Chapter 28: The Holy Spear

Dragons are terrifying, but they are not invincible. At least, the dragons Kai knew were not so powerful as to be hopeless. Weapons forged from certain special materials could pierce dragon scales—for instance, weapons crafted from dragon bone. (The logic here is absurd: to kill a dragon, one needs a weapon made of dragon bone, but to obtain dragon bone, one must first kill a dragon.)

Additionally, certain poisons concocted by apothecaries could temporarily incapacitate a dragon. Coupled with human-wave tactics, killing a dragon was not an insurmountable task.

That was the conventional method. There was another, more convenient way, but that method should have been thoroughly lost to time by now, so it is not worth mentioning.

It was precisely because of this that twenty years ago, during the war King Uther waged against all magic and sorcery, countless dragons fell. Furthermore, as legend dictates, dragons have a penchant for hoarding wealth, which naturally incited endless greed. This greed led to the near-extinction of the dragon race during that war twenty years ago.

Only a few dragons managed to linger on, but even these remnants were hunted down and killed by countless greedy dragon hunters over the past two decades. Kilgharrah was one of these surviving dragons.

Ten years ago, Kilgharrah decided to gamble everything. Dragging his severely wounded body, he launched a surprise attack on King Uther, hoping to kill the mastermind behind the slaughter as a sacrifice to his fallen kin. Unfortunately, he ran into Kai.

As Uther’s foster son, Kai had never been neglected; he was always equipped with the finest gear. Among the weapons he carried at the time was a special blade, forged from a unique metal capable of piercing dragon scales.

In the end, while Kai failed to slay Kilgharrah, he inflicted further grievous wounds upon him. When both realized they could not overcome the other, they reached a tacit agreement and let each other go. Out of respect earned through dozens of battles, Kai offered Kilgharrah a piece of advice before leaving: hide far away and never approach Camelot.

Even in peak condition, going to Camelot would be suicide for Kilgharrah, let alone in his then-dire state; his fate would only be more miserable.

But as Kilgharrah had just said, there are some things one simply cannot let go.

"Revenge? Kilgharrah, though I don't mean to mock you, as long as I am here, I don't think you have any chance. So, stay here honestly; at least here, you won't lose your life." Kai placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and said earnestly.

Kilgharrah’s massive dragon head drew closer to Kai, and then he let out a roaring laugh.

"No! Kai! Nothing can escape fate. King Uther will surely meet his end, and I shall break these shackles! All of this is ordained by fate!"

The dragon's booming laughter sounded like the roar of ten thousand beasts, shaking the entire cavern. From time to time, loose stones fell from the ceiling, plummeting into the unseen abyss below.

"Fate? Is that so? Since you speak of fate, can you see my fate?" Kai, unbothered by Kilgharrah’s talk of destiny, asked with curious interest instead.

This was another interesting aspect Kai had discovered during his travels across the world. There were many seers who claimed to foresee the future, asserting they could read fate. Yet, interestingly, none of them—no matter who they were—could see Kai’s destiny. They could not foresee anything regarding his future.

Kilgharrah was no different.

He stared at Kai for a long time, only to discover that in the threads of fate he witnessed, there was no trace of Kai. Whenever he tried to peer into Kai’s destiny, he found only a void of chaos.

"How can this be? Why can I not see your fate?"

Kilgharrah had always been certain he saw the future, which was why he was willing to remain imprisoned here, waiting for the turning point of fate. When that time came, he would finally break his chains and end King Uther’s sinful life. But now, he found he could no longer see fate clearly.

"It seems the fate you speak of is nothing more than this, Kilgharrah." Kai adjusted his sword and held his head high.

Kilgharrah fell silent, offering no response. He was, indeed, momentarily lost in bewilderment. However, that confusion passed quickly. No one could escape fate; if he could not see Kai’s destiny, the problem must lie with himself. After all, fate is something no one can grasp, yet he firmly believed that destiny would eventually arrive, and Kai could not—and would not be able to—stop it. Having reasoned this through, Kilgharrah decided not to discuss the issue with Kai further.

At this point, what else could he do but believe in the fate he had seen? It was his only hope.

"Kai, you didn't come all this way just to talk nonsense, did you? Speak. What is it you truly want?"

Kai, of course, had not come simply to chat. He did have a purpose, so he explained Morgana’s situation.

"I need your help. I need you to find a way to hide and suppress the talent within Morgana so that she is no longer plagued by nightmares."

Upon hearing Kai’s request, Kilgharrah did not answer immediately. Instead, he burst into thunderous laughter.

"Hahahaha! This is truly fascinating! King Uther has spent his entire life fighting magic, yet in the end, his own daughter possesses a natural talent for it. How ironic!"

After laughing for a while, Kilgharrah thrust his massive head toward Kai once more and said mockingly, "Why should I help you? I am already impatient to see King Uther and his daughter turn against each other. Why would I stop that? Hahaha, Kai, what were you thinking to believe I would help you? Didn't you just despise fate? This is precisely their destiny! King Uther will surely die at the hands of Morgana! Hahahahaha!"

Seeing the laughing Kilgharrah, Kai showed no change in expression from beginning to end, calmly watching the dragon’s unrestrained mockery. Only when Kilgharrah had laughed for a long time and found that Kai remained unmoved, feeling it was no longer amusing, did Kai finally speak.

"You ask me why I thought you would help me?" As he spoke, Kai drew the two longswords from his waist. They looked ordinary—while they were fine weapons, in the eyes of a dragon, they were worthless. They were not even the special weapons capable of killing a dragon; simply put, they would have no effect on him.

"Because of this!" Kai said. Under Kilgharrah’s puzzled gaze, he struck the two blades together. A dazzling white light illuminated the dark cavern. When the light subsided, the twin swords in Kai’s hands had vanished, replaced by a strangely shaped lance!

The lance was pure white, as if woven from something unseen, with a spiral design. It was shorter than a standard knight’s lance. While a typical knight’s lance inherited the features of a rapier—looking like an oversized, edgeless, four-to-five-meter-long cone—the one in Kai’s hand was less than two meters long.

"This is..."

Seeing this weapon he had never encountered before, Kilgharrah was stunned. He could feel an incomparable power radiating from it, yet he could not comprehend its source.

"The Pillar of Light, bestowed by the Light Elves of Alfheim and forged by the Dwarves of Nidavellir. It is known as the Spear of the Vanguard, the Spear that Shines to the Farthest Ends, or the Spear of the End—Rhongomyniad!"

"If you refuse me, then you die. Therefore, you have no choice but to help me." After introducing the lance, Kai spoke with chilling coldness. He leveled the weapon at Kilgharrah. A golden light began to emanate from the lance, swirling in a spiral motion.

Kai was not lying. If Kilgharrah refused, he would truly kill him. Because of his "golden finger" (cheat), Kai could gamble on whether killing Kilgharrah would grant him his knowledge. The probability might not be high, but there was a chance, was there not?