Ch.344344. Destiny (10)

There are too many of them. It’s not easy to clear a path through this enormous horde of undead human troops, which exceeds even the numbers that the Imperial forces had been dealing with until just now.

Not only do they resurrect repeatedly unless their core is destroyed, but the mental fatigue is overwhelming. And having to remove these troublesome spell formations with specific techniques has slowed their advance considerably.

Then, they discover it.

“A mountain…? Was there always a mountain there?”

“That’s nonsense! That’s not a mountain!!”

“Huh… what in the world is that…?”

Something massive, large enough to be mistaken for a huge mountain at first glance.

“Did that thing… just twitch?”

“I saw it too! Something definitely wriggled…”

“W-what? Something’s unfolding!”

*Whoosh!*

Something that had been hidden by the forest unfolds to either side. Based on information about the magical beasts they’d encountered so far… it was a pair of wings.

Just as each magical beast has its own evolutionary characteristics, flying types certainly exist. The wyverns currently holding back reinforcements from the Artena Empire are capable of flight, after all.

But this was incomprehensible.

“N-no way… those are wings?”

“Impossible…”

A pair of wings so enormous they cast shadows that blocked out the sun. If even the wings were this massive, how unimaginably large must the body be?

A chilling sensation ran down their spines.

Wings of unimaginable size began to flap and take flight.

And each single flap unleashed tremendous gales upon the humans.

“Waaaaaah!”

Even raising earthen barriers, casting wind-resistance buffs, or huddling together for support—everything collapsed.

Before they could even get back on their feet, a carpet bombing of various spells spread in all directions as they rolled across the ground.

When they finally managed to steady themselves and reorganize their formation…

Above their heads came not just gloomy clouds but darkness. It was the massive shadow of Feltibourgos, blocking even the faint sunlight that had been shining through.

The shadow suddenly emitted light, pouring countless magic circles—too many to count—onto a single point.

Without a doubt, it was where the commander would have been.

‘There’s no way anyone could survive… after being hit by something like that…!’

‘We have to face something like that?’

‘Who could possibly? By what means?’

Humans fell like mere ants before a power incomparable to any magical beast they had encountered before. Their mental strength, already depleted from fighting the magical beast army, was further eroded just by the appearance of this powerful enemy.

-Queeeeek!!

With Feltibourgos’s appearance, they had forgotten, but even if it didn’t target them immediately, the Imperial forces had only dealt with the nobles from Mirpark—humans—among the undead that had been corrupted so far.

They had dealt with a few that lingered near the front lines, but those weren’t all of them.

“It’s Ashpern’s magical beast army…!”

“Is there a way through?!”

“No… there’s nowhere to go!”

“A-an ambush?!”

The Imperial forces, who had been thoroughly defeated by Ashpern, the intelligent magical beast, realized this was a trap.

The magical beasts that had only now revealed themselves had been preparing to thoroughly devour the Imperial forces.

Ashpern is alive.

Even as a mere conjecture or hypothesis, it was enough to make their teeth chatter. What if this intelligent magical beast, which had instilled terrible fear in humans and delivered consecutive defeats, continued to resurrect through Feltibourgos’s corruption?

*Clang.*

A soldier dropped his weapon with a disgusted expression.

“What are you doing! Pick it up right now!”

“…”

“I said pick it up! Do you want to die right here?!”

“Can we… really win this…?”

“What…”

The squad leader couldn’t continue speaking.

What damage would the Imperial forces suffer after dealing with all those magical beasts?

What forces remained? Even if they miraculously eliminated all the corrupted magical beasts, what about Ashpern?

And what about Feltibourgos, which created gales with just a single flap of its wings and fired volleys of magic like the Imperial magic corps?

The Imperial forces currently possessed no information whatsoever.

With each step they took, their mouths grew drier. Their worn-out mental strength made it impossible to take another step forward. Even those who had been relatively fine were beginning to waver.

“We can win.”

*Swoosh! Thwack!*

An arrow imbued with blue flames struck a troll between the eyes. It was Michelle who had spoken.

The soldiers with gloomy, exhausted gazes all turned to Michelle with the same question in mind.

They all wanted to ask “How?”

Just then.

“Awoooooo!!”

“That sound…!”

Howls echoed from behind the surrounded Imperial forces.

And from the rear, which they thought was completely sealed off…

────!!

The lotus flowers that had been scattered suddenly fell, creating continuous explosions before other monstrous beings emerged through the black smoke.

The first to appear was a girl with lotus petal-like hair flowing around her.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone!”

“Aris!”

And those who appeared in succession, taking the form of werewolves…

“Let’s go, to save our guide!! To completely erase that cursed dragon from this world!!”

─Waaaaaaa!!

“L-Lakan?”

For the Imperial forces, they were the most reliable reinforcements.

***

*Zzzzing-!*

The draconian form is gone, replaced by what appears to be a true dragon, which seems overwhelming.

But it’s not just the physical body that has grown stronger.

“…Insane, even after firing that much bombardment, it’s still fine?”

There are too many. They enter the mana interference zone, but Spell Break couldn’t even destroy half of them.

It was as if it possessed all of Ashpern’s power intact.

Face and destroy what remains? That would be madness.

When Ashpern was the enemy, there were means to attack even in a war of attrition, but now that it had merged with Feltibourgos and become a dragon, it was impossible to estimate its capabilities.

Except for one method.

-‘Hmph, gauntlets with chains? What are you planning to use these for?’

-‘…I have my reasons. There’s someone I absolutely need to catch.’

-‘Sigh. I don’t know what you’re trying to catch. Anyway, it’s single-use, so use it properly, got it?!’

Chains made in preparation for this moment. For this one chance to seize this opportunity.

‘So I can’t use these chains yet.’

The deployed magic spells poured down as if to saturate the ground, as if to swallow even the heavy rain.

“Die!!!”

They had to deflect them.

Calculate and offset as many as possible.

They needed to drain Feltibourgos’s power. This time, the situation had a time limit, but in the opposite way.

However, this time, it seemed they weren’t alone.

────────!

“Did you think I’d let you do as you please?”

“Grrrr, this troublesome woman…!”

If they had fought alone, they couldn’t have deflected those spells. But with Lenias present, the chances of this operation succeeding increased significantly.

Feltibourgos’s lightning magic was about to pour down again.

Then…

Blue arrows flew in, burning the lightning magic circles themselves, and lotus leaves blooming from the ground spread in the sky, blocking all the lightning. Two ice walls rose like shields, and even a flying spear was sliced and shattered by a sword.

“Awoooooo!!”

Hearing this howl, it seemed the odds were beyond calculation.

“How… how did you all get here…!!”

“Here! The creature is here!”

Werewolves covered in thick fur revealed themselves in beast form. Feltibourgos gnashed its teeth in rage.

“Lakan…! Of all creatures, you keen-sensed ones survived?!”

Corrupted life forms create mana circuits as cores instead of hearts to avoid fatal blows. However, Lakan, with the keenest senses, could easily destroy these cores, and their species’ inherently swift and agile attacks made their physical abilities troublesome enough to match the magical beasts.

Thanks to them, the magical beast army once led by Ashpern was already annihilated. Despite being inscribed with Feltibourgos’s spell formations to attack both human bodies and minds, not a single one remained.

It was the best chance.

*Clank-clank-clank!*

“Guh?!”

Iron chains began to entangle the dragon’s body one by one. Rendering it completely immobile.

“What are these chains…! Where did they…!”

Its massive body could part clouds and block the sun. It must have seemed impossible that such a body could be bound by iron chains.

“What do you think? They’re special chains made to catch you!”

“Y-you again! But binding me like this won’t change anything…”

“It changes plenty.”

“!!! This magical power… you, could it be!”

With the smaller-bodied Ashpern, Anti-Cast could have completely destroyed its mana circuits, but Feltibourgos’s body was so large that it could only suppress the mana circuits in specific areas.

But what would happen if there was a tool that could spread magical power throughout the entire body?

“Originally, mana control is…! Something you master to extract maximum efficiency over a wide area!!”

That’s what the Elcherium chains were for. These chains, enlarged through magical tools, were designed to flow mana throughout the body and suppress the entire circuit.

“All forces, target the wings! Target where the mana circuits are concentrated, and it won’t be able to use any magic!”

Magic deployed in unison according to the instructions, and Ashpern couldn’t offer any resistance.

The place where magic was used was the wing area where mana circuits were concentrated. Unlike Ashpern’s draconian body, the mana circuits were concentrated there, so if the wings were folded, it could no longer use magic, making the follow-up simpler.

The main body of Feltibourgos had virtually no power except for its corruption ability. Those spells were used solely based on Ashpern’s intelligence-based learning and experience.

In other words, if they sealed Ashpern’s magic and destroyed the wings containing Feltibourgos’s mana circuits, everything would end.

*Boom!*

The concentrated magical barrage ended. The chains broke due to the magic concentrated on Feltibourgos’s wings, but the attack undoubtedly hit cleanly.

However, as the dust cloud cleared after the concentrated barrage on Feltibourgos’s wings…

“How amusing. Did you think you would win by eliminating all my subordinates and damaging my mana circuits?”

“!!!”

“Not at all…! This body is my father’s, who intended to annihilate humanity from the beginning without any subordinates!! Even if all the mana circuits stop and I can’t use magic, I can still crush the likes of you easily!”

*Boom!*

─Aaaaargh!!

Feltibourgos, with its body intact, swung its leg and destroyed an entire unit.

“That’s… impossible…!”