Trash of the Count's Family

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First, I want to thank everyone for their opinions and thoughts on how we should overhaul completed novels. We've reviewed nearly 2000 comments across multiple platforms and forum, and while we haven't responded to everything I can promise I HAVE read it all.  First, I'm going to briefly go into some of the things which were discussed which may or may not work, because I don't want people to think I ignored anything. I'm putting those in 'spoiler' tags so people who don't care can skip it.  Then, we'll talk...

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  Teaser 

“Grab onto the castle wall!”

The soldiers immediately grabbed onto the wall or flattened themselves against the floor after hearing the Count's shout.

The explosion shook the entire territory. Although the explosion took place in the sky, the aftershock was directly felt by the castle wall. Count Henituse subconsciously made a comment.

“…This is not a battle for humans.”

This war was not just for humans.
It had already gone beyond that level.

He then turned his head toward his son and his wife. He couldn’t help but let out a gasp.

“…Ha-”

This gasp almost sounded like a laugh.
His son, who had gotten back up at some point, had created a small shield in order to protect the Countess, the doctor, and the priest. Count Henituse realized something at this moment.

‘This is a war that is beyond the level of humans, and my son is at the center of this battle.’

Seeing his son standing up and looking better made the Count’s mind become complicated. He pushed off the wall in order to slowly get back up.

On the other hand, Cale had no idea what Count Henituse was thinking as he looked toward the burning darkness that flashed for a moment within the explosion.

“…What the hell is that?”

Cale, like most people with no martial arts training, did not have enhanced vision so he could not see anything properly.

What he saw was Choi Han’s power.

It was his extremely slightly imperfect darkness.
It was absorbing the dead mana in order to explode.

Light and darkness had combined in order to cause that explosion. And then, remaining at the sight of that explosion…
Drip, drip.
Rain continued to fall.
The rain fell, not on the ground, but onto the bodies of the dead wyverns and Bears as it mixed with the blood.

Drip.

The dust that was in the air after the explosion was erased by the wind and the rain. Things finally became visible.

Crack, crack.
The helmeted knight's armor started to crack as pieces started to fall to the ground.
This was a set of armor made by a Dwarf that was trying to catch a Dragon.

That armor cracked before falling into the mud below.

“… You bastards……!”

The helmeted knight clenched his teeth and started to swear.

“…Ugh!”

He coughed up some blood as he stood back up. His red bloodshot eyes looked forward.

The White Tiger.
The White Tiger Gashan had used his incantations in order to protect someone.
He had protected Choi Han.

Choi Han was looking at the Dragon Slayer while holding on to the shoulder that was pierced by the ancient power sword. However, the Dragon Slayer was not looking back at him.

“Ha, haha-”

Choi Han could see that the helmeted knight was not injured even though he was coughing up blood.
That knight’s armor was amazing.

However, Raon had destroyed that armor.

The knight’s gaze turned extremely chilling. There were all sorts of natural disasters roaring inside of his body. They were starting to surround him, as if he had turned into the Dragon Slayer sword.

The knight started to laugh as he started to speak.

“…There is a Dragon here. There was a Dragon here.”

Only a Dragon could destroy a Flame Dwarf tribe’s item.
He had thought that it was just a talented mage who was imitating him.

But now, he knew that a Dragon must be raising its arrogant head and looking at him from somewhere. It probably decided to lend its powers once in order to kill him.

The Dwarf had said the following before giving him the armor.

‘This cannot defend against a Dragon's Breath, but it should be able to guard against an average adult Dragon's magic.’
‘Even a Dragon Lord?’
‘Why are you talking about something that does not exist? The Dragon Lord is the Emperor of Magic. It cannot defend against it. If there was a, ‘real,’ Dragon Lord, would we be doing this? This armor should manage to defend against an ancient Dragon's magic at least once as well. That is our limit.’

The Dragon Slayer's instincts were telling him something.
An ancient Dragon or one that was beyond that level.
A Dragon with at least that level of magic was here.

‘But isn’t there only one ancient Dragon?’
He only knew about the ancient Dragon that was close to death.
‘There is another ancient Dragon?’

“He, hehe.”

He started to laugh.

‘Those trash Dragon bastards.’

The ancient Dragon probably watched these existences of nature fighting as it stood there with a haughty expression. Otherwise, there was no reason for it to step in right now.

If it had stepped in from the beginning, it would have used Dragon Fear and Dragon Breath in order to kill him.
It would have been easy since he was not complete yet.

“…Ugh.”

The knight coughed up blood once again.
He had pulled the ancient power sword out of Choi Han in order to guard himself the moment the armor started to break, however, his internal organs were still shocked by Choi Han's aura and the dead mana explosion.

It felt as if all of his organs were twisting inside of his body.
He had not felt this for a long time.

‘…Only if I had the crown!
That was the reason I had bowed my head to that crazy bastard in the first place!’
The knight thought about the reason he was not complete yet and started to grind his teeth. He felt a sense of disappointment. He could not be complete because some damn bastards had stolen the crown.

His body was close to its limit as the Sword of Disasters had been destroyed a couple of times as well. He could only use it once more in this battle.
His body, his plate, would not be able to support anything more.

Although he had one more power of the Dragon Catcher, that was a pitiful power that he did not need.

The Dominating Aura.
That laughable power that only a scammer would use did not meet the dignity of a Dragon Slayer.

The aura was an illusion without any real strength.

The helmeted knight made up his mind to definitely capture the bastards who had stolen the crown as he looked around.

“Vicious bastards.”

Another arrow that was imitating his power was flying through the air. There was also the black aura.
And finally.

Plop, plop.

There were the dead wyvern and Bear corpses that were standing back up in the mud.
Behind them were the Tiger tribe with the White Tiger at the center, as well as the humans aiming their arrows and catapults at him.

The knight closed his eyes.
“…Looks like we lost.”

Anybody could see that they had lost.

Choi Han clenched his right hand even after seeing the knight smiling in pity. His left shoulder still had the wound from the Sword of Disasters. His left arm would have become useless if the knight had not pulled back the power in order to defend himself.
That was why Choi Han remained alert.

It was at that moment.

Plop.

The final piece of the armor fell to the ground.

The helmet finally fell.

The knight started to move just as his face was revealed to the world.
The powers that had been surrounding his body changed into the shape of a sharp blade. That blade was directed in a single location.

“Block it!”

The Tigers started to rush toward the knight at Gashan's command. Choi Han was already charging forward as well.

Kiiiiiiiii-!

The dead wyverns slowly started to move in order to block the knight’s attack and hold him back. Even the dead Bears stepped through the mud as they charged against the knight.
They were chasing after the knight as if they had never been allies.
The dead wyverns and dead Bears frantically chased after the knight.

However, these dead creatures disappeared the moment they touched the ancient power surrounding the helmeted knight. [1]
Nothing could stop the knight.

He continued to run without stopping.
He was heading for the castle wall.

To be more specific, he was heading toward Cale.
He then started to laugh.

“Pwahahaha, Hahaha! I knew it would be like this!”

The arrow in the air did not move.
The arrow that was imitating his natural disasters did not fly toward the castle wall.

Cale and the helmeted knight made eye contact.
The knight started to shout.

“You seem to be receiving a Dragon's protection!”

He already did not like how Cale was using ancient powers, but now, this human was even receiving a Dragon's protection!
He deserved to die.
A deep hatred filled the helmeted knight’s eyes. A power that was stronger than ever before surrounded his body.

“I will destroy you and this castle!”

The arrow that had been shining in the air suddenly disappeared.
Instead, Cale felt a small body grabbing his body.

Grab.
The invisible Raon stuck to Cale as if he was a shield. He opened his wings and hugged Cale, as if he was saying that he would receive the power of the disasters.

• I will not let go.

Cale felt Raon’s body heat as he looked around. He then raised his hand to pat Raon’s back.
Choi Han, who had been rushing toward them, suddenly flinched.

‘Something is weird.
The fact that Cale-nim is this calm should mean that it is not very dangerous.’

It was at that moment.
It was the moment that the helmeted knight jumped up in the air. It was the moment that the Sword of Disasters looked as if it would pierce through the castle wall.
The helmeted knight, Raon, and everybody else running toward him could hear the laughter.

Cale was laughing.
A calm voice started to come out of his mouth.

“I knew that those damn Bears were shrewd.”

The knight's eyes slightly shook.

Cale had heard Mary’s voice just a moment ago. Mary, who had been quietly standing there in her invisible state, had urgently spoken for the first time.

“The Bears I am not controlling are moving!”

Cale started to laugh.
He looked at the Bear corpses that were running toward them as if they were trying to stop the knight.
There were some alive Bears in the mix.

‘A Bear pretended to be dead?’

Cale then moved his gaze toward the knight who was pretending to rush at him.

“That bastard is shrewd too.”

He was pretending to charge at Cale as if he had given everything up. Yes, he was just pretending.

“…Oh, you knew about it?”

The knight started to smile.
The hatred disappeared from his eyes as if it had all been an act as he took a magic scroll out of his pocket.
The Bears also jumped up into the air and took out magic scrolls.
These were most likely teleportation scrolls.

The White Tiger Gashan started to shout.

“Catch them!”

Catch the Bears.
The Count shouted as well.

“Fire!”

The catapults and archers started to shoot toward the Bears.

“I may have lost, but I'm not ready to die just yet.”

His snake-like face started to smile.
His face that was revealed after the helmet was destroyed looked like a snake. It looked like an imugi that had yet to become a Dragon. [2]

Cale continued to laugh as he looked toward the one person who had understood his actions.

Choi Han.
He was the only one who realized something was weird while everybody else rushed toward Cale.
He was stepping onto the dead wyverns as he was rushing up into the air. It was almost in line with the knight’s movements. He would be at the helmeted knight’s level if he stepped on just one more dead wyvern.

Cale could feel Raon moving away from his body.
Raon's front paw started to create magic once again.

Choi Han jumped off the wyvern’s head and flew toward the knight. The helmeted knight was still looking at Cale.

He did not waste these few seconds of time.

“You bastard who has received a Dragon's protection.”

Riiiiiip-
The teleportation scroll was ripped and the knight’s body started to disappear.

True anger could be seen through his smile.
A human who had received a Dragon’s protection. This was someone who deserved to die.
The knight swung his Sword of Disasters toward Choi Han, who was flying toward him, as he continued to speak to Cale.

His body had almost disappeared.

“I will soon return to kill you, ugh!”

However, something got him before he could disappear.

The knight let out a moan and slowly lowered his head.
He could see what had hit him.
“…My sword?”

No. It was not his sword.
However, it was something that was similar to the Sword of Disasters.
He could feel storms, hail, and volcanoes in this sword.
It was fake, but it was very similar to his own.

The knight heard a young voice in his ear.

“You will die first.”

He could not see anything.
Suddenly, two eyes appeared from out of nowhere.

They were dark blue eyes.
They had the distinct shape of Dragon’s eyes and shone brightly.
Only these eyes appeared to greet the knight.

Crackle-

There was a spark and the knight’s body started to teleport.
However, the sword that stabbed him was continuing to spin inside of his body.

The dark blue eyes were opened wide and did not let the enemy go.

“Ugh! Cough!”

The knight coughed up blood once again. Choi Han did not miss that moment. He used the moment that the Sword of Disasters weakened in order to cut the knight’s arm off with his black aura.

Slash!

The removed arm became visible again and moved away from the influence of the magic. However, the knight did not have any time to focus on this.

The Sword of Disasters.
It returned and surrounded the knight's body.
It was able to destroy the fake sword made from magic.

However, Raon's magic had reached his heart.
The imitation magic sword turned into the shape of a Dragon's paw and clenched onto his heart.

Crackle.

The knight clenched the top of his heart. However, the power that was most similar to Dragons, the power that could only be handled by a Dragon's Breath or Dragon's body, the ancient power of disasters destroyed Raon's magic sword at that moment.

Clang-

The magic broke and a snake-like power came from the knight’s stomach, around the spot where his dantian would be.

It was his other ancient power.
That finally started to move.

Cale suddenly got the chills.

“Ah?”

He heard Mary’s shocked gasp at that moment.
At the same time, Cale could see the helmeted knight silently whistling.

‘Perhaps?’

He heard Mary starting to shout.

“I, I can’t control them!”

Cale could read the helmeted knight's lips.

‘I told you I can’t die yet.’

Choi Han lowered his head to see what was grabbing onto his ankles.
It was a wyvern corpse.

The wyverns were slaves to the Dragon Slayer even after death.
It could not get away at all.

The wyvern corpse started to shake and seemed to resemble boiling water. Cale immediately started to speak.

“Dodge it!”

‘It's going to explode.’
It looked as if it was about to explode. The wyverns had chased the helmeted knight to the castle wall. The castle wall and the Tigers would be in danger if they exploded.
He could not spread his shield all the way to the catapult and the archers. They would be unable to attack the Bears if he did so. There were many soldiers currently standing there on the castle wall as well.

Cale started to frown. This was the reason he hated wars.

“Hahaha!”

The helmeted knight could not hold back his laughter. He found Cale's frown to be entertaining.

Crackle-
His body started to disappear.
He was aiming for this moment when Choi Han was being held back, Mary could not control the wyverns, and Cale had no energy left to use his ancient powers.
The Dragon also simply continued to use magic.
The helmeted knight was aiming for all of this.

Baaaaang!

One of the wyvern corpses exploded. That was the beginning. The people closest to the helmeted knight who were trying to escape with him were caught up in the explosion.

“Ahhh! Why are you doing this to us?!”
The dead wyvern’s explosion did not differentiate between allies and enemies.
The Bears were getting killed by the explosions.

“Ahhhhh! Why is this happening?!”
“N, no! Ahhh!”

The Tigers retreated while looking at the Bears in shock.

‘He's killing his own allies?’
The knight was killing the wyverns and Bears in order to create an opening for him to escape.

Tens of wyverns started to explode at the same time. Cale urgently activated his shield to cover the soldiers.

The helmeted knight laughed while watching all of this.
He didn’t know why nature allowed someone with such a weak plate to have ancient powers, however, ancient powers usually picked people like him as masters. That was why most average humans could only handle one ancient power.

‘Weak bastard.’

There had to be a reason a shield ancient power had picked this punk as its master.
Everything in the world had a reason behind it.

The knight scoffed at the idiot who was overusing his power in order to save the soldiers rather than to catch him.
He raised his head one last time.

Screeeech-!

A shadow covered the ground near the castle wall.
Everyone had forgotten about this thing.
The 15 meter long white wyvern.
Even it could not go against it’s master’s orders as it dragged its injured body all the way to the wall.
The master then gave the order to the wyvern.

“Die.”

Screeeech-

The wyvern screeched.
However, the animal that had lost its freedom had no choice but to obey.

The 15 meters long monster rushed toward the wall, to be more specific, toward Choi Han.

Boooooooom!

This wyvern was almost the size of a Dragon.
That large being charged at Choi Han, who had the highest chance of getting in it’s master’s way.

Cale finally started to speak. Choi Han’s shoulder was already injured. Raon had no more methods to fight against the Dragon Slayer.

However, if it was against a Dragon Slayer that was trying to run away…

“Raon, help Choi Han.”

Cale heard Gashan shouting next to him.

“Duck!”

Cale closed his eyes. A gust of wind brushed past him. It was the aftershock of the explosion.

---

Cale opened his eyes once the wind died down.

He could see the mess outside of the castle wall.
The trees, boulders, and everything else were destroyed.
All he could see in the muddy area were the corpses of the dead Bears and dead wyverns.

The Dragon Slayer was not there.

The ground started to move and the Tigers started to get back up. A transparent orb surrounding Choi Han slowly approached the castle wall.

Cale lifted his head up.
The clouds had disappeared, leaving behind a clear sky. A ray of light started to shine down on them.

“Cale-nim.”

Cale looked toward Choi Han and started to speak.

“Did you leave a mark?”

It was the invisible Dragon, and not Choi Han, who responded to him.

• I did.

Cale started to walk. He was staggering after overusing his ancient power.
However, there was still something he had to do. Cale walked over until he was standing next to Count Deruth Henituse.

“Father.”

Cale helped Count Deruth Henituse stand back up.
That action made the soldiers stand up as well. They all looked up at the sky.

The sky was clear without a single cloud.
The silver shield that had been protecting the soldiers was still there.

‘I survived.’
That was the thought that was going through all of the soldiers’ minds.

Click, click.
The citizens started to open their doors. They did not see the enemies anymore.

‘They did it.’
The citizens realized that they had won.

“Father.”

The Count knew that this was just the beginning.
He could see the fatigue on Cale's face.

Beeeeeeep-

His second son, Basen, was running toward them. There was a video communication device in his arms.
Basen started to shout.

“Enemy ships have been discovered at the first boundary of the northeastern ocean!”

The Count's expression stiffened up.
The Indomitable Alliance was cutting through the still frozen shores in order to head southward.

They were aiming for the Roan Kingdom in a two-pronged attack by sea and air.
They probably had a much larger force coming via ships than via wyverns.
The Count subconsciously turned to look at Cale. He then flinched.

The Count could see that his son was smiling. Cale was hearing Raon's voice in his head.

• The trace of my magic headed to the northeastern ocean.

Raon had left his mark on the Dragon Slayer’s heart.
Cale looked toward Choi Han and started to speak.

“Time to go hunting.”

There were no citizens nor soldiers to protect over at the ocean.

Who cares if he was a Dragon Catcher?
It wouldn’t matter if they beat him to death.

Cale calmly looked back toward Count Henituse and made an observation.

“The shield did not break.”

The concerned expression on the Count’s face slowly changed. The hand that was holding his son's hand was shaking. He just held his son's hand tighter instead of responding back.

Although Cale had not meant for it to happen, his words had still been conveyed to the entire kingdom through the video communication device in Basen’s arms.

---

1. Is he still a helmeted knight if he lost his helmet?

2. The imugi is a creature from Korean legends. It is said that it can become a Dragon after living for 1,000 years and grabbing a cintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions).

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