Ch.721Separate Flight

From the ruins of the collapsed workshop, an improvised 88mm anti-aircraft gun cobbled together from all remaining metal and gunpowder.

The shell mercilessly tore into the exposed underbelly of the wyvern—whose flesh had been laid bare by swords and arrows—penetrating through its entire body and severing its already cracked spine.

【 Kyaaaaaaaaak! 】

Nidhogg screamed and staggered. The damage to its already failing body was fatal. With its dark mana nearly depleted, it could neither defend nor regenerate.

With its lower body hanging limp and useless, Nidhogg convulsively twisted its upper body as it plummeted like a falling meteor.

Straight into the river of lava created by its own breath.

– SPLOOOSH!

The massive body crashed into the lava’s surface, sending crimson spray in all directions.

“How’s that taste of Himmel firepower—an 88mm armor-piercing shell! Hot enough for you, you goddamn vermin?!”

Having lost her entire fortune, the crazed Asha screamed like a rabid dog as she detached the smoking anti-aircraft gun from her mechanical armor’s right arm.

True to its improvised nature, her 88mm gun couldn’t withstand even a single shot and broke down completely. The armor’s right arm, having absorbed the full recoil, sparked dangerously as if about to explode at any moment.

“Revenge for my gold—!”

Asha started up the alloy steel circular saw equipped on her mechanical armor’s left arm and charged toward the wyvern thrashing in the lava river.

With all her gunpowder spent on the anti-aircraft gun, this was her only remaining weapon.

“N-now’s our chance! Everyone attack! Cut off its windpipe!”

Leopold’s shout, after his quick assessment of the situation, snapped the stunned soldiers back to attention.

Soldiers on the wall hastily aimed their bows at the dragon submerged in lava, while others loaded spears onto the ten remaining dragon-slaying crossbows.

– THWACK! CRUNCH!

Arrows and javelins from all directions embedded themselves densely into the dragon’s upper body.

Though the soldiers’ arrows could only scrape its outer skin, the javelins from the dragon-slaying crossbows penetrated deep into its unarmored body, tearing through flesh and muscle.

The wyvern clicked its jaws frantically and twisted its neck.

Watching this, Demian forced his trembling body to move toward Nidhogg.

His arms hung limp. His greatsword dragged along the ground. His armor was soaked in blood. Though he looked incapable of even lifting his sword, let alone fighting, Demian staggered forward without stopping.

“Just one more… one more strike…”

Just one more strike to the head would end it all.

Neither Asha’s circular saw, Millia’s arrows, nor the dragon-slaying crossbows could do it. Only the dragonic greatsword in his hands could accomplish this task.

The dragonic blade that could cut through mana, disrupt dark mana, and sever regenerative powers. Only it could inflict wounds that the wyvern could never recover from.

The problem was that Nidhogg knew this too.

【 Kahrrk! Krk, Krarrararak-! 】

Flailing in the lava, Nidhogg let out a desperate roar unlike any before and frantically flapped its remaining wing membranes.

A desperate, death-thrashing wingbeat. Perhaps by squeezing out its last reserves of strength, the wyvern somehow managed to escape the lava pit and launch itself into the air.

“Where do you think you’re escaping to—!”

However, while Nidhogg wasted time extracting itself from the lava, its enemies had already closed in.

“Pay for my workshop before you go—!”

Asha, who had approached by flying low over the lava, swung her circular saw.

“I won’t let you escape…!”

Demian leapt up, gritting his teeth, his dragonic greatsword drawing a pale silver arc.

– CRUNCH!

Both the dragonic blade and the black iron blade embedded themselves in Nidhogg’s body as it attempted its final flight.

With all its strength focused on flapping its wings, Nidhogg could neither block nor dodge these strikes. The rotating saw blade and the heavy dragonic sword tore through the wyvern’s flesh, grinding and scattering chunks of meat.

【 Kihyaaaaaaaaaaaak! 】

With a scream-like roar, the dragon’s body was sliced through and sank into the lava.

Just its lower half.

【 Kyahaaaaak…! 】

“Th-that…!”

With only its front legs, neck, and chest remaining, the wyvern—blood and entrails streaming from its severed abdomen—soared high into the sky.

It would have been a fatal wound for anything but an insect-like creature, but with its entire lower body gone, its remaining form was remarkably light.

Nidhogg desperately used the insects in its severed surface to stem the wound as it flew upward with all its remaining strength.

“Damn it…!”

“Come back down, you bug bastard—!”

Demian groaned in frustration as he collapsed, while Asha, though staggering, hurled curses at the fleeing wyvern.

The dying dragon was desperately escaping with what little remained of its body. It was truly infuriating, but there was nothing more they could do.

Asha’s mechanical armor could only hover 2-3 meters high at best, and Demian had not a shred of energy left.

“Look! It’s fleeing! Victory is ours!”

“We’re saved!”

“Praise Elpinel! Long live Karl Las! Long live His Radiant Majesty!”

“May the Empire be eternal!”

Amidst the soldiers’ jubilant cheers at the end of this hellish battle, Asha caught the unconscious Demian as he fell toward the lava, grinding her teeth.

She vowed to find and kill the wyvern no matter where it fled. Such was the depth of a dwarf’s grudge after losing her entire fortune.

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

“So… you’re saying it got away in the end?”

After hearing the full account, it seemed that the group I’d left on the island had fought remarkably well but ultimately failed to behead the dragon.

In truth, they deserved applause just for fighting as well as they did.

“Yes. According to compiled eyewitness reports, it was flying northwest. Either because of the wound from the dragonic sword or because it lost its skeletal structure, it appears unable to regenerate its severed lower body.”

“Northwest? That means…”

The Sky Mountains, Dragonic Kingdom, Holy State, or Alvheim. It was heading toward one of these four. Except for the Holy State, all were difficult places to track something.

“…Leopold must have quite the headache.”

If it headed to the Holy State, pursuit wouldn’t be a major issue, but if it flew elsewhere, tracking and eliminating it would become extremely troublesome.

The Sky Mountains wouldn’t be a problem if we dispatched hero-class forces like myself, but if it flew to another country, deploying Imperial forces would become exceedingly complicated.

The Dragonic Kingdom might not harbor great hostility toward the Empire, but… a dragon appearing before those training to become dragons—they’d likely refuse our help and try to handle it themselves.

Alvheim goes without saying.

Those pointy-eared bastards would probably guide Imperial reinforcements to Nidhogg, let them fight each other, then stab the survivors in the back to reap the benefits.

Yet we couldn’t just leave it alone either.

If another country managed to subjugate Nidhogg, the Empire would have cooked the porridge only to feed it to a dog. Another country would snatch up the remains of a dragon that we had nearly killed at tremendous cost.

If that happened, Leopold’s insides would turn completely upside down. The damage to the island that the messenger described was beyond devastating.

Four high-level mages, freed from prison on condition of service, were liberated from this world by the dragon’s breath. The Imperial Knights and Royal Guards stationed on the island suffered near-total casualties.

With Percival being the only surviving Royal Guard, the order itself was practically annihilated.

And that wasn’t all. Thousands of residents died from ground collapses or failure to evacuate in time, and a third of the island’s nobles were swept away. The human casualties were truly enormous.

The material losses hardly needed mentioning. The well-maintained underground waterways had become ruins, with no estimate for how long repairs might take, and about half the surface was damaged beyond repair.

A quarter of the city had melted under the dragon’s breath and solidified, while another quarter had either collapsed into massive holes or been shattered, leaving only foundations.

Even the historic Extrashafel Cathedral lost its spire and upper structure, leaving only the grotesque first floor, and the newly built palace was half-destroyed.

Rebuilding the city would cost more than building a new one, to the point that Leopold was seriously considering relocating the capital.

Though they gained two heroes and the dragon’s lower half, those heroes were currently bedridden from exhaustion, and the dragon’s lower half was solidified in lava, requiring extensive excavation before it could be accessed.

Things would improve eventually, but for now, they had suffered massive losses with no immediate benefits.

Add to that my report on the Eastern Army’s casualties… I wouldn’t be surprised if a thorough examination of Leopold’s body revealed malignant tumors everywhere.

“…So, what was the response to my report?”

“Yes. The cities that pledged allegiance to the Empire are to be left as autonomous districts with locally elected temporary administrators. Lord Landenburg and all Imperial troops are to return to the Empire urgently.”

“So we’re just to return for now… Nothing else?”

“Yes. He said discussion of the situation here would be postponed until after the chaos on the island is resolved.”

Well, with the island in ruins, there’s hardly leisure to nitpick over the now-dead Ludwig’s overreach.

“Very well. Good work.”

I waved away the messenger with the cigarette in my hand, then closed my eyes and savored the smoke, sitting quietly for a while.

…My mind was a mess.