Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 438: Night of Wind and Tides (18)

Dragon Raja 3

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, no, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not the one who can kill Osho. It’s Lu Mingze, that little demon… no! It’s the Oni even more terrifying than Osho! Letting him kill Osho is like unleashing a demon to kill another demon—something that must never happen!

“Tell your brother I once wanted to return to Luchu Town, but by the time I went back, it was already in ruins.”

Ruri grabbed Lu Mingfei and threw him out with a powerful heave. “Once we leave, my brother and I will never be able to return.”

The Death Servitor’s corpse seemed to be lifted by the wind, then floated above the water. Its body trembled violently, and jagged bone wings unfurled from its back, shimmering with purple electricity. Water droplets passed through the wings, carrying static and glowing with a faint light.

A dragon-shaped Death Servitor—this was one of the highest forms of the Death Servitors. In terms of muscle and bone, it was already close to a pure-blooded Dragonkin, which was why Ruri had been fixated on its “bones.”

Before the Death Servitor could launch an attack, Ruri had already leaped into the air. The Death Servitor raised its metal blade, but Ruri was already crouched on its shoulders. Though his weapon was a shotgun, every strike was a point-blank shot, each one exposing himself entirely to his enemy. He took the greatest risk to deliver the greatest damage. The first blue flame flashed, with his left-hand gun firing at the base of the Death Servitor’s bone wings, the mercury-laden buckshot rapidly corroding its bones. The second blue flame flickered out as his right-hand gun fired at the Servitor’s scapula, sending a dark golden arm bone flying into the air, still connected to the metal blade. Ruri and the Death Servitor plummeted together, and he drove its head into the water with his knee before catching the falling metal blade. A flash of the blade later, and the Death Servitor’s spine was severed.

The broken body still twitched, but Ruri had already reloaded his shotgun. He pressed the twin barrels against the Servitor’s eyes and fired, sending hundreds of mercury-soaked steel pellets deep into its skull. Ruri flicked the shotgun, ejecting two red shells into the air, with thick blue smoke rising from them.

Lu Mingfei had never witnessed such ruthless slaughter before. In Ruri’s hands, the Death Servitor was nothing more than a skeleton waiting to be dismantled. Compassion, mercy, and similar emotions didn’t exist within this man. He could kill a girl to create a beautiful puppet, and to him, that wasn’t even a crime. He was the ultimate demon, the embodiment of sin itself. It was hard to believe that just days ago, they had been living alongside such a being. If they truly succeeded in killing Osho, Ruri might turn his blade on them the next moment.

Ruri stood silently, watching as the water carried away the Death Servitor’s corpse. Suddenly, he looked up toward the stairs at Lu Mingfei, his eyes devoid of any warmth. Lu Mingfei almost thought Ruri was about to rush up and cut him in two, as he still held the metal blade from the Death Servitor.

Finally, a faintly familiar expression appeared on Ruri’s face, and he spoke in a hoarse voice: “Goodbye, Lu-kun… This time, I’m still betting on you to win!”

This was the last farewell from the man named Chime to Lu Mingfei. Then, he turned and walked into the endless darkness.

The knocking sound continued, and before he could fully transform into a true demon, Ruri needed to get as far away from Lu Mingfei as possible.

Lu Mingfei stared blankly at the figure walking away. It was the back of a man heading towards the altar of demons, sacrificing himself. Ruri alternated between howling in agony and sobbing as two different souls struggled fiercely within his body. Lu Mingfei knew that the young man named Chime, the boy from the mountains, was gone. He had been just one step away from seeing his brother, but he had exchanged his life for Lu Mingfei’s, because he believed Lu Mingfei could kill Osho.

When Fūma Kōtarō found Chisei, Chisei was in the midst of the Death Servitors, slashing through them with twin blades that created arcs like a raging storm. The Death Servitors wanted to strike him down but were fearful, shrieking as they moved around him. With precise accuracy, Chisei’s blade Kumogiri sliced into the necks of the Death Servitors, severing their nerve bundles. The gunmen didn’t dare approach Chisei; they only herded the Death Servitors toward him. While their shotguns were lethal to normal people, they had little effect on Chisei in his dragonbone state. He retreated from the rooftop to the Winter Snow Hall on the third floor, then broke through a screen into the Autumn Water Hall, and further into the Spring Cherry Hall, leaving the walls and floors splattered with the Death Servitors’ black blood. Along the way, every screen he passed was slashed to pieces.

“Fire a volley!” Fūma Kōtarō shouted.

The cadres of the Execution Bureau lined up and fired in unison. Their automatic pistols rained a barrage of bullets, temporarily pushing back the Death Servitors. The creatures crossed their metal blades in front of their faces and used their scaly tails to protect the vulnerable areas of their abdomens.

“The god is awakening. It may be in the hands of the Oni Clan, which is why they were able to predict the timing of the tsunami,” Fūma Kōtarō said, pressing against Chisei’s back. “You have to leave!”

“We can’t leave until we deal with these things,” Chisei replied, adjusting his breathing quickly.

“The dispatch center has been called, and the helicopter should be here by now. We’ll escort you to the rooftop.”

Chisei remained silent. Even now, he couldn’t fully determine Chime’s role in this trap. He still held onto the hope of seeing his brother one last time. This was his final chance—once he boarded the helicopter, that chance would be lost forever.

“Patriarch, we can’t wait any longer! With the people we have, we may not even be able to get you to the rooftop safely, and we’re dying one by one,” Fūma Kōtarō said in a low voice.

Chisei’s heart stirred. He knew Fūma Kōtarō had guessed his thoughts. They had no time to waste; every minute could cost a life. Fūma Kōtarō had led the team from the first floor, and now only eight cadres remained able to fight.

They hadn’t even taken the wounded with them. In this situation, the injured would only slow the team down. They had left the wounded in the corners, sitting them up, handing them guns, and leaving behind enough ammunition and a dagger for each.

“Take the fire escape!” Chisei ordered.

The situation had changed. He was no longer just “Chime’s older brother.” He was the Patriarch of the Yamata no Orochi, and more people depended on him now.

Fūma Kōtarō and Sakurai Nanami guarded Chisei’s flanks, while Chisei faced the Death Servitors head-on. All the automatic pistols roared in fury. The Execution Bureau’s elite far surpassed the average capabilities of the family’s cadres, and fighting monsters was their specialty.

The faint sound of helicopter rotors whirring could be heard from above. The helicopter had arrived on time.

“I’ll hold them here! Sakurai, escort the Patriarch to the rooftop!” Fūma Kōtarō yelled.

“Wait!” Chisei shouted.

A deep roar echoed from all directions, causing the walls to tremble and dust to fall. No words could describe the terror of that sound. It was as if an ancient jar had been opened, and with the breaking of the seal, a demon awoke from its slumber, its cry filled with thousands of years of pain and resentment.

The Death Servitors that had been pressing in suddenly retreated. They crouched low to the ground, curling up tightly as if an enormous danger was approaching.

“This is…” Fūma Kōtarō’s face changed color.

“Go! Hurry!” Chisei’s twin blades flashed as he charged forward.

He didn’t know what that thing was, but his instincts told him they had to leave immediately, or it would be too late. He remembered a story an explorer had told him after returning from the Arctic. The explorer said that when you hear a polar bear’s roar on the endless white ice fields, even if you can’t see the bear, you must immediately return to the nearest research station. Because in the far north, the polar bear is the apex predator. Its sense of smell is so sharp that when you hear its roar, it has already detected your scent. No matter if you’re on foot or skis, you can’t outrun it. If a polar bear is within five kilometers of you, you’re as good as dead unless you reach a research station before it catches up.

Something was stalking them now, much like that dangerous polar bear. It might still be far away, but it could appear at any moment. As a King, Chisei should have been fearless, but that piercing roar made his skin crawl, as if his very soul was being pulled from his body.

While the Death Servitors recoiled from the roar, they had to make for the fire escape. Now it was a race against time—every minute they stayed increased their danger.

The Yanling Kingship was released, and an immense force descended from the sky. In its domain, only those permitted by Chisei could stand.

Chisei led the charge, moving at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, slicing through the Death Servitors. In his dragonbone state, he and his twin blades, the demon-slaying swords passed down through generations, became a meat grinder, unleashing a storm of blood and carnage.

Series Navigation

<< Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 437: Night of Wind and Tides (17)Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 439: Night of Wind and Tides (19) >>