Watching Samuel toss the helmet of the very last soldier right in front of him,
Bode's knees buckled, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.
The once-dense army around him was now reduced to nothing but shattered armor scattered across the ground.
Silver-white armor lay strewn across the battlefield.
The runes that had once flashed with continuous blue light had now gone completely dark.
The three-thousand-strong Silver Legion.
This army, which he had once been so proud of and had believed was enough to trample the demon race,
now had only one survivor: himself.
“Hey, old man, weren't you talking big just a moment ago?”
Samuel stepped on a piece of a shattered helmet as she walked up to Bode.
The golden lightning around her body had not yet dissipated.
The look she gave Bode was filled with undisguised disgust.
The more she thought about how this old man had abused his soldiers, the more irritated she felt looking at him.
Treating people as mere disposables to be thrown into the Demon Realm, only to record the results after they were scorched by magic, was absolutely sickening.
But Bode acted as if he hadn't heard a single word Samuel said.
He stared intently at Lin Ling, who was protected behind Baroque and Samuel.
His bloodshot eyes glared through the slits of his helmet.
“You! It's all because of you! It's all your fucking fault!”
It was as if he had finally found the reason for his failure, and he suddenly began to struggle violently.
“Hey, don't move.”
Baroque placed his hand directly on Bode's shoulder, his broad palm pressing down like a heavy boulder.
He pinned Bode down by sheer force, preventing him from lunging at Lin Ling.
Bode's armor let out a harsh screech of friction.
He wanted to stand up.
But without environmental magic to replenish it, the mana armor on his body had begun to reverse its flow, continuously draining his internal magic.
The more he struggled, the paler his face became.
“I won't lose! I won't!”
Bode struggled continuously, as if refusing to admit it would mean this crushing defeat had never happened.
“You lost, Bode. Utterly and completely.”
At that moment, a voice came from behind them.
A fierce light flashed in Samuel's eyes, and she shot a bolt of lightning directly toward the source of the voice.
Boom!
The lightning passed straight through the figure.
“My, my, little lion, this is just a communication phantom.”
A lethargic voice sounded.
Lin Ling looked over and saw a humanoid phantom made of condensed magic.
But with that long blue hair and those familiar dark circles under her eyes...
Lin Ling recognized her instantly.
“Furni?!”
Seeing this, wasn't this exactly how Furni looked when she appeared a month ago?!
“Little Hero, long time no see.”
Lin Ling blinked.
“Huh?”
“Why does this clone seem more polite than her actual self? She even knows to nod and greet the great Miss Saintess.”
Baroque: “...”
Samuel: “...”
That is definitely not what we should be focusing on right now!
Bode was a completely different person from the calm, strategic commander he had been earlier.
“Who the fuck are you?! I didn't lose! I didn't lose!”
He refused to admit his defeat.
Nor could he accept that the entire Silver Legion had been wiped out here.
The magic phantom raised a hand and stroked her chin.
“Hmm... Me? You can call me Furni.”
“Or you can call me by my real name, Furni Eldo.”
“Eldo?”
Bode's body stiffened violently.
His twisted expression showed a brief moment of shock upon hearing that surname.
“How could you be an Eldo?! That's the surname of the first Emperor! Only... only...”
He seemed to think of someone who could bear that name. The only one left who still carried it had to be her.
The Guardian Dragon of Camillaya...
“Ha... Haha... No wonder... No wonder...”
Bode laughed, but the sound was more unpleasant than crying.
Completely dropping his previous fury, Bode finally understood why their border movements hadn't faced any real resistance.
As it turned out, their fates had been sealed from the very beginning.
Bode hung his head, his shoulders trembling continuously.
Furni's clone didn't continue talking to him.
Her body began to change amidst the magical glow.
In the next instant, the magic clone transformed into a small draconic shadow.
Furni looked at the broken Bode in front of her.
Then, she opened her mouth.
Scorching dragon breath erupted from her maw.
The high-temperature flames instantly engulfed the spot where Bode sat.
“Phew~”
Furni exhaled a puff of smoke, her entire dragon form shrinking to the size of a palm.
Even in her dragon form, she still had those heavily fatigued dark circles under her eyes.
Lin Ling: “...”
Why can you still see dark circles in dragon form?
What kind of logic is that?!
“This dragon is exhausted.”
Furni let out a yawn.
She swept her gaze over the Silver Legion armor scattered on the ground.
“I'll be reclaiming these suits of armor. No objections, right?”
Without waiting for their reply, she acted.
The gem hanging around her neck glowed with a faint light.
The scattered suits of armor on the ground were instantly pulled by streams of magic, sucked into the gem one after another.
“Hey! Dragon, you need our permission for that!”
Seeing that most of the armor had already been absorbed, Samuel instantly bristled.
She reached out, attempting to grab Furni's tail.
Furni's palm-sized body swayed slightly, easily dodging Samuel's hand.
“These things are nothing good.”
Furni said lazily, “These things can cost you your lives.”
“If you don't want the demon population to plummet after putting on this armor, let me take them.”
Furni didn't elaborate further.
Because someone much better at explaining had arrived.
A teleportation spell lit up beside them, and Phelan's figure appeared on the battlefield.
“According to our analysis, this should be the mana armor of the Original Hero.”
“My apologies. A slight situation has arisen at the Demon King's Castle, entirely thanks to you.”
Phelan glanced at the floating Furni.
Furni returned Phelan's glance with an apologetic smile.
The recording stone in his hand captured the appearance of everyone present.
Then, he began to explain the nature of the armor to everyone.
“The mana armor created by Camillaya's Original Hero functions by drawing upon the wearer's vast internal magic. However, because it incorporates life magic into its design, the rate at which it absorbs magic is terrifying, despite the immense power it grants.”
Phelan looked at a piece of breastplate on the ground that Furni hadn't collected yet.
“In fact, when the wearer's magic runs low, the armor will even drain their life force to keep functioning.”
Upon hearing the words “drain life force,” Samuel's expression changed instantly.
She glanced at the armor fragment near her hand that she had originally wanted to hold onto, and tossed it straight to Furni.
“Take them! Take them all!”
Furni caught the fragment with her gem, lazily swishing her tail.
“They were meant for me to take anyway.”
As the last piece of armor was sucked into her gem, Furni picked up where Phelan left off:
“Initially, the Silver Legion was a last resort against foreign enemies, allowing ordinary soldiers to exert power far beyond their limits at the cost of their lives.”
“However, due to the incompetence of later emperors, they became the private army of the nobility.”
“Reclaiming them now is a huge help.”
With the final piece of armor stored safely inside her gem, Furni nodded with satisfaction.
She flew in front of Lin Ling, her palm-sized draconic clone swaying gently in midair.
“Well then, little Hero, the great guardian dragon has delivered the first step to changing the world right into your hands.”
Lin Ling: “?”
“Hmm... What's the saying in another world for this?”
Furni thought about it seriously.
Then, she extended a small claw.
“Your delivery has arrived, please sign for it?”
With that, Furni's clone dissolved into nothingness.
“What... is she talking about?”
Listening to the long stream of words, Lin Ling's brain had completely short-circuited, and her gaze was blank.
The first step to changing the world? Delivery? Mana armor?
How is it that I understand every single word, yet when put together, Miss Saintess has absolutely no idea what they mean?
Phelan recorded Lin Ling's dazed expression, then thought of the trouble that had been sent to the Demon King's Castle.
“About this matter... You will understand once you return.”
Rate on N.U.
