The dwarf chieftain and Grand Elder Schneider departed for Duke Pershtein’s
main camp with an escort force of around five hundred men. After they disappeared from sight, Damon burst into laughter as though greatly amused.
“Those stupid orcs have earned the wrath of many races over the past five hundred years.
All without realizing they were digging their own graves.”
Shrekheimer nodded as if in agreement.
“Orcs fundamentally lack the concept of embracing other races. If they had the strength,
they would bare their fangs without hesitation, even if their opponent were a dragon.”
“At any rate, thanks to their simplicity, things should proceed relatively smoothly. Five hundred years ago, we had to fight
with only human strength, but now the situation is a little different.”
As Damon and Shrekheimer were chatting and laughing, the sudden sound of a bell rang out.
It was the emergency bell sounded when an enemy attack occurred.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
A grave look appeared on Shrekheimer’s face.
“Judging by the location and direction of the bell, it seems something has happened near the portal.”
Damon was already preparing for battle.
“So the dragons have finally made their move. I wonder how many of them came?”
Kasim and the other mercenaries also hurried to ready themselves for deployment.
The bell continued to ring without pause even then.
“It seems we must hurry to the portal.
Since the bell has not stopped, a powerful enemy must have appeared.”
Damon and Shrekheimer had already launched themselves forward.
“Nine times out of ten, it will be dragons. The problem is how many of them attacked. If there are more than three, it will be difficult…
First, we’ll hide in the forest and assess the enemy’s scale before deciding.”
The members of the Kasim Mercenary Corps were running frantically toward the portal.
Behind them, the soldiers of the base followed with weapons gripped tightly in their hands.
As the most important location to the punitive force, a strict defensive line had been established around the Dark Portal.
Most of the defending troops were deployed with anti-air defense in mind, because
the place where the portal was located was extremely difficult to attack by land.
The Elven Forest blocked the front, and behind it stood a rugged mountain range so steep one would scarcely dare to climb it,
while on both sides the soldiers of the punitive force had built mountain fortresses here and there to form a defensive line,
making it truly impregnable to ground forces. However, the punitive force had a terrifying flying enemy
known as dragons. Because of that, they had no choice but to pay such close attention to anti-air defense.
Several hundred mages were stationed around the portal at all times, taking turns deploying shields. Except when troops were moving,
the portal remained protected by multiple layers of Force shields. And on the watchtowers built at key points
around the portal, skilled archers were stationed to respond to any possible air raid.
Yet all those human efforts could not exert much strength before the mighty beings called dragons…
The area around the portal had become complete chaos.
Whoooosh!
Most of the sturdily built watchtowers were engulfed in flames, and the anti-air positions
that were diligently firing crossbows were being neutralized one after another. All that devastation was being carried out
by three dragons circling high in the sky and pouring down attack magic. Against their chained assaults, the soldiers were helpless.
“Fire! I said fire!”
The squad leaders moved about, urging them on, but unfortunately, arrow attacks did not work against dragons.
Because they were flying so high, few arrows even reached them, and even if they did hit,
they could not pierce dragon scales, which were harder than steel.
Thus, the soldiers concentrated their fire on the dragons’ wings. If a dragon was shot in the wing and brought down,
the knights could attack while it was still disoriented and finish it off.
But it was futile.
The dragons were prudently launching attack magic from outside the range of quarrels and crossbows.
Arrow attacks repeatedly came to nothing, and the mages’ magical attacks likewise failed to affect the dragons.
All the mages except those guarding the portal fired the strongest
attack spells they could use, but they could not pierce the shields wrapped around the dragons’ bodies.
The dragons were leisurely allowing the attacks to strike them while steadily neutralizing the defensive line.
“It… it doesn’t work.”
The soldiers lost heart. It was a moment in which they could fully realize why dragons were called the strongest living beings.
When they had first arrived in Truvenia and swept through the scattered orc tribes
with irresistible momentum, they had not feared dragons at all. There had even been those who openly mocked
the Truvenians who had been defeated by the orcs.
“You mean you lost the continent to mere creatures like these?”
But once they actually felt the destructive power of dragons, even trained soldiers could not help falling into panic.
They were painfully realizing the terror the old Truvenian soldiers had felt.
Even so, they could not simply stand there dazed and be slaughtered.
“We have the Dragon Slayer. So hold out just a little longer!”
The squad leaders shouted themselves hoarse as they encouraged the men, and the soldiers once again began pouring out ineffective attacks.
The attacks of the dragons active high in the sky were likewise failing to achieve decisive results. First of all, the dragons
were unable to fly low. Though their bodies were covered in scales harder than steel,
the same could not be said of their wings.
If their wings were damaged by arrow fire and they crashed, the waiting knights would swarm them like bees.
The dragons knew full well that if that happened, it would be the end. Furthermore, aerial attacks were only effective
against the anti-air positions installed here and there, and could not inflict any real damage on the portal itself.
Dozens of layers of shields were deployed around the portal, and the human mages were guarding those shields
with all their might. Even if one or two shields were destroyed by a dragon’s attack, the waiting
mages would immediately rush in and deploy new ones, so the attacks on the portal repeatedly
came to nothing.
“These insect-like humans…”
Perhaps his anger had boiled over, for one Red Dragon opened his mouth wide.
Whoooosh!
A fierce stream of flame erupted forth. It was the breath, the greatest authority a dragon could wield.
The Red Dragon’s breath struck the shields covering the portal dead on. With terrible screams,
more than ten mages were flung backward.
It seemed they had suffered a heavy shock from the pressure of the breath applied to the shields. Because of the excessive manipulation of mana,
fresh blood was flowing from the noses and mouths of the fallen mages. Yet the breath attack
also came to nothing. The waiting mages rushed in and quickly filled the gap.
The Red Dragon glared at the mages with furious eyes.
“We must eliminate those wretches first before we can destroy the portal…”
However, it was impossible from the outset to annihilate the scattered mages through aerial attacks alone. The mages
hiding in positions installed throughout the area could only be dealt with from the ground.
Even so, descending to the ground was no different from suicide, so the dragons had no choice but to
devote themselves to aerial attacks, even though they could hardly expect any significant effect.
The members of the Kasim Mercenary Corps, having arrived at the portal, were concealed in the forest as they observed the situation.
The knights who had come with them hurried out to support their comrades, but they did not rashly step onto the front line.
Damon narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sky.
“Hm. Three of them…”
Sitting close beside him, Shrekheimer explained his analysis of the situation.
“Judging by their size, there is one Ancient-class Gold Dragon and two Wyrm-class dragons. In particular, the Blue Dragon seems
to have only recently reached the Wyrm class.”
“Judging by the situation, this will be a little difficult.”
Damon shook his head with a troubled expression. That was because the number of dragons the Kasim Mercenary Corps could handle
was at most two. To face dragons pouring attacks from the sky,
they had to engage in aerial combat from the very beginning, but there were only two
Bone Dragons capable of carrying the members and fighting in the air.
Moreover, unlike dragons capable of long-range attacks, the Death Knights riding the Bone Dragons had to engage strictly
in close combat. Because of that, overcoming the numerical disadvantage of three against two seemed extremely difficult.
After thinking it over again and again, Damon eventually decided to ask Katroi for help.
Turning his head, Damon spoke in a subtle tone.
“It seems I’ll need your help this time.”
However, Katroi shook his head before even hearing Damon out.
Perhaps because he had been holed up in the base’s liquor store and dragged out by force, he did not look to be in a very good mood.
“Have you already forgotten? I told you I would never join a fight against dragons.”
A smile appeared at the corners of Damon’s mouth. He had already devised a scheme to handle Katroi.
“I heard that among dragons, the ones that can fly the fastest are Blue Dragons. Is that true?”
As expected, Katroi flared up.
“You lunatic. Blue Dragons may be fairly fast, but White Dragons are no pushovers either.
It’s just that they haven’t had the opportunity to prove it.”
“Then why not take this chance to prove it?”
A puzzled look appeared on Katroi’s face.
“What do you mean?”
Damon stretched out a finger and pointed at the Blue Dragon that had just fired its breath.
“There happens to be a suitable one right there. Its size is similar to yours, so I don’t think you’ll be easily outmatched. Want to give it a try?
You said you wouldn’t fight, but surely you can lure it far away?”
Katroi narrowed his eyes and looked at the Blue Dragon, then shook his head as if reluctant.
“For some reason, I don’t feel like doing that.”
“You must be afraid you’ll get caught by the dragons later and be scolded.”
“What did you say?”
Damon continued to scratch at Katroi’s pride.
“Be honest. You don’t have the confidence to lure away a Blue Dragon, do you?
So the fastest-flying dragon really was the Blue Dragon after all.”
In the end, Katroi fell for Damon’s petty trick.
“You damned bastard. I’ll show you clearly this time.
At least when it comes to flying ability, White Dragons are by no means inferior to Blue Dragons…”
“Then prove it.”
“Fine.”
Without realizing he had fallen for Damon’s ploy, Katroi rose to his feet with great spirit. When he cast Polymorph,
the enormous majesty of a White Dragon was revealed. The members watching him kept shaking their heads
as they tried to hold back their laughter.
It was because Katroi, who usually prided himself on being wise yet still fell for Damon’s shallow tricks, was so funny they could hardly stand it.
As Katroi was about to take off, Damon suddenly shouted at him.
“Provoke him appropriately and lure him away. Don’t go too deep and get foolishly taken down…”
“Don’t worry. You just mind your own business.”
Katroi coldly cut him off and soared into the air, flapping his wings. He flew in a straight line
toward the Blue Dragon that was continuously pouring out attack magic from the outskirts.