I died from the sheer emotional impact of Kirby—the sole survivor who has saved the world over and over again.
Just the phrase “World of Light” killed me.
Then I saw someone point out that reading it backward gives “Hoshi no Kābī” — “Kirby of the Stars” — and my body scattered into pieces and I died.
This emotional impact has to be conveyed, so this is an early update. Also, it is great that World Trigger has resumed.
Chapter 431: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part Eight
Noirlind: "Nugwoah!"
Siegwurm: "Enough already!"
It was delivered with the casualness of swatting down a fly that had entered one’s field of vision while admiring a magnificent painting.
Struck squarely by the golden tail, Noirlind lost his balance. Yet by somehow regaining control of his posture during the fall, he avoided being slammed into the ground.
Noirlind: "Damn you...!!"
Noirlind’s entire body proclaimed how displeased he was. Yet blindly charging in again would only mean being intercepted over and over.
So how could he tear that bastard away from the pointless activity of bug-watching?
The black dragon already had the answer.
Rather than climbing again, Noirlind descended and found the insect-like player he sought.
Noirlind: "Akitsu Akane!"
Akitsu Akane: "Ah, Noirlind-san!"
Noirlind: "Come!"
A short command, but Akitsu Akane answered without objecting. The fox-masked girl lightly leapt onto Noirlind’s back, and the black dragon’s wings seized magic and wind as they lifted into the air.
Akitsu Akane: "Everyone! I’ll be back in a bit!"
A player riding a colored dragon through the sky.
While the surrounding players stared dumbfounded at Akitsu Akane flying away atop Noirlind—a being who, like the red, green, and white dragons, should have been both a hunt target and an enemy—the black dragon met his golden opponent for the umpteenth time.
Siegwurm: "Enough... Hm. You..."
Noirlind: "Fuhahahaha! So you are sensitive to bugs that personally carve wounds into you, Siegwurm!!"
Akitsu Akane: "It’s been a while! Um, I came to repay you for scarring my face!"
Siegwurm: "Oh? Oh! Human, do you join hands with Noirlind? No, no... good. Very good! Interesting. Noirlind, I shall play with you a little!"
Noirlind: "Shut up!!"
The black dragon, a human on his back, charged at the Golden Dragon King.
Siegwurm easily evaded him, but in the next instant turned his gaze to Akitsu Akane, who clung to his shoulder.
Siegwurm: "Hm... I see. That dagger... no, this is not that one’s will."
Akitsu Akane: "Huh? Yes, this is Rabbit Flower [Cherry Blossom]! Um, prepare yourself!!"
Siegwurm: "Human who raced through the heavens and reached me, show me your brilliance!!"
Akitsu Akane: "[Blade-Hiding Art: “Chain-Binding Hauberk”]!!"
Smack.
The instant Akitsu Akane struck Siegwurm’s shoulder, an effect raced across his golden body as though chains were crawling over him.
It resembled chain mail, but this magic did not protect its wearer. It bound them.
Siegwurm: "Oh... You bind me, then shoot me? Yet you will die alongside me, will you not?"
That was certainly true.
If Noirlind’s breath, poised to fire at that very moment, struck Siegwurm, Akitsu Akane would undoubtedly die in the blast as well. And a Pioneer’s death triggered Dragon Law: Notorious.
Yet the fox-masked ninja merely looked as though she had no idea what he was talking about.
Akitsu Akane: "Even if I die, I just have to climb all the way back here again!!"
Noirlind: "Dieee!!!"
The black breath—Black Dragon Breath—corroded and shattered its enemy.
A black torrent of flame, darker than the night itself and carrying Noirlind’s full intent to kill, surged toward Siegwurm.
Siegwurm: "Kukukukuku... Kuhahahahaha!!"
Whether there was another reason for that laughter, it was impossible to say.
At least one thing was certain: the Golden Dragon King’s many “god-annihilating” powers were not limited to Dragon Law: Notorious.
Siegwurm: "Good! Very good! Then behold it!! My Radiant Dragon King: Tupac Amaru!!"
The next moment, intricate and bizarre patterns of light ran across Siegwurm’s spread dragon wings.
Then his entire golden body began to shine as though it had become a source of light itself...
Siegwurm: "Nuuuoooh!!!"
Akitsu Akane: "Whaaat!?"
Noirlind: "What the hell!?"
In the next instant, the effect binding Siegwurm’s radiant body shattered into tiny fragments.
And the outstretched fist... shattered the black flames Noirlind had fired with a single blow.
Noirlind: "Impossible!!"
Siegwurm: "Know this: when my dragon body shines, every manifestation of mana is shattered!!"
Akitsu Akane: "W-w-wow!?"
Once a battle had begun, spacing out in the middle of it was equivalent to saying, “Please punch me once.”
The gleaming gold closed the distance on the black. Before Noirlind could move, Siegwurm’s fist slammed into the side of his face.
Siegwurm: "Very well, you who have shown a glimpse of heroism! How could I fail to stand in your way now!? I am the mountain, I am the wall, I am the gate... Humans, step over me and advance toward the future!!"
The sky shook beneath that resounding declaration, as though even the atmosphere had been blown away.
Damage effects leaked from the corner of Noirlind’s mouth, but he barely managed to regain his ruined posture once again. Akitsu Akane landed back on his back.
Akitsu Akane: "Noirlind-san! Are you all right!?"
Noirlind: "Ghnn... To shatter my breath... impossible..."
Akitsu Akane: "Earlier, he said something like Teabag Hanamaru? There must be some secret to that big flashy shine!"
Noirlind: "Cunning little... Damn it, I will not pick you up if you get thrown off!!"
This was different from before, when Siegwurm had focused only on interception.
Now he was actively trying to finish Noirlind and Akitsu Akane off.
The black dragon beat his wings at Siegwurm’s aggressive assault.
Noirlind: "Damn it... Out of my way!!"
Deuredhowl: "Ugoah!?"
Siegwurm: "Move!!"
Deuredhowl: "Nngii!?"
Deuredhowl, which had been flying at an awkward mid-altitude, was flung away by Noirlind and then struck down by Siegwurm.
But Akitsu Akane, clinging to the back of the fleeing dragon, had no time to care about that.
Akitsu Akane: "E-even horseback-riding experience does not cover thiiiiis!?"
It was like clinging to a roller coaster with nothing but her own strength. A chain of centrifugal force seized and pulled at her body from every direction, and even Akitsu Akane could only scream.
Akitsu Akane: "...Huh?"
In the middle of that living aerial dogfight, Akitsu Akane suddenly noticed something.
Akitsu Akane: "That castle..."
Did it just move...?
???: "Emili—Emilia! We somehow got it looking presentable again!!"
Emilia: "Did anything become unusable?"
???: "The counter-based systems broke along with the main keep when it was half-destroyed. Everything else was patched into something passable using backups I had prepared just in case, but..."
Emilia: "So it is a no-guard brawl."
Fine by her.
Emilia had never expected an unscathed victory from the outset. If it collapsed, they could simply rebuild it.
Yes—using Noirlind’s materials as well.
???: "Still, who would have thought furniture craftsmen and carpenters would prove useful like this?"
???: "That side aside, this side is less about the carpenters and more about the owner, though..."
The Furniture Craftsman job had been so incomprehensible in purpose that it had received little analysis, dismissed as little more than flavor.
But when put to use alongside the equally perplexing Carpenter job, it offered one answer.
Top-Tier Carpenter-Line Job: Grand Master Builder.
Top-Tier Furniture Craftsman-Line Job: Feng Shui Master.
These two jobs were something akin to construction-production jobs: they created placeable objects and brought various effects into being.
Together with Skull Azuchi, built by innumerable players, they turned it into something like a mysterious stone statue that bestowed blessings upon every Pioneer simply by existing.
Not a base for pioneering, but a base for protecting what had been pioneered.
That was the true nature of a castle.
Emilia: "[Enemy Target: Deuredhowl the Red Dragon]. [Enhancement Targets: All Players and NPCs]... [Activated Effect: Fire Resistance]...!"
???: "Whew! That is cool!"
Emilia: "Activate, Skull Azuchi!!"
Skull Azuchi, constructed from an immense amount of dragonbone resources, gleamed over the frontline base at night.
Radiant Dragon King: Tupac Amaru
An empowered state activated by operating two horns.