Ch.109Chapter 109 – Black Dragon Yuto (2)

Though the dragon’s wing had been pierced, it was by no means weak.

That’s why I remained vigilant, calmly dodging the claws it swung at me.

I seized the opening in its attack and swung my halberd.

-Clang!

“As expected, this isn’t enough?”

Despite being bombarded earlier, the scales remained just as hard.

Even though its combat ability had drastically decreased after losing its flight capability, those scales were why it still posed a threat.

Still, it was a living creature.

When attacked, it naturally had to focus its attention in that direction.

Of course, its gaze was fixed on me.

“Haaah!!”

I saw Beatrice flying in to deliver a punch, striking at the opening the dragon had shown.

This time, her punch seemed deliberately powerful—when her fist connected with the scales, cracks appeared in those sturdy defenses.

Perhaps surprised by its cracking scales, the dragon retreated slightly.

Then its mouth opened, and lightning began gathering inside.

“A breath attack is coming!”

I shouted as I saw the lightning in its mouth reach a critical point.

It was about to unleash its breath to attack all of us fighting it directly.

And immediately, Christina’s shield of light deployed right in front of me.

‘She’s already in position.’

Sera and Christina were originally support roles.

Naturally, they had moved to safety from the beginning.

Christina’s support meant that both of them had relocated to a secure position.

And on this battlefield, they weren’t the only ones supporting us.

As if Christina’s shield were a signal, shields of light in various colors appeared, blocking the lightning.

Though one shield alone could barely withstand the attack for a moment, when layered together, they began to weaken the breath’s power.

Meanwhile, those of us fighting the dragon could quickly move to avoid the breath attack.

[Damn you, slaves of the gods!]

The dragon growled fiercely, looking up at the wall.

Looking up, I could see Christina and many priests gazing down at the dragon.

The priests of the Hati and Zeolei Orders joined forces, and numerous divine spells began raining down upon us.

Strengthening blessings activated immediately, making those fighting on the front lines move even faster.

I saw Ludger dash forward, kicking off the ground.

He gathered his breath slightly and swung his sword once.

A spray of blood erupted from the dragon’s foreleg.

[You damned creatures…!]

The dragon shouted, perhaps shocked that Ludger’s attack had easily penetrated its tough scales.

I swung my halberd, targeting the dragon’s tail as it momentarily stopped moving.

With the sound of shattering scales, my halberd successfully struck down on its tail.

[You bastard!]

The dragon hastily swung its tail.

However, my body, already enhanced by blessings, could easily respond to the dragon’s sudden attack.

I dodged lightly and charged straight toward the dragon with my halberd raised.

“The leg!”

As I struck its hind leg again, blood began to flow from the dragon’s limb.

I saw it twisting its entire body to regain its posture.

Then it began charging toward the wall, using its massive body.

“It’s targeting the wall!”

When Diana shouted this, the people on the wall in the dragon’s path began to brace themselves for impact.

It seemed the dragon had decided it needed to cut off our support to deal with us.

One person stepped between the dragon and the wall.

“Think I’ll let you do that?!”

It was Aria’s cry, clad in white armor from head to toe.

She had positioned herself between the wall and the dragon, drawing out the full power of her sacred relic armor.

As if she intended to stop the dragon single-handedly.

The dragon continued its charge with a slight smirk, while Aria lowered her stance slightly.

To an observer, it might have looked like an ant trying to stop an elephant’s charge.

-Boom!

A tremendous impact echoed throughout the fortress.

But the sound wasn’t from the dragon colliding with the wall.

Aria had blocked the dragon’s charge with her entire body.

Not a single crack appeared on her sacred armor.

[What…!]

“Get out of my way!”

Aria shouted as she swung her hammer.

Some scales cracked, and the dragon retreated.

It clearly hadn’t expected its body charge to be stopped by such a small person.

Then something shattered with a clinking sound against the dragon’s confused face, enveloping it in black mist.

[Damn alchemist!]

The mist Sera created wouldn’t dissipate just from the dragon shaking its head.

It seemed to have an adhesive quality, obscuring the dragon’s vision.

Previously, the dragon had to use magic to clear away such mist.

But this time was different.

With another sound of breaking glass, black mist covered the dragon’s face again, and each time the dragon cleared it, more mist appeared.

[How many of these did you make…!]

Unfortunately for the dragon, Sera hadn’t been idle during her stay at the fortress.

Supplied with ample materials from the fortress’s stores, she had been steadily creating tools and potions to fight the dragon.

And now she was liberally using those tools to hinder the dragon.

[You miserable little creatures!!]

The dragon roared.

From its perspective, this must be maddening.

Beings it could easily eliminate if it could just get to them.

But with everyone working together and giving their all, even a dragon found itself overwhelmed.

Someone obscured its vision, others disrupted its attacks, and those fighting it directly began inflicting wounds on its body.

The impenetrable defense of its scales was losing its meaning.

[Damn it…!]

A loud clanking sound echoed.

The dragon, which had tried to take flight, hung awkwardly in the air before coming back down.

It had instinctively tried to gain aerial advantage in this unfavorable situation.

The dragon looked around in frustration.

“Those wings are in your way, aren’t they?”

Ludger’s cold voice rang out, and the dragon immediately turned its head.

Without hesitation, Ludger swung his sword.

-Slash!

[ARRRGHH!!]

The dragon’s scream echoed.

Its other relatively intact wing was now half-severed.

Before the dragon’s scream even ended, Diana’s voice rang out again.

“Loading complete!”

At that signal, everyone fighting on the front line began to retreat, and the dragon quickly curled its body.

“Fire!!”

The cannons spewed flames.

During the first barrage, the scales had remained intact, but now they were damaged in various places.

The scales could no longer fully block the cannon fire.

-Gr-RAAAAA!!!!

The dragon let out an agonized scream.

Its proud wings, already impaled by the humans’ massive harpoons and rendered useless, now had the intact side reduced to half.

The dragon, writhing in pain with its scream, was seen curling up its body.

Then blue energy began gathering around the dragon’s body.

“The dragon is preparing magic!”

Sera’s cry rang out.

A tactic it hadn’t used until now.

It was clearly trying to overcome this crisis using magic.

But magic wasn’t something only dragons could use.

A massive magic circle began forming beneath the dragon’s feet.

[What…]

The dragon, clearly surprised that magic not its own was activating during its incantation, frantically looked around for the caster.

And soon the caster caught the dragon’s eye.

“You know what? I’ve been preparing this spell for days just to catch you.”

Beatrice was looking down at the dragon from atop the wall, arms crossed.

Like Sera, she had been preparing for this moment since the first day at the fortress.

With the limited support from the magic tower, she had spent days preparing this spell.

Now, having activated it, she looked down at the dragon with a satisfied smile.

“Do you like it hot?”

As Beatrice finished speaking, a ripple appeared above her head, and a massive meteor materialized.

“Protect the walls!!”

As if they had coordinated beforehand, Aria and the priests joined forces to activate divine spells protecting the walls.

Sacred energy shielded the fortress as the meteor flew toward the dragon.

And the dragon began gathering magical power to block the spell.

[Urgh…!]

Crushed under the massive meteor, the dragon resisted.

Its scales began to melt in the heat, the dragon started to emit painful groans, and the meteor trembled as if about to explode.

[You, damned humans!!!!]

The dragon let out an angry roar.

But the meteor had already reached its critical point, with red energy beginning to flow from within.

-KABOOOOM!!!

An explosion even greater than the cannon barrage occurred.

And the dragon’s form began to be engulfed in flames.

+

The fortress garden was in ruins.

It was the aftermath of the explosion caused by Beatrice’s magic hitting the dragon.

-Click.

“Worth the days of preparation.”

Beatrice took out a cigarette with a tired face.

She seemed inwardly pleased that the magic she had prepared specifically for this moment had been effective.

“If I could use stuff like this freely, I should’ve just become a mage.”

“Shut up. Even I need days to prepare something of this magnitude.”

For a moment, she and I said nothing as we stared at the flames.

Aria and Ludger were the same.

“…I really hope we don’t hear something like ‘not a scratch on me’ now.”

Beatrice said with a slightly contorted face.

The reason she had come down from the wall was purely for confirmation.

Even after expending so many resources, none of us felt certain we had killed it.

It was something everyone present was feeling.

We quietly gripped our weapons, mentally preparing ourselves and waiting.

Soon, the dragon’s figure became visible through the flames.

Bleeding from various places, with scales broken and burned, but definitely alive.

There were no words.

It just slightly turned its massive head, checking its surroundings.

[…I must first express my respect.]

Unlike before, the voice was calm.

It wasn’t the aggressive voice that had been shouting and cursing.

“A monster is still a monster, I see.”

If it had been an ordinary monster, it would have died several times over from the attacks it had endured.

That toughness was becoming tiresome.

While everyone looked at the dragon with such complaints, it began to walk slowly.

One step.

Two steps.

And on the third step, the dragon’s form suddenly began to shrink.

“…What is that?”

Beatrice discarded her cigarette with just a movement of her lips and took a stance.

From within the flames emerged a massive man who seemed well over 2 meters tall.

It was different from when he had appeared as a guard.

A muscular giant with horns on his head and a large black tail began looking down at us.

One eye was missing, accompanied by a scar.

With only one reptilian eye gleaming, he opened his mouth.

[I never thought I’d have to transform into this form.]

With a stature that even made tall people like me and Ludger look up, he spoke.

“So, is that form supposed to be a sign of goodwill?”

The dragon shook his head.

Of course, after being beaten so thoroughly, it would be hard to believe if he suddenly wanted to be friends.

“Is it polymorph?”

Aria asked, but I could instinctively tell.

This wasn’t polymorph.

And as if answering, the dragon spoke.

[This is the form of a warrior.]

It seemed to be something unique to dragons, different from polymorph.

In that form, the dragon stomped his foot once.

Then black armor began to envelop him.

From his legs to his face.

It was black armor that generally resembled a dragon’s form.

Finally, as the helmet completely covered his face, he spoke again.

[My name is Yuto.]

The name of the black dragon I had heard before.

[Yuto, the warrior.]

Exuding an even greater pressure than when he was a massive dragon.

The warrior looked down upon us.