A sticky gleam of terror passed through his eyes.
“G-Good heavens, this is impossible!”
There, an enormous fireball was wavering as if it would cover the entire sky. It was right above the orc formation. The fireball, flickering with blue flames, was growing larger and larger with every passing moment. At the same time, a thunderous voice pierced through the noise of the battlefield and rang out far and wide.
“Humans. You dare speak of magic before a dragon? For those who learned by stealing, you are remarkably brazen. Now I, Verkis, shall show you what true magic is.”
The voice rang clearly in the ears of the soldiers locked in battle with the orc infantry.
“A-a dragon.”
“A dragon has appeared.”
With that unknown voice echoing across the field, the soldiers’ morale vanished without a trace. Such was the absolute pressure brought by the existence known as a dragon.
Kwakakakaka.
The fireball, swollen to a tremendous size, pressed down from the air as if to overawe the soldiers, expanding for a while longer. Then, at a certain moment, it emitted a fierce light and shot forward at high speed. Its target was one side of the human formation.
Kwakakakakwang.
An immense explosion erupted where the fireball struck. It was, quite literally, an earth-shaking blast. Judging by its form alone, one might have guessed it to be the beginner attack spell Fire Ball, but its power was nearly on the level of Hell Fire. By this single attack, nearly a thousand soldiers were vaporized on the spot. Along with three or four mages who had failed to escape in time. Watching the sight, Doyle’s face turned ashen-black.
“I-it’s no use. The dragon has already pinpointed every last mage.”
The unfamiliar trace of mana coiling around his body. What he presumed to be tracking magic was following him wherever he moved. Even with his magical skill, he could not remove it.
A bitter cry burst from his lips.
“I-it’s over.”
Only then did Doyle understand why the dragon had appeared so late. It had clearly cast tracking magic in secret and waited in order to eliminate every mage. In the meantime, the second and third magical attacks came flying in. Each one aimed precisely toward the direction of a fleeing mage.
Puh-pung.
The targeted mages could not evade in the end and were reduced to a handful of ash. Along with the unlucky soldiers nearby.
“N-no!”
Seeing one of his sorceresses, unable to overcome her fear, attempt teleportation, Doyle roared. If the dragon had gone so far as to deploy tracking magic, then it had to be assumed that a spatial distortion field had already been set up as well. Judging by the situation, the chances of teleportation succeeding were extremely slim.
“Aaaagh!”
With a single scream, the body of the sorceress who had attempted teleportation disintegrated in midair. For someone of her ability to break through a spatial distortion field cast by a dragon was, quite literally, absurd. It was something even Doyle, whose level was higher than hers, could not do… Meanwhile, three or four more mages were struck by attacks and lost their lives.
“Uaaaaaagh!”
The surviving mages, too, had no idea what to do and could only flounder in panic.
Now the human formation was on the verge of collapse. The mages, who should have been pouring out continuous attacks, were busy merely trying to flee, while the orc infantry continued to surge in, packed tight. With the dragon’s appearance, the soldiers had lost their will to fight in an instant.
“If we’re pushed back here, it’s over!”
“We must defend this place with our lives!”
The unit commanders were shouting themselves hoarse to encourage them, but it was nowhere near enough to restore a battle line that had once collapsed. The orc infantry, their momentum revived, continued to press forward, and the defensive line of the Carnatic Plain, which had stood as the final bastion, was collapsing just like that.
“Just as I thought.”
Sergei, who had been quietly watching the defensive line steadily crumble, muttered in a low voice. He had already predicted in advance that the dragon would join the battle. With the mages neutralized, the orc army’s spirits had risen to the limit, and they were driving back the soldiers with unstoppable force. Its collapse was literally only a matter of time. And yet, on the face of Sergei, the commander-in-chief of the allied forces, there was no particular expression of urgency.
“For the second plan, we’ll have to abandon this place now.”
Sergei shook his head bitterly and called his adjutant.
“You called, sir?”
“Inform the commanders of every level at once. Tell them they must defend this place with their lives. Tell them they must delay the enemy’s advance by any means necessary.”
“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
Even as an adjutant, there was no way he did not know the tide of battle was hopeless. And yet he was issuing the absurd order to defend their position…
“It is an order. You will hurry and deliver it.”
At Sergei’s irritated rebuke, the adjutant hurriedly bent at the waist.
“Y-yes, sir.”
After casting one glance at the adjutant as he rushed away, Sergei turned his head.
There stood his confidant, Benitez, wearing a sorrowful expression. He had already sensed that the adjutant who had just run off would find it difficult to survive.
“Are the preparations complete?”
“Yes. Everything is perfectly prepared. I have already identified an area beyond the reach of the dragon’s teleportation distortion field, so you need not worry about teleporting to Feldrian.”
“Good. Then we abandon this place. Hurry and execute the teleportation…”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Having finished speaking, Sergei strode away. He believed that if it was Benitez, he would be fully capable of evading the dragon’s clutches and teleporting them. Benitez glanced at the soldiers being endlessly slaughtered, then quickly followed after Sergei.
The Carnatic defensive line was on the verge of collapse.
Kwakakakaka.
Each time an attack came from the orc formation, without fail, two or three mages lost their lives. The mage chosen as the target could not escape the dragon’s grasp no matter what they did. Even if they were mixed in among the soldiers, the dragon’s Fire Ball invariably plunged down toward that very spot. The more it happened, the fewer mages remained.
“There’s n-no chance of victory.”
Because of the fact that the dragon had joined the battle, the soldiers’ morale plummeted to the ground. They instinctively understood that once all the mages had been dealt with, they would be next. Now the soldiers no longer dared to fight and began thrashing about wildly, each seeking a way to survive.
“It’s no use.”
Doyle muttered with a wretched expression. All the mages under his command had already been killed. Of course, Doyle himself had also once been targeted by the dragon’s attack. But Doyle was indeed a mage who prided himself on being among the highest-ranked of the mages gathered here.
“Damn it!”
When the attack came flying in, he instantly cast Blink, then deployed Haste, and barely managed to escape the attack range. However, though he had been able to avoid one attack, it seemed difficult to avoid any more. Since the dragon’s detection magic had already clearly locked onto him, there was no doubt that an additional attack would come. As Doyle desperately threw himself about, dodging this way and that, a familiar voice reached his ears.
“Master!”
When he turned his head, Damon was there, staring at him with a horrified expression. Since he too had cast Haste, it seemed he had been able to follow him. Confirming Damon’s face, Doyle stopped in place with a distorted expression.
“If we remain here, we cannot survive. Let us leave this place.”
Doyle instantly searched for a range untouched by the spatial distortion field. He intended to teleport far away together with Damon. He did not know the coordinates of where to warp, and there was no guarantee of success, but Doyle nevertheless began earnestly gathering the surrounding mana. However, the dragon’s grasp was already drawing near him.
“Damn.”
A despairing cry burst from Doyle’s lips. He had felt that fireball shooting toward the direction where he stood. He could not even think of blocking it, and dodging was even more impossible. He could truly feel, down to his bones, the difference in level between a human mage and a dragon. Fortunately, he had found a range the spatial distortion field did not reach, but warping in this state seemed utterly impossible. No matter how he calculated it, he could not gather the mana needed for teleportation before being struck.
“It’s interfering with my gathering of mana right now.”
Giving up on fleeing, Doyle instead used the mana he had gathered to deploy a Shield. Of course, blocking the attack with this would quite literally be impossible, but Doyle still wanted to come up with some sort of measure. At that moment, Damon’s anxious figure was reflected in Doyle’s eyes.
“I see.”
In that desperate moment, Doyle finally realized what he had to do. By now, he had become the dragon’s target. No effort would allow him to escape. In other words, there was absolutely no possibility of survival.
But Damon was the exception. He was still a low-level mage. There was a high chance that the dragon was paying no attention to Damon. Doyle resolved that he had to save at least the disciple he had poured his heart and blood into raising, no matter what. Having settled his heart, Doyle shouted Damon’s name.
“Damon!”
“Yes, Master!”
To Damon, who hurriedly ran over, Doyle stretched out a finger and pointed to one side. Over there, a few surviving guards were scattered and retreating.
“Go to them immediately.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Doyle urgently cast a Shield over the bewildered Damon’s body. Using the mana he had gathered, he spread the strongest defensive barrier he could over his disciple’s body. Then he shouted once more at his disciple, who still did not understand what was happening.
“Go to them at once. Hurry!”
Without even the leisure to question him, Damon began to run. In the distance, he could see Macmillan fleeing with a look of utter panic. Thinking that he had to look after him, Damon headed that way first.
“Farewell, Damon. You alone must survive, no matter what. For this master, taking you as my disciple seems to have been the fortune of a lifetime.”
Before he knew it, dew had gathered in Doyle’s wrinkled old eyes. The fireball of terror was already plunging straight down toward him. With his heart at ease, Doyle tightly closed his eyes and awaited the moment of death. Praying that Damon, the disciple who had inherited his teachings, would somehow survive…