“Heh heh. Laughable.”
Russellent snorted as he watched the three humans charging fearlessly toward him. Of course,
knights of their caliber could no doubt draw forth Aura Blades, and those, naturally,
could easily cut through his hard scales. But that was only if he allowed them to approach.
So long as they could not get close, even the strongest Sword Master was nothing more
than useless.
Russellent began casting without delay. Now that he had returned to his true form, the magic he manifested was dragon-tongue
magic, and there was no need for an incantation.
“Uagh!”
Wilkerson was thrown into panic when he suddenly found himself soaring into the air. He had been running with all his might,
only for his body to abruptly float upward. Once his feet had left the ground, there was no way running
could be of any use.
Startled, Wilkerson thrashed about and looked around. When he saw his subordinate
knights flailing in the air with him, a dark expression appeared on his face. They had been struck
by the dragon’s magic before they had even managed to approach.
“I’ll teach you what happens to those who dare attack a dragon.”
Along with that merciless declaration, massive explosions erupted on both sides of Wilkerson.
Kwa-kwa-kwaang!
They were explosions so tremendous that the searing heat forced him to squeeze his eyes shut. When Wilkerson opened
his eyes, fragments of flesh and pieces of armor from his shattered subordinate knights struck his body.
Thudududuk.
Wilkerson’s face turned ashen in an instant from despair. It was the look of a man who had truly realized
the destructive power of a dragon, something he had only ever heard spoken of. But before he could think deeply,
something burrowed into his mind.
“T-this is mind-type magic.”
Realizing what it was, Wilkerson’s eyes flew wide open. He was trying to resist
with every last ounce of strength he had. But it was futile. As Wilkerson struggled while fixed in midair,
the light gradually vanished from his pupils.
“I-it’s over.”
Vertek’s face turned deathly pale as he watched. After the two knights were blown to pieces in midair,
he had tried with all his might to activate teleportation. Whether Wilkerson lived or died,
he had only been trying to save himself.
But teleportation had already been completely sealed. A teleportation interference field had been set up,
encircling the area on all sides, and there was no gap to be found.
With even Wilkerson taken down, there was now absolutely no way to escape. Though he had been released
from the air, Wilkerson merely stood there blankly with his sword hanging limp. At a glance,
it was clear that he had been subdued by the dragon’s mind-type magic.
“How could this happen to me……”
Vertek was truly dumbfounded. When the dragon’s murderous gaze turned toward him,
he wet himself without realizing it.
Drip.
It felt as though the dragon’s massive forepaw would crush him at any moment. After glancing once
at Wilkerson, who stood there like a fool, the dragon slowly began to move.
Thump, thump, thump.
With each step it took, the earth screamed. Perhaps the ground was not solid enough
to withstand the dragon’s immense weight, for deep pits were gouged into it with every step.
“S-spare me.”
Pitifully, Vertek was so terrified that he could not even think of moving. The sight of the strongest
living creature, a dragon, approaching him had completely emptied his mind. But
the dragon was not approaching Vertek as its target.
Thump.
The gigantic foot, which had seemed ready to stomp Vertek flat at any moment, stopped abruptly before him.
With Vertek trembling right before it,
the dragon stared intently behind him. It looked as though it had no interest whatsoever in someone like Vertek.
Soon, a voice like a thunderbolt struck Vertek’s ears.
“At last, we meet.”
Whether Vertek, feeling a sharp pain in his ears, stepped aside or not, the dragon paid no heed
and stared fixedly at one side of the area. At the black-robed
mage walking out from the half-destroyed carriage.
Damon looked at Russellent with expressionless eyes. The bracelets that had been dangling all over his arms
had already shattered into pieces and were scattered across the floor of the carriage. Of course, the magic circle as well
had failed to withstand the excessive rearrangement of mana and had been destroyed.
After glancing at the dragon, Damon turned his head. Behind him stood a carriage covered
by a blue veil of light, and inside it, several pairs of eyes were looking at him
with anxious gazes.
The one who had covered the carriage in which the mercenaries were trapped with a shield, saving them
from the Killing Fog, was none other than him. Though Vertek had been meticulous,
with his skill, he could never have restrained Damon in the first place. Recalling that, a faint smile appeared on Damon’s face.
“They were worth taking as comrades after all……”
In truth, he had deliberately pretended to be subdued. Had he so wished, someone like Vertek
could have died and revived a hundred times and still never captured him. But Damon had deliberately chosen
the path of being arrested. Because he had decided to test the mercenaries’ hearts once.
He had bestowed a favor on them and helped establish the framework of the Shura Death Spirit Heart Technique, but the human heart
was, by nature, unknowable. That was why Damon had deliberately created a crisis and driven the mercenaries into a corner.
When people were placed in desperate circumstances, their true hearts were certain to reveal themselves……
Damon’s expectations had not been wrong. The mercenaries had acknowledged him as a comrade,
even at the risk of punishment. Though it may have been an unavoidable decision, Damon
was sufficiently satisfied. At the very least, it seemed he would not be stabbed in the back by them……
After looking over the faces of the mercenaries trapped in the carriage one by one, Damon slowly turned his head.
The Black Dragon’s eyes, burning as though ablaze, were glaring at him as if to devour him.
Meeting its gaze, Damon grinned.
“You worked hard chasing me all the way here.”
A strange light appeared in Russellent’s eyes. The other party’s attitude instead gave the impression
that he had been waiting for him to come. Like the composure of one who possessed power. Russellent
shook his head, casting off the ominous feeling. Thinking that a mere mage like him
could not possibly harm him, Russellent growled savagely.
“Abominable wretch. To think a mere human would dare steal a dragon’s repository of magic and flee……”
“……”
“Increcia is the magical repository where only the most important treasures gathered by all the dragons
of Truvenia are stored. Since you stole that Increcia, even dying a hundred times
would not be enough for you.”
The ones startled by Russellent’s words were, rather, the mercenaries. They had never even dreamed that there existed
a human with the nerve to steal the magical repository of the dragons…… The same was true
for Vertek and the four paladins, who stood tensely. They truly had not known that the black mage
had done such a thing. Paying no attention to the humans’ reactions, Russellent stared only
at Damon.
“Though the Green Dragon Zicreight died by your hand, I will not take issue with that. How pathetic
must he have been to be killed by a mere human mage? But what truly cannot be forgiven
is the sin of stealing Increcia. That is something not only you, but even the lives of your entire
race could never repay. Therefore, here and now, I will collect the price of your crime.”
It was a stern threat, but Damon was not cowed in the slightest. Instead, he kept smiling
and gently provoking Russellent.
“How do you plan to collect it? I’m not particularly rich, so it’ll be hard for me to pay the price of my crime……”
“……”
“How about this? There were quite a lot of treasures inside Increcia. I’ll take a few out
and give them to you, so why don’t we call that payment enough?”
Russellent, speechless for a moment out of sheer disbelief, erupted in fierce rage.
“You lowly human truly do not know how high the heavens are. I shall tear you to pieces at once
and punish you for your insolence!”
At the same time, tremendous waves of mana surged around Russellent’s body. It was a vast whirlwind
of mana so powerful that the hem of Damon’s robe fluttered despite his standing some distance away.
But Damon was not flustered in the slightest. Perhaps because the object of his revenge stood before his eyes,
his gaze was sinking even deeper……
“Now, now. Calm down. You should at least look at the treasure before bargaining. What good comes from being hasty?”
After speaking, Damon opened Increcia. At the moment Russellent, who had been about to deploy magic,
hesitated upon seeing Increcia, Damon shouted like a thunderclap.
“My warriors! The time for vengeance has come. The source of all that took everything from you
stands right before you. Come forth at once and repay your resentment a hundredfold!”
As soon as his words ended, four streaks of black light shot out from within Increcia like lightning.
Without the slightest hesitation, the dark lights charged in a straight line toward Russellent.
At the same time, a voice that seemed to flow from the underworld pierced Russellent’s ears.
“We have waited for this moment with bated breath……”
The lights rushing forward while pouring out streams of eerie glare were none other than Death Knights.
They were wraiths who had lost their lord and families to dragons and wandered endlessly through this world.
For five hundred years, they had chewed over their grudges countless times and waited only for the day
of revenge, and at last, they had obtained their opportunity. Having used their souls as the medium
to gain the cursed bodies of Death Knights, gnashing their teeth and nursing their resentment, they had finally
come face-to-face with a dragon. Since it was the enemy they had longed to meet even in their dreams,
they did not hesitate in the slightest.
Chururururu.
The Death Knight flying at the very front, gripping the Rehert Saber said to symbolize
the imperial house of Ikarot, was Helbertron. With the entire blade covered in a dark Aura Blade
as he launched himself forward, rays of fury streamed from his eyes. How long
had he waited for this moment? Upon seeing the source that had taken everything from him,
there existed in his mind no thought but revenge.
The Death Knight following close behind him was Reindelph. From the hand gripping
his Skull Blade, an aura naturally flowed forth as if he would mercilessly sever the dragon’s head.
Behind him, Primberg supported them with the enormous Giant Killer, and Salamis as well
charged forward without hesitation, flashing the keen edge of his saber. The Death Knights’ bodies,
imbued with dark fighting spirit, became like mist as they swept down upon the dragon.
Seeing that, Russellent was startled.
“Th-those are Death Knights? I see. So that was why the bastard was hiding in Sebain.”
Though somewhat surprised, Russellent quickly regained his composure. The opponents attacking him
were clearly master-class Death Knights at a glance. But Russellent had nothing to fear.
As long as he did not allow them to approach, they were no different from human Sword Masters.
Except that they could not be subdued with mind-type magic……
A bloody light flowed through Russellent’s pupils.
“How foolish. Did you think to lure me here by relying on mere Death Knights? I will make you feel
to your bones how grave a miscalculation that was.”
After speaking, Russellent swiftly rearranged his mana. Death Knights of that caliber were in fact
a little more threatening than the human Sword Master he had subdued earlier, so it seemed he would have to finish them off
with high-circle magic.
“First, I’ll have to suspend them in the air. Then, if I burn them away without a trace with Lightning Burst,
no matter how undead they are, they won’t be able to revive.”
His thoughts were long, but his actions took place in an instant. When Russellent lightly waved his hand,
the Death Knights, who had been charging fiercely, suddenly floated up into the air.
Not missing that opening, Russellent deployed Lightning Burst. Lightning Burst boasted destructive power
at least ten times greater than Chain Lightning. Since it was an eighth-circle spell, it was obvious
that even Death Knights with resistance to magical attacks would be turned to ash in a single blow.
As he looked at the bluish light fired toward the Death Knights, Russellent was certain
that his prediction would not be wrong. However……
Papapapat.
By some coincidence, just before Lightning Burst struck, the Death Knights were released from the magic.
Because their skills were so outstanding, the Death Knights evaded Lightning Burst
with exquisitely timed movements. It was, quite literally, by a hair’s breadth. Momentarily stunned
by the unexpected turn of events, Russellent soon grasped the situation.
“To think you dare interfere with my spellcasting……”
He looked toward one side with furious eyes. There stood the abominable mage,
smiling while forming hand seals. The one who had dispelled the magic fixing the Death Knights
in midair was none other than him.
“You seem to have forgotten me. Though I may not be able to harm you, with my skill,
I can interfere with the magic you deploy as much as I like.”
“You bastard!”
With rage surging to the top of his head, Russellent blindly fired Lightning Burst.