Chapter 332: Bridge of Heroes

The bone dragon spread its wings, soaring into the sky as if it were trying to break free from its chains.

However, the other end of the chain was in Hode’s hands, and the dragon’s strength easily lifted him along with it.

Hode felt the coldness pierce to his very bones. In his vision, the entire world spun and flipped as though he were nothing more than dust caught in a storm, battered and torn apart.

He dared not let go. He did not know what kind of change might occur if the chain connected to the Gate of Annihilation slipped from his hands.

All he could do was endure the torment and clutch the chain with all his strength.

Amid the chaos, he did not know how much time had passed. Finally, Hode heard a sound different from the bone dragon’s wrathful roars.

“Roar~” The fury in the dragon’s voice gradually weakened, turning instead into a wailing cry.

The biting cold also slowly dissipated. The force pulling at Hode’s body lessened, enough that he could at least open his eyes and see the world again.

Yet what he saw sent a fresh chill surging through him.

In that short time of struggle, the bone dragon had already flown from the eastern Hoover Territory to hover above Frozen Furnace Fortress.

Below, countless people lay flat on the ground, their bodies trembling from the cold, bricks falling from their stiffened hands.

Suddenly, a golden barrier rose over the city, resisting the bone dragon’s chilling aura.

It was Bishop Jeven of the Church of the Sanctuary. He stood with the cross and the Holy Scriptures raised high, chanting aloud.

Golden motes seemed to glimmer in his eyes. Blood flowed from the corners of his eyes, from his nostrils, and from his ears. With each verse he spoke, blood sprayed from his mouth.

At that moment, nine distinct bursts of power surged upward, piercing the golden barrier and striking toward the bone dragon.

It was the power of holy relics.

Four marquises, two earls, and three viscounts had gathered them.

In wars among men, relics could indeed serve as decisive weapons. But before the bone dragon, they seemed utterly powerless.

Of course they were. After all, relics were nothing more than fragments of will left behind by gods from unknown realms. A Tier Five could resist some relics’ power, while a Tier Six hero, after undergoing Will Metamorphosis, would not be inferior to the rare will within a relic.

And this bone dragon—though born only from the remains of a true dragon—its fleshly form alone was of a False Tier Eight. Its very existence warped the world around it. These relics’ powers could not even touch its body.

Yet, their impact allowed Hode to see the dragon’s condition clearly.

Its white body was veined with gray lines, like the magic veins running across Hode’s own skin. Within its eye sockets and chest cavity, pale-blue orbs of magic clashed and tangled with gray threads, spewing out streams of magic and gray, congealing breath.

“Roar~” The bone dragon bellowed once more at the ground below, then, as if driven by a will, it wheeled about and flew eastward.

What was it trying to do?

Hode understood in an instant. He looked at the chain coiled around his arm.

If it could not rise from the ground into the Gate of Annihilation, then dragging the chain into the gate through flight was no different.

No. The chain must not enter the Gate of Annihilation!

He did not know what consequence this would bring, but he knew one thing—whatever the enemy sought, he could not allow it to succeed.

Hode struggled, slinging his axe across his back, then grasped the chain with both hands and began to climb.

Perhaps under the control of those gray lines, the dragon’s flight was neither fast nor violent. Hode quickly climbed closer to its massive body.

Up close, the bone dragon’s bulk loomed like a wall, blocking his way.

Gritting his teeth, he drew his battleaxe, condensed his strength upon its edge, and hacked down hard.

Most of the dragon’s scales had already fallen away, yet its hide remained tough. His strike only barely wedged the blade in.

But it was enough. Hode gripped the axe tightly, used it as leverage, and leapt to the dragon’s side, repeating the motion of embedding his axe in its hide to climb upward.

After several tries, he finally stood upon the dragon’s back.

At once, a chilling force pierced through the soles of his feet as if freezing them solid. He could no longer feel his toes.

He realized then—the dragon had condensed its power, which distorted the material world. Only by standing upon its body could one fully sense that terrifying might.

A power that could freeze him in an instant.

A chill rose within his heart.

Suddenly, the bone dragon ascended. Hode, caught unprepared, was saved from being thrown off only by the ice locking his feet in place. He could only lean on his axe to support himself, lest he collapse against its back and be frozen solid.

The dragon rose higher, then slowly tilted into a dive.

As it shifted direction, Hode’s body lurched forward. At that moment, the ice binding his feet weakened just enough for him to resist with magic.

He understood its intent.

Steadying his breath, Hode wrenched free his axe, lifted his stiffened knee, and staggered forward, driven by the dragon’s dive, until he reached its neck. There, he saw the chain wrapped tight around it.

With a roar, Hode raised his axe and brought it down hard.

But from the gray fissures across the dragon’s body, dozens of lines erupted, spearing through Hode before he could strike. That dominating will seized control of his body, leaving him frozen, arms lifted helplessly, as the dragon flew toward the Gate of Annihilation.

In that moment, Hode thought he glimpsed the other side of the closing distance—the gate’s far end, where some will was already watching him. A will so overwhelming that he could not help but want to kneel and worship.

“Roar~” Suddenly, the bone dragon loosed another roar, this one burning with fury. Hode heard a sharp “pop” as though something shattered, then felt an unseen storm of will erupt from the dragon’s head, sweeping backward and breaking apart the gray threads that bound him.

“Kill me! Then inherit me! The Hoover Family shall never be slaves!”

That voice tore through Hode, echoing deep within his soul. It was Beo’s voice, full of rage.

With it came fragments of Beo’s memory, of his journey into the Exile Lands.

He had indeed found a dragon there, but only its corpse remained.

And what use was a corpse against a dragon?

Yet Beo did not give up. He searched the Exile Lands endlessly, but at last returned to the bones.

He resonated with them, using the magic veins of the Hoover Territory flowing within him to awaken the dragon soul’s will. He fused with it. The Hoover land’s magic sustained the bone dragon’s movements.

But how could Beo ever resist the will of a dragon soul? To survive, he embedded his relic into the skull. The relic acknowledged him, lending its strength to barely suppress that will.

Beo knew he would be devoured eventually. Seizing the last of his control, he returned from the Exile Lands to kill the fiends and avenge the Hoover Family.

Yet what awaited him was a Hoover Territory already avenged, its fiends slaughtered, and Hode—already stronger than the Beo of the past.

Thus, Beo believed his final trial, dragon-slaying, could be passed on to Hode. Then, the Hoover Family would rise again.

But he had underestimated the strength of Annihilation. Just a single chain had already corroded and dominated him.

He could feel the will commanding him, driving him toward the Gate of Annihilation, to bind the chain to it.

That, Beo did not know what kind of consequence it would bring. But he knew one thing—whatever the enemy sought to do, it must not be allowed to succeed.

And now, compared to him, compared to the existence behind the Gate of Annihilation, Hode was far too weak. Beo was certain that Hode could not resist it, nor could he resist the dragon under domination.

Thus, he destroyed his final will, helping Hode break free from the bindings.

“Kill me! Then inherit me! The Hoover Family shall never be slaves!” These were Beo’s last words to Hode.

When Beo descended, he saw that Hode could grasp that chain. So long as the dragon’s body could be slain, Hode would be able to deal with what followed.

There was no time for Hode to grieve. Beo had only bought him a fleeting moment. Hode unleashed a roar of Wrath of the Northland, the furious sound pressing down the rising cold before him for an instant, like a war cry clearing the way.

Ignoring the ice binding his feet, Hode charged toward the bone dragon’s skull.

Closer now, he saw the double-headed battleaxe wedged within its skull. From Beo’s will, he already knew—that was the very core where the dragon soul’s will, Beo’s will, and the relic’s will converged.

But Beo’s will had already dissipated, and the dragon soul’s will was gradually awakening within.

“Roar!” The dragon’s bellow thundered in his mind, stunning Hode for an instant.

Yet soon, Hode’s pale eyes trembled, and he shook off the dragon soul’s suppression.

He leapt high, his body arched backward like a taut bow. A sacred arc of light flashed along his spine, converging at the axe blade he gripped aloft, power swelling upon it like a hammer of pure force.

The battleaxe came down, smashing hard upon Beo’s double-headed axe.

“Crack-crack-crack-crack!” Tremendous power spread, cracks webbing like a spider’s silk.

“Roar!” The furious dragon soul’s will howled. It abandoned the bone dragon’s body, surging out from the fractures.

What a magnificent and powerful form it was—its body as it had once lived.

Silver-white scales covered it, its eyes shone azure, its fleshy wings stretched wide upon the dragon bones, the shoulders tinged with icy blue frost. Its mighty hind legs clung to the long tail, and frost wreathed its entire body. Wings spread wide, it seemed to wield wings of frost itself.

Yet this dragon soul was only the size of Hode’s head.

It coiled around Beo’s double axe, climbed along the contact with Hode’s axe, and finally, with a roar, pierced into Hode’s mind.

For an instant, his mind went blank.

The bone dragon, now stripped of its soul, died once more. The light in its eye sockets dimmed, the magic in its chest dissipated, its wings faltered, and its massive body fell toward the frozen Northland earth. A thick glacier of ice spread to engulf it until, upon impact, a towering iceberg rose upon the land.

Within that iceberg, Hode’s body lay upon the fracture in the skull, slowly sinking as though melting into the dragon’s skull.

His body was motionless, unable to move.

For within him, the dragon soul’s will clashed against his, seeking to kill him and seize his body for its resurrection.

But it was greedy—the body of Hode was too weak for it. So it sought to drag him into the bone dragon itself, that when it revived, it might once more rule its dragon body.

Just as Hode’s will was about to collapse, another will surged into his mind.

It met no resistance, as though it had always been a part of Hode.

No—given its immensity, it was Hode who was but a part of it.

It was the Will of the Northland.

Hode had slain a dragon, and thus completed the highest trial of the Northland.

Even if this dragon was Beo’s bone dragon reborn, even if it had been suppressed by Beo, even if the way of slaying it had been prepared by Beo, even if all Hode did was climb its back, reach its skull, and strike down once—

He had still slain a dragon.

Once, Aureus’s ancestor had become half of a Supreme King by deceit. But now, Hode had truly slain a dragon, completing the ultimate trial. Thus, Hode was rightfully the Supreme King of the Northland.

And now, the Will of the Northland came to crown him.

A dragon was a Tier Eight phantasm. At full strength, such a being would never have feared the Will of the Northland. But this one was only a dragon soul, awakened by Beo’s call, stripped of its body.

So weakened, it could only roar in fury before being utterly devoured by the Will of the Northland.

Like a mother cradling her child, the Will of the Northland wrapped around Hode’s fractured will. The dragon soul, consumed, lost its vigor. Under the will’s guidance, its wings unfolded and embraced Hode’s spirit.

“Thump.” Like the heartbeat of life’s beginning, Hode’s will was infused with vitality. His body slowly regained control. His eyes flickered, pale irises trembling—at times round like a man’s, at times vertical like a dragon’s.

The instant he regained himself, his gaze sought the chain—and there it was, breaking through the iceberg and stretching skyward.

Hode’s head split with pain, but his will was clearer than ever. He could even sense, beyond the Gate of Annihilation in the heavens, a will roaring in excitement. It was eager, desperate, to touch the chain.

Hode struggled to break free, to stop it.

But the iceberg bound him tight, his lower body already fused into the dragon skull. He could not move. He could only watch as the chain drew closer to the Gate of Annihilation.

Closer, closer, closer—it was about to touch. Behind the gate, that existence’s roar grew louder, clearer.

Then the chain stopped.

Hode saw a vague figure standing atop the iceberg, one foot pressing upon the chain, face raised to the gate.

He recognized that figure. Tears welled in his eyes. He no longer struggled, only raised his head in silent reverence.

“Buzz…” The three unknown substances forming the Gate of Annihilation trembled and clashed, as though roaring in wrath.

Pope Corleon gazed up calmly at the gate, then lightly lifted his foot, raising the chain a notch, before pressing it back down.

The gate quaked, the chain stretched taut, but it could not reach.

Corleon toyed with it as though with a tethered dog.

The existence beyond the gate clearly noticed. Its rage peaked. Finally, a colossal finger extended slowly from the gate, reaching to touch the chain.

The finger was so vast that one could see—the gate was no more than a bracelet upon its arm.

At last, the being’s finger touched the chain, the anchor.

This time, its true body had touched the anchor. It would release its will of dominion once more.

This time, it would seize all of the Northland… no, the Northland, the Greenwood, and the surrounding seas, all under its dominion!

But before it could exult, golden light surged across the chain beneath Corleon’s foot. The gold raced up the link, twining into countless threads that bound the finger itself.

So fast it seemed they had already been there in the instant before sight.

So strong were those threads of gold that even such a towering existence could not break free.

It roared, calling out for other wills to aid it.

One after another, other wills of Annihilation responded, projecting themselves, joining upon the finger to resist the advance of the golden threads.

At last, Corleon smiled. Above his head appeared a golden heart.

“Thump.” The heart pulsed, and the world itself seemed to beat with it, answering its call.

As though many wills opened their eyes, gazing down upon the earth.

‘Aivas, you bastard, finally dead.’ They seemed to echo together.

They did not move, only stared at the land.

The entire round earth glowed faintly with azure radiance—magic of the land itself, resonating with Aivas’s heart.

Like flowing ribbons, the magic gathered from every corner of the land, drawn toward the heart. Slowly, it was dyed gold by Corleon’s will.

Then, that golden power surged along the chain into the Gate of Annihilation.

From afar, it seemed like an inverted golden funnel piercing the gate.

Hode, beneath it, saw the funnel as a golden passage leading into the unknown.

“Gate of Annihilation, sever the chain, warcry shaking the heavens; Frost Wings, dragonborn descends, dragon soul extinguished; Bridge of Heroes…” Hode whispered, and then he saw that figure, radiant like the highest light, ascend along the ‘Bridge of Heroes’ and rush into the Gate of Annihilation.

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