It’s all smashed up and broken into pieces!
Boom!
The magic blaster spit fire.
A pure white light poured down towards the ground, striking the dragon vein. At the same time, Cordelia’s arm broke, unable to withstand the force of the recoil. Phantom Steed soared into the sky.
“Kiaa!”
The enraged Naggaroth tried to devour Cordelia and Kirara. Kirara mustered up her courage and reached out to Naggaroth. It seemed impossible, but she still tried to talk to him.
But it was no use.
Cordelia sweated profusely as she tried to fix her left arm, which was bent at an odd angle. She gritted her teeth in pain and looked at the ground.
It reaches.
Naggaroth is coming for us!
bang!
The explosion stopped Naggaroth.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions that occurred one after another caught Naggaroth off guard.
Naggaroth could not understand the current situation.
what?
What is it now?
What is happening?
“Fly up!”
Cordelia knew. So she pumped her magic into Phantom Steed once more. She used all her strength to somehow gain altitude.
Kirara reflexively looked at the ground. She gasped and expressed her fear in a different way than Cordelia.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground exploded. The surface split. Pure white light poured out from deep within, and a massive earthquake leveled Naggaroth’s lair.
Kwagagagagagagang!
“Kiak?!”
A huge rock fell on Naggaroth’s head as he hesitated in confusion. The wounded man stumbled and fell, and the ravine poured down on his head.
Quagga River! Quagga River!
The day the capital of the Magic Kingdom of Magellan disappeared.
It was the same as before.
The entirety of Naggaroth’s nest was completely destroyed, and Kirara was left speechless at the traces of such enormous destruction.
And Cordelia moved. She cried and fixed the broken arm, then telekinetically levitated the Magic Blaster. Grabbed Moonlight and focused only on Naggaroth this time.
“The final blow!”
It wasn’t my intention, but I caught Naggaroth!
Cordelia’s last ounce of strength poured into Naggaroth’s head, who was lying on the verge of death in the canyon.
bang!
Naggaroth’s head exploded, and Cordelia, engulfed in a ring of light, finally turned to face the lava giant. Despite her pain, she cried out in joy.
“good!”
As planned!
The lava giant, with no destination, stopped in midair.
He stuttered as if he didn’t know where to go, then suddenly turned toward the distant west.
‘Wild land.’
A place with many dragon veins.
It wasn’t a distance that could be covered in a few minutes. It was clear that it would take several days at the shortest.
So instead of running straight away, Cordelia sent Phantom Steed back. He fell to the ground with a thud and soon collapsed.
“Ha··· ha······.”
Kirara, who had lost her mind, collapsed next to Cordelia, breathing heavily.
About ten seconds had passed like that.
Uther, who had the same thoughts as Cordelia, flew over here.
“Cordelia!”
“Here, here······.”
Although he could only mutter softly, not even having the energy to respond properly, Uder found Cordelia.
He landed in front of Cordelia, who was covered in sweat, and let out a sigh of relief.
“ha.”
thank god.
A quarter of the Jainan Canyon collapsed, but at least it prevented a disaster from occurring. That should be all that matters.
After sitting in front of Cordelia, Uder looked at the sky again. The strange birds living in the Jainan Canyon were flying in a flock, as if they were very surprised by the sudden turn of events.
And the west.
A lava giant flying slowly towards that distant wild land.
It seemed like it would be okay to just recover some strength and then knock it down in a few quick strikes.
‘Or just leave it to the Golden Dragon King.’
Anyway, it wasn’t right away.
Uther pulled his hips closer to Cordelia and took out a potion and fed it to her.
“Ha. Ugh.”
“Would you like to live a little?”
Instead of answering, Cordelia sat up with a stern expression.
Even though I had some free time, I couldn’t really rest. I didn’t know what the demon followers would do next, so I had to catch my breath and then go back to fighting the lava giant.
“But first, drink some potion.”
Cordelia drank the potion in gulps and poured some on her broken left arm.
About 3 minutes like that.
Even though her back was sore, Cordelia sat up and called out to Phantom Steed again.
“let’s go.”
Lava Giant George.
“okay.”
If not us, who will stop it?
Uther, who had been laughing bitterly, pinched Cordelia’s dusty cheek once before climbing onto his own Phantom Steed.
And two hours later.
Lying on the remains of the broken lava giant, Uther and Cordelia were sweating and breathing heavily.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Uther, who had infinite stamina, was exhausted, so Cordelia was beyond words. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was practically a corpse.
But still, the lava giant was defeated.
One of the seven great disasters, a potential catastrophe that could have brought about the downfall of the empire, was defeated before it became a disaster.
“But, but······.”
As Cordelia spoke, panting, Uther raised his upper body and looked at Cordelia.
Cordelia continued, her eyes tightly shut.
“Something, something feels off.”
I caught Naggaroth and the lava giant too.
I leveled up and stopped the plot of the devil followers.
Why is that?
Why do I have this uneasy feeling – like I’m missing something?
‘Kirara?’
No. He was lying face down on the floor, panting.
Judging from the way he was trembling, he seemed to be tired but not in danger of dying.
So what is it?
What on earth did I miss?
“ah.”
Uther spoke, and Cordelia blinked. Then she spoke again.
“ah.”
Something I had forgotten.
A goal that was forgotten while being distracted by the lava giant.
The fourth stone slab located in the Jainan Canyon.
Uther and Cordelia quickly looked back east.
I laughed and cried at the sight of the chaotic Jainan Valley in the distance.
&
< Chapter 111 - Jainan Valley > End
