Chapter 427

Chapter 427

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 427: Hierarchy

“[Do you know who I am?! Tell the Crown Prince to come out!!]”

A shout delivered with the full force of the Fear effect, something I’ve become quite accustomed to lately.

Even without using my dragon form, and despite not being as effective as it is on dwarves… it was still enough to silence most of the assembled troops.

“Ahahaha!”

…Amidst only Iona’s laughter, as if she were watching an entertaining spectacle, a beast-man stepped forward with a solemn expression.

Could he be related to the snake beast-man I initially knocked out? He was a middle-aged man, identical to the gatekeeper, except for being bald.

Judging by his shining armor, unlike the others, he must hold a rather high position. A general, perhaps?

“Who are you to cause such a disturbance here?! Do you not know that this is the front line defending against the forces of the Serpentine Leisure? Surely you aren’t a traitor to humanity?! And to so lightly summon the Crown Prince of Crasius…”

Was he planning to fight if necessary? He kept observing me and gauging the distance even as he spoke.

A fine soldier, indeed. But if he had this much courage, he should have fought when the Grotesque Proliferation invaded.

I hadn’t paid much attention to Crasius until now, partly because they hadn’t been on my radar, and partly because we had somehow won without anyone dying or getting seriously injured.

“Ha.”

Once I thought about it, my anger began to rise gradually. It was a true gradient of fury.

The intensity, surprising even myself, manifested directly in my body.

“A traitor to humanity?! Earlier, I was called a coward, this is truly absurd…”

My legs were akimbo, a sneering, obnoxious demeanor. It was a frivolous, almost cheap atmosphere, but… it didn’t last long.

“[If you’re so curious who I am, open your eyes wide and look closely.]”

“What…?”

The Fear effect, now infused with my magic, pressed down on the surroundings with an incomparable weight.

Perhaps because I drew too much on the dragon’s power, my dragon form was spontaneously activated.

Horns protruded from my forehead, wings unfurled from my back, and a thick tail slammed against the ground.

Anyone could see it was a dragon, so this would be a more certain proof than an identification card…

“A-A demon! All troops, attack! Absolutely do not let him approach His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!”

“……”

So that’s how it looks. Dragons and demons do have some similarities…

I sighed deeply, looking at the incoming magic and arrows.

“You guys need to get hit a bit.”

Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.

—————

Crash!

“Argh!”

A trembling beast-man warrior, who courageously charged forward, flew through the air without even swinging his weapon once.

He then crashed into a corner and was knocked unconscious. It was the result of a casual punch from Yandel.

“Master seems excited.”

“Well… he seems to have a lot of pent-up feelings about Crasius.”

“Elisha, are you okay? If anything had gone wrong, not only us but even the Alfheim Kingdom would have nearly collapsed.”

“…Honestly, it would be a lie to say I’m okay. The images of the prisoners the Grotesque Proliferation overtly displayed are still vivid in my mind. It sends shivers down my spine just thinking I could have ended up like that.”

Elisha sighed deeply. But soon after, she chuckled at Yandel, who was recklessly unleashing Fear and going wild.

“Still, though. It’s okay because there’s someone getting angry like this on my behalf.”

“Yeah. If Elisha’s okay, that’s all that matters. By the way, isn’t Master not using any magic other than Physical Enhancement right now?”

“Oh, no way. At least a shield… Huh?! He’s really fighting bare-handed?!”

Incoming magic scattered and disappeared the moment it got close. It must be that it couldn’t penetrate the type of magic field formed by the Dragon Heart’s immense mana manipulation power.

Arrows? It’s natural for ordinary arrows not to scratch scales, but even arrows imbued with aura were no different.

This was because the aura dispersed the moment it touched the scales.

Normally, it’s difficult to infuse a large amount of aura into arrows, so it wouldn’t be surprising that they couldn’t penetrate the resistance of dragon scales.

Of course, if it were a truly skilled archer, it would be a different story… but those renowned as archers were always elves, and perhaps having heard about Yandel in advance, the elf mercenaries stationed here had already withdrawn.

They were merely watching the battered soldiers with the characteristic cold, haughty gaze of elves.

By the way, the dwarves either fainted when Fear first activated, or they’re trembling in a corner, having run away.

“Y-Yes, arrows can be like that. But for swords that can carry a large amount of aura, a shield…”

“He’s not using it?”

“Why on earth?!”

Swords were always the closest friends of aura users because their destructive power could be harnessed even without being sent far from the body; they just needed to be circulated.

And the weapons flying with considerable might, as expected of the beast-folk who have many excellent warriors, were…

“Is it even possible for all of them to be broken by a single dagger?!”

“Wow… I hadn’t realized how amazing it was, but seeing it like this, Ms. Faye really made an incredible weapon.”

“Ahem.”

Occasionally, it’s enveloped in dazzling light, but other than that, a dagger devoid of any aura still cuts through heavily imbued aura weapons with ease.

At this, Elisha was aghast, Carla was impressed, and Faye cleared her throat.

“Ahem…!”

She did it twice because it was important.

Yandel at this moment was like a storm. He dodged every attack from all directions with minimal movement, countered them with optimal trajectories, and struck back at opponents in unexpected ways.

With his dragon form, Physical Enhancement, the World Tree’s Blessing, the World Tree’s Essence, and the system correction combined, Yandel was like a natural disaster even without using magic.

…Though there was the minor problem that his opponents were technically allies.

But the beast-men aren’t fools. Once they realized that Yandel overwhelmed them in every aspect, they wouldn’t foolishly charge in one by one to be defeated one by one.

The problem is that quite a few people have already withdrawn.

“Group attack! Group attack! Ugh! What are the mercenaries doing?! And why are the priests retreating?! Isn’t that demon clearly evil?!”

“How could I point a weapon at my benefactor?”

“Waaah, baby dwarf, even if you eat me, I won’t taste good, please save me.”

“The Righteous Radiance forbids the use of divine power against that person.”

“Uh, um. Now that I see it, no one seems to be dead, so do we really need to fight? I think we should stop when he lets up…”

The elf shook her head resolutely, while the dwarf was simply out of his mind. The priest of the Church of Righteous Radiance followed Solaris’s will, and the human mercenary wisely kept his distance.

This was natural, as Yandel was stubbornly only beating up beast-men and merely throwing other races far away.

In fact, many people were unconscious, and since no one had died, the beast-man general also realized that Yandel wasn’t a demon… but it was too late to stop now.

This was no one else’s territory but Crasius, and wasn’t it a legion personally led by the Crown Prince?

Even if he wasn’t an enemy, being utterly defeated by one person was a massive loss of face.

…And most importantly, the general, who had witnessed his own son rendered unconscious before his eyes, had no desire to retreat.

“You useless lot! Everyone, make way! I’ll handle this myself!”

He valiantly grabbed his scimitar and joined the combined attack, and then…

Thwack!

“Gah!”

He was caught by the concentrated Fear, couldn’t properly react, and was knocked unconscious with a single blow.

“Well done, Student Yandel! That’s it! You remembered what Professor Iona taught you! Always beat them unilaterally!”

Iona, clapping with emotion at the sight, felt proud as an educator. A piece of dried jerky dangled from her mouth, though no one knew where she had gotten it.

She looked like enjoyment itself.

At this, the beast-man warriors cautiously began to approach. Since Yandel was no match for them, they intended to take the defenseless other party members hostage.

However, their sneak attack was impossible from the start.

Thump!

“This is…!”

“Tsk! A barrier!”

This was because Helena had already erected a Divine Barrier, anticipating this.

Unlike Iona, who was engrossed in cheering as if enjoying a sport, Iris, who tilted her head, wondering if this was right, asked Helena.

“By the way, is this really okay? No matter what, they’re allies, shouldn’t we clarify the misunderstanding and stop soon? Right now, it’s just the small fry who have hastily gathered, but it’ll get troublesome if a Grand Warrior-class arrives later after grasping the situation.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Lady Iris.”

“Hmm. You, too, were thinking of stopping the Master now. Then let’s go together. With one burst of my charm…”

“We just need to heal everyone who’s hurt. They’re all just unconscious; nothing’s broken, right?”

“……”

“Ah. Brother is so kind. If it were me, I would have broken at least an arm or a leg.”

“H-Hmph!”

Iris had forgotten! Helena was the Saintess of Righteous Radiance. In other words, one of the most prominent cult-haters on the Eurelia Continent!

Naturally, she couldn’t think well of the beast-men who ran away, fearing the battle against the Evil God…!

Thinking that only she and Elisha were normal here, Iris trembled, grabbing her student’s clothes.

But fortunately or unfortunately, this didn’t last long.

At Yandel’s feet, having already defeated most of the beast-men, appeared the Crown Prince he had been searching for, along with two Grand Warriors who seemed to be his escorts and aides.

Even Yandel, no matter how excited he was, with two Grand Warriors comparable to high-level magicians in front of him…

“Blink!”

“What?!”

Far from stopping, he pulled out magic he had hidden until now and took the Crown Prince hostage in an instant!

The Crown Prince’s face turned pale as a sharp dagger appeared before his neck in the blink of an eye, and as the two Grand Warriors beside him gasped in horror and drew their weapons.

Yandel, at the center of all the killing intent, hostility, and awe, declared proudly:

“Sign it!”

“What…”

“Crasius is a coward who ran away, fearing the Grotesque Proliferation! Sign it!”

“……”

Solaris didn’t miss this masterpiece and boasted about it to the other gods.

The Circulating Life was a little envious.