Chapter 178: The Holy Lance (Britain Countdown)

The dragon moved slowly toward the palace.

A bolt was fired from the inner city walls and bounced off the dragon’s head.

Humans are very interesting.

Vortigern thought.

That is the thing humans call ‘courage’; with courage, even an ant dares to challenge an elephant.

The King’s knights stood on the towers, operating ballistae alongside brave soldiers.

“Come over here!” he roared.

The ballista strings vibrated continuously as bolt after bolt was launched.

Vortigern’s steady pace seemed unstoppable; he was like a mountain range, an existence belonging to a different dimension than humans.

The White Dragon’s tail swayed, sweeping over the roofs of the city’s buildings.

He looked like a winged cat preparing to hunt.

But the problem was, humans were his prey.

Vortigern’s goal was not to destroy the palace, but to use it to draw out the so-called ‘King of Britain’.

Of course, saying that meant Vortigern could include destroying the palace as part of the process of achieving his goal.

Regardless, Vortigern would show no mercy to humans.

Vortigern paused slightly, lowering his body, appearing ready to charge up the high ground where the palace sat.

“Big lizard!” A girl’s shout came from behind him, followed by a Glintstone Crystal striking one of his hind legs.

The dragon narrowed his eyes and turned his head.

Torrent carried the two as he ran across the rooftops, while Mia fired glintstone after glintstone at Vortigern.

A Glintstone Crystal exploded in front of Vortigern’s nose, the shimmering shards making him shake his head, his vision slightly obscured.

That was all glintstone could do.

Torrent jumped toward the roof ahead, and at that moment, the White Dragon’s breath gushed past like a great river.

“Backwards!”

After Mia’s shout, Torrent, who was descending in mid-air, swerved at an incredible angle.

It was as if a platform had appeared in mid-air, though it was one condensed from magical energy; Torrent completed a nearly 180-degree turn in an instant.

The dragon breath thundered past behind them as Torrent ran in another direction.

The dragon lunged, but his bloody maw snapped at empty air. Torrent once again performed a nimble jump, leaping from above one street to another, traversing the neatly arranged city tops, occasionally blocked by the structures of the buildings.

Vortigern’s tail swept through the middle of the houses, slicing an entire street in half.

But Torrent was able to jump twice in the air like a phantom; this singular ability helped him dodge attack after incoming attack.

The Spectral Steed pushed off rooftops, stone pillars in the ruins, and even falling bricks and tiles.

Torrent circled around Vortigern. The dragon, which had been facing the palace just a moment ago, turned its massive body following Torrent’s movements, now exposing its flank to the palace.

“Now!” Mia shouted.

Attacking from this angle would ensure that the castle, where the refugees were gathered, would not be harmed.

Mia waved her staff, and a wall of cyan Glintstone Crystals suddenly rose between Torrent and Vortigern.

“Stop—”

Torrent skidded to a halt in the middle of the Glintstone Crystal wall.

With a thunderous crash, a dragon claw smashed the houses at the end of the glintstone wall.

The wall obstructed Vortigern’s vision, forcing him to calculate Torrent’s original speed to find where they might appear.

Vortigern’s missed attack was clearly the result of Mia’s deliberate maneuvering.

She had made Torrent stop right in the middle of the crystal wall.

When the crystal wall shattered…

The horned spectral steed leapt from the center, appearing as if draped in countless stars.

Artoria Pendragon held that pure white lance in her hands.

‘That is—’

In that instant, Vortigern saw the white lance in Artoria’s hands.

Rhongomyniad, the Anchor of Storms that binds the stars.

Legend says it is the radiance at the world’s end, and its true form is a tower connecting the surface and reverse of the world.

Light was condensing upon it, and the power of the stars swirled into a vortex.

That stellar power did not come from the stars in the sky, but from the planet itself.

It represented this planet where Britain resided, a planet inhabited by countless living beings—be they from the Mystery side or humanity.

The Red Dragon’s magical energy poured recklessly into Rhongomyniad, releasing an aura reminiscent of a surging waterfall.

Torrent leapt a second time in mid-air.

Carried by the wind of magical energy released by Artoria, Torrent was already higher than that massive, hideous dragon head.

Artoria became a charging knight, the Holy Lance tucked under her arm, her armor restored to a pristine white under the wash of magical energy.

“Please guide me within this phosphorescence… to protect the beauty of this world.”

Appearing from beyond the sky, the radiance at the world’s end solemnly expressed its recognition of the young girl.

“Rhongomyniad!!!”

Vortigern exhaled a murky breath, but the black mist was ground to pieces inch by inch by the holy light.

The sharp edge woven from the planet’s power completely overwhelmed the black fog of destruction.

Like mud being washed away by rain, the layer of black resentment capable of swallowing energy was being scrubbed from the pale, bone-like body of the great dragon.

The dragon roared as the power of the Holy Lance pushed him back; even standing upright, Vortigern could not resist it.

‘It’s time.’

As the Holy Lance descended, the dark clouds in the sky had already dissipated.

In the pitch-black starry sky, previously obscured by the holy light on the ground, a single star suddenly blinked its eye.

Then a second followed. In that instant, four, eight, ten, a hundred stars—a multitude of stars seemed to be breathing as they gazed down upon the Earth.

A magnificent galaxy appeared from the night sky, piercing through the firmament.

Mia gripped her scepter with both hands, her night-black robes fluttering wildly as the stars propelled her high into the air.

Dense magical energy, no less potent than Artoria’s, condensed into magnificent crystal shards in the air.

At this moment, Mia seemed to be surrounded by the stars in the heavens.

“Star-Creating Rain—”

A majestic rain of stars descended.

The black mist clinging to Vortigern’s scales had already been shattered by the Holy Lance.

He could no longer nullify the damage dealt to him; having already swallowed the light of the Holy Lance, he could no longer contain another light.

The meteor shower shattered the dragon’s scales and pierced through its fleshy wings.

Vortigern was struck down amidst the majestic star rain, rolling across the ground.

In the places where the meteors fell, within those terrifying craters, magnificent Glintstone Crystals sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain, their blade-like tips pointing crookedly toward the sky.

The mangled dragon let out a roar of agony, a sound that tore at people’s hearts.

“You cannot save this country! You cannot let humanity win!!! Daughter of Uther!”

Finally, flapping his tattered wings and scrambling with his limbs, he fled like a gecko with a severed tail.

Just like a gangster who lost a fight, Vortigern spat out these parting words.

“The age of Mystery has long since ended! The power at your core cannot coexist with humans. As long as you live, Britain will have no future!”

The white dragon crashed outside the city three times and took flight three times, spilling vast amounts of dragon blood onto the earth until he disappeared into the forest fire beyond the city.

Mia landed gently on the ground.

Before she could even find her footing, her vision went black, and she collapsed.

One hundred and four. Britain celebration!

6k words!

Including yesterday’s catch-up.

I know everyone has been waiting a long time, but…

Don’t complain, just hold me.

Love you all, goodnight~

—

Countless shifting images flashed through her consciousness.

A golden palace and a faint, pleasant melody appeared for a fleeting moment.

She seemed to have become very small, lying on a large bed covered with curtains. A blonde woman with a blurred face was beside her, placing a necklace around her neck.

The scene flashed again. This time, a red-haired man was cradling her, his arms and chest completely enveloping her, yet Mia could feel the warmth of his body.

Mia saw a pair of tiny arms appear in her field of vision.

‘Is that me?’

She blinked her eyes, holding a chain in her hand. The branded ornament that always hung on her chest in reality was being grasped by a tiny palm.

The man leaned down and set the young child in his arms down. Mia heard the sound of flowing water and felt herself being placed into a container that was gently rocking.

The red-haired man seemed to say something, but the voice was completely indistinct.

Then, he placed his hand over Mia’s eyes.

A pain that pierced directly into her soul.

“—”

Mia sat up abruptly from the bed. She tried to open her eyes only to find everything was pitch black.

‘My eyes, my eyes…’

Her heart was pounding from the sudden fright in the dream. Mia touched her eyes.

The blindfold had been removed!

“Lady Mia.”

A cool, smooth hand grasped Mia’s palm and handed the blindfold to her.

Only after she put the cloth back over her eyes and restored her vision did Mia heave a sigh of relief.

Melina was by her side, and they were in the guest room of King Braden’s palace where they had previously stayed.

Sunlight shone in from outside, divided into neat squares by the lattice window.

Clearly, some time had passed since the final battle.

“How long was I asleep?”

Mia touched the back of her neck.

“Two full days.”

“…Ugh.”

So, it was already the morning of the third day?

The side effects of overextending her magical energy were somewhat frightening.