Ch.717Dragon’s Breath

Dragon.

A creature with a body like a mountain, scales harder than black iron, controlling mana with its will and summoning typhoons with the beat of its wings—the mightiest being on earth.

Though hundreds of years have passed since the last dragon vanished from the world, the legends and records left by ancient heroes have become songs warning of dragons’ might, passed down through generations without end.

And then,

【 Krrrrrrr…! 】

Was it some unwritten rule of ancient bards?

The names, appearances, and deeds of dragons varied wildly from song to song, but there was one phrase that appeared without fail in every poem about dragons, as if by agreement.

Whether the dragon was good or evil, strong or weak, one phrase appeared in every song without exception.

‘The breath that burns walls and fields.’

That was why dragons were considered calamities.

—-

【 Krrrrrr…! 】

Nidhogg spread its wings and soared high into the sky, looking down at the ground below as it opened its maw wide.

Its insect-like jaws split in four directions like a cross. The dark mana that had been boiling like lava across Nidhogg’s body spread outward in all directions, forming a massive sphere.

The sphere of dark mana was so enormous that the worm dragon’s body could no longer be seen within it. It looked as if a black sun had risen in the sky.

“How can there be so much dark mana…!”

Overwhelmed by the immense dark mana emanating from the sphere, the high mages looked up at the sky with ashen faces, their bodies trembling.

A mana quantity nearly a hundred times their own.

Was this characteristic of a death dragon?

Or was it because it had been resurrected using the body of an insect monster?

Though the mana Nidhogg emitted had degraded into black, turbid dark mana, its scale remained that of a dragon—power enough to melt mountains and evaporate lakes.

– Wooooong!

Then, with a strange vibrating sound, the sphere of dark mana that had been bubbling like the sun began to shrink as if being sucked into a single point, condensing in front of Nidhogg’s maw.

The worm dragon looked down, holding in its mouth a black orb of concentrated, tremendous power. Realizing the creature’s intention, Perneisia turned around and shouted urgently.

“Everyone run! Its breath is coming, get out of the line of fire right now-!”

“But how are we supposed to know which direction it will—”

As one of the high mages began to voice a reflexive complaint in panic,

【 Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak! 】

Nidhogg’s maw spewed forth black flames like a waterfall.

Fire of dark mana. The dragon’s breath, carrying the heat of the sun, poured down toward the ground like lava.

Lacy hurriedly raised her cross spear and offered a prayer to the heavens.

“He spreads His wings to cover us with His feathers, and even the sulfurous flames cannot invade!”

A high-speed incantation filled with desperation. In an instant, as Lacy finished her prayer, a massive expanse of pure white unfurled above her head.

A hemispherical holy barrier covering a radius of over ten meters. It was among the highest-tier defensive miracles she could manifest.

“Over here!”

From Ophelia and Bels to Percival and Millia—all those who had been launching futile attacks at the airborne worm dragon hurriedly gathered around her.

The heat was so intense that the high mages’ mana barriers wouldn’t last even a moment. Their only hope lay in Elpinel’s miracle.

“Can you block this?!”

“We have to try!”

Even Lacy wasn’t certain she could block it. She was merely a human acting as an agent of God’s will, not God Himself.

Even as a saint chosen by God, there were clear limits to what a single human could accomplish.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one offering prayers to the heavenly deity.

“Elpinel!”

Lacy’s guardian paladin, Bels Rugna, clutched the holy symbol around his neck tightly, adding his holy power to Lacy’s barrier.

“Battle priests! Support Archbishop Elmaine!”

“Lend your strength to the Saint!”

She wasn’t alone.

The paladins and battle priests who had been fighting against the army of the dead spreading throughout the city also offered prayers to their respective gods, adding their power to Lacy’s holy barrier.

The pure white holy barrier symbolizing the Church of Elpinel grew thicker, and beneath it, crimson, gold, silver-blue, indigo, and pink holy lights were added.

Streams of five brilliant colors intertwined like a net, supporting the Church of Elpinel’s holy barrier.

And then.

– Kwaaaaaaaa!

The next moment, the waterfall of black flames crashed down upon the pure white barrier like lava.

Excruciating pain as if her head would burst and her organs would turn inside out, pressure as if every bone in her body would shatter—it all pressed down on Lacy’s entire body.

“Augh…! Ugh…krugh……haaauugh……! Elpinel…please…!”

Nidhogg’s breath covered the entire white barrier, burning fiercely and emitting tremendous heat. Lacy, maintaining the holy barrier, had to endure most of the power contained within that breath.

It was beyond human capability.

Lacy staggered, expelling blood-mixed groans through her clenched teeth.

“Senior Lacy!”

“Lady Elmaine!”

Millia and Bels rushed forward to support Lacy’s shoulders as she was about to collapse.

“Aauuugh…!”

Lacy’s condition was miserable.

Blood vomit indicating internal injuries, tears of blood streaming down as if all the blood vessels in her eyes had burst.

Her deathly pale face was covered in fresh blood, and her entire body wouldn’t stop trembling violently.

Despite her condition, she kept her arm raised high, teeth clenched, maintaining the holy barrier and blocking the dragon’s breath.

However, unlike Nidhogg, which continued to spew dark mana endlessly, Lacy was clearly at her limit. It was obvious she could barely hold on for another minute at most.

“This is bad, at this rate…!”

Percival muttered, looking alternately at Lacy’s complexion and the state of the holy barrier with a grim expression.

The pure white barrier shuddered under the deafening roar. Parts of it were thinning as if burned by flames, gradually cracking and showing gaps between the cracks, as if it would shatter at any moment.

‘So it can’t completely block it after all.’

Ophelia clicked her tongue as she looked up at the scene, then turned to the dying Lacy. She drew up her remaining mana to prepare high-level magic.

“…Lacy, just hold on for ten more seconds.”

“Do you have some kind of plan?”

Ophelia nodded at Bels’s question, asked in Lacy’s stead. Tremendous mana concentrated in her outstretched white right arm.

“Yes. If we keep enduring like this, we’ll all die….”

We need to escape.

Her fingers pointed toward the ground.

——-

– Whrrrrrrr…!

Nidhogg had breathed its flames of dark mana toward the enemy with the most irritating aura.

The beast felt immense joy as it witnessed the pure white barrier that had been blocking its breath finally beginning to crack.

Though it had expended considerable power maintaining its breath for dozens of seconds, it had been worth it.

【 Grrrrrr…. 】

Behold the scene revealed as it closed its mouth and ceased its breath.

– Tsssssssss…!

Black steam rose like clouds from the remaining flames.

The brilliant white holy barrier that had blocked the dragon’s breath was nowhere to be seen. The center of the district had instantly melted into a lake of lava.

The air shimmered with intense heat, and the melted bedrock bubbled and boiled.

Such firepower had burned all buildings and even melted the ground itself. No human forms or traces remained anywhere.

Presumably, they had all melted away, unable to withstand the heat that rushed in the moment the holy barrier shattered.

Nidhogg made this assessment and turned its gaze away from the lava pit.

Now that it had melted away the most irritating woman, it could leisurely burn the remaining humans one by one.

“Don’t stop firing! We must bring it down somehow!”

For example, the humans on the walls who had begun shooting massive arrows like spears since it had taken flight.

【 Krrrr…! 】

Nidhogg tilted its entire body sideways, spinning once to avoid the rain of dragon-slaying arrows flying toward it.

It could block arrows aimed at its body with its carapace and dark mana, but arrows targeting its delicate inner wings posed something of a threat even to it.

If its inner wings were torn, it would fall helplessly, and it wouldn’t be able to fly again until the wings recovered.

Moreover, there were still other threatening enemies remaining.

Unlike those who had hidden beneath the holy barrier or the three or four humans who had been engulfed by flames before they could hide, there were those who had leaped high into the air to avoid the breath.

“…Could they really all be dead? Truly?”

Tower Master Floheta, maintaining a levitation spell while hurling lightning bolts from both hands, was bewildered at the thought that all allies might have perished.

“That’s impossible!”

Demian, following his instinct that the best attack is a leap, the best defense is a leap, and the best evasion is also a leap, had jumped high into the sky, nearly reaching the death dragon.

“The Empire is truly doomed. My life seems half-ruined too.”

And Perneisia, who had summoned a wind elemental resembling a giant eagle and mounted it to take flight.

Of the thirteen knights and mages who had gathered to face Nidhogg, only those three remained on the battlefield.