Ch.720Two Heroes

“What is that? Wings…?”

Perneisia stared blankly at the sky, muttering. Demian soaring upward with pure white feathers fluttering behind him. It was a sight that left her speechless.

‘Not only can he jump around like crazy, now he’s got wings? What is he, a pigeon?’

She understood what phenomenon this was. The supernatural manifestation that human swordsmen who had crossed the wall could produce, something impossible to explain by common sense. The manifestation of will they called “Tale of Heros.”

Without that, there was no way wings could suddenly sprout from a person’s back… and even if wings did grow there, human physiology made flight physically impossible.

A uniquely human power that defied the laws of the world to realize the impossible. Though extremely limited in scope and effect, it was essentially an ability no different from miracles performed by gods themselves.

‘And with such power, all he does is create wings. Ridiculous, really.’

Perhaps he was an ostrich or penguin in a past life? As far as Perneisia was concerned, unless he harbored some deep-seated resentment about being unable to fly, it seemed difficult to be so “serious” about jumping and flying.

Of course, that was merely her impression.

“What is that…?!”

“An angel! Elpinel has sent an angel to save us!”

To the humans looking up from below, Demian appeared literally no different from an angel of Elpinel descending from heaven.

A being of light in human form, wielding a sword while fluttering pure white wings. It was exactly like the angels depicted in paintings hanging in cathedrals.

Even Leopold momentarily mistook it for an angel’s descent, so how much more would ordinary soldiers be affected? The soldiers’ morale soared.

Though Demian’s wings didn’t contain even a fragment of holy power in their streams of pure white light, the mere sight of a winged swordsman battling a dragon was more than enough to fill the soldiers with awe as they recalled ancient myths.

Meanwhile, Demian himself was frowning deeply.

‘This is more difficult than I expected…’

The power of his achievement had given him wings. Pure white wings that allowed him to fly freely along complex trajectories impossible even for birds, simply by visualizing the movement in his mind.

Perfect free flight unaffected by inertia or friction. That was the ability of the Tale of Heros he had obtained.

Thanks to this, his evasive ability was second to none. He could avoid even Nidhogg’s attacks without suffering a single wound.

However, the cost was too burdensome for the current Demian to bear.

The Tale of Heros was indeed a powerful technique, but until one became proficient, its efficiency was terribly poor. It was exactly as Haschal had warned him before.

With his wings, Demian could dodge all of Nidhogg’s attacks, dive in, and inflict deep wounds, but each time he did so, his energy was rapidly depleted.

How many more minutes could he maintain this? By Demian’s estimation, he would certainly lose all his energy and fall within three minutes at this rate.

‘Then I’ll just have to finish this in three minutes!’

He poured out all his strength without reservation, continuing the battle that resembled colliding lightning bolts.

【 Krraaaaaaarr! 】

“Haaaaaaap!”

Scorching dark mana breath vaporized and scattered the clouds, while a greatsword accelerated by flight pierced into the dragon’s bones. By now, only the two of them remained in the empty sky.

Floheta seemed to have reached her limit after blocking the dark mana explosion and was slumped inside a tower, while Perneisia, having exhausted all her lesser spirits, had given up on archery and landed on the ground, focusing on controlling and restoring her high spirits.

“Stop wasting energy and ride to fight!”

“Thank you, senior!”

Thanks to this, Demian was able to fight beyond the three minutes he had declared.

He no longer needed to maintain his pure white wings constantly; while riding the wind spirit, he only needed to manifest his wings when facing attacks he couldn’t otherwise avoid.

After about four minutes had passed, just as one of the dragon’s tattered forelegs finally broke off and fell to the ground—

– Kwaooooooo!

An arrow containing a whirlwind roared fiercely as it shot through the air.

No, it wasn’t just an arrow.

– Kwaaaaang!

What had clearly been an arrow while cutting through the air transformed into a massive stone spear upon contact with the dragon’s body, shattering its carapace and embedding itself deep within.

【 Kyaaarh-! 】

The dragon let out a startled howl as its fully extended outer wing was pierced.

A strike that dug into the wound Demian’s greatsword had already created. One of its outer wings was torn off completely and crashed into the walls of Extrashafel.

‘What was that…?’

Thinking Perneisia had shot a spirit poem, Demian turned his head, but instead of the exhausted fairy, he saw…

A green-haired woman, completely soaked as if she’d been drenched in a downpour.

‘Millia…!’

Demian was somewhat surprised. His lover, who had disappeared after being caught in Nidhogg’s breath, was now looking up at him while aiming a bow of sacred wood diagonally.

He wasn’t surprised that she was alive. He had believed she wouldn’t die.

However, the power she suddenly displayed upon her reappearance was something Demian had never seen before.

‘What was that just now?’

Though Demian wanted to approach Millia immediately and question her, unfortunately, the situation didn’t allow for it.

So he could only continue the aerial battle with the dragon, now enraged after losing its outer wing.

“My goodness, you’re alive?”

As if in Demian’s stead, Perneisia perked up her ears and ran toward her.

“Thanks to Ophelia.”

Millia briefly explained, pointing to the ground.

She explained that Ophelia, certain that Lacy’s holy barrier alone couldn’t block Nidhogg’s breath, had mobilized all her mana to dig a deep hole underground and evacuate everyone.

“We survived because of the underground waterway.”

It was something that could only be explained as incredibly fortunate. If the battlefield had been any city other than Extrashafel, they couldn’t have escaped that way.

A vast empty cavity beneath the surface, with a cold underground waterway flowing rapidly. What better environment could there be to escape a dragon’s breath?

Those gathered under the holy barrier grabbed Lacy, who had begun foaming at the mouth, and threw themselves deep into the underground waterway that Ophelia had opened.

Cold groundwater flowed abundantly below the waterway, and by diving into it, they were able to safely avoid being burned by the heat contained in the dragon’s breath.

Perseval had nearly been boiled alive in the increasingly hot groundwater due to the weight of his armor, but they managed.

“But why just you? What about the others?”

“Senior Lacy couldn’t fight anymore and was evacuated to the cathedral basement, and Ophelia went to her mansion saying she had something to retrieve.”

Millia didn’t know what Ophelia had gone to retrieve. She wasn’t close enough to Ophelia to pry into matters she didn’t want to discuss.

“Sir Perseval is receiving treatment for his burns… and Sir Belth said that since the dragon started flying, he wouldn’t be of much help, so he went to support the paladins fighting the undead.”

“…They’re probably all dead by now.”

Perneisia pointed to the center of the city where a river of lava flowed. The streets where the undead and paladins had been fighting. Nothing remained there now. Everything had melted in the dragon’s breath.

“It does look that way… I guess he’ll come back here then.”

Even to Millia, it seemed pointless to go support the paladins in that condition.

While underground, they couldn’t know the situation above, so the decision to support the paladins made sense, but Belth would have seen the lava too and would likely return soon.

Of course, as she herself had said, even if he returned, he wouldn’t be much help against the dragon.

From the beginning, those who could intercept a dragon flying through the air were at best Millia herself and high-level mages.

The problem was… Ophelia had gone to her mansion, and the other high-level mages had all melted away without even making it under the holy barrier.

In other words, the only forces remaining were Demian fighting like an angel and Millia herself.

“Seeing that Senior Perne is like this, it seems you can’t fight anymore either… I guess Demian and I will have to do our best.”

“Oh, right. What was that arrow of yours? I didn’t sense any spirit power, and humans shouldn’t be able to use spirit poems in the first place—”

“It’s a new power.”

Millia smiled brightly as she extended her right arm to the side.

– Thud.

The moment her fingertips touched the debris of a collapsed building nearby—

– Kwadududududuk!

As if an invisible giant had clenched its fist, the massive rock fragment compressed with a thunderous roar.

The debris, which had been four times as long and twice as thick as Millia’s height, instantly crumpled into a long, thin arrow in her hand.

Millia drew the arrow made of compressed bedrock and fired it.

– Kwaooooooo!

The arrow, containing a whirlwind, roared as it flew toward the dragon once more.

Nidhogg, even while dealing with Demian, drew up dark mana and extended it like a shield toward the arrow.

And then.

The moment Millia’s arrow collided with the dark mana barrier, it explosively expanded back to its original form.

– Kwaaaaaaaang!

A massive rock formation with lightning-like speed. The impact shattered the dark mana barrier into pieces.

Though Nidhogg had considered the possibility it couldn’t be blocked and dodged sideways, had it hit, it would have been enough to punch a huge hole through its body.

“You, that’s…”

Perneisia’s ear tips twitched slightly as she spoke. It was a sight that anyone would recognize as nothing other than a Tale of Heros.

‘Demian is one thing, but Millia too?’

The fairy, who had lived for over four hundred years, couldn’t help but feel bewildered by the prowess of humans who had reached a level comparable to hers in just over a decade.

—-

A dozen or so minutes earlier.

As she threw herself into the underground waterway, watching the holy barrier shatter under the dragon’s breath, the only thoughts in Millia’s mind were worry for Demian and the determination that she couldn’t die like this.

‘I absolutely cannot die!’

She couldn’t die yet.

She hadn’t even held her wedding with Demian, and her wish to bear and raise children who looked just like him hadn’t even begun to be fulfilled.

‘I’mgoingtomatryDemianIloveDemianI’llraisechildrenwithDemianisDemanokayhowthatbugdaresDemianI’llprotectDemianDemianDemianDemianDemian!’

A love so deep and dark it bordered on madness, which would disgust even Haschal if only partially revealed.

Perhaps even the wall of heroes recoiled at that deep and dark obsession?

The moment she fell into the cold waters of the underground waterway, she felt something blocking her heart shatter into pieces.

And she realized what had been granted to her.

Tale of Heros.

Now, she could turn anything into an arrow and shoot it.

======[ Haschal ]======

“…So it ended in a partial victory? Thanks to Demian and Millia reaching the realm of heroes and defeating the dragon?”

That can’t be right.

I tilted my head as I tapped cigarette ash into the ashtray beside my desk.

According to the messenger’s report, the dragon wasn’t in perfect condition either… but even so, it was hard to believe those two alone could have defeated it.

The Tale of Heros at the point of just crossing the wall was so inefficient that using it just a couple of times would deplete all one’s Karma.

At best, they could have fought to a stalemate.

“No, sir. From what I heard…”

The messenger shook his head and continued his report.

As I expected, the two fought admirably but couldn’t defeat the dragon on their own.

“Then what happened?”

“Well…”

======[ Extrashafel ]======

Demian and Millia, having obtained the Tale of Heros, continued their miraculous battle.

However, their Karma was rapidly depleting due to their excessive use of unfamiliar techniques.

The dragon too had lost both outer wings and three legs, with its body torn and crushed in various places like a rag doll, but…

【 Krrrrrrr…. 】

Even so, it still had enough strength left to crush the two completely exhausted heroes.

“Damn it, my body… won’t move…!”

With his energy depleted, Demian used his inverted greatsword as a cane, gritting his teeth as he struggled to his feet and glared at the dragon.

Neither his legs nor arms would move. His mind screamed to fight more, but his body had already reached its limit. The same was true for Millia.

【 Krkrkrkr…. 】

Certain of victory? The dragon made a sound like laughter as it looked down at them.

Though Nidhogg had suffered serious injuries and was nearly out of strength itself, it still had enough power left to crush a few exhausted humans.

The dragon’s mouth opened wide as what little dark mana remained was sucked into its center and began to concentrate.

“Demian…!”

The final breath. Millia instinctively pulled Demian into a tight embrace and curled up.

That’s when it happened.

“You—damn—bug—! What about my workshop—?!”

With a rage-filled roar that echoed throughout the entire city, a massive piece of metal emerged, overturning the debris of collapsed buildings.

There stood Asha, the dwarf, wearing black iron mechanical armor.

Feeling rage that could make her head explode at the complete destruction of her workshop, she had hastily assembled the remaining debris to create a massive anti-air cannon mounted on her right arm.

As if mourning her entire fortune lost in an instant, she pulled the trigger with sorrow and anger.

– Kwaaaaaaaang!

A massive armor-piercing shell, 88mm in diameter, pierced through the dragon’s abdomen with a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth.