TCF 766

# It’s Karma (5)

Babaaaaaaaaaaaang---

However, the one to face that red explosion first could not help but be afraid.

‘It’s going to break soon.’

Mila had been at the vanguard against the red light since earlier.

She could not see her mana barrier because it was surrounded by multiple layers of other powers.

However, her mana barrier was breaking so easily as if it wasn’t even there.

“Ugh!”

“Mama!”.

Mila’s body subconsciously curled forward.

Both of her hands were shaking.

The sudden impact from her mana barrier breaking had hit her as she was connected to it.

She still did what she could to persevere.

‘I need to hold on so that it is easier for the others.’

For something to give such a burden to a Dragon... It was an extremely formidable explosive force.

There was only one word she could think of to explain this explosive force.

‘...Despair. It is strong enough to make you feel hopeless.’

She subconsciously turned to look at Dodori.

Her child. Her child was casting a mana barrier as well.

“Ugh.”

Blood dripped out of Mila’s mouth.

‘No.’

It was this hard for her so she knew that Dodori would receive an even greater impact. He was still a young Dragon.

However, Mila couldn't say anything because of the impact that was shaking her insides. Rasheel, the Dragon to face the explosion after her, shouted at that moment.

“Hey! Little kid, you pull back your barrier and go to your mom!”

Rasheel and Mila made eye contact.

A decision had been made in the short moment of the explosion. The two Dragons had come to the same decision.

“Uhh, uhh-”

“...Dodori......”

“Mama!”

In the end, Dodori did as Rasheel said and withdrew his mana before running toward his mom who was calling him.

Craaaack-

Mila's mana barrier completely broke at that moment.

“Fuck!”.

Rasheel swore once before clenching his mouth shut.

‘Damn it. I should have just kept sleeping! Why did I come here?!’

The buzz cut Dragon Rasheel was extremely annoyed.

Drip. Blood that had shot up from inside dripped out of his mouth but he kept his mouth shut and pretended that the blood was not there.

It could not be helped.

No matter how selfish he was, he had seen how the humans had fought.

How could he, a great Dragon, act without class when these ants that were weaker than him were flailing around like this?

His pride would not accept that.

“Fuck---!”

Craaaack---!

However, his mana barrier soon broke as well.

It had lasted a bit longer than Mila’s. He had been able to reserve a bit more strength than Mila who had to fight against it in the vanguard.

Both of Rasheel’s hands were shaking.

“Keke.”

However, the corners of his lips were curling up.

‘It shrank!’

The explosive force had shrunk.

The power of the god had gotten a bit weaker.

"Good job.”

The two Dragons heard Eruhaben's voice.

Eruhaben's mana barrier was the last Dragon barrier left now that Dodori and Raon had withdrew.

“I guess we are the only ones left.”

Eruhaben looked up at the individual who was floating even higher than where he was floating in the sky. Former Dragon Lord Sheritt was there.

A smile appeared on Lord Sheritt's freckled face.

Eruhaben smiled back as he spoke.

"Sometimes, the greatest defense is offense.”

She nodded her head.

“Try it. I will block it as much as I can.”

Eruhaben released his mana barrier. The tightly clasped gold barrier instantly turned into small pebbles of dust. He turned his head to look at Alberu, Mary, and Cale.

Eruhaben's hands moved after seeing Cale nod his head as if to tell him to do whatever he wanted.

“Okay then.”

The gold dust charged toward the red explosion.

When it came to methods to decrease an explosive force...

Blocking it and pushing back as long as possible was a way, but...

‘We can also make it explode before it reaches our allies.’

One pebble of gold dust exploded.

Bang-

That was the beginning.

Baaang baaaaang, baaaaang! Baaaaang! Baaaaang---

More pebbles of gold dust slammed against the red explosion and caused a chain of explosions.

“Ugh.”

It was not easy.

The red explosion swallowed it all, as if the explosions of these gold dusts were nothing.

This power truly made things feel hopeless.

However, Eruhaben knew something.

‘Despair’ and ‘something that makes it feel hopeless’ were very different things.

Bang, baaa, baaaaang!

Because of Cale's silver shield, the people in the distance... They could not see what was going on in there.

All they could tell was that there were numerous colors mixed together and that the endless explosions meant that something was going on.

“...Mary!”

Choi Han supported Mary who was stumbling.

"What is going on-?!”

Nobody responded to his question. Alberu and Mary were both sweating as they connected their powers together.

‘...It was something like this.’

Alberu bit down on his lips as he channeled his dead mana into Mary’s black threads.

Eruhaben’s power and the red explosion were smashing against each other.

Honestly speaking, Eruhaben's power was too weak to call it smashing against each other.

However, the explosive force was shrinking.

The problem was that the ones who were going up against this explosion right now were Mary and Alberu.

The two of their dead mana force was outside the Dragons’ mana barriers.

Alberu’s dead mana was seeped into this dense net of black threads.

The walls that he thought were thick were slowly cracking.

They probably could not last very long.

However, there was a reason they kept pushing forward to persist through it.

‘It's different.’

Maybe it was because this power was trying to cause despair through death, but... Dead mana was able to persist against this explosion to a degree. Although the Dragons’ mana barriers had broken almost instantly, their barrier was lasting better than Alberu had expected.

Of course, it might be because Eruhaben used his power to crash into it first, but...

‘It was something like this.’

Alberu poured his dead mana into it nonstop.

‘They had gone up against powers like this.’

He was experiencing firsthand the powers that his allies, that Cale, had gone up against.

‘...It wasn’t something I should have let them convince me to let them do because they said it was worth trying.’

That was why Alberu thought that he needed to last as long as possible to lessen the burden on the others.

“Ugh.”

“Your highness!”

Choi Han sat Mary down and urgently moved to support Alberu.

The two of them were still not withdrawing their powers and blood started dripping out of their mouths.

Choi Han had seen the Dragons bleeding.

This power was strong enough to damage Dragons.

‘They might even receive an even greater blow!’

Of course Alberu and Mary would receive more damage.

Choi Han heard Raon’s voice at that moment.

“She says that's enough!”

Raon flew over and landed in the temple with Rosalyn as he spoke.

“Mom says that she'll take care of it!”

Rosalyn nodded her head. However, Alberu pretended not to hear him. Mary then spoke in a low voice.

"We cannot overdo it or get hurt. None of us are allowed to do that from here on.”

Mary’s gaze turned toward Cale..

Alberu nodded his head and withdrew his power at that moment. Mary did the same.

Baaaaaang---!

It was then that the two of them as well as the others realized something.

The ancient Dragon who had lived the longest had not given it his best yet.

There was a reason Eruhaben had looked toward Lord Sheritt first before he made his move.

A half-transparent silver shield and two wings.

Most of the colors mixed together inside it were gone and the few remaining colors were starting to show their colors and become visible.

The red explosion. The strong gold pebbles of light going up against it.

Baaaaaaaaaaang---- baaaaaaaaaang----!

They heard extremely loud explosions one after another.

Baaaaang! Baaaaaang---!

It felt as if the air was shaking from the rumbling of the explosions. They were strong enough to cause gusts of wind.

“Ho.”

The completely pale Cale subconsciously let out a gasp.

‘...Is this the power of the ancient Dragon?’

Eruhaben was attacking the red explosion without any breaks.

Cale was feeling the explosive force of the red explosion slowly decreasing.

He could also feel that the red power that was trying to get past these obstacles and get out no matter what it took was slowing down.

It was because of Eruhaben's explosions and the existence that was blocking the impact of all of these explosions.

Crack!

It broke.

Crackle, crackle.

Another one broke followed by another.

Craaaack!

A countless number of white shields broke and broke again.

They stopped the aftershock of the impacts.

Thanks to that, Cale was not feeling any impact or debris from the explosions.

Furthermore, Lord Sheritt still had a lot of white shields left.

Eruhaben also had a lot of gold dust left.

Baaaaaang---!

They continued to hear explosions but the people in the shelter opened the window a bit more.

“...Hasn’t it been quite a while?”

The silver wings and the shield were still visible outside the large barrier surrounding Puzzle City.

It looked fine.

“Umm, don’t you think that the explosions are a bit less now?”

The people listening agreed with the knight who asked.

“The explosions... Definitely feel less.”

The mage in charge of communication in the shelter commented.

“They must be doing well to stop it.”

They finally managed to see the individuals who were either bleeding or barely able to hold themselves up outside the large shield.

“Haaaa, really.”

One of the knights was unable to vocalize what he was thinking and could only shake his head and sigh.

“Okay, please close the window for now. Just to be on the safe side.”

“Yes sir.”

The knight who had opened the window a bit more tried to close it again at the mage’s comment.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang-----!

He would have, if it wasn’t for the loud explosion.

The mage pushed the knight aside and raised his head to look past the shield.

“T, that is?!”

The red explosion suddenly fluctuated like an aurora before it increased in size.

Lord Sheritt looked down and mumbled to herself.

"A power with a purpose. A god’s power is truly different.”

Her voice sounded rational.

“At least it looks like it gave up aiming for Puzzle City.”

And as she mentioned...

Baaaaaaaaaang---!

The red explosion exploded.

It was as if it wanted to swallow up everything that had stopped it.

Crack, crack, crack!

The white shields broke quickly and disappeared.

Cale analyzed the speed of the red explosion pushing forward and the rate that the shields were breaking as he thought to himself.

‘Mm. About a third of it is left.’

In that case...

‘This is for me to stop.’

He took a deep breath.

The ancient powers Embraced in the White Star's white half-mask followed Cale’s will to create an even thicker and larger barrier.

The silver shield sparkled even more.

“Hmm?”

However, Cale flinched.

“I still have strength left!”

“I'm going to do it too!”

“Not you!”

Rasheel shouted in anger and created another shield inside the silver shield.

Dodori also cast a shield with teary eyes. They blocked the explosion.

‘Do these Dragons never get tired?’

Rasheel had some kind of medicine bottle in his mouth.

As Cale looked at him in disbelief and concern...

Baaaaaang--!

The unfathomable explosion had already happened.

Cale shouted toward the two Dragons.

“Stop-!”

However, they did not listen.

Rasheel and Dodori stopped it to decrease its strength even more... Then they coughed up blood.

“Ugh.” “Ugh, M, mama.”

"D, Dodori!”

Boom.

Cale felt as if his heart sank.

He did not even see that the two Dragons were smiling proudly.

“I'm going to do it too!”

Raon moved to Cale’s side and took the next spot in line.

“Me too.”

Rosalyn came out of the black castle with a large bag of highest-grade magic stones and went after him.

Alberu, who had been drinking dead mana interjected as well. The two of them had blood dripping from their mouths.

‘W, why are these people pushing themselves so far-?!’

Cale’s face showed more urgency than ever before when Raon spoke brightly and energetically.

“Human, don't worry! You can rest now! You don’t need to overdo it! I can do it! It will be a bit difficult but I will not faint! I'm sure everybody feels the same way!”

“Ah.”

Cale gasped.

The Super Rock sighed.

- Aigoo.

He then mumbled.

- This is karma. Karma..

Cale took in everything he could see.

Eruhaben and Sheritt and prepared themselves once again and channeled the rest of their powers. Everybody was in front of Cale and they moved very quickly. Cale, who had already cast this large shield and the other ancient powers, would not be able to move or withdraw these powers very easily

“Haaaa.”

Cale sighed and reached a hand up to grab Raon.

“Human, what is it?”

“Raon, you stop.”

He moved Raon behind his back.

Baaaaaang--- baaaaang--! Baaaaang---

After another round of numerous explosions...

Baaaaang---

There was only a small explosion left to strike against Cale's barriers and shield.

His allies were bleeding or plopped down as if they were fainting.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Cale's heart beat wildly.

The things he had done in the past brushed through his mind.

“N, no!”

Raon’s eyes opened wide in shock.

Eruhaben, Rosalyn, Mila, Rasheel, and Dodori... These individuals, who had been floating in the air with flight magic, started falling to the ground.

They didn’t even have enough mana to keep themselves floating. This was the case for these amazing Dragons and the mage who was touted as the future Magic Tower Tower Master.

Eruhaben was falling the quickest.

“Raon! Flight magic!”

As Raon cast flight magic on them out of reflex and stopped them from falling at Cale’s shout...

“Mom!”

“...It looks like I need to get some rest.”

Lord Sheritt started becoming faint and staticky before she was absorbed into the black castle.

“It’s okay, I just need to rest.”

As Sheritt disappeared after smiling warmly at Raon, Raon clenched Cale’s clothes. His front paw was shaking.

On and Hong poked their heads out of the black castle and could not hide their concern. The children were all looking at Cale.

Cale, who had usually caused this issue and either fainted or fallen over in the past, brushed his face with both hands and turned his head.

Alberu and Mary had already fallen to the ground and had their eyes closed. He could not tell whether they had fainted or fallen asleep. Both of them looked terrible.

Cale felt as if he was looking at himself.

“...Why would they go so far......”

- I will believe that you know exactly why they did this.

Cale could not say anything to the Super Rock's comment.

He lowered his head.

The shield covering Puzzle City... People were poking their heads out underneath the shield one by one.

The ominous red light was gone from their eyes and they could only see the radiant silver shield and its two wings.

They then saw Cale, who was standing firm.

Cale looked around.

The only people still conscious to take care of the current situation were Choi Han, Clopeh, and himself.

- Ah, by the way, Cale.

The Super Rock talked to him again.

- What are you planning on doing with the temple?

‘Hmm?’.

- That is now ours, no, to be more specific, it is yours. Are you going to take it down with you?

Cale looked at his completely intact and sturdy silver shield that looked quite holy, the temple that was destroyed but even the damage made it look vintage and magical... He also looked at the elegant black castle that was mysterious in a different way... And finally, he looked at Choi Han, Clopeh, and the children averaging nine-years-old who were looking at him as if wanting him to tell them what to do, before he clenched his eyes.

However, he quickly came to a decision.

He said the thing they needed to do before anything else.

He gave the order to the individuals who were now looking at him with calm expressions.

“Immediately. We must immediately heal them first.”

The reason he had clenched his eyes shut...

It was because he was worried about his allies’ conditions.

Although everything was over...

Although Cale himself had not fainted...

He did not feel refreshed at all.

The Sound of the Wind, who had been silent this whole time, laughed in a husky voice as she spoke.

- They all learned from seeing you do this, you little punk.

Cale could not say anything back.

The shield covering Puzzle City disappeared and he could hear people cheering at that moment.

Woooooooooooooooo--

We're alive--!

Aaaaaaah-----

Delight, relief, concern... Their cheers and teary faces were full of numerous emotions.