Chapter 1 Azell Zestringer (1).  

Chapter 1 - Azell Zestringer (1)

Azell vividly remembered the events before he started sleeping.

At the same time, he also realized that this happened in the distant past. His consciousness was asleep, but his unconscious body felt the flow of time brush by him.

He was asleep for so long that even when he opened his eyes his sense of reality was murky. He wasn’t even able to differentiate whether he was awake or if he was still in a dream....

Koong... Ku-gwa-ah-ah-ahng.....! (TLN: Boom )

Azell was waken from his long sleep, because he heard sounds of explosion from a far away place.

It had been quiet the whole time he had been asleep, yet somehow there were occasional sounds of explosion and the earth shook. So in the end, he opened his eyes.

“Mmmm......”

The problem was he had opened his eyes, but his body didn’t have any strength. It even made him suspicious as to the fact that he was still alive. His consciousness felt like it was floating, and his body didn’t respond to anything.

Azell calmed his heart. He was still breathing, and after confirming that his heart was beating slowly, he poured strength into his hand.

Ggum-tul.(TLN: sfx for twitching)

His fingers moved.

Ggu-mul. (TLN: another sfx)

His toes moved.

He hadn’t moved his body in a long time, so it was stiff as a fossil. It was similar to an animal who had woken up from a long winter sleep. Its body would be half dead and it was the same for him.

Warm blood started circulating throughout his stiff body, and his vitality started waking up. His dead sensation was alive now, and he could feel air touching his skin.

After he started clenching his fingers and toes, he needed patience and effort to move visibly. After struggling for 1 hour, he was able to raise an arm.

‘Great. At least, I am able to move now. However.....’

He still had no idea where this was.

‘Carlos, you bastard. Where did you leave me?’

The surrounding was dark, so he couldn’t see anything.

The place he was laying down was soft like a bed, but he could easily tell that it wasn’t a large space. If he stretched his arms out, he could touch the wall that was keeping him sealed.

‘Maybe this is a coffin?’

By looking at the structure, he had a suspicion that he was put in a large coffin.

He was put in a coffin when he was still alive, so he didn’t feel that great. However, there might be a magical meaning to it. Azell thought about this, and he started looking through his memory.

He was the hero, who had defeated the Dragon Demon King Atein and saved the continent from despair. He was Azell Karzark.

However, he was dying from the curse put on him by the Demon King Atein, and his friend, Carlos, suggested that I go into a long sleep. It would be similar to a dragon’s hibernation, and the purpose of the long sleep was to defeat the curse.

To do this, one needed a powerful ritual. Carlos and several powerful magicians gathered in secret to perform this ritual. Azell’s memories ended there. Carlos was looking at him with a sad expression and then everything was black. Afterwards, he remembered fragments of memory, but it might have been a side effect of wandering around inside his dreams. It wasn’t an experience from reality.

Therefore, Azell didn’t know where he fell asleep or what situation he was in.

‘First, I have to get out of here.’

He won’t find anything out just by thinking about it. After deciding this, Azell tried to push against the lid of the coffin.

It didn’t budge.

“.......”

He continued pushing against the lid of the coffin, and after a while, Azell lowered his arm because he had lost strength. By looking at the reaction, when he pushed with all his strength, it seems like it won’t open just by blindly pushing at it from the inside. Maybe there is a magical mechanism that’ll open it?

‘Ooh-ooh-ook(TLN:ughh). Carlos, you bastard, why did you do something this unnecessary!

Azell grinded his teeth.

It didn’t matter that he was imprisoned here if he was still in the magic induced sleep similar to the dragon’s hibernation. However, now that he had awaken, it would be troublesome if he couldn’t go outside. The air was ventilated so he could breathe, but wouldn’t he die of starvation?

‘Ok. I’ll use my strength to open it and go outside.’

Azell closed his eyes and concentrated.

Originally, his body had unfathomable strength that exceeded the human limitation.

If he used that strength then he should be able to move the lid in one breath.....

‘Uh? What is this?’

Azell looked inside of himself and he was taken aback.

The Spiritual Energy that flowed within his body, which was the power that made him superhuman, was all gone.

‘No way... Did I use all my strength to maintain the hibernation?’

Animals would eat a lot before their winter sleep to supplement their nutrition. Then during the winter sleep, they would use all the stored nourishment before awakening.

Azell had experienced the same situation. He didn’t know how long he had been asleep, but he understood that he had used all of his strength to maintain his life.

‘No, it isn’t the time to be understanding!’

Azell increased his concentration, and he sharply refined it. If he didn’t find a way to exit here, then he would starve to death. How funny would it be if he died here after he had successfully mimicked a dragon hibernation and also beat the curse?

‘Ok.”

Azell sensed the latent fragmented strength inside his dried up Spiritual Energy. With strong misgivings, he scraped it together. (TLN:he scraped together the latent power)

Du-gun.(TLN: Ba-dump.)

His heart was beating.

It was an evidence that he was still alive.

His heart kept on pulsing and the air he breathed in was circulated to the rest of his body through his fresh blood and vessels. He was able to maintain a state where his body was alive.

Moreover, the heart pulsing was a secret art the warriors used. It was the source of the ‘Spirit Order’.

Every time the heart pulses, the vibration would be spread to his body and it would stimulate the energy. Then the magical force that flows through the energy would receive the vibration

and it would be amplified. This in turn brings the supernatural strength.

‘I think it is possible to do it one time.’

Azell succeeded in gathering the fragment of strength left inside his body, and he carefully evaluated it. It was a weak strength. If one only had decent skills, then the person would have no idea what to do with it. However, this was Azell. He could use the heart’s pulsing and the vessels’ vibration to amplify the energy. He’ll be able to exert a large destructive force once. No matter how thick the coffin lid was, he has the power to destroy it!

‘Let’s do this!’

Azell opened his eyes. Then he spread all of his fingers.

It was right then.

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-oong!

Suddenly, from the surrounding, an enormous amount of power was inserted into Azell’s energy! It was an enormous amount that exceeded what he could produce!

‘Kuk!’

If he wasn’t careful, it was a situation where he could perish. However, Azell showed his amazing ability to adapt. He scattered the power he was about to emit. He started circulating the energy, and he mixed it with the newly injected power. Then he had to release it before it could wreak havoc inside his body. Both his hands started emitting a deep blue light. The bright light lit up the surrounding darkness, and it exploded upwards.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!

Accompanying the light, the air shook and the surrounding lit up brightly.