Chapter 227
Translator: AkazaTL
Pr/Ed: Sol IX
***
Chapter 227. Matchstick (1)
Despair arrived.
The beings that had crouched in hiding for hundreds of years finally revealed themselves, and the Dwarves—who had chosen to ignore their own fear—found themselves facing their ancient nemesis once more.
Their ancestors had warned them in history. But the enemies that emerged from beneath the surface were more horrifying than anything they had imagined. There was no radiant future waiting. Hope was crushed far too easily.
A darkness of despair. At the moment when the world turned pitch-black for the Dwarves, a flame lit up their world. The one holding the flame was a small boy.
The moment the boy swung the flame, the boy became hope.
***
“Die?”
The Red Dragon, Balakar, looked at Arhan. A tiny human who appeared amid the collapsing Dwarf Kingdom and the trembling Dwarves.
“Who is killing whom?”
Red Dragon Balakar knew about the Karavan. In fact, every Dragon had no choice but to know. Old Dragons—those ancient wyrms curled inside the Nest of Azure Heaven—always warned the young Dragons: beware Steel, beware the Karavan, do not stand against them.
To Dragons, the Karavan were a formless terror. But what of the “descendant of Karavan” that appeared in reality? To Balakar, that so-called “Karavan” looked absurdly pitiful. He thought: had the mighty Dragons wasted uncountable years fearing such a trivial creature? That worthless little thing?
“Show me all you can, pathetic trickster!”
Balakar summoned the power flowing through his blood. At the same time, every ember in the Dwarf Kingdom gathered toward him.
Natural flames, and the artificial fire forged by Dwarves—all converged. The flames of forges that melted any steel, the magma beneath the mountains, every source of heat became Balakar’s flesh.
Composed of burning essence, Balakar opened his jaws and exhaled toward the insignificant human. A destructive force that burned soul and flesh alike. And then.
“You will never……!”
The voice echoing from Balakar’s mouth vanished. And not only his voice—every sound disappeared. Along with the disappearance of sound, all light vanished as well. Darkness swallowed the entire region, and Balakar’s eyes trembled. What was this?
“──!”
His eyes pierced through all worlds. But even the Dragon’s eyes could not tear away this darkness. His reptilian eyes glistened, scanning a world that remained pitch-black. Frozen in complete darkness, Balakar paused.
Then—tchik—a sound sparked within the darkness.
A flame bloomed at the tip of a sword.
The blade holding that flame shone alone within the void. The flame traced a perfect curve as it swung, and in the next instant, Balakar’s massive body was sliced apart effortlessly.
Dragon blood scattered as Balakar screamed in agony. But though he opened his jaws wide and strained his vocal cords, not a single sound escaped.
Right after the slash tore through him, the flame that had burned at Arhan’s sword tip vanished.
The moment the flame faded, darkness returned. A world without sound or light—absolute silence. Amid this incomprehensible phenomenon, Balakar exhaled flame again and again. But the darkness did not disappear. He could not even sense where the invisible foe was.
Come out, you insect.
Come before me and fight properly.
Karavan, come to me.
Red Dragon Balakar screamed with all his might, but the voice only echoed inside his own mouth, unable to escape. In this bizarre state, Balakar felt an emotion he had not recognized before. An incomprehensible phenomenon. A mysterious power. Death drawing ever closer. His belly ruptured, intestines and blood dripping out.
At last, Balakar understood what he felt.
Fear.
***
『How blessed was the era when one could gaze upon the star-lit sky and read the map of the roads one could walk—and must walk?』
「The Light」 burned. My entire body incinerated from head to toe as a power not permitted to me surged forth. For a brief moment, I swung a sword I neither fully digested nor understood. With a tchik, I lit the 「Matchstick」 inside me. The world fell silent, and a harsh winter settled in.
“-!”
Soul-colors. The Dragons, each with a different hue, could not hide their terror in the face of this unknown force. Enveloped in darkness, they could not resist. Of course they couldn’t. This was a Swordmaster’s blade. A force only a Swordmaster could withstand—an absolute power.
“This—this is unfair—”
The Red Dragon spewed some nonsense. But the darkness descended again, erasing its voice. As the voice vanished, flames flickered, and the moment the burning 「Matchstick」 cut through the air, the Red Dragon’s body was chopped into pieces.
I swung again and again, and strain overwhelmed my body. Every bone shattered, every muscle melted—I felt a horrifying sensation. Choking, I spat blood. My mind wavered, and the power granted by the sword faded. The Red Dragon, sliced apart, soon regained its form. Its scattered essence became flame, restoring its body, and then it turned toward me and exhaled fire.
“Ka—ra—van—!”
A Dragon’s breath was unlike any ordinary Dragon’s. A flame that scorched Armor, body, and even soul. The elemental devastation within the fire tore my body apart. And it wasn’t the only one—breaths from the other Dragons, hidden in the darkness, all turned toward me. My body split apart and scattered like dust.
But I did not die.
『Still, man was not created to be defeated.』
My soul, dragged toward the Spirit World, anchored itself in the Middle Realm. Around the fixed soul, the shattered fragments of my body reassembled. Rejecting death, I revived again. To fight, and to fight further. The will of a certain old fighter who had resisted the world until his dying breath. The legend he built kept me tethered to this world.
“This—!”
CLAAANG!
A hammer striking steel. With that sound, my shattered body and Armor returned to their original forms. In my restored hands, a flawless, unburned sword appeared. The pain of death was familiar now. This kind of agony could never break me. Never.
“Descendant of Steel, Karavan!”
From afar, Dwight’s voice rang out.
“Please!”
The dignified Dwarf Grand General— A man always proud and unwavering— The hero burdened with the fate of his kingdom— was now weeping.
Clutching his broken war hammer, a single Dwarf cried out:
“Please, do not lose. Please.”
It wasn’t only Dwight.
“Karavan!”
“Descendant of Steel!”
“Arhan! Arhan Karavan!”
The Dwarves shouted my name. They shouted the name of my forgotten family.
「Young descendant.」
They called upon forgotten steel once more.
「Tell them.」
What I had to do was clear.
「Tell them what the Karavan are.」
Fight.
「Tell them why their ancestors stayed trapped in those narrow mountains for eons. What they feared for so long. Tell them again, with your own hands.」
I clenched my sword.
「So they will never forget again.」
My eyes snapped open. I saw countless Paths. Among them, I saw the strongest, the most solid one. My Steel Heart pulsed, and Wings beat behind me. The next instant, I was right before the Blue Dragon’s snout. Its reptilian eyes met mine.
The moment our gazes locked, the element of water surged. Blood beneath my skin boiled, moisture in the air froze. But nature’s violence could not harm me—one of my hearts belonged to a Dragon.
“……You—”
The Blue Dragon’s eyes widened. But it was too late. The “Path” reflected in my eyes. I followed it and swung the sword once. The Blue Dragon’s body burst into ten pieces. But the attack wasn’t over.
Dragons with soul-colors were made of pure elements. And water did not die simply because it split.
To kill them? You had to sever the root.
Polishing. Just before the Blue Dragon reassembled, my Armor slid against the blade—skreee! Light gathered upon the edge. I spun through the air and struck. Grind. With a deafening boom, the Blue Dragon failed to reconstitute and dissolved into scattered water.
One was dead.
“You damn—!”
The Dragons charged instantly at the death of their kin. Multiple foes at once. Cowards. But it didn’t matter.
『You become the only one in the world to me, and I become the only one in the world to you.』
「Radiance」. Light burst forth, and the sword spirits appeared around me. WHAM!—blades rained toward the Dragons closing in from every direction. Each spirit was formidable. All of them wore Immortal Armor. Each was like a legion of its own.
“Petty tricks! Tricks again! Do you think this will work forever? All your actions are mere flailing. Everything—”
Blocked by the spirits, the Dragons gaped their jaws. They prepared to unleash their breaths again—to sweep me and the spirits away in one blow. It was threatening enough. But it wouldn’t work. Why?
『How happy was the age when starlight brightened the path?』
I had recovered enough to use 「The Light」 again.
And with 「The Light’s」 Combustion Mystery? I could once more wield “unreasonable power.”
『Please don’t leave me behind.』
「Matchstick」. A Swordmaster’s power.
『Please take me with you, Father.』
This time— I wouldn’t let a single one escape.
Not one.
***
The Dragons believed this time was truly the end.
The bizarre power used at the start had been mysterious, but far too strong to be used continually by such a weak human. The power that resisted their breath? No human could sustain it forever. Dragons knew the laws of the world. And they knew that insignificant beings like humans could not defy nature’s order for long.
Thus, The Dragons were certain this moment would be Karavan’s end.
There was no stopping it. Their breaths would incinerate Karavan’s body and soul. The old Dragons would realize they were wrong, and they would applaud the eradication of the being that had oppressed Dragons for so long. Glory, honor, magnificent praise. The Dragons exhaled their breaths, convinced of a brilliant future.
But that future never came.
“…….”
The world went dark again. Absolute darkness.
The breaths vanished. Everything fell silent.
In the darkness, the Dragons realized something was wrong. In the pitch-black void where they couldn’t see an inch ahead, the Dragons opened their maws and roared with all their might.
But the great roar that should have shaken the heavens— did not echo at all.
In the horrifying stillness, the Dragons understood.
The old Dragons. The ancestors had warned them.
Do not face the Karavan. Do not face Steel.
They had mocked their elders. They believed the old wyrms were trapped in the past, oppressing the new generation. But the enemy that surfaced from the depths— the “Steel Bloodline” carved into the Dragons’ bodies— was far more dreadful than anything they had imagined.
There was no radiant future. Hope was crushed effortlessly.
A world drowned in black. In the darkness, a flame lit up.
The one holding the flame was a small boy.
The Steel Bloodline that had crouched for centuries finally revealed itself, and the Dragons—who had ignored the terror carved into their blood—faced their ancient nemesis once more.
Despair arrived.